Chapter 49: Finding a Mate for Freckles
Chapter 49: Finding a Mate for Freckles
"What Fluffy, I never kept a Cerberus!"
Hagrid was as if he had stepped on an electric pedal, so excited that even his beard was trembling. He pointed at Kyle and hopped angrily, "How dare you accuse me falsely!"
"Oh~~" Kyle suddenly realized, "So its name is Cerberus, that's a pretty good name."
Hagrid's expression froze, and he quickly denied, "I didn't... I didn't say anything, you misheard me."
He dared not admit it.
In all of Hogwarts, what he feared most was for Kyle to discover the existence of Fluffy. Even Albus Dumbledore would have to take a back seat to that concern.
Because Kyle's father, Chris, was the deputy chief of the Magical Creature Management and Control Department, and his job was to manage mysterious magical creatures like Fluffy, who had unknown origins.
If Kyle were to write home about this, Fluffy would definitely be taken away, and he wouldn't know if it would live or die.
Even he himself might be sent to Azkaban.
At the thought of Fluffy possibly being killed and that dreadful place, Azkaban, Hagrid broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
"No, I must not admit it."
Hagrid straightened his face and put on an expression that he thought was fierce, trying to scare Kyle away.
The fierce expression, coupled with his towering stature of over three meters tall, to be honest, it did look quite intimidating.
If one ignored Hagrid's shifting eyes and the sweat on his forehead, Kyle might have believed him.
"Alright, alright, I misheard. You don't have a three-headed dog." Kyle waved his hand, "Just take it as an interesting piece of trivia, goodbye."
"By the way," Kyle took a few steps and suddenly turned around, "If your puppy has symptoms like loss of appetite, restlessness, or depression, don't worry. Just let it loose in the Forbidden Forest."
Since Hagrid didn't want him to see Fluffy, then he wouldn't look. Anyway, there would be plenty of opportunities next year.
Moreover, what was the point of seeing a small puppy? Wouldn't it be better to see it when it grew up? After Fluffy was locked up in that room on the fourth floor, he could see it whenever he wanted. At that time, he could even pull out some fur and knit socks if he felt like it.
Leaving the Forbidden Forest, Kyle strolled casually across the grass. As he reached the castle gate, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure flashing by.
Intrigued, Kyle walked over and discovered a tiny figure squatting by the castle gate's bushes, poking her head and searching for something.
"Conna? What are you doing here?" Kyle asked curiously.
"Who's there!"
The sudden voice startled Conna, and it took her a while to recover.
"I... I'm looking for something." Conna glanced at Kyle and continued searching in the bushes.
Seeing this, Kyle took out his wand and said, "At this rate, you'll never find it. Let me help you."
Conna seemed to guess his intention and shook her head immediately. "No, it won't work. I dropped a Galleon, and Accio won't work."
Every magical currency, be it a Galleon, Sickle, or Knut, had an Anti-Apparition Charm cast on it, much like a watermark. It was a basic anti-theft measure.
Hearing this, Kyle could only put away his wand and moved to the other side to help with the search.
Conna didn't want to trouble Kyle, which was why she hadn't told anyone and had come here to look for it herself.
But thinking of her situation, she hesitated and whispered, "Thank you... thank you."
Kyle thought he must have misheard and blurted out, "What?! Twenty?!"
"Twenty," Conna whispered. "Maybe even more. I've been losing Galleons since the start of term; these were the last ones I had."
"Um..."
Kyle smacked his lips and began to silently search through the bushes, which surrounded the entrance to the castle.
Losing twenty Galleons at once would certainly be a blow; Kyle imagined he would be feeling rather murderous if it were him.
...
The search through the bushes took over an hour, but it was fruitless. They didn't find a single Knut, let alone a Galleon.
Kyle straightened up and rubbed his waist. "Are you sure you dropped them here?"
"I... I don't know," Conna replied after a moment of silence. "I still had them before Herbology class yesterday, but this morning they were gone."
"Maybe you dropped them during Flying class?" Kyle suggested. "Have you checked the Quidditch pitch area?"
"I checked this morning. They're not at the pitch or anywhere in the castle, and they're not here either. That just leaves the greenhouses," Conna said.
"The greenhouses? Nope." Kyle was certain.
He couldn't speak for other places, but he could guarantee that nothing had been dropped in the greenhouses. He had inspected them thoroughly.
"Should we search again, just in case we missed something earlier?" Kyle proposed.
"No, it's fine," Conna shook her head.
She hadn't found any of the Galleons she had dropped previously, so she didn't expect to find these either. It was unlikely that anyone who lost a Galleon would ever get it back.
"Alright then." Kyle didn't push the issue further. In his opinion, a pure-blood family like Conna's, who wore tailored robes, wouldn't be too concerned about a couple of dozen Galleons.
"Thanks anyway. My family owl will bring me more soon enough," Conna said quietly. "I don't really need Galleons here at Hogwarts anyway. I'll just go to Gringotts during the holidays. It's just that I need to buy more rat tonic before Christmas..."
As Kyle patted his robe, his hand paused, and he glanced at Conna. "Don't worry about that. You can pay me back anytime, even next year if you want."
After brushing off the dirt from his robe, Kyle and Conna began walking back towards the castle.
Out of curiosity, Kyle asked, "By the way, where's your rat? I haven't seen you carrying it around."
At the mention of her pet, a rare smile appeared on Conna's face. "Oh, Pochi is playing with Darianna's hamster in our dormitory."
"A hamster and a rat playing together?" Kyle wrinkled his nose. "I have a friend, Percy Weasley from Gryffindor, and he has a rat too. I'll introduce them later. Oh, and is Pochi a boy or a girl?"
Conna's face turned a little pink, and she quietly answered, "Girl."
"Perfect!" Kyle exclaimed. "Percy's rat, Spot, is a boy. Why don't we match them up? That way, we'll have a whole litter of baby rats next year!"
...
(End of Chapter)
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