Готовый перевод Тейлор Поттер и философский виал / Taylor Potter and the Philosophical Vial: Глава 6. Урок полетов, Квиддич и Хагрид

Chapter 6: Flying Lesson, Quidditch, and Hagrid
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Hagrid lived in a detached house not far from Wormwarts, almost on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Her dogs, a dozen or more, lived nearby. Hagrid's house was enormous, twice the size of the Dursleys', and Taylor suddenly understood why: so the enlarged dogs could fit inside. This discovery (without Lisa's prompting!) completely lifted the mood Snape had spoiled, and when Hagrid opened the door, Taylor greeted her joyfully.

"Hi! My friends are with me, do you mind?"

"Hello, Taylor," Hagrid replied.

She folded her muscular arms across her chest, the hem of her fur-trimmed vest parting to reveal a large knife at her belt. Her gaze, direct and intent, was fixed on Amy and Lisa, as if Rachel were about to start a fight.

"Lisa Granger."

"Amy Weasley."

"Rachel Hagrid," the Gamekeeper nodded. "Weasley? Tell Eric and Crystal not to try to dye my dogs blue again, it won't end well for them, okay?"

“Okay,” Amy squeaked.

Hagrid was taller, older, more muscular, and now almost loomed over the young Weasley.

"Come in," Rachel said, changing the subject without further ado, "the kettle's already boiled."

Over tea, Taylor spoke enthusiastically about Wormwarts, her lessons, and everything that had happened that week, and Rachel nodded, interjecting briefly here and there. The mention of Filch drew the most words.

"He's an old bastard, that's what he is, this Filch," Rachel grumbled. "He has no powers of his own, so he takes it out on the students."

"No power?" Taylor asked, surprised. "Isn't he the... what's it called... Mover, huh! Mover - teleporter?"

"No, he is just a normal person. He tried to get superpowers, but he just went bald and got angry." Hagrid waved her hand.

"Yes, yes, Carol said something like that," Amy said thoughtfully. "He's at the school under contract, I think?"

"The Statute," Rachel nodded. "That paragraph has been outdated for a long time, but they can't get rid of it. It says there needs to be a regular person at the school, powerless, to look after the capes. So he does, or rather, he only looks for things to find fault with and take out his anger on the students. And that cat of his... ugh! I brought Fang one time to eat her, but the castle interfered."

Fang, who was lying nearby, raised his head and barked in confirmation.

"It took me two days to wash the foam off of him,” Rachel continued.

Lisa immediately made a note on her tablet. Taylor, feeling the support, immediately complained about Snape.

"Ah, this one loves no one but himself," Rachel said. "And you can't prove anything, there's always some kind of intrigue, rumors, you can't press him, you can't grab him."

"I thought he really hated me," Taylor sighed.

"Nonsense," Hagrid dismissed.

Lisa smirked as she watched the conversation, then grabbed her head.

"Here, have some tea, it helps," Rachel said immediately, handing Lisa a steaming mug. "I know you, Thinkers, you're always overexerting yourself, and then my dogs suffer."

"What is this?" Lisa asked in surprise, taking a sip of the hot and fragrant liquid.

"Sprout grow it up, and some other things grow in the Forest, and I collect herbs for the dogs," Hagrid explained, but didn't go into details.

Taylor wanted to ask more about Snape, but then the screen on the wall turned on. A screensaver appeared, a logo in the form of a slender woman's silhouette, and a cheerful voice began speaking.

"Welcome back to the Parahumans Online news channel! "Parahumans Online," news from the world of capes in real time, every day, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week!"

"Wow," Amy exclaimed in admiration. "You... you have a subscription to PHO?! And to the forum?"

"There was," Rachel grimaced, "but there are too many smartasses there. I wrote about dogs, and they started spouting nonsense, words, words, words, and it's good that the moderator intervened. Now I just watch the news."

"All adult Wormwarts capes have a free subscription to PHO," Lisa suddenly said.

"The investigation into the daring robbery of the Ellisburg Bank continues," the voice on the screen said.

The cameras showed a pompous, dressed-up goblin, covering his face with his hand as he walked toward the bank entrance. His security guard, a three-meter-tall Brute, was attempting to smash the nearest camera.

As we can see, the bank management is evading explanations for how the robber managed to break into the bank and open several safe deposit boxes. The goblins claim there was no robbery, but our channel's resident Thinker says there was. Rumors on our forum suggest this was all the work of some powerful cape with a personal grudge against the goblins. As a reminder, the robbery took place on August 1st, and despite more than a month having passed, the crime is still stirring public interest. Protectorate search teams have not yet intervened, but it's possible...

"August first!" Taylor screamed, drowning out the screen. "We were at the bank that day, Rachel!"

"We were lucky, those who were robbed weren't," Hagrid shrugged, pushing a mug of tea towards Taylor.

"There's something," Taylor told Lisa as they left Hagrid's hut. "Rachel was taking something from there, from the bank, and she said it was impenetrable."

"An ordinary cape wouldn't be able to break in there, yeah," Lisa nodded.

She leaned toward Taylor's ear and whispered barely audibly.

"But Dark Cape can/"

Taylor pulled back, looking at Granger with wide eyes.

"But that's not a fact!" Lisa said pompously, twirling her hair with her finger. "It's just a guess, and my power could be wrong. It messed up the entire lesson with Snape, for example."

"Snape!" Taylor flared again and clenched her fists.

"Oh, don't worry," Lisa assured her, "we'll prepare for his lessons together, okay?"

Taylor nodded, and that was the end of the unpleasant conversation.

The conversation might have resumed, but another, more important event interrupted it. When they returned to Herofindor's tower, everyone's tablets vibrated in unison. An announcement popped up on the screen that Flying and Combat Tactics classes would begin on Thursday, and the first-years were overcome with trepidation.

Taylor nodded, and that was the end of the unpleasant conversation.

"We need a Tinker for the team, and a close combat fighter," Lisa immediately noted.

"Are we really making a team?" Taylor asked, surprised. "I thought they split us into teams of five and assigned us to work together. Parvati is a Blaster, Lavender is a Changer, Amy can heal and disable enemies with a touch, so that's fine, right?"

"Parvati is too attached to her sister, and she's from a different House," Lisa shook her head. "Lavender isn't interested in battles; she just wanted to be the most beautiful."

"Why do we need anyone else?" Amy suddenly flared up.

"Well, there's really no need to rush," Lisa remarked conciliatorily. "We'll see what everyone can do on Thursday. After all, it's not just combat tactics there, but flying as well, isn't it?"

Amy twitched her cheek, nodded grimly, and left, along with Taylor,

“Something’s wrong here,” Lisa thought, watching them go.

The power was silent, giving no clues or answers.

Jamie Hooch, wearing a suit adorned with glowing blue lines, waited for them in the middle of a vast courtyard covered in unnaturally springy, bright green grass. With her short hair, black skin, and energetic gestures, she reminded Taylor unpleasantly of Sophia Dursley.

"It's artificial grass," Hooch confirmed Taylor's thoughts immediately after introducing herself, "to soften falls. There's a layer of shock-absorbing foam underneath, which regular grass simply won't survive. The rule is very simple: the faster you fall, the more cushioning it provides, but I still wouldn't recommend anyone try it. You could very easily break a limb, and you'd end up in the infirmary with Doctor Pomfrey, and she loves testing out new potions and homemade cures. Last year, one girl got covered in tentacles, and a fifth-year boy turned into a giant orange newt."

"She's trying to scare us, right?" Taylor immediately asked Lisa.

"No," she blinked, puzzled. "I don't think so."

"It's better if Amy treats us," Taylor shuddered. "Amy?"

"Huh?" She tore herself away from her frantic stare at the jetpacks lying on the grass. "Yeah!"

Miss Hooch, meanwhile, grabbed the nearest backpack and began a demonstration: how to put it on, how to turn it on, how to control and regulate the flight. Lisa, meanwhile, stared with both eyes at Amy, who was both rapt and trembling.

\\She's flown before, knows what it's like, and wants to fly alone. She wants to fly alone, but is afraid of Tinker devices. She used to fly with the help of her parents and siblings. She wants to live up to family standards, wants to fly, and is afraid of embarrassing her family and failing to cope. She's afraid of Tinker devices because they're not alive.

Lisa blinked in confusion. Everyone around her was already donning straps and locking their harnesses. The overall system was simple and straightforward. A launch button on the belt, flight control via body movements, especially the legs, and the operating principle — something akin to antigravity.

But suddenly it turned out that everything was simple and clear in theory.

In practice, half the students flipped head over heels and landed head-on in the springy grass. Some didn't even have their backpacks started, while others were swept sideways, right into their neighbors. Only a few capes, including Max Malfoy, managed to fly and were now making fun of the others.

"Calm down!" Miss Hooch shouted. "You're used to walking, and that's why the brum isn't working properly."

"What?" Taylor asked, getting up from the ground.

"B.R.U.M: the muscular electric traction of a flying machine," Lisa explained, hovering in the air half a meter above the ground.
T.N. As I warned, there will be some inconvenience with the translation of abbreviations.

Noticing Taylor's puzzled expression, she quickly explained.

A thing that reads your body movements and converts them into commands for your jetpack.

"Yeah," Taylor said after a second. "I think I get it. I'll try it now."

Chris was tinkering with his backpack nearby, and Hooch was shouting, giving commands to the students.

"What are you doing?!" Lisa suddenly exclaimed, looking at Chris.

"There are a couple of ideas on how to impro…"

Before he could finish, the jetpack soared into the sky, carrying Chris with it. The young Tinker was practically standing on and above the jetpack, tinkering with it. Chris slipped off the jetpack, but unfortunately, his foot got tangled in the strap, causing the flying device to begin circling at an altitude of about twenty meters. Parts and crumbs fell from Chris's pockets, along with a couple of screwdrivers and a futuristic-looking device that Taylor, with surprise, recognized as a scientific calculator. Not that Taylor had seen many calculators in her life, but this was the one Madison had gotten for her last birthday, and she'd been showing it off for two months until school started.

Chris tried to lift himself up and grab the jetpack, but this only caused him to fall. Before anyone could gasp or scream, the young Tinker plummeted twenty meters and fell, bounced, fell again, and, after flipping several times, lay still. Miss Hooch was already standing next to him, the lines of her suit gleaming. She scooped Chris up and vanished into Wormwarts, covering the distance to the castle in a split second.

"What you took is your loot!" Malfoy shouted, diving down and grabbing the calculator.

"Took it from the defeated!" Lisa shouted.

"A Tinker defeated by a jetpack is a disgrace to the family!" Max shouted, soaring higher, to the accompaniment of laughter from Eidolorin's students.

"Tinker," Taylor muttered, activating the jetkpack again.

She took off as if she'd been doing it her whole life, flying ten hours a day. Obeying Taylor's command, the insects outside the castle (the flying yard was practically on the edge, beyond which lay only the Quidditch field and the Forbidden Forest) began to group, flock together in swarms, and those who could fly carried those who couldn't.

"Fight me!" Taylor shouted at Max. "If you win, I'll take the calculator!"

"Okay!" he shouted with a grin. "And if I win, you'll join us on Eidolorin!"

"Deal!" Taylor shouted angrily, not hearing Lisa's cries of "No-o-o, Taylor, don't!"

Max Malfoy was certainly a better flyer. He had more experience, but to summon metal, he needed a surface, solid ground, so to speak. He realized his own mistake when Taylor, instead of going for a frontal attack, sent out three swarm spheres, each about a meter in diameter.

"Nessa! Jessica!" Malfoy shouted, banking and throwing himself down.

The twins began to grow rapidly, drawing their weapons: one a spear and shield, the other a sword. Malfoy landed deftly on the shield, and the steel blades flew out to meet the insects, striking Taylor, who was immediately sent flying. She sent one of the swarms toward the twins, trying to pounce on Malfoy with the other two. Through the insects, she saw and sensed Amy and Lisa rushing to help, but were stopped by a girl from Eidolorin. Clasping her hands together, she tore out a huge chunk of grass and foam that Amy and Lisa were sitting on, sending it flying.

"Ours are being beaten!" Parvati shouted.

A green beam from her hands struck the girl from Eidolorin, but she deftly lifted another chunk of earth into the air, shielding herself. Lisa, meanwhile, soared into the air and deftly and accurately threw a rock. A ball of fire flew from the ground at her, but Lisa dodged it.

"Beat, Herofindor!" came the battle cry, and Eidolorin's disciples rushed to the attack.

"I'll show you!" Lavender squealed in a high-pitched voice, transforming into something armored.

Taylor, while keeping an eye on the others' battle and sending insects to aid her own, continued to chase Malfoy. He deftly maneuvered and weaved between the two towers — ten-meter-tall twins — at every opportunity, brushing against them and sending spears and towers of metal toward Taylor. The insects were unable to penetrate the giantesses' skin, so Potter directed her subjects toward more vulnerable areas, trying not to focus on the sensations they were transmitting.

The insects also acted as an additional sensory organ; with their help, Taylor saw and felt the movements of huge weapons, blades, and the direction of attacks from the ground, and managed to dodge and maneuver, without ceasing her pursuit of Malfoy.

"Well," Hannah said thoughtfully, lowering the binoculars through which she had been watching the fight, "Very good."

She said into space, placing her hand on the table.

"Hannah McGonagall, Professor of Wormwarts, Head of Herofindor. Confirm."

"Identity confirmed," a female voice replied a second later. "Authorities confirmed."

"End the fighting on the flight field immediately," Hannah ordered, "without causing harm to the students. Bring Taylor Potter to me immediately after the fight stops."

"The order has been received. I will begin execution," the voice announced.

Hannah went back to the window and raised her binoculars to her eyes. Drones—spheres—emerging from the castle pelted the students with black balls that stuck, inflated, and blocked their movement. The particularly rowdy ones were thrown nets and doused with foam. Hannah watched calmly. Usually, the House-on-House fights occurred at the beginning of the second month, but there are always exceptions, and now something else was far more important. After a while, everything calmed down, and Miss Hooch could be seen returning, cursing, shaking her fists, and giving orders.

A dozen drones, huddled together, dragged a foam statue towards McGonagall.

"Take off the foam," Hannah ordered.

Taylor collapsed onto the floor, coughing and shaking, clutching a calculator.

"Call Carlos Wood to me," Hannah ordered.

"He's in Professor Flitwick's class, Head of House," a soft voice came from the ceiling.

Hannah cursed calmly.

"Wood's coming to me right after class!" she said, turning to Taylor. "Do you know what Quidditch is, Miss Potter?"

Taylor shook her head. She wanted to wash off the solvent and foam and change her clothes. She was ashamed to stand before the Head of Herofindor like this, in the wet clothes, caught at the scene of the fight. She remembered Lisa's words about the three-strikes rule, but still, Granger got more points taken off, didn't she? So Taylor, as the instigator of the fight, would also receive a heavier punishment, right?

"Quidditch: Team Warfare: The art of pressure, dominance, and beating up others," McGonagall said, seemingly oblivious to Taylor's appearance and condition.

She, in turn, gathered all her determination into a fist and stood as if nothing had happened.

"The team consists of seven capes, and they compete against each other on the ground and in the air. This is the most popular sport among capes, and do you know why?"

"Capes love to fight," Taylor replied, and explained, "Lisa told me... Miss Granger."

"That's right. Capes love to fight, and in this case, it's a seven-on-seven battle between two teams, according to rules that Carlos Wood, the captain of the Herofindor team, will explain in detail."

"But I... I don't know how to fight, I just arrived in Wormwarts," Taylor was confused.

"You just fought single-handedly against half of Eidolorin's first year, hereditary capes, and you even seemed to win?" Hannah smiled, gesturing at the calculator in Taylor's hands. "You're a Tactician, Miss Potter, a natural-born Tactician, just what the Herofindor team needed for so long to finally defeat Eidolorin and take the school Quidditch Cup."

She looked at the stunned Taylor and added.

"And perhaps even compete against other schools, if Headmaster Dumbledore agrees. The idea of ​​an interschool competition has been floating around for a while."

But I,” Taylor began, and stopped.

"One point to Herofindor," Hannah grinned. "Don't let me down, Miss Potter, or I might regret not punishing you for the carnage you caused."

"Yes, Madam Dean," Taylor blushed. "I won't let you down!"

Carlos Wood turned out to be a fifth-year student, powerfully built, with bronze-toned skin and a watchful, penetrating gaze. He ran a hand through his black hair and spoke, practically exhaling.

"Tactician? She's only a freshman!" His voice held both hope and disbelief.

"Miss Potter," McGonagall said coldly, "a Tactician who will allow us to win. I think you'll see that for yourself after your first training session, Mr. Wood."

"Okay," Carlos nodded and turned to Taylor. "Come to the Quidditch field on Saturday at ten in the morning. I'll explain the rules there and introduce you to the team, okay?"

Taylor could only nod in response.

* * *

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Переводчики: Camrad_RIP