With her nose held high, Pansy headed toward Draco. For a brief moment, Malfoy turned, revealing his swollen nose and the bruising under his eyes—promising to blossom into two magnificent black eyes before long.
Hermione was pleased to be rid of a rival for her friend's attention. Still, she couldn't suppress her curiosity.
"Is it true the Queen's corgis like to eat off the floor?"
"Yes," Richard nodded. "They take the food out of their bowl and eat it from the floor. Apparently, it tastes better that way, though I haven't tested it myself. Cute dogs, but rather skittish. The Christmas before last, Wills presented his grandmother with a toy hamster that loudly sang Christmas songs. The poor dogs got scared and ran into another room. The Queen, however, seemed rather taken with the gift."
"Wills?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at Richard. "That wouldn't happen to be Prince William, would it?" she added in a whisper.
"Not by accident," Richard replied. "The very same."
"You do have rather strange gifts," Hermione said, pursing her lips. "My parents gave me an Encyclopedia Britannica this Christmas."
"A fine present, but…" Grosvenor drawled. "Hermione, we have a tradition of exchanging inexpensive, rather whimsical gifts. I was considering ordering a set of brightly coloured mugs shaped like human faces, with open mouths for holding sugar. It would look as though the mug had stuffed its mouth full of sugar cubes and was trying to spit them out."
"How… charming," Granger said, pursing her lips.
Professor McGonagall entered the room. Her stern gaze fixed on the ghosts, who hurriedly began slipping through the wall.
"Line up in a single file," the professor commanded, "and follow me."
Unlike the other children, who were clearly nervous, Richard remained calm. The reason was the ghosts. The boy was trying to think of ways to use them, wondering whether it was possible to confine a ghost within a microprocessor and ensure its loyalty for precise execution of commands, without any chance of rebellion.
Carried along by the flow of his thoughts, Richard recalled one of the Unforgivable Curses—Imperius. A curse that granted a wizard complete control over its victim. Wizarding law forbids using it on humans, yet nowhere did it say that one could not enchant a ghost and bind it within a microchip.
The first-years left the small room and crossed a spacious hall. Passing through a set of double doors, the children entered the Great Hall.
Richard noted that the place was quite beautiful, yet peculiar. The hall was lit by thousands of candles floating in the air above four long tables where the older students were seated. The tables were set with gleaming golden plates and goblets.
At the far end of the hall, the teachers sat at another long table.
The deputy headmistress led the first-years up to this table and instructed them to face the students—consequently presenting their backsides to the faculty.
"Richie, look."
Hermione tugged at Richard's sleeve, drawing his attention to the ceiling: black, studded with stars. It gave the impression of standing beneath an open sky. Richard had something to compare it to—for instance, the glass ceiling in the royal palace.
"It's been enchanted to look like the sky," Hermione whispered, not moving a step away from Richard. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
"Looks like a real-time holographic projection," Richard whispered back. "Most likely, there are receiver charms on the roof—something like a video camera—and transmitter charms on the ceiling. If you develop this idea, you could create artifacts for recording and projecting holograms. Hermione, could you find information on those spells? I'll send it to the wizards in my workshop."
"I'll try, Richie," the girl replied.
A faint sound reached Richard's ears. Lowering his gaze from the ceiling, he saw that the deputy headmistress had placed a three-legged stool before the line of first-years and set a pointed wizard's hat upon it.
The hat looked shabby—worn, patched, and dirty.
Everyone present stared at it intently.
The whispering died away, and for a few seconds silence fell over the hall. Then the hat moved. In the next moment, a slit appeared in it, like a mouth, and it began to sing. And not merely as though it were playing back music like a gramophone, but with clear, deliberate intent.
At that moment, Richard thought:
Good Lord! Is all of this really for me?! I mean, I'm a transmigrator, sure—but to get this many windfalls in a single day is a bit much. A quantum transmitter, a holographic projector and holocamera, two types of AI… I can hardly believe all of this is right in front of me. It seems the universe loves me. How else could it keep throwing so many gifts my way?! All that's left is to gather them."
Hermione tore her gaze away from the singing hat and noticed the incredibly blissful expression on Richard's face. The boy looked inspired,as though an angel had descended from the heavens to him—or as if he had just been given the very thing he had always dreamed of. Listening closely, Hermione caught a faint, barely audible whisper, little more than a murmur:
"Jackpots… AIs… I love it, I love it… My little AI… My precious!… Come to daddy…"
(End of Chapter)
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