The descent from the wind-beaten and almost snowless hill where the Hog's Head pub stood took literally a couple of minutes—we were in a hurry. Pansy was especially in a hurry, taking off her illusion on the go, just like us. She had probably worked herself up; after all, she was a prefect and all that, and if something really serious had happened, we would get a massive dressing-down and reprimand. It's one thing when the younger kids mess around, but quite another to show irresponsibility or altogether abandon students to their fate without any guidance when something extraordinary happens.
Having reached the village, we were able to get a closer look and start theorizing about what had happened. Wizards were crowded around a small apothecary—it wasn't popular with the students due to the existence of the hospital wing and the unjustified overconfidence of those same students in their ability to brew whatever potion they needed. Generally speaking, no one was running anywhere; there was no panic.
"Did something happen?" I asked the first wizard I came across, who was standing in the crowd watching to see what would be done with the little shop, whose windows had all blown outwards, while a strange smoke seeped from the upper floor, refusing to dissipate in the wind.
"Didn't you see?" the wizard immediately turned to us. "Some students, a bit younger than you, rushed in there, as I recall, and a few moments later, boom!"
"No one was hurt, I hope?" Daphne carefully hid her anxiety, asking entirely for the sake of Pansy, who was peering at the windows, looking for casualties.
"No, not at all," the wizard waved it off.
"They say," another wizard, who stood nearby and had heard everything, interjected, "that it's the result of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder reacting with one of the open cauldrons in the apothecary. I kept saying they needed a separate laboratory for brewing, but no..."
The man adjusted his bowler hat by the crown and went on his way, and we, taking the witnesses' word for it, set off for Hogwarts.
"It's a good thing nothing serious happened," Pansy smiled, hiding a slight unease.
"Worried about the students?"
"Don't speak nonsense, Granger," she turned up her nose in a manner familiar to me, though almost immediately bundled herself tighter in her scarf. "I was worried about myself and how bad it would be for me if something happened to someone."
"Of course," I nodded, smiling understandingly. "Why would we worry about others."
Pansy took this statement as some form of reproach, sulked—though it was almost invisible behind the scarf—and purposefully, and most importantly, quickly, marched down the road to Hogwarts.
"She is sometimes very amusing in her attempts to look like someone she isn't."
"I noticed that a long time ago. You pull it off much better."
"I don't even know if that's a compliment or what," the girl smiled openly, squeezing my hand tighter.
"Definitely a compliment."
Halfway to the castle, we caught up with Pansy, who had clearly tired of rushing forward alone. I'm sure the thought had crossed her smart head that if we were going to get scolded and reprimanded, it was better to do it collectively—it's easier that way.
At the castle, McGonagall met us. Practically right on the threshold.
"Mr. Granger," she looked sternly, without a shadow of any other emotion, and directly only at me. "I hope you can explain your absence from the group of students strolling through Hogsmeade?"
"Absolutely."
"Then please do."
"We went to see what this Hog's Head is all about. There are many rumors, and it was interesting to take a look. So we spent some time there, looking around and getting a feel for the place."
"I must tell you that this pub is not a place that self-respecting wizards ought to visit," McGonagall even grimaced slightly. "Even though visiting this pub is not forbidden by the rules during a Hogsmeade trip. Proceed to the Great Hall; lunch will be served shortly."
"Is the outing already over?" Daphne inquired innocently.
"Yes, Miss Greengrass," McGonagall gave a barely noticeable nod. "The reckless antics of certain students can lead to such unpleasant consequences."
Not wanting to waste any more time in the company of this prim and strict lady, we quickly headed to the Grand Staircase, and from there to our common rooms. We couldn't exactly sit down at the table in our outdoor clothes, could we? Sigh, it had been an eventful morning, and I still had to head out for Delacour's job this evening... I had actually asked for this kind of side gig myself, and now I didn't want to make the extra effort, run somewhere, take risks, and dabble in Dark Magic. Its possibilities just don't tempt me—I'm not lacking in my own innate ones.
The time until dinner flew by unnoticed, but unproductively. My housemates and I spent time in the common room, the library, and our classroom, which had already become a traditional training spot. We did homework, drank tea with pastries, and overall, it was all very homey. Just like always, actually. And after a hearty and delicious dinner, I went to our room to prepare for my outing.
The preparation itself was a simple matter. Put on the suit made of the wonder-fabric, giving it the simplest and most concealing shape possible, check the equipment, the bow-bracelet, the throwing-triangle-bracelets, take off the training bracers, check the communication ring linked to various artifacts and the little spiders... To be honest, if I couldn't mask all these bracelets with charms, I'd look like some kind of gypsy, honestly. And yet, various crazy ideas for other bracelets and jewelry constantly pop into my head spontaneously. It seems to be the influence of the dwarf memory—they are also big fans of hanging all sorts of artifacts on themselves up to the crown of their heads. True, they prefer assembled bracers rather than bracelets, but my contraptions don't exactly hang loosely on my arms either—they shrink to fit. But that's all just lyrical digression.
Having made sure everything was working perfectly and ready for combat at a moment's notice, I mentally checked the readiness of my thought-images and volitional impulses for creating various magical effects and even transfiguring arrows for the bow—nothing was tangled, my memory wasn't throwing any surprises, everything was top-notch. Yes, despite a superb memory and extremely fast cognitive processing when necessary, it's better to mentally prepare what you might need.
I left our room under a full array of concealment charms, even though there was no need for it—the guys were sitting in the common room. But getting out of there wasn't so simple, because a door opening by itself in the badgers' den is nonsense. I had to wait by that door for a whole ten minutes before Hannah went out on patrol—it was her turn today. Hers and Pansy's. Someone might have been concerned about the girls' safety, because there are jerks everywhere and not everyone is ready to put up with their activities during curfew being interrupted by "arrogant prefects," but neither Hannah nor Pansy were that simple and were quite capable of showing some magical muscle. Besides, it's not really accepted here to go against prefects, whoever they might be. No, if a prefect is among your personal enemies, a "situation" might arise, but otherwise—it's more trouble than it's worth.
With such thoughts in my head, I fairly quickly left the castle and the anti-Apparition charm territory, venturing a bit deeper into the Forbidden Forest as always. Looking around, enjoying the gloomy night view of the thick trunks of towering conifers illuminated by the dim rays of a half-moon, I wondered for a moment: "Why is everyone so scared of this forest?" A terrifyingly stupid question, because it's reasonably safe here for me, with a shard of elf memory and my general magical abilities, as long as I don't actively look for trouble; but first-years, and even older kids up to the sixth year, could indeed find, if not death, then the guaranteed "source" of many injuries here.
Sighing, I Apparated to London, onto the roof of a cinema near Soho. The change in lighting and air hit my senses, but everything stabilized quite quickly. Yet one cannot fail to note the massive difference between the deep forest, nature, and fresh air, and this kaleidoscope of colors, city noise, the hubbub of people below, and, of course, the smog. You start to ignore this smog, as well as the city's light pollution, on all levels of consciousness over years of living in a metropolis, but you only have to find yourself in nature once, or even better, in the mountains, even low ones—it's simply a paradigm shift.
Looking at the endless streets, the view of which ended fairly close by—it was a low roof—I remembered how I first went out into nature in my past life. In one place there were mountains, fields, and a lake... In a way, it even reminds me of the expanses around Hogwarts, only the mountains there were more "bald," rocky. It's like a veil of eternal fog falling from your eyes. Crystal clear air, vast distances, and previously unseen sizes of objects. The brain gives up trying to calculate distances to objects and their sizes in the usual way, entirely failing to comprehend that the deceptive closeness of a mountain ten kilometers away is caused by the transparent air you won't find in the city.
Yes, it's extremely pleasant sometimes to escape this endless closed loop—home, work, home, work. Gray houses, cars and entrances, transport, signs all around that get filtered out by the mind, and along with them, other bright colors. The eternal gaze into the asphalt—it's everywhere. And in this eternal cycle, where you spin like a hamster in a wheel, you stop seeing anything around you. But you only need to stop and look around...
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