A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 257 Professor Celticburn's Misfortune

Professor Kettleburn, though the bravest man, became disoriented and mentally unstable after being stung so many times.

He's probably the same kind of person as Hagrid, who sees those magical creatures as adorable.

However, he was not as physically robust as Hagrid.

With Hagrid's physique and build, he could handle five or six girls at the same time in one night, and afterwards, his back wouldn't ache, his legs wouldn't shake, and his kidneys wouldn't be weak. He could even do twenty backflips in a row.

Therefore, not just anyone can become a magizoologist. Those as lucky as Newt are few and far between; most are missing limbs.

Led by Professor Kettleburn, the group arrived at a dense birch forest.

From a distance, the birch trees seemed to have mutated, constantly flashing a scarlet light.

"Everyone to the side!" he shouted. "That's right—stand where you can see. Now, the first thing you need to do is observe the creatures in the trees—"

William looked closely and saw that the tree was full of magical creatures.

From its appearance, it looks a bit like a hybrid of a monkey and a toad.

Its skin is green, spotted, smooth and hairless, and its hands and feet are webbed.

It has short legs on its head, a big mouth that always looks like it's grinning, and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.

"Very good, did you recognize this creature?"

"Tree monkey frog!" Qiu answered loudly.

"That's right, five points for Ravenclaw. The tree monkey frog is a creature native to North America, but due to illegal smuggling, it is now found all over the world."

Professor Kettleburn asked everyone to come closer and observe carefully.

"The Tree Monkey Frog is a very useful magical creature, most notably characterized by a large abscess in the middle of its forehead."

When the tree monkey frog senses danger, the abscess turns scarlet and flashes a red light.

If you keep this in your pocket, it will detect any potential attacks beforehand—it's a great early warning system!

"Forget it, I'll never hold that thing in my life," Marietta muttered, pouting.

"Even if someone did attack students at Hogwarts!"

Clearly, Marietta wasn't the only one who thought this way; not only was the tree monkey frog not good-looking, but it also looked extremely dangerous.

They spent another twenty minutes feeding the tree monkey frog.

Tree monkey frogs primarily feed on small lizards and birds.

This job is very difficult. Their limbs are long and flexible, allowing them to swing between branches as nimbly as gorillas.

Tree monkey frogs don't like being fed; they prefer to actively snatch food.

Marietta had just been tapped on the head with a stick by a tree monkey frog, and her forehead swelled up immediately.

"Ouch!" About half an hour later, Shabi screamed, "Help! Help me!"

The tree monkey frog he was feeding had its abscess on its head slowly swell into a pillar shape, spurting out a sticky, smelly liquid.

The juice splashed onto Shabi's face, and he smacked his lips as the scent of heather wafted over him.

The strong smell almost made him vomit.

Everyone quickly covered their noses.

Shabi struggled frantically, his hand enveloped by the tree monkey frog's tongue, the red tongue like a fresh red snake coiling around his arm, twitching constantly, and slowly moving downwards.

It gives the impression that Shabi has been polished and patinated by tree monkeys and frogs.

Professor Kettleburn floated over to Shabby, squinted, and said, "Child, what did you do to the tree monkey frog?"

"No..." Shabi said with a mournful face.

"Well... I just had a bold idea, so I put my hand in its mouth to see what it felt like to be enveloped by its tongue."

Kettleburn was somewhat displeased. He ordered, "Come on, give it a shot! Let the tree monkey frog have some fun and relax."

A dozen or so Billywig worms swarmed around the tree monkey frog and fiercely burrowed into its skin.

After being suddenly pricked with more than a dozen needles, the tree monkey frog's body floated up and then released Shabi.

This angered the other tree monkey frogs, who angrily pounded their chests like gorillas.

A tree monkey frog sticks out its long tongue and begins to attack the Billie Wigg worm.

The Billywig bugs were not to be trifled with either; they broke away from Professor Kettleburn and swarmed down like locusts.

Dozens of tongues rolled and tumbled in mid-air, swimming and gliding freely in the Billiewig swarm, like dragons emerging from the river, swirling up the swarm and pulling it into their mouths.

Although there were many Billywig worms, they couldn't keep up with the tree monkey frog's speed, which was like eating candy beans.

Professor Kettleburn's drug-taking consumables were quickly devoured by the tree monkey frogs.

After they finished eating, they let out a burp and spat out long, sharp thorns, which they then dropped on the ground.

Professor Kettleburn fell to the ground, looking extremely dejected, and several students knelt down to gently comfort him.

The originally sorrowful and tragic scene was completely ruined by William's next sentence.

"I remember the stingers of the Billywig beetle are a raw material for sizzling honey candy, which is very expensive, and the Honeydukes of Hogsmeade is buying them in large quantities."

No one comforted Professor Kettleburn anymore; everyone rushed forward, frantically picking up the stingers from the ground, intending to sell them for money.

Indeed, without buying and selling, there would be no killing.

"Is Professor Kettleburn alright?"

After class, Qiu said worriedly as they walked down the street.

"I don't know, but judging from how sad he looks, he probably won't last two more years before retiring," William shrugged.

An unexpected turn of events worsened Professor Kettleburn's already poor health.

Soon, everyone arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

The classroom had been renovated, and the walls were covered with countless framed pictures of Lockhart, brightly lit by many candles. Some even bore his signature.

Everyone rushed to sit in the front row because it was easy to run away if you sat there.

Logically speaking, the front row is usually reserved for top students, and many students are unwilling to sit there.

This time it's different. Lockhart's reputation is already ruined at Hogwarts, especially after he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts to second-year wizards.

Everyone thought Lockhart would bring some dark creatures, but it turned out to be Cornish goblins.

The worst part was that he couldn't handle the elves, so he ran away alone, locked the classroom door, and locked the little wizard inside.

Many second-grade wizards have been hospitalized.

In the hospital, Madam Pomfrey berated Lockhart as a good-for-nothing and Dumbledore for marrying a good-for-nothing... She ranted for a full half hour without repeating herself.

It turns out that Madam Pomfrey studied at the Zaun Magical Hospital.

Even Madam Pomfrey was like that...

Furthermore, Lockhart didn't even know about the magazine "Transformation Today," so everyone thought he was just a famous but incompetent fool.

William had originally intended to skip class, but he needed to talk to Lockhart about something small.

Hmm...it's nothing.

……

……

(End of this chapter)