Earlier, in my past life, I didn’t think very well of Hermione. You can easily catch a hypertrophied mania in books and films to follow the rules to instill your vision of correctness and correct behavior in everyone. But no. Here she gladly enters into a reasoned argument. If the position of her opponent is supported by facts, Hermione considers it and may even agree. She loves and respects the rules, but she has her gradation of these rules in order of importance. Hermione will follow them until there is a real reason to break them, but not for the sake of doing bullshit. In the books, she was very indignant and kept saying that she needed to study, do her homework, and prepare for lessons. As I found out, the reason for this was not that she was such a nerd, but the total idleness of her canon friends – Ron and Harry.

It turned out that my memory is also perfect, and I just ignored it before. But it’s okay. My day was not much different from weekdays outside Hogwarts. Exercise, shower, breakfast, homework, lunch, homework, dinner, a little homework, physical preparation, homework or sitting in the library, sleep. I even remember nothing special, in fact, the only difference from my usual daily routine – the mere fact that all of this at Hogwarts. ​ ​

In early October, we found a loophole in the rule about the prohibition of witchcraft in the corridors – you just need to do it in the classroom. The misunderstanding comes from the misinterpretation of the rules. It seems that magic can only be done in the classroom. And the prefect does not consider this issue. At the same time, it does not matter whether it is an active classroom or a long-abandoned one. In connection with this fact, we immediately found ourselves in one such class on the fourth floor and started to practice magic. This was the first real difference between our approaches and interests.

I immediately rushed to mastering various spells with a combat bias, information on which we dug with great difficulty in the library’s wilds. Reducto, Bombarda, Confringo, Expulso. I just want to blow up and destroy. On the other hand, Hermione made a bias towards all sorts of magical interests, which most of all can be called “miracles.” It will create a blue fire that does not burn, then it will begin to transfigure something, while her eyes literally shone with happiness. Well, yes, you surprise anyone with explosions, but changing the shape and other properties of an object is, yes, it’s powerful. Hermione wanted to try everything, check everything, and I memorized the same spells to automaticity.

At the end of October, I decided to work on a new enchantment – conditionally harmless. A simple thought brought me to this: suddenly, a fight, an attack from around the corner in the corridors of the castle, and what should I do? Blow up, schoolchildren? Or set them on fire? What has been learned will undoubtedly help in a severe collision, but not in a school showdown. For this reason, I decided to diversify my arsenal. Expeliarmus, Everte Statum, Stupefy, Silencio.

Several things have emerged regarding spells. It is entirely incomprehensible why a gesture and a verbal formula are needed. Spells cannot be obtained without them, but the question is different – how does it work at all? It is enough to know the gesture and the spell’s verbal formula to produce the desired effect, which you may not even know about. In the transfiguration, you can also remember the general or specific formula for the case. How? Apart from this, I began to notice something else. The more often I use a spell, the easier it becomes. If you had to concentrate strongly on completing the task at hand in the first place, now you just have to wish. At the same time, if earlier an error in the execution of a gesture led to a breakdown of the spell. Exactly the same error does not affect in any way at the moment. Still, it allows you to perform a spell in a much more free gesture and posture. There is a guess that over time the motion will disappear as unnecessary, as well as the verbal formula.

I shared these thoughts with Hermione during a break from my evening workout.

“Perhaps, in the course of training, we somehow record these spells in ourselves?” Hermione gave out the theory when she got tired of training. “And anyway, how can you jump around the classroom so much without even sweating?”

In her voice, there was a distinct reproach and slight envy.

“I’ll think about the recording. I jump because I have been doing various physical exercises from early childhood. I have been doing kendo for several years, and, in general, movement is life!”

“Pfff,” the girl smiled, turning away.

“What? It is much easier to dodge a spell and immediately attack than to take it first on Protego, which, by the way, we both fail…”

“Boys. All you need to do is fight.”

“Hermione,” I sat down next to the girl at the desk. “We now live in a magical world. Here, everyone from the age of eleven is armed and very dangerous.”

Hermione looked at me with incomprehension.

“Wand. Magic wand. It’s not just a hammer for hammering in nails, a microscope for research, and a flashlight. This is a pistol, an automatic rifle, a grenade launcher, and in the hands of a potent wizard – a nuclear missile.”

Judging by the somewhat shocked face, she did not consider the wand in this way, even seeing my practice of conditionally combat spells.

“People are people,” I continued. “And it doesn’t matter, ordinary people or wizards – people have always been good at inventing means of killing or subjugating their own kind.”

“But this is wrong!”

“Wrong,” I nodded. “But this is the nature of the majority of people. Did you know that the use of Confundus is not only not prohibited but also permitted? And the absolute legality of Amortentia and other love potions? This is far from the entire list of spells and potions that allow, albeit for a short time, to subdue the mind. How many spells can cripple or kill? There is a myriad of them. Of course, you can slay with a pencil if you have the desire, but the fact that there are in the public domain a thousand and one ways to finish off your neighbor should lead to some thoughts.”

“But what about the law? The Ministry must keep track of such things! DMLE, Aurors…” Hermione once again loses faith in humanity in a dialogue with me. It’s a pity, but it’s better this way.

“Well, yes, they are. What’s next? They catch criminals, but to become a criminal, you have to commit a crime. Do you understand? No? Well, someone will kill you, and then what? Perhaps he will be caught, punished… very mild, but you will already be dead. What good is his punishment to you?”

“But… Is it possible that even murder is punished here gently?”

“A guaranteed trip to Azkaban is given only for the use of “unforgivable spells” and rituals with human sacrifice. Everything else – according to the situation and depending on who is the victim and who is the accused.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hermione, magical England is a tiny closed society. Magic families, surnames lived here for many hundreds of years, built relationships with each other, and so on. New surnames appear, make their way upward, acquire a particular reputation over many generations. To some extent, there is a caste system here, but not the same as in India. There you cannot go from class to class. Here you can. Everyone knows each other, everyone is familiar, everyone owes each other several times, and many pure-blood relatives in general to one degree or another. Even new pure-bloods surnames and a pure-blood child have only wizards in his pedigree for at least three generations. In the Ministry, the situation is no better. Everyone is looking for benefits, promoting their acquaintances, relatives, or promising wizards in terms of connections. Now, who are we? You are a Muggle-born. For the local society – a stranger, a new person who has no ties, no money, no one behind. I am documented as Muggle-born, but in fact, I am pure-blood. But only if this moment comes up, and it comes up, Family, who by mistake disowned me, will somehow make amends for this issue. But how? The easiest way is to kill because I am the living personification of the head of the Family’s error. I’ll be a weakling – kill this disgrace. I’ll be strong – kill this reminder of error and failure. If you or I am killed by a pure-blood wizard, he will most likely get off with a large fine. If we slay such a wizard, we will go to Azkaban.”

“You say such horrors. I don’t even believe…”

Hermione lowered her head dejectedly.

“That’s why I study offensive spells. I want to be able to protect myself. To become a potent wizard so that they would even be afraid to look at me crookedly. While we study at Hogwarts, we are under the patronage of Dumbledore. He is, of course, a politician, and I don’t believe him a dime, but there is also a plus – no one will openly go against him. No one will openly attack us either because this will untie the director’s hands. Whatever one may say, he is the most potent wizard on the islands and possibly in Europe. They may well build intrigues against him, but we are safe – too small bird from this side. Therefore, I want to take advantage of these seven years to the fullest to leave Hogwarts not as a fool but as a wizard whose opinion will be reckoned with. And I recommend it to you. The magical world is a beautiful fairy tale, but according to the plots of the brothers Grimm.”

After this conversation, Hermione, albeit somewhat reluctantly, added physical exercise to her schedule and began to work off attack spells. Before that, she thoroughly went through the library on the part of the legislation and was able to be convinced of my words, but I was not sure of them – it was just a theory based on the knowledge of the canon. Good to know.