"Of course there should," Severus agrees. "The problem is that the test would be written by those who both had the money to fund it and either didn't care much or had strong opinions, and the opinions of the fanatical wealthy are insane, believe me, and the scorers and examiners would doubtless also have axes to grind, and who would select them, and how could the system possibly be kept free of bribery and patronage for more than, oh, the first month?"
"I would not set off my wand if I dropped it," he answers, "as it would no longer be in my hand. It might go off in the wrong direction if I were casting a spell as I tripped and failed to truncate it." He gives Holmes a matter of fact that's right, I had all your friend's stories committed to memory by the age of ten eyebrow shrug, and says, "It might depend on the tree; some species aren't forgiving at all. But likely the paint won't bother them, and I can clean up after us."
He nods, brow clearing. "Excellent. I don't think it's something I need to know at the moment, but thank you for the offer of introduction; I shall certainly take you up on it if circumstances dictate."
Ah, I see. (g) Well, Sev won't be showing Holmes the Mini Goblin; that's for situations too tight for aiming, and anyway he doubts Holmes will have worked with anything that small before. Okay, thanks for the heads up. Hope it's for something fun! I forgot to say it in the other thread, but... move, Turtle, move! :D