"...Upon looking closely, it is written, Qin Xianglian, thirty-two years old, is suing the current dynasty..."
William, twirling a jar of snacks left by Dumbledore and teasing Fawkes and Pokemon, couldn't help but hum lightly, but this pleasant (out-of-tune) "melody" didn't finish, as he suddenly stopped humming and turned to look at the door behind him.
"Bang bang bang—"
The next moment, an urgent knocking sound was heard, with the iron door being banged loudly.
William frowned, starting to ponder who could be looking for him at this time... He clearly told Mundungus, after settling the Werewolf, to go rest by himself, unless it was something urgent, not to disturb him—besides, Mundungus wouldn't dare bang on his door like this.
"...Come in."
After a long two and a half seconds of fruitless thinking, William still spoke up to let the person at the door come in.
Thus, the door was pushed open, and a fierce little person... Oh, alright, it was a young girl, rushing in with a bundle of mysterious stuff. She was followed by Lupin and Mundungus, who had just left not long ago, along with another slightly older girl.
The girl's pale face showed an unhealthy blush, as she quickly approached William and placed the bundle on the table... gently. The girl ultimately softened her movements, but her unremarkable chest was heaving dramatically.
"..."
William's gaze didn't linger on that very critical spot, because at the moment... watching a certain Niffler that was gripping the table dizzying trying to stand up, William's eyelid couldn't help but twitch—alright, looks like this little troublemaker has caused another mess...
Proclaiming with eyes to Kabuda that its "end was near," William finally looked up at this time's victim—hmm, seems familiar, but...
"Quack—"
"?"
...Where did the duck come from?
William, who was about to speak, couldn't help but lift his head, and similarly, Astoria, who was staring at William ready to demand justice, also turned with a dark face to look at Daphne, who was standing there pointing and speechless, "
"He, he, he..."
Daphne was somewhat speechless, she tried to speak, but the words were stuck in her throat.
"Sorry, sir, I didn't want to disturb you, but... we really can't understand what it means."
To everyone's surprise, it was Mundungus who spoke first, quickly stepping forward—just now, he and Lupin had just left the cage holding the Fire Dragon not far, and at the second corner, they unexpectedly ran into the girl holding the Niffler, who seemed to be quite acquainted with Lupin—
After a brief low-voice narrative from Mundungus, William roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter.
So, he redirected his gaze to a certain Niffler that was lowering its presence with its behind sticking out.
After hearing the conversation disappear, moments later, Kabuda couldn't help but turn its head back and then met William's gaze.
"Whimper~"
Mere moments later, the Niffler curled into a ball, clutching its head.
"Stop pretending, where are the items?"
William mercilessly grabbed one of Kabuda's hind legs and lifted it, shaking it irritably.
"Cheep..."
"What do you mean you don't remember, you just stole these items..."
William was exasperated, every time he gave the Niffler a little slack, it started pushing boundaries and becoming unruly, it had even led two first-year young witches to "make friends" with the Slytherin's Basilisk before...
"Tsk, quickly, return the items then apologize—"
William shook Kabuda's legs irritably, but this time nothing shook out.
"...All the stolen items are here."
Astoria didn't even bother to address her sister, who seemed stupefied from the moment she entered the room, just repeating one word, but instead took out a handful... two handfuls, three handfuls of glittering jewels, glass pieces, stones, these were clearly Kabuda's collection of junk.
"Then your items—"
William waved his magic wand, performing a simple combo of Vanishing Spell + Reverse Summoning Spell + Trace Curse, causing the items to disappear into the air and return to their owners. This was a combination William specifically researched to clean up Kabuda's messes, yet he also noticed that the girl in front of him didn't change—
Then possibly only two scenarios remain, first, Kabuda was caught red-handed taking blame on behalf of others, and now this girl was here to demand justice. Second...
"The items weren't stolen today, it was during last year's Christmas."
Astoria deliberately maintained a stern face, pulling out a small mirror from her bag and flipping the bare side towards William.
"..."
Great, now it's a real problem.
Every time William returns Kabuda's stolen "trophies" (except those from Snape) to their rightful owners, so if this girl's items didn't return to her, it only meant one thing—"Ah, you're hiding a little vault from me behind my back?"
"Squeak squeak..."
Kabuda lay lifelessly on the table, its pitch-black eyes seemingly losing their shine.
It did indeed secretly stash away a little vault, because in the half hour before it was caught, William had already cleaned out a batch of its inventory, then subdued a new 'Spirit Pet' Fire Dragon, which distracted him so much that he didn't notice Niffler having the chance to hide the items in its pockets.
But... Niffler had already forgotten where it hid the stuff.
During its pipe exploration, hiding here and there, it befriended a huge "long worm" friend, but the items really had... probably, already fallen into some dark sewer?
"...Alright, how much money? I can compensate."
After hearing Kabuda's full confession, William couldn't help but hold his forehead. He took a deep breath and somewhat helplessly looked at the still fuming victim.
"Can't retrieve the items?"
Astoria's eyes widened immediately, and she almost instinctively wanted to jump, but the habit nurtured since childhood, along with her "roaring" yet still soft tone, made her originally "grand" momentum look somewhat... cute?
"...Here, I'll pawn it to you."
Looking at the Niffler still playing dead, William became frustrated. He directly pushed the little black ball in front of the girl, "Cute, intelligent, can even help with your schoolwork. You look about ready to go to school, right? It can help you with history of magic's transcription homework... if you don't believe me, ask your sister."
William raised his hand, pointing to another girl at the door.
...
Actually, William had recognized her just now—
The girl standing in front of Lupin was a student at Hogwarts... couldn't quite remember the name, but most likely from Slytherin House, and the reason—due to some widely known circumstances, William always had a support group among Hogwarts students.
And this girl was one of them.
Named...
"Daphne?"
Astoria instinctively turned back, looking at her sister, although she didn't know why her face was unusually flushed, she still continued to ask, "Will it really help with homework?"
The girl poked at the Niffler pretending to play dead, full of disbelief.
"...I don't know."
Daphne nodded, then shook her head. Her gaze lingered on William's face for a moment, then subconsciously slid away.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
The girl extended her finger and waved it in front of her sister, perplexed and frowning suspiciously.
"Ah, you don't understand..."
Daphne raised her hand to press her sister's head down, took a deep breath, and finally stood before William, "You, you... how come you're here? And I heard that Mud... just now that uncle said you're actually the owner here?"
Daphne swallowed back the term she was about to blurt out, opting for a more 'lady-like' one.
She didn't seem to know whether William was Pure-Blood - actually, not many people knew William enrolled in the fifth grade, most little wizards believed he transferred from another Magic School, and even if told William first encountered magic in the fifth grade, they wouldn't believe it—
After all, William had once tied with Snape in front of so many people; if he'd only dealt with magic for a month then...
Wouldn't that prove their previous magic studies were wasted?
"Family, family business—"
William smirked, revealing a standard commercial smile. He knew well how terrifying these little wizards could be when spreading rumors, so he opted for a commonplace excuse in Wizarding World, considering even the Malfoy Family had a dragon breeding farm, having a circus was nothing.
"Family, that seems like perfectly ma... Ahem, I meant..."
Noticing William's gaze, the girl hastily pretended to cough twice to mask her inner excitement. She spoke again, "Well, compensation actually isn't necessary—"
"Hey, Daphne, what are you saying?"
Suddenly realizing she was 'made' to decide something, Astoria instantly felt dissatisfied. You want to flirt with a man, fine, but you use my belongings to do so?
If you do that, even sisters have to split!
No wait, they really are sisters...
"Hey, you hold on..."
"I'm just going to say it, Daphne, aren't you—mm mm..."
"Ahem, Se-Senior, we'll be heading back now, as for the compensation forget it, that stone was actually worthless—"
Daphne took a deep breath, quickly covered her sister's mouth, and a comparatively small, delicate girl couldn't break free at all, only to be dragged by her sister out the door. The two figures soon disappeared at the end of the corridor.
"..."
Seeing the farce end, William sighed, then he raised his hand, pressing down the Niffler that wanted to sneak away, "Looks like you might need some 'summer homework'?"
William smiled as he hoisted Kabuda in front of him.
"...whine."