Hagrid was a respectable friend, a man of integrity, kindness, and gentleness, there is no doubt about it. But when it comes to magical creatures, his promises may be less reliable than the FBI. In 1967, the latter secretly pushed through a draft amendment to the Federal Magical Creatures Protection Act, authorizing the U.S. Navy to forcibly take endangered animals from overseas in the name of protection, and allowing them to use lethal weapons and magic spells to eliminate "obstruction from local terrorist groups and rebel forces" in the process, with the aim of instigating the president to commit more troops to the Vietnam battlefield.

The only flaw in this grand plan is that the office crouching guys grossly underestimate the danger of "endangered animals" and assume that the heavily armed American GIs are enough to deal with all the troubles. As a result, just 15 days later, the USS Forrestal, a member of the Seventh Fleet, encountered stubborn resistance when it tried to "protectively contain" a 60-foot-long fish snake spirit, severely torn the deck, exploded in two armories, and killed more than 130 soldiers and more than 20 aircraft.

It is worth mentioning that this was the worst loss suffered by the U.S. Navy in the entire Vietnam War, and even set a record for the highest naval damage since World War II. In many parts of Vietnam, fish and snake spirits are regarded as river gods, and for good reason.

When Mike Roberts, then director of the Office of Mysteries, learned of this, he called Gerald Ford seven times a day, asking him in vehemently worded terms to "leave the professional matters to the professionals." Amendments to the Federal Magical Creatures Protection Act were then urgently halted for violating the International Secrecy Act, and the FBI did not dare to intervene in the occult realm for the next twenty years.

In addition, MACUSA, known as the "main governing body of the American Wizarding Society", has (as always) taken no action during the entire process - since the Law of Rappaport was enacted, they have completely parted ways with the Muggle (No-Maj in American English pronunciation) government. This group of people is now basically only concerned with how to purge dissidents more efficiently, and has no interest in other trivial matters.

……

……

The main reason Neil is now worried is that he had carefully studied the Dangerous Biological Control Act issued by the British Ministry of Magic in order to find loopholes, and found that their attempt to create a list of controlled creatures by exhaustive method was simply ...... It's beyond what can be described in swear words. Even so, the country's laws tend to rely too much on people's conscience in many places, although officials are generally flexible in their judgment on the ground.

And as everyone has known for a long time, as soon as magical creatures are involved, the baseline of Hagrid's conscience will be seriously skewed. Neil seemed to be able to see the image of him holding an Etruscan fire-spitting beast waving at him with excitement on his face.

To him, this is simply more terrible than Quirrell, at least he can choose to turn a blind eye to the latter, and Hagrid's warm gift will come to the door on his own initiative - the conscience of heaven and earth, Neil can swear to all the gods with names and surnames, he is not ten thousand times clear-headed, and he will not take the initiative to ask Hagrid to adopt a pet from him, but in the middle of the small talk, he mentioned in passing that he was hesitating whether to keep an animal, which made the big friend irrepressibly excited.

……

"I don't have any regrets in my life, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy's face contorted with disgust at Neil, who had sat down at the Slytherin table today as a matter of course, and accosted himself like an old acquaintance. But Ulysses, who was helping him cut roast pork with a dinner knife wrapped around his tail, hissed reproachfully - yes, when you name a silver chain "Ulysses" (meaning "the one who holds a grudge"), you should expect it not to treat you gently.

"Okay." He gritted his teeth and said, glaring fiercely at Crabbe, who was covering his face with his hand and pretending not to see this, "Tell me, what stupid thing have you done?" ”

"'Again' is a wonderful word, Mr. Malfoy!" Neil, who had originally rested his head on the table to highlight his frustration, immediately jumped up like a spring when he heard this, "You don't even know how stupid I did, how do you say that?" One misstep becomes a thousand hatreds! Ah, why don't you just use a soldering iron to print the two letters ST on my forehead! By the way, I don't know exactly who copied whose idea from that folktale and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter...... But Hawthorne is American, so let's assume it's his fault, shall we? ”

Malfoy didn't hear the last word.

"What does ST mean?" Goyle asked dumbly.

"Oh, Sheep-Thief." Neil shrugged, "But on me, I think it means 'stupid' - now that I think about it, I must have lost my mind from the smell of dried fish, maybe...... Hey, wait, maybe Professor Snape secretly added something to it before giving it back to me, didn't he? ”

Snape still hadn't shown up in the Great Hall like a misanthrope today, hadn't heard the outrageous slander, but had also missed the only chance to defend himself, if he really cared about his reputation.

"What happened to Professor Snape?"

A burly Slytherin boy who happened to pass by from behind came over when he heard this, and at the same time reached over Malfoy's head, grabbed a sandwich from the table, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed it rudely.

Feeling offended, Malfoy turned his head in disgust, only to see Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, with his trademark big teeth. The Gryffindor students secretly called him a "troll" in private, believing him to be an idiot who was good for nothing but his size, and leaving aside the fact that he should be a member of Slytherin, Malfoy was not entirely against it.

"Marcus."

Malfoy nodded reluctantly, as if he had said hello. In contrast, Neil is still the same, and he doesn't see anyone else.

"Ah, Captain Flint! What an honor! ”

His overzealous attitude made Flint flinch. He pulled the silver chain hanging on his shoulder a little uncomfortably, probably accidentally overexerting force, the silver snake shook violently, and he was so frightened that he quickly let go of his hand: "Captain? That sounds weird...... I mean, I'm the captain of the Quidditch team, but it's rarely called that......"

- Isn't this due to a lack of prestige in the ranks? Such a schadenfreude thought flashed through Malfoy's mind for a moment, making him subconsciously smile sarcastically, but Flint's attention was all focused on Neil who was always talking stupidly, and he didn't see his own expression.

"I'm sorry, Captain Flint, but a captain with the surname Flint must be called Captain Flint." He replied with an indisputable air, as if it were some self-evident truth, "Let me think about how that old song is sung...... Ah, I remember! Roar! Fifteen people, fifteen people - fight for the dead man's box! One more drink—"

Even of the various bizarre tunes Neil has improvised and sung, this is the most out-of-tune, almost dwarfing the mandrake. The only consolation that was of little help was that in order to imitate the vicissitudes of a sailor's voice, he kept the volume down this time.

Flint shrugged, like most Slytherin students, he enjoyed the goods that the other party brought, but he didn't see Neil as an equal to himself, so he didn't hesitate to speak: "You know, a lot of people say you're crazy, and I think they have a point. ”

He had been going to ask more because he had heard Snape's name, but now he had completely lost interest - what was the point of getting to the bottom of a madman's madness?

"Alright, I have to go." Flint reached out and grabbed a sandwich and put it in his mouth, patting Malfoy's shoulder with his crumb-stained hand as he left, "First-year flying lessons are going to start soon, right?" Keep it up, Draco, maybe you'll be part of the team next year! ”

"For your pardon, Captain Flint."

"I'm not talking to you!"

"Yes, but that doesn't stop me from wanting every guest to make their wishes come true."

Marcus Flint shook his head, muttered "Crazy" and disappeared outside the auditorium's exit. Malfoy watched his back go away, and made sure that no matter what he said, it would not reach his ears, and then scolded viciously:

"This vulgar pig! I can't imagine that someone like him could be chosen for Slytherin ......"

"Good question, Mr. Malfoy. So, why exactly? Neil asked, blinking innocently.

"Because the Flint family is ...... What's the use of telling you this? You don't know the lineage of the wizarding family! This question was interspersed so naturally that Malfoy, who was momentarily angry, almost blurted out the answer, but fortunately he finally reacted, hurriedly closed his mouth, and waved his hand at Neil like a fly, "Enough, don't bother me anymore!" I don't know what you've poked again, and I don't care! If you still want to complain, go and lick your wounds with the Gryffindor bunch! ”

"Oh my God, the Slytherin sir is suggesting that I go to Gryffindor for help, and the world has changed dramatically...... No, don't be offended, Mr. Malfoy, just kidding! But you know what I think about the infighting between the colleges, it's not ...... Okay, okay, you don't want to hear this, no problem! Shall I ask one more question? Just one sentence! Then you can continue your meal undisturbed – and lo and behold, Ulysses is watching you! How disappointing it would be if you refused here! ”

Malfoy's expression was similar to that of his father when he heard about the Dark Lord's fall.

After a while, he squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Ask quickly." ”

Neil complied, "Okay, no offense, Mr. Malfoy—but don't you feel panicked when you fly on a broomstick?" ”