HP: Wizards at Hogwarts

Chapter 216 Settling the Basilisk

The basilisk's snake life is indeed short, but enough to make a movie called "Sheep Without a Shepherd".

Only after Dumbledore stopped speaking did Myrtle cautiously emerge from behind Elaine.

"Okay, okay————"

"What can I do? Of course, I forgive you."

She saw the basilisk with its eyes closed and head bowed, motionless in front of her. After hesitating for a few seconds, she sighed helplessly and went forward to pat its head.

It feels cool to the touch and has a slightly sticky texture.

Looking down, I suddenly noticed a thin layer of clear liquid, like snot, on my palm.

"The feel is even worse than I expected."

Myrtle immediately withdrew her hand in disgust, activated the body's automatic purification function, and cleaned the slime off her hand.

Dumbledore started talking to the basilisk again.

Although the three of them couldn't understand, they roughly knew that he was saying something like, "This little witch has forgiven you, and from now on you will live with this old man named Newt."

With each word he spoke, the basilisk responded with a hiss.

"Newt, you don't seem to speak Parseltongue, do you?"

"I'm not as talented as Professor Dumbledore, who can teach himself more than 20 languages."

"So how are you going to communicate with this snake monster from now on?"

"You have to trust my expertise; I definitely have my own methods!"

That's true—

No one should question the animal taming abilities of a Master of Fantastic Beasts!

Especially since this person is Newt Scamander —

While Dumbledore was talking to the basilisk, Newt had already opened his box. As soon as the box was slightly opened, a Niffler crawled out.

"This is... a Niffler??"

Elaine subconsciously recalled a movie he'd seen before: "I think I've seen it in your book, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*. It caused you a lot of trouble, but it also helped you a lot. Could it be this one?"

"Of course not, Nifflers don't live that long."

Newt beckoned, and the Niffler immediately scurried up his arm to his shoulder. He then gently tapped its head with his index finger before smiling tenderly, "This is the grandson of that Niffler from back then, but its ability to cause trouble is no less than his grandfather's."

"I see—"

Newt then began to introduce his Niffler: "Nifflers can have six to eight offspring at a time. The first one had eight, and I gave seven of them to friends. The next one had six, and they're all in my box now."

"If you like, I can give you one."

"Keeping these Nifflers must be a real headache, right? I've heard they always steal and hide shiny things—"

"That's true. I'm too old to do all that now, but luckily I have my grandson to help me."

"Newt's grandson?"

"His name is Rolf, and he's about your age."

Rolf —

This person did not appear in the original work, but Elaine knew that he later married Luna, though he didn't know how they met.

Guided by Newt, the basilisk crawled into his box.

"Would you like to come in and take a look?"

Myrtle seemed eager to accept Newt's invitation.

"May I?"

"Of course, come in, but be careful!"

Elaine was not about to let such a rare opportunity slip by, so he pulled Myrtle into his trunk with him.

"I'll pass."

"If I were younger, I would definitely have joined this rare adventure no matter what, but right now I just want to go back to the office and get some rest."

Dumbledore refused to go with his companion.

Newt pursed his lips and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Professor."

After saying that, he turned and followed Elaine and Myrtle.

Dumbledore waited until Newt's body was completely inside before pulling the box back up from the outside and returning to the headmaster's office the way he came.

Upon entering the box, you'll see a long staircase with three turns.

As you walk down the stairs, the view suddenly opens up. The area is about 300 square meters with a ceiling several tens of meters high; it's an indoor factory.

Elaine's gaze immediately fell on the iron cage in the center of the room.

Inside were many glittering gold coins, pearls, diamonds, agates and the like, and several Nifflers were jumping around inside.

Next to the cage were two huge wooden tables and a wooden cabinet, which were filled with books, medicines, materials dropped from magical creatures, food to be fed to them regularly every day, and all sorts of other odds and ends.

Further ahead, there was a huge pool, about ten times the size of the bath in the prefect's washroom, but the bottom of the pool connected to the outside of the factory, so it was hard to say exactly how big it was.

Even though he was prepared, Elaine was still amazed by the scenery inside.

"Welcome to my studio."

Newt led the group down the stairs, turned right, and came to an iron gate, which he gently pushed open.

Outside the iron gate lies a completely different world.

Beneath my feet lies a vast, green wilderness; ahead stretches a desert bathed in the blazing sun; in the distance, an endless sea; to my left, snow-capped mountains; and to my right, a jungle shrouded in lightning and thunder.

It stretches as far as the eye can see.

Myrtle gasped, "How big is this place?"

Elaine shook his head: "I don't know, it's probably as big as the entire territory of Britain."

While the two were still in shock at the world inside the box, Newt had already rolled up his sleeves and greeted the basilisk who had just arrived in the new environment.

"Come here! We're here!"

"Come on, I'll take you to your new home."

He led the basilisk out of the factory gate and said to Elaine and Myrtle, "You two are free to look around, but there are some dangerous little guys here, so be careful."

"Very dangerous? For example?"

"For example, there's a horse-shaped water monster in that pool. It's a magical creature of the XXXX level. Also, its bite force is very strong; it can bite through steel in one bite. You'd better not go near there."

Myrtle shuddered upon hearing this: "Shouldn't you have reminded us of this immediately?"

"—Sorry, I've reached the age where I'm starting to forget things."

"If you don't mind, you can come with me to settle in with this basilisk first, and then I'll take you around to see the sights one by one."

Observe.

Is this really Newt from the movie, the socially awkward and shy senior?

It seems that after living in the "open" United States for decades, getting married and having children, his personality has really changed a lot.

"That would be perfect!"

"Thank you for your help~"

Before coming to Hogwarts, Newt had prepared a new home for the basilisk, a dark and damp swamp similar to the Chamber of Secrets.

After settling the basilisk in, the three of them took a quick look around the box before returning to Newt's workshop, climbing out of the box, and heading back to the headmaster's office.

Outside, it was already broad daylight.