The Fifth House: Galegold

Hermione was just the beginning; soon, a wave of Ravenclaw and other students approached Galegold House's table and bombarded Soisen with questions, not giving him a moment to breathe. After half an hour, he managed to escape from the curious witches and wizards, sent the copy of the Prophet to his mothers along with a letter to let them know what had happened and that he was okay, and took a stroll through the Hogwarts gardens, enjoying the peace and tranquility.

"Although these gardens are not as beautiful as those at my house," he declared confidently.

"Really?" Professor Sprout suddenly appeared from somewhere, and Soisen almost sent her flying like he did with Ollivander, but he restrained himself just in time. "Hagrid and I have put in some effort, and I can say that Hogwarts' gardens have reached an acceptable level under our care. Do you still maintain that statement, Mr. Galegold?"

"Absolutely," he responded immediately without a second thought.

"That only piques my curiosity even more," Pomona narrowed her eyes with interest as she smiled. "Perhaps I'll pay a visit this summer, to see your garden with my own eyes. Every garden says a lot about its caretakers."

"Is that okay?" Soisen felt like he might have challenged her pride as a botany expert.

Soisen continued his walk and visited the Black Lake without the luck of seeing the giant squid and even approached the Forbidden Forest to look at it from afar. One would expect that since students couldn't go there, there would be some kind of protective barrier or something that prevented passage in both directions, but no, not even a sad makeshift wooden fence or a broken sign were present.

Once again, another basic security flaw. These things wouldn't have happened if the other four founders had taken Cyrah's suggestions seriously before she left.

Proud idiots.

What if one day the Acromantulas decided to attack Hogwarts for a feast of human flesh and blood?

Note to self, exterminate the Acromantula nest.

He even found Hagrid's hut with its pumpkin patch!

He always wondered why, after his wand was broken, he didn't think about studying Druidic magic with his fondness for magical creatures, potentially lethal, and his creativity to crossbreed species that were quite against nature.

"I declare, today I discovered the location of the classrooms."

Upon returning to his common room, he found some Ravenclaw students studying the surroundings, and some other students like Hermione were looking with interest at the unopened Occamy egg in the central part. He headed to the storage room to see what had been donated to enter. Someone tried to follow him, but was thrown out by the door with a strong gust of wind, as the storage room is restricted access.

Only he and the headmaster can access this place. And there was a magically automated registry to note if someone took something and when.

Basic spellbooks, chocolate frogs, a silver bracelet, some bronze knuts...

It seems like everyone understands roughly how the house entrance works.

He grabbed a couple of chocolate frogs to satisfy his hunger after the walk, placed the new books in the house library, and after seeing that everything was in order, took Rada on his shoulder and went to the library to search for the book "Art Guide for Potion Making for Beginners" and "Encyclopedia of Potions from Around the World".

After spending several minutes flipping through pages and reading about existing potions, he discovered that there were potions to change eye color, give eagle vision, remedy temporary blindness, etc. But there wasn't a single one that served to cure myopia, hyperopia, etc...

Having confirmed that, he returned the book to its place and while with one hand he petted Rada's back for her delight, with the other he studied the book to increase his knowledge about the subtle art of potions. Or to be more precise, what not to do to survive his first attempts and not blow up the cauldron or have the mixture result in a powerful poisonous acid.

After a few hours, he felt hungry and got up to go to dinner. He took the sleeping Rada with him, but not before returning the book to its place, much to the librarian's satisfaction.

These troublemakers could learn a thing or two from this good boy!

Rada woke up as soon as she smelled the food, and when she saw that they were approaching the Great Hall, she rubbed her hands eagerly. Business was coming!

When Soisen entered with the Niffler on his shoulder, the students stared at the creature intently. The boys had no idea what it was, and the girls didn't care; it was too adorable. Only a few wizarding children knew about Nifflers.

Hardly had he sat down and placed Rada on the table, that they tried to approach to pet the Niffler. She raised her hand high to stop them with an authoritative look and extended the other hand towards them, bending her fingers inward.

The question marks over the heads of the interested ones were almost palpable, and they turned to Soisen to translate.

"This is Rada, my Niffler," Soisen introduced while stabbing a cod fritter with his fork. "She is trained and very intelligent. She doesn't mind being petted a little carefully and with clean hands, but if you want to do it, you'll have to give her something nice and shiny in return," he took a silver Sickle from his pocket as a demonstration and gave it to Rada, who, after taking it, sniffed it, shook it, and nodded with satisfaction, storing it in her bag while looking left and right.

The students were astonished. Was the Niffler doing business with her cuteness?

This... will be a resounding success! Intelligent indeed!

"Can we hug her?" asked a third-year Ravenclaw girl who was restraining herself in the face of such a cute and sweet thing.

Soisen looked at Rada, who thought for a moment and growled in response while miming.

"She says she accepts as long as you don't squeeze her and pay her enough. At least three shiny coins!" he then leaned down towards the students to advise them, "Actually, you can, for example, clean some Knuts until they shine, and she'll happily take them as if they were a Sickle. It doesn't even have to be real money; as I said, something nice and shiny like a shiny button is enough to satisfy Rada. Just don't take too long; she gets impatient quickly."

"Would she accept some food?" someone asked. "Some rock cakes, perhaps?"

"No, Hagrid, she won't accept rock cakes," Soisen smiled and looked at the half-giant who practically charged at the students when he saw the Niffler, his face flushed with excitement. "One of the reasons I say she's trained is because I taught her not to accept food or treats from strangers."

"Well done!" Hagrid nodded, happy that someone else knew what it's like to take care of his pet. "Both of you come by my hut sometime, I think Fang would like to meet a new playmate."

"Of course," he nodded before resuming his meal while his Niffler started her empire of cuteness and low prices.

The students took turns playing with Rada, who turned out to be a great way to manage their stress and distract themselves. Even Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout couldn't help but approach towards the end of dinner to give it a try. Pomona gave her a shiny hollow nut shell, and McGonagall a blunt-tipped silver needle.

After Rada filled her bag with new treasures and Soisen filled his stomach with food, the two bid farewell and returned to the Galegold common room content.

They lay down in bed in a good mood, and sleep claimed them soon in a peaceful night. And at dawn, they would officially begin their first magic lessons.