Richard held himself with the dignity of a lord. Smiling, he began shaking hands with members of the Weasley family and offering the usual compliments:
"Lovely dress, Mrs. Weasley. Wonderful hairdo, Ginny. You look great, Ron. Your home is original and very cozy; the hand of thoughtful owners is palpable. Pleased to meet you. Allow me, this is for you."
Richard presented gifts to each of the four Weasleys. Arthur eyed the bottle of wine and tea with curiosity. Molly sniffed the perfume and was pleased with the scent. A happy smile lit up her face. Ron, self-conscious about his attire, straightened up after the compliment. When a brightly colored Monopoly box fell into his hands, he began to examine it with delight and could hardly restrain himself from unpacking it. Ginny, equally interested, played with the box containing the board game Elias (Say It Otherwise).
"Thank you. We are delighted to welcome the Lord as our guest," Mrs. Weasley said warmly, looking at Richard with affection.
"Are you really a Lord?" Ron blurted out.
- Undoubtedly.
"It must be cool to be a lord?" Ron asked enviously.
"Not bad, but I wouldn't call it easy. You have to work hard and live up to your status. Ron, since we're the same age and future classmates, you and Ginny can call me Richie."
"Do you fly on a broom?" Ron asked.
"I prefer to travel by car," Richard answered vaguely, having had an irrational aversion to flying brooms ever since he learned about this form of transport.
"Please come into the living room," Mrs. Weasley called everyone.
For a while, Richard, in keeping with English tradition, congratulated the owners of the house on their beautiful furniture, how well they organized everything, their beautiful garden, and their wonderful clock with the names of family members. The clock had nine hands labeled with the names of the Weasley family. The hands labeled "Arthur," "Molly," "Ron," and "Ginny" stood at the "Home" mark. Those labeled "Charlie," "Percy," "Fred," and "George" stood at the "School" mark. The "Bill" hand paused opposite "Work." The dial also featured fields for "On the Road," "Lost," "In Prison," and "Hospital," and at twelve o'clock, "Mortal Danger" was written.
From time to time, Richard would remark on how such perfection could have been achieved by mere wizards. The wizards, though British, were unaccustomed to such things and melted under the torrent of routine compliments.
"You have a wonderful neighborhood," Richard continued. "From what I noticed along the way, things are improving visibly, and soon this will be, if not heaven on Earth, then a very comfortable neighborhood."
"We have wonderful neighbors," Mr. Weasley said proudly, pleased. "The Lovegoods, the Fossets, and the Diggorys live nearby. Mr. Lovegood publishes his own magazine. His daughter will go to Hogwarts with Ginny. Diggory works at the Ministry of Magic, and his son is a year older than our twins, Fred and George, but he's in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor."
"Richie, what department do you want to go to?" Ron asked.
"Every house is good in its own way," Richard answered evasively, knowing only one house and hearing about the second for the first time. "Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are good, but I can't say anything bad about the others either."
"I'll definitely get into Gryffindor!" Ron declared confidently. "My parents and Bill went there, and my older brothers do too."
- A worthy choice.
"Oh, we've been sitting here too long," Mrs. Weasley clasped her hands. "Dinner's getting cold. Please, Lord, let's go to the kitchen."
The kitchen was small and rather cramped. A scrubbed wooden table stood in the center, surrounded by chairs. Richard sat down on the chair the hostess offered him and looked around casually. He had never been in any other wizard's house, with the exception of Madam Marchbanks. On the opposite wall hung a clock, this one with a single hand. Instead of numbers, there were inscriptions: "Tea Time," "Time to Feed the Chickens," "Late," and the like. Stacks of books stood on the mantelpiece. Richie read on the spines: "Enchant Your Own Cheese!", "Baking Charms," "How to Prepare a Feast in Seconds. Miraculous Magic!" An old radio hung on the wall behind the sink.
The table was laden with food. Not gourmet fare, but a decent selection: meat pie, fried beef chops, mashed potatoes, and a homemade cake with a fluffy cream topping. Ron eyed the main course greedily.
"Ronald," Molly looked sternly at her son, "cake for dessert!"
The red-haired boy had a hard time tearing his eyes away from the cake and quickly pounced on the food. He was skilled with a fork but didn't use a knife, and he ate rather hastily, which Richie attributed to a large family, where it wasn't appropriate to be slack-jawed.
Richard, however, displayed perfect manners and slowly devoured the simple but delicious food with a fork and knife.
About half an hour later, when everyone had eaten their fill, the most interesting part began, which is why Richard had come to visit the wizards.
"Lord Rich, if you're interested, we could take a look at the flying car," Mr. Weasley said.
- Very curious. With pleasure, Mr. Weasley.
Accompanied by Arthur, Richard walked out into a small patch of backyard. Nearby was a garage, and next to it stood an old Ford Anglia.
Ron and Ginny followed behind Richard and Arthur.
"Here it is!" Mr. Weasley proudly showed off the car.
Richard examined the car with incredible curiosity. At first glance, it was impossible to tell the difference from a regular Ford of this model. And even at second glance, it was difficult to spot the difference. The only thing was that the car was in perfect condition. Even excessively so for a unit of its age. This immediately suggested the use of a repair spell.
- Can I try flying, sir?
- Certainly!
Arthur's children and wife remained on the ground. The family's breadwinner took off with a guest who occupied the front passenger seat.
The car really was bigger inside than it looked on the outside, just as Mr. Weasley had said. The flight was breathtaking. Judging by the speedometer, which surprisingly worked even in the air, the speed was around two hundred miles per hour. That's quite a bit for a flying car, but I'd have liked more.
Apart from the sounds of the wind, nothing could be heard, for example, the sound of an engine.
- And this is how invisibility is turned on.