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Chapter 367: Salamanders
Chapter 367: Salamanders
As soon as Albert opened the door to the dormitory, a black shadow darted past his feet, giving him a fright. Thinking that Tom was trying to sneak out, he instinctively reached into his pocket for his wand to summon the cat back. However, he felt something soft rubbing against his wrist.
"Alright, let's get you some lunch now."
Albert bent down to pick up Tom, then closed the door with his foot.
He opened a drawer filled with cat food and cans of cat treats, gently pushing Tom's head aside with his hand. He took out a can, mixed its contents with some kibble, and placed the food in a bowl. With a wave of his wand, he refreshed the water in another bowl, ensuring it was clean and fresh.
"Looks like I need to ask others how they take care of their cats at school," Albert said to himself as he watched Tom finish his meal. He picked up the satisfied cat, hoisted him in the air, and commented, "You still need to lose some weight, buddy."
"Let's go to the common room. That will be your main playground for quite some time."
Albert planned to let Tom familiarize himself with the Gryffindor common room first, gradually expanding his territory so he could explore the castle, meet more students, and learn to distinguish between friendly and unfriendly people.
There weren't many people in the Gryffindor common room at noon, and Albert found a vacant spot to sit down. He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time, intending to let Tom roam around under his watchful eye. However, he soon realized that his cat had other plans. Instead of exploring, Tom jumped onto the table next to Albert and promptly fell asleep.
"Eat and sleep, that's all you do, huh?" Albert gently rubbed Tom's head and sighed. "If you don't get some exercise, you're going to turn into a ball of fur."
Some people nearby stifled their giggles, curious about the chubby cat. Two young girls, seemingly first or second years, whispered and glanced at Albert and Tom. Noticing Albert's gaze, they quickly averted their eyes and walked away, looking slightly embarrassed.
Albert turned his attention back to Tom and pulled out a cat toy from his pocket, determined to get his cat to be more active.
After spending almost an hour in the common room, Albert brought Tom back to the dormitory and used his Time-Turner to go back an hour in time.
He headed straight for the library, only to find that Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hadn't arrived yet. Now it was his turn to save seats for them.
Soon enough, the trio arrived, surprised to see Albert there before them.
On the first day of school, the library was packed as usual, with students rushing to complete their holiday assignments.
Fred, however, seemed to take pleasure in their plight, forgetting that he had been in the same situation not too long ago.
In the afternoon, the first class was Care of Magical Creatures, held in a clearing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Professor Kettleburn, who had a good reputation among the students, taught this class, and many had signed up for it.
The elderly professor had been teaching at Hogwarts for many years, and he knew just how to spark students' interest in the care of magical creatures.
With Hagrid's help, Professor Kettleburn had prepared a bonfire for the class, and he told them that it was full of salamanders. Today's lesson was all about getting to know these fascinating creatures.
The students sat around the bonfire, observing the salamanders in the flames while listening to Professor Kettleburn's lecture.
It was an engaging way to learn, and everyone's interest was immediately piqued.
Using a stick, Professor Kettleburn pointed into the fire and explained, "Salamanders are born of flames and feed on them. As long as the fire before them burns, they will continue to live."
"What happens if the flames go out?" asked a Ravenclaw girl, raising her hand.
"Once they leave the flames, salamanders will quickly perish," the professor replied.
"That's so sad," someone commented.
Eventually, the fire would die out, and that meant the salamanders within it would perish as well.
Professor Kettleburn raised his hand to quiet the students. "If you feed a salamander outside the fire a measured amount of chili powder at timed intervals, you can delay its death, but it will only survive for up to six hours," he explained. "After the fire goes out, I will take these salamanders back and provide them with a special environment to ensure their continued survival."
Albert already knew this, as the salamander represented the number six in the runic alphabet.
"Of course, you must be careful not to feed them too much chili powder," Professor Kettleburn added, demonstrating what would happen if one overfed a salamander.
The salamander's skin became brighter after consuming a large amount of chili powder, and it started spitting sparks from its mouth, igniting the professor's white beard.
"So, you need to feed it a small amount every ten minutes," he concluded, having extinguished the sparks with a wave of his wand.
Professor Kettleburn snapped his fingers, extinguishing the sparks on his beard, and tossed the salamander back into the bonfire. "By the way, keeping a salamander alive for an hour outside of a fire is one of the end-of-term exam questions from previous years."
For the remainder of the class, Professor Kettleburn had the students gather firewood and leaves from the forest edge to stoke the fire, observing the color changes on the salamanders' bodies as the flames grew more intense.
The color of the salamanders' scales shifted with the heat of the fire; when the flames were high, they tended towards blue, while lower temperatures brought out a reddish hue, and at room temperature, they glowed a bright orange-red.
Watching the salamanders dart and weave among the crackling logs, everyone found the lesson to be quite fascinating.
Albert used his wand to pluck a salamander from the bonfire. Once it left the flames, its skin immediately turned a bright orange-red, and it still felt warm in his palm.
Fred and his friends eagerly gathered around to observe the salamander's reaction, feeling the heat emanating from its body as if it were ablaze.
The salamander soon wriggled free from Albert's grip and scurried towards the bonfire, but Fred was quick to grab its tail.
The poor creature broke free by shedding its tail and quickly vanished back into the dancing flames.
Fred stared at the wriggling tail in his hand, unsure what to say.
"Hmm, did a salamander's scales rot and cause it to drop its tail?" Professor Kettleburn asked in surprise when he noticed Fred holding the tail.
Fred's face turned slightly embarrassed; the salamander's loss of its tail had nothing to do with rotten scales.
"Salamanders, like fire dragons, may occasionally have their scales rot, and they will shed their tails as a result," Professor Kettleburn explained to the intrigued students. "If you're keeping a salamander as a pet and this happens, just apply some chili powder to treat it."
"Professor, do salamanders have any other special qualities?" Fred discarded the tail and steered the conversation in a different direction. "I mean, why do wizards keep them as pets?"
"Salamanders have blood with strong healing and restorative properties, and it's also used in the creation of various potions. That's one of the reasons wizards breed and keep them," Professor Kettleburn elaborated.
"How do we draw blood from a salamander?" Albert asked, curious. "They don't seem to have much blood in them."
"Well, that's something you're supposed to learn next year. But if you want to know..." Professor Kettleburn waved his wand, and a salamander flew out of the fire, landing in his palm.
"As we mentioned earlier, salamanders perish quickly once they leave the flames, so you need to be swift when drawing their blood," he continued, producing a small knife and a test tube to demonstrate the process.
The method was simple—make an incision near the salamander's hind legs, close to the tail, and then milk it from head to tail, much like milking a cow.
Yes, it was that straightforward and crude.
And to stop the bleeding?
Well, the salamander's blood had potent healing abilities, so the wound would seal itself in no time.
"Use moderate force; otherwise, you might rupture its internal organs. This won't kill them, but it will cause them discomfort," Professor Kettleburn said as he tossed the bled salamander back into the fire. "It's best to wear gloves when drawing their blood to avoid getting burned."
"Of course, if you need salamander blood, you can purchase it at the apothecary. A small vial costs ten Sickles."
"... " George muttered under his breath.
"Salamanders are easy to keep, but the process of drawing their blood is rather tedious, and many wizards are reluctant to do it. Yet, salamander blood is needed for a variety of purposes," Professor Kettleburn expressed his concern. He gestured for the students to continue observing the salamanders, encouraging them to watch how the creatures fed.
Fred and George wanted to 'rescue' the salamanders from the Care of Magical Creatures class, but Albert scoffed at the idea, well aware of Fred's mischievous nature. He flatly refused to help them create bottles and capture the blue flames to contain the creatures.
In the end, the twins gave up and simply took one of the salamanders with them; it wouldn't live for long anyway.
"We just wanted to keep one as a pet," Fred grumbled. "You have your cat, Lee Jordan has his spiders, and we don't have any pets yet."
"I think Snape would object to you bringing that thing into the Potions classroom," Albert pointed out. "Also, what would you feed it?"
"We just wanted to see what would happen if we fed a salamander a Fire-Making Spell," George said with a wink, though his excuse was transparent to Albert.
"That's a good idea," Lee Jordan's eyes lit up as he agreed. "We should try it with a salamander next time."
(End of Chapter)
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