Chapter 267: Searching for Nagini
Early the next morning, Leonardo stepped into the private alchemy workshop assigned to him at Beauxbatons.
The instant he crossed the threshold, several faint but finely tuned ripples of magic swept over him, gentle yet thorough, as though an invisible force were examining him.
This was to guard against competitors smuggling in unregistered items and to keep the competition fair.
The room was spacious and well lit, stocked with every sort of alchemical equipment, from brass scales and multi-spouted cauldrons to precision crystal cutters.
On the shelves along the wall, all the materials Leonardo had registered and submitted the day before sat sorted and neatly arranged.
The rules for the free-crafting stage were strict. Competitors had to register all their materials in advance, and the school placed them here as a group.
Every time someone entered or left, they'd undergo the same magical inspection; aside from a wand, no personal items were allowed in, especially not any container carrying an Undetectable Extension Charm.
If more materials were needed partway through, they had to be freshly declared and go through the same process all over again.
Leonardo swept his gaze around once, confirmed everything was in order, walked to the centre of the workbench, and drew his wand.
The crafting began.
…
At the same time, thousands of miles away, deep within a stretch of untouched, primeval forest in Albania.
Cold mist curled among the bare branches.
Newt Scamander picked his way through the silent woodland, his breath condensing into white mist with every exhale.
Ever since learning from Leonardo, over half a month ago, that a peculiar great serpent might exist somewhere in this forest, and that it was very possibly his old friend Nagini, transformed by her Blood Curse, Newt had set off without delay, arriving here to begin this search with slim odds of success.
Albania was a small country with a sparse wizarding population, one that didn't even have a formal Ministry of Magic to speak of.
But precisely for that reason, this stretch of land had gone largely undisturbed by civilisation, nurturing all manner of rare magical creatures.
That same "richness" had, naturally, drawn the covetous attention of Dark wizards and illegal poachers too.
In the past, Newt had come here many times to protect the creatures of this land, so the place wasn't unfamiliar to him.
Before formally entering the forest to investigate, Newt followed his usual habit and first went to see the local, well-connected fixer he knew, a Portkey dealer he was on fairly friendly terms with.
At the height of his career, Newt had once been formally barred from entering over a hundred countries, purely because the various Ministries of Magic found his knack for causing chaos wherever he went, along with the pack of creatures in his case that always seemed to produce "surprises," an absolute headache.
And it was these Portkey dealers, operating in the grey areas, who'd become his "illegal" pathway for travelling the world and carrying on his work protecting magical creatures.
They tended to have information too, word drawn from the shadowy corners that never made it onto the open market.
The dealer's information gave Newt some hope: about a month ago, loggers had indeed caught sight of a snake at the edge of the forest, one "strange-looking and frighteningly large."
That news lifted his spirits somewhat. This forest before him was vast as an ocean, thick with vegetation, and searching for a single snake within it was already like finding a needle in a haystack.
What was more, it was the dead of winter now, and ordinary snakes had long since gone into hibernation.
Newt could only hope that Nagini, transformed into serpent form by her Blood Curse, had habits different from an ordinary snake's, and might still retain the ability to move about in the cold.
In a small, relatively open clearing in the woods, Newt came to a stop, unfastened the case with practised ease, and flipped open the latch.
The moment the lid sprang open, over a dozen nimble little shapes darted out in a flash: Crups that looked strikingly like Jack Russell Terriers, with forked tails; Nifflers with eyes darting restlessly about; pale grey Tebos…
All of them were skilled trackers.
Newt then pulled a handful of small magical charms from his pocket, alchemical devices Leonardo had given him to guard against dangerous ambushes.
He fastened one onto each little creature in turn as they prepared to set off and search.
"Please, my friends. Help me find an old friend."