Chapter 18
Snape had been shamelessly deducting points from everyone but his snakes all spring. The boys grumbled, but they seemed to have been persuaded not to seek justice. The headmaster openly sided with the young specialist. So the badgers' motto became — to be, not to appear. Despite these annoying little things, the mood was positive. They prepared for the exams in a friendly way: the older ones actively helped the younger ones, at the same time remembering and understanding the topics better themselves.
Everything was as in the anecdote. One explained it once, two began to understand it. The technique of learning by teaching did not fail and gave very noticeable results. Just kidding, seven- and five-year-old students became much less nervous. The others too.
By the end of May the house was ready. Of course, there was still a lot to do, but the main thing was that it was ready to live in. Anna was eager to see the result, but the second years were not allowed to go to Hogsmeade on weekends, so she had to be content with memories in the Pensieve. I have to say, since she realized how to use it, she had adjusted her decorating and finishing plans quite sensibly. In terms of artifacting, I had to switch to the domestic theme. I created an analog of a refrigerator, a kitchen stove, a lot of magical plumbing. A lot, in general, of not particularly complex artifacts to make. When I returned to my projects, I was surprised to find that the work became easier.
Still, experience and skill should be gained gradually, moving from simple to complex, rather than creating something new and contrived. I planted two dozen new magic plants in the HECC. It is necessary to conduct extensive tests and measurements. After all, I'm going to claim mastery in several areas at once. Without an apprenticeship and due to my young age, I'll be doubly demanding. And I can't fail. The retest is only five years away, and the attitude will be biased. But I can't avoid it anyway.
June came and the exams started. In a few weeks, the junior classes had ended, and now they ran around the castle and through the old corridors all day, jiggling happily and risking breaking their necks on the magic staircases. The elders wandered ghostly with piles of books and notes. Empty stares and inarticulate mumbling were the norm. Session, what can I say?
For me, it was one of the most liberating times I've had in years. Absolute memory, plus a solid practice of sorcery on the one hand, and the duties of a headman reduced to almost nothing on the other. Not an exam period, just a solid vacation. Judging by the scraps of thoughts and feelings of the people around me, many of them wanted to feed me sugarless lemon. But what can I do, my lips spread into a smile when I see my classmates mumbling with freshly-made infernals. I had to run to Hogsmeade from time to time so as not to provoke them. And I'd do little chores around the house.
During one of these absences, when I had a few days left to pass my final exam, I decided to modify the fence at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It wasn't anything like that, just changing the pattern to a denser one so the little things couldn't get in, and putting some deterrent charms on it. It should only take about twenty minutes. I pulled out my two wands, raised my hands to begin weaving the spells, looked around the front of the work, and stumbled into a pair of eyes with vertical pupils. I didn't have time to be scared or do anything.
A cocktail of feelings of surprise, recognition, and a kind of canine glee hit my brain. It hit me so hard that all my shields were blown away, my eyes were a blur, and other people's emotions became my own. The ability to think more or less came back in about ten minutes when I found myself in the rings of a giant snake. "I shouldn't have paid attention to Chimerology," a sensible thought flashed through my mind. So I leafed through the textbooks of the founders' time, supplemented by enthusiasts in the thirteenth century, and put them aside. In modern magical England, this direction has already been pursued for six centuries, and that's a pity. Who knew that the transfigured serpent, fed on magic-soaked spiders, would repair the changes introduced? How many did she eat in the nest? Dozens at least, and then I guess she didn't eat grass. Look how big she's gotten.
It wasn't hard to make contact with a twenty-five-meter-long mutated magic viper. After all, my magic had made it what it was. Parseltongue, or snake language, is not necessary for those who possess mental magic. In general, I came to the conclusion that it was something like a magical gift, but highly specialized and with a side effect of hissing. What exactly is a magical gift? Simply put, it is an analog of a dominant gene. Or rather, the whole group, only its nature is energetic.
The possessor of such, on an intuitive level, feels some manifestations of magical currents. For example, without any knowledge, he can brew a potion, perform a ritual, even create a runic necklace. Most likely, the result will be worse than that of a talented but knowledgeable person, but there is one very important point. When creating something fundamentally new, such wizards are indispensable.
For example, someone has invented a super potion at the level of an idea. In order to put it into practice, it is necessary to do a lot of calculations and a fair amount of experimentation, or you can just decide on the rough composition of the ingredients and the order of their interaction. To give this raw result to possess and develop the gift of potion maker, to get the output in two cases out of three working prototype and a finished recipe. Of course, it will take decades, if not centuries, to perfect and optimize it, but without a gifted, by trial and error, the first version will be obtained in years.
The cost and the sheer amount of wasted ingredients can't be mentioned. A magical gift or predisposition is a solid bonus. For someone who is not lazy and develops. In principle, every magician manifests something like this over time, a professional instinct so to speak, but even the initial innate level of this acquired intuition develops through years of constant practice. And in order to pass it on to descendants, one must work with full dedication for tens of years. Either perform a ritual of invoking magic or, alternatively, create something serious. Like building a mansion from scratch. Either way, I'm hoping to get something from her as a reward for my work.
No one really knows what Magic is. There are many theories, but confirmation is a mess. One difference to the Muggle gods — any wizard can make sure of her existence in reality. Moreover, it behaves like a mindless element, or a rational being of incredible power. As they say, it is clear that nothing is clear. Even its laws are like safety instructions, derived not so much by logic and reason, but empirically. Literally written in blood. She herself, as an intelligent force, never intervenes openly and clearly on her own initiative. But there is always an opportunity to appeal. But the one who takes the risk often has to be scraped off the walls. And this is one of the most successful variants of unsuccessful communication.
The main thing is that it is absolutely unclear why she helped here and punished there. Some patterns are only identified in a very small number of, let's say, standard questions and requests and translated into the format of rituals. And no one can guarantee that everything will go well. That is why magicians follow the old army principle: closer to the kitchen, away from the bosses.
Guzar, as I decided to call the snake, since the viper turned out to be a male, turned out to be somehow wrong. Imperio, or something like that, affected him so much. Through sensations of communication I realized that he was not a ruthless killer and cold, emotionless reptile, but a service dog. Apparently, I's set behavioral rules for the subordinates. Good thing he doesn't try to wag his tail. The intelligence of the snake is not very good. Its intelligence is about the same as that of a house-elf, and its performance and loyalty seem to be about the same. It's usefulness is probably less so.
It's not a basilisk, it doesn't kill with a glance, it doesn't have a skin that ignores most spells, its poison hasn't been tested, but it's hardly outstanding, though everything is possible here. In fact, of the outstanding parameters — naked physical strength. It is clear that in a set with natural flexibility, speed and reaction, but snakes, in general, in these parameters are not record breakers. Although they are undoubtedly in the top of the best. I think I want too much, the snake, you know, does not suit him, not to compare with the basilisk. I'm not a bloody Salazar Slytherin myself. Besides, I don't have a huge castle school here, just a modest family nest. Let Guzik guard it.