Once again, nothing happened.

"Ahh, crud. Faking it appears not to be working. I'd rather not stick a knife in me, if at all possible." Her body slumped back in frustration.

"Well, let's look at it in a positive way. This is merely the train to Hogwarts. If this door is any indication, any challenge we will encounter in the castle will be at least that much fun," said Tem, grinning.

"Swell, can't wait," replied Ashley, a sneer on her face. "I wish we had a goblin with us. One from Gringotts. I'm sure they could get in effortlessly."

"Uhm, I might have another idea. You know, uhm, I have a couple of allergies. Back when we got our sweets I was careful in my selection," explained Nathan. "See, when I eat some nuts, my body swells up, and this is also true for my airways. Because of that, I have an Epinephrine auto-injector, or EpiPen for short. If I ever suffer from an anaphylactic shock, I need to ram that pen into me to counteract my allergic reaction."

"So you want to eat some nuts now? I don't see how that's gonna work if you have your pen thingy with you?" asked Ashley.

"Well, I have another one in my trunk. If I throw the one I have with me out of the window, the only one left to help me is in that storage room..."

Ashley and Tem looked wide-eyed at Nathan. "What happens, if you don't get to your pen?" asked Ashley in shock.

"Ah, it shouldn't be that bad. I had a few allergic reactions before, and normally the swelling isn't that terrible and goes away after a while. That was when I quickly realised there were some nuts involved," explained Nathan, smiling uneasily. "But as we need a genuine emergency, I think one full peanut or so should do the trick."

"What do you mean, allergic reaction?" asked Tem.

"You don't have any? You're lucky. People can be allergic to loads of things. Food, bee stings, medicine. Whenever the particular substance enters the body, some unwanted reaction might occur. The intensity varies. Some have to sneeze a little or feel an itch on their skin, while others swell up and can't breathe. You see, it's the immune system of your body, which reacts aggressively against the invading substance," explained Nathan.

"Never heard of such a thing," said Tem.

"It's very rare with wizards and witches,” said Ashley. She turned towards Nathan. "Your idea is mad! You're crazy!"

"But also brilliant," added Tem. "I agree, crazy, but it could work."

"What if the door doesn't open up?" Ashley had actual concern in her face and her gaze changed between Tem and Nathan.

"I'm sure the prefects know a spell or something to counteract swelling. As I understand it, this is some Muggle apparatus to help in a medical emergency. I'm sure there is a magical remedy that works a lot better. But without us knowing, the train will think this is the only way to save Nathan," said Tem, now eager with the possibilities this course of action presented.

"Hmm, now that you mention it. My Dad is always telling my Mum, this one potion she gives him is the best reason for him to be married to her. Obviously, he is joking," said Ashley smiling. "He suffers from strong hay fever, but with that potion, he has no problems at all. But she had prepared it for him in advance. The prefects won't be able to whip up some potion on the train."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure they will be capable of helping him reach Hogwarts in time if it comes to that," said Tem.

"Hmm, I don't know. Seems risky to me, and you know, I do like me some action," said Ashley, frowning.

"Let's do it," said Nathan, a slight tremble in his voice. "It's a decent plan, I think, and we have little choice."

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Nathan? As much as I want to get in there and catch the thief, it's not worth dying for," said Temsivar. He gazed attentively into Nathan's face, trying to ascertain any doubt or fear in his face. Tem wanted to make sure Nathan himself was completely convinced of the necessity of their plan.

Temsivar felt surprised about how easily he could convince himself to put Nathan in danger. He was sure he'd enact this plan himself if possible, but it felt effortless. Did all the negative experiences and emotions this case brought along push him to rash actions?

The detectives he had read about, faced much worse situations. Harrowing trials and darker circumstances. Right now, nobody got hurt. At least not physically. A few items of sentimental value were stolen, which harmed the victims on a psychological level. That much was true. He calculated the potential for these objects to get back into their owner's possession as probable.

The question he had to ask himself was if he valued his own capabilities and worth as a detective more than the well-being of a friend. While they just met, he had the feeling they could become good friends. Unless he pushed this boy into killing himself for the sake of solving a case that may not even matter.

Most of the students didn't care, they had shown them that much. Yet, he couldn't shake the sense it was more than just this one case on the line. What if the thief remained at large, the items gone? Could he recuperate from the loss of face in front of so many students? He knew how important a first impression was.

As hard as it seemed, Nathan needed to decide of his own volition.

"Are you sure, Nathan?" asked Tem, again. He startled the other boy out of his thoughts, maybe similar thoughts to his own.

"Ah, who is talking about dying? I'm sure it's not going to be an issue. My allergies aren't that bad." Nathan chuckled softly, a weary smile on his face. "I'll be alright. Let's go to the compartment and fetch the EpiPen first. We can go over the details of the plan."

Tem nodded resolutely. Ashley could only frown and shake her head, but with a sigh, she followed the boys.

Arriving at their compartment, Nathan pulled a cylindrical, rather chunky silver rod out of his bag. It had various stickers on it with warning notices and user instructions. Ashley insisted on reading all the information and grimaced with variable intensity while doing so.

"I don't know, boys. This sounds horrible," she groaned.

"Don't worry. It's always worse than it truly is," said Nathan. "But, please make sure you understand how to use it when we get another from my trunk."

"I think I got it. Here you go, Tem." She handed Tem the pen.

Temsivar thought potion recipes were complicated, as was casting spells. This was another level. After the initial shock and calming himself back down again, he got the hang of it.

"Pull this part off and stick it in. Simple enough," said Tem, trying himself at a reassuring chuckle.

"Now we need something with nuts," said Nathan.

"I think I got you covered there. This awesome chocolate bar will at least make it worth it for you eating nuts." Tem pulled a colourfully wrapped bar out of his bag and handed it to Nathan.

On their way back, Nathan explained to them where he stored his stash of pens in his trunk and also how his trunk looked like. They repeated everything to each other and went through the plan again. Ashley would go and fetch a prefect if their scheme to get in failed Otherwise, she agreed to go after the thief, as she knew various spells to disable or hamper any attempt at escape. Tem, meanwhile, decided to find Nathan's trunk and get his pen.

They arrived at the storage room door a short while later. Grim determination, mixed with the uneasy feeling of everything that might go wrong showed on their faces.

Nathan nodded to Tem and threw the pen out of the window. With a gulp, the small boy bit into the chocolate nut bar and smiled happily, as it was, in fact, very tasty.