“You never told me how you felt about the Yule Ball”, Harry moved hair from her eyes to behind her ear.

“It used to hurt too much”, she gave him a painful smile.

“In what way?”, he looked at her in surprise.

“In the way that from the outside, we seemed perfect. We looked married. Everybody kept saying it. In the way that I was yours and all you had to do is ask, and you never did. You never gave me the word, told me what I am to you. You never even told me we were friends. You never introduced me to somebody in a way that would claim me. You just acted in agonizingly intimate ways without claiming it, without standing behind it, and it left me hanging. You treated that ball as a formality, and you asked me because we were intimate and it was easy, but I waited for you to tell me, to give me the word that says what I am, and you never did. The ball ended and I went somewhere to cry, because I had that awful, ominous feeling that things are wrong and that they are about to get worse, much worse… as they did”, she looked at him with a memory of such pain that he held her tighter, to comfort her.

“I didn’t know”, he whispered in her ear. “I thought we had a good time”.

“Oh, that was the worst part”, she whispered back. “I got to dance with the one I chose, be seen with you in public, be seen how I wanted us to be seen, together. Holding you in a dance felt absolutely perfect. I loved every second of it. But I felt like a fly that keeps banging into a glass window until it dies. Everything it wants is right there, and yet she can never reach it”, she sighed. “Everything you did was perfect, except that you refused to claim it, to say what it meant, tell me what I am, tell me that you want me”, a tear went down her cheek, and he kissed it.

“I am so sorry. I know now why I was like that, but I’m so sorry I hurt you”, he whispered. “You were too important to name, too important to claim. Too many consequences. You tried to convince me that Lord Voldemort was ‘cool’, as you had put it. That your parents wouldn’t be following him otherwise. I saw Riddle in person before and I knew what a horrible monster he was, and I looked at you with horror and consternation, not knowing what to make of it. The way you were used to split my body, mind and heart into three different reactions to you. Being with you was always the most important time of every day. Touching you was the most sacred thing in my life. Of course I couldn’t name it. I didn’t dare even think in that direction, because trying to figure out what you were produced the answer that you shouldn’t be anything, and I wanted you to be everything, so I shut that direction in my mind off completely”.

“I know. I learned about Voldemort soon enough”, she shivered. “And then I understood, I saw how you must have felt about it, and I longed to tell you that I got it, that I understand now… but by then, it seemed like you moved on”, she cried. “I don’t even know how I survived that”.

“I was a damn fool and I’ll never stop being sorry about that”, he sighed. “I should have never experimented with other girls. It hurt you, and it did absolutely nothing for me other than making me realise that they really are in a different category from you. And then I saw you looking at me like you wanted to kill me and I froze. And instead of making a proper conclusion – that I cheated on you and I hurt you – I made the worst possible one that alienated us for two years. I concluded that Voldemort is back and you finally have your Dark Lord and I’m nothing to you now”.

“One conversation would have cleared that up, but we stopped talking. We stopped holding hands”, she whimpered. “I missed you so much, and I was so angry at you”.

“Those were two terrible years. Voldemort kept trying to break into my mind, deceive me, use me for evil and kill me. Everybody was mocking me and hating me. And I missed you so much, and I hated you for leaving me for Voldemort now that I needed you the most, not realising it was all my fault”, he smiled bitterly. “And then I almost killed you”.

“And that, my children, is why I hate talking about the Yule Ball”, she laughed through tears.

“I’m sorry I brought it up”, he smiled, kissing her tears away. “I’m sorry I didn’t claim you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what you meant to me. I could have at least done that, told you about my confusion, the contradictions. I didn’t invite you to the dance because you were easy. I invited you because you were the only one for me. I’m sorry I left you hanging. I was just too young, too messed up, not used to thinking clearly in the context of strong emotions. I didn’t know how to do it yet”.

“I know”, she finally smiled. “I know now. I wish someone had told me then”.

…

“Thank you for coming”, Harry smiled at Arthur and Molly, and then at Lucius and Narcissa. “Here’s the thing. We figured that, based on what has been happening in the last two years, the remnants of the Voldemort regime will be hunting us, but deciding we’re too dangerous to approach directly, so they’ll try to attack our children, probably kidnap them and hold them for ransom, trying to get us to reveal the secret of the wandless magic. This means the children need to be constantly guarded by strong and experienced fighters. Unfortunately, we also need to train and practice, because we had two close calls with Hermione in those two years. Also, the women had two consecutive pregnancies and they were mostly nursing for the last year, so they are physically far from their top shape. Potions help, but they mostly enhance something that’s already going on, so we need actual physical activity”, he smiled.

“Oh, you want us to babysit?”, Arthur smiled, and looked at Lucius, who was grinning already. “Just say so. We love playing with the babies”.

“It will also give us adults time to hang out and talk, and we miss the company”, Narcissa smiled back. “It’s a lovely idea”.

“Thank you”, Lyra beamed at them. “We appreciate it so much”.

…

“We’ll create a training area here. First, the structures”. He closed his eyes, and the trees and boulders on the outskirts of the Malfoy Manor transformed into several huts and one wooden two-storey building, almost a whole small village. “Now, we do it in pairs. One couple creates a defence – wards, ambush, all sorts of conjured critters. The other couple doesn’t know what they did, and they go in to investigate and clear up the place. No deadly or really dangerous traps, of course, but we score points as if everything that hit us was deadly. Viktor and Hermione, you go first and defend; let us know when you’re ready”, he smiled. Viktor was grinning widely, and Hermione was jumping up and down with anticipation.

…

“We’re getting better. It’s been three practice runs already since anyone got hit”, Lyra smiled.

“True, but that might just mean that we memorised the course well enough that it lost the element of surprise”, Viktor pointed out. “We need something new and different”.

“And I have just the thing for us”, Harry got up. They were working pretty hard physically and they needed the rest. “Now, we are going to the forbidden forest. I was thinking about it since I originally remembered it days ago. We have unfinished business there”.

“We need to wipe out that infestation of Acromantulas. They are invasive to Britain, they have no place being there, they kill and interfere with local creatures. And it’s actually our job”, he finished.

“Nice”, Viktor nodded approvingly.

“Big spiders. Ron would have loved it”, Hermione snickered.

“Also, there’s a contract out for them”, Lyra pointed out. “The Ministry clerk told me when I re-negotiated that Dementor contract with him. He said if possible, they would appreciate it if we dealt with those too, but it didn’t cross my mind until now”.

“Money is good”, Viktor smiled. “Killing big man-eating pests is even better”.

“But first, we need to visit some old friends”, Harry grinned.

“Oh, you should hear all the gossip”, Andromeda snickered. “It’s delectable”.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I can just imagine”. Lyra smiled into her tea.

“Actually, it’s all good”, the older woman smiled. “At first they were up in arms about it: your powers are a national security issue, you should not be in a position to decide. Then the Minister reminded them that it’s a national security issue that just happens to be in the hands of the person in charge of national security, to which their reaction was ‘Oh.’ What a surprise, the head of the Auror office happens to be the strongest human mage in the world, and has the audacity to restrict this knowledge to the Aurors she had personally vetted. When he put it that way, they started feeling like they were objecting to water for being wet, and then they decided to just rubber-stamp whatever you already did with the official seal of approval and call it a day. When they looked at it that way, they realised that you approached the issue in the most responsible way – you didn’t keep it to yourself, but you also taught it to only the most trustworthy people you happen to know, who actually need it to be better at their work as Aurors. So, essentially, you vetted the people who both actually need the knowledge and are most likely to use it responsibly”.

“I think they have the expectation that the person making such a breakthrough in magic should be an academic like Dumbledore, and not the woman in charge of security”, Hermione noted. “They expect the Head of the Auror Office to be a rugged grunt, not someone who is on the bleeding edge of magical theory and science”.

“And they wanted Dumbledore to be the Minister rather than the Headmaster at Hogwarts. Things never seem to match neither their expectations nor their wishes”, it was now Lyra’s turn to roll her eyes.

“They were terrified at the display of power obvious from the aftermath of Hermione’s… self defence”, Andromeda nodded. “They seemed to misunderstand when you showed them, Lyra. You were too subtle; take their wands and give them back. They didn’t understand the level of fine control that requires. Hermione putting the thugs through the juicer really demonstrated what this means. Then they were like ‘we should restrict who gets the access to this’, and then they realised how much ahead of them you are, and then they just decided to let you handle it because you obviously know what you’re doing”.

Hermione put down her glass of red juice and looked like she’s trying not to throw up.

“Too soon”, Lyra looked at Andromeda.

“What? Oh!”, she looked at Hermione and realised. “I’m sorry, sweetheart”, she rubbed Hermione’s knee. “I know this can’t have been easy for you”.

Hermione took a deep breath and shrugged. “The problem is, we didn’t get to question them. We don’t know if there were any stragglers. We established their identities with a reasonable degree of certainty, but it didn’t give us any useful information”.

“What Harry and Viktor surmised was that we need to have powerful fighters guarding the home at all times, because their estimate is that the most likely attack vector from people who would want us to reveal this magical method would be to kidnap our children and hold them for ransom”, Lyra noted. “I agree, and we already had some precedent”.

“You two truly married well”, Andromeda snickered. “Your men are wonderfully competent”.

…

“How many dragons do you think you could take in a fight?”, Viktor sipped his Porter.

“Well, that would depend… Are they Norwegian Ridgebacks or Hungarian Horntails?”, Harry laughed.

“I approached the location of the suspected smugglers with a reasonable level of caution for the expected threat level. However, as I entered the hut that was shielded from both remote viewing and apparition, I was hit by Expelliarmus and Petrificus Totalus spells from two directions and found myself disarmed and immobile on the floor, as four assailants revealed themselves and started describing what they planned to do to me next. I used wandless magic to touch space geometry and applied crushing force and extreme rotational swirl. As they died, I was released from the body-bind curse and immediately called my boss for help”, Hermione finished her debriefing before the Wizengamot.

“May I assume that the boss in question was Lady Lyra Malfoy-Potter, and that she was the one who taught you this form of magic?”, Minister Shacklebolt inquired.

“That is correct, Your Honour”, she nodded.

“Lady Lyra, do you have anything to add to this statement?”, Minister turned to the young blonde.

“No, Minister”, she replied. “It is both accurate and specific. But I would add that my husband and I already implemented steps to assure that Aurors do not end up in similar high-risk situations in the future. We decided it would be better to overestimate than underestimate the level of threat, because this time we got lucky that the sole Auror we sent to investigate happened to be immensely overpowered for the task. A less powerful magical user would be killed and it would have been a tragedy”, she finished gravely.

“Can you please inform us of those steps?”, the Minister raised an eyebrow.

“No”, she turned her head decisively. “It is a matter of national security. If we reveal our tactical parameters to the public, the criminals will become aware of them and we will expose our officers to mortal danger”.

The Minister smiled. “Thank you for your time and for your service. Does anyone have questions?”, he turned to the judges.

“We understand that you taught your magical method to your sister of choice. Is there a reason why you restrict sharing your knowledge?”, an elderly Witch inquired.

“Yes, Your Honour”, Lyra nodded. “I taught my husband, Hermione and Viktor, because they are members of my family, I know them to be immensely honourable, reliable, disciplined and virtuous, and I trust them implicitly. Outside that circle, I have no intention of sharing my knowledge either now, or at any point in the future”.

“This is an incredible contribution to human understanding of magic”, an elderly judge spoke out. “Absolutely worthy of Order of Merlin, first class, if you documented and shared your discoveries, and it would certainly advance our society immensely were it widespread”.

“And it would destroy our society outright if some new Voldemort or Grindelwald happened to get his hands on it”, Lyra countered, waiting for the murmur of consternation to dissipate. “I decided to share it with people whom I already trust with my life, and share my life with. Every single one of them was at one point or another in a position to have me perfectly helpless under their protection and care. They are also the people who will listen to my warnings and obey them without question. I don’t know if you saw the pictures of the aftermath of Lady Hermione’s intervention?”, she raised her eyebrows questioningly, and few nods of assent were seen in the audience.

“Well, if you saw what she did to those criminals, while wandless and bound, lying on the floor unable to move even her eyes, can you imagine what one of those criminals could do to innocent people if they learned this method of magic? Yes, I see that you understand. All three people I taught are Aurors. Harry and Hermione were awarded Order of Merlin, first class, for their contribution to ending the last war. They are the most fundamentally trustworthy people in the world. Viktor is Hermione’s husband and my brother of choice, whom I trust with my life. I trusted them with the most lethal knowledge in the world, and what have you seen so far as the consequence? Hermione liquified four hardened criminals in line of duty. Harry broke himself and Viktor out of a hundred kilometers per hour death dive on brooms. Had some untrustworthy person learned that knowledge, they could do absolutely whatever they wanted and nobody could stop them”, she concluded. “So, regardless of my likely loss of state honours for magical contributions, I’m afraid I couldn’t sleep peacefully at night knowing that I released this potential horror to the public”, she concluded.

“Thank you for your time, my Lady, and also for your service”, concluded the Minister.

…

“I can’t believe it”, Hermione read the Daily Prophet over breakfast. “They awarded you the Order of Merlin, first class, for immense contribution to both knowledge of magic and to national security”, she giggled. “Also, they issued an edict whereby you hold the exclusive stewardship of this knowledge in the name of the Ministry, and have exclusive authority of choosing whom to share it with”.

“That settles it, I guess”, Lyra sipped her white coffee and smiled.

“OK, listen up”, Harry clapped his hands, and his family gathered in front of him. It was a very nice day in the woods, and they really missed stretching their legs outside.

“We lucked out with Hermione this time, but imagine if they were leading with something deadly. Doesn’t have to be Avada Kedavra, it could have been Sectumsempra, or Reducto, or even Stupefy. There are terrible spells out there, things that amputate limbs, destroy minds, wipe memory. She ended up bound and disarmed, but conscious, able to work wandless magic. They could have hit her with something that would knock her out, and then transported her who knows where, and who knows what they would have done to her before we could intervene, or she could do something about it. We messed up, and we got lucky”.

They all nodded in agreement. “So, let’s see the post mortem analysis here. I’ll start with myself. I misjudged the threat level. The moment I couldn’t remote view the situation in the field, I should have aborted the mission and sent at least three people, heavily shielded, with smoke grenades with disabling potion, knocked them all out first and since they made sure nobody can disapparate from there, that would have worked. I failed and it could’ve got Hermione killed”.

“I didn’t create spells for her to use wandlessly in an emergency. Quick stuff that would instantly pause time for every living being around her, another spell that would have them bound, disarmed, unconscious and ready for transport. A rescue spell that would render her instantly invisible, shielded, that would inactivate all magic that was cast upon her in the last hour, and so on. And I also underestimated the threat. I should have seen the signs – the hut was too far, too well shielded to be a mere smugglers’ nest. I’m giving myself a failing grade as well, and the fact Hermione made it safely out is not due to any help from me”, Lyra finished.

“I didn’t go with her despite having a bad feeling. I dismissed it because I wanted her to grow her confidence by doing an easy job unassisted. I almost got my wife killed because I was slacking”, Viktor nodded gravely.

“I didn’t have a shield charm on me, or my clothes. I believed it would be easy despite there being no actual sign confirming it. I took absence of immediate problems as evidence of safety. I had a feeling there were people in the hut when I entered, and I didn’t immediately act on it. And when I was hit and on the floor, I panicked and used the easiest and deadliest form of magical attack that I could pull off, when Expelliarmus would have rendered them all harmless as the first move, giving me time for the second move. I convinced myself it would be easy, and when it wasn’t, I went for the nuclear option”, Hermione smiled.

“Nuclear?”, Viktor raised an eyebrow.

“Muggles have nuclear bombs that can instantly destroy whole cities with everybody in them. It’s the weapon of last resort they never want to use because there’s no going back after that – and the enemies have them as well, and it’s expected that they will all get killed in the retaliatory strike”, she explained. “Going for the nuclear option means panicking and overreacting, which I did”.

“OK, it’s good to know that we are all on the same page. Now, let’s see what we did well. I had everybody on stand by, ready to intervene on call. That worked well later on. Also, I handled the aftermath well. Other than that, I can’t think of anything”, Harry smiled bitterly.

“I taught her wandless magic and we made that communication bracelet spell that used to be a baby alarm, but now she used it to call for help”, Lyra nodded.

“I didn’t do anything right. I stood there like a fool instead of being with her, she did all the work, and I gave an interview later glazing over our fuckup, acting as if she had it under control”, Viktor was remorseful.

“I learned from Lyra attentively enough that I could use wandless spatial compression and disruption on multiple targets at once. I also called for help as soon as I physically could”, Hermione concluded.

“So, let’s summarise. We need to take things more seriously and not ignore signs of danger. We don’t send people alone into danger. We need communication devices, similar to that bracelet of yours, but something we can give out and remove, not as permanent, something similar to the muggle radio. Something that transmits voice to the central at all times, and possibly the visuals. If the signal interrupts for whatever reason, we immediately send support. We need those spells Lyra talked about, quick, almost automated action along predictable lines, and we need to practice with those until it’s our second nature. Also, when anti-apparition and anti-surveillance magic is detected, we interpret it in the most paranoid way possible, assuming that five death eaters under invisibility cloaks are about to fire Avada Kedavra the moment someone enters”, Harry concluded.

“I’ll start working on it immediately”, Lyra nodded and kissed his hand.

“I can do the communication artefacts so that Lyra doesn’t have to do all the work”, Hermione smiled.

…

“I just remembered something. In the forbidden forest, I had a situation where I was overwhelmed by waves and waves of Acromantulas charging at me, and I just thought about how I would deal with that now and I honestly don’t know. I would do a perimeter freeze but I would be instantly overwhelmed by new enemies. Any barrier would hold for a while, and then I would be overwhelmed. If something like that happened within an anti-apparition zone, like that island within the cave surrounded by the Inferi, I would be dead”, Harry told his wife as they were preparing for sleep.

“That’s a good point”, she nodded. “We always assume human threats, but I think those might increasingly become the lesser concern, and we might instead be forced to deal with dangerous creatures. Basilisks, Dragons, Acromantulas, and who knows what. I need to take this into account when designing the spells”.

…

“Good morning boys and girl, I am putting you back to school”, Lyra smiled as she approached the breakfast table with her coffee and croissants. It’s been a week since their post mortem, and she was busy.

“Here’s a list of spells I made for you, with descriptions and instructions”, she handed them a piece of parchment, which Hermione immediately duplicated so that each of them would have one.

“Festino, Tranquillo, Deleo, Effugio, Pax, Zona stasis, Lux propria”, Viktor read the spells out loud. “You’re such an incredible overachiever, sis”, he smiled.

She shrugged and smiled. “It would be about time, since I almost got your wife killed by being the opposite”.

“What do they do?”, Harry met her eyes.

“Festino makes your personal time go faster, so the world looks like it’s in slow motion while you move. It gives you a short burst, about a minute, but in that minute you can do whatever and nobody can oppose you”, she started.

“Woah”, Viktor was amazed. “So it basically feels like Impedimenta cast on the rest of the world, while you either escape, or mop them up. This is an incredible weapon. We have to keep this to ourselves because if anyone else uses it, it could have terrible consequences”, he warned.

“Absolutely, but it’s a spell that can be cast only wandlessly by touching magic directly, and we’re keeping that within our intimate family circle because spreading it out is just a horrible idea”, Lyra nodded. “But let me continue. Tranquillo is the opposite – it doesn’t accelerate you, it slows down everything in the area to a standstill, or close enough. That’s what I used without a spell in Knockturn Alley. It can affect the target area or individual people, but once it’s applied, new people entering the area won’t be frozen in time, which is good when our people come to support us, and bad if the hordes of enemies are rushing to overwhelm us, so there’s that”, she nodded seriously.

“So this means we can now trivially cast that time freeze you did there?”, Hermione wondered.

“Yes. That’s identical magic, only invoked by a spell. Next, Deleo. It’s like Reducto, only focused on magic. Never do this inside the house or any other magical place because this will neutralise all existing spells, regardless of who cast them. The only thing that overrides it is deeper authority; you can’t, for instance, enter someone’s home and negate their protective spells unless you are specifically on a mission as Aurors, which gives you deeper authority and then you can basically override everything, as long as it is related to the specific mission you are on. The deeper magic is specific regarding this. You’re just not allowed to abuse it, but when you have authority of your office, you can use it to delete all magical wards on a specific place”, she warned.

“Woah. I wish I had this in that cave where Voldemort kept the medallion”, Harry mused. “I could have inactivated all that horrible stuff, since Voldemort had no inherent authority over the place”.

“Exactly”, his wife nodded, “And this is what it’s meant to do. Also, for neutralising anti-apparition and anti-surveillance spells such as those Hermione had to face. Next, Effugio. It allows you to escape to the last location of perfect safety. This will be either home, or with people you love. It picks the location specific to the caster, from their own soul, and cuts through all anti-apparition spells in existence with absolute priority. It allows you to escape from traps such as the one we allowed Hermione to walk into. It also casts a temporary time freeze during the disapparition process so that we wouldn’t have situations like aunt Bella throwing a knife and killing Dobby”, she reminisced with sadness.

“That stuff is incredibly useful, sis. You’re a genius”, Viktor was impressed.

She blushed slightly. “Thank you. Next, there’s Pax. It strikes either a zone, or individual targets, always excluding the caster, and disarms and petrifies everybody within the area of effect. It’s not capable of cutting through all protective charms, so be careful about that”, she smiled.

“Useful”, Hermione nodded. “But if someone has a Protego artefact on them, you need to be ready for immediate follow-up”.

“Exactly”, Lyra confirmed. “However, it is something I would recommend as a second spell, after time-freezing them with Tranquillo, or speeding yourself up with Festino. It allows you to wrap them up quickly, but it’s not the first spell I would use. The next one is Zona stasis, and it’s very much like Tranquillo, only it works on an area, not people, which makes is incredibly tricky to use. It makes the place work on slowed down time for all who enter it. Harry gave me the idea when he reminded me of the time he was rushed by a deluge of Acromantulas in the forbidden forest, and this would essentially time-freeze everybody who enters the area of effect. That, of course, includes the caster, his friends and all reinforcements. The point of this is to make a time-frozen sphere around yourself so that the enemies can’t touch you regardless of how many there are, so that you have the time to disapparate from the area where you’re overwhelmed, or, if that’s not possible, apply the next spell that would kill all the frozen enemies and figure out your next move when the spell wears out, which will be five minutes or so”, she finished.

“This is incredibly impressive”, Harry smiled at his true love. “Your new spells are among the most impressive offensive and defensive magic I’ve ever seen”, he nodded.

“The last spell is Lux propria, and it’s like a combination of the Peruvian instant darkness powder and the Hand of Glory, that I used in that very dark hour of Dumbledore’s death”, she shivered. “When you activate that spell, it creates an area of effect around you where everybody else will be temporarily blind, nobody outside the area can see into it, and only the caster sees normally. It allows you to escape or infiltrate”.

“We need to practice those until they are our second nature, because I already forgot half of them”, Viktor nodded. “But honestly, Lyra, what you did with this in a mere week, I have no words”, he looked at his sister adoringly, and he could tell that Harry and Hermione felt the same.

“You’re awesome and I worship you”, Hermione whispered in Lyra’s ear as they hugged, and Lyra hid her embarrassment in Hermione’s hair.

“Nope”, Lyra smiled mischievously. “Only Harry is allowed to tickle me in my tickliest spots. You’re allowed to hold me while he does it, though”, she winked at Hermione while both she and Harry blushed like two tomatoes.

“What are you people up to so early in the morning?”, Viktor came with his coffee cup, finding Lyra in a very good mood while Harry and Hermione looked like they wanted the ground to swallow them whole.

“What did you do to them, sis?”, he laughed.

“Oh, a little payback”, she played innocent. “You know how she likes to tease me until I hide my face under something”.

“Oh”, he realised it must be about the goddess thing. “Well, serves them right. I’d never call you my goddess to your face. I just pray to you at a private altar in my room”, he snickered.

Hermione gave him a high five. “That’s my husband”.

Lyra hid her face into Harry’s chest and whispered “It’s all your fault”. He snickered and kissed her head.

“Lyra was actually leaving us dumbfounded with her understanding of things and I couldn’t resist, because honestly and jokes aside, she’s so impressive I feel like melting into a puddle at her feet, and I was teasing her to hide my embarrassment”, she told Viktor.

“I just figured out something else, while we’re at it”, Lyra was now more serious. “The muggles have the concept of meaning inverted, from us”, she mused. “To them, meaning is an emergent property of human brain, which is an emergent property of chemistry and physics, and the physical world is a reality, that they almost figured out, and there’s just a few minor details left to deal with, like making the theory of quantum gravity. To us, however, the physical world is an emergent property of meaning, that manifests our souls first, then our minds, and then we use our minds through wands to wield magic in ways that change the manifestation according to how we perceive meaning, as persons”.

Hermione was deep in thought. “They used to believe the same as we, you know. It’s just in the last few centuries that they turned it all around. Can it be that our Statute of Secrecy caused it, by removing us from their world?”

“It’s actually very likely”, Harry agreed. “Not knowing about magic and what they would call miracles, they were free to formulate theories around the most vulgar materialism, where physical world is a reality and everything else is either an emergent property, or a figment of imagination”.

“We never had that luxury”, Viktor nodded in assent. “Anyone seeing or doing conjuration or transfiguration is permanently inoculated against materialism. It’s simply not a sustainable theory”.

“Oh, you stopped playing the dumb guy”, Hermione took his hand and snickered.

“I figured I can’t win so I might as well join you”, he kissed her palm.