It all started when the library, where I had marked one of the tables with a special seal so that my seat would always be free in my absence, was overrun with snakes. I mean, Slytherins already spent a lot of time in that spacious room, but eventually it became clear that up to half of the entire faculty was there at once, and all those students were carefully and systematically searching for something.
Granger, who often found herself at my table simply because it was free, was puzzled because such pilgrimages only happened before exams, and then only for a very short time.
The current situation raised questions and interest, but the Slytherins remained silent, going about their business. I hadn't told anyone that Snape had tried to get into the aquarium and had gotten himself burns and a small but nasty Bleeding Curse, which caused his wounds to bleed for the first two days until they were removed. The professor never stopped clinging to me and spewing venom, but he never even mentioned the insult.
Granger and I were working on the same assignment on runes, only I was still using the German reference book to get a deeper understanding of the subject, so the girl had already finished her work and took up the "light reading", but with longing and greedily looking at the one and a half thousand page folio, which without weight relief charms pulls five kilograms with its tail. But the young polymath can't read it — she doesn't speak German. I could tell her about my method of teaching languages, but what good would it do? It takes years and years of very specific teaching.
When I had finished and was about to leave, and the girl decided to wait to discuss the current topic in more detail (i.e. to get the material out of the German book), I felt the stares. I'm already being looked at, but this look has been coming back for the last hour.
Deciding to clear the air, I turned sharply and caught Malfoy's eye. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he turned back to his book. What was that all about?
The ride to lunch turned out to be exactly as I had expected, I was being blatantly interrogated. The girl even demanded a translation from me, but when she caught my eye she immediately apologized for her impertinence and admitted that she had gotten carried away.
At the table, while I was enjoying the paella, I was transferring the patterns of the ceiling illusion to the A4 album, or rather, I was sketching the individual modules of the webs step by step, indicating the points of connection with other modules or channels.
The girls sat diagonally across from me, muttering and giggling quietly, but I did not listen. The Weasley twins sat on either side of me, eyeing not only my food but also the drawing with great interest.
— Where did you find this? — One of the boys asked.
— I don't see anything like that... — said the other, looking up at the heavy leaden clouds.
— What is this pattern? — they asked in unison, drawing attention to us.
— It's one of the illusion weave blocks above our heads. — I shrug my shoulders and take a closer look at the pattern, this module had a lot of small details that merged visually because of the high energy content, so you had to stare for a long time.
— And you see all that? — Alone.
— How? — Two.
— I see. — I lowered my eyes to the album and began to sketch what I saw, paying attention to the barely warm paella, so I didn't answer right away. — There are different ways, like special glasses, devices, magic, but I use the traditional way in my homeland — the "Mystic Eye". It's a technique that allows you to see patterns of magic, artifacts, and other things you can't see with the naked eye. — And the house elf was a great cook. The paella was delicious.
— How do you learn to do this?
— Can you teach me?
Out of the corner of my eye I notice that many people are listening to us, even at the neighboring tables.
— I don't mind, but it's a long and complicated business. It requires strict self-discipline, long meditation and training. And I'm not kidding, you can't learn it in a month, it takes several years of work to see magic like I do.
— Long... — the boys said with one voice.
— And what, all that just for one ability? — Parvati asked with a strange look and intonation in her voice.
— Of course not. — I smiled at the girl, who smiled a little. — Such a training pursues many different goals at the same time, it is a complex method. The very first and most important thing is to acquire the habit of mind for laborious work, to instill discipline.