The clock in the Alchemy classroom ticked steadily away, and the three hours allotted for the preliminary selection soon drew to a close.
One after another, the participating students finished their projects.
Riemann Selwyn, a seventh-year Slytherin, picked up his three completed items and walked to the front of the classroom.
Seeing another contestant come to submit their work, Lucien pointed at the parchment and quill on the podium.
"Please sign your name first."
With a wave of his hand, he made the three items float into a neat row before him. Lucien began inspecting them carefully, occasionally making notes on the scoring sheet in his hand.
Watching Lucien evaluate his work, Riemann felt inexplicably nervous.
He was the senior, wasn't he?
So why was he being graded by a second-year student?
Riemann came from the Selwyn family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, a family renowned for its expertise in Alchemy and Potions.
Gifted in Alchemy from the beginning and nurtured by his family's traditions, Riemann had been confident of passing Hogwarts' internal preliminary selection.
There were not many students in the school who truly excelled at Alchemy. Among the sixth and seventh years, Riemann considered himself to be comfortably within the top three. With two places available, he had every reason to believe he would be selected.
Who could have expected Lucien to appear out of nowhere?
And he was only a second-year.
Wouldn't it have been better to leave the opportunity to the older students...?
Now there was only one place remaining, and the pressure had increased dramatically.
An Alchemy tournament jointly organised by the three great magical schools of Europe had not been held on this scale for a century.
Winning the championship would bring glory that was irresistible to a Slytherin.
Thinking of that honour, Riemann's expression grew even more bitter.
The junior currently grading his work had only recently received the Order of Merlin, First Class.
That distinction alone was enough to make every Slytherin green with envy.
"Senior, is there something you'd like to say?"
Lucien finished marking the work, looked up, and noticed that Riemann's expression had changed several times in succession. It was quite amusing, so he asked.
Riemann gave a slight start, quickly composed himself, and coughed.
"Ahem, no, nothing. I just wanted to ask... how did I do?"
Lucien studied him for a moment before setting down the scoring sheet.
"The completion is excellent, and your finishing time was quite fast. I'll announce the final results later. You may return to your seat and wait."
Hearing an answer that answered almost nothing, Riemann could only carry his work back to his seat.
Lucien glanced at the clock. Seeing that only ten minutes remained, he reminded everyone of the time.
Then, looking down at the clearly organised list of scoring criteria and deductions on his grading sheet, he shook his head helplessly.
He had devised all of them on the spot based on the three competition tasks.
Professor Shafiq had disappeared so quickly that she had not even explained the assessment criteria.
Fortunately, Lucien was already accustomed to tutoring Harry and the others, regularly setting homework and examinations. Combined with his own mastery of Alchemy, coming up with more than a hundred grading points had not been particularly difficult.
Lucien looked up and surveyed the classroom.
In reality, there were very few participants in this preliminary selection because there simply were not many students proficient enough in Alchemy.
Alchemy was an exceptionally demanding subject. Natural talent was only one requirement.
Studying it properly also required considerable financial resources. Learning the basics was manageable, but once students reached advanced levels, the materials needed for practical work became extremely expensive.
As a result, nearly every contestant in the room came from a Pure-blood family.
For a moment, Lucien found himself thinking about the Beauxbatons he had yet to visit.
He was genuinely curious how that magical school had managed to introduce Alchemy to younger students and enable so many Young Wizards to study it.
Perhaps there would be something worth learning there, something he could bring back to Hogwarts as a model.
"Miss Ellie, the completion of your work is excellent, and the attention to detail is also..."
Lucien smiled as he quietly spoke with the Ravenclaw seventh-year.
The students who had already completed their tasks secretly observed the exchange, trying to judge their competitors' scores from Lucien's reactions and estimate their own chances of winning.
Seeing Lucien smiling so warmly, everyone felt a sense of foreboding, and several unpleasant thoughts surfaced.
Riemann, who was also watching, felt a little bitter.
He thought Professor Shafiq had been far too casual, handing the authority to assess the competition over to a student without a second thought.
Apart from a certain Potions Professor who was notoriously partial to his own House, most Professors did not show such bias, especially someone like Professor Shafiq, whose only apparent desire in life was to slack off.
The preliminary selection had originally been completely fair. It was judged solely on ability. Whoever had the stronger Alchemy skills earned the place.
But Lucien, acting as the temporary examiner, was still a student.
What if he showed House bias?
Riemann knew very well that Slytherin did not enjoy a good reputation among the other Houses. If Lucien deliberately targeted him...
He could accept losing because his skills were inferior.
He could not accept losing because of the examiner's prejudice.
Glancing at the clock and seeing that the three hours had expired, Lucien stood up.
"The competition is over. Everyone may stop."
One student who had not quite finished looked utterly frustrated. They had been so close.
Several others who had completed their work just in time hurried excitedly toward the podium with their projects, although none of them held much hope. They had finished later than everyone else and naturally assumed their scores would be lower.
After carefully examining each submission, Lucien flipped through the score sheets before finally stopping at one name.
"Riemann Selwyn. Highest score. He will represent Hogwarts at the Triwizard Tournament."
For a moment, Riemann failed to react.
Then overwhelming delight flooded his heart.
He had earned the place!
Lucien considered his Alchemy to be the best!
Suddenly, a sharp voice broke the silence.
"I object to the result!"
A Slytherin student stood up, his loud voice immediately attracting everyone's attention.
"Professor Shafiq never explained the judging criteria. Grafton, how exactly did you evaluate us? What standards did you use? You announced the result with a single sentence. That's completely unconvincing!"
Lucien raised an eyebrow.
Before he could respond, Riemann, whose excitement had not yet faded, shot to his feet.
"Travers! Professor Shafiq appointed Grafton to conduct the assessment. You have an objection? Are you questioning the Professor herself?"
Riemann threw Lucien a confident look before continuing to silence his fellow Slytherin.
What House bias?
Lucien clearly wasn't that narrow-minded!
Hadn't he just demonstrated how fair and impartial he was?
Glancing at the righteous-looking Riemann, Lucien found the situation rather amusing.
Where you stand depends on where you sit.
That saying held true in every era.
This man looked so honest and upright, yet he certainly had no hesitation about using labels when it suited him.
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