Christmas is a wonderful time! But in my case, there was no other holiday besides the ball. The very next day after this significant event, Hermione and I returned to training, and the lack of study at this time only allowed us to train more. Well, in the Restricted Section, we finally studied material for more than an hour a day. This little return to the library, which we couldn't afford because of other study and project loads, brought some stability and familiarity back to what was happening.

In addition to perfecting in transfiguration, which Delphine was hammering into me with a special effort, we were pondering how to rescue a hypothetical prisoner as quickly and efficiently as possible in the second round. The problem was that in transgression, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible, to take another wizard with you if the other wizard is unconscious. Even if the second wizard was conscious and resisted, it would be easier. This leads us to the idea that even if I got to my intended target underwater in the transgression, I would need to bring that target back another way. ​​

I had the stray thought of transfiguring the kidnapped person into something, but it might affect the psyche without prior preparation or a tattoo like mine. I was also not sure what spell would be used to put the kidnapped under water, though only stasis would work - no air or food was needed in that state. Sub-zero temperatures are also not scary, as well as high temperatures within reasonable limits - the combustion temperature is already dangerous. But then again, no one knows what effect the transfiguration into an object or anything else will have on a person in stasis. The spell from the grimoire is also not suitable - its consequences are not reliably known, and Hermione is not the person on whom I want to experiment.

As a result, it was decided to learn how to create portkeys, and of course, we turned to Delphine for answers to questions. Without unnecessary questions, Lady Greengrass allotted an hour and a half of our daily lessons for the theoretical and practical parts. As a result, about the end of January, we could make quite good portkeys. Of course, we didn't test them - Hermione had no reason to give out such a skill since it was regulated by the Ministry. Specific skills, the Statute of Secrecy, and all that crap. However, Lady Greengrass claimed that our creations were more than normal.

Of course, we had the thought: "Maybe we should protect ourselves from abduction?" However, we could not find a single argument in favor of such a trick, except for the dubious safety of the kidnapped. It was certainly an important argument, overriding all others, but Hermione seemed more worried about the success of my involvement and reputation than I was. In the end, the girl herself flatly refused to "defend herself," for even if we could refuse such a fate on any grounds, it meant that either someone else would be subjected to it, or the stage of the tournament would fail. Then the organizers would not pat me on the head.

Another important event, I think, was that I started to attend the Great Hall for meals on a regular basis. Hermione's coming out showed a lot of people that she wasn't just a "nerd" as we had been considered until recently, but a beautiful girl and a talented wizard because McGonagall doesn't praise just everyone. She rarely praises anyone at all, and that praise is like a bolt from the blue. I let the young men who were suddenly interested in her know by my presence that their deaths would be long and painful. Hermione smiled and laughed at that, along with Parvati and Lavender. They kept their dresses, by the way, with my permission.

So at one of my meals, or, to be more precise, at breakfast on the morning of the second of February, I brought up the subject of Hermione's safety again. So we were sitting at the table, eating, and then:

"Why don't we actually ask the administration or the tournament organizers about it? Well, what will be applied?"

Our conversations were not particularly audible in the humming crowd of hungry overnight students, nor were they important. Hence, we often spoke quietly, only occasionally putting muffling charms that turned our words into indistinct mumblings to an outsider.

"You're right!"

"I'm not really serious," Hermione looked at me doubtfully, setting her glass of juice aside.

"And I'm serious. What's stopping us from coming up like this and asking, 'What's it going to be like? Have you eaten?"

"I thought you did not trust Dumbledore." Hermione threw her bag over her shoulder. She still had classes.

"Of course. But I'm not going to share secrets but on a completely normal and important issue. So that we, in our quest for independence, do not screw up by drinking an incompatible potion or something else."

While everyone was still eating, we walked over to the high table, directly to the headmaster.

"Good morning, Headmaster," I nodded.

"Good morning, Mr. Knight, Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled into his beard, with another glint in his half-moon glasses. "Did you want something?"

"Yes. If you have a couple of minutes, I would like to talk."

"Impudent," Snape snorted but continued to poke the cutlet with his fork dejectedly, returning it to its original state of mincemeat. He is, by the way, the only one who orders cutlets in the morning. The most ordinary cutlets, the oval ones, with breading... I guess I'm not full.

"Come on, Severus," Dumbledore literally waved the Potions Master away and turned to us. "I just have some not particularly important, but in its own way urgent papers to sign. I can quite listen to you in my office."