26

The dull clap of a book being closed is the only sound that has been heard in this room over the past 2 hours.

 Neither the rustling of pages, nor a whisper from a strange visitor, nothing was heard. Only thick silence enveloped this place, the one to which this place has been accustomed since time immemorial. Here everything was static and unchanging. Like an untouchable cultural monument.

 The thick steam that came from the kettle did not diminish its intensity one bit, still swirling. Thick jets of steam, as if enchanted, rose upward to the ceiling, which was the night sky. There the steam lost its outline, gradually disappearing from sight. It seemed that he merged with the rare clouds in the sky that were trying to hide the beauty of the starry sky. However, to no avail.

 The orderly rows of cabinets resembled the most reliable fortress walls, just as majestic and unshakable. Because of them nothing was visible. Just rows of empty cabinets and the night sky, nothing else.

 And that's not all that was depicted in this "picture". The strangest and perhaps most mysterious thing was the light. The night sky could not provide even a fraction of the light needed for reading, but it was there. But its source was not observed... Magic or not? But this is not important, the very fact of its presence here, without a visible source, is important.

 *Sigh*

 Another sound broke the silence. The figure that made this sound somehow sadly looked around the room with books, and then stood up, turned around on the spot and headed towards the exit.

 *Push*

 Only the creak of the door opening and closing remained after him, and even that gradually subsided in this mysterious visit.

 After the figure left, everything returned to normal. The light gradually died down, and the night sky was clouded with leaden, impenetrable clouds.

 Everything returned to normal, as before the appearance of this person. How long?

 ***

 *Top-Top*

 Corridors, paintings, and offices flashed past me. The statue, armor and other objects of art accompanied my movement. If it weren't for them, it would seem as if I was not moving, but standing still, or walking in circles.

 My path headed straight towards the living room of my faculty. Most of the journey is already behind us. I was lucky again. No one sees and, I hope, no one will see me any time soon.

 To the steady sound of my steps, I thought about all the information that I had gleaned after reading the book written by the founders themselves. It's a very interesting read, let me tell you.

 The first and most important thing I learned is that I can't get access to all the books right now. I can't do it. And no tricks will work.

 When I read this I thought I was being bullied. The most important thing is the quote that I happened to read.

 In fact, the quote itself is from the book: "... Only the worthy can gain access to the knowledge located behind the canopy of secrets, and the most worthy of the worthy can gain knowledge about the highest schools of magic, as well as spells from them. You can prove your abilities right in the spatial room..."

 This is exactly what was written in the book.

 And it is the test that is the cornerstone of my problems.

 What is this test? It was also written about him in the book. The first thing you need to understand is that the test is a comprehensive exam, that is, it consists of several parts. Each of them is undoubtedly important for any magician.

 Entering it:

Theory - you must know the required minimum in the subject that you want to study in the future.

Development of mana channels - your channels must be sufficiently developed in order to avoid their damage when using spells that are not currently feasible.

Core development - your core should produce the minimum required amount of mana for the simplest spell at this level.

Control is the most important of the above points. If not everything, then a lot depends on control. Only by having the necessary control over magical energy can you be sure of the correct use of spells and not be afraid of spell failure.

 What was interesting was the footnote. It talked about the possibility of bypassing one of the points, namely the third. You see, due to core injury, some magicians may not have a sufficient supply of mana, but if their control and knowledge are at a sufficient level, then it is possible to bypass this point. But even here there were exceptions. The core volume should not be less than two steps from the required level.

 Perhaps it is worth clarifying the levels. Even when the Persians visited Diagon Alley, Professor Flitwick told me about the gradation of magicians. The list is: neophyte > journeyman > master > grandmaster > archmage.

 In the book it was a little different: neophyte > mage > journeyman > master > grand master > archmage.

 A neophyte is an untrained owner of a gift who has just begun to learn. In our case, this is the majority of Hogwarts students. Mostly Muggle-borns.

 A magician is the owner of a gift who has completed initial training. He has an understanding of most schools of magic and can cast visa spells from the same schools. In our case, these are school graduates.

 An apprentice is a magician who has begun training with a master and has most of the knowledge in the chosen discipline. I have no idea who exactly he is at school.

 A master is a magician who has confirmed his knowledge and skills before the Guild commission. At school, the Master is Snape, Sprout (not exactly) and McGonagall.

 The Grand Master is a magician who has mastered all the knowledge in the discipline, and also brought something new to the chosen school. There are quite a few examples at school: Flitwick, Pomfrey, Dumbledore.

 The Archmage is a monster in human form. Must have at least the title of Grandmaster in four schools, as well as a master in three more. These representatives of magical society can compete in Power with some gods. And this, I tell you, is incredible. With the power of thought they can bend and change the space for themselves.

 The book also indicated another very important detail. Each rank has its own sub-ranks. They were called stars or levels. For comfort.

 It so happened that neophytes had sub-ranks called levels, and everyone else had stars.

 Neophyte, journeyman, magician and master - have 5 levels or race. From 1 - lowest, to 5 - highest.

 The Grand Master has 8 stars, and the Archmage has as many as 12. And it is not reliably known whether anyone has reached this level. The founders themselves were Archmages of 1-3 stars. They couldn't achieve more. What can we say about others? It is really unknown why they died. Maybe they disappeared to where? Or were they killed? It's not clear, this is not indicated in the book.

 Merlin himself was already level 9. This bison could kill thousands of magicians like the founders. But, really, after this he will fall ill with exhaustion. Just realizing this fact, it becomes scary. What's on the tenth level? Eleventh? Twelfth? This is the end? Or is there something else above this gradation?

 What am I getting at? All knowledge in the room is divided into this system of ranks and stars. For each subsequent one you will need to pass a test. Which is natural, each subsequent test is more difficult than the previous one.

 This is how the founders wanted to present their knowledge to children. It's a pity that they didn't have time to introduce this system to the masses. Immediately after creating the room, they had a quarrel and went in different directions. What kind of quarrel it was and who initiated it is not known.

 Although the tests were difficult, this did not diminish the fact that this system was in some way ingenious. It was also created to cut off those unwanted from knowledge. Shouldn't you give away knowledge for nothing? Knowledge is power. The founders knew and understood this saying well. On this I completely agree with them.

 There was also another interesting detail. All the books in the library are solid illusions. They could only be used within the room. You won't be able to bear them, they will evaporate. Rewriting it won't work either. The manuscripts will burn. True, no one is stopping you from remembering the contents of the book, and then in a quiet place transferring this knowledge to paper.

 Another fact is that the room has intelligence, just like the sorting hat. She monitors compliance with the test, as well as the magicians in it.

 I have a question, what if the knowledge is outdated? There was also an answer to this. During their lifetime, the founders entered into contracts with all the guilds of magicians. They conscientiously supply copies of books through the portal, pre-marking the level, school, and what has been improved. Interestingly, old options are not deleted. They are simply marked with the year of manufacture. Who knows, the guilds will be able to circumvent the contract? I'm afraid to imagine what the founders did in return for this undoubtedly grandiose service... The contract is monitored by the highest spirits of each of their elements.

 Oh, it's kind of scary, what did the founders do? And what did you pay with?

 Another question arises. Has no one found this room before me? Unclear…

 Pondering all the information I had received, I walked into the living room. It was so quiet in the castle that I couldn't even believe that after 7 hours the castle would come to life and be filled with sounds and children's voices, among others. 

 Passing through the awards hall, where there were cups of all students and faculties, I had to stop and freeze in place. Strange sounds were coming from up ahead.

 *Shark-shark, stomp-stomp*

 The two synchronized sounds were getting closer every second. And as luck would have it, right at that moment the wind blew at my back, like a draft with an open door. Just some bad luck...

 *Shark-shark*

 The sounds of small steps stopped.

 - What happened, Mrs. Noris? – an old, slightly creaky voice was heard. - My dear, did you smell someone?

 "Mryav," came the answer.

 This is Filch. The old caretaker and his faithful cat, that's what I was afraid of. As luck would have it, today they decided to go this route. That's why he doesn't have a standard movement pattern? It would be much easier. Not for him, really, but who cares, right?

 It seems my spell didn't completely get rid of the smell, since she smelled me. And where did this draft come from?

 -Lead me, dear, lead me. Let's see who's awake after lights out.

 "Meow," it feels like her voice was beaming with contentment...

 *Top-top-top-top*

 Her steps quickened with every step. She walked more and more confidently towards me.

 I have to do something, I don't want to meet them in this corridor. It's good that I was prepared for this.

 Just the other day I was walking near the castle and picked up some stones that, when tapped against each other, created a sound that imitated the sound of the heels of school shoes.

 Taking out four stones, I pressed myself against the wall, took out the stones and put them on my palm.

 Four stones quickly flew from my palm, using telekinesis, of course. With unimaginable speed and synchronicity, they flew into the darkness of the corridor. Directly in the direction from which I came. It's just that my smell hasn't completely disappeared, and what's even better is that because of the spell, the cat won't be able to remember it and won't "bully" at me when it meets me.

 As soon as they flew a sufficient distance, I began to imitate the sounds of footsteps.

 *clack-clack-clack, stomp-clop-clop*

 The sound of the "couple" began to rapidly fade away. With every moment they sounded further and further. As soon as they felt like they had reached and turned into another corridor, the sounds stopped. There, as best I could, I threw stones along the corridor. It's good that there was no one there.

 "You're lying, you won't leave," Filch shouted, running past me with the cat. -Stand!

 After waiting until they disappeared, I moved away from the wall and hurried into the living room.

 10 minutes later I was in front of the statue blocking the passage to the living room. A moment and I become myself again. Hair, eyes, skin and body - everything returned to its original appearance. Only the clothes became slightly too big again. But it's not a problem, it remained a little.

 -What does everyone want, but when they receive it, they don't know what to do with it? – a question was heard from the statue. As always, her voice was monotone and dry.

 -Freedom.

 -Interesting answer.

 Was it just me or was her voice not as dry as before? No, why not? Apparently I was more tired than I expected.

 A passage opened in front of me leading to the living room. Having released mana into it and made sure that there was no one there, I entered the passage.

 Behind me, the passage closed by itself.

 The living room was deserted and dark. Only the fireplace illuminated the room, plunged into the darkness of the night.

 Looking around again, only this time there was a magician. With my eyesight, making sure that there was no one there, I went to my room. I still have a meditation session and sleep waiting for me. The hood was still on me, you never know...

***

 As soon as the boy disappeared into the darkness of the stairs, the living room fell silent.

 The shadows generated by the petals of the flame played across the interior of the living room. Their dance was accompanied by the crackling of logs that were engulfed in flames.

 But then, from the female half, a noise was heard.

 *Top-Top*

 The quiet sound of careful steps was heard in the living room. A senior student carefully descended the stairs. She stopped at the last step, not going all the way down the stairs. Therefore, due to the darkness, it was not possible to see her facial features.

 "Interesting," was the only thing the girl's figure said.

 As soon as her voice died down, she turned around on the spot and again disappeared into the darkness of the staircase.

 And the room fell into silence again, only the fireplace illuminated it and the sound of logs burning in it echoed throughout the living room. And the shadows continued their unknown dance.

***