Reward for the Niffler

Kyle sensed that things were starting to go wrong.

"Professor..." he chuckled dryly, "I remember the Mirror of Erised shouldn't have a rewind function... Isn't it just like a regular mirror?!"

"The Mirror of Erised was indeed like that before," Dumbledore said. "But I made some minor modifications to it... You know the Pensieve, right?"

Kyle nodded and said, "An alchemical tool that can access memories."

"That's right, it seems you also have some knowledge of alchemy."

Dumbledore lighter, and even carried a hint of smugness.

"I tried to add a magical passage between them, so that the images shown on the Mirror of Erised could appear in the Pensieve as memories."

To be honest, it was much more troublesome than I had imagined... but I succeeded in the end."

"So, you can see everything reflected in the mirror?" Kyle asked dryly.

"A complete view!" Dumbledore gave Kyle a sly look, seemingly quite pleased with his current expression.

"That's so strange, how could there be Niffler in the castle... and it even easily solved the puzzle I thought was foolproof."

"Then I won't disturb your rest any longer. That Niffler shouldn't have gone far yet. I need to hurry and ask Newt if he recognizes it."

Dumbledore immediately stood up and walked towards the door.

"Wait, Professor..."

Kyle suddenly called out to him.

"Is there anything else?"

"Well, if it's Niffler... I happen to have one."

Dumbledore turned around and saw Kyle holding a Niffler the size of his palm.

He looked somewhat surprised. "So the Niffler was with you..."

Kyle smirked, selectively ignoring the remark.

If Dumbledore truly didn't know, he should have gone to find Hagrid or Professor Kettleburn earlier, instead of traveling all the way to find Newt.

What does the Niffler at Hogwarts have to do with Newt...? This is clearly a threat.

That's outrageous!

"I just remembered that too, Professor."

Kyle said, "I did let it out to play for a while, and that's probably when it went to look at that mirror."

The Niffler stared blankly at Kyle, then seemed to understand something and quickly covered its pocket with its hand.

But this is destined to be futile.

With Kyle's skillful finger movements, a whole bunch of Winky things quickly fell out.

Christmas decorations: sequins, metal clasps, a dozen Galleon, Sickle, and a bright red gemstone...

"It really is here." Kyle said in surprise, "I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't know..."

"It's okay, it's good that we found it."

Seeing Dumbledore pick up the Philosopher's Stone, the Niffler started to panic.

It struggled and howled, its voice filled with utter grievance.

"Looks like I stole something from it..." Dumbledore's right hand clenched slightly in the air.

When he opened his hand again, several gems, each about the size of Philosopher's Stone and of a different color, appeared in his palm.

"How about I trade you these?" Dumbledore stretched out his hand to the Niffler, smiling, and said, "These are all yours as a reward for unlocking my puzzle."

Almost the instant he opened his arms, Niffler stopped fussing.

It looked at the gems, tears welling up in its eyes, then let out two howls and reached out to grab them.

But Kyle picked it up again.

"Professor, it says it doesn't want these."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, "It... doesn't want it?"

"Hmm." Kyle nodded seriously. "You know, I can understand the Niffler ... It wants a different reward."

The Niffler stared at him with its round eyes, as if it couldn't believe what it had heard. It started struggling again, and its cries grew louder and louder.

But Kyle acted as if he didn't see it and even covered the Niffler's eyes.

Dumbledore's expression turned somewhat strange. "So, what reward does it want...?"

"It feels its home is a bit small and would like you to help expand it."

Kyle picked up the suitcase beside him and said, "This is it. I... cough cough, I want you to help expand the interior space to the size of the Forbidden Forest during your vacation."

Dumbledore clearly already knew that Kyle possessed the same suitcase as Newt, so Kyle no longer needed to hide it.

Now, Dumbledore's expression became even stranger. He looked at Kyle's serious expression, then at the Niffler who was constantly wriggling its body.

"Kyle, did it really say that?" He almost laughed, but held it back.

"Yes!" Kyle nodded firmly. "I can vouch for it with Harry Potter's grades."

The Niffler had given up struggling; it hung limply on Kyle's hand, like a soulless shell.

"Well then, fine, I agreed to it."

After a moment's thought, Dumbledore said, "But it's too big for the Forbidden Forest. You know, I'm going to find a new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts during my vacation, so I might not have that much time."

"How about half of the Forbidden Forest... I think that should be enough for Niffler."

"No problem, Professor."

Kyle chuckled, "I thank you on behalf of the Niffler... Oh, Harry Potter, when did you wake up?"

Harry, who was lying on the opposite bed, had woken up at some point. He sat there, staring blankly at Kyle and Dumbledore.

"I think I just heard someone talking about grades... and then I woke up." Harry rubbed his face instinctively and asked, "How many days have I been asleep? My exam results are already out!"

"Don't worry, you only slept for one day, and the exam results haven't come out yet."

Dumbledore approached Harry with a smile and said, "If you recover quickly enough, you might even be able to play in tomorrow's Quidditch Match."

"That's good..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly remembered. "Sir! The Philosopher's Stone, the Philosopher's Stone has fallen into the fire, quick..."

"Don't get agitated, my dear child. What you're saying is a bit outdated," Dumbledore said. "The Philosopher's Stone is perfectly fine, you see."

He took out the bright red stone and handed it to Harry.

"Phew..." Harry patted his chest. "I didn't destroy the Philosopher's Stone. Thank goodness, thank goodness!"

"Don't be so nervous. Even if you really destroy the Philosopher's Stone, it's no big deal. We never intended to keep it anyway."

"What did you say?" Harry asked, puzzled. "But your friend... Nicolas Flamel ..."

"Oh, you even know Nicolas?" Dumbledore's tone was very pleased.

In fact, he was genuinely happy.

Compared to Kyle, Harry seemed much more normal and wouldn't bring him many "surprises".

This is the kind of chatting he prefers.