Chapter Ten - The Test Begins
By the next morning, Harry had forgotten all about the dream. He was so happy to be back at school, which felt like home, that he forgot nearly everything that had happened the day before.
He went down to the Great Hall, leading a few first years with him. When he got there, Hermione and Ron were already there. They were looking over their schedules together.
"Double Potions with Slytherin, figures," Ron said. They had had double Potions with Slytherin since they had been attending Hogwarts.
Harry pulled out his own schedule. He really didn't need to, since he had the exact same one as Ron. "We've got double Care of Magical Creatures, too."
Ron nodded. "I can't believe Hagrid wants the biting book again this year. When he didn't use it last year, I thought he'd given up on it."
"Usually," Hermione joined in, "I'd support any book. But a book that bites is not much use to anybody. Even if it does open when you stroke it on the spine."
"What else have we got?" Harry asked. He was just looking at his schedule for the first time.
"The usual," Ron replied. "Transfiguration, Herbology, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Charms, and History of Magic. If we could drop some of those classes, I would have done so. The only one we can drop is divination, and that's easy to pass, so why bother?"
Hermione gave Ron a cross look. Harry spoke up, "Yeah, it's easy, if you pretend to see death omens, or something to that effect. Oh, and you have to try not to laugh at everything she says."
"So," Hermione said, "what do you guys want to do today? You know, since it's Friday, and classes don't start until Monday."
Neither of them got to answer because Professor McGonagall approached them, with Hedwig following her. "Harry, it's time. You and your cat will follow me."
Harry cursed silently, because he had hoped for a little more time before the test. He followed McGonagall, with Yllier at his heels. They went to an empty classroom.
In the back was a statue of a phoenix. Professor McGonagall tapped an outstretched wing with her wand and said, "Nolox." The phoenix bent down, with its wings out as far as they could go. There was an opening behind it. Professor McGonagall walked up the phoenix's back like it was a ramp, and went in the hole. Harry followed.
"Owls that are sold to be mail carriers to the public are, as a rule, trained to be loyal to a point. The result of testing your owl will be at a certain point or above. Owls, therefore, are considered to automatically pass the test with a bare minimum. Whether you may keep them both or not will depend on your cat's results. If you cat also reaches the bare minimum, it will not be enough.
"The general goal is for you two to touch each other. Harry, you will always use the door on the right, and your cat will always use the door on the left. One way walls will be partially invisible, and will generally signify who needs to go where. Floors that glow green mean that one error will automatically end the test. At any time, you can quit. All you have to do is say so, and the test will end. Now, if you are ready."
Harry nodded. He bent down to talk to his kitten. "Let me know if things get too hard, okay? You always go in the left door." Yllier meowed, showing that he understood.
"One more thing, Harry. I'll need your wand." Harry regretfully handed his wand to McGonagall.
Harry looked at the wall. There were two door frames, but there was total darkness on the other side. He looked to Yllier, and nodded. They both walked into total darkness.
**********
The first thing Harry saw was that the floor was glowing green. The second thing that he noticed was that there were a hundred Ylliers. There was a ten by ten grid of cats. "I think this is a test to see if I can pick out which of you is the real Yllier."
He thought for a moment. "Well, let's do a little testing. Yllier, please meow." At the same time, all of the cats meowed. It was almost creepy, and the sound echoed off the walls. "Okay, Yllier, please meow once for every FULL year I have gone to Hogwarts." Every cat meowed four times, all at the same time.
"This is getting me nowhere," Harry muttered to himself. He decided to watch the cats, to see if maybe the fake ones didn't act like Yllier. This backfired on him, because every cat did the same thing, at the exact same time.
This gave Harry an idea. "Yllier, take one step to your left." All the cats took one step to their left. "Yllier, walk to a specific point, preferably one behind you." All of the cats walked diagonally backwards.
Harry knew how to solve the test. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a knut. He walked into the grid, and put the knut down. Then, he walked out of the grid. "Yllier, please sit on the knut," he said.
Sure enough, all of the cats moved in the same direction and sat, but only one of them sat on the knut. Harry walked over to the cat that sat on the knut, and looked down at it. The cat walked up to Harry and began rubbing on him. All of the other cats disappeared, but the one rubbing Harry was still there. Harry pet Yllier, and picked up his knut.
"From now one, one meow is yes, and two meows is no, okay?" Harry asked. Yllier meowed once. "Are you ready to move on?" he asked. Yllier meowed once.
"Okay then," Harry said. He walked up to the door on the right, and Yllier went to the left one. Again, Harry could see nothing but blackness. He nodded, and they both entered.
When Harry could see, it was much like the first room. The floor was glowing green, but this time, Harry could see that there was a hundred of him. He opened his mouth to start telling Yllier where he was, but he couldn't. He tried to walk to Yllier, but couldn't.
"Yllier, I think you have to do this on your own. There's something that's stopping me from telling you what to do," all the Harrys said.
Yllier gave one meow, and walked close to the first Harry of the grid. Yllier looked up, but Harry didn't move. Yllier moved on to the next Harry, who also didn't move. It was tedious, because Harry was on the other side of the grid. But when Yllier came up to the real Harry, he nodded and bent down to pet Yllier.
Like before, all the other Harrys vanished. "What a smart cat you are," Harry told Yllier. "You thought of that so quick. I hadn't even thought of that." It just occurred to Harry that if either of them had touched the wrong other one, it would have been the end for them
Yllier purred. They walked to the appropriate doors, and without even needing to nod, they both entered.
Harry was a bit puzzled. The first two rooms hadn't been a test of loyalty, at least for him and Yllier. It was more like a puzzle. All he had to do was find a solution that worked. He was sort of hoping the rest would be different, because he wasn't very good a puzzles.
The room Harry had walked into reminded him of the first two. The floor was still green, and there were a bunch of cats that looked like Yllier. Only this time, they were all independent of each other.
"Well," Harry said, mostly to himself, "this makes things a little more interesting." To Harry's relief, there was only about thirty cats this time. That was twenty-nine more than he wanted, but better than a hundred.
"Okay," Harry said, this time to all the cats, "please made a single file line." Harry knew that the only way he could do this was to ask the cats questions. Questions that only Yllier would know the answer to.
The problem was that the type of questions he could ask was limited. He could only ask yes or no questions, or questions that dealt with numbers. That meant it was practically multiple choice. At that rate, some of the cats could guess and get the questions right. He figured that it would be best if he asked number questions.
He looked at the cats. "I will ask you a question, and I would like you to answer me. After you answer, I will ask you to go to either the left or the right. After all of you have had a question, I will give more directions."
To the first cat, he asked, "How many OTHER people live in our dorm room?" The cat meowed five times. It was incorrect. There were only four other people. "To the left, please."
To the next cat, he asked, "How old am I?" The cat meowed sixteen times. Harry was almost flattered, but he was only fifteen. "To the left, please."
The third cat approached, and Harry asked, "How many good friends do I have?" The cat meowed five times. Harry might have wished it was true in his first year, but he was happy with the two good friends he had. "To the left, please."
A fourth cat walked up. Harry asked, "How many inches is my wand?" The cat meowed eleven times. Harry knew that the answer was correct. "To the right, please."
And so he continued, until all thirty cats had been given a question. When he finished, there were twenty-three cats on the left, and seven on the right. "Okay, will the cats on the right go into the back right corner?" They did so. "Now, I would like the cats on the left to make another single file line." Harry didn't want the cats to catch on, in case they might try to cheat. So, he asked all the cats that had gotten their question wrong another question. If they got it wrong, they went to the upper left corner. Those who got it wrong went to the upper right corner. Eighteen of them ended up getting it wrong, and five had it right.
He then turned to the cats that had gotten their first question right. "Now, will you please make a single file line?" he asked. And he asked them more questions. This time, however, the questions were made so that a random guess had less chance of being correct. The two cats that got it right were directed to the back left corner, and the five that had it wrong were directed to the back right corner.
"Now, will the cats that are in the upper right corner please join the cats in the back right corner?" They did so. "I would like to question those cats in the upper left corner again." By this point, Harry was running out of questions. To these cats, he asked questions that Yllier wouldn't know anyway, since he wasn't one of these cats. The fourteen that got it wrong returned to the corner, and the other four went to the upper right corner.
He then questioned the ten cats in the back right corner, which were one for two on their questions. Again, he asked them questions that Yllier wouldn't know. Eight of them got it wrong, and went to the upper right corner. The other two returned to the back right corner.
Harry turned to the two cats that had correctly answered their first two questions. He pulled out the knut from his pocket, along with a sickle. He said to the two cats, "If there are a hundred of you in a room, will you stand, sit, or lay on the sickle or the knut?" One cat's tail flicked excitedly.
Harry pointed to the other cat. "You first, please demonstrate what you would do." The cat sat on the sickle. Harry nodded, and the cat stood up. "And now you," he said to the other. It sat on the knut. Without hesitation, Harry bent down and picked up the cat.
All the other cats faded away, and Harry was left with Yllier in his arms. Harry nearly wept into his cat's fur. Picking up his money, Harry said, "When I first saw what the challenge was, I wasn't sure I was EVER going to figure out which one was you." Yllier just purred.
They walked through the doors that had appeared. Again, the floor was glowing green, and there was a bunch of Harrys. Yllier would have to choose the right Harry, while only being able to meow.
A/N - A bit unrealistic, I understand, but I don't think it's that far from the Harry Potter realm. J.K. has portrayed all of her cats as very intelligent. Most obviously is Mrs. Norris. Not only does she know her way around Hogwarts, including the secret passages, but she can recognize when a student is breaking a rule. And to then fetch Filch, that requires intelligence to process all of that information. Then, there was Crookshanks, who could tell an animagus from a true animal. But most importantly is Professor McGonagall. She possesses the qualities that define J.K.'s view on cats, as she can become one. She is strict, but fair, intelligent, and above all, cares very deeply for those around her, colleagues and students alike. And when these people are threatened, you can depend on her to protect these people. The way I interpret things, it is no coincidence the Professor McGonagall is head of Gryffindor house, and that the Gryffindor mascot is a lion.
Special Thanks.
Special thanks to Saffron Halifax.again. I'm glad you love it, and it's great to see some familiar names on the list of reviews, because it means that you liked it enough to read more, and that's always a good sign.
Special thanks to Cooper (A.K.A. Xanth). I'm not sure I'm THAT good of a writer but it's great to know you think so. I hope you like this chappie and those that follow just as much.
Special thanks to Serry. I know, it was kind of gross. But I'm glad you liked it anyway. So far, there's nothing else in this story quite as gruesome, but if there is I'll warn you in an author's note.
By the next morning, Harry had forgotten all about the dream. He was so happy to be back at school, which felt like home, that he forgot nearly everything that had happened the day before.
He went down to the Great Hall, leading a few first years with him. When he got there, Hermione and Ron were already there. They were looking over their schedules together.
"Double Potions with Slytherin, figures," Ron said. They had had double Potions with Slytherin since they had been attending Hogwarts.
Harry pulled out his own schedule. He really didn't need to, since he had the exact same one as Ron. "We've got double Care of Magical Creatures, too."
Ron nodded. "I can't believe Hagrid wants the biting book again this year. When he didn't use it last year, I thought he'd given up on it."
"Usually," Hermione joined in, "I'd support any book. But a book that bites is not much use to anybody. Even if it does open when you stroke it on the spine."
"What else have we got?" Harry asked. He was just looking at his schedule for the first time.
"The usual," Ron replied. "Transfiguration, Herbology, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Charms, and History of Magic. If we could drop some of those classes, I would have done so. The only one we can drop is divination, and that's easy to pass, so why bother?"
Hermione gave Ron a cross look. Harry spoke up, "Yeah, it's easy, if you pretend to see death omens, or something to that effect. Oh, and you have to try not to laugh at everything she says."
"So," Hermione said, "what do you guys want to do today? You know, since it's Friday, and classes don't start until Monday."
Neither of them got to answer because Professor McGonagall approached them, with Hedwig following her. "Harry, it's time. You and your cat will follow me."
Harry cursed silently, because he had hoped for a little more time before the test. He followed McGonagall, with Yllier at his heels. They went to an empty classroom.
In the back was a statue of a phoenix. Professor McGonagall tapped an outstretched wing with her wand and said, "Nolox." The phoenix bent down, with its wings out as far as they could go. There was an opening behind it. Professor McGonagall walked up the phoenix's back like it was a ramp, and went in the hole. Harry followed.
"Owls that are sold to be mail carriers to the public are, as a rule, trained to be loyal to a point. The result of testing your owl will be at a certain point or above. Owls, therefore, are considered to automatically pass the test with a bare minimum. Whether you may keep them both or not will depend on your cat's results. If you cat also reaches the bare minimum, it will not be enough.
"The general goal is for you two to touch each other. Harry, you will always use the door on the right, and your cat will always use the door on the left. One way walls will be partially invisible, and will generally signify who needs to go where. Floors that glow green mean that one error will automatically end the test. At any time, you can quit. All you have to do is say so, and the test will end. Now, if you are ready."
Harry nodded. He bent down to talk to his kitten. "Let me know if things get too hard, okay? You always go in the left door." Yllier meowed, showing that he understood.
"One more thing, Harry. I'll need your wand." Harry regretfully handed his wand to McGonagall.
Harry looked at the wall. There were two door frames, but there was total darkness on the other side. He looked to Yllier, and nodded. They both walked into total darkness.
**********
The first thing Harry saw was that the floor was glowing green. The second thing that he noticed was that there were a hundred Ylliers. There was a ten by ten grid of cats. "I think this is a test to see if I can pick out which of you is the real Yllier."
He thought for a moment. "Well, let's do a little testing. Yllier, please meow." At the same time, all of the cats meowed. It was almost creepy, and the sound echoed off the walls. "Okay, Yllier, please meow once for every FULL year I have gone to Hogwarts." Every cat meowed four times, all at the same time.
"This is getting me nowhere," Harry muttered to himself. He decided to watch the cats, to see if maybe the fake ones didn't act like Yllier. This backfired on him, because every cat did the same thing, at the exact same time.
This gave Harry an idea. "Yllier, take one step to your left." All the cats took one step to their left. "Yllier, walk to a specific point, preferably one behind you." All of the cats walked diagonally backwards.
Harry knew how to solve the test. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a knut. He walked into the grid, and put the knut down. Then, he walked out of the grid. "Yllier, please sit on the knut," he said.
Sure enough, all of the cats moved in the same direction and sat, but only one of them sat on the knut. Harry walked over to the cat that sat on the knut, and looked down at it. The cat walked up to Harry and began rubbing on him. All of the other cats disappeared, but the one rubbing Harry was still there. Harry pet Yllier, and picked up his knut.
"From now one, one meow is yes, and two meows is no, okay?" Harry asked. Yllier meowed once. "Are you ready to move on?" he asked. Yllier meowed once.
"Okay then," Harry said. He walked up to the door on the right, and Yllier went to the left one. Again, Harry could see nothing but blackness. He nodded, and they both entered.
When Harry could see, it was much like the first room. The floor was glowing green, but this time, Harry could see that there was a hundred of him. He opened his mouth to start telling Yllier where he was, but he couldn't. He tried to walk to Yllier, but couldn't.
"Yllier, I think you have to do this on your own. There's something that's stopping me from telling you what to do," all the Harrys said.
Yllier gave one meow, and walked close to the first Harry of the grid. Yllier looked up, but Harry didn't move. Yllier moved on to the next Harry, who also didn't move. It was tedious, because Harry was on the other side of the grid. But when Yllier came up to the real Harry, he nodded and bent down to pet Yllier.
Like before, all the other Harrys vanished. "What a smart cat you are," Harry told Yllier. "You thought of that so quick. I hadn't even thought of that." It just occurred to Harry that if either of them had touched the wrong other one, it would have been the end for them
Yllier purred. They walked to the appropriate doors, and without even needing to nod, they both entered.
Harry was a bit puzzled. The first two rooms hadn't been a test of loyalty, at least for him and Yllier. It was more like a puzzle. All he had to do was find a solution that worked. He was sort of hoping the rest would be different, because he wasn't very good a puzzles.
The room Harry had walked into reminded him of the first two. The floor was still green, and there were a bunch of cats that looked like Yllier. Only this time, they were all independent of each other.
"Well," Harry said, mostly to himself, "this makes things a little more interesting." To Harry's relief, there was only about thirty cats this time. That was twenty-nine more than he wanted, but better than a hundred.
"Okay," Harry said, this time to all the cats, "please made a single file line." Harry knew that the only way he could do this was to ask the cats questions. Questions that only Yllier would know the answer to.
The problem was that the type of questions he could ask was limited. He could only ask yes or no questions, or questions that dealt with numbers. That meant it was practically multiple choice. At that rate, some of the cats could guess and get the questions right. He figured that it would be best if he asked number questions.
He looked at the cats. "I will ask you a question, and I would like you to answer me. After you answer, I will ask you to go to either the left or the right. After all of you have had a question, I will give more directions."
To the first cat, he asked, "How many OTHER people live in our dorm room?" The cat meowed five times. It was incorrect. There were only four other people. "To the left, please."
To the next cat, he asked, "How old am I?" The cat meowed sixteen times. Harry was almost flattered, but he was only fifteen. "To the left, please."
The third cat approached, and Harry asked, "How many good friends do I have?" The cat meowed five times. Harry might have wished it was true in his first year, but he was happy with the two good friends he had. "To the left, please."
A fourth cat walked up. Harry asked, "How many inches is my wand?" The cat meowed eleven times. Harry knew that the answer was correct. "To the right, please."
And so he continued, until all thirty cats had been given a question. When he finished, there were twenty-three cats on the left, and seven on the right. "Okay, will the cats on the right go into the back right corner?" They did so. "Now, I would like the cats on the left to make another single file line." Harry didn't want the cats to catch on, in case they might try to cheat. So, he asked all the cats that had gotten their question wrong another question. If they got it wrong, they went to the upper left corner. Those who got it wrong went to the upper right corner. Eighteen of them ended up getting it wrong, and five had it right.
He then turned to the cats that had gotten their first question right. "Now, will you please make a single file line?" he asked. And he asked them more questions. This time, however, the questions were made so that a random guess had less chance of being correct. The two cats that got it right were directed to the back left corner, and the five that had it wrong were directed to the back right corner.
"Now, will the cats that are in the upper right corner please join the cats in the back right corner?" They did so. "I would like to question those cats in the upper left corner again." By this point, Harry was running out of questions. To these cats, he asked questions that Yllier wouldn't know anyway, since he wasn't one of these cats. The fourteen that got it wrong returned to the corner, and the other four went to the upper right corner.
He then questioned the ten cats in the back right corner, which were one for two on their questions. Again, he asked them questions that Yllier wouldn't know. Eight of them got it wrong, and went to the upper right corner. The other two returned to the back right corner.
Harry turned to the two cats that had correctly answered their first two questions. He pulled out the knut from his pocket, along with a sickle. He said to the two cats, "If there are a hundred of you in a room, will you stand, sit, or lay on the sickle or the knut?" One cat's tail flicked excitedly.
Harry pointed to the other cat. "You first, please demonstrate what you would do." The cat sat on the sickle. Harry nodded, and the cat stood up. "And now you," he said to the other. It sat on the knut. Without hesitation, Harry bent down and picked up the cat.
All the other cats faded away, and Harry was left with Yllier in his arms. Harry nearly wept into his cat's fur. Picking up his money, Harry said, "When I first saw what the challenge was, I wasn't sure I was EVER going to figure out which one was you." Yllier just purred.
They walked through the doors that had appeared. Again, the floor was glowing green, and there was a bunch of Harrys. Yllier would have to choose the right Harry, while only being able to meow.
A/N - A bit unrealistic, I understand, but I don't think it's that far from the Harry Potter realm. J.K. has portrayed all of her cats as very intelligent. Most obviously is Mrs. Norris. Not only does she know her way around Hogwarts, including the secret passages, but she can recognize when a student is breaking a rule. And to then fetch Filch, that requires intelligence to process all of that information. Then, there was Crookshanks, who could tell an animagus from a true animal. But most importantly is Professor McGonagall. She possesses the qualities that define J.K.'s view on cats, as she can become one. She is strict, but fair, intelligent, and above all, cares very deeply for those around her, colleagues and students alike. And when these people are threatened, you can depend on her to protect these people. The way I interpret things, it is no coincidence the Professor McGonagall is head of Gryffindor house, and that the Gryffindor mascot is a lion.
Special Thanks.
Special thanks to Saffron Halifax.again. I'm glad you love it, and it's great to see some familiar names on the list of reviews, because it means that you liked it enough to read more, and that's always a good sign.
Special thanks to Cooper (A.K.A. Xanth). I'm not sure I'm THAT good of a writer but it's great to know you think so. I hope you like this chappie and those that follow just as much.
Special thanks to Serry. I know, it was kind of gross. But I'm glad you liked it anyway. So far, there's nothing else in this story quite as gruesome, but if there is I'll warn you in an author's note.