I apologize, but apparently I took the 1998 calendar instead of the 1999 calendar to base the date that Gemma visited Kai, I have already corrected the chapter stating that the correct date is October 16th and not October 17th. So Halloween took place on October 31st, a Sunday.
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My conversation with Bridget ended up bringing me a new understanding of this world.
A big difference from what I was used to.
Although I was born in many traditionalist worlds where people follow different types of cultures, one of the constants in these worlds is that I was basically always inserted in militaristic environments, where men and women trained to be fighters and at the end of the day those who had power enough ended up deciding their futures.
My wives usually came from this kind of background, I generally didn't interact with ordinary people since I in all my lives needed to live by force at some point.
My few wives who were civilians before I met them have always shown great interest in joining the martial world, but this world I am currently present in is one where it is recovering from a war.
The false sense of security that the end of the war brought increased the mentality that it is not necessary to train to defend oneself.
The default mentality of the magical population is almost the same as that of a civilian.
This is directly in line with my experiences.
A magical world that is not geared towards militarism is something I had never witnessed, I was still thinking that this was just a situation I would encounter in the early years of formal education, but from the looks of it no one was really prepared for a martial life. .
The Ministry had its Hit-Wizards and Aurors, but a martial force or two controlled by a political institute is not a reliable answer.
As happened in the last war, enemies infiltrate the political system to destabilize or directly deny the effectiveness of these forces.
Kingdoms at war have their spies in enemy courts, why wouldn't an enemy that operates mainly in the dark have its own within the Ministry?
Every day that passed I just thought that I was among idiots, it was clear that the Deatheaters knew that their Lord was not dead and yet the magical society of Great Britain did nothing.
I warned McGonagall about this and hoped that the Order of the Phoenix wouldn't be a complete disappointment, but knowing our Headmaster a little from our interactions he doesn't seem like someone who can make difficult decisions.
He is that person who always thinks about maintaining the status quo and also acts in secret so that the world never discovers his ugliest side.
In conclusion, my conversation Bridget made me have a better vision of how I should face this world and never wait for outside help, I would need to study magic and train in combat as early as possible. And probably train those close to me, starting with Bridget herself.
She had a good soul, her content retention was good, but she was still far from what she needed.
I had already finished studying third year Charms and when I came across the Transfiguration book I noticed that although there were some Spells they were basically useless. I absorbed the theoretical content and left it to train the practical over time, as it is in fact martially useless.
The same scenario presented itself in the other classes, but for the most part it was expected.
When it comes to practical magic with a martial function, the closest thing to this is Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Unfortunately, my first year was completely ruined by Lockhart where we had the worst example of theory possible since the books used were written by him and even the demonstrations during class were pathetic and theatrical.
Flipendo was supposed to be taught during the first year, but it classified as too advanced a Spell for us. We just learned how to create smokescreen and some sparks.
The sparks could damage the target, but at the level it was taught at most it would singe a thicker coat without even setting it on fire.
This year's books are at least adequate when it comes to creatures, but the Spells remain almost all bad jokes.
The first month we spent reviewing the previous year's material with Professor Lupin correcting as many of the mistakes that Lockhart made us study as possible. Now we were getting into the proper material and learning new ways to create smokescreen and set off sparks. The only salvation was that he finally taught Flipendo and would soon teach us Petrificus Totalus a year before Charms and Expelliarmus as in the second year of Charms.
In the third year book we would learn Glacius and Carpe Retractum, another repetition of Charms.
The Hogwarts curriculum was somewhat boring in my opinion, little practicality and almost no combat application until the third year.
Among my projects for this year I would probably need to start creating combat spells if the materials from later years didn't have any improvements.
On Monday our first class would be potions and I would need to explain to Ginny the events that transpired after the Hallowe'en feast.
Asking Bridget's permission, I sat next to the girl so I could explain myself.
"Good morning Ginny, how are things after what happened after the banquet?" – I asked, sitting next to her.
"Good morning Kai, you have no idea it was a huge mess, a large part of Gryffindor is shaking with fear because of what happened. It was a difficult night to sleep." – she said while I looked into her tired eyes.
I nodded, imagining that would be the most likely scenario.
"Worst of all is poor Neville, the Teachers started speculating why it happened in front of everyone and after his name was mentioned the boy hasn't stopped shaking until now." – she continued.
"It doesn't seem like an easy thing to face." – I commented.
"Not at all, he already has trust issues and with a killer like Sirius Black after him…" – she began, but couldn't think of how to finish the sentence.
"And how are you? Knowing what you know, you must be thinking about something because of what happened, right? – she asked curiously.
I kind of shrugged.
"I have some ideas, but I don't feel ready to go out looking for him." – I said in a serious tone.
She nodded, none of the students had the confidence to do something like that. This was work for the Aurors or Hit-Wizards and with his history we knew it was an extremely dangerous job.
"I need to talk to you about something that happened after the banquet." – I said, preparing myself for the conversation that was to come.
"Aren't you going to tell me that the assholes in Slytherin celebrated the news?" – she asked, making an ugly face.
I laughed at her success.
"That too, Malfoy hosted a little party and joke contest about Longbottom being killed by Sirius Black. But it's something that happened after that that I wanted to talk to you about." – I said, telling what the most abominable Slytherins had done the day before.
"I knew." – she murmured indignantly.
"What do you want to talk to me?" – she asked curiously, leaving aside some of her indignation.
I smiled a little awkwardly.
"After all this happened, when I was getting ready for bed, Bridget knocked on my door so we could talk." – I said, waiting to see her reaction.
Ginny raised her eyebrows, clearly not liking the direction my words were taking.
"She came to apologize for leaving me and asked us to see each other again." – I told her.
Ginny grimaced.
"Does that mean you two are friends again?" – she probed cautiously.
I shook my head.
"Apparently I wasn't aggressive enough with her and with the episode with Gemma she wanted me to chase her to show that I cared, but as you well know I didn't do that." – I explained Bridget's situation so that the girl could understand what had happened.
"I can't condemn her for doing it, I kind of understand why. Her way of acting is different from what we are used to in romance, especially a romance taking place at Hogwarts. This place is legendary for creating couples that last a lifetime, even though it's not the majority, most couples begin in the castle's corridors. Then you come talking about having more than one girl, not that it didn't happen before, but never so openly." – she said, explaining her conclusions about what I had said.
I nodded, understanding her line of reasoning.
My methods really aren't valid in this world, only a very small number of women would be open to the way I operate.
"What I want to know is what you want to do now, before I was single while we were meeting, you know what I want and you know how I'm going to live my life. So I would like you to tell me if I should continue courting you or would you prefer to cut ties with me?" – I asked in a serious tone.
She fidgeted in her seat looking for the answer to my question.
Again I was probably being too blunt in my approach, but that would take some time to fix.
"I feel good when I am with you, I can't deny that. I also know that you didn't hurt Ron when he came to you to stop us from seeing each other, which is something I appreciate, I know how he can be. But I'm still afraid of my family's reaction, my parents have a very bad relationship with people who were part of Slytherin. My father attended Hogwarts with Draco's father and today every time they meet they basically fight like cats and dogs." – she explained, still looking for the answer.
I understood why her father was so against Slytherin, almost all Deatheaters originated from there.
"Lucius is probably one of the most notable Deatheaters still out there, I understand why your father hates him so much, especially his father working at the Ministry, he knows very well how he got out of Azkaban." – I commented while thinking about the matter.
"What? Lucius Malfoy was a Deatheater? – she asked, surprised and confused.
"Yes, I don't think anyone talks about this anymore, but Lucius saved himself from Azkaban through bribery and blackmail, spending almost half of everything he had to prove that he was under the effects of the Imperius Curse." – I explained to her.
The girl seemed to turn pale for a moment from being so close to someone like him.
"He was the one who approached Bridget's father." – I completed.
"I think I need to send a letter home." – she commented.
I nodded.
"It would be nice for your family not to be caught by surprise." – I said in a suggestive tone.
Our conversation was interrupted at that moment due to Snape's entry.
"After breakfast was over, a decree arrived from the Ministry regarding Sirius Black's appearance in the castle." – he announced, making all the dramatic pauses possible.
All the students present immediately paid attention.
"The perimeters of Hogwarts will be surrounded by Azkaban dementors to ensure he does not re-enter the property." – he concluded.
Some people trembled upon hearing this.
Dementors are the worst type of creature that exists in the world, they feed on the emotions of humans and are capable of extracting the soul of an alva through what they call Dementors Kiss.
"Now let's start this class." – he announced.
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