The girl's voice was filled with disbelief as she suddenly jumped from her chair, her light chestnut eyes wide open.
Next to her, Daphne also lowered her head, looking at the Niffler that had probably sneaked in with her, frowning slightly, "Is it Professor Richard's? What is it doing here?"
"Who knows what's going on?"
Astoria leaned over, reaching her finger out to flick Kabuda's slick, shiny head—
In the next moment, Kabuda, who had been staring dazedly at the button, squinted its eyes, its round body bounced up and agilely turned in midair, its pink hind paw kicking the girl's finger aside while it nimbly plucked the moonstone button from her cuff.
"... Have you resorted to blatant robbery?"
Astoria was just about to cover her cuff when she saw Kabuda already patting its stomach pocket contentedly—seeing the little fellow seemingly wave its paw and prepare to slip away, she quickly reached out and grasped the Niffler's plump, fluffy tail, "No way, you have to give it back to me—or?"
"Chirp?"
Kabuda turned its head, blinking its jet-black beady eyes, seemingly waiting to hear what came after 'or'.
"... How about helping me write my paper?"
The girl rolled her eyes, recalling Kabuda's "special abilities"—she had witnessed Ginny Weasley asking this Niffler to complete assignments for her.
"Squeak!"
Upon hearing this, Kabuda's beady eyes widened instantly, then it unhesitatingly wrenched free from the hand loosely holding its tail, decisively making a break for it—what the heck is she talking about? It had finally caused enough trouble for half a month just to get William to grant it a Christmas break, and now it was being asked to keep writing papers?
Freedom, or death for a Niffler!
However, before Kabuda's pudgy body could leap off the table, the bell above the store's door jingled once more.
The door opened at a slightly slower pace than when Daphne had entered earlier. The person who came in carried a chill, he wasn't tall, holding a magic wand in his hand, wearing a well-tailored dark gray trench coat, over which a jet-black travel cloak was draped—however, the red Christmas hat on the boy's head somewhat ruined the overall vibe of his outfit.
Tom Riddle turned and closed the door, his dark eyes quickly scanning the shop interior, locking onto the black furball by the table before the others could speak, "Found you." The boy's voice was calm and steady, giving no hint whether he was displeased or relieved.
He flicked his wrist, and the glowing magic wand disappeared from his fingertips.
Kabuda's movements paused, and upon seeing Tom, it let out a "squeak," a sound that probably held a hint of guilty conscience but more so an embarrassed attitude like "oh no, I've been discovered." It didn't run but instead turned around to grab a quill on the table, pretending to write a paper on Magic History—
Much like how people pretend to be busy in awkward situations.
One can't deny that, as a primary contributor to ending the third Goblin Rebellion, it was rather suitable for it to be writing this paper.
Astoria stood up, "Good evening, uh..." "Tom, Tom Riddle." "Oh, okay... Did Kabuda get separated from you?" She glanced down at the Niffler that had gotten busy in an instant, and for some reason, though she knew the boy before her was a year below her, his demeanor seemed more like that of an upperclassman.
Tom gave her a slight nod as a greeting, his eyes then shifted to Daphne, "Mrs. Malfoy." His manners were impeccable.
"This fellow disappeared the moment I stepped into Hogsmeade..."
Tom circled around the central racks and clothes displays, reaching to pick up Kabuda, while the Niffler innocently let go of the quill, only Astoria, looking at the one-third completed paper, appeared a bit speechless, "So I used a bit of tracking magic to find out it had run here—"
Tom spoke as he ignored Kabuda's pleading eyes, grabbing the Niffler's hind paws with both hands, then—yes, of course, shook it!
Jingle jangle.
All sorts of, yet uniformly glittering, objects tumbled out of Kabuda's pockets and scattered across the table, Daphne, who had been fixated on this side, instinctively raised a hand to her ear, "When?" She curiously picked out her earrings from the pile of "loot"... a pair.
Tom tossed the dizzy Kabuda aside, lightly waved the wand that appeared in his hand, and the next moment, all of Kabuda's spoils on the table vanished in a burst of light—
This was a custom spell he learned from William, specifically to return stolen items from a Niffler to their rightful owners.
Just as Astoria found the scene a bit amusing and started to poke the dazed Kabuda's head with her finger—
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion suddenly came from not far down the street, so loud that the glass in the windows shattered, cascading small ornaments across the floor. Immediately followed by screams, roars, and a thunderous "boom boom" as some creatures ran.
"What's happening?"
Astoria shivered in fright at the sudden occurrence, raising her hand to grip the edge of the counter to steady herself.
The expressions of the other two also changed quickly, as Tom hurried to the window, moving aside the decorative holly branches to look outside. There he saw the direction of the central square not far away, where the originally warm holiday lights had been replaced with chaos's colors and smoke, and vaguely visible were numerous giant shadows wielding wooden clubs, and the lights of spells flying in all directions.
"Trolls?"
Daphne, who had followed closely, also saw the scene outside, her voice instantly tense, "There are several trolls! And... Wizards fighting them? No, those casting spells don't seem to be on the same side as us..."
"And goblins."
Tom's brow furrowed as he sharply caught more details — such as small figures with knives or crossbows occasionally jumping out from the colorful smoke, "They really haven't given up... It seems William was right, these guys would inevitably think to make a comeback — but why so quickly?"
Only five years had passed since the last Goblin Rebellion.
But unlike the results of the previous two rebellions, this time, Gringotts betrayed by standing with the goblins who attacked most of the British Magic Realm, angering the wizards. Nobody dared to trust these two-faced traitors anymore, and the usual excuses (Imperio) lost all power in the face of racial issues—
Thus, the goblins were driven away, although William and the Ministry of Magic advocated simply burying them all...
Yet the "merciful" Dumbledore still gave these guys a chance to survive, only executing the leading rebellious Gringotts executives. Unfortunately, now it seems that these hybrids didn't appreciate the White Lord's kindness.
"Are they crazy? Attacking Hogsmeade at this time? Don't they know how many wizards are here now?"
Astoria incredulously asked as she placed the now-recovered Kabuda on her shoulder and quickly ran over to the other two.
"Perhaps it's because of the crowd that the impact would be worse, they're threatening the wizards—"
Tom shook his head, as the ultimate goal of these goblins, unsurprisingly, was to regain Gringotts. Now, they clearly intended to put pressure on the wizards in this way — after all, such wealth-loving creatures wouldn't just watch those clinking Golden Galleons return to the hands of wizards.
They wanted to prove they still had the power to attack the Wizarding World and cause chaos, to force humans to accept them as before.
It's just... Tom shook his head, knowing that these goblins not only wouldn't succeed but probably would walk a path leading to their own destruction, because Gringotts now has been merged into a corporation group named "Starry Sky."
"Threats? But they might not even win."
Just as Daphne said, after the initial panic, the wizards celebrating Christmas around had already begun organizing a counterattack. Though it seemed unreliable, relying on these guys until the Aurors arrived probably wouldn't be a problem...
Unless...
"Roar—!!"
The roar came from the sky, a massive shadow swept over the shop, its scorching breath poured like a magma waterfall on a distant building, instantly igniting a towering inferno that changed everyone's complexion.
The firelight illuminated the menacing silhouette of the creature, its massive scaly body, powerful wings, and that menacing, flame-spewing head.
It's a Fire Dragon.
"Chirp chirp!!"
Upon seeing the Fire Dragon not far away, the Niffler standing on Astoria's shoulder excitedly rubbed its paws, shouting as it raised its paw, seemingly declaring war.