A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

“How could I possibly let you deal with something like this!” he roared.

Harry had to admit that, aside from his conversation with Sirius at the lantern festival when they saw the dragon magic lamp, he hadn't seriously considered how to face a dragon. Last night, he was more worried about Hogwarts not winning the trophy and the cold shoulder they might receive, but he hadn't thought about how to survive in front of everyone, amidst the claws and flames of a dragon.

“Maybe there’s more than one,” Sirius said. “Don’t forget, you’re competing in teams, so it’ll definitely be more difficult than in previous years—of course, I’m not talking about your level, but the level of those warriors from the past.”

Harry noticed that Ron had started shaking rhythmically again. He mustered his courage and said, "We're not that far off. Hermione beat an Ilvermorny student—that guy named Victor. He was the first champion chosen. Normally, the more qualified you are, the earlier you're chosen, right?"

Sirius looked at Hermione, who had covered her head, making it impossible to see her expression.

"I, uh, I..." she stammered through the veil.

"It seems none of you are mentally prepared," Sirius Black pointed out incisively.

Harry opened his mouth, realizing with dismay that his godfather was right; none of them were prepared. He couldn't help but wonder if the other champions—like Cedric—were also losing sleep over the worry, or were they thrilled to hear news of the dragon?

To try and sound more positive, he asked, "How do we defeat a dragon?"

"Defeat a dragon?" Sirius repeated.

“That’s right…we talked about it before, didn’t we? At the Quidditch World Cup light show,” Harry said in a relaxed tone. “You said you could use the Eye-Blinding Charm. Good idea. Maybe we can use that spell, but we’d better aim carefully…”

Sirius Black stared at him and said, "Your tone doesn't sound like you're facing a Level 5x dangerous creature that could burn you to ashes in one breath. You're talking about a Niffler or something. In your mind, is the consequence of failure just losing the coins in your pocket?"

"Burn to ashes?" Ron said, trembling.

"Yes, the fire breathed by the dragon is extraordinary. The Ironclad Charm may not be able to stop it, and with just one tail strike, it can smash you and your magic shield into a pulp... If you don't have a good method, your wands are no more useful than toothpicks."

……

Sirius Black and Harry ate breakfast together at the dining table in the Great Hall. None of them had much of an appetite, partly because they had to think about the dragon, and partly because they had to deal with the strange looks and pointing fingers from other people.

"Ignore them, they're just spouting sour grapes," Sirius said. "If you really can't swallow this, I suggest you find someone you despise and fight them."

Hermione glared at him. During the meal, she finally took off her headscarf, and they could see that she had a row of blisters on her lips.

“I thought you were the calmest of the three, but I didn’t expect…” Sirius said, looking at her.

"It has nothing to do with whether the town is calm or not, I'm just worried... Ouch!" Hermione covered her mouth, and from then on, she dared not speak loudly again.

“You’d better go to the school hospital,” Harry said.

Hermione grunted twice.

……

“There’s nothing to worry about,” said Felix, standing before the six champions of Hogwarts.

That evening, he gathered the six people in classroom number seven for targeted instruction.

"Since we've tied you all together, it's definitely not to lose. Think about it carefully, you have quite a few advantages."

"Advantages?"

Felix waved his wand, and the silvery-white smoke behind him gathered towards them, quickly obscuring their vision. They had been in classroom number seven for the past few days and were not unfamiliar with the changes.

They waited quietly, and after a while, the fog gradually dissipated, revealing themselves standing on a hillside with soft, brown soil beneath their feet. Further away, the thick fog had not yet lifted, and they could vaguely see verdant peaks and black cliffs; they found themselves surrounded by mountains.

A dark shadow swept low over their heads and flew into the depths of the thick fog.

"Where is this place?"

Collins Foley pursed his lips and asked. One thing the students who participated in the selection agreed on was that, apart from Professor Heap's inexplicably ugly creatures, most of the scenes were realistic and traceable.

She crouched down, reached her hand into the soft soil, and grabbed a handful of grass; the feeling was incredibly real.

“The Romanian Fire Dragon Reserve,” Felix said softly. “Thank you, Mr. Bagman, for inadvertently revealing the secret, which also relieved me of my worries. I hope he won’t be questioned by his superiors when he gets back.”

Hermione was the first to ask, "So the dragons we're going to challenge all come from the Dragon Sanctuary?"

“That’s right,” Felix said. “I spent several days in the reserve and have some knowledge of the various species of dragons…that’s your first advantage.”

The six of them were momentarily stunned. Harry looked up and around, and saw huge fire dragons streaking across the sky.

"I think I heard a human voice?" Cedric said hesitantly.

“Let’s go down and take a look,” Felix said with a smile. They walked down the hillside and saw a group of people fighting a wounded Romanian horned dinosaur. Half of its wing was torn open and bloody, but it was still very cautious. The dark green scales on its neck were spreading outwards, like small green shields, and its long golden horns were always pointed at the person it considered the most threatening.

"Watch out, it's going to breathe fire—Charlie, use the Stunning Charm!" a wizard shouted.

Ron suddenly widened his eyes, pointed at a man and shouted, "That's Charlie, my brother! He's in Romania! Oh my God!" He watched as Charlie led the way, giving orders, and seven or eight people chanted the Stun Spell together. After a series of dense and dazzling red lights, the fire dragon's tall body crashed heavily to the ground.

They felt the ground beneath their feet tremble and swallowed hard in unison.

Felix said from the side, "You can come closer and take a look." As he spoke, time seemed to freeze in this area; the dragon and the dragon tamers remained motionless. They walked closer and looked at the dragon lying on the ground up close, and couldn't help but click their tongues in amazement. It was huge, at least six or seven times longer than Cedric and Roger Davis, the tallest among them.

The only consolation is that the dragon's tail accounts for one-third of its body length.

"Longhornosaurs like to kill their prey with their horns before cooking it, then drag it back to their den with their claws. Occasionally, they also use their horns to skewer their prey or their tails to curl it up," Felix explained.

Harry stared at the two long, golden horns atop the fire dragon's head, having no doubt that they could pierce any prey in sight. He imagined himself hanging there and couldn't help but grin.

The six, preoccupied with their own thoughts, followed Professor Hyp forward. Before they knew it, they arrived at a campsite, where there were even more people, all ignoring them. Felix explained, "This is what I saw the first time I came here. Behind the camp is an enclosure surrounded by fireproof material. There are several fire dragons in there; I've dealt with them all, and one of them is particularly interesting..."

“Professor Hyp, are we just going to watch like this?” Cedric asked. “I mean, shouldn’t you want us to fight the dragon and gain experience?”

“That’s the final step,” Felix said. “First, we need to dispel your fear of dragons. What’s the best way to eliminate fear? You should all have some experience with that…”

You need to learn about them first. Headmaster Dumbledore has found you a teacher who knows far more about dragons than I do.”

As they were talking, the curtain of a tent in front of them was lifted, and two identical old men walked out.

“Mr. Scamander, what do you think?” Felix asked politely.

“Interesting, very interesting…it’s truly eye-opening,” the two old men said in unison, glancing at each other with smiles.

Chapter 386 Newt's Life Experience

Just as Felix was about to begin his introduction, a black shadow ran out of the tent, climbed up Newt's feet to his shoulder, put one hand on his hip and pointed at Felix with the other.

"Chirp! Chirp!" the Niffler Valen chirped excitedly.

Even Harry and the others could tell that the Niffler was tattling.

“Oh, Valentine,” Newt said reassuringly, “it’s good to learn more. You should really read my chapter on ‘The Sniff,’ and if you could read, I could write to you every year…”

Niffler Valen looked at Newt in disbelief.

Newt looked at it. "Are you still drinking your tonic? I brought some..."

"Ha!"

Sniff let out a mournful cry, jumped off his shoulder and into Felix's arms, hiding his head, which made everyone laugh.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Mr. Newt Scamander, the most renowned expert in the protection of magical creatures in the world." Felix, holding the Niffler, said with a smile, "Mr. Scamander arrived this morning. Headmaster Dumbledore successfully persuaded him to leave behind a precious memory to last forever with Hogwarts... If anyone writes this part of the school's history in the future, today will certainly be worth writing about in detail."

Newt looked at Felix with some unease, his expression mirroring that of his memory.

A gleam of intellectual adoration shone in Hermione's eyes as she eagerly said, "Mr. Newt Scamander, we wrote to you—me, Harry, and Ron," she gestured to the two beside her, "about Hagrid's Buckbeak! It's still in the Forbidden Forest, living with its family!"

Newt glanced at Hermione, then at the shorter Harry and Ron, and at Cedric, Collins, and Roger Davis standing beside him—they were all staring intently at him, and he realized he had become the center of attention.

He said softly, “Miss Granger? Oh… I just did what I thought was right… and I’m happy about it.”

They sat around a simple wooden table in the camp, the wood grain clearly visible. Newt's memory muttered, "Excuse me," and then disappeared.

Newt blinked, looking longingly at the spot where the memory had disappeared. Turning back, he found everyone staring at him with slight surprise. He cleared his throat. "Well, let's begin... Dumbledore told me that all I needed to do was leave behind a copy of the memory and hand things over to him... But I insisted on seeing you all before I left; I felt it was necessary."

“My footprints have covered the five continents. I have visited the dens of wild beasts, the burrows of underground animals, and the nests of birds. I have observed the peculiar habits of magical animals in more than a hundred countries, personally experienced their abilities, won their trust, and occasionally chased them away with my travel water bottle.”

“A travel-sized water bottle…?” Roger Davis chuckled, smoothing his hair. “Did you encounter a group of migrating goblins?”

The others also felt like laughing.

However, Newt answered Davis very seriously, "No, they're a bunch of hairy monsters."

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"Well--"

Felix beckoned with his finger, and a strange creature appeared on the ground. It was about a foot tall, covered in fur, but had a large, bald, gray head.

“That’s it,” Newt said happily. “See? Compared to their bodies, their heads are enormous. Just by lying on the ground—yes, thank you—you see, if you’re not careful, you can mistake them for a shiny, round rock. Many traveling wizards haven’t noticed this and have leaned against them to rest, using them as pillows. When they wake up, they find themselves even more tired, drowsy… or in a state of hysterical despair.”

"These creatures like to chase people's shadows. If you encounter them in the wild, you can make some noise to scare them away. Of course, a stun spell will also work, or you can simply kick them away..."

Of the six warriors, only Cedric chose the sixth-year class, Conservation of Magical Creatures, a choice influenced by his father—Mr. Amos Diggory, who now worked in the Department of Magical Creatures Control at the Ministry of Magic. He had seen pictures of Sulley in class, but Newt's explanation still fascinated him. They discovered that this somewhat taciturn old man was always very talkative when discussing magical creatures, and inadvertently mentioned many interesting details.

Harry asked about the Thunderbird.

“It was a magical, large, flying bird that could sense danger and create storms as it flew,” Newt said nostalgically. “Almost seventy years ago, to be precise, in 1926, I rescued a Thunderbird from a dealer in Egypt. I named it Frank. Something happened in between… I can’t say, I signed a confidentiality agreement… but I met my wife during that incident…”

A slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Thunderbirds are somewhat like enlarged eagles, with brilliant plumage of varying colors, but they generally have two long tail feathers—they are distant relatives of the phoenix. Frank's feathers are gold and white, shimmering in the sunlight like flowing clouds."

Harry pressed on, "But I've heard, uh, that thunderbird feathers can be used to make wands. What are the characteristics of such wands? And long-horned water snakes?"

Byers had told him that his wand core was made of a thunderbird feather, while Victor Grevis's wand core was made from a piece of the horn of a longhorned water snake.

Newt thought for a moment and said, "Thunderbirds are very sensitive to supernatural dangers. It is said that wands made from thunderbird feathers are not only powerful, but can also be used to launch spells first in a duel..." Harry and the others exchanged deep glances, and Newt continued, "But I think that description is a bit exaggerated. My wife Tina's wand is made from thunderbird feathers, so I am quite familiar with it. She often complains to me that her wand is difficult to control."

“As for the longhorned water snake, I don’t know much about its wand,” Newt said honestly. “I only know that if it has enough rapport with its master, the wand can give a warning in case of danger, which is similar to the longhorned water snake’s habits…”

Felix interjected, "I happen to know a bit about wand materials. There's something you need to know: although wands choose wizards, over time, the wizard also influences the wand. Even wands made of the same material and with the same core can have vastly different effects in the hands of different wizards, so you should pay more attention to the person."

The group nodded.

For the next hour, they chatted and enjoyed a leisurely evening, as if they had really come to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary under Professor Hep's guidance and happened to meet a knowledgeable elder.

"...I first encountered dragons in a secret Ministry of Magic project in 1914, when I had just come of age...I was just a low-ranking employee of the Ministry...but the others in the Ministry couldn't handle those Ukrainian iron-bellied dragons, so they turned to me. Later, they had to abandon the project because investigators from the Ministry of Magic discovered that these dragons only responded to me..."

Harry and the others stared blankly at Newt, who explained—

"I was born with the ability to communicate with and connect with different creatures; I was very good at dealing with them… Later, in 1918, August Worm, the publisher of Obscurial Books, commissioned me to write an authoritative handbook about magical creatures. I gladly accepted the offer, but at the same time, I felt deeply inadequate. So I used my holidays to travel the world, gather materials, and in 1925, I embarked on a year-long journey to record the habitats of various magical creatures…"

The young wizards present—including Felix—listened silently. It was quite fascinating to hear a brilliant, even great, wizard recount his experiences in his youth and to feel the profound thoughts in his words that could not be put into writing.

"Those were wonderful days, carefree, always full of anticipation for tomorrow. I traversed the dark African forests, witnessing the rare sight of serpents emerging from their eggs; I crossed the bright Egyptian desert, searching for local legends about the Sphinx; I wandered to the desolate Green Lake in Ireland, draping the horse-like monster in broadleaf cattails; I traversed the winding European mountains, witnessing the comical spectacle of mountain monsters attempting to tame horned camels..."

"It wasn't until 1927 that I finished the first edition of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,' which quickly became a bestseller after its publication."

“It’s a Hogwarts textbook!” Roger Davis said.

“My mom used it as a storybook to lull me to sleep… but she didn’t realize it was having the opposite effect,” Cedric said, drawing good-natured chuckles from those around him.

"Kids," Newt said, preparing to end the day's conversation.