Nathan took another bite of the chocolate bar, for good measure, before Ashley came forward, saying, "That's enough, don't you think?"

With slight hesitation, he handed her the chocolate, while her gaze remained on him with concern.

They waited for anything to happen.

"Stop staring at me all the time. It makes me uncomfortable," said Nathan.

"Are you feeling something? Anything?" asked Temsivar.

"Yeah, a tingling sensation all over my mouth," said Nathan. To Tem's ears, his friend's speech was different. Somehow slightly slurred. Maybe he imagined it, waiting for the swelling.

They didn't have to wait very long until Nathan began coughing violently. The first signs were visible on his neck, but soon after his lips and his eyes began to swell severely. While his coughing became nearly constant, a wheezing sound indicated less air got into his lungs.

"Oh no, this was definitely a bad idea," cried Ashley.

"Hold him!" shouted Tem at her, as he jumped in front of the storage door and cried, "Let me in! It's an emergency! Nathan is in dire need of his medication, which is in his trunk! I need to get to his trunk!"

Nothing happened.

Tem slammed his fists against the door and continued pleading for entry. He looked back at Nathan, who had gone down to the floor. Ashley was holding up his head, helping Nathan to breathe. Tem felt miserable. He wouldn't forgive himself if his friend took serious damage, or... die.

"Come on! Let me in! It's an emergency, you stupid door!" shouted Tem again.

Suddenly, the outline of the door shone brightly. The door itself materialised an intricate structure of metallic-looking bars, as well as a line right in the middle. Handles appeared forming out of the metallic bars and the door sprung open with a soft whoosh.

Tem looked wide-eyed at the inside of the storage room and gasped. So did Ashley from a few feet away.

"Ashley, come on, let's find the trunk!" shouted Tem, who realised this endeavour might be more difficult than they had previously assumed.

The storage room was an utter mess. As he had expected, the room, or rather hall, was much bigger on the inside and it seemed as if every single trunk, by every single student had been opened and the contents were strewn all over the floor.

"How are we supposed to find anything in this chaos? Let alone a small pen?" asked Ashley in disbelief, standing next to Tem.

"We've got to! Let's go," shouted Tem. He took one last look at Nathan, who was wheezing on the floor, curled up and convulsing with each cough. Then both of them ran into the storage room and began their frantic search.

The lights went on after the door had opened. Tem took the right side, while Ashley went left and they methodically checked the trunks. Various turned-over suitcases hampered their progress and the circumstance that most of them looked similar. Luckily, Nathan brought a Muggle suitcase, which was in the minority.

Suddenly, Tem's gaze went to the far end of the hall and he couldn't believe his own eyes. In the back, he saw a pile of shimmering items, as high as an enormous trunk. The top was decorated with sparkling fabrics, ranging from silver and gold to colourful and dazzling.

"Ashley! Look!" Tem pointed at the pile.

Ashley's eyes went wide and gasped, "What the...?"

"Come on! Wand ready," shouted Tem, as he ran towards the stack, jumping over trunks and their contents. He was hoping his guess was right and they would find the pen in the pile. They had to, for Nathan’s sake, Tem feared.

"Tem! Look out!" She pointed her wand at him, waited for his reaction, and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

All of a sudden, Tem felt much lighter, pushed himself off a trunk lying on the floor, and jumped a considerable distance. His landing was not as graceful as Ashley's had been, but after a roll, he came back up to his feet and was standing in front of the mountain of more or less valuable, but shiny, stuff.

He searched desperately for the rod, disrupting the stack. Shortly after, Ashley landed next to him.

"Ah!" cried Ashley, as a fierce little squeak emanated from the top of the pile.

A fraction of a second later, Tem exclaimed jubilantly, "I've got it!" and held it up high with a smile, just then also recognising the creature sitting on top of its mountain in the assortment of colourful materials.

It was a tiny beast, with a coat of black, fluffy fur. Out of its long snout emanated various squeaking sounds of disagreement towards the two students disrupting its apparent nest.

"You take care of, uhm, it, while I--"

"Go! Help Nathan!" shouted Ashley and raised her wand towards the small creature.

Tem heard her shout several jinxes and charms, accompanied by some swearing and a racket of items flying around. He could only hope she was able to catch the creature. He wanted to help, but getting to Nathan was more important.

While he bolted over trunks and books he couldn't help himself but think how they could explain any of this, if they failed to capture the beast. Would anybody believe them? Or would they laugh at them for this ridiculous story?

Before delving deeper into his doubts, he arrived back at the door, dashed past it, and slid down onto the floor next to Nathan. He gasped shortly, but he had to stay calm.

The small boy was barely breathing. His face and neck were one large blob, eyes red and tears streamed down his face. No time to lose. Tem pulled off the cap of the pen and rammed its needle into Nathan's thigh. The automatic system injected the medicine.

Tem stared expectantly at Nathan, hoping for an immediate change. Was that Muggle medicine as effective as the spells cast by a healer?

The continued ruckus from inside the storage wagon jolted him out his concern for Nathan and he looked towards Ashley. The girl jumped over trunks with erratic changes in direction, screaming unintelligibly with the odd jinx thrown in between. She was closing towards the door and Tem suspected her trajectory corresponded with the creature's path, which he couldn't see yet.

With another look at Nathan, who seemed to breathe better again, he pushed himself up and dashed to the door. He readied himself to catch the rat-sized beast by getting lower into his knees and holding his arms wide. The doorway was still considerably bigger, though, which filled him with concern.

Then he glimpsed it, scurrying between trunks and discarded objects, Ashley close behind. Various clothes, books, and other items were flying into the air as Ashley tried to incapacitate the small animal with her jinxes that narrowly missed every time, as it was nimble and quick. It rushed in between the suitcases and used them as cover. While it moved at considerable speed, Ashley had to contend extensively with the obstacles.

Tem could see that the creature was hustling towards the exit where he stood. It was coming right at him. He tensed up, readying himself to pounce on it. The creature leaped into the air, once again narrowly dodging another jinx, and landed right in front of Tem. He jumped forward, using as much of his body to catch the beast. He felt soft fur underneath his hand for a split second, but realised quickly it left his hand in a squirming motion.

Ashley couldn't stop and with an "Oomph!" collided with Tem that sent her to the floor as well. In between the two students, the creature pushed itself from underneath Tem's robes and hurried onward.

"Where is it?" cried Tem.

"There! Behind you! It's running towards Nathan!" shouted Ashley, pulling herself up again.

Tem rolled over as well and tried to get up fast. The beast halted for an instant next to Nathan, sniffed shortly, and continued with his escape. Ashley hesitated with another jinx, unwilling to hit Nathan by mistake, and started to run after the creature again. Temsivar followed suit.

They arrived in the corridor to the next wagon and there was no sign of the creature anywhere. As if the floor had swallowed it. Tem frowned, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Where could it have gone that fast?" asked Tem into the empty corridor.

"It seems it can smoothly squeeze past doors and remain unseen," replied Ashley.

"Ah, crud. So much for that. We failed once again. Now what? How are we supposed--" Tem paused for a moment, realising something else, "Nathan!"

They dashed back to Nathan, who was still lying on the floor, apparently in a rather uncomfortable state. As far as Tem could ascertain he seemed stable though, his breathing regular. The swelling remained unchanged and made Tem uneasy.

Nathan croaked softly. Tem got closer to him, as he thought Nathan was trying to tell him something.

"Did we catch the thief," whispered Nathan.

"I'm sorry, no. Don't worry, we know what it was and we will capture it soon enough." Tem smiled encouragingly at Nathan, but he wasn't sure his friend could see him through his swollen eyes.

"Uhm, do we know what it was?" asked Ashley in a whisper.

"We'll figure it out," replied Tem.

"Pills in my trunk," muttered Nathan.

Tem and Ashley jumped up and ran back into the storage hall, once again looking for Nathan's trunk. After a short while, they found it and came back with a stash of medicine. At this point, Nathan could discern the correct pills and took a few of them.

"We should bring Nathan to the prefects. I'm sure they can help him with the swelling. We need to tell them who the thief was," said Ashley.

"Yes, and no," replied Temsivar.

"What do you mean?"

"I agree, our priority should be to get Nathan back on his feet. But it won't do telling the prefects about that creature. They will laugh at us. Look at that mess back there." He pointed at the chaos inside the storage room.

The storage room doors were closing again, slowly.

"Why? They probably know what that creature is," said Ashley.

"Perhaps. But they could also just as easily not believe us. No, we need to catch it ourselves. I think we know somebody who can help us with that. Albeit, he was useless in his attempts so far," said Tem.

"What do you mean? Who?" asked Ashley, staring at Tem.

"I think we need to capture Stuart's toad once and for all."