Only in the corridor of the one-eyed witch did the boys stop.
Breathing hoarsely, Richie reached into his bag for his walkie-talkie. Pressing the button on the side of the walkie-talkie, he raised the device to his mouth and said,
- Assemble at the point. I repeat, assemble at the point.
The radio hissed. Even the powerful portable military radio had poor reception in the stone castle. But amid the hissing, Ronald Weasley's voice could be heard:
- Received. We proceed to the point.
The boys were still reeling from the rush and the adventure. They were overwhelmed with emotion: excitement, fear, anxiety, apprehension-they were excited and thrilled.
"Guys," Richard began, "I think we need to come to an agreement about what happened."
"Yes?" said the reddish-yellow spot that Harry Potter could see through the thermal imaging goggles.
"Everything that was in Hogwarts must stay in Hogwarts," Richard added.
"Agreed," Ron blurted out. "We must never tell anyone what happened. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go to Azkaban. They say it's really bad there."
"Of course! Of course it will remain a secret!" Harry said with slight indignation. "But shouldn't we tell everyone about Voldemort's return?"
"Fell out of his mind?!" Richard frowned, though his comrades couldn't see it through their thermal imaging. "Who's going to believe us? From the outside, it looks like we were trying to steal a valuable artifact, and a disabled professor, shyly hiding his Siamese twin, was trying to stop the criminals. And we, the bad guys, committed a serious crime as a criminal group, colluding in a prior conspiracy-we killed a professor with the Unforgivable Curse and then accused him of being possessed by Tom Riddle, whom everyone believed to be dead.
"Hmm... Yeah, they're unlikely to believe us," Weasley agreed. "But I have a proposal."
"Which one?" Harry asked.
- Let's beat up Fred and George!
"Ron, what's wrong?!" Harry was extremely surprised. "They're your brothers."
"So what?" Ron replied. "If they hadn't screwed up, we wouldn't have had to meet Quirrell."
"It's not a bad idea," Richard said thoughtfully, "but... I still think it was force majeure. Fred and George were hoping to apprehend a common wizard, which Quirrell seemed to be. Who could have known that Riddle's ghost would be there, too?"
"So we won't tell anyone about Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"Of course not!" Ron answered. "Harry, don't even think about mentioning it. I don't want to end up behind bars because of this."
"Okay, guys," Harry sighed heavily. "Everything that happened at Hogwarts stays at Hogwarts."
The boys only had to wait a couple of minutes, which felt like an hour. Soon, a trio of doppelgangers appeared in the one-eyed witch's hallway. When they reached the statue, Richie glanced around furtively and, seeing no one else, quietly said:
- We're in stealth mode here.
The elite special forces soldiers deserve credit for their restraint. They merely jerked toward the voice. However, at that moment, their hands made grasping motions, as if they were trying to grab a weapon.
"Sir," the Weasley lookalike said quietly, "we await further instructions."
"I open the passage, and you dive right in. You too," Richard said to Harry and Ron.
Soon the boys and their doppelgangers found themselves inside the secret passage. Richie dropped his invisibility, followed by Ron and Harry.
"Get changed and head to the student body to provide an alibi," Richard said to Potter and Weasley. "I'll walk my comrades to the exit."
"Richie, are you sure you don't need help?" Harry asked worriedly.
"No, thank you," Rich shook his head.
Harry and Ron quickly began changing. Richie followed suit, quickly getting his appearance into perfect order.
"How did it go?" Rich asked the special forces.
"Sir," the Weasley lookalike began, "as you said, we proceeded into a student gathering. The best place to do so turned out to be the street. We tried to stay within sight of the other students, but at the same time not get too close to them. Unfortunately, an unpleasant situation occurred."
"What?" Richard frowned, looking up from combing his hair.
"A group of students approached us, sir," the Weasley lookalike continued. "Four boys, around twelve years old. They all had badges on their robes with a snake and the word 'Slytherin,' and green ties. The leader was a skinny, blond, arrogant lout. Two stocky boys and one skinny, black-haired boy served as support.
"Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott," Ron stated contemptuously. "What did those slugs want from us?"
"Sir?" Ron's double looked questioningly at Rich, as if asking permission to answer this or not.
"I'm also interested in knowing the answer to this question," Richard nodded affirmatively.
"Sir, those boys, or rather the blond one, started insulting me," the Weasley impersonator continued reporting. "We managed to ignore him for a while, but then the boy started hurling strong insults at the Weasley family, which meant mine. I figured if I didn't respond to this, we'd ruin the cover story and ruin your reputation."
"Malfoy... What a bastard!" Ron exclaimed indignantly.
"What did you do?" Richard asked the soldier.
- We fucked them up, sir.
"Oh, they beat them up," Richie said calmly. "Wonderful."
"Serves them right!" Ron exclaimed happily, with a hint of malice. "They'll learn not to insult my family, those filthy slugs!"
"I hope this won't cause you any trouble, sir?" the soldier impersonating Ron asked Rich with a hint of concern. "We tried to hit him gently, but hard, so as not to cause serious injuries or leave marks."
"It's all right, guys," Richard said. "In fact, it's even better this way. I'm sure a lot of people saw the fight, and that's a big plus for an alibi."
"Sir, I wouldn't call it a fight," the Weasley lookalike winced slightly. "More like a massacre of the innocents. But there were indeed a lot of students watching."
"Ron, Harry, it's time for you to go," Richard addressed the boys.
"Ron, let's go," Potter called to his friend.
A satisfied Ron reluctantly walked toward the tunnel exit. He would have gladly heard the full story of his doppelganger beating up the hated Malfoy.