"What three-headed dog? I've never kept Fluffy!" Hagrid jumped as if he'd been electrocuted, his beard quivering with agitation as he jabbed a finger at Kyle, "How dare you make such baseless accusations!"
"Oh." Kyle said with sudden realization, "So its name is Fluffy? That's quite a fitting name."
Hagrid's expression froze, and he quickly backpedaled, "I didn't... I never said anything, you misheard."
He didn't dare admit it. In all of Hogwarts, Kyle was the last person he wanted to discover Fluffy's existence — even more so than Dumbledore. His father Chris was the Deputy Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, specifically overseeing mysterious creatures like Fluffy.
If Kyle wrote home about this, Fluffy would definitely be taken away, and Hagrid wouldn't know if it would live or die. He himself might even end up in Azkaban.
Just thinking about Fluffy possibly being killed and that dreadful place Azkaban made him break out in a cold sweat.
"No, I absolutely cannot admit it." Hagrid said, putting on a stern face and trying his best to look menacing to scare the kid away.
The fierce expression, combined with his towering height of over three meters, might have looked convincing—
If one could ignore his wavering eyes and the cold sweat on his forehead.
"Alright, alright, I misheard, and you don't have a three-headed dog." Kyle waved his hand dismissively, "Just consider it a random fact, goodbye. Oh, by the way..."
He turned back after walking a few steps.
"If you happen to have a dog that shows signs of loss of appetite, restlessness, or depression, don't worry about it — just let it into the Forbidden Forest."
Since Hagrid didn't want him to see Fluffy, he wouldn't look for now. There would be plenty of chances next year anyway.
Besides, why bother with the small one when the big one would be better? Once Fluffy was moved to that room on the fourth floor, he could look at it whenever he wanted. He could even pluck some of its fur to knit socks if he felt like it.
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Leaving the forest, Kyle strolled across the grounds. As he approached the castle entrance, he caught sight of a familiar figure darting past.
He curiously walked over and found a small figure crouching in the bushes by the castle entrance, head poking around searching for something.
"Kanna? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Who!"
The sudden voice startled the girl, and it took her a moment to recover.
"I'm... I'm looking for something." Kanna glanced up at him before continuing to search through the bushes.
Seeing this, Kyle took out his wand and said, "This could take forever. Let me help you."
Kanna seemed to guess his intention and immediately shook her head, "It won't work. I lost some Galleons, and the Summoning Charm doesn't work on them."
Any wizard currency — whether Galleons, Sickles, or Knuts — had anti-summoning charms on them, like a watermark. It was a basic anti-theft measure.
Hearing this, Kyle put away his wand and moved to the other side to help search. Kanna hadn't told anyone about her loss, preferring to search alone rather than trouble others.
Thinking about her situation, she hesitated before softly saying, "Th-thank you."
"It's nothing, we're friends after all." Kyle said dismissively, "By the way, how many Galleons did you lose?"
"Twenty."
Kyle thought he must have misheard, "How many?!"
"Twenty." Kanna said quietly, "Maybe more. I've been losing Galleons since school started, and these were my last ones."
"Uh..." Kyle clicked his tongue and silently began searching through the bushes.
Goodness, losing over twenty Galleons at once — if it were him, he might have murderous thoughts.
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The bushes by the castle entrance weren't small, and it took them over an hour to search.
The results were disappointing. Forget Galleons — they couldn't even find a single Knut.
Kyle stood up, rubbing his back, "Are you sure you lost them here?"
"I... I don't know." Kanna paused, "They were still there before Herbology yesterday, but this morning they were suddenly gone."
"Could you have lost them during Flying lessons?" He thought for a moment, "Have you checked the Quidditch pitch?"
"I looked this morning." She said, "They weren't at the Quidditch pitch or in the castle. If they're not here either, that only leaves the greenhouses."
"The greenhouses? Definitely not there." Kyle said decisively.
He wouldn't dare speak about other places, but the greenhouses... he could guarantee with absolute certainty that no one had dropped anything there — the floor was spotless. He had looked very carefully at the time.
"Should we search one more time?" He suggested, "We might have missed something."
"No need." Kanna shook her head.
She had never found any of the Galleons she'd lost before, and this time would probably be the same. It seemed impossible — how could anyone find Galleons once they were lost?
"Alright then." Kyle didn't insist.
In his view, someone from a pure-blood family who could afford Twilfitt and Tatting's robes probably didn't lack for Galleons. Twenty or thirty Galleons probably wouldn't matter much to them.
He dusted off his robes and casually said, "Do you need to borrow some until your family owl arrives?"
Kanna's eyes clouded over, and after a moment of silence she said, "It's fine, we don't need Galleons at Hogwarts anyway. I can withdraw more from Gringotts during the holidays. It's just... for the rat tonic... could I pay for it after Christmas?"
Kyle's hand paused mid-brush, then he glanced at her and said, "Don't worry about that, you can even pay next year if you need to."
After he finished cleaning his robes, they walked toward the castle together.
On the way, he asked curiously, "By the way, where's your rat? I haven't seen you carrying it."
"Porgy?" Kanna's face lit up with a rare smile at the mention of her pet, "She's playing with Darlene's hamster in the dormitory."
"A field mouse and a hamster playing together — what's that about?" Kyle grimaced, "I have a friend, Percy Weasley from Gryffindor, who also has a rat. I should introduce them sometime. By the way, is your Porgy male or female?"
Kanna blushed slightly but answered in a soft voice, "Fe-female."
"Perfect!" Kyle's eyes lit up, "Percy's Scabbers is male. Why don't we match them up? Then we might have a litter of baby rats next year."
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