The Return to Hogwarts

Chapter 909 Serious Consequences

2024-05-10

Newt gazed clearly at the young wizard before him; in recent years, his name had appeared in his ears more often than the Minister of Magic's.

Tina and her friends always loved to talk about this handsome and exceptionally skilled young man. When the Daily Prophet had nothing else to report, it would write a couple of stories about Amosta Blaine, because the newspaper knew that people were curious about him.

When his grandson came home for summer vacation, he talked incessantly about what happened at school, and at least half of it was about Professor Blaine.

Rolf confidently declared that when he was in third grade next year, he would also attend Amosta Blaine's physical education class. Newt had reservations about this.

Those unaware of the facts might be curious about this newly launched course, but Newt can see the danger behind it.

Amosta Blaine is teaching the young wizard real dueling techniques—dueling techniques for actual combat.

After learning the news, he wrote to Albus to ask why he had allowed Hogwarts to offer such a dangerous course. But Dumbledore did not give a clear answer. He only said that Amosta believed that some ancient techniques were far from being discarded, and as the professor in charge of student safety, Amosta had the right to make this decision.

When war breaks out, the sword usually doesn't fall on unarmed civilians. But if you receive rigorous training and are a qualified soldier, or rather, possess the combat skills a qualified soldier should have, even if you are just a child, it's hard to say whether killing will come knocking on your door.

Newt believed that Albus knew these things, but he still trusted Amost Blaine very much.

Newt trusted Albus's judgment, so he trusted Amostella, but he was very surprised when he saw Amostella shake her head and refuse his request.

“I’m afraid I can’t be of any help, Newt—”

After a moment's thought, Amosta shook his head. Seeing New York's surprised look, he quickly explained before he could ask a question.

“If I were writing to anyone else, I wouldn’t be stingy with my ink, Newt, but Trak Grevis.”

Amosta paused for a moment.

“I am worried that my letter will not only fail to work, but will have the opposite effect.”

Newt continued blinking without saying a word.

“I’m pretty sure this security chief of the Magical Congress doesn’t like me and doesn’t welcome me. You may not know this, but the condition for him to allow me to enter the country is that I have to hand over my wand and be under constant security surveillance during my stay.”

This matter wasn't exactly top secret, but Newt, oblivious to the world around him, was unaware of it. He asked in surprise,

"But just a few days ago, when you were stopping the venomous leopard..."

“That wand came from a Ministry of Magic employee who was monitoring me. You don’t see her now because she was slightly injured by the savage leopard that night and is currently recuperating at the St. Josiah Magical Injury Hospital.”

Amosta said calmly.

"All right--"

Newt looked around his little cabin and gave a wry smile.

"It seems we are all unwelcome guests. The security department won't allow me to bring my friends in. They're only willing to let Hobby, Millie, and Moller come with me. Oh, and Wright, that basilisk. They initially refused Wright entry as well, but I wrote to Grevis and told him that even Tina couldn't take good care of Wright, except for me, so he reluctantly agreed."

Amosta took a sip of piping hot tea, thought for a moment,

"Any progress on your investigation, Newt? I mean, those missing magical creatures?"

Mentioning this, Newt's expression grew even more distressed, and he shook his head.

"Those poachers of magical creatures from this magical creature nature reserve are a very cunning bunch. They evaded the Magical Congress employees stationed here, kept the magical creatures from noticing them, and did it all silently without leaving a trace."

"Not a single flaw was left?"

Amosta narrowed his eyes, his expression slightly moved.

"Oh, so you understand how difficult this is, right?"

Newt said solemnly,

"A chimera, a cat-leopard, a five-legged monster with a human head, a lion's body, and a scorpion's tail. To be honest, none of them would be easier for a normal person to deal with than the venomous leopard. But the wizards who captured them seemed to have no trouble at all; they took them away from here with ease."

"You've fought the venomous leopard, Amosta, you should know what that means."

Amosta nodded slightly and remained silent.

If Amosta had a wand, it wouldn't be difficult for him to force these 5X danger level magical creatures to submit, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't make a sound and be discovered by the wizards guarding this place and the magical creatures with sensitive senses.

He knew about the disappearance of these dangerous magical creatures as soon as he landed in New York. The case lasted for two months. Even with the Auror stationed at the Department of Security, the person who did this carried out a second operation and successfully took away the five-legged monster. The details behind this are worth pondering.

"Poaching magical creatures—to be honest, it's not uncommon—"

Amosta pondered.

"Especially those rare creatures, they always fetch a good price on the black market. But I am indeed puzzled as to why people would take such risks and engage in large-scale poaching of the most dangerous magical creatures. It shouldn't be for gold. I believe the Department of Security is closely monitoring the black market in New York."

"This is indeed unusual."

Even Newt, who had lived for a century and experienced many bizarre and wonderful events, frowned and said...

"What are they trying to do? Not all level 5X dangerous magical creatures are valuable, like the five-legged monster. The wizards couldn't use anything from it, but those people still took it."

I sincerely hope that whoever took them away didn't intend to tame them and then launch a terrorist attack. Come to think of it, I suspect they also intended to harm Eggshell Eye, but its recent bad temper perhaps made them feel that approaching it was too risky. Perhaps its bad temper saved its life.

Amosta wanted to remind them that since those people dared to launch a second attack, there might be a third. The fire dragon was not necessarily completely safe and needed to be closely monitored.

But then he thought about it again and realized that it was obvious that neither Newt nor the Magical Congress would have considered this, so he didn't say anything more.

Newt sat there, looking miserable.

He spent most of his life trying to make people realize that magical creatures are not simply dangerous and incommunicable. They can also communicate with wizards and share the magical world with them. Now, more and more people are recognizing that magical creatures serve wizards in ways that go beyond simply providing their fur, scales, organs, or pancreas.

He was constantly worried that those people were specifically targeting the most dangerous magical creatures in order to use their power to launch attacks.

He couldn't imagine the dire consequences if those dangerous animals simultaneously wreaked havoc in the bustling Muggle neighborhoods of New York.

Needless to say, the magical world will be exposed. Nowadays, Muggles' communication methods are not like they were seventy years ago. In just half an hour, news of strange creatures killing civilians in New York can spread throughout the entire Muggle world.

Even more frightening is that if such a horrific event were to occur, wizards might reconsider the uncertainty surrounding magical creatures, and their attitude towards them might revert to that of a century ago.

"Well--"

Amosta was well aware of the potentially serious consequences of this matter, and he pondered for a moment.

“I can help you find Nalrac, Newt.”

Startled from his deep thought, Newt nodded.

“Thank you, but actually I don’t have much hope. I know Narrak; if that goblin has any clues about this, it won’t hesitate to sell them for money, Amosta—”

Newt stood up and waved to Amosta.

"Let me go see Wright with you. There's something I need you to know."

Chapter 910 Old Friend

2024-05-10

Amostella followed Newt to the backyard of the cabin, where next to a vegetable garden inhabited by many goblins, there was an entrance to the cellar.

"I think Wright will be very happy to see you,"

Before lifting the straw cover and stepping into the dark, foul-smelling cave entrance, Newt glanced back at Amosta and said happily,

"After all, you were the one who rescued it from the prison that had held it for a thousand years."

"Well, let's hope so—"

Amosta's lips twitched, his expression strange.

Upon entering the cellar, a wave of cold, damp air hit you, making it difficult to breathe.

The cellar was dark and without a ray of light, like a water dungeon for prisoners. Amosta was a little confused, not quite understanding why Newt, who treated magical creatures so kindly, would find such a place for the basilisk to live.

But when he followed Newt down the last step of the spiral staircase and took in the expanded basement, he understood.

The huge rectangular room was flanked by thick stone pillars carved with coiled and intertwined serpents. These pillars supported the ceiling, which was melting into the darkness. Scattered animal skeletons, mostly rats, ferrets, and goblins, were scattered all over the hard stone floor of the room.

Through his magical vision, Amostah also saw an elderly statue of Salazar Slytherin with a somber expression standing at the top of the room.

“I think you figured it out, Amosta—”

Newt made his wand emit a faint light, just enough to illuminate a step or two in front of him, so as not to accidentally step into the puddles that were everywhere.

“This is roughly the same as the legendary Slytherin Chamber you once went down to. Of course, it’s not as grand as the one Salazar Slytherin built, but this is the best I can do. I have another identical room in my suitcase, all so that Wright can get a good night’s sleep.”

Amosta surveyed the secret room and nodded approvingly.

"Was it Headmaster Dumbledore who described it to you?"

"It was indeed Albus who helped,"

Newt strode across a puddle, turned back, and whispered,

"After you rescued Wright from the Chamber of Secrets, you handed him over to the Ministry of Magic. Cornelius seemed to want to use Wright to make a name for himself, but he soon discovered that the people in the Department of Magical Creatures Control were no match for Wright. After several incidents, he had to ask me for help."

As I told you before, Wright is the most difficult magical creature I've ever encountered to communicate with. It has no kind, no friends, and not even enough food. It just stayed in a dark, sunless room for a thousand years—”

Newt's voice crackled with anger as he recounted the basilisk's ordeal.

"Its mental state was terrible. It refused to communicate with me, was constantly on edge, and didn't want to sleep. I was troubled by this for a long time before I thought of creating a special bedroom for it."

This did work; although it still wouldn't let Tina near it, it was finally willing to eat and sleep. I don't understand, if Salazar Slytherin wanted Wright to do something for him after his death, why didn't he make it more comfortable? I dare say Wright would have been much happier these past thousand years if it had a companion.”

Newt rants on and on about the Basilisk, indignantly accusing Salazar Slytherin of looking a bit like a parent whose child has been bullied at school.

“You could try communicating with the basilisk. I mean, Wright, in a more efficient way.”