Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Harry stood panting in a hastily created circle of destruction in the forest, which was already far more damage than a first year student could theoretically cause alone.The Cutting Charm couldn't make the tree fall, so he began to partially deform the tree's cross-section.It didn't give him an outlet, knocking down a ring of trees didn't make him feel better, all his feelings were still there, but in destroying the tree, at least he didn't have to think about how he couldn't vent them.

After Harry had used up all his available magic, he tore up the branches with his bare hands, breaking them off.His hands were bleeding, but Madam Pomfrey would have healed those wounds by morning.Only black magic can leave permanent scars on a wizard.

There was the sound of something moving in the woods, like a horse's hooves.Harry turned and raised his wand again; part of his magic was restored when he broke the branch with his bare hands.For the first time he remembered that he was alone in the Forbidden Forest, and that he was making noise.

What appeared in the moonlight was not the unicorn Harry had expected, but a horse—his white-brown fur glistened in the moonlight—and a bare-chested male human with long white hair .The moonlight illuminated the centaur's face, and Harry saw the eyes, almost as blue as Dumbledore's, half royal.

In one hand the centaur held a long wooden javelin with an oversized metal blade that didn't shine in the moonlight; Harry had read that a shiny blade was the sign of a dull knife.

"So," said the centaur.His voice was deep, full of strength and masculinity. "You're standing here, surrounded by ruins. I can smell unicorn blood in the air, blood of innocents, something killed it to save itself."

Harry suddenly became frightened at this moment, and he said quickly, "This is not what it seems."

"I know. The stars themselves have declared your innocence, which is ironic." The centaur took a step towards Harry in a small clearing, javelin still cocked in his hand. "Strange word, innocent. Connotes lack of knowledge, like a child's innocence, which also means innocence. Only the completely ignorant can be free from any responsibility for the consequences of their actions. He doesn't know what he's doing What, so no malice; that's what the word means." The deep voice echoed no echo in the woods.

Harry glanced at the tip of the blade, then realized that he should have grabbed the Time-Turner the instant he saw the centaur.Now, even if Harry tried to get his hands under his robes, the blade would have pierced him before then, if the centaur was fast enough. "I've read," Harry said, his voice shaky as he tried to respond to esoteric words with esoteric words, "that it's wrong to think that children are innocent, because ignorance doesn't mean they don't have a choice. Fights cause almost no harm because they don't have the capacity to inflict serious injuries. Some adults do. But shouldn't the adults who don't do it be more innocent than the children, not the other way around?"

"The wisdom of a wizard," said the centaur.

"Muggle wisdom, actually."

"I don't know much about races without magic. Mars was dim for a while, but it's getting brighter." The centaur took another step forward, and he was almost within range of stabbing Harry.

Harry dared not look up at the sky. "This means that as both Mars and Earth orbit the sun, the two planets are brought closer together. Mars reflects the same amount of sunlight as before, only closer to us. What do you mean, the stars declare my innocent?"

"The night sky speaks to the centaurs. That's how we know all we know. Or maybe they haven't told the wizard even a little bit these days?" The centaur's face flickered with disdain.

"I... once tried to investigate centaurs when I was studying divination. Most authors just laugh at centaurs without explanation. Wizards don't understand the standard of debate[1], and for them it's not a good idea to laugh at an idea or Being a human feels the same as suppressing an idea with evidence... I thought the part where the centaurs used astrology was just more mockery..."

"Why?" the centaur chanted.He raised his head curiously.

"Because the trajectories of the planets can be predicted thousands of years ago. If I discuss it with a sensible Muggle, I can give you a map of exactly what the stars will look like ten years from now. Can you live by this prophecy?"

The centaur shook his head. "According to the map? No. I can't see the light of the planets, the comets, the subtle movements of the stars themselves."

"The orbits of comets were also set thousands of years ago, so they shouldn't have much to do with what's happening now. The light from the stars takes many years to reach Earth, and the stars don't move much in the visible range. .So the obvious assumption is that centaurs have a native magical talent for divination, and you just, well, projected that into the night sky."

"Perhaps," said the centaur thoughtfully.He looks down. "Others will impale you for your wild words, but I have sought what I do not know. Why the night sky can tell the future - I certainly do not know. Mastering the art itself is hard enough All I can say is, Son of Lily, even if what you say is true, it doesn't seem to matter."

Harry let himself relax a bit; being called "Son of Lily" meant that the centaur didn't think he was just some unknown person invading the forest.Moreover, attacking a Hogwarts student is likely to invite great revenge from the non-wizard centaur tribe in the forest, and the centaur probably knows this... "What Muggles have learned is that in the truth, in the There is a power in all those interacting fragments of truth, and that power can only be gained by finding as much truth as possible. To do this, you cannot maintain false beliefs in any form, even false beliefs It doesn't matter if it works. It doesn't seem to matter whether your prophecy is really based on the stars, or if you just projected your innate gifts on the sky. But if you really want to understand divination, or for that matter In terms of understanding the stars, the truth of the centaur prophecy will be a realistic factor in the search for other truths."

The centaur nodded slowly. "So people without wands become wiser than wizards. What a joke! Tell me, Son of Lily, does Muggle wisdom say that soon the sky will be empty?"

"Empty?" Harry said, "Uh... no?"

"None of the other centaurs in this forest showed their face before you, because we swore that we would not oppose the will of the sky. Because, if we were involved in your fate, we might become different in the coming events. Not so innocent. I alone dare to approach you."

"I don't know."

"Yes. You are innocent, as the stars say. It is cruel to kill an innocent to save yourself. From this day on, the life of this person will be cursed and become half alive. Because anyone who kills All centaurs with cubs must be driven out."

The javelin was so fast that Harry's eyes couldn't keep up, and then the wand fell from his hand.

Another powerful blow hit Harry in the heart, and Harry fell to the woodland, breathless and nauseated.

Harry's hand reached into his robes for the Time-Turner, and the harpoon handle slapped his hand away with such force that it nearly snapped his fingers, and he groped with his other hand, which was also slapped away—

"I'm sorry, Harry Potter," said the centaur, then looked up, eyes wide.The javelin twirled upright, blocking a ray of red spell light.Then the centaur dropped his javelin and jumped away desperately, a green light passed him, another green light chased him, and then a third green light hit the centaur straight.

The centaur fell and was motionless.

It took Harry a long time to catch his breath, struggled to his feet, picked up his wand, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "What?"

At this time, the feeling of imminent disaster, the power that was almost formed in the air, approached again.

"Professor—Professor Quirrell? What are you doing here?"

"Okay," said the man in the black cloak thoughtfully, "you need to be in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night and throw a tantrum, and I need to go to a place where you just can't detect me and continue to guard. Can't put A student left alone in the Forbidden Forest. In retrospect, that should have been obvious."

Harry stared at the fallen centaur.

The horse-shaped body was not breathing.

"You—you killed him, it was Avada Kedavra—"

"I don't always understand how morality works in other people's imaginations, Mr. Potter. But even I do know that it's acceptable in conventional morality to kill a non-human being who wants to kill a wizard's child." Yes. Maybe you don't care about the non-human part, but he's going to kill you. He can't be called innocent—"

The Defense Professor stopped, looking at Harry, who pressed his trembling hand to his mouth.

"Well," said the Defense Professor, "I've made my point, so you can think about it. A centaur's javelin can block a lot of spells, but if they see that the spell is a certain green, they won't be able to." Will try to block. So it's useful to know some green stun spells. Really, Mr. Potter, you should understand how I do it by now."

The defense professor approached the centaur's body, Harry involuntarily took a step back, and then another step, a terrible feeling rose in his heart, stop, don't—

The Defense Professor knelt down and placed his wand on the centaur's head.

The wand lingered on his head for a moment.

The centaur stood up, eyes empty, and breathed again.

"Forget what happened during this time," the Defense Professor ordered, "Go elsewhere and forget about tonight."

The centaur moved away, its four legs moving in a strange cadence.

"Satisfied?" said the Defense Professor, sounding rather dismissive.

Harry's brain still felt like it was malfunctioning. "He tried to kill me."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake - yes, he tried to kill you. Get used to it. Only bored people don't have that experience."

Harry made a hoarse sound. "Why—why did he want to—"

"Any reason. I'd be lying if I said I never thought I was going to kill you."

Harry stared at where the centaur walked into the woods.

His brain still felt half-failed, like a failing engine, but Harry didn't think that could be a good sign.

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The news that Draco Malfoy was nearly eaten by a horror was enough to recall Dumbledore from anywhere, wake up Lord Malfoy and Lady Greengrass' handsome husband, and summon Amelia Born s.The presence of the supposed horror aroused even Dumbledore's suspicions, and the possibility of counterfeiting Memory Charms was brought up.Harry says (after a bit of internal struggle about the consequences of people believing a demon is at large) that he doesn't really remember if he used the trick to scare off the Dementors, the Dark Thing just went away; This is exactly what one would expect from falsified memory.This memory would have been created if the caster hadn't actually known how Harry had frightened off the dementors.Bellatrix Black, Severus Snape, Quirinus Quirrell are the names that were brought up, all capable of overpowering everyone present at the time and casting fake The wizard associated with the Memory Charm, and Harry knew Lucius was thinking of Dumbledore.The Auror testimonies, the circle discussions, the accusing glares, all went on until two o'clock in the morning.There are actions, there are votes, and there are consequences.

"You think," said Headmaster Dumbledore softly to Harry, when everything was settled and the two of them were alone, "that what you've done to Hogwarts has improved it?"

Now that everyone else had left the conference room, Harry propped his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.Professor McGonagall, not the everyday time-turner they both were, had left quickly and gone to bed.

"Yes," replied Harry, after too much hesitation, "in my opinion, Headmaster, things are finally, finally normal at Hogwarts. When the four children were sent to the Forbidden Forest at night , that's what should happen. There should be a huge commotion, there should be police presence, and then the responsible party should be removed from office."

"You think," said Dumbledore softly, "that it is a good thing that the man you call responsible is removed from office, as you propose."

"Yeah, actually, I think so."

"Argus Filch has served this institution for decades."

"And under the influence of Veritaserum," said Harry wearily, "what Argus Filch confided was that he sent an eleven-year-old boy into the Forbidden Forest in the hope that something terrible would happen to him. because he felt the boy's father was responsible for the death of his cat. The other three students who were with Draco didn't seem to have provoked him. I would have pushed for the sentence, but in this country you don't The concept is Azkaban. I also have to point out that Filch is very bad to the kids in Hogwarts, and I expect his departure will improve the hedonic index of this school[11], although you don't think That's a problem, I think."

The headmaster's eyes were hidden behind half-moon glasses, unable to contemplate. "Argus Filch was a Squib. His job at Hogwarts was all he had. Or rather, ever had."

"The purpose of the school is not to provide jobs for its employees. I know you've probably spent more time with Filch than you have with any of the students, but that shouldn't make Filch's inner experience in yours. It is more prominent in consideration. Students also have inner lives.”

"You don't care at all, do you, Harry?" Dumbledore said softly. "The ones you hurt."

"I care about the innocent," said Harry. "For example, Mr. Hagrid, you will notice that I strongly advocate that he should not be regarded as malicious, he just doesn't realize it. As long as Mr. Hagrid doesn't bring anyone into the Forbidden Forest, I don't know how long he has been working here. Opinion."

"I once thought that after Ruburt was exonerated, he might take Sira's place and teach Care of Magical Creatures. But most of the teaching is done in the Forbidden Forest. So it should not be your responsibility." within the stated range."

Harry said slowly, "But—you told us that Mr. Hagrid has a blind spot when it comes to magical creatures threatening wizards. That is to say, Mr. Hagrid has a cognitive impairment and cannot imagine Draco and Terry Lacey will get hurt, which is why Mr Hagrid doesn't think there's anything wrong with leaving them alone in the Forbidden Forest. Isn't that true?"

"it is true."

"So, isn't Mr. Hagrid the worst candidate for a teacher of magical creatures?"

The old wizard looked at Harry through half-moon spectacles.His voice was a little hoarse when he spoke. "Mr. Malfoy himself didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Argus' trick wasn't so unreasonable, Harry Potter. Ruburt might grow up in that position. It would have been—Rubus had hoped." Everything, his greatest wish—"

"Your mistake," said Harry, looking at his knees, which felt at least a tenth of the worst he'd ever experienced in his life, "was a cognitive bias, which in technical terms we'd call It's range numb. Can't be multiplied. You think how happy Mr. Hagrid will be when he hears the news. Think of a thousand students taking magical creatures over the next ten years, hundreds of them Ten out of [-] were burned by Ash Snakes. No student is as injured as Mr. Hagrid is happy, but there are a hundred injured students and only one happy teacher."

"Perhaps," said the old wizard, "and your own fault, Harry, is that once you've done the multiplication, you can't feel the pain of those you've hurt."

"Maybe." Harry continued to stare at his knees. "Or maybe worse. Headmaster, what does it mean if a centaur doesn't like me?" One of the magical creatures known for their divination gave you a lecture about people who don't know the consequences, apologizing to you, Then try to impale you with a javelin, what does that mean?

"A centaur?" said the Headmaster. "When did you—ah, Time-Turner. You're the reason I can't go back in time before the event, or a paradox would ensue."

"Is it me? I guess it's me." Harry shook his head absently. "I'm sorry."

"With very few exceptions," said Dumbledore, "centaurs don't like wizards at all."

"It's a little bit more special than that."

"What did the centaur say to you?"

Harry didn't answer.

"Ah," the headmaster hesitated, "the centaur has been wrong many times, and if anyone in the world can confuse the stars themselves, it's you."

Harry looked up to see the blue eyes under the semicircular spectacles be kind again.

"Don't worry too much about it," said Albus Dumbledore.

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1 Argumentative norms: quoted from Argumentation ethics, see: en.wikipedia/wiki/Argumentation_ethics

2享乐指数：wiki.mbalib/wiki/%E4%BA%AB%E4%B9%90%E6%8C%87%E6%95%B0