Richie let out a relieved breath when the professor sprinted past them without noticing the invisible boys and disappeared around the corner.
"That was close," Ron exhaled with enormous relief.
"Blimey, I thought she'd spot us," Harry said.
"We need to get out of here quickly," Richard remarked. "McGonagall has almost certainly gone to fetch reinforcements."
"Run!"
Ron didn't wait for anyone. The moment he shouted the word, he took off at a sprint. Harry and Richard hurried after him, struggling to keep up.
The boys did not stop until they reached the corridor of the One-Eyed Witch.
Breathing heavily, Richie rummaged through his bag for a radio. Pressing the button on the side of the walkie-talkie, he brought it to his mouth and said:
"Rally at the point. I repeat, rally at the point."
The radio crackled. Even a powerful portable military transmitter struggled to get a clear signal inside a stone castle. Still, amid the static, they could make out the words spoken in Ronald Weasley's voice:
"Copy that. Proceeding to the point."
The boys had not yet recovered from the run or the adventure. They were overflowing with emotions—excitement, fear, anxiety, apprehension. They were exhilarated and thoroughly worked up.
"Lads," Richard began, "I think we need to come to an agreement about what happened."
"Yeah?" said a reddish-yellow blur, which was how Harry Potter appeared through the thermal goggles.
"What happened in Hogwarts stays in Hogwarts," Richard added.
"Agreed," Ron blurted out. "We must never tell anyone about what happened. I don't know about you two, but I don't fancy ending up in Azkaban. They say it's awful there."
"Of course! Of course it'll stay secret!" Harry said with mild indignation. "But shouldn't we tell people that Voldemort has returned?"
"Have you completely lost it?!" Richard frowned, though his companions couldn't see it through the thermal goggles. "Who would believe us? From the outside, this whole thing looks like we were trying to steal a valuable artefact while a disabled professor, embarrassed about his Siamese twin and hiding him under a turban, was trying to stop us. And we, being the terrible criminals we are, committed a serious offence as part of a conspiracy—we killed a teacher with an Unforgivable Curse and then claimed he'd been possessed by Tom Riddle, whom everyone believes is dead."
"Hm... Yeah, nobody would believe us," Weasley agreed. "But I've got a suggestion."
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Let's beat up Fred and George!"
"Ron, what are you on about?!" Harry sounded utterly astonished. "They're your brothers."
"So what?" Ron replied. "If they hadn't slacked off, we wouldn't have had to deal with Quirrell."
"It's not a bad idea," Richard drawled thoughtfully, "but... I still think this was force majeure. Fred and George expected to delay an ordinary wizard—the sort Quirrell appeared to be. How could they have known the ghost of Riddle would be there as well?"
"So we're not telling anyone about Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"No, of course not!" Ron replied immediately. "Harry, don't even think about mentioning it. I don't want to end up behind bars because of this."
"All right, lads." Harry let out a heavy sigh. "What happened in Hogwarts stays in Hogwarts."
The boys only had to wait a few minutes, though those minutes seemed to stretch into an hour. Soon, a trio of doubles appeared in the corridor of the One-Eyed Witch. When they reached the statue, Richie discreetly glanced around and, seeing no one else nearby, quietly said:
"We're in stealth mode over here."
Credit had to be given to the discipline of elite special forces operatives. They merely twitched towards the source of the voice. Admittedly, their hands made instinctive grabbing motions, as though the men were reaching for weapons that were no longer there.
"Sir," Weasley's double said quietly, "awaiting further instructions."
"I'm opening the passage, and the moment I do, you dive in. You two as well," Richard added, addressing Harry and Ron.
Soon the boys and their doubles were inside the secret passageway. Richie dropped his invisibility. Ron and Harry followed suit.
"Get changed and head for a crowd of students to establish your alibi," Richard told Potter and Weasley. "I'll escort our friends to the exit."
"Richie, are you sure you don't need help?" Harry asked worriedly.
"No, thanks." Grosvenor shook his head.
Harry and Ron changed clothes fairly quickly. Richie kept pace with them, rapidly restoring his appearance to immaculate order.
"How did everything go?" Grosvenor asked the commandos.
"Sir," Weasley's double began, "as instructed, we proceeded to an area with a concentration of students. The best location turned out to be outside. We did our best to remain visible to other students without getting too close to them. Unfortunately, there was one unpleasant incident."
"What sort of incident?" Richard frowned, pausing his hair-combing.
"A group of students approached us, sir," Weasley's double continued. "Four boys, around twelve years old. All had badges with a snake emblem and the word 'Slytherin' on their robes, along with green ties. The leader was a blond, skinny, arrogant little git. Two hefty lads and one scrawny dark-haired boy served as his entourage."
"Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott," Ron stated with contempt. "What did those slimy gits want from us?"
"Sir?" Ron's double looked questioningly at Grosvenor, as though asking permission to answer.
"I'd quite like to know the answer myself," Richard replied with an approving nod.
"Sir, those boys—or rather, the blond one—started insulting me," Weasley's double continued his report. "We managed to ignore him for a while, but then he began throwing some particularly offensive insults at the Weasley family, which, for the purposes of the mission, was my family. I concluded that if I didn't respond, we'd break our cover and damage your reputation."
"Malfoy... What a little bastard!" Ron exclaimed indignantly.
"What did you do?" Richard asked the soldier.
"We beat the living daylights out of them, sir!"
"Oh, you beat them up..." Richie said calmly. "Excellent."
"Serves them right!" Ron exclaimed happily, unable to keep the gloating note out of his voice. "That'll teach those filthy snakes to insult my family!"
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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