They looked up and blinked at the whole class. Faced with so much attention, they seemed a bit confused.
"Oh, good." Ron said happily, "Not Exploding Snail—it's Sniff."
As a child born in a Pure-blood Family, of course, he knew Sniff—not only knew them, but he had seen quite a few.
"These are Sniffs," Newt said as the students gathered around. He lowered his head to pick up a Sniff and introduced it to everyone. "Sniffs are..."
Just after he said the word, Newt stopped short, starting again: "I think it's more appropriate for a student to answer the question in class, don't you think? So... Who would like to answer this question?"
Hermione raised her hand high.
Miss Omniscient's strength...
"Miss Granger." Newt called Hermione's name, "Alright, you answer this question."
Hermione cleared her throat and replied, "Sniffs are a kind of burrowing animal unique to the United Kingdom. You see, this animal is covered in black fur and has a long snout with a particular fondness for anything shiny—monsters often breed Mudvole to dig up treasures deep underground."
Seeing Newt nodding at her, Hermione further added, "Though Sniffs have gentle temperaments and can sometimes seem affectionate to you, they can cause destruction to your belongings, so never keep them at home."
"However, we usually see them down in the mines." She concluded.
"Well said, ten points for Gryffindor." Newt clapped happily, "I must reiterate, they like anything shiny... Look, quickly."
He pointed to the Slytherin students' side, where a Sniff suddenly jumped up, attempting to bite off Pansy Parkinson's wristwatch.
Pansy screamed and backed away, frantically waving her hands trying to ward off the Sniff that leaped at her.
"A very useful little treasure detector, isn't it?" Newt said cheerfully, "I thought you guys have been under quite a lot of study pressure lately, so I decided to give you some quirky little lessons to lighten things up... Do you see that plot of land?"
He pointed to a large area of newly turned soil: "Hagrid helped you plow it over. I had him bury a few Gold Coins in there—whoever's chosen Sniff digs out the most Gold Coins, I'll award a prize, take off all your valuable items, and then choose a Sniff, get ready, and release them."
Finally, Newt added: "However, remember to remove all your valuable items, otherwise they will focus on the things on you and won't go treasure hunting."
Harry took off the watch Vivi gave him and put it in his pocket—it couldn't be snatched by a Sniff.
But speaking of stealing something from Grindelwald...
It seemed this Professor Scamander had once used a Sniff to steal the Blood Alliance of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, hadn't he?
With that thought, he picked a Sniff.
It stretched its long nose into Harry's ear, sniffing energetically.
"This little thing is quite friendly with people." Harry laughed as he reached out to pet the Sniff's body, the texture wasn't bad, a bit like a cat with rather stiff fur, and when he touched its legs, the Sniff kicked hard, quite amusing.
"Hey, wait?" Hagrid suddenly interrupted their petting of the Sniff. He looked down at the box, "There's still one Sniff left... Who hasn't come? Are we missing someone who didn't come to class?"
"It's Seamus." Neville said on the side: "He blew up Professor Snape's Magic Potion Class at this morning, now he seems to be still cleaning it up inside, or being punished by Professor Snape."
Hearing Neville's words, those present burst into laughter.
They had witnessed the whole process of Seamus blowing up the Magic Potion Class. No one knew how Seamus did it, but everyone could see Snape's face was quite bad at that time, as if he had eaten something indigestible and hadn't had normal bowel movements for days, his face turning gray.
It should be said, this was the most amusing Protecting Magical Creatures Class they had attended over the years.
The Sniffs they had chosen burrowed in and out of that area as if they were in water. Each rushed eagerly to the student that had released them, spitting Gold Coins into their hands.
Ron gained quite a bit, with coins piling up on his thigh in no time.
"Can we buy them as pets, Professor Scamander?"
Ron asked excitedly as his Sniff dove back into the soil, splattering dirt on his robe.
But this didn't hinder Ron's happiness in the slightest. This Sniff was more adorable than owls or his previous rat.
"Woohoo!" Ron eagerly shook his thigh, and the coins clattered.
"I think your mother wouldn't be happy, Ron." Newt looked down, smiling at Ron, "Sniffs, in their quest for shiny objects, could end up wrecking the house."
"Oh, not necessarily, Professor." Draco's trademark raspy voice sounded from nearby, "The Weasley family doesn't have anything valuable. Never mind a Sniff, even a beggar would leave behind a few copper knuts there..."
"Malfoy!" Ron drew his Magic Wand, glaring angrily at the snide Draco.
Newt held down Ron's Magic Wand and deducted two points from Slytherin.
"Slytherin, minus two points," he said, "Alright, we should never casually comment on other people's families, hmm... I see the Sniffs are just about done."