All The Small Things (Harry Potter) *Fred/OC*

05. Fist Fights and Innuendos

The weekend passed by way too quickly for their liking. But then so did the next few weeks. Before they knew it, it was the beginning of October.

Monday came and went without much excitement – none of the four had yet managed perfect Vanishing spells in Transfiguration; a bag of Bouncing Bulbs escaped onto the grounds in Herbology, so half of the lesson was spent rounding them up; they were learning about Hinkypunks and Kappas in Defence Against the Dark Arts; and Tee and Rose had moved onto sports in Muggle Studies.

They had Care of Magical Creatures first thing on the Tuesday morning, so once they'd eaten breakfast they all traipsed down to Hagrid's hut. No one was really sure whether they liked Care of Magical Creatures or not. Sure, Hagrid was a nice enough person and teacher, but he had a liking for monstrous creatures and seemed to be blind to their dangers. So whereas the lessons were interesting enough, you always had to be very alert. Plus they had these lessons with the Slytherins. That was never a good thing.

"Alrigh' everyone," greeted Hagrid, once everyone was there. "If yeh'd like teh follow me..."

The class followed him round to the back of his hut where there was usually a pumpkin patch. Today, however, it was just an unbroken spread of earth. Up against the side of Hagrid's hut were several boxes. Hagrid went over to open one and pulled out a black furry creature with scrabbling paws and a long snout.

"This is a Niffler," he announced, holding it up for everyone to see.

Everyone in the class was surprised. It wasn't usual for Hagrid to be showing them something that was cute and fluffy. Normally, he only liked a creature if it had fangs, a vicious nature or the ability to breathe fire.

"Now they're righ' useful, Nifflers are," explained Hagrid. "They like shiny objects, so they're good fer huntin' treasure. Now what I've done here is buried abou' hundred gold coins. So if yeh all wanna come pick a Niffler... I've got a prize fer whoever gets the most coins."

Hagrid passed the Niffler to one of the Gryffindor girls closest to him, then went round and opened up the rest of the boxes.

"Oh by the way, yeh might wanna take off any jewellery or watches," he advised. "Cause the Nifflers'll go fer them."

Tee and Rose both took out their earrings and Rose also slid two silver rings off her fingers. The twins took off their matching watches and stowed them away in their robes. The four of them joined the queue to get Nifflers.

"Now no one let yeh Nifflers go jus' yet," said Hagrid. "Jus' wait till yeh've all got one, then yeh can start at the same time."

"Do we have to let them go?" asked Rose wistfully, cuddling the Niffler she'd gotten. "They're so cute; I wanna keep mine."

"I know! Look how tiny mine is," said Tee, stroking the fur of a rather small Niffler.

"It's like you," grinned Fred. Tee aimed a kick at his shin, but he skipped away from her.

"Enjoying your little dance, Weasley?" jeered one of the Slytherins, a burly boy called Montague.

Fred didn't bother saying anything in response; he just gestured rudely towards him with one hand, clutching his Niffler with the other.

"Alrigh' everyone, calm down," said Hagrid hurriedly, as Montague and some of his friends started to shout back. "Has everyone got a Niffler? Yeah? Alrigh'... On yeh marks, get set, go!"

Everyone set their Nifflers down and they immediately began diving in and out of the pumpkin patch, producing gold coins and bringing them back to their temporary owners.