Harry put away the letter, raised his head, and sure enough saw a stranger sitting among the staff seats. He was sitting between Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore. Hagrid looked at him with a fan-boy expression, while the man had his head down, seemingly either communicating with Dumbledore or listening to him speak.
Could this be Mr. Scamander?
He glanced sideways, noticing that other professors looked as usual, but Professor Lockhart had an unusually strange expression when looking at Mr. Scamander.
As if there was some enmity between them.
Perhaps because Mr. Scamander is also a bestselling author, Harry thought, like how Virginia Woolf greatly disdained D.H. Lawrence?
With this question in mind, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room, but all night, no one came looking for him.
However, the next day, Harry received an invitation from Hagrid, saying that Professor Scamander was already waiting for him at Hagrid's hut.
Harry quickly set off for Hagrid's hut, intending to meet this expert in magical creatures.
Once inside the hut, Harry pushed the door open to find Hagrid busily boiling water, while an elderly man sat with his head down in a chair nearby.
"Oh, Harry." Hagrid greeted, setting down the kettle, "You've come at a good time. Let me introduce you. This is the expert on magical creatures, Mr. Newt Scamander."
Harry stepped forward and extended his hand.
"Hello, Mr. Scamander."
The old man still had his head lowered, seemingly unable to meet Harry's gaze—probably due to social anxiety.
He reached out to shake Harry's hand, "Hello, Mr. Potter, I... I've heard about you."
Before Harry could say anything, Mr. Scamander raised his head, looking at him with sparkling eyes.
"The unicorn you mentioned—where is she?"
"Uh, Pabi isn't in the Forbidden Forest right now," Harry said honestly. "During the summer, I went to France, and Mr. Leme said that her health wasn't good, needing some care, so I left her at Mr. Leme's place…"
"You actually know Mr. Leme?" "When did you go to France?"
Both Mr. Scamander and Hagrid asked together, the former curious, and the latter concerned.
"Mr. Leme and I are friends, after all, I gave him the magic stone…" Harry gestured with his hand.
"Oh." Hagrid nodded, imagining Dumbledore introducing Harry to Mr. Leme...
Mr. Scamander nodded knowingly and asked, "The unicorn you mentioned—Miss Pabi, what is she usually like? Could you tell me in detail?"
"Hmm…" Harry organized his thoughts. "I'd say Pabi is usually very cheerful. She likes human food—and grass. Oh, as I mentioned in my letter, after eating the chocolate I bought, she said the chocolate was sweet, yet the taste of the chocolate itself was bitter."
"Could I try the taste of the chocolate?" Mr. Scamander asked.
Harry took out some chocolate from his wallet and handed it to Mr. Scamander.
"Cool wallet—it seems like it has the traceless stretching spell?" Mr. Scamander asked interestedly, "You can hardly find this kind of thing on the market now."
"Gringotts gave it to me," Harry spoke truthfully.
Hearing this, both Mr. Scamander and Hagrid found it to be a joking remark.
"Haha, those stingy goblins at Gringotts, how could they possibly give you such a thing?" Hagrid chuckled, stroking his beard, "They are stingy to the extreme, with an unimaginable pursuit of wealth—you'd be better off saying you got it in Diagon Alley, but I must warn you, Diagon Alley is very dangerous, and young wizards like you should never wander in there—beware of dark wizards grabbing you!"
Saying this, Hagrid reached out his hand like a claw, playfully scaring Harry.
"Indeed, Diagon Alley is terrifying." Harry recited, "Thank you for the warning, Hagrid."
"Good you know." Hagrid patted his shoulder, "Listen to what Mr. Scamander has to say."
Mr. Scamander picked up the piece of chocolate, carefully broke off a small piece, and placed it in his mouth, savoring it.
"Pure dark chocolate, with at least ninety-five percent intensity." Mr. Scamander tasted thoughtfully, "Ordinarily, unicorns would very much dislike this flavor…"
"So..." Harry probed.
"If it were a normal unicorn, she certainly wouldn't eat chocolate, and moreover wouldn't think it's sweet." Mr. Scamander stated confidently, "Also, under general circumstances, unicorns don't speak…"
This awakened Harry. Indeed, though Pabi was a unicorn technically, she was essentially still human, being a magical Magus.
Harry pondered, wondering if it was because Pabi was human that she liked the taste of chocolate?
But it's hard to say she would call something bitter sweet...
"But this kind of situation is also hard to clearly explain," Mr. Scamander considered for a moment. "After all, people's constitutions differ, and it's hard to say if unicorns undergo some changes—as you mentioned Miss Pabi can talk, and that's the logic."
"I see." Harry felt inwardly uncertain, planning to ask Vivi later that night.
Since Pabi was a magic Magus, Harry was truly a bit worried if anyone learned the truth, would there be anyone harming Pabi.
But Mr. Leme was different. He was an old friend of Vivi's parents, and Vivi trusted him very much—even Cassandra, who always held others in disdain, showed respect when mentioning Mr. Leme.