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"What do you mean, you can't? If you actually wanted to, I'm sure you'd find a way." Draco signaled the three behind him to lower their wands. "Smart people naturally find smart solutions."
Seeing Richie sitting there with his legs crossed, completely unfazed, Draco suddenly felt this was the kind of presence a pure-blood aristocrat should have.
He turned his head to signal Crabbe and Goyle, but instantly caught himself. Even ignoring the fact that those two idiots wouldn't understand the cue, their Transfiguration skills were nowhere near good enough to pull that off.
Instead, Draco shifted his gaze to Parkinson.
Parkinson immediately understood the look, but he was fiercely reluctant. Who acts like a servant, fetching drinks and conjuring chairs for someone else? A lapdog, that's who. His pure-blood pride violently rejected the idea—especially since he was a fourth-year and Draco was only a first-year.
But thinking about the massive mess his family was in, and the sheer weight of the Malfoy name, Parkinson tightened his jaw. A moment later, he ripped a piece of lining from his robes, raised his wand, and transfigured it into a dark green chair for Draco.
Draco gave a satisfied smirk, patted Parkinson on the arm, and sat down with exaggerated elegance.
"Harland, I didn't bring you out here to negotiate." Draco leaned forward. "You're going to do exactly what I say. Or what, do you want Hagrid to get kicked out of Hogwarts for good? As an accomplice, you'll definitely go down with him!"
Hearing Draco lay it out, Richie slowly shook his head.
There it is. He knew it was coming eventually. The whole picture was finally clear. [cite_start]The kid spying through the window at Hagrid's hut that day was definitely Draco[cite: 280, 281].
Thinking he had Richie backed into a corner, Draco wanted to use him to steal Ravenclaw's Quidditch strategy logs. But it obviously wasn't that simple. If Richie actually stole those logs, he'd instantly become a traitor to Ravenclaw. And once he crossed that line, the theft itself would become a brand new piece of blackmail for Draco to hold over his head.
At that point, Richie would be permanently trapped under Draco's thumb, effectively turning into another one of his lapdogs.
Richie's eyes darkened at the thought. Is this really the best a pure-blood heir can do? A kid is still a kid; the strategy was way too juvenile and transparent.
"If I do this, how do I know you won't just go back on your word?" Richie asked, faking a moment of hesitation.
"Go back on my word? Hmph. I don't stoop to that level," Draco scoffed, his eyes shifting slightly. "As long as you do exactly what I say, I won't snitch to the professors."
Richie let out a slow breath. "Fine."
Seeing Richie finally cave, Draco actually laughed out loud. "Excellent. You'll quickly realize that submitting to a Malfoy is the smartest choice you could ever make!"
Draco hopped out of his chair and walked straight toward Richie, stopping when they were barely three feet apart. The three thugs hurried to back him up.
"You know, Harland, I actually gave you a chance to be my friend once," Draco sneered. "Too bad you didn't appreciate it. Now, you just get to take my orders. Remember: tomorrow, same time. Bring me those Quidditch logs."
Draco patted Richie patronizingly on the shoulder, then strutted off toward the castle, practically glowing with arrogance. As Crabbe and Goyle walked past, they both flashed menacing fists. Parkinson just walked right by without even looking at him.
After they left, Richie remained seated in his chair, quietly thinking.
Once the Slytherins completely disappeared from the lakeshore, two figures stepped out of the shadows behind him.
"Man, George, they are absolutely insufferable!"
"Right? Watching them put on that arrogant act literally makes me sick."
"No wonder Arthur told us never to hang around them."
"I heard they pull the exact same garbage on him down at the Ministry..."
It was the Weasley twins.
They circled around to the front of Richie's chair. "Richie, we saw the whole thing. Do you want us to help you take this to the professors?"
Richie shook his head. "Not yet."
[cite_start]He stood up, cast the General Counter-Spell, and the wooden chair seamlessly reverted back into a book, dropping into his hand[cite: 519, 520].
Richie obviously wasn't going to follow Draco's orders and show up alone. Two fists can't beat four hands. If things had actually gone south, getting jumped with zero backup would have been a massive mistake. So, after leaving the Great Hall, he hadn't immediately headed for the lake. He tracked down the Weasley twins and asked for backup.
Naturally, the twins had agreed without a second thought.
When Richie arrived, Fred and George were already hiding in the dark, using the moonlight to watch the entire exchange. To make sure the Slytherins didn't spot them, Richie had deliberately conjured the chair and acted as arrogantly as possible to pull all four of their focal points onto him. The misdirection worked perfectly; they never even realized the twins were there.
Richie started walking back to the castle with the twins flanking him.
"So what's the play here?"
"Are you actually going to do what Malfoy said?"
"Because if you do, and you get caught..."
"Your reputation is completely torched!"
Richie just smiled, looking totally relaxed. "Obviously, I'm not going to do what they say. They want data? Fine, I'll give them data. But I can't promise any of it will actually be real."
The twins immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Richie's plan was simple: forge fake strategy logs to buy time. If the Slytherins didn't realize they were fake, no harm done. If they did, Richie could easily spin an excuse to keep them distracted.
And if Draco tried to play the victim and publicly accuse Richie of stealing Ravenclaw's data? It would instantly fall apart. You can't steal something that's fake. Plus, if it came down to it, Richie could just use the twins as eyewitnesses to report Draco for extortion.
But before he could drop the hammer on Draco, he had to neutralize the leverage. [cite_start]That meant fixing the Hagrid and Norbert situation once and for all[cite: 292, 293].
Looking at the twins, Richie smiled. "George, Fred. Seriously, thanks for having my back tonight."
"Haha, anytime, mate!" George slung an arm around Fred's shoulder and waved it off.
Fred nodded, dead serious. "We've been sick of Malfoy for ages anyway."
The two seamlessly bounced off each other. "To all those stuck-up pure-blood families, the Weasleys are total outcasts just because we actually treat Muggles and Muggle-borns like human beings."
"Trust us, when we were first-years, Slytherin put targets on our backs too."
"Luckily, we work perfectly together. Once we hit them back hard enough, they backed off for good."
"So, Richie, you have to hit back. If you just keep your head down, they're only going to treat you like an easy mark!"
Trading stories and swapping advice, the three of them walked back to the castle under the moonlight.