As the days went by, my changes in behavior surprised the teachers, mainly because I started to do well in class.
Another effect caused by my change in behavior was the increase in Bridget's curiosity about me.
This culminated in a chance meeting in the castle courtyard where she sat next to me on a stone bench I was using to meditate.
Noticing her presence next to me, I opened my eyes and directed an inquisitive look at her that hid a half smile in them.
"How could you have changed so much in the last few days?" – she asked in whispers.
She was curious about my change in attitude, especially the way I was dealing with the teasing of our fellow Slytherins.
Before I woke up from this world, I was so mediocre that I was on the same level as the brutes who accompanied Malfoy, but no one made fun of them because of the little prince.
"I already told you what happened." – I tried to remind her.
"But it doesn't make sense." – she replied dissatisfied.
I turned around on the bench, sitting sideways, looking directly at her.
"Let's see if you understand it like this." – I started, drawing her attention.
Bridget turned around in her seat as I had, expecting a more complete answer than simply 'I woke up from a long sleep'.
"When we don't have control over our magical powers, we end up doing things that we often can't explain or control. Due to the way I came into this world, becoming an orphan days after being born, my magic worked as a form of protection while I was forced to live in Theodore's house. My mind went into a trance and only when it felt safe did this protection come to an end. The trance made my body, personality and mind work automatically, only now I am really in control of my body." – I tried to explain it in a way that she understood.
Spontaneous spells are not uncommon among children when their emotions come under great stress. Which my previous self certainly suffered during the first 18 years of my life.
She pondered for a while thinking about my words.
"It's still hard to believe, if you were like you are now since classes started you would be the best student of the year. You would be the real second coming of Bookworm Granger." – she declared dissatisfied.
I laughed at her words.
"I'm not a book fanatic like her." – I replied, pretending to be offended.
Bridget rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, how did you manage to learn transfiguration, potions and charms so quickly, weren't you the worst in those subjects?" – she asked, letting her curiosity emerge.
At that moment I smiled and puffed out my chest dramatically.
"I'm good at math." – I simply stated.
The girl's mouth opened in disbelief.
She was a pureblood, until then she probably hadn't learned more than the basics of math, adding and subtracting.
Seeing that she was unresponsive, I began to explain more seriously.
"Spells are nothing more than mathematical formulas in which you need to know the variables when executing, but most of the variables are not defined and can be ignored if your intent is strong enough. Transfiguration is literally an alphabet that we take to a diagram where we have weight, viscosity, wand power, concentration and VARIABLES." – I said, catching her attention at the end.
She started to blush at my words.
"Charms are freer, each one has its own type of calculation that must be done mentally, but it is basically intent, intention and association. If you know what the charm should do you are associating it with an effect, each charm needs a type of intention to be produced effectively and the guarantee that this becomes an order to be executed is in the intent." – I continued explaining.
Her eyes seemed to gain a little shine at this moment.
Although Professor Flitwick had explained this, his words had been much more pompous. I was explaining in more than layman's terms.
Potions are balance formulas. You need to combine the variables, cauldron temperature, time, ingredients and their preparation methods to create a balance within the cauldron. When I say balance I'm referring to the use of the ingredients and not just the fact that the cauldron doesn't explode. Taking inactivity as a positive factor can simply waste time and money to create dirty water." – I ended up pretending to be triumphant.
"Potions were clearly formulas, but I never thought math was important there." – she admitted.
As soon as she finished speaking she went into a thoughtful mode.
"Granger is muggleborn, I heard from some halfbloods that muggles study mathematics extensively since they were children…" – she commented, still lost in her own thoughts.
"She may have studied a lot of mathematics until she got to Hogwarts, but she won't know how to apply it until she starts Arithmancy in her third year." – I said.
Bridget woke up from her thoughts and gave me a confused look.
"What do you mean by that?" – she asked.
I gave her a smug smile.
"Granger still doesn't know how to quantify Spells in mathematical formulas, so we're far from knowing her true form. All the grades she had until then were basically the effort of memorizing the books she read." – I replied.
"But you just said that math made you learn Spells faster…" – she began.
"I do not serve as a comparison." – I interrupted her.
Bridget was even more dissatisfied.
"She still doesn't know how to quantify magic in mathematics. But when she knows, I'm sure she'll become even better." – I continued explaining.
The girl in front of me looked like she was in the beginnings of a headache and I knew there was something else going on.
"Why are you so upset?" – I asked.
She started moving her hands nervously.
"Family things, my father wants to show the noble families how good I am, the last time he tried they used Granger as an example that even… she can get better grades than me." – she said embarrassed.
The missing word in her sentence was Mudblood, the worst insult someone with non-magical parents can be called. It means she is making magical society dirty with her mere presence.
I ran my hand over my face trying to think of how to respond.
"Does your father often think that way too?" – I asked, trying to organize my ideas.
"No, not openly." – she admitted.
I clicked my tongue.
"Coming from the son and nephew of 3 Deatheaters… that kind of thinking is just dumb." – I declared.
She was about to agree with me when she finally understood the beginning of my sentence.
"What?!" – she cried in surprise.
I gave her a wide smile.
"I am an orphan because of thoughts like this. I grew up getting beaten up almost every day for thoughts like this. It's simply stupid for you to think that because someone can do something after you, it's your right to judge whether they should or not. If there are no new wizards and witches outside of pure-blood families due to the birth rate, they will probably start to disappear in the next generations." – I explained.
She was disconcerted by my statement.
I took her hand trying to break the tension.
"Say a group of 20 muggleborn couples make a pact, their magical descendants will marry only within that circle. What is the result after five or ten generations?" – I asked her.
Bridget was confused by my question.
"In say a hundred years we will have a pureblood family and in two hundred a noble family and in three hundred it will be part of the sacred 28, probably replacing the Notts or any other of these families that will cease to exist." – I explained.
After the first two generations basically every birth would have magical capabilities, in five generations the family would already be considered pure blood and any non-magic that was born from them previously would be a squib. The chance of a squib appearing from then on would be almost non-existent, in the next hundred years they would gain nobility status and after three hundred years of history they would be part of the sacred 28.
All this, even though it came about through the agreement of twenty couples of muggleborns.
Why do I know this?
Because that's exactly how it happens with cultivator families.
The chance of someone being born without talent from two cultivators is minimal and if you follow this pattern after 2 generations it is almost impossible to happen. But if the family always marries into the same circle of people, at some point people will simply run out.
As Bridget digested my words, Malfoy came running into the courtyard.
"Finally! The monster got the Bookworm!" – he shouted happily.
I blinked long and hard twice before I punched him in the face.
"At least you won't have to worry about her final grades, as the mandrakes won't be ready until after exam week." – I said, turning back to the girl in front of me.
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