142

 *****

 The twentieth of January. After midnight. Hogwarts Castle. Room of Requirement.

 The giant library, created by the founders themselves, was illuminated by hundreds of "invisible" light sources. There were more than enough of them to illuminate everything, even the farthest corners of the room, secret niches, nooks, and dead ends.

 Since my first visit to this abode of knowledge, nothing has changed dramatically. All the same "endless" books, cabinets and shelves, going hundreds of meters up. The incredible labyrinth they created still amazed the imagination. Every time I try to explore a given room in a new way, I am presented with something that I have not seen before. A new nook, a dead end, a place to relax (it turned out there was not just one place to relax, but much more. Surprisingly...), as well as more and more new books. There were simply indecent numbers of them here. Every now and then you come across a new section or discover something new in an already "explored" one.

 Speaking of which, the most striking difference since my first visit was the "admission" of sorts. It looked like this - all the books available to me looked as usual, and those that I had not yet reached were covered with a foggy veil. And no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to take what you're not entitled to. The hand simply passes through, drowning in a grayish haze.

 At the moment, the following schools looked the most "bright": cryokinesis, healing, mentalism, metamorphism, space. Although in the latter I have not yet passed the journeyman test, the direction is too difficult. However, within a month I will take this step, it's time.

 Of these schools, Metamorphism boasts the smallest number of books. Here, basically, general principles are described, and everything else is learned in practice. In contrast, the school of healing has the most extensive library. Perhaps not one of the schools can boast of such an extensive theoretical base. There are so many nuances that you need to know in order to heal this or that organism.

 In these less than a year and a half, from the moment I discovered this abode of knowledge, I was able to get acquainted with almost every school, simply reading what is available to me at the moment. What else should I do if in my schools I read the available material during the first week or two, and then only practice the knowledge in practice? But I don't have an inexhaustible source of strength for practice in order to do it without stopping. So it turns out that when I exhaust my reserve, I plunge into the world of books from a variety of schools. What's not there: each of the elements, demonology, clairvoyance, artifacts, necromancy and much more. In any case, it was at least educational, and at maximum it may be useful in the future.

 Just recently I learned that in the room of help there is a hall dedicated to meditation. In some ways, it looks like a starry sky locked in cubic space. On the floor there are countless constellations (according to the number of schools), in each of which there are main stars (according to the number of degrees of the magician, with the exception of the archmage). As you might guess, meditation in these "islands" has a much more fruitful effect on development in a particular school. I don't know how strong their influence is at the maximum level (grand master), but already at an apprentice, the "quality" of meditation increases by fifty percent. And this is a very significant number. It's a pleasure to plunge into your sea of ​​consciousness, thinking or analyzing something.

 From the beginning of the holidays until now, time has flown by at incredible speed. It seemed that I had only recently defeated Harriet in a dueling competition, and already behind me were not only the holidays, but another attack by a basilisk under the control of the Heir. This happened quite recently, literally five days ago. In this regard, there is no joke in the school, but "officially" there is no connection with the outside world, the territory of Hogwarts is cut off from the outside world by the forces of the Ministry and Tom. Still, I am still of the opinion that it was Tom, through the hands of Malfoy and Crouch, who isolated us, thereby creating a kind of feeding trough for his Horcrux. Just ideal hunting grounds, if only they could move Dumbledore, but alas.

 Regarding the attack... Two victims became victims at once: Almost Headless Nick, who took the brunt of the attack, and Justin Flin-Fletchie. And if the second was immediately evacuated to the Hospital Wing, where his carcass would lie waiting for a potion from Mandrake, then the first remained hanging in the corridor leading to the Library, for the encouragement of the public.

 After examining the scene of the attack and also the victims themselves, I learned something interesting. Logically, Nick should have died completely the moment he encountered the snake's gaze, but this did not happen. Why? The answer lies in the castle itself. All ghosts are connected by invisible ties to the source of Hogwarts, being one of the degrees of protection of the ancient structure. The magic of Hogwarts protected Nick, and with him Justin. After all, if it weren't for the castle, Hogwarts would have been missing not only one of the translations, but also one of the badgers.

 Of course, after the attack, everyone suddenly remembered the Heir, whom they had forgotten with a clear conscience until that moment. There was a new wave of accusations, threats, and fear directed towards the once again gloomy Potter. After all, after the duels at the first lesson of the circle, her "heredity" somehow immediately faded into the background, getting lost somewhere there. And in subsequent classes it only got worse.

 Oh yes, the Duel Club. Unlike the story, in reality it was not closed on the same day. No, it still works to this day, the only difference being that during the holidays it was open every day except Saturday and Sunday, and now only on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.

 Attending these classes did a good job of raising my profile in the eyes of the students, and I was already not in last place. According to the established tradition of the first day, each such lesson ended in a duel, or rather two. The most capable were chosen and a battle took place between them on the platform. The winner was awarded faculty points, a kind of small motivation for students.

 Harriet and I came face to face three more times, once a week. I won two of them, and the third and last one was an automatic loss, mine.

 "The mana has run out, what can you do?" - this is exactly how I justified the reason for my "surrender" to the "enemy". And you know, it served me well. My person became even more discussed, even various gossip began. They say I sold my humanity in order to gain such incredible abilities in the school of cryokinesis, and it was precisely this school that I "fought," securing my reputation as a very capable and promising magician, especially in the field of this school. Well, to some extent they are right.

 And besides, I got from this not only a reputation and some kind of alibi. Everything is banally simple, in reasonable minds there is an opinion that I spend almost all my energy on ice, and the rest on the school curriculum. When they learn about healing, they will be even more convinced that I have no time for other schools. This means that connecting space and metamorphism, as well as mentalism, with me will not be easy.

 However, those who already know about my successes (Poppy, Flitwick, the Director (I can't believe he doesn't know about this)) can quite reasonably assume that I have even more "knowledge". "If a person is a genius at one thing, then he is a genius at everything," they seem to say. Well, let's see what comes of this.

 Let's return to Potter. Of course, such a sharp contrast in behavior and attitude towards her person could not but affect her mood. Gloomy caution, embitterment, rare outbursts of anger. It's good that Patil remained on her side, and I still continued to treat her the same way. This at least somehow supports her (we gain reputation points in her eyes. Isn't it useful?)

 Due to the new attack, the movement of students was strictly limited. Faculty - Great Hall - Classroom. The classes were for one course, that is, lessons were held by all four faculties at the same time (and even here an exclusion zone arose around Harriet). The number of lessons was reduced to the required minimum. Each lesson had at least two teachers, and besides, the classrooms themselves were located strictly near the Great Hall, where the tightest security system was. Also, the Director can get there in record time.

 If it were possible, classes and meals would be held in the living rooms, but they simply cannot accommodate so many people. The living rooms themselves were locked at night with such a cascade of spells that it was simply impossible to break through them by force.

 Well, honor and praise to the director and professors for these actions. Acting according to the ministry's rules, but at the same time putting the lives of children first, is expensive. But the Ministry itself did not deign to send more than one adult magician, no one at all. Somehow I want less and less to stay on the islands of Foggy Albion in the future. Since there are such idiots here...

 Perhaps an outsider might have a question, how am I outside the living room at night? Well, here the answer is banal - the teacher helped me, catching me after one of the meals and handing me a bracelet that allows me to get through those spells that block the path.

 Of course, before I put it on my arm, I tested it as best I could. The result is obvious - nothing suspicious was found. However, I still played it safe - before visiting the room to the rescue, I go into one of my favorite classes and create my phantom there with a bracelet on my hand, and move on. It's better to play it safe, otherwise Poppy decided to find out my source of knowledge, and I really don't want that. My.

 About phantoms. At the moment, I know two types of this spell - from the school of illusion, and also from space. The first is an intangible illusion, which, however, will not shatter after the first blow. In the second case, it is a physical construct created using space. He can't move or anything. All he can do is create an exact copy of me, and if he is checked with scanning spells (ordinary ones), they will show that it is me who is in front of the magician.

 This is what I do - I go to class, create a phantom, supposedly immersed in meditation, and, putting a bracelet on his hand, I leave, protecting the class as best I can.

 About classes. Recently I came up with an idea - to create fake, private rooms. If someone follows me, I will simply bring him to one of the classes. Still, my room next to the library, thanks to the efforts of my friends, almost became public knowledge. At least Crystal and Potter already know about it, and that's more than enough. As, indeed, about the secret passage.

 By the way, about friends. As I predicted after the ritual, Neville still decided to tell me about what happened to him then, and about that woman in more detail.

 That lady was none other than a dryad. Only not the one who lives in our world, but the one who has stepped over this step and moved into the plane of nature. She no longer needs the physical tree to exist, no, she now lives off the pure mana of nature. Where is there a lot of it? That's right, on the spatial plan. So she moved there an unknown amount of time ago.

 Regarding their conversation... It's not difficult to guess what exactly Nev wanted - to heal his relatives. So the dryad responded to his call, saying that he could well heal his parents if he continued to follow the path he had chosen. Of course, this made the poor guy incredibly happy, to such an extent that he could not hold back his tears. However, there is one nuance - Nev was not informed about how exactly to cure them. I wonder why?

 Also, during this less than full month, I found two more facets of myself that have changed in me. These are just observations, but still. The first directly concerns the anomaly. After observing her during these weeks, I noticed one curious "thing". If before it looked like a ball consisting of three parts, devouring my energy, now... Starting from the very border of the ball, it begins to disintegrate into small, barely visible shreds that rush straight to the center of the anomaly, being absorbed by it. Well, this picture very much reminded me of the "external" appearance of my unknown gift, which I saw after the ritual. And since I see the soul and my inner world the way I imagine it subconsciously, it is quite possible that the anomaly is directly related to this gift. And if so, then I'm already wondering whether my theory will be confirmed.

 As for the second facet, it directly relates to empathy. Now I can project the emotions of one person to another. Not only from myself, as before, but in general from any reasonable thing that I can read. And I don't know why, but the one on whom emotions are projected on a subconscious level understands from whom he feels it.

 I found out about this quite easily. During Charms class, I saw how Harriet looked at Parvati in an angry way, not trusting her. However, I feel with the help of empathy that the girl is sincere in her thoughts, and she is also hurt by Potter's actions. Then I started thinking about how wonderful it would be to project emotions from one person to another. And my ability responded to my words (or more precisely, I tried to do it myself). I was able to convey the emotions from Parvati to Harriet.

 Well, it was an entertaining occasion. The very next day there was no such anger between them. Repeating this procedure, I completed the experiment. It went more than successfully.

 With a small pop, the book closed. Having put it on the coffee table, I stretched (a purely psychological move. There was no physical need for this) and went out.

 Something tells me this is about to get very interesting.

 *****