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"Dear masters," I raised my hand again. "Doesn't it bother you that Harry Potter is seeing things about Voldemort? Well, it's kind of, like, abnormal. No?"
"Now that the information about the Horcruxes has been confirmed, it makes sense to diagnose Mr. Potter himself. That non-healing scar on his forehead," the Headmaster looked at both of us. "It worries me, but I myself could not understand in my time its essence and the reasons for its appearance. The necessary specialists, it so happened, do not make friends with me - the first rule of the Necromancer Club is not to tell Dumbledore about the Necromancer Club. Yes, Mrs. Greengrass, Mr. Knight had a question - what's the point of all this to you?"
"It's simple. At first, I just wanted to teach Max so I could promote him to master faster. He's strong enough and knows a lot, and promoting him to Master in a couple of disciplines won't be hard."
"I agree with you there," the Headmaster nodded. "Mastery, in general, is fairly easy to achieve with diligence and effort. Don't you know, Mr. Knight? Well, may I explain?" the Headmaster looked at Delphine with a question, and she nodded.
"Master," the Headmaster continued to speak. "First and foremost, a title. To achieve this title, you need several scientific works in the studied area. You need to invent something new. Also, you need to be strong enough to prove your qualifications because the exam requires you to continuously perform a rather large set of magical manipulations. And most importantly, you need someone to bring you to this exam. The examination allows not only to find out the level of practical knowledge and skills but also to reveal whether the applicant's mind is sufficiently developed. Mastery in some disciplines requires membership in certain closed organizations, such as the Lodge of Necromancers. But not everyone has such conventions. For example, it is possible to defend a master's degree in Healing magic without joining a guild. However, it would be very difficult to practice legally because really significant and complex operations are performed with knowledge forbidden to use freely by law. As a result, it turns out that the guild doesn't force anyone to join, but the ministry does."
"And how many wizards, in terms of power, pass the master level?"
"It's hard to say," the Headmaster pondered. "In general, if you develop your mind and body, then by the age of thirty, you can quite pull the master title in strength in almost any direction. But, as you can see, not everyone develops. You, on the other hand, Mr. Knight, are showing excellent results, and your tenacity in development can rival mine in my best years."
The Headmaster smiled cheerfully.
"So it turns out," Delphine took the floor. "That you can be trained as a master, Max, quite quickly, for the main difficulty, strength, is not a difficulty at all in your case. And the knowledge you have is very rich. The question remains in practice and more specific knowledge. And there are countless topics for scientific work. By the way, do you know why Charms Master is the most common title?"
"No."
"You can write a paper on enchanting any useless thing, turning it into an even more useless thing, and it would be a research paper."
The Headmaster smiled at this response from Delphine, flashing his half-moon glasses.
"You just, Mrs. Greengrass, don't tell Professor Flitwick that. The last time he got a hint of this from a DADA professor about eight years ago, that very professor had to suffer petty nastiness every day for the entire school year. I have never seen a teacher who was so happy about the end of his contract."
"I don't even doubt it," Delphine smiled. "As for the other reasons... Henry's disappearance. I suppose it's no secret to you that he's 'sympathetic' to Voldemort? Even during the events after the World Cup finals, I had some suspicions about him, but after the professor told me about young Mr. Potter's dreams, I came to unequivocal conclusions. It seems that while I was engrossed in your ordeal, Max, Henry managed to pull off his own adventure and clearly helped Voldemort acquire the body of a homunculus or something like that. He has an obvious goal and is counting on Voldemort to help him get rid of some of his restrictions. To summarize: I don't want Henry to ruin the House's carefully built reputation by appearing in public with the Dark Lord; I do not want him to spoil the tournament, in which we have invested efforts and funds; I don't want him to harm the family in any way."
"I certainly apologize," I raised my hand again. "But wouldn't it be easier to... Well, you know."
"Henry Foley," Dumbledore spoke up. "He was a very unpleasant wizard."
The beginning surprised me. Dumbledore does not say that about every wizard.
"His actions ... His and his companions are disgusting, and I must admit that the measures taken by the Greengrass family and a few others were not only justified but appropriate. A knowledgeable person would say that they deserved only death but believe me, Mr. Knight - there are things in this life much worse than death."
For a brief moment, I saw before me not a quirky grandfather, but an old determined wizard capable of incredible cruelty. But only for a moment.
"Anyway," Delphine interrupted the silence. "We all suddenly found ourselves in the same boat, as ordinary people say. Professor Dumbledore wants to protect the children from a sudden threat. I want to prevent the sabotage of the tournament and the rebellion of one negligent subhuman while teaching one talented young man. You, Max, want to join the Restricted Section, train, and win the tournament. And it all revolves around this very tournament. What's the bottom line?"
"As a result," Dumbledore got up from his chair, and we followed suit. "Everyone will do what they have to do. Before we disperse, however, I have a favor to ask of you, Mr. Knight. Don't misunderstand. You don't have to fulfill this request, but keep an eye on young Harry at the tournament. Believe me, we all need him, alive and preferably unharmed. I have already noticed that you are more of a Slytherin in character, and so, for this little request, I will not remain in debt."
"All right, Headmaster. If the trials will run in parallel, I'll keep an eye on him. But wouldn't it be easier to teach something to Potter himself?"
"How can you teach something to someone who doesn't want to learn?"
The question was clearly rhetorical and required no answer, so I merely nodded, getting the same nod in return, and Lady Greengrass and I left the Headmaster's office. On the spiral staircase, Delphine changed into a white cat, instantly climbing on my shoulder.
"You know," I spoke as we walked down the hall. "Your presence on my shoulder is causing some cognitive dissonance."
"Meow..." the cat jumped to the stone floor of the corridor, and a piece of parchment with lines of text appeared in the air. I deftly intercepted it and read it.
"Okay, tomorrow is tomorrow. I'll bring Hermione with me, too."
"Meow..."
The cat quickly disappeared into the shadows of the dark corridor, leaving me in a state of strange brooding. Somehow it all goes too well. But on the other hand, why can't two adult wizards simply negotiate for mutual benefit? After all, intrigues should not be everywhere. Although Dumbledore, as always, is hiding something.