In the new schedule, time flew faster than ever. At Professor Flitwick's, we were doing all sorts of calculations, trying to figure out a system for increasing the magical capacity of materials. With Delphine, we were practicing all sorts of aspects of transfiguration. However, there were only a couple of events in my life that needed to be mentioned in more than two weeks.
Several times I had surreptitiously borrowed the Marauder's Map from Potter, wanting to find out exactly who was hiding under the guise of Moody, which I had no doubt was not Moody himself. Though the only confirmation was that he was drinking something from a flask. However, no matter how hard I tried to find out, I was unsuccessful - false Moody was not marked on the map at all, and the label "Alastor Moody" was always in the same place in his office.
I had made considerable progress in transfiguration. Even though I didn't transfigure everything on a bare will, I began to make my first steps toward free transfiguration through constant and daily practice.
In addition, in one of my conversations with Delphine, I was able to find out why Hermione's Animagus reversal spell did not work on her. It turned out that it wasn't Animagi but transfiguration. Delphine had simply charmed herself. It's quite a risky thing to do because transfiguring a person into an animal reduces her thinking abilities to the level of that animal in about ten seconds. And if the transfiguration is of poor quality and the animal is not detailed enough, then you can go crazy there. However, Delphine showed me a little secret - a tattoo. She didn't show it on herself, and she didn't tell me its location, but she did show me a scroll of it. It looked like a ritual scheme, which it was, a section of necromancy. It is in such little things that the real practical benefits of this art are manifested.
The scheme, being a tattoo, allows you to preserve your mind and instantly adapt to almost any form you can be turned into. It was created as a protection against forced transfiguration because no matter what you are transformed into, you nominally retain the ability to use spells. Without a wand. If you can. The wandless Finita was one of the first really useful spells that Hermione and I got into our heads back in the second year. Or was it the first year?
Anyway, at my urgent request, Delphine, using my own blood as the base of the ink, gave me this tattoo between my shoulder blades in one spell. Why would I need that? When I found some information in Delphine's books about golem building through transfiguration, I was pretty freaked out. No, in terms of fantasy and science fiction, there's nothing particularly new there, but some of the nuances... In general, in simple terms, everyone is aware of the inventor of self-lathering dishwashing rags, but a couple of researchers, who three hundred years ago identified almost all known to science metals from different rocks, described their usual and magical properties, made a bunch of descriptions of their various alloys, and who created an arithmetic system for the constant transfiguration of what got into these metals and alloys - no one knows. Why? It's too narrowly specialized, unnecessary to ordinary people and most researchers. But this is an advanced golem building. Not only magical protection but also high performance materials. A flexible alloy with a melting point above five thousand degrees - easy!
So, after digging into the books and plugging in Rowena, I quickly created a design for two golems - a huge, agile monster-beast and a tiny, hummingbird-sized, small flying bird. When I told Delphine about it, she laughed a long, long time, and this laughter echoed through the dark hall of the Chamber of Secrets. It turned out that with a similar job, only with a substantial admixture of organics, chimerology skills, and professional schemes of healing magic, she had earned the title of master of combat magic - turned herself into her project. A powerful monster with the mind and abilities of a wizard and the highest combat performance. And how the wizards gnashed their teeth at the commission, given that they can't replicate it because necromancy is a very little known science. The downside to such a spell is its bulkiness and the high requirements for the amount of magic and its density. But here, Delphine is also strong due to the chimerology. Of course, there is the usual disadvantage of transfiguration - the greater the difference in mass and volume between the original and final object of influence, the more you need to invest, and given that the wizard transforms, the more you need to maintain it. But here I'm pinning my hopes on Flitwick's accumulator of magic.
In general, by the way, there are some partial transfiguration spells, something not particularly radical and dangerous, allowing you to strengthen yourself. Still, these projects are just some kind of crazy peak, the peak of idiocy, absurdity, surrealism, and efficiency.
Speaking of Flitwick. Hermione came up with a great idea that few people had thought of before. She suggested that since magic could change its parameters, perhaps there was a resonance effect for it. Just one hour of experiments, and we were able to find out that two absolutely identical magical flows can really strengthen each other, or rather increase their density when they come into contact. Flitwick nodded and said, "You seem to have scientifically substantiated the effect of Priori Incantatem. Hermione was excited about the idea of calculating a spell that would do just that - create a self-reinforcing flow of magic.
Yes, there was also a walk to Hogsmeade, but we walked around a bit there and ended up at the Three Broomsticks. It was crowded, but Hermione and I sat at a table with Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati. Hermione, as always, was quickly taken in by the girls, now and then ordering a Butterbeer - it was non-alcoholic. Still, apparently, the cream came from a cow that ate only cannabis because I couldn't explain the improved mood and the slight unwarranted merriment any other way.
We sat noisily, easily, discussing all sorts of events in the castle, people around, plans for the future, and so on. Even the Slytherins at a couple of tables away from us didn't show themselves in any way. We had a little bit of a break from the tension.
All these events led to one important decision - I realized what I could show against the dragon, which, by the way, no one eventually warned me about. Although Delphine hinted that night walks in the Forbidden Forest could be very interesting nowadays. It seems she can't directly help either. Considering that early Monday morning, a completely awake Hermione, at the sight of me in the common room, the first thing she did was slip in my hands the layouts for her spell, ready to be used - I knew exactly what I would do without laying out my trump cards, and I would also benefit from it.