\u201cI have my reservations regarding the historical objectivity of the ancient historicists, Lyra\u201d, Hermione took a sip of her tea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don\u2019t think they even had the concept of impartiality and differentiating between facts and opinions. Tacitus and Suetonius seem to have merely wanted to write their perspective down for posterity, so that when they outlived their enemies, they could adversely influence historical memory thereof\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily disagree\u201d, Lyra nodded and took another biscuit. \u201cHowever, I also don\u2019t necessarily see a problem there\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem to think there\u2019s such a thing as objective facts, and we should merely write those down, as divorced from opinion and interpretation as possible, in order to allow people to make up their own minds later\u201d, Lyra postulated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I mean\u201d, Hermione nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s either possible, useful or morally allowable\u201d, Lyra looked her straight in the eyes. \u201cImagine writing history of the last three wizarding wars while trying to maintain a middle ground between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and later between the Order of Phoenix and the Death Eaters and Voldemort, where each side should have a power of veto over any statement of fact or interpretation thereof that they might disagree with. You would get a moral abomination of a history\u201d, she concluded.<\/p>\n
Hermione was silent for a while as she considered it. \u201cYou do have a strong point there. I\u2019m assuming an impartial observer that would write things as they are, but such an observer would also be in a compromised moral position if they remained impartial in a war against abject evil, so their opinion would necessarily reflect their own cowardice or moral indifference, giving us an opinion of a psychopath as historic evidence. I\u2019m trying to understand whether having some \u2018neutral\u2019 coward\u2019s opinion preserved as historical fact could ever be preferable to, for instance, Dumbledore\u2019s or Harry\u2019s, and I am at a loss\u201d, she was lost in thought. \u201cWere yours and Harry\u2019s arguments at school like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cWith more hand-holding, though. That made it incredibly hard to try to win the argument at the expense of hurting the other person\u201d.<\/p>\n
Viktor descended the stairs, stumbled and hit his ankle. \u201c\u041f\u0439\u0437\u0434\u0435\u0446! \u0401\u0431 \u043c\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0441\u0432\u043e\u044e!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u0412\u0438\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440, \u0432 \u0434\u043e\u043c\u0435 \u0434\u0435\u0442\u0438\u201d, Lyra chided him gently.<\/p>\n
He looked at her with shock overriding the pain in his foot. \u201c\u0401\u0431\u0430\u0442\u044c! \u0422\u044b \u0442\u043e\u0436\u0435 \u043f\u043e-\u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438 \u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0448\u044c!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough so to keep you honest\u201d, she smiled. \u201cBut how come a Bulgarian going to a German school swears in Russian?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was Igor\u2019s favourite student, remember? And Russian is similar enough to Bulgarian that I picked it up easily\u201d, he limped.<\/p>\n
Hermione looked at her suspiciously. \u201cWait a minute. How many languages do you actually speak?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean by \u2018speak\u2019 exactly? Enough to write essays and poetry, enough to participate in a conversation or enough to do shopping?\u201d, Lyra whispered sheepishly.<\/p>\n
Hermione just looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, OK, I speak French, German, Russian and some Italian\u201d, she was now honest. \u201cMaybe some Spanish and Portuguese in a pinch if I had to order in a restaurant\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Greek or Sanskrit?\u201d, Hermione was laughing now.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly the basic terms, to know if someone\u2019s messing with me\u201d, Lyra looked embarrassed.<\/p>\n
\u201cViktor, I might need one of those t-shirts you and Harry are wearing for Quidditch to mess with us\u201d, Hermione looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean, \u2018team dumbass\u2019?\u201d, he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that\u201d, Hermione looked at Lyra. \u201cHow in the name of all that is holy did you manage to be that smart?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an international Death Eater headquarters in my home, remember?\u201d, she grinned. \u201cYou kind of want to know what they are talking about in their own language, when they don\u2019t want anyone to know\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still not convinced you\u2019re a mere human\u201d, Hermione giggled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI have my reservations regarding the historical objectivity of the ancient historicists, Lyra\u201d, Hermione took a sip of her tea. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d \u201cWell, I don\u2019t think they even had the concept of impartiality and differentiating between facts and … Continue reading