Chapter Three. Adaptation
A month had passed since the assignment, and so far everything was going according to plan. Yes, yes, as befits a True Conspirator, I had drawn up a Grand Plan... But that was more for the sake of irony and because of the "childishness" that had awakened after the Transfer.
Enrolling in Ravenclaw — done... By the way, a very important step.
Gryffindor are essentially battle mages, impulsive, sharp, first-act-then-think-maybe-yes. Noise, constant skirmishes for a place in the "pack," training, pranks — all mandatory, otherwise you'll be "eaten." Unproductive.
Slytherin are potion makers and alchemists, schemers and future politicians. Intrigue for the sake of intrigue — training for future adult life, multi-step plans in which the entire House participates... Great — and the training would be good, except that in reality I don't have a House, and without it... it's complicated. I'll survive... and maybe even become a leader — but then I'll have the attention of all the powerful people in the world.
Hufflepuff – farmers and craftsmen united by guilds and family ties. Same problem: I have no close relatives, either in general or among Hufflepuffs. As a result, I'll always be a little bit on the sidelines, separate. Get closer? It could be possible — but how would I explain the absence of adult relatives? In that case, I'd either have to show the Lord's Ring or wait for a guardian.
And Ravenclaw is the house for loners. Loners who are often brilliant and eccentric, so I won't stand out there. I hope.
It's a good thing that the legendary feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin is in the future/already in the past—now it's just an overly tense rivalry that doesn't preclude friendship between members of these houses.
My "Mask" is a terribly clever and knowledgeable boy with "quirks," but quite average (and even slightly below average) in terms of power. The latter, by the way, was very easy to achieve — unsuitable wands.
All this Ollivander philosophy of "the wand chooses the wizard" and "the wrong wand" is nonsense. A century ago, a normal wizard had at least several wands, and child wizards were specially trained to use different types of wands so that their power would not become too narrowly focused. This is still remembered today, but just in case.
I have over fifty wands in reserve, and most of them are, IN PRINCIPLE, unsuitable. Yes, that's right. But these most unsuitable magic concentrators concentrate it three, five, ten times worse than the perfectly suitable ones. The result is much better control and, in the long run, wandless magic.
I can already use some minor spells, but mostly just because my body is that of a child, but my soul is that of an adult. Magic is largely tied to the soul. I would like to hope that by the seventh course, I will learn to use non-wand non-verbal magic... Well, at least up to the fourth level.
At this... time, they teach much more seriously, so you can put together a fairly serious set of skills that will allow you to survive in difficult climatic/geographical conditions, build a home for yourself, or fight off a not-too-skilled wand-wielding mage.
"Are you going to breakfast?" Sid Formick, a third-year student who has been assigned to me as a mentor, taps me on the shoulder. I nod gratefully to the dark, short guy and run to the Great Hall. There are quite a few latecomers like me at Ravenclaw — it's a peculiarity of the faculty of geniuses. Not all of them are geniuses, far from it... Some wear masks of eccentricity, but nevertheless.
"Hi, guys and girls," I say, pushing my classmates aside and sitting down on a bench, "what's on the menu today besides toast and oatmeal?
"You can have some baked beans," advises Jemma from the second year, " Rich said they turned out especially well today. And there's raspberry jam for dessert.
"Thanks," and then it's all about food — time is running out.
"Rob, do you mind if I sit with you in Charms?" asks the well-fed Rich, one of those who could be called a friend.
"Sure, sit down," I reply, getting up from the table, "why? Aren't you with McCormick and Hufflepuff? "Oh..." the chubby boy waves his hand, almost hitting a senior running past, "after class it's cool to hang out with him, but otherwise, no. You know how funny he is — we can't get any work done, it's just giggles the whole time. And then after class, instead of resting or doing something else, I have to practise the spells I didn't get to do in class because of all that giggling.
The younger students' spells were taught by Matilda Jones, who was also the wife of the senior students' spell teacher. She was a pretty, very gentle woman who looked about forty-five but was actually ninety-four. She approached the class with the sliding gait of a seasoned fighter (being a spell apprentice is very serious!) and opened the class and let the kids in.
"Has everyone read the homework assignment on Levitation Charms?
"Yes, Mrs. Jones," came the friendly chorus of voices.
"Excellent. Now come up and show me the movements with the dummy wand.
Like some of the others, I'm doing both the right and left hands — I've decided to train as a two-handed wizard.
"Not bad, Robert," the teacher praises him modestly, "very clean movements, although your left hand is a little hesitant.
I nod in agreement — I know this problem, I'll work on it. It's clear that I actually mastered these movements long ago, just like the simple spells available to even the weakest of my peers... in my body. But sometimes you have to allow yourself to make mistakes like this.
Not everyone passed — and those who didn't started practising in the corner, copying the figures. They're not lazy! They're just Muggle-borns or half-bloods from a Muggle parent and a Muggle-born parent who grew up in the Muggle world. Children like this often lag behind in practical and theoretical skills. But that's okay, they'll catch up — right now they just lack joint flexibility.
I'm diligently practising Leviosa — non-verbal right away.
"Strong," says Richie with a hint of respectful envy, "you have great control!
"Control, yes," I sigh a little ostentatiously, "but my powers are so-so, average. And...," I look around, making every effort to show that I am about to share a Big Secret, "I started doing magic before Hogwarts...
"Me too," my partner says, blinking his calf-like eyelashes in confusion.
"You don't understand! The magical core stabilises at the age of eleven (that's if you remove a number of 'dark magic' rituals, and if you include the rituals, then it takes about seven years), but mine stabilised almost a year and a half earlier!
"Oh!" Envy is written all over Richie's face... So I hurry to "calm him down."
"Later, I'll be on par with the rest, but while I have the opportunity, I'm practising non-verbal communication.
The envy is fading...
"My father promised to show me in his third year.
"Well, once you get control, you'll be able to," I shrug, "But here you don't know what's better — more Power or more Control.
"I'd like both," my partner giggles.
"Haha! We're not from the Ancient Families after all!
Potion-making, what a word... The first five years were taught by thirty-year-old Alfred Byrn, a taciturn, tall Swede with the title of Apprentice. And the teacher was from Merlin! A man of few words and limited facial expressions, he could explain the most complicated recipe with just a few words and a couple of gestures. Needless to say, I clung to him like a tick.
As a potions master, I know potions very well, but almost exclusively medical ones. And they are far from exhaustive. Everyday potions... I haven't forgotten them, but they're somewhere in the back of my mind. And the potions programme at Hogwarts later became much weaker.
We studied potions with the griffins and had no problems with that. There wasn't even much rivalry between the ravens and the griffins — we had very different priorities. Think about it: griffins are fighters, ravens are scholars. That doesn't prevent the former from being intelligent or the latter from being excellent fighters. It's just that if you didn't show off your "fighting spirit" when interacting with the red-and-gold ones, there were no problems. But if you did show off... then a fight for a place in the "pack" could start. It's automatic for them. Yes, it's hard not to flex your muscles at eleven, especially when you have them... But that was the main difference between crows and griffins: crows could step over the conventional "masculinity" (to a certain extent, of course), and griffins could not. Therefore, even the smartest griffin, upon leaving Hogwarts, rarely surpassed the average raven in knowledge or skill, because they spent most of their energy fighting with other boys, playing pranks, and other mischief. True, the red-and-golds socialised much better than the Ravenclaws — on average, since not all of them had the brains or restraint to use their social skills to their advantage.
And Zelia... A most useful discipline, which I hope to master despite my lack of Gift. But I do have the knowledge of a spell doctor, virologist and geneticist... Maybe something interesting will come out of the intersection of these sciences.
Having shown early on that I am well above average in these subjects, I can now look forward to an advanced course. And I'm not the only one — potion-making is one of those areas of magic where knowledge plays a key role, rather than Power or Control. They are also important, because some potions are prepared with the infusion of magic — and sometimes even high-level non-verbal communication is required. But there are relatively few such recipes, and not every adult graduate who has passed the potion-making exam with flying colours will dare to try them. Ninety percent of potions are relatively simple and well within the capabilities of even a not-too-bright child, especially if they have even a little skill in dosing Power. That is why the majority of children from pure-blooded families learn potions long before they arrive at Hogwarts. And not only that — they also study runes, arithmancy, numerology, rituals (at least the basics), artefact creation (the latter usually at the "don't touch this or you'll die" level) and a number of other disciplines.
So there's no levelling here: if you're better at something than others, you get a more difficult programme. And after the first year, some subjects can be taken with older students and even passed early. In your free time, you can study other subjects or just fool around. After the first year, because you had to show the teacher that you were serious enough to study their subject and that you were smart enough to study it and not fool around in class.
Charms class, double potions class, arithmetic class, lunch, runes, traditions...
"Phew, finally!" I say, not hiding my relief as I stumble into the living room, "I'm tired of it!
"Are you going to do your homework now?" asks Sid, my supervisor.
"No, no, no! I'm going to run around the lake and take my sword with me to practise. Anyone want to clash swords in the countryside?
Many would like to — even if this is magical England, it's still England, where sunny days are rare and should be spent outdoors.
Well... I seem to remember Hogwarts and the surrounding area, but here I am again in a child's body, looking at it as if for the first time. The castle seems noticeably younger, although a few decades is not a long time for such an ancient building. Or is it? No, everything seems the same... Although... The energy, that's it! Right now, Hogwarts is receiving energy, albeit far from its full capacity. In Dumbledore's time, the "Great Light" switched the "pump" from the castle to himself to avoid numerous Rollbacks for violating the Laws of Magic. How interesting... Should I explore the castle properly?
After all, thanks to... um, hindsight and the Great Rebellion* of English wizards against the actual rule of goblins, I have a rough idea of what the Hogwarts directors did with the Castle. So maybe I'll find out something new... And use it to my advantage.
The Great Uprising*" here is a reference to the end of Llewellyn, when the Great War against the goblins began.
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