When he heard Dumbledore speak, Wentworth perked up at once and eagerly asked:
"Who is it? Tell me, Professor Dumbledore, whoever it is, even if I have to tie them up and drag them here myself, I will!"
Dumbledore chuckled softly.
"You already know this person, it's Newt, Newt Scamander."
Wentworth froze, blinking in disbelief.
"Mr. Newt Scamander? Are you sure, Professor Dumbledore? I always thought Mr. Scamander was, well… just a magical vet, at most."
At this, Dumbledore's expression darkened momentarily. He gave Wentworth a sharp look before calmly explaining:
"Many years ago, Newt encountered an Obscurial while traveling in Sudan, a ten-year-old girl. He tried to save her, but unfortunately, by the time he found her, it was already too late. All he could do was extract the Obscurus from her body."
"I know Newt well. He's never quite forgiven himself for what happened, and he's never stopped researching Obscurials and Obscurus phenomena. In that field, Newt is an expert."
"If there's anyone left in this world who can truly help an Obscurial, it would be Newt Scamander."
As Dumbledore spoke, Wentworth leapt to his feet and rushed toward the door in a hurry.
"I'll write to Mr. Scamander right now, we have to get him here!"
But before he could take more than a few steps, Dumbledore stopped him.
"There's no need. I wrote to Newt yesterday. If all went well, he might already be reading my letter."
"And you, Wentworth, you have a more important task ahead of you."
Wentworth relaxed a little, reassured by the mention of Newt Scamander. After all, though Newt didn't obey Dumbledore blindly, it wasn't much of an exaggeration to say he'd come if called.
Still, Wentworth looked puzzled.
"A more important task, Professor? What task? Don't tell me you're sending me off to investigate this school again!"
He eyed Dumbledore warily.
But the headmaster stood, walked slowly over to Wentworth, and fixed him with a piercing stare. The look alone made Wentworth squirm before Dumbledore finally said:
"Wentworth, have you forgotten why you're here?"
Wentworth was taken aback. Before he could respond, Dumbledore's voice suddenly turned thunderous:
"I brought you to Japan, to Mahoutokoro, so you could compete in the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship! Instead of preparing, what have you been doing all day?!"
"Let me be perfectly clear, Wentworth, if you don't bring home that golden cauldron, you can swim back to Britain. Understood?!"
Wentworth nodded furiously, bowing slightly in submission.
But Dumbledore wasn't finished. He tossed in one final, devastating remark:
"By the way, Professor Snape should be en route by now. He's been appointed as one of the judges for this year's Potions Championship. So… you know what that means."
The implication in Dumbledore's voice was as clear as it was ominous.
And so, over the following days, Wentworth took full advantage of Mahoutokoro's potions classroom, burying himself, very sensibly, in potion-making, seemingly unable to tear himself away.
At first, his diligence even drew some mockery from Nala.
"What's the matter, Wentworth? That scared of losing to me?"
But when Yukina also appeared in the same classroom and, without hesitation, chose the workstation right beside Wentworth's, Nala was momentarily stunned.
When she finally recovered, she sniffed disdainfully.
"Ugh. I smell something sour."
From then on, Wentworth's days passed in relative peace. Each time he began brewing a potion, Yukina would linger quietly nearby. Though she never said a word, she always seemed to pass him the exact ingredients he needed, just at the right moment.
At least, until Professor Snape arrived.
Under Snape's cold and unwavering gaze, Yukina slowly and reluctantly inched her station further away from Wentworth's.
But if anything, it only served to strengthen Wentworth's concentration, developing an impressive resistance to outside distractions while brewing under the Professor's notoriously lethal stare.
Then one day, while Wentworth and the others were hard at work in the potions lab, a sudden, guttural roar echoed through the halls, drawing everyone's attention.
It was a deep, resonant sound with a startling intensity that made Wentworth and Yukina exchange glances.
Wentworth furrowed his brow, turning to Yukina in disbelief.
"Does your school keep bears?"
Yukina looked confused and shook her head uncertainly.
"I… don't think so? At least, I've never seen one here. Wait, are you saying that sound just now was a bear?"
Wentworth nodded firmly.
On the other side of the room, Nala nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely. That was definitely a bear. Come on, let's go see!"
With that, she headed toward the door.
Wentworth and Yukina looked at each other and followed her, heading in the direction of the sound.
They soon arrived at the coast of Minami Iwo Jima.
What they saw left them speechless.
Several blonde, blue-eyed Russians had made landfall, each accompanied by a bear. Some black, some brown, all of them massive, dripping seawater as they shook out their thick coats.
The final student, a young Russian, was still seated astride a black bear as it strode out of the waves, carrying him to shore.
It turned out they had ridden the bears across the sea.
Yukina's face lit up with unrestrained joy. She tugged on Wentworth's sleeve, her eyes sparkling.
"Wow! They really are bears! This is my first time seeing real ones. I really want to go pet them!"
Wentworth chuckled and nodded politely, though his thoughts were elsewhere:
Looks like the students from Koldovstoretz have arrived. That means the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship is about to begin… So where is Mr. Newt Scamander?
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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]