Dorset, England.
Outside a small wooden cabin.
An invisible ripple spread through the air as Lucien and Liuguang appeared out of nowhere.
After confirming the time with Newt through SwiftSpeak, they had teleported straight here.
The moment Lucien's feet touched the ground, the cabin door swung open.
Newt stood in the doorway. His signature messy white curls looked even more disheveled than the last time they had met.
He gave Lucien a nod—no unnecessary pleasantries—and simply stepped aside to let them in.
"Come on in."
Lucien followed Newt into the cabin, through the living room piled high with every kind of magical-creature supply, until Newt crouched down and lifted a trapdoor in the floor.
The two of them climbed down the ladder.
They passed through layered pocket dimensions and walked by the living areas of various magical beasts.
Finally they stopped in front of an iron house—four walls made of thick welded steel plates, with only a single door on the front and no other exits.
Newt drew his wand and tapped lightly on the lock plate.
One by one the locks clicked open with crisp clack sounds.
The door swung wide.
In the corner of the room, a massive green python lay coiled into a tight ball. Its scales gleamed with a dull, cold luster in the dim light.
Completely motionless, as if deep in sleep.
Nagini.
"She doesn't recognize me anymore," Newt sighed, running a hand through his already chaotic curls, exhaustion thick in his voice. "And she's grown extremely aggressive. I can only give her a small dose of Draught of Living Death every day to keep her asleep most of the time and prevent any accidents."
Lucien said nothing. He simply watched the sleeping serpent in silence.
He walked toward Nagini, raised his wand, and gave a gentle flick.
A dense iron cage rose instantly from the floor, locking her securely inside.
Then he took out a small vial, extracted one drop of the antidote to the Draught of Living Death, and guided it with magic straight into Nagini's slightly parted mouth.
A few seconds later, the giant snake stirred.
Her eyes snapped open.
They were cold vertical slits—without warmth, without emotion, only raw instinct and murderous intent.
The first thing those eyes fixed on was the boy in front of her. Her body tensed; some primal sense told her this human carried a restrained but very real threat.
Lucien crouched down, meeting Nagini at eye level.
Dark-green irises and icy vertical pupils stared at each other through the iron bars.
"Mr. Scamander," Lucien said without turning around, voice perfectly calm, "when it came to the curse on Nagini, what methods did you and the others try?"
Newt stood behind him and stayed silent for a long moment.
"Everything," he finally answered.
He looked down at the snake on the floor, his tone heavy with helplessness. "Restorative Draught, mandrake essence, Awakening Potion… every known counter-curse we could think of, we tried back then."
He paused, then added, "We even sought out witch doctors from the African continent. They specialize in curses; their families have dealt with them for generations. But…"
Newt didn't finish the sentence.
The result was obvious.
Lucien gave a small nod. His gaze never left Nagini's eyes.
He tried to listen.
Thanks to the unicorn blessing, he could understand nearly any animal language—birdsong, beast roars, even the complex communication of magical creatures.
But right now, Nagini's low hisses sounded completely incomprehensible.
The feeling was deeply unsettling.
It was as if different languages had been mashed together—grammar broken, pronunciation twisted, everything jumbled and reversed.
Because she was a Maledictus?
Tortured by the blood curse in her veins, forced from human into a magical beast.
Neither pure magical creature nor pure human, trapped in an in-between state no one could understand?
Lucien glanced sideways at Liuguang.
The young qilin understood immediately. Those clear eyes turned toward the giant snake inside the cage, and he reached out with his mind-link talent to try communicating.
A moment later, Liuguang's ethereal voice sounded in Lucien's mind:
"Master, I tried to speak with her, but her responses are chaotic. One second she begs to be released, the next she says she wants to eat Mr. Scamander first, then you…"
Liuguang paused, a trace of confusion in his tone.
"And a lot of meaningless shouting…"
Lucien shook his head slightly.
Liuguang's mind-link could bypass language and speak directly to consciousness, but it still required the other party to have a clear mind—even a simple animal mind would work.
Yet Nagini's was more frenzied than any wild beast.
Still…
Lucien remembered the original books: Nagini's intelligence had been remarkably high, nothing like an ordinary snake.
She could understand Voldemort's commands, carry out complex tasks, and even communicate with him on some level.
Was it because she was still in the final struggling stage of the curse—not yet fully fallen into a cold-blooded beast? Her mind tearing itself apart between human and animal?
Or…
Did it require Parseltongue—like Voldemort's—to form a real connection?
Would he have to ask Harry for help?
Newt looked at Lucien with quiet hope.
This old man had seen too much, experienced too much, and lost too much.
"Lucien… do you have any ideas…?"
Newt's voice was soft, carrying a careful thread of expectation.
Lucien's dark-green eyes gradually deepened. A faint black swirl appeared in his pupils.
"I'm not certain," he said quietly, "but I will do everything I can to try."