Aristocrat (HP/SI)

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- Ay-yay-yay! - Weasley suddenly squealed and jumped on the spot. - Malfoy, you bastard!

- Ron, what's wrong? - Potter rushed over to his friend worriedly.

- An owl... That fucking Malfoy owl is pecking me!

Weasley's spacesuit flew apart, and the owl flew out first, circling the ceiling. Ron jumped out of the suit like a meteor. Richard was in his way, his robotic armour blocking the mirror.

- No, not the mirror! - he exclaimed.

Ron stopped and said offended:

- I wasn't going to break your mirror. And anyway, you'd better feel sorry for me, not the glass! I'm the one who got hurt in the fight, by the way.

- With an owl? - Richard asked sarcastically.

- Yes, with an owl! - Ron said with pressure, pouting. - Do you know how much it pecks? I thought it was going to take out my liver.

- Don't exaggerate, Ron," said Richard. - You can't even cut through the fabric of our suits with a knife, let alone peck them with a beak. And anyway, you're the one who decided to bring the owl.

- Guys, let's stop arguing," Harry said, stopping the argument. - There's a Philosopher's Stone hidden somewhere. We have to find it quickly.

- Harry has a point," Richard agreed.

- Exactly," Ron shrugged. - I wouldn't want to get caught stealing it.

- Saving, Ron!" Harry said.

Weasley waved his hand and replied:

- Whatever you call it, if we get caught, we'll never get out of detention.

Potter looked around the empty room and thoughtfully mused:

- I wonder where the stone could have been hidden here?

Weasley's gaze stopped on the Einalege mirror.

- Guys, isn't that an artefact? - he said with questioning intonations.

- Good point," Richie turned to the mirror.

- Maybe there's a stone inside? - Ron suggested.

- Maybe," Richard agreed.

- I think we should look into it," Potter suggested.

- For lack of other ideas, I think that's reasonable," Richard said. - We'd better get out of our spacesuits first, so we don't accidentally break the mirror.

- Okay," Potter agreed.

Richie and Harry went to the same wall on the right side of the room where Ronald had unclothed himself. Leaving their spacesuits there, they returned to the mirror.

The three boys froze not far from the artefact. The owl was tired of flying and huddled in a dark corner of the hall, lit by enchanted torches. She squinted warily at the boys, who had stopped paying attention to her.

- Who's first? - Ron asked.

- You go first," Harry replied.

Ronald stepped forward boldly, stood directly in front of the mirror and looked into it. He froze, staring mesmerised at the mirrored surface.

- Boys, look at me! - he exclaimed.

- Have you found a way to get the Philosopher's Stone? - Harry asked.

- No," Ron shook his head sideways. - Imagine, I've become head boy like Bill, and captain of the Quidditch team like Charlie. I'm the best student in the school, and I've got loads of money.

- Ron, that's not the result we expected," Richard said.

- If you're so clever, try it yourself," Weasley snapped at him.

Ron took his eyes off the mirrored surface with difficulty, stepped away, and Richard took his place.

At first nothing happened, Richie only saw his reflection. He thought about the fact that he wanted to get the Philosopher's Stone to save the planet and... Involuntarily the boy's thoughts slipped to immortality, or at least a very long life.

Suddenly the image changed and Richie saw a map of a spiral galaxy with many dots burning on it. Richie was in a futuristic interior of the future, and the three-dimensional map was being broadcast by a miniature holographic transmitter that he controlled mentally.

Richard noticed that in the mirror he looked about twenty-five years old, had an excellent athletic figure and was dressed in a ceremonial imperial uniform of white. He was the emperor of a galaxy that had hundreds of thousands of inhabited planets.

The map on the hologram changed to a broadcast of a space fleet parade. Giant spaceships flew in a smooth formation against the backdrop of a blue planet. There were multi-kilometre battleships with hyperdrives, kilometre-long cruisers, frigates several hundred metres in size. Hundreds, thousands of formidable and graceful spacecraft.

Everything around Richard was so native and high-tech: various gadgets, some of which he could see only in the advertisements of popular bloggers, a garage with a collection of sports flyers, the latest models of androids and much more.

And now it seemed that for a moment he saw the Philosopher's Stone, but no... It was not in his hands.

Young Grosvenor could hardly tear himself away from the mirror.

- Well? - Potter asked.

Richard shook his head to the side and stepped back to Ronald. His place was boldly taken by Harry. He stared into the mirror with a determined look.

- What did you see? - Ron asked in an innocent tone.

- Just some stuff.

- Yeah," Weasley added with a touch of envy, "you've got everything.

- Everyone has dreams, Ron," Richard said nonchalantly. - Everyone does. And it doesn't depend on the depth of your purse or your social status. All the more reason for you to complain, Ronald. You have a good, loving family. You have money now. When you graduate from Hogwarts, you'll have a house waiting for you. You're a smart bloke. You must realise that if you stick with me, you'll achieve a lot. I rely on your family, Ron, I rely on you. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be someone important.

- Ouch," Weasley waved his hand lightly. - 'Get it over with. We're just friends. And that's... I'm sorry.

- I'm not offended.

- Bingo!!! - squealed Harry happily.

Richie and Ron immediately turned sharply to Harry and stared at him expectantly and excitedly.

- I've got the stone!

Harry glowed with excitement. He was clutching in his right hand a small red stone with facets that looked as if it had been broken off from something larger.

- How did you do that? - Ron asked, amazed.

- I agree with Ron's question," said Richie, whose heart was racing with excitement.

- I was thinking about saving the stone so it wouldn't fall into the hands of a villain," Harry said artlessly.

- It's that simple," Ron said a little sourly.

- Can I see it? - Richard kept his gaze on the stone.

- Yes, of course.

Harry handed the Philosopher's Stone to Richard. Grosvenor received the greatest treasure in the world with breathless delight. He couldn't take his eyes off the beauty.

- Guys," he said, distracting Ron and Harry from looking at the stone in his left hand. With his right hand, he gripped his wand tighter. - 'Do you have any thoughts on the best way to get the mirror out of here?

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley turned their heads in the direction of the Einalege mirror.

Richard didn't feel like tricking his friends, he really didn't. He felt strongly about it. But the businessman's rational adult mind told him that the Philosopher's Stone would cause a lot of trouble in the future if anyone knew who it belonged to. Therefore, he had long ago developed a plan, according to which the stone should be supposedly accidentally destroyed or stolen by unknown persons, of course, if it suddenly managed to steal it during this operation.

To carry out his plan, Richard trained long and hard in transfiguration. He learnt to turn anything into a Philosopher's Stone as quickly and stealthily as possible, but the main focus was on dry ice - carbon dioxide.

Dry ice is perfect for hiding the evidence of a crime. When the transfiguration time is over, the Philosopher's Stone will turn into carbon dioxide. Its properties are unique - it looks like ice, but under normal conditions (atmospheric pressure and room temperature) it turns into a gaseous state, bypassing the liquid form.

Richard timed the transfiguration and in his training tried to increase the duration of exposure. He reached a maximum of five hours. That is, in exactly five hours, the fake Philosopher's Stone would become dry ice again.

Since the transfiguration used a small piece weighing about the same as the Philosopher's Stone - about one hundred and fifty grams - the ice would evaporate very quickly, in a matter of minutes.

The whole calculation was based on the fact that the one who would have the Philosopher's Stone would hide it somewhere for a while. In the meantime, there would be nothing left of the stone. It would most likely happen in the Gryffindor freshman dormitory, as Richard had planned to do the somewhat uncool thing of handing the fake stone to one of the boys. Surely the keeper would think the Philosopher's Stone had been stolen. Richie would be in the Puffendui dormitory at the time in front of the other students, so he would have an ironclad alibi and would be hard to think of.

Grosvenor had to shed litres of sweat to achieve the instant transformation of dry ice into the semblance of the Philosopher's Stone, but in the end he still managed to bring the transfiguration spell to a non-verbal level with a cast in a matter of moments.

While his partners were distracted by looking at the mirror, Richie quickly stuffed the Philosopher's Stone into his bag, took out the dry ice he had prepared, and non-verbally transfigured it into a full copy of the stone.

- I don't know how we're going to carry this mirror," Ron said, turning to Richard. - Would you let me see it? - He nodded toward the stone.

- Yeah, no problem," Richard handed the stone to Ronald nonchalantly.

- Shall we carry the mirror with the help of the spacesuit? - Harry suggested.

- That would be reasonable, if it weren't for the manipulators," Richard shook his head negatively. - We'd crush it in five seconds.

- We could wrap the mirror in pillows," suggested Ron, who was looking curiously at what he thought was the Philosopher's Stone.

- That's a great idea, Ron," said Richard. - You could indeed transfigure a lot of cushions or some other kind of dampener, like plastic sheeting, for emergencies. But I have a better idea.

Richie pointed his wand at the mirror and released a shrinking spell. To his great disappointment, the spell didn't work. Since he was casting in the usual way, i.e. non-verbally, and the spell had no visual effects, it looked to observers as if Richie had pointed his wand at the object and nothing further.

- So-and-so?! - Weasley stretched out with a questioning tone. - Where's your idea?

Harry could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to ask the same thing, but due to his natural modesty, he remained silent.

- I don't know what to say," Richard frowned unhappily. - The diminishing spells on the mirror didn't work.

- Oh, so it was diminishing charms..." An ironic grin graced Ronald's face.

- Nonverbal," Richard corrected him.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Weasley said in a tone full of disbelief and irony. - Senior nonverbal charms performed by a first year... I believe it," he added sarcastically.

- Let's assume that the mirror charms don't work," Harry interjected. - Um... Does anyone know how to transfigure pillows?

- I can, but..." Richard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. - It would be awkward to carry such a large load. At the very least, I'll have to widen one hole, but...

Grosvenor turned towards the door, where the black flames continued to burn. The boys looked in the same direction.

- Fire," Ron said.

- Yeah, fire," Harry confirmed.

- Magical," Richie sighed sadly.

- It could damage the artefact," Ron confirmed Richard's worst thoughts.

- We'll have to cut a new hole in the wall," Potter said. - And we'd better do it quickly, because I think we're taking too long.

- We'll have to," Richard agreed.

He pulled his lightsaber out of his bag and tucked his wand into the belt clip so it wouldn't get in the way of his sword wielding.

Richie was just about to head towards the wall with the opening as Harry's face twisted in pain. He grabbed the scar with the palm of his hand and moaned:

- S-s-s-s... Ahhhh... How it burns!!!! My head...

Suddenly, someone came through the fire into the doorway: black robe, pale skin, dark circles under his eyes, the sharp stench of garlic cutting his eyes, a purple turban on his head. It was Professor Quirrell. His appearance sent the three boys into a stupor.

The professor was shaking violently, like a drunken sailor who had recently disembarked from a long voyage. He stared in amazement at the three small figures, fully clad in black tight-fitting clothes, their faces concealed by ninja-style ski caps. But most of all, the professor's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of a pair of spacesuits and robotic armour that stood open-mouthed against the wall.

A sepulchral silence hung in the hall. The boys looked at Quirrell in horror. Quirinus looked at the boys in bewilderment.

- You?! - Harry exhaled in amazement.

Quirrell smiled with relief. His face, usually convulsively twitching, looked more normal this time.

- 'Harry Potter,' Quirinus said with a sense of ease. - I kept wondering who I was going to meet here. I wondered who the competitor was who had got through the traps before me. And there are only three students here.

- Aren't you supposed to be-" Harry glanced at Richard.

- So it's you!" Quirrell's face began to understand. - That potion I inhaled... Quite original. Thinking of getting rid of the competition? How long have you suspected me?

- Suspected? - Harry asked with a confused look, grimacing in pain and clutching at his scar.

- The twins..." Ron hissed in annoyance. - They can't do anything right!

Quirrell's icy, piercing gaze froze on Ron's arm. The teacher's eyes widened more than ever.

- You found the stone! - Quirrell laughed, and it wasn't his usual shuddering giggle, but an actual villainous laugh. - The freshers had gone to steal the stone! - he said excitedly. - And who did? Harry Potter and his mates! You'll go far, Potter. Now give me the stone back quickly!

Weasley swallowed convulsively and looked at the Philosopher's Stone in his hand.

- 'Ron, don't,' Harry said.

- Oh, Ron, give him the stone," Richard said lightly. - Let him choke on it!

- Yes, Ron," Quirrell said with a wry grin on his face, "listen to your friend, give me the stone.

- Richie, what are you doing? - Potter looked at Grosvenor in bewilderment.

- Harry, our lives are worth more than a boulder," Richard replied. - We couldn't get the stone, so what the hell!

- Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!!! - Quirrell exclaimed excitedly. - If it isn't the Earl of Grosvenor himself! What company! - The professor was beaming with overflowing glee. - You've got a whole gang of golden boys! Now I see where that strange armour came from," he cast a fleeting glance at the spacesuits.

Suddenly a hissing voice came from the back of Quirrell's head:

- Knock the boys out already and get the stone!

- What the hell is that? - Ron exclaimed fearfully. - Professor, the back of your head is talking!

- The back of my head! - Quirrell replied softly. - No, it was my master talking. He was always with me wherever I went. I met him on my journey around the world. I was young and foolish, knew nothing of good and evil. But Lord Voldemort opened my eyes - there is no such thing as good and evil. There is only strength and power, and there are those too weak to aspire to it.

- It's a clinic," Richard stated in a whisper, leaning over Weasley's ear. - Guys, he's crazy. It's best not to argue with lunatics. Ron, give him the stone. I don't want to see what the mad professor has in mind.

- Richie, don't be afraid," Ron said in a whisper, trying not to show fear. - There's three of us. Let's get him...

- Psycho?! - Quirrell laughed madly. - No, he's not!

- Quirrell," came the hissing voice again, "take the stone!

- Yes, Master. Now.

Ritchie was feeling very anxious during the dialogue and tried to think of some way out of the situation. He went through many options in his mind, completely forgetting about the invisibility feature of the suit. Harry and Ron had forgotten about it, too. The problem is that the three confused freshmen can't do anything against an adult experienced wizard. Harry and Ron don't know any spells other than those learnt in first year. No, Harry managed to learn a few useful spells before school, but they are almost useless in a confrontation with a wizard. A wizard could hardly be defeated with lock picking spells. Unless he's blinded by Lumos. Ritchie himself is more skilled in charms, but it is unlikely that he will be able to get his wand out in time. The only other option is to try to run to the armoured robotic armour and kick the mad teacher with his steel arms. Wandless magic is an option, but it takes a while to get the emotions and attune yourself to the spell. Or else...

Ritchie glanced at the steel cylinder of the lightsaber he held in his right hand.

Or, if you got close enough to the professor, there was a chance of sending him to the other side of the world. Killing a man wasn't psychologically easy. There was no way Ritchie could dare to do such a thing. He was not afraid of killing, but rather of being hit by Quirrell's charms before he could get to him.

Ron had a frightened look on his face. Harry was writhing in pain at his scar, but he looked angry, frightened and determined, his face showing a serious thought process, as if he were thinking of a way to confront his teacher.

In the blink of an eye, the situation escalated dramatically. Quirrell stopped communicating and abruptly raised his wand. He unleashed a cascade of stun spells that he released non-verbally. The red beams of the Stupefy spell flew off the tip of the professor's wand at unimaginable speeds towards the three boys and beyond - at times the trajectory of the beams was completely unpredictable.

Because of the sudden transition from words to action, all three boys fell into a stupor and stared at the stream of red rays with their eyes wide with horror.

Richie had time to say goodbye to his life. His face expressed wild horror. Harry's eyes bulged and he forgot how to breathe. Ron clutched the fake Philosopher's Stone frantically and clutched his eyes shut.

Quirrell was throwing stun spells for quite a while, his arm shaking, his wand doing unpredictable pirouettes. Surprisingly, not a single red ray hit the target. Although there were only three targets, and all of them remained motionless as a result of the shock stupor. As a result, the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, who was already in poor health, breathed hoarsely and stopped his sorcery. He bent down, tilted his head, rested his palms on his thighs, and tried to regain his breath, the man rocking like a storm on a ship.

Harry, Ron and Richie, completely unharmed, looked over at each other. Harry, Ron, and Richie looked at the faces of their mates, their eyes wide, their skin pale, and their faces stretched out. They reached for their wands at the same time.

Ron moved the Philosopher's Stone into his left hand, or tried to; Richard didn't pay much attention to it, for he was doing the same thing with his lightsaber. All three of them raised their wands almost simultaneously and fired spells at the ZOTI professor.

- Diphindo!

From Weasley's wand came a weak slashing spell, which among the students was unofficially known as the 'scissor spell'. It's fairly easy to cut or tear some object with this enchantment. But it is quite weak and in case of non-compliance with safety precautions does not cause fatal damage. Therefore, wizards are not afraid to teach children this spell.

- Flippendo!

Potter's wand released a thick orange beam. He used a repulsion spell that he shouldn't know, because it's only learnt in second year. It was capable of knocking back a person or a rather large animal with a strong jolt. A small thing can be stunned by such a spell. This spell is mostly used by wizards to break some fragile object, but it is supposed to be used for self-defence against small evil things: devils, garden gnomes, pixies and similar magical animals. These spells are taught in Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. Ironically, Quirrell had been teaching this spell to second year students, and now it was directed at him.

Harry didn't spare any magical powers. Normally the orange beam in a student's performance was barely visible. Here, however, it was as thick as a cat's paw.

It seemed to Richard that he had forgotten how to cast magic all at once. Well, he hadn't. He was fluent in two dozen different spells, and could use them non-verbally. But in a highly stressful situation, he was confused and confusing. He could not immediately choose a single spell from the variety of spells he knew. Despite this, Richie was thinking quite quickly, perhaps the mortal danger was to blame. While he pulled out his wand, he had time to go through all the known spells in his mind and chose one.

- Immobulus!

A bluish beam flew from the tip of Grosvenor's wand towards the professor.

Immobulus is an immobilising spell. It was a spell learnt in second year, but Richard had an advantage. Madame Marchbanks felt that it was imperative for her ward to learn these spells. She explained that this spell had a huge range of applications. It can be used to unconscious (paralyse) a person, a dangerous animal or a magical plant. You can disable Muggle alarms or turn off other machinery, for example, if you hit a car, this spell will shut down the engine.

Richard, like Harry, had spared no magical powers. His beam was only half as thin as Potter's. But it should be realised that sophomores were usually as thick as a matchstick, not a baby's little finger.

And so the three spells released at the same moment were hurtling towards Quirrell. Though Quirinus was exhausted, he was still an experienced and powerful wizard. The man reacted to the shouted names of spells with his wand held out in front of him.

Ron's charms cut the turban, causing it to snap down in two halves, revealing the professor's bald head. There was a strange ugly bump on it, as if the back of Quirrell's head had a second mutant face with slit-like nostrils.

Richie and Harry were so unlucky. Despite the seeming simultaneity, the boys' spells were still released with a slight delay. Just moments before the orange and blue beams reached the professor, a translucent convex shield appeared in front of Quirrell, giving off a yellow tinge - Protego's defence spell was perfectly and non-verbally executed. Two multi-coloured beams smashed into the shield, causing a bunch of sparks. Orange and blue sparks spawned green sparks.

Richie was upset that it hadn't hit and was startled to see the enraged look on Quirrell's face.

Ron, looking at the back of Quirrell's head in disgust, exclaimed in disgust:

- Merlin! What a disgusting thing to have on your head!

- What a life you've had! - Richie looked at the back of Quirrell's head with equal disgust.

- I'm not an abomination, I'm Lord Voldemort! - In a furious, whistling evil voice said the mass on the back of the professor's head. - Kill those filthy boys! - he commanded.

Richie nonverbally released another stun spell. This time, the blue beam was twice as thin as the previous one. To Grosvenor's great regret, the attempt was unsuccessful. His spell was once again stopped by Quirinus's protective charms.

- Flippendo!

Harry didn't hesitate either and tried again. This time he put all the anger, fear and resentment into his spell. The spell was incredibly powerful - the orange beam was as thick as a grown man's forearm. The professor's protego couldn't hold up and scattered in a spray of orange and yellow.

Quirrell's face twisted with rage. A mad gleam appeared in his eyes. Richard watched in fear, as if in slow motion, as the wizard pointed his wand at him.

- Avada Kedavra!

The words were familiar to Richard. They instilled an inordinate terror in his heart. His soul sank into his heels. And at this extreme moment he began to act on the reflexes that he had learnt during his long and hard training in fencing.

Richard's right palm unclenched. The magic wand under the influence of inexorable gravity slowly flew to the floor. His left hand moved towards his right and gripped the hilt of the artefact sword. From the steel cylinder burst out a metre long bright blue thick beam of light blade, to which the best magician-engineers of Grosvenor's Workshop, inspired by the film "Star Wars", gave the amazing properties of a Jedi sword.

The green beam of the unforgivable death spell was approaching Richard inexorably. His heart beat frantically in Grosvenor's chest. The young swordsman's hand made its usual reflective movement and... oh wonder! The green beam of the Avada met the blue beam of the cyber. Green and blue sparks flew out to the sides at the point of contact.

Quirrell stared back at the green beam of his own death spell, which flew back at him with a mask of horror frozen on his face. He didn't have time to do anything; the reflected Avada hit him squarely in the forehead.

In the silence that followed, Quirinus Quirrell was heard to collapse to the floor, as if someone had dropped a sack of potatoes. He lay pale and motionless, face pressed into the cold stones. The ghastly face at the back of his head was frozen in a frightening and ugly mask.

Suddenly, a black translucent substance that looked like a terrifying ghost, with an outline that resembled a human figure, flew out of the back of Quirrell's head with a wild and angry howl.

Harry Potter screamed in pain, fell to his knees and grabbed his head with both hands.

The ghost leaked through the ceiling, and he was gone. Only then did Potter feel better. He raised his head. Tears could be seen in the corners of the boy's eyes behind his glasses. Looking around, Harry said with relief:

- 'Phew! With that stuff gone, my headache has stopped. It was worth taking the professor down for that.

- You sound just like your ex-wife, who took half your fortune," Richard commented jokingly.

- Better a wife than You-Know-Who on the back of the professor's head," Ron said in a fatalistic tone. - Richie, congratulations on your first dead teacher," he added nervously, trying not to look at the professor's body.

- Well, technically Quirrell killed himself," Richard tried not to look at the corpse either. He felt lousy.

Out of the corner of his eye, Richie noticed something wrong. He turned to his right and stunned. Thoughts of the dead professor slipped his mind.

- Noooooo!!! - he wailed in horror.

- What?!" Ron whirled his head round, clutching his wand tightly.

- Where is he?! - Potter got to his feet sharply, flicking his wand around.

- My precious," Richie tearfully pointed his finger in the direction of the mirror. - 'He's broken my pretty!

- Ugh, Merlin's underpants! - Weasley spat on the floor. - Scared him.

- Richie, it's only a mirror," Potter said.

- What do you know? That mirror could have made me billions. And it's gone... No more of my charms....

- So you don't feel sorry for the professor, but you do for the mirror? - Ron asked ironically.

- I'd give him...

Ritchie glared angrily at Quirrell's body. His nostrils were flared with rage, his jowls flaring. He no longer regretted the professor's death. In fact, he would gladly kill Quirrell a second time now.

It's not for nothing they say that businessmen are willing to commit any crime for a three hundred per cent profit. This was going to be a thousand per cent profit. You had to invest a measly fifty million dollars and then shovel in the money.

- Well," Harry looked round suddenly. - Where's the Philosopher's Stone?

- Oh!" Ron looked round. - I think I let it out of my hands when we started throwing spells at Quirrell.

Harry looked carefully at Ron, himself and Richard's feet.

- Ron, but where could the Philosopher's Stone have gone? - He asked.

Richard himself didn't understand where the fake stone could have gone. He looked around as surprised as his companions. Suddenly his gaze locked on an owl, which seemed to have swollen a little and was sitting in the corner with a cheeky look.

- An owl! - he exclaimed. - Surely the owl must have eaten him!

Ron and Harry's sharp, predatory gazes froze on the owl, which scuttled backwards and huddled in the corner.

- Well, let's have a look," Harry said. - Ron!

Grosvenor and Potter stared at Weasley.

- What?!" Weasley exclaimed in incomprehension.

- Look at the owl," Harry said.

- What do you mean, look in the owl?! - Ron's eyes widened.

- I mean, open it," Harry said.

- Oh, for fuck's sake! It's not a bottle of cream beer, what do you mean open it!