Chapter 248: The Niffler and First Meeting with Hagrid!

Words : 2028 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

Chapter 248 - The Niffler and First Meeting with Hagrid! Darcie hadn't recognized the magical creature at the first sight, what with it being blurry and running away from them. Now that she had glimpsed it twice, there was no mistaking it. It was a Niffler. The coat of black, fluffy fur, the odd gait with which it was dashing in a zig-zag pattern, and the way it kept stopping to look behind as if taunting its pursuers. Yes, all pointed in one direction. A rogue Niffler had robbed Darcie, stealing all her money and her belongings, including the whistle that Madam Villanelle had given her for emergencies. "It must have run away from Magical Menagerie!" Darcie shouted, running, covering as much distance as her tiny legs allowed her in a single jump. "The shop's further down the alley!" The wizards and witches eyed the girls, running behind a house-elf, who seemed to scream at nothing. By the time someone processed what was going on, they had already passed them. Darcie and Daphne, panting, passed the second-hand bookshop, an apothecary shop, and then the Eeylops Owl Emporium. It was then the black, blurry magical creature took a sudden right turn and vanished. Dobby vanished, too, screaming, the ice cream already gone. Darcie slowed down, and Daphne was about to follow the two magical beings into the turn listlessly when Darcie grabbed her hand. "Wait!" she said, taking in successive bouts of icy breaths. "This is Knockturn Alley, Daphne. We mustn't go there." "Knockturn..." Daphne repeated the word, stepping back. Suddenly, Dobby's shouts reached their ears, along with a beastly snarl and scream. The girls looked at each other, took a deep breath, and nodded. Keeping themselves to the wall as if then nobody would see them, the girls crawled into the alley. As they went down, it kept becoming darker and darker. A few hooded wizards grinned at them from behind their cowls, and the hags' eyed them greedily as they brushed by them, looming over them like a leaning tower. Darcie noticed the Scribbulus Writing Implements and Gladrags Clothing to her left, where the two shops were supposed to be as per the map in her mind. Near the second shop, the alley took a right turn, becoming creepier. And just at the turn, in a corner, they saw Dobby struggling with the Niffler, trying to get a hold of it. "Dobby, wait!" Darcie shouted, and ran towards him. Nifflers were dangerous creatures if provoked, but the house-elf didn't know that. As the girls approached Dobby, they saw him rolling over the wet cobbled street with the creature in his embrace. The Niffler opened its mouth wide, and under the widened eyes of the girls, it bit the house-elf's shoulders. A trickle of blood dropped and Dobby let out a tiny scream. The magical creature, now free, ran away. "Dobby, stop!" Darcie ordered. "Don't go behind it. Take care of your injury first." The house-elf, though rejected and reluctant, obeyed the command of his mistress. It was now or never, Darcie knew. They must do something. "Daphne, give me a coin," Darcie demanded. Daphne nodded knowingly. She reached for her purse, but the moment she touched it, her hand stiffened. She slowly opened it, and it looked emptier than Darcie's purse. Now what? Darcie looked around, and her eyes fell on the flower in her hand. She broke a petal off it, and the flower let out an anguished scream. "Oh, shut up!" Darcie told it and then concentrated on her magic. Specific. Belief. Intention. Her Magic followed her command, and the petal transfigured into a gold coin. It was larger than the official one, Darcie observed. But that was good as well in this scenario. She threw the coin, and it struck the ground with a tink. The Niffler stopped. It turned around, perched up its long snout, and slowly neared the coin that had rolled its way towards the creature. The Niffler held the coin in its two tiny arms, bit at it, and then put it into its pouch. And Darcie knew she had it then. She broke off another petal, transfigured it into a gold coin, and rolled it towards the Niffler. The creature approached the coin and put it into its pouch, too. One by one, Darcie kept making the Niffler approach them. Meanwhile, Daphne had moved away to her right and Dobby to her left. By the time the last petal disappeared, the Niffler had come just a step away from them, surrounded. "Now!" Darcie shouted, and the three lunged at it. She grabbed its legs, Daphne grabbed its arms, and Dobby poked at its back with the silver fork in his hand, though these pokes lacked the heart behind them. "Shake it," Daphne suggested, the Niffler squealing like a mouse. "Yes." And then came the roar. "Gulpin' gargoyles!" the voice boomed behind them. "What yeh think yeh doin' with him, eh?" Darcie, Daphne, and Dobby faced up the entrance of the Knockturn Alley. A giant shadow was standing there, its face hidden behind what seemed like black bushes. The black silhouette had covered half of the entrance by itself; such was its size, and now it was coming for them, the ground thumping with every step. From where the house-elf found his courage, none knew, but it threw itself between the giant and the girls. "Dobby will not let you hurt the two Misses," the house-elf squeaked, shaking, pointing a finger towards the giant. "Dobby is Ms. Darcie's knight!" The giant stopped and looked down at them with his beetle-like eyes. Now that he had closed the gap, Darcie and Daphne could see the man surfacing out of the shadow. In front of him, the group of three looked like overgrown shoes. Darcie steeled her courage as well. "Why should we let it go?" she asked. "It stole our gold." Daphne nodded almost mechanically. "Stole?" the giant repeated the word. "Codswallop! Burby wouldn' steal anythin'." "Burby?" "Burby," the giant nodded. "That's me niffler, yeh got there. Steal... Nah, mighta bin someone else. Isn' that right, Burby?" But Burby didn't know how to lie. The Niffler let out a self-condemning squeal and looked away from the giant. "..." An odd silence took over the strangest group of four, then. The giant licked his lips, and then his eyes fell on Darcie. He squinted his eyes. "I know yeh," he said, leaning forward. "Aren' yeh the Malfoy girl from Daily Prophet? Thought I saw yeh somewhere. What yeh doin' here?" Darcie lifted the Niffler higher. "Getting our gold back," she told him. "Who are you?" "Blimey! Burby, yeh damn..." he said, stepping back apologetically. "Call me Hagrid, everyone does. I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course." Of course, she knew all about Hogwarts. Of course, she had heard about Hagrid as well. Rubeus Hagrid was the Keeper of the Keys of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A giant of a man, and if she remembered her father's offhand remarks about him correctly, then a big oaf with no brains, too. Darcie had imagined a troll-like figure, then. Now that she saw him, Hagrid seemed to have more intelligence than a troll, at the least. Besides, even after remembering where he had seen her, Hagrid didn't look at her with the same eyes as most of the strangers at the first time upon meeting her. For that, she was almost glad. "I am Darcie Malfoy," she introduced herself in return. "This is my friend Daphne Greengrass. And Dobby is our house-elf." Dobby's chest swelled at the mention of his name. Hagrid regarded the two girls and the house-elf queerly. "Well, it's best fer yeh ter not ter remain here," he smacked his lips. "Shady place, Knockturn Alley. Yer fathers would know everythin' abou' it..." "What's that supposed to mean?" Darcie demanded, frowning. Daphne showed her puzzlement, along with her. "Ah, never mind," he said, looking away. "Le' me help get yer gold back from Burby. Then I'll drop yeh two ter the Brews and Stews, eh?" Darcie and Daphne shared a glance and nodded. "Dobby," Darcie called out, "let him pass." Dobby moved aside but kept his tennis ball-sized eyes on Hagrid with a mean look. Hagrid took the Niffler from the girls and then shook it. Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts came pouring out of its pouch, along with many random assortments. Darcie saw her whistle, a pair of earrings, a ring, and a gold tooth. The girls lifted their heads to look at Hagrid, whose face had gone all red in shame. When both girls had taken their share from the pile at Hagrid's foot, the giant threw the Niffler into a pocket of his enormous moleskin overcoat. He first looked at the leftover shiny objects and then at the girls. Fumbling around his pockets for some time, Hagrid took out three brown-colored objects. "Here," he said, giving one each to the trio. "Rock Cakes. Cooked meself! Eh, this stuff... would yeh mind not mentionin' it ter yer parents? I'll find their owners, o' course." Darcie rubbed her fingers against the heavy cake in her hands. It truly felt like a rock to her. Though, the suggestion did seem best for all. If Madam Villanelle or her mother would get to know they had been robbed and that they followed the thief to the Knockturn Alley, then it would mean a generous flogging for Dobby. They might not allow her to spend her evening in the Alley anymore, either. Daphne must have been thinking the same. "Ok." They said together. Hagrid relaxed and let out a nervous laugh. "Come then, yer two," he told them, pushing them towards the entrance. "It's already darkenin' out there. Burby! Go back! I saw yeh." The Niffler squealed, dropping back into the pocket. They walked out of the Knockturn Alley and made their way up on the Diagon Alley towards Leaky Cauldron. Under the hulking figure of Hagrid, the girls and Dobby were nigh impossible to be noticed. Darcie looked at the cake again and saw Daphne trying to make an impression on it using her thumb. She had a mind to take a bite. Suddenly, a crunching sound came from their front. Dobby clutched the side of his mouth, taking out the rock cake that had bite marks all over it. The girls lost their appetite instantaneously. Going up, Darcie paid Mr. Florean for the ice cream she had bought for Dobby. She bought two new ones. One she gave to Dobby and the other she gave to Hagrid. "Thank yeh!" Hagrid took the ice cream shyly. "I get meself whenever I come outta here. Good man, Florean." They found Madam Villanelle waiting for them, standing outside the bookshop. "Where were you two?" she demanded. "Have you no regard for the time, young ladies?" Darcie and Daphne looked down. "Eh..." Madam Villanelle looked at Hagrid now and smiled. "Hello, Hagrid," she greeted. "Thank you for bringing them back. You must have recognized them (-Hagrid agreed listlessly-). You don't remember me, do you? Well, never mind. It was so long ago. Would you stay for tea?" "No," Hagrid rejected the offer, his face becoming redder than before. "I must go now. Eh... summat' ter do with Nifflers. OK, yeh two, see yeh again." Then he ran off, taking bigger steps than his already big ones. Darcie and Daphne looked over their shoulders and saw the Niffler sneaking out of his pocket. "What was all that about?" Madam Villanelle asked, her eyes narrowing. The girls shrugged, sharing a small smile between them. *************** AN: Now you can access 15 Chapters of Chaos and Order ahead of Webnovel on Patre0n (including up to 60 montly Chapters). If you would like to access the exclusive content, while simultaneously supporting the fanfic, then do consider becoming a Patron Bonus Chapter Deal - 70 Power Stones per day: +1 Bonus Chapte

Chapter 248: The Niffler and First Meeting with Hagrid!

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