Chapter 10. A New Case
According to the information Newt had left in his letter, Duncan found a brand-new black case in the leftmost room.
It was a case Newt had secretly made for him, in accordance with his earlier agreement with Duncan and behind Tina's back, one that could hold magical creatures.
Duncan flicked open the latch, leapt forward, and entered through the mouth of the case.
After a brief stretch of darkness, his feet landed on a wooden staircase slanting downwards.
Duncan stooped a little to avoid the boards overhead, stood on the stairs, and looked down.
The scene below was much the same as Newt's case: a small shed-like hut seemingly thrown together from planks, looking so rickety that a light breeze might topple it.
And because Newt had left in a hurry, none of the tools for caring for magical creatures had been put in yet, so the room felt a touch empty.
"Grandad really does have a soft spot for the rustic look!"
Duncan griped, bracing a hand against the wall beside him as he carefully went down the wobbling steps.
He decided he would renovate this place later — otherwise the day might come when, the moment he stepped in, a plank from the ceiling would drop and take him out from behind.
Picking his way through the shed with a pounding heart, Duncan opened the door and went out, casting his gaze into the distance.
The edges of the case's space were faintly visible, but the interior had expanded to the size of a small airfield.
A few thick timbers had been set into the ground, and white canvas partitioned the place into four areas.
Each area looked different.
Newt had used magic to create perfect habitats for each kind of creature.
Duncan stepped forward, ducked under a lifted tear at the corner of one canvas sheet, and entered an Arizona desert.
The next second, a clear birdsong rang out from high above, and a mighty Thunderbird was circling in the sky.
It looked somewhat like an enormous albatross, with patterns like clouds and a sun on its wings, splendid and multicoloured.
This Thunderbird was a descendant of Frank, the Thunderbird Newt had rescued in his youth in Egypt, and it used to live on the wastelands of Arizona.
Two years ago, when Duncan went with Newt to visit Frank, he took the chance to cosy up and win it over, and lured it here.
At this moment, the Thunderbird flying overhead spotted the tiny black dot below.
It cried out joyfully, flapped its wings, stirred up gust after gust, and plunged straight down from the azure sky towards where Duncan stood.
As the Thunderbird's emotions rose, dark clouds gathered above its habitat, lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and the wind howled as though a torrential downpour were about to break.
"Kray, don't get so excited — I've not brought a raincoat today," Duncan waved and shouted.
"Got it," the Thunderbird Kray answered.
It wheeled twice in the air, and only when the heavy dark clouds had completely dissipated and brilliant, blazing sunlight had returned to the sky did it beat its wings and descend slowly.
It settled on a boulder in front of Duncan and lowered its head to nuzzle his face tenderly with its broad beak.
Duncan felt a ticklish sensation.
He wrapped his arms around Kray's head and stroked its sleek feathers with his hand.
"How is it, Kray — are you settling into the new living environment?"
"A little small," Kray replied.
"Newt said this is your case — can I go out and play with you in future?"
"That's right," Duncan said with a smile.
"Bear with it for now.
I'll swap you into a bigger habitat later."
After chatting a bit to soothe it, Duncan lifted the canvas and entered the area next door.
It was a rolling, green expanse.
The two Erumpents he and Newt had rescued were roaming about at their leisure.
The injuries on their legs were already more than half healed; with a few more changes of medicine they should be right as rain.
The third area was a lake about the size of a football pitch.
When Duncan reached the bank, the water suddenly rippled in spreading rings, and a Kelpie in the shape of a horse leapt into mid-air.
Crystal droplets slid from its body and splashed all around, flashing with dazzling lustre in the sunlight.
A Kelpie could take on all sorts of shapes, but it most often appeared as a horse, draped with broad-leaf bulrushes as its mane, and by nature it was cruel.
It would often lure the careless onto its back, then plunge to the bottom of a river or lake to gobble them up, letting the victim's entrails float to the surface.
The largest Kelpie in the world was found in Scotland's Loch Ness, and it seemed to have developed a habit of craving the limelight.
From time to time it would take on some unique form and appear before Muggles to frighten them.
This behaviour caused the people of the International Confederation of Wizards endless headaches.
They had organised to capture it many times, but had never succeeded.
[Optional Quest: The Kelpie before you is emotionally abnormal; it seems to have contracted red-eye disease and needs urgent medication.]
[Quest Reward: Kelpie Affection ×30, virtual coins ×200, random item ×1]
At the sudden trigger of a quest, there was no joy in Duncan's heart; instead, he frowned.
"Grandad, did you put all the recently ill magical creatures into my case because you want me to be the hired muscle and treat them?"
Thinking of those two Erumpents, then looking at the Kelpie churning the distant water, Duncan had a bad feeling.
He immediately broke into a run towards the final area.
But the sight surprised him a little.
As far as the eye could see there were no magical creatures at all — only a lush, towering tree standing in the middle.
The sunlight falling here was blocked and cast a cool shade, while roots thick as dragons ran and coiled across the ground.
Puzzled, Duncan looked about.
He picked his way, with some effort, over the heaving roots and came beneath the great tree, where he saw, down a gentle slope, a cave of unseeable depth formed by a curving root and the giant trunk.
Duncan leaned forward to have a look and was about to go in when he spotted, on the side of the cave mouth, a somewhat irregular slip of paper that looked as if it had been torn off a notebook at random.
Duncan rose on tiptoe, waved a hand to take it, and gave it a glance.
The handwriting was Newt's, and it read: "I've heard that Hagrid has been secretly feeding a colony of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, and their numbers have exceeded what the forest can sustain, causing a dire impact on other creatures.
When you've time, you can go into the Forbidden Forest and find a few more to keep in your case.
Bring them back over the holidays."
When he finished reading, small black letters likewise appeared.
[Optional Quest: The Acromantulas' house in the Forbidden Forest is far too crowded — hurry and help them move house!]
[Quest Reward: Acromantula Affection ×50, virtual coins ×300]
"If you want Acromantulas, just say so — no need to make excuses…"
Duncan rolled his eyes.
"And what sort of grandad does that — his grandson hasn't even started school and he's teaching him to break school rules?
Tsk, tsk — how does Albus Dumbledore have a student like you!"
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