"Damn it—so Quirrell really did snap by the end of the year," Draco Malfoy grumbled in his trademark exaggerated, pompous drawl. "And I even wrote to my father in the middle of the year, telling him to co inspect Hogwarts. As Head of the Board of Governors, he could've thrown that stutterer out of the castle long before he finally lost it!"
"Yes, yes, Malfoy. As always, you knew everything in advance and could've saved everyone if only anyone had listened to you," Daphne Greengrass sniffed haughtily, hissing at the blond boy with irritation, then sending a slightly apologetic look.
"What are you trying to say!?" Draco imdiately narrowed his eyes angrily, still not having learned over the past year how to take a hit from our prickly friend with dignity… Though Daphne was only prickly now and then, and usually toward Malfoy and his squires. She almost never hissed at or Pansy.
"Only this: if you ca to visit an injured person in the hospital wing just to make noise and pick a fight, you'd better stop embarrassing yourself and leave imdiately," the Greengrass heiress was especially wound up today, showing Malfoy no rcy. "Harry, are you really all right? We were terrified when we heard your scream for help the day before yesterday…"
"The worst didn't happen," I shrugged, not hiding the irritation in my voice… Just a couple hours before my friends arrived, the Headmaster had visited with Snape and Flitwick. And if the half-goblin mostly stayed silent and sotis even tried to protect , the two seasoned Legilins put through a real interrogation.
I wasn't sure whether they were pretending to be competent or had truly managed to miss the Dark Lord right under their noses… which was entirely possible. At the start of the year, I hadn't sensed anything strange from that stutterer either. I only began to feel the Dark Lord's nasty magic toward the end of the year—when other professors likely weren't doing routine checks on their colleague anymore…
"I genuinely don't know what to think about all this," I had to admit. In the end… I was simply glad I'd survived, and I glanced gratefully at McGonagall, the one who had beco the hero that fought the Dark Lord herself.
The battle between the possessed bastard and our brave animagus-cat happened not far from the corridors where Snape and I had been sprawled, but… the Transfiguration master dealt with her forr colleague faster than you'd expect. Rumor said she even managed to take him alive, but once the Dark Lord realized his position, he apparently killed his host and fled.
I didn't have exact information. Witness accounts contradicted each other and got distorted beyond recognition before reaching … But it didn't matter. The details didn't lessen my gratitude to the Gryffindor Head of House.
Unlike Snape, who lost in a single mont because of his Mark, or Dumbledore, who wasn't even in the school at the ti but later wore down with questions, Minerva did exactly what the situation required—and what every other wizard in the ancient castle sohow failed to do.
"By the way, what about the Defense exam? Are they even going to hold it this year?" I asked the Slytherins, pulling myself away from unpleasant mories and back to practical matters.
"No one knows yet. They're supposed to announce sothing by Wednesday, and they might schedule the exam on Friday," Pansy answered simply, glaring at Daphne for once again picking on her beloved Draco.
"Seventh and fifth years will have Ministry examiners no matter what. But for us… there are rumors Snape might take over. Or Dumbledore might do it—good for restoring his reputation, but hardly anyone believes that," Daphne added, crossing her arms over her not-yet-there chest.
"Yeah… and they're keeping here until Thursday. Just to make sure I'm psychologically and magically fine. In case Quirrell threw sothing at during the chase…" I grimaced, less worried about the exam than about staying in the hospital wing that long.
A hospital is still a hospital—even inside a school, even magical. And after the Headmaster talked to , and students were allowed to visit most of the day… far too many acquaintances ca with the sa questions, desperate to know what happened and why Quirrell had chased .
It was unpleasant. Telling Draco and our little circle the shortened version of my escape was one thing. Repeating it over and over was another. I got sick of it quickly. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey started driving away unnecessary visitors at so point.
And Daphne Greengrass, being a proper girl and a good friend, brought a few thick, genuinely interesting books… Not only magical literature and extra material for the Defense exam—which Snape did end up taking over—but actual fiction. Good old English classics, with the occasional French and Italian volu.
Despite popular belief, even pure-bloods read so Muggle literature. In fact, many writers from the not-so-distant past who published in the Muggle world were actually wizards or at least Squibs, which surprised a lot…
As did the fact that the spread of information in the ordinary world—even through books—was strictly controlled by wizards. It seed obvious in hindsight, but when Draco first told , I'd been in mild shock for days. I felt like I knew absolutely nothing about this world.
Anyway, my stay in the hospital wing beca tolerable. And then it was ti for the last exam of the year, which also wasn't a big problem. Snape didn't even try to fail , though he questioned everyone with full severity, so many students' grades ended up disappointing.
I actually liked his approach. It was satisfying to show that long-nosed, gloomy bastard that outside his beloved Potions he couldn't sink . And you could tell that, unlike Quirrell, Severus truly knew his subject—after a year of being taught by a stuttering ss, that was almost refreshing.
"Sha Snape teaches Potions. I feel like he could be a genuinely good Defense professor," I thought later, when it was finally ti to leave the ancient castle…
The Hogwarts Express took us back to London, where most students—including my friends—were t by their families.
I, anwhile, had to leave the magical side of the station with Milo hissing at everyone, then spend almost two more hours searching for and waiting on the very late Dursleys. I even started thinking they wouldn't co at all, and I'd have to get ho on my own—probably on that magical bus-ride-from-hell.
But no. Vernon eventually arrived, and I felt a strange inner discomfort as I returned to the ordinary world. Not unpleasant or disorienting exactly, but I was definitely more comfortable at Hogwarts. All that magic, constant movent, lessons, private training, clubs, even long essays as howork…
It had slipped into my life so naturally and rooted itself so fast that returning to gray everyday life in a чужая family made feel out of place… Luckily, my unregistered wand was still with .
So, leaving my usual school wand in the trunk, I resud training from the very first days of sumr—doing real magic far away from ho. Our house was under its own enchantnts too, and those might not even belong to the Ministry… Even Draco and his circle didn't know all the details of magical oversight.
But I wasn't going to risk it. I practiced away from ho, with my invisibility cloak always on hand, which let train wand magic calmly and thoroughly. And I didn't stop training wandless magic either.
If anything, I did more. With a mountain of free ti and no desire to hang around Dudley after a school year full of far more interesting people, I could indulge myself. As long as I had the strength, I threw myself into any magical practice.
It wasn't even structured or scheduled. In the spirit of sumr break, I… did whatever I felt like. Spend a day trying to master a full Patronus—sure. Tired of Charms—then I'd play with Transfiguration, recalculating and refining forms on the fly. Sick of holding a wand—fine, I'd practice "childlike elental" casting.
So much free ti and personal motivation to surround myself with magic let choose what I'd do each day freely… And the approach worked. Fast.
I sharpened and reinforced what I already knew, learned new things I hadn't had ti for at school, and sotis even invented new ways to cast without a wand… Inspiration and the right mood boosted my progress.
The key was beating the occasional laziness and grabbing magic with fresh force each day. And once I started casting, I'd quickly get absorbed, enjoying the process and barely thinking about ordinary-world details. Even when the Dursleys realized I could use a wand without causing disaster, they didn't bother much—they just strictly forbade their son from getting anywhere near .
That didn't an Dudley and I stopped talking entirely. He still sought out sotis, wanting to hear about the magical world and my school, but his enthusiasm didn't last long. He didn't care about normal lessons or my new "friends." Magic itself still fascinated him, though…
He even tried to get sothing out of himself—begging obsessively to hold my wand. Nothing happened, but "Big D" wasn't giving up.
And because of that, when I woke up one sumr morning and didn't find my wand under my pillow, my first thought was Dudley and his newly awakened kleptomaniac streak…
I didn't expect the situation to be far more serious—and that I was wrong to think a certain mad house-elf would show up only at the end of sumr.
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