Hogwarts: Through the Veil of Time

"The magic costs are too high, and such an item loses all its value. Creating even a small volume of such an alloy will exhaust the wizard incredibly. Giving it the form of jewelry does not make sense due to the low cost of such an alloy, and in the end it will only be suitable for remelting, purification. And this is again an expense. It is much more effective to earn money by simply getting a lousy part-time job. The same applies to gold, only the dispersal of magic in gold is many times higher than silver, and it is almost impossible to get even five hundred twenty-fifth sample.

"I don't understand anything, what language is he even speaking?" complained the red-haired Weasley, causing the boys to laugh and Hermione to feel a mixture of embarrassment and indignation for her friend.

McGonagall's stern gaze calmed the bouts of mirth in the classroom.

"Precious stones?

"They are actually a magical object, albeit to an incredibly insignificant degree. An attempt at transfiguration only results in their transformation into carbon, quartz and other dust, from which the transfiguration immediately falls off, and the original object also turns into dust.

"Time?" the professor asked briefly.

"Time is not a material object. It is rather a subjective perception of the rate of change of a substance's state. It has nothing to do with transfiguration at all, come to that."

"That's just wonderful, Mr. Granger," McGonagall smiled happily, and even clapped her hands in a girlish, delicate way. "Twenty, no, thirty points to Hufflepuff. Mr. Granger…"

"Yes?

"I think I can give you a pass for all the material covered. You coped with the practical part, and your understanding of the basics of transfiguration is beyond doubt.

"Thank you, professor.

The rest of the lesson passed somewhat detachedly "we practiced another transfiguration for everyone, but the first for me, according to the program. Nothing special.

After transfiguration, we, again the whole crowd of third-year students, headed to the Defense against the Dark Arts office.

"Now it's all together," Justin shook his head sadly, wedging himself between Ernie and me. "And I'm so used to working only with either crows or vultures."

"Well, I don't know," I shrugged. "I like everything the way it is."

I accidentally glanced at Malfoy and his comrades. It was funny to see him telling something importantly, two dummies pretending to be golems, simply moving next to him, a brown-haired man unknown to me yet listening to him neutrally, a rather cute brunette with a bob haircut nodding and agreeing, sometimes inserting a couple of phrases. It was interesting how this brunette chooses her words and time for her statements. An experienced elf senses a whiff of intrigue and manipulation of opinion, but this is an elf "a teenager would take everything at face value. Especially one as proud as Malfoy.

On the other hand, I also noticed Hermione and her friends. Red-haired Weasley was saying something, like, she's still the smartest, Potter was nodding, and Hermione herself was digging through the schedule.

"It's good that everyone now has classes together," I heard her say.

"Classes? "Weasley didn't understand. "I tell her about one thing, and she tells me about classes.

"Why?" Potter did not support his friend's indignation.

"The schedule has shifted slightly, and I can attend all the additional classes without rushing.

"Oooh, it's all clear," the red-haired man waved it off.

We stood in a crowd outside the doors of the ZoTI office and waited. We waited for the professor of this subject to finally come, and judging by the conversations and assumptions of the students, the ZoTI professors here change every year.

"…did you talk to him?" Potter's voice was heard over the quiet hubbub of the crowd of students.

"No, I haven't had time yet," Hermione answered.

"Then go. You never know, they might say something else...

Looking towards the Gryffindors, I saw Hermione nod and walk briskly towards me, but she didn't make it in time.

"Students, good day," an adult male voice rang out and we all turned our attention to the blond-haired man who approached us in patched and not particularly new, but clearly practical clothes and a robe. "Come in."

Professor Lupin, that was the name of this strange and suspicious man, led us into the office, well lit by the sun through high windows with colorless stained glass. Now all the benches and desks were pushed back to the stone wall, on which hung various posters with drawings of creatures, some tables and instructions "there were more creatures.

"You can put your textbooks away, "the professor said cheerfully, walking to the closet and turning to us. "Today we have a practical lesson, leave only the chopsticks. At first I wanted to hold the lesson here and started preparing the classroom, that's why the desks are moved. But I was offered a better place. Follow me.

Many decided to leave their things here, but there were also those who simply put everything back in their bags "among them was I. Following Lupin, we left the office and moved in a disorderly crowd along the corridors. In one of them, the professor led us through an obviously secret passage, and we found ourselves in another corridor and obviously in another tower. Ten meters, and here we are standing in front of the large doors of the teachers' room.

"Well, here we are, come in.

The teachers' room boasted large windows and good lighting, and the wood paneling on the walls, as well as the antique but well-maintained furniture in the form of various armchairs, sofas and tables, created a very favorable atmosphere. To complete the picture, all that was missing was a couple of antique cabinets with ancient folios and some magical gadgets "then it would be immediately obvious that wizards gathered here.

Professor Snape was sitting in one of those armchairs, next to the fireplace, and when he saw us, he grinned slyly, and his dark eyes acquired a certain mischievous gleam. Lupin was the last to enter and wanted to close the door, but Snape got up from the sofa, even in this gesture managing to picturesquely open his black robe over his black clothes. Batman, no less! Hmm, who is Batman, and why do I associate Snape with him?

"Who is Batman?" I asked Justin.

"Pff-ff-ff... "the guy choked, covering his mouth.

Justin looked at Snape, at me, and back at Snape, his puzzled gaze on him.

"And indeed...

"So who is this?

"I'll tell you later.

While we were quietly whispering, Snape had already approached the not very friendly Lupin. No, there was no malice or anything in the new professor. Wariness and feigned goodwill "that was it.

"Wait, Lupin, I think I'll go. This isn't going to be a pleasant sight.

Snape turned around at the door.

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