Chapter 209

After breakfast, we went safely to our own activities: me, to the Chamber of Secrets; Hermione, to her lessons.

When I got to the dungeons and entered the tent, I found Delphine there in her customary pantsuit.

"That was entertaining," she smiled, sitting down at her desk. "As I understand it, you seem to have decided exactly how the second task will be conducted. How do you plan to handle it?"

"There was a thought of creating a portkey," I sat down in my seat across from Lady Greengrass.

"It won't help. Even if you're right, don't you think the hypothetical kidnapped person would be searched? There are, of course, extreme ways to hide things, but I don't think it's even worth suggesting to a girl. And I don't think it's a good idea for a guy, either..."

"Mm-hmm. Is there any possibility that it will be at the ball that the target is finally determined?"

"There's always a possibility, no matter what event you're considering. I understand you want to keep the girl safe, but is it necessary?"

At such a question, I only raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Judge for yourself. She is a very capable girl. At this point, she could have been champion herself, and had she thrown her name into the cup instead of you, I'm sure Hermione would have been in the tournament. She's capable of securing her own. But even taking your theory about the second task as true, do you really doubt yourself so much? Do you think you can't get her out of the bottom of the lake?"

"I don't doubt myself. I just don't want to put her in danger."

"You won't get anything by being overprotective, but you'll get a lot by trusting. Speaking of the lake and theories. Have you figured out how not to breathe underwater for an hour, I hope?"

"Bubble-Head Charm, partial or full transfiguration, Gillyweed, hmmm... By the way, teacher, is there any battle transgression underwater?"

"Do you know how to perform that transfiguration trick?"

"No. But you can teach it, right?"

Delphine smiled.

"I will. Anyway, someone who positions himself as a battle mage needs to know this. In fact, I've planned such training, but let's start with the apparation."

"I already know how."

"And why didn't I doubt it? But I need to check it out. Let's go."

Delphine got up from the table, picked up one of the bags in the corner of the tent hall, and went outside. So I followed her.

"Look," Lady Greengrass said, taking a small hoop out of the bag and enlarging it to the size of a hula hoop, placing it on the stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets. "You stand in this circle."

Delphine walked a dozen yards and pulled out another hoop. After doing the same manipulation with it, she swiped her wand next to the circle.

"Apparate into that circle."

Without further ado, I visualized the spot, released my magic, and spun around, finding myself inside the circle.

"I see. Clearly and smoothly," Delphine nodded, heading toward the first circle.

"But Hogwarts doesn't allow apparation."

"Through those circles, you can. But they have to be in direct line of sight of each other and no further than fifteen meters. They were specially created in the Ministry a hundred years ago, to conduct the apparation training in the seventh year without having to remove and re-raise Hogwarts defenses."

"I see. How will I learn battle transgression?"

"First theory, then practice. Nothing new."

I was given two hours of theory, and it wasn't a textbook but visual examples of the partial transfiguration of different objects. It turns out that transgression is one of the most complex transfiguration disciplines. It studies not just the transfiguration of matter but the transfiguration of space and dimensions. Not those dimensions that are parallel. For clarity, Delphine showed battle transgression, and unlike apparation, it is allowed at Hogwarts because there was no such technique in the founders' time. When it appeared about sixty years ago, the Ministry and the Governors did not give the money for a comprehensive defense upgrade. They, by the way, already finance Hogwarts basically just paying salaries, maintaining a minimum supply, and by antiquated laws paying tuition for certain categories of students. That's it. All the rest of the money Dumbledore looks for himself, and a lot of it is produced within the castle walls. But that's not what we're talking about now.

Delphine may be a master of transfiguration, but such a trick as transgression requires a wand in hand. Anyway, Lady Greengrass twisted her wand around its axis, and the woman's entire figure seemed to sink in heavy black smoke. Inside this smoke, dark vertical lines slid from time to time, like in sci-fi movies with teleportation. Out of the smoke appeared, now and then, for a brief moment, a face, an arm, or half a torso at once.

"Go around," Delphine's voice echoed somehow from over the edge.

I walked around the smoking figure and what surprised me was that no matter which side I looked from, I always saw the full face of Delphine, and she was always looking at me.

"It's hard to explain," Lady Greengrass continued in a hushed voice. "But in reality, I am only present in two dimensions and time. Though from the outside, it may seem that the smoke has a volume."

"And how do you see?"

Delphine rose into the air and began to fly around in black smoke, leaving a plume. If you looked closely, this smoke was indeed wrong, but what exactly was wrong was unclear.

"All at once. Completely circular vision," she said. " At the same time, I can still conjure with or without my wand."

For a brief moment, a hand with a wand appeared out of the smoke, and on reflex, I pulled mine out and held out Protego Totalum. The Stupefy beam struck the shield, shattering helplessly.

"You noticed something?"

"For a moment, it seemed as if the hand with the wand had become material."

"It did."

The smoke flew close to me, and now I could see Delphine's face much more clearly. It did seem flat, but not like a picture - each eye saw a different plane, creating a strange illusion of deformation.

"For witchcraft with a wand, you have to materialize your hand and wand in reality. But without the wand..."

The black smoke sent a slight shockwave, pushing me half a meter away. After standing up, I looked at the smoke again.

"It's possible to stay in this state without a wand. Pros - material attacks have no effect, and nonmaterial attacks - only very strong. Avada hits the target, I tell you right away. But everything that has to do with the effect on the matter does not. Curses that have an abstract notion of harm rather than a concrete one, like Reducto, work great."

Delphine canceled the spell and appeared in her quite familiar form.