I am Voldemort's friend

 Chapter Eighteen. Equal Among the First

Having suffered defeat with the puppet theatre, I decided to organise a carnival. Such a large-scale event could not be organised by the faculty alone, so I had to turn to the dean.

A handsome young man with a clear admixture of sid blood strode around the office, mechanically controlling the space and constantly holding his hands either on the case with the wand or on a short goblin-made sword.

 "Tell me again, why do you need this... carnival? And don't tell me it's to help schoolchildren and save them from boredom.

I sigh and "give up"...

 "It's not entirely selfless... let them get used to looking up to me... Dean Malfoy, sir.

Aver snorted slightly and muttered something like:

 "I'm sure that's not the only reason... All right! – the dean announced in a loud voice, " I accept your programme. Leave it here, I'll look at it in the evening, then I'll come to you in a few days with questions if anything is unclear. And then it's off to Dippet for approval. But keep it quiet for now, it's an interesting idea. Someone might steal it.

Now it was my turn to grunt — naturally, I wasn't interested in spreading the information around just yet. 

After saying goodbye to the dean, I went to training — after becoming an Animagus... a normal Animagus... fencing and hand-to-hand combat became much easier. Frederick Goyle, who taught our electives, just smiled slightly when he saw how quickly we had progressed after the winter holidays. He smiled and said nothing; for a pure-blood wizard, having at least one Animagus form was almost mandatory. True, most of the aristocracy acquired one after leaving school, or at least in their senior years. 

Could he have hidden it? Yes, but he had plans for the House of Goyle — the House was closely related to the Malfoys by vassalage, but unlike the latter, it had not signed the Capitulation at the time. So the Goylows and the Crabbe family had room to manoeuvre, and through them, it was possible to approach the Malfoys, the Blacks, and other Ancient and Most Noble families. 

I was afraid to approach them directly — who knows, maybe the Capitulation included such provisions... Paranoid, yes... But this way, "through third parties," with hints... Magical agreements can be circumvented. In some places.

After the holidays, it was time to check Tom's "homework." Not that I suspected him of laziness... but the boy surely needed confirmation of our alliance. And, of course, there could be some unclear points in the study materials.

After dinner, the Gryffindors, at my mental prompt, started shooting paper through straws — an ancient game popular among kids. I scan the castle... Dippet isn't at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has been away on business for two weeks (where, by the way?), and the rest are much worse at mentalism than I am. So... I catch the eye of Zachary Lovett, a second-year Gryffindor, and a few seconds later, the boy brings other houses into the game. The teachers at the table react quite good-naturedly — dinner is over, classes are over... so let them fool around. In general, students are given more freedom at this time of day.

"Another piece of paper was stuck to Tom's neck. The annoyed Slytherin tried to brush it off with his palm, but the slobbery paper stuck to his hand and smeared. An ink mark reading "7, 8 left" remained on his palm, and the boy looked over at his ally. Robert did not look in his direction, but made a confirming gesture with his hand. 

It wasn't hard to guess that he was suggesting they meet up. Nor was it hard to guess where. What could it be — seventh floor, eighth room on the left. That's exactly where it was, and even though Gont practically ran there, Tally met him in the room, sitting on the windowsill with a half-smoked pipe. An incomprehensible hand gesture... another piece of non-verbal communication...

 "If there are surveillance cameras, they'll show that you're straining in the toilet," explained his ally, " don't make a face, it's just a fact of life. Now answer me — do you understand what book I gave you and why?

 "Yes! Thank you! I used to think that all these rituals... Well, like with Muggles — that is, they originally had some meaning, but it was more like etiquette and stuff... But here — there's so much interesting stuff, and in such detail! I liked most of all that there are many everyday rituals that require almost no effort but give a lot in return.

 "That's right. You just need to get into the habit of doing them, like brushing your teeth, washing your face and washing your hands. 

 "Yes! Will you check?

 "I will, I need to know if you understood it completely.

Robert coached the boy... professionally, like an experienced teacher. And the "difficult parts" that could at least theoretically be unclear were covered especially thoroughly.

 "Well," the raven-haired man said thoughtfully, "you've mastered the material. What about everyday spells?

 "Yes! Show me! 

 "No need, I believe you. Now that you've mastered that, let's move on to non-verbal and wandless spells. Here, by the way, is a set of wands that are unsuitable for you. Practise with them.

 "I'd like something more helpful," Tom said wistfully.

 "Hmm. I understand," Tally fiddled with the windowsill and puffed on his pipe several times, Tom waited patiently, "I understand, but I don't approve. Do you think purebloods learn powerful spells from childhood? You don't have enough power for powerful spells — maybe a couple of family spells, something on the verge of the Dark Arts, for self-reassurance. At our age, the main thing is control, knowledge, developing your power, and the rituals necessary for growth. You can learn some Hellfire or Patronus in a week or two, but you'll risk collapsing from exhaustion. 

 "I know, it's just... it's unfair. They're there... ah... 

 "Don't bother. 'They're there' are just showing off, trust a pureblood. Runes, arifmantics, numerology, some artefactics and rituals — yes, I believe you. I could pass the SOVs on them myself. And spells or transfiguration... Well, I can do that too... And you could too, actually, there's nothing really complicated about it — you could brush up your knowledge to the required level in a couple of months. But is it necessary to show off your abilities BEFORE TIME? Right now, yes, it's a shame. But believe me, your ability to hide your Powers and knowledge will impress the aristocrats much more LATER than if you showed your true abilities NOW.

 "And you... are you hiding too?" Riddle leaned forward.

 "Pff... like half of the purebloods. And even those who don't seem to be hiding anything... I don't believe them, they're definitely hiding something.

 "Well, yes, it makes sense," thought the Slytherin, " if enemies... or potential enemies don't know what to expect from me... Like trump cards, right?

 "Yes. Okay, let's check the Occlumency.

 "How? If I'm not capable of it now?

 "I'll turn it off the same way I turned off mentalism," Robert shrugged.

Tom eagerly agreed, and... it was unpleasant.

 "Ooh," he sat there, holding his head for half an hour, his defences already restored, "it feels like my brain is going to throw up!

Teacher... yes, teacher, even if they were the same age... looked sympathetically, not trying to help. However, Tom already knew that the test method was unpleasant, but it allowed him to "feel" the defence without entering his thoughts. There were no secrets... but puberty had arrived and a good half of his thoughts were occupied with... indecent things. And it would have been fine if it had only been girls, but even the elderly sweet shopkeeper in Hogsmeade and... Never mind.

I chased Tom away, loaded him up with new tasks and sent him off, a happy boy. Happy because he had passed a difficult test with flying colours and, what's more, had done so before the deadline. It was also important that I had confirmed my alliance with deeds.

Well, every little bit helps... Returning to the living room, I took out the Muggle newspaper with the stock market reports that the school owl had brought. What's more, it was an American Muggle newspaper.

 "Um... why?" Myron Lee couldn't help asking.

 "Analytics," I shrugged, exaggerating my confusion a little, as if to say, "Not the smartest question..."

 "Analysis, I understand, but Muggle? Myron persisted.

I sighed (to show I was busy) in such a way that it was clear that a lesson was about to follow and Myron Lee would owe me for it.

 "The Muggle world is more closely intertwined with the magical world than it seems at first glance," I begin my lecture, which is listened to by nearly three dozen "Crows," "Muggle simpletons may not depend on magicians, but their rulers do. I doubt that any of you are unaware that magicians cooperate with them..."

The expression "I always knew that" appeared on most of the faces of those present. It was somewhat exaggerated, and it became clear to me that few had thought about it.

 "They cooperate," I repeated, "how closely, I cannot say, you understand. 

 "Then why don't we control the Muggles?" Ernie Smith piped up.

 "Hmm... good question. First of all, they have enough counterweights to our control — the Inquisition and other orders. We could crush them, but then there's a second factor: each Clan plays its own Game, and there's no unity between us. 

Everyone nodded thoughtfully — this was nothing new.

 "I see," Ernie says, "so the Muggles are able to... manoeuvre? And the Inquisition...

 "Exactly.

 "What about the analysis of Muggle newspapers?

 "If you KNOW where to look and what to read... A scrap of information from the magical world, a scrap from the Muggle world — and I have a more or less clear picture of Reality.

 "Powerful," says Myron with a clear hint of respect, showing his surrender, "and you can probably make money from it?

 "Not without it," I reply with a slight, carefully measured smugness, "here, from open information, I can tell you: the USA** is actively trading in weapons and will definitely get involved in the war as soon as the sides start to run out of steam. Accordingly, it is now profitable to buy shares in military companies. And not only military companies, but also tobacco companies — the tobacco lobby is actively pushing its products on the army and has already succeeded, one might say. And then there's the production of medicines, for example. 

 "That's right," confirmed our head boy Jacob Geller, " my family is also playing the stock market now. You can lose a lot if you make a mistake, but you can also win a lot. Do you play yourself? – he asked me.

 "Yes. I'm trying to gain experience.

 "It's useful, it teaches you to think.

From that day on, after testing my knowledge of analytics and stock market trading, I was finally included in the list of leaders, and even the senior students treated me as their equal. It's true that if a person manages to study ahead of the programme and at the same time successfully plays the stock market, even in their third year... Even if I didn't deliberately shine in charms and transfiguration, the smart ones understood perfectly well what I was worth in reality.

And the carnival was banned without explanation.

An elderly sweet seller in Hogsmeade*" Don't frown and label Tom a pervert. At 12-14 years old, thoughts about sex can arise even at the sight of a car muffler, and this is not a joke or a pathology. At that age (at least for boys), a "boner" is practically guaranteed around the clock, and accordingly, all thoughts revolve around "that." Hence, incidentally, the article "For seduction of minors" in the criminal code; at a certain age, it really is seduction. Boys and girls can solve maths problems and still be defenceless against seducers — they haven't developed "immunity." Moreover, sexual deviations are laid down in childhood and adolescence, so that a completely normal teenager can be turned into a convinced homosexual. In general, childhood and adolescence are a "wonderful time," but also a rather dangerous one.

SAS**" The United States of North America – this was the original name of the USA. Those who wish to correct me that by the time described, the USA was already known by its modern name can "go take a hike." The name of a state is of great importance — for example, if a state recognises the SAS as the USA, it automatically recognises their primacy over the entire North American continent, which entails a lot of interesting things. So, for a long time, some states even wrote SAS in official documents (or at least in some documents) instead of USA.

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