"Mr. Potter, did you hear everything?"
"Sure did, kid," Scott's slightly gravelly voice came through the speaker. "You really landed yourself in it with that professor. I doubt he'll be very fond of you after this."
"I couldn't care less," Grosvenor replied. "I wasn't expecting love and understanding from a former terrorist anyway. How did everything go on your end?"
"Perfectly, lad," the detective answered. "We delivered the client where he needed to be. Our wizards have already broken the spell on him. It really is Pettigrew. By the way, he's got a Death Eater's Mark on his arm. That's all, kid. Can't talk any longer. We've got a tough nut to crack."
"Mr. Potter, thank you. Good luck, and be careful with that wizard."
"We will."
The connection was cut. Richard slipped the telephone back into his pocket and found two pairs of curious eyes fixed on him.
"Well?!" Fred prompted.
"Pettigrew," Richard said with a nod.
"You're sure?" George asked anxiously.
"Detective Potter wouldn't lie about something like this," Grosvenor replied. "You two did well. We accomplished something important. Pettigrew's a Death Eater..."
"A Death Eater?!" Fred's eyes went round with astonishment.
"No, Merlin's mother—a rat-food eater!" Richard shot back sarcastically.
George looked no less stunned.
"Blimey..." he said slowly. "Percy's going to be in for one hell of a shock."
"Lads…" Richie closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "Don't tell him yet. And don't tell your parents either. Better yet, don't tell anyone. For all we know, it may be easier for everyone if Pettigrew simply 'disappeared twelve years ago.'"
The Weasley twins immediately turned serious.
"Got it," Fred said. "We won't tell anyone, and we'll make sure Ron keeps quiet too."
"By the way, Richard," George said, narrowing his eyes, "what was that you said about Snape? Former terrorist?"
"He used to belong to the Death Eaters," Richie replied. Seeing the twins' stunned expressions, he added, "You didn't know?"
"No," George said, shaking his head.
"Blimey!" Fred exclaimed.
***
The following day was an agonizing one for Richard. He was waiting impatiently for news from the detective and simply couldn't settle down. In the end, he decided to distract himself by throwing himself into the study of Transfiguration. More precisely, Richie borrowed several books on the theory of Transfiguration from the library and began reading them right there in the reading room. The hefty tomes described mind-bending, step-by-step transformations. The sheer number of formulae was enough to make his head spin.
Richard was drawn out of the fascinating world of theoretical Transfiguration by a quiet girl's voice.
"Hello, Richie."
Looking up from his book, Richard smiled and replied quietly, careful not to attract the attention of Madam Pince,
"Good afternoon, Hermione. Have a seat."
Granger accepted the invitation. She set her school bag on the table and sat down beside Richard on the bench.
"Richie, what are you reading?"
Grosvenor slipped a finger between the pages to mark his place before showing Hermione the book's cover.
"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, her eyes widening. "I've read that one, but I didn't understand a thing. What about you?"
"It's a real brain-teaser... but it reminds me of something."
Richard frowned. In truth, all these formulae and transformations did remind him of something. He tried to remember what theoretical Transfiguration brought to mind. It definitely wasn't from this life, or he would have recalled it already. Suddenly, his face lit up with realization.
"That's it!" he exclaimed in a hushed voice. "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Hermione asked, knitting her brows together.
Turning to her, Richie said excitedly,
"Hyperbolic non-Euclidean geometry!"
"Er..." Granger pursed her lips. "Geometry? What do circles, triangles, and squares have to do with Transfiguration?"
A grin spread across Richard's face.
"Hermione, geometry isn't limited to simple shapes. Transfiguration is much more like topology."
Judging by the puzzled look on the girl's face, she hadn't understood a word.
"Right..." Richard sighed. "How can I explain it? Imagine you have to turn a ball inside out. It sounds impossible, but with topology, it's no problem at all through mathematical modelling. Or, for example, turning a sphere into a mug—that's child's play. Transforming a three-holed doughnut into a person? Trivial, as far as topology is concerned. Fitting something enormous into a tiny space? Also possible. As long as you follow certain rules, topology lets you manipulate space and transformations in remarkably broad ways."
"Could you make it even simpler?" Granger pleaded.
"All right. Some shapes have special properties. Take a sphere—any loop on its surface can be shrunk down to a single point. But with a doughnut, or torus, that trick won't work, no matter what you do. That means their surfaces are fundamentally different. On the other hand, a torus and a mug have the same kind of surface—they both have exactly one hole. That's why you can transform one into the other so easily. And you can transform a circle into a torus as well. In other words, by making transformations step by step, topology lets you create any object at all—a horse from a cobblestone, or a grain of sand from a person."
"Just like Transfiguration," Hermione observed.
"Exactly!" Richard said happily. "The only difference is that the rules and formulae of Transfiguration have been worked out in an incredibly clumsy and confusing way, while hyperbolic geometry is crystal clear—provided it doesn't make your brain explode while you're studying it. I think the principles of topology could be applied to Transfiguration perfectly."
Hermione remained unconvinced. She shrugged and asked,
"Let's say you're right. How would that help with magic?"
"With magic?!" Richard's eyes lit up. "Oh, I think it could help enormously. Hermione, do you even realize what this means?"
"No," Granger admitted honestly. "But I hope you're going to tell me."
"Hermione, our universe is magnificent!" Richard launched into an enthusiastic explanation, repeating ideas from lectures he had attended at university in his previous life. "Einstein proved that space isn't just a stage on which the laws of physics play out. It can actually bend around massive objects like stars, planets, and black holes. They literally warp space itself—just like I'm crumpling this sheet of paper."
Richard tore a page from his notebook, laid his fountain pen on it, and crumpled the paper around the pen.
Hermione's mouth fell slightly open. Once again, she found herself thinking that Richie was not who he claimed to be. No ordinary boy their age could speak about the universe with such knowledge and enthusiasm.
Maybe he really is an alien... or a time traveller, she thought.
(End of Chapter)
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