Young Rich had absolutely no desire to risk his life, even for the hypothetical possibility of living long enough to see advanced nanorobots and genetic engineering. It wasn't a given that the Philosopher's Stone was hidden at Hogwarts. So the boy put his wits into overdrive to at least minimize the risks and still reap the benefits, even if the Philosopher's Stone turned out to be just a figment of Harry Potter's imagination.
First, we need to remove the obstacles. First, Dumbledore. He's a powerful wizard who shouldn't be in the school during the "save the Stone" operation. Second, the teachers. McGonagall won't leave her office willingly. Sprout is always in the greenhouses. Flitwick is a complete slacker; according to the older students, he's never been seen patrolling. And the Ravenclaw fight in full view revealed his true attitude toward students. He can be disregarded, too, like most of the other teachers. Snape, however, patrols the castle corridors like a hawk. Quirrell is a dark horse; he seems to stutter and acts like a downtrodden weakling, but he casts powerful spells. And that's suspicious. And then there's Argus Filch, the school caretaker. Therefore, we need to temporarily eliminate Snape and Quirrell and perhaps distract Filch somehow.
Richard began extensive preparations. He hadn't chosen a date for the operation, as it was a pointless undertaking.
The boy's first act was to write several letters to various people. Then he called Mr. Weasley and asked if it would be feasible to propose to the Minister of Magic a law that would allow the enchantment of Muggle technology not only for wizards' personal use but also for sale to ordinary people under the guise of advanced technology. Naturally, the enchanted items would be disguised as advanced technology and equipped with self-destruct charms.
It turned out that the British Ministry of Magic couldn't pass such a law due to the Statute of Secrecy, meaning it would have to be promoted to the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW). This, in turn, would allow Dumbledore to be lured out of the country. Moreover, in this case, passing the law took precedence.
After extensive questioning, Richard realized that some members of the International Magical Society would benefit from such a law. Their wizards would be able to sell magical products to ordinary people under the guise of high-tech. Moreover, something similar had already been proposed several times by members of the International Magical Society from the USA, USSR, Japan, and Germany. So, at least four votes were already secured. Magicians from poor countries, even in such a serious international organization that passes laws for the entire magical community on the planet, are quite willing to accept bribes. By ordinary people's standards, the prices of Africans and South Americans are paltry, but by wizards' standards, their demands are quite substantial.
In the International Confederation of Wizards, each country is represented by a small delegation that plays no particular role. Only its leader, the Chairman of the Delegation, is considered important. He is nominated by the Ministry of Magic and approved by the Wizengamot. However, this approval is purely formal, although the elders of the Wizengamot may, if they so choose, refuse the appointment and have the right to nominate their own representative.
Albus Dumbledore currently holds the position of President of the Confederation, something like the Speaker of the Duma. He doesn't have any special powers, but he can do certain things. Therefore, he cannot simultaneously serve as the British Speaker.
Richie contacted the Chairman of the International Committee of the People's Commissars from England through a recommendation from Madam Marchbanks and, via owl correspondence, hinted at a handsome profit, to which he received similarly positive hints. All that remained was to send his man to deliver the bribe money.
The IMC has just over a hundred Chairmen. For a law to pass, the votes of a majority of them are needed. Those countries that dance to the tune of the US and the USSR will certainly vote for this law. All that remains is to buy the votes of Chairmen from Third World countries. Judging by the British wizard's estimates, this would cost no more than fifty thousand Galleons.
Richie gave Mr. Weasley carte blanche to spend a million Galleons on bribes for the ICW Chairmen. This wasn't enough to secure a significant majority, but the boy was currently limited in magical funds. The entire calculation was based on the combined votes being enough to pass a positive resolution.
Richard had to use numerous arguments in a Magiphone conversation with Arthur Weasley to convince him of the need to pass such a law for the sake of the prosperity of wizards worldwide. Mr. Weasley proved too honest to offer a bribe. However, Earl Rich managed to find arguments to persuade Arthur. He warned him of the danger of wizard degradation due to the rapid growth of Muggle technology, and he convinced him that such a step was necessary to support the wizarding economy and, most importantly, to enable wizards to expand into space and find a new planet where wizards could live happily without Muggles, own as much land as they wish, do whatever they wanted without regard for secrecy, and be able to settle magical animals on another planet and breed them in vast quantities to obtain large quantities of potion ingredients and other such things. To find such a planet and even enter space, you need to interact with ordinary people: buy steel and other materials from them for building a spaceship. It's better to make purchases by selling something you own, disguised as Muggle goods, than to steal them and thereby more seriously violate the Statute of Secrecy.
Besides being honest, Arthur proved to be a gullible idealist, so after three such conversations, Richie not only convinced Mr. Weasley but also infected him with unprecedented enthusiasm. Arthur set about fulfilling his assigned task-delivering the bribes to the right wizards.
International politics is a difficult business, whether for ordinary people or wizards. But the bottom line is the same: all politicians are corrupt, some just have exorbitant prices. But Richard saw it as training, since he would one day sit in the House of Lords.
Ritchie had no intention of leaving his seat in the House of Lords to elected Lords. The hours there are extremely lenient: an hour and a half a day, three times a week. Each hour is well paid, plus travel expenses are reimbursed, even if you get there by jet. But that's not all. An aristocrat with a hereditary seat in the House of Lords immediately has very high career prospects, potentially becoming a minister or an equally important figure. And that means big money, with numerous legal tax evasion schemes that are not only overlooked, but even tacitly encouraged. After all, there are many Windsors in the government, insiders with vast fortunes. Who would blame their own relatives? One hand washes the other.
Incidentally, a trust fund isn't just a way to protect wealth from falling into the wrong hands, it's also an excellent way to avoid taxes. For example, heirs to a share in such a company won't pay a penny, whereas with a regular inheritance, they would have to fork out 40% of the property's market value. So Richie planned to transfer Rich Junior under the trust fund's protection in the future, since his company is ostensibly a subsidiary of Rich Group, but on paper it's an independent entity. Basically, as is typical in high finance, everything is convoluted, so that the layman won't understand much, but insiders will figure it out.
Count Rich spent a lot of time and nerves on all the affairs - October flew by in an instant.
His studies were proceeding as usual, but Richard struggled with Transfiguration and Potions, spending countless hours practicing McGonagall's spells and having no time for Potions. Richie would have surely learned a multitude of new charms, which could be found in abundance in the library, but Madam Marchbanks's lessons were taking their toll. The young wizard fanatically perfected every new spell, whether it was turning a match into a needle or a snail into a teapot.
In general, the formulas for Transfiguration spells were universal. That is, if you learned to turn a match into a needle, you could transform a log into a sword, a shovel, an axe, and so on. So Richie moved from matches to a small stick, which he transformed into a knife, a spoon, a fork, a ladle, wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, scissors, and even a multi-tool. Then he moved on to transforming a bar, creating heavier and more complex steel objects. The next step was eliminating the verbal component.
Despite all her dislike for the young Lord, Professor McGonagall was forced to give him top marks.
And potions... That wasn't his thing. It wasn't an aristocrat's place to brew slop, so Snape constantly hurled unflattering comments at Richard. But then again, it was all to the point. And Richie was a good listener, as well as a good gleaner. Where a normal child might hear a rebuke and ignore it, or even take offense, Richie calmly grasped the essence, so he took note of every criticism and never made the same mistakes again. As a result, he was no worse at making magical soups than Ravenclaws, and was the best of his Hufflepuff classmates.
Waking up on the morning of Halloween, Richard smelled the aroma of roasted pumpkin-an essential part of the holiday. It seemed to permeate all of Hogwarts, but in reality, it was the proximity of the Hufflepuff dormitory to the kitchens that was making the difference.
That day, Professor Flitwick announced that he believed the students were finally ready to begin learning Charms, something many had long dreamed of. Only Richie was disappointed, as the spell the teacher had given him was a Levitation Charm, which young Rich could cast in the middle of the night, eyes closed, nonverbally, and even wandless.
Throughout the lesson, Richard was bored, he calmly completed the task without demonstrating his full abilities, making the pen float, which made the professor happy.
As the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students left the Charms classroom, Justin said:
- Richie, that's not fair! You learned that spell before school.
"It's all fair," Richard replied calmly. "Anyone could have hired a tutor and practiced magic. For example, you, Justin, had a whole month before Hogwarts. The fact that you wasted it on vacation is entirely your problem."
Padma Patil, who was walking nearby, remarked:
- Richie, I heard that students are not allowed to do magic in the summer.
"Padma, my dear, it's for the students," a sly smile appeared on Richard's face. "And we weren't even Hogwarts students yet. Besides, I was asking the Charms tutor about how the young wizards are supervised."