Chapter 25. Neville's Terrifying Idea
"What do we do now?
Are we supposed to jump out of the window?"
Hermione watched Duncan lock the compartment door and swept an anxious glance at the scenery flashing past outside.
Duncan held his breath and didn't answer.
He dropped his case to the floor, opened it, and flipped himself into the pitch-black opening.
A moment later, his voice floated up.
"Careful coming down.
There's a staircase.
Don't lose your footing."
"How could we have forgotten your case!"
Fred and George whooped with delight and hurried after Duncan into the case.
Hermione was so shocked she couldn't recover for a long while.
What she'd just seen was a bit beyond her understanding.
The books had never said that once someone's suitcase was opened, several people could jump inside.
By the time she reacted, only Neville was left in the compartment, and half his body had already vanished.
"Wait…" Hermione called to stop Neville and ask a question, but an urgent shout rose from below.
"Hurry up, you lot—the stench has already poured into the case!"
Hermione bit her lip.
After Neville disappeared, she looked down at the opening, gritted her teeth, and jumped.
After a short stretch of darkness, Hermione landed on hard planks.
She wobbled, fought to keep her balance, and managed to steady herself on the stairs.
Bang!
The lid above slammed shut.
Hermione flinched and looked up in a panic.
Fortunately she wasn't very tall, or the falling lid would have smashed into her with a brutal wallop.
With lingering fear, Hermione patted her perfectly ordinary chest and carefully made her way down the stairs.
"Hurry up, Fred, George—what have you two even learnt at school?
You can't even disperse a bit of stink?"
Down in the ramshackle work-shed, Duncan and Neville were huddled in a corner with their noses covered, as if terrified of being tangled up by the stink hanging in mid-air.
Fred was brandishing his wand with one hand while fanning the air with the other.
"This is a special improvement we made just to deal with Snape—so the stink can't be easily cleared.
Who'd have thought we never got to prank Snape and ended up hurting ourselves…"
"If we'd known, we wouldn't have made it so strong!" George's tone brimmed with regret.
"Forget it, forget it.
Just blow all the stink out.
The case has an air-cleaning system—let it purify things slowly."
Seeing Fred and George already sweating buckets, with no sign of the stench fading, Duncan spoke helplessly.
If he didn't want to suffer himself, he'd have to make his good mates—Thunderbird Kray and the others—take the hit.
"That we can do!"
Fred raised his wand high and swept it back and forth again and again.
A wild gale suddenly blasted from the left-hand wall, howling toward the shut door, then leaked out through the cracks.
"Finally, that's better…"
Duncan slumped to the floor and drew a deep breath of clean, odourless air.
He had never before felt that the simple act of breathing normally could be so blissful and beautiful.
"I'm exhausted…"
Fred and George let out a long sigh and perched on a big wooden crate.
"What is this place?"
Hermione was the first to recover.
She wandered about with keen interest, observing all sorts of things inside the case.
When she saw something curious she wanted to touch it, but didn't dare—afraid it might be dangerous.
Curiosity and wariness braided together across her face.
"Was this conjured by magic?"
"Sort of…" Duncan replied dryly.
He was in the middle of quietly scolding the mischievous Niffler.
As punishment, he confiscated three Galleons from it, lest it fail to learn its lesson and make trouble again next time.
Hermione was not satisfied with Duncan's perfunctory answer.
She opened her mouth to press on, but her gaze was drawn to several old books piled in the corner of a table.
Hurrying over, she peered at the scrawled covers and read in a murmur, "The Thunderbird's Secret to Commanding the Weather; Common Signs of Erumpent Rut and Their Mating Methods; Loch Ness Monster Research Notes…"
"The Loch Ness Monster?"
Hermione's eyes flicked off the Erumpent volume and fixed on the last book in surprise.
"Is there a legend about it in the wizarding world too?
I once looked up material about it.
Those professors all said it was a rumour—that there's no Loch Ness Monster in the world at all."
Finished with his lecture to the Niffler, Duncan tapped its head lightly with a finger, set it down on the table beside him, and stood.
"That's no rumour.
The Loch Ness Monster is a real magical creature.
The Ministry just doesn't want Muggles to know the truth, so they put a little magic in place to make the Muggles who go to 'research' it see things wrong."
"What creature is it?"
Hermione blinked with curiosity.
She'd seen the term in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
"A Kelpie," Duncan said.
"It's just that the one in Loch Ness is much more active than most, so it's more famous than its cousins.
If you're interested, you can take that book and read it.
But don't lose it—that was written by my granddad.
It isn't published—there's only this one copy."
"Ah?
Thank you!"
Hermione picked up the book in delight.
For her, nothing was happier than reading a new book.
Just then, a piercing bird-cry sounded from outside the room, accompanied by thunder and lightning that made the ears ring.
It sounded like a raptor locked in an exhilarating battle with an enemy in the midst of a storm.
Kray seemed angry.
If no one calmed him, he might turn the interior upside down.
"Duncan."
Fred suddenly sprang up from the crate and signalled with his eyes.
He knew all too well what was out there.
Pick any one of those creatures, and it'd be enough to make Aurors come personally to haul Duncan off the train and march him to the Ministry for a hearing.
"Can we trust her?"
George edged close to Duncan without a fuss and asked in a whisper.
"S-she—she's a good person," Neville said timidly.
Hermione leaned against the table, absorbed in the book in her hands, as if she hadn't noticed the commotion outside.
"Mm."
Duncan nodded in silence, undecided.
After all, at this stage Hermione cared a great deal about school rules.
"Why don't we just…"
Fred tapped his wand against his own head and showed a dangerous smile.
Neville seemed frightened by Fred.
He swallowed with difficulty, fear written all over his face.
"Hermione—she—she's a good person," Neville repeated in a small voice what he'd just said.
"Neville, this isn't about whether she's a good person!"
George clapped Neville's shoulder seriously.
"If the rest of the school finds out, Duncan will definitely be expelled.
You don't want Duncan to be kicked out on his very first day, do you?"
"I don't!"
Neville shook his head furiously, then pulled a pained face.
"B-but we don't have to k-kill her…"
"Eh?
What sort of terrifying idea is that?" Fred exclaimed.
"When did we ever say we were going to kill her?"
"N-no?
But your expression just now…" Neville froze, then let out a breath.
"Then what are you planning to do?"
"We just want her to have a little nap in here.
Once we've sorted the mess, we'll wake her when we go out," Fred said.
"Duncan, what do you think of our plan?" George asked.
"It was my oversight.
I shouldn't have brought her in," Duncan sighed.
He thought for a moment, then went on,
"But there's no need to be so rough.
There might be a better way to solve this…"
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts