Ashwinder Disaster

"The Ashwinder is born from magical flames. It emerges from the ashes, swims to dark corners to lay its eggs, and leaves a trail of ash behind it. Its lifespan is only one hour. After laying its eggs in a secluded place, its body will disintegrate and turn to dust. The Ashwinder Egg are red and have extremely high heat."

--As Newt wrote in his book, * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to Find Them*.

That grayish-white "earthworm" was actually an Ashwinder that Professor Kettleburn had enlarged with Engorgement Charm.

As Professor Birley prepared to stop the duel between the two actors, the red light flashing in its eyes suddenly began to flicker violently.

Then, the giant Ashwinder uncontrollably rushed down from the stage, crawling towards a group of young Slytherin wizards.

Xiwen saw Lestrange and Avery sitting in the crowd, talking animatedly and confidently telling others that this was part of the Christmas dinner program, trying to appear knowledgeable...

Upon seeing the two people, Xiwen instinctively glanced to Professor Slughorn's right, only to find that Riddle had vanished without a trace.

"Professor, where is Riddle?" Xiwen asked, startled.

"Tom just said he needed to use the restroom and left the Great Hall early," Professor Slughorn said gravely, pulling out his Xiwen. "It seems he left at just the right time, narrowly escaping danger."

Xiwen frowned, feeling that something was amiss.

However, now was not the time for doubt. The Ashwinder moved swiftly, quickly slithering up to Lestrange and Avery. Seeing the serpent's ugly face and ferocious eyes, the two finally showed expressions of panic and fear, no longer assuming this was an exciting banquet.

"Silvanus, look what you've done now?!" Headmaster Dippet suddenly stood up and roared. "If you can't control your Fantastic Beasts, don't bring them into the castle!"

The old headmaster raised his wand, aimed it at the Ashwinder, and cast Shrinking Charm, trying to reduce the Ashwinder's danger level to an ordinary level.

However, at that moment, a strange hissing sound came from somewhere.

Upon hearing this strange sound, the red light in the Ashwinder's eyes immediately flickered. Then, before Headmaster Dippet's Shrinking Charm Accio, its entire body suddenly exploded, turning into a blazing inferno that illuminated the entire Great Hall!

Professor Merrythought and Professor Slughorn had been on guard against the Ashwinder going out of control. They simultaneously chanted a spell, creating a thick, transparent barrier in front of the young wizards to block the impact of the Ashwinder's explosion.

However, the Great Hall's decorations were not so fortunate.

The twelve Christmas trees surrounding the hall and the numerous mistletoe plants in the sky were instantly ignited, bursting into flames. The wooden floor of the Great Hall was quickly engulfed by the flames, and the fire gradually spread throughout the entire Great Hall.

To make matters worse, Professor Birley rushed onto the stage, intending to stop the duel between the two actors. However, the violent explosion of the Ashwinder drew his attention, and he was caught off guard, struck on the head simultaneously by two spells from the actor playing the Unlucky Knight and Amata.

The spells cast by Hogwarts' upperclassmen are usually quite powerful, not to mention that these two actors are already considered excellent. Professor Birley collapsed to the ground in agony, his head growing a whole size larger!

"Professor!"

"Professor Birley!"

Realizing they had made a grave mistake, the two actors finally stopped their duel, fueled by love turned to hate, and helped Professor Birley up from the ground.

Under these circumstances, the entire Great Hall became a complete mess!

Inside the Great Hall, some faculty and students were desperately trying to put out the fire, some were frantically dodging to areas away from the flames, and others were chaotically crowding together and rushing towards the Great Hall entrance...

"Calm down, everyone! It's just a small fire!" Headmaster Dippet stomped his foot on the table and shouted from his elevated position. "Now, all students, stop moving!"

"Upper-grade students should use the Shield Charm and the Impervius Charm to protect themselves and the lower-grade wizards around them. Lower-grade students should move closer to the upper-grade wizards in an orderly fashion!"

Thanks to Headmaster Dippet's rational arrangements, the situation finally improved.

The professors used Flame-Freezing Charm and Water-Making Charm to suppress the fire in the Great Hall, gradually extinguishing the blaze caused by the Ashwinder.

"Huma, help the injured!" After extinguishing the fire, Headmaster Dippet stepped down from the table and said to Mrs. Dallaire.

Mrs. Dallaire had just finished dealing with the effects of the Pimple Jinx on the actress playing Asha and was examining Professor Birley. Hearing Headmaster Dippet's instructions, she nodded slightly.

Everyone in the Great Hall was terrified, but fortunately, most of them had experience dealing with the castle's collapse last year, so they weren't too at a loss. Even the first-year wizards who hadn't experienced last year's events contributed to the Great Hall's recovery under the guidance of their seniors.

After dealing with the impact of the fire, everyone gradually calmed down, and Headmaster Dippet instructed the Prefect who remained at school to lead the students back to the common room.

Today's Christmas party ended hastily amidst a mess.

Xiwen didn't follow the Prefect back to the common room. He had a question on his mind and planned to find Riddle to ask him about it.

However, as he passed a Christmas tree that was half-burnt, he suddenly noticed a faint red glow beneath it. Looking back at the rest of the Great Hall, he could see that most corners were radiating a flame-like red light.

"Watch out! There might be Ashwinder laying eggs!" Professor Kettleburn noticed this at the same time and shouted frantically from the side of the stage. "Freeze them with Freezing Charm!"

At this moment, the red light emitted by the Ashwinder Egg became increasingly pronounced, a sign that they were about to hatch into new Ashwinder. If so many baby Ashwinder were to hatch, the Great Hall would be engulfed in flames!

However, there were simply too many Ashwinder Eggs. The professors didn't have time to deal with them all in a short period of time. They could only freeze a very small number of them with Freezing Charm, and then watch helplessly as many of the Ashwinder Egg, which had turned bright red, hatched into new Ashwinder!

Seeing the situation was turning against him, Xiwen gritted his teeth and then slammed his hand heavily on the ground.

Iktalon's Icy Tendrils!

Wherever the red Ashwinder Egg were, several icy blue tentacles suddenly emerged from the ground, wrapping around the eggs that were about to hatch and freezing them completely.

A disaster vanished in an instant...