"Here."
Malfoy crouched beside the cabinet and extended his wand behind him.
The footprints in the dust stretched all the way to the foot of the wall, finally disappearing beneath a loose floorboard.
Harry moved the old chair beside it away and gave the board a gentle nudge.
The floorboard wobbled, revealing a narrow, pitch-black gap beneath it. There was no telling where it led.
The girl slowly knitted her brows.
"It escaped through here?"
"Looks like it." Harry brought his wand tip closer and shone its light inside.
He could not see the end, let alone the brooch.
Malfoy stood up and stared at the gap, pressing his lips a little tighter together.
Harry looked down at the silver button in his hand.
"Let's go out and ask around first."
"Ask whom?"
"Whoever lost the button." He turned it over. "This probably hasn't been lying here for years."
They left the old classroom and headed back down the corridor.
As they passed a portrait, the old wizard inside opened his eyes.
"You two again?"
Harry paused. This was the wizard he had woken with his light last night.
"Sorry, last night-"
"Last night, this morning, and now." The old wizard held up three fingers. "Young people, are you planning to wear a hole through this corridor?"
Malfoy glanced at Harry. Harry did not respond, taking out the button instead.
"We're looking for its owner. Have you heard anyone mention losing something recently?"
The old wizard examined the button.
"Something?" He jerked his chin toward the neighboring portrait. "Ask her."
In the frame beside him, an old woman wearing a pearl necklace was looking down, straightening her skirt.
Hearing this, she immediately raised her head. "My neighbor lost something just yesterday."
Malfoy immediately looked toward the door beside the portrait.
"What was it?"
"A teaspoon," the old woman answered with absolute certainty. "Silver, all shiny, sitting in the tea tray by the door."
"He went back into his room to fetch a book, and by the time he came out, the teaspoon was gone."
A shiny silver teaspoon?
Harry glanced at the button in his hand. Another silver object.
The old woman was still talking.
"A girl came looking for a hair clip the day before yesterday, too. She was fixing her hair by the window and left her clip on the windowsill while she exchanged a few words with a friend."
"When she turned back, it was gone."
Malfoy's gaze slowly shifted toward a nearby windowsill.
"Did you see who took it?"
"A dark little lump, moving very fast." The old woman frowned. "It even darted past beneath my frame and gave me a fright."
Harry and Malfoy exchanged a look.
A dark shape, a silver button, a silver teaspoon, and a hair clip.
"Which way did it go?" Harry asked.
"That way." The old woman pointed toward the end of the corridor. "But you had better tell me first just what has been scurrying back and forth beneath my frame."
"We'll come and tell you once we've found out," Malfoy said.
The old woman looked the girl over before appearing a little more satisfied.
"All right. Don't be like my neighbor, taking it out on me just because he can't find his teaspoon."
"I was minding my own business inside my painting. As if I could come out and steal his teaspoon!"
Harry quickly nodded, his tone utterly sincere.
"Merlin above, of course you couldn't, my esteemed madam."
"How could an elegant, well-bred lady such as yourself possibly do anything as improper as stealing a teaspoon?"
As he spoke, he even gave a slight, gentlemanly bow.
"And thank you very much for the information, madam."
"Your help is extremely important to us."
The old woman beamed, even fluttering the fan in her hand a little more briskly.
"Hoho, what a polite, lovely boy. Far better than that rude neighbor of mine!"
Beside him, however, Malfoy could not help rolling his eyes.
Tch!
The girl pursed her lips, her face full of disdain.
This Harry Potter had been all smiles and frivolity with her earlier.
In the blink of an eye, he had turned into a perfectly polite little gentleman.
Good heavens! Just look at that respectful manner!
Anyone who didn't know better would really think he was some gentle, refined young aristocrat!
Hmph!
A many-faced little devil who only knew how to please these old fossils!
Malfoy secretly glared at Harry. When has he ever been this polite to me?!
When they reached the window, Malfoy held out his hand.
"Stupid Potter! Let me see the button!"
Harry raised an eyebrow. Why was this young lady angry again?
I don't think I did anything to provoke her just now.
How strange. Why was this woman's temper even harder to figure out than Hogwarts' staircases?
Still, he did not dwell on it and simply handed over the button.
The girl turned it in the sunlight, then flipped it over and gently scraped its edge with her fingernail.
"It's silver-plated."
"Hm?"
"It's copper underneath. A little has worn off here. You can see it."
Harry leaned closer for a look.
Sure enough, a little dull copper showed through on the back.
"A button like this isn't worth much." The girl frowned. "Why take it?"
Looking at the object in her hand, Harry slowly began to form a guess.
Still, he needed to look into it further. "What about that hair clip?"
Malfoy went back to ask again.
The old woman remembered it very clearly: it had been set with several sparkling stones.
The girl who had lost it had been very anxious when she came back, while another friend had tried to reassure her, saying the stones were all fake and she could simply buy another one.
After hearing this, the girl looked down at the button.
"None of them are worth anything."
Harry nodded. "But they're all shiny."
Malfoy paused slightly.
She raised her hand again. Sunlight fell on the button, and its silver-plated surface immediately reflected a pretty glint.
"So it doesn't care how much they're worth at all?"
"Possibly." Harry looked in the direction the old woman had indicated. "Let's go over there first."
At the end of the corridor, an old storage cabinet stood against the wall.
Beside it was a tiny hole, half hidden by a dangling piece of old cloth.
Malfoy had barely crouched down when he spotted a glimmer of silver beside the hole.
It was a short length of chain. Harry pulled it out.
The chain was broken, with an empty little clasp still attached to its end.
The girl examined it carefully and shook her head. "This isn't mine either."
This time, she did not immediately grow dejected as she had before.
At least they were heading in the right direction. The thief really had passed through here.
Harry shone his light into the hole, then reached out to inspect the storage cabinet.
The cabinet door was unlocked. Inside lay a pile of old cloths and a wooden box with a chipped edge.
A gap was faintly visible beneath the box.
Just as he was about to move the wooden box aside, a very faint rustling came from inside.
Malfoy immediately tightened his grip on his wand. "Get back! There's something in there."
Harry stopped reaching, too. Neither of them made another sound.
A moment later, several faint little clinks came from inside.
Clink.
Clink, clink.
It sounded as though some small object was being nudged back and forth.
The girl's eyes lit up at once.
"My brooch..."
She had only just edged forward when Harry gently stopped her. "Don't startle it yet."
Malfoy stopped and looked at him.
"You know what it is?"
"I have a guess." Harry took the button from her hand and placed it on the floor outside the cabinet.
Then he led the girl off to one side.
Malfoy asked no more questions. She stared at the button, then looked at the pitch-black space at the bottom of the cabinet.
This time, she was quite cooperative.
After a while, the rustling inside the cabinet stopped.
Then a tiny paw reached out from beside the wooden box.
The paw felt around on the floor twice.
It found nothing.
It stretched a little farther.
Malfoy instinctively grabbed Harry's robe sleeve.
Harry nodded to her. He had seen it.
At last, the paw reached the edge of the button.
With a gentle nudge, the button turned, but it was not taken away immediately.
Next, a furry black head slowly poked out.
Tiny eyes, a long snout, a coat of jet-black fur, several short legs, and a noticeably bulging belly.
Looking at it, Malfoy suddenly found all the spells he had prepared halted on his lips.
This was the thief?
The fellow that had made me search frantically for ages, then slipped away from behind the cabinet?
It was this small?!
Yet the little black creature did not look at them at all.
It had eyes only for the button.
It reached out a paw, grabbed it, and turned it over for a look. Then, with practiced ease, it stuffed the button into its belly.
The button vanished.
The girl's eyes widened at once.
Harry was finally certain, too. Sure enough, it looked exactly as he remembered.
Wasn't this a Niffler from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?!
When he had watched the film in his previous life, this magical beast had left a deep impression on him.
With its black, furry body and little face closely resembling a platypus's, it looked harmless to humans and animals alike, but was actually a habitual thief through and through.
Shiny objects, in particular, were simply irresistible to it.
I never expected to see one with my own eyes at Hogwarts!
"It's a Niffler." He kept his voice very low. "It likes shiny things, and it has a pouch on its belly that can hold lots of things."
Malfoy looked at its belly again. "Is my brooch in there too?"
"Very likely." Harry made no casual promises. "We won't know until we catch it."
The girl's gaze immediately became very serious.
The Niffler had already stowed the button away. It lowered its head and sniffed twice more along the floor, seemingly still wanting to find something else.
Harry was just about to inch forward when it suddenly raised its head.
Its little eyes stared straight at Malfoy's hand.
The girl froze.
Then she looked down.
The sunlight had caught the ring on her finger, making it glint.
The Niffler stretched its head a little farther forward.
Malfoy: "..."
She slowly drew her hand into her robe sleeve, and the Niffler immediately took another step forward.
Watching this, Harry slowly came to a stop. It seemed luring it out would not be difficult.
The girl, however, had already pressed her lips tightly together in anger.
Taking my brooch wasn't enough, and now you've set your sights on my ring?!
She had only just raised her wand when the Niffler twisted around and darted back behind the wooden box.
Harry followed and shone a light inside. A dark shape flashed past and vanished into a little hole behind the cabinet.
It was even faster than he had thought.
Malfoy stared at the hole, her grip on her wand slowly tightening. "Will it come out again?"
"If there's something shiny, it probably will."
As soon as Harry finished speaking, he saw the girl suddenly lift her chin. That air of confidence she had been keeping in check returned.
"Good."
Malfoy glanced down at her ring, then looked behind the cabinet again.
"I have more shiny things than I know what to do with."
"This time, let's see where it can run!"
Before you continue