After leaving Pippin's Potions, Draco immediately headed back.
But while they were still on the way, he couldn't resist and started opening the box.
Draco took a model out of the large paper bag and eagerly opened it.
As soon as the box was opened, a dazzling golden light flashed, causing Draco to involuntarily close his eyes.
"Golden light, it must be this!"
"Hippogriff!"
Draco was overjoyed, as if he'd been given a Cheering Potion, and immediately looked down into the box, only to find a large rat...
This large rat had extremely long, anemone-like growths on its back that spread over its head, almost turning into bangs and covering one of its eyes, making it look quite strange.
"What a piece of shoddy product! Weasley is a complete swindler!"
Draco stared at Murtlap bangs covered one eye, for a moment, then angrily threw it away. "Weaklings don't deserve to be my models!"
Draco, still not satisfied, threw the uniquely styled rat on the ground and kicked it again, muttering, "You heartless Weasley scoundrel! What right does a worthless rat have to be associated with gold!"
After taking a few steps forward, a gust of cold wind calmed Draco down a bit.
"Let's try again, this time it'll definitely work."
As he spoke, Draco pulled another box from the large paper bag and quickly tore it open.
A flash of golden light appeared again.
Without a second thought, Draco quickly took the model out of the box.
Bad news: It's not Hippogriff.
Even worse news: It's Flobberworm.
Even worse news: it looks like it's covered in disgusting slime...
Draco was completely desperate.
The Flobberworm is a toothless, brown worm that is about 10 inches long. Both ends of its body are nearly identical, and both can chew plants and secrete a sticky substance. This sticky substance can be used to thicken medicines. This creature is inactive and prefers to live in damp ditches.
Draco had already seen the Flobberworm in Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures, but they only fed it in class; holding it in his hands now felt even more disgusting...
"Damn Weasley, why did you make this model so realistic!" Draco's hand trembled as he threw the Flobberworm model away, then he took out a handkerchief with his other hand, frantically wiped his hands, and then threw the handkerchief away as well.
He opened blind boxes all the way through, but he never managed to get the Hippogriff.
This made him increasingly anxious, and his desire for the Hippogriff reached its peak.
What he found most unbearable was that Potter had it, but he didn't!
This made Draco feel incredibly restless, as if a hundred Flobberworm were crawling all over him.
"There's one more, the last one! I still have a chance, I still have a chance!"
"I have a feeling this one will definitely come out!" Draco held the last model in both hands, his face tense.
Holding the model, he turned towards the Malfoy Manor and prayed reverently, "May the ancestors of the Malfoy family bless me to drive Hippogriff!"
After saying that, Draco's eyes widened, and he slowly opened the box.
A flash of golden light appeared, Draco, squinting under the bright light, peered into the box, only to see one eye of a Murtlap.
The first Murtlap had a growth on its back covering its left eye, while this one has its right eye covered. If the two were placed together, they would probably look more symmetrical...
But Draco clearly didn't think so.
His originally pale face turned bright red with anger, like a red-hot teapot, and white steam seemed to be rising from his ears. His words were as sharp as boiling water.
Damn it!
"There's something wrong with this purchasing mechanism! I bought twenty, how could I not get one?"
"Doesn't Weasley's stupid brain know that?"
Draco glanced at the Murtlap in his hand again, utterly despairing, and angrily threw the rat model far away.
The students behind Draco returned to Hogwarts listlessly, sighing repeatedly along the way.
They came to Hogsmeade today to buy models, and some of them had gone to great lengths to scrape together the money. In the end, Draco snapped up all twenty models, and now they could only go back empty-handed.
As they walked, a student suddenly noticed a model lying on the side of the road.
At first, he thought he was seeing things, but when he got closer, he realized it was real.
Murtlap model!
"Wow! A wild Magical Creatures model!" exclaimed the first student to discover the model.
"I have one too!" Other students noticed as well.
"Thank you, Merlin, for the gift!"
The students, who had just been looking dejected, instantly perked up, lowered their heads, and started scanning to continue searching for wild Magical Creatures models.
They found a total of twenty models along the way. Although some of the models looked a bit strange, they were free after all.
"I don't want a single penny, why would I need Broomstick!"
"Even if this model explodes, I'll still say it exploded loudly!" The students who found the model were very satisfied.
After returning to their dormitory, Goyle and Crabbe immediately began to open the boxes.
Their luck was clearly not very good; they didn't draw the Hippogriff, but they still played a game with great enthusiasm, making the dormitory room ablaze with color, shaking the beds, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
"Ha, I hear Ron Weasley's got a lot of nerve these days, going around challenging people to duels." Goyle played an attack card.
"Of course, he has Hippogriff, so of course he can't resist showing it off... My turn. Draw a card." Crabbe looked at the five cards he had drawn, frowning as he pondered which one to play.
"One model costs five Galleons. He probably couldn't even afford to sell the entire Weasley family. Is he really that lucky to get it on his first try?" Goyle said, pursing his lips. "Hurry up and play your card!"
"What's the rush?" Crabbe played three one-cost cards and steered the conversation back to Ron. "Maybe he didn't buy it."
"Think about it, his brother is Pu Prewett... ah, Draco..."
Crabbe was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly noticed that Draco was standing at the dormitory door at some point.
His complexion looked terrible, almost like Flobberworm that had been squeezed dry of its slime, a grayish-white color.
Draco watched the two of them playing with models on the bed, his pupils flickered, and he walked in expressionlessly.
He'd been listening at the door for quite a while.
Goyle and Crabbe didn't have time to clean up, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and pretend nothing had happened.
Draco, no longer in the mood to investigate their feigned illness to buy models, strode in, quickly walked to their side, and coldly asked, "What were you two talking about just now?"
"One model costs five Galleons..." Goyle's voice trembled slightly as Draco stared into his eyes.
"That's not it." Draco turned his head irritably to look at Crabbe.
"Even if you sold the entire Weasley family, you still couldn't afford it," Crabbe said quickly.
Draco urged angrily, "The one about Prewett! Tell me now!"
"These models were all made by Ron Weasley's brothers; they must have had a lot of Hippogriff stock. I guess Weasley got his models from them." Crabbe finished speaking in one breath before daring to catch his breath.
Draco's eyes lit up.
Yes, how come I didn't think of that?
Why don't I just go to Prewett and ask him for one?
I'm his nephew!