Hogwarts: Through the Veil of Time

"Madam Pince, hello, "Justin nodded. "I brought a friend to see you.

"Mr. Granger? "Madam Pince looked at me. "I hope you will have the same respect for books as your sister. A very talented young lady.

"Certainly, Madam Pince.

"Anyway," Justin put his hand on my shoulder. "I think I'll get out of here. I'm sure Madam Pince can help you if there's any information like that out there."

Justin left the library with an air of importance, leaving me alone with this overly strict and obviously incorruptible lady.

"Madam Pince, I am interested in information on various purebred families. Social in nature. Who does what, where they were spotted, newspaper clippings, articles, magazines with significant achievements…

"I understand you, Mr. Granger. True, I thought you would choose educational literature.

Madam Pince left the counter and headed somewhere in the back, trying to hide behind the monumental bookcases. It seemed she didn't even want to make sure I was following her. No, of course I followed, but what phenomenal arrogance! Just like elves… And yes, now I find myself in the place of an ordinary person who is irritated by this rather common character trait of elves. Having walked almost to the very back of the room, Madam Pince led me to one of the rows of bookcases and, turning around, pointed at them with her hand.

"Here is an archive of various periodicals and other non-educational publications, one way or another connected with the activities of pure-blood wizard families in England, France, and Germany.

"I didn't even expect that something like this could be found in the school library.

"Mr. Granger," Madam Pince looked at me even more sternly. "The Hogwarts library is the most complete library in the Isles and in Europe as well. Even such a ridiculous magazine as The Quibbler has its place here. You, I hope, know how to handle books?"

"No, what are you saying? I can't even read.

I thought Madame Pince's eyes were going to pop out of her head.

"Well, there's no place for irony and sarcasm within these walls," I shook my head. "Of course I can."

"No need to be ironic. My question was not out of idle curiosity, Mr. Granger. You would be surprised to learn what astonishingly illiterate young wizards occasionally enroll in this school. Food and drink are prohibited. Hands must be clean. No spells may be cast on books. The stairs…

Madam Pince pointed to a ladder with wheels leaning against one of the cupboards.

"Reading tables..." Now she pointed toward the window, where a pair of tables were located at this end of the library. I had seen the same ones at the ends of other rows, as well as in the reading room.

"Enjoy your time," Madam Pince said in a peculiar way and walked to her desk but turned around after a few steps. "And one more thing. There should be silence in the library."

As soon as Madame Pince was out of sight, I examined this enormous number of the most varied books, notebooks, files, and magazines.

"As I used to say, without a couple of gallons of fine ale, a good dwarf won't cope with the task at hand…

Having looked at everything once more and having properly estimated the volume of work that I had imposed on myself, I spat on everything. If I had decided to study local magic, it did not mean that I would limit myself in such ambiguous circumstances. Having properly strained my will and mind, I "strained," releasing the thinnest flagella of invisible energy around me. If it were possible to see these flagella, I would resemble a plasma lamp.

Having made sure that I could do this trick in principle, I took a notebook out of my triangular backpack, put it on the table, and directed one of the flagella towards it. Now I need to focus; I wish to find a word in the books. Malfoy.

The flagella began to feel the literature on the shelves. If one of them found the word "Malfoy," then the flagella connected to the notebook would display the title of the book, page number, paragraph, and line in a line. Then it would be possible to find a specific book in a similar way: "The flagella that found it would seem to tense up, and since they were connected to me, I would simply understand which flagella had given the signal.

Well, it's time to work monotonously.

***

Mental fatigue is an extremely unpleasant state. But it was in this state that I returned from the library to the faculty common room in the evening. I managed to find mentions of the Malfoys in quite a lot of literature, but compared to the total volume of books in that section, very few. The remaining time was enough to sort out three books and five magazines that mentioned this surname—nothing particularly significant.

Entering the living room, I noticed that the atmosphere here, as always, was quite friendly. The students were peacefully discussing something, five were fiddling with some strange and suspicious plants in pots, and several more were playing chess that moved on its own. Several girls, gathered in a friendly group on large sofas, were actively and cheerfully discussing magazines, sometimes giggling after the guys. Looking into the corner where I had sat last time, I noticed all five of my classmates there.

"Hello, people," I nodded as soon as I approached.

"Oh, Hector," Justin smiled immediately. "I saved a spot for you here."

And he nods at the chair I was sitting in before. It's comfortable, and the view of the entire living room is absolutely gorgeous.

"And you didn't even take it?" I asked, sitting down and crossing my legs.

"It would have been a sin to take the place where you sat so royally," the movie villain shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, "Ernie nodded. "I was passing by yesterday and saw it. I tripped.

The guys themselves have settled in here no worse; "they dragged in a sofa and an armchair and replaced a small table with a fully-fledged one. In general, everything is like other people's.

"Tell me, did you find what you were looking for?

"Not quite, Justin. But I'm moving in the right direction.

"What were you looking for?" Susan asked.

"Information about the world around us—nothing more.

"Oh, well, you can always ask us.

"As soon as the need arises, I'll contact you right away," I answered with a smile to the girl, who had blushed a little for some reason. "And what are you doing?"

"We check if all tasks have been completed.

"Hmm, let's check...

***

Monday is a hard day. That's what everyone says. But other people make it hard by giving in to laziness. "That's not my style. Exercise, shower... In general, keeping to a schedule. And of course, waking up the neighbors! But my cunning roommates have adapted suspiciously quickly in the simplest way: "they now have an alarm clock. As soon as I returned to the room, they were already awake and rubbing their eyes. But in the living room, I heard about the existence of some kind of silencing charms. They could have studied them, and that's all.

After another classic breakfast in the Great Hall, our entire class headed to Ravenclaw Tower, where, according to Justin, there was a large auditorium for lectures and practice on Charms and Spells.

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