Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Everyone wants to tie a rope around J.K. Rowling to a rock.

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"And then Janet was a Squib," says a portrait of a short young woman in a gold-trimmed hat.

Draco made a note of it.It's only 28, but it's time to go back and find Harry.

English has changed a lot, so he had to ask other portraits to translate.But the first-year spells depicted in the oldest images sound very similar to the ones they're learning now.Draco recognized about half of them, and the other half didn't sound any stronger.

Each answer made him more and more sick until he couldn't take it anymore.After he left, he asked the other portraits about Harry Potter's strange question about the Squib marriage.The first five portraits didn't know any of the Squibs, and in the end he had to ask for those portraits, to ask if anyone they knew knew someone, and finally found some who would admit to being friends with the Squibs.

(The first-year Slytherin explained that he was working on an important project with a Ravenclaw who told him they needed the information and ran away without saying why . which drew a lot of sympathetic looks.)

Draco plodded down the corridors of Hogwarts.He should be running, but seems to have lost his strength.He keeps thinking, he doesn't want to know, he doesn't want to be involved with this, he doesn't want to take the responsibility, let Harry Potter do it, if magic is waning, let Harry Potter do it deal with this...

But Draco knew that wasn't right.

The cold Slytherin cellar, the gray stone walls, the atmosphere Draco usually liked, but now it looked too much like decay.

He grabbed the doorknob, and Harry Potter was already waiting inside in his hooded cloak.

"An old first-year spell," said Harry Potter, "what have you found?"

"They are no more powerful than the spells we use now."

Harry Potter hit the table hard with his fist. "Damn. Well. My own experiment was a failure, Draco. There's a thing called the Merlin Prohibition—"

Realizing this, Draco couldn't help but thumped his forehead.

"—it forbids anyone to gain knowledge of powerful spells from books. Even if you find the notes of powerful wizards, they will read like heavenly books, knowledge that must be passed from one living mind to another. I can't find any powerful spells that we have instructions that we can't cast. But since it's written in a book and no one can understand it, no one bothers to spread word of mouth for spells that can't be cast handed down. Have you collected data on Squib couples?"

When Draco was about to pass the parchment over—

Harry Potter held up a hand. "The laws of science, Draco. First, I tell you the theory and predictions. Then, you give me the data. That way, you know I didn't make up a theory to fit the data; Predicted the data. Since I'm going to explain my theory to you, I must explain it before you show me the data. That's the rule. So put on your cape and sit down and talk."

Harry Potter sat down at a table covered with torn papers.Draco took out the cloak from his bag and put it on, and sat down opposite Harry, looking at the pile of papers suspiciously.The slips are laid out in two rows of approximately twenty sheets each.

"The secret of bloodlines," said Harry Potter, with a tense look on his face, "is something called deoxyribonucleic acid. You can't mention that name to anyone other than a scientist. Deoxyribonucleic acid is telling you A recipe for how your body grows, two legs, two arms, short or tall, brown or green eyes. It's a real thing, and you can see it if you have a microscope—a microscope is Like a telescope, except it looks at very small things, not very far away. This recipe is always in duplicate so that if one of them gets damaged it's no problem. Think of this long two lines of paper. In each There are two sheets in each column, when you give birth your body randomly chooses a sheet from each column, the same goes for the mother's body, there are two copies of everything, one from the mother and one from the father, so the child gets two pieces of paper in each position. And when the child is born, they get a random copy of the parent in each position."

Harry pointed to the paired slips of paper as he spoke, pointing to one of the pair when he said "from your mother" and the other when he said "from your father".When Harry was talking about picking a piece of paper at random, his hand took a Nat from under his robes and tossed it; Harry looked at the coin and picked the top one.There was no pause at all.

"Then, like when determining height, there are a lot of places in the formula that make very little difference. So, if a tall father marries a short mother, the child gets some paper that says 'tall' Usually the child will grow to be of medium size. But not always. With luck, the child may get many pieces of 'tall' and a few pieces of 'short'. ', they will be quite tall when they grow up. Maybe a tall father has five pieces of paper that say 'tall', and a tall mother also has five pieces of paper that say 'tall', relying on amazing With luck, the child gets all ten pieces of paper that say 'tall' and ends up being taller than both of them. Do you understand? Bloodline is not a perfect fluid, it doesn't mix perfectly. DNA is made up of many small pieces composed like a glass of pebbles, not a glass of water. That's why the child isn't always exactly in the middle of the parents."

Draco's mouth fell open as he listened.Merlin, how did the Muggles find out about all this?Can they see the recipe?

"Now," said Harry Potter, "assuming that, like height, there are lots of little places in the recipe that say 'magic' or 'no magic'. If you have enough of 'magic' A piece of paper makes a wizard, a lot of paper makes a powerful wizard, too few makes a Muggle, and everything in between is a Squib. So, when two Squibs get married, and most of the time the kids are supposed to be Squibs too, but occasionally the kids are lucky enough to get most of the father's magic pieces and most of the mother's magic pieces, powerful enough to be wizards. But probably not Very powerful wizards. If there are many very powerful wizards in the beginning, and they always intermarry, then this power can be preserved. However, if they start marrying barely magical Muggle-born wizards, or even with Squibs get married...you get the idea? Bloodlines don't mix perfectly, like a glass of pebbles, not a glass of water, because that's what bloodlines are. If someone gets a lot of magic pieces by accident, it still produces powerful wizards, but they are still not as powerful as those of old."

Draco nodded slowly.He had never heard this method of explanation.It has a surprising beauty because it fits everything with such precision.

"But," Harry said, "that's just a hypothesis. Suppose, instead, that there's only one place in the recipe that determines whether you're a wizard or not. There's only one place, and only one piece of paper that can have 'magic' or 'no magic' on it. And all the paper has two copies, same as before. In this case, there are only three possibilities. Both copies have 'magic' on it. One has 'magic' written on it, the other has 'no magic' written on it, or Both copies say 'no magic'. Wizards, Squibs, and Muggles. There are two copies of 'magic' and you can cast spells, one copy and you can still use potions or magical implements, and one copy of none Meaning you can't even see magic right under your nose.Muggle-born wizards aren't really born by Muggles, they're born by two Squibs, raised in the Muggle world with one magic on each parent Copy. Now imagine a witch marrying a Squib. Anyway, each child gets a piece of paper from their mother that says 'magic', it doesn't matter which one is chosen at random because the two Both have 'magic' written on them. But like flipping a coin, the child has a half chance of getting a piece of paper with 'magic' written on it from his father, and a half chance of getting a piece of paper with 'no magic' from his father .When a witch marries a Squib, it doesn't produce a bunch of magical but weak children. Half the children will be wizards and witches as powerful as their mothers, and the other half will be Squibs. Because if in the formula If there's only one place in the world that determines whether you're a wizard or not, magic doesn't mix like pebbles in a glass. It's like a magical pebble, a Philosopher's Stone."

Harry placed the three pairs of papers side by side.On a pair, he wrote "Magic" and "Magic".On another pair he just wrote "magic" on the top piece of paper.And the third pair left blank for him.

"In that case," said Harry, "either you have two stones, or you don't. Either you're a wizard, or you're not. Strong wizards get stronger by studying hard and practicing more. If wizards itself getting weaker, not because the spells didn't survive but because people couldn't cast them...then maybe they ate the wrong food or something. But if it keeps getting worse for 800 years, then It could mean that magic itself is fading out of the world."

Harry laid the other two pairs of papers side by side and produced a quill.Soon, each pair has one piece of paper with "magic" written on it and the other blank.

"Here's my prediction," said Harry, "what happens when two Squibs get married. The coin is flipped twice. It could be heads and heads, heads and tails, tails and heads, or tails and tails. So a quarter of the time you'll get two heads, a quarter of the time you'll get two tails, and half the time you'll get one heads and one tail. When two Squibs get married The same will happen. A quarter of the children will have magic and magic and become wizards. A quarter will get no magic and no magic and become Muggles. The other half will be Squibs. It's a very old classic pattern. It was discovered by Gregor Mendel [3] - he will never be forgotten by mankind, and this is the first clue ever given to how the formula works. Anyone with an understanding of the science of lineage The pattern is instantly recognized by anyone. The numbers are not necessarily precise: if you toss a coin twice in a row, forty times, you won't always get exactly ten double heads. But if forty kids Seven or thirteen wizards, that's a strong clue. That's the experiment I asked you to do. Now let's look at your data."

Before Draco could think, Harry Potter had pulled the parchment out of Draco's grasp.

Draco's throat was dry.

28 children.

He wasn't sure about the exact number, but he was pretty sure about a quarter of them were wizards.

"Six wizards out of 28 children," said Harry Potter after a moment, "well, then, that's it. And the spells cast by the first years are as powerful as they were eight centuries ago. Your test and my tests both point to the same results."

There was a long silence in the classroom.

"And then?" Draco whispered.

He had never been so scared.

"It's not absolutely certain," said Harry Potter. "Remember? My experiment failed. I need you to devise another experiment, Draco."

"I, I..." Draco said.His voice broke. "I can't do it, Harry, it's too hard for me."

Harry looked stern. "Yes, you can, because you have to. I thought about that too after I found out about Merlin's ban. Draco, is there any way to directly observe the power of magic? Some kind of lineage with wizards or something we learn A method that has nothing to do with spells?"

Draco's mind just went blank.

"Anything that affects magic affects wizards," said Harry, "but we can't tell if it's wizards or magic itself. Does magic affect things that aren't wizards?"

"Fantastic creatures, obviously," Draco said without thinking.

Harry Potter smiled slowly. "Draco, this is awesome."

It's one of those stupid questions you'd only ask if you were raised by Muggles.

Then the feeling in Draco's stomach got worse, and he realized what it meant if the magical creatures were indeed getting weaker.They'd know for sure that magic was dying, and a part of Draco was sure that was exactly what they'd find out.He didn't want to see this, and he didn't want to know...

Harry Potter was already halfway to the door. "Come on, Draco! There's a portrait not far from here, we'll ask them to find some older ones, and find out right away! We wear cloaks, and if anyone sees us, we'll just run away!" Let's go!"

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It didn't take long after that.

It's a wide portrait, but the three of them still look a little crowded.Among them is a middle-aged man from the twelfth century, wearing a long black wrap.He told it to a mournful fourteenth-century maiden whose hair curled as if charged by an electrostatic spell.She told it to a wizened, dignified-looking old man from the seventeenth century, wearing a solid gold bow tie.And they could understand what he said.

They asked about the dementors.

They asked about Phoenix.

They asked about dragons, trolls, and house-elves.

Harry frowned, pointing out that the creature that required the most magic might be completely extinct, and asked about the most powerful magical creature known.

There aren't any unfamiliar names on the list, except for a dark creature called a mind flayer,[1] the translator points out that was eventually exterminated by Harold Shae, and that doesn't sound half as scary as a dementor.

Looks like magical creatures are just as powerful as ever.

The nausea in Draco's stomach eased, and now he was just confused.

"Harry," Draco said in the middle of the old man's translation of all eleven powers of the beholder,[2] "what does that mean?"

Harry held up a finger and waited for the old man to complete the list.

Harry thanked all the help with the portraits - Draco did the same almost automatically, more gracefully - and they went back to the classroom.

Harry took out the parchment on which the hypothesis had been written and began to scribble.

phenomenon:

Witchcraft is not as powerful as it was when Hogwarts was founded.

hypothesis:

1. Magic itself is dying.

2. A hybrid of wizards, Muggles and Squibs.

3. The knowledge of casting powerful spells is being forgotten.

4. Wizards ate inappropriate food when they were young, or due to other non-blood problems, made them weaker than before when they were adults.

5. Muggle technology interferes with magic. (Did it start 800 years ago?)

6. Powerful wizards have fewer children. (Draco = only child? Check if the three powerful wizards, Quirrell/Dumbledore/Dark Lord, have any children.)

test:

A. Are there any spells that we know of that we cannot cast (1 or 2), or, are there any lost spells (3)?Result: Inconclusive due to Merlin ban.There are no known uncastable spells, but it is possible that those spells were not handed down at all.

B. Did the first graders in ancient times learn the same spells, and did they have the same effect as they do now? (Weak evidence for favoring 1 over 2 and 1, though it's also possible that bloodlines are simply weaker in powerful witchcraft.) Result: first-year enchantments were at the same level then as they are now.

C. Another test, using scientific knowledge about ancestry to distinguish 1 from 2, explained later.Result: There's only one spot in the recipe that determines if you're a wizard, or you have two sheets that say "magic," or you don't.

D. Are magical creatures losing their powers?Distinguish between 1 and (2 or 3).Result: The magical creature appears to be as powerful as ever.

"A fails," said Harry Potter, "and B is insufficient evidence that 1 is better than 2. ? Disproves 2. D disproves 1. 4 is unlikely, and 4 does not agree with B. 5 Unlikely, and D doesn't support it either. 6 is negated along with 2. That leaves 3. I haven't really found any known spells that cannot be cast, with or without Merlin ban. So, when When you add it all up, it looks like knowledge is being forgotten."

The trap snapped shut.

As soon as the panic subsided, it only took him five seconds after Draco understood that magic wasn't dead.

Draco slammed the table back and stood up.His chair made a loud noise as it scraped across the floor, then toppled over.

"So it's all just a stupid hoax."

Harry Potter stared at him for a moment, still sitting.When he spoke, his voice was calm. "It's a fair test, Draco. If it comes out differently, I'll accept it. I would never cheat on this, ever. I didn't look at your data when I made my predictions. I told you straight up that Merlin's ban invalidated the first experiment—"

"Oh," Draco said, anger starting to show in his voice, "you don't know how the whole thing turned out?"

"I don't know anything you don't," said Harry, still calm. "I admit I was suspicious. Hermione Granger is so powerful that she should only be able to do magic, but she's not. A How can a muggle-born witch be the best spellcaster at Hogwarts? And she also got the best grade in her thesis. It is too coincidental that a girl is the strongest in magic and the strongest in academics Unless the two have the same reason. Hermione Granger's existence points out that there is only one thing that makes you a wizard: you either have it or you don't, and the difference in power comes from how much we know, practice How much. And they don't have separate classes for purebloods and Muggleborns, etc. If you're right, there's a lot in the world that shouldn't be what it seems. But Draco, I don't See anything you can't. I didn't take any tests that I didn't tell you. I didn't cheat, Draco. I hope we find out together. And I never thought magic might be possible until you say Fade out of the world. That was a horrible thought for me, too."

"Whatever the outcome," Draco said.He was trying really hard to control his voice, not start screaming at Harry. "You said you weren't going to go out and tell anyone else about it."

"Won't tell anyone without consulting you," said Harry.He spread his hands beseechingly. "Draco, I'm trying to be nice to you as much as I can, but the real world isn't like that."

"Okay. Then I have nothing to say to you. I'm going to walk away and forget everything that happened."

Draco turned around, feeling the burning in his throat, the feeling of being betrayed.At this moment, he realized that he really liked Harry Potter, but he didn't slow down because of this, and he still strode towards the door of the classroom.

Harry Potter's voice came again, louder and worried:

"Draco...you can't forget. Don't you understand? This is your sacrifice."

Draco stopped walking and turned around. "what are you saying?"

But a freezing chill had crept up Draco's spine.

He knew it before Harry Potter said it.

"The sacrifice required to be a scientist. You question one of your beliefs, not just a small one, but one that means a lot to you. You do experiments, you collect data, and it turns out that belief is wrong Yes. You saw the results and understood their significance." Harry Potter's voice trembled, "Remember, Draco, a true faith cannot be sacrificed like this, because the experiment will Confirm it, not disprove it. Your sacrifice to become a scientist is your false belief that mixing blood makes wizards weak." "That's not true!"?Draco said, "I didn't sacrifice that belief. I still believe in it!" His voice grew louder, and the chill grew worse.

Harry Potter shook his head.His voice is low. "Draco... sorry Draco, you don't believe it, you don't believe it anymore." Harry's voice rose again. "I'll prove it to you. Imagine someone telling you they have a dragon in their house. You say you want to see it. They say it's an invisible dragon. You say ok and you'll hear it move They said it was a silent dragon. You said you would throw some flour into the air to see the outline of the dragon. They said the flour would go through the body of the dragon. The problem is, they can Know exactly what kind of experimental results they have to explain. They know that all experimental results will be the same as if there were no dragons. They know in advance what excuses they need to prepare. So maybe they say there is a dragon. Maybe They believe they believe in a dragon, which is called belief in belief. But they don't actually believe in it. People can be confused about what they believe in, and most people don't realize the difference between belief and what they feel they should believe in. There is a difference." Harry Potter had now stood up from the table, and took a few steps towards Draco, "Draco, you don't believe in pure blood anymore, I will prove that you don't Believe it any more. If blood purism is true, then Hermione Granger is irrational, so how to explain her? Maybe she was an orphan of a wizard raised by muggles like me? I can go to Granger, ask to see pictures of her parents, to see if she looks like them. Do you expect her to look like them? Shall we do this experiment?"

"She'll be raised by relatives," Draco said, his voice trembling, "and they'll still look alike."

"Look. You already know the results of the experiments you have to explain. If you still believe in bloodism, you say, of course, let's go and see, I bet she won't be like her parents, she's too powerful , wouldn't be a real Muggle-born witch—"

"She will be handed over to relatives to be raised!"

"Scientists have a test to determine if someone is the father's biological child. If I paid her family enough, Granger would probably agree to do it. She wouldn't be afraid of the results. So, you predict the results of that experiment What will it show? You just have to ask, and we'll do the experiment. But you already know what the test will say. You always know. You'll never forget. You may wish you believed in bloodism, but what you envision It's still about what happens if there's only one factor that determines whether you're a wizard or not. That's the sacrifice you make being a scientist."

Draco's breathing was a little ragged. "Do you realize what you've done??" Draco rushed forward, grabbing Harry by the collar.His voice had turned into a scream, uncomfortably loud in the closed, quiet classroom. "Do you realize what you did??"

Harry's voice trembled. "You have a belief. That belief is wrong. I helped you realize that. The fact is already there, and admitting it won't make it worse—"

Draco's right hand clenched into a fist, dropped, and then slammed upwards unstoppably, hitting Harry Potter hard on the jaw, sending him crashing toward the table and onto the floor.

"Idiot!?" Draco screamed, "Idiot! Idiot!?"

"Draco," Harry whispered from the floor, "Draco, I'm sorry, I thought it was a few months before this happened, I didn't expect you to wake up as a scientist so soon , I thought I would have a longer time to get you ready and tell you some tricks to make it less painful for you to admit your mistakes—”

"What about father?" Draco asked.His voice was shaky with anger. "Are you going to be ready for him, or do you just not care what happens after this?"

"Can't tell him!?" said Harry, raising his voice warily. "He's not a scientist! You promised it, Draco!"

For a moment, the thought that his father didn't know was a comfort to him.

Then the real rage started to rise.

"So you're going to make me lie to him and tell him I still believe," Draco said in a trembling voice, "and I have to lie forever. Now I can't grow up to be a Death Eater, but I can't even tell Why is he?"

"If your father really loved you," Harry whispered from the floor, "even if you didn't want to be a Death Eater, he would still love you, and it sounds like your father really does, Draco -"

"Your stepfather was a scientist," Draco said.When the words are spoken, every word is heartfelt. "If you don't become a scientist, he'll still love you. But you're not that special to him."

Harry took a step back.He opened his mouth as if to say "I'm sorry", but he seemed to have changed his mind again and closed his mouth, not knowing whether it was a clever trick or a coincidence.Because Draco might actually kill him.

"You should have warned me," Draco said.His voice sharpened. "You should have warned me!?"

"I...I warned you...every time I tell you about power, I tell you about its cost. I said, you must admit you were wrong. I said, it will be your The hardest road. It's the sacrifice anyone has to make to be a scientist. As I said, if the conclusions don't agree with what your family and friends tell you—"

"You call that a warning??" Draco was screaming now. "You call that a warning? The ritual we performed called for a permanent sacrifice!?"

"I...I..." The boy lying on the floor swallowed, "I think what I said may not be clear enough. I'm sorry. However, things that can be destroyed by the truth should be destroyed by the truth."

It seems that beating him is not enough.

"You got one thing wrong," Draco said, his voice murderous, "Granger wasn't the strongest student at Hogwarts. She just got the best grades in class. You You'll see the difference right away."

Harry suddenly showed a shocked expression, trying to get up quickly——

But it was too late.

"Disarm you!?"

Harry's wand flew across the room.

"Gorm thorn!?" [5]

A jet of inky darkness hit Harry's left hand.

"It's a Torment Charm," Draco said. "It's for interrogating messages. I'll keep it on you forever, and lock the door when I go. Maybe I'll let the Locking Charm last a few minutes." It expires in an hour. Maybe it won't expire until you die here. Enjoy."

Draco stepped back steadily, his wand still pointed at Harry.He reached down into the bag with his hand, the aim of his wand never wavering.

When Harry Potter spoke, pain was already showing on his face. "I guess the Malfoys aren't subject to underage magic laws? You're strong not because of blood, but because you practiced. You were as weak as us in the beginning. Am I wrong in my prediction? "

Draco's wand grip was white, but his aim remained steady.

"By the way," said Harry through gritted teeth, "if you tell me I'm wrong, I'll listen. If you prove me wrong, I'll never torture you. And you'll prove me wrong , someday it will. Now that you've awakened as a scientist, even if you never learn how to use this power, you never will," Harry gasped, "to find, to find, to test , your, faith—”

Draco's back movement was less fluid now.He picked up a bit of speed, and it took some effort for him to point his wand at Harry as he fumbled behind him to open the door.Then he exited the classroom.

Then Draco closed the door again.

He used the most powerful locking spell he knew.

Draco waited until he heard Harry's first scream before using Silence.

Then he walked away.

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"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!?"

Harry's left hand seemed to be pressed into a frying pan of boiling oil, and he couldn't get it out.He'd put all his strength into the mantra, but it still wasn't working.

Some jinxes require a specific cure to break, or it could just be that Draco is really strong.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!?"

Harry's hand was really hurting, and it was getting in the way of the creative thinking he was trying to do.

But after screaming a few times, Harry still thought of what he should do.

Unfortunately, his mok bag was on the other side of his body and he had to twist it several times before he could get his hand in, especially as his other arm was still trying to shake off the pain on reflex source of.When he finally got the bag, the arm had dropped his wand once more.

"Healing bag! Healing bag!"

On the floor, the light from the green light was too dim to see.

Harry couldn't stand up.Unable to crawl.He had to roll in the direction where he thought his wand was, but it wasn't there.He managed to push himself up a little on one hand before he saw his wand, and he rolled there again, got his wand, and rolled back to the open healing kit.There was a lot of screaming the whole time, and he threw up.

Harry failed eight times before successfully casting Lumos.

And then, well, that packaging wasn't designed to be opened with one hand, because all wizards are idiots, and that's why.Harry had to use his teeth, and it took a while before Harry finally put the sedative cloth over his left hand.

After the sensation in his left hand finally completely disappeared, Harry let his mind relax and lay motionless on the floor, crying for a while.

Well, when Harry's brain had recovered to the point where it could think in words, it said to itself silently, is it worth it?

Slowly, Harry's free hand grasped a table.

Harry braced himself to his feet.

Take a deep breath.

exhale.

smile.

Not too obvious a smile, but it's a smile nonetheless.

Thank you, Professor Quirrell, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to throw in the towel right now.

He hadn't saved Draco yet, not even close.Contrary to what Draco himself might now believe, he was still the child of a Death Eater through and through, and a grown-up