The Prank
Moments later, all five of the boys are sneaking down the corridors, looking for the room where Hagrid would have hidden the Nifflers. The plan was simple, they would check every door on the lowest level of Hogwarts for the Niffler cages. Once they found them, they would head to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and let them out. Blaise and Draco even headed to the kitchen to try and find some leftovers from dinner to give to them.
While they were looking for food, Mattheo, Theo and Lorenzo were opening doors left and right to find the cages. “What if we don’t find them?” Mattheo whispers, closing a door behind him. “Well then we’ll have to head back to our dorm,” Theo responds, creaking a door open and checking inside.
“Luckily we won’t have to.” Enzo says from the other side of the hall, he's smiling widely. “In here! Come quick!”
Theo and Mattheo share a look before heading towards the room Enzo just disappeared into. Once they make it to the open door, they find Enzo crouched down on the ground next to two cages with approximately 5 Nifflers in each. “Blimey,” Theo says in a breath of relief, “come on, let’s pick them up.”
They all gather around to help each other carry the cages to their next destination. “Oi they’re in here,” Blaise says from the door, waving at Draco who’s out in the hall. Blaise is eating some sort of bun while carrying a load more in a folded up blanket. Draco appears in the door, hesitating as he sees Mattheo struggling to pick up the cage, but eventually goes to help him.
Together, they leave the room, closing it up behind them, before making their way to the DADA classroom. “Careful,” Lorenzo whispers, almost getting stepped on by Draco who’s trying not to fall over behind him. “I’m trying!” Draco hisses.
“We made it,” Blaise whispers, opening up the door and holding it for his friends who walk in slowly. They put down the cages in the middle of the classroom, each taking a step back to admire their work. Blaise closes the door, then makes his way over with his food. He unwraps the load of buns he’s been carrying and lets them fall to the floor between them. “Are we ready?” Theo says quietly, crouching down to the cage closest to him. Everyone agrees and Draco crouches down to open the other one.
In a matter of moments, the Nifflers run out of the cages, immediately heading towards the bread in the middle. They squeak and squeal in excitement. The boys look at each other, victory on their faces as they highfive and fistbump each other. “We better go before someone hears,” Theo says, nodding towards the door. Everyone follows him out into the hallway. Mattheo, who exits last, closes the door shut behind them.
“I cannot believe we did that,” Draco says quietly, a wide grin on his face. Blaise bumps his shoulder with Draco’s and they laugh together. A door shuts in the distance, and everyone stops dead in their tracks. Theo, who’s in front, leans ever so slightly forwards to catch a glimpse of what is happening down the hallway on their left, but falls back quickly once he realizes that it is Mr. Filch, wandering the halls.
He turns around in pure panic, making eye contact with the others. Blaise is quick to grab Draco, pulling him backwards to find somewhere to hide. Filch’s footsteps get louder and louder in the distance. Enzo is frozen in place, and he almost lets out a sound of pure shock when a hand wraps around his upper arm and pulls him in between two stone beams by the left wall. They are wide enough to keep them out of sight, as long as Filch doesn’t decide to head down the hallway they’re currently hiding in.
Enzo’s back is pressed against the cold stone of the wall behind him, and he finally looks up to meet Mattheo’s eyes. His finger is raised to cover his lips, signing for Enzo to stay quiet. The space is quite tight, and Enzo wishes deeply that Filch doesn’t decide to take a right turn, capturing them as he’d head down the hall.
That’s when it strikes him that he never saw Theo get away, and panic washes over him, but there’s nothing he can do.
Filch’s footsteps come to a halt, and both Enzo’s and Mattheo’s hearts stop for just a second. They then continue, and to their luck, they continue down the hallway and away from where they’re standing.
Mattheo’s eyes widen, and they stay quietly in place for a few more seconds, trying to listen out for Filch. It is completely silent, and none of them expects it when Theo’s head pops around the corner. “Hey?”
“Fucking hell Theo!” Enzo immediately pushes himself away from the small space with Mattheo, and out into the hall. “Are you trying to get us caught?” he adds, fury in his eyes.
“Calm down Berkshire, it was just for laughs,” Theo chuckles, “besides Filch is long gone.”
Mattheo shakes his head, a smile on his face.
That night the five boys went to bed with smiles on their faces. They were equally excited to see how Snape would react when he found his classroom in shambles after discovering the, now free, Nifflers. To their luck, his reaction did not disappoint, when he opened the classroom door, his face turned red as the Weasley’s hair and he slammed it shut immediately. He then proceeded to stomp his way to Dumbledore’s office, where no one but Dumbledore himself and professor Snape knows what went down, but judging by the loud complaints from Snape, he was very displeased.
“Merlin, that's the best thing that’s happened since we got back,” Blaise laughs, moving a few pots from one shelf to another, as they’re stuck in detention yet again. Today consisted of cleaning up one of the greenhouses. “Agreed,” Lorenzo says, smiling to himself, “I only wish we could have seen the mess.”
“I’m astonished that we are not to clean it,” Theo says from the corner of the greenhouse, looking at his friends, “I mean, they don’t know we’re at fault, but still.”
Draco shrugs. “Let us keep it that way eh?”
Mattheo has been awfully quiet the whole time they have been cleaning. “Surely they will try to find out who did it?” He asks, suddenly feeling rather guilty about last night's actions. As if he hadn’t just the day prior promised the headmaster that he wouldn’t break any more rules.
Theo makes his way to the others. “They are going to try.”
Enzo swings a long cloth over his shoulder. “But they won’t know who did it.”
“They probably think the Weasley’s did it,” Draco says, “which is likely, considering their abnormally large interest in causing destruction at this school.” Draco scoffs, crossing his arms.
“So you don’t think we are going to get caught?” Mattheo asks, pouring some water on the magical plants.
Draco sighs deeply. “There is no we in this,” he pauses to look at Theo, “the only reason you were there was because Enzo invited you.”
Mattheo doesn’t say anything. He merely stares ahead at Lorenzo who has fallen awfully quiet. Theo steadies himself with a caught, breaking thought the heavy silence slowly occurring. “Draco is right.” He crosses his arms. “This does not mean that we’re friends.”
Mattheo takes a deep breath. “I didn’t say that, did I?”
Enzo opens his mouth to speak, but is interrupted by the entrance to the greenhouse suddenly opening in a rush. “You five,” Professor McGonagall says, “come with me at once.”
The five boys share a look of terror before following McGonagall to Dumbledore’s office. At their arrival, they discover Harry Potter, seated at Dumbledore’s desk with a wide grin on his face.