"Oh," Dumbledore said, as if suddenly realizing something. "Let me introduce you.
This is the Vice Minister of the Greater German Ministry of Magic and Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Ms. Veratia Grindelwald."
Moody initially showed no reaction, but upon hearing the name Grindelwald, his eyes snapped open. His magical eye scrutinized Veratia's face, then flicked to Harry, but ultimately, he said nothing.
"If you don't mind," he said to those around him, "I need to go back and rest a while... So, Dumbledore, temporarily remove this part of my memory. I don't want to expose your brilliant plan when the Dark Lord uses Legilimency on me."
The remark was somewhat ironic; Moody had deliberately stressed the word 'brilliant.' Dumbledore stepped forward, extracted the relevant memories from Moody, and placed them into the Pensieve for safekeeping. Afterward, he tossed Moody back into the trunk, not forgetting to add a limited Obliviate for good measure.
Having done all this, they left the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, thoughtfully clearing Barty Crouch Jr.'s memory again as well. With Barty Jr. and Moody dealt with, Veratia and Dumbledore went to handle the matter of Barty Crouch Sr.
Harry did not participate; he had Care of Magical Creatures class soon. Besides, he wasn't interested in politics anyway. With that time, he'd rather play a couple of rounds of Quidditch.
Newt had been at Hogwarts recently, so he was still teaching the Care of Magical Creatures class. However, it seemed Newt had come up with something new these past few days. He was standing outside the hut waiting for the students, with several open cardboard boxes at his feet that they had never seen before.
As soon as the students saw the cardboard boxes, their hearts sank—surely he hadn't hatched another brood of Blast-Ended Skrewts?
But when they approached and looked into the boxes, they discovered many fluffy black creatures with long snouts like a duck's bill and flat front paws, like spades. They were quite peculiar. They looked up and blinked at the class, seeming a bit confused by all the attention.
"Oh, brilliant," said Ron happily. "It's not Skrewts—they're Nifflers."
As a child from a pure-blood family, he naturally recognized Nifflers—not only did he recognize them, he had seen quite a few.
"These are Nifflers," Newt said to the class once everyone had gathered, bending down to pick one up to introduce it. "A Niffler is..."
He stopped just after saying the word. "I think it's more fitting for a student to answer the question, don't you agree? So... who would like to answer?"
Hermione raised her hand as high as it would go.
The power of Miss Know-It-All...
"Miss Granger," Newt called on her. "Alright, you answer the question."
Hermione cleared her throat and answered, "Nifflers are burrowing beasts native to Britain. As you can see, they are covered in black fluff and have long snouts. They have a special predilection for anything glittery—Goblins often keep Nifflers to burrow deep into the earth for treasure."
Seeing Newt nod at her, Hermione added, "Although Nifflers are gentle and even affectionate, they can be destructive to belongings, so they should never be kept in a house."
"We generally see them down in mines, however," she concluded.
"Well said, ten points to Gryffindor," Newt applauded happily. "I must reiterate, they love anything shiny... look there."
He pointed to the Slytherin side, where a Niffler suddenly leapt up, attempting to bite the watch off Pansy Parkinson's wrist. Pansy screamed and backed away, flailing her hands in an attempt to drive away the pouncing Niffler.
"Useful little treasure detectors, aren't they?" Newt said cheerfully. "I felt you've been under a lot of pressure with your studies lately, so I decided to arrange a novel little activity to lighten the mood... See that patch of earth?"
He pointed to a large area of freshly turned soil. "Hagrid helped turn that over for you. I've asked him to bury some gold coins in there. Whoever picks the Niffler that digs up the most gold will get a prize. Remove all your valuables, choose a Niffler, get ready, and set them loose."
Finally, Newt added, "Remember to take off all valuable items, otherwise they'll just stare at your belongings and won't go hunting for treasure."
Harry took off the watch Veratia had given him and put it in his pocket; he couldn't let a Niffler snatch that away. However, speaking of stealing Grindelwald's possessions... Didn't Professor Scamander once use a Niffler to steal the Blood Pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald?
Thinking this, he picked a Niffler. It poked its long snout into Harry's ear and sniffed enthusiastically.
"This little thing is quite cuddly." Harry chuckled and stroked the Niffler's body. It felt nice, a bit like a cat with stiffer fur. When he touched its belly, the Niffler kicked its legs vigorously, which was quite amusing.
"Eh, hang on?" Hagrid suddenly interrupted their petting. He looked down into the box. "There's one Niffler left... Who's not here? Are we missing someone?"
"It's Seamus," Neville said from the side. "He blew up Professor Snape's Potions classroom this morning. He's probably still cleaning it up, or serving detention with Professor Snape."
Hearing Neville's words, the class burst into laughter. They had fully witnessed Seamus blowing up the Potions classroom. No one knew how Seamus did it, but everyone could see that Professor Snape's expression had been awful—ashen-faced, as if he had eaten something indigestible and hadn't had a proper bowel movement in days.
It had to be said, this was truly the most fun Care of Magical Creatures lesson they had had in years. The chosen Nifflers dived in and out of the earth as if it were water. Each one hurried back to the student who had released it and spat gold coins into their hands.
Ron's haul was particularly large; a pile of gold coins soon accumulated on his lap.
"Can we buy them as pets, Professor Scamander?" Ron asked excitedly as his Niffler dived back into the soil, splashing dirt all over his robes. But this didn't dampen Ron's spirits in the slightest; this Niffler was much cuter than an owl, or that rat he used to have.
"Woohoo!" Ron shook his legs in excitement, the gold coins jingling.
"I don't think your mother would be very happy, Ron," Newt said with a smile, looking down. "Nifflers wreck houses looking for shiny things."
"Oh, that's not necessarily true, Professor," Draco's trademark drawl sounded from nearby. "The Weasleys don't have anything valuable at home. Never mind a Niffler, even a beggar would have to leave a few bronze Knuts behind..."
"Malfoy!" Ron drew his wand, glaring furiously at the foul-mouthed Draco.
Newt held Ron's wand down and deducted two points from Slytherin.
"Two points from Slytherin," he said. "Now, we shouldn't make rude comments about other people's families, no matter what. Hmm... I think the Nifflers have just about finished."
Saying this, Newt paced around the patch of land while the Nifflers continued diving in and out. "I only buried a hundred gold coins; that should be about it."
Dean Thomas's voice suddenly rang out. "Oh, look who's here. Isn't it the heroic blaster, Seamus?"
Seamus walked across the lawn toward them. His face and body were wrapped in thick bandages, looking like a living mummy; it was quite pitiful.
"Oh, I suspect he's an Egyptian mummy," Draco couldn't resist making another snide remark. He extended both hands, striking a classic mummy pose. "He's going to bite! Run for it!"
This comical display drew a round of laughter from those around. Seamus's face went bright red. He sniffed and forced himself not to look at Draco, lest he raise his hand and hit him with a Confringo.
"Alright, let me see how you've done!" Newt said. "Count your coins! —It's no use trying to steal them, Goyle."
As he spoke, Newt kept his head down, avoiding eye contact, looking extremely socially anxious. "This is Leprechaun gold; it will vanish in a few hours."
Goyle reluctantly put the gold back down; he had planned to buy some snacks with it.
Newt stepped forward and carefully counted the Leprechaun gold the students had gathered. He finished shortly; Ron's Niffler had won by a landslide.
"Congratulations," Newt said, fishing a small golden Niffler badge from his pocket. "This is yours, a prize for winning... Actually, I think you have a talent for getting along with magical beasts. Would you be interested in learning how to care for them with me?"
"Better not." Ron took the small golden badge, admiring it happily while shaking his head. "I don't think I'm suited to look after others. To use my mum's words: 'Look, Ronald, I think it's more likely the magical creatures would end up looking after you.'"
"It's not necessarily that bad, actually. Only after interacting with magical beasts do you realize how wonderful they are," Newt said sincerely.
For a moment, Ron was genuinely tempted, but the thought of those grotesque Blast-Ended Skrewts instantly killed the impulse.
"Forget it," he said, waving his hand. "I'd rather go to Romania and hang out with Charlie and the dragons."
"But you know, dragons are a type of magical beast too," Harry pointed out the loophole in Ron's words from the sidelines.
Ron froze; he hadn't expected his best mate to stab him in the back like that.
"But I wouldn't mind owning a Niffler," he muttered. "It's just too cute..."
"Tell you what," Newt suddenly said, "if you're willing to work with me in the field of magical creatures after graduation, I'll give you a whole litter of Nifflers."
"Still, no." Ron firmly said no to this illicit temptation.
As for Nifflers, he could catch one himself later, or buy one somewhere. But if he had to give up his freedom for a Niffler, he really couldn't do it.
"By the way, Professor Scamander," Hermione suddenly said, "didn't you once use a Niffler to do something... untoward to Mr. Grindelwald? I remember reading about it in a book somewhere..."
"Oh, you mean that." Newt suddenly looked up at Hermione, glanced around at the students, and then lowered his head again. "It wasn't really a big deal. It was just certain Dark Magic artifacts of his... that item restricted Professor Dumbledore, preventing him from moving against him... So, while he was giving a speech at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, I had the Niffler steal it. And so... as you know, Professor Dumbledore defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945. It's written on the Chocolate Frog cards."
"Then do you know what the relationship is between the former Miss Grindelwald of Slytherin and that Mr. Grindelwald?" Lavender Brown asked gossipily from the side.
"They were siblings," Newt answered truthfully; he had never been good at lying. "Miss Grindelwald was the older sister, and Mr. Grindelwald was the younger brother."
In the English context, siblings aren't automatically distinguished by age, so Newt used 'older' and 'younger' to clarify.
Hearing Professor Scamander's words, everyone's first reaction was to burst out laughing.
Miss Grindelwald is Mr. Grindelwald's sister?
You've got to be kidding...
--
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