January fifteenth, Early Morning, Hogwarts Castle Courtyard.
The cold wind was unquenchable. He made his way through all the cracks, all the secret passages, all the paths and overtook anyone, be it a person, a magician, an elf or someone else. He will find you and there is no escape from him. Well, or so it seems at first glance.
There are many ways to escape from it. Some people save themselves by wearing warm clothes, others simply don't go outside in bad weather, those who distinguish themselves fly to where it's warmer, but there are those who differ from the three previous types of people. The first are creatures that are not susceptible to cold. In part, I am one of these creatures. I'm not afraid of frost down to -10, all thanks to the troll genes that I brought into my metermarphys appearance. If the temperature is lower, then you won't envy me either; I don't have complete immunity.
The second are magicians. They long ago invented comfort spells that save the magician's body from any bad weather. Be it cold or hot, and even hail and rain, these charms can cope with any bad weather. And now I look at a representative of this stratum of the population and don't even know what to say. I want to laugh and cry at the same time.
At the moment, Nev and I were in the castle courtyard. The wind is blowing, a little snow is falling, and the two of us are standing opposite each other, dressed in some semblance of sportswear; there is no physical education at Hogwarts. Well, don't count a couple of lessons in flying on a broom as lessons, and even then we flew in robes.
If I stand relaxed, as if nothing bothers me, then Nev was slightly different from me. He trembled like an aspen leaf in the wind, hugging himself with his own arms. Every breath of wind increases the vibration frequency of his body. At this rate, it will be impossible to approach him due to trembling. Maybe he did this on purpose?
"Tell me Nev," I began after five minutes of contemplating this theater. Until I came to my senses, while I thought about everything. -You're a magician, right?
"Y-y-y," he nodded in response.
"You have a wand with which you can cast climate control charms, right?" — I continued to direct him to one thought.
"Yes, there is," to confirm his words, he took out a paycheck from his belt holster. In his hands she looked somehow comical, and all because of the trembling. The stick was shaking.
This is how we stand, he with a blank look and holding a wand in his hand, and also me, whose eye was twitching. No, I understand everything, but I can't understand this. My hand met my own face.
- You're kidding right? Well, tell me you're kidding me," I begged, turning to Neville.
- What are you talking about, Kol? "I don't understand you," he said looking at me in surprise. Eh. How did it happen?
"Okay, let's start in order," I began after a couple of sighs to calm my nerves. - Are you a magician? - nod. - Are you cold? - nod. - Do you know the climate control charm? - a slow nod, it was very "bright" compared to the others. It looks like he understood what I was getting at. - So why haven't you cast them on yourself yet!? — in the end, I still couldn't stand it and raised my voice.
Hallelujah, he finally started to act. On about his fifth attempt, he managed to cast a climate control charm. A good result for someone who has only recently learned them.
No, so how? He lives in a world of magic, he is accustomed to Mana, charms, spells, to miracles in the end, but why didn't he think of this from the very beginning? Everything lies on the surface. I asked him this question.
"Well, I didn't think about it right away," he said a little later. — I'm used to dressing warmly during cold weather and that's all. Another option wasn't even considered," he shrugged. - Something like this.
"Eh," I said tiredly. "Now I understand why most modern wizards are called "appendages to wands" and not wizards, not to mention magicians," under his incomprehensible gaze, I decided to explain my point of view. - It's simple. The first reason was a wave of my hand and the snow, which had just been falling before, began to dance around me, drawing intricate pictures. And then, having gathered into a single stream, they flew away. — Modern wizards cannot even imagine magic without a wand, considering it the prerogative of "Great Wizards." "And before this happened everywhere," I fell silent, giving it time to comprehend. He had already seen my wandless magic, so he was not as surprised as before. - Well, the second is the impossibility of using magic in any cases. For example, I," I pointed a finger at myself. — I went outside, felt the cold and immediately cast a climate control spell. And on the other hand, you," now the finger points at Neville. "You didn't even think about it, it's as if your brain refuses to perceive magic, or, more precisely, it refuses to perceive the possibilities of magic in everyday life." All you can think about is how they'll hit harder and how to help the plants," I still grinned in the end. - Maybe you're just a druid? "What, you always remember about plants," I slightly joked at him. Well, I couldn't resist.
But it seems my joke missed the mark, Nev was thinking very hard. It seems my words fell on favorable ground. Well, let's wait. Anyway, there's still two hours before we get up; we'll still have time to do some exercise. And yes, I finally persuaded him to take physical training classes. He mainly focused on help in duels, and on the ability to get less tired while working with plants. After all, this is Neville, his love for plants is simply incredible. Perhaps in the next course Professor Sprout will take him as a personal student, and this is not empty glory.
"That's why," Nev brought me out of my thoughts. It looks like he thought it over and came to certain conclusions. "They call you Sid," Neville smiled slightly. "Even if you don't notice, there are cases like these now," he gestured around our surroundings with his hand. "Happens all the time in Hoga." For example, remember how McGonagall came at you for using a charm in the corridor?
I nodded. Yes, it happened. This was sometime in October. Then, after the "official" study of Leviossa, I simply, without bothering, grabbed my bag with these charms, naturally the wandless version, but for the sake of appearance I still took out a wand. Well, that's not the point, I mean, I'm going to the Great Hall, and to meet Minerva, and here I am with a bag that was flying behind me.
That's how I remember it now.
*****
"Mr. Wilson," Makkosha stopped in front of me. - Would you mind explaining what this is? - and pointed behind me.
Turning back, I saw a bag levitating behind me. It seems like nothing more.
"It's a bag, ma'am," I replied.
"I see that this is a bag," her voice became even stricter. - Why is she flying?
"Because she's under Leviossa's spell," he shrugged in response. It's logical.
- So you deliberately violated school rules and used magic in the corridor? - she said somehow, even angrily.
- No, I didn't break anything.
"But the bag is flying," he pointed to my back again. - And you are now in the corridor.
"Yes, that's right," I replied. "But I didn't use the charm in the corridor; the bag flies after me from the Charms office." So I didn't break anything, because the rules say: "It's forbidden to cast magic in the corridors," right? — She nodded her head a little. - Well, I didn't do any magic in the corridor.
Having finished, I stared at the professor, and she looked at me in response. We stand silent. She thinks, and I wait until they let me go. It's been about five minutes already. At this rate, we'll stay idle until the end of lunch.
"Professor," I called out to her. - May I go further? "Oh, that is, I really want to," and in confirmation, my stomach began to growl, of course, not without my help. A little metamorphism and that's it, the usual control of you. I have been able to do this for several years now.
"Yes, Calder," she said, waking up. - You can go.
Nodding to her, I moved on. She poked at her and even called her by name. Why did it happen?
*****
Yes, this happens too. And there are plenty of similar situations in Hogue. But I must say that now in the castle more and more students are not just carrying bags with books, but levitating behind them. It's not so heavy to carry, well, they themselves will practice a little spells, even if they are so simple. Everything is positive. I always knew that laziness is the engine of progress. So, out of laziness, they began to use magic, progress. It's really sad that it's for such a debased reason.
"Nobody," Neville continued. "I didn't even think about it, but you did." And this happens often, Kol," he looked at me intently. "You live by magic, just like the Sids from the legends." That's why they call you that.
"Stop praising me already," I waved my hand back at him. "Better, let's do what we came here for." - I changed the topic
Later we took up regular physical exercise: running, jumping, push-ups, stretching. It was clear from Neville's actions that he was not used to this, but it's worth paying tribute to the entire hour that we were engaged in, he withstood it. And that's good. True, it was as if he was not alive, but he still managed.
"Well done, Nev," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You did it, although I thought you would give up earlier, but you did great," I smiled at him to cheer him up.
"Thanks Kol," he smiled back.
"At this rate, we can move on to normal training, and not stop at warming up," I smiled sweetly at him, and for some reason he immediately turned pale. It must have gotten cold. - Okay, let's go to the living rooms. There's still forty minutes before you get up, just enough time to take a shower. And yes, take a cold shower. It will help relax your muscles, otherwise you won't be able to get up tomorrow.
Having finished with the explanations, we went to the castle. There is only one way to us until the moving stairs, but then our paths will diverge. But things don't always happen the way we want them to. Halfway up the stairs, we came across someone I hadn't even thought about.
"Well, well, who is this?" we heard from behind us. Turning sharply, I prepared to attack, but this was not necessary. "Hush, hush, Mister Wilson, put your wand away, otherwise you'll get hurt," Professor Snape grinned, and it was he.
"Good morning, professor," I nodded to him, putting my wand back in place. Seeing that Nev was not reacting at all, I nudged him with my elbow. Well, at least he nodded and then the bread.
- What are you forgetting here, hm? A pair of raven and badger? As far as I remember, there was no rise yet. Or was it? - Snape asked a question.
"No, it wasn't," I answered. — There are still forty minutes before we get up.
- That's right, another forty minutes, but you're not in bed. Why?
— Morning training, sir.
- Training? — he said in surprise, raising his eyebrows in his signature gesture. His gaze swept over us, lingering on Neville. - Interesting.
"Sorry, professor," I said. - But did we break something? — pretended to be surprised.
- No, they didn't violate it. But I'm surprised not many people go in for sports. Why did you decide? - he asked.
"Just to clean myself up, sir."
- Yes? - he drawled. Throughout our conversation he tried to meet my gaze, but I studiously avoided it. I'll look at the torch, then at the picture. He stresses me out.
"Yes, and nothing more," at that moment his gaze shifted to Neville and lingered on him. In contrast, Neville's eyes seemed to be clouded with mist.
Uh, no. Things won't work that way. I took a quick step, I blocked Neville from Snape, pumped my body with mana with a shelter, so that the channel that was formed as a result of their glances would break. Nevila moved away from me slightly, and Snape turned his gaze back to me. Only this time his eyes were much more serious.
"Professor," my tone became much lower and more serious. - Now that we've sorted it out, let us go? We need to get ready for the first lesson.
Snape didn't answer right away, staring at me for about another minute, so he tried to catch my gaze. A minute later he said:
"Okay, you can go," having said this, he turned around and quickly walked into another corridor.
"Nev," I said a minute later, after I stopped feeling the professor. More precisely, not his, but my Mana, which was left for his mantle. I don't feel the professor himself with my magical instinct. - Are you okay? - nod. "Well then, let's go, otherwise we're already too late." But we still need to get ourselves in order.
Having said this, I was the first to set an example and move on. A few seconds later Nev followed me.
Having parted ways with Neville near the stairs, I headed to my living room, while thinking about the current situation. Snape's actions are not typical. No, he had read the students' thoughts before, but he had never done it so zealously, and this is suspicious.
The most important of these actions is to understand - is this his initiative or the DDD? If it's him, then that's good, it means my acquaintance with the trio was left unnoticed, or simply put on a distant shelf. But if this is because of the instructions of the traffic police, then everything is much more serious. I don't need to get into the Director's plan. It's good that at least we quarreled with Hermione, and because of this with the trio itself. There are fewer opportunities to encounter them. We need to continue to keep our distance and try to dissuade Nev from contacting them. Although he is already involved in the director's plans, you never know. Suddenly it will be possible to get out of the attack.
-What is the greatest weapon of any creature in the universe? — the statue's question brought me out of my thoughts.
"The mind is the greatest weapon," I answered.
"Come in," no, after all, every time her voice becomes more and more human. Or maybe I'm hallucinating. Still, this only happens when I am alone in front of the statue.
I walked around the statue and went into the living room. Nodding his head in greeting to some of the early birds, he headed to his room. Nobody canceled classes.