MAGIC IS MIGHT - or is it?

Chapter Seven- Scorpio and his gold digger pet

Her friends were over at her house again. They came over quite often- Rose would have came, but she needed to practice for quidditch. Albus, who was terrible at the sport but loved it nevertheless, had came, bring a boy named Scorpio instead. "Everyone, this is my best friend." "Whoa, you look like a mini-Cassius." "Keefe, don't be rude!" "What, he does!" Scorpio sighed. "He was that stuck up guy who kept pestering my dad, wasn't he?" Keefe snorted. "Sounds like him."

A rustling sound came from Scorpio's robes. Linh, who was playing with her new pet mouse Curio, said, "What's that?" A blur of grey burst from Scorpio's robes and wrestled his watch off of his wrist. "Hey!" Dex seemed to understand. He pulled a piece of metal from his pocket and held it up to the sun. The creature ran towards it, running up a very disgruntled Dex's arm. As it grabbed for the metal, Scorpio leapt and grabbed it, falling back on the floor.

"It's so cute!" Linh awed, reaching over and scratching it's blue belly. Everyone stared at her. "It almost killed Scorpio," Biana said. "And you think it's cute?" But Linh wasn't listening. Sophie inched closer as Scorpio said, "It's a niffler. Likes anything Shiny. My dad hates them, but they grow on you. " Keefe looked over Linh's shoulder, and becuse he had a death wish, dangled a gold chain from his hand. The niffler forgot the delight of Linh's belly rubbing and leapt for the chain.

At that moment, Rose apparated into the room. "What's going on? She asked when she saw the niffler attacking Keefe for the chain. Fitz was shouting, "Keefe, let go!" Tam was watching amusingly from the shadows, not attempting to stop the niffler. He sucked like that.

Rose sighed. "Accio!" The niffler shot into her arms. It glared at Keefe for a moment, before snuggling into her robes, clutching it's prize happily. "Well, did you get any news from Alden?" Rose asked. Ever since Fintan had escaped Alden had gone to search for him, along with a couple dwarves. He hadn't replied yet, and they were getting worried. But of course, this was Alden- he could handle himself.

Sophie shook her head. "Not yet," She admitted. "But we're sure he'll contact us soon." Rose jerked her head in annoyance and passed the niffler back to Scorpio. "Great. One week and we still don't have any leads. To make matters worse, mom says the giants are moving." "WHAT?'' "I know Scorpio, it's getting out of hand. It's you-know-who all over again." Linh looked anxious. "Giants?" "Imagine 20 feet tall goblins that spend their spare time killing muggles in the mountains, with unbelievable bloodlust, so they're killing each other off- there's only about eighty of them left." Scorpio finished, a tinge of sadness in his voice as he stroked his niffler.

Sophie was horrified. Over the years, she'd seen trolls, ogres and goblins- but giants? From the tone of Albus' voice, he wasn't lying. If Fintan really was recruiting these beasts, he had a whole army. Eighty was enough to level the whole lost cities. What if- "Foster, I'm going to puke." She stopped and tugged out an itchy eyelash instead. She surveyed the room, checking her friends expressions. Linh's normally pink cheeks were pale, and Tam strode across the room to whisper to her. She nodded, and relaxed. Keefe really did look sick, his face slightly tinged with green. Dex, Fitz and Biana were once in agreement, looking worriedly at each other.

"That's why I came." Rose interrupted. Her friends looked at her curiously. The girl smiled. "How would you like to see the ministry of magic?"