Chapter 55: Fantastic Beastly Disaster
Chapter 55: Fantastic Beastly Disaster
After Halloween, the cold weather of November made the little wizards even more reluctant to get out of bed in the morning.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Kyle, now clad in a thick robe, strolled into the Great Hall, yawning and ready for breakfast.
As the owls swooped into the Great Hall as they usually did, Cedric's long-awaited broomstick finally arrived, and just as he had expected, it was a Cleansweep Eleven.
"That's brilliant, Cedric, just brilliant!" exclaimed a senior Hufflepuff player, excitedly patting Cedric on the shoulder. "You're a Seeker, and with this Cleansweep Eleven, our gap with Slytherin will be much smaller."
"Their Seeker is no better than a giant riding a broomstick, to be honest," he added.
By the way, Hufflepuff's first Quidditch match was against Slytherin.
They had been worried about the equipment gap, but now this good news had come out of nowhere.
While a Cleansweep Eleven broomstick alone might not boost their morale sky-high, the addition of Cedric as a Seeker made all the difference.
During practice matches, Cedric's fastest time to catch the Golden Snitch was five minutes, just a few seconds shy of breaking the Hogwarts record for the fastest Seeker.
A top-of-the-line broomstick paired with a talented Seeker left the Hufflepuff players wondering how they could possibly lose.
Would Slytherin be able to gain a lead of one hundred and fifty points in just five minutes?
That was laughable.
Kyle was also delighted, even though he wasn't directly involved. It would still be nice for the house to bring home a Quidditch Cup.
He turned to admire Cedric's brand-new Cleansweep, and it was only when he felt a sting on his finger that he noticed an owl perched in front of him.
"Sorry, little guy, I didn't see you there," Kyle said, quickly offering the owl a piece of Mottled Rat jerky before taking the letter from its claw to read.
"Dear Kyle,
I apologize for the long delay in responding. I've been extremely busy lately, and I kept thinking I had already replied to you. It wasn't until this morning that I found the unfinished letter in my office. I hope you can forgive me.
We received the Galleons you sent, and I'm proud of you, son. I wasn't nearly as accomplished as you are when I was in my first year.
Also, your mother asked me to tell you that she has accepted your Galleons, but the broomstick is out of the question.
However, she has prepared something else for you, and it should be delivered to you in a couple of days. I hope you'll like it.
That's all for now. Wishing you a pleasant time at Hogwarts.
From,
Your father, Chris."
After reading the letter, the light in Kyle's eyes noticeably dimmed.
Although he had guessed that Diana wouldn't be as easily fooled as Mr. Diggory, he still felt disappointed when he saw the outcome.
And it had taken so long for this response to arrive.
He had sent the letter in early September, and it was now November, and Chris still hadn't replied. What could he possibly be doing that kept him away from his office for two whole months?
Had Newt Grandad gone traveling?
As Kyle pondered this, Cedric suddenly slammed a copy of the Prophet in front of him.
"Kyle, look! Something big has happened. No wonder my dad took so long to send me the broomstick."
On the front page of the Prophet was a photograph of many Fantastic Beasts, all caged.
Beside the photograph was a bold headline:
Fantastic Beastly Disaster
"According to insiders, on September 3rd of this year, the Ministry of Magic's Strike Force accidentally bungled an operation to capture a group of Fantastic Beast smugglers, resulting in the escape and dispersal of a large number of smuggled beasts.
"This is to avoid causing panic in the wizarding world," said Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge this morning, "We have recaptured most of the fantastic beasts, and no wizard has perished during this period."
The veracity of this statement is yet to be determined.
However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Magic's Fantastic Beast Control Division, Chris Chopard, stated in an interview that although most of the escaped beasts, including the Australian Bindeye and the Vespertine Viper, have been successfully recaptured with the help of Mr. Newt Scamander.
There is still a Curved-Wing Cracker outstanding.
He appealed to everyone: the Curved-Wing Cracker is highly dangerous. If you see it, you must flee immediately and fire a red warning curse into the sky. The Beast Office and the Aurors will arrive as soon as possible to assist."
After reading this, Kyle finally understood what Chris had been busy with.
From the photos, it looked like around fifty or sixty beasts had been captured, making this one of the largest fantastic beast smuggling cases in the British wizarding world in the past thirty years.
But that wasn't the key point; the focus was on the Vespertine Viper.
Kyle was curious how they had managed to capture such a creature.
Not only was the Vespertine Viper agile, but its very breath was venomous, capable of destroying an entire village with ease.
To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Magic's description of this beast stated that, under normal circumstances, it would take over a hundred skilled wizards to subdue a Vespertine Viper.
While there may be some exaggeration in this statement, it nonetheless highlights the extreme danger this creature poses. After all, it takes only ten wizards to subdue a fire dragon.
"It's a good thing the Curved-Wing Cracker got away," Kyle sighed.
Not that he looked down on the Curved-Wing Cracker.
While the Curved-Wing Cracker is also defined as 5X, it is only because its danger level meets the criteria.
The Vespertine Viper, on the other hand, is defined as 5X because the Ministry's rating system only goes up to 5X.
The two beasts are simply not in the same league.
The older students, as well as those with some knowledge of fantastic beasts, such as Cedric, strongly agreed with Kyle's statement and nodded in affirmation.
As for the other young wizards, they lacked extensive knowledge about fantastic beasts and were more concerned about the escaped Curved-Wing Cracker.
The words "highly dangerous" on the newspaper didn't seem like an exaggeration.
"It's a good thing we're at Hogwarts," someone said with relief. "With Dumbledore here, we're definitely safe from any harm."
His statement quickly gained unanimous agreement from the others.
Yes, with Dumbledore here, what was there to worry about?
The atmosphere in the Great Hall immediately livened up.
However, this didn't last long, and soon the hall fell quiet again.
Then, one of the younger wizards stood up abruptly, too concerned to finish his breakfast, and dashed toward the Owlery.
Reminded by his actions, the others also reacted, some running toward the Owlery and others rushing back to their dormitories.
Soon, the once bustling Great Hall was nearly empty.
(End of Chapter)
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