Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

By the time dinner was over, the winter sun had already set, so as Hermione and her study partner Harry Potter set off for the Ravenclaw tower, the great hall's enchanted ceiling cast a peaceful starlight.Harry Potter has been spending a surprising amount of time studying lately.She had no idea when Harry's real homework had been done, only that it had been done; maybe the house-elf had done it for him in his sleep.

Almost every eye in the hall was upon them as they came out of the great doors of the dining-room; the doors looked not like the way students should go after supper, but like the fortified gates of a castle.

They went out the door in silence, and continued to walk forward until the voices of the students talking in the distance became fainter and finally could not be heard; the two walked along the stone corridor for a while, and Hermione finally spoke .

"Why did you do that, Harry?"

"What?" said the Boy-Who-Lived absently, as if his mind were far away on far more important matters.

"I mean, why don't you deny it?"

"Oh," said Harry, their shoes tapping the tiles under their feet, "I can't honestly deny it every time I'm asked about something I didn't do. I mean, suppose someone asked me,' Did you do that invisible paint prank, Harry?' I said 'no' and they asked, 'Harry, do you know who moved the Gryffindor Seeker's broom?' And I Saying 'I refuse to answer that question'. That's kind of missing the mark."

"So that's why," Hermione said carefully, "you tell everyone..." She concentrated, recalling Harry's words, "If there is a conspiracy, you don't admit or deny it. The real mastermind is the ghost of Salazar Slytherin. And the fact that you can't even confirm the conspiracy exists, so please stop asking you questions about it."

"Yes," said Harry Potter, with a faint smile, "it will teach them a lesson not to take hypothetical situations too seriously."

"And you told me not to answer any questions—"

"Even if you deny it, they won't necessarily believe you," said Harry, "so it's better not to say anything, unless you want them to think you're a liar."

"But—" said Hermione resignedly, "but—but now everyone thinks I'm working for Salazar Slytherin!" The way those Gryffindors looked at her—the way those Slytherins looked at her look like -

"That's what being a hero is all about," Harry said. "You remember what The Quibbler said about me?"

For a brief moment, Hermione imagined that her parents had read about her in the paper, but not because she won the national spelling bee, or any other reason she imagined would be in the paper. , instead, the newspaper headline read "Hermione Granger impregnates Draco Malfoy".

That's enough to make you reconsider being a heroine.

Harry's voice became more formal. "Speaking of which, Miss Granger, how was your latest adventure?"

"Oh," said Hermione, "unless the ghost of Salazar Slytherin actually shows up and tells us where to find bullies, I don't think we'll have much luck." And she wasn't sorry at all.

She glanced at Harry and saw that the boy was watching her very intently.

"You know what, Hermione," the boy whispered, as if he didn't want anyone else in the world to hear, "I think you're right. I think some people get a lot more help than others to be heroes. And I also think it's unfair."

Harry grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her into a wing of the corridor where she was, and just as she opened her mouth in surprise, Harry's wand was already in his hand, and they turned a corner of the wing , came to a narrow place where she and Harry were almost squeezed together, when Harry said softly "Silently" in the direction they came from, then said "Silently" again in the other direction ".

The boy checked his surroundings vigilantly, not only the four sides, but also the ceiling above his head and the floor under his feet.

Then Harry put his hand into the Mork pocket and said, "The Invisibility Cloak."

"Huh?" said Hermione.

Harry had pulled out a sheaf of shiny black cloth from the magic item made of shapeshifting lizard skin. "Don't worry," the boy smiled. "This thing is very rare, so no one has bothered to make a school rule against it..."

Then Harry handed her the black velvet fabric and said in a strangely formal voice, "I am not giving, but lending my Invisibility Cloak, to Hermione Jane Granger. Please protect it." she."

She stared at the shimmering velvet cloak, the fabric absorbed all the light that fell on it except for those little weird reflections that shone, and the fabric was a perfect black, should be able to see the dust that fell on it Or plush or something, but no, and the longer you look at it, the more you think there's nothing there, but when you blink again, it's just a black cloak again.

"Take it, Hermione."

Hermione reached out and grasped the fabric in front of her almost without thinking; at this moment her brain came to life, and she began to withdraw her hand, Harry let go at the same time, and the cloak began to fall, and she caught it subconsciously .The moment her fingers touched the Invisibility Cloak and held it, she felt an indescribable vibration, as if picking up a magic wand for the first time; as if hearing a song, faintly in the back of her mind About to sing.

"This is one of my mission props, Hermione," Harry said softly. "It's my father's relic. If it is lost, it will be irreplaceable. Don't lend it to anyone, don't give it to anyone Look, don't tell anyone it exists... but if you want to borrow it for a while, just come to me."

Hermione finally took her eyes off the bottomless black folds and stared up at Harry.

"I can not--"

"Of course you can," Harry said, "because it's not fair at all, I found it wrapped in a gift box on my bed one morning, and you... didn't." Pause thoughtfully. "Unless you also have your own invisibility cloak, in that case ignore me."

At this moment she finally understood what the Invisibility Cloak meant, and she pointed her finger at Harry in shock, although they were so close that she couldn't even straighten her arms, she raised her voice rather indignantly, "So you are like this From the closet in the Potions classroom! And that time -" She paused, because even with the Invisibility Cloak, she still couldn't see how Harry could have...

Harry wiped his nails nonchalantly on his robes and said, "Well, you know there must be some secrets, don't you? Now the heroine can also magically know when and where to find the bully - just Like she heard the bully's plan firsthand, although at her age it's impossible to spy on them invisibly."

There was a pause, a moment of silence.

"Harry—" she said, "I—I don't think fighting bullies is such a good idea anymore."

Harry's eyes were fixed on her. "Is it because other girls might get hurt?"

She nodded, just nodded.

"It's their choice, Hermione, just as much as it's your choice. I've decided not to do the obvious stupid thing that all the people in the book do, try to keep you safe, protect you, treat you like a weakling Helpless kid treat, make you mad at me, drive me away, go it alone, cause more trouble, then heroically succeed, and that's when I finally figured it out and realized blah blah blah blah Etc. I know how this part of my life story is going to go, so I skip it. If I can predict how I'm going to think in the future, I might as well start thinking about it now. All in all, I mean, Nor should you suffocate your friends in order to protect them. You can tell them from the start that this is bound to cause terrible trouble if they still decide to go after listening to you If you want to be a heroine, accept it."

In situations like this, Hermione suspected she would never get used to Harry's way of thinking. "Harry, I'm serious," her voice choked for a second, "I really, really don't want them to get hurt! Especially since I initiated it!"

"Hermione," said Harry gravely, "I'm pretty sure you're doing the right thing. I don't see any realistic possibility that what would happen to them would, in the long run, be worse than not trying."

"What if they're badly hurt?" said Hermione.Her voice choked in her throat; she remembered Captain Ernie saying how Harry looked the bully straight in the eyes when the bully bent his fingers back, and then Professor Sprout just in time arrived to save him; and then another thought arose, and it was Hannah and her slender hands, which she carefully painted every morning Hufflepuff yellow, but that was unthinkable. "Then—they'd never do anything brave again, never—"

"I don't think it's going to be like this," said Harry evenly. "I don't think that's the way the human brain thinks, even if it ends up being a mess. The important thing is to believe in yourself and believe that you can break your own barriers." Limitations. Trying hard and getting hurt because of it can never be worse than…staying where you are.”

"What if you're wrong, Harry?"

Harry paused, then shrugged sadly, and said, "What if I'm right?"

Hermione looked down at the black material in her hands.In her hand, the inside of the cloak felt strangely soft yet firm, like a reassuring embrace.

Then she raised her arms again, handing the cloak back to Harry.

Harry didn't reach out to take it.

"I—" said Hermione, "I mean, thank you, thank you very much, but I want to think about it, so you take it back first. And...Harry, I don't think it's right to spy on people of--"

"Isn't it even okay to spy on bullies so you can rescue their victims?" said Harry. "I've never been bullied by bullies, but I've had a fairly realistic simulation and it wasn't great. You get bullied by bullies." Have you been, Hermione?"

"No," she said quietly, continuing to hand Harry the Invisibility Cloak back to him.

Finally Harry got his Invisibility Cloak back - she felt a little disappointed when the silent song faded from her head - and started stuffing the black cloth back into his mok bag.

When the Morkbag had eaten the last bit of stuff, Harry turned his back on the end of the silent field—

"And, um," said Hermione, "isn't that the ultimate invisibility cloak? That Gottschalk book we read in the library, Paula Vieira's The Lost Magic The one on page No. 18 of the Picture Scroll?"

Harry turned around and smiled slightly, and said in exactly the same tone he used to speak to other students at the dinner table today, "I neither admit nor deny that I have extremely powerful magical treasures."

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That night, Hermione was still hesitant when it came time to go to bed.Her life was simpler at dinner time, when they had no practical way of finding the bully anyway; now she had to choose again; this time not for herself, but for her friends.Dumbledore's old face and the pain that could not be concealed kept appearing in her mind, but in her ears, Harry's voice kept echoing, "This is their choice, Hermione." , as if it were your choice. '

And her hand has been reminiscing about the feeling of the invisibility cloak in her hand, replaying it over and over again in her mind.There was a power in that feeling that she couldn't help but keep thinking of it, of the song she had/didn't hear in the back of her mind, and the magic that had now been silenced again.

Harry spoke to the Invisibility Cloak as if it were a person, asking it to take good care of her.Harry said that this invisibility cloak was his father's relic, and if it was lost, it would be irreplaceable...

But... Harry wouldn't really do that, would he?

One of the three Deathly Hallows older than Hogwarts, simply handed to her?

She could say she was honored, but it was so much more than honored that she began to wonder what she meant to Harry.

Maybe that's how Harry is, lending out ancient legendary magical treasures to anyone he considers a friend, but—

But when she thought about the part of life that Harry said he skipped, the part that was trying to keep her safe, to protect her...

Hermione stared at the ceiling of the Ravenclaw dormitory.Not far from her bed, Mandy and Sue were chatting.Her mute setting prevented her from hearing their conversations, but she could still hear muffled voices; sleeping in a dorm with other girls made her feel safe.Harry's mute was always turned up to maximum.she knows.

She was starting to wonder if maybe Harry really was, uh...

you know……

like her.

It took a long time for Hermione Granger to fall asleep that night.

When she woke up the next morning, a small piece of parchment was revealed from under her pillow, and it said that at 10:30, you will find it in the corridor outside the Potions classroom, the fourth branch on the left a bully. -S.

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Hermione had a swarm of butterflies the size of hippos fluttering about in her stomach when she walked into the Great Hall that morning; by the time she walked to the Ravenclaw breakfast table, she still hadn't made up her mind what to do.

There was an empty seat next to Padma, she saw it.If she decided to tell Padma, ask Padma to inform Daphne and Tracy, she should sit there.

Hermione walked to the empty seat next to Padma.

The words are on the lips, Padma, I received a mysterious note——

But a large stone was stuck in her throat, preventing the words from coming out.That would put Hannah and Susan and Daphne in danger.It's wrong to take them by the hand and get them into trouble.

Or she could have taken care of the bully alone without telling her friends, but that was obviously wrong too.

Hermione knew that she, like many wizards and witches in the story, was facing a moral dilemma.But it doesn't seem fair that there will always be one right choice and one wrong choice in the story rather than two wrong choices.But for some reason, she had the feeling—perhaps because Harry used to mention how future history books would judge them—that she was faced with a heroic choice, and a choice she made now, this morning. , it is very likely that her whole life will go in a completely different direction.

Hermione sat down at the table without looking sideways, staring at the plate and knife and fork in front of her, as if there might be an answer hidden inside, thinking desperately. After a few seconds, she heard Padma's voice Whisper in her ear, "Daphne said she knew where a bully was at 10:30 today."

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Dead.

Susan Burns thought they were all dead.

Some of Auntie's stories started like this, and some people knew that it was stupid to do something, and these stories usually ended with someone destined to become a puddle on the ground, a puddle on the wall, and get on Auntie's shoes.

"Hi, Padma," Parvati whispered, her voice barely audible over the soft footsteps, as the eight girls tiptoed through the corridor leading to the Potions classroom, "did you know Why has Hermione been sighing all morning—"

"Don't talk!" Lavender whispered sternly, the voice of reproach much louder than Parvati's previous whisper. "You don't know if there are bad guys eavesdropping!"

"Hush!" the other three girls stopped even louder.

Completely, absolutely, quite utterly dead.

When they approached the fourth fork on the left side of the Potions classroom, which was the location mentioned by Daphne's mysterious informant, the eight of them slowed down and their footsteps became softer. Finally, General Granger gestured out The code words "stop, I'll look ahead".

Lavender held up a hand, then, as Hermione turned to look at her, pointed to the hallway with a bewildered expression, then to herself, and made a gesture Susan couldn't understand—

General Granger shook his head, slowed down, and used a more exaggerated gesture to type out the code word "Stop, I'll look ahead".

Lavender's expression became even more confused. She pointed to where they came from and made a bouncing gesture with her other hand.

Now the expressions of other people are even more inexplicable than Lavender.Susan thought a little bit sharply, apparently an hour of training two days ago was not enough to memorize a new set of code words.

Hermione pointed to Lavender, and then to the floor beneath Lavender's feet, with an expression on her face that made it very clear she meant: you.stay.here.

Lavender nodded.

Disaster, the lyrics of the marching song of the Chaos Legion echoed repeatedly in Susan's mind, disaster disaster disaster...

Hermione reached inside her robes and took out a mirror with a handle and an eyepiece.The Ravenclaw girl groped silently to the wall, and stood at the junction of the sidewalk and the corridor, with the tip of the eyepiece protruding a little out of the corner.

And then stretched out a little further.

And then stretched out a little further.

Then General Granger carefully poked his head out for a look.

General Granger turned to them, nodded, and typed the code word "follow me".

Susan felt slightly better as she tiptoed along.Apparently, the plan to arrive at the scene three and ten minutes earlier than the bully had succeeded.Maybe they're just a little bit dead...?

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At 29:[-], Bully showed up right on time.If anyone had been listening—although the corridor seemed empty—the sound of his shoes would have been heard as he stomped steadily down the corridor, into the side passage, toward the first corner of the side passage, past the corner, and amazed. The road came to a halt because the branch was now blocked by a solid brick wall where there was no wall.

Then the bully shrugged and walked away, leaning against the corner of the turnout, peering out into the hallway.

After all, this is Hogwarts Castle.

Behind this fake brick wall made of hastily deformed thin panels, the girls waited quietly, without speaking, without moving, almost holding their breath, peeking out through the reserved peepholes .

When Susan's eyes fell on the bully, she felt a tightness from her chest to the soles of her feet.The boy looked to be in seventh grade, maybe even older, and his robes were trimmed green, not red as they had hoped, and he had a lot of muscle, and after staring at him for a while, Susan Realized that his balanced stance meant he had learned to duel.

Then they all heard more footsteps passing through the corridor.The Potions class of Gryffindor and Slytherin in the fourth grade has just ended.

The footsteps passed them, faded and died away, but the bully did nothing.For a moment Susan breathed a sigh of relief—

At this time, another group of smaller footsteps approached.

Still the bully did nothing, and the footsteps passed away again.

This happened repeatedly several times.

Then, as the last barely audible footsteps approached, the seven girls heard the bully whisper clearly in a grim voice, "Armor for protection."

At that time, someone really gasped, but luckily the sound was very, very quiet.If they don't even get a chance to attack—

The bullies have learned their lesson, Susan thought, and she didn't expect SPHEW to succeed many times before the bullies learned to behave - but - Hermione has already defeated three bullies - and yesterday, the whole school Amid the rumors of the ghost of Salazar Slytherin—

He expected us to be here!

Susan wanted to whisper to everyone to give up and stop this operation, but this message could not be passed on to——

"Silently," the bully said in a soft, deliberate voice, pointing his wand down the aisle, as the shield spell formed a blue halo around his body, "the victim is flying."

When the fourth-grade boy flew into their sight, he was already hanging upside down, as if an invisible hand was holding aloft, holding his leg.His red-trimmed robe slid down, revealing the trousers underneath.His mouth opened and closed helplessly, but no sound came out.

"I reckon you're wondering what's going on," the seventh-year Slytherin said coldly in a quiet voice. "Don't worry. It's so simple, even a Gryffindor can understand it."

After speaking, Slytherin clenched his left hand into a fist and hit the Gryffindor hard in the stomach.The fourth-grade boy's body writhed wildly, but no sound came out.

"You're my victim," said the senior Slytherin. "I'm a bully. I'm going to beat you up. Let's see if anyone stops me."

Only then did Susan realize that this was a trap.

At almost the same moment, a little girl's high-pitched voice resounded loudly, "Stop, scoundrel! The spell stops!"

Lavender, Susan thought bitterly.The Gryffindor girl volunteered to do the job of drawing the enemy's attention so others could attack from the side when the bully wasn't looking.The original plan was like this, but now——

"In the name of Hogwarts," cried Lavender's voice, though they could not see her, "and in the name of all the heroines of the world, I command you to let go!"

"Disarm," said the bully, "passing out. Stupid heroine flying."

Susan froze as the unconscious Lavender floated upside down into view; the girl was wearing a bright red and gold top and skirt instead of her normal Hogwarts uniform.

The bully looked at the girl hanging upside down, surprised too, pointed his wand at her, and said, "Spellstop." But the clothes remained the same.

The bully shrugged, still facing Lavender, not the fourth-year boy who was hanging upside down, and pumped his fist—

"Snail Rock Breakthrough!" five voices shouted in unison, five wands sprayed five green spirals from five holes in the fake brick wall, followed by Hermione's voice shouting "Swoon!"

Five green spirals shattered feebly in front of the blue mask, and Hermione's red lightning bounced off the mask and hit the fourth-year boy, who twitched and stopped moving.

The seventh grade bully turned and grinned grimly, and the first grade girls screamed and attacked.

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Susan's eyes opened, and she immediately rolled away from the place where she had been lying down. Her lungs still felt like they were on fire. During this time, the fight seemed to only develop for a few seconds. Hannah was falling, her arm still pointing at Susan. Swipe down, green light flashes, Hermione's spell disperses like a cloud of blue and white sparks, and then almost at the same time, the bully says "Swoon!" Hermione is thrown to the ground, Susan Gathering all her remaining mana, she yelled "Resuscitate!" at Hermione's body, at which point the bully turned and pointed his wand at her again, and Padma called "Iridescent Shield!", Just before the bully yelled "obstacles", an iridescent orb surrounded the bully, and the curse bounced back, hitting the seventh year Slytherin, causing him to stumble, but only for an instant , the bully's wand flew back, tapped him once, and then Padma's rainbow shield was cut off by the bully's wand, bursting like a soap bubble, and then, "Resuscitate quickly!" Parvati said to shouted over Hannah's body, and Tracy and Lavender screamed together, "Wingardium, Leviosa!"—

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Hannah Abbott held up her wand, her hands were shaking from exhaustion, and she couldn't even cast a quick recovery spell with the remaining mana.

The rest of the corridor was silent, with bodies lying in disorder on the ground, Padma, Tracy, Lavender, Hermione and Parvati fell together against a wall, Susan was petrified, standing stiffly, Eyes looked helplessly at everything in front of him, even the Gryffindor boy stretched out his hands and feet, and fell to the ground motionless (Hermione had revived him before, and he also participated in the battle, but it was still not enough.)

It was a short battle.

The bully was still laughing, only the blue mask around his body shook a bit, and a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead, showing a little sign of fatigue.

The bully raised his arms, wiped the sweat from his brow, and walked towards her like a living human Voldebat.

Hannah turned and ran away, she turned around, coughed and screamed and ran away, jumped over the planks on the ground that were used to pretend to be a brick wall, and ran quickly to the exit of the side road, dodging left and right as much as possible—

Just as Hannah was about to run around the corner of the side road, the bully's voice said behind her, "Leg cramps!" Then her legs cramped horribly, and she fell to the ground, slipping a few steps, She hit her head against the wall, but she didn't notice the pain when her head was hit, but screamed because of the muscle cramps——

The bully was still striding towards her, and Hannah saw her when she turned her face away, and he approached slowly, still with that horrible grin on his face.

She was rolling on the ground in pain, the muscles in her legs were knotted together, but she still rolled around the corner of the side road, screaming, "Go away!"

"I don't think so." The bully said, his voice was low and terrible, like the voice of a grown man, and it sounded very close.

Just as the bully turned the corner, Daphne Greengrass plunged the Elder Blade straight into his belly.

Lightning illuminates the entire corridor—

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The seven girls left Madam Pomfrey's infirmary dejectedly, one of them still in the hospital bed.

Doctors said Hannah's injury would heal in about 35 minutes; torn muscles are easily repaired.

All words are spoken by Daphne, and according to her, Hannah has had bad luck and her legs are cramping due to the running spell.Madam Pomfrey gave them a stern look, but didn't retort, even though the running spell was a full six years above their current level.

Madam Pomfrey also gave Daphne a potion to help her recover from her completely drained mana, and warned her not to cast any spells for the next three hours.The reason why she became like this is said to be because she used too much mana when casting the spell on Hannah, not because the ancient blade used up all her power when piercing the armor .

The other girls decided to say nothing about the bruises under their clothes and ask the older girls to perform Healing for them later.Daphne's rhetoric is also limited.

The whole thing, thought Susan, was too dangerous, too dangerous indeed.If the bully takes a look around the corner - if he takes a moment to recast the shield spell -

"Let's call it a day," Susan said as soon as the seven of them were out of hearing from the infirmary. "We can't go on like this."

For some reason, everyone turned to look at General Granger, even though such matters should be voted on by everyone.

The general of the Sunshine Corps didn't seem to notice that everyone was looking at her, she just looked straight ahead and kept walking.

After a while, Hermione Granger said in a brooding and somewhat sad tone, "Hannah said she didn't want us to stop here. I don't know if we'd be... more timid than she was for her." , is that right?"

Except for Susan, all the other girls are nodding.

"I think it couldn't have been worse," Parvati said. "We can handle it. We've shown it."

Susan didn't know what to say about that.She didn't think it would be convincing to scream and point out that it was utterly stupid and that they were dead.But she couldn't leave these girls alone.Isn't being cursed to work hard enough unlucky enough, why did Hufflepuff choose loyalty over all virtues?

"By the way, Lavender," Padma asked, "Merlin, what were you wearing over there?"

"My hero's suit," said the Gryffindor girl.

Daphne's voice sounded tired, and she didn't turn her head when she spoke, still shuffling forward. "This is the costume of the Gryffindor warrior in "Legend of the Moon Warrior"[1]."

"You conjured this up?" Parvati asked in bewilderment, "but the bully cast a spell on you-"

"No!" Lavender said. "It's true! You see, I pre-made my hero suit into a normal top and skirt, so I just cast the spell stop on myself after I see a bully. Would you like one, Parvati? Katrina and Joshua in sixth grade made this one yesterday for twelve Sickles—”

"I think," said General Granger cautiously, "that would make us all look a little silly."

"Well," said Lavender, "we should vote on whether to—"

"I think," said General Granger, "that no matter what other people vote for, I'd never die wearing these—"

Susan ignored the argument.She is struggling with a clever strategy to make