"Hello, I'd like a copy of The Monster Book of Monsters…"
"Merlin help me."
The owner of Flourish and Blotts grabbed his hair and began ranting. "I don't know what's gotten into the new Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts this year, but he's gone completely mad—he actually made a book that can move on its own and is extremely aggressive the required textbook! And not just for one year either—third through seventh year, all of them!"
"A book this dangerous should be strapped up and locked in the Restricted Section!"
"Do you have any idea how much effort it took me to track down a supplier for this thing? Thank goodness Hogwarts' subsidies are decent… but that blasted supplier even talked me into stocking a batch of The Invisible Book of Invisibility. I must've had a Basilisk for a brain that day—what I got was several hundred kilos of air!"
"Merlin above…"
Avada twitched at the corner of his eye and offered some consolation. "Look on the bright side—at least they didn't try to sell you The Killing Curse Book of Killing Curses or The Cruciatus Curse Book of Cruciatus Curses…"
"Oh, I'd be thrilled if they did," the owner muttered. "The Aurors would shut them down in one sweep, and they'd never inflict these abominations on the market again."
Grumbling, he walked to a corner of the shop and opened a small door. If Avada wasn't mistaken, the space beyond had been temporarily expanded with an Extension Charm—and to a very generous size.
What is this, did he build a dedicated warehouse just for these things? There wouldn't be an arena in there, would there…?
The moment Avada followed him inside, a bone-chilling cold rushed over him, making him shiver in surprise.
Copies of The Monster Book of Monsters had been stacked neatly together, filling most of the room. Only a narrow passage—barely wide enough for one person—remained. And yet, the notoriously ferocious books were sitting there quietly, giving off no hint of their vicious nature at all…
As for why, Avada had a pretty good guess.
Every single book was encased in a thick block of ice.
That's right—the owner had simply hit each copy with a Freezing Charm, sealing them solidly inside ice bricks and cutting off any chance of misbehavior at the source.
"Be careful," the owner said with a worried look, pointing at the frozen books. "They look well-behaved now, but once they thaw out, they will bite. You'd best have a belt or a big clamp ready so you can restrain it immediately—otherwise, you might end up coming back here to buy all your textbooks again."
"Oh, and don't use fire to thaw them. I've already had several complaints—utter madness. Do people not know there are ways to raise temperature without flames? I hear Muggles have something called an induction cooker that works pretty well…"
Clearly traumatized by this batch of books, the owner rambled on and on until he finally realized the student in front of him was still waiting. He coughed awkwardly, raised a hand, and summoned a block of ice out from the frozen wall to hover beside him.
"Anything else?"
"Uh, yes—The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4."
"Oh? Fourth-year student?"
The owner raised an eyebrow, left the "ice cellar," and rummaged through the shelves. "I hear Miranda Goshawk is planning to write a new series—textbooks for those who've already graduated but want to continue full-time study instead of learning on the job…"
"Let's hope she finishes that grand project before she turns two hundred. Charms can branch into quite a few subfields. Still, she's only in her seventies—plenty of time yet. Here you are."
"Thanks."
Avada was just about to pull out his wand and cast a Levitation Charm on the massive ice block when he remembered that, strictly speaking, he wasn't supposed to be casting magic right now. Gritting his teeth against the cold, he accepted the block with one hand and the spellbook with the other, shivering again.
"Do you have a bag?"
…
Carrying a huge chunk of ice, Avada sneaked into a secluded corner of Diagon Alley. After confirming no one was around, he quickly pulled out his wand, melted the ice, and then jabbed the Monster Book without hesitation. The book, which had just begun to bare its teeth, instantly fell still.
"I still don't understand what kind of mindset leads someone to insist on making books alive…"
He held up the shaggy tome and examined it carefully. "It even has teeth along the edges. It's hard to believe the author wasn't deliberately trying to menace society… And of course, no author name."
Clicking his tongue, he flipped the book open and began reading on the spot, curious what kind of content could make Hagrid abandon the classic Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in favor of a textbook that tried to bite its readers.
"Uh…"
"Hmm…"
"Yikes…"
As he turned the pages, Avada's expression gradually twisted.
"The book itself is actually excellent. The material is objective and detailed, with tons of real examples and the author's own firsthand experiences—mostly involving being creatively brutalized by magical creatures. It presents their traits in a vivid, memorable way, and the theoretical explanations are surprisingly thorough…"
"But why is it that none of the creatures listed here are below XXXX danger level?!"
"Hippogriffs, Chimeras, Sphinxes, three-headed dogs, Nundus, dragons—every single one of them is rated XXXX or XXXXX!"
Avada blinked, momentarily at a loss. "If I remember correctly, Care of Magical Creatures isn't just theory—it's also about hands-on observation and interaction, right?"
"So the Hippogriff Hagrid brought out in the original story was already the safest thing in this book?!"
"If it weren't for that Malfoy incident, would he have eventually progressed to leading a dragon into class?"
"Oh—there's a Basilisk in here too. Maybe we'll get to 'play' with a Basilisk specimen in class? Speaking of which, it's been over half a year now—have the professors produced any research results yet? I should pick up a few academic journals later…"
"Wait—why are Dementors in here too?!"
Avada shivered again.
Considering Hagrid's inexplicable enthusiasm for dangerous magical creatures…
…maybe he should start practicing the Patronus Charm ahead of time after all.
(End of Chapter)