章節 33: Runespoor and Horned Serpent
Being home felt great and Art missed his parents. He talked about his year at Hogwarts but left out meeting Voldemort because that would just worry them. He also told them about the twins and Cedric, how they were close friends and got in trouble together at school.
It wasn't long until Tim led Art into the backyard for a spar. Art had improved tremendously but still fell short to Tim.
"You have improved again. Soon you will be able to match me." Tim said, giving him a small smile.
Art brushed the dirt off his pants, "That day can't come soon enough." Art muttered, taking his stance.
The two sparred for a bit until Bella called them in for supper. Art told them that he would be staying at Mr. Scamander's for a month but join them on their vacation to France.
"Excited to go to France?" Bella asked, a smile tugged at her lips.
"Very." Art said immediately, digging into his potatoes.
Bella looked at Tim who also had a smile on his face.
"You know I really like Fleur, you should ask her to come by more this summer."
"I will." Art nodding his head, thinking about the letter he wrote to her.
Like it was planned, Gray flew into the house and landed on the table, a letter on his leg. Bella glared at the bird who greedily ate some roast beef and took off.
"It's from Fleur." Art said reading the letter, "She says she is excited to see us again."
"Us or you?" Bella teased, picking a feather off the table.
Art ignored it but was still excited to see her. Finishing his meal, he went to his room and cleared his mind, practicing Occlumency. Before he thought he had a basic mastery over it but after what happened with Voldemort he decided he needed to practice it diligently. The next day he packed what he needed and hugged his parents, telling them he would see them in a month. Going outside, he took out an old boot from his bad and grabbed it, disappearing. Bella and Tim were shocked but shook their heads, starting to get used to this magic stuff.
Art appeared in front of a familiar house with three Kneazles looking at him. Seeing Art, the three of them let out a happy cry and pounced on him.
Laughing at them fighting for his attention, Art said, "Easy you three. It's good to see you."
Art saw Tina standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. "This is the same way we first met last time." she said. "Come in, Newt is waiting for you."
"Good to see you Mrs. Scamander. Thank you for having me again." Art said politely.
"Always a pleasure to see you Art." she said with a smile.
Entering the house, Art saw Newt coming from downstairs.
"Hello Mr. Scamander."
"Art, good to see you. Come with me I have something to show you." Newt said, heading back downstairs.
Art followed him eagerly, wanting to see what Newt was going to show him. Reaching the basement, Art was met by Dougal the Demiguise jumping into his arms and pinching his cheeks.
"Hahaha Dougal! I miss you too buddy!"
Soon Art was surrounded by the other beasts including Nikki the Nundu and all of the Occamy.
"Okay get back to your enclosures." Newt showed them off, "Traitors." he muttered watching them go.
Art smiled and followed Newt who brought him to a new part of the basement. A large three headed serpent that was brightly coloured was lying in the grass. All three heads turned and looked at Newt and Art approaching.
"A Runespoor!" Art quietly exclaimed.
It was seven feet long and orange with black stripes, it was considered the pet of dark wizards even though it wasn't considered a vicious beast. What was fascinating about the Runespoor is that each head serves a different purpose. The left head is the planner and it decides where the Runespoor is to go and what to do next. The middle head is considered the dreamer. The right head is the critic and evaluates the efforts of the left and middle head. The right head is also extremely venomous.
"Found him being sold in Knockturn Alley, luckily I was able to buy him and give him a proper home." Newt said, throwing a dead rat at the snake. The three heads started to fight for the food.
"Incredible…" Art mumbled and walked closer to the snake. He sat down on the grass, watching the snake.
After eating the rat, the three heads perked up and watched Art carefully before slowly moving towards him. Art stuck out his hand and let the three heads lick him with their forked tongues. Soon after the Runespoor was wrapped around Art, each head was rubbing their faces against him.
Newt shook his head slightly, a smile could be seen on his face. "Come on, there is someone else you should meet." he said, walking away.
Art untangled himself from the snake but promised to be back later. Newt brought him a large box with blankets inside. Lifting the blanket, Newt revealed a tiny black snake. Art looked closer and saw two tiny horns on its head and a small blue gem on her forehead.
"Mr. Scamander this is…" Art was speechless.
Newt nodded his head, "A baby Horned Serpent."
"But they are incredibly rare and powerful. Where on earth did you find it?" Art asked, flabbergasted.
"An old college of mine from America found it. Wizard poachers killed its mom for her horn and jewel. He sent it to me in hopes I could raise it." Newt said, a sad look on his face.
The tiny snake looked up at Art and Newt, its beautiful blue eyes were clear and innocent.
"May I?" Art asked.
Newt nodded, watching Art slowly reach down towards the snake. The snake hissed and coiled seeing Art's hand. Seeing this Art stopped and spoke gently to it. "Hey little guy. I'm sorry to hear about your mom but I promise I won't hurt you."
The snake tilted its head and looked at Art curiously. It was hard for Art to communicate with it because of it being a child and it wasn't capable of understanding what Art was saying.
Art gave it a smile before gentle touched its head. The snake didn't react and watched Art closely. Suddenly the snake bit the tip of Art's finger causing Art to wince but he didn't pull his hand back.
Newt was about to do something but Art stopped him.
"Wait. It wasn't out of malicious intent or self defense." Art said, watching the snake bite his finger. Though he couldn't read the snakes thoughts, he could feel its emotions.
The snake let go of Art's finger, a drop of blood pooled at the tip of his finger which the snake licked. After tasting his blood the snake gave a low hiss and slithered up his hand and wrapped around his wrist, looking like a bracelet.
Art laughed lightly and inspected the snake, shocked to find it was sleeping.
"Looks like you will be looking after it for awhile." Newt said with a smile.
Art nodded, stroking the snakes beautiful scales.
It seemed like nothing had changed from last summer, the beasts all remembered him and were excited that he was back. He fed, groomed and cleaned out their enclosures everyday, loving every minute of it. During meals he would ask Newt questions about beasts and his travels and Tina about her experiences about being an Auror.
"Newt hated Aurors when I met him actually, didn't like me very much either." Tina said with a smile on her face.
"Aurors first instinct is to kill anything they fear or don't understand." Newt said rolling his eyes.
Art laughed, enjoying the banter between them.
"So Art, newt says you just finished your third year, what classes did you take?" Tina asked.
"Quite a few actually. I had to ask teachers to teach me specifically because some subjects aren't taught at Hogwarts."
"Oh like what?" Tina asked, her curiosity peaked.
"Healing, Warding, and Dueling. I also took Occlumency in my second year. This year I took Runes and Care of Magical Beasts as electives though."
Tina looked stunned and Newt looked at Art carefully. "Those are high level subjects. You are able to cope with the workload?" Newt asked.
"Well I don't really get homework from the special classes as I use my personal time to learn from the teachers so it wasn't a big deal. Care of Magical Creatures was kind of a let down after working here." Art said, remembering the boring class.
Newt let out a slight laugh and nodding his head. His collection of creatures would be much more interesting than at Hogwarts. Tina was still shocked that Art was taking such high level classes like Healing and Dueling.
"Do you want to become a Healer?" she asked.
Art shook his head. "I don't know what I want to do. My parents left me with enough money to not work for a long time. I might just explore the world and find beasts."
Newt smiled, "That sounds like a brilliant plan."
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