An outcry stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Now what?" asked Ashley.

"At that rate, we'll never get to the prefects," sniggered Nathan.

Tem looked wearily at him. Why was he so cheerful? Nothing at all was going for them right now. It’s possible Nathan misunderstood the situation. Ignorance was bliss, after all, thought Tem grimly.

"We better check it out," said Tem, with a bit of renewed hope for progress. At least an outcry like that felt more what Tem expected in such a situation.

They dashed to an open compartment in which a boy frantically searched through his bag. He stood with his back to them, mumbling in a panicky voice. "Oh no, no, no. This can't be. It has to be somewhere. Please."

Tem cleared his throat. "Can we help you?"

The boy turned around in surprise. A second-year Slytherin student from the looks of it. He had a gaunt face, dark bags under his eyes, and rather crooked teeth, which the three could see very well in his wide smile.

"Just the man I was looking for. Finally, somebody who can help me. Please, Mr Detective, you have to aid me," said the boy in desperation.

"Of course. I will do whatever I can. Please, calm down," said Tem.

"Good, splendid. Please, help me Mr Detective. Somebody stole my golden bracers!" The boy beamed at them, his teeth never saw bracers in his whole life.

Tem inclined his head with a frown. Something was wrong. That boy must be kidding.

"Uhm, what do you mean? Your golden bracers?" asked Tem, at a loss.

Just then, laughter welled up from behind them. The boy joined in and threw himself on a seat, rolling around, holding his stomach. The three investigators turned around and saw a small group had gathered behind them in the corridor. Led in front by no other than Esmae Webster.

"Oh, it's you. What's this? What do you want?" asked Tem, rising anger in his voice.

"Nothing really," said Esmae, stifling a small laugh. She was much more composed than the others around her. "We thought to lighten the mood a bit. You seem so awfully tense all the time. This can't be good for you," said the girl with mock concern in her silky voice.

"Leave him alone! What are you doing to catch the thief?" shouted Ashley, lunging a step forward.

"Oh my, you've got yourself a guard dog, too, Greengrass. Such a fierce specimen at that, too," said Esmae with a mischievous grin.

Ashley hurt the situation by indeed growling a little. While Tem found this to be rather fierce, considering he was smaller than she was, the rest of the group laughed again, loving the show they were provided with.

"Anyway, I heard you failed at finding the actual thief? Must sting, doesn't it?" said Esmae, more a comment than a question.

"Just a minor setback, we're right on track," said Tem, ignoring the hot feeling in his stomach. "So, if you and your friends could excuse us. We're busy."

He tried to move past Esmae, but she placed herself in front of him, head inclined towards him, and whispered, so only he could hear, "You should work on your people skills. Otherwise, one can find himself on the wrong side of things."

Tem stared at her for a second, not entirely sure if that was supposed to be a threat or what else she could gain. On the other hand, it was somewhat helpful to know who his enemies were. Made it easier to look over one's shoulder and see the danger coming. In a way, she was doing him a favour, albeit annoyingly.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind. Try to keep yourself out of sticky situations. We wouldn't want any reason to think you'd be suspicious, would we?" whispered Tem back and took another step around her, before she could grace him with another retort. He had enough of that, especially since it wouldn't help him find the actual thief and solve this case.

His companions hurried after him. Ashley looked grimly into various faces of laughing students, unwilling to back down. Nathan tried to stay as small as possible and peered at the floor, following in Ashley's wake.

Ashley caught up with Tem. "Fine acquaintances you seem to have made there. Who's that and what did she want?"

"Esmae Webster. I don't know exactly, but it appears she'd taken a liking to me. Or at least a liking in torturing me. Why? Who knows? I'm sorry if your association with us will result in unfavourable situations for you in the future," said Tem earnestly.

"Don't worry about it. If that scene was any indication, we would've crossed paths, eventually. I don't like bullies and typically, they learn what that means quickly enough.”

Tem looked at her with growing respect. He wondered if her personality was close to her mother's. He'd love to meet the Auror Crofort someday, but he was happy to have met Ashley Crofort.

"Nathan, are you alright?" asked Ashley, turning back.

"Y-yes, she ignored me. Thank goodness." Nathan tried himself at a paltry smile. "Thanks for asking. Are we still going to the prefects?"

"Of course we are," replied Tem, who decided to take up action rather than think about what Esmae said and how many people were laughing about his failed investigation.

A few moments later, with no new incidents, they stood in front of the prefect's compartment. Tem took a deep breath to steady himself. He disliked what was coming, but it would only hurt to push it away further. Just then, he had to combat the urge to leave again and try his chances at success on his own. Could it get any worse if he did?

If he was successful, nobody would talk about the first debacle. It was safer to speak to more experienced students. Students, who could do actual magic. Not like him, who failed to produce a light rivalling the flame of a match.

"What is it, Tem?" asked Nathan, pulling him out of his reverie. "Did you have a new idea?"

He wished he had, but felt empty of ideas. Now that he thought of it, the ghost idea came from Ashley, and Nathan had been saying all along to go for the other leads as well. He had been so certain he could count on his skills of deduction, his intelligence, and capability to look for details. How did he miss it?

Fudge! He was going down that rabbit hole once again. "No, no. Just thinking," replied Tem. Willing his hand upwards, he knocked at the door. They entered the compartment to a heated discussion of the situation by the prefects.

"Ah, Mr Greengrass. Are there any recent revelations? What about Jim Krane?" asked Sherwood Martens.

"Uhm, there are new circumstances to report. I... I have to admit my declaration of Mr Krane being the potential thief was false. I apologise for any inconvenience," said Tem, having a hard time keeping the volume of his voice up.

"We had heard of new thefts and were wondering about that. While I was certain a member of my house could not be the thief, the question remains, who is?" asked the Slytherin prefect Pritchard.

"Well, I have a couple of theories. I mean, we thought, maybe it could be a... ghost," said Tem. He shrank a few inches in anticipation. Quickly, he added, "We wanted to converse with you, as our expertise is far lower on these topics."

"That at least was a decent idea, for once. Good thing you lot didn't run around blabbering about ghosts all over the train. Ridiculous," said Pritchard, annoyed, sitting back in his seat, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Thanks for your input, Pritchard. But I have to agree. It's highly unlikely a ghost could've done all that. Generally, they have no chance to take away anything from you, and somebody would be bound to see an apparition floating around. Also, there has never been a ghost on the Hogwarts Express and no event to create one," said Martens, the Gryffindor prefect.

"Maybe something else? A spirit, trying to communicate with us? Maybe it's an invisible person?" cried Ashley, hope in her eyes.

"I guess it could be. But there were no signs any of us recognised. Best to wait for the teachers to sort it out," replied Martens.

"We had been close to the storage room recently. We heard various sounds from inside there. I'm sure there is someone inside, doing horrible things. We need to get in there," pleaded Tem.

"As I told you before, Mr Greengrass. There is no way to enter the storage wagon while we are still moving. How often do I need to tell you?" Martens stood up and put his hands to his side. His voice had become considerably strained by now, patience running low. "I'm sorry, we have to sit this one out. We will make a train-wide announcement for every student to hold their belongings close in order to dissuade any more opportunities for the thief."

"As I said, sorry for the inconvenience. We get out of your hair," said Tem, bowing his head an inch and starting to move out of the compartment.

The prefects looked after the group, and before Tem had closed the doors he heard Martens telling Pritchard, "How could I've thought a first-year would solve this mess?"

Tem neglected to catch Pritchard's response.