By the time Karl and Nina walked out of the Gryffindoroffice, Professor McGonagall was already out of sight. It seemed she was truly in a hurry to watch the Quidditchmatch.
"Karl, I'm sorry."
Nina sincerely apologized to Karl. She knew her friend valued House points quite a bit.
"It's fine, it's just ten points. It's a clean slate now. Just be more active in class from now on and earn some more points as a reserve."
Contrary to Nina's thoughts, Karl's previous efforts to earn points were purely to tease the Hufflepuffs.
"The important thing is you, you lost thirty points."
"I'm actually fine. After all, I accumulated fifty points before, so I'm not worried about losing them."
Karl: ...Oh, in that case, it's fine.
He understood what it meant to be afraid of a friend suffering, but also afraid of a friend having too many points and becoming arrogant.
Never mind, no more thinking about that. There's something more important now.
"Can I visit your case?"
Newt's Happy Case, anyone who goes will know.
"Of course! I'll introduce you to Daisy first, a mischievous and adorable little girl!"
Nina held up the Niffler for Karl to see, but the little creature was in low spirits and didn't want to be bothered.
It curled up into a ball in Nina's hand, its backside facing Karl.
Hmph!
Eventually, Karl managed to cheer Daisy up with a few Galleons.
Apparently, Daisy was very displeased that Nina had given away all the treasures she had painstakingly "collected." She promptly jumped from Nina's hand into Karl's arms.
And quickly climbed onto his shoulder, stuffing Galleons into her pocket while glaring at Nina in accusation.
Karl reached out and stroked Daisy. The fluffy little creature felt nice, but still had some way to go compared to Fire Treasure.
The two no longer went to the Quidditch Pitch to watch the match, as something more interesting had come up.
After Nina retrieved the brown leather case from the Ravenclaw Tower, Karl led her to the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle.
They needed to enter the magical suitcase, so they had to find a place where they wouldn't be disturbed.
In this regard, nowhere was more suitable than the Room of Requirement.
"You brought me to see tapestries?"
Nina looked at the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by Trolls, her expression a little confused.
She had originally thought Karl would take her to the Headmaster's Office, feeling that place would surely be very suitable.
"Of course not. I told you that Hogwarts Castle has many secret passages and magical rooms."
Karl silently chanted "a room only I and Nina can enter" and walked back and forth three times in front of the wall opposite the tapestry.
Then he pulled open the door that suddenly appeared and turned to call Nina, "Come quickly."
"I'm already starting to regret it. I shouldn't have said to go to the library last time."
Nina curiously followed Karl into the Room of Requirement, where a room resembling a hunting lodge appeared before her eyes.
"Is this just a place where we won't be disturbed?"
"Of course not."
Karl told Nina about the wonders of the Room of Requirement, leaving her amazed.
"This is too magical!"
"You can explore it slowly later. For now, let me visit Mr. Newt's Happy Case."
Nina couldn't help but laugh, "Don't call it such a strange name. It's just a magical case with an Undetectable Extension Charm on it, but... it really is very happy!"
She placed the brown suitcase on the ground, gently turned the brass dial on the clasp, and then opened the case.
"Please come in, Mr. Orolin."
"Thank you, Miss Goldstein."
Karl followed Nina into the leather case, stepping onto a wooden staircase that led to a small wooden shed.
The room contained a bed, a wardrobe, and other items. Shelves along the walls held many medical instruments and medicines, while the desk was covered with books, paper, and pens.
The overall environment was clean and tidy, and a faint, fresh scent permeated the air.
Hmm, it was Nina's scent.
Pushing open the door of the small wooden shed, a vast space appeared in Karl's vision.
"Wow! This is huge! I definitely have to learn the Undetectable Extension Charm!"
In that instant, storage space, sleeves containing the universe, portable paradise, small worlds... flashed through Karl's mind. "Then you need to be mentally prepared, because it's incredibly difficult to learn."
"Grandpa Newt also took decades to achieve such an astonishing degree."
"Actually, in earlier years, the space inside the case wasn't this vast."
Nina tugged on Karl's sleeve, "Come on, I'll take you to meet the companions who live here."
"Okay!"
...Right next to the small wooden shed, there was an even smaller house.
If Nina hadn't walked up and knocked, Karl would have even thought it was a storage room.
"Evele, are you home?"
"I'm here, Nina," a very soft voice replied from inside the house, "It sounds like there's more than just you outside, right?"
Nina spoke softly to the inside, "Yes, I brought a friend to play. Do you want to come out?"
"Mmm... Okay, since it's your friend, Evele should meet him."
The door slowly opened, and a small, three-foot-tall dwarf walked out.
She had grey skin and long ears, looking somewhat like the Goblins at Gringotts.
"Hello, Nina's friend. My name is Evele, and I am a Pukwudgie."
Karl knew about Pukwudgies, a magical creature said to be distant relatives of European Goblins, who could also use powerful magic and were skilled archers, their poisoned arrows being very dangerous.
"Hello, Evele. My name is Karl Olonlin, and I am a Wizard."
After shaking hands with the somewhat shy Evele, Karl spread his palm upwards and summoned Fire Treasure.
"And another little friend, Fire Treasure."
"Chirp~"
Fire Treasure happily greeted Evele, making her eyes widen with delight.
"Nina, I like your friends!"
"Chirp!"
Karl and Nina exchanged a smile, then placed Fire Treasure in Evele's hand, "Fire Treasure says he likes you too."
At this moment, the Niffler also jumped into Evele's arms to join the fun, and the three little creatures began to play.
"Evele is my good helper. When I'm not here, she takes care of all the companions."
"Come on, let them play here. We'll go inside."
The two quickly arrived at a lush forest. "This is where Daisy and the Bowtruckles live."
Nina tapped on a guardian tree, and a few small green sprites appeared among the branches and leaves.
They looked very much like plants, waved their branch-like arms at Nina, and then hid back again.
"As you can see, Bowtruckles are very shy. Except when foraging, they generally don't leave their dwelling trees."
Karl looked up for a while, then followed Nina to a large lake.
"Seth! I've come to see you!"
After Nina's call, ripples suddenly spread across the calm lake surface, as if some enormous creature was swimming underwater.
Finally, to Karl's astonished gaze, a large snake poked its head out of the water by the shore.
Its snake head, larger than a basketball, had two long horns resembling bighorn sheep, but they curved upwards and coiled.
And on its forehead, there was also a brilliant blue gem, which looked very peculiar.
Karl's expression gradually became blank. Looking at this creature's appearance, could it be...