Chapter 276 - 276
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Toward the end of the first decade of July, Hermione wrote. She let me know that she planned to spend as much time with her parents as possible and that in a couple of days, they would be going to France. This is the closest country for them to move to because of their good knowledge of the language. It's a pity because I was planning to invite her to visit, to study the library in my house - and so I answered. Soon, the girl wrote again that the books would not run away, and her parents needed to be reassured. Here I, of course, agree, but the little egoist that has lurked deep inside protests with terrible force.
In general, it turned out that I had only a few activities throughout July - daily visits to the Knights for tea and discussing everyday things, a written exchange of views with Hermione regarding the situation around, unsuccessful attempts to contact Andromeda and Nymphadora - they did not respond to letters. Among other things, I quietly studied the Black library. There turned out to be a lot of different dark stuff with sacrifices and old magic, massive, spectacular, large-scale, but extremely angular and requiring a lot of magical powers.
Judging by the records and the spells themselves, magic was not particularly developed as a science in those distant times. They did not always apply arithmetic justification to this or that spell. Just as the spells themselves were composed rather on personal experience and experiments and not on calculations. The rune chains and spells on the runes were more or less justified, but here, it seems to me, the factor of the antiquity of the runes influences. Perhaps, in those distant times, the magical values of the runes themselves were compiled based on observations of their effect. Therefore, it is difficult to introduce something new into magical rune manipulations, and it remains only to use what has already been studied.
By the beginning of August, when Lady Greengrass was supposed to make herself known, I understood several features of the magic that the House of Black was collecting. More than ninety percents were spells and magical manipulations of a combat orientation from different eras - both before the Statute and after. There was very little something useful in everyday life. For many spells, there are no counter-spells either because of their uselessness, irreversible consequences came too quickly, or because of instant lethality, or they simply didn't exist.
Many spells are not applicable for the present time — now there is a developed culture of duels, not fatal ones. If you successfully use charms and spells from the Black library, then the death of your opponent is simply inevitable. However, I studied them anyway, and in a small training hall, I practiced using them, albeit partially - just to be able to recognize them because I don't know if this knowledge has ever gone to the side.
By themselves, those ancient spells could consist of three, four, even ten words, and this is not the limit! There are many gestures, a strict order of complex mental images. All this made them very difficult to use and dangerous for themselves in the event of a breakdown. The effects of this magic were also varied, but in one way or another, they were intended to harm the target, or rather, targets in the area. From suffocation to rotting flesh and skeleton inside out.
The Curse of Death in a Dream, when, for example, everyone in the enemy camp sees their most terrible fear in a dream and drives them crazy and exhausts to death in a couple of nights, which occurs precisely in a dream. Or, the ritual for the creation of the Architect of Shadows - a pseudo-intelligent entity that, being directed at enemies, under cover of darkness affects their flesh in any way available to the caster's imagination through shadows - strangles, cuts, tears, creates objects and operates with them with special cruelty. Nuance - for creation, the painful death of the victim is required - an ordinary person or a fairly intelligent magical animal. And there is a lot of that in the library.
However, no matter how busy I was, thoughts began to turn towards inadequate ideas out of boredom slowly. In an impulse to occupy myself with something, I went to Diagon Alley, or rather, to one of the adjacent streets. The goal is simple - visit a tailor shop and order a new suit. Graves style, of course.
The walk went as smoothly as possible. The magical streets did not show any concern about the reborn Dark Lord, but this is not surprising. In the newspapers, the Ministry stated that everything seen at the Tournament was part of a complex and thoughtful performance, during which no one was hurt. Unlike the stupid rumors and stories that old headmaster Dumbledore and the slightly crazy and sickly Boy-Who-Lived are coming up with, no one was revived.
In the atelier, in a light and peaceful atmosphere, measurements were quickly taken, and the order was promised to be sent by mail to my name in a week. Of course, half of the amount is prepaid, and the second is back with an owl. Nothing new.