Chapter 131: Dare to Bully My Sister in Front of Me?

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Harry had never missed Hagrid as much as he did today!

Of course, it wasn't because he was longing for Hagrid's incredibly muscular physique—although Harry had bulked up quite a bit himself, he was still no match for Hagrid. A single finger, or at most two, from Hagrid could easily overpower him.

No, what Harry longed for was Hagrid's bizarre yet magical cross-species hybridization techniques. This was a key point: cross-species hybridization.

The wizarding world isn't short of artificially created creatures, and the most famous among them is the basilisk. According to legend, a magical egg was laid by a rooster under the Dog Star at midnight, and it was hatched by a toad. But this myth is unreliable. According to the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book, in the reptiles chapter, it explains that basilisks are artificially created by wizards using dark magic and curses. They are living vessels that carry curses instead of souls, similar to Horcruxes, except instead of containing souls, they house deadly curses capable of killing with a single touch.

One thing these creatures have in common is that they can't reproduce naturally. Basilisks can only be created artificially. Once the curse that caused their creation faded, no new basilisks have been born.

In contrast, the chimera—a creature with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail—is a naturally occurring species capable of reproduction. There are countless magical creatures that exhibit features from different species, created through natural reproduction, like the Sphinx and the Griffon.

Reproductive isolation exists, but magical creatures with magical powers often manage to perform the most unusual feats, just like wizards can use magic for all kinds of strange things. Under the influence of magic, all sorts of miracles are possible, though the odds of such miracles occurring are incredibly low. It's a process that requires waiting for natural selection to bring forth these anomalies.

In the history of the magical world, no one has ever successfully created a new species—except Hagrid. He managed to perform the unimaginable by crossbreeding fire crabs and Sphinxes, and created a new species: the Blast-Ended Skrewt!

And not just one, but an entire boxful. If it had been a stroke of luck to get one, that would have been impressive enough. Yet, Hagrid had managed to produce so many that there were enough to give one to every student in two entire houses.

Though the Blast-Ended Skrewts met an untimely demise due to improper breeding methods, there was no denying that Hagrid had added a completely new creature to the magical beast registry.

Honestly, Harry thought this should have been a monumental event in magical zoology, but sadly, no one at Hogwarts recognized its significance.

Previously, Hagrid had been Harry's pillar of support. With Hagrid around, the Forbidden Forest felt like Harry's personal backyard kitchen. But now, Hagrid had been elevated in Harry's mind to the status of a solid, gold-plated support—his 24K golden leg!

Magic, a force guided by subjective will, often defies logic. In many situations, it seems more useful than experience, and Hagrid possessed a peculiar, almost mystical talent that others lacked.

Just think about it: what is a Sphinx? It's a top-tier predator standing over two meters tall, with a scorpion's tail that can reach up to four or five meters in length. It has thick, magical armor that makes it immune to any known spell and a venomous tail sting that ensures it sits at the top of the magical creature food chain. On the other hand, fire crabs are weak creatures that resemble tortoises with jewel-encrusted shells. They nearly went extinct because wizards were hunting them for their shells, which could fetch a high price. Had it not been for their egg-laying ability, they would have been wiped out by now. Their only defense is a slow, fire-spitting crawl, and yet, they survived thanks to legal protections and a booming farming industry.

The size difference between these two creatures alone is enough to show they shouldn't even be able to breed together. A Sphinx's arms are so thick that even the key to its lock would be bigger than the fire crab's head.

The fact that Hagrid was able to somehow make these two creatures breed and produce Blast-Ended Skrewts is without a doubt one of the strangest miracles in the history of the magical world.

If such an absurd hybrid could be created, why not throw together a Thunderbird and a Hungarian Horntail and see what happens? Maybe a Thunder-dragon-bird could be the result—one with incredible strength, speed, and flight capabilities. If they got tired, they could even summon a Night Mare for a three-day, non-stop flight.

The thought of it made Harry's mouth water. Even his favorite dish—German-style roast pig's knuckle—almost failed to stop him from drooling.

After a long, satisfied belch, Harry had cleared the entire table. The two young girls had tried their best to keep up, but they could only sample a little bit of each dish. They weren't as monstrous an eater as Harry, who could polish off everything in sight. From the middle of lunch, the girls had merely been spectators, watching Harry's one-man show.

"Did you cast an Undetectable Stretching Charm on your stomach?" Luna asked curiously, poking Harry's stomach after the table was cleared. His abs felt firm but didn't seem unusually swollen.

"Probably just from training," Harry replied lazily, a satisfied look on his face. He wasn't the same weakling who nearly burst after eating a Mountain Troll heart. As his body became more magically attuned, he was starting to approach the level of a "magical creature" himself. Strictly speaking, wizards were a form of magical creature—just at the bottom of the evolutionary chain.

Especially after learning about the existence of Awakened Ones, Harry now believed that modern wizards hadn't really undergone full magical evolution. Apart from their exceptional skill in using magic, wizards were outclassed by other magical creatures in almost every other aspect.

In the Muggle world, humans at least dominate in heat dissipation and endurance, but wizards have no physical advantages.

"Because of my training, I had to eat around fifteen kilograms of pure meat every day last year at school. Without enough energy, I'd probably turn into a dried-up husk by now."

"As I keep eating, my digestion speed keeps increasing. Do you believe me if I said I'm actually hungry right now?"

Luna curiously tapped Harry's stomach and even leaned in seriously to listen.

"Hmm, I believe you," she said.

On the side, Ginny was lost in thought, unable to join the conversation. As someone who had grown up with Luna, she was quite used to these strange exchanges. However, as she alternated between covering her face in embarrassment and softly muttering to herself, the door to the compartment was knocked on again. When she saw who had entered, her face suddenly went from red to white, then back to bright red.

The twins, having opened the door, immediately squeezed in next to Ginny the moment they saw her.

"It's alive, Harry! Ginny, you—ah, ah, ah!"

Before the twins could start teasing their sister, Ginny, as familiar with them as ever, grabbed them each by the ear. The move was exactly like their mother's, and the twins reflexively flashed her their most apologetic smiles. They instinctively opened their mouths in unison:

"We're sorry!"

"Hmm? What did you do wrong?"

Ginny, mimicking their mother's tone perfectly, asked, but unfortunately for the twins, after a brief moment of confusion, they quickly realized what was happening. With their faces turning miserable, they exchanged quick glances and, in a flash, pulled a jar from their clothes.

"We shouldn't have snuck snacks," they muttered.

"It's all for you, all for you," Fred said, holding up a jar full of cockroaches in front of Ginny. George quickly twisted off the lid, and the chocolate-covered cockroaches inside began to crawl, making rustling sounds that startled Ginny into screaming.

However, the twins, with their typical deadpan expressions, added, "They'll fly right in."

"Eek~"

Ginny, covering her mouth in horror, swallowed her scream, her face pale.

Thwack Thwack 

The twins, having received two sharp flicks to the head, collapsed to the floor, clutching their skulls. The pain from their heads made them curl up like caterpillars, tears welling up in their eyes as they looked up at Harry with innocent expressions. They were still a little dazed.

"Dare to bully my sister in front of me?" Harry asked, his voice cold.

"Let's go! We'll talk outside!"

The twins, now wide-eyed and frantic, scrambled to defend themselves after a brief moment of confusion.

"Spare us, captain!"

"Ginny, you can't just stand by and let us die!"

"We're sorry—wuwuwuwu…"

As the compartment fell into sudden silence, Ginny, who had thrown herself into Luna's arms, laughed so hard her body shook. After a while, she raised her head and huffed towards the corridor.

"Two troublemakers. They deserve it!"

(End of Chapter)