On Monday, in the middle of the night, Richard was awakened by a strange tingling sensation. His eyes flew open, and for a while, still half asleep, he couldn't work out what was bothering him. Then it dawned on him: someone was calling his wrist-mounted AI.
To answer the call, he had to grope around in the darkness for his glasses and perch them on the bridge of his nose.
Grosvenor saw Hermione's anxious face against a background of stone walls.
"Richie," she began quietly, "I'm outside the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Come out."
"I'll be right there," he whispered back.
Richard glanced around the dormitory. All his roommates were asleep. He somehow managed to find his slippers and tiptoed towards the exit, still dressed in his snow-white pyjamas.
The common room was completely deserted, allowing Richard to make his way to the exit without any trouble. At first, he couldn't see anyone near the barrels, but only for a moment. A girl's figure, clad entirely in black fabric, materialised out of thin air. The only thing that stood out was a pair of pink glasses.
"Richie, it's me," Hermione whispered anxiously.
Richard mentally instructed his computer to display the time and was rather surprised.
"Hermione, it's four in the morning. What's happened?"
"I've got it!"
Granger showed Richard a chain from which hung a peculiar-looking pendant containing a tiny hourglass.
"Don't tell me you went after it on your own?" Grosvenor frowned.
"No." Granger shook her head. "I went with my other self. But I decided to come to you alone. We deliberately chose a time when everyone would be fast asleep."
"And won't your roommates notice you're missing?"
"They shouldn't," Hermione replied with a hint of uncertainty. "We gave them some sweets laced with a Sleeping Potion last night to establish an alibi."
"Not bad, although I should point out that it's a rather flimsy alibi."
Richard was still struggling to think clearly after being woken up. He held the Time-Turner cautiously in his hands, and for a while he couldn't work out what to do with it. One thing was clear: he couldn't keep something like this in his possession.
"Donkey!" he finally thought to call.
A few seconds later, a most unusual house-elf appeared in the corridor with a pop, dressed in a three-piece suit, patent leather shoes and a top hat.
"Did my lord summon Donkey?"
Removing his hat, the house-elf bowed deeply.
"Good to see you, Donkey. Here." Richard handed the Time-Turner to the house-elf. "Give this to the head of the secret security service. I'll send him detailed information and instructions on his AI. Be careful with this artefact. It's rather dangerous."
"It shall be done, my lord. Can Donkey do anything else for his master?"
"Thank you, that'll be all." Grosvenor gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. "Get to it."
The house-elf disappeared just as suddenly as he had appeared.
"You have your own house-elf," Hermione observed. It was impossible to tell whether she was surprised or indignant.
"Officially, he's a free house-elf. He even receives a substantial salary, but in reality, he isn't free. He's my very best employee."
"Hmm..." Hermione drawled meaningfully. "Where could I find one like him, only without the madness, like Dobby?!"
"We'll see, Hermione. Perhaps we can find you an assistant like that too. And you know what? You've done brilliantly! Clever girl! You've put in some serious work. Thank you very much. But now you'd better get some sleep."
"Yes." A yawn came from beneath her mask. "I could certainly use some sleep. Good night, Richie."
"Good night to you too, Hermione."
In an instant, the girl seemed to dissolve into thin air, although in reality she had merely turned invisible.
Richard stood in the corridor for a little while before returning to bed just as carefully as he had left it, without disturbing his classmates' sleep.
As soon as he woke up, Grosvenor sent a message to Sirius Black's AI, attaching all the books on time and space travel that Hermione had scanned from the library. He supplemented the message with his own scientific knowledge of space and time, along with his theories about how the Time-Turner worked. Black received explicit instructions to hand the artefact over to the magical engineers at the secret laboratory for research.
At breakfast that morning, the teachers looked agitated. Minerva McGonagall was casting suspicious glances at the students over the rims of her spectacles. Halloween night had gone splendidly, but the new day had brought her a headache.
Both Hermiones were doing their best to pretend they weren't sleepy. They were even managing it. Nevertheless, the Deputy Headmistress's gaze kept returning to the girls, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Richard took advantage of the new software module installed on his AI and began reading the professors' lips. The intelligent device displayed their speech as subtitles.
Minerva turned to the Headmaster and declared angrily:
"Albus, this is outrageous! In all my years at Hogwarts, I have never encountered such a flagrant violation! Just imagine—someone smashed a window in my office during the night, broke in and stole the Time-Turner! We must find the culprits and punish them severely!"
"Minerva, but how are we supposed to find the thieves?" Dumbledore asked, looking like a man who had no desire to exert himself over trifles.
"We must question every student and search their belongings!" McGonagall declared firmly.
Dumbledore thoughtfully stroked his luxuriant beard.
"Minnie, what if it wasn't the students?" he asked. "Remember, Mr Black managed to get into the castle last year, and the year before that, we even had a rather large troll wandering around the school."
"I believe it was the students." Professor McGonagall cast a suspicious glance towards the Gryffindor table.
(End of Chapter)
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