Chapter 276: Newt Scamander (Edited)

The boat took Tom and Hermione to a harbor. In the middle of the harbor, a wooden bridge extended into the sea, with several platforms branching out on both sides. Around the platform, several boats were parked, of different styles and models, but all of similar size: seven or eight meters long and five or six meters wide. Tom's boat, which had been in the middle of a gap, found a place to dock.

"Isn't this a Muggle autopilot?" Tom observed the precision of the "reverse parking" and wondered again about the consideration of the dream world. If his boat had gotten stuck on the dock, he would have been the laughingstock of wizards worldwide, wouldn't he?

Tom stepped onto the dock's trestle, and there was a creaking of planks. Although there were many boats moored alongside the bridge, there was no one on the hundreds of meters long bridge. At the end of the bridge, there was an endless meadow.

Blue sky, sea of clouds, blue fields. If this space is a man's dream world, his mind is so clear.

At the edge of the meadow, near the sea, there was a small two-story cabin.

Tom and Hermione walked towards it. As they approached, they realized that the cabin didn't seem different from an ordinary cabin in the woods, and there was even a low fence outside, with some plants that Tom couldn't name growing in the space between the house and the fence.

The two entered through a gap in the fence, crossed the small garden, and arrived at the cabin door, which opened by itself before they could knock.

[Arrival at: International Guild of Wizards]

Tracking search for 'Dumbledore's Ordeal' (II) activated: Enter "Mercury" conference room and speak with the person inside].

The space behind the door, not much larger than it appeared from the outside, was laid out in a way that resembled a post office. Once inside, there was a circular-shaped counter, and Tom could see a person sitting behind it. Next to the counter were two staircases, one leading to the first floor and the other downward, presumably to the basement. Additionally, there were several sliding doors on the walls surrounding the room, and voices could be heard behind them.

The reception area, which was like a foyer, was decorated in a homely manner, like the living room of a three-member family. There was barely any decoration, not even a stool, but the wizards who entered it relaxed, as if they were at home.

Upon entering, Tom rang a little bell that was on the door, and the sound it made startled the man who was sitting behind the counter. He looked at the visitor at the door: a pair of handsome-looking wizards, not very old, wearing Hogwarts uniforms and Class D badges on their chests.

Tom also saw the young man behind the counter, who had light blond hair, neither too long nor too short, reaching down to his collar. He wore a plain black wizard's robe and the same Guild of Wizards badge pinned on his chest, except that in the center of the badge were the initials "IWU," the International Wizarding Union, instead of the class letters.

He's a Guild staff member. And given the peculiarities of the Guild's location, it was likely that he was not a living person but some kind of dream-like being.

Upon entering, the badges that Tom and Hermione wore on their chests flashed with a burst of light. The notebook in front of the blond-haired boy also automatically displayed Tom's personal data.

"Welcome to the halls of the International Guild of Wizards, Mr. Yodel and Miss Granger. I'm Chuck, the Guild's receptionist. You're new to the Guild, please proceed to Room 7 for orientation..."

Chuck suddenly paused as he saw a new notice added at the bottom of their profiles.

"Excuse me, please proceed to the [Mercury] conference room on the first floor. Someone is waiting for you there."

Tom climbed the stairs to the first floor and discovered that it was also filled with cubicles, but each had a small sign on the door, the first one was [Hydrogen], the second [Helium], and then [Lithium], and so on.

Tom raised his eyebrows, knowing that Nicolas Flamel, the alchemical master, knew a lot about the periodic table of elements. Tom headed straight to the depths of the floor. "Mercury" was element number 80, quite far back.

When Tom and Hermione reached the front of the [Mercury] conference room, they heard a metallic noise coming from inside the room, as if someone was engaged in a fierce struggle.

Tom flung open the door to the conference room, and a dark figure lunged directly at his face, hitting him with a loud thud, causing Tom to feel dizzy.

"Accio!" An ancient voice intoned a summoning spell. The dark figure that had just struck Tom's face writhed and twisted, trying to resist, but in the end, it was no match for the magic and was flung backward, toward a large hand.

Tom was already on his feet, recovered from the shock. He saw the culprit in his face for what it was: a chubby creature covered in black fuzz with a long snout.

Tom recognized it as a Niffler.

It was struggling desperately in the hands of a man, and occasionally a few gold coins spilled out of its plump belly. The man holding it, with white hair, wore a blue tweed overcoat and a Hufflepuff-style scarf around his neck.

He held onto the Niffler tightly, then grabbed a suitcase from the table, opened a slit in it, and stuffed it inside, pressing its body against it as soon as it was inside and locking the latch. The suitcase swelled a couple of times and then stopped moving.

He stood up panting, placed the case back on the table, wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked at Tom and Hermione at the door with a slightly embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, I don't know why this one came... like its great-grandfather, it's an overly energetic Niffler."

He took a step forward, extended his hand in front of Tom, and introduced himself, "Newt Scamander."

Hermione covered her mouth for a moment, almost exclaiming, the elderly man in front of her was the author of the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"!

"Tom Yodel, this is Hermione Granger." Tom shook Newt's hand, noticing that Newt seemed somewhat surprised by Hermione's reaction, and he helped address her doubts.

"Hermione loves reading, and she loved your book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'."