Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 233 Fire Crab

On Friday, as soon as Xilun stepped out of his dormitory, he saw a large group of people gathered in front of the bulletin board.

“Hogsmeade, next weekend.” Ron craned his neck to look at the newly posted notice. “Great, I was just thinking of buying some more Honeydukes sweets.”

Xilun glanced at it, then paid no more attention.

Perhaps because he had always lived in Diagon Alley, he wasn't as keen on spending weekends at Hogsmeade as others.

Strictly speaking, Hogsmeade's shops are far inferior to those in Diagon Alley, both in terms of quantity and variety.

Hogsmeade's only advantage is that it's next to a school.

Taking a stroll through Hogsmeade during a break from their heavy studies, and perhaps enjoying a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, is one of the few ways students can pass the time.

So most people were really looking forward to it, and they even became more energetic during class.

There was also a Defense Against the Dark Arts class that day, and Professor Lupin was unusually late, only rushing in ten minutes after the bell rang.

“I’m sorry, I got the time wrong,” Professor Lupin said. But Siren noticed that his expression was very strange.

He was confused, flustered, and absent-minded, and would often suddenly space out.

But it's still a long way from the full moon, so Lupin's current appearance is probably not because of the werewolves.

That means Sirius Black has made a move.

Xilun quickly guessed the reason, which made him breathe a slight sigh of relief.

No matter what method Sirius plans to use, as long as he's willing to contact Lupin, that's fine.

To reiterate, Sirius is good at charging into battle, but he's really not suited for thinking. Let's leave the strategizing to the more professional people.

Siren doesn't know if Lupin is a professional, but he's definitely more suitable than Sirius.

There's one thing: they wasted this lesson.

The lesson was supposed to be about recognizing the calls of a local harbinger bird, but Professor Lu Ping was more than ten minutes late, and he was also distracted during class, constantly looking down at something, and he made several mistakes in what he said.

There was no other way; we had to switch to self-study for the second half of the class.

Professor Lupin's unusual behavior naturally attracted the students' attention, as he had never acted this way before. Although he would occasionally be absent and have Snape substitute for him, whenever he was in the classroom, standing on the podium, he was always full of enthusiasm and professionalism.

"What's wrong with Professor Lupin?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know, maybe I caught a cold," Ron said, rubbing his nose, a puff of white smoke coming out of his ear.

Winter has just passed, and recently more and more people at Hogwarts have caught colds. Every year at this time, a special sight appears in the castle... like Ron, who occasionally lets white smoke out of his head and ears.

This was a side effect of the energy booster. Although it looked a bit comical, it was surprisingly effective. In just one morning, Ron felt much better.

“I feel the same way when I have a cold, I’m always listless, and Professor Lupin must feel the same way,” Ron said. “Maybe we can go to the university clinic and get him a pick-me-up.”

Hermione listened from the side, but said nothing.

She and Ron were still arguing about the pet, and besides, she didn't know why Professor Lupin had suddenly become so strange.

If it were a full moon, it would be easy to explain, but today is not a full moon, so she can't explain why.

After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the group did not linger and quickly left the castle to attend the Protect Magical Creatures class outside.

Hagrid prepared two fire crabs, which are red magical creatures with shells about the size of a walking ball and huge claws.

More importantly, its back is covered with a variety of dazzling natural jewels.

And it wasn't man-made; it just grew on the shell of an adult fire crab.

As soon as these magical creatures appeared, they quickly became the focus of everyone's attention, and everyone's eyes gleamed as they looked at them. "Harry, look! I've never seen such a big ruby ​​before, bigger than my fist!" Ron exclaimed, his mouth agape, his eyes fixed on Hagrid's feet.

"How much do you think that ruby ​​could be exchanged for in Gringotts?"

“I don’t know,” Harry said, “but it certainly won’t be cheap.”

“I think it can be exchanged for at least 100 Galleons…” Ron said.

“To be precise, it should be eighty-five Galleons,” Siren said. “That’s the standard price for a Fire Crab Gem.”

"In fact, its shell is the most expensive part. The shell of the fire crab can be used to make the best crucibles available, which cost two hundred gallons each."

“How much?” Ron screamed.

He simply couldn't believe that a crucible could sell for two hundred gallons. Was this robbery?

Harry's eyes widened too. The pure gold cauldrons in Diagon Alley only cost seventy Galleons... Two hundred Galleons could buy three pure gold cauldrons!
Now, Ron's eyes lit up even more when he looked at the fire crab.

“Isn’t it beautiful? Now you can try feeding it,” Hagrid said. “There’s one thing you absolutely must be careful about: you must never use magic on the fire crab. That’s very important.”

The group quickly lined up and took turns feeding the fire crabs. When it was Ron's turn, he secretly put his hand on the shell, trying to break off a piece of gem.

Ron was clearly not the only one with this idea, but none of them succeeded. The gems seemed to be embedded in the stone, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't budge them.

In the Slytherin party, Crabbe, enraged, pulled out his wand and swung it forcefully at the fire crab, completely forgetting what Hagrid had just said.

"boom!"

A beam of light struck the fire crab's shell, then bounced back even faster, hitting Crabbe squarely on the forehead.

"Ah!" he screamed, then clutched his head and rolled on the ground.

"Ha, serves you right." Ron sneered.

Although everyone was trying to break those gems, no one thought of using magic. Crabbe was the first... and probably the last.

At least after seeing his current appearance, those who had previously harbored ideas immediately gave up.

"Fool, do you think its shell is just for show?" Hagrid said irritably, looking at Crabbe rolling on the ground. "The Fire Crab will make every greedy person pay the price."

However, he still had someone take Crabbe to the school hospital.

Goyle and Malfoy stepped forward simultaneously, and without waiting for Hagrid's consent, they dragged Crabbe away on their own. Malfoy glared at Hagrid fiercely and said:

“A student got injured in your class, but you didn’t care. I will tell my dad about it.”

Hagrid didn't stop them; in his view, the three leaving was a good thing for the class.

As for Malfoy's threat... he didn't take it to heart at all.

He had warned them many times before not to use any magic on the fire crab; Crabbe's injury was entirely his own fault.

Xilun, on the other hand, stared intently at the fire crab with great interest.

Judging from that magical reaction, the fire crab's shell, besides being used to make crucibles, is also very suitable for making cane cores.

However, as soon as this thought popped into his head, Xilun quickly shook his head.

That's too expensive. Even a spendthrift like Sirius Black probably wouldn't buy a 200 Galleon core.

……

……

(End of this chapter)