Dark child

38

Elara was careful not to tell Barty about her meeting with Sirius. It was the most stupid thing ever to do, given the fact that Barty would took it upon himself to hunt Sirius down and kill him. What was more, he would also change the content of his letters to Voldemort about Elara, from a loyal loving daughter waiting for his return to a blood traitor who doesn't want her father back. Despite all these, she still managed to have a romantic office-date-night with him, free of any discussion of murder and plots to get a dark wizard back.

The next day, Elara didn't share the same interest with her fellow Slytherin friends about the amount of letters Hermione was receiving at breakfast. It wasn't as fascinating as Pansy was making it look like. As the Slytherins left the greenhouse for their Care of Magical Creatures class, they saw Harry, Ron and the rest of the Gryffindors descending the stone steps of the castle. Hermione wasn't with them. Pansy was still whispering and giggling behind Elara and Draco with her gang of Slytherin girls. Catching sight of Harry, Pansy called, "Potter, have you split up with your girlfriend? Why was she so upset at breakfast?"
Harry ignored her; and Elara ignored both of them.

Hagrid, who had told them last lesson that they had finished with unicorns, was waiting for them outside his cabin with a fresh supply of open crates at his feet. Elara's heart sank at the sight of the crates — surely not another skrewt hatching? — but when she got near enough to see inside, she found herself looking at a number of fluffy black creatures with long snouts. Their front paws were curiously flat, like spades, and they were blinking up at the class, looking politely puzzled at all the attention.

"These're nifflers," said Hagrid, when the class had gathered around. "Yeh find 'em down mines mostly. They like sparkly stuff... There yeh go, look."

One of the nifflers had suddenly leapt up and attempted to bite Pansy's watch off her wrist. She shrieked and jumped backward.

"Useful little treasure detectors," said Hagrid happily. "Thought we'd have some fun with 'em today. See over there?" He pointed at the large patch of freshly turned earth. "I've buried some gold coins. I've got a prize fer whoever picks the niffler that digs up most. Jus' take off all yer valuables, an' choose a niffler, an' get ready ter set 'em loose."

Elara picked up a niffler. It put its long snout in her ear and sniffed enthusiastically. It was really quite cuddly.

"Hang on," said Hagrid, looking down into the crate, "there's a spare niffler here... who's missin'? Where's Hermione?"
"She had to go to the hospital wing," said Ron. Elara concluded that she must have been receiving something nasty in her morning letters.

It was easily the most fun they had ever had in Care of Magical Creatures. The nifflers dived in and out of the patch of earth as though it were water, each scurrying back to the student who had released it and spitting gold into their hands. Ron's was particularly efficient; it had soon filled his lap with coins. "Can you buy these as pets, Hagrid?" he asked excitedly as his niffler dived back into the soil, splattering his robes.

"Yer mum wouldn' be happy, Ron," said Hagrid, grinning. "They wreck houses, nifflers. I reckon they've nearly got the lot, now," he added, pacing around the patch of earth while the nifflers continued to dive. "I on'y buried a hundred coins. Oh there y'are, Hermione!"

Hermione was walking toward them across the lawn. Her hands were very heavily bandaged and she looked miserable. Pansy was watching her beadily.

"Well, let's check how yeh've done!" said Hagrid. "Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' ter steal any, Goyle," he added, his beetle-black eyes narrowed. "It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."

Goyle emptied his pockets, looking extremely sulky. It turned out that Ron's niffler had been most successful, so Hagrid gave him an enormous slab of Honeydukes chocolate for a prize. The bell rang across the grounds, and they climbed the steps into the entrance hall and went into the Great Hall for lunch.