<h4>Chapter 80: Signals from Romania</h4>


    "So, you two came here to ask Professor Drac for the exam answers?"


    Cedric cast a disapproving nce at the twins and proceeded to pin his Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching assistant badge onto his chest.


    "I think I need to use my teaching assistant authority to deal with you two properly," he said.


    "Ahem, Cedric, we''re just joking!" Fred quickly put his arm around Cedric''s shoulder in a friendly manner, "We''re just testing whether you''re a fair and impartial teaching assistant, so we said that."


    "That''s right, don''t you know who we are? We would never do something hical!" George also said earnestly.


    Drac watched this scene with a twitch at the corner of his mouth.


    "Have you two forgotten that I''m still here watching?" He said with a hint of disdain, "The things you just did, and now you can''t even admit to them a few minutester?"


    Fred and George''s faces changed immediately, and they turned to face Drac, turning their backs on Cedric. They kept squinting at Drac, trying to signal him.


    "If your eyes are ufortable, go to the school infirmary to get them checked, so it doesn''t affect the examter," Drac said, ignoring their pleading looks and smiling lightly.


    Then, Drac looked at Cedric. "So, Diggory, what questions do you have about your revision?"


    Cedric nodded slightly and pondered for a moment.


    "I want to know, when answering exam questions, should we base our answers on the textbook or on what you taught in ss?" he asked. "There are many conflicts between what you taught and what''s in the textbook. I want to know which one we should refer to for preparation."


    "Do you really need to ask me that?" Drac smiled, his tone somewhat taken for granted, "What I taught is correct. Any discrepancies with the textbook are the textbook''s problem!"


    Cedric was taken aback but then nodded seriously.


    "I have another question, Professor." He hesitated before speaking again, "You mentioned at the beginning of the term that the amulet would be given to the top student in the first to third years, is that true?"


    Drac was momentarily stunned, then remembered that to motivate students to engage with Defense Against the Dark Arts, he did indeed make such a promise.


    But he hadn''t paid much attention to it at the time and had since forgotten about it.


    If Cedric hadn''t brought it up again today, he might havepletely forgotten about it...


    "Ah, yes!" Drac said, somewhat guiltily, as he rummaged through his pockets that he had expanded with a non-detection spell. "Don''t worry, I will keep my word!"


    After a while, he managed to find three small pendants among his numerous items.


    Drac took out a sinister wooden cross pendant and showed it to Cedric—


    The cross pendant had an ancient runic symbol representing the moon in its center. Unlike the church''s cross, its shorter horizontal bar tilted slightly upwards, resembling a pair of outspread demon wings.


    "Coming to ask about the amulet before the exam, it seems you''re quite confident about your test!" Drac said with a light smile.


    "This amulet is mine for sure," Cedric said with a smile.


    Cedric''s confident expression made the Weasley twins beside him envious. They looked at the cross pendant in Drac''s hand with longing, their faces showing an expression of "Give me one too."


    "Any other questions?" Drac ignored the twins'' eager expressions and gave azy nce around the office.


    Though it was a question, his tone carried an unmistakable hint of wanting to get rid of them.


    Cedric, understanding the hint, thanked Drac and left the office.


    The Weasley twins, however, did not notice Drac''s intention to dismiss them and stood there dumbly, trying to find a way to get an amulet without relying on exam results.


    However, the next moment, the two red-haired figures were hurled out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor''s office like trash, screaming.


    "Bang!"


    The office door mmed shut.


    ...


    An hourter, Professor McGonagall, who was well acquainted with Drac, came to the third floor from her office on the second floor to prevent him from shirking his duties. She called Drac out of the office and had hime to the Defense Against the Dark Arts ssroom to supervise the exam.


    The weather in June was very hot, and there was no cooling magic in the castle, so therge ssrooms were particrly ufortable for the little witches.


    Drac was the first to object to staying in such an environment. He closed the ssroom doors and windows and blew a breath towards the ceiling.


    A cool breeze descended, bringing a refreshing feeling to the summer ssroom. The little witches all rated their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam experience as perfect, saying they woulde back next year!


    Once all the little witches had each received a special feather quill for the exam, which had had anti-cheating spells cast on it, the Hogwarts clock tower''s bells rang loudly, marking the official start of the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam—


    The little witches buried themselves in writing the exam questions personally set by Dumbledore. The ssroom was quiet, with only the scratching sound of quills on parchment.


    Some little witches furrowed their brows, struggling with the questions, some wrote with enthusiasm and speed, and some were calm... Of course, Drac also saw a few who had given up and were lying on the desks, apparently having never attended the sses...


    At first, Drac enjoyed watching the little witches'' worried expressions and actions, but as the exam time wore on, he gradually lost patience with their rather limited performances.


    So Drac quietly sat behind the podium, cast a spell to create a duplicate of himself in his seat, and, using the disguise spell as cover, quietly sneaked out of the exam room.


    Drac leaned against the railing in the corridor outside the door, gazing into the distance.


    At that moment, his eyes shifted slightly.


    He took out a delicate crystal ball emitting a soft glow from his pocket. It was a pair connected with the crystal ball that had been sent to Romania for the Weasley family.


    The crystal ball''s central part, which should have been a dimly rotating dark moon, was now extremely bright.