Young wizards always seemed to lack confidence for no apparent reason—they believed they could never measure up to the people they had once admired.
But that wasn't true.
If wizards really grew weaker with every generation, the Wizarding World would eventually face extinction.
In fact, the younger generation—James Potter, Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape, Barty Crouch Jr., and others—had quietly surpassed the vast majority of adult wizards and taken their place as the backbone of the Wizarding World.
Most of them were only in their thirties.
Lily Potter, in particular, had killed Voldemort, hailed as the "Most Terrifying Dark Wizard in History," when she was just twenty-one, ending the First Wizarding War.
Now, thirteen or fourteen years after the war ended, people had quietly accepted a fact: Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Sirius, and the Death Eaters Barty Crouch Jr. and Bella were all in the same league when it came to magical ability.
It was worth remembering that Professor McGonagall had truly shone on the battlefield during Grindelwald's era.
Back then, gazing up at such a powerful and wise witch, Lily, Snape, and the others could hardly have imagined they might one day wield magic as powerful as hers.
So...
Could Harry, Hermione, Draco, and the others reach that level, too?
The answer was yes. It was only a matter of time.
But people always held these contradictory beliefs: "A wizard's school years are the golden age, the most creative period, when their magical abilities grow rapidly and may even reach the peak of their lives," and "Students are still too young. They could never reach a professor's level yet. They need to get a little older."
How much older?
By the time they graduated?
Oh, if that was the case, would it seem