The first lesson the following day was Care of Magical Creatures. I knew everything I possibly could about magical creatures already, but I thought I might as well come along and help out. I was going to take Care of Magical Creatures for NEWTs, so I would need practice for the exams. I was the first one down to breakfast that day, and I hurriedly ate and prepared for my lesson, making sure to grab a copy of Newt's book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and put it in my bag.
I got to the class 5 minutes earlier than the teacher himself. I believed his name was... Professor Kettleburn. I took the opportunity to have a look at the area where we would be learning about the creatures. It looked beautiful. I had been there many times before, but I was always happy around the Care of Magical Creatures area. My thoughts were disrupted by the entering of the professor. I looked up at him, trying not to look like I was staring at him. He had... a peg leg, an eyepatch, and had mad spikey white hair, and generally looked mad. I loved it.
"Are you a third-year? Here for Care of Magical Creatures?" The professor asked.
"Yes, professor." I said, avoiding his eye contact.
"What's your name?" He asked.
I smiled. "I'm Lia Scamander, professor."
The professor seemed to realise something, as his facial expression changed. He smiled excitedly. "Lia Scamander! Newton Scamander's daughter?"
I nodded. "Yes, I'm Newt's daughter. Nice to meet you, professor."
The professor walked over to the front of the clearing as more students, Edwin and Ellen among them, entered the area.
"Right, well, gather, everyone."
I signalled for Edwin and Ellen to come to me. We walked closer to the area together, ready to revise magical creatures. The professor turned to us.
"Hello, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, and welcome to Care of Magical Creatures!" He said enthusiastically. To be honest, he looked more enthusiastic than us students.
He took out a Bowtruckle and held it on his hand.
"Apart from you three, Scamander, Goodwill, Emerson, could anyone tell me what creature this is?"
Anna put her hand up, and the professor smiled. "Yes..."
"Anna Roberts, Professor Kettleburn. It's a Bowtruckle."
Professor Kettleburn smiled again. "Correct! Now, Scamander, answer this. Why does this Bowtruckle like this tree, but not this one?" He pointed to two trees. I smiled.
"Well, it's because Bowtruckles only colonise in trees with wand-quality wood. The Willow tree has wand-quality wood, whereas the Silver Birch tree hasn't. That's why the Bowtruckle is attracted to the Willow tree and not-"
"The Silver Birch, exactly, Scamander! Five points for Hufflepuff! Now, Goodwill-" He smiled at Edwin, who looked up at him. "Could you tell me exactly why Bowtruckles are commonly used by thieves?"
"It's because Bowtruckles can pick locks, sir."
Professor Kettleburn laughed. "I'm going to have fun with you lot, aren't I? Five points to Gryffindor!" He said, before he turned to the other students. "Now, can anyone else tell me exactly what insect is used to distract a Bowtruckle long enough to cut wood from its tree?"
One of the Gryffindors put his hand up eagerly. Professor Kettleburn pointed to him. The Gryffindor smiled before answering. "A stag beetle."
"Um... it's, uh... it's actually a woodlouse." I said quietly, looking down.
"Well, I'm sorry, genius. I tried my best." The Gryffindor student said angrily.
"I'm sorry!" I said. I didn't want to appear conceited or rude. I don't think he was too happy, but I couldn't go back on what I'd said now. I remained fairly quiet for the rest of the lesson, only answering questions when Professor Kettleburn asked me specifically.
The next couple of months went by fairly quickly. Lessons came and passed, all of which Edwin, Ellen and I were striving at, thanks to us practicing outside of lessons (we also had Henry, Edwin's older brother, to thank for that!) Ellen's younger sister, Isla, visited the school after apparently leaving at the end of last year, and we had a nice few days together. Nothing too significant happened, until we got to the end of the first term, just before Christmas break...
I was staying at Hogwarts, as I still didn't get anywhere in terms of seeing Newt. That upset me a lot, but there wasn't anything I could do about it, as I didn't want to go behind Professor Dumbledore's back, and I definitely didn't want to spring the news on Newt so suddenly. Anyway, I was staying over the Christmas break, and it just so happened that Edwin was staying too. Thankfully, Evelyn wasn't staying, but Ellen had to return to her family to go to Germany on holiday, so she wouldn't be staying with us.
I was sat in the Great Hall, 2 days before Christmas, when Edwin came up to me and held out his hand.
"I want to take you somewhere quickly." He said, smiling. I looked at him, confused, but smiling.
"Where?" I asked, intrigued.
"You'll find out in a minute or two, now, won't you, Lia?" He said, chuckling. I took his hand and stood up, laughing softly.
Edwin held on to my hand as he led me over to the Creatures Reserve, where he pulled out his wand.
"Lumos." He whispered as he approached one of the areas of the Forest. I silently followed, confused.
My confusion was replaced by amazement as I saw a baby Chinese Fireball stood in the middle of the area, walking around in circles. I turned to Edwin.
"How long has she been there?" I whispered.
"No longer than a day." Edwin replied. "She's hurt, though. Right-"
"Right wing. Yes..." I said, before I slowly and silently approached it, lowering my head and holding out my hand. The baby dragon noticed me and cried out. I immediately stopped and let her come to me, which she cautiously did. I stroked her and slowly, but surely, gained her trust. I played with her for half an hour or so, checking her movement and making sure nothing else was hurt. When I was convinced that the only problem was her right wing, I held out my hand again and she let me stroke her, rubbing against me at times. After a brief inspection, I realised the issue.
"It's broken. Look, you can see the slight bend. She'll need to stay in the reserve for a couple of days, just so I can make sure nothing else is wrong. But that break is an easy fix. I'll have to do it later, though. Otherwise I might lose her trust."
I stood up and walked back to where Edwin was stood. He nodded and we quietly left the baby dragon.
"What if she escapes?" Edwin asked.
I sighed. "Well, we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. We can't tie her up, we have to let her roam around. If we did tie her up, she'd just escape anyway, and it would mean she wouldn't trust either of us at all. We just have to hope she doesn't wander."
We got back to the castle, where we were alone. We passed a corridor on the seventh floor, where I noticed something strange.
"Hey, Edwin." I said, stopping him. "Why does this archway look... so out of place?"
Edwin turned to look where I pointed. It was a large arch in the wall, like a hidden door. Edwin smiled. "Oh, we will have fun this Christmas..."
And before I could reply, he started pacing past the door, and back to the other side of the door. I laughed as he did it again.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" I asked as he did it a final time.
"You'll see..." He said, smiling. The archway turned brown and a large door appeared. I looked at it, amazed. He chuckled at my expression.
"Come on in, then." He said, entering the room. I followed in and was further amazed as I saw a huge room full of broomsticks and Quidditch clothes. It was like an entire Quidditch changing room, except with some hoops and other things to practice with.
"What is this place?" I asked, staring at everything.
"Welcome, Lia Scamander, to the Room of Requirement."
Edwin was right - we did have fun over the break! We spent a bit of time experimenting with the Room of Requirement (it just so happened that the Room of Requirement always turned into a magical creatures sanctuary when I entered it), and I managed to heal the baby dragon and kept her in a separate part of the Reserve so she didn't hurt the other creatures. We named her Longwei, a Chinese name meaning dragon, which I definitely (definitely) came up with(!) ... (Well done, Edwin...!)
And then, at long last, it finally came to Christmas day...
"Lia!" I woke up to Fern (who was also staying over the holidays) tapping my shoulder frantically. I sat up, confused.
"Wha-What?" I said, rubbing my eyes.
"Come on, lazybones! Edwin's got a surprise for you!" I grabbed my wand and switched my night clothes for some Muggle clothes, before Fern grabbed me by the arm and raced out of the dorm.
"Accio!" I said hurriedly as two wrapped boxes shot through the air and into my hands. Fern giggled.
"And what're those?" She asked excitedly.
"Presents. What's the time?" I asked, still half-asleep.
Fern laughed. "Only 8:30!" I groaned, rolling my eyes. 8:30? Too early for holidays! Fern smirked, then led me into the Great Hall, where Edwin was sat with a small box, and we sat down. Edwin saw the state of me and raised his eyebrows, chuckling.
"Hello, Lia." He said, clearly trying not to laugh. I smiled.
"Hi..." I said wearily. Edwin laughed, then handed me the box.
"Merry Christmas, Lia Scamander." I took it and carefully opened it. Inside were a few Chocolate Frogs and a locket attached to a chain with a picture of Edwin and me. I remembered having the photo taken, too. I smiled and hugged Edwin, who looked mildly shocked.
"Whoa! Okay!" He said in between laughs.
"Thanks, Edwin..." I released him and gave him one of the boxes, handing Fern the other one. "Merry Christmas, you two!" Fern opened hers first and picked up the Hufflepuff jumper I brought her. She smiled.
"Woah, thanks, Lia!" She said, before putting it on. Turns out it was too big for her, but oh well. Edwin opened his present too and took out a small pendent and a Gryffindor jumper. He laughed.
"Great minds think alike, eh?" He hugged me. "Thanks, Lia."
The next 6 or 7 months went smoothly, we all enjoyed lessons and spending time together. Edwin, Ellen and I spent loads of time with lots of the creatures from around the school, and we're pretty sure we were Professor Prendergast's favourite students. Evelyn didn't really do much to annoy us (apart from a few words with multiple professors about arguing and duelling...). Oh, and Hufflepuff won the House Cup! Apparently, us Hufflepuffs hadn't won it for 5 years, so we were all very happy when we found out, especially the students higher up in the school! The end of the year came faster than I was expecting it to, and before any of us knew, we were back at school for 4th year...
263. Oh, no. He's at it again, everyone. Please would someone work out what he's talking about, it's scary. (Extra credit if you know what the hell I'm talking about.)
Edit: Okay, I've finally worked it out. Let's see if all of you can work it out too. Or maybe I'm just messing with you all. Only my brother and I can tell. Mwahahaha.
Okay, I'll shut up now! :D