In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 18: Driver's seat

"So nowadays people won't even leave a glass ball alone? Why don't you go steal that golden perch at the feet of Dumbledore's phoenix?"

Jon muttered as he grabbed the Niffler by its neck skin at the back and walked out of the library.

Niffler which had been caught red-handed in a failed theft blinked at him with pitiful little eyes as if responding to Jon's question with a look.

I couldn't.

"Well, so you really tried to steal it in the past! Now you are not daring enough to do that, so you have chosen to steal from me, the first-year weak student?"

Jon certainly would recognize a famous creature like Niffler, its exterior features are very easy to identify, and combined with this thieving nature, it wouldn't be possible for it to be any other magical creature.

"Give me my thing back."

Jon held out his other hand to the Niffler, but the little thing acted like a living miser, tucking its two little paws into the pocket in front of its stomach, with no intention of pulling out the hidden glass ball again.

Watching its posture, Jon didn't want to spoil it, so he turned it upside down and tried to empty its pockets like a bag.

Niffler screamed and covered its pockets, no matter how much Jon shook it, it still looked like it wanted to defend its property to the death.

In the end, Jon had no choice but to grab it and try to get some help.

As he walked in the direction of the great hall with Niffler in his grasp, passing the charms' classroom, he faintly heard a gruff voice calling out for something from inside.

"Beech, Beech are you here?"

Upon hearing the name Beech, Niffler, which was in Jon's grasp, struggled even more dramatically, squeaking as if in response to the man's shout from inside the classroom.

It immediately became clear to Jon who owned this thief, and there could be no one besides him that would keep it in the wagon.

He grabbed Niffler and went into the Charms classroom, where Hagrid, the coachman anxiously looked for something, instead of being at his usual place.

"Hagrid, are you looking for it?"

When Hagrid heard Jon's voice, he turned around and saw what he carried in his hand, and his face instantly showed surprise.

"Ah! Yes, you little naughty boy! I finally found you! You mustn't get lost again, I've already lost Fang and I can't lose you too."

There was a slight choke in his voice as he got to the end of his sentence.

Jon handed over the Niffler called Beech to Hagrid, and Beech immediately scurried into the pocket of Hagrid's leather coat, with only half his head showing and his paws slowly edging on the rim of the pocket, as he looked at Jon warily.

"Thank you, boy, I remember you, your name is Jon isn't it, it was Lily who brought you to the wagon, right?"

Hagrid had a grateful look on his face, and it was obvious that this little thing did mean a lot to him.

Jon waved his hand, still not forgetting about the glass ball, it was after all something that Neville had given him, he couldn't explain how he lost it just like that.

"It stole something from me Hagrid, can you help me get it back from it?"

"So that's it."

Hagrid instantly frowned and took the Beech out of his pocket.

"Give it back, I told you not to steal anything from this wagon."

Beech clearly listened to Hagrid more than anything else, he fished through his pockets for a moment, and took out a glass ball with a face full of reluctance, then put it into Hagrid's hand.

Hagrid handed the glass ball back to Jon.

"I'm really sorry, I'll restrain him in future."

Jon didn't care about this little episode, rather he was curious about another matter.

"That's fine, but don't you have to drive the wagon? Can you leave from the front of the wagon while travelling?"

A smile appeared on Hagrid's face.

"I certainly don't have to watch them all the time, and Thestrals can travel on their own even if I leave. Wanna come with me to have a look at them? Consider it my way of making up for this one."

Jon did feel a little tempted by his words, and he asked hesitantly.

"Won't that be against school rules?"

"Don't worry about it, it's not like you're leaving the wagon, and besides, you have me with you, so it won't be a problem."

While saying this, Hagrid gave Jon a gentle and enthusiastic push in the direction of the corridor, and without further ado, Jon followed Hagrid along towards the far end of the wagon.

They came to the end of the long corridor, directly opposite to Dumbledore's Headmaster's office, and Hagrid led Jon to open the unmarked door on the left side of the corridor.

The moment the door was opened Jon felt a breeze accompanied by a wheat scent blowing towards him from outside the door, a golden field of wheat steadily falling back and forth outside.

"Follow me, Jon, don't just stand there."

Hagrid led the way and Jon followed him out of the wagon carriage with him.

After stepping out of the wagon, there was a fairly spacious field; the last time Lily had taken Jon under the wagon to talk to Hagrid, he hadn't got a full view of the driver's seat because it was too dark at night, and only now he was able to see how it was furnished.

Hagrid was not sitting on an ordinary bench, but on a long couch, nearly three or four metres long, covered with a thick layer of animal furs, on which he might have rested in his spare time.

A row of curved wooden cabinets encircled the couch, the cabinets were taller than Jon, but for Hagrid they were just above his chest when he sat down, leaving him with a clear view ahead.

On top of the cabinet, there were all sorts of odd things: a large teapot, teacups, and a few small snacks.

Hagrid invited Jon to sit down right next to him and then poured him a cup of warm black tea and brought him a creamy honey cake.

The driver's seat had obviously been under some kind of spell, shutting out all the gusts of wind, with only a soothing breeze blowing in, and the sound of the wagon racing along the ground sounded louder than in the carriage, but it didn't seem noisy, instead, it had the feeling of being on a journey all the time.

They were now travelling through a vast field of wheat with no visible end, and Jon, with black tea in his hand, stood on tiptoe to see over the cupboard.

The golden wheat seemed to come to life and automatically gave way to the wagon before it could run over it.

Hagrid saw Jon's inconvenience and brought him a small bench to place on the big couch so that he could sit on it without having to tiptoe to see the view ahead.

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