Chapter 229

I took another look at the drawn circuit and pointed the finger at one of the circular rune patterns.

"This one doesn't fit. It'll overload the material and break it. It will be a big bang."

"Very?"

"Well, like a firecracker."

"Real disaster," Hermione smirked, burying her hand in my hair.

"Well, imagine a diamond the size of your fist exploded. A disaster?"

"I would say a financial collapse."

"Exactly."

So we reasoned about the circuit for a few minutes until another egg howl came from the men's wing. This time, though, it was a little farther away. Dean and Seamus headed toward us.

"Guys," Seamus spoke up, ruffling his hair. "Max. You're a champion too. Have you solved this damn clue"

"Yes."

"Can you tell Harry, please? I can't take it anymore."

"I did."

"And him?"

"Can't you hear it?"

"Shit..."

Dean, standing next to him, grunted.

"I'm not even glad Potter is the champion anymore. It's just... It's all kind of ambiguous."

Hermione looked at the boys.

"It's just those two..."

"Who?"

"Ron and Harry. They decided that Max wanted Harry to break an egg."

"Do you want?" Seamus looked at me with a smile.

"I do now."

"Hmm..." Dean looked somewhere in the ceiling, where the twins finally began to deflate. "Is it even possible to break it?"

"Anything can be broken if you want."

Deflated and descended from the ceiling, the twins ran in pursuit of Lee Jordan, whistling and hooting, threatening him with the same unforgettable adventure. The guy ran around the common room laughing, hiding behind other students, who jumped to the sides in horror.

"Looks like it's time to go for cover," Seamus nodded to himself, and he and Dean left.

"Max, what about us?"

"We'll make it easier."

Taking out my wand again, I conjured a solid sphere of Protego Totalum around us. Holding the shield, I continued to analyze the circuit.

"We'll have to rework this chain."

"But it's got most of the circuitry tied to it, Max. That's a lot of work."

"Yeah..."

<I analyzed it in passing. Replace a couple of runes in the circle, and the scheme stays stable. True, it is still ineffective, but already something.>

Taking Rowena's advice, I showed the changes, and Hermione completely immersed herself in the calculations, continuing to stroke my head. Well, Dumbledore's mission is partially accomplished, I gave a clue. I'm not going to forcefully throw Potter into the water, throwing an egg after him.

***

What does a wizard do when he doesn't know what to do? That's right, he doing all sorts of nonsense. Hermione and I prepared for absolutely any unexpected event, made a first-aid kit with potions that can be summoned following Potter's example, took into account the changes in spells in the underwater environment, calculated literally everything. But here's the trouble - there was extra time left. Only a day, it would seem, but every minute of the twenty-third of February stretched too long. I was anxious. She was waiting. About three dozen times, I put the Stasis spell on the girl to get her used to the sensation of a sudden and abrupt awakening in an unknown environment. It seemed to help, and after the last awakenings, she no longer jumped up like a stung and didn't start frantically looking around for a couple of seconds.

But the waiting and idleness... They led me to create another project of an unknown creature into which I could transfigure myself. With all my resources engaged, I was calculating the new form with unimaginable speed - unknown metal-organic crap with a tail and tentacles. The shape was chosen to be elongated and flattened, like a shark, and even the tail fins in a vertical position - it was more convenient for me. Perhaps it was the experience of the basilisk's soul to move in just such a plane. There were eight tentacles, and they grew from the head part of this body, posing a serious threat to all living things because they looked more like sharp ribbons - just enough to cut in the water with great speed. A huge number of different magical circuits were etched into the body itself, which I could activate at will. Rowena convinced me that, as an artificial intelligence, she would be able to adequately control all this stuff without much effort or the need to learn and adapt. Actually, I hadn't planned to use such complicated manipulations, but I needed something to occupy myself with, and other than that, nothing held my attention long enough.