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When I reached the huge round door with the snakes, I hissed in Parseltongue again, activating the mechanisms, and the door opened. Delphine stepped with almost imperceptible awe into the huge, gloomy hall, in the middle of which lay the remains of a basilisk, which had not yet begun to decompose. Only now I remembered that I had an unused pelt of this chimera, but then again, there was no way to test its properties at Hogwarts.

The resounding echo of our footsteps echoed through the vaults of the hall. Delphine reached into the middle of where the ritual was taking place, took out her wand, and began to make passes around herself that I didn't understand, humming something softly. Hermione and I stood still, not distracting her, trying to feel the magic. After a minute, Delphine moved the remains of the basilisk aside with a gesture of her wand. With another gesture, she restored the scheme of the ritual, beginning to study it meticulously.

"You know, Max," Delphine spoke thoughtfully, continuing to examine the scheme. "I didn't believe it all the way when you told me about this ritual. But now... You're an absolute mad genius if you could calculate this in a month. Of course, I can see a couple of points for optimization... But... Disassemble yourself to particles and reassemble on the basis of the soul... This is complete nonsense! How did you even think of that?"

"Well, it seemed like a good idea to me. And the result isn't bad either."

"You're lucky, mostly. It's hard to say, though. Okay, I need to check out the hall itself... Unbelievable... The Slytherin room..."

Delphine began making wand passes again, but this time it was over much faster.

"Completely magically isolated. Very good. But some restrictions still remain. Many rituals are forbidden at Hogwarts by the founders themselves. Even back then, it was only a school whose job it was to give quality basic education, and the highly specialized education was already given by masters and guilds. That's the way it's always been."

"But wouldn't it be easier to create a higher education institution like regular people?" asked Hermione immediately, shivering from the cold.

"For whom?" replied Delphine with a chuckle, approaching us. "There aren't that many wizards in the country, not more than a dozen thousand. How many, do you think, from one Hogwarts graduation decide to study something further rather than go to the Ministry, for example, or trade to someone in a shop, or do something else? Very few. A few more would go to the Aurors Academy or DMLE*, every few years, someone may go to the Department of Mysteries, and then... That's it. Dead end. Nine out of ten girls end up married within a few years and start doing household chores, sometimes helping her husband or family with business and other things. Among guys, the picture is about the same. In the Ministry, most positions are dead-end in terms of personal growth as a wizard. The various craft areas in business are under the wing of other families who train extremely highly specialized professionals. Some go into commerce, office work, and other social activities, again stopping in their development as wizards. And so it is in almost all countries, except that the proportions vary a little in one direction or another. In the last century, the International Confederation of Wizards tried to implement the idea of an international university, where all the suffering minds could be engaged in further education and science, but the idea died in the bud. Due to the small number of wizards, only one system of semblance of higher education is still relevant - personal mentoring."

"Somehow, things are not as rosy as Professor McGonagall told me before I entered Hogwarts."

"Oh, yes!" smiled Delphine. "Not rosy, but not so bad either. Though Hogwarts is a school, the local library is one of the best in Europe and Asia. Only the National Library of the Celestial Empire can match it, but China is an extremely closed country for aimless wandering, and to get into that library, you have to stand out a lot."

"Well then, how many masters of the various directions are there in England?" I asked a burning question.

"Hmm... Let's do the math. There's a Chinese man and his family living in Knockturn right now, and he's a Calligraphy and Potions master. Magical Calligraphy is the Asian equivalent of creating schematics for rituals, only more self-sufficient. There are three other Potions masters - one under Mungo, one retired - the past Head of Slytherin, Slughorn, and Severus Snape. About a dozen more wizards could have been certified as Masters, but they don't do science, and without that, you can't create a really new potion or bring something unique to the science, which is what they give a rank for besides skills. The Transfiguration masters are me, the Headmaster, McGonagall, the old goat Foley, and Grandma Bulstrode. In terms of knowledge and skills, a couple of other people I know will pass. But there may always be people like me who don't flaunt titles or skills, taking care of family and not getting into anything. But there aren't very many of those, at most double the number. The strong ones are on the radar one way or another. All the masters in healing magic, maleficium, chimerology, and other "dark" disciplines sit in Mungo and heal people. Of course, there are those like me who have gained their knowledge at home and their skills in other countries and conflicts. China, for example, gladly provides an opportunity for visiting wizards to excel in constant internecine wars. In magical China, the five kingdoms are still fighting, but it has been relatively quiet for the last thirty years, which allowed me to practice various branches of magic. Chinese magical culture is very old, and unlike the Egyptian kingdom, they are not extinct, though much has been lost. There are still hidden areas, domains, entire cities, villages in the mountains on every corner. Every now and then, they find new forgotten ruins or uncover huge hidden spaces. In general, there is something to do, and they constantly invite someone through the guilds. You can't find a mentor there - the clan system is rigid, but there's no problem with the practice."