Готовый перевод Тейлор Поттер и философский виал / Taylor Potter and the Philosophical Vial: Глава 4. Хэллоуин и прочие неприятности

Chapter 4. Halloween and Other Troubles
*

Literally the very next day, September 5th, the first Saturday of the school year, Taylor was reminded once again that she was a Tactician.

"You're a Tactician!" exclaimed Carlos Wood, captain of the Herofindor Quidditch team. "Of course you should be able to fly! See the entire battlefield, not just through insects, but with your own eyes!"

"I...," Taylor looked at the flight pack and bit her lip. "I'm not very good with technology."

In reality, she was terrified that the backpack would go berserk mid-flight, or fail, or simply change direction. On its own. Taylor didn't want to admit her fears, so she came up with this excuse — pretty pathetic, if you think about it, but not everyone can be a Thinker like Granger!

"But you flew last school year!" Carlos shouted, waving his arms.

"And was immediately shot down! This is a sign that I'll be vulnerable to enemy attacks in the air!" Taylor exclaimed almost joyfully. "We have plenty of capes on our team who can fly. Why do I have to go up in the air?"

"Because you're no less vulnerable on the ground, and now our opponents are aware of your tricks, which means they'll come up with a countermeasure."

“I’ll come up with new tricks,” Taylor shrugged, trying to look carefree.

Deep down, she wasn't so sure, but it was true. Carlos Wood could fly, and the Weasley twins, standing off to the side, discussing something, could too. Eric might not be a particularly good flyer, but he was certainly better than Taylor! Dean Johnson could soar, too, but more with the help of his gear, so it wasn't clear whether he could be considered a flying cape or not.

"You must be able to work from both the ground and the air!" Carlos said stubbornly.

As captain, he saw it as his duty to coach the team until they fell, and so Wood could be very, very stubborn at times.

"Okay," Taylor conceded, fumbling for the bandage in her pocket. "Give me the backpack."

After all, as long as she had the band on, everything would be fine, right? Lisa had told her so, and she'd figure out how to use the оуеpack somehow; Jamie Hooch hadn't taught her that last year for nothing. Then she felt seven people approaching the Quidditch pitch.

"Eidolorin's team is here," she told Carlos.

"What are they doing here? It's our time!" Wood protested, turning toward the slowly approaching Eidolorin players.

Taylor was much more interested in what Max Malfoy was doing here, and why the entire Eidolorin team was dressed in some strange, shiny suits.

"See, they've washed their uniforms and come to show it off!" Dennis Spinnet chuckled, clapping his hand against Browbeat Bell's, who was standing nearby.

"Wash yourself, Spinnet!" shouted Justin Flint, captain of Team Eidolorin. "You're going to need a clean face when we drag you through the mud with it!"

"Hey, that's Tinker armor!" Carlos exclaimed in amazement.

“Exactly,” Flint grinned, tapping his chest.

Taylor really disliked the thud, which sounded like Flint slamming hardwood against metal. If the Tinker armor enhanced the Eidolorin players' bodies, then all of Taylor's insect tricks would be useless. However... forewarned is forearmed, as Quirrell said, which meant Taylor would have two months before the first match with Eidolorin to gather information, observe, probe, and figure out how to bypass their armor.

"A custom order, the finest materials, and brilliant execution," Justin continued, grinning. "And all thanks to our new Tactician!"

He patted Max on the shoulder.

"Malfoy - Tactician?" The Weasley twins burst out laughing.

"Laugh, laugh," Max Malfoy said leisurely, "until the first match."

"A bought a spot on the team?" Carlos asked, and then answered. "This won't end well."

"Well, yeah, for you!" Justin laughed. "Okay, you can just admit our superiority and get lost!"

"We've booked it, and that can be verified," Wood's face hardened. "Get your tablet out, Justin."

"You suggest we battle on tablets?" Flint continued to have fun. "Okay, guys, let's go find a place to train, since our heroes from Herofindor are such greedy ones!"

"Some kind of childish teasing," Dennis snorted.

"It's okay, everything will be done like a grown-up at the match," Flint promised, waving his hand at his teammates. "Let's go!"

Taylor thought hard. Would Eidolorin just show off his trump cards? No. So there had to be something behind the display. What? An attempt to intimidate? Perhaps. True, Quidditch players were usually the most combative, the most conflict-seeking, so to speak, and so intimidation as such couldn't have been the purpose of the visit. Flint couldn't help but realize that this would only anger Herofindor, but what then? An attempt to create a false trail? Everyone would be preparing to fight with Tinkering devices, and Eidolorin would show up without them?

“But such armor costs a pretty penny,” Crystal’s words were heard.

“No wonder,” Eric replied, “Richard Malfoy is rich, insanely rich.”

It's an expensive trick, isn't it? Taylor decided to raid Eidolorin and bring along Chris Longbottom, the Tinker, so he could examine the armor and tell her what it was supposed to do.

"No matter how much these suits cost, our powers with us, and we will win!" Carlos proclaimed.

And yet, he was so upset that he forgot about Taylor's backpack and flying. Taylor didn't remind him, but she noted the fact and sighed silently, allowing herself to dream for a split second of the "madness of gadgets" spilling over to Eidolorin, their entire team falling from the sky like overripe pears during a match.

"We're practicing the three-plus-two attacking scheme!" Carlos clapped his hands. "Steppe training ground, I'm with Flag, Tactician is on defense, let's get to work!"

The training ground began to change, and Taylor pushed aside her extraneous thoughts, focusing on the training.

* * *

Despite Taylor's fears and forebodings, things gradually returned to normal. In AI classes — Art of Intrigue — she and Lisa worked together on a project to eliminate the leader of a criminal organization, played, of course, by Thomas Snape himself, the Dean of Eidolon. Survival was challenging, as Missy Sinistra (supervised by a pair of mannequins, of course) pitted the inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest and various detention centers against them, but after Professor Lockhart's lessons, the students were more confident in forming teams, repelling attacks, and even launching attacks themselves.

Lessons and training, conversations and homework, life went on as usual.

“We have a balanced team,” Lisa said one day at the end of October during a break between classes.

"We need a close combat fighter," sighed Taylor, who had already been thinking about this.

Of course, Taylor could work "over an area" and attack a hundred targets at once, but it was still a little different.

"Shall we take Victoria?" Lisa immediately grinned.

Taylor rolled her eyes. Oh, yes, lessons and homework had dampened the youngest Weasley's ardor, but only just.

"She's a year younger," Taylor finally came up with an argument.

"So what?"

"The thing is, outside of Quidditch and some adventures outside of Wormwarts, she's no help to us, at least not in class," Taylor explained. "We're not going to say, 'Oh, wait, Professor Lockhart, we're going to run and get a first-year student, pick her up from class so she can help us, otherwise our team balance is off.'"

"Okay, you're right," Lisa admitted. "But still..."

"Let her be your fan!"

"I'm not the Girl Who Lived!"

Lisa and Taylor fell silent and turned to Amy, who was slamming her fist on her malfunctioning tablet.

"Why is this thing made of iron?" Amy muttered. "I want an organic tablet!"

"So do it," Lisa advised. "It's not against the rules... as long as your tablet meets the curriculum requirements and passes Wormwarts' systems checks. Simply put, it must be able to connect to Wormwarts systems using standard protocols, have standard interfaces, display textbooks and contain the programs needed for lessons and homework, and function 24/7."

"Where is it simple?!" Amy cried out. "Who explains it like that?!"

"It's actually quite simple," Lisa assured her. "By combining our efforts, we could easily make a tablet like that, and it could be as red as your hair."

Amy snorted in displeasure.

"Well, or brown, to match the color of the eyes."

The snoring intensified.

"Or you can recolor it as you wish, it'll be organic! So warm, soft, and gentle, imagine holding it in your lap, and it will feed off your warmth, like a kitten with a processor." Lisa's voice became soft, ingratiating, lulling. "All you need is a little help with the development, to relieve the pain..."

"No!!!" Amy came out of her trance, jumped up, and immediately fell, tripping over the leg of a chair.

"Aha," Lisa clasped her hands and rested her chin on them, "that's what I thought. So that's what it is after all."

"In what?" Taylor asked automatically, checking her surroundings at the same time.

No, no one was eavesdropping, no one cared about the three second-years girls sitting off to the side. Professor Lockhart, passing by, smiled at Taylor, and she smiled back, even about to wave, but caught herself in time.

"Jack Quirrell's words have deeply resonated not only with you, Taylor," Lisa explained, "but with Amy as well. Now she feels like if she keeps fixing our heads, she'll follow the path Jack laid out for her and become a super-mega-ultra-hyper-duper-puper-villain!"

"This is no joke!" Amy snapped angrily.

The blood rushed to her face again, but if it usually looked funny, now it was menacing and frightening. The only thing missing was her hair standing on end, but instead a drawn-out groan escaped Amy's lips.

"Kiiiiiil!l"

"What?" Taylor jumped up.

"What what?" Lisa and Amy turned to her, puzzled.

"You said, "Kill!""

"I didn't say anything!" Amy protested.

Lisa nodded, as if to say, yes, nothing of the sort had been said, and Taylor was at a loss.

"But I clearly heard - "kill!""

She glanced around, simultaneously rechecking the three-dimensional image around her, transmitted by the insects' senses. No, no one could have said such a thing without attracting attention, and the students around her were acting as if nothing had happened.

"That's not a good sign," Lisa chewed her lips, keeping her gaze on Taylor.

//She heard "kill," and she's sure the word was spoken out loud. She knows no one around her said it, and she's sure one of us said it. She trusts us, considers us best friends, and is certain one of us said it. She's confused, trying to come up with an explanation.

Lisa sighed and looked at Amy.

//She didn't say anything, suspects Taylor, considering Taylor her best friend. She's worried about her best friend, Taylor suspects, suspects that the Dark Cape is slowly taking hold of her. She's worried about her best friend; her concern is justified, she knows something. She knows something; the knowledge is connected to the Dark Cape, the knowledge is connected to Amy's power.

Lisa sighed again and rubbed her temples.

"The faulty technology didn't show up again, did it? Didn't try to harm you?"

"No," Taylor replied. "Except for Amy's malfunctioning tablet."

Lisa merely waved it off. Amy's malfunctioning tablet wasn't causing any particular harm, other than occasionally messing up the schedule, swapping cards, and once crowing during Lockhart's lesson, but the professor didn't even punish her, merely having a chat with Amy and then letting her go. Lisa, as part of her Secretly Cunning Plan "The Grail," tried to slip pictures of a wounded Taylor, her head smashed in after a battle with the Dark Cape, into Amy's tablet (a fake, but made by Thinker!), but the tablet electrocuted her.

"Do you think this is a continuation of that story?" Taylor asked worriedly.

“I wouldn’t want that,” Lisa answered thoughtfully, “because that would mean that Wormwarts’ systems are also affected.”

"Can you check them?"

Lisa shrugged and pulled out her tablet. Last year's backdoors and embedded scripts were still active... hmm, a third of them, okay, that should be enough for work. Quickly ordering the installation of a huge screen with a pay-per-view connection in Eidolorin's living room (a false trail and, at the same time, a way to verify some suspicions), Lisa pulled up a map of Wormwarts and the surrounding area on the tablet screen. Using finger gestures and commands, she quickly checked the information from the sensors and cameras around her, completely immersed in her work, oblivious to the goings-on around her.

With a pop, Mrs. Norris jumped out of nowhere, and Amy, already tense beyond belief, could not bear it any longer and let out a shriek that was loud enough for all of Wormwarts to hear.

"I hope you die, you creature!!"

The huge cat immediately turned around, screamed, and opened its mouth wide.

"Trespasser!" and Amy felt herself being knocked off her feet.

She rolled head over heels, hit the wall, and hung there, upside down, upside down, in an awkward position, watching as Taylor, with a baton and a spray can drawn, with a funnel of insects over his head, tried to drive away Filch's cat.

"You won't pass!" Taylor screamed, not letting the cat get close to Lisa.

She, finally snapping out of her "Thinker stupor," quickly hid the tablet somewhere and jumped to the side, but she was too late. Tagg Filch, emerging from around the corner, grabbed Granger's arm and reached into her uniform.

"Pervert!" Lisa shouted, and the assembled students supported her with applause and whistles.

However, no one moved. Mrs. Norris, having knocked Taylor down with her tail, pinned her to the floor with her paw, and extended her claws as if about to tear her apart.

"Insults deserve punishment!" Filch croaked, pulling out his clipboard. "I confiscate this evidence and proof of the crime committed! Minus fifty points from Herofindor! Three weeks of detention, Miss Granger! And also..."

"Enough," Hannah McGonagall's calm voice interrupted him.

Amy rolled over and stood up. Hannah stood in the middle of the hallway, in her usual camouflage, glaring down at Lisa and Taylor. She cast a disgruntled glance in Amy's direction, but said nothing, turning back to Filch.

"Potter, Granger, and Weasley — one week of detention each, for a total of three weeks. After that, and any disciplinary action to be administered by Headmшыекуыы Dumbledore, you, Miss Granger, will receive your tablet back."

She turned and looked at those gathered around, the knife in her hands turned into a machine gun, and the students, catching the hint, began to disperse quickly.

"Are you dissatisfied with something, Miss Weasley?" McGonagall turned to her.

“No,” Amy replied, hanging her head.

"Then follow Mr. Filch; he will give you detention."

Sighing and cursing everything under the sun, Amy followed after Filch and her friends.

*
October 31, 2022, Wormwarts

Taylor, Lisa, and Amy, clinging to each other, staggering and nearly collapsing from exhaustion, trudged toward Herofindor's tower. They didn't have the strength to curse Filch, so they loudly and unanimously kept silent about what a bastard, a jerk, and a lustful scoundrel he was, who had ogled them from every angle, even though Tagg had specifically selected the most hateful jobs for them, especially those that required constant awkward positions. Amy, for example, had to clean, lubricate, and perform other preventative maintenance on Mrs. Norris.

"It seems we've come to the wrong place," Lisa said, looking around. "Or is Wormwarts messing with us?"

Amy's tablet was glitching, and Lisa's hadn't been returned yet, so Taylor reached for hers. Quickly and routinely, she called up a map of Wormwarts, commanding it to show her current location.

The map displayed on Taylor's tablet screen began to ripple and change into a face.

\\"Don't go anywhere!"

"Let's get out of here!" Taylor croaked, speeding up with all her might and dragging her friends along with her.

They turned the corner, and something flashed ahead, thundering throughout the school. One of the school elves flew past, wafting the girls with the smell of burning plastic and electronics, spinning, crashed into the wall, and slid down, freezing.

“It can’t be,” Lisa asked in a strangled voice, pointing forward.

In the middle of the corridor, in a huge puddle, sparking and emitting electricity, lay Mrs. Norris, torn in half. They had parted ways with her ten minutes earlier, at the end of the detention. Next to her, face down, lay Tagg Filch, a pool of blood flowing from beneath him. The screens around him were smoking, pipes and cables were sticking out of a hole in the wall, and flashes and flares of light were flickering.

"He's still alive!" Amy exclaimed, quickly sitting down next to him and touching Filch's neck with her hand.

"They killed them!!!" A piercing scream came from the opposite side of the corridor.

Taylor, standing next to Mrs. Norris's half, was shocked to see that at least half the school was standing there, all looking at her.
*

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