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In the evening, Hermione and I faced a real ordeal in the common room. To be exact, it was just her, but I didn't leave her side, so I got it too. Or should I say, didn't let her go? The essence of the problem is in everyone's attention — too much "well done", too much "wow!", a complete overdose from "you didn't read books for nothing!". Of course, some people were jealous, saying, "She's so gifted, I wish I was...". And I have already said that this is the result of training. But it seems that society is easier to write off on giftedness and envy than to recognize the fruits of labor.
Such attention bored us on Tuesday, began to bore us on Wednesday, November fifteenth. As a result, a commander's decision was made - escape from Hogwarts for the evening. It didn't take long to prepare - at the end of the last class on the schedule, we immediately went to our rooms. After changing into casual clothes, at nightfall, long before dinner, we sneaked out safely under the complex charms of concealment from the castle.
"Where shall we go?" a logical question arose as soon as we found ourselves outside the anti-apparation charms around the castle. Improvisation is like that.
"I have no idea."
"Then," I held out my hand to the girl, "let's go to London."
Hermione took my hand firmly, and I carried us to a small nook on Shaftesbury Avenue. After spending a couple of moments adapting to the change of the silence of the surroundings of Hogwarts to the noise of one of the central streets of London, we took off the extra charms, leaving only a slight distraction, and walked straight out onto the walkway. The time when the evening sky begins to darken, and street lighting, on the contrary, turns on, I find the most interesting. Shop windows and signs shone invitingly and brightly. The designs of buildings of various eras and styles sharply contrasted with each other.
"Soho? Hermione asked, putting her hand on the crook of my elbow, and we just missed a group of people walking towards us, also looking around.
"Where else can you go if you need variety? Social, visual, and... Stuff like that."
"Indeed," smiled the girl and turned her head to the right, peering at the movie theater posters across the street.
Strangely enough, I apparated here from the memory of a past life. Surprisingly, this place is so fickle yet stable. Curzon... I remember visiting this movie theater once just for fun, and I ended up going only here for a couple of years.
"Something wrong?" Hermione pulled me a little by the hand.
"No," I shook my head. "Let's go."
I didn't expect that such a sudden walk would be so interesting. Just walking around here and there, without any plan and preliminary analysis with calculations. When almost every step is unpredictable, and the desire to go to a shopping mall or sit in a good Chinese restaurant is the result of impulsiveness. It was fun to watch Hermione in a Chinese restaurant. Chopsticks are evil. But you just can't ignore and not try the Peking duck in a restaurant where it is considered almost the main dish. And I remember this place from that same past life... I'm about to start complaining about flashbacks.
Another funny thing was that the not very nice round-faced waitress in the restaurant constantly forgot about our existence, looking at us with rapidly passing bewilderment, the set and half-empty table, and in general, probably highly doubtful about her mental health.
When it got dark, we left such an interesting and unusual Chinatown in Soho, having bought a couple of bags of different teas, among which I was very happy to buy Tieguanyin - in my time I liked to try and find oolong, which I would have liked so damn much. Now I'm wondering if this tea will still feel the same?
Back on Shaftesbury Avenue and walking past the Palace Theatre, I couldn't help but chuckle as I remembered the buzz around "The Cursed Child." It was as if those yellow posters with the nest rose before my eyes. These memories also aroused some fears — what if this happens? Well, except for dark-skinned Hermione — her fair skin is a constant.
When we passed by the Soho Baptist Chapel, which has not yet been given to the Chinese and is, in fact, a Memorial Chapel on the Gower, a conversation about future plans arose by itself.
" I don't know," Hermione shrugged, holding her hand in the crook of my elbow. "The desire to remake everything around me struggles with the desire to study magic, invent something interesting. What about you?"
"Always wanted to stay as far away from politics as possible."
"You're not so good at it..." the girl grinned, fixing the collar of her coat with her free hand, which shuddered in the sudden gust of wind.
"Well, yes… I don't have many options. People are still people everywhere, always trying to cause trouble. Either you're strong enough, but nobody knows about it, and you constantly have to tell them how wrong they are by force, or you do it publicly, but then you start playing by the rules of society. I don't want too bad rumors circulating about my comrades or me, so I have to get into it..."
"So you're thinking of doing something scientific, too?"
"Not really. To learn magic. I want to describe it accurately from a scientific point of view one day, build it into the picture of the world. But for now, you see, you have to be strong. In fact, that's what I talked about on the train the first time we went to Hogwarts.
"Getting stronger, yes..."
After wandering through the still crowded streets of London, despite the late hour, we apparated to Hogwarts.
"Next time, to the cinema," Hermione nodded as we walked toward the castle. "Because with all this magic, I'm starting to forget what a movie screen looks like."
"Okay," I smiled back. "I'll have to show you the house where I live now sometime."
"Is that an invitation?" the girl looked at me with some kind of playful expression on her face. "For tea? And what are we going to do at your house?"
"Read books, what else?" I shrugged, hiding a smile. "There's a great library there."
"Touché..."