Chapter 55: The Plight of Magical Creatures

After Halloween, November arrived, bringing cold weather that made the young wizards even less inclined to get up in the mornings. At eight o'clock, Kyle, wrapped in a thick robe, yawned as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast. As usual, owls swooped into the hall, delivering letters and packages. Among them was a much-anticipated package for Cedric: his new broomstick, a Nimbus 1700, just as he'd hoped.

"Excellent, Cedric, excellent!" an older Hufflepuff player said, slapping Cedric on the shoulder. "You're the Seeker, and with this Nimbus 1700, the gap between us and Slytherin just got a lot smaller. I've seen their Seeker in action—honestly, he's little more than a Troll who can ride a broomstick."

Hufflepuff's first Quidditch match was against Slytherin, and they had been worried about the equipment gap. But with Cedric's new Nimbus 1700, their morale soared. The broom alone might not have been enough, but with Cedric as Seeker, it was a different story. In training matches, Cedric had caught the Golden Snitch in just five minutes, coming within seconds of breaking the Hogwarts record for fastest Seeker.

With a top-class broom and a talented Seeker, the Hufflepuff team couldn't see how they could lose. The idea of Slytherin scoring 150 points in five minutes was laughable.

Kyle was also excited, even though he wasn't part of the team. It would be great if Hufflepuff could win the Quidditch Cup. He glanced admiringly at Cedric's new Nimbus until he felt a sharp tingling in his fingers—an owl had landed in front of him.

"Sorry, little guy, I didn't notice you," Kyle apologized, quickly feeding the owl a piece of dried Murtlap rat meat before taking the letter it had delivered.

The letter read:

Dear Kyle,

I'm sorry it took me so long to write back to you, but I've been incredibly busy lately. I always thought I had already replied, until this morning when 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, my boy. I wasn't as good as you in my first year.

By the way, your mother asked me to tell you that she accepted the Galleons, but don't even think about a broom.

However, she's prepared something else for you, and it should arrive in a few days. I hope you like it.

That's all for now. I hope you're enjoying Hogwarts.

Your father, Chris

After reading the letter, Kyle's mood deflated. He had suspected his mother wasn't as easy to persuade as Mr. Diggory, but he was still disappointed. And the letter had taken so long—he'd sent it in early September, and now, in November, he was finally getting a response. What could Chris have been so busy with that he hadn't been to his office in two months? Was Mr. Newt Scamander off traveling again?

Before Kyle could ponder further, Cedric slapped a copy of The Daily Prophet in front of him. "Kyle, check this out! No wonder it took my dad so long to send me the broom."

On the front page was a picture of numerous magical creatures, all caged. Next to the image, the bold headline read:

The Plight of Magical Creatures

Kyle read the article:

According to sources, on September 3rd of this year, the Ministry of Magic's Department for the Elimination of Dark Arts failed to apprehend a group of magical creature smugglers, leading to the escape of a large number of smuggled magical creatures, including three highly dangerous XXXXX-class beasts.

We have yet to understand why the Ministry covered up this incident.

"This was to avoid panic in the wizarding world," Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, said this morning. "We've recaptured most of the creatures, and no witches or wizards have been harmed."

However, the veracity of this statement is in question.

Chris Chopper, a spokesperson for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, confirmed in an interview that, with the help of Mr. Newt Scamander, nearly all the creatures—including an Antipodean Opaleye and a Nundu—have been safely recaptured.

However, the whereabouts of one Swooping Evil remain unknown.

Chopper urged the public to treat the Swooping Evil as highly dangerous. If spotted, wizards and witches are to flee immediately and send up a Red Sparks Charm. The Beast Division and Aurors will respond as quickly as possible.

Kyle's eyes widened as he finished reading. Now he understood why his father had been so busy. From the looks of it, over 50 to 60 magical creatures had been captured, making this one of the largest magical creature smuggling cases in the last 30 years.

But that wasn't the point. The point was the Nundu.

Kyle couldn't help but wonder how the smugglers had managed to capture such a dangerous creature. Not only is a Nundu incredibly agile, but its breath is lethally poisonous, capable of wiping out entire villages. The Ministry of Magic's description clearly states that under normal circumstances, it would take more than 100 skilled wizards to subdue a Nundu. Even if there was some exaggeration in that claim, it still demonstrated just how dangerous the creature was. For comparison, it only takes ten wizards to subdue a dragon.

"Fortunately, it was the Swooping Evil that got away," Kyle remarked with genuine relief.

It wasn't that Kyle underestimated the Swooping Evil. While it, too, was classified as XXXXX, it had barely reached that level of danger. The Nundu, on the other hand, was rated 5X only because the Ministry of Magic's scale didn't go any higher. The two creatures weren't even in the same league.

Cedric and the older students, or anyone with a basic knowledge of magical creatures, nodded in agreement when they heard Kyle's words. They understood the magnitude of the difference between the two.

The younger students, however, were far less concerned about the Nundu. Most of them didn't know much about magical creatures, and their focus was on the escaped Swooping Evil. The phrase "highly dangerous" printed in The Daily Prophet certainly caught their attention, and it didn't seem like an exaggeration.

"Luckily, we're at Hogwarts," someone said with relief. "With Dumbledore here, we're definitely safe."

The others quickly echoed this sentiment. Yes, with Dumbledore at the school, what could possibly go wrong?

The mood around the table lightened immediately, and the students started chatting more cheerfully.

But the liveliness didn't last long. The realization soon hit them that a dangerous creature was still at large, and their initial confidence in Hogwarts' safety was soon replaced by more pressing concerns.

Suddenly, a young wizard stood up, abandoning his breakfast, and sprinted toward the owl shed. His reaction reminded the others of something important—sending letters to their families. Several students jumped to their feet, following suit and running either to the owl shed or back to their dormitories to fetch parchment and quills.

In a matter of moments, the previously bustling Great Hall had emptied, with only a handful of students remaining at the Hufflepuff table.