Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Hesitation is always easy, but rarely useful.

That's what the Defense Professor said; you could argue about the details of the motto, but Harry knew Ravenclaw's weakness well enough and knew you'd have to try to answer your own arguments.Are there any plans that need to wait?Yes, many plans need to be postponed; but this is not indecisive.Not procrastinating because you know the right time to act, but procrastinating because you are indecisive—a procrastination that no clever scheme needs.

Do you sometimes need more information to choose?Yes, but it can also become an excuse to procrastinate; it can be tempting to procrastinate when you’re faced with two painful options, and not choosing can temporarily stave off the emotional pain.So you single out one piece of information that isn't readily available and claim that you couldn't make a decision without it; that's your excuse.However, if you know what information you need, when and how to get it, and know how to act in every possible situation, it is much less likely to be an excuse for hesitation.

If you're not just hesitating, you should be able to decide ahead of time what you'll do when you get the information you say you need.

If the Dark Lord really exists, is it wise to agree to Professor Quirrell's plan and find someone to pretend to be the Dark Lord?

No.Certainly not.Absolutely not.

And if Harry could be sure that the Dark Lord didn't actually exist... in that case...

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The Defense Professor's office was a small room, at least for today; it was different from the last time Harry had seen it, with darker, smoother stone bricks.Behind the Defense Professor's desk still stood the tall empty bookshelf, with seven empty compartments stretching almost from floor to ceiling.Harry had only once seen Professor Quirrell take a book from an empty shelf, but never seen him put it back.

In the chair behind the Defense Professor's desk, the green snake swayed, its lidless eyes staring straight at Harry without blinking.

They were now protected by 22 spells, the maximum that could be cast at Hogwarts without the Headmaster noticing.

"No," Harry hissed.

The green snake raised its head, tilting it slightly to one side; the gesture expressed no emotion, and Harry's gift for parsimony did not sense it anyway. "Why?" Green Snake asked.

"Too risky," Harry replied simply.This is true whether or not the Dark Lord is real.After forcing himself to decide ahead of time, he realized that the unanswered question was just an excuse for hesitation; the rational decision was the same in both cases.

For an instant the dark eyes seemed to glow with a dark gleam, and for an instant the scaly mouth opened to reveal its fangs. "I think you learned the wrong lesson from your failure last time, boy. My plan has no habit of failing, and it would have worked flawlessly if you hadn't been a fool. The right lesson is to tame your messy impulses , carry out the plans that the older, wiser Slytherins have for you."

"The lesson I've learned is not to try schemes that will make my girl friends think I'm evil, or my boy friends think I'm stupid," Harry shot back.He had planned a more tactful answer, but the words slipped out of his mouth for some unknown reason.

The hiss of the snake sounded like no words to Harry, just pure fury.Moments later, "You told them—"

"Of course not! But know what they'll say."

The snake shook its head and stared at Harry for a long pause; still no emotion was revealed.Harry was curious about what Professor Quirrell was thinking, which made Professor Quirrell think for so long.

"You really care what those two think?" the snake hissed at last. "Those two are real children, not like you. Don't weigh grown-ups."

"Might be better than me," Harry hissed, "boyfriends asking secret motives before agreeing to save a woman—"

"Glad you understand now," the snake hissed coldly, "always look for the other side's good. Next learn to always look for your own. If my plan isn't to your liking, what's your plan ?”

"If necessary - six years at school, studying. Hogwarts seems livable. Books, friends, strange but delicious food." Harry wanted to chuckle, but the laughter was expressed in Parseltongue not come out.

The sunken snake's eyes appear almost black. "It's easy to say now. People like you and me, we can't stand incarceration. You lose patience long before seventh grade, maybe this year. I'll plan accordingly."

Before Harry could say another Parseltongue, the humanoid Professor Quirrell sat down on the chair again. "By the way, Mr. Potter," the Defense Professor's voice was calm, as if they were talking about trivial matters, as if the whole conversation had never happened at all, "I heard that you are practicing dueling. I hope, Wouldn't it be some kind of worthless duel with rules?"

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Hannah Abbott looked terrified in a way Hermione had never seen her before (except the day of Phoenix, the day Bellatrix Black escaped, which didn't count for anyone.) This The Hufflepuff girl came to Ravenclaw's long table during dinner, patted Hermione on the shoulder, and almost dragged her away—

"Neville and Harry Potter are learning to duel from Mr. Diggory!" Hannah blurted out, taking only a few steps from the table.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Cedric Diggory!" said Hannah. "He was the captain of the Quidditch team, the general of the army, he took all the electives better than anyone else, and I I learned how to duel from a professional teacher when I beat two seventh graders, even some teachers called him Superman Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout said we should all follow, uh, imitate him or something, and -"

When Hannah finally stopped to catch her breath (there was more to come on this list), Hermione finally got in.

"Abbot Sunshine Soldier!" said Hermione. "Calm down. We don't have to fight General Diggory, do we? Yes, Neville is learning to beat us, but we can also learn—"

"Don't you understand?" Hannah screamed, raising her voice too loudly if they meant not to be heard by those Ravenclaws staring at them, "Neville Not studying to beat us! He's practicing to fight Bellatrix Black! They'll go through us like Bludgers through a stack of pancakes!"

General Sunshine glanced at her soldiers. "Listen," said Hermione, "I don't think a few weeks of practice can turn anyone into an invincible fighter. Besides, we already know how to deal with invincible fighters. We just have to focus our fire and they'll be like Draco fell."

The Hufflepuff girl looked at her with a mixture of admiration and suspicion. "By the way, aren't you worried at all?"

"Hey, seriously!" said Hermione.Sometimes it's not easy being the only sane person for an entire school year. "Haven't you heard the adage that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?"

"What?" Hannah said. "That's crazy too, and what about Voldebats lurking in the dark, and being controlled by the Imperius Curse, and horrible transfiguration accidents and—"

"I mean," said Hermione, raising the exasperation in her voice that she'd been hearing that sort of thing for a week, "we might as well wait until the Chaos Legion is actually crushing us before we're so afraid of them." Okay, and did you secretly say 'Gryffindor' just now?"

After a while, Hermione walked back to her seat at the table with a sweet smile on her little face, it wasn't the cold, scary glare of Harry's dark side, but it was the scariest look she could make.

Harry Potter is dead.

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"It's crazy," Neville gasped, almost out of breath.

"Splendid!" said Cedric Diggory.The Super Hufflepuff stomped into a dueling move, his eyes burning with mad enthusiasm, glistening like beads of sweat on his brow.His normally light steps gave way to a heavy stomp, perhaps related to the deformed metal blocks strapped to their arms, legs, and chests. "How did you come up with these ideas, Mr. Potter?"

"A strange old shop...in Oxford...I will never go...there...to buy anything again." Boom.