Saltzil

  Hermione was still dealing with the aftereffects of embracing her Fae nature when she purged the Diadem of the filth that was Riddle. The moment the adrenaline and Fae magic ebbed, her vision blurred at the edges, and she nearly colpsed to her knees, lungs cwing for air in a surge of panic. Her heart hammered so loudly it drowned out everything else—her pulse, her thoughts, all blending into a single rush of terrified awareness.

  The entire confrontation was premature; she hadn’t pnned to go after him—or it. Even through the pounding in her ears, Hermione felt a roiling guilt flicker behind her eyes. She knew she should have held back, knew this was reckless. And yet, at that critical moment, something else in her—something half-wild and chill as winter—had seized control. Despite knowing she shouldn’t have done it, that other part of her pushed her, almost overwrote her own intentions.

  A week had gone by, and she had woken many times during the night in a cold sweat, reliving the instant Riddle tried to possess her. In some of her dreams, she failed entirely, ensved to bring Voldemort back in all his glory—along with her family magic and Fae lineage at his disposal. She shuddered at the thought of a world where he held those powers, and it gnawed at her mind.

  She could do nothing about the nightmares, nothing about the gnawing guilt that some part of her had pced everyone at terrible risk. Bringing him back prematurely and without anyone else knowing would have been the worst-case scenario. Instead of confiding in someone, as she knew she should, she reverted to her unhealthy coping mechanism: when life closed in around her, she doubled down on research. And in front of her y perhaps the greatest treasure of all to bury herself in—Rowena’s Diadem.

  During her study of the artifact, she finally uncovered its true nature: it neither heightened one’s intellect nor offered an endless library of knowledge. Instead, Rowena’s greatest trick was to grant the wearer extra time to think. The Diadem accelerated the brain’s perception of events, making everything beyond it feel slower—roughly threefold, by Hermione’s estimates. Rowena had likely given herself three times as long to ponder problems and devise solutions, which easily mimicked genuine brilliance. Hermione realized that was more cunning than any legend had implied.

  She reasoned that in theory, the Diadem’s magic gave the user superhuman reflexes, since the average human reaction is around 250 milliseconds. Cutting that by two-thirds might mean a mere 80 or so milliseconds. But she soon saw the fw: the enchantment worked only on the brain, not the entire nervous system. Even if the brain processed input in a fsh, the body still took the same amount of time to respond, so physical reflexes wouldn’t improve in step—particurly for someone already at a quick baseline of 17 milliseconds.

  Given that medieval witches and wizards cked modern anatomical insights, Rowena’s enchantment targeted only the frontal lobe by proximity, missing the chance to accelerate the whole nervous system. Times had changed, and enchanting methods had advanced since the founding of Gringotts in 1474. The shift in craftsmanship meant Hermione could replicate the Diadem’s runes at a fraction of the original size. Returning to the Room of Lost Things, she rummaged for any jewelry that could serve as raw materials.

  She finally found a pair of silver earrings set with light blue sapphires—no existing enchantments, no damage. They were hardly Goblin steel, but they’d do. She intended not to copy the Diadem’s enchantment exactly but to adapt it so it would target her entire central nervous system, thus partially improving her physical reactions alongside mental speed.

  Hours slipped by as she toiled among piles of junk, carving intricate runes. She felt an unsettling thrill, a borderline sick satisfaction, in outdoing a Hogwarts founder at their own art. Once she finished, she inspected her work with a critical eye. The enchantments were stable but leaked magic—a common problem she resolved by binding them with a drop of blood.

  Satisfied, she tested the earrings. No immediate effect on contact, which was good—they’d need a conscious trigger. The moment she willed them active, the world slowed noticeably, if not as dramatically as with the Diadem. A 50% boost still made a difference: her monitoring charm showed her reaction time dropped to around 130 milliseconds—professional athlete territory.

  Yet just as she marked her success, a snag emerged: speeding up her central nervous system triggered a fight-or-flight response, sending her heart rate soaring. She realized with a pang of concern that tinkering with the whole body’s signals could pose serious risks—one more reminder that forging new magic came with real perils. She felt a flicker of disappointment at the side effect. Still, given that she only intended to rely on the earrings in dire moments—when fight-or-flight would already be in py—it hardly disqualified them from their purpose. Overall, usable and a success. Prolonged or used too frequently would take its toll on the body, however so would any high stress situation.

  Packing up her things and keeping her new family artifact (she had blood bound it after all) she made her way back to the Slytherin common room, where no doubt her friends were waiting fretfully for her, she had been a bit of a mess this st week, perhaps some R and R with her friends was what she needed.

  As she entered the common room, she was descended upon by Daphne who glomped her, gone was the ice queen Daphne, where had this girl been hiding? Hermione shook off her wandering thoughts when Daphne asked her a question "Sorry, I was off in my own little world, what did you say, Daph?"

  "Did you see the notice on the board? The Duelling club is back!" she said with glee.

  Hermione's attention was immediately upon the notice board where she found the most obnoxiously garish poster with the Lockhart smiling and winking at everyone, She shuddered but read the notice nontheless.

  “Duelling Club Reinstated – At the Suggestion of Gilderoy Lockhart, with Professor Snape Co-Leading. All students are encouraged to attend for practical training and demonstration of defensive magic. First session this Saturday.”