(A/N: Want to read ahead of what I have posted so far? Go to my Patreоn and get your early access chapters ^_^
By becoming a patron, you'll instantly unlock access up to 14 chapters (Chapter 47 already)
https://www.pаtreon.com/HPMan
Thank you for your support! One chapter today. Enjoy!
______________________
Time passed quickly and inevitably. Surprisingly, at Hogwarts, nothing interesting happens if you do not look for this "interesting" on purpose. Halloween has already arrived, October 31st. A holiday for everyone, grief for the Hero. But nobody pays attention to it. I felt a little sorry for him because he was so fixated on the death of his parents. I can understand him. I buried my friends and remembered them for many, many years. Walking around the living room for breakfast, I just patted the boy on the shoulder.
"Be strong, mate. They say that death is not the end at all, but the beginning of a new journey."
Harry looked at me with a kind of depressed look. Suddenly, Ron appeared out of nowhere.
"Come on, buddy," he pulled Harry along. "It's a holiday. And be careful, or Knight and Granger will bite you. you will become a nerd, and I will lose a friend."
I try not to take offense at Ron. He simply says what he thinks. He rarely says something out of spite or with a desire to offend. This is evident because sometimes he belatedly realizes that he offended, but pride does not allow apologizing. What about sincere and frank insults - they are aimed mainly at Slytherins. They all for him, by default, enemies, cunning scoundrels, and dark wizards.
For breakfast in the Great Hall, there was ... pumpkin as the basis of everything! I am plagued by vague doubts that I will have to eat it on this day every fucking year. Anyway.
"Hi," Hermione sat down next to me and, with great appetite, began to gobble up the breakfast that appeared in front of her.
"Hello. Enjoy your meal."
"You too."
"Where have you been?"
"Oh, yes, today I decided to figure it out early with jogging and exercise. We still need to go to Lockhart, don't you forget?"
"Nope. Is it time to update?"
"No, but soon."
"What are you going to update?" Harry asked, sitting next to us.
"Oh, come on. What there at Lockhart can be updated?" Ron pouted. "He's a pompous peacock, worse than Malfoy. Also, the girls seemed to be crazy. They look at him and sigh so much! I don't understand anything."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at such a sincere statement, in fact, as I did.
"This is our little secret, Harry. I don't want to lie to you, so let me leave the question unanswered."
"Okay," he shrugged indifferently and went back to his meal.
I focused on my thoughts, eating some pumpkin along the way. Halloween is the starting point for all the troubles of the year. The Seventh Weasley does not stand out yet, she is full of health, but she scribbles something in the black diary with great enthusiasm. So the basilisk will still be. I haven't come up with a way to protect against it, except for the mirrors. From my dreams, of course, I know several options for killing him with rather powerful spells, but this is too ... noticeably? Probably. A second-year student from an ordinary family shouldn't know this by definition, just as there is no such thing in the Forbidden Section. Well, or we haven't found it yet. There are also many rituals with the sacrifice of a magical living creature to obtain some special abilities, but the consequences are unpredictable. What if I become like Voldemort - pale, noseless, and bald? I don't need this, my body and appearance are more than satisfied with me, and the pursuit of strength for the sake of even more strength, regardless of the consequences, will not lead to good.
The second question is, what to do with Malfoy Sr.? There is no doubt that he will not leave me alone. However, it will not be easy for me to get him either. Plus, I haven't yet decided how Narcissa feels about him. It's not that important to me, but for some inexplicable reason, I don't want to grieve her with the death of her beloved husband, albeit a disgusting one. I'll kill him anyway, but first, I need to find out her attitude towards him. Judging by her hints in the store, she managed to tweak and twist something in herself. Either she restored the erased memories or something else. In any case, I have an idea how to "stick" Malfoy, but this can only be realized at the end of the year. For now, it is better to forget about it - Snape is not asleep, and my abilities in occlumency are unknown.
Concerning occlumency - Flitwick denied us this request, but we came across a book on this topic in the forbidden section. I'm very glad that I don't have to slip the book to Hermione and lie about where I got it. After the book's appearance on Occlumency in Hermione's life, it was with great difficulty that she was able to carve out four hours a week in her schedule to master it.
Another day, Halloween, passed quite calmly. Study and training. Since I am not a very smart person, I again ordered the ingredients for a complex of potions to restore the musculoskeletal system from the twins. Six months have already passed, and we can repeat the course. We will prepare the potion next week, as well as utilize it, but for now ...
The festive feast was quite cheerful and perky. Well, as always. A lot of pumpkin treats, instead of candles, pumpkins with carved scary faces floated above the tables. Some of the Muggle-borns brought elements of the holiday into the general atmosphere, giving themselves a little otherworldly appearance. Everything was great.
Such moments brought some kind of relaxation and emotional release to both me and Hermione. If it was psychologically easier for me due to my age, and physically, as I believe, due to hemomancy, and I could constantly study, practice, improve. Then, Hermione, despite her precocious adult disposition and a serious attitude to many things, remained a child, a little girl ... Wait, why a little girl? She is thirteen already! Oh, by the way! She talked a lot about herself and her parents but never talked about her birthday. We need to fix it. Although I didn't say either. Oh, how difficult it all is ... In general, she needed an emotional release, unlike me. The House did an excellent job with this. Yes, I'm not kidding! Gryffindor helps us in our studies because it is a noisy and awkward House! It is not necessary to participate in all these pranks and outrages. It is enough to observe them from the side so that it becomes somehow easier on the soul. It was only now that I realized that we wouldn't have taken root on Ravenclaw. No matter how we strive for knowledge and skills, it seems that our mindset does not suit these guys.