You ducked under a branch as you made your way through the lush undergrowth of the wood in which you lived. The trees that surrounded you were various shades of green, their trunks all covered in emerald moss. It seemed that every other tree was tinted white where blossoms erupted from between the green foliage. The afternoon sun shone down from the heavens onto the forest, casting dappled shadows on the lower part of the wood. Birds sung a melodic chorus above your head. All was peaceful. All was serene.
Suddenly shrill, desperate sounds broke the peace which had settled upon the wood. You froze when you heard the disruption. It sounded as if something was pleading for help and, well, you couldn't just let it suffer so you went to investigate the source of the sound.
You ducked and dodged your way through the assault course that was the woods. Twigs would occasionally snag on your clothing or in your hair and drag you back a couple of paces but you continued on to, where you thought, the source of the disturbance was. At one point you had to get onto your hands and knees in order to crawl through a small gap between two bowed, wizened oak trees. You were determined to get to whatever was crying out for help. You couldn't let it suffer that'd would be cruel after all.
Up ahead you saw a black ball writhing and squealing. As you managed to get closer, you could see a rusted wire wrapped around the small creatures midriff. You slowly got back onto all fours and crept nearer to the panicking mound of fluff and noticed that the wire twisted around the poor creature was barbed.
"You poor thing," you whispered to the creature as you caught sight of the cuts that had been caused on it as it had been struggling to free itself. Upon hearing your voice, the black mound's head whipped round and its dark, beady eyes made contact with your (e/c) ones. The fur on the back of its head stood on end and it hissed at you through its bill.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. I've come to help you," you reassured the creature as it violently flapped its webbed feet. You shuffled along so you were sitting in close proximity to the small mammal. You cautiously outstretched your arm and placed your fingers gently on the back of its head, stroking it slowly. You felt the little creature's muscles relax and heard it begin to purr.
"See everything's going to be great," you said, continuing to stroke the creature but beginning to stretch the wire with your other hand so you could slip the small thing out. You winced slightly as the barbs dug into your skin, drawing blood. If you were saving a human at that moment, you'd probably having given up when you'd started to bleed, but this was a poor, defenseless creature in need of your help, so you continued.
After a bit of time, and a lot of scratches, you managed to shape the wire loop so that it was wide enough to slip the creature out. You then placed your hands around the little creature and slowly dragged it out so it was freed. Bringing it to your chest you inspected the injuries that stretched down both sides of the mammal. Luckily they were mainly superficial and would only have to be cleaned out in order for the creature to make a full recovery.
You methodically stroked the creature and cradled it in your arms until it became drowsy. It snuggled into your elbow as it fell asleep. You smiled down at the creature as it peacefully breathed in and out.
"Where'd you find that Niffler?" A breathless voice asked from behind you.
"Bloody Hell!" You exclaimed as you turned to see the source of the voice which had startled you. The creature in your arms angrily squeaked as you had jolted it awake when you had jumped out of surprise. It then returned to its original position and fell back into its slumber.
