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Chapter 386
Chapter 386
Felix was just about to open his mouth to introduce him, when a black shadow ran out of the tent, climbed along Newt’s feet to his shoulder, and pointed at Felix with one hand crossed.
“Kiki! Kiki!” Niffler Valen shouted with excitement.
Even Harry and the others could see that the Niffler was tattling.
“Oh, Valen,” Newt said soothingly, “it’s good to learn more, you should really read the chapter I wrote about ‘Niffler’, and if you could read, I would be able to write to you every year …”
Niffler Valen looked at Newt incredulously.
Newt locked eyes with her, “Are you still drinking your tonic? I brought one with me …”
“Kee!”
Niffler let out a sad cry and flung from his shoulder into Felix’s arms, hiding her head and causing the crowd to look on with amusement.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Newt Scamander, the world’s most renowned Magizoologist.” Felix said with a smile while holding the Niffler: “Mr. Scamander came over this morning, and Headmaster Dumbledore managed to persuade him to leave behind a precious memory that will live long with Hogwarts … If someone writes this school history in the future, today will certainly deserve a special mention. ”
Newt looked at Felix somewhat less comfortably, with the same expression on his face as his memory body.
Admiration for knowledge shone in Hermione’s eyes, and she spoke impatiently, “Mr. Newt Scamander, we wrote to you – me, Harry, and Ron,” she pointed to the two next to her, “about Hagrid’s Buckbeak! It’s still in the Forbidden Forest, living with its family!”
Newt looked at Hermione, then at the slightly shorter Harry and Ron, then at Cedric, Collins, and Roger Davies standing next to them – they were all staring at him with rapt attention, and he found that he had become the center of attention.
He said softly, “Is it, Miss Granger? Oh … I just did what I thought was right … and it makes me happy to do so.”
They sat around a modest wooden square table in the camp, the ring of the wood on the surface of which could be clearly seen, and the memory body belonging to Newt whispered, “Excuse me, excuse me.” And with that, it disappeared.
Newt himself blinked and looked fondly at the place where the memory body had disappeared. Turning back to find everyone looking at him in slight surprise, he cleared his throat, “Well, let’s make it official … Dumbledore told me to just leave a memory and leave things to him … but I insisted on meeting with you all before I left, and I deemed it necessary.”
“I have travelled throughout five continents. I have visited the nests of wild creatures, the caves of underground creatures, the nests of flying creatures, I have observed the strange habits of fantastic beasts in a hundred countries, I have felt their capabilities first hand, I have won their trust, and occasionally I have chased them all away with my travel kettle.”
“Travelling… travelling kettle …?” Roger Davies laughed and stroked his hair, “Did you encounter a group of migrating gnomes?”
The others wanted to laugh a little too.
But Newt answered Davies seriously, “No, a bunch of big-headed hairy creatures.”
“What’s that?” Harry quizzed.
“Well–”
Felix hooked his finger and a strange creature named Pogrebin appeared on the ground, about a foot tall and hairy, but with a big, bald, gray head.
“That’s what it looks like.” Newt said cheerfully, “See, compared to their bodies, their heads are surprisingly large, and they just need to crouch on the ground – yes, thanks – and you see, if you don’t pay attention, you could mistake them for a big, shiny, round boulder, and quite a few travelling wizards just don’t notice them, and lean on them to rest against them, like a pillow, only to wake up to find themselves even more exhausted and groggy … or in a state of hysterical despair.”
“This creature likes to chase people’s shadows, if you come across it in the wild, you can make some noise to scare them, of course, a stunning spell will do, or simply kick it away with your feet …”
Of the six Champions, only Cedric took the sixth-grade class on the care of magical creatures class seriously, stemming from the influence of his father – Mr. Amos Diggory, who now works for the Ministry of Magic’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He had seen pictures of the Pogrebin in class, but still felt a sense of novelty when listening to Newt’s presentation. They noticed that the old man, who is somewhat less talkative, always talks a lot when he mentions magical creatures, moreover, he mentions a lot of interesting details without thinking about it.
Harry asked about the Thunderbird.
“It is a large flying magical creature that can sense danger and create storms while in flight.” Newt said nostalgically, “Almost seventy years ago, 1926 to be exact, I rescued a thunderbird from a trafficker in Egypt, whom I called Frank, and something happened in the middle … I can’t talk about it, I signed a confidentiality agreement… …but I met my wife during this incident …”
A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Thunderbirds are a bit like enlarged eagles, with brilliant feathers of varying colours, but they generally have two long tail feathers trailing – they are distant relatives of the phoenix. The feathers on Frank’s body are gold and white, which shine in the sunlight like floating clouds.”
Harry pressed on, “But I’ve heard that, uh, thunderbird feathers can be used to make wands, are there any special characteristics to such wands? And what about the Horned Serpent?”
Byers had told him that the core of his wand is made of Thunderbird Feather, while Victor Graves’ wand core is the part cut off from the Horned Serpent’s horn.
Newt thought for a moment and said, “Thunderbirds are very sensitive to supernatural dangers, and wands made with thunderbird feathers are said to be not only powerful but also capable of fire curses pre-emptively when supernatural dangers are present…” Harry and the group looked deeply at each other for a few moments, as Newt continued. “But I think this description is a bit exaggerated, my wife Tina’s wand is made of Thunderbird Feather, I am no stranger to this. She often complains to me that her wand is difficult to control.”
“As for the Horned Serpent, I don’t know much about the wand,” Newt said matter-of-factly, “except that if there is sufficient understanding with the owner, the wand will give forewarning of danger, which is similar to the Horned Serpent’s habits… …”
Felix interjected: “I happen to know a little about the wand materials. One thing you need to know is that although the wand chooses the wizard, the wizard will also influence the wand under long-term companionship. Even the wand of the same material and wand core, in the hands of different wizards the effect that can be brought out is very different, so you should pay more attention to the person.”
They nodded their heads.
For the next hour, they talked and enjoyed a leisurely evening, as if they had actually been led by Professor Hap to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and happened to meet a knowledgeable elder.
“… I first saw a dragon in a secret project of the Ministry of Magic, in 1914, when I had just become an adult … but I was only a junior employee of the Ministry of Magic… …but the rest of the ministry staff had no way of dealing with that group of Ukrainian iron bellies, so they approached me. Then they had to abandon the project because the Ministry of Magic investigators found that these dragons only respond to me …”
Harry and the others stared blankly at Newt as he explained –
“I have an innate talent for communicating and bonding with different creatures, and I’m very good at dealing with them … Later, in 1918, August Wurm, publisher of Obscurus Books, commissioned me to write a magical creatures-related reference book. I gladly accepted the offer, while feeling deeply inadequate about my lack of experience, so I used my vacations to travel the world, accumulating material, and in 1925 I took a year-long trip to document the habitats of various magical creatures …”
The young wizards present – including Felix – listened in silence. It is quite fascinating to hear a distinguished, if not legendary, wizard talk about the experiences of his youth, and to feel from his words the profound thoughts that cannot be put into writing.
“It was a wonderful time, carefree with an ever-present expectation of tomorrow. I wandered through the pitch-black forests of Africa to observe the precious image of a Runespoor emerging from its eggshell; waded through the bright Egyptian desert to follow the local legend of the Sphinx; wandered to the untouched Green Lake in Ireland where I draped the Kelpie with broad-leaved Balsam Star Grass; went over the twists and turns of the European mountains to witness the antics of a mountain trolls trying to tame a Graphorns… …”
“It was not until 1927 that I completed the first edition of the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, which was published and quickly became a bestseller.”
“It’s still a Hogwarts textbook!” Roger Davies said.
“My mom used it as a storybook to put me to sleep… but she didn’t realize that was counterproductive.” Cedric said, as a good-natured snicker was heard from the people around him.
…
“Kids.” Newt prepared to end the day’s conversation.
“I initially just wanted to make more people aware of the characteristics of the fantastic beasts that live in the same land as us, and also to improve its livelihood in the process. At the time, people were still prejudiced against these creatures and had been arguing for centuries over the question of “what is a beast and what is a human being.” … It was only through my travels that I began to think more and more deeply about the relationship between beasts and humans. If there is anything I desperately want to tell you from my experience, it’s only through communication and understanding that we can eliminate the barriers.”
Newt stood up and straightened his blue tunic.
“Mr. Scamander, have you really decided not to stay another day or two?” Felix asked reluctantly.
“I’m a little worried about Tina … She’s at home all alone, and it’s not an easy task for her to take care of the magical creatures in the basement.” Newt said, “I have left my entire knowledge about magical creatures, he will replace me and tell you all about the Dragons.”
“I wish you all well in advance to pass the trial.” He put on his hat and said to the six champions.
Harry and the others returned the salute in a messy manner, after which Hermione asked, “Mr. Scamander, how did you feel when you first learned you were about to face a dragon, did you have fear?”
“Fear?”
“The fear and agitation were just too much for me to sleep.” Hermione said.
“My opinion doesn’t necessarily suit you, but in my opinion, worrying means suffering one more time. And both me then, and you now are in a relatively safe environment when it comes to dealing with dragons, so we can be at ease a bit … Hope this helps you, Miss Granger.” Newt replied seriously.
When he prepared to leave, he saw his memory body hidden in the fog, behind a group of magical creatures. The past is still fresh in his mind, his eyes moistened, and then he gently breathed a sigh of relief, and left the group in classroom seven.
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