Thinking back about the palm-sized Niffler he had just seen, it became apparent to Felix that the adult Niffler would be at least a foot.
Newt glanced at him and looked towards the office again, from inside Amos’ voice sounded a little exasperated, “Where the hell did you put those forms?”
“Can you help?” Newt said.
“What?” Felix looked at him with a somewhat startled look.
“I need to feed them some potions … These three are somewhat weaker than their siblings.”
“Happy to oblige,” Felix said after some thought, noticing that the old man had a unique air about him, a mixture of seriousness and naivety that he had only ever seen in prepubescent children.
“What do I need to do?”
“Hold it for me – that’s right,” Newt sidled up and took the silver pocket watch from his pocket, and the thumb-sized glass bottle from his other pocket, and screwing open the cap, Felix found the lid combined with a dropper.
“Just three drops …” Newt looked intently at the pocket watch, “I’m going to open it, Mr. Hap.”
“Click.”
The front cover of the pocket watch popped open, and a small black creature immediately burst out, leaping nimbly over Newt’s hand–
“Accio Niffler!” Felix whispered as Niffler’s squishy palm kept paddling, only to find itself flying backward in vain and being caught in one hand.
“Thanks – it’s you again, Valen, you should be almost better,” Newt said as he looked at the little guy, and Niffler in Felix’s hand looked away and whimpered a few times.
“Hey, you can’t talk like that.” Newt said, then he looked up, “It’s a little uncomfortable with you holding her like that, Mr. Hap, rather than gripping, I know you’re not pressing hard – but it’s better to hold it up.”
Felix changed his gesture.
“Great, open your mouth, Valen, you don’t want to get sick either, do you?” Newt said to Niffler Valen, who reluctantly opened her mouth as Newt put three drops of the clear potion in.
He then put the little guy back on his pocket watch, but Valen immediately poked half of her head out of it, “Oh, no, no!” Newt nudged his finger on its pink nuzzle and locked eyes with its dark eyes, “Call your two brothers out.”
Niffler is unmoved and Newt quirks his head, “I insist, Valen.”
It grunted twice reluctantly, its pink nose then disappeared, and a messy sound came from inside the pocket watch as Newt seemed to explain to Felix, “Their sibling relationship is complicated.”
Soon, another Niffler half of the body poked out-though Felix couldn’t tell the difference between them at all.
“Sal, here you go-” Newt put three more drops of potion into its mouth, “Next it’s Thorpe’s turn.”
When he finished his task, he finally breathed a sigh of relief as if he felt so relieved. Newt noticed Felix’s gaze and said to him, “Niffler is a lively bunch, very active species. Approachable and friendly, of course, I don’t recommend raising them personally, they’ll ruin your house-”
“And are they interested in coins?”
“Yeah, they make a mess if you’re not careful, you can always shake a bunch of shiny things out of them,” Newt said, “but it’s fun to spend time with them, you can have a contest for finding coins with them to see who is faster… … They also have a very keen sense of smell and can help you find people or some old objects.”
Newt then stuffed his pocket watch into his pocket and pretended to straighten the edges of his clothes. After two seconds, a young man came out of the office, wearing a delicate and bright green wizard’s robe, with a round badge pinned to his chest.
“Mr. Scamander, I heard Diggory mention that you are here.”
“I think I’ve seen you somewhere before,” Newt said.
“That’s right, because I’ve worked here … for several years,” he looked up to indicate the office door, “and I’m Mr. Macnair’s deputy.”
Newt furrowed his brow, “The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Animals?”
“We’re not well appreciated, but someone has to do this.” The young man collected the arrogance in his eyes, “Mr. Scamander, there is some disturbance in the herd of Aethonan in Antrim, you’d best go over and take a look.”
Aethonan is a kind of Pegasus with chestnut mane, and is recognized as the most common of the four kinds of Pegasus along with Abraxan, Granian, and Thestral.
“Oh … shouldn’t … this season isn’t a courting period …,” Newt said in disbelief.
“Who knows what those beasts think?”
“Has their leader changed?”
“I don’t think so … so I suggest you take a trip and investigate the cause.”
“What about the environment?”
“Neither.”
Newt seriously asked some question, the young man struggled to respond, his words became increasingly brief, a thin layer of sweat emerged from his forehead, and in the end, even Felix, who is not very familiar with this kind of Pegasus, could hear the contradictions in his words.
Newt looked the young man directly in the eye for the first time, “Perhaps … my knowledge tells me that you are lying … you want me to get out of here.”
The young man averted his eyes unnaturally, but he realized it immediately and forced himself to meet Newt’s gaze, “That is a harsh accusation, Mr. Scamander, as a pureblood …”
“I beg your pardon,” Felix couldn’t resist interrupting, “I’ve always thought that there was something familiar about the tone of your voice, are you Chryston?”
Chryston turned his head to look at Felix with a hint of impatience in his expression, “And who are you that doesn’t see us, us – Felix Hap?”
The tone of his voice twisted with agitation.
“It’s me, Chryston.” Felix greeted him.
The young man said, somewhat overwhelmed, “Oh … hello, I didn’t know …” After ten seconds or so, he finally calmed down, “Long time no see. Mr. Hap.”
Felix nodded, “It has indeed been a long time, you were my grade head when I started school and said a lot of impressive things.”
“Really? … I, I don’t remember much.” Chryston said.
“By the way, what family are you from again?” Felix asked nonchalantly.
Chryston muttered.
“I didn’t catch that …,” Felix stared at him.
“It’s – ahem, Aver-” Chryston stammered, “Avery.”
“The Avery family is headed by your …”
“–cousin in law.”
It is not a pleasant conversation, at least not for Chryston, who tried to leave the place without saying a few words, “Mr. Macnair should need me …”
Felix stared at his back as Newt stood quietly to the side, casting curious glances now and then.
That’s when Amos finally came out, a few drops of sweat on his red face, “These forms haven’t been used in some years, torn out from the last ministry’s filing cabinet, a bunch of moths making their home in there – and you are?”
“Felix Hap, I work at Hogwarts,” Felix said.
“Merlin,” Amos’ eyes went wide, “you’re a professor in an ancient runes class and head of the dueling club?”
Felix gave him a curious look; is this the parent of one of his students? So he just said, “That’s me–”
“During the holidays, Ced mentioned you, Cedric Diggory, he’s my son.” Amos said excitedly, “The boy is a bit shy, but he holds you in very high esteem, he told me you gave him a lot of extra pointers in dueling class … and the power of your spells are amazing … ”
“Cedric? He’s an excellent student, and he did very well on the Ancient Runes.”
“He’s also the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team! I was talking to his mom a while ago about whether Ced would be on the Ministry of Magic or the national team after graduation … She told me to ask the kid for his opinion – haha …” Amos rambled on, like every parent under the sun, until a tall man came hurrying down from the other side of the hallway.
“Mr. Hap?” The tall man said, “I’m Rufus, with whom you correspond, and you’re here at last-”
“Is there any problem, I’m an hour early.”
“Minister Fudge is waiting for you,” said Rufus Scrimgeour, taking Felix’s arm, “I’m sorry, Diggory, I had to take your friend.”
“No, nothing, your business is important.” Mr. Amos said.
Felix stopped in his tracks and Rufus stumbled on his feet, “Oh, just a minute – I need to say something,” he looked at Newt, “Mr. Scamander, about the Hagrid case, I’ve been following it too, we can talk again later.”
Before Newt could say anything, Amos had already spoken first, “Is it the two o’clock speech today? The muggle specialist the ministry said, is it you? I’ll definitely be there to see it, Mr. Hap.”
Felix smiled at him and then left with Rufus.
Newt said thoughtfully, “A muggle expert? He does dress comfortably.”
———-
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