For some reason, at the moment William saw the old man before him, a peculiar feeling arose within him as if from nowhere...
It was as if... like he smelled the scent of a fellow creature?
Does this mean... could it be that Ning is also a Pokémon trainer?
So, are you up for a thrilling Pokémon duel with me?
Almost instinctively, William reached for a non-existent Master Ball and his gaze fell on the suitcase in the old man's right hand, keenly sensing it as the Pokeball where his Pokémon were stored because even from just a glance he could feel a familiar scent—
Yes, there's definitely a Niffler in that case, maybe more than one.
Seeing William's subconscious step back (actually reaching for his pocket), the old man's eyelid couldn't help but twitch a bit, his slightly awkward personality with mild social anxiety leaving him unsure how to continue the conversation, even though the initial approach had been the result of significant mental preparation.
Now it looks like he's been guarded against.
All right, thought Newt Scamander, if someone else had spoken to him this way, his reaction might be even more exaggerated than William's, but...
Looking at the little black dog in William's arms, Newt struggled internally for a moment but ultimately decided to press forward, reaching out without hesitation to take the puppy from William's embrace...
Clearly, Newt hadn't initially realized how abrupt his actions were, as William, armed with an overwhelmingly strong sense of territory, almost instinctively aimed his magic wand at the old man's forehead at Newt's hand's movement, even if he was mistaken and this was merely a Muggle veterinarian, a Forgetfulness Spell, a simple yet effective charm, would smoothly allow him to escape.
"Woo—"
In the instant of their standoff, Fluffy in William's arms suddenly let out a short bark, and then, "Ugh—" it burped loudly, its dog face showing a human-like discomfort. This couldn't be helped; the moon gnomon was enchanted, and William wasn't planning to forcefully dismantle it, thus he needed a creature to drink the magic potion inside dry.
William dared not challenge his stomach's limit; Norbert seemed to have sensed the misfortune early, and had already escaped ahead of time; as for those Nifflers... in William's dilemma, in the end, only Fluffy chose to command its two dim-witted brothers to step up and accept this glorious task.
Er Mao and Xiaoming eagerly tasted the magic potion, only to struggle backwards, but Fluffy firmly held them against the moon gnomon, licking the potion clean. With three heads and three brains, Fluffy evidently didn't taste the flavor, yet it forgot they shared the same belly.
Thus, Fluffy simply collapsed.
William thought the thick-skinned Three-Headed Dog wouldn't suffer any major side effects, but that magic potion... even with just a lick, he felt a repulsion spreading from inside out, a reaction worse than the mind-souring potion Snape had brewed for Harry (as Snape himself named it) which was nauseating enough.
So perhaps the Three-Headed Dog's reaction wasn't all that exaggerated? William figured if he drank it, he'd end up half-dead as well.
"It looks like it's in quite bad shape..."
Seeing Fluffy's expression, the old man looked worried. Ignoring the wand aimed at his forehead, he reached forward once more.
"Are you... a healer?"
William's expression flickered briefly, observing the genuinely concerned old man, he asked instinctively.
"At least in taking care of these creatures, yes."
With William starting to lower his guard, Newt pursed his lips into a smile, taking the Three-Headed Dog from William's arms, and the next moment, the originally single-headed puppy returned to its original form. Apart from the middle head, Fluffy appeared somewhat spirited, while the other two heads drooped weakly.
"Awww~~~ (I seem to see great-grandma)"
Feeling Newt's hand upon its forehead, Er Mao instinctively howled—but unlike William, who could communicate seamlessly with various magical creatures, Newt didn't understand the meaning behind Er Mao's cry, continuing his examination while conversing with William without even raising his head—
"I'm Newt, Newt Scamander."
Oh, the name sounded familiar?
William paused for a moment, then recalled seeing the name in one of his textbooks.
Yikes, a celebrity!
"You can call me William, by the way, were you at Hogwarts some time ago?"
"Are you a... uh, student from Hogwarts?"
Hearing the question, Newt instinctively raised his head to look, pausing briefly in thought before his gaze wandered over William a moment, finally offering a seemingly most reasonable response, although William appeared fully adult, he seemed a bit young to be a professor.
Actually, if in England, seeing a wizard this age, one could easily deduce the person is a Hogwarts student, but evidently, they were now at the base of Mount Olympus, a place where meeting acquaintances had seemed like a distant dream—
Newt had secretly slipped away from Dorset County, his years of comfortable living clearly reawakening the Gryffindor genes in this former Hufflepuff senior.
Thus, hearing the news from Dumbledore, he packed up half his belongings and stealthily made his way into the Olympus Mountain Range, where he remained for the better part of a month, finding numerous unique Greek species, but had not yet seen his target—