Just like the Niffler can always silently take away shiny things, the owl seems to have the same ability.
On Christmas day, Kael opened his eyes to see a mountain of gifts piled up beside his bed, yet ridiculously, he hadn't noticed when they were brought in.
Kael rubbed his eyes and curiously said, "Ladon, do owls have some kind of hidden power..."
Ladon, who was resting with eyes closed on the wooden perch, lazily lifted a wing and gave a half-hearted hoot.
Most of the Christmas gifts Kael wanted to send had been delivered through the Owl Post Office, but for those meant for family, friends, and professors, he entrusted them to Ladon.
It's just that Kael has quite a few friends.
To save time, Ladon had flown almost all night at full speed, having just returned, it was too exhausted to lift its wings and didn't feel like responding to Kael's random queries.
"Sorry, I appreciate your hard work."
Feeling a bit guilty, Kael walked over to it, poured a bottle of Owl Potion into its bowl, and added a small piece of braised dragon liver.
Dragon liver is more suitable as a pet snack compared to Murtlap jerky, but it's so expensive—just a small piece costs sixteen Sickles, like a bottle of Felix Felicis.
It's practically robbing money.
The piece of dragon liver Kael prepared was his Christmas gift for Ladon, costing him a total of ten Galleons.
To be honest, he himself had never had anything so luxurious.
Ladon ate a few bites of dragon liver and drank some potion, finally feeling more refreshed.
Then Kael returned to his bed and started unwrapping gifts. Most of them were candies and chocolates, even more than last year.
"Kael, something's wrong!"
A few minutes later, there was a sudden scream from the common room.
It was Conna's voice.
Kael quickly put down the half-unwrapped chocolate and rushed out of the dormitory.
In the common room, Conna stood there anxiously, holding an opened box in her arms.
"What... what happened?" Kael quickly asked.
Conna bit her lip, unsure of what to do. "I... I lost some Galleons again, it can't be Poke..."
Because of what happened last year, when Conna realized she had lost her Galleons, her first thought was of that witch who turned into a rat.
"What are you thinking, that's impossible."
Kael waved his hand reassuringly, saying, "She's probably busy making breakfast for a Dementor, wouldn't have time to come to Hogwarts now.
Maybe you just forgot where you put the Galleons."
"Is that so..."
Hearing Kael's words, Conna breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest and saying, "Then I'll look around some more. The Galleons aren't important, but I really liked that crystal hair clip."
"Wait... a crystal hair clip?"
Kael paused for a moment, frowning, "Did you lose anything else?"
"Nothing much else..."
Conna tilted her head, thinking, "A few Galleons, a crystal hair clip... oh right, and a silver brooch, which was a gift I just unwrapped and then it disappeared in a flash."
Galleons... crystal... silver brooch...
Kael's eye twitched, as if he knew what was happening.
"Hold on a moment."
Kael took a deep breath and took out the "Philosopher's Stone".
The next moment, a black furry ball suddenly darted out from the corner of the common room.
Kael seized the opportunity, grabbing the back of its neck, then quickly reached out and tickled its belly twice.
Accompanied by a series of clinking sounds.
Galleons, hair clip, brooch, stone, flower pot... a bunch of items spilled out from the Niffler's pouch like a shower of rain, causing it to squawk anxiously.
"Is this a Niffler?" Conna exclaimed in surprise.
She had seen this kind of Fantastic Beasts a few times before, its body covered with black fur, a duck-like flat snout, and that pouch...
It was definitely a Niffler.
"Something's not right."
Conna said with confusion, "Aren't Nifflers supposed to live in the Forbidden Forest? Why is it in our common room?"
"Uh... its name's Jerry, and it's my pet."
Kael gathered the pile of items on the ground together, sheepishly saying, "Maybe I didn't watch it properly last night, and it sneaked out of the dormitory."
Merlin's beard, Kael remembered clearly putting the little guy back in its box before going to bed last night. How had it managed to get out?
Could it be that he hadn't closed the box properly?
In any case, it was a good thing they discovered it early. A bit later and they would surely have lost more.
It was Conna's first time getting so close to a Niffler. She walked over curiously and asked, "Can I pet it?"
"Of course you can." Kael handed the Niffler to Conna, warning her, "But you should watch out for anything shiny on your body, be careful not to let it steal anything."
"Sure, sure." Conna replied perfunctorily and then gently rubbed the Niffler's head.
The furry soft feeling made her involuntarily squint her eyes.
Seeing this, Kael returned to the dormitory and continued unwrapping gifts.
Incidentally, this year, besides candies, he received the most books of all.
Whether it was professional magic theory, detailed Quidditch techniques, or biographies, he received them all, with a very diverse range.
Among them was even a copy of "Postpartum Care of Nifflers," which Kael discovered was sent by Newt upon closer inspection.
Dumbledore sent him a pair of personally knitted wool socks, not only with lovely gold-red patterns but also Kael's initials.
Kael squinted at them for quite a while, finally determined that the patterns' material was Fawkes' feathers... tail feathers at that.
Knitting socks with precious Phoenix tail feathers... who knows what Dumbledore was thinking.
Mittens would have been better, at least others could see them.
As for the gift he gave Dumbledore, it was much more practical, "Three Hundred Ways to Knit Wool Socks."
A progressive edition of last year's book, with two hundred more styles, enough to keep him busy for quite some time.
But the greatest surprise for Kael was receiving a Christmas gift from Snape this year.
A moldy piece of parchment.
Kael understood; he must be using this to remind him to pay attention in class and take notes rigorously.
If there's no knowledge in your head, over time, you'll become as useless as this parchment.
Kael couldn't help but appreciate in his heart Professor Snape's well-intentioned reminder...
Only such a great professor deserves two gifts from him.
Besides the usual shampoo, there was also a carefully selected book, once the most popular among wizards, that topped the sales charts multiple times...
"Travels with Trolls"