Chapter 18. The magic of Fleur.

After a successful operation, I wanted to rest, congratulate myself in some way, celebrate the achievement. However, I could not even tell anyone about the business I had done, it would be utter stupidity.

I returned the money I had borrowed from Cortez out of my remaining allowance. I could have returned it immediately, because the money was now there, but it was a conspiracy. Three hundred galleons of maintenance is considerably more than I need. All the purchases for school cost me less than a hundred, and I spent another hundred earlier to buy a ready-made polyjuice potion. And what if personally cooked is not enough? Having paid off the debt, thirty-five galleons, I still had a substantial sum on hand for an ordinary schoolboy.

Unfortunately, I was no ordinary schoolboy, and the sum of eighty-six galleons could not make me happy. In addition, I have a new project on the horizon. I got to my father's memory in the part about making a flying motorcycle. Most of his ideas for this artefact vehicle were formed during his final years at Hogwarts. No, no, he had made it after school, and in some places he lacked some knowledge, understanding of the work and the necessary charms themselves, but the basic principle was clear. There was nothing more difficult than enchanting a broomstick.

However, my hands were itching to replicate the enchanted vehicle. Even if not exactly, because I do not need a cradle, and if possible, try to improve or supplement it, make it better, and not just repeat it.

For all this, I needed to get even more involved in the rituals, as well as take up rune enchantment, as the most durable. A simple enchantment is not comparable to a rune spell in terms of duration, perhaps only death curses approach it, and then, this is a completely different section of magic.

But to buy an owl and write to Cedric, I forgot. And I didn't read the magic newspapers, and I was completely behind the times.

The study went on as usual, it was even nice to live as a simple student of the magic school. There seemed to be no war and no Voldemort in the future. Just the sky. Only the wind. Only joy lies ahead. I may have studied more than most people, but there were some who did as much as I did, even though there was no war for them yet.

Fleur, for some reason, hadn't challenged me to a duel since the beginning of the school year. I was uneasy about it, just a mental breakdown, so I missed communicating with her, even if it was somewhat one-sided.

I sat in the library and studied ways to strengthen the spell, prolong its duration. In addition to the use of runes, there were methods for using potions to impregnate materials, choosing the materials themselves that were made with magic, and using so-called magical substances, which were similar to potions, but were not potions. Fleur suddenly sat down next to me.

"Hi, Blair," she said.

"Hi, Delacour," I said, matching her tone.

The expression on her face, which was a mixture of despair, hope, desire, and resentment with anger and fear, was impossible to understand. Fleur tried to keep her face straight. My ability to sense the other person at the moment was more of a hindrance to understanding what was going on in Fleur's soul than a help.

— What do you do? — What is it? " she asked, apparently hesitating to ask a direct question. I could see that something was bothering her, and she was delaying an important conversation for herself, simply stalling for time.

"This year I decided to study rune magic," I smiled at Fleur, " and also to deepen my knowledge of ritual magic.

Fleur picked up one of the books on my desk and read the headline: Magical Materials and Substances. She arched a brow and looked at me questioningly.

— This is a related topic — - I explained the apparent discrepancy between the topic of the book and the direction I voiced. "Runes are one way to make an enchantment last, and using the right materials is another way to prolong the enchantment.

— So you're interested in a way to extend the spell?" Fleur asked rhetorically.

"Well, yes, — I said. - To create artifacts, you need the effect of long-term enchantment. I don't want my work to disappear by itself in a couple of years.

— So what do you want to do?" Fleur asked.

— My father enchanted a motorcycle after he graduated from Hogwarts, "I said," so that it could fly. I want to repeat this artifact.

"Hmm," Fleur said skeptically. "Is a motorcycle a Muggle vehicle?" Wouldn't it be better to use an ordinary broom? And... do you know who your father is?

I could tell by the accents that she was more interested in my father than in motorcycles and broomsticks.

"My father was from a fairly well — known magical family in Britain," I said carefully, " so every other professor at Hogwarts noted my resemblance to him. Of course, I know who my father is. There's a ninety-nine percent chance it's Sirius Black.

"Black," repeated Fleur, " is a well — known name in France. Why ninety-nine percent instead of a hundred?

— The Blacks are related to many magical families in Britain. My resemblance to the Blacks might be a sign of kinship through other families, or even through the Squibs of the Blacks.

"Could it?" I mean, are you sure that's not true?

"I'm sure my father is Sirius Black," I said.

I could see that the news had a certain effect on Fleur. Up to this point, there may have been some rumors, but for most I was still a talented Muggle-born, and now, I was the heir to the blood of the Blacks, a famous family not only in Britain, but also in France, as it turned out. If earlier she had been interested in me only as a powerful wizard who could become her life partner, apart from simple communication, now I was becoming interested in my belonging to the Blacks.

"Fleur," I said to the girl, no, the Girl now, " I'm interested in learning something about the Vail ability carriers.

Fleur was somewhat startled by my interest, apparently the topic was not the most pleasant for her.

"The thing is, my dean at Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick, has given me a problem," I explained to Fleur, " I don't have enough knowledge to solve it unambiguously. So I thought I'd ask you, because who knows more about the Vail magic carriers than you do?

"And what is that task, Blair?" Delacour asked coldly.

Preferring not to notice the change in her tone, I continued:

"Flitwick is a half-goblin, in case you don't know, he explained to me some of the differences in the magic of humans and magical creatures. In the atrium of the British Ministry of Magic, there is a fountain with a sculptural group depicting magicians who worship wizards. Flitwick drew my attention to the fact that the composition is fundamentally wrong, that a mistake has been made, a deviation from the original plan. Initially, instead of adult wizards, there should have been children.

"Children," said Fleur, " why children?"

"Oh, that's the problem Flitwick asked me to solve," I said, smiling at Fleur, who was interested. — My dean pointed out this detail as a clue to the answer. The second clue was the difference between half-goblins and half-vail, the essence of which he did not reveal to me, saying only that goblins do not have bright racial magical abilities, and in general, goblins are completely wrongly considered a magical race, being in fact a semi-magical people.

I paused, watching Fleur's reaction. At first, she clearly wanted to take offense at me for bringing up the topic of her origin. The Vail part of her family might have been treated much better in France than they would have been in Britain, but there was apparently some friction.

"Well, I don't really know much," Fleur said with a heavy sigh, " some things I know as the daily routine of life, without giving any importance to it, some things were just a necessity for me. What exactly are you interested in?

"Magic outbursts," I asked, " what were they like?"

Fleur was somehow deflated, looking smaller and more vulnerable. I felt sorry for her, angry with myself for hurting Fleur. Even if I didn't fully understand what exactly offended me, but it was clear that the topic itself was quite unpleasant for a girl, or too personal to discuss such a thing with just anyone.

- I'm sorry, Fleur — - I hugged the girl a little, trusting my inner impulse. Fleur smelled pleasantly of mown grass, lime blossom, and something else elusive. — You don't have to answer if you don't like the subject."

"Nothing, Arrakis," Fleur said, pushing me away. The momentary confusion was over, and her composure was restored. "I'll answer it." It's just that I've never really paid attention to this moment. You know that many pureblood wizards look for a mate among the same pureblood wizards, only occasionally choosing a mate among Muggle-borns or wizards from young families.

My mother told me from childhood that I should find a mate from an old family with strong magic, " Fleur confided. — She didn't do it directly, as an indication, but all the time she gave some examples, or emphasized something, highlighting old families. I can't change myself. Even when I was very young, I judged people in one way or another by certain parameters, the main of which was the ability to resist the charm of Vail.

You asked me about my magical emissions, " Fleur said, sounding sad, either asking or challenging. — Well, I had my magical outbursts in the form of a Vail charm. Ordinary wizards always have different ones — I know that, but I had all the outliers in the form of charm.

My grandmother's hair is in my magic wand. Other magical substances obey my magic very poorly. The dragon's heartstring, perhaps the most common core, obeys me with grief in half. The phoenix feather is even worse than the dragon vein… I won't even talk about the other cores.

My magic, even though it has become more human, still has a lot of Vail magic in it. In Britain, people like me are treated like semi-animals. My grandmother would have been very ill there. Your ministry has severely restricted the rights of the magical races, making them completely disenfranchised.

"They don't treat Muggle — borns very well in Britain, either," I said. "Believe me, I know. Even in Gryffindor, a faculty that is considered a defender of progressive views and mores, Muggle-borns are considered poor, feeble-minded and inferior. I'm sorry for interrupting you. - Taking advantage of Fleur's depressed state and providing support, I gave her a little hug. "If you're in Britain, you can expect the kindest treatment from me," I smiled and let her go, although Fleur didn't mind being so close right now. — You seem to me a good man, much better than many Englishmen, and as for the problem Flitwick has set, you have helped me a great deal in solving it. It is now clear to me that only the magic of wizards is capable of such great variety and versatility, and the ban on the use of wands by goblins makes some sense, although it is very scanty.

— Why is it scanty? Fleur asked.

"Goblins rarely go outside their dungeons —" I explained, " and no one will know what they do in the depths of their habitats. If goblins are in some way similar to humans and can use wands, then none of the wizards will know about the violation of the ban, provided that the goblins do not advertise it.

It seems that all the questions were resolved, Fleur satisfied her interest, my task was also completed, but Fleur did not leave, and I was in no hurry to drive her away. There was a long pause in the air, when, like, you need to say or do something, but there is nothing to say or do.

"You," I said, my throat suddenly dry, " could help me with my work." I said, and paused, waiting for Fleur's decision. I missed her a lot, and I didn't really realize it until now.

"I don't know how I can help you," Fleur said, smiling, " but I agree.

And then I understood those distant glances of hers, and the unreadable expression on her face before this conversation began. For some reason, she couldn't continue our usual duels, but these skirmishes between us were a form of communication. The end of duels meant the end of communication. We haven't had any other form of conversation until today.

"First of all," I said to Fleur, " what was it about dueling in general?" In the beginning, it was a test, Cortez told me, but then what? And why didn't you call me as usual?

"Arrakis, this is personal…

— But that also concerns me, " I said, — if you don't trust me, of course you don't have to tell me."…

"All right, all right, I'll tell you," Fleur said. — It's all about my Vail abilities, they've gotten stronger. I usually deliberately used them in duels against guys, it made them lose their concentration and alertness, which allowed me to win easily. But during the holidays there was an unpleasant incident. In the training duel, I used my ability as usual, but instead of the expected reaction, this guy attacked me with a clear desire to rape me. I was so scared and confused that I couldn't resist. It's good that there were a lot of people there and he was immediately immobilized, but I realized something and now I'm afraid to use my abilities as before.

— So your ability didn't affect that guy in a typical way, "I said," so instead of swimming around and looking at you like a goddess, he became aggressive and attacked you?"

"Well, yes," Fleur said, " so I'm afraid of something like that happening again." I wouldn't want something like this to happen at school. I especially don't want you to do something like that. Usually women become more aggressive when they fall under the Vail charm, and even then not all of them.

— You know your ability doesn't work on me, so why are you so afraid?"

"Yes, I know," Fleur agreed, — but fears are almost always irrational.

I managed to convince Fleur that her fears about me were completely unfounded, and she even promised to resume our usual duels. But I also decided not to give up on more peaceful communication. I didn't do any more of my studies that day. The day passed in conversation with Fleur. I also had to share some events in my life, so that the exchange of confidences was more or less equal.

Although duels were promised to resume, the list of safe spells was reduced. Now I had a pretty strong shoko, you can cut off a limb or a head. Peaceful communication seemed more promising to me.

Cortez had been preparing to leave Beauxbatons for a long time, he had already acquired a personal teacher, and he hoped to become a master in some discipline by the time he was twenty. He saw enchantment as the most appropriate way to gain mastery. Here my recent hobby had to be very much in the subject. In general, Cortez was interested in what I was doing now.

In addition to the motorcycle, which will not be made soon, I took up a special potion that should give me an overwhelming advantage. The power potion already existed, but in the case of magic, it could not do anything special. From various games, I remembered that for a magician, such abstract characteristics as spell power, spirit, and intelligence are important. It is possible to influence any of them with potions within certain limits. Everyone knows the memory potion, for example. But in reality, in battle, this will not play a role.

There was another characteristic that was important not only to mages, but to any other class in combat — speed. It is clear that I thought of looking for a way to make a potion of "speed".

The power potion existed, but was not highly respected due to its low utility. But I decided to start thinking by analyzing the power potion. As I went deeper into the topic, I sorted out the general strengthening elements in the potion, a lot of additives to reduce the toxicity of different elements, well, that's all. Everything else in the potion seemed like gibberish to me, although I had already realized that potion-making, of all the magical disciplines, was the most like a science.

I had to resort to the vicious practice of revelation through dreams, after which I identified the basic mechanisms of the potion. The potion was prepared in stages, and the magic was gradually folded and unfolded, forming complex structures. There was no direct relationship between the ingredients and the end result. Rather, this connection was artificially established through ritual.

Oh, yes, it was another confirmation of the fickleness and uncertainty of magic. A great deal in the art of magic depends on the magician's imagination, on his will and conviction in the result, on his ability to imagine not only the final result, but also the mechanism of transformation, and the mechanism of influence. Once I even met a version about the virtuality of this whole world, like: We are in the matrix, Neo. Magic sometimes created a sense of unreality, of the unsteadiness of this world.

But, the version about the unreality of the world was quite weak in relation to this particular world. It was almost impossible to significantly change the potion that had already been worked out in a thousand experiments. Sometimes there were potions of a similar effect, judging by the final result, but with a modified mechanism of action. An example is the animaga potion prepared in the classic way and according to the modified formula. Both potions allow you to recognize your animagus form and set the initial direction, to facilitate the transformation, but one acts very hard, and the other is more adaptive and soft. But then again, it's more about improving the potion, rather than another potion — so it seems to me.

The new potion promised to be challenging. In terms of complexity, it came out as a simplified potion of animaga and Felix felicius combined. It also had tonic components, and what little I had learned about the enchantment of the golden sand of time from the chronovorotovs. As a result, I got a cooking scheme from mixing two potions. The first is a fairly simple "general strengthening", and the second is a very complex "time distortion".

The Time Distortion potion was brewed from golden root powder. As you know, the decoction of this plant stimulates mental, intellectual, and physical abilities. Improves memory and concentration. Restores muscle and brain energy exchange. It is not surprising that I took it as a basis. Subjective time dilation can be achieved by speeding up yourself, and first of all, your own acceleration is affected by the work of the brain. The second most important was ginseng, but in smaller quantities.

I looked for various connectives and justifications for convincing my own disbelief and skepticism. The ritual and the necessary ingredients were determined, but for the first cooking, I decided to involve Fleur as an outsider on the one hand and as a stabilizing factor on the other.

For Fleur, I made up a legend about a very old potion recipe that I found and was able to reconstruct from scraps of data. I had to ask her for a non-disclosure oath. Unlike the animagus potion, which had a well-known alternative, my new potion had no analogues. And again, unlike the animagus potion, it gave a huge advantage in combat and in survival.

The potion class was available to me, as I mentioned earlier, Monsieur Lafarge trusted me.

"Fleur, I want to share with you a recipe for a secret potion —" I began to lure the girl, " but I don't want it to be used against me one day.

"I won't hurt you, Blair," the Frenchwoman protested.

- Now we have a normal relationship — - I began to push my vision of the situation, - but it may not always be so. You can also pass the formula on to someone else. Fleur started to protest again, but I held up my hand to stop her. — I want you to swear an oath of secrecy about the recipe."

Fleur began to waver. He didn't seem to ask for anything special, but she was a little hurt. On the other hand, it could also be a game for one viewer. I already had to communicate at Hogwarts with young schemers and politicians, I did not want to merge my invention just like that.

— But if you forbid me to use this potion myself, what good will it do me?" Fleur asked resentfully.

"You won't be banned yourself, use it," I said, " but don't pass it on to anyone else."

— What if someone else finds the recipe, or I find it somewhere else?" Fleur gave out a new version.

— Just don't write it down anywhere, then others won't be able to find it, " I told Fleur, chuckling a little inwardly. If you find it, then consider that the oath is removed from you.

After another half-hour of bickering and voicing various improbable options, such as: using torture to Fleur, penetrating the legilement into the mind, using hypnosis and falling into a painful or narcotic delirium, Fleur finally agreed to the oath. Well, how else? Still, she was curious to know the ancient potion that gives an incredible advantage in battle, as I positioned it.

The potion took a couple of hours to brew. I told the recipe as it was being prepared, describing the properties and effects that occur during the preparation of the potion. There was another hidden side to the whole thing. If Fleur's magic wasn't human enough, then getting her to brew this potion would be useless, and the potion probably wouldn't work. But if my bet on Fleur works, then the girl will get something like a preemptive right to improve the recipe.

As for my own magic, I was rather in the way. There was too much skepticism, disbelief, and doubt in me. I had to artificially calm my emotions, sensually I tried to distance myself from the cooking process.

Fleur appreciated the possible advantage of tenfold acceleration in combat. Even double the acceleration will give an incredible speed. The standard time for the hundred-meter dash for girls of the eleventh grade on the triple is eighteen seconds, and the world record for men is 9.58. That is, the double-acceleration speed potion will turn the triplet into a trained record-breaking athlete for a short time.

My calm, sometimes despondent face made Fleur a little tense, but she soon became interested in the potion and stopped paying attention to me. The original version of the potion was supposed to give an acceleration of ten times.

I was holding a ready-made potion in my hands.

— You don't want to test an unknown potion on yourself, do you?" Fleur asked.

That's exactly what I wanted to do, but the remark was reasonable.

"Of course not," I assured her, — but who can I test it on?"

"Wait here for a while," Fleur said, and left the classroom. After a while, she came back carrying a mouse cage. "I took a mouse from the transfiguration class," Fleur explained, — and if anything happens, let it happen to the mouse."

Forcibly infusing the potion into the mouse, we released it into the cage. The potion took effect almost immediately. The mouse darted around the cage with incredible speed. The whole action lasted for about five minutes, after which the animal's speed returned to normal.

Unfortunately, the mouse did not survive the experience and soon died of exhaustion. Fleur quickly determined the cause of death by indirect signs and made some changes to the potion.

"We need to reduce the proportion of the accelerator and the total amount of the potion per unit mass," Fleur quickly identified the necessary changes. The booster and the restorative had been prepared with a reserve, so it only took Fleur five minutes to prepare a new version of the potion. After going to transfiguration class, she brought another mouse.

Repeated tests gave the desired result. The mouse sped up for half a minute by an indeterminate amount. The acceleration could be either twofold or fourfold, but according to Fleur's calculations, the acceleration should have been three times. The mouse was hard after the tests, but she was in no hurry to die in five minutes, and in ten, and in fifteen.

"Well, it's time to move on to the human trials," I said, and drank the potion Fleur had prepared.

Delacour was a little startled by my impetuous decision, but I already knew the main thing: the potion works and is quite safe, and Fleur's magic is quite human.

The potion took effect three seconds after taking it, and the world became incredibly clear and clear. A pleasant effect, but not the main one. Fleur's movements became slow and clumsy, her sounds distorted. Fleur was worried and asked me how I was feeling. I tried to move less, to spend less energy, so that at the end of the potion's action, I would not "grab", a violent rollback. But even with minimal movements, at the end of the potion, I felt some fatigue, which, however, quickly passed.

"How are you, Blair?" Fleur was worried.

"It's all right, Fleur —" I said, smiling, " it's a big thing, you should try it, too."

"You fool," Fleur said in response to my simple joke, and slapped her shoulder several times. Fleur's hand lingered on my shoulder. "I was worried, you can't do that, Blair, you know," Fleur was saying, breathlessly and excitedly.

Something made me want to kiss her, maybe it was the genuine concern in Fleur's voice, or her lingering hand on my shoulder, but I didn't resist the urge. Fleur's lips reminded me of the vision girl, just as soft and warm, and I felt as dizzy as I had in that dance.

"It's probably just a side effect," I said to Fleur, explaining my actions. — But I like him."

Fleur's response to the second kiss was more deliberate.

I, of course, there were some concerns about the reaction of Flers, but... everything went fine.

Why do girls always close their eyes when they kiss? "They're probably afraid of ruining their eyesight."

My hands began to travel over Fleur's body, and when they reached the second "ninety", Fleur pulled away from me a little playfully indignant.

- Black! — Oh! " she exclaimed, her eyes flashing. I could almost see the golden glow of magic in her eyes.

"Black is my father, and I'm Blair," I said, smiling. "I'm sorry, Fleur. Apparently, my father's legacy has awakened. At Hogwarts, the professors said he was a big womanizer — " I lied, no one ever told me that. "You're just so beautiful that I couldn't help myself," I said, and felt Fleur's wave of magic charm. It was a big risk for her, though she probably didn't realize it at the time. Too quickly, she'd forgotten about the attempted rape.

"Don't, Fleur," I said, grimacing a little, " you're pretty enough without the Vail magic."

"I'm sorry, Blair," Delacour said.

The desire to test me again was understandable. It's like a Christian God testing his believers all the time. It seems that he knows what to expect from whom, sometimes even better than the subject himself sees and understands all the subtleties of the soul, but he is an experimenter. So what to expect from people? Of course, I took it with understanding, and for this I squeezed her a little more and drooled over her.

Over the course of a couple of months, we brought the potion to mind, gradually improving the formula. In the end, we achieved a safe three-fold acceleration of thirty seconds, or two-fold minute acceleration. No exertion was life-threatening, and if you didn't strain yourself during the potion's action, even your heartbeat wouldn't increase at the end of the action.

I told Fleur that this potion was not an ancient recipe at all, but my own invention. Of course, she was surprised and generally convinced me that I could pass the master's test with this potion. I had to dissuade her, explaining that no one would give me the master so easily, and the recipe would go to the side. As a result, I will lose the possible advantage over the enemies and get nothing in return.

On the wizard I will turn later, I said to the girl, we'll prepare more than one potion. I have plans to create a recipe for a mana potion. The magic of drinking such a potion will recover a hundred times faster, or even faster. Exhaustion will no longer be a problem. Damage to the core if you can immediately drink this potion will become a mere nonsense. The burnout of magic when it is possible to quickly provide help will be a thing of the past.

It was nice to see the excitement in Fleur's eyes as she looked at me. Well, I was looking at her.