Hogwarts Library.
Gerald and Hermione sat facing each other at a long table, with a large pile of books about magic circles in front of them.
Gerald flipped through the books very quickly, almost taking in ten lines at a glance. Hermione, on the other hand, looked at them more carefully, and her eyebrows were often furrowed. There was nothing she could do about it, as she was only a second-year witch.
Facing such a complex and professional subject as magic circle construction, she inevitably found it a bit difficult.
After some time, Hermione's eyes suddenly lit up, and she picked up a book and went to Gerald, saying, "Professor Zickrein! Do you think this material meets your standards?"
"A Unicorn's single eye?" Gerald pondered for a moment and said, "That's right, this material does have extremely high magic resistance and stability. At the same time, its conductivity is also very strong, so it can be arranged on a large scale on the outside."
Hermione felt she had helped, and a joyful expression appeared on her face.
"However, this kind of Unicorn went extinct two hundred years ago." Gerald's next sentence made the light in her eyes visibly dim.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't know..."
"No, it's okay. Few people know about this kind of magical animal anyway. Even when it went extinct, it didn't cause much of a stir. I only learned about it from Hagrid."
"Oh? Professor Zickrein is good friends with Hagrid?"
"I grew up at Hogwarts, and I have a good relationship with all the faculty. Except for Filch, of course."
"Filch? That's right, I feel like Filch is dissatisfied with everyone, and he seems to hate everyone he meets!"
"I can understand, after all, he's a Squib." Gerald didn't look up, and explained slowly, "Being surrounded by young wizards with magical talent all the time, it's hard not to feel bad."
"Ah? Filch is a Squib?" Hermione was surprised to hear this for the first time.
"Although he doesn't have magical talent, he has made a great contribution to keeping Hogwarts running." Gerald nodded and said, "From repairs to night patrols to cleaning... he takes care of all the miscellaneous things."
"That sounds really hard."
"He volunteered for it. Having seen the world of magic, he's not willing to go back to living a normal Muggle life."
"I don't see anything wrong with being a Muggle."
"There's nothing wrong with it, but everyone has the right to choose their own way of life." Gerald smiled and said, "He just chose to live a life where he'd rather be a Squib in the wizarding world than a Muggle in the ordinary world."
"That's true, it's his freedom." Hermione agreed and said, "Compared to those house-elves, he's much happier. Professor Zickrein, do you think house-elves should be enslaved?"
"No intelligent species should be enslaved." Gerald looked up at Hermione, who was staring at him with burning eyes. He didn't expect her to be thinking about house-elves at this point.
"Right, I think so too!"
Hermione felt that she had found a true like-minded person, and this person was the professor she admired. The two joys combined made her extremely excited. "But many people don't think so, and even treat me like an idiot!"
Those who treated her like an idiot were not only the pure-blood wizards in Slytherin, but even her Gryffindor companions. Even Harry and Ron didn't quite understand her desire to fight for the rights of house-elves, and felt that she was being a busybody.
"That's because of the values and perceptions that have formed over hundreds of years. House-elves are the slaves of wizards... This has become a kind of tradition."
"Yes, but this tradition is a wrong and distorted idea! We need to break it!"
"Have you thought about how to break it? Persuading other wizards to give up their enslavement of house-elves? Who would listen to you? And have you asked the house-elves what they want? Do they need to have this perception broken?"
"Well, shouldn't all creatures capable of independent thought not want to be enslaved?"
"In theory, that's how it should be, but what if these creatures' thoughts and minds have been filled with slave dogma? What if they develop the idea that they can't live without a master?"
Silence. Hermione fell into silence. She was thinking about what to do in this situation. But after thinking for a long time, she had no idea at all.
"To liberate a group, you must first make them understand that they are independent beings, not tools." Gerald gave the answer, saying, "Tools are objectified units of production that can be replaced at any time. Independent beings, on the other hand, are unique."
"So, we need to make these house-elves develop the idea that they want to be independent?" Hermione suddenly understood and said excitedly, "That way, they'll have the opportunity to choose for themselves!"
"That's just the first step. The second step is to break the shackles that have been locked on them for nearly a thousand years." Gerald tapped the table with his fingers and said, "These shackles come not only from within the house-elves themselves, but also from external factors like pure-blood wizard families. In the eyes of these pure-blood wizard families, house-elves are their private property. How should this problem be solved?"
"But they're clearly not objects."
"Will pure-blood wizard families listen to reason? Unless you have the power and influence of someone like Voldemort."
Hearing Voldemort's name, Hermione was startled and quickly said, "Professor Zickrein, that name shouldn't be mentioned!"
"Don't be afraid, a name is just a symbol."
Gerald smiled kindly and said softly, "Face him, if you really want to carry out your ideas, you shouldn't be afraid of anyone. The power of an idea comes from your own faith. To achieve it... we should all overcome obstacles. Whatever stands in our way, we should eliminate it."
"Thank you for your guidance, Professor Zickrein!" The little Hermione had been completely captivated by Gerald's ambition, and she had developed a complete sense of agreement with him. "Are you building this magic circle to carry out the ideas you want?"
"That's right, it's also for ideals."
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