The autumn day at Hogwarts was sunny and cool. The leaves on the trees around the castle had already started turning golden-red. Hermione, after leaving the classroom, walked down the long corridor, glancing out the windows at the changing scenery. As usual, she was alone, muttering something under her breath. Probably repeating some spell learned in the last lesson.
Suddenly, around the next corner, she saw the tall figure of Professor Albus Dumbledore—the headmaster of Hogwarts. He also ran the Relicium Club, which Hermione was interested in. The professor was moving slowly, thoughtfully stroking his beard. His distant gaze showed he was deep in thought.
Hermione stopped, unsure. She wanted to join Dumbledore's club but hadn't had the chance to sign up yet. And now, she wasn't sure if she should interrupt the headmaster's thoughts for her small request.
While Hermione stood there, pondering, Dumbledore slowly walked away from her. 'Just a little longer and it will be too late!' she decided, realizing that the next chance to speak with the headmaster might not come soon. She rushed toward him and, catching up, quickly and excitedly blurted out:
"Hi-prof-Dambl-do! I-hear-you-run-the-relicub-tha-studies-amuls-is-tha-right?"
The result was far from perfect. In her nervousness, the words jumbled together, and even she wasn't sure what exactly had come out of her mouth. Apparently, the headmaster was equally puzzled by what he heard. He stopped and, with a look of confusion, turned his gaze to Hermione, trying to make sense of what she had just said before asking:
"Hmm... sorry, my hearing isn't what it used to be. Could you repeat your question?"
The professor's friendly tone calmed Hermione down a bit, and still nervous but more clearly and slowly, she said:
"Hello, Professor Dumbledore! I heard that you run the Relicium Club, which studies amulets. Is that right?"
Dumbledore stopped and looked with interest at the student who held him up. Recognition flickered in his eyes, and he asked:
"Miss Granger, if I'm not mistaken?"
He looked at Hermione expectantly. A bit surprised that the headmaster knew who she was, she nodded:
"Yes, that's me."
"I've heard a lot about you!" he said with a smile. "Professor McGonagall keeps talking about your amazing academic achievements. It seems you've managed to impress one of our strictest teachers."
Hermione blushed at the praise. It was nice to know that the headmaster himself had heard about her.
"Maybe…," she replied, a bit embarrassed.
Dumbledore gave an encouraging smile and continued:
"As for the club, yes, I do run it. Why do you ask?"
"I would like to join the club," Hermione said, looking straight into his eyes.
"Ah... I'm afraid there's a small problem with that," the professor said thoughtfully. "I usually don't accept first-years because you need a fairly extensive knowledge of the magical world, especially about magical materials."
Hermione looked visibly disappointed but still asked hopefully:
"Maybe I can learn everything if you tell me what I need to study?"
The headmaster looked at Hermione carefully, thought for a moment, and said:
"Well... in your case, it might be possible to make an exception."
He paused, as if assessing Hermione, then, seemingly reaching a conclusion, added:
"Alright, I'll make a list of the necessary literature for you and pass it through Professor McGonagall. The first club meeting should be in two or three weeks. I'll let you know the exact time once I finalize the details. By then, you'll need to be familiar with all the materials. Good luck, Miss Granger!"
***
"Magical materials are those that interact with magic in one of three ways: absorbing magical energy, conducting it, or emitting energy," Hermione was reading in the book 'Introduction to Magical Materials and the Basics of Their Application.' "The most common are conducting materials. Almost every wizard has at least one magical artifact that uses such material—a wand. Typically, the material used in them not only has conductive properties but is also specially treated to enhance its ability to concentrate and direct magical energy…"
Since getting the list of required reading for joining the Relicium Club, Hermione had dived into studying. Right after classes, she would head to the library and gather the scrolls, manuscripts, and books she needed. She spent nearly all day with them, putting aside other activities. She went to bed quite late and often struggled to finish her homework, staying up late in the Gryffindor common room. She had already read almost everything on the list and was now focused on studying magical materials, the last topic on Dumbledore's list.
"Emitting materials are extremely rare in nature because they quickly break down after releasing their stored energy. All known natural sources of such materials have been used up, and now only artificial substances of this type are used. Their creation requires a powerful and costly burst of magical energy, so they are made only when absolutely necessary and for specific purposes. Recent research into their unique properties opens up interesting prospects for creating new magical artifacts and devices…"
'Like magical batteries,' Hermione thought, 'if extra energy is needed, they can provide it.' She took out her amulet, hidden under her robe, and looked at it. 'It would be great to have a battery like that around my neck just in case,' she thought. Twirling the amulet in her hands and, as usual, not getting any response from it, Hermione carefully put it back and returned to her reading.
"Absorbing materials were traditionally used in protective magic. They act like a sponge, soaking up magical energy to prevent, for example, the negative effects of dark forces…"
'I wonder if such material could protect against villains like You-Know-Who?' Hermione thought.
"These materials are also extremely rare in nature, and their study is currently impossible due to the lack of samples. The last known specimen was lost in the last century, and no similar materials have been found since. The Magical Laboratory of the Ministry of Magic is working on creating artificial equivalents, but so far without success…"
Hermione was reading the book about magical materials while sitting on her bed. Meanwhile, the other girls in the room were listening to another one of Nora's stories about her mom's veterinary clinic. Suddenly, something in Nora's story caught Hermione's attention.
"...when Hagrid brought in the poor unicorn in his arms," Nora was saying.
"What did you say about a unicorn?" Hermione interrupted her.
"Hagrid brought it in his arms," Nora repeated, looking puzzled at Hermione. Lately, Hermione rarely joined in on her stories.
"No, before that," Hermione said impatiently. "Something about a tether..."
"A tether?" Nora raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh, right. This unicorn seemed to have been tethered before Hagrid brought it to us. It had rope marks on its neck."
"When did this happen?" Hermione persisted.
"Some time in mid-summer, I don't remember exactly," Nora replied, a bit irritated. "But what's the difference? The important thing is that the unicorn was very badly injured and weak. It looked like someone had been torturing it, making cuts all over its body."
"Someone tortured a unicorn?!" Lila exclaimed, looking at Nora with wide eyes, and everyone else looked just as shocked.
"Yes, we barely saved it!" Nora continued, pleased with the attention. "It was less afraid of me than the others, so I spent a whole week sitting next to it! It had lost a lot of blood, and as you know, clinics have many types of animal blood, but not unicorn blood. No one wants to be cursed!"
"But who would do such a thing? And why?" Lila asked again, still in disbelief.
Everyone looked at Nora expectantly.
"How should I know?" she shrugged. "There were all sorts of rumors going around the clinic, each worse than the last. Some even said that Death Eaters had resurfaced and that they had a new initiation rite—bleeding a unicorn. After that, no matter how hard you try, you can never become good again!" Nora finished almost triumphantly.
A silence fell over the room. Everyone was trying to process what their roommate had said.
"I'm scared," Olivia whispered quietly.
She really did look very frightened. Lila immediately sat down next to her to comfort her, while Olivia shrank in fear and kept glancing at Nora.
"Tell me, did Hagrid bring in only one unicorn?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Is one not enough for you?!" Nora asked in surprise. Everyone looked at Hermione as if she had asked the dumbest question. "Why are you asking? And why the sudden interest in unicorns?" her tone turned suspicious.
Hermione looked around at the girls. They all had the same question in their eyes as Nora. The room grew tense. Hermione hesitated, unsure whether to tell them about the two unicorns she had seen in the reserve that summer. She was a bit wary of the topic after Professor McGonagall's strange reaction to her story.
"Well… What's the reason?" Nora repeated, her look now openly hostile.
'Does she think I'm a Death Eater?' Hermione thought.
"The thing is," Hermione began, "this summer, not far from our house, I saw two tethered unicorns. At the time, I didn't even know I had magic and definitely didn't know that unicorns shouldn't be tied up. When Professor McGonagall came to talk to me about magical creatures, I mentioned it to her. Right after that, she packed up her things and left without explaining. So, I thought, maybe it's the same unicorn?"
The girls noticeably relaxed, though Olivia still eyed her warily. They started discussing who might have done such a thing to the unicorns, and why. Hermione lay there thinking, 'What happened to the second one?' She was almost certain that Hagrid had brought the unicorn from that reserve. In the end, she decided she would go see him tomorrow and find out.
***
The next day, Hermione couldn't manage to go see Hagrid. During Transfiguration class, McGonagall approached her and handed her a message from the headmaster. The first meeting of the Relicium Club was to take place shortly after classes.
When lessons ended, Hermione headed to the long-awaited club meeting. She felt a bit nervous on the way. Had she studied enough? Would she seem foolish and clueless compared to the older Hogwarts students? Hermione went over key points from the books she'd read, trying to recall everything that might be useful. When she reached the club door, she paused for a moment to gather her confidence, then stepped inside.
The room Hermione entered was clearly set up for the Relicium Club. It seemed to be their regular meeting place. In the center of the room was an impressive oak table, covered with various tools and instruments, obviously prepared in advance for this meeting. Comfortable chairs were arranged around the table, and at the head of the table was a majestic armchair.
Numerous glowing spheres hung from the ceiling on thin threads, providing bright light for detailed work with small items. The walls were decorated with scrolls showing mysterious diagrams and symbols. Along the walls stood many magical devices, most of which Hermione couldn't even guess the purpose of. In the far corner of the room was a stand with glass cases. Under the glass, she could see a variety of amulets, artifacts, and other objects.
There were already a few students in the room, who looked at Hermione with interest as she stepped through the door. A tall boy in a Slytherin robe gave her a slightly surprised and arrogant look before making a comment:
"Little girl, did you get the wrong door? This club isn't for babies."
Hermione was taken aback, not knowing how to respond to such an unexpected 'greeting.' The Slytherin's expression of surprise turned into a slightly mocking smirk. He clearly thought Hermione didn't belong there. However, any need for explanation disappeared when Professor Dumbledore entered the room behind her.
"Miss Granger is not mistaken, Elliot," the professor said gently. "I personally made an exception for her."
Dumbledore's remark instantly drew everyone's attention to Hermione. They all wondered what the headmaster had seen in this young witch. The Slytherin boy now looked at her with undisguised curiosity. At that moment, a dark-haired boy in a Hufflepuff robe waved at her and said cheerfully:
"Welcome! Sit next to me," he nodded to an empty seat on his right.
"Thank you," Hermione replied, feeling embarrassed by all the attention. She lowered her head as she walked to the seat the boy had offered.
"I'm Casper," the dark-haired boy introduced himself. "Casper Honeydew, third year. What's your name?"
"Hermione Granger, first year," Hermione answered cautiously, feeling the intense scrutiny of the others.
"Wow! So, you really just started school?" Casper asked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise, and exclamations of amazement echoed around the room.
"Yes," she replied, even more embarrassed.
Hermione, nervously rubbing her hands, stared at a spot on the floor, blushing a little. Usually, she didn't feel awkward in situations like this; in fact, she loved sharing her achievements. But the unexpected admiration from the older students, while nice, caught her off guard. Once again, the headmaster came to her rescue, already comfortably seated in his chair at the head of the table. Clearing his throat, he got everyone's attention and said:
"Miss Granger will undoubtedly prove herself during our sessions, but for now, let's set aside discussing her impressive accomplishments and move on to introductions. We'll start with you, Mr. Grimm, as the senior member of our club."
"My name is Elliot Grimm," said the tall Slytherin student, who had greeted Hermione in such an unfriendly manner. "I'm in my fourth year and I'm interested in magical devices, which is why I decided to join this club."
"Thank you, Elliot," said the headmaster. "I would like to add that Mr. Grimm is a very talented student. He has approached me several times with serious questions about magical devices, and I did not hesitate to recommend him to join our club."
Elliot was pleased with the headmaster's praise, his eyes shining with arrogance again, and his posture becoming even straighter. 'Another self-absorbed Slytherin,' Hermione thought with distaste, just as she heard her name.
"Miss Granger, would you be next?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course. My name is Hermione Granger," she began, slightly nervous, "I'm a first-year student. Not long ago, on my first visit to Diagon Alley, I went into an antique shop where I saw some amulets. They intrigued me, and now I'm here to learn more about them."
Some students exchanged smirks when they heard about the antique shop. Elliot, in particular, had a sneering smile on his face. Hermione, having regained her composure after the unfriendly greeting, decided to find out right away what had caused such a reaction and the mocking looks.
"Did I say something wrong?" she challenged, looking directly at Elliot.
He rolled his eyes and responded with an even bigger smirk, "Like I said, there's no place for preschoolers here..."
"Mr. Grimm," Dumbledore interjected, "please respond appropriately."
"Of course, professor," Elliot said. Then, turning back to Hermione, he continued, "As everyone knows," he emphasized the word 'everyone,' "amulets are considered outdated artifacts. The modern magical world prefers a scientific approach to creating magical devices. All those trinkets around your neck are mostly useless junk. I hope you had the sense not to buy any of them," he added sarcastically, looking at Hermione. "People only buy them as antiques..."
Hermione, confused, interrupted Elliot's speech, "But our club is supposed to study amulets, right?"
She turned to Dumbledore, looking for confirmation.
"Yes, studying amulets is indeed part of our program," Dumbledore replied calmly, addressing everyone and stopping Elliot, who was ready to make another 'funny' remark. "But in general, Mr. Grimm is right. Modern magical devices do work much more efficiently than old amulets, and we will spend most of our time on them."
The headmaster paused to make sure no one had any more questions. Then he continued with the introductions, having the students present themselves one by one. Finally, he reached the last student.
"Mr. Honeydew, your turn," Dumbledore nodded to him.
"My name is Casper Honeydew," said Hermione's seatmate. "I'm in my third year, but that doesn't help me much," he continued with a broad smile. "My family has been wizards for ten generations, but I've got barely any magic in me. So, I decided to come up with a magical device that will do everything for me," he finished cheerfully.
The students smiled after his introduction. It turned out that many knew Casper as a cheerful and optimistic guy who didn't dwell on his less-than-stellar magical abilities.
From the introductions, Hermione found out that almost all the club members were second or third years, except for her and Elliot Grimm. Most of them knew each other and had no trouble getting along. If it weren't for her seatmate, Casper, Hermione would have felt quite lonely in this group. But thanks to him, she quickly got to know his friends and felt more at ease. She liked this Hufflepuff student, especially compared to the arrogant Slytherin.
Meanwhile, after the introductions were done, Dumbledore began his talk.
"Imagine how ancient wizards, without our modern knowledge, discovered the properties of magical materials," he said. "These wizards mixed various substances, exploring and laying the foundations for everything we know about magical materials today. Often, these experiments ended tragically for the wizards themselves..."
The headmaster skillfully grabbed everyone's attention and told them about the challenges and discoveries of the first researchers of magical materials. He explained how the first amulets were created and what they were used for. As he spoke, he called the students over to the display cases that Hermione had noticed when she entered the room.
Besides the amulets, there were various tools that amulet makers used in the past. These tools were far from simple pliers or hammers. Hermione eagerly soaked up every word about the crystal needles used to apply the finest magical patterns to the amulets, or the silver threads ancient creators used to trim excess magical materials.
Under the glass were pieces of rare substances, samples of magical plants, and small bottles containing various essences. All of this, and much more according to Dumbledore, was necessary for making amulets and giving them the desired properties.
It turned out that creating amulets was a complicated science, and the process was often very laborious and time-consuming, while the results were not always significant. Now Hermione understood what Elliot had been talking about, but she still felt his attitude towards her was completely unjustified.
"Professor, why are there unsolved amulets?" Hermione suddenly asked, remembering about her own amulet. "Can't you figure out what they do based on their components?"
"As everyone knows..." Elliot started again, but Dumbledore cut him off.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Grimm, I'd prefer to answer this question myself." Then, turning to Hermione, he continued in a calm voice. "Miss Granger, you may have noticed that creating an amulet involves many actions, both physical and magical. Additionally, the sequence of these actions can greatly change the final result. Because of this, even if you know all the components of an amulet, you can't understand its function until it manifests itself in some way."
Dumbledore paused, giving Hermione a moment to take in what he had said.
"So, if an amulet hasn't been solved yet, it means it hasn't shown any effects?" Hermione asked, a bit nervously, recalling the strange sensation she felt when she first wore her amulet. In her case, the amulet had clearly shown some effects...
"Exactly, Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied, squinting slightly. He seemed to notice Hermione's unease, but since there were no further questions, he asked everyone to take their seats at the table and continued his lecture, moving on to explaining the workings of magical devices.
"Every magical device contains a magical material that redirects a wizard's magic, allowing them to achieve the desired effect. Most modern devices are based on conductive materials, though there are very rare exceptions."
Dumbledore picked up a small device from the table, and Hermione and the other students followed suit.
"Take, for example, a Sneakoscope. A simple but very important device. It is designed with one purpose – to detect hostile forces and warn its owner of their presence. The material inside it detects hostile magic and redirects it, converting it into a sound or some other signal..."
Hermione examined the Sneakoscope with curiosity. 'So, the device can use not only its own magic but also someone else's! How interesting!' she thought.
Then the professor moved on to the topic of wand making, detailing the materials used in them and their unique properties. As the discussion went on, they examined all the devices on the table in front of them.
"Well, I think that's enough for the first meeting," Dumbledore finally said. "At the next meeting, each of you will try to create a Sneakoscope. That's all for today."
The professor smiled at the students, stood up, and left the room. Only then did Hermione realize that three hours had passed since the meeting started. Time had flown by, and it was too late to go see Hagrid, plus she still had homework to do.