19

You know, using clones to get around... it's an obvious idea, but it has a lot of drawbacks.

I was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace in my room in the new building, disgustedly slurping down some restorative and invigorating potions. When I turned my head to the mirror, I saw a boy in a wizard's robe, his head a mess and his eyes red from burst capillaries. I no longer resembled a boy, but rather an infernal pretending to be a boy.

Sighing, and putting the bottle of refreshment aside, I used Inanna's minor healing and a few more spells from the healing schools. Although I could see the improvement in the mirror, I was still mentally and physically tired. I was able to get a little more energy by speeding up the chakra flow in my body. Not much, but enough to crawl into bed.

Why is that? Because I'm an idiot! I had so much on my plate that I was physically incapable of doing it all and keeping up. That's why I found a way out, I thought at the time. Yes, exactly, shadow cloning. I had created five clones and was able to do everything in time, but... when it came to distributing the clones, I was literally knocked out at my desk for the first time. I also got to meet my own fire elf, who was there at the time. He was the one who fixed me up when my nose, eyes and ears were bleeding. And my brain almost suffered a stroke. How I survived, I have no idea, but I did, and I'm glad I did. I was able to regain my senses, so I did a series of healing and restoring spells and techniques. Until I felt acceptable enough to crawl into my bedroom and fall into bed. The next day, looking at the pile of things that awaited me, I created two clones with an inner tension and an ineffable sigh, and asked them to discount my memory every hour, which they agreed to do, not looking particularly energetic or cheerful either. I was busy with a lot of paperwork and projects, stocking up on potions and putting a lot of healing spells into my aura.

After an hour, I received the first portion of clone memory and found it acceptable, but four hours later, when clone memory came back to me, I yawned and felt tired and sleepy. And in the fifth hour, I began to hobble for a pick-me-up, as drowsiness and fatigue returned with a vengeance. Why does this happen? Simple - each clone, and there are two of them, was doing its job, and each hour they were giving me the memory, so why should I be tired, right? And so, for my brain and body, one hour became three. In other words, five hours of my wakefulness became fifteen hours for my brain and my fatigue. Do you understand now? By the tenth hour, when the memory of the clones returned, the potions could no longer help me, and I fainted at the table. Since it was not ten hours for me, but thirty at the same time...

I came up with a fairly simple solution: I put fifteen clones to sleep, and every three hours two clones would wake up and, after scattering, cheer me up and allow me to continue working, even compensating for my lack of sleep. So I was able to support myself and four other clones for three days without sleep and feel quite acceptable. And so it went.

Now, before I went out on my own, I set up a real dormitory in my room with a pile of futons for the clones to sleep on. There were even two armchairs, a bed for four clones and the whole floor. And that was where the clones slept, hidden away.

I went into my office and found my fire elf secretary, a pile of documents to sign and check, and a strange box containing six different coloured stones.

- What kind of stones? - asked the elf, quietly sitting down in a chair before changing his size and shape. Chakra and a slightly modified Henge do wonders for my comfort.

- These are the stones of selection, my lord. Each one represents a faculty. The purple and gold, for example, contains information about students who wish to enter Gryffindor. The black and green is Slytherin, and so on. Gold and black are the stones for the higher faculties. Incidentally, the last two faculties have seen a huge increase in enrolments. There are eighty-four wizards enrolled in Drago, and, not surprisingly, a large number wanting to enroll in Darnm, but slightly fewer than in Drago. Fifty-nine mages in total. Many have come from outside Britannia. There are only four mages from abroad for next year, and this is a sad state of affairs, as we do not know how many children will come from Britain. We need at least ten students per faculty.

- This could easily be solved at the expense of Muggleborns. Send goblins under Henge to look for gifted children. Don't worry about the hardened idiots of the purebloods, they don't want to send their children here to study, so be my guest. After the first year, when they see the effectiveness of the new Hogwarts education, they'll be biting their heads off for not sending their children here.

- Great, Muggleborns aren't hard to find, but what about the fees? Not all of them can afford the fees at New Hogwarts. And they can't afford the old one, to be honest.

- No problem with that," he shrugged. - Introduce a system of scholarships and free tuition for those students who will do well. Test new students for intelligence and perseverance. Those who don't want to study don't belong here. Why give a chance to those who don't want it and don't understand what we can give them? But first, talk to the children about the prospects of studying here. By the way, what about the Muggle teachers?

- We have found them, and they are quite qualified. Most of them are Squibs, who have been promised a different way of developing magic, so that they can master it, but on different principles.

- Yes. It's amazing, by the way, that in this world mages can be born as squibs. I guess their parents didn't really bother with purifying magic rituals. Personally, though, I was more surprised that Squibs have magic, but are simply unable to use the usual schools of witchcraft. But they are quite good at chakra techniques. They are not at the level of the Genii, of course, but even that is enough to lift their heads and stop feeling handicapped. And growth beyond themselves is also possible. It is quite possible that in a few years this world will have its first Jonins. By the way, what about the squib school?

- They've already built a separate building with all the testing facilities near the Forbidden Forest. Many of the new students will be able to practice gathering herbs and ingredients, as well as hunting down particularly dangerous creatures from the depths of the forest.

- Excellent, excellent. I am pleased with your work and that of the Gremlins. Give them my thanks.

- Thank you, my lord. The goblins will be pleased to hear your praise.

- By the way, how many goblins have joined the new school?

- Many, my lord. Strange as it may seem, there aren't too few Squibs. Only a hundred have enrolled at the moment, due to mistrust, but after the first year and their demonstration of the new magic, there will be hundreds more for the next school year. Many are encouraged that they are not handicapped, but simply special magicians who need a completely new approach to learning.

- Good," I nodded and picked up the piles of papers. There was a lot of work to be done...

And in the classroom, in the Transfiguration class, the clone yawned and cursed the base for taking on so much...

At the new Squib School, the clone, in the form of a blonde man with a birthmark on his cheek that looked remarkably like a moustache and wearing Jonin equipment, transcribed his knowledge of Genin chakra techniques onto worksheets, and then there was a textbook waiting for him for the future. Already for the Chuunin. And then for Tokubetsu Jonin.

Another blond man in the dungeon of the Gringots showed shinobi hobgoblins who wanted to learn the new taijutsu katas, and in two hours, they would move on to a classroom for chakra training and basic ninjutsu techniques.

In one of Ligran's main offices, a blue-eyed but clean-cheeked blond man sat at the director's desk, busy jotting down his knowledge of future technologies, management and everything he knew about business, while in the corridor, at the secretary's desk, a young secretary sighed as she saw her boss for the first time, who happened to be such a young and damn good-looking guy...