Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

Chapter 106 Newt Scamander (Second Update)

The matter was settled, but unexpectedly, just two days later, Hogwarts Castle welcomed a special visitor.

That afternoon, Henry was reading in the library when an owl flew in and dropped a note.

The note bore Dumbledore's signature scrambled handwriting: "Newt's here. Come to my office."

Henry closed the book and stood up.

Zhang Qiu looked up at him.

"What's wrong? Is something the matter?"

"Yes." Henry nodded. "Mr. Scamander has arrived."

Zhang Qiu's eyes lit up: "That Scamander who wrote 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'?"

"Yes." Henry nodded.

"Can I come with you?" Zhang Qiu asked expectantly.

"Let's go," Henry said with a smile.

The two arrived at the principal's office. The Dripping Stone Beast glanced at them and jumped away. Clearly, Dumbledore had already given them a heads-up.

The spiral staircase took them up, and when the door opened, several people were already standing inside.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, watching them with a smile. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all there, crowding around the edges.

Hagrid was there too, standing there awkwardly, looking towards the sofa with a cautious yet extremely admiring expression.

An old man was sitting on the sofa.

He wore an old overcoat, had completely white hair, a slightly hunched back, and looked somewhat socially awkward. He held a cup of tea in his hand, his head bowed, his gaze shifting evasively as he spoke to Dumbledore. Seeing Henry enter, he slightly raised his head to glance at Henry, his expression heavy with apprehension.

"You, you must be His Highness Henry," he said.

Henry bowed slightly.

"Mr. Scamander, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Newt lowered his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Albus said you're special. I didn't really believe it at first—Albus always overpraises people."

But now that I've seen it, I think he was quite accurate this time.

"You flatter me," Henry said.

Newt waved his hand: "It's not a compliment. It's the truth."

He put down his teacup and stood up.

"Where's that dragon? Can you take me to see it?"

"Oh, it's in my little cabin." Hagrid immediately stood up, nearly knocking over the coffee table in the process.

The group arrived at Hagrid's cabin. Norber, almost a month old and nearly three feet long, was tied up in the kitchen. Seeing so many people approaching, it spewed a puff of sparks and hissed threateningly.

Hagrid stood nervously to the side.

"It—it's not usually like this. It's just a little shy around strangers."

Newt ignored the dragon's threat. He walked over, crouched down, and looked Norbert in the eye.

Norbert stared at him, his orange-red eyes filled with wariness.

Newt didn't move; he just stared at it, making a strange sound—like the cry of some kind of animal.

Norbert moved his head and looked at Newt with curious eyes.

Newt made that sound again, and Norbert spat out a spark, but the threatening hissing stopped.

At this moment, Newt slowly walked forward and extended his hand.

Norbert stared at the hand for a long time, then lowered his head and let Newt's hand rest on his head.

Hagrid stared wide-eyed at the scene in shock.

"How...how did they do that?"

Newt turned around and looked at him.

"Hagrid, you get along well with it, it trusts you, but you don't understand the language of dragons."

"The language of dragons?" Hagrid was somewhat bewildered.

“Yes,” Newt said. “Dragons have their own language, and Norwegian Ridgebacks are especially sensitive to it. If you don’t understand their language, you can only guess. If you guess right, it will listen to you; if you guess wrong, it will bite you.”

Hagrid exclaimed in realization, "No wonder, no wonder Norbert always bites me."

Newt stood up and dusted off his hands.

"This dragon is excellent. Healthy, energetic, and temperamental—that's what a Norwegian Spinosaurus should be like," he praised. "You've taken good care of it."

"Thank you—thank you." Hagrid blushed and stood there awkwardly, rubbing his hands.

He looks exactly like a little fanboy being praised by his idol.

"However, there is another problem, which can be considered a rather serious mistake," Newt said, looking down at Norbert.

"Wh--what's the problem?" Hagrid immediately tensed up, as did the Gryffindor trio. Hermione even grabbed Ron's hand and squeezed it so hard he grimaced.

"This is a female dragon, so it shouldn't be called Norbert, it should be called Norberta." Newt smiled with his head down.

I never expected that someone as socially awkward as Newt would actually crack a joke.

Hagrid was stunned, then laughed sheepishly.

"Haha, I always thought it was a boy, but it turns out it's a girl—okay, from now on it will be called Norbert—"

Newt smiled again and then looked at Henry.

"When will that protected area be completed?"

"If all goes well, next spring," Henry replied.

Newt nodded and asked, "So, what about the dragon in the meantime?"

"Would you be willing to help?" Henry asked tentatively.

Newt glanced at Dumbledore and saw that he was pretending to be very interested in a stain on the ceiling, even humming a little tune.

He sighed.

"Leave it to me for now," he said. "But we can't leave until tomorrow. I need to contact Tina and ask her to make some preparations."

After Newt agreed to help take care of the dragon, Dumbledore left.

The atmosphere in Hagrid's cabin was more relaxed than ever before.

Several people sat around the huge wooden table, and Hagrid bustled around, pouring tea and serving rock cakes to everyone.

His face was flushed, his eyes were sparkling, and he would steal glances at Newt every now and then before quickly looking away.

Hermione noticed his expression and couldn't help but laugh.

"Hagrid, are you alright?"

"Good! I'm very good!" Hagrid said, his voice eight octaves higher than usual. "Mr. Scamander is having tea here! This is Mr. Scamander!"

Newt lowered his head and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

"Hagrid, you don't need to be so polite. Just call me Newt."

"How can that be!" Hagrid waved his hands repeatedly. "You are my idol! I read your books when I was a child!"

I've practically worn out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

Newt blushed.

Henry sat quietly beside him, holding a teacup. Zhang Qiu sat next to him, taking notes in a small notebook.

She just asked Newt several questions about magical creatures, and Newt answered them all.

"Mr. Scamander," Hermione suddenly spoke up, "could you teach us that dragon language you just spoke of?"

Newt looked up at her, then quickly looked away.

"You want to learn?"

"Yes!" Hermione nodded vigorously. "I especially love magical creatures. Maybe I can study them someday."

Newt looked at her and smiled gently.

"Then you can start by observing them," he said. "Every dragon has its own habits. If you observe them for a long time, you'll be able to understand what they're trying to say."

Hermione nodded seriously and took out her notebook to start taking notes.

Ron muttered under his breath, "They've started taking notes again—"

Harry kicked him subtly.