January 25th, 1992

Harry stared at the floor of the club room where a circular symbol had been drawn with chalk. On top of the circular was a seven-pointed star. With that, there were symbols also written all over the spaces of the two symbols truly selling the look of some satanic looking Ritual drawing. At each corner of the star was the heart of a pixie. Though that also sounded rather dark, they were commonly used in potion ingredients so acquiring was both very legal and extremely cheap.

"Harry… Is this a good idea?" Hermione asked from off to the side of the room. Where she stood with both Neville and Ron.

"Define 'good idea' please?" Harry asked absentmindedly as he flipped through his journal to double check everything.

"An idea that does not pose a threat to the person executing it or anyone else." Hermione shot back almost instantly.

"Then… probably? If all this goes to plan, then there should be no issues."

"Harry… I hate to have to be the voice of reason but Rituals are notoriously finnicky and tend to never work as designed." Neville pointed out looking slightly concerned. Harry nodded in agreement without even thinking about it.

"Very true. That's why I'm using the Runes to help better define the Rituals limits. I'm hoping with the additions I have added, even if something goes wrong, the unintended consequences will be negligible." Harry muttered just loud enough for his friends to hear him.

Harry was actually rather confident about this. He had been studying Perenelle's journal intensely for the last month both while he was awake and when he was asleep. He had read and reread it multiple times. He could see why Rituals went wrong so often. They were almost similar to potions but… less defined. Like if someone told you about a food you had never seen before and then you tried to recreate it perfectly just from that description without even being told the ingredients inside. You had an idea of what the end result should be but there were factors you didn't even know about.

To help with this, Harry had combined the use of Runes with the Rituals. Runes were almost like the opposite of a Ritual since they worked almost like a mathematical formula. If you messed up, it simply meant you missed something within the formula, but it all made sense, and it was much easier to figure out what it was you did incorrectly.

He was hoping by combining the two, he could add some stability into the Ritual to better increase the chance of what he wanted to achieve. He had spoken with Albus about it and the man said it was at least worth a shot. He did however, make sure to place extra protections around the clubroom to make sure that if something did happen, the rest of the school would not be affected. Actually, as soon as the Ritual started, Harry and his friends were supposed to leave the room until its completion.

"All right, I think I have it all down. Now, it's time to get this started. All of you should leave." Harry told them. Ron left immediately not looking too concerned while Hermione and Neville seemed to do so more reluctantly. That being said, none of them argued and soon they were all outside of the room. Harry watched them before looking at the symbol on the floor. He went to his desk and picked up a small box covered by a cloth. He pulled the cloth of to reveal a small cage with a brown rat in the middle.

He looked at the rat that Dumbledore had given to him for this test. Unfortunately, this Ritual was meant for living beings so there was no way getting around the risk to a creature. As a small mercy they had altered the rat so it wouldn't feel pain in case something went wrong and it didn't make it. He sent a small prayer before putting the cage in the middle of the two symbols and stepping back.

Most Rituals were broken up into separate parts that required the creator to be present the entire time it was happening. Hopefully, the Runes would make that unnecessary as they guided the Ritual into its different stages without the need of a person. Harry took a deep breath and raised his wand.

"Inceptio" He cast over the Ritual. There was no visual light that came out of the wand but Harry could feel the difference in the room as he felt the magic seep into the Ritual and begin to move. With that confirmation, he immediately turned around and left the room to join his friends. He stepped out the door and closed it behind him as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well?" Ron asked

"It didn't immediately blow up in my face." Was all he said in response.

"That's as good as sign as any." Neville grumbled.

"How long do we need to wait out here." Hermione asked.

"Well, the Ritual should only take a couple minutes to complete so… I'd say five minutes." Harry said back.

"I wonder…"

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Lord Scarhead himself." Draco said coming up flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as usual looking at Harry and his friends with a superior sneer on his face. Harry leaned up against the door which they couldn't see and crossed his arms as he gave the platinum blonde a bored look.

"Draco…" He greeted maintaining his aura of boredom. Hermione immediately tensed up as the three approached and Neville and Ron were openly glaring at the three.

"What are you doing out here Potter? Done with hiding every chance you get from the rest of the school?" Draco mocked looking at him. Harry just rose an eyebrow at that. Did the school think he was constantly hiding from all of them? Hmm, not really surprising considering how little he interacted with others even in his own house. He also spent almost all of his time in the clubroom when he was outside of class, and it was guarded heavily with several wards, especially recently.

"Just hanging around with my friends. What about you? Rather strange to see you coming down an empty corridor at this time." Harry commented as he looked between the three boys. Draco glared at him.

"We're going to a class for your information. Not that you would know anything about that. Everyone knows you complained to Dumbledore to get out of Professor Snape's class." Draco sneered once more. Harry shrugged. He sort of did that, even if it wasn't exactly what happened.

"The man shouldn't have tried to attack me if he wanted me to attend his class. Well, you wouldn't want to be late for your class. You best be on your way." He pushed trying to get the boy to take the hint. Draco frowned at that.

"This isn't over Potter!"

"What isn't over?" He asked back confused.

"This argument!"

"What argument? We didn't argue over anything." Harry said back giving the boy a queer look. Draco started to fumble over his words looking confused and seemed to be mentally going over their conversation in his head.

"Just get lost Malfoy. In case you haven't figured it out, were not in the mood to deal with you." Ron finally snapped. Harry let out a sigh of annoyance at his friend. And they were so close to resolving this peacefully.

"What did you say you little Weasel?" Draco demanded drawing his wand and pointing it at Ron. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Draco." Harry called out getting the boys attention. Immediately he looked him in the eye and cast Miran Taz on the boy. He knew he didn't have mental shields so there was no issue with the more basic form being used.

Immediately, Draco went silent and his face went slack. Both Crabbe and Goyle who had been looking to get ready to fight looked at their leader in confusion. Harry then cast the same illusion on them as well and suddenly they seemed to become slack like Draco. A moment later and all three of them started to run away down the hall looking upset and yelling that they would get even. Neville, Ron, and Hermione just looked extremely confused.

"What just happened?" Neville asked.

"I cast an illusion on all three of them. As far as they are concerned, we just drew our wands, cast some spells on them and they had to run away. In reality, none of that happened though which means if a Professor questions us, we can truthfully say we did nothing." Harry admitted.

Harry had briefly spoken to them about his illusions after the Troll incident and it had only been brought up once since then, mainly because Harry told them he didn't wish to speak about it. He didn't want to have his abilities to get out.

"Your illusions sound very useful. I've been thinking about them a lot. I didn't see you even use your wand." Hermione observed. Harry winced at that. They definitely didn't know he could use spells without a verbal component or a wand.

"Yes well… I don't need to cast illusions the same way I cast normal spells. I don't have to speak or use a wand if I don't want to, though, there are advantages in doing so. I can make them stronger and cast them quicker with a wand." Harry answered easily. He supposed they deserved to know some of his true skills. After the months he had known them, he trusted them to keep it secret.

"Wandless and wordless… That's extremely advanced Harry. Wordless isn't even taught until sixth year. How did you manage it?" Hermione questioned trying to keep her voice down besides how excited she was by his words. Harry sighed.

"Alright look, I can tell you guys but you cannot tell this to anyone. The only others who know are Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall. No one else may know. Don't talk about it around others unless you're sure you're alone or have means to prevent others from listening." Harry told them seriously. All three of them nodded as they leaned in.

"So… I've been able to perform magic since I was eight." Harry finally admitted. All three of his friends gasped at that.

"Wait, so Professor Dumbledore actually did give you some training before you came to Hogwarts? Isn't that illegal?" Hermione asked.

"It can be depending on what exactly he taught him. Though, it is Dumbledore, he could probably get some sort of exception made." Neville explained.

"Dumbledore never taught me before Hogwarts, at least, not directly. I didn't even meet him until nearly a year ago. I had run away from my relatives due to certain circumstances and he came to find me." Harry corrected.

"Wait, you didn't always live at Potter Manor?" Neville asked.

"No, I moved there only after Dumbledore found me due to my relatives no longer being a viable place to live. He allows me to live on my own for the most part though he or Professor McGonagall will come to check on me or give me supplies once a week."

"Woah, your family must've been terrible." Ron finally chimed in looking surprised.

"They were terrible people. There's no other way to put it." Harry said back easily. He was over the Dursleys at this point and he would not allow their memory to hold any weight on his conscious.

"So, wait, if Dumbledore didn't teach you magic, who did?" Hermione finally asked. Harry frowned at the question as he looked up in thought. He wasn't yet comfortable with telling them about Ciri.

"Well, I'm sorry but I'm not yet comfortable disclosing everything. I can say I was given advice about it by someone and sort of just figured it out from there. The first subject for my study was illusions which I am now extremely proficient at. Illusions as a sole focus has all but completely died out in the magical world. Most illusionary effects are tied in with other spells, usually as some form of protection. I have created several illusion spells ranging in purpose and strength." Harry explained. Hermione looked extremely interested as he spoke while Neville and Ron looked like they were just trying to keep up.

"That's insanely impressive. Can you teach it to others?" Hermione asked.

"Well… Theoretically, I suppose. I have spell words and everything and no wand movement are necessary for the spells so it shouldn't be too hard. That being said, I created the spells myself so I have no actual idea how they would work for others. But… if you guys are interested, I guess I could try." Harry told them slowly as he considered it.

"I'd love to see if you can. Can you tell me which spell you used on Draco?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it sounds dead useful since he just ran away. I'd love to try it out too." Ron said seemingly excited. Neville nodded in agreement with Ron.

"Ah, that was a spell called Miran Taz. It's a complex illusion spell placed directly on a target that places them in illusionary environment that only they see and experience. In Draco's case, I made an illusion where he thought we fought him and he lost so when he exited the illusion he would run away. It's the simplest and base spell of my Miran Taz line." Harry explained.

"Wow! How long does it last?" Hermione pressed.

"At this point, I can keep it going indefinitely if I want. Though I don't usually bother."

"You mentioned it was a complex illusion. Does that mean there are simple ones?" Neville asked. Harry frowned at that.

"Not 'Simple' but… There are two types of illusions; there's static illusions which I guess could be considered simple. And then there's complex. Static is a simple illusion you place on an environment usually that really only effects one sense. The sense is usually sight and the illusion doesn't change much. The most complicated you can have it is where the illusion goes through sort of a predetermined change over time but that's really it. Complex illusions are placed on a target and can alter almost all of the senses either individually or all together."

"Wait, it can alter all senses?"

"Yes, complex illusions target the mind which is in charge of processing the input of all the bodies senses. I basically trick the brain to think those inputs are going off in accordance with the illusion." Harry explained.

"Amazing…"

"Sounds extremely powerful. I wonder how it interacts with those who know Occlumency." Neville pondered.

"I use a more powerful variant for those with Occlumency shields which is Uru Miran Taz. It can get past the average shielded mind but more advanced users or even masters have a higher chance to break through it. I practice Occlumency myself." Harry replied to Neville's question.

"They can even get past a protection. They must really be powerful." Neville commented looking shocked.

"Well… Yes and no. The effect is the same with either spell, one just takes more power to get around the shield. I figured a way to partially get around mental barriers. That being said, it takes longer, which makes it hard to utilize in battle. I stick with most of the basics. Even if they can be seen through and broken it still takes a moment for the user to throw off the attempt meaning I can use that to create openings. Static illusions actually work rather well in such cases because they're not cast directly on a person. They can't be shaken off then, they have to be dispelled by interacting with them." Harry further explained.

"That's what you did with the troll! All those different versions of you were just a static illusion. That's why they continued around and didn't react to what the troll was doing. They were just doing predetermined actions on repeat." Hermione announced looking quite pleased with her deduction.

"10 points to Ravenclaw Ms. Granger." Harry said with a smile.

"What's your most powerful illusion?" Ron asked with excitement.

"Hmmm, well that depends. So, for illusions, I have custom made illusions that I haven't made into spells and then I have the ones I have done so with which I use more commonly. The most powerful illusion I have ever made was a custom made one, though, I can't go into the details for security reasons. My most powerful illusion spell is Uru Priz Mena which I just actually finished last week. It traps whoever is caught in it in an inescapable prison of the caster's choice. It then uses the own persons magic to keep the illusion fueled making it self-sustaining as long as the target is alive." Harry explained. Hermione's jaw dropped, Ron's eyes lit up in shock, and Neville looked even more impressed.

"How did you manage that. That part where one's own magic is used against them?" Neville asked.

"Actually, I got the idea from a book I got this Christmas that is basically an encyclopedia of Hexes and Curses that have been used throughout History. It comes from what is present day Germany when it was just a bunch of separate states. The original curse kills the target by tricking the target into thinking their body is a harmful foreign entity causing their magic to kill it like a virus. It's been banned for like 200 or so years." Harry mentioned thinking back to said spell. It wasn't even the darkest spell he encountered in said book. Wizards were messed up.

"That's awful." Hermione said with a scrunched-up face as if she just smelt something bad.

"Agreed, still. I asked Dumbledore on how I could mimic the magic turning on the user ability and that alone and he gave me the rundown of the mechanics of it and then even offered to let me practice on him."

"He did? That's nice of him." Hermione said sounding surprised.

"Well it makes sense. Dumbledore is widely considered the most powerful wizard on the planet as well as a master at Occlumency. If anyone could handle the spell, it would be him. Could it keep him under Harry?" Neville asked.

"For a bit yes. It took him around thirty minutes to break out from it, though, Dumbledore said it felt like it took longer for him. I believe that time works differently in the prison then it does when one is fully conscious." Harry mentioned.

"Man, being able to have Dumbledore fully at your mercy for thirty minutes. I bet the Dark Lord would kill for that ability."

"True, still, it takes almost two minutes just to cast. Even with a wand, I can only halve that time. It's not something that can be really used in combat at the moment. Of course, bad guys do seem to like to monologue so maybe it can be." Harry smirked and then frowned as he thought back to his encounter with Quirrell/Voldemort.

"Does practicing help?"

"Of course, the more I practice and get my magic use to shaping the spell out, the faster I can do it. I can cast Miran Taz instantly at this point and most of it's variants down in less than thirty seconds even without a wand."

"Have you made any other spells besides illusions?" Ron asked.

"A few yes though illusions are my favorite to work with. I wish to be a Master Illusionist." Harry stated proudly.

"If no one else uses illusions anymore, how will you know when you reach master level?" Hermione asked.

"Simple, Master Illusionist are rare but an ability that distinguishes them is the capability of making an illusion so powerful that it actually supplants reality with the illusion. To some level, the illusion actually exists and is then part of reality, even if it is only its own." Harry explained. He still had a long way to go before he could do something like that but he would manage it one day, he was sure of it.

"Being able to overwrite reality… Man, it sounds so powerful." Ron said almost drooling.

"It is. I can't wait to be at that level… Illusions come rather easily to me which is why it's the one subject I have been able to power through even without any source text or a teacher." Harry stated proudly.

"Damn Harry, you know it's okay to not be good at EVERYTHING right?" Ron teased.

"I have a lot of things I want to accomplish and it unfortunately requires me to branch out into several subjects. If that weren't the case, I think I'd be more than fine settling on one. I still haven't even learned any healing magic. I planned to do that literally years ago."

"Oh, woe is you." Neville said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah… Well, it's definitely been more than five minutes. Guess we should go inside and hope for the best." Harry said as he looked at the door.

"Okay… You go first Harry." Ron said pushing him forward slightly. He fully turned around so he could look the boy dead in the eyes with a blank expression on his face. Ron just chuckled nervously in response to that. Harry rolled his eyes and turned back around. He took a deep breath before grabbing the door handle and pulling it open.

He slowly entered the room and looked around. He breathed a sigh of relief when he immediately saw that there weren't any major changes to it.

"Well, everything looks alright. The magic has definitely died down showing the Ritual has been completed." Harry said noticing the magic levels in the room had come back down to normal levels. He walked forward and over to the small cage in the middle of where the Ritual had taken place.

"Huh… The room hasn't been completely destroyed. That means there's a fifty percent chance that the Ritual did absolutely nothing." Neville said from behind him.

"Don't criticize my Rituals please." Harry shot back at him as he lifted the cage and looked inside. The rat was still moving and seemed to be alive. He looked down at the floor and noticed that the Pixie Hearts which had been placed at each corner of the star were gone. He hadn't considered they would disappear in the Ritual, he just assumed they would be sucked dry of their remaining magic. He immediately started to his designated desk and pulled out his notebook.

His first note was to make mention of the fact that the Pixie Hearts would be fully consumed by the Ritual. It wasn't necessarily important but every detail should be written down. The second note was the apparent lack of destruction from the Ritual which was probably the best news. There was no physical damage to the room suggesting it wouldn't have been dangerous to a spectator so that was good.

The next thing to note was the rat itself. The brown creature looked visually the same which was good. It didn't somehow miraculously grow extra body parts. It also didn't seem to be exhibiting any strange behavior compared to before the Ritual. That was another good sign.

"So, what exactly were you trying to do with this, can you tell us now?" Hermione asked coming up next to him.

"I was trying to figure out a way to make a rat gain a magical core." Harry mumbled absentmindedly as he continued to observe the rat.

"…What?"

"I was trying to…"

"I heard you… Why were you trying to do that?"

"Curiosity. It theoretically should be possible and I had an idea on how. That being said, I wasn't sure why it hadn't been figured out yet. Though part of that might be the lack of magical sensitivity in this day and age. I wanted to confirm it though." Harry said not taking a break for a moment as he continued taking notes on the condition of the rat as well as the conditions of the two symbols as well as the Runes on the floor.

"I see… Well? What's the diagnosis?" Hermione asked curiously.

"A partial success from what I can tell which can be considered a great advancement towards my goal. First, I can conclude that the usage of Runes as a stabilizing agent in the Ritual worked as it should which tells me I should try to incorporate them more. Second, as of this moment, the rat does indeed have a magical core. Unfortunately, it isn't stable and is shrinking away slowly."

"Why?"

"I'm assuming because the rat is not generating its own magic to fill the core so as the magic placed inside the core from the Ritual slowly dwindles away the core slowly recedes back to it's normal size." Harry theorized. That's just what he thought was happening from his observation. It could be some other reason though he thought it unlikely.

"That doesn't sound like a success." Hermione pointed out.

"It is. It confirms I can indeed make a magical core I just need to find a way to stabilize it. After that… if I can do something similar to the body, I can literally make artificial magical beings, including perhaps, humans." Harry told her finally looking over.

"Are… Are you serious?" Neville asked looking like he had just been slapped in the face.

"Indeed. The soul portion is the hard part. I assume the body will be much easier to accomplish. I actually have an idea to keep the magical core stable already. If I can place several empowering Runes on the subject before the Ritual takes place, it should suck in the ambient magic in the air with no issue and use it to supplement the lack of magic the person is creating. With enough time, the soul should adjust and naturally begin to produce an amount matching to that of the magic being taken in." Harry explained.

"That sounds insane. You always seem to be thinking on a different level but I have to ask. Wouldn't it have been easier to work on the body first? I would assume the soul is harder to interact with then the magic in the body if you're to be believed."

"True, but as I said, I am less concerned with the body. If you can filter enough magic through the body for long enough it should just naturally adjust to handling having larger amounts of magic flowing through it." Harry finished explaining just as he finished adding the last of his notes to his journal.

"So… How long will it take you to complete this then, a few days?" Hermione asked.

"No, probably another month at least just to figure out how to stabilize the core."

"Huh? But I thought you said you already know how to do it." Ron pointed out as he looked over and reached his fingers in to touch the rat out of curiosity.

"I know the basics of how to do it. I still need to find the right Runes, the right way to organize them into an array, the right way to incorporate them into the already made Ritual. What changes I'll need to make to the Ritual to go with the runic changes… etc. The point is, with Rituals and Runes, there's not really such thing as a small change. I basically am going to have to restructure the entire Runic Ritual just to make it happen."

"Runic Ritual… Did you just make that up?" Neville asked with a smirk.

"Yea, did you like it?" Harry asked smiling back.

"Not bad; simple, descriptive, and rolls off the tongue." Neville listed with a shrug.

"Then there you go."

"This seems really impressive. You make it look so simple Harry; I just don't understand it." Hermione said with a shake of her head as she looked over the notes he had made.

"It's kind of unfair to put it that way. I mean, I'm standing on the shoulders of others who also had great minds and years to experiment. In doing so, I save a LOT of time that would normally be required just to experiment on what factors effect things in which ways. In essence, I just got really lucky." He explained. There was also the fact that he had already spent literally hundreds of hours working on this project merely because he worked close to six hours a day on it then an additional eight hours a night in his mindscape for the last three weeks. He almost had three hundred hours of just planning this one Ritual out. The execution was the easiest part.

"Can I study your notes?"

"Of course. This is a research club after all. There's no way I wouldn't encourage you learn and experiment yourself. In truth, I am surprised you haven't already. Even Ron believes he's about to attempt to try his first experiment with Alchemy." At his words, both Neville and Hermione turned to Ron with a look of surprised. The boy looked bashful at the sudden attention he was receiving.

"Yeah, well… I think I got the basics mostly done. You're tutoring in Arithmancy has really helped me out. Never thought I'd be decent at a subject like that." Ron chuckled.

"Man… If even Ron can do something, I guess I should figure something out myself." Neville said with a chuckle causing Ron to slug his fellow Gryffindor in the arm playfully.

"Did you have anything in mind?" Harry asked curiously.

Ever since they returned to school, Neville had literally improved by leaps and bounds in work. His best subjects were now Transfiguration, Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was now taught by a rotation of teachers including Professor Dumbledore. It would remain so for the rest of year from what Dumbledore told him.

Either way, the point was that Neville had been doing amazing with his new wand and the boy's confidence had shot up. People didn't treat him like he was useless anymore and the boy had already seemed to be feeling better about himself.

"I was thinking about doing some stuff with Herbology, maybe see if I can make new strains of different kind of plants. Would that be okay?" Neville asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I mean in relation to this room. It might take up a lot of space."

"Ah. Well it shouldn't be an issue. If we start running out of space, I can always get Professor Dumbledore to expand the room once again." Harry told him.

"Hmm, I kind of want to place a greenhouse in here if possible." Neville said as he looked over to his corner of the room which was actually near some windows.

"That shouldn't be hard. You can probably get Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore to transfigure it for you."

"Won't it not last then?" Hermione asked.

"Not forever, but you don' need it to, you just need it to last throughout the year and that's it. They can probably accomplish that." Harry explained

"True, I suppose that just leaves me…" Hermione didn't seem pleased.

"Indeed…"

"I think I want to try and become a Charm's Mistress but I want to have a solid base in Arithmancy before I start trying." Hermione told him.

"Aren't you at a fifth-year level?" Ron pointed out.

"Yes, but Harry is already almost done with the seventh-year material and he still sometimes has trouble using it for developmental purposes."

"That's true. Though that's because Arithmancy really only gives you theoretical workings that sometimes don't work when you put it into practice."

"Right, so I want to be sure I have my foundations as solid as possible before I start. There's nothing wrong with that."

"You're absolutely right Hermione. We're not trying to push you when you're not ready, we were just curious is all."

"I appreciate you taking an interest in my development. Still, I think for this first year, I don't have plans for development. I think I'll start next year though." She seemed to say the last part to herself as if she were tasting how the idea sounded now that it was out in the open.

"A good idea, I think. That is my one complaint with my work, it does always feel like I am rushing towards one goal or another. I always seem to have something I need to do for one reason or another. It sometimes feels like I have no breathing room, you know?"

"I can imagine, it feels like ever since I've met you, you've been jumping between one topic or another. You never just chill and hang out with us. Heck, even Hermione has played a few chess games with Ron to wind down." Neville said to him.

"I relax occasionally to make sure I don't go insane or anything but, like I've said, I have things I want to accomplish."

"I get that but you have your whole life to accomplish them. You don't need to do so before we've even left school you know." Neville pushed. Harry shrugged but said nothing. Most of the things he did had to do with Ciri and doing his best to make sure he could help her as soon as possible was pretty high up on his to do list. Waiting for in later in life just wasn't an option. He needed to complete his goals as soon as possible.

"Well, I think we can call todays Ritual a success. What else should we do today?" Ron asked.

"I suppose we can get started on that Charms homework." Neville answered.

"I finished it already." Hermione said.

"I'm a little more than half way done with it myself." Harry answered as well. Neville and Ron just looked at the two of them before looking at each other.

"Ravenclaws's…"

"Their bloody mental!"

"It's not hard to write a short essay on a charm. Just throw in some of its history, some of its uses, and talk about how to properly perform it. Simple as that."

"I wouldn't put it quite like that but Harry is essentially right."

"Ugh, stop talking. You're both ridiculous… Ridiculous I say!"