Chapter 389

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Once again, as before, completely hidden from possible surveillance, I made my way into the castle, into the Common Room, where, at this late hour, there was no one there but Hermione sitting on our couch. She was once again making notes in her notebook, not paying attention to anything, but as soon as I went in her direction and took off the spell, the girl immediately noticed me, smiled, and patted the couch next to her. I did not refuse the invitation, as soon as I threw off my bag and coat, as I immediately found myself on the couch, but not sitting, but lying down, resting my head on her lap.

"How'd it go?" Hermione asked, putting the notebook aside.

"Good. Got the study material."

"Material? If I understand correctly, it's somewhat... atypical material."

"Exactly."

"Were there any problems?"

"The animal turned out to be gregarious, and as you know, when this kind of animal gets into packs, they suddenly start thinking they're predators."

"I hope their delusions didn't cause any problems?"

"Not a bit..."

***

I wish I could say that the effect of an exploding bomb was produced by the unscheduled issue of the Daily Prophet, the reason for the premature release of which was an article by Rita Skeeter about the trial, but... but no. The reason for this is simple - rumors appeared on Monday morning, the cause of which were children whose parents or relatives are connected with office work within the ministry or even the DMLE. These rumors were multiplied by an article about the "miraculously escaped Skeeter." Many wondered: "Who, when, whom, and how did it end?" and a rare student compared the facts, or rather, the composition and numbers of conflicting groups of students, among whom, for obvious reasons, the younger ones were excluded. So those few had a picture: "Max Knight and Hermione Granger against Draco Malfoy with his minions." For this reason, these few people, who can be counted on the fingers of two hands, did not look surprised at all at breakfast on Tuesday, when the owl mail bombarded the students with a flood of correspondence.

As soon as the students learned the participants' identities, the Slytherins were literally physically bombarded with a stream of stares full of contempt or mockery. Or something else. Hermione, on the other hand, was looked at in amazement, but within a minute, you could hear: "I knew it!" or, "There's a reason they're always studying somewhere!" - that was the general message. But, of course, it wasn't without Ron Weasley.

"Eh, if only I'd been there," he lamented indignantly, and everyone around him was glad he'd chewed his food first. "If I'd been there, ugh! I'd have dealt with them."

It was also interesting that several of the magic photos in the article showed a looped five or six seconds of Hermione's fight against everyone. Of course, it should be borne in mind that those captured in magical photos may behave somewhat differently than in reality. When printed, they can even create the illusion of a meaningful response to external stimuli, for example, if you poke a photo with your finger. But I can't deny the excellent selection of shots from Rita, and in these frames, the whole meaning of memories was contained: "Hermione scatters her opponents as quickly and efficiently as possible, showering them with various spells like a machine gun, alternating her attack with Protego and periodically dodging in dance moves." The result of the appearance of such a photo is admiration, envy, and who knows what else.

Personally, I was worried about Umbridge being too pleased. I don't think she's really bad or evil, no. She just didn't give a damn about anyone, going forward in her career and arranging her future to the best of her ability. However, I had already figured out that a contented Umbridge was to unexpected and unpleasant innovations.

Noticing a happy Umbridge, I walked around all day, expecting a catch and at the same time thinking about the education system because these are interrelated issues. For example, the innovations introduced by the Ministry through Umbridge, on the one hand, are not bad and are really designed not so much to improve as to systematize the knowledge obtained. Yes, the original purpose is to provoke us all, teachers and headmaster, but it is not without its positive side. But, this innovation and the most thoroughly worked out program have an obvious disadvantage - a violation of the usual and ingrained in the subcortex of the training regime. The lack of the opportunity to legally practice spells in the subject of DADA quite severely affects the understanding of our successes in the field of magic and on self-confidence. But the work done by ministerial experts is tremendous, and the systematization of knowledge is excellent. If earlier many students had to dig through about two dozen books for the sake of a grain of knowledge about several spells, now every spell is clearly written with every conceivable nuance. And again, there are both pros and cons in this. Pros - no need to stir up a mountain of books. Cons, in fact, are the same because one way or another, the grains of incidental knowledge seen and obtained during the search for the right one, a little, but they are deposited in the head. There are cons and pros everywhere…