Chapter 48. The Agreement with the Pixies
After taking Professor Kettleburn for a quick look around inside the case, Duncan and he returned to the office one after the other.
The pixies in the iron cage immediately crowded forward, pressing their faces against the bars, not moving a muscle, terribly well-behaved.
Of course, Duncan knew that was only on the surface, so he turned his head and asked, "Professor, shall I take them?"
"Take them, take them," Professor Kettleburn said with a wave.
There was an urging note in his voice, as if he were even more eager than Duncan or the caged pixies.
"All right." Duncan swished his wand, and the iron cage floated up, then he aimed it at the case's entrance and forced it through.
Duncan followed them in, and at once chittering noises filled his ears, the pixies in the cage breaking into a frenzy of squabbling.
"Quiet, quiet." Thump—thump—Duncan gave the bars two brisk raps. "Have you forgotten what you promised me? I haven't even let you out yet, and you're already acting like lunatics. If I really let you out, won't you wreck my shed?"
"Shut up!" The large-eared pixie went along the line and walloped the others one by one, bringing them back to their senses.
Duncan nodded, satisfied, and asked, "If I let you all out, can you keep them in hand?"
"Mm-hm, mm-hm." The large-eared pixie's head bobbed furiously, as if afraid Duncan would change his mind if it was a second late.
"I'll call you Nofi from now on, and I hope you won't let me down." Duncan tapped his wand, and the cage door sprang open.
"Woohoo, we're free!"
"That thing is mine—don't you lot snatch it from me!"
"I was the one who saw it first!"
"Ha ha, what is that? I'm going to chuck it at that nasty human's head!"
…
The pixies poured out of the cage, jostling to be first, like Huskies let out to run, careering all over the room.
Judging by how they looked, the instant Duncan opened the door they had already tossed their agreement with him out of their minds.
Duncan stood by the cage with a cold face, tapping his wand against his palm again and again.
Today he would see exactly when these little pests would calm down.
If they could not calm down, then they could not blame him for finding a way to turn them into well-behaved babies.
And the task was already complete; the pixies' favourability towards him had reached 80, and his words now carried a controlling power over them.
"Put it all down!" Nofi glanced at Duncan, planted its fists on its hips and shouted angrily.
It was the only one among the pixies that had not fallen into madness and was keeping its cool.
Only, not a single pixie listened to it, and in the blink of an eye the shed was a complete mess.
A few clear glass cups were lifted high by pixies and then dropped, and with several crashes they smashed into shards all over the floor.
Seeing Duncan's face grow darker, Nofi panicked, stopped shouting on the spot, and darted forward at full speed.
Clenching its fists, it flew alongside each pixie in turn, raised a fist high, and socked them hard, knocking them straight out of the air.
After about half a minute, thanks to Nofi's efforts as it whizzed around, the work shed was quiet once more.
Looking at the pixies on the floor—some unconscious, some struggling to take off but failing—Duncan nodded in satisfaction.
"I'll set up an area outside for you to live in," Duncan said. "Whatever you do in there, I won't interfere.
"But there's one thing: you must not disturb the other residents, otherwise…"
Duncan patted the iron cage at his side. "You'll be living back in here again."
"Rest assured, I'll keep them in line!" Nofi said solemnly.
Duncan waited until the pixies had recovered, then escorted them to the area prepared for the Acromantulas.
"You'll live here for the time being." Duncan finished speaking and was about to leave when an idea suddenly popped into his head.
He turned back and said, "If you get bored, in a while I'll find something for you to do."
"What sort of thing?" "Is it fun?" "Is it pranking people?"
Hearing this, the pixies whooshed over and swarmed round Duncan, chirping questions.
"You'll know when the time comes," Duncan said. "But you have to behave now, or the activity is off."
"Mm-hm, got it." the pixies answered in unison, and their roughhousing eased up a good deal.
When he returned to the office, the clock's hour hand was almost pointing to class time, so Duncan quickly said goodbye to Professor Kettleburn and left.
The first class in the afternoon was Herbology, and Professor Pomona Sprout did not teach them anything too advanced.
She simply took them for a turn around the vast greenhouses, showed them all sorts of marvellous plants, and told them a few points to keep in mind.
Neville listened with utmost seriousness, lingering to observe each plant for a long time, as if he wished he could hang his eyeballs on them.
Even when the bell rang for the end of the lesson and the other students poured out of the greenhouse like a swarm of bees, Neville still shuffled along reluctantly.
"Neville, hurry up, we need to get to Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Hannah stood at the door, up on tiptoe, waving hard as she called.
"Oh, oh, got it…" Neville broke into a trot to the door and followed behind Duncan.
"What do you think the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor will teach us today?" Hannah asked with keen interest.
Neville thought for a moment, his face grave. "As long as it's not making us deal with some terrifying monster, that's fine!"
"You can't be sure of that, Neville…" Hannah lowered her voice to make it spooky, a prankish smile on her face.
Ellie, who had kept her head down hurrying along, also said in a very small voice, "My dad told me that in their day Defence Against the Dark Arts even fought a dragon, and after every class several students would be sent to the hospital…"
"No way? A dragon?" Neville's eyes went wide with terror, as big as a Galleon, and his voice shook. "Ellie, are you lying to me?"
"I—I don't know either, that's just what my dad said…" Ellie's voice grew smaller and smaller.
"It's fine, Neville!" Hannah thumped her chest heroically. "If there's danger, I'll protect you!"
Looking at Hannah, who was a whole head shorter than he was, Neville decisively turned to Duncan for help. "Duncan, you've got a way to deal with dragons, right?"
"Don't worry," Duncan said with a smile. "In our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's class, you definitely won't see a creature that dangerous."
"How do you know?" Hannah asked curiously, and Ellie also turned her eyes over.
"Because I've seen the film…" Duncan thought with wicked amusement, then said aloud, "When Professor Dumbledore introduced him yesterday, didn't you see? I don't believe for a second that someone who trembles even when standing up to say hello would have the nerve to bring a dragon into class for students."
"You've got a point…" Hannah nodded in agreement, and in an instant her interest in Defence Against the Dark Arts dropped by half.
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