"Welcome to America, Fish, Minerva..."
The Flú Network was moving very fast: one moment they were at Granger House in London, the next at Scamander House in New York, and Newt and Tina were waiting by the fireplace with their family.
"... Ah, this must be Miss Granger," Newt said, winking at Hermione, who was the last to leave the fireplace, after greeting Fish and Professor McGonagall, "I think you should have gotten my book signed?"
"Yes, Mr. Scamander, nice to meet you!"
Hermione was very excited and had a great fondness for people like Newt who had high academic achievements.
"Nice to meet you too, Hermione! May I call you that? In return, like Fish, you can call me Newt" smiled Newt and waved his hand at Hermione before making a joke, "After all, there are a lot of Scamanders here."
For in addition to the Scamander couple and their grandson Rolf, Rolf's parents were also present.
"Rolf, it's been a long time nya!"
(?ΦωΦ?)?
Fish greeted his little fanboy first, then dragged Hermione to his side and politely introduced him, "Her name is Hermione Granger, and she's Fish's girlfriend nya."
"Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.... I figured it would be like this." Newt laughed aside and said to Professor McGonagall, "After all, Fish wrote to me earlier and asked me for a signed book to give to Hermione for her birthday."
"Oh?" Professor McGonagall nodded and said, "It turns out that Fish gave your book to Hermione.... It's quite appropriate. Hermione is a good student and her usual pastime is reading."
Professor McGonagall had known about the birthday present Fish had given Hermione, but she hadn't asked what Fish had given her.
"Don't just stand there," Tina clapped her hands and waved, "Let's all go into the living room and sit down and talk."
So the group headed outside, led by Tina.
"Rolf, do you have a TV here?"
?ω?
As Fish walked, he turned his head and asked Rolf.
"Television? Of course there is," Rolf replied with a nod. "Once upon a time, the United States Congress of Wizards had a channel that only wizards could watch, but they discontinued it due to lack of content."
Rolf said with a shrug and a sense of regret.
Compared to England, wizards in America were obviously much more up to date, largely due to the influence of the Purge.
When the magical and non-magical populations of Europe began migrating to North America, they were joined by a group of mercenaries called the Purge.
These mercenaries came from wizarding groups in various countries and even sold wizards for bounties, and later came to capture innocent Muggles (called No-Majs in the United States) and deliver them as wizards to the Puritan witch-hunting Puritans.
Later, the Magical Congress of America was formed to try the Purgers who had betrayed their own. Some of the purgers escaped, hiding among the Muggles, and those who were vengeful passed on to their descendants the firm belief that magic was real and that wizards should be exterminated if found.
Even in the late 18th century, a great deal of information about magic came to light thanks to the descendants of one of the purged.
The Wizarding Congress attempted to fix this mess by enacting Rappaport's Law, which completely separated wizards from Muggle society.
Although this law caused a total disconnect between civilian wizards and Muggle society in the United States, Congress itself kept the Muggle world under surveillance. This was done both to catch the descendants of the Purge and to ensure that everyone's memory was wiped.
The threat of the Purge gradually dissipated and Rappaport's Law was abolished, but the habit of the Wizarding Council remained unchanged, and since Rappaport's Law was so repressive that there was a bit of a backlash against the abolition, wizards here are much more accepting of Muggle things than in England.
Of course, why there were televisions in wizarding houses here in America wasn't a concern for Fish, it was Hermione and Professor McGonagall who would be interested, and it was enough for Fish to know that there were televisions here.
"Nya!"
As soon as he entered the room, three cats with unusually large ears jumped out of the corner and approached Fish, rubbing affectionately against his leg.
"Nya~"
(?ΦωΦ?)?
Fish crouched down and greeted them politely.
After a brief exchange of cat language, Fish learned that they were no ordinary cats, but magical creatures called Kneazles, named Hoppy, Milly and Mauler.
Just like Fish in the Forbidden Forest, within a minute, the three Kneazles were at his beck and call....
This made Rolf very depressed.
Because these three cats are raised by Newt, they usually stay in England with Newt and his wife, and Rolf can communicate with them when he visits his grandparents during vacations.
I was really looking forward to having a good relationship with these three cats, but unfortunately the Kneazles not only looked like cats, but also had the same temperament as cats, so they were always rather distant with Rolf.
As a result, as soon as Fish appeared today, these three Kneazles cats, who generally don't care about anyone but Newt and Tina, immediately became clingy little cuties.
What's more, not only were they very affectionate with Fish, but they were also very friendly with Professor McGonagall and Hermione, who were near Fish, but when Rolf approached, the three snobbish Kneazles were as cold as ever.
"Hahahahaha... Hoppy and the others also know who has a better relationship with Fish."
Newt, seeing his grandson's defeat, instead of consoling him, gloated, "Kneazles are very clever creatures."
There were few surprises in the Scamander household, except for the television and a few Muggle-related objects, there was little difference between the wizards in America and England.
Rolf ate chocolate frogs and collected pictures of them, the most common thing everyone wore when they went out was the Flú Network or Apparitions, and even the entertainment was retrograde toys like crackling exploding cards, magic chess, and gobstones.
So when Fish brought out the Weasley twins' Magic Monopoly, Rolf was instantly drawn to it, and even Newt would occasionally join in for a few games, before Fish generously gifted Rolf his own game....
He doesn't play much anyway.
The difference is that Quidditch is less popular here and has been replaced by a game called Quodpot.
It is similar to Quidditch in that there are eleven players on each side, but the rules are much simpler than Quidditch.
Instead of using three different balls, as in Quidditch, there is only one ball called a Quod, which is actually a Quaffle that explodes at regular intervals.
The game is simple: everyone rides a flying broom and tries to throw the ball into a "basket" at the top of the pitch before it explodes. Any player with the ball in his hand, if it exploded, had to retire from the game.
By this rule alone, Fish found Quodpot much more interesting than Quidditch, but unfortunately players could only be eliminated by waiting for the ball to explode in their hands, not by directly attacking the opposing player, so Fish lost interest as soon as he learned the rules.
So after a few days at the Scamander's, Fish went back to his Granger house routine of eating, drinking and watching TV, especially after finishing his summer homework, Fish felt that his cat life had come full circle.