Hogwarts Raven (Harry Potter)

Right off the bat, Dumbledore laid into Grindelwald with a sharp public jab.

The new students didn't quite understand what was going on yet. But the older students? They were already wailing in despair.

Everyone knew—

Whatever kind of creature the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was keeping down in the dungeons, they would be the ones to deal with it in the end.

"Now for the second matter," Dumbledore continued. "Due to certain unavoidable circumstances, our previous Care of Magical Creatures professor may not be able to return to his post for quite some time."

"Fortunately, I've managed to persuade the author of your textbook to take over as substitute. I believe Professor Newt Scamander will give everyone a fresh perspective on the magical creature world."

As Dumbledore's words fell—

The Great Hall erupted into thunderous cheers and applause, completely reversing the atmosphere from before.

"Oh! It's the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them,!"

"He founded the Werewolf Registry at the Ministry! He's a living legend!"

"Huh? I seem to recall this professor has always been something of a lawbreaker… and he's infiltrated the Ministry? My grandfather from America would never believe this!"

"Exactly! This proves our British Ministry of Magic is the real home of freedom and democracy!"

…

Despite a few grumbling voices in the crowd, most of the reactions were warm and welcoming. Ian even overheard Hermione at the Gryffindor table grumbling unhappily: "Heavens! Him! It's really him! Mr. Scamander! Why do we have to wait until third year to take his class?!"

The little beaver, clearly very familiar with the Hogwarts class schedule, sounded genuinely frustrated. In the midst of the crowd's enthusiastic welcome, Newt appeared a little overwhelmed. He stood up, gave a small bow, and offered a shy, bashful smile.

There was something youthful about him, as if the spirit of a young boy had never quite left the body of this gentle old man.

"Thank you, thank you, everyone." Even after sitting back down, Newt still looked a little lost.

Thankfully, the ever-helpful "Lockhart" slid over a plate and distracted him from his nerves.

"Try this. The elves cook much better now than they did before you got expelled."

That line was... blunt.

But Newt didn't detect any malice. This slightly socially anxious professor immediately picked up his fork with gratitude.

"What kind of meat is this?"

However—

After just one bite, his face turned to horror.

"Sniffer meat," said "Lockhart" brightly. "But don't worry, given your professional values, I had the elves use only naturally deceased, non-slaughtered Sniffers."

"!!!???"

Newt was stunned.

'What did he ever do to offend this bestselling author?'

'Was this… workplace bullying?'

A heated argument seemed inevitable—

Luckily, Dumbledore shot a sharp glare at "Lockhart," prompting the man to wave his hand dismissively and admit it was just a prank.

"It only tastes like Sniffer. It's just regular rat meat caught in the toilet."

Unfortunately, that explanation didn't make Newt feel much better.

"Ugh~"

Newt began to gag.

The young witches and wizards watching all fell silent and gave the kind, generous, and enthusiastic new professor a ten-second moment of mourning.

"Newt, I heard you custom-made a suitcase for Ian?" Dumbledore, having no other choice, subtly pulled Newt's seat closer to his own—

Not only to protect the poor man from further torment at Grindelwald's hands,

but also to change the subject.

"Yes," Newt said after sipping some water, "I could tell he was very interested in raising… well… let's say, questionable living things. So I helped him a bit."

"I assume the suitcase doesn't contain too many illegal enchantments, right?" Dumbledore's question sounded… suspiciously rhetorical.

"Uhh…" Newt's gaze drifted.

"No, no… not too many."

His reply was barely audible.

At the feast, perhaps the most miserable person wasn't Harry Potter, now awkwardly sorted into the den of dark wizards…

…but the new Care of Magical Creatures professor.

A new school year had officially begun.

The Great Hall buzzed with excitement and youthful energy.

Ian noticed that William and Michael seemed to have grown quite a bit over the holidays.

"Did you two eat golden fertilizer back home?" Ian, once confident in his height, was now looking at Michael, who was nearly 1.7 meters tall, and William, who was barely shorter than him.

For the first time, Ian felt a genuine height crisis.

"What's 'Golden Fertilizer'? Is it tasty?" Michael was still obsessed with chicken drumsticks. The boy across from him, Lirim, even handed over his own drumstick to this little Black bro.

"You really got sorted into Ravenclaw?" Ian had no memory of Lirim's Sorting ceremony. Maybe because at the time, he was too engrossed in chatting with Aurora, sharing stories from their holidays and their latest academic progress.

"I've always been lucky, so of course everything went the way I wanted." Lirim replied with a gentle smile, eating with refined elegance.

"Oh, so you're one of those luck-drawn gods, huh?" Ian squinted suspiciously at Lirim sitting across from him.

After that, everyone focused on dinner.

When the feast ended, the House Prefects led the new students to their dormitories.

"He's living right across from us?" Ian was surprised when he saw the blonde boy's dorm assignment. Still, since William and Michael dragged him along to "check out the big treasure," he only looked back at Lirim's room a couple of times.

"Look! My mom upgraded my broomstick! It even has a drink chiller on the side!" It was time for Michael's show-off hour, but the "magical new-energy broom" he brought out was hard to compliment.

A leather recliner seat, a mini fridge on the side, If it had a flat-screen TV, it would be perfect. You had to admit, Black Mom's idea of a vehicle was... quite forward-thinking.

"Are you flying this for Quidditch or planning to go on a road trip?" Ian examined the modifications. You couldn't even tell it had once been a Cleansweep Four.

"Now look at my grandfather's work! Truly a masterpiece of epic creativity!" As always, William's taste hadn't changed. He still loved underwear printed with other people's faces.

This time, though, the underwear wasn't the heated, upgraded kind. Instead, it featured a pocket enchanted with a Seamless Expansion Charm, allowing the wearer to pull out all kinds of tools, spy-style underwear.

Maybe his grandfather doted on him too much. The print on the underwear could even change based on the wearer's mood.

"..."

Ian found this even more difficult to comment on than before.

What could he say?

All he could do was generously compliment his two roommates, offering them high emotional value praise. Once they were happy, Ian finally sat down to write a letter back to the orphanage.

Now that he was at school, he figured he should let his family know he was safe.

Not only did he write a letter, but he also included the red envelope (filled with British pounds) he'd received earlier from Mr. Granger. After all, there wasn't much use for pounds at Hogwarts.

"Just like before, put it under Miss Helena's pillow. She'll thank the Pillow Fairy." Ian handed the delivery quest to his own black phoenix.

"Caw-caw-caw~" The black phoenix accepted it happily.

However—

"And remember, no stealing money for snacks! Only an idiot bird like you would trade £100 for a roast chicken!" Ian reminded it sternly.

Clearly—

This had happened before.

After watching the black phoenix fly out the window and disappear into the night,

Ian tidied up, washed up a bit, and got into bed.

"Lots to do tomorrow…"

Falling asleep wasn't hard.

The moment he closed his eyes, he drifted off quickly, expecting to have a pleasant dream like any normal little wizard.

But what awaited him was unexpected.

"Huh? Why… why is it today?"

A familiar sensation emerged. The boundary between life and death was silently crossed.

Ian opened his eyes in a daze.

(End of Chapter)

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