A Letter from Afar

In Hagrid's Hut.

Harry and Ron squatted beside the glowing firewood, poking at the Fire Salamander darting around in the flames with twigs. Mars flew everywhere, and the Fire Salamander hissed and snarled.

Loren placed a few Blue Belladonna Flames in a clear glass jar of honey to lure three or four Fire Salamander into the jar, and then stopped filling it.

Loren put the lid on, brought the glass jar close to his eyes, observed the Fire Salamander clinging to the glass, and looked up happily at the big guy next to him. "This is enough, I couldn't keep up with any more. Thank you so much, Hagrid."

"Is that all you need? I thought you were going to use them to make Potions or Alchemy materials, and I was worried you wouldn't have enough..."

Hagrid waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about them being hard to care for. Just dump them in the fireplace in the Common Room, and these little guys will find their own food."

While the two were talking, Hermione took the glass jar from Loren and curiously observed the Fire Salamander.

Hagrid poured hot milk for the group, including a bowl for Fang, watching as the hound eagerly licked it, only to yelp and cry out in pain from the heat.

Hagrid chuckled and slapped the dog on the head, then turned to warn the young wizards to be careful of the heat.

"You Fire Salamander lizards have already learned..." Hagrid sat down on the tattered leather sofa. "But the cold weather will continue for a while, so I plan to get some Fire Crabs to teach you. The Black Lake is about to thaw."

"Fire Salamander, Fire Crabs, what's next, Ashwinder?" Ron joked.

Hermione put down the glass jar and reminded him, "Whatever the next one is, be careful, Professor Hagrid. We don't want to see a repeat of what happened to Babbity."

This title made Hagrid laugh, "Of course!"

The group chatted and played with the Fire Salamander, enjoying the warmth of the fire in the dead of winter.

Loren reached out and hugged Fang, rubbing its head with a grin. He pried open its eyelids to look at its pupils, lifted its ears to look at its ear canals, squeezed its lips to look at its teeth, and even lifted the wrinkles on its face to look at them.

Loren glanced at it and closed the book, then couldn't help but call out to the dog's owner beside him, "Hagrid, you should give Fang a bath! I suspect it might not be a black hunting dog."

"Well... Fang's fur is quite short, so she's more likely to catch a cold if she takes a bath in winter..."

Hagrid's tone was somewhat weak, and his face was slightly flushed. The reason was legitimate, but it was mostly because they were both lazy. Not to mention Fang, even Hagrid himself rarely took a bath in the winter.

The hound, Fang, seemed oblivious to the disdain in Loren's words, thinking he was playing some kind of game with it. It fluttered and burrowed into Loren's arms, playing right into his hands in every way, allowing Loren to observe its appearance more closely.

Fang is a black Neapolitan Mastiff, possibly with some Fantastic Beasts blood mixed in. It looks very big, a giant among hounds. Its torso is muscular, but the skin on its face hangs loosely. If a young wizard were to meet it for the first time, its fierce appearance would probably give him nightmares.

However, Loren had been with Yaya for two years, knew very well that Fang was a complete coward. She was too gentle to be fierce, and when she encountered other ferocious beasts, she would run to Hagrid for help as quickly as possible, looking pitiful like a little girl.

It can even scare away small creatures like Fire Salamander.

Hermione noticed his careful observation and scrutiny, frowned, leaned closer, and rubbed the soft flesh of Fang's body. She whispered in Loren's ear, "Do you want to become a puppy? Can you become cute, the fluffy kind?"

The warm breath tickled his ear, and Loren suddenly turned his head, baring his teeth and saying fiercely, "Who said I'm going to turn into a puppy? I'm going to turn you into a puppy!"

Hermione screamed in fright, then playfully slapped him on the back. She wanted to teach him a lesson, but then remembered that she hadn't fully mastered Human Transfiguration, so she angrily withdrew her hand and temporarily made a mental note of the grudge, planning to deal with it later.

On the other side, Harry and Ron were telling Hagrid about Quidditch. Their laughter and the occasional barking of Fang mingled together and drifted into the crackling woodpile, making the fire burn even brighter.

The second week of the new semester.

The Animagus class has resumed.

Professor McGonagall's first class of the new semester is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The young wizards in the classroom can be divided into three groups. The first group consists of outstanding students from the previous year. They had already completed the process of burying the Secret Potion before the Christmas holidays and are now just waiting for a thunderstorm to try Transfiguration.

The second group consists of students who started sucking on Mandrake Leaf last month; Hermione, Harry, and Ron are in this group.

The third group is the lagging group of salty fish. Some of them started sucking on Mandrake Leaf last month but have already failed, while others have not sucked on the leaves at all.

Loren doesn't belong to any of the three groups mentioned above. He has basically given up on Animagus, but he hasn't officially withdrawn from the course from Professor McGonagall yet, so he still came to this class.

Aside from reminding the students to pay attention to the time of the full moon this month, Professor McGonagall covered the same topics she had covered before, adding a few new points, but not many.

Loren propped his head up with his left hand, while his right index and middle fingers held a charcoal pencil, which he dangled. On the parchment on the table was a sketch of Fire Salamander, detailed in every detail, from the scales on the surface to the arrangement of its internal organs. The illustrations were clear and detailed, truly capturing the essence of anatomy books.

Of course, those Fire Salamander are still alive and well, sleeping in the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room.

These anatomical diagrams were drawn by him using materials he obtained from Professor Snape and combining them with the Fantasy Book.

"It really isn't much different from an ordinary lizard..." Loren muttered to himself.

In the past few days, he had tried to Transfiguration into Fire Salamander in the Fantasy Book Library, but he had no ability to live in flames or feed on fire. Even the Blue Belladonna Flames flames, which were at a lower temperature, dried up and cracked into pieces after only a few minutes of scorching, and turned to ashes after burning for a while longer.

Based on the current situation, it is speculated that the magic of Fantastic Beasts mainly comes from Magic Power. To simulate the magic of Fantastic Beasts, it is necessary to convert Magic Power into a special kind of alien Magic Power.

This leads to a strange cycle: instead of painstakingly converting Magic Power, it's better to delve into magic of the same category.

For example, the Fire Salamander's ability to inhabit flames can be replicated by mastering the spell of Water-repelling Charm, and can even block the Fiendfyre.

Loren casually labeled the names of the Fire Salamander's internal organs, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly that his experience seemed to confirm what Dumbledore had said: the most important thing for a wizard is magic.

"Wait... Dumbledore, Dumbledore..."

Loren's pen suddenly stopped, leaving a black dot on the parchment, "Fawkes the Phoenix!"

A sense of excitement rose within Loren.

Wizards' magic cannot completely replace the Magic Power of Fantastic Beasts!

Like the Phoenix's rebirth Magic Power, it is a kind of magic that no wizard has ever invented before.

Even those Immortal buried behind the truth of history can only carefully maintain their lives; they cannot be resurrected...

It seems that research on Fantastic Beasts must continue.

Suppressing the burning desire within him, Loren let out a soft breath.

An hour later, the bell rang, and Professor McGonagall gave a final reminder about the Mandrake before ending the lesson, packing up her textbooks and leaving the classroom.

"Hermione, take the book back for me. I'm going to ask Professor McGonagall to drop the course."

"Oh," Hermione replied in a muffled voice.

Loren flicked the tip of her nose with his index finger, got up and left the classroom, catching up with Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall Professor McGonagall, dressed in a dark green satin robe and with her hair piled in a heavy bun, strode forward with solemn elegance. Hearing the approaching footsteps, she merely glanced at him.

"Mr. Morgan, if you're here to apologize for being distracted throughout the entire class, I might consider forgiving you."

"Hehe..." Loren scratched his head and chuckled. "Sorry, Professor McGonagall, but although I was daydreaming, I was indeed thinking about things related to Transfiguration."

"Oh?" Professor McGonagall said casually, "It sounds like you've come to ask for my knowledge."

"Certainly!"

Loren answered confidently and with great assurance.

"... So I'm thinking that exploring the realm of Fantastic Beasts might inspire a different kind of magic."

After speaking, Loren glanced at Professor McGonagall and saw that the professor had not replied for a long time and seemed to be deep in thought. He picked up the tea on the desk and took a small sip.

Professor McGonagall glanced thoughtfully at the young wizard sitting opposite her, her gaze deep and thoughtful. After a brief silence, she did not respond to his thoughts about Fantastic Beasts, but instead asked, "Would you mind demonstrating your animal Transfiguration?"

Loren obediently put down his teacup, closed his eyes, and concentrated, constructing a mental image of a cat.

A faint white light emanated from his skin, transforming him into a white lion cat perched on the desk, its beautiful heterochromatic eyes looking at the professor.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, a glint of light flashing in her eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, as if she were itching to do something.

"Ahem..." Professor McGonagall suppressed the urge to pet the kitten and nodded calmly. "Change back."

A faint white light appeared, and Loren sat back down in his chair. After a period of practice, he had completely mastered the Transfiguration process between cat and human forms, and his Transfiguration speed was very fast.

"The Transfiguration process is somewhat similar to that of Animagus, but there are significant differences in the details..."

Professor McGonagall gradually entered her professional mode, carefully recalling her recent discovery. "Analyzing the eye color, it's not a complete imitation of Transfiguration, but rather it retains some of the physical characteristics of a wizard..."

"Yes, Professor..." Loren added, "Unlike Animagus animals that lose their Magic Power after Animagus Transformation, I can reverse the process by controlling a strange Magic Power within my body after Transfiguration."

Professor McGonagall frowned slightly, and slowly spoke as she pondered, "You said you can turn into an owl... Have you ever tried turning directly from one animal into another?"

"This..." Loren was stunned for a moment. He hadn't thought of this at all before, and shook his head to indicate his denial.

"You could try using that Magic Power to Transfiguration directly... or use that Magic Power to perform some simple spells that don't require a wand, preferably one that works with Transfiguration animals."

Professor McGonagall paused, then added, "For example, moving a ball, pulling a rope, supporting a jump, and so on..."

For the next half hour, Loren and Professor McGonagall had a detailed and thorough discussion about the actions and magic that could be attempted in cat form.

As Professor McGonagall continued to elaborate on her ideas and plans, Loren's eye twitched. He felt that Professor McGonagall's ideas were a bit too detailed, almost as if he had tried them before.

"These are just some of my thoughts. Your Transfiguration is different from Animagus's, so I can only offer some suggestions. Whether you adopt them or not is up to you..."

"Furthermore, Albus is right; the exploration of Fantastic Beasts should not take up your time for learning magic."

Professor McGonagall rattled off more than a dozen ideas in one go, and when she finished, she still seemed a little unsatisfied. She sighed and said, "You don't need to come to the Teaching Class anymore."

"Yes, Professor. If I have any progress or questions, I will come back to consult you again." Loren nodded in agreement, politely bid farewell to the professor, and left.

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, using Cleaning Charm to clean the tea set on the table and put it back in its place. Looking at the soft candlelight in the office and the cat tree piled up in the corner of the room, she fell into quiet thought and remained lost in thought for a long time.

Loren left the vice- Headmaster's office and went straight back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

The lounge was noisy. Apart from the group playing cards, chess, and chatting, there was a group of first-year wizards gathered in front of the fireplace. They had never seen Fire Salamander before, and they were all incredibly curious. Their faces were red from the heat of the flames, and their lips were dry and peeling, but they didn't leave.

Hermione was curled up in the single sofa by the window, buried in a thick book, a silly smile on her lips.

Suddenly someone leaned over and read aloud the title of the article she was reading, "The Wizards and Their Cats?"

"Bang!"

Hermione slammed the book shut and turned to look at him warily.

"I haven't even read the first paragraph yet!" Loren shook her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Is there something I can't see?"

Hermione's long eyelashes fluttered a few times, she pursed her lips without answering, but instead pulled out a letter from behind her and said slowly, "There's a letter for you, Hānhan just brought it over."

"Strange..."

Loren glanced at her suspiciously, took the letter, squeezed into the single sofa, and began to read it.

The pale yellow envelope had no postmark, and the sealing wax was somewhat blurred, making it only vaguely discernible that the seal was divided into four parts.

Loren felt a sense of doubt and immediately looked at the signature in the lower left corner of the letter:

Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor

Sincerely, Tom Gaunt