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The days flew by one by one.

The classes went on as they should have, except that Snape was even stricter and obviously angry at everything around him, and Potter was getting the brunt of it.

In the library, I continued to memorize books' contents on the creation of spells and rituals. At the same time, Hermione dug around in the Restricted Section, finding books there that might contain the necessary information.

On the morning of the second day, I made my way outside the castle again and summoned Kreacher. The news he brought was not particularly cheerful. If you omit all unflattering epithets about me, Dumbledore, Lupin, and every other adult wizard at Hogwarts, there wasn't much else to say. There were none of the Blacks who were into necromancy and all kinds of manipulation with flesh. If I need materials on necromancy, Lady Walburga said I should go to Greengrass, but it wouldn't pay off - you will owe them both in life and in death, even if it wasn't for long. This information surprised me, but to each his own - every family specializes in something. Why not in necromancy? Anyway, I returned to the castle with nothing.

My friendship with Hermione hadn't changed one bit, but the tips of her ears sometimes blushed. On the one hand, it was good that in light of such ridiculous, but in some ways even sweet dialogue, we did not alienate each other, but on the other hand - do I need it?

Harry and Ron had me under total surveillance, and it seemed that I had taken over the baton from Professor Snape in this regard - the pair of unfinished Bonds were following me everywhere, but so ineptly that it only made me laugh. Every now and then, I could see a redhead and a bespectacled brunette sticking out of the corner. Maybe I should transfigure gray cloaks and hats for them?

A couple of times, this couple even tried to follow Hermione and me and get into our training sessions and even used the cloak of invisibility. Still, it didn't lessen the noise, and so they were exposed and deceived, and we left under the hiding spells.

Seven days before the "X" hour, I finished memorizing all the material I needed, and Hermione found one of the Soul Catcher variants. A rather complicated amulet, similar to a dream catcher. You can make it out of anything, but the best ones are magical animal bones. And that's great! If animal bones are used, they must first be soaked in a simple potion. I ordered the ingredients for it from the twins. The ingredients didn't cost much, and the twins worked promptly for half a galleon - in a couple of hours, everything was delivered. In the evening of the same day, Hermione brewed the potion, and I brought some basilisk bones.

We cut them into the necessary strips with a special spell and dipped them into the potion - it will be ready in twelve hours. I took the cauldron of soaking bones and hid them in the Chamber of Secrets - we cannot allow it to be accidentally discovered by someone else.

And then... Then, neglecting the magical training with Hermione and only being present while she was furiously beating transfigurable dummies with magic, I mentally realized the memorized information from books and folios. I was amplifying my brain with hemomancy to the maximum and eating every hour a medium-sized lunch. True, I had to constantly chase Timmy back and forth to the kitchen to do this, but the house-elf only got happier and happier each time.

On the evening of the six days before the "X" moment, I brought back a potion of bones from the Chamber of Secrets. They had gone from white to slightly red and could bend and crumple like twigs, though they didn't break. Hermione took over the weaving of the Soul Catcher. In fact, she insisted on it, referring to her childhood experience and the fifteen, she said, beautiful and complex dream catchers that had come out of her hands. Her parents had recommended doing something like that in her time to develop fine motor skills. They also insisted on playing the piano, but "that's another story" - so she said.

In the evening of the same day, I finished with an awareness of the material I had learned, but it affected my overall health, even if just a little bit. I also never ate so much.

Four days were spent on calculations. I was so busy with them that I even slept for an hour at a time, wasting all my time on calculations, calculations, calculations. The essence of creating a spell or ritual is to translate into numbers the processes implied in that magical action. From the lesser to the greater. At first, I was in complete shock, not knowing what to approach. Still, as if guided by insights, I began to describe the essence of the process first with words, then with actions, and after receiving the most complete and detailed description of the ritual, I started to make the calculations. I don't know if it was the Old Man's will or some other way, but the ritual turned out very well and did exactly what I needed!