By late August, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, the Ministry of Magic's second-largest department, located on Level Four underground, was packed today. Wizard reporters clustered together, their long lenses and bulky cameras trained on the scene.
At the very center, two pure-white Unicorns' bodies twisted and warped. The white down on them gradually faded, and their forelegs rose upright. Yet their simultaneous transformation did not draw much attention, because almost everyone's eyes were fixed on the Veela in the middle of the room.
Fleur had already changed back from the Veela's original, terrifying form—with the head of a bird with a sharp, gaping beak and a pair of scale-covered wings growing from her shoulders—into human shape. Apart from her hair floating behind her head despite the lack of wind, her appearance had not changed much. However, the Veela bloodline's ability to make people infatuated and crazed seemed to have improved and strengthened after her contact with the Animagus transformation. Some people had already begun doing rather insane things, such as smashing their own Cameras or staring directly at Owen and Emily of the Harris Family.
The reason it was called insane was that the father and daughter were now one large and one small Basilisk, both dazzling green all over. The larger one had a bright red feather on its head, and their fangs looked like long, slender swords. Sensing the commotion around them, the two Basilisks straightened their bodies and rose upward, slowly returning to their human forms. Only after becoming human again did Emily and Owen open their eyes, but the watching wizards still did not quite dare meet their gaze.
Flashbulbs kept flaring dazzlingly. The reporters hammered their shutters madly, and streams of purple smoke spurted from their Cameras. Thick smoke drifted