HP: For a better world

Chapter 106 Newt's Journey to Yellowstone: The Missing Leopard Cub

corridor.

Professor McGonagall was seriously emphasizing to Moody the school rules that professors must abide by, and Harry and Ron followed behind boredly.

"...You are retired now, Alastor. You must learn to live a normal life," Professor McGonagall sighed, slowing down her pace as she walked and waiting for Moody, who was a little inconvenient to move. "There are no criminals studying here... Professor Dumbledore has been invited to attend the International Confederation of Wizards meeting today. I will report on your behavior today when he returns."

"I have a mouth," said Moody gruffly. "I'll speak for myself."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Alastor." McGonagall said seriously, "But - no, your behavior today is very serious, I must report it, you should learn from it - I asked you to be a professor, not to be tortured!"

They walked to the Gryffindor Headmaster's office, and Professor McGonagall opened it with a flick of her wand, then turned back and stared sternly at the two students who were dawdling before walking in.

She closed the door.

Moody limped in beside her. "Feast?" he asked casually. "Dumbledore often complained to me that he had too many meetings. What are you asking him to do this time?" He said jokingly, picking up the gourd and holding it in Professor McGonagall's direction. "Want some?"

Professor McGonagall coughed and glanced at Harry and Ron who were still there: "...No, there are still two students here." She lowered her voice, held the gourd and pushed it back.

Moody withdrew his hand nonchalantly and took a few sips himself.

"Discussing the competition," Professor McGonagall said in a low voice, "The magical creatures needed for the first project have not been delivered yet... because the matter at the Magical Congress of the United States of America has not been resolved. They are going to jointly put pressure on them and ask them to get it done as soon as possible so as to resume the cross-border transportation of magical creatures."

Professor McGonagall said helplessly, "Otherwise, if the venue is built but the competition hasn't started yet, it will disrupt the progress of the entire competition. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have already set an arrival time. They will arrive one or two weeks before the competition starts and adapt to life at Hogwarts."

"Sounds pretty good."

Moody responded.

Mag walked to the desk, took out two pieces of parchment from the table and handed them to him.

"What is this?" Moody frowned.

"This is the system that professors should follow in school. You and Sybil have a copy." Professor McGonagall said calmly, "Remember to give it to her."

Moody snorted.

Professor McGonagall walked over to the sofa where Ron and Harry were sitting together, "Now let's deal with you and Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley."

"Did you know that the school has a clear rule that duels are not allowed in the castle? Only in specially approved clubs or dueling venues... and..."

Professor McGonagall began to babble sternly.

Ron had a look of despair on his face.

*

Yellowstone National Park, USA.

Newt and his crew followed the trail left by the Nundu leopard and sneaked into the Muggle Yellowstone Park.

They followed the magic trail and gradually walked into a canyon full of forests. Here they found that the surrounding trees were strangely rotten, and the hot and humid miasma was spreading here against common sense.

"It should be here." Newt said with the Bubble Head Curse, "Its abandoned nest."

“There are traces of its breath everywhere.” Newt stared at the scratches left by the thorns on the tree trunks nearby - these trees first began to rot from these marks.

"A beautiful lady, look how powerful it is--"

Newt lowered his voice and spoke carefully. They walked past a field of poisoned dead animal bones - they were all killed by the Nangdu leopards when they were breathing. Because no other beasts dared to approach, there were few bite marks on the skeletons. Half of the bodies had not been completely degraded, and yellowish liquid remained - even a fly would be poisoned to death here.

The guy from the American Ministry of Magic was so disgusted that he kept covering his nose with the Bubble Head Curse.

"Ugh... it stinks... I mean it looks creepy... can we walk faster?"

Apparently someone had been so sick that he was out of his mind.

Tina didn't come with him this time. The Nundu Panther was still too dangerous, and no one was sure to escape unscathed. This was not a risk. Newt only needed to point out the direction of the magical animal to the Ministry of Magic... It would be great if it could be sent back, but there was the Statute of Secrecy... MACUSA was ready to use force.

"Here! Found it!"

They crossed the miasma of the outer forest and followed the traces deep into the canyon, where Newt found a cave with signs of wild animal life, which was the cave of the escaped Nangdu leopard.

From the previous environment to the vicinity of the cave, the animal skeletons here finally began to show signs of gnawing.

"It's pregnant...it gave birth a few months ago."

Newt squatted down and wiped the dark red soil in the cave. There was a strange regular pattern next to the soil. Newt raised his foot and compared it. Only half of the footprint was left. The footprint was very heavy. Even though the manic mother leopard had disturbed most of the scene, the footprint still remained.

Human footprints...

There were two more footprints at the entrance of the cave, of varying depths... and two more people.

Newt stood up, turned around and lifted the vines covering the cave entrance:

“They came prepared.”

Newt took the water handed to him by the member of the Ministry of Magic following behind him, removed the Bubble Head Curse and took a sip. The commissioner of the Ministry of Magic next to him looked at him with his pupils trembling.

Newt let out a breath and wiped the sweat off his face:

"Three people have come here before and taken away its children."

"That's probably why it went crazy and ran into the city center - a poacher took its cub. I don't know if it was a Muggle or a wizard."

"...You don't have to look at me in shock," Newt noticed the commissioner's expression, "It's safe here. Generally speaking, the area near wild beast nests is safe and there are no other threats... Moreover, I'm sure there are Nangdu leopard cubs here. The breath of Nangdu leopards is also very dangerous to newborn cubs when they haven't formed any resistance yet."

Newt looked up at the surrounding forest and said, "However, this is not the Nangdu leopard's usual habitat, causing its breath to accumulate in the forest when it hunts. If this continues for a little longer, I'm afraid that except for the Nangdu leopard itself, no animal can survive here."

"Including its young?" asked the Ministry boy.

“Maybe that’s the problem. There’s no sign of the second Nundul.” Newt thought back to the female beast that went crazy in the city two months ago.

"I don't know if it was pregnant before it ran away or after it came here." Newt lowered his voice. "If it were here, the offspring of the Nongdu leopard and the ordinary leopard might have defects... The mother is already anxious about this... In this case, the cub suddenly disappeared, and there is still the smell of humans..." Newt shook his head.

A new epidemic has been set off in the United States in recent months. The impact of the attack by the Nungu leopard is still lingering in the country.

"The cub may be dead," the young man from the Ministry of Magic said anxiously, "We must find its current location as soon as possible. No one dares to wait for it to attack New York again. If it does so again, the wizarding world may be exposed."

He looked guiltily at Mr. Scamander, who was about to go look for the cub, and tried his best to advise him, "We don't have time to look for a cub that might have died."

"We are being urged to close the case as soon as possible. The pressure from Congress is huge."

*

months ago.

"Cough cough."

The man bent over and carefully pulled away the grass leaves that blocked the front of the cave. He coughed a few times because of the stuffy and stale air in the cave.

"Keep your voice down. Do you think that monster can't find us?" The other man who was traveling with him raised his shotgun and aimed at any possible obstruction, his nerves tense.

"Hey, relax, man!" A man squatted on the ground and measured the paw prints on the ground. "'It' has left temporarily. There are fewer and fewer animals around that can satisfy its appetite. It won't be back in a short time."

The three were a poaching gang that specialized in sneaking into various protected areas to steal the cubs of precious species to satisfy the curiosity of the rich. Of course, sometimes they would hunt some adults when they were lucky. But most of the time, they were only interested in peculiar species, especially albino animals, or other animals that were different from their own species, and sold them to the rich and interested laboratories.

This time they were targeting a strange species that was suspected to have wandered here. Near its nest were the remains of different animals, some of which had only a few bites of meat left and were discarded there, with maggots wriggling and stinking.

"This is amazing." The man who checked the claw marks stood up and licked his lips. "Where did this beast come from? It has hunted all the species around it. It must be a top predator!"

The poacher holding the hunting rifle carefully observed the movements in the forest and retreated cautiously, saying, "Why, you didn't recognize what animal it was?"

"You're kidding," the poacher who checked the claw marks was the one in the small team responsible for identifying species and determining the value of the goods. He then went to a tree trunk that was inexplicably withered and peeled back the bark, rubbing his fingers over a strand of hair he had twisted off. "Cat claw marks, lion's sideburns... Look at the scratches on this tree trunk. It looks like a large hedgehog has scratched it!"

"—how can I possibly recognize what animal this is?"

The man said excitedly, "But I know we will definitely make a fortune - you know there are always a group of people collecting these unusual animals, right? These animals are selling like hot cakes in Europe!"

"We only have three guns, we can't hit it!" said the poacher holding the shotgun.

"Who wants to take advantage of it? If it's really that kind of monster, we three will die here without even a scratch on our teeth."

"□□———" He suddenly called out to his companion who had been in the cave for some time, cursing, "What happened to you? Are you dead in there? Why don't you come out yet!"

"You are the one who died in there - I found its cub." The man in the cave came out cursing, bent over, holding a weak leopard cub in his hand. There was meat in the corners of its mouth as if it had been forced to eat, and it lay dying in the hands of the poacher.

"Why does this little thing look so dead?" The man walked over and fiddled with the leopard cub's fur. Suddenly, he felt a light hard spot like a scale under its neck. "What is this, a scale?"

He pressed it and a drop of blood came out from the hard spot on his hand.

The poacher holding the little leopard was not happy and started arguing with him: "Who cares what it is? Maybe it's a genetic mutation! As long as you don't say it's sick, you can sell it for a lot of money."

"I'm just afraid it won't survive."

"If its mother feeds it meat and it doesn't eat, we'll just feed it milk. We just want this little thing to live until it can be sold, and any problems after that are none of our business." The poacher holding the leopard rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I'm just worried that I can't sell it-"

"Shh! Quiet!"

The poacher who had been holding his shotgun suddenly became nervous.

They both shut up, held their breath, and waited for movement.

"Ouch————"

A beast roar spread throughout the forest, and the sound was beginning to get closer.

"We should go," he said hastily.

The three of them immediately sprayed a circle of strong irritating scent spray around them, and after slightly covering their tracks, they ran away with the cub.