Chapter 324

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"So. I will not tell inspiring but completely empty speeches. I present to your attention Grand Staircase!"

We were standing on a flight of stairs and, as if by magic, this very moment was chosen by several stairs to start moving, changing their position in space. The kids looked surprised to varying degrees.

"Many will say that they move freely, but they are not. Their movement obeys a strict scheme, but it is quite difficult to learn, and then also to calculate when, where and which staircase will move – it is very difficult. This knowledge will come by itself over time. Follow me…"

We headed up these stairs.

"On the walls," I continued to speak. "You can see a huge number of portraits. You can talk to everyone, but not everyone wants it".

After passing one flight of stairs and stepping onto another, I stopped the first years and turned to face them.

"There is a disappearing step on this staircase. Eighth from the bottom, look …" I pointed with my wand to the step, but not for witchcraft. "There's a red mark in the corner of the step. Our caretaker, a lover of cleanliness, constantly erases it, but some students apply it again. But remember this staircase. Nothing serious will happen, but if you fail – ooh-ooh, it'll be enough fear for a lifetime. Let's go further …."

Passing another flight of stairs, we stumbled upon none other than Peeves. A vile arrogant poltergeist in the form of a horribly caricatured complete freak. In the hands, Peeves held balls of dungbombs, flew over us, and laughed disgustingly.

"Ahaha! First years! Would you like to taste the scent of magic?"

Peeves threw bombs at us, but with one movement of my wand, I created a powerful translucent dome of Protego. Bombs hit it and exploded, filling everything around with a stinking substance of indeterminate color. Running the free hand along the wand, I transferred the protection recharge to this hand, and with the wand, I created a powerful cleansing spell that destroyed all the obscenity outside the dome and even purified the air.

Having condensed and increased the magic volume inside and outside, I forced my eyes to glow dimly blue and looked at Peeves.

"Hic! .." the mood of the poltergeist instantly changed its polarity.

"If you don't leave us alone, I'll dispel you."

"Got it, not a fool!" Peeves abruptly flew away, and after a couple of seconds, we heard his scream, "Knight is awesome!!!"

The kids looked at me with admiration, and as we moved on, a quiet, quiet whisper came to my ears.

"... but my dad can't do that …."

"… so this is the champion of the Tournament! He bypassed the defense of Dumbledore himself …."

I will not say that this did not amuse my vanity in any way. Amused. A little.

"Next," I continued the story, "I perfectly understand that you are in the school of magic, and there are a lot of interesting things. You want to see everything as soon as possible, climb everywhere, explore everything, touch and see. But I recommend that you pay attention to classes, discipline, and appearance for the first two weeks".

The kids were weakly outraged.

"Believe me, you will make a good impression on the professors, and this will make your life much easier. By the way, about the professors. Don't be late for Potions. I recommend that you study the textbook for the first year in detail. Do it together if it's boring. Professor Snape is a very shitty person and far from the best teacher. He likes to find fault with everything. Do not give him a reason, and do not argue — you will only make it worse. Trust my experience".

"Is it true," one of the girls asked quite boldly, "that our headmaster is crazy?"

The question caused an amazing mixture of indignation and curiosity among the first years.

"I'll tell you this. We wizards are all a bit of "that." Each in its own way. In general, there are no healthy people – there are under-examined ones.

"And what about the other professors?"

"Are they crazy?"

"No," the girl looked down, "How to behave on other subjects?"

"Just follow the instructions of the professors. And always remember that magic is not only beautiful and wonderful but also dangerous".