Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Even after 30 years as Vice-Headmaster and formerly Professor of Transfiguration, you rarely see Albus Dumbledore completely caught off guard.

"...Susan Bones, Lavender Brown, and Daphne Greengrass," Minerva finished reading the list, "I would also like to say, Albus, that Miss Granger does not seem to be interested in you. The description of the supportive attitude - I believe her words were 'he said I should be content with a supporting role' - got a fair amount of attention among the senior girls. Several of them asked me about Gran Is Miss Jay's accusation true, because Miss Granger said I was there."

The old wizard leaned back in his great chair, still gazing at her, eyes under half-moon spectacles as if in a trance.

"That puts me in a dilemma, Albus," said Professor McGonagall.The expression on her face was noncommittal, and she was careful to assure it. "I know now that you didn't really mean to dampen the girl's enthusiasm; quite the opposite, in fact. But you and Severus often told me that in order to keep a secret, I had to react like someone who didn't know. So I I have no choice but to admit that Miss Granger's description is accurate, and then feign concern and a little resentment. After all, if I didn't know that you were deliberately manipulating Miss Granger, I might be very upset. Displeased."

"I... see," the old wizard said slowly.His hands played with his silver beard absently, with small, quick movements.

"Thank goodness," continued Professor McGonagall, "only Professor Sinistra and Professor Victor are currently wearing Miss Granger's badge among the staff."

"Badge?" repeated the old wizard.

Minerva took out a small silver badge with the initials SPHEW on it, placed it on Albus's desk, and tapped the surface of the badge with her finger.

Hermione Granger, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Susan Burns, Hannah Abbott, Daphne Greengrass, and The voices of Lacey Davis shouted together, "We are not willing to be No.2, please give the witch a mission!"

"Miss Granger was selling these badges for two Sickles apiece, and she told me she had sold fifty of them. I believe it was Nymphadora Tonks, a seventh-year Hufflepuff , helped them bless this spell on the badge. The last item of the report was," Professor McGonagall said briskly, "our eight new heroines have applied for permission to hold a protest outside the entrance of your office .”

"I hope," said Albus, frowning, "that you explained to them—"

"I explained to them that Wednesday night would be fine at seven," Minerva said.She took the badge back from the headmaster's desk, smiled sweetly at Albus, and turned to the door.

"Minerva?" the old wizard called after her. "Minerva!"

The oaken door closed firmly behind her.

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The stone-walled vestibule leading to the principal's office is not spacious, so while many hoped to see the protest, not many actually came.Only Professors Sinistra and Victor wore their badges, as did Prefects Penelope Clearwater, Rose Brown and Jacqueline Price.Behind them are Professors McGonagall, Sprout and Frivey, without badges, overseeing the event.Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Head Boys were also in attendance, as were Prefects Percy Weasley and Oliver Bitson, all wearing badges of support.And of course the eight founding members of SPHEW, lined up in front of the gargoyles, holding placards.Hermione's own placard, affixed to a wooden handle that read Nobody's Supporting Role, seemed to grow heavier with each passing minute.

There is also Professor Quirrell, who is leaning against the far stone wall and watching, with an unfathomable expression in his eyes.The Defense Professor got a badge of hers, but she never sold it to him; instead of wearing it, he was idly tossing it with one hand.

The whole idea seemed stronger four days ago, when the righteous anger was still burning inside her, and when the protests were not going to start until a full four days later, rather than right away.

But she must persevere, as heroes do: they always persevere.And also because it would feel really bad to tell everyone that she decided to cancel.Hermione wondered how many heroes acted for similar reasons.Most books don't say "And they refused to give up, no matter how sensible it was, because it would be too embarrassing"; but if it is explained this way, a lot of history is much more reasonable.

At seven fifteen, Professor McGonagall told her that Headmaster Dumbledore would be down to talk to them for a few minutes.Professor McGonagall told them not to be afraid—the Headmaster was a good man at heart, and their protest was officially sanctioned by the school.

But Hermione knew very, very well that even with written permission, she was still challenging authority.

After deciding to be a hero, Hermione did the obvious thing and went to the Hogwarts library to borrow a book on how to be a hero.She then put the books back on the shelf because it was clear that none of the authors were heroes themselves.So she just read Godric Gryffindor's thirty-inch autobiography and life advice five times until she knew every word by heart (at least in the English translation; she didn't know Latin yet. arts).Godric Gryffindor's autobiography is much more compact than the books Hermione usually reads. He will finish what should have been discussed in thirty inches in one sentence, and then follow up with this sentence...

But it was clear from what she had read that while it wasn't what being a hero was about defying authority, it wasn't being a hero if you didn't dare to.Hermione Granger now knew what people thought of her, and she understood what people thought she couldn't do.

Hermione lifted her placard a little higher, concentrating on letting herself breathe slowly and rhythmically, so as not to be so out of breath that she collapsed from lack of oxygen.

"Really?" Miss Price did not hide the interest in her voice. "They can't even vote?"

"Yes," replied Professor Sinistra. (The astronomy professor's hair was still raven, and her dark face was only slightly wrinkled; Hermione had guessed she was only seventy, but—) How my mum rejoiced when she was at the time, even though she didn't really fit the bill." (This explains that Professor Sinista was with her Muggle family in 70.) "And that's not the most Bad. You know, centuries ago—”

Thirty seconds later, all the non-Muggle-born students, boys and girls, stared at Professor Sinistra in utter shock.Hannah's placard fell to the floor.

"It's not even the worst, less than half," concluded Professor Sinista, "but you can see how far this kind of thing can go."

"Merlin bless us," said Clearwater in a choking voice, "you mean men would treat us like this if they didn't have wands to protect them?"

"Hi!" said a prefect, "it's not—"

A short, sarcastic laugh came from Professor Quirrell's direction.When Hermione turned to look, she saw that the Defense Professor was still lazily toying with the badge in his hand, not bothering to look up.He replied, "It's human nature, Miss Clearwater. You can rest assured that you wouldn't be kinder if witches had wands and men didn't."

"I don't think so!" Professor Sinista snapped.

He chuckled coldly. "I guess in the proudest of pure-blood families this happens more often than anyone dares to admit. A lonely witch sees a handsome Muggle; she thinks how easy it is to give the man a love potion Ah, from now on he's been absolutely in love with her alone. Because she knows he's irresistible, well, she can take anything she wants from him, of course—"

"Professor Quirrell!" Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"I'm sorry," said Professor Quirrell mildly, his eyes still on the badge in his hand. "Are we still pretending this can't happen? Then I'm sorry."

Professor Sinistra said angrily, "Don't you wizards—"

"There are still children here, two professors!" It was Professor McGonagall again.

"Some people will," said Professor Quirrell serenely, as if discussing the weather, "but I personally don't."

A moment of silence.Hermione raised her placard again - it had slipped onto her shoulder while listening to this.She's never thought about it, not at all, and now she's trying to not think about it, and it's making her stomach a little sick.She looked in Harry Potter's direction, not knowing why she did it; she saw Harry's face was very calm.She felt a chill down her spine and looked away, just in time to see Harry give her a slight nod, as if they had agreed on something.

"To be fair," Professor Sinista said after a while, "I don't recall being discriminated against on the basis of sex or color since my acceptance to Hogwarts. No, today's Discrimination is all about Muggle-born. I believe Miss Granger said that, so far, she's only finding problems with heroes?"

It took Hermione a moment to realize she was being asked, and then she said in a slightly squeaky voice, "Yes." It was all a bit bigger now than she had imagined when she started the campaign.

"What exactly did you check, Miss Granger?" Professor Victor asked.She looked older than Professor Sinistra, and her hair was starting to grey; Hermione hadn't had any personal contact with Professor Victor before the Arithmancy professor bought her the badge.

"Well," said Hermione, her voice a little high, "I checked the history books, and there are as many female ministers as male ministers in the Ministry of Magic. Then I checked the previous presidents of the International Federation of Wizards, and there are more male wizards than witches." More, but not much difference. But if you look up famous hunters of dark wizards, the people who stopped the invasion of evil magical creatures, or the people who overthrew the Dark Lord—”

"Of course, and the Dark Wizard himself," said Professor Quirrell.Now the Defense Professor raised his head. "You can add this to your list, Miss Granger. Of all the people suspected of being Death Eaters, we only know of two witches, Bellatrix Black and Alecto Carrow. And I dare say that most wizards, with the exception of Granny Yaga, can't name a single Dark Lady."

Hermione glared at him.

He can't be-

"Professor Quirrell," said Professor Victor, "what are you implying?"

The Defense professor held up the badge, facing them in golden letters SPHEW, said, "Hero," then flipped the badge over, showing the silver back, and said, "Dark wizard. It's a similar career path pursued by similar people, You can't just ask why a young witch avoids one of these paths without considering the mirror image of that path."

"Oh, now I see!" said Tracy Davis, and Hermione jumped when she spoke suddenly. "You joined our protest because you were worried that there were too few girls who became dark witches!" Tracy giggled, and now she couldn't laugh even if she gave Hermione a million pounds.

When Professor Quirrell answered, a faint smile appeared on his face. "That's not true, Miss Davies. Actually I don't care at all about such things. But when Grindelwald and Dumbledore and the man who can't name are all men, count the The number of witches, or other ordinary people living ordinary lives is meaningless." The defense professor lazily turned the badge with his fingers, flipping it back and forth, "but then again, only a very small number of people Will do interesting things with their lives. What does it matter to you whether they're wizards or witches if you're not one of them? I guess you won't be one of them, Miss Davies; for you though Ambitious, but without any ambition."

"That's not it!" Tracy said indignantly, "And what does that mean?"

Professor Quirrell stood up straight, no longer leaning against the wall. "You've been sorted into Slytherin, Miss Davies, and I reckon you'll take whatever chance to climb your way. But you don't have any great ambitions to drive yourself to, and you won't do it for yourself. Create opportunities. At best, you can only climb to the position of Minister for Magic, or some other insignificant high position, which will never break the confines of your existence."

Then Professor Quirrell's gaze shifted away from Tracy, who was looking at her, his pale blue eyes fixed on her with terrifying concentration—"Tell me, Miss Granger. Are you ambitious?"

"Professor—" Professor Freewie's shrill voice said harshly, then her Head of House's voice fell silent, and out of the corner of her vision she saw Harry put his hand on Professor Freeway's shoulder and shake his head , the expression on his face was very mature.

Hermione felt like a fawn in the headlights of a car.

"What drove you to break out of your limitations, Miss Granger?" said the Defense Professor, still looking directly at her. "Why isn't getting high grades in class enough? Is true greatness what you're after? ?Is there something in this world that dissatisfies you and has to be reassembled to your will? Or is this just a child's play for you? If it's just to compete with Harry Potter then I'm going to be disappointed .”

"I—" said Hermione, her voice so high it had become a squeak, but she couldn't think of what else to say.

"Take a moment to think about it, if you like," said Professor Quirrell. "Pretend it's your homework, six inches, due Thursday. I hear you're pretty articulate about it."

Everyone is staring at her.

"I—" said Hermione, "I don't agree with anything you just said."

"Well said," said Professor McGonagall in a crisp voice.

Professor Quirrell's gaze did not waver. "It's not six inches, Miss Granger. Something drove you to defy the headmaster's ruling and start gathering followers of your own. Maybe it's why you don't want to say it out loud?"

Hermione knew the correct answer wouldn't satisfy Professor Quirrell, but it was the correct answer, so she said it. "I don't think it takes ambition to be a hero," said Hermione.Her voice faltered, but didn't break. "I think it's okay to just do the right thing. And they're not my followers, we're friends."

Professor Quirrell leaned back against the wall.The faint smile on his face disappeared. "Most people think they're doing the right thing, Miss Granger. They don't make extraordinary people out of it."

Hermione took a few deep breaths, trying to be as brave as possible. "It's not about being extraordinary," she said as firmly as she could, "but I think that if one is always trying to do the right thing, over and over again, and not being lazy, doing all the work required , and to think with their heads about what they did, and to be brave enough to carry on even when they were afraid—” Hermione paused, her eyes on Tracy and Daphne, “—and to plan cleverly. How to get there—and not just blindly do what everyone else is doing—then I think that's enough trouble for such a person."

Some of the girls and boys laughed, and so did Professor McGonagall, looking troubled and proud.

"You may be right," said the Defense Professor with half-closed eyes.He tossed the badge to Hermione, who caught it automatically. "This is my donation to your cause, Miss Granger. I hear it's worth two Sickles."

The defense professor turned and left without another word.

"I almost thought I was going to faint!" said Hannah breathlessly after his footsteps faded away.She also heard the sounds of relief from some of the other girls, and some put their placards down for a moment.

"Of course I have ambitions!" said Tracy, who seemed on the verge of tears. "I'll—I'll—I'll figure it out tomorrow, but I have one, I'm sure!"

"If you really can't think of one," Daphne said, and patted Tracy's shoulder comfortingly, "just choose the classic and old-fashioned Conquer the World."

"Hi!" said Susan sharply. "You should be heroes now! That means you must be good!"

"No, it doesn't matter," Lavender said, "I'm pretty sure General Chaos wants to conquer the world too, and he's kind of a good guy."

Behind the cordon, more people were talking. "My God," said Penelope Clearwater, "I think this is the most blatantly evil of all the Defense Professors."

Professor McGonagall gave a warning cough, and the head boy said, "You weren't around with Professor Barney," which made several people twitch.

"Professor Quirrell just talks like that," said Harry Potter, though he looked less certain than before, "I mean, come to think of it, he hasn't actually done anything like Snape What the professor does—”

"Mr. Potter," said Professor Frivy in a thin voice, his tone was very polite, but his face was rather stern, "why didn't you let me talk just now?"

"Professor Quirrell is testing Hermione to see if she wants to be her mysterious old wizard," said Harry, "which is totally unlikely to succeed in any way, shape, or state, but it has to be up to her." answer."

Hermione blinked.

Then Hermione blinked again, realizing that Harry Potter's mysterious old wizard was none other than Professor Quirrell, not Dumbledore at all, and that wasn't a good sign-

There was a roar in the small stone vestibule, and Hermione, who was already nervous, turned around quickly, and instinctively reached for her wand with the other hand, almost dropping the placard on the ground.

The gargoyle stepped aside, and the water stone moved flexibly like flesh and blood, making the sound of rumbling stones.The huge, ugly stone statue waited only a moment, silently watching with lifeless gray eyes.Then the huge gargoyle folded its wings again and returned to its original position, the water flow stone changed from flexible to hard without changing its appearance, and the passage that appeared briefly among the Hogwarts stones became a stone wall again.

Before them all loomed the mighty figure of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, dressed in bright purple robes that perhaps only a Muggle-born would find ugly, Here is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Head Wizard of the Wizengamot, President of the International Federation of Wizards, hero who defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald, protector of England, who found twelve uses for the fabled dragon's blood discoverer of the most powerful wizard alive; and he was looking at her, Hermione Jane Granger, General of the newly expanded Sunshine Corps, No.1 of the first year at Hogwarts, while she declared Be a heroine.

She even had a shorter name than his.

The Headmaster smiled at her benevolently, his wrinkled eyes gleaming cheerfully behind half-moon spectacles, and said, "Hello, Miss Granger."

Oddly enough, it's not nearly as scary as talking to Professor Quirrell. "Hello, Headmaster Dumbledore," said Hermione, her voice trembling just a little.

"Miss Granger," said Dumbledore, looking more serious now, "I think you may have misunderstood me a bit. I did not intend to imply that you could not, or should not, be a hero. I certainly did not intend to imply that all No witch in the world should be a hero. It's just that you... are too young to think about these things."

Hermione couldn't help but cast a glance at Professor McGonagall, who was smiling encouragingly at her - or at least giving them both some kind of smile - so Hermione looked back at the Headmaster, in a voice that was even more trembling than before. Said, "Since you became headmaster 40 years ago, there have been eleven Hogwarts graduates who have become heroes, and I'm talking about people like Lupe Casare[2] , and ten of them were boys. Seamaline Lindelwald was the only witch."

"Well," said the Headmaster.There was a thoughtful look on his face; he at least seemed to be thinking about her words. "Miss Granger, I've never been one to crunch these numbers. It's often easier to count than to understand. Hogwarts has produced many good people, wizards and witches; One of the nice guys, and not necessarily the best kind. You're not counting Alice Longbottom and Lily Potter...but that's all for now. Tell me, Miss Granger, have you How many heroes did Hogwarts produce in the 40 years before I became headmaster? Because in that time I remember only three characters who were called heroes; and not even a single witch."

"I didn't say it was just you!" said Hermione, "but I think maybe a lot of people, like other headmasters before you, and even your whole society and all of you, might be throwing cold water on girls."

The old wizard sighed.His eyes behind half-moon spectacles stared at her intently, as if they were the only two of them present. "Miss Granger, you might be able to dissuade witches from becoming spell masters, Quidditch players, or even Aurors. But heroes are different. Heroes will be heroes anyway. They will walk through flames and swim across glaciers. Dementors won't stop them, a friend's death won't stop them, and throwing cold water on them won't help."

"Well," said Hermione, pausing, struggling for words, "well, I mean... maybe that's not the case? I mean, it seems to me that if you wish more witches To be a hero, you should teach them how to be a hero."

"Many boys and girls are heroes in their dreams," said Dumbledore quietly.He didn't look at the other girls, just her. "It's much less in the real world. Many people don't shrink back when the darkness comes, and face it bravely. Far fewer actively seek out the darkness and force it to face themselves. This is a difficult life, and sometimes it can be lonely , often very briefly. I have never persuaded anyone to refuse this call, but I do not wish to increase their numbers."

Hermione hesitated; something on that wrinkled face stopped her, like a clue pointing to unexpressed emotions that had been pent up for many, many years...

If there were more heroes, perhaps their lives would not be so lonely, or so short.

But she couldn't bear to say it, couldn't bear to say it to him.

"But it is only talk," said the old wizard.He smiled, and she thought it was a slightly regretful smile. "Miss Granger, you can't teach how to be a hero the way you teach Charms. You can't give a twelve-inch assignment on how to proceed when all hope seems to be lost. You can't let Students are rehearsing, when should they stand up and point out his mistakes to the principal. Heroes are born, not taught. I don’t know why, many heroes are born as boys, not girls.” The principal shrugged , as if to indicate that he is powerless in this matter.

"Uh," said Hermione.She glanced back involuntarily.

Professor Sinistra looked a little annoyed.And, unlike what she'd imagined while listening to Dumbledore, not everyone looked at her like she was a fool.

Hermione turned, faced Dumbledore again, took a deep breath, and said, "Well, maybe heroes are heroes anyway. I don't think anyone can really prove it, except in hindsight Just talking. When I told you that I wanted to be a hero, your attitude was not very supportive."

"Mr. Potter," said the Headmaster gently, still looking at her, "please tell Miss Granger what impression you had of our first meeting. Would you say I was very supportive of you? Say Tell the truth."

a pause.

"Mr. Potter?" Professor Victor's voice came from behind her, sounding a bit inexplicable.

"Uh," came Harry's voice further back, sounding extremely reluctant, "uh...well, actually, the Headmaster burned a chicken during my time."

"He what?" Hermione blurted out, but several people had commented at about the same time, so she wasn't sure if anyone had heard her.

Dumbledore continued to stare at her, his expression still serious.

"I didn't know Fawkes then," said Harry's voice quickly, "and he told me Fawkes was a phoenix, and then he pointed to a chicken on Fawkes' shelf and made me think that was Fawkes, and then he Burned the chicken--and he gave me a big rock, said it belonged to my father, and told me to carry it around--"

"But that's crazy!" Susan blurted out.

There was a sudden silence all around.

The principal turned his head slowly and stared at Susan.

"I—" said Susan, "I mean—I—"

The headmaster bent down and looked at the little girl face to face.

"I didn't—" said Susan.

Dumbledore twirled a finger to his lips, making a ripping-tipping-tipping sound.

The Headmaster straightened up and said, "Well, my good heroines, it's been a pleasure to talk to you, but unfortunately I have a lot of other things to attend to today. But don't worry, I have the same for everyone. Mysterious, and not just for witches."

The gargoyle stepped aside, and the flowing stones moved flexibly like flesh and blood, making the sound of rumbling stones.

The hideous colossal stone statue waited for a moment, and under the silent watch of those lifeless gray eyes, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore ascended the never-ending magic staircase , still with a kind smile like when he came out of the office.

Then the huge gargoyle folded its wings and returned to its original position, only a short final sound of "Puff ha ha ha!" came out before the passage was closed.

There was a long silence.

"Did he really burn a chicken?" Hannah asked.

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The eight of them protested for a while afterwards, but to be honest, they had no interest in continuing.

Professor Frivy asked some careful questions to make sure Harry Potter didn't smell the chicken being burnt.This means that it could have been a rock or something that was temporarily turned into a chicken and sealed with boundary magic so that the smoke from burning could not escape into the air - Professor Frivy and Professor McGonagall has repeatedly stressed that this should never be attempted on your own without their supervision.

But anyway...

But anyway... what?

Hermione didn't know what anyway.

But whatever.

The girls looked at each other for a long time, and no one was willing to speak first. Finally, Hermione announced that the protest was over, and the adults and boys gradually dispersed.

"You said, are we being unfair to Dumbledore?" Susan said when the heroines left the scene, eight pairs of feet knocking on the stone floor of the Hogwarts corridor, "I mean Well, if he's really mad at everyone, not just witches, it wouldn't be discriminatory, would it?"

"I don't want to protest to the principal again," Hannah said weakly.The Hufflepuff girl seemed a little unsteady on her feet. "No matter what Professor McGonagall says he won't hold our grudges, my nerves can't stand it."

Lavender snorted. "I guess you're far from the day when you'll be beheading hordes of Inferi—"

"Don't say that!" said Hermione sternly. "You see, we all need to learn how to be a heroine, don't we? It's okay if there are some people who don't know it naturally."

"The principal didn't think it was learnable," Padma said.The Ravenclaw girl's face was thoughtful, and her steps were measured across the corridor. "The principal didn't even think it was a good idea."

With her back straight and her head held high, Daphne looked like a well-mannered young lady in her Hogwarts uniform, even Hermione in her best gown. "Headmaster," said Daphne in her precise voice, her shoes clicking on the flagstones, "thinking we're just a bunch of silly girls playing games and thinking Hermione might be a good supporting character one day, but There is simply no hope for the rest of us."

"Is he right?" Parvati asked.The Gryffindor girl's serious face made her look a lot like her twin sister. "I mean, one has to ask—"

"No!" Tracy yelled angrily.The Slytherin girl strided down the corridor looking like she was going to kill, looking like a miniature female Snape.Of all the girls, Tracy was the least familiar to Hermione.Hermione had spoken to Lavender once, but she hadn't seen Tracy much before this Slytherin jumped up from the sofa to join in. There was only one wand-to-wand fight. "We'll prove it to him! We'll prove it to them all!"

"Well," said Susan, "it's absolutely wicked—"

"No," said Lavender, "actually, that's the motto of the Legion of Chaos. She just left out the laughing part."

"That's right," Tracy said, her voice low and grim, "I won't laugh this time." The girl continued striding down the corridor as if she was being dubbed by exciting music, though only she can hear.

(Hermione begins to worry about what the impressionable kids of Chaos are learning from Harry Potter.)

"But—I mean—" Parvati said.She still had a thoughtful look on her face. "I mean, you can understand why the principal thinks we're just a bunch of silly girls, right? What does protesting outside the principal's office have to do with being a heroine?"

"Ah," said Lavender, also looking thoughtful, "that's right. We should do heroic things. I mean, heroine things."

"