Fourth of February, Morning, Hogwarts Castle, Calder's Room.
The boy's consciousness returned somehow slowly, in fits and starts. At first, "white" noise began to be heard. This is such a noise that it is impossible to make out.
Only after some time does he learn that it was rain coming from outside the window, but not very loudly, but somehow muffled, as if through cotton wool or some kind of membrane.
Then a breeze began to be felt, walking around the room and blowing across the lying body. Alas, the boy did not have enough strength and desire to close the window yesterday.
But all this, the sounds, as well as the sensation of touching the skin, could not reach the still dormant consciousness, getting lost somewhere along the way. This went on for about three minutes, a kind of shaky line when the mind is already beginning to "see and hear" the space around it, but still cannot realize it.
After some more time, the eyes of the boy who was lying on the floor opened. There was no drowsiness or uncertainty in them, no. They were clear and tenacious. The owner of the room woke up. Only slight fatigue was somewhere there, in the very depths.
Sitting down carefully, he leaned his back against the door, resting the back of his head against the cool surface. My thoughts were confused, my brain had not yet fully recovered from sleep. I just wanted to fall asleep again, plunge into the gentle abyss of oblivion, get lost in the thick darkness, and not wake up for at least several days, maybe more. This has not happened to the boy for a long time, perhaps since early childhood. In recent years, he had forgotten about these sensations. The rhythm that he set for himself long ago became an integral part of his life.
Thus the minutes of waiting passed. Finally, having fully come to his senses, Calder fell into a meditative trance, and then into the inner world. We need to figure everything out while there is time.
Opening his eyes again, he found himself not in a cave, no. The boy found himself in the place where his soul was. Now he could clearly see all the shells that were intertwined with each other.
Taking a careful look at his soul, paying more attention to the first, second and seventh shells, he came to a disappointing conclusion.
"If I didn't walk along the edge, I was close to it," Calder reasoned, while simultaneously examining the damaged shells. "I hoped that the limited strength that was available would be enough for me." Fool. The mana produced by the core is almost entirely used to fuel the anomaly. In battle, it was finite; if the mana had run out earlier, I would have lost, but I couldn't stop and start absorbing the surrounding Mana or switch the feeding of the magic cells to the outside, I wouldn't have enough time. And they wouldn't have given it to me. So he paid for his self-confidence. Not only did I almost lose, but the Three Shells were also overstressed, and in the end I squeezed all the juice out of them, which I shouldn't have done. Now we need to recover. This will take about a week or two. In the meantime, you should forget about energy-intensive spells, as well as experiments with metamorphism. Thestral blood will also wait."
And parts of his soul did not look entirely healthy. If the first and second shells were only depleted, which is of course bad and will require time to recover, then with the seventh, the circumstances were much worse. Calder nearly lost his nerve. In many places of the magical origin one can find "cracks" in the channels. Yes, these are not holes or tears, but even they are not pleasant. There was a slight leakage of mana through these cracks, which is not gud. But to its credit, Calder's soul has already begun the process of restoration. The boy himself contributed to this by temporarily transferring the supply of the magical cells of his body to Mana from the environment. It's a pity he couldn't do the same with the anomaly, it would have been much easier. Alas, she could not be controlled.
Having returned to consciousness, the guy carefully stood up and headed to the shower. A cold shower will cheer him up, and then he can handle it on his own.
Like clockwork, as if nothing had happened, the guy immediately got out of the shower and began his magical training. Already ordinary balls scattered in all directions. A standard practice that has already yielded considerable results and can yield more. True, the scale of today's training is much smaller than usual, you shouldn't overload the magical principle, it needs rest.
Today was Saturday, and, therefore, another lesson with Poppy. Calder certainly did not want to go to anyone, but to her, exhausted. She will understand at first glance that something is wrong with him. There have already been precedents. True, he doesn't really have a choice; he'll have to go anyway.
"Eh. Maybe she also has magical vision? "She identifies people's health problems too quickly," the guy asked himself. - Although... I think not, her reaction to magic does not fit this statement too much when compared with me. Although, it's not for me to judge. She has much more experience."
Having completed his training, Calder went to breakfast. As usual, the main food was oatmeal...how tired of it. English breakfast, to hell with it.
Kol was having breakfast alone; Neville apparently couldn't get up. Our hero fell in an unequal battle with a pillow and a bed. Well, today is a day off, so it's possible, especially since there are no physical workouts planned today.
After breakfast, Calder set off along his usual route for all this time. Just fifteen minutes later, he reached his destination, opened the door and entered the medical wing. There was no witch in the main room. Therefore, without waiting for her, Calder went straight to her office. After carefully knocking and waiting for permission to enter, he pushed the door and entered the office.
At the moment, the witch was busy with the usual thing for her at this time - sorting out the piles of papers that were stacked on the entire surface of a large table. Even though she was a medic, no one freed her from paperwork, and there were no assistants nearby to help in this unequal battle. At least Calder didn't know about them.
Without taking her eyes off the papers on the table, Poppy waved her hand towards the chair in front of her desk.
"Sit down," she said. - There's still a little left. I'll be free in a couple of minutes.
Having obeyed her, Calder sat down on a chair and began to wait for her to finish. Of course, he immediately began to prepare an excuse about his appearance; he already had several preparations. After all, she will notice one hundred percent, don't even go to a fortune teller. In our case, to a witch. Although he hid all the symptoms he could find with the help of metamorphism, there was not much hope. True, his instincts screamed in kind obscenities that he wouldn't need it, although he didn't feel any danger.
The sorting of papers really didn't last long. After just ten minutes, she finished, putting the final signature on some document and putting it aside with those already completed.
"How exhausting it is, even after so many years," she said, closing her eyes tiredly and pinching the bridge of her nose. - Remember, Calder. Bureaucracy is evil and the scourge of humanity. We humans have created our own worst enemy, and now we are paying for it. It's been a year now.
Sitting opposite her, the guy diligently remembered everything she said. She is too mysterious, and from scraps of information it will be possible to recognize her at least somehow. But there was painfully little information, only scraps, and even those did not inspire confidence. Although there are fish without fish and cancer.
Opening her eyes, Poppy looked at the boy. After a moment, fatigue and amusement disappeared from her eyes. In their place came seriousness and attentiveness.
"Tell me Calder," the witch began with a threat in her voice. — What is the risk of magical exhaustion for a magician, in particular for a young and inexperienced magician who does not know the limits of his capabilities?
"Lethargy, headaches, emotional depression, partial damage to magical channels, possible death," the guy answered according to the textbook, internally preparing for another lecture about his carelessness.
"That's right, you know the theory," slowly, a sweet smile appeared on her face, from which the blood in Calder's veins turned into liquid nitrogen, freezing his entire body at once. Oh, this is not good. "So what kind of Merlin do I see in front of me, a young magician with second-degree magical exhaustion?" there was magic in her voice that was ready to punish the offender at the command of her mistress. -What the hell, Calder? What were you thinking? Did your brains disappear in such a short time? Or maybe you felt strong and decided that you can do anything? Just tell me, I'll instantly put your brains in the right place.
The magical aura that came out of the woman was incredible. Somehow, magical vision turned on by itself and now the guy was observing Poppy's aura. She was amazing. The interweaving of blue and green colors glowed brightly in it. The force that emanated from her partially curved space, bending it underneath itself. The paper, which had previously been lying on the table in even stacks, scattered throughout the room, and the table cracked.
Calder had seen manifestations of the witch's power before, but not on such a scale.
The wind began to howl and twist into invisible spirals. He, like an obedient child, followed the whirlwinds of mana that the witch emitted from herself. With every second, with every moment, he grew stronger, howling with increasing force.
Calder watched this in shock, trying to remember everything, put it in the back of his mind. He had never seen such a demonstration of strength, but somewhere there, inside him, a voice whispered: "This is not all that she is capable of, rest assured."
A thick Aura flooded the entire room. She surrounded every thing, filling every corner. Calder was also enveloped in it. She crushed, subdued and destroyed.
"This is the power of a master," a thought flashed through my head. "But that's not all she's capable of."
*Flash!* A bright light appeared right in front of the boy's face, because of it he had to close his eyes, it was so bright.
As soon as he closed his eyes, everything suddenly stopped. The pressure disappeared, the wind calmed down, space stopped crackling. There was a calm. Silence enveloped the room, absorbing everything that came before it.
Opening his eyes, Calder looked around. A moment later, his gaze met the witch's gaze. There was no longer hostility in her eyes, they no longer radiated all-consuming fear. Hope and some kind of joy splashed in them. Not warm emotions for this person.
"Follow me," she said softly, getting up from the table. Along the way, she waved her hand, dispelling the spell that had previously hung on the premises of this room, most likely preventing the echoes of this performance from passing beyond its boundaries. And the boys had no doubt that it was a performance.
Rising from his chair, the boy hurried after her. During the rampage of magic, he and the chair were dragged to the far wall. Because of this, he had to try and quicken his pace in order to keep up with her.
The path was familiar. Just a couple of minutes in a dark corridor and a few turns, and now they were already at their goal, the passage loomed before their eyes.
Once in the usual hall, the guy and woman went to the "relaxation corner." Sitting down on a soft chair, the witch pointed to Calder the chair that stood opposite her:
"Since my office is in a slightly unpresentable state, then let's talk here." You do not mind? — Sitting down on a chair, the boy nodded to her in agreement. - Great. Would you like some tea?
"Black, without sugar, if possible," Calder replied.
"If I wanted to dissect, I would have done it in the office. So she definitely won't poison her. At least I hope so." - Calder thought wearily. The previous test did not pass without a trace for him. My head was pounding again, and my magical channels were aching. There was too much mana in the environment, so they overexerted themselves. Still, they have not yet recovered from yesterday. At this rate they will not recover soon.
"May," Pofrey said calmly. With a pop, the house-elf appeared next to her. She looked strange, definitely not like a hothouse representative of her race. More proportional body, not so big ears and nose. Thick, blond hair grew on his head (even!). But the most remarkable thing, for their species, of course, was her clothing. She was dressed in a sort of warm, cream-colored tunic. There was no trace of a pillowcase. Hogue's coat of arms was also missing, as if hinting at her affiliation.
Overall, there was no way she could be recognized as a house elf. She was more like a dwarf version of the wood elves from the stories of ordinary people. So great was the difference in her appearance compared to the same Hogwarts elves.
- Yes, madam?
— Please prepare two teas. One as usual, and the second black without sugar.
"Right now," bowing slightly, she disappeared with a quiet bang. Ten seconds later two cups appeared on the table. One with black tea, and the second with red.
Taking a cup each, the witch and the young magician took a sip. At the moment they were thinking about their own things, and tea only helped them think better.
- Do you want to ask a question? - Poppy said, taking another sip from the cup.
"What is so unusual about magical vision that you wanted to find out from me in such an extravagant way?" — the boy did not hesitate and asked the question directly.
- ABOUT? Magic vision? What makes you think that this is what I was trying to find out? "Before your phrase, I didn't even know you had it," she answered innocently, batting her thick, long eyelashes.
- Let's not make a joke, okay? You've been watching me closely for several months now, since the memorable exam," Calder said, putting the empty cup aside. - Although I attracted your attention even earlier, I don't know exactly when, but somewhere in the middle of autumn you began to pay close attention to my eyes. And today everything was confirmed.
- What was confirmed? — there was no fun on the woman's face, only seriousness and concentration.
"A magical flash," was the answer. Shifting slightly in his chair, making himself more comfortable, Calder continued. "You have already shown your capabilities to me several times, attracting my attention." Today you showed more, knowing that I couldn't resist and would definitely look at your aura with my magical vision. And then there was an outbreak.
- Flash and flash. "I was just checking your reaction," came the innocent answer.
"Again, you're not saying enough," the boy shook his head. "At first I thought so, or rather at the very first moment." But! - he exclaimed, raising his index finger up. - The shadows gave you away.
- Shadows? - she didn't understand.
"Yes," Calder nodded. - They were the ones who gave you away. That flash wasn't an illusion or anything like that, no. It was also not material. It was a pure burst of mana that couldn't be easily detected. Only by magical sense or magical vision. And as you know, mana, up to a certain concentration, is invisible," taking the newly filled cup in his hands, the guy drank from it. — The flash did not cast a shadow. Yes, I only captured a moment, but I managed to notice it. "My hand," he raised his left hand in front of him. — at that moment she was raised, but there was no shadow. Consequently, there was no light either.
The sound of a cup hitting a saucer was a signal that marked the end of the story. Calder, folding his hands, looked expectantly at the witch. The same one, without looking up from her cup, was thinking about something.
"What will you answer me?"
Smoothly raising her head, her eyes met the eyes of her interlocutor. For a brief moment there was contact between them, they felt each other's feelings at that moment.
"Photographic memory," she began to bend her fingers, putting the unfinished tea aside. "Incredible talent in magic, low emotionality, magical sense, metamorphism and, finally, magical vision," she paused for a moment and thought about something. — Is this a lot or a little for an "ordinary" person from the Muggle world? – she said with a strange intonation.
"That's enough," said Calder, instantly transformed. Now there was no awkward teenager of twelve. In front of the witch sat a young man of fourteen years old. He was well built, his facial features were more symmetrical and "sharp". The hair became thicker and its color became more saturated. Kazha has lost its flaws. But the most striking thing in the changed image were the eyes. The brown color disappeared, replaced by a rich gray-blue color. Eyes that reflected the world and soul of the owner. "I think your illusion is no longer needed, teacher." - for the first time, in all their time of acquaintance and apprenticeship, he called her that. She deserves this word like no one else.
Why did he open up to her? The answer is simple - instinct. It didn't scream about danger; on the contrary, it could be trusted.
What about illusion? From the first days, Calder noticed the bright threads that entwined the witch. It was only about a month ago that he realized it was an illusion. A high-quality illusion, because he was able to notice it only after trying very hard.
"Yes," the witch nodded her head, smiling brightly. "I think you're right," the network of spells that entwined her body began to unravel, revealing a bright image that was hidden behind it.