Chapter 60: The Barrier of Magical Knowledge
When Draco and Hermione came out of Slughorn's room, the scorching midday sun had turned into a gentle sunset glow, and the light in the corridor was already a little dim.
Hermione let out a long sigh, then looked helplessly at the boy beside her, "Draco, you're too risky! I always make potions according to the clear instructions in the book, but you always mess around."
"As long as the result is good, that's all," he said disapprovingly.
"How can they be the same? The methods in books are often verified by potion masters from all sides and are more authoritative, aren't they? How can you change them at will and disrespect knowledge?" she asked.
Although this time, for some reasons, she let him do what he wanted, it did not mean that she agreed with the practice of changing the operation at will.
As they talked, they strolled to a corner of the courtyard, a quiet and secluded place with only a few lonely carved benches and clusters of dense rose bushes.
"I understand what you mean. The brewing of any potion must be accurate, specific, and delicate in order to achieve a certain perfect balance." Draco sat down on a carved chair with Hermione, paused, and seeing Hermione's approving look, he continued:
"But perhaps you don't quite understand that making advanced potions is a completely different matter. The reason why advanced potions are so difficult to brew, and why potion masters can reap fame and fortune, is because only a very few people can successfully brew them. Do you think that everyone fails to brew them because they don't strictly follow the steps?"
Hermione's expression gradually became complicated. She asked in confusion, "So, the problem is with the procedure itself? Then why not update the improved method?"
Draco smiled lazily.
"Do you remember what I said? Rareness makes things precious." He gestured to Hermione to look at the rose bush beside him. It was a neatly trimmed red rose bush with one or two white roses dotted here and there.
"In this bunch of roses, do you think the one or two white roses will be more memorable, or the remaining dozens of red roses?" He casually picked one of the white roses, sniffed it, and handed it to Hermione.
Hermione took the white rose thoughtfully, staring at it with a frown.
Draco glanced at her and saw that she was still confused, so he decided to kindly explain, "From what I understand, the methods in books for many advanced potions are inherently flawed and imperfect. While the basic framework is correct, there are always hidden mysteries in the details of the specific operations. Potions masters are so popular because they have figured out these details through personal talent or word of mouth between master and apprentice. This is their livelihood, the secret code for maintaining their wealth and glory. How can it be completely public?"
"This is totally unreasonable—"
"Looking at Mr. Slughorn's room, you can probably sense that he has no worries about food and clothing. He can make a lot of extra money by brewing various high-level potions, which he sells to the pharmacy, and thus manage his retirement life very well." Draco said in a commonplace tone, "If everyone was like you and me, and could easily brew the potion of life and death, would anyone still be willing to patronize the pharmacy? Would the pharmacy still need to eagerly order potions from Mr. Slughorn? If no one needed him, wouldn't this Potions Master starve to death on the streets?"
Hermione clutched the white rose tightly and whispered, "But—"
"But?" He raised an eyebrow.
"But this is not fair," she said unconvinced, raising her voice.
Draco sneered and turned to look at her, as if he had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world: "Are you talking to me about fairness?"
"Yes, it's unfair. This is a monopoly of knowledge and even a waste of resources! Just because a few people want to maintain a transcendent position, they control people's thoughts, arbitrarily build barriers to knowledge, and prevent others from entering the garden of truth. Isn't this unfair?" Hermione said angrily.
Draco looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to say such a thing.
Hermione lowered her eyes. "You grew up in a wizarding family, and have been exposed to the knowledge and resources of the wizarding world. I imagine you must have a large collection of books about magic at home, right? Some of these books might not even be available at Hogwarts..."
He saw her staring blankly at the white rose in her hand, a sad expression on her face. "Also, you can ask a powerful potion master for advice and easily acquire secrets that others will never know in their lifetime. For you, this is just a matter of a word from an elder."
"That's not the case—" Draco wanted to refute her.
She interrupted him and cast her eyes on the red roses not far away. They were so dazzling yet so unloved. "And those Muggle-born wizards can only acquire all their knowledge from books and regard diligence as their only asset. Unexpectedly, they only regard the wrong methods as their guiding principles..."
Draco stammered. He wanted to say something, but found himself speechless.
"I've always, I've always worked very hard to learn these things. I read all kinds of books, thinking that this way I could catch up with you... I thought knowledge could make up for the gap in background. As long as I'm diligent and hardworking enough... as long as I spend more time on academics, I thought that one day I would surpass you, surpass you... But if even knowledge has a barrier..."
Hermione couldn't say any more. She curled up in his coat, which she hadn't yet returned, and buried her head in her knees.
From the rise and fall of her back and the slight tremors of her body, Draco was sure that she was crying.
Subconsciously, he wanted to say something in rebuttal, but he had no way to refute it.
He thought of the countless days and nights when Hermione Granger had read intently in the library.
He once wanted to know why she worked so hard.
He once wondered very much what motivated her to study so diligently.
Now he finally understood.
Hermione Granger, she was studying with great insecurity.
She had been insecure from the beginning. She had confessed her concerns to him the moment they boarded the Hogwarts Express. He had dismissed her concerns then, because he knew how dazzling she would be.
But she herself doesn't know it.
She didn't know what kind of outstanding girl she would become. Worried and uneasy, she worked hard on her studies, hoping to quickly integrate into wizarding society. She did her best to fill the gap left by her absence from wizarding society over the past decade.
He suddenly realized what she was struggling with.
Hermione Granger has the strongest self-esteem and competitive spirit in the world. She doesn't want to lose to anyone.
A girl of Muggle origin who wants to make a name for herself in the wizarding world can only rely on her own diligence and hard work. There are no extra resources to be given to her. Why should we give them to her?
If there is a fallacy in the book, she can only learn the fallacy and firmly believe that it is the truth.
She feels aggrieved about this, which is reasonable.
The wizarding world is surrounded by an invisible barrier, and there are countless unspoken rules. Where there are vested interests, there are also oppressed people. This is true in any society.
As one of the vested interests, Draco himself is numb.
What is fair? What is unfair?
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he has always lived in affluence. How could he have the opportunity to feel the unfairness of fate and the differences in class?
Once, when he was young and ignorant, he never thought there was anything wrong with such things - his father Lucius always taught him: "Origin determines everything. This society has always been a jungle of the weak. Don't sympathize with others, you can't sympathize with them enough. As pure-blood wizards, the only thing we have to do is to maintain our transcendent status, to build barriers, and to always maintain excellence."
He once completely obeyed his father's ideas, faced everything with arrogance, and believed that he should be the center of the world and stand at the top of society.
However, gradually, his study life at Hogwarts shook him little by little.
His youthful and frivolous mentality was gradually shattered. After coming into contact with pure-blood wizards who were of Muggle origin or even supported Muggles, he increasingly felt that the "theory of birth" and "pure-blood" were rude, arrogant, and even cruel.
In the wizarding world, the debate about wizard bloodline has never stopped.
The invisible boundary has always existed. The Dark Lord's extreme actions have even made this vague boundary clearer and more distinct.
Looking at Hermione's slightly shaking shoulders and listening to her low, suppressed sobs, Draco felt breathless.
He suddenly thought of the Muggle Studies professor, Charity Burbagi, who died in front of him. What did she do wrong?
And then there was poor Hermione. In her previous life, at Malfoy Manor, she had been tortured by Cruciatus Curse, leaving her in excruciating pain. She lay on the ground, fragile and hopeless, with the bloody "Mudblood" carved into her wrist, and she looked at him with tears in her eyes.
That scene has been torturing his heart, never stopping.
At that moment, he felt deeply regretful and realized that he was a complete coward.
Merlin, he was in such a state of confusion, so lost in thought, he didn't know what to do, he was completely panicked. Harry had taken his wand from him, and instead of trying to chase him or stop him, he just hoped he could get away, take her with him, and live.
Hermione didn't deserve to die there. She didn't deserve to be tortured by that mad woman.
She should be a lively and bright girl, she should use her wand to conjure up a bunch of beautiful pecking birds with a smug smile on her face; she should not be lying on the floor of Malfoy Manor, looking at him with broken eyes.
She shouldn't be crying. She shouldn't be as broken as she is now.
In an instant, Draco felt his heart break into pieces. He looked at the crying girl beside him, wanting to comfort her, but hesitated for a long time.
He was one of the vested interests she hated, one of the sources of the injustice she spoke of. Would she hate him? Would she still be willing to talk to him?
But she was crying. He couldn't bear her crying any longer. He gently placed his hand, which had nowhere else to put, on her back. He tentatively, slowly patted her, and said to her in the gentlest voice he could think of: "I'm sorry, Hermione. It's my fault. I was wrong. You're right. This is unfair to Muggle-born wizards, and especially unfair to an excellent and hardworking wizard like you."
Hermione raised her tear-stained face, her big brown eyes filled with sorrow.
She looked at Draco and sobbed, "I just felt terrible. I don't know why I was angry. I didn't mean it to be against you. You've always been so nice to me... I shouldn't have been angry with you..."
Fortunately, she didn't hate him - Draco breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and took out a light gray silk handkerchief from his pocket. He squatted down in front of Hermione, who was curled up in a ball, holding her chin and gently wiping her tears, as gentle as an artist depicting his own painting.
"It's okay." A trace of guilt flashed through those grey eyes. "You can be angry with me. I was wrong. Earlier today, I should have explained your situation to Slughorn in more detail so that he wouldn't ask so many stupid questions. Muggle-borns and wizards alike have an equal right to knowledge—any knowledge."
His tone was gentle. Hermione tried desperately to stop crying; she didn't want to appear weak in front of him. Furthermore, he looked even sadder than she was, which only made her feel even more wrong to be angry with him.
She looked at him hesitantly, at the boy who had gently wiped her tears. "Do you really... think so? Do you agree... that we should all receive knowledge equally?"
"I have to admit that I didn't have such a concept originally. It was you who changed my mind with your excellence. It would be a loss to the wizarding world if a talented girl like you were misled by young people. I'm sorry, I didn't look at this issue from your perspective before." The boy said sincerely, with a look of worry on his delicate oval face.
"It's okay. It's not your fault," Hermione whispered, blinking back tears.
He wasn't the cold, icy person he had been at school. He was very gentle. He seemed to be praising her and trying to understand her, which made her feel wronged, surprised, and unbelievable.
"Listen, Hermione. Although I admit that there is some discrimination against people of non-wizarding descent in wizarding society, most people still value strength. Even Slytherin, who respects bloodline, has many half-blood wizards who still gain respect from others with their own abilities, such as Professor Snape. Yes, don't be so surprised, he is a half-blood wizard." Draco said calmly, frowning slightly and gently rubbing her cheek.
Hermione's attention was drawn to this incident, and she opened her mouth, forgetting to cry for a moment.
"Also, Mr. Slughorn is not a wizard who believes in bloodlines only. He is not a wizard who will casually instruct the younger generation just because of a few words from an old friend. The reason you are standing here today is entirely because he heard that you can brew Polyjuice Potion in your second year. What he values is definitely your talent." He smiled at her and carefully wiped the water stains under her eyes with a handkerchief.
"Speaking of which, how did he know this? Did you tell him?" Hermione asked quietly, sniffling.
"That's right. You should have seen his expression when he first heard about this. His eyes were practically glowing green." He put a small strand of hair, wet with tears, behind her ear and whispered, "The test he gave us today should have been something we should have learned in sixth grade, but you still performed very well and earned his respect. Isn't this the reward for your own hard work and extensive knowledge?"
Hermione was stunned. The boy before her was smiling faintly, his pale face tinted pink by the fiery clouds in the sky. His eyes were filled with pity, as if she were a fragile piece of oriental porcelain or glass. This made no sense.
She noticed that a strand of light golden hair fell between his eyebrows, ruining his usually neat and tidy hairstyle. However, he, who always paid attention to his appearance, was unaware of it.
This scene reminded Hermione of that morning when she was petrified. He had cared for her wholeheartedly and treated her with such cherishment. She finally stopped the last sob in her throat and slowly revealed an embarrassed smile.
At this moment, she realized belatedly that Draco was holding her face and wiping her tears. She quickly took his handkerchief and said, "I... I can wipe it myself."
Draco curled his lips, loosened his hand, and pretended to be very interested in a bee that landed on a flower.
A gentleman needs to give a lady time and space to adjust if she occasionally loses her composure.
However, thinking back to the conversation just now, Draco sighed quietly again.
It was not uncommon in the wizarding world to conceal one's own shortcomings in order to maintain one's master status. Growing up in such an environment, he never realized the right and wrong of such behavior, nor the negative impact it brought.
Take the book "Advanced Potion Making" as an example.
How did Mr. Slughorn, who had been retired for many years, still know the Hogwarts Potions syllabus so well? That's because the textbooks had remained unchanged for decades. The reason Professor Snape's student notes were so useful to Draco was because he had used the same textbooks throughout his school years.
This means that not a single word of the book has been changed in at least twenty years.
How many students have studied and brewed the potion formula of the Water of Life and Death? And how many students, with their faith in books and knowledge, were ultimately disappointed with their own potion-making skills?
Have they ever thought that this is not because of their own lack of ability, but because there are fallacies in the book itself?
Potions geniuses like Professor Snape who proactively revised their procedures are probably only a minority; the majority are students who diligently follow the textbooks. Do these students deserve to be misled?
This is not just a matter of keeping secrets, it is a blatant misleading of young people.
Draco didn't dare to think too deeply.
The wizarding world has reached a near-stagnant state. With their innate magical talents, wizards are clearly a uniquely gifted group, destined to create even more splendid civilizations and magic.
——However, the once-powerful ancient wizarding families gradually declined, the development of new potions and the improvement of spells gradually declined, and the development speed of the wizarding world was much slower than that of the Muggle world.
While wizards were complacent and self-satisfied, the Muggle world had already seen the emergence of telephones, mobile phones, airplanes, rockets, and even nuclear energy... while the Dark Lord was still dreaming of carrying out some kind of blood cleansing, leaving the wizarding world in a state of turmoil.
Outstanding wizards who were expected to make greater contributions to the wizarding world were murdered, the economy suffered a severe downturn, and the wizarding population decreased dramatically. All of this severely hampered the development of the wizarding world, and even led to a regression in its development.
Add to that these knowledge barriers and man-made barriers, and what future does the wizarding world have?
Originally, before the rise of the Dark Lord, Muggle-born wizards and pure-blood wizards were merging along some positive trends. Although the process was slow, there was still hope.
But the appearance of the Dark Lord made all this come to nothing.
Extreme ideas replaced moderate schools of thought, the world was torn apart, plains turned into canyons, people were forced to stand on both sides and hate each other, and the wizarding world became a black and white, endless hell.
Today, Draco finally saw the reality clearly:
The Dark Lord cannot bring prosperity to any family or lead the wizarding world to glory.
The ideas he reiterated, those thoughts of blood purity supremacy, brought not progress but regression.
He was a stumbling block to the progress of the wizarding world and a complete and utter lunatic.