"It's alright, Minerva. I'm sure you've got something important on your mind," Pomona Sprout said, setting down her dusty, patched-up hat on the bar counter.
Hagrid, holding a tankard of mead larger than his face, grinned. "Yeah, you could've just sent us an owl. You know I'd never say no."
Professor McGonagall let out a long sigh, pulling a letter from her robe pocket. "From what I can tell, not long after Minister Fudge's visit to Hogwarts, Albus left the castle in a hurry," she said softly. "When I pushed open the door to the headmaster's office with a stack of papers, all I found was this letter on his desk—addressed to the three of us."
Hagrid's brow furrowed deeply. "What could've got Professor Dumbledore so worried…?" he asked, puzzled.
Professor Sprout, who had been reading the letter carefully, set it down with a reassuring smile. "It's probably nothing too serious," she said, handing the letter back to McGonagall. "Albus didn't mention why he left, only that Hagrid should check on the Forbidden Forest for a while and that I need to keep an eye on the greenhouses—especially the new fluxweed seedlings."
McGonagall's worried expression didn't soften. She took a sip of her mead, then said quietly, "That's exactly what worries me. Albus has a habit of glossing over things with vague words. The calmer he seems about something, the more dangerous it usually is."
As she spoke, her eyes caught a flash of red in the corner of the room. Her face paled, and she stood abruptly. But when she realized it was just a rag Madam Rosmerta had left on a table, she let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Hagrid, a beat slower, set his tankard down with a loud clunk and rose, his eyes scanning the pub warily. Sprout, too, had her wand drawn.
"Minerva, what did you see?" Hagrid asked.
"Nothing, just… I must be overtired," McGonagall said, waving it off and apologizing to the older wizards drinking at a nearby table.
She rubbed her temples, feeling the weight of the past few days. Ever since this new batch of first-years arrived, Hogwarts seemed to keep her busier than ever. For a moment, she thought she'd glimpsed the Weasley twins, but that was impossible—they'd be in the Gryffindor Tower right now.
McGonagall chuckled softly to herself, downing the rest of her mead. She was clearly letting her assumptions about those two get the better of her. But even the Weasleys' antics paled in comparison to Adam. That boy gave her the sense there was more to him than met the eye.
Noticing Sprout's curious look, McGonagall ordered another round of mead for her colleague, her gaze tinged with a hint of pity.
…
"That was close! Did Professor McGonagall spot us?" Fred gasped, leaning against a wall outside, his heart still racing.
"I think so… but thank Merlin Madam Rosmerta covered for us," George replied. "Otherwise, by this time tomorrow, we'd be polishing trophies instead of sleeping in our dorms."
Cedric, equally shaken, swallowed hard. "Hang on, aren't we forgetting something important? The passage we came through…"
George, now cooled by the night air outside the Three Broomsticks, seemed to regain his senses. The three of them turned to Adam, who had been silent, their eyes fixed on him.
"Why're you all staring at me?" Adam asked, taking a small step back.
Cedric's gaze was intense. "Do you have anything in that bag of yours—like gillyweed or something—that could help us get through the passage?"
Adam frowned. "Can't you just use a Bubble-Head Charm?"
"Sorry, mate, that's next year's curriculum," Cedric said. "If I knew it, I wouldn't have been that drenched earlier."
"You know, that's a good point," George said. "I'm asking Professor Flitwick to teach me that charm as soon as we're back. I'm not going through that again."
Cedric, gripping his broom, shot a look at the Weasley twins. "And can you two stop messing around with those disgusting things?"
"It's just herb-based, no real muck in there," George said, rolling his eyes. He then turned to Fred, musing about ways to improve their Dungbombs.
Cedric's face paled as he listened to their conversation, mentally vowing to steer clear of the twins—especially when their pockets looked suspiciously bulky.
"So, how do we get back to Hogwarts?" he asked, sidling up to Adam.
Adam pointed behind him at a dilapidated, eerie shack that looked like it might collapse in the wind. "The Shrieking Shack," he said.
Cedric's face turned even whiter. "The Shrieking Shack?"
Adam nodded slowly. "The path to redemption lies within."
He pulled a quivering niffler from his robe, the little creature glancing nervously around. From a small pouch, Adam tossed a few shovels at their feet, then stood dramatically in front of the shack's boarded-up entrance, pinching a bit of dirt between his fingers.
"On the day of Yichou, with the Dipper and Ox clashing west, it's a good day to break ground…" he muttered.
The others exchanged confused looks. Fred leaned toward George and whispered, "Has he been charmed by a banshee or something?"
"Over here, quick!" Adam called, interrupting their thoughts.
They grabbed the shovels and joined him, where a small hole had appeared in the ground. Moments later, the niffler poked its head out, its shiny eyes glinting.
"Is this it?" Adam asked, crouching down.
"Squeak squeak squeak!" the niffler chirped.
"Good work, but we'll need your help a bit longer," Adam said, handing it some dried meat. The niffler grabbed it eagerly, rolling happily on the ground.
"What are you lot standing around for? Start digging!" Adam said.
With the niffler's help, they quickly carved out a slanted tunnel. Before leaving, Adam used a Levitation Charm to cover the entrance. Cedric, holding his wand aloft with a soft Lumos glow, lit up the underground passage. The niffler burrowed ahead, effortlessly clearing rocks and dirt with its tiny claws.
"Didn't expect this little guy to be that good," Fred said, eyeing his shovel. "Makes mine feel useless."
Adam occasionally pulled wooden stakes from his pouch, hammering them into spots the niffler marked to prop up the tunnel.
"How'd this niffler end up at Hogwarts anyway?" George asked curiously, pausing his digging.
"Before we found it, it was already digging in the passages, trying to make a home. It's what nifflers do," Adam said, grinning like he'd just found a pile of Galleons. "The problem is, it said the tunnels it dug kept getting sealed up overnight, so it had to keep digging. That's the noise we heard in the passage."
"Now that you mention it," Cedric said, his wand hand wavering slightly, "some of the older students said the castle—especially areas under its magic—tends to repair itself. Like that dirt passage to Hufflepuff."
George nodded, speeding up his digging as the dirt reached his ankles. "Still doesn't add up. How'd it get inside the castle in the first place?"
"Someone brought it in," Adam said, his tone chilling. "And it happened within the last two days."
Cedric's stomach dropped. "You don't think Filch brought it in and lost it, do you?"
"I don't know," Adam said, shrugging. "The niffler just said it was a tall wizard, but from its perspective, that could be anyone."
"Could it be Hagrid? He's always got weird creatures," Cedric suggested.
"No way," George said. "Hagrid's too big to fit in these passages."
"Whoever it was, they're connected to those Beaters showing up out of nowhere," Adam said. "And those Beaters definitely used that passage to sneak into Hogwarts. I saw footprints in Honeydukes' cellar—almost identical to the ones left on Snape's back."
As Adam spoke, a sharp crack came from ahead—the sound of the niffler's claws hitting wood.
"Squeak squeak squeak!" it chirped, patting a wooden panel.
Adam scooped it up, rubbing its head and rewarding it with more dried meat. The niffler spun in delighted circles.
"Reducto!" Adam cast, blasting the panel apart to reveal a dark, empty room beyond.
Under Cedric's raised wand, they stepped into the Shrieking Shack. The cold light revealed a dilapidated interior: dusty floors, peeling walls, smashed furniture. In the entrance hall, they found a three-legged stool. Every door and window was boarded shut with thick planks, some stacked with broken furniture.
"Is there really a monster in here?" George asked, pointing at deep claw marks on one of the boards.
"Don't know," Adam said. "I just want to get back and sleep."
He handed the Marauder's Map back to Fred and George. Following its directions, they found the passage to Hogwarts in the eerie shack. But as Cedric reached for the door, Adam yanked him back.
Bang!
Something heavy crashed down where Cedric had been standing, writhing strangely like a living thing.