Garfield, who had been lazing around doing absolutely nothing of importance, suddenly felt an invisible force sweep through him.
Something warm and pleasant lingered on his fur.
Very comfortable.
So cool.
Garfield stretched with blissful satisfaction, rolled over twice, and promptly went back to sleep.
Deep within his soul, Pandora popped her tiny head out of Garfield's hair.
Her small foxlike eyes gleamed with the unmistakable expression of someone who had just stolen a whole chicken coop.
She snickered twice and vanished.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
Wizards were notoriously conservative, but in one area they were centuries ahead… medicine.
Bones could regrow and limbs could be reattached. Even severed spines could be repaired with enough care and the right potions.
Unless the injury was utterly unhealable, wizards rarely died.
The Aurors injured by Grindelwald were no exception. Broken bones and severed hands were joined and regrown.
One Auror who had been paralyzed was walking again within five days. Potions, magic, and stubborn British spirit had done their work.
With their people healed, the British Ministry launched a full-scale manhunt.
Grindelwald had already plunged Europe into chaos once, they refused to underestimate him again. Tracking teams were dispatched across the continent.
One person, however, was deliberately excluded.
Dumbledore.
As Grindelwald's friend, he was viewed with suspicion by the older Ministry officials.
Dumbledore had already foreseen this and quietly summoned someone he trusted beyond question.
Newt Scamander.
Dumbledore didn't sneak around. He walked straight up to Newt's house and knocked.
Squeak.
The door opened.
"…"
The creature greeting him was orange, slightly plump… and wearing a pocket-sized satchel around its neck.
"Garfield? What on earth are you doing here?!"
Garfield looked up at him lazily. "Looking for my little brother. Niffler."
"Little brother??" Dumbledore didn't understand at all.
Garfield didn't bother explaining. He simply opened a swirling portal. ""I'll tell you later. Busy."
"Wait~!" Dumbledore began, but Garfield had already hopped in.
For a split second, Dumbledore saw the other side.
Darkness… then the portal snapped shut.
Where had he gone…?
No, focus. There was no time to be distracted. Grindelwald was still out there.
If he had caught Garfield first or asked him one crucial question, Dumbledore could've saved himself countless nights of worrying about the fate of the wizarding world.
Instead, he followed through with his plan.
After some careful persuasion, Newt accepted the task… travel to France and find Grindelwald.
…
Darkness parted, and Garfield landed on a familiar rooftop overlooking Tokyo.
The vault was still there, glowing faintly in the distance.
Once, he and Niffler had performed a beautifully chaotic act of 'heroism,' helping a nation rise while saving thousands of soldiers and civilians.
A complicated story that involved treasure, confusion, and Garfield's questionable definition of strategy.
And now he was back.
He pulled a small black Niffler from his pocket. He blinked at the view and immediately drooled.
"Boss… shall we start?"
Last time, the Niffler had earned an enormous commission and promptly married his sweetheart.
Now he had children… tiny, hyperactive troublemakers who had inherited his absurd treasure-hunting instincts.
The mischief was strong in that family. Not that Niffler ever admitted it.
Garfield's eyes narrowed as he studied the vault. "No rush. They learned from last time."
"Those onmyōji have set up all sorts of defensive wards. It'll take a while to break them."
Niffler sat down with a flop. "Oh. Then, boss, you can do your magic. I don't get any of this stuff."
Garfield smirked.
Better let the onmyōji have some fun first. After all… a bored Garfield was a dangerous creature
Garfield lifted his paw lazily.
High above the city, a spark appeared… then it swelled into a small meteorite, wreathed in flame, shimmering as it plummeted toward the vault.
Thud.
The fireball smashed straight through the roof.
Boom.
The earth trembled softly and Sirens shrieked through the night.
From within the vault, a dark silhouette darted out, followed by a squad of creatures dressed in the ceremonial robes of Japanese onmyōji.
They fanned out, forming a defensive perimeter.
Niffler stared wide-eyed, patting his round belly. "Oh no, boss… an ambush! They've gotten smarter!"
Garfield nodded calmly, touched a paw to Niffeler's fur, and opened a swirling vortex.
Both vanished like fading smoke.
A heartbeat later, the pair reappeared in a familiar hot spring. The very same hot spring they'd soaked in last time.
Everything was exactly as they remembered… except for one detail.
No muffled panting from the adjacent room tonight.
A peaceful night, warm water, and soft steam.
Niffler paddled happily back and forth like an oversized black goldfish.
Garfield reclined against the rocks, reached beneath the fluffy fur under his neck, and drew out the Time Stone. He turned it over in his paw, feeling its power thrumming through the magical shielding.
Behind that layer of protection, he sensed… a river flowing. Endless.
She looks delicious… he wants to eat it so badly.
Just one bite…
Garfield's pupils dilated, his eyes fixed entirely on the gem.
Chomp
He bit his own paw, hard, snapping himself back to reality.
Good grief.
He had nearly cracked the outer barrier and swallowed the Time Stone whole.
Doing that without proper control was near suicide… one wrong gulp and he'd fall into a temporal rift, lost for centuries.
If that happened?
He'd miss Everyone.
And worst of all… Queenie and Baima would be gone by the time he returned.
He would cry.
As for Rin and the succubus sisters… those didn't count.
Rin was evenly matched with Obito and Hatake… and Garfield, as a cat of honor, never meddled unless both sides were dead.
Demons like Lilith and Vivienne, on the other hand, lived thousands of years. No danger there.
Unless someone exorcised them and only a handful of organizations could do that. The strongest was Kamar-Taj.
But Kamar-Taj already knew their contract came from Garfield, disciple of the Ancient One. As long as the sisters behaved, nothing would happen.
Soaking until midnight, Garfield finally left the springs with Niffler. They raided the island nation's royal palace for a midnight feast, then napped for an entire day.
When night fell again, they resumed the mission.
For seven days, meteorites rained down on the vault.
Every night, without fail…
boom
boom
boom
The onmyōji suffered miserably.
Several vomited blood from magical overexertion. Their wards shattered, rebuilt, shattered again. Eventually, the entire defensive force was replaced. Then their replacements were replaced.
Desperate, the onmyōji leadership made a decision born of exhaustion and terror:
Break the gold into smaller portions and move it piece by piece. And leave only low-ranked grunts as guards.
They simply couldn't withstand another week of Garfield's 'meteor blessings.' On the eighth night, Garfield sent yet another meteorite crashing into the vault.
The structure exploded more violently than ever.
Garfield stood up, stretching cheerfully, and called out. "Niffler!"
"It's time to show them your true treasure-hunting skills!"
Niffler's eyes sparkled, it was his moment.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Phantom your way through a treasure trove of chapters waiting on P@treon!
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