Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 427 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Hermione's question did not receive a precise, or rather, satisfactory, answer—

Because clearly, Newtscamander, a specialist in natural history and zoology, had never pondered such profound and complex questions—

Or to put it another way, this learned old man, born in 1897 and raised in the first few decades of the twentieth century, never pondered any questions—

In his eyes, or rather, in all the education he had received, he had never viewed house-elves and centaurs from the perspective of humans.

“Hmm, Miss Granger,” Newtscamander said, “your idea is good. Very good. From an intellectual standpoint, house-elves and centaurs do indeed possess intelligence equivalent to that of wizards, but… but I think… I think the best way for us to protect magical creatures is perhaps to respect their nature—”

“Just as you learned that harpies greet each other by bowing, house-elves like to serve wizards, and centaurs like to live deep in forests away from humans—it’s their nature—” Newtscamander tried to explain.

“Is this really their nature? Or is it a habit they have to develop in their interactions with humans?” Hermione asked. “As far as I know, every house-elf is trained to be a slave from birth, destined to serve their master for generations. They do all the housework, are bound by their master, and cannot disobey their master’s orders. If they do, they must be punished.”

“Centuries are friendly with almost all animals, even magical creatures like unicorns are willing to get close to them, so why do they keep their distance from humans?” Hermione asked again. “Is this a ‘natural instinct’ that house-elves and centaurs exhibit under absolutely natural conditions?”

“Ah, this,” Newtscamander stammered, scratching his head.

Having never studied zoology, ecology, evolution, or Quaternary mammalogy, Newtscamander obviously didn't know what domestication, co-evolution, mutualism, or the ecological environment were.

He traveled the world simply out of passion and extraordinary love, documenting and saving these amazing animals.

Of course, this spirit is quite admirable, but as his wife Tina put it: "An extinction guide?"

Without a strong and effective government, a legal treaty with life imprisonment or death sentences, and an iron-fisted law enforcement agency, the publication of such an encyclopedia detailing the habits, habitats, and distribution areas of various rare and amazing animals would only provide lawbreakers with an extinction manual.

Just like the mainland before 1949.

Everyone knows that pandas are China's national treasure, but no one knows that pandas were overhunted by foreign powers to the point of endangerment. Before 1949, an American woman named Lucy smuggled a panda cub to the United States. Lucy became famous because of this panda. She participated in countless advertising shoots, banquets, ceremonies and parties, and won countless fame and fortune.

Unfortunately, this poor panda died after living for just over a year.

However, as the first person to steal a live panda out of China, Lucy's story greatly stimulated some Americans.

Countless Western expeditions came to China, targeting the panda, a round, black-and-white animal.

However, pandas are really too difficult to raise. Countless pandas died during their journey out of China.

In an effort to increase the number of pandas sent abroad, they frantically captured pandas, causing their numbers to plummet and nearly become extinct.

It wasn't until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that giant panda reserves were established. Thanks to the efforts and dedication of countless experts, the number of giant pandas gradually increased. Thanks to decades of persistent protection, giant pandas have gradually escaped the endangered species status of today.

Since the publication of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the hunting of some rare and magical creatures has not decreased; on the contrary, it has intensified.

If it weren't for the two Dark Lord invasions that severely depleted the wizarding world, causing a dramatic shrinkage in the market for magical creature materials to the point of near-zero profit, many of the magical creatures Newt Scamander recorded decades ago would likely be extinct by now. Fortunately, the other students gradually arrived, allowing Newt to escape from Hermione's question.

"Is everyone here?" Newtscamander quickly counted the number of people and then asked.

"Good morning, Professor Scamander," the students replied almost in unison.

"Good morning, students. First of all, welcome to the Magical Creatures Protection class." After confirming the attendance, Newtscamander said, "I've heard about your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's teaching style, and I don't want my class to be so serious. I hope you can be a little more lively, and I hope we can embark on a thrilling adventure together—"

As he spoke, Newt Scamander laid his suitcase flat on the grass, slowly opened it, and then—

Newt went inside the box.

“Come on, everyone,” Newt said, waving a hand out of the box.

The Hogwarts students standing on the grass looked at each other, somewhat at a loss.

Hermione was the first to act.

He strode forward and stepped into Newt's suitcase.

Then came Harry and Ron, and then the rest of their classmates.

Stepping into the suitcase, there was a rather spacious stone staircase. Perhaps because Newt Scamander was old, the stone staircase was covered with a soft carpet, and there were wooden railings on both sides.

The stairs were very low and the slope was very gentle, so Hermione didn't come down the stairs and step into a wooden hut filled with various reagents, tools and herbs until the seventh young wizard, Goyle, who was stuck at the entrance of the box.

Newt Scamander stood not far in front of Hermione by the door of the cabin, watching them with a smile.

After all the students had gone down into the cabin or were standing on the stairs, Newtscamander chuckled happily, reached out, and pushed open the wooden door behind him—

Towering mountains, rushing rivers, dense rainforests, lush swamps, desolate deserts, and frigid snow-capped mountain regions—countless strange scenes are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, one square after another, inlaid together.

What's most captivating are the countless magical creatures that live in these deep, mysterious realms.

The first to peek out were the Nifflers, the creatures Hagrid had talked about last semester. Although they were terrified of the group of people standing inside the cabin, they still came running over with their families when they saw Newt Scamander appear, climbing all over him.

Then came the horse-shaped water monster that poked its head out of the lake, the harbinger bird that flew out of the forest, the rainbow-feathered lizard, the invisible beast, the feathered serpent, and so on.

"Welcome to the world of Fantastic Beasts!" Newt said, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture to the students inside the cabin.

(End of this chapter)