From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

Following Fudge were officials from the Ministry of Magic. Apart from a toad-faced witch dressed in disgusting pink, the rest were dressed in serious black attire and were likely civil servants from the Department of Magical Creature Management and Control.

In addition, there was a representative from the Board of Trustees, Ivy's old friend Lucius Malfoy. Today, Lucius also demonstrated the good education he received as a pure-blood family member. His platinum blonde hair was combed meticulously, and his pure black high-grade cloak and silver-plated short staff highlighted his aristocratic demeanor. It must be said that he certainly had a lot of style.

"Albus!" Fudge shouted from afar, spreading his arms wide to show everyone how enthusiastic and loyal he was, "My old friend!"

"It makes me so happy to see you healthy!" Fudge hugged Dumbledore and tried to pat him on the shoulder, but he had to stretch his arms to reach Dumbledore's back.

“Me too, Cornelius.” The old wizard gently embraced the Minister of Magic, then looked at the Ministry of Magic employees behind him. “It is a great honor to see you all at Hogwarts. And of course, you, Lord Headmaster Malfoy.”

“The Ministry of Magic is busy, let’s get started,” Lucius said curtly, his expression completely unchanged. While he wasn’t as enthusiastic as Fudge, at least he no longer wore that arrogant and conceited smile.

"Hehe~" The toad witch dressed in disgusting pink laughed loudly, attracting everyone's attention. "Don't be in such a hurry, Mr. Malfoy. Even if Minister Fudge doesn't ask for a welcome dinner, he should at least let us get to know the professors of Hogwarts."

“Dolores!” Fudge feigned displeasure to stop her, but she had already finished speaking. “We have official business to attend to!”

Dolores-Umbridge gave a perfunctory bow and returned to the crowd without saying another word.

“However, I think Dolores might have a point. What do you think, Albus?” Fudge looked at Dumbledore again, his tone a mix of annoyance and smugness.

“That’s to be expected.” Dumbledore nodded and waved to introduce the professors standing beside him. “Professor Minerva McGonagall, who is in charge of Transfiguration at Hogwarts, and is also the Vice-Headmaster and Head of Gryffindor, I think many people would agree that she is the most dedicated among us.”

Professor McGonagall's scrutinizing gaze swept across Umbridge's face before she nodded to Fudge.

"Professor Pomona Sprout, in charge of herbalism at Hogwarts, and also Head of Hufflepuff."

Professor Sprout smiled and waved. Professors Snape and Flitwick both had classes to teach, so they didn't come to greet the Ministry of Magic's inspection team.

"Then comes our Professor of Conservation of Magical Zoology, Professor Sylvanus Kettleburn, who can't wait to show everyone Hogwarts' grand plans regarding magical creatures."

Professor Celticburn's wooden prosthetic leg clattered on the ground, displaying the same joyful mood as its owner: "You're absolutely right, Dumbledore! I almost regret not being born a few years later! If I could build a base full of magical creatures at Hogwarts, I could die in peace!"

“Oh, thank you for the compliment, Sylvanas.” Dumbledore thanked Celticburn sincerely, then turned to Ivy, “This is Professor Victor, who will be in charge of Defense Against the Dark Arts for the remainder of the school year.”

“So… is ‘Victor’ a surname or a given name?” Umbridge asked in an exaggerated, high-pitched voice, sounding very curious. “Excuse me, but I noticed you’re wearing a crown. Who crowned you?”

Umbridge, seemingly thinking himself quite humorous, didn't wait for Ivy's reply and immediately let out a not-so-pleasant laugh.

Ivy stared at her coldly, a mocking smile on her face: "Wisdom crowns me, truth reigns over me."

With Ivy's charisma, this threatening reply immediately silenced the entire room, and Umbridge's laughter stopped as if someone had choked him.

“Albus,” Fudge whispered, “I remember this year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts was a young man named Quirrell, wasn’t he? What happened to him?”

“He was a dark wizard loyal to Voldemort, and he has now disappeared,” Dumbledore said calmly.

Fudge was clearly startled. He looked at Dumbledore with a horrified expression and after a long while said uneasily, "You must be joking, Dumbledore. We all know that the Man of Void is gone for good... Even if Quirrell really did escape from Hogwarts, you should at least report a missing person to the Auror office at the Ministry of Magic!"

Upon hearing the name "Voldemort," the wizards of the Ministry of Magic stirred uncomfortably for a moment, and Lucius's eyelids twitched as well. However, Fudge's attitude of treating Dumbledore's words as a joke seemed to give them a reassuring excuse, and the crowd quickly calmed down.

"That letter has been on my desk all along. Maybe I forgot to mail it by owl?" Dumbledore said lightly, seemingly not taking Fudge's attitude to heart.

Seeing Dumbledore's smile again relieved Fudge. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow and asked Professor Celticburn kindly, "Where is the venue? Shall we go there now?"

The old professor, completely absorbed in the magical creatures, didn't even hear the name "Voldemort." He tapped his wooden prosthetic leg on the stone bricks in front of Hogwarts' main gate and said happily, "It's in the Forbidden Forest! Not far at all. The magical creatures we're showing today are all top-notch; you'll absolutely rave about them!"

"Should those magical creatures be left alone in the Forbidden Forest? Or... should other wizards be watching over them?" a Ministry of Magic employee asked, before introducing himself, "I am Nott, the Director of the Department of Magical Creature Control."

“Haha, I wouldn’t be so reckless!” Professor Celticburn laughed. “My assistant is watching over there! He’s quite capable! He’s got those little guys all under his thumb.”

With no further questions, Director Nott and his entourage set off for the Forbidden Forest. Throughout the journey, Fudge tirelessly recounted to Dumbledore his glorious achievements at the Ministry of Magic, interspersed with Umbridge's flattery and Director Nott's slightly impatient nods of agreement.

Fortunately, the road to the Forbidden Forest wasn't too far, otherwise Ivy would have really been tempted to cast a silencing spell on Fudge.

The Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts is usually a gloomy place. Even when you enter during the day, the dense foliage overhead will block out the sunlight completely. However, this has one advantage: at least the wizards who come to visit the Forbidden Forest do not have to face the summer sun directly.

Perhaps feeling a slight chill from the forest breeze, Fudge shrank his neck and stopped talking, carefully examining the mud on his pointed leather shoes. It seemed he was also regretting not wearing a more comfortable pair of shoes.

In a slightly spacious clearing in the woods, Hagrid was already waiting there with a host of magical creatures of all sizes.

Upon seeing Hagrid for the first time, Umbridge shrank back half a step. This controlling half-blood witch hated anything she couldn't control, and anything beyond her pathetic common sense.

Hagrid, being a half-giant, was clearly among them.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid called out enthusiastically, "and gentlemen of the Ministry of Magic! Welcome to Hogwarts!"

God knows how many times he rehearsed those two lines. Although he was good at dealing with magical creatures, it was a different story when facing so many wizards. Ivy had to use dragons and other dangerous magical creatures as bait to persuade him to minimize useless words.

“Rupert Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, I intend to have him assist Professor Celticburn on this project,” Dumbledore introduced to Fudge.

The latter stared at Hagrid for a while, then frowned and asked in a low voice, "Is he the student who kept the eight-eyed spider at Hogwarts many years ago? And apparently caused the death of a witch?"

“We all know Hagrid is innocent,” Dumbledore simply stated the facts.

“Oh,” Fudge looked a little annoyed, “everyone knows you’re always right, Albus.”

“Not entirely.” Dumbledore winked merrily and asked, “Shall we begin, Cornelius?”

“Of course, of course!” Fudge shouted to Hagrid. “Go ahead and do your show… I mean, show us, show us!”

“Hey! Have you forgotten someone?” Professor Celticburn said with displeasure, making a loud noise with his wooden prosthetic leg on the ground. “I knew I couldn’t stand with Hagrid. Who cares about an old man with a full head of white hair and only one arm and half a leg?”

A burst of good-natured laughter erupted from the crowd, and Hagrid called out, "Come on, Professor Celticburn, everyone's waiting to see what you've got!"

Professor Celticburn joined Hagrid's queue without hesitation and announced the official start of the course.

That's right, this was a demonstration lesson only for the Ministry of Magic, after all, Hogwarts is a magic school.

“In previous years, our conservation of magical creatures class could only be adapted to local conditions. We would teach students about the magical creatures that were available at hand. For those magical creatures that did not exist in the UK or in the Forbidden Forest, we could only have students flip through the illustrations in the dry textbook and memorize a few pale paragraphs.”

"To be frank, I hate this teaching method. I want every young wizard to see real magical creatures and interact with them, instead of just sitting pathetically in a classroom listening to an old man recite magical creatures."

"Now, thanks to Headmaster Dumbledore and the Board of Trustees, we have this opportunity to let all the young wizards see every magical creature with their own eyes! They will have the opportunity to raise them from childhood, observe their habits, and collect their fur, scales, and even blood."

“Wait a minute!” Umbridge interrupted Professor Celticburn’s speech loudly. “I noticed you said ‘all magical creatures’? Does that include those certified by the Ministry of Magic as XXXXX? You’re going to let young wizards come into contact with these? Isn’t that… I don’t know, maybe it’s too unsafe?”

Chapter 113

Umbridge's remarks immediately attracted several disapproving glances, including Nott, the Director of the Department of Magical Creature Management and Control.

The Nott family name also comes from the "Twenty-Eight Pureblood Saints," and the book "The Pureblood Register," which mentions this concept, was even written by wizards from the Nott family. Therefore, Nott, whose situation is similar to that of the Malfoy family, is a natural ally of Lucius. Moreover, he is the main target of Lucius's financial offensive, so he certainly knows what he should do.

"Ahem..." Director Nott cleared his throat. "Umbridge, if you had taken a close look at the proposal submitted by the Hogwarts Board of Governors, you would know that magical creatures, like wizards, also exist in multiple age groups. Younger wizards will be responsible for taking care of the magical creature cubs, cleaning the base, and collecting their droppings as initial practice. Only older students are qualified to have close contact with those magical creatures that pose a certain degree of danger."

"Magic is inherently dangerous, and students come to Hogwarts to learn how to control that danger, and to learn about magical creatures for the same reason."

“Absolutely right!” Professor Celticburn slapped the wooden prosthetic leg with his intact hand. “I didn’t expect you to study that application so carefully. Although I don’t know which genius completed it, I must say, the idea is incredibly creative! Especially the part about raising fire dragons and chimeras!”

“Sylvanus!” Dumbledore had to interrupt him. “I know you like dragons and chimeras, but they all require permission from the Ministry of Magic. Please continue your speech until then.”

“Oh, right! That’s right… uh… where was I?” Professor Celticburn realized that he was representing Hogwarts and being examined by the Ministry of Magic, so he frowned and wondered where he had left off.

“Raise magical creatures from a young age…” Hagrid whispered a reminder, but everyone present heard him clearly.

“Oh, thank you, Hagrid.” Professor Celticburn snapped out of his reverie and continued his speech. “As Director Nott has already said, Hogwarts will be committed to making it better and safer for students to learn about magical creatures. On the one hand, this is to protect them from injury in battles with magical creatures, and on the other hand, it is to create new demand and new jobs.”

"Once Hogwarts' magical creature breeding program reaches a certain scale, a completely new industry chain will be born here! Students will be able to learn new knowledge, Hogwarts will be able to obtain funds to support other academic research, and the Ministry of Magic will be able to increase tax revenue. It's a win-win-win situation!"

The Ministry of Magic's civil servants whispered among themselves: "That old man has a pretty good memory; he actually memorized the entire application..."

“Is it possible that the application was written by Professor Celtburn?” another Ministry of Magic official asked.

“Absolutely impossible!” someone answered decisively. “Professor Celtburn was the Professor of Conservation of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts when I was in school. He has always been a rash and reckless fellow. It is said that he has been placed on probation sixty-two times so far! There is absolutely no way he could write such inflammatory words!”

"Ahem—" Director Nott interrupted his subordinates' discussion: "Gentlemen, we should give that old man some respect."

So no one spoke anymore.

"...Alright! Let me get to the point and introduce today's main characters!" Professor Celticburn looked at Hagrid, who understood and brought a group of four-legged creatures from the forest.

“Pegasus!” Professor Celtburn shouted.

But everyone knows that the hippogriff cannot be considered a winged horse because they are oviparous.

Besides the hippogriff, there are also the Thestrals with bat wings, the Iserlohn, which is common in Britain and Ireland, and the one-headed Gralling.

If we could get a few more magical horses from France, then all the magical creatures with wings and hooves would be gathered in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.

“The winged horses at Hogwarts are all well-trained, and they won’t attack even the most unsuspecting people, not even the proud Hippogriffs!” Professor Celtburn explained. “This has the potential to become an industry! Even with just Hagrid and me, we’ve managed to raise them very well with the help of the students.”

"Iserlohn is small in size and docile in nature. Its chestnut fur makes it very easy to hide, and it's also the most frequently sighted Pegasus in Britain." Professor Celtburn, with Hagrid's help, mounted an Iserlohn. It was very tolerant, and even when poked by a wooden prosthetic leg, it didn't react much. "I dare say that the people in the Department of Magical Creature Management and Control must have argued with their colleagues in the Memory Erasure Command over it!"

With the development of technology, Muggles' range of activities has expanded, leading to the increasing sightings of magical creatures that were originally hidden in various corners of the world in recent years. This has resulted in a significant increase in the workload of the Ministry of Magic's Memory Deletion Command, leaving all the wizards there looking like they are about to be overworked and therefore disliking everyone.

Professor Celticburn's joke elicited laughter and nods from some of the wizards.

“And there’s the Glaling! It’s incredibly rare. Its habitat is in Northern Europe, and I went to great lengths to get one! They’re incredibly fast, whether in the air or on the ground, they can run at speeds unimaginable to ordinary people, comparable to the latest Nimbus brooms!” Professor Celtburn kicked the belly of his Pegasus with his wooden prosthetic leg, and the latter obediently turned around on the ground and came to the side of the all-grey Glaling. Its wings were much larger than those of the Iser Dragon, and their shape looked more like teardrops.

"If we can get Ysera and Gralling to produce offspring naturally, possessing both Gralling's speed and Ysera's reproductive ability, then this new species would be far more cost-effective than Nimbus Company's brooms! This would provide an excellent mode of transportation for wizards who are not good at using flying brooms, since flying carpets are more expensive, knight buses are more bumpy, and Apparition and Floo Powder can only go to places they've been before."

Professor Celticburn jumped off Iserlohn and came to the side of the seemingly emaciated Thestrals. These magical creatures, which looked more like reptiles, were also a type of Pegasus, and quite possibly the most outstanding one.

“Thestrals!” Professor Celticburn stroked the Thestral’s rugged back. “Loyal companions. Although wizards often consider Thestrals to be ominous signs, everyone knows it’s just a rumor. They are carnivores, and although they look thin, they possess unimaginable strength and stamina. They can fly steadily in the air, are adept at long-distance travel, and can carry the weight of up to two adults. What’s more, they are willing to fight for their masters. A well-trained Thestral can even track prey by scent. I really can’t think of a more suitable magical animal for Aurors than the Thestral. Once you ride one, those dark wizards hiding in the deep forests will definitely be doomed.”

"If there's a downside, it's that only those who have witnessed death and fully accepted and understood it can see Thestrals. Also, riding on their backs isn't a pleasant experience. But we can overcome even the wooden sticks of flying broomsticks, so I think the backs of Thestrals will be no problem either, at least they have some flesh on their backs."

Besides, Thestrals are also magical creatures with incredible powers. They are said to be the mounts of Death, and even the famous Elder Wand uses a Thestral's tail hair as its core. Even more remarkably, the Elder Wand has the ability to repair damaged wands, which, in a sense, can be considered a "resurrection" of the wand. There might indeed be some connection between the Deathly Hallows and Death itself.

Professor Celtburn continued, "Hogwarts has a huge number of Thestrals, which we use to pull our carriages. It is said that more than a hundred years ago, before the Hogwarts Express was built, young wizards traveled to Hogwarts from all over England in Thestral carriages."

"For our soon-to-be-established magical creature breeding and rearing facility, taming Thestrals is already a basic requirement. Herbivorous Itheran and Gralling won't be any more difficult to tame, so breeding a new generation of Pegasus more suitable for the British Ministry of Magic and the lives of ordinary wizards is almost a foreseeable future." Professor Celticburn tried to paint a rosy picture for the Ministry of Magic officials, but all the Hogwarts professors knew that his and Hagrid's goal was actually to try to breed more "interesting" magical creatures. Flying was just the most basic requirement; it should also be able to breathe fire, petrify others, and preferably have venomous fangs and claws.

Once the Ministry of Magic allows them to breed Pegasus on the base, it wouldn't be so hard to accept that they could breed other, more "interesting" magical creatures, right?

"The future" is what politicians and capitalists care about most. The former promises to the public in exchange for their support, while the latter paints a rosy picture of the future for ordinary people in exchange for their investment.

While Fudge wasn't exactly a shrewd politician, he knew people were more willing to pay for a tangible future, and Pegasus might offer him a promising political future. However, this was Hogwarts, right under Dumbledore's nose, and it was uncertain who would ultimately gain the prestige… Therefore, Fudge needed to weigh the options and devise a strategy to diminish Dumbledore's influence…