Chapter 176. The Trio Who Sneaked into the Forest
Beside Hogwarts Castle, in the forest, white snow piled upon the luxuriant trees.
From time to time there came a crack, brittle twigs snapping, mixed with the snow coming down with a crash to the ground.
"They're coming, they're coming!"
A Cornish Pixie hurriedly flitted down from a high bough.
It simply failed to notice that a giant snowball was sliding down at the same time right after its backside.
"We're almost— Ouch!"
The pixie was struck mid-sentence with a bang by the snowball and knocked to the ground.
Snow fluttered down over its body, piling into a neat little mound—job done in one go, no help required.
Watching this, Nofi clutched its forehead in pain, looked up speechlessly to the heavens, and its eyes brimmed with tears.
With these vermin as company, could it still, in its lifetime, accomplish the grand enterprise of unifying the Forbidden Forest?
"You lot, go and drag him out!"
Nofi waved helplessly and spoke to a few pixies nearby.
"Right-o, leave it to us, Nofi!"
The pixies swarmed over, shouting and hollering, their hands whirring like spinning wheels, afterimages trailing as they frantically clawed at the snowdrift.
Whether because they were too fast to notice, or because they meant to do it on purpose, who could tell.
The pixie buried in snow had just seen the light of day again and raised a hand to cheer, when a dark mass of palms descended from above.
Smack—smack—smack went the sounds in succession.
That pixie was beaten dizzy on the spot, swayed as it tried to stand, and toppled over again.
"If we had to rely on you lot, we'd have been driven out of the forest long ago!"
Nofi puffed out its little cheeks.
With a light push of its legs on the tree-root, its whole body floated up, gliding at a brisk speed toward the canopy.
The few pixies listened with lowered heads to Nofi's scolding, faces solemn and expressionless, as if they truly recognised their mistakes.
But after a brief wait, catching sight of Nofi receding into the distance, they immediately grinned on the sly and started rough-housing again—one pinching, one thumping.
Nofi alighted on a horizontal branch high up, one hand bracing the rough trunk, body leaning forward on tiptoe to peer into the distance.
At the forest's edge, behind a moss-grown boulder, three skulking figures hid like little thieves, craning their necks and peering about.
The boy in the middle had a pale complexion and a thin figure; fair hair hung down on either side of his cheeks, slightly veiling his utterly proud expression.
The two boys beside him were short and plump, silly grins on their faces, with coarse joints—like two pocket-sized trolls.
After observing for a while and seeing no one around, the small boy gave a word and led the other two to sneak quietly into the forest.
"Goyle, hurry over there and have a look!"
The small boy ordered imperiously, pointing at the dense bushes by the path.
"Right!"
Gregory Goyle nodded dumbly, ignored the snow on the shrubs, forced his whole body in, and bent his head to inspect.
"Draco, can we really catch those pesky pixies this time?" asked the other chubby boy.
He was struggling to lug an iron cage half as tall as a person, with a rope tied in the middle, from which hung a chunk of meat giving off a tempting smell.
"Don't worry, Crabbe!"
Draco Malfoy lifted his head in lofty pride.
"This is a secret weapon I found in a book!"
"So long as you two do exactly as I say, without a misstep, we'll definitely catch those blasted pixies!"
Malfoy finished furiously, and his thoughts drifted back to before the Christmas holidays.
That day, he had just finished his homework and, in passing, went to strut in front of Harry, showing off with great satisfaction.
Seeing Harry's little face turn red, his mood reached the pinnacle of delight.
So he took Goyle and Crabbe to stroll along the empty edge of the forest.
He wanted to discuss with them a plan to lure—cough—to put Harry Potter in his place.
But they hadn't expected to meet a group of pixies swinging on the trees along the way, and he instinctively picked up a few stones and threw them.
His aim was as excellent as ever, and he hit several pixies on the head—he was simply a natural Chaser!
He gave a cheer, tilted his head slightly like a god with arms outstretched, and bathed in Goyle's and Crabbe's worshipful gazes.
Only, that group of pixies suddenly charged at them like mad, their hands continuously nocking and loosing arrows.
Caught off guard by those despicable pixies' sneak attack, he had no choice but to beat a temporary retreat.
But!
As a member of the Malfoy family, how could he lose to that troupe of feeble clowns?
After a whole holiday of preparation, he was no longer the Draco Malfoy of that day.
Everything he suffered then must be repaid in full today!
Malfoy pressed his lips tight, clenched one hand into a fist, and with the other rubbed the bum that had been peppered by a volley of arrows that day, which still seemed to ache faintly.
"Mm-hmm."
Vincent Crabbe nodded dumbly.
"We'll do whatever you say, and if we catch them…"
Crabbe snorted through his nose in anger and kneaded his chestnut-like knuckles.
"Hmph, I'll crush their bones one by one!"
"Don't be so cruel."
Malfoy rose a little on tiptoe and patted Crabbe's shoulder.
"If you crush them, they'll have no value."
"My dormitory décor is a bit plain."
"We'll make specimens of them to hang in my dorm, and keep the rest as pets!"
Crabbe's eyes burst with excited light, and he hurriedly asked, "Draco, can you give me one? I want to keep one for fun!"
"No problem!"
Malfoy waved generously and shouted to Goyle, "Haven't you finished checking yet?"
"All done, all done!"
Goyle panted back, wriggled his massive backside left and right, and struggled out of the bushes.
"Draco, they've changed places."
"They're not there."
Goyle spoke as he shook snow and yellowed leaves off himself.
"They must have realised we were coming and ran off in fright," Malfoy said, pondering.
At his words, Goyle and Crabbe nodded at once in rapid agreement, as if being slow by a beat would fail to show their loyalty.
"But they're not escaping today."
"It's impossible for them to slip from the palm of my hand!"
Malfoy sneered.
"Come on, let's look up ahead!"
Just then, on a branch not far away, Nofi stroked its chin and sized up the supremely self-confident trio from head to toe.
Suddenly the corners of its mouth curled up, as if it had thought of a good idea.
It turned nimbly and dropped from the branch, drifting slowly down to the ground.
Several pixies crowded urgently around Nofi, chattering noisily into its ears.
"Nofi, what's the situation? Have those brats come over?"
"Should we act now? They're too infuriating. We've got to teach them a proper lesson this time!"
"Right, right—string their ears together and hang them from the branches!"
"They started it. The ones they beat up still haven't recovered!"
"Nofi, make the call quickly! Our fists are itching to dance on their faces!"
Nofi waved for silence, then spoke to two pixies opposite who looked a bit cleverer.
"You two, come here."
The two pixies straightened their backs in pride and, under the envious looks of the others, flew to Nofi's side.
Nofi seized each of them by an ear, leaned in mysteriously, and whispered a few words.
Then Nofi set a hand on each of their shoulders and said gravely, "Whether our plan succeeds depends on you two!"
"We guarantee to complete the task!"
The two pixies spoke solemnly, imitating a salute Fred and George had once made.
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