Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Love in Rowling. [1]

Today's history tidbit: The ancient Hebrews believed that the day was divided by sunset, not sunrise, so they would say "evening and morning" instead of "morning and evening." (Many comment readers pointed out that the modern Jewish halaka thinks so too.)

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"I can always find the time."

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"Cold frost!"

Harry dipped a finger into a glass of water on the table.The water should have cooled down.But it was warm before, and it is still warm now.This is not the first time.

Harry felt deeply that he had been cheated.

There were hundreds of fantasy novels in Vires' house, and Harry had read quite a few of them.And he has a mysterious dark side.So after the glass of water refused to cooperate a few times, Harry looked around Charms classroom, saw that no one was paying attention to him, took a deep breath, concentrated, and managed to get angry.Thinking about how those Slytherins bullied Neville, thinking about the game that repeatedly knocked the book on the floor for you to pick it up.Thinking about what Draco Malfoy said he was going to do to that ten-year-old girl named Lovegood, and the truth about how the Wizengamot worked...

Fury was in his blood, and he raised his wand, his hands shaking with hatred, and said coldly, "Frost!" But nothing happened.

Harry was fooled.He wanted to write someone a letter asking for a refund for his dark side, since it was apparently supposed to have irresistible magical powers, and it turned out to be a bad one.

"Frost!" said Hermione again, sitting next to him.Her glass of water had frozen into solid ice, and the rim of the glass was covered with white frost.She seemed completely absorbed in the work in front of her, not caring at all for the other students glaring at her angrily.Which means (a) she's dangerously ignorant of her surroundings, or (b) it's a show that's grown.

"Oh, that's great, Miss Granger!" exclaimed Filius Flitwick in a shrill voice.This little man was their professor of Charms and head of Ravenclaw, and from his appearance he had nothing to do with being a former dueling champion. "Perfect! Amazing!"

Harry had expected that, at worst, he would be a little worse than Hermione at best.Of course Harry was willing to let her try to outdo him, but he could barely accept it the other way around.

On Monday, however, Harry was at the bottom of the class, a position where the Muggle-borns competed friendly and fiercely - with the exception of Hermione.Hermione was all alone on top, with no one to compete with, poor child.

Professor Flitwick stood next to a Muggle-born student and began silently adjusting her wand grip.

Harry looked at Hermione.He swallowed hard.In this case, her role is obvious. "Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively, "Do you know what I'm not doing right?"

Hermione's eyes lit up with a hideously helpful light, making something in Harry's brain scream in despair and shame.

After 5 minutes, the temperature of Harry's water was indeed lower than the room temperature. Hermione praised him a few words and told him to pronounce more carefully next time he chanted a spell, and then went to help another classmate.

Professor Flitwick awarded her a house point for helping him.

Harry gritted his teeth with anger, and the muscles in his jaw ached.It's not doing his pronunciation any favors.

I don't care if it's unfair competition.I know what to do with the extra two hours a day.I'm going to sit in my box and study hard until I catch up with Hermione Granger.

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"Transfiguration is one of the most complicated and dangerous magics you will learn at Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall, the stern old witch without a trace of jokes on her face, "Whoever is in my class Nonsense, don't come back after being kicked out. I have warned you."

She tapped her desk with her wand and it turned into a pig.Several Muggle-born students let out small screams.The pig looked around, snorted, seemed confused, and turned back to the table.

The transfiguration professor glanced around the classroom and landed on a student.

"Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall, "you just got your textbook a few days ago. Have you started your Transfiguration textbook?"

"No, sorry, Professor," said Harry.

"No need to apologize, Mr. Potter, if I need to preview, I will tell you in advance." Professor McGonagall tapped his finger on the table, "Mr. Potter, do you want to guess, this is a table, I changed it Became a pig, or was it originally a pig, and I temporarily canceled the transformation magic? If you read Chapter 1 of the textbook, you will know."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I guess it's easier to start with a pig, because if you start with a table, it might stop standing when it becomes a pig."

Professor McGonagall shook his head. "I don't blame you, Mr. Potter, but the correct answer is that you can't guess in Transfiguration. Wrong answers will be deducted a lot of points, and blank answers will be given a very lenient score. You must learn to admit that you don't understand .No matter how obvious and elementary questions I ask, if you answer 'I don't know', I will not scold you, and I will deduct college points from anyone who laughs at you. Can you tell me why There is a rule, Mr Potter?"

Because a single mistake in Transfiguration can be extremely dangerous. "cannot."

"That's right. Transfiguration is more dangerous than Apparition, and Apparition is not learned until the sixth grade. Unfortunately, Transfiguration must be taught in elementary school to ensure the ability to grow up. It is a dangerous subject. Course, you must be very afraid of making mistakes. No student has ever been permanently injured by an accident in my class, and I would be very, very upset if any of you dared to break my record."

Several students swallowed.

Professor McGonagall stood up and walked towards the wall behind the desk, where there was a white board. "There are many reasons why Transfiguration is dangerous, but one of them is the most important." She conjured up a marker pen from nowhere, and wrote a line of big red characters; and then used the same pen to draw under this sentence a blue line:

Transformation is not permanent!

"Deformation is not permanent!" said Professor McGonagall. "Deformation is not permanent! Deformation is not permanent! Mr. Potter, suppose a student turns a piece of wood into a glass of water, and you drink the water. Imagine Now, what happens to you when the magic wears off?" She paused, "Wait a minute, I shouldn't have asked you, Mr Potter, I forgot that your imagination is uncharacteristically pessimistic—"

"It's okay," Harry said, swallowing hard. "My first answer is that I don't know," the professor nodded approvingly, "but I imagine . Absorbed - will those become pith, or solid wood, or..." Harry knew too little about magic to think about it.First of all, he doesn't understand how wood turns into water, so he doesn't know what happens when the water molecules disperse due to ordinary thermodynamic motion, the magic disappears, and water turns back into wood.

Professor McGonagall scowled. "As Mr. Potter deduced, he will be very seriously ill. He must be sent to St. Mungo's Hospital by Floo immediately before he can survive. Please turn to the fifth page of the textbook."

Even though the moving photos have no sound, you can immediately tell that the woman with horribly discolored skin is screaming.

"There was a prisoner who turned gold into wine and gave it to this woman to drink, as he said, to 'pay off a debt.' He was sentenced to ten years in Azkaban. Please turn to page six. Here is a Dementors. They are the prison guards of Azkaban. They will suck your magic, your life, all your happy thoughts. The picture on the seventh page is the prisoner released from prison after ten years. As you can see, he's dead—what's the matter, Mr Potter?"

"Professor," said Harry, "if that's the worst case scenario, is there a way to maintain this Transfiguration magic?"

"Impossible," Professor McGonagall said decisively, "Maintaining a transformation magic requires continuous injection of magic power. The amount of magic power depends on the size of the transformed object. Every few hours, you have to touch the transformed object again. It cannot be done under these circumstances. Such a catastrophe cannot be undone!"

Professor McGonagall leaned forward, her face stern. "Under no circumstances should you turn anything into a liquid or a gas. Not into water, not into air. Not into anything like water, not into something like air. Even if not for drinking Neither will liquids. Liquids will volatilize, and a small part will escape into the air. You can't deform anything and burn it. It will smoke when it burns, and maybe someone will inhale the smoke! Something that enters a person's body. Can't be turned into something to eat. Can't be turned into something that appears to be edible. Can't do a little funny prank and trick your friend into eating your slushy pie, even if you're going to eat it before he starts Telling him the truth before he eats it doesn't work either. Never. It's that simple. Not in the classroom, not out of the classroom, not anywhere. Do you all get it?"

"Got it," replied Harry, Hermione, and a few other students.Everyone else seemed to be stunned.

"Does each of you understand?"

"Understood," they said, murmured, or whispered.

"If you break any of these rules, you'll never be allowed to take Transfiguration again at Hogwarts. Follow me. I'll never turn anything into liquid or gas."

"I'll never turn anything into a liquid or a gas," the students said in unison.

"Say it again! Louder! I will never turn anything into a liquid or a gas."

"I never turn anything into a liquid or a gas."

"I'll never change anything that appears to be edible, or anything that might get into a person's body."

"I never deform anything and burn it because it smokes when it burns."

"You can never turn anything into money, including Muggle money," said Professor McGonagall. "The goblins can find out who did it. The law recognizes that the goblin people are in a state of perpetual war with the counterfeiters. They won't call the police to catch you. They'll call the army to destroy you."

"I never turn anything into money," the students repeated.

"Most importantly," said Professor McGonagall, "you must not polymorph any living creature, especially yourself. It will make you very ill and possibly dead, depending on whether you are How, and for how long.” Professor McGonagall paused, “Mr. Potter is holding his hand up now, because he’s seen an animagus transform once—specifically, a person who becomes a a cat, and turn back into a human. But Animagus transformation is not random transformation."

Professor McGonagall took out a small piece of wood from his pocket, tapped it with his wand, and the wood turned into a glass ball.Then she said, "Chris Frame!" and the glass ball turned into a steel ball.She tapped the steel ball one last time, and the steel ball turned back into wood. "Chris Frame is a spell that can change an object made of glass into steel of the same shape. But it cannot change steel into glass, nor can it change a table into a pig. The most extensive polymorph - the random deformation you will learn Spell - can change anything into anything else, at least physically. For this reason, there are no spells for random shapeshifting. If enchanted shapeshifting is used, each different shapeshifting will require a different spell. "

Professor McGonagall looked sharply at her students. "Some teachers will teach the transformation spell first, and then teach random transformation. Indeed, it will be much easier at the beginning. But this will make you develop bad habits and affect your future abilities. In my place, you will always At the beginning, you must learn to transform at will, which requires you not to use spells when casting spells, but to keep in mind the initial form, end form and transformation process of the deformed object."

"Now to answer Mr. Potter's question," Professor McGonagall went on, "what you cannot cast on a living creature is polymorph. There are spells and potions that allow a creature to deform safely and reversibly, but this There are some restrictions on the transformation of the Animagus. For example, if an Animagus loses a leg, his transformed form will still have one less leg. It is not safe to transform at will. Your body will change after transformation Some changes—breathing, for example—cause parts of your body to escape into the surrounding air. When the transformation ends and your body tries to return to its original shape, it can't go back. If you hold a wand at yourself, change your hair If you become blond, your hair will fall out after the transformation. If you want to change the beanie on your face, you will be in St. Mungo's Hospital for a long time. If you transform your body into an adult, after the transformation is over, you will die."

This explains why there are chubby boys and ugly girls in the wizarding world.That being said, there are old people too.If only he could transform himself every morning... Harry raised his hand and motioned to Professor McGonagall with his eyes.

"What is it, Mr. Potter?"

"Is it possible to turn a living creature into an inanimate object, such as a coin—no, sorry, very sorry, such as a steel ball."

Professor McGonagall shook his head. "Mr. Potter, even inanimate objects undergo some subtle changes internally. After the transformation ends, your body will appear to be the same as before, and you won't feel any changes in the first minute. Nothing wrong. But in an hour you'll be sick, in a day you'll be dead."

"Well, so if I'd read Chapter 1 I could have guessed that the table was originally a table, not a pig," said Harry, "but to get to that conclusion I also have to assume you don't want Let the pig die, although this seems very likely, but—”

"I can foresee that it will be very pleasant to correct your paper, Mr Potter. But if you have any other questions, can you wait until after class?"

"I have no other questions, Professor."

"Now please tell me," said Professor McGonagall, "that I would never polymorph a living creature, especially myself, unless specifically directed to use a specific spell or potion."

"If I don't know whether a transfiguration is safe, I can't try it unless I have the consent of Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick or Professor Snape or the headmaster. At Hogwarts, only four of them are Transfiguration Authority. It is unacceptable to ask other students, even if they claim to have asked the same question before.”

"Even if the current defense professor at Hogwarts told me that a certain transformation magic is safe, even if I saw the defense professor cast the transformation magic himself, and it seemed to be fine, I can't try it."

"I have the absolute right to refuse to perform any transfiguration magic that disturbs me. Not even the Headmaster of Hogwarts can force me to do so, so I certainly don't have to obey similar orders from the Defense Professor, even if the Defense Professor threatens to detain me." Losing [-] points of college points and then expulsing me will not work."

"If I break any of the above rules, I will never be able to study Transfiguration at Hogwarts again."

"In the first month, we recited the rules at the beginning of each lesson," said Professor McGonagall, "and now we're going to start with matches and needles. . . put away your wands, please." , thanks, I said 'start' to mean you can start taking notes."

Half an hour before get out of class ended, Professor McGonagall distributed matches to everyone.

When get out of class was over, only Hermione's matches had turned silver.All other students, Muggle-born or not, had their matches exactly as before.

Professor McGonagall awarded her another house point.

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After Transfiguration get out of class, Harry was putting the books in his bag when Hermione came to his desk.

"Did you know," said Hermione with an innocent expression, "I earned two house points for Ravenclaw today."

"Yeah," Harry replied curtly.

"But it's still not as good as your seven points," she said. "I think I may not be as smart as you."

Harry stopped what he was doing, turned to Hermione, and narrowed his eyes.He forgot about it.

She winks at him. "We have classes every day, though. Wonder how long it will take you to find a chance to rescue a Hufflepuff? It's Monday. So you still have time until Thursday."

The two stared at each other without blinking.

Harry spoke first. "Of course you understand that this is a declaration of war."

"I don't remember us ever having peace."

Now all the other students began to watch with relish.All the other students, unfortunately, plus Professor McGonagall.

"By the way, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said happily from the other side of the classroom, "I have some good news for you. Sister Pomfrey has approved your proposal on improving the rotator, and she is going to This was done a week ago. For that I reward you... ten Ravenclaw house points."

Hermione was dumbfounded, with betrayed shock on her face.Harry guessed the expression on his own face was similar.

"Professor..." Harry gritted his teeth.

"These ten points are definitely well deserved, Mr. Potter. I never give college points lightly. To you, it may be just because you see something fragile and suggest protection, but the rotator is a valuable medical Equipment, the headmaster was very upset when one was broken last time." Professor McGonagall showed a thoughtful expression. "God, wonder if anyone else got seventeen house points on their first day of school. I'm going to look it up, but I'm afraid it's a new record. Maybe we should announce it at dinner ?”

"Professor!" Harry yelled. "This is our war! Don't meddle!"

"Now your college points are enough for you to use until next Thursday, Mr. Potter. Of course, unless you did something bad before and lost the college points you got. For example, disrespecting the professor or something." McGonagall The professor put a finger to his cheek, as if in thought, "I never guessed that your house points would become negative on Friday."

Harry squeezed his mouth shut.He glared at Professor McGonagall with his strongest death gaze, but she only seemed to be amused.

"Well, I definitely have to announce it during dinner," Professor McGonagall pondered, "but it can't make the Slytherins unhappy, so it's better to be brief. Just talk about the number of house points and the fact that the record is broken." …afterwards if someone asks you for your homework and finds out that you haven't even read your textbook, you can always ask them to ask Miss Granger."

"Professor!" Hermione screamed.

Professor McGonagall ignored her. "Oh, I wonder when Miss Granger will do something worth announcing before dinner? Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it."

Harry and Hermione turned and left the classroom in unspoken agreement at the same time, furiously.Behind them came a group of drunken Ravenclaws.

"Well," said Harry, "what about after dinner?"

"Of course," said Hermione. "You can't let your studies fall behind like this anymore."

"Whoa, thank you. You're so smart now, I'd love to see what you'll look like with a little basic training in rational ways."

"Is it really useful? It doesn't seem to help you in Charms and Transfiguration."

A brief pause.

"Well, that's because I only got my textbook four days ago. So I had to use my wand while earning those seventeen house points."

"Four days ago? Four days may not be enough to read eight books, but one is enough. At this speed, how many days will it take to finish reading? You know so much mathematics, can you tell me, eight times four Divide by zero, what is the result?"

"I'm going to class now, you didn't use it then, but weekends are free, so...eight multiplied by four divided by epsilon, when epsilon approaches 0...Sunday morning at 10:47." "I read it in three days."

"So 2:47 p.m. Saturday. I can always find time."

There was evening and there was morning, and this was the first day. [2]

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[1] From the fantasy novel "Kushiel's Legacy" (en.wikipedia/wiki/Kushiel's_Legacy), the original text is "Love in withering."

[2] There was evening and there was morning, this is the first day: from Chapter 1 of the Bible "Genesis".