Chapter 47
*Well, I have to admit, this turned out to be much harder than I would have liked...* I turned the rather gloomy thoughts over in my head somewhat tiredly, finally realizing that there might be far more problems with restoring the self-esteem of a certain proud Slytherin than I had expected.
Daphne Greengrass, despite all her talents, was simply not capable of nonverbal casting yet. Despite all my attempts to help the girl with this skill, she hadn't even managed to perform a basic Lumos silently. And the worst part—at least in light of the problem that had arisen—was that Luna had already started getting the hang of her first nonverbal charms.
And this was despite the fact that I had trained with the girl much less in this regard, Lovegood herself was a whole year younger than us, and... in addition to the standard firefly, she had managed to transition Leviosa into the silent category as well. Granted, the Ravenclaw was still struggling a bit with the latter, but... it was still far more than Daphne could boast of.
Which was somewhat saddening... although I was genuinely happy for my blonde ward. Luna had plenty of her own problems, after all... Mostly social ones—the little girl still remained a white raven in our House... which sounds rather ironic considering her appearance and the fact that we in Ravenclaw are all technically considered ravens, but... in reality, there was nothing pleasant about the situation.
None of our second-years talked to Luna—even her roommates mostly ignored her, and sometimes didn't hesitate to bully her... I curtailed the latter quite successfully, protecting the little girl to the best of my abilities, but... I wasn't allowed into the girls' half of the dormitory. And in general, it was quite difficult for a guy to protect a girl from purely female drama within the group.
Against this backdrop, Luna sometimes truly looked like an outcast, saved from outright bullying only by her interactions with Ginny and me. The latter had long since tyrannized, dominated, and practically trained everyone in Gryffindor, and lately, she hadn't hesitated to defend her friend either...
But a few personal achievements—like casually demonstrating nonverbal charms—wouldn't hurt Lovegood anyway. Because it's one thing to bully a quirky little girl whose only achievement is securing a spot in the company of a certain humble hero of Magical Britain, and quite another to bully a witch who, already in her second year at Hogwarts—and at the very beginning of it, no less—already knows a thing or two about nonverbal magic.
No matter how you slice it, a certain cult of power is definitely present in the relationships of wizards. Not to the extent that grades and magical skills alone could force everyone around to respect you—if it were otherwise, our House would be the most respected in the school—but... a certain reverence for talented wizards who stand out from the gray mass is still hardwired into the back of many people's minds.
So yes, I was more than happy for Luna and her magical successes, with which she could partially shut up all the idiots dissatisfied with her quirks, but... that didn't stop me from worrying about Daphne. I even started dedicating more personal time to her training, sometimes openly telling off the likes of Malfoy, who allowed himself to mock both Greengrass herself and our "private lessons."
For the latter, by the way, Draco was beaten by Daphne herself, and for the former, I cursed my buddy just a tiny bit, forcing him to walk around with a shark-like smile on his face for a whole day... A simple curse combined with fairly complex Transfiguration yielded a simply stunning effect. Even our resident Healer, Madam Pomfrey, couldn't quickly un-curse the Slytherin, and he had to wait for the natural reversal of the transformation, suffering from an aching pain in his cheekbones and the inability to say a single word properly.
Because of which Malfoy himself subsequently planned to be angry and offended at me for a long time... but that's exactly it: he only *planned* to. A quick but thoughtful and thorough conversation reasoned with the boy a little. Reminding him that I would not tolerate mockery directed at my friends wasn't all that difficult... Especially considering that Draco himself had been in the role of the defended friend several times, whom I had saved from the attacks of older Gryffindors.
The guy hadn't forgotten about the latter, and he admitted his guilt before Daphne quite easily, apologizing and no longer trying to pester my fiancée about her inability in nonverbal magic. Something he himself hadn't achieved much success in, though he wasn't trying particularly hard in that direction either.
Malfoy held the opinion that he would still have time in this life to master and learn everything he needed from magic, and racing ahead of the school curriculum wasn't exactly necessary... It wasn't for him, the heir to the richest family in all of Britain, to worry about some spellcasting problems. He would get what was his in this life anyway... and yes, that was practically a direct quote from Draco himself, which didn't really bother me much personally.
I had never intended to drag all my friends along with me—everyone trains and develops to the best of their own strength, capabilities, and desires... And in general, friendship is friendship, but I wasn't going to forget whose side my buddy's parents would be on if push came to shove.
In light of this, the fact that my group of friends was gradually dividing more and more distinctly into me with the girls, and Draco with his squires and Pansy, didn't even particularly surprise me... There were no serious conflicts between us, of course. And overall, our friendship continued, but... our increasingly active studying didn't leave much spare time for idle entertainment with the Slytherins.
Besides, Ginny herself, as I saw it, was somewhat calmer and more comfortable in moments when there was no one extra in our little flock of enthusiastic wizards... Weasley herself, by the way, really fit into our group well. She was still slightly resentful of Daphne because of our betrothal, but otherwise remained a quite pleasant girl to talk to, with a true Gryffindor character and temper. But at the same time, she didn't have the worst brains and had some measure of talent in magic.
She didn't quite measure up to Daphne or, even more so, Luna... But unlike Greengrass, Ginny didn't get all that upset over her failures. I sometimes even got the feeling that she primarily still wanted to become my wife, calmly taking her place beside a strong and successful guy, and only then striving to become a skilled witch and all that...
Though magic itself—especially Charms and various kinds of curses, hexes, and illusions—the girl liked. If it weren't for that, I'm afraid she definitely wouldn't have fit into our little gang so well... but as it was, it turned out quite nicely. The youngest Weasley clearly rose to become a top student, and overall began to outpace her year in both knowledge and skills.
Against which backdrop, by the way, Daphne's self-esteem began to burst at the seams just a tiny bit again... In the sense that the girl had always evaluated herself quite adequately, not considering herself some kind of genius, but realizing that in terms of studying she was well ahead of the school curriculum... And now, when Ginny—who last year hadn't exactly plucked stars from the sky—also began to overtake this very curriculum... I had to intervene more thoroughly in everything that was going on.
"Sad again, light of my heart?" I addressed the pretty blonde slightly mockingly, not hesitating in the slightest to slide into a certain theatrical courtesy.
Daphne got rather amusingly flustered in response to such jokes on my part... And from society's point of view, I, as the girl's fiancé, had every right to address my chosen one so "frivolously."
"Harry... At least don't you make fun of me," the pretty blonde said, puffing up like a wet sparrow and shooting a somewhat displeased look in my direction. "You can see it yourself... nothing is working out for me again."
"I see... And I even think I'm starting to understand why," I lied just a tiny bit, albeit doing so for a good cause.
"You understand why? It's because of magical power, isn't it? Mother wrote in her letter that nonverbal magic is only accessible to sufficiently powerful wizards..." The Slytherin pouted even more mournfully and desperately.
"No, it's definitely not a matter of pure power. Luna is hardly stronger than you—more likely a bit weaker, actually—but she still has some successes already," I shook my head, persistently catching my friend's gaze and even grabbing her hands. Just so she wouldn't even purely instinctively try to close herself off from my next words. "Your problem is rather that you... believe too fiercely that nonverbal magic is something difficult."
"And isn't it?" the future Lady Greengrass snorted, not rushing, however, to instantly renounce my words. "They don't just wait until the sixth year to start mastering such methods of magic for no reason... Just so you know, many wizards are intentionally not accepted into the final years of Hogwarts specifically because they simply won't have enough power for exactly this kind of magic... Even if that isn't usually advertised, of course."
"Um, thanks for the new information, but... You really are exaggerating the complexity of the problem somewhat. Perhaps translating some complex spells into a nonverbal form really is impossible for our current level, but... you definitely ought to have enough for a standard Lumos," I shook my head. I wasn't entirely sure of my own words, but... I was desperately hiding that and fully allowing that it really was all about Daphne's mindset.
After all, the mental and emotional mindset of a wizard is almost always very, very important for magic. And therefore... lately, an idea had been circulating in my head of how I could help my fiancée... Granted, it was somewhat risky and not exactly too simple to execute, but... the risk of revealing yet another part of my skills—and at the same time trampling on Miss Greengrass's self-esteem even more—was perhaps not so great that I would abandon my plan.
"Perhaps you're right, and I really ought to have enough for a normal firefly, no matter how weak I might be, but... I can't do it, and... you think it's because I don't believe I can do it at all?" Finally realizing where I had been leading our entire conversation, the Slytherin stared at me in some surprise.
*She's a smart girl after all... I didn't say anything directly to her or hint at problems with her self-esteem, but she understood everything anyway... And she most likely remembered the importance of the right mindset in magic, too.* I nodded to my fiancée-student openly, with pleasure and approval, making her instantly perk up. If only just a tiny bit.
"Yes, I think it's all about belief and even a certain self-confidence... Or rather, not just that—if it were otherwise, Malfoy would have become the greatest of mages long ago—but to me, it seems that belief in yourself is exactly what you're lacking," I smiled softly at the Greengrass heiress, releasing her hands from their captivity. "So... maybe you'll try pulling off a nonverbal charm one more time? And I'll help you a little... I happen to have an idea of how to put you in the right frame of mind..."
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