Two weeks had passed since the first Quidditch match of the spring term at Hogwarts.
Notably, the Ravenclaw team's dominant performance made the sports section of the Daily Prophet. Captain Razim Gideon even scored an exclusive interview, and Wigtown Wanderers scout Paul Kernburg publicly expressed his genuine interest in Razim's tactical talent.
Overnight, the Ravenclaw team became the undisputed center of attention.
But as the days ticked by, the castle settled back into its normal rhythm. The targeted sabotage and malicious harassment against Ravenclaw students completely vanished. The constant Quidditch hype was quickly replaced by the crushing weight of impending homework and final exam prep.
Richie, however, knew the trouble wasn't totally over.
To prevent anyone from pulling a desperate revenge stunt, Richie warned Hagrid again, firmly telling him to prep for a random Ministry inspection at any moment.
Hagrid was already a nervous wreck. Norbert was growing at an alarming, exponential rate—now roughly the size of a small calf—and the wooden hut simply couldn't hide him anymore. Out of options, Hagrid had been forced to temporarily stash the dragon in the Forbidden Forest.
Thankfully, the massage technique Richie taught him worked like a charm. It was the only way Hagrid could keep the highly stressed baby dragon calm enough to prevent him from setting the entire forest on fire.
Just as Richie predicted, the Ministry received an anonymous tip the following Sunday. Investigators unexpectedly showed up to search Hagrid's place, but thanks to the early heads-up, the half-giant barely managed to pass the inspection. Even so, the investigators made it crystal clear they would be keeping a close eye on him until his name was fully cleared.
Backed into a corner by the ongoing surveillance, Hagrid finally caved. He begged Richie to talk to Ron and figure out a concrete way to get Norbert out of the country.
"It's just not safe for him here anymore. I don't have a choice... I have to let him go," Hagrid had confessed, completely heartbroken.
When Richie relayed the message, Ron stepped up immediately, promising to handle the logistics.
"Richie, next Saturday at midnight, Charlie's friends are meeting us at the tallest tower. We'll hand Norbert over to them then."
Richie was genuinely impressed by how fast Ron organized the handoff and gladly let the Gryffindors take the wheel.
---
The Fallout
The following Saturday, Harry, Ron, and Hermione successfully smuggled Norbert out. But somehow, Draco caught wind of the operation and snitched to Professor McGonagall, busting them for breaking curfew.
The immediate fallout was brutal: McGonagall docked 50 points each from Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Draco also lost 20 points for being out of bed himself.
Gryffindor lost 150 house points in a single night, instantly plummeting from House Cup contenders to dead last. Ravenclaw, meanwhile, was now sitting on a massive, untouchable lead.
For the Gryffindors, who had finally believed they could end Slytherin's winning streak, it was a crushing psychological blow. As the rumors rapidly spread, Harry Potter—the supposed "mastermind" behind the point loss—became a total pariah, dealing with cold shoulders and outright verbal abuse from his own fiercely loyal housemates.
---
The Star Room Strategy
"Honestly, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Harry."
Later that evening, inside the abandoned classroom they called the Star Room, Hermione gloomily pushed her homework around her desk. She shook off Neville's clumsy attempts to comfort her. "He hasn't been able to eat for days. It was all three of us out there, but he's taking a hundred percent of the blame."
Neville scratched his head. "Probably because he's the Boy Who Lived..."
Hearing that, Seamus tightly gripped his quill, still looking a little traumatized by the sheer scale of the news. "I seriously can't believe sneaking out got you docked that many points!"
As he spoke, he absentmindedly flicked his wrist. Suddenly, his quill violently blasted a massive glob of black ink across his desk. "Oh, crap! It's a self-inking prank quill!" Seamus panicked, frantically trying to scrub the mess off his parchment.
In reality, when Neville and Seamus first heard that Harry's group had cost Gryffindor 150 points, their immediate reaction was pure anger. That was 150 points. Winning a Quidditch match only netted 50, which meant Harry and the others had effectively flushed an entire Quidditch Cup down the drain in one night.
But once they found out the massive penalty was strictly for sneaking out after curfew, their anger quickly shifted into a guilty, nervous reality check. After all, both of them—and practically half the student body—regularly sneaked out at night. Getting caught was just part of the Hogwarts experience. But the punishment was so absurdly extreme that they didn't even know how to begin comforting Hermione.
"No, the worst part is that Professor McGonagall completely misunderstood the situation!" Hermione shook her head, thoroughly frustrated. "Historically, the absolute maximum penalty for breaking curfew is thirty points! And that was only because a student accidentally ruined a historical portrait while sneaking around!"
She took a deep, shaky breath. "When I tried to argue with her, she told me the excessive punishment was meant to 'nip an inappropriate dynamic between me and Harry in the bud,' to protect Gryffindor's reputation..."
"Inappropriate dynamic?" Neville and Seamus exchanged confused looks. They had absolutely no idea what she meant by that.
Sitting nearby, Richie quietly listened to the conversation while methodically finishing his homework. Technically, he was partially responsible for the fallout. He was the one who told Ron to contact Charlie about the dragon, which triggered the entire disastrous chain of events. If he had just reached out to Newt Scamander to handle the extraction, none of this would have happened. But hindsight was 20/20, and the damage was done. Richie could only offer a silent, mental apology.
"So, about the upcoming Black Lake expedition..." Wendy looked up from her textbook, eyeing the group.
Out of the five of them, Wendy was easily the most hyped for the underwater exploration. She was by far the strongest swimmer, and Richie had successfully managed to score three stalks of rare Gillyweed from his Aunt Annabelle. Right now, the aquatic plants were safely floating in a nutrient tank tucked into the corner of the Star Room. Because of that, Wendy was practically vibrating with excitement to launch the mission.
"I'm out," Hermione said flatly. "I need to focus entirely on answering questions in class. I have to earn back those points and fix this."
Hearing that, Neville, Seamus, and Wendy exchanged helpless looks. They were a team; they were supposed to stick together. But with Hermione dealing with this massive point deficit, they didn't know how to push back.
Sensing the awkward tension, Richie stepped in to mediate. "If that's the case, we'll just adjust the plan. We have the Gillyweed, but it won't stay viable in that nutrient tank forever. Plus, finals week is coming up fast, and we all need to pivot to hardcore studying. That means we need to execute the Black Lake dive within the next few days—ideally during daylight hours."
He said everyone needed to study, but in reality, that only applied to the rest of the group. Richie had already passed his private evaluations with the professors. While he still had to sit for the actual finals to maintain appearances, he wasn't sweating them in the slightest.
Hearing Richie lay out a logical timeline, the rest of the group nodded in firm agreement.
---
The Investigation Continues
The next day, the sun rose over Hogwarts as usual.
After finishing his morning classes and grabbing a quick lunch, Richie used his free period to hike up to the Owlery. It was his third trip up there. He had already cross-referenced and eliminated more than half the privately owned owls over his last two visits. He was highly confident that today, he'd finally pinpoint the exact bird that dropped that weaponized prank box on him.
Richie didn't consider himself a petty person, but he fundamentally believed in tracing cause and effect. If someone was going out of their way to launch anonymous attacks against him, there had to be a concrete, tactical reason.
Was it Draco pulling the strings from the shadows again, or had Richie unintentionally pissed someone else off?
The only way to get the truth was to track down the sender.