With extraordinary comprehension, I built a floating city at Hogwarts.

Seeing this, Hagrid rushed forward and used his strength to separate the two fiercely battling slugs.

Looking at the scene before her, Zhang Qiu silently retreated behind Levin, not wanting to tell anyone about the strange events that had just occurred here.

“That’s strange,” Hagrid said, scratching his head, looking puzzled. “These two are my favorites, but I’ve never seen them fight so fiercely. Is it breeding season again?”

He muttered to himself, finding the complex habits of the blasting-tailed snails elusive. "After all, the blasting-tailed snails are hybrids of a human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast and a fire crab; their behavior patterns are truly unpredictable."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiu blinked, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

------------

The image depicts a source of trouble.

Chapter 419 Hagrid's Consolation

That night, under the cover of darkness, a mysterious figure, completely wrapped in a scarf, quietly approached the vicinity of the Forbidden Forest.

As the figure gradually approached Hagrid's cabin, it transformed into a sphinx with features of both a lion scorpion and a manticore.

She moved with light, cat-like steps, lowering her voice as she approached the enclosure of the tadpole snails.

As soon as Zhang Qiu arrived, the slugs swarmed towards her like madmen. The two at the front even started attacking each other in circles to compete for the first place, their movements like dancing to a rhythm.

One of the blasting snails even displayed an amazing special attack, using its forelegs to support its body and whipping its tail flames at its opponent like a whip.

Seeing this, Zhang Qiu quickly lowered his voice and tried to communicate with these creatures using telepathy: "Stop, stop! Stop it! Don't fight anymore!"

Surprisingly, the fiercely fighting snails gradually quieted down after Zhang Qiu spoke.

Although they haven't left, the situation is much better than it was during the chaos just now.

Zhang Qiu's worries came true, but thankfully it didn't cause any bigger chaos.

She glanced nervously in the direction of Hagrid's hut, and seeing that he was not making any noise, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Hagrid had become accustomed to the occasional antics of the Bombtails.

With her last hope, Zhang Qiu tried to give commands to a few of the 19-tailed snails, such as to move forward, backward, crouch down, or do somersaults.

Zhang Qiu did not use magic such as [Animal Command], [Command], or [Animal Control].

But she was devastated to find that they had all completed the task perfectly, even their somersaults were flawless, completely disregarding the fact that such difficult moves would make it impossible for them to get up after falling.

How could he possibly control these animals that he hated the most?

This eerie feeling made Zhang Qiu extremely irritable, and she unconsciously swayed her tail, which was covered in venomous barbs, back and forth, as if to vent her inner unease.

She had previously witnessed how Levin used his druidic abilities to command animals; those wild creatures seemed to have an innate affinity for him, willing to go through fire and water for him, and complete any task he assigned.

She had also witnessed how the centaur druid Daisy used the power of the Forbidden Forest to fight against the wizard. At that time, Daisy was like the embodiment of nature; with a wave of her hand, all the creatures of the forest moved in her stead, the trees bowed, and the flowers stood tall, all obeying her commands. That majestic power, so integrated with nature, was awe-inspiring.

Even her friend Hermione, after acquiring the Animagus cat, became the leader of all the cats at Hogwarts.

The usually mischievous Crookshanks now listens to her, and Mrs. Lorris, who used to dislike students, is even more amiable towards Hermione than she is towards Filch.

Zhang Qiu had fantasized about commanding so many monsters as her subordinates, and she had also thought that she might be able to choose an Animagus with similar abilities.

However, she never imagined that this day would actually come, and so soon. Her Animagus really did possess this magical power, but to her amusement and dismay, the object of this power was the Blasttail—those ugly creatures that even Hagrid himself considered useless!

She absolutely must not let Levin and the others know this secret.

Zhang Qiu thought to himself.

Otherwise, given his personality, he would definitely tell the other members of the Genius Club about it, and then he and Luna would keep making fun of him about it, and he might even give himself a nickname like "Queen of the Bombshell"!

Thinking of this, Zhang Qiu couldn't help but let out a sorrowful sigh—

"Ouch——"

Because she was not yet used to speaking in this state, the sigh turned into a loud lion's roar.

The sudden roar finally alerted Hagrid.

When Zhang Qiu heard the wooden door of Hagrid's hut creak open, she immediately panicked and ran in the opposite direction from Hagrid's hut. After running a few steps, she remembered that she could become invisible.

Hagrid arrived at the enclosure of the Blasttail, cautiously surveyed his surroundings, then bent down and discovered, among the mess of little wizard footprints, the huge lion footprints left by Cho Chang in his Animagus form.

"A sphinx with a human head and a scorpion tail!" He immediately recognized the species corresponding to the footprints. "Is that it? It actually sneaked over to see its offspring..."

Hagrid pulled out his large handkerchief to wipe his wet eyes and couldn't help but sob, "I knew it wasn't inherently bad. It didn't use its venomous stinger to attack me again this time."

Hermione, Harry, and the others quickly learned of Hagrid's heartbreak.

The next day, as they went to their magical creatures class, they were still thinking about how to comfort the big guy.

But perhaps Levin and Cho Chang's persuasion worked, perhaps it was his innate carefree nature, or perhaps the misunderstanding last night soothed Hagrid's wounded heart.

In short, before class, Hermione noticed that Hagrid looked radiant.

He was standing at the door of the small house, patiently waiting for his classmates to arrive.

Several open cardboard boxes were piled up at his feet, containing creatures that his classmates had never seen before.

Hermione's heart sank the moment she saw the cardboard boxes—could it be another nest of hatched blast-tailed snails?

However, when Hagrid carefully took a small animal out of the box, Hermione was surprised to find that it was a furry little black creature with a long nose and flat, shovel-like front paws, looking both strange and cute.

It looked up and winked at the students, seemingly a little confused by the gaze of so many people.

“This is a Niffler,” Hagrid began, waiting until the students had gathered around. “They usually live deep in mines. They have a particular fondness for shiny things… Look, look.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a Niffler suddenly leaped into Draco Malfoy's arms.

Its little paws gripped Draco's clothes tightly, desperately trying to pull out the treasure from his arms.

Caught off guard, Draco was knocked back a few steps.

Seeing this, Pansy rushed over anxiously, grabbing the Niffler's soft fur on its back and trying to pull it off. However, the Niffler quickly turned around and tried to bite off the bracelet on Pansy Parkinson's wrist.

Pansy screamed and withdrew her hand, backing away repeatedly.

Malfoy's group was in complete chaos, and the other students were also "attacked" by the Nifflers.

The young wizards frantically tried to pry these stubborn little creatures away, but these cunning little things played guerrilla warfare with them, jumping all over them and pulling out the gold coins, watches, jewelry and other valuables from their pockets.

The scene quickly descended into chaos.

"Hurry up and hand over all your valuables!" Hagrid urged, his loud voice echoing through the courtyard.

De 730 Laco's face was pale. He frowned in disgust and asked in bewilderment, "Do we still have to pay for them?"

“Perhaps we can help each other.” Hermione decisively pulled out her wand, instantly freezing the Niffler on Neville’s head, and then yanked it off Neville.

With this Hogwarts hero as a role model, the young wizards were inspired and began to follow suit.

They help each other and work together to deal with the chaos caused by the Nifflers.

Soon, these rioting little guys were subdued one by one.

Ron and some classmates stood to the side, none of them wearing anything valuable.

The Nifflers only preyed on young wizards carrying valuables, thus sparing Ron and his companions from harm.

Ron looked somewhat embarrassed; he wished he were one of the young wizards battling the Nifflers.

Although it looks rather pathetic, at least it proves that you are a rich person, instead of standing there stupidly with a "poor bastard" label stuck on your face.

Finally, all the Nifflers were caught and returned to their boxes. The young wizards tidied themselves up, and Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief.

I hope nothing happened.

"Now, you can put your valuables into the bags you've been given, and then write your name on them with your wands. These bags are designed to prevent Nifflers from detecting you and will keep you from getting entangled. Whoever has placed their valuables can then choose a Niffler,"

Hagrid pointed to a large patch of newly turned soil, "We can have a good time with this today. See those? I buried some gold coins. Whoever's Niffler digs up the most coins will get a prize."

Chapter 420 Hermione the Rich

Having witnessed the power of the Niffler, the young wizards eagerly took out their valuables.

When Hagrid handed Ron a bag, Ron blushed and wished he could burrow into the ground like the Niffler—he had nothing in it at all.

During the Quidditch World Cup preliminary match at the end of his third year, he mistook the Galleons scattered by the Irish team's mascot, the Elven Goblin, for real ones and spent them. Little did he know that they were just fake Galleons that would disappear, leaving him with a mountain of debt.

To this day, his family has never given him a single copper nut of pocket money, let alone a gallon.

“Oh, right, Ron, I just remembered I still owe you some money from last time. Now I can pay you back.” Harry keenly noticed Ron’s embarrassment.

He knew this feeling all too well, so he immediately and cleverly found an excuse to secretly slip a few Galleons and a silver scimitar into Ron's bag.

“You can give it back to me after this class,” Harry whispered carefully in Ron’s ear, making sure only the two of them could hear.

Ron's face flushed red, and he stammered, finally managing to utter a grateful, off-key "thank you."

Having finally caught his breath, Ron began to observe the others.

He noticed that the wallets used by the young wizards who had joined the Academy of Knowledge were all of the same type.

What surprised him even more was that most of them were very wealthy, especially the top students. The amount of Galleons they brought out far exceeded what an ordinary junior wizard could possess—even the wallets themselves were valuable, each enchanted with the [Seamless Extension Charm] to hold so many Galleons, Sickles, and Nat.

Hermione is undoubtedly the most eye-catching of them all.

Ron already knew that Hermione came from a well-off family.

He knew that Hermione's parents were both dentists—the kind of doctors who specialize in studying teeth—and that in the Muggle world, dentistry was a respectable profession with a good income.

Ron had just seen Hermione dawdling around for a while, and he thought she hadn't exchanged too many Galleons for any of them and had run into the same trouble as him.

However, to his utter surprise, Hermione was the one who brought out the most valuable items among everyone present.

And the number was shockingly large.

Ron realized with a heavy heart that all the Galleons his family owned combined were probably only a fraction of the Galleons Hermione had brought out.

He clenched his fist and said to Harry beside him, "I hate being broke. I don't feel ashamed at all that George and Fred are trying to earn extra money. I should have asked them to let me join them a long time ago!"

Harry knew what he was thinking. The sudden discovery that the girl he had a crush on was a wealthy woman whose wealth far exceeded that of his entire family was indeed a blow to Ron's pride.

But he had absolutely no idea what to say to comfort Ron.

What they didn't know was that Hermione wasn't actually as rich as they imagined. With Levin around, Hermione never lacked anything for her daily needs, so she naturally didn't think about saving any money.

The huge sum of money Hermione had was actually the operating expenses of the Erudite Society, as well as some intermediary transaction fees.

To provide some benefits for young wizards and to inspire their enthusiasm for applying what they have learned, the Academy of Knowledge has now started revenue-generating businesses.

For example, they would organize young wizards to use their learned alchemy and potion-making skills to mass-produce simple alchemical products and potion-making items for customers in need.

Levin himself would outsource tasks involving crude materials such as modifiers and general solvents to the Boshi Institute.

The Academy is also a major supplier to the Weasley twins.