"Long time no see, my good student!"
Voldemort's smile was sinister: "Today is your final exam, as your teacher has taught."
"Perform well and don't let me down."
After saying that, he led the way toward the secret room.
Argus followed silently behind.
Creak!
The decaying wooden door slowly opened, and the massive three-headed dog, Fluffy, who had been lying down to rest, suddenly stood up when he saw the door open.
A paw pressed down on the trapdoor leading downward.
He let out a low growl at the two of them!
A strong, foul stench hit them.
Voldemort didn't care and turned to look at Argus beside him.
"First challenge, are you ready?"
"Teacher, you should handle Fluffy." Argus didn't even look at it.
"If I were to take action, it would cause quite a stir."
"Clever little rascal!"
Voldemort sneered, waved his wand, and a harp flew out of his pocket.
With a few taps of the wand, the harp emitted melodious music.
Let's go!
"That bastard giant said that if you play music for this beast, it will sleep peacefully for a while."
With a wave of his wand, the trapdoor on the ground clicked open.
Voldemort turned his gaze to Argus, clearly intending to send him to scout ahead.
Argus didn't waste any words. He knew what was down there anyway, and to avoid arousing Voldemort's suspicion, he took the initiative to jump down into the chamber.
A cold wind blew!
A cold, damp atmosphere permeated Argus's body.
The opening seemed bottomless, and with a strange, muffled thud, Argus landed on a soft net.
The next second, the seemingly soft net rapidly contracted, as if to bind him tightly.
"My student, how will you pass this test?"
Voldemort slowly descended, floating in mid-air.
His gaze toward Argus was full of mockery.
"Incendio!"
The instant Argus landed on the net, he pulled his wand from his pocket.
Without even checking the direction, he unleashed a fire spell!
Sizzle!
The sound of flames burning rang out, and the Devil's Snare writhed and twisted, desperately trying to escape, but to no avail!
Even though Argus was no longer bound, he still didn't let them go.
"The Devil's Snare fears light and fire."
"The simplest way is to use a Lumos or an Incendio."
"A wealth of knowledge." Voldemort was not surprised by this.
In his view, even if Argus couldn't recognize what it was, he could solve it with his own strength.
"Keep going, there are still checkpoints waiting for you ahead."
The two continued forward.
The long, deep corridor was so quiet that one could hear their footsteps and the sound of water droplets sliding down.
Not far away, a terrifying creature seemed to be roaring, which sounded extremely frightening.
After turning a corner, another large door appeared in front of them.
The gate was locked, and countless pairs of shimmering wings flew back and forth in the air.
"The second challenge is to find the real key among countless keys."
"How will you resolve this, Argus?"
Voldemort glanced at the flying broomstick not far away, then at Argus.
It was obvious that Argus was unable to use the flying broom.
Argus chuckled, his eyes remaining unchanged.
He quietly walked towards the gate.
He took out his wand and pointed it at the door.
The next second, a dazzling thick red beam of light appeared!
"Expelliarmus!"
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the door shattered.
Argus turned to Voldemort: "Sometimes, you don't need a key to walk through the door."
"Isn't that right, teacher?"
"The right choice. The Expelliarmus is quite powerful." Voldemort praised verbally, but his expression showed no sign of admiration.
He knew that Argus had improved significantly, but he didn't expect it to be this great!
Even Quirrell might not have been able to cast the Expelliarmus just now.
He had initially intended to easily manipulate Argus, but this Expelliarmus instantly calmed him down.
Perhaps he needed to reassess his only student.
"Hagrid's Fluffy, Professor Sprout's Devil's Snare, Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch's Flying Keys."
"The remaining ones should be Professor McGonagall's Wizard Chess, Snape's Potions, and Quirrell's Trolls."
"And... Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised."
Argus silently counted the levels to come.
He needed not only to pass the test, but also to maintain his condition to the greatest extent possible.
He needed to be prepared for Voldemort's sneak attacks at any time!
Pushing aside the broken pieces of the door, the two continued forward.
It was pitch black inside, and one couldn't see anything.
But after taking only a few steps, the torches around them suddenly lit up.
Argus was standing at the edge of a huge chessboard, with a large pile of black pieces in front of him.
The chess pieces were made of an unknown stone and appeared to be very sturdy.
Judging by their height alone, they were even taller than Voldemort.
On the other side of the chessboard were a group of tall white chess pieces.
A wooden door was right behind the white pieces.
"My dear disciple, are you going to use magic to force your way through again this time?"
"I remember I taught you a lot of Dark Arts, which can be used on this."
Argus did not speak.
His past life's experience with exam-oriented education made him start to think about Professor McGonagall's intentions in making such an arrangement.
"Professor McGonagall was a professor of Transfiguration, so this test should also be on Transfiguration."
"Ron's chess skills in the original book were indeed commendable, but he did not grasp Professor McGonagall's original intention."
"This resulted in heavy losses at this stage."
Argus took out his wand and tapped a few pieces, then his eyes revealed understanding.
"It could indeed transform! However, the more important the piece, the greater the magic power required for transformation."
"In that case..."
He calmly began the game of chess before him.
"Drive to E6!"
"The soldiers move to C5!"
"The Queen moves to H3!"
As commands were issued, the numerous stone chess pieces engaged in fierce combat!
Voldemort watched the scene before him with great interest.
As time went on, Argus used fewer and fewer black pieces, ending up with only one queen and two bishops.
On the other hand, the white side still had eight pawns left: a queen, a bishop, and a knight.
Bang! Bang!
Two more loud bangs followed, and Argus' last queen was swapped with the other.
Voldemort's lips curled into a mocking smile.
"Don't want to waste your magic? Want to try using Wizard Chess to get through this level?"
"It seems you're not very good at this!"
"Chess is a game for kings, it's about civility and strategy! How do you know I'll definitely lose until the very last moment?" Argus stood beside Voldemort, still maintaining his composure.
Voldemort scoffed: "A stubborn student."
"However, I must warn you, if this is all you can do, I'll have to give you a failing grade on this exam..."
Before he could finish speaking, the situation suddenly changed!
Argus pointed his wand at the two soldiers closest to the White King!
The next second, one of the soldiers turned into a black queen, and the other into a black rook!
With the help of the two bishops, they directly cornered the White King!
Argus spoke slowly, his tone casual.
"General!"
...
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