Nifflers and a Prefect Badge Open Finished

Margo ginned as the group shared their views. Nearly everyone seemed happy with hunting for the niffler and she couldn't help but appreciate their thirst for adventure, though it wasn't unexpected around Gryffindors. However, her train of thought halted completely when a dark blur flew through the air and one of the pendants in her hand disappeared. Shocked, she dropped the others into the grass, staring after the very real niffler. Well then, this would be fun. 

She knelt, her robes dampening a bit in the grass as she searched for the sparkly metal kittens. Sighing slightly at the small amount she had managed to find again, she nodded to the male Gryffindor with the coin as she stood. "You're right, that coin's probably our best bet." Her smile re-emerged at the sound of Millie's infectious laugh. 

Making eye contact with the girl who wasn't Millie, Margo mulled over her plan. It seemed logical enough, and the Slytherin vowed to discover her name by the end. "I like it. Should we use these pendants and the coin to lure the niffler into the stables? Or maybe to a classroom up at the castle. I'm fairly sure that niffler's bite so we should probably be careful." 

When you wish to find some adventure at Hogwarts, you should just ask it out loud. And it should work better if you have four people basically pleading for that.

The niffler seemed to really watch them from the corner of the nearby stables. Stables! Meenauh never noticed there were stables on the grounds. It felt like minus a thousand points from Gryffindor. Not a single point less.

So the first thing Meenauh did was to analyse the flying trajectory of the niffler who just flew over and snatched one of Margo's pendants. The trajectory should have started from the side of the stables, though it meant nothing as the niffler could have just wandered around in the grass, watching the four students talking and happily displaying shiny stuff all around the place.

Anyway, knowing the trajectory of the flight didn't add anything to the situation. Knowing the point of landing wouldn't give them much as well, as it could have run basically everywhere. So they have to stick to some clever, really clever plan.

Taken out from the whirlwind of thoughts by Euphrasia's giggling, she noticed Margo down on the ground, picking small pendants she might have dropped accidentally.

Alan came with a plan and pulled out a shiny coin on a leather thread on his neck. He quietly approached the stables and Meenauh, still silent, followed to watch him crouching and looking for whether there was any sign of the niffler.

"I think we should make the stables our huge trap. Like shut all the doors and open just one, scatter the shiny stuff in a line leading inside, and then Colloportus the door once the niffler got in. And then run around like crazy, trying to catch the niffler with our bare hands," she laughed at the last point of her plan, inviting the other girls to join the watching of Alan, who was the only one actually doing something at that moment instead of spitting out theories and plans.

Creeping around the corner, @Alan Vanes came face to face with the niffler. It was about 5 feet away, staring down the little gryffindor with tiny, adorable beady eyes of unfathomable greed. It was eyeing the coin, but the little creature wasn't stupid. It also saw the leather strap, and the boy, and had a pretty good idea of what was going on. The niffler simply sat down, and started to scratch itself with it's hind legs. It wasn't going to do anything until the boy did, and was quite happy sitting where it was.

Tiny hands scrabbled about in the pouch, pulling out margo's shiny kitten, which it licked with a long, thin, sticky tongue before rubbing it with the soft fur around it's wrist to shine it up a little bit. It was admiring it's latest haul. The niffler's head cocked to one side, and it's eyes half closed as it pressed the kitten up against it's chest, before shoving it back down into it's pouch.

Alan was the only one who was in the niffler's line of sight, having moved far enough past the round corner to be able to see the little creature, so it didn't seem to be very worried. It shivered briefly, fluffing up it's fur before rolling in a somersault backwards, returning to a sitting position as if mocking the little gryffindor boy. Taunting him to give up his shiny treasure.

[quote]Alan would have loved to tell them that their plans were useless as of now, because Griffith kept all of the doors locked. But he did not want to scare the creature away, as he already got the small beasts attention. Or else he would have told them to just ring the bell at Griffth's office to get the help of someone, who actually had a clue about Nifflers and knew how to capture them. This Niffler might as well be hurt or have some other problem, if it ran away from the Stables, where Griffith usually kept the injured or sick creatures. Alan did not know where exactly he kept them, but he knew that Griffith cared for them; could hear their pained screeches and cries for help, when he sat at the small hill right next to the Stables.

Alan shook his head and would sigh slightly, focusing back on the Niffler with a determined smile. ”Come on, get here, little boy~”, he cooed in a soft voice, keeping it low and quiet while he slightly wiggled with his necklace. Would it work? He was not sure. The Niffler would probably not understand a word he was saying, but maybe it would be smart enough to read the mood. Alan continued, ”I am not going to hurt you, I could help you find some more treasures, I am sure there are lots in the Stables... let me help you get back inside, 'kay?” a bit of hope was swinging in his words, as he continued to wiggle the necklace with soft movements through the air. He just hoped that the Niffler would go to him and well... not run or get angry.

The percentage of this working and not turning into a mess was very, very small. But, the Niffler was here, and nobody knew what to do with it. Well, Alan seemed to have an idea of what the group should do, but Millie knew he had his doubts too.

"We have to be able to trap it," She whispered to the other three girls. She racked her brain once again for something to do- a spell or some type of contraption that they hadn't already thought of. None came to mind. Somehow, she couldn't think of something much easier than shutting all the doors to the stables.

Not only would that cause a lot of noise, if said doors were locked, the plan would go down the drain. However, if Alan successfully managed to lure the Niffler, than they would have to do something to keep it contained while they searched for the professor that knew what to do with the Niffler.

And then the idea struck her like gold! She took a few steps away from Alan and the Niffler, and looked over to the other girls. "What if, when Alan gets the lil guy interested, use levitation spell to lift it in the air?" She lowered her voice a tenfold. It didn't seem like a bad idea, not to Millie, anyway.

Suddenly Alan started to talk in the most tender manner he could, which was almost impossible as he was one of the most humble and pleasant-to-be-around living beings out there. So, his words were targeted at the niffler Meenauh couldn't see. She made a few steps to the side and peeked from Alan's shoulder in the most careful way to get a look at the niffler, but avoiding the niffler seeing her.

After seeing a full picture of the small creature she made a few steps away and returned to the girls.

"Yeah. The niffler's there. It's there," somehow excited she pointed at Alan basically, "I mean, it's just one step away from Alan."

And then Euphrasia suggested a very clever idea to use... magic. It was incredibly annoying how often wizards forgot they were wizards and could actually use magic to solve their issues.

"Okay, that sounds like... a much simpler way to deal with this than what I suggested. Especially, considering the fact that the stables are probably dead shut and we couldn't open them to use as a trap anyway," she responded to Euphrasia, didn't quite realising whether she complimented her plan in a strange way.

She pulled out her wand, crouched and then actually went down on to her knees and slowly moved closer to Alan's back. Carefully peeking from behind Alan, she pointed her wand at the niffler, giving it a couple of seconds to stabilise her aim. Then she made the well-trained gesture with her hand and whispered as clear as a whisper could be:

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The niffler was beginning to give in to the dangling, shiny trophy that Alan held aloft in his hands. It was too shiny to resist, and as clever as the little creature was, it was far too obsessed with the shiny to not slowly roll forward, and begin to scuffle towards alan. It didn't get far, however, because it's slow approach was preemptively cut short by a spell launched from the wand of meenauh. Certainly, no harm was intended, but harm was certainly done, as the little creature found itself lifted up by means it didn't understand.

The niffler's head whipped to the left and right, and it started to roll over in the air, clawing madly at the air, and trying to nip at whatever apparition it thought had suddenly seized hold, and hoisted it aloft. Creatures who stays on the ground need something below their feet, something to hold on to. Otherwise, it gives a sensation as though they're falling. Like something scary is happening and they don't know why. And that triggers panic.

Griffith had already gone back inside, to tend to feeding other creatures, and other matters, entirely confident that the students would be able to handle the niffler. It was a sweet little creature, it wouldn't be hard.

Sorry, I was waiting for margo. We'll just assume she's in the background until she has time to rejoin

DISCLAIMER: Post was edited, make sure to read it before you reply!

His smile brightened and he continued to coo at the creature, coaxing it into coming closer to him and he was happy to see that his plan was working. It was working perfectly and he nearly had it. Just a few more steps, little Niffler, was what run through Alan's mind. Let me get you to safety.

But then... Alan wanted to scream, when he heard the incantation, would have tried to shoo the Niffler away, if he had the time. But the spell was cast faster than he could have reacted and sadly was a full success, hitting the small creature instantly. "No!", the young second year would jump up and take the step towards the Niffler, that had been missing. "How could you cast this on the poor thing? You are a first year, this spell could have gone badly or whatever, so this was the most stupid thing any of you could have suggested! I'm sorry, if this sounds harsh, but this should be obvious!”, he huffed incensed at their behaviour.

”Now keep it in the air as still as you can, so that I can get Griffith in time; if you drop it he will never let you get close to his creatures again!”, Alan shook his head and ran towards the stables, alone him talking had cost a few seconds of time, but he just had to say something!

So when the second year arrived at the stable's door, he pulled at the door bell, ”Griffith! GRIFFITH!”, he shouted, when the door did not magically opened as soon as he rang the bell. ”This girl cast a spell on it and now its panicking! I don't know how to help without hurting it!”, he said, his voice edging on the panicked side, while he was just hoping for the one girl to keep the wand steady and the Niffler in the air. That would be the worst, if she would just drop it now!

The small furry thing was rolling in the air. Probably panicking. What would Meenauh feel if she'd be pulled up into the air without a broom? The innate fear of falling would start to fill in. Yeah, that was pretty close to panic. And the intelligence of the creature, if not enough to comprehend the objective reality, it would still be enough for reflexes to step in and the fear would indeed be.. animal.

These were all the thoughts that started to flow in during the incantation and during the first seconds, the creature was levitating in front of Alan.

And Alan seemed angry. She most probably didn't think it all through and just blindly followed Euphrasia's idea. Such behaviour was completely uncommon for her, but it seemed she started to let her rationality rest a bit without pulling it into every situation in her life.

Okay, it was indeed enough to get angry, but not enough to insult her casting abilities. Alan couldn't insult, of course, he seemed too tender and soft to her. But somehow still she was annoyed.

"My... spells... couldn't have gone badly," she said, pausing after words and revealing her slight annoyance with Alan's tone, but also holding her concentration to not let it slip.

After the defeat in that unexpected duel earlier that month, where she just failed at spells, she dedicated a lot of time to concentration. So she just took it too personally when Alan mentioned that fact.

As Alan commanded her what to do, though she was already doing that, he ran to the stables, mentioning Prof. Griffith. She didn't manage to ask her questions when he was around, so she just kept mumbling at him:

"Griffith? What are you, friends with him? So disrespectful," she said after Alan shouted the professor's surname several times, and then asked a bit louder, "What do you mean by letting us close? Are you sure this niffler belongs to him? You sound like he let this one out on purpose."

The niffler was still rolling about in the air, twisting and turning and attempting to claw at the ground in desperation. It was not having a good day, not in the slightest, and didn't exactly know who to blame for it's predicament. Still, it was uncommonly clever for a creature it's size, and by the time Alan had made it to the door, it had stopped scratching about. Instead, it's beady intelligent little eyes focused curiously on the girl in front of it, as it's heartbeat and breathing increased rapidly. It was panicking, but now it was trying to find a way out, now it was becoming aware that thrashing wasn't going to be effective.

Meanwhile, back at the door, griffith opened it with a silent, internal groan. He had just meant to give them a fun time, a memory. Why did memories always have to involve someone screaming about how someone else had doomed hogwarts to eons of misery and darkness? Or, in this case, had doomed a niffler. His eyes glanced wordlessly down at Alan, who he knew, and then roved over to the girl with the wand, who he did not. Another gryffindor, however. That much was certain.

Striding over to where the creature was panicking, still not having bothered to say anything, he scooped it up with one large, calloused hand, breaking it out of the spell before turning to the small group of students.

"Professor Griffith. And the best way to help something that's panicking is by remaining calm. Creatures rely on the attitudes of others to determine if there is danger. If birds panic, the deer panic. That said, what were you all doing?"