Dumbledore led them to his office.
"Newt tells me you have a rare insect egg, Mr. Vane." Dumbledore gestured for them to sit and pulled a box from his drawer. "Would you like some sweets? A new flavor, quite good."
It seemed Dumbledore's fondness for sweets began very early. August took one and popped it into his mouth; the taste was somewhat strange but surprisingly good, and he thought about taking some with him.
The three chatted for a while before getting down to business.
August carefully took out the egg he had inherited from his ancestor and placed it on the soft cushion Dumbledore provided.
Dumbledore was immediately captivated by the egg, which resembled a ruby. He took his spectacles from the table, put them on, and reached out to touch the egg.
"I feel its life, very faint, as if it could extinguish at any moment," Dumbledore looked at it with awe. "It's a miracle it has survived."
Then, he took out his wand and grazed the egg. A small fireball immediately erupted from the egg, ignited with a burst, and then quickly vanished.
"It's true that this creature is related to fire," Dumbledore said, looking at Newt. "Newt, do you know of any fire-related insects?"
Even Dumbledore admitted his inferiority to Newt in his knowledge of magical creatures.
"We've never seen this type of life before, so we want to search the Hogwarts library to see if we can save it," Newt told Dumbledore.
"Such a tenacious life cannot be abandoned. Come with me," Dumbledore said, standing up, preparing to go to the library.
Hogwarts Library boasts an astonishing collection. All sorts of magic-related books can be found there, from spell compendiums to potion encyclopedias, covering every aspect. The Restricted Section also contains some extremely malevolent books, which are rare examples of Dark Arts tomes. The knowledge Voldemort used to create Horcruxes in the future was also found here.
The current librarian was not the future Madam Pince, but a somewhat plump woman. Dumbledore's prestige at Hogwarts even surpassed the Headmaster's. She greeted him and led them inside.
"These are all books related to magical creatures. Let's start looking here." Newt knew the place very well. Even after so long away, he easily found the classification area.
When he was a student, he loved coming here to find information, and much of his knowledge was accumulated in this library.
Then the three began to search through cabinet after cabinet of books, and quickly half a day passed.
"It seems we don't have the knowledge we need here," Newt said with some regret.
Most of the books here dealt with the introduction and breeding guides for magical creatures, and there was no method for saving dying embryos.
"Don't jump to conclusions yet. Have you forgotten what the Hogwarts library is famous for?" Dumbledore said, and then walked towards the top floor of the library.
"This is the Restricted Section. After the defeat of some Dark Wizards, many of their works were gathered here," Dumbledore said, pointing to the rows of shelves behind them.
Most of these books had black covers, some with an unsettling sheen. August touched one and discovered the cover was made of a type of leather.
"It's human skin," Dumbledore said. "Ancient Dark Wizards loved to use human skin for their book covers."
As expected, Dark Wizards are dangerous individuals, and even these book-lined shelves were shrouded in a sinister aura.
"What we want to save is a dying embryo. I believe Dark Wizards have a lot to say about the prolongation of life," Dumbledore seemed to say with sarcasm.
"Most Dark Wizards treat life as if it were grass, and the more they view life this way, the deeper their fear of death," Dumbledore took a completely black book thicker than a brick from the top of the shelf. "So they always try by all means to prolong their lives, inventing endless evil spells in the process."
He placed the book, thicker than a brick, on the table. The cover had nothing on it, just a coiling serpentine creature drawn.
"Basilisk?" Newt seemed to recognize the creature and exclaimed, but then remembered they were in the library and lowered his voice. "Is it a Basilisk?"
"Newt, you should know the origin of the Basilisk, right?" Dumbledore asked, and August also looked at him.
August had some impression of Basilisks. He knew that there was a Basilisk, abandoned by Slytherin, one of the four founders, in the Hogwarts sewers, which would cause a tragedy in the future. The current Headmaster also resigned because of it, and Dumbledore took over.
However, August had no intention of reminding him. How could someone who had never been to Hogwarts know such a secret? August couldn't explain it.
"I remember the first Basilisk was bred by a Dark Wizard named 'Herpo the Foul.' It is said that by placing a chicken egg under a toad to hatch, a dangerous large serpent with extraordinary abilities would hatch," Newt recalled.
He was interested in all magical creatures, whether natural or artificially created by wizards. He had a profound impression of enormous monsters like the Basilisk.
"That's right, this book is a work by Herpo the Foul," Dumbledore said, opening the cover. Inside was a preface-like passage, but the characters were not in English, so August and the others didn't understand them.
"Herpo the Foul was Greek, and this book is also written in Greek," Dumbledore said, observing their expressions. "Of course, I understand Greek."
Then Dumbledore translated the passage for them.
This passage was essentially the author boasting and showing off his achievements, presenting his great accomplishments in breeding evil creatures.
Dumbledore looked at the index: "Hmm... I must say, these Dark Wizards are both mad and geniuses. I never quite manage to grasp what evil ideas they have in their heads."
He turned the book to face August and Newt: "Here, it presents a method to transfer the life essence from other creatures' eggs into dead dragon eggs using a spell, which can cultivate various types of flying dragons with unique abilities. This method might be useful."
August was a little surprised; he didn't expect to find such a method here.
Newt was also stunned, then quickly urged Dumbledore to tell them the content.
Immediately afterward, August took out his notebook and began to write. Fortunately, according to Dumbledore's explanation, this method was completely harmless to humans, as its purpose was simply to cultivate species and was not considered an evil spell, so Professor Dumbledore and the others didn't think anything else of it.
"According to this, we need to get eggs from other creatures and transfer their life force to this egg," August said. "Can any egg be used?"
"If you want to change its original state, of course you can. If you want to maintain its original form, I suggest you only look for fire-related magical creatures," Dumbledore advised.
This touched upon August's blind spot, so he looked at Newt. In this regard, no one should have more authority than him.
"Fire and oviparous... how about fire dragons?" Newt offered his suggestion.
"Wait, aren't fire dragons a protected species?" Even August knew that fire dragons were creatures that couldn't be casually hunted.