Chapter 22. Pro Is Missing
After a brief spell of darkness, noisy sounds came to his ears.
The crowd's buzzing chatter, the clatter of dragging heavy luggage, and the owls' strange hoots answered one another in turn.
Duncan opened his eyes.
A deep-red steam train was halted beside a platform packed with travellers.
A sign on the train read: "Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock."
The first few carriages were already crammed with students, and many people were sticking their heads out of the windows to talk and say goodbye to their families.
Duncan's gaze swept about, searching for Fred and George, who had gone in long ago.
"Duncan, over here, over here, hurry up!" Fred's bellow sounded from far away, drowning out the other conversations and carrying clearly to Duncan's ears.
Duncan rose on tiptoe, his line of sight passing over heads of all sizes, and he saw the two of them up ahead at a carriage doorway, waving at him vigorously.
He hurried over with his case in hand.
"Duncan, give me a hand!" Ron shouted in delight when he saw Duncan.
He was straining with all his might against his large trunk, his face flushed scarlet, and even with all his strength he couldn't heave the trunk up the carriage step.
"They still haven't removed the spell on your trunk?" Duncan stopped in his tracks and asked in surprise.
"No, they ran off the moment they got in!" Ron said hotly.
"I can't keep up with them."
"Poor child." Duncan said sympathetically.
He drew the wand at his waist, flicked and swished it.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
At Duncan's incantation, the heavy trunk floated up, wobbling as it freed itself from Ron's hands and drifted into the carriage.
"When did you learn that?" Ron said in amazement, his expression like someone seeing a kid who played with him every day suddenly get admitted to Oxford University.
"While you were snoring away, I learnt it from Fred." Duncan said with a smile, waving a hand as he ran off into the distance.
"Go on in and find a compartment first.
I'm off."
"Wait, let's go together!" Ron wanted to follow, but after a look at that trunk, he sighed and gave up.
Not far away, Hermione, who was saying goodbye to her parents, had seen Duncan perform magic.
Strong interest shone in her eyes, and she wanted to go up and talk to her newly met friend, but just as she lifted a foot, she saw Duncan push through the packed throng and vanish in the blink of an eye.
Hermione hesitated for a moment and, in the end, chose not to give chase.
"You two picked a compartment really far in!" Duncan squeezed up beside Fred and George, panting as he complained.
"No helping it — when we came, this was the only bit with fewer people." Fred reached out and pulled Duncan up onto the carriage footboard.
The three of them headed inside together.
"Why did you only come in now?"
"Met a first-year and showed her the way." Duncan explained.
"Oh?
What a kind-hearted Duncan!" George said with a laugh, pushing open the sliding door of a side compartment with one hand.
Once they were all inside, Fred shut the door and said urgently, "Hurry up and take the stuff out.
We've got to get to work!"
"Don't rush.
The train hasn't even started moving yet." said Duncan.
Knowing Mrs Weasley would search their cases, Fred and George had secretly stowed prank props and various materials in his case the night before.
"Time waits for no one.
If we don't hurry, I can already see Galleons flying away from us piece by piece." Fred clutched the spot over his heart with his right hand, his face full of grief, speaking with great exaggeration.
"You're truly wasted not being a stage actor!" Duncan rolled his eyes and had no choice but to open his suitcase, go in, and laboriously drag out the box packed with props to help them.
"Duncan, we love you!" Fred and George cheered warmly and bent to open the box to check the props.
But cries rang out beyond the window, calling their names over and over, sounding like Mrs Weasley's voice.
"We forgot to say goodbye to Mum!" Fred sighed and, reluctantly snapping the latch shut, shrugged.
"Come on, let's get off first and come back in a bit."
The three of them left the compartment, closed the door behind them, and no one noticed a tiny figure staying behind.
They skirted around students standing in the corridor chatting and made for the carriage entrance, where, amid the flow of people, they spotted Mrs Weasley.
She was facing Ron, chattering away as she laid down one instruction after another.
Ron, impatient, kept looking all around, only answering after quite a while.
Only when Duncan and the others came up did Mrs Weasley shift her attention off Ron.
She repeated what she had just told him and sternly added that Fred and George were to behave themselves and not make trouble at school.
"Got it, Mum!" "Goodbye, Mrs Weasley!"
Fred and George dragged Duncan away by the hands, and Duncan did his best to turn around and wave goodbye.
Back in the compartment, the twins sorted the goods they planned to sell, added a few wheels to the box, and turned it into a pushable little cart.
Before long, the Hogwarts Express let out a burst of white steam.
Toot — toot, it called, and clatter — clatter it sped toward the front.
When the speed levelled out, Fred and George stood up at once and asked, "Duncan, are you coming with us?"
"No need, you two go on." Duncan found a comfortable position to lean back on the seat and flipped through Newt's notes on magical creatures.
A few days ago he had cured a Kelpie's red-eye, but its temper was still vicious.
More than once Duncan had been able to calm it only by blowing the Druid Whistle.
So he wanted to look through the notes Newt had given him to see whether he could find an answer and solve this problem.
"All right, we'll come back for you later." Fred and George pushed the box out of the compartment.
"May business boom for you." Duncan said with a smile.
"And may you not run into Percy on patrol!"
"There's no better blessing than that!" Fred replied with a laugh.
He shut the door, and he and George went off along the corridor.
Duncan lowered his head and kept reading, sailing forward on the ocean of knowledge.
After a few minutes, Duncan suddenly felt something was off.
The compartment seemed too quiet.
It was as if something was missing… what was it?
Frowning, Duncan thought, his gaze moving aimlessly about the compartment.
But when his eyes shifted to his coat pocket and he saw its flattened shape, he started as if waking from a dream.
Pro, that little troublemaker, was gone!
Had that fellow slipped out to fish other people's Galleons?
A bad thought sprang up in his mind, and with no mood left for reading, Duncan hurriedly searched every corner of the compartment.
Not finding a trace of Pro, he prepared to open the door and go look for it.
[Optional Quest: The mischievous Pro has slipped away.
If you don't find it quickly, it is very likely to cause a serious incident.]
[Quest Reward: 50 virtual coins, random item ×1]
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