After Halloween, November arrived, and the cold weather made the young wizards even more reluctant to get out of bed.
At eight in the morning, Kael, wearing his thick robe, yawned as he entered the auditorium, ready for breakfast.
When the owls flooded into the auditorium as usual, Cedric's eagerly awaited broom finally arrived, and as he expected, it was a Nimbus 1700.
"That's fantastic, Cedric, absolutely fantastic." An older Hufflepuff player excitedly patted Cedric on the shoulder and said, "You're the Seeker, and with this Nimbus 1700, the gap between us and Slytherin is much smaller.
The ability of their Seeker, I've seen it. Honestly, it's not much better than a troll on a broomstick."
Incidentally, Hufflepuff's first Quidditch match opponent was Slytherin.
Originally, they were a bit worried about the equipment gap being too large, but then came such a good piece of news.
A Nimbus 1700 wasn't enough to boost their morale, but combined with Cedric as the Seeker, it was different.
In the training match, Cedric's fastest time was catching the Golden Snitch in five minutes; just a few seconds more, and he would have broken Hogwarts' fastest Seeker record.
A top-tier broom paired with a genius Seeker—Hufflepuff players didn't know how they could possibly lose.
Could Slytherin possibly lead them by one hundred and fifty points in five minutes?
Don't be ridiculous.
Kael was also pleased that although he didn't participate, it would be great if the house could bring back the Quidditch Cup.
He turned to look at Cedric's brand-new Nimbus until a sharp pain in his finger reminded him that an owl had stopped right in front of him.
"Sorry, little guy, I didn't notice you."
Kael quickly took out a strip of Murtlap tentacle jerky to feed it, and then he took the letter from its claw to read.
"Dear Kael:
I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply, I've been incredibly busy lately, and I thought I had already written back to you until this morning when I found the unfinished letter in my office. I hope you can forgive me.
We also received the Galleons you sent. I'm proud of you, my child; when I was in first year, I wasn't as outstanding as you.
By the way, your mother asked me to tell you that she accepted your Galleons, but don't even think about getting a broom.
However, she did prepare some other things for you, which will be sent over in a few days. I hope you will like them.
That's it. I wish you a joyful time at Hogwarts.
—Your father, Chris."
After reading the letter, the light in Kael's eyes visibly dimmed.
Although he had long guessed that Diana was not as easy to fool as Mr. Digory, Kael was still very disappointed to see the result.
And it was a result that was delayed for so long.
He had mailed the letter in early September, and it's only now, in November, that he received a reply. What on Earth was Chris doing that kept him from the office for two months?
Did Uncle Newt go traveling?
Just as Kael was puzzled, Cedric suddenly slapped a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of him.
"Kael, look quickly. There's big news, no wonder my dad took so long to mail the broom to me."
On the front page of the Daily Prophet was a photo showing many Fantastic Beasts, but they were all caged.
Beside the photo was a bold headline.
Disaster of the Fantastic Beasts
"According to our sources, on September 3rd this year, the Ministry of Magic Beaters accidentally botched their capture of a group of Fantastic Beasts smugglers, resulting in many smuggled Fantastic Beasts escaping. Among these were even three defined as XXXXX-level, highly dangerous Fantastic Beasts.
We still can't understand why the Beaters made such a low-level mistake, nor why the Ministry of Magic wanted to hide this.
"It was to avoid causing panic in the magical community," said Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge this morning, "We have captured most of the Fantastic Beasts, and no wizards lost their lives during this time."
The truthfulness of this result remains uncertain.
However, Chris Chopper, a spokesperson for the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, said in an interview that, with the help of Mr. Newt Scamander, almost all escaped Fantastic Beasts, including the Antipodean Opaleye and the Nundu, have been successfully recaptured.
But one Swooping Evil remains missing.
He urged everyone that the Swooping Evil is highly dangerous, and if seen, you must run immediately and shoot a red warning Charm into the sky. The Beast Office and Auror Association will arrive as quickly as possible to assist."
After reading, Kael finally understood what Chris had been busy with.
From the photo, it seemed there were about fifty or sixty Fantastic Beasts captured, marking this as the largest smuggling case in the British Magical Realm in nearly thirty years.
But that's not the point; the point is the Nundu.
Kael was very curious about how they managed, even capturing a Nundu.
Not only is that creature agile, but its breath is also toxic, capable of destroying an entire village with ease.
Put simply, the Ministry's description stated that under normal circumstances, it would take over a hundred skilled wizards to subdue a Nundu.
Although there's some exaggeration, it's enough to illustrate its danger. Note that subduing a Fire Dragon only requires ten wizards.
"Luckily, it was the Swooping Evil that escaped." Kael sincerely sighed.
It's not that he looked down on the Swooping Evil.
The Swooping Evil is also defined as 5X, but that's merely because its level of danger meets the standard.
The Nundu, however, is defined as 5X because that's the highest rating the Ministry has.
The two are not in the same league.
Other senior students, or those somewhat knowledgeable about Fantastic Beasts, like Cedric, nodded in agreement with Kael's words.
As for the other young wizards, with little knowledge about Fantastic Beasts, they were more concerned about the escaped Swooping Evil.
The words "highly dangerous" on the newspaper didn't seem to be fear-mongering.
"Thank goodness we're at Hogwarts," someone then said with relief, "with Dumbledore here, we surely won't be harmed."
This statement quickly received unanimous approval from everyone.
Yes, with Dumbledore here, what is there to worry about?
The atmosphere at the dining table immediately became much livelier.
But this didn't last long; it soon quieted down again.
Subsequently, a young wizard suddenly stood up, not even caring about breakfast, and ran straight towards the Owl Shed.
Triggering others to react, many stood up too, some heading towards the Owl Shed, while others rushed back to their dormitories.
The originally bustling auditorium soon had very few people left.