As soon as Albert opened his dorm room door, he was startled to see a dark shadow scurry past his feet. He thought Tom was trying to get out when the door opened, so he instinctively reached into his pocket,ready to pull out his wand to summon Tom back, but instead found something furry brushing against his ankle.
"Okay, I'll go and prepare your lunch now."
Albert bent down,picked Tom up , and closed the door with his foot.
She opened a drawer full of cat food and canned cat food, pushed Tom's head to the side, pulled out a can of cat food, opened it, and mixed it with the cat food in a bowl. Then she waved her magic wand , emptied the water from another bowl, and filled it with fresh water.
"Looks like I'll have to ask the others how they feed their cats at school." After Tom finished his meal, Albert picked him up and weighed him in his hands. He was heavy, as usual.
"You need to lose weight. Come on, let me take you to the common room . It'll be your activity area for a long time."
After Tom settled into the dorm environment, Albert allowedhim to roam freely in the Gryffindor Common Room , then gradually expanded his activities to help him adjust to the castle setting, meet more students, and understand people's intentions toward him so that he wouldn't be exploited later.
At lunchtime, there weren't many people in the Gryffindor Common Room . Albert found an empty seat and sat down, taking his watch out of his pocket to check the time . He had planned to let Tom roam freely in the Common Room under his supervision , but he quickly realized his cat had no intention of wandering around. Instead, he jumped onto the table next to Albert and lay down, dozing off.
"Eat your meal, then go to sleep. You're really amazing!"
Albert raised his hand, stroked Tom's head , and sighed softly, saying, "If you don't exercise, you'll become like a ball."
Someone nearby was watching the fat cat with curiosity, whispering and trying to suppress laughter. When Albert turned around, he saw two young girls talking; he didn't recognize them.
Hmm, they must be first or second-year students. They seemed a little embarrassed when they noticed Albert looking at them, and quickly turned around and walked away.
Albert averted his gaze anda cat toy from his pocket, trying to move his cat.
After spendingabout an hour in the common room , Albert took Tom back to the dormand thenused the time turner to go back an hour.
He went straight to the library but found that Fred , George , and Lee Jordan hadn't arrived yet . This time, it was up to him to reserve seats for the three of them.
Shortly afterward, the three of them entered the library one by one and were surprised to find that Albert had arrived before them .
On the first day of school, the school library was as crowded as usual; many were hurrying to finish their holiday homework.
Fred was delighted by this, completely forgetting that he himself had once been one of them.
The first class of the afternoon was Care of Magical Creatures, held in an open area on the edge of the Forbidden Forest . Professor Kettleburn had a good reputation at the school, and many students had enrolled in his class.
This elderly professor had taught at the school for many years and knew how to awaken students' interest in protecting magical creatures.
With Hagrid's help, Professor Kettleburnlit a fire for everyone and told themthat there were many Fire Salamanders inside , andthat understanding Fire Salamanders was the lesson of the day.
Everyone was sitting around the fire, listening to the Professor and observing the fire salamanders within it . Kettleburn was explaining this magical creature.
The way the lesson was conducted was very engaging and immediately captured everyone's attention.
Professor Kettleburn, pointinga twig at the Fire Salamanders in the bonfire, told everyone: " Fire Salamanders are born in fire and feed on fire. As long as the bonfire in front of them doesn't go out, they will continue to live."
"What if the fire goes out?" asked a Ravenclaw girl, raising her hand.
"After emerging from the fire, fire salamanders die quickly."
"Wouldn't they be very pathetic?"
The bonfire would eventually go out, which meant the fire salamanders inside would soon die.
Professor Kettleburn raised his hand to silence everyone.
" If you regularly feed the Fire Salamanders the right amount of chili powder after they come out of the fire , you can delay their death, but they can only live for a maximum of six hours," he told everyone. " I will bring the Fire Salamanders back here after the bonfire goes out . Usually, the Wizards need to create a special environment for them to survive forever ."
Albert knew this because Fire Salamanders represented the number 6 in the Runic alphabet.
"Of course, when feeding fire salamanders chili powder, you shouldn't feed them too much." Professor Kettleburn demonstrated that fire salamanders should not be given excessive amounts of chili powder .
Fire salamanders that ate too much chili powder had shinier skin and constantly spewed sparks, which astonished the Professor . Kettleburn's white beard was ablaze.
"That's the situation. You need to feed them chili powder every ten minutes." Professor Kettleburn shook the sparks from his beard and tossed the Fire Salamander back into the bonfire. "By the way, keeping a Fire Salamander alive for more than an hour at normal temperature is one of the annual final exam questions."
Next, Professor Kettleburn asked everyone to collect wood and leaves from the edge of the forest to make the fire burn stronger so they could observe the color changes of the fire salamanders .
The fire salamander's color changes depending on the flame temperature. If the flame temperature is high, it tends towards blue; if the flame temperature is low, it gradually turns bright red. At room temperature, it is a vibrant orange-red color.
Everyone who watched the fire salamanders moving swiftly amidst the crackling of the wood thought the lesson was very interesting.
Albert used his magic wand to conjure a Fire Salamander from the bonfire. Immediately after emerging from the flames, its skin turned a vibrant orange-red and was still slightly warm in his hand.
Fred and the others immediately gathered around, observing the fire salamander's reaction, feeling as if its body were burning with fire.
The fire salamander quickly broke free from Albert's grasp , fell to the ground, and tried to climb back into the bonfire, but Fred grabbed it by the tail.
The poor fire salamander escaped by flicking off its tail and quickly disappeared into the fire.
Fred looked at the wriggling lizard tail in his hand, and suddenly didn't know what to say.
"Could it be that the fire salamander's scales rotted away, causing it to lose its tail?" the professor asked. Kettleburn, surprised to see the tail in Fred's handasked in astonishment.
The second one's face showed a touch of embarrassment; it was clear that the Fire Salamander's tail loss had nothing to do with decaying scales.
The professor said , " Fire salamanders , just like dragons, can suffer from scale decay. When their scales decay, they lose their tails. If you are keeping a fire salamander and encounter this condition, all you need to do to treat it is apply a little chili powder." Kettleburn then asked the students chatting with him, "Why don't you write this down somewhere?"
"Sir, is there anything special about Fire Salamanders ?" Fred flicked his tail and changed the subject. "I mean, why do wizards keep them?"
" Fire salamander blood has powerful healing and regenerative properties and can be used to make various potions . That's one of the reasons why wizards keep fire salamanders ," Professor Kettleburn explained.
" How are we going to get blood from the fire salamander ?" Albert asked . "They don't seem to have much blood."
"Excellent. You were supposed to learn this next year. If you'd like to, of course." Professor Kettleburn waved his wand , and a Fire Salamander flew from the bonfire and landed in his hand.
"As we've said before, fire salamanders die quickly after coming out of the fire, so you need to be quick when taking blood." Professor Kettleburn took out a small knife and a test tube, demonstrating how to take blood from a fire salamander .
The method was simple: Make a cut on the hind leg of the fire salamander near its tail, then milk it from head to tail, as if you were squeezing a cow.
Yes, that was a very simple and crude method.
But what about stopping the bleeding?
The blood of the fire salamander has powerful healing properties, and the wound heals spontaneously in a short time.
"The force must be measured, otherwise it will cause the Fire Salamander's internal organs to rupture. While this may not kill them, it will greatly distress the Fire Salamander ." Professor Kettleburn threw the Fire Salamander, from which he had drained blood, back into the fire and continued, "It's best to wear gloves when draining blood, otherwise you might get burned."
"Of course, if you need Fire Salamander blood, you can buy it from a pharmacy. A small bottle costs ten sickle coins."
George mumbled something: "..."
" Feeding Fire Salamanders is easy; the only problem is that the bloodletting process is complicated, and many Wizards are unwilling to do it, even though Fire Salamander blood is needed in many places." Professor Kettleburn expressed his concern about this situation and asked everyone to continue observing the fire salamanders , especially how they feed.
Fred and George wanted to "rescue" the Fire Salamanders from their Care of Magical Creatures class, but Albert approached it with skepticism. How could he not know Fred's character? So he absolutely refused to help them with making bottles and producing the blue flames that could be placed inside them.
In the end , the Twins had to give up; even if they took the Fire Salamander , it wouldn't have lived for long anyway.
"We just want to keep a fire salamander ," Fred grumbled . "You have a cat, Lee Jordan has a spider, and we don't have a pet yet."
"I don't think Snape would want you bringing that thing into the Potions Classroom ," Albert reminded them. "Also, what do you plan to feed him?"
George blinked honestly and said,We want to see what happens if we feeda fire salamander fireworks." Fred's words didn't fool Albert at all.
"That's a good idea." Lee Jordan's eyes lit up, and he added, " We can get a fire salamander and try it next time."