章 138: 13th Birthday (III)/A Special Present

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Heading back inside I see Dumbledore and Aria have arrived, Charlie heads off to speak to his parents presumably about the job. After greeting Dumbledore I sit down at the only available seat at the dinner table. I sigh seeing that they are playing Gringotts Property Management, I am amazing at monopoly but I feel like my skills don't translate.

Not long into our game I hear a knock on the door, seeing as everyone else is here then it must be the surprise guest. I get up to open the door and see Dumbledore has gotten up as well.

Opening the door reveals a well-groomed old man with greyish brown hair and a kind smile. He is a bit taller than Dumbledore with a large blue overcoat and a nice suit underneath, not much like a wizard.

He gives me a kind smile but his eyes are drawn away from me as he looks at Gilg and Enki on my shoulders, "An Imoogi in Britain? Quite curious."

"Newt, I'm glad you could make it," Dumbledore says walking up beside me.

Newt smiles at Dumbledore, "Professor Dumbledore, I was quite curious when I got your letter but now I understand. A boy with an Imoogi and a Basilisk, he could certainly use the suitcase more than I."

"Indeed, how is retirement treating you?" Dumbledore stops seeing me still next to him, "Sorry, this is Soren Black, the one I told you about of course."

Newt holds out his hand which I shake, "It is nice to meet you, Soren, you can just call me Newt."

I give a kind smile back as I introduce my snakes, "Likewise, the Imoogi's name is Gilgamesh, the Basilisk is Enkidu."

He grins looking between the two, "It is nice to meet you both." They both flick their tongues in response causing his smile to widen, "Ah quite the smart ones, aren't they. Reminds me of the Chinese Fireball I used to keep, her name was Atrius, quite the temperamental one that one."

"So what's this about a suitcase?" I ask curiously.

Newt smiles, "It is your birthday present, I will show you how to use it once everyone has left."

I nod still curious as to what the suitcase is, "Do you want me to take your jacket?" Although it is odd he is wearing a jacket mid-summer I won't mention it.

Dumbledore laughs as Newt shakes his head, "It's quite alright."

I open the door more stepping out of the way, "Please, come in."

"I'll introduce you, to everyone," Dumbledore says as he escorts Newt to the living room.

Heading back to the table I see both Ron and Theo slackjawed, "Is that actually Newt Scamander? I heard he hasn't left his home since he entered retirement last year."

Ron takes a large gulp as he digs in his pocket, "Look I have his chocolate frog card," Ron shows a chocolate frog with a picture of Newt on it wearing the exact same blue overcoat.

Aria who is sitting on Hermione's lap hops up, "Uncle Newt is here?" Before anyone can say anything she runs off into the living room.

As we resume our game I hear Aunties's voice come from the living room, "Since everyone is here how about I grab the cake."

"Oh no," I think to myself, the most embarrassing part is here once again.

*****

Only a few hours later almost everyone is gone and I am out back with Newt. He sets his suitcase down and opens it revealing a pitch-black hole in the bottom.

"Follow me," he says as he takes a step into the suitcase. He carefully puts his foot down as if stepping on a ladder eventually disappearing into the suitcase.

Full of curiosity I follow close behind, as I set my foot into the suitcase I find it is indeed a ladder. Heading down the ladder I enter a large observatory full of books on the round walls. The room is about twenty feet tall with stairs leading up and down to a lower floor. One of the walls is made completely of glass peering into a lake.

Seeing my awe Newt gets a large smile, "I was planning on handing over my suitcase to my son but he never showed talent in handling magical creatures."

I nod as I get down looking into the lake, the figures of a large long creature slowly comes into view. It is long with a serpent-like body, horse head, and kelp hair flowing behind it.

"A Kelpie," Newt says smiling at the creature who appears excited to see him.

"Can I pet him?"

Newt grins at my words, "Although he is tame you must be cautious as Kelpie are naturally very aggressive." He gestures up the stairs, "But we can see if he likes you."

With a grin, I follow him to the top of the stairs where he has a bucket of blood and guts. From the top of the stairs, I can see this is a vast lake with seemingly no shores on any side. The Kelpie slowly rises to the surface brushing its side against the small dock at the top of the stairs.

Newt sighs as he tosses out a large chunk of meat into the water that the Kelpie snaps up, "My assistant used to live in here, she would take care of them when I couldn't."

I nod as I kneel down next to the water waiting for the Kelpie to come, "I have something of the sort," I say a bit sarcastically.

Seeing the Kelpie put its head on the dock to allow me to pet it, I smile, "What's his name?" I ask running my hand across its slimy muzzle.

"Archy, it seems he likes you very much," Newt says sounding incredibly surprised.

"Can I feed him?"

Newt nods as he brings the bucket closer to me, with a heft I toss the largest piece of meat a good twenty meters into the water. With a large splash, Archy races into the lake charging at the meat.

Newt pats my back with a grin, "I have already given most of my other creatures to better homes but a few have refused to leave. Would you like to go meet them?"

"There is more?" I ask excitedly.

"There is, come I will show you. There is a Runesnake, an Occamy, and a very old Nundu."

"I've always wanted to meet a Nundu, it's my Patronus after all."

Newt stops in his tracks on the stairs turning back to me, "Really?"

I nod, "Yes?"

A large grin comes to his face, "I knew it," he says now walking down the stairs at a much more jolly pace.

"If that is the case we can go meet Betty first," with his jolly stride we get down the stairs rather quickly.

As we get into the lower level I see that there are multiple staircases leading to different doors, "You should have seen it back in the day, I used to have dirt paths leading to each. It was quite tedious, this new system is far better, it was set up by my assistant some years ago."

Each door is painted to symbolize what place it represents. The one Newt is walking towards is a large plain with tall grass and a deep red sun. Opening the door it reveals almost a picturesque scene of Northern African plains around evening.

The plains appear large and unending but since this is an extension charm I know that's not the case. Not far in front of the door is a large reddish-brown lump, a creature curled up napping.

"Betty!" Newt calls out.

Springing into action the large lump on the ground grows tall as it stands up. It stands around twelve feet tall and fifteen feet long, its neck is large like a spikey tire but its face and body are slimmer like a leopard. That however does not hide the muscles on the obviously old Nundu who is currently charging us with its long spiked tails flipping to and fro.

Newt holds out an arm and the beast comes to a screeching halt only a few feet in front of us.

He looks between the two of us, "Betty this is Soren, Soren this is Betty."

Seeing the large creature staring at me I turn to Newt, "Can I pet her?"