Chapter 45

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***

In the evening of the same day, a birthday party was organised for Hermione Granger in the Puffendui common room. In addition to many Puffenduites and the birthday girl herself, two other Gryffindors, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, were in attendance.

Richie had ordered a dozen cakes, large enough for everyone. Arthur Weasley had sent them to Hogwarts in a scaled-down form.

The children happily gorged themselves on the sweets, tea and cocoa flowing in torrents. The children, many of whom didn't even know Hermione, were heartily wishing the happy girl a happy birthday.

Ron Weasley was glowing with happiness and shared the news with anyone willing to listen. That was how he reached Grosvenor's vacant ears.

- 'Richie, I didn't tell you. I've been accepted into the Gryffindor team for the catcher's position! I have the best broom on the team, and actually I've been flying on a broom since I was a kid with my brothers. Wood made the best choice.

- Congratulations, Ron," Richard replied politely. - I hope you'll be as successful in the game as you wanted to be.

- Richie, you're coming to the first game, aren't you? - Ron asked.

- Maybe, but I can't make any promises," Richard replied curtly. - Ron, you know that Quidditch, like almost any sport, is a bit of a sourpuss for me. I'd love to attend a fencing competition, though.

- Oh, come on," Ron said, wrinkling his nose. - It's just a Muggle fencing competition. What's there to see?!

Ritchie could have said the same thing about Quidditch, "It's suicide to fly on broomsticks after some ball, what's so interesting about it? But his upbringing wouldn't allow it. So he smiled politely and tried to change the subject.

- Ron, how are your observations on Lockhart?

- It's..." Ron didn't orient himself right away from the sudden change of subject. - He's too suspicious! Lockhart talks a big game, but when it comes down to it... We've never seen him use a single spell. That's weird.

- Hm..." Richard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. - So you've noticed it too... The longer I watch Lockhart, the more I'm convinced that he's a mediocrity, or more to the point, an ordinary man with no magical abilities. But that's not how it works. I've been making enquiries - Lockhart studied at Hogwarts in the Ravenclaw department. After that, he worked for a while at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as a memory eraser. So he should definitely know magic. So the conclusion is that he's pretending to be something he's not. The question is why? Why would a grown man pretend to be a clown?! No doubt, teenage girls fall for his image and take his game at face value, but the rest of us can't be fooled....

- My mum worships Lockhart," Ron grumbled, frowning. - You should've seen the crowd of witches the day Lockhart signed autographs, it was packed! So a lot of people believe him. I don't understand why he says one thing and does the opposite...

When Ron grabbed another piece of cake and tried to stuff it into his full stomach, Harry pulled Richard aside.

- Richie," he whispered, "there's a rat.

- Who's a rat? - Richard furrowed his eyebrows.

- Pettigrew's a rat!

- Harry, you said that on the train.

- I did, but-" Harry had the look of an underground conspirator. He leaned in close to Richard's ear and whispered loudly:- Percy Weasley has a rat!

- Original, but nothing more than that," Richard shrugged.

- I thought so too, but I asked Ron just in case. He told me that the rat had been in the family for twelve years, as Percy's pet! Rats don't live that long. At first I thought it was some magical breed of rat, but Ron said it was just a regular rat. I got a good look at our head teacher's rat: it's missing one toe!

A deep crease creased between Richard's eyebrows. He was thinking hard about this information.

- So..." he said. - Let's summarise. Twelve years ago, Pettigrew cut off his finger during a battle with Black and turned into a rat. At the same time, Percy Weasley had a pet rat with no toe on one paw. The front one?!

- Yes!" Potter nodded.

- So, his pet has no toe on its front paw," Richard continued quietly. - This sort of ordinary pet lives an unusually long time, four life cycles for a rodent like that.....

- It's Peter Pettigrew! - Potter whispered with certainty.

- Suppose so, but why did he live in an animal's body all this time? Harry, that's ridiculous. He's a wizard. He could have easily gone to another country, changed his name, his documents, his appearance. But he stayed in a rodent's body and moved in with a family of wizards. It's completely irrational.

- Maybe he's just crazy," Harry suggested.

- I don't doubt that at all. It wouldn't do any human being any good to be in the body of an animal for years on end. But still, Harry, why did he choose to live in a wizarding family?

Harry scratched the lightning bolt scar thoughtfully.

- I don't know," he answered. - But if you think back to last year and the spirit....

Richard's face brightened.

- 'Wait, Harry, you don't think Pettigrew was motivated by fear of Riddle, do you?

- Why not? - Potter shrugged. - If Peter knew that Riddle was roaming the earth as a ghost and had a chance of being revived, then Pettigrew could have been living in a wizarding family on purpose to stay in the loop and wait for Riddle's return.

- Why would he do that? - Richard wondered. - I'd understand if Black was doing something like that.

Potter's eyes glittered merrily behind the glasses.

- Richie, what if Pettigrew was a Riddle supporter too?

- Harry, I don't understand your logic.

Potter's index finger flew upwards and he said meaningfully:

- 'It's not logic, it's deduction! My Uncle Scott taught me all summer about detective tricks. I tried to build a scheme according to his methodology and thought of different options. We have the raw data: Peter Pettigrew, the hero, and Sirius Black, the criminal. At the same time Black was not found to have a tattoo, which is a distinctive feature of the members of the Riddle's group. And so a law-abiding citizen fakes his own death and secretly resides in the wizarding family in the form of a pet. Why would the victim of an evil wizard (Black) do such a thing? He has absolutely no need to do so. Hence, Pettigrew had his reasons. One of my theories is that Peter was one of the Death Eaters.

Richard was extremely focused and serious.

- Harry, I hope you haven't shared your thoughts with anyone?

- No," Potter shook his head.

- It's not a good idea to share your assumptions yet, especially in your dormitory and with Percy. Harry, if things were a little different, I'd be calling Madame Bagnold and the Aurors by now.

- What's stopping us from doing that now? - Potter asked in bewilderment.

- Weasley, Harry. They're my closest supporters. If it actually turns out that their pet is Peter Pettigrew, it would be a blow to my reputation. And if it turns out he's an Eater... Mr and Mrs Weasley, or even Percy, could be accused of deliberately hiding a criminal. Even a blow to this family's reputation is enough to damage me. In the end, even my connections might not be enough to clean up this muck.

Harry clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He looked determined.

- Then we'll have to work this out ourselves!

A sad groan escaped Richard's chest. What he didn't want was to get into trouble himself. There are specially trained people for that. But the problem was that almost no-one could be trusted to solve such a delicate case. MI6 would be bad and useless in this case. There might be Death Eaters or Dumbledore's spies among the Aurors, so there was no telling how such a detention would end. Richie was eighty per cent sure that even if the rat was actually an Animagus, the Aurors would let it escape. More importantly, the Weasleys would. Arthur currently had his magical business set up to save humanity hanging on him. There's no way the Weasleys can be put at risk. But Grosvenor himself didn't want to risk it for the red-haired family either.

- Not just the two of us, Harry. We'll have to tell Ron and the twins. Let's get them involved in the problem. It affects their family in a very direct way.

- What about Percy? - Potter asked.

- It's dangerous," Richard shook his head negatively. - Percy could get too attached to his pet. There's a chance he might be too biased. So Percy wouldn't believe us, and the rat might be aware of the revelation and run away.

- So what do we do? - Potter asked.

- Harry, let's not be hasty. When you get back to the dormitory, get Fred, George and Ron to meet me. Tell them it's very important. Tomorrow is everyone's day off, so meet me outside the twins' lab right after breakfast.

- Okay.

Behind the boys came Hermione's curious voice:

- 'What are you boys keeping secret?

- Hermione," Richie turned to the girl, putting a charming smile on his face. - 'How did you like the holiday?

- Thank you, Richie," Hermione was glowing with happiness. - I've never been congratulated by so many people. The cakes are delicious. Thank you so much for the present. This artefact is incredible! It's like a holographic wrist computer from a sci-fi book about the far future.

- I'm glad you like it, Hermione," Richard said. - When you've copied the entire Hogwarts library and there's nothing to do, come to me. There should be updated firmware out by then that will turn Illusion into a more advanced computer.

- Richie, do you have one of those? - Granger asked.

- Not the same one, but I do. My Illusion's designed for other things.

- I'm sorry, but what are we talking about? - Potter asked.

- "A new development from Grosvenor's Workshop," Richard replied. - A wrist computer.

- I see," Harry stretched out. - So, Richie, you have an AI?

- The guys at the workshop have managed to create several different models of iskines," Richard replied. - We're in the process of tweaking them and trying to use the AI for serious projects that require a lot of processing power. First of all, we need a high-performance computing base for AI of techno-magical type. For this purpose, the development of a quantum computer is underway. At the initial stage it will be possible to create it only with the help of magic, but I hope that technology will allow to produce quantum computers for mass implementation in the near future. I'm guessing fifty to seventy years, no more.

Harry shook his head, shaking off the obsession.

- 'Richie, you could have just said yes!

Richard smirked at Potter, then turned to Granger and asked:

- 'Hermione, have you had time to read up on animagi?

- Yes," Hermione shook her brown curls. - It's a very interesting and complicated section of magic. There are several ways to become an animagus. The first is a long and rather complicated ritual where you have to wear a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month. There are still a lot of nuances involved. The second path involves becoming an animagus with the help of transfiguration and potions. The wizard has to transfigure himself into an animal, but for this you need to be a master of this magical direction, otherwise you can become a mutant like a half-beast.

- I see," Grosvenor stretched out. - Hermione, are there any ways to detect an animagus in animal form and return it back to human form?

Granger furrowed her brow.

- 'I think so,' she replied. - At least, I've read something about reverting back to human form. I can't say anything about identifying animagi, though.

Richard was glad he'd given Granger the task of finding information on animagi in time. He was surprised at how much this girl had managed to learn. Richie asked:

- 'Hermione, what if, say, you put an animagus wizard in a cage in the form of a small animal... would he be able to turn back into a human and free himself?

- No," Granger shook her head sideways. - 'I've read that animagi are vulnerable during the transformation. They need a lot of space, otherwise there's a very high risk of getting injuries incompatible with life.

- Thank you, Hermione," Richard smiled at the girl. - I admire your talents for finding information. More cake?

- No, thank you," Granger replied. - Sweets make you fat, and they also ruin your teeth.

***

On Sunday after breakfast, Richie, Ron, Harry, Fred and George gathered in the twins' lab.

Fred asked:

- Richie, why did you call us here? If it's because of the new project, we're working on it for now.

- No, lads," Richard shook his head. - Harry, tell me the same thing you told me.

Potter began to recount everything about Black and Pettigrew and his suspicions about Percival's rat. The mood of all three Weasley's dropped to a low ebb during the story. Richie added from himself everything he had managed to find out about the animagi from Hermione. By the end of the story, Fred, George and Ron were looking very glum and serious.

George tried to lighten the mood. He asked in a cheerful tone:

- "What do you mean, Percy's been sleeping with a grown man for twelve years!

- Guys, it's not certain that it's Pettigrew," Richard replied. - But we have to check it out.

- What are we going to do? - Fred wondered.

- What are we going to do? - Ron exclaimed. - We should catch the rat and hand it over to the Aurors.

George replied ironically to his younger brother:

- 'Ron, I see you only eat into your head! Use your brain, sometimes it can be useful.

- Yeah," Fred agreed with his twin. - Ronnie, do you realise that our parents could end up in Azkaban? We have to be subtle about this.

- Guys, I have a plan," Richard said, drawing everyone's attention to himself.

- It'll be interesting to hear it," Fred said.

- Gentlemen," Grosvenor began, "I have summoned my bodyguards and Detective Potter to the castle.

- Who?! - Fred looked at Harry in bewilderment.

- Potter? - George stared at Harry in equal amazement.

- My uncle," Harry replied. - Scott. I was just telling you how we did an investigation together over the summer.

- Harry, you didn't say his last name," Fred said slowly.

- Right," George agreed.

- Shut up already! - Ron shouted loudly at the twins. - Let's hear Richie's plan.

- Thank you, Ron," Richard gave the younger Weasley a grateful nod, then continued:- "So, gentlemen, the plan is simple. Fred and George will sneak into Hogsmeade and use the secret passage to bring Scott, Tonks and Proudfoot onto the school grounds. I will hand over the Hogwarts students' hair for them, they will change into their school uniforms and take the werewolf potion. Harry and Ron will have to distract Percy, and Fred and George will take care of kidnapping the rat and taking it to the secret passage. You will hand the rat over to the adults and help them use the secret passage to get back to Hogsmeade. Detective Potter will then act according to the situation. If the rat is real, we'll give it back to Percy. If it's really Pettigrew, it's a case by case basis. Either way, it won't be your problem anymore....

Richie looked at the three Weasley's, making it clear that he meant the entire family of redheads.

All of the boys approved of the plan.

Richie immediately called Detective Potter. Since he had contacted him as early as last night, and they had worked out the plan together, the boy received an answer almost immediately that the two muggles and Scott were already in Hogsmeade. After hanging up the phone, Grosvenor handed the twins the signed bags of hair and said:

- "George, Fred, you'll be waiting outside the back entrance to the Sweet Kingdom."

- Yes, boss! - Fred saluted cartoonishly.

- Yes, sir! - George repeated after his brother's wiggle.

- Wait a minute! - Ron exclaimed. - How are we going to distract Percy?

Richard shrugged his shoulders.

- I don't know, Ron. You'll think of something.

Harry glared at his red-haired friend and said:

- Ron, just this once, no owls!

- Yes, Ron!" Richard looked at the younger Weasley in the same way. - No owls! I hope you didn't have at least one in your bag.

Ron's face began to flush red. He exploded with indignation:

- "How could you think that?! Do you think I always carry an owl around with me?

Fred and George looked at each other. There was a cheerful glint in their eyes. They looked at their little brother at the same time. Fred asked in a husky voice:

- Ronnie, what's with the owl?

Ron looked indignantly at the calm Grosvenor and then looked back at the bewildered Potter. In the sixth Weasley's gaze, a knowledgeable person could read, "You're the one who brought up the owl, so deal with the twins without me."

Richard took charge.

- Guys, it's an old joke. We've decided to play a prank on Malfoy. Ron stole his owl last year. The bird was extremely unhealthy, it ate the wrong thing. The boys ran to you for laxatives. We got the bird drunk on your potion, but suddenly Draco burst in. The owl ended up shitting him upside down with ice glitter....

For a while there was a sepulchral silence in the room. George and Fred turned enthusiastic faces towards Ronald.

- Well done, brother! - exclaimed a happy Fred. - At last you've made the right choice to follow the example of your older brothers!

- Brother Dread," said George, wiping away a non-existent tear, "Ronnie's good! At this rate, he'll outstrip us.

- That's right, Brother Forge," agreed Fred.

Richard had noticed that the Weasley twins had been calling each other by anagrams for some time now. So Fred became Dread, and George became Forge.Ron's joking pique at the brothers' banter made him blush even more. A little more, and he would have exploded. But Richard defused the situation.

- Fred, George, you have to go. They're waiting for you on the spot.

The Weasley twins followed the illegals through the secret passage. Harry and Ron were about to leave the room after the twins, but suddenly the sixth Weasley froze near the doorway, turned around and asked:

- "Richie, if the twins and I are going to do the deed, what are you going to do?

- Leading, Ron," Richard said with a meaningful thumbs-up. - Leading, helping, keeping watch, covering your buns! In general, if something unexpected happens, someone should alert you with a mahophone call. So don't hide your communication artefacts. It's very important. Otherwise the whole operation will fall apart like a house of cards.

Ron's face showed a serious thought process. Eventually, he creaked his way to a decision.

- Hmm... All right then...

***

A grey, gaunt rat lay on a soft cushion in the Gryffindor senior boys' room. Percival Weasley was sitting in a chair near the window reading a book.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and it swung open. Harry and Ron flew into the room like a hurricane.

Percival tore himself away from his book and looked expectantly at the visitors.

- What's wrong? - He asked dryly.

- Percy," Ron began, "we need you.

- Why?

- Um..." Ron was confused at first, but soon found an answer, "Percy, please, look at my broom! I think there's something wrong with it.

- Ron, I'm studying for my final exams," Percival said grudgingly.

- Well, Percy," Ron said pleadingly. - You know how important Quidditch is to me. We've got a game coming up, and Wood is always racing at practice. Please help me. Who else do I turn to but my big brother?

Percival sighed heavily. He put a bookmark between the pages of the book and set it aside. Rising to his feet, he said:

- All right, Ron. Let's go look at your broom. I hope it's not some kind of trifle. I want to pass all twelve of my JABs with flying colours and get a decent job at the Ministry of Magic.

The three boys removed themselves from the bedroom, and the rat put his head down on his pillow and tried to sleep. But how could it not! Soon the door to the room opened and the red-haired twin brothers walked in.

Fred immediately turned his attention to the rat. He gave out in an exaggeratedly surprised voice:

- Look, Brother Forge, our brother Percy has forgotten his pet in the bedroom!

- Oh, that's no good," George shook his head sideways. - 'Our brother is completely irresponsible.

The rat tensed, lifted up on his paws and eyed the twins warily.

- That's right, Brother Forge," Fred said with a cheerful note in his voice. - What if Korosta nibbles on our brother's precious textbooks? We should take it to Percy and tell him how irresponsible he is.

- I agree," George grinned, making the rodent even more tense. - For once he won't be lecturing us, we'll be lecturing him! It'll be a fun prank.

The rodent reasonably expected trouble from the twins, but from their conversation he realised that the boys were not planning to mock him. So he calmly, with all his appearance expressing defeatism, allowed Fred to put himself in the cage.

While everyone in the group of young adventurers was fulfilling their roles in the plan to capture Pettigrew, Richard wasn't sitting idly by. He was actually doing exactly what he had told Ron he was doing. Richie had taken a strategic position at the beginning of the one-eyed witch's corridor near the stairwell. He had a magophone ready in the plain pocket of his robe, which wasn't enchanted, so that he could warn his companions in case of trouble.

And it was not for nothing that Richie was concerned. There was a steady stream of students scurrying up and down the stairs. Some of them took a shortcut down the corridor of the one-eyed witch. Suddenly Richard tensed: a greasy-haired, hook-nosed Severus Snape was coming up the stairs, wearing his favourite dark robe, the hem of which fluttered as he walked.

At the other end of the corridor came a procession of five students: the Weasley twins with a cage containing a rat, and three senior Puffendu students, actually two wizards and a squib disguised as students. The caged rat looked agitated, it was looking around and squinting suspiciously at the fake Puffenduys. The rodent clearly suspected something.

Richie ran his hand into his pocket and fumbled for Detective Potter's number. He didn't take the receiver out so as not to burn himself in front of the potions professor, who seemed to be walking purposefully down the corridor of the one-eyed witch.

Snape stepped down a flight of stairs and was quickly beside Richard. He loomed over the boy and began drilling him with a heavy and stern gaze.

- Mr Grosvenor, what are you doing here? - He asked suspiciously.

Richard hoped that Scott would hear the professor's voice on the magophone and realise that the secret passage could not be used at the moment. But the detective didn't immediately respond to the call.Meanwhile the five and the rat had reached the statue. They saw Richard, but not Professor Snape. Scott had a magophone ringing in his pocket. The detective pulled it out to answer it. Fred put his wand to the statue and called out the password. The cage with the rat, which went into a sudden frenzy, screeching wildly and throwing itself at the bars, was transferred into the hands of the undergraduate girl, that is, Nymphadora Tonks.

These sounds did not go unnoticed by Snape. Richard realised with horror that the Potions professor was about to peek around the corner. The boy tried to prevent it.

- Professor Snape! - He exclaimed loudly. - Why are you asking such a strange question?

Several things happened here at once. Scott Potter answered the call, but too late. He had already heard Richard's exclamation and realised the situation. On the face of the man who currently looked like a sixteen year old slightly overweight young man with wheatish hair, annoyance was evident. It had also reached the other adventurers that the matter smelt of paraffin. The secret passage was already open. Nymphadora and her cage dived through the opening. Proudfoot followed.

Snape didn't fall for it; he had a sixth sense that something suspicious was going on in the corridor. Richie tried to get in the professor's way, but he pushed the boy aside and strode determinedly towards the one-eyed witch's corridor. He had time to see the opening where the statue was supposed to be, and a senior student with a Puffendui patch jump in.

The Weasley twins tried to block the view of the secret passage with their bodies, but they were completely unsuccessful.

- HALT! - Snape shouted a loud command down the corridor.

The Weasley twins were stunned and frozen in place as if glued.

The Professor of Potions raced towards the doorway. The hem of his robe flapped like the wings of a black raven as he ran.

Richie ran after the professor. He didn't know what he could do to the professor. It seemed like attacking him with magic was fraught with exclusion, but as a last resort, the boy was ready to even bite Snape just to cover his men. He thought that the maximum he would get for such a prank would be penalty points and detention for the rest of the year. It was unlikely that Snape would love Grosvenor any more after that, but that was all right.

Luckily for Richard and the twins, the passage closed before a furious Snape reached the statue of the one-eyed witch....