"Who's here…"
Inside the house, Tina was placing a tray of freshly baked cookies on the table.
"It's Kael." Newt said with a smile.
Tina looked up in surprise; she'd thought it was some old friend.
"Did you forget something?"
She handed the plate of cookies to Kael.
"All you needed to do was send us a letter and we'd bring it over for you, why come all the way back again?
Besides, Hogwarts starts tomorrow, doesn't it?"
After returning from Paris, Kael had already visited Newt and Tina once, staying here for two days.
This time, apart from having nothing to do, he was here because Fawkes had delivered the suitcase ahead of time.
Having finally gotten his hands on the "Phoenix Experience Card," he figured it was the perfect chance to take Norbert and the Troll home, so he wouldn't have to wait until Christmas break.
Kael just didn't expect the Phoenix's style of travel to be so… brutal. If he'd known, he might as well have waited for Christmas break.
Kael said nothing, just set the suitcase onto a wooden rack nearby.
Newt raised an eyebrow and instantly understood. He glanced at Fawkes on Kael's shoulder and nodded quietly.
"Oh… isn't that a Phoenix?"
At that moment, Tina noticed Fawkes, surprised, she walked over, "Dumbledore's here too? Why not invite him in?"
"He's not, he should still be in Austria right now." Newt shook his head. "Just Kael—Fawkes brought him here."
Tina blinked in surprise at Newt's words.
Seeing a Phoenix when Dumbledore isn't around… that really is a rare event.
Next, Tina brought Kael a glass of lemonade.
The lemonade was specially made, very sour, and with a hint of bitterness, but drinking it felt surprisingly good.
Kael thought of those fruits Newt gave him before—they seemed to know exactly how to ease that kind of discomfort.
"Have you ever been Apparated by a Phoenix before?" Kael asked, curious.
"That was many years ago." Newt reminisced. "I have to say, that feeling really was awful. Hard to forget."
Kael nodded in wholehearted agreement.
After finishing the lemonade, the two quietly headed into Newt's suitcase.
Not long after entering, Fawkes spread his wings and flew toward a patch of forest in the distance.
Kael frowned; if he remembered correctly, that was where the Diricawls lived, with all kinds of herbs planted there to treat sick Fantastic Beasts.
"Don't worry." Newt walked over from behind. "Phoenixes may be proud, but they don't shun Diricawls, so you don't need to worry about them."
Kael's mouth twitched.
He wasn't worried about the Diricawls—he was worried about the herbs…
Fawkes was turning into quite the foodie lately. When it left just now, Kael even heard it swallow—wasn't it just heading for a buffet?
Judging by Newt's unconcerned expression, he clearly hadn't realized the seriousness of the matter yet.
But…
Forget it. Kael shook his head and decided to stay silent.
Let it eat. Right now, the most important thing was keeping Fawkes happy and boosting its favorability.
As for Newt's losses, Dumbledore could pay him back later. That man had plenty of money—what's a couple of herbs?
Kael nodded, then followed Newt to a massive lake.
Just how big Newt's suitcase really was—even he probably couldn't say…
Like the lake before them, compared to the school's Black Lake, it looked like nothing more than a puddle.
In the center of the lake was an island covered in huge boulders—the home of the Fire Dragons.
The two took a small boat to the island.
Just as they landed, Kael suddenly felt a gust of foul wind sweep down from above, and his feet were enveloped by a huge shadow.
Realizing what was happening, Kael twitched his finger, using the ring Diana gave him last year to Apparate a few hundred meters away instantly.
The next second, an enormous Norwegian Ridgeback smashed into the spot where he'd just been.
It was Norbert; when it was little, it loved crashing into Kael's arms like that.
Though Kael forcibly corrected that bad habit after Norbert grew up, maybe two months without seeing him made it forget in all the excitement.
"Norbert, chill out…"
Watching the Norwegian Ridgeback turn around, ready for another go, Kael quickly called out.
Norbert had gotten even bigger since two months ago—one hit from it could kill you!
Diana wasn't home right now, and the Apparition charge on the ring couldn't be renewed—each use depleted it. Kael wasn't about to waste it here.
On hearing Kael's words, Norbert finally stopped.
It ambled over and nudged Kael's arm with its head.
Newt caught up, laughing, "If you'd come a couple of days later, it probably wouldn't have been so excited."
"Yeah, but what can you do…" Kael shrugged.
The last time he came, he wanted to check in on Norbert, but it ended up picking a fight with one of the locals in the suitcase—the notoriously temperamental Hungarian Horntail, which had been sent back from the Romanian Fire Dragon Reserve three times. Norbert got beaten half to death.
Norbert wasn't even a year old, while the Hungarian Horntail had been an adult for ages. After that thrashing, Norbert was unconscious for days, only waking after Kael's visit.
But there was an upside.
Newt had told him that since then, Norbert's personality had mellowed a lot. Maybe not a perfect angel, but certainly less naughty than before.
As he spoke, Newt led Kael over to see the Hungarian Horntail.
Probably to prevent any incidents, Newt had never brought Kael here before.
So it was Kael's first time seeing the Horntail in the suitcase.
It was a big, muscular, black adult Fire Dragon. Apparently catching an unpleasant scent, it stood up on its hind legs, raising its neck high, those orange-yellow eyes suddenly turning toward Kael and Newt.
Kael noticed the distance from its mouth to the ground was nearly sixty feet—much larger than a typical adult Horntail.
No wonder it had been sent back three times—a beast this size, if it suddenly went wild, even ten Wizards together would have trouble holding it down.
"We smell like Norbert. She really doesn't like that kid." Newt explained.
Kael nodded—he could tell.
They didn't linger; after leaving the Fire Dragon's island, Newt took Kael to see the Troll in another area.
This guy was living the good life; when Kael came over, it was snoring away on the grass, clutching its wooden club.