Furious, trembling, freezing, crying...

All in all, ambushing the Slytherin compartment was no simple matter.

The biggest problem was getting the timing right.

The smoke bombs only provided cover for a limited time, and they also had to keep an eye out for the Prefects from each house.

William and the others didn't want to be discovered, so they had to send a few people to set traps and temporarily block the route from the Prefects' compartment to this end of the train.

That was Cedric, Fred, and Lee Jordan's job.

A fire smoke bomb struck the wall of the compartment, sending clouds of white smoke pouring out of the Slytherin compartment. At the same time, the entire corridor was covered in smoke.

It was meant to obscure their movements and keep other students from thinking there was a fire, rushing over, and trapping them there.

Countless screams rang out. The students in every compartment pulled their doors tightly shut, genuinely believing a fire had broken out.

If anyone had been looking down from the sky, they would have seen thick smoke billowing from several carriages in the middle of the Hogwarts Express. Together with the train engine's "woo-woo," it startled a row of owls flying overhead.

Having timed it carefully, George pulled out a mirror he had prepared earlier and held it up to the window, intending to reflect the sunlight and attract the Niffler.

But they had overlooked one tiny, inconspicuous problem. Several carriages were now shrouded in smoke, blocking out the sun. How could he reflect sunlight?

William immediately stepped in front of George. He drew his wand, gave it a gentle wave, and whispered, "Lumos."

A red light lit up at the tip of the wand, like a firefly in the night sky.

The mirror reflected the light straight into the compartment.

Red light penetrated the best, so the Niffler was sure to notice it.

Sure enough, a chorus of startled cries and crashing sounds came from the compartment the next second. A black shadow shot over to the mirror and stuffed Cho's mirror straight into its pouch.

George grabbed the Niffler by its paws and held it upside down. William reached out and scratched its fluffy little belly.

The Niffler gave a soft, happy "purr" of pleasure. Its little tail trembled excitedly, and its paws dangled limply.

But happy times were always short-lived. A great many shiny things tumbled out of its belly pouch and clattered onto the floor.

A dozen or so Galleons were scattered among them, but most were Sickles, along with some Knuts.

It seemed the Slytherin students weren't all rich.

William's eye twitched. He had even found an iron belt buckle... which meant the Niffler had stripped the belt off some young wizard's casual clothes in the compartment!

What a pervert!

George picked through the pile and took enough money to pay for the homework. Then he put the rest of the money and the odds and ends into a small bag and tossed it toward the compartment.

Bang!

The bag struck someone, though they didn't know who, and another round of cursing followed.

William looked at the belt buckle in his hand, unsure what to do with it. Without a second thought, George took it and tossed it straight out the window.

"..."

"Quick, let's go. The Prefects are coming." George pulled William along with one hand and carried the Niffler roughly in the other.

The Niffler dangled blankly in midair. When it saw its precious treasure thrown out the window, its whole body trembled with rage. On such a hot day, it broke out in a cold sweat, its paws freezing.

Hell was empty, and the devils were all in the world!

Could this Wizarding World ever get better? How were Nifflers supposed to live before you wizards were satisfied?

Tears streamed down despite itself. This Wizarding World was full of oppression against Nifflers. When would Nifflers finally be able to stand up for themselves?

Three minutes later, the compartment door suddenly flew open, and Percy stormed in. But his expression soon turned to confusion.

William and Cedric were discussing Transfiguration, while Cho held her little white rabbit and stared blankly out the window.

George shook a dried fish, trying to tease Bobocha, but Bobocha slept with his eyes closed and paid him no attention. Fred and Lee Jordan were playing Wizard's Chess...

Percy cleared his throat and asked, "You had nothing to do with the prank outside?"

Fred looked up and said indignantly, "Percy, what do you mean by that? Do George and I do every bad thing that happens? We're your own younger brothers..."

Fred's voice grew louder and his tone angrier until, in the end, he squeezed a sparkling tear from the corner of his eye.

Percy cleared his throat and said apologetically, "I was just checking around. I didn't mean anything else."

George asked, puzzled, "I thought checking around was a Prefect's job? Oh... I get it!"

George and Fred exchanged a glance. Beaming, George teased, "I get it, Percy. You must be getting used to life as a Prefect ahead of time. After all, the position is sure to be yours next year."

Percy's face flushed bright red, and he yanked the compartment door shut.

Lee Jordan put the Wizard's Chess set back in his bag and said worriedly, "Is this really going to be all right? What if Professor McGonagall finds out..."

Fred wiped the prank potion from the corner of his eye, pressed his lips tightly together, and pretended to be serious. "Ahem, five points from Gryffindor!"

George patted Lee Jordan on the head and said with a laugh, "Don't worry. School hasn't started yet. To be precise... it's still the summer holidays. Professor McGonagall wouldn't deduct points from our house."

Fred continued, "Don't forget, Slytherin has won the House Cup five years in a row. Everyone's determined to knock them off the top.

"Even Professor McGonagall is no exception... Huh, Lee, what's in your bag?"

Fred's little exclamation drew everyone's attention.

Lee Jordan grinned proudly and pulled a thick stack of newspapers from his bag.

"These are copies of the Daily Prophet I collected over the summer. Blimey, they're all reports about your family and Malfoy. You could write a novel out of them.

"I heard the Ministry of Magic was attacked, but there weren't any reports about that either. Who knows what's true and what's false..."

"Ah, take them away! Mum got really angry about that recently! Now whenever I see the Daily Prophet, I hear Mum scolding me in my head," George cried, clutching his head in distress.

William quickly snatched them up and spread them out on the table.

He actually saw his own photograph...

It was a moving photograph: William's wand lit up, and a calf appeared on Draco.

Underneath was a headline in ornate lettering: Outrageous! When will school bullying end!!

William leafed through a few more papers and discovered it was the education column. In response to the photograph, there were even "experts" calling for education reform at Hogwarts and cuts to the professors' salaries!

Of course, that was nothing. The most prominent spot in the paper featured a photograph of Mr. Weasley and Malfoy tearing at each other's clothes.

The Daily Prophet had even run follow-up reports on the incident across seven issues and fourteen pages.

Each headline was more alarming than the last.

"Shocking! Ministry of Magic official beats up law-abiding citizen in the street!"

That was obviously an unscrupulous reporter who had taken the Malfoy family's dirty money.

"Inhuman! Malfoy openly attacks a key Ministry of Magic official!"

Needless to say, Dumbledore had people in the publicity department too.

The Quidditch commentators' perspectives were rather more bizarre. One had even written, "Scotland erupts! The scorpion kick makes a spectacular reappearance in Diagon Alley!"

"Silence! England's pale weaklings will weep when they see this!"

The most outrageous was probably the report headlined, "Two old men embrace in the street: the love and hate between Weasley and Malfoy that must be told!"

William glanced at the author's name: Rita Skeeter.

William was just about to ask about the witch when a scream suddenly rang out beside him.

The sound was heart-wrenching and hair-raising, piercing straight into the depths of the soul.

Fred nearly overturned the table. Clutching his crotch, he roared, "George, William, what did you two do to the Niffler? It bit me! Ah, it hurts!"

William remembered that Fred had first pulled the Niffler out of his crotch, so the place it had bitten...

Fred began to rage, tremble, shiver, and cry.

------I'm a shivering divider------

The Niffler reminded all you great wizards: Nifflers loved shiny recommendation votes most of all. If you didn't give them, let Fred be a warning!