Chapter 16. Preparation

— Well, everyone's here. We can start," I said, after which the chatter stopped, and twenty-three heads of freshmen looked at me.

I was next to the teacher's desk in our class, and others were sitting at their desks, huddled together. The boys and girls from Gryffindor were sitting very close, and only Hermione took a single seat in the distance. There were companies of crows and badgers in the center, and Draco Malfoy was sitting impressively at the end desk against the wall.

"These are all those who agreed to take part in the director's trial," I began my speech, "while the others were just scared, you volunteered to participate in this dangerous venture. Please know that any of you can spend time with us Gryffindors after lessons in this class. I also have this," I showed an orange coupon, "after our meeting is over, we will have a feast here and invite all of you to join it at our expense.

There was a satisfied buzz from crows and badgers around the hall, and Gryffindors smiled amiably at their classmates, feeling their own involvement in this generosity.

— Cool! Roger exclaimed, pleased, "is there enough for everyone?"

"Yes, this time we took a feast for twenty—four portions," I replied to the boy.

Malone was eventually persuaded to agree. At first, he refused, but as soon as I put into the boy's mind how cool he would be compared to his cowardly ravenclaw classmates, he could not resist the temptation to brag about future achievements involving his own bravery, and agreed.

I was able to lure Hopkins from the badgers, followed by Michael Korner, with words about loyalty to classmates and commitment to a common cause, from the failure of which everyone will suffer. I even had to remind him of that first herbology lesson, and scold him that almost all the badger girls, as well as half of the boys, agreed to take part in the test. Because of all this, Wayne couldn't stand my pressure and eventually responded positively too.

— But first, — I interrupted the impatient flow of anticipation of delicious food from the freshmen, — we will discuss our goals for the remaining six months, during which we need to prepare as much as possible for what awaits us on the third floor. Does anyone have any idea what we might be up against? I asked the guys.

I was really wondering if they had their own assumptions, and if they echoed my guesses.

— Maybe you'll have to fight some opponents again, like on Halloween? Seamus suggested innocently.

"I think so too," I agreed with my friend, "so necessity number one: each of us needs to learn at least a couple of spells that can be used in battle.

— And how to study them? Jack Spinks asked, and Megan and Jerry supported her question, "the textbooks don't explain the strokes, and the seniors won't teach us.

"I already know how to use the Depulso that Flitwick showed us. Seamus can do it too, and Harry, — I decided not to mention Hermione, so as not to cause a scandal - the Gryffindors still treated the traitorous girl very badly, - The spell, although difficult to learn, but it helped us survive Halloween, and some of you saw for yourself how Seamus used it, helping undergraduates.

Finnigan was not at all embarrassed by his mention, and began to share with the others how cool and epic that battle was. I managed to calm him down, and I continued:

— We will teach it to everyone, only your diligence is needed. As for the other combat charms... Well, I have an idea about that, too. And even if I don't like her, we simply have no choice. We'll discuss this later. So, what else can we expect?

There was silence in the office, and the guys couldn't think of any specifics.

"I have a theory," Hermione said quietly from her seat.

"They didn't ask the rats," Ron snapped back, and Lavender agreed with him. For some reason, it was these two who held the strongest grudge against the girl.

— Okay, calm down! If you have a good idea, then tell me, Hermione," Ron muttered and frowned in response to my words, but I was not going to go along with him and lose a useful ally in our business. Even if many guys don't like it, but I'm going to make sure that Hermione doesn't contact us too often, so as not to cross that invisible line of dissatisfaction with other students, if violated, there would be a split in our team.

The girl was offended by Ron's words, but she quickly pulled herself together, and began to speak in a calm, quiet voice:

— We should not be given something impossible or too difficult for the first year. It is quite possible that there will be all sorts of tasks that are related to the school curriculum. On the knowledge of what we have passed during the year, and on what we have learned in the additional literature that the professors recommend us to study.

— How are the exams? Sophie Roper asked, perplexed.

—Yes, you could say that," Hermione agreed.

It was a pretty good idea, especially since in the canon, in fact, it was with the devil's snares. Only the rest of the tests focused more on the secondary skills of the students, such as flying on a broomstick or playing chess.

Although, in the book it was generally intended to protect the Philosopher's stone, but in this case it was too weak, since even freshmen could overcome it.

I don't think it's appropriate to compare my knowledge of what I once read and the reality in this case. There are too many possibilities for interpreting the events of the book in this case, and, alas, I do not know the exact answer.

— Well, I agree with this probability. I've been thinking about it too. But with the existing workload, none of us will be able to memorize all the subjects at once, and even more so to touch on the topics of all the additional books on the topic. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the directions among themselves. Someone will focus on herbology, someone on transfiguration. Some will study the dark arts, while others will study enchantments. Does everyone agree? Then, let's choose.

Thus, I managed to motivate the freshmen to study a specific subject. Moreover, it was decided to allocate a certain lesson to each group of students, which they will jointly take place in their own circle.

— Hermione. You have a special assignment," I said when most of the applied subjects were distributed among the freshmen, "since we all know about the possibilities of your memory, you will have a history of magic and Muggle studies. Study everything you can find in these disciplines.

The girl took note of her task, and I breathed a sigh of relief. On the one hand, her subjects don't look particularly important compared to the others, and thus she doesn't have some super-serious responsibility that the rest of the students wouldn't like. On the other hand, I managed to come up with a task for the girl that she can perform and bring at least some benefit, without interacting with other freshmen.

I was already beginning to have doubts that including Hermione in this whole thing was a good idea. I clearly underestimated how vindictive and cruel children can be.

Neither my leadership nor my arguments saved the girl from the prejudice of other Gryffindor freshmen, except perhaps Neville.

My explanations alone were not enough for the children. They were waiting for redemption from the girl herself, which would be expressed in some serious act, which would eventually show everyone around them sincere remorse for the mistake they had made.

It is quite possible that I will never be able to reconcile Granger with the faculty, no matter how much I strive to do so. Because the girl had to cope with it on her own.

The rest of the meeting was quite successful, and we managed to find a use for each student. Even the slightly lazy Ron was put in charge of the magic chess, which he managed to bring back to school from the winter holidays. Still, if there is Fluff here, then maybe other tests will coincide with the original ones? It was necessary to consider such a possibility as quite possible.

Yes, it was unrealistic to find out in advance what awaits us on the third floor. So we had to prepare for them in very general terms, which could not bring any advantage at all. However, I simply did not have any other plan, and it was not worth hoping for a chance at Hogwarts, even more so.

What is magic?

This was not explained to the freshmen. The textbook on the history of magic gave dates of all sorts of events in the magical world and descriptions of the lives of famous wizards of antiquity, but nothing was said about magic itself as a phenomenon.

Even in the additional literature of the library, I found only a few books on the topic of its nature and origin, but all of them were somehow free theories of the authors, in which they fantasized rather than carried out scientific analysis.

Maybe Muggles have been able to take the study of magic more seriously? It's possible, but I'm unlikely to be able to find similar works. Certainly not on the territory of Great Britain and its allies, where wizards logically should stop this.

Even though the topic of magic tormented my mind, I had to admit that I would not get answers to such global questions. Moreover, all my arguments eventually became a useless waste of thought processes that did not bring any conclusions or foreseeable help.

I admit, at the beginning of the year, for some reason it seemed to me that if I studied this issue from the very foundations of the local universe, how secret secrets and practices would flow in a torrent into my immense pocket of curiosity called "head".

Occlumency? Meditation and Zen are ready! You can build castles in your own mind, and no mind readers will get there.

Memorizing complex spells? To learn a phrase, strain the fifth point - and you can throw right and left almost unforgivable curses, becoming the coolest student in this village.

Wandless magic? Furrow your brows, feel the magic in your body - and voila! You can surprise everyone and everything with your own exclusivity...

What nonsense it was.

It's a good thing that studying at Hogwarts erased all this crap from me quickly enough.

In fact, it was much more productive to learn the basics and memorize well-known truths and attitudes. I could at least consider myself smarter than all generations of wizards combined until I was blue in the face and look for my "special path" that would give me omnipotent power, but this would remain only my shameful lazy fantasies.

They didn't know about any magic core here. There was no information about any reserve of magical energy in all the books found, even in passing. The very existence of ephemeral "mana" has never been heard of here.

Of course, maybe all this is present in this world, but it is a particularly secret secret of some organization of the most powerful magicians in the world. However, I am more inclined to the option where all this is fiction from the fantasy I read in a previous life, and the secrets of magic are at a much deeper level, where wizards, no matter how talented they may be, will not be able to reach with all their desire.

In fact, Professor Flitwick was right in his first class, and all existing magic was some form of Enchantment.

The use of magic by a wizard in a known way to obtain a supernatural result, whether it is the transfiguration of an animal, the enchantment of an object or the curse of an opponent. It was all a charm.

But did someone come up with the spells we're going through? Did someone manage to create their own charms, that is, to direct magic along a channel invented by themselves, shaping its energy into a certain result? Or did talented creators discover new methods of using magic power through trial and error, not creating something new, but reaching an existing one? I'm afraid that in order to answer this question, I will have to delve into the topic of creating spells much deeper, which will not happen soon at all.

We knew everything that young wizards needed to know about magic in order to use it. A wave of a wand, a verbal formula and concentration are the main postulates for the implementation of the magic being created.

However, it turned out to be much more difficult to create spells than I imagined from watching movies and reading books. It was only after casting my first spell for the first time that it became crystal clear to me how difficult real magic is.

It would seem that a simple wave of a wand and the pronunciation of a spell in the Roman or Greek manner, after which magic should happen... But not everything was so easy and simple.

To begin with, it should be understood that any contour that the wand draws in the air must be perfect: not only repeat the curved lines of the created symbol to the nearest degree, but also start and finish it in the right place.

Next is the very phrase of the spell. It should also be pronounced perfectly. Sometimes too strong an accent or speech defects play a cruel joke with the student, which is why the spells simply do not come out.

The best example is Mandy Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw. The girl, along with the rest of the freshmen, learned spells in class and coped quite well with this task, but in November, during the passage of the obstacle course, a stick shaft flew straight into her face. Nothing particularly terrible happened-it just knocked out one of Mandy's front teeth. It would seem to be a simple case in the local realities, and in its place a new molar was already beginning to grow. However, from that moment on, all the spells learned from the girl stopped working from the word at all. And so it went on until the new tooth grew enough for the girl to speak normally again, without lisp.

The third factor in the success of the spell being cast was the success of the interaction between pronunciation and swing. That is, each syllable of the verbal formula had to be combined with a certain part of the swing in order to finish both actions simultaneously and harmoniously. Because of this, we could not cast spells faster - then in most cases we simply did not have time to draw the required symbol with such speed and consistency, or did it in a hurry, which caused the contour to be distorted and simply did not work.

Well, the last, but not least, condition was concentration. I still would not be able to describe in normal language how to fold my convolutions in my head in order to focus on the charms being created. It was beyond human understanding - this state can only be felt with the ability to magic, but explaining how to do it to another was still a challenge.

All these subtleties in the usual waving of a wand with the pronunciation of magic words made learning new spells quite difficult. In this case, regular constant practice was not enough, on the contrary, it was harmful if the spell you were studying had never worked. After all, if so, then with new attempts you will increasingly clog up your reflex memory with an erroneous formula or a wave, after which it will be much more difficult to retrain in the right way.

Yes, there were more advanced possibilities in magic, such as non-verbal magic, where it was no longer necessary to say spells out loud. And once Professor Flitwick even said a few words about how you can learn to conjure not only without words, but also without strokes.

However, all this was so far from my knowledge and skills in magic that I did not even try to climb there. I would like to fully understand and learn the basics before drilling into the granite of magical disciplines with my curiosity.

To begin with, it was simply necessary to learn how to perform the spell perfectly so that you could do it at least once, but it worked. And for that, you needed someone who would tell you exactly what you were doing wrong. A wizard who can do this spell himself.

And only then could you start training, honing your own skills to perfection and teaching others the jagged charms. Perfection consisted in hammering in a formula combined with the right swing to the level of reflexes - so that upon waking up you would immediately be able to bend the brush and pronounce the spell so that it would work.

It was these limitations in the study of magic that led me to an additional lesson from Professor Lupin in early spring.

I needed to learn something from combat magic. Something that can be used against your opponents. And either Flitwick or Lupin could have taught me the appropriate spells, since the other professors, as I assumed, were focused on slightly different disciplines.

I would have taken a lesson from Miss Charity, but this, alas, could not be done, since household magic was not considered a full-fledged lesson, but rather a kind of additional courses.

And if the half-goblin specialized more in enchantment, or in harmless charms-Depulso was the pre-Halloween exception, then the professor of dark arts could teach me spells that were really useful in facing enemies. That's right for the first year.

And plus, despite the fact that Lupin beat me up like that back in October, during periods when the moon in the sky was far from full, the professor remained the same kind and responsive teacher whom we met at the beginning of our studies.

He may not have apologized for his breakdown, but he was quite friendly with me, as he was with all the other students. Fortunately, my fears of becoming a constant punching bag in the dark arts did not come true, which is why I decided to take an additional lesson.

I guessed the moment when the previous full moon had already passed, and there was still a lot of time before the next one to find the professor in the best possible condition.

While the rest of the students left with my key to the classroom, I headed to the dark arts room, for my sixth lesson, on which I spent all the points accumulated after the holidays.

The lesson has passed... Not bad. It was so good that when in one single lesson I managed to learn "Petrificus Totalus", that is, a paralyzing spell, I hastily began to accumulate points for the purchase of a new one, intending to learn also "Finite Incantatem" as a general counter-spell.

I remembered how Olivia had used it on that monkey, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make the right swing, and it was possible that I had somehow mistakenly stretched the syllables of the spell's verbal formula.

Yes, Professor Lupin asked me directly what exactly I wanted from him. That is, literally, I laid out my desires to him, and he offered to teach me paralyzing charms, which were not too complicated, and at the same time met all my requirements for the effect produced. Everything turned out to be quite simple - to be honest, I expected that teachers in additional classes would teach more comprehensively and at their discretion, as it happens in the classroom.

And so the days, weeks and months passed at Hogwarts, and the closer summer approached, the more nervous our part of the freshmen became, the more worried they were about the upcoming hike into the unknown.

May 30th.

— Kyle, maybe you shouldn't? — Harry Potter asked me once again, together with whom we were walking towards the forester's hut.

— Harry, calm down. Hagrid won't do anything to us. I understand that he did terrible things to your uncle, but didn't he treat you normally? Well, then cheer up, be friendly with him and don't show your fear.

— You just didn't see it... — the boy replied to my words, completely saddened.

— Understand, we have already tried everything possible, — I replied to him, — none of the parents sent the package - Dumbledore probably tried his best. We searched everything in the castle, but we never found what we needed. Yes, even Filch, and he spread his hands! I'm pretty sure this dog belongs to Hagrid, which means he probably has some kind of musical instrument. We won't even be able to get there without him, and the exams are already in less than a month!

— Yes, I understand, I understand... It's just creepy for me to talk to this giant again," Harry confessed to me, "you don't understand what to expect from him at all. He seems to be good-natured, but that boy died because of him, just like my uncle.

— And after that, he didn't come across us in any way. I believe in you, you will survive this meeting.

I tried to support the boy as much as I could, but he still remained quite nervous. What can you do - Harry and Hagrid are unlikely to become friends. Certainly not in this reality.

The two of us reached the hut and I knocked on the door. It was decided not to take any more students with me, and I took Harry only because he is supposedly an expensive person for the giant. Well, or so it seemed to me, adjusted for the intelligence and the forester's tricks. And the attitude towards the value of life. And on other twists of his brain, no matter how many of them have accumulated there.

— Wait, I'm coming, I'm coming... There were heavy footsteps inside, which made the hut seem to shake and shake all over.

— Hey, Harry! — Hagrid was delighted at the sight of us, and his frowning features instantly smoothed out, — I thought you would never come to me. And did you bring a friend?

— Hello, Hagrid. I'm Kyle Golden, Harry and I are in the same year and faculty," I made the most friendly face. Compared to him, we looked like mere crumbs, which are barely tall enough to reach his stomach.

— Well, come on in, I really haven't cleaned up, but nothing, I'm going to make tea now, let's chat, yes...

The hut looked cozy enough, but everything was ruined by the mess and widespread dirt on the floor. It wasn't that it was directly impossible to be here, but Hagrid couldn't be called a clean giant either. I definitely wouldn't sleep here, only if there was no other way out.

— Students don't often come to me, they're afraid of me, probably, I'm so big compared to them, hehe, - Hagrid hit his stomach with his big hand, thereby indicating his own size, — help yourself, — he pointed to a container with some gingerbread.

—Thank you,— I replied, as Harry was silent and looked at the floor, "we actually came on business. You see, Mr. Hagrid, Harry needs help.

The giant frowned:

— Who offends you? Or is the magic not working? I'm unlikely to be able to help with this, you know, I can't get involved in the educational process of students. Professors exist for this.

— No, no. We will deal with this ourselves. The fact is that Harry needs to participate in the headmaster's trial.

Hagrid waved his hands:

— This is also without me! Dumbledore knows what he's doing, which means the students have to figure it out for themselves.

— But we already guessed. And they saw how to get to the third floor. There's also a three-headed dog guarding the hatch.

— Fluff? — Hagrid hesitated, — well, yes, a good animal, obedient. And what do you want from me? I have allocated a dog for the needs of the school, all honor according to honor.

"It's just that he's part of Harry's ordeal. And we know that he falls asleep at the sound of music, that is, we have already solved the riddle of the director," I hinted to the giant, "and we just wanted to ask you to lend us the instrument you played to put cerberus to sleep.

—Huh,— Hagrid relaxed, "well, since we've come to everything ourselves, then I can help with that. The main thing for me is that they don't find out anything secret from me. And for the rest, yes, it is possible...

The giant reached into a pile of some things and began to dig into them. From there, all sorts of strays, animal skins, food supplies and clothes flew in all directions... I even had to dodge several times to avoid being hit by another carrot or a giant boot.

— That's it! — he exclaimed after five minutes of searching.

Hagrid came up to us contentedly, and he had a small one on his arm... A snow globe? Not quite a ball, but rather a rounded square, inside of which was a miniature Hogwarts castle.

— Em... Mr. Hagrid, is this exactly what we need? I asked, looking at an ordinary Muggle souvenir by the look of it.

— What? Well, duck, of course! There's a musical pollen inside! A rare thing, by the way. Shake her, and she'll play such a nice tune for thirty minutes. Here, listen," with these words, Hagrid shook the thing, and Hogwarts inside began to crumble with some kind of brown ashes.

And the music began to be heard! Right from under the glass sounded the same melody that I had heard many times when watching Harry Potter movies!

"Hey, Kyle, do you know her?" — Hagrid asked me, — there you are, singing along to the beat of the motives.

- yes... I've heard it somewhere," I said absently, "could you lend us this thing?" We will definitely return it at the end of the year.

— Yes, take it away, — the giant said carelessly, after which he threw this magical thing at us, almost hitting Harry right in the forehead, in that very scar. If the boy had not managed to dodge, then it is quite possible that he would even have passed out because of such a blow. Well, or got rid of the horcrux, hehe.

— Thank you very much! Well, shall we go then? — I began to get ready to leave, setting aside a cup of tea, which I had not touched.

— Eh, how is that? Well, stay, tell me better what's going on at your school, like lessons, like grades. I'm interested, Harry! The giant said plaintively. I even felt his loneliness on the outskirts of Hogwarts. Quite a bit.

As a result, we stayed at the giant's house for a whole hour. Hagrid may have been a bit abnormal in matters of morality, but he treated us quite kindly. I mostly shared stories without going into revelations, but just chatting about all sorts of interesting events that happened to me and my classmates this year.

Harry kept silent, but the giant addressed him so persistently that several times he still managed to get Potter to talk. I don't know if Hagrid was aware of the reason for Harry's similar closeness in his company, but there was no sympathy or guilt in the giant's face.

But all our patience in the company of the giant has already been paid off in advance. Finally, the problem with the passage to the tests has been solved! We had this musical thing that would let us go inside!

I hope that it is not in vain that I have been insisting all these months on intensive preparation of all participants for the upcoming events. We may not have become all cool wizards, but the progress compared to who the children were at the beginning of the course was obvious. Even I, and he has changed quite a lot, having settled into this world unfriendly to weaknesses.

All that remained was to go through Dumbledore's idea, and not deprive yourself and your friends of their lives, which during this time became not only Gryffindors, but also students of other faculties. Even Draco, and he has become, in fact, a friend with whom, even if I do not dare to reveal all my cards, I am able to ask for advice or help from him, just like he is from me.

X-day is coming soon. And half of the first-year students will go to the third floor, towards danger.

How many of us will come back?