Fire Dwelling Salamander at the Magical Creatures Reserve

Fire Dwelling Salamander at the Magical Creatures Reserve
Physical information
Species	Fire Dwelling Salamander
Skin colour	Red and orange
Affiliation
Loyalty	Magical Creatures Reserve

This Fire Dwelling Salamander lived in the Magical Creatures Reserve in the 1980s.

Biography

In the 1980s or early 1990s, Jacob's sibling would often bond with and feed this Fire Dwelling Salamander.

During the 1986–1987 school year, Cecil Lee was attacked by a pack of dogs after mistakenly trying to arrest them, believing them to be werewolves, and was hospitalised in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries while he recovered. While in St Mungo's, Cecil sent his Fire Dwelling Salamander, Vulcan to his nephew, Barnaby Lee at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so he could look after him. Desiring to do his uncle proud by looking after Vulcan properly, Barnaby met with Rubeus Hagrid at Hagrid's Hut in order to try to learn as much as he could about Fire Dwelling Salamanders, asking Jacob's sibling to meet with them as well.

After informing Jacob's sibling of the situation and introducing them to Vulcan, Barnaby and Jacob's sibling discussed salamanders with Hagrid, learning that they would die if kept away from heat and fire for too long. Barnaby explained that he had also borrowed a magically-heated rock enchanted to stay hot at all times for Vulcan to use to keep warm no matter where Barnaby went. Barnaby revealed that he had called Jacob's sibling to the meeting to ask them about his idea to help make Vulcan's time at Hogwarts extra special by holding a campfire party to celebrate Fire Dwelling Salamanders, suggesting that Jacob's sibling could bring this Fire Dwelling Salamander in order to keep Vulcan company.

After Jacob's sibling agreed to the plan, Hagrid asserted that it would be good for the salamanders to interact with other members of their kind and stated that he would make sure the fire was safe and contained. Hagrid revealed that he had already selected a spot by the Great Lake for the campfire that evening while Barnaby and Jacob's sibling agreed to meet in the Courtyard to discuss ideas for the campfire. Jacob's sibling collected this salamander and brought it to the Courtyard to meet with Barnaby and Vulcan, where the two salamanders quickly bonded while resting on the heated rock. Barnaby claimed that he had had several ideas for the campfire, including setting off fireworks, but had been warned by Hagrid that some of those ideas would be too elaborate and unpredictable.

After discussing simpler ideas for the campfire, Barnaby revealed his idea to have Vulcan use his cocoa-heating trick to heat hot cocoa at the party. Upon learning how much this idea meant to Barnaby, Jacob's sibling agreed that they should perform the trick at the party, although Barnaby wasn't sure if he could repeat the trick, claiming that, although Cecil had showed it to him once, he had never gotten Vulcan to do it himself. After some encouragement from Jacob's sibling, Barnaby agreed to meet them in the Great Hall to see if they could get Vulcan to do the trick, asking that they bring this salamander as well for moral support.

When Jacob's sibling and this salamander arrived in the Great Hall, Barnaby explained how the coca-warming trick worked. Barnaby claimed that, although the trick sounded simple, Fire Dwelling Salamanders weren't known for performing tricks and that it had taken years to train Vulcan to perform the trick in the first place. After further encouragement regarding his affinity with magical creatures by Jacob's sibling, Barnaby attempted to demonstrate the trick by having Vulcan reheat a teapot, although Vulcan failed to replicate it. Jacob's sibling theorised that Barnaby might not be speaking the correct command words, although Barnaby explained that Cecil never used to command Vulcan directly, instead simply standing up and asking everyone if they were "up for a nice cosy cocoa." At that moment, Vulcan immediately ran over to the teapot and curled around it, rapidly heating it up and warming its contents, with Barnaby elated that he had found the right words to get Vulcan to do the trick.

Now confident that he could get Vulcan to perform the cocoa-heating trick at the campfire, Barnaby and Jacob's sibling excitedly wondered if they could get this salamander to learn the trick as well. Barnaby explained that Cecil was only able to train Vulcan to perform the trick after building extensive trust between him and Vulcan. Barnaby stated that he would continue practising the trick with Vulcan while Jacob's sibling met with Hagrid in the Forest of the Magical Creatures Reserve to gather firewood, bringing this salamander along as well in order to show it some new scenery.

After collecting a decent amount of firewood for the campfire, Jacob's sibling and Hagrid were about to keep collecting more when Hagrid heard a noise and called out to see if anyone was there. A wizard calling himself "Prospero" suddenly emerged from some rustling bushes and ordered them to turn over this salamander so that he could harvest its blood to sell for great profits. Jacob's sibling immediately recognised the wizard as Todd Cribb, with Hagrid remembering him from his previous attempt to steal feathers from a Thunderbird at the Magical Creatures Reserve. Todd threatened that he would freeze Jacob's sibling and Hagrid where they stood if they refused to hand this salamander over to him, but Jacob's sibling was able to disarm him using the Disarming Charm, leaving Todd to swear revenge before darting away after his lost wand.

Hagrid explained that Todd was after salamander blood due to its variety of magical properties before expressing his amazement at the speed and skill with which Jacob's sibling disarmed Todd. Hagrid suggested that the two of them should return to Hogwarts for the time being before anyone else suspicious showed up, stating that he would return to gather more firewood for the campfire later. Jacob's sibling dropped this salamander back at the Magical Creatures Reserve before going to meet with Barnaby.

Barnaby met Jacob's sibling and Hagrid at Hagrid's Hut and revealed to them that Vulcan had suddenly started showing signs of sickness. Hagrid calmed everyone down, stating that they didn't even know what was wrong with Vulcan yet. The trio observed Vulcan closely in an attempt to determine his symptoms, discovering that some of Vulcan's scales were turning dull and flakey, with some even falling off. Hagrid identified that Vulcan was suffering from scale rot, for which the dull, flaking scales were a telltale sign, to which the frantic Barnaby questioned if there was a way to treat the disease and save Vulcan. Jacob's sibling suggested that they could rub Vulcan's scales with Chilli powder, to which Hagrid agreed, claiming that a little Chilli powder and rest would return Vulcan to normal, much to Barnaby's relief. Jacob's sibling questioned whether they should cancel the campfire, with Hagrid reassuring them that Vulcan would most likely be better by then, although it would be best to avoid stressing him out too much to be safe.

Barnaby sadly stated that he couldn't possibly expect Vulcan to perform the cocoa-warming trick while he was recovering, asserting that this salamander would have to perform it instead. Jacob's sibling agreed, but asserted that they would have to train this salamander properly first, to which Barnaby agreed to meet them in the Great Hall for a training session. After collecting this salamander and arriving in the Great Hall, Jacob's sibling and Barnaby prepared to train this salamander, with Barnaby claiming that Jacob's sibling's natural skill with magical creatures would help it learn the trick in no time. Jacob's sibling questioned if this salamander would need specific command words to perform the trick, with Barnaby asserting that there was no way to know for sure until they tried.

After a lengthy training session, this salamander still hadn't yet performed the trick properly. Jacob's sibling claimed that this salamander seemed to understand what they wanted it to do, but they were still missing something to get it to actually perform the trick. Barnaby suggested trying the same command words that worked on Vulcan, as this salamander had been watching Vulcan perform the trick the whole time and might perform it itself if it heard the proper words. Upon hearing Jacob's sibling say the words "cosy cocoa," this salamander immediately ran over to the prepared water-filled teapot and curled around it, rapidly warming up its contents, much to Barnaby and Jacob's sibling's excitement. Jacob's sibling realised that this salamander must have picked up the proper words from its observation of Vulcan's trick, with Barnaby praising this salamander for its observation and memory skills.

Jacob's sibling asked Barnaby about his previous assertion that performing this trick would mean a lot to him, to which Barnaby explained that the trick reminded him of a camping trip he took with his family as a child. Barnaby stated that he didn't have many good memories of his parents, who claimed that he never had what it took to be a Death Eater like they were, although both Jacob's sibling and Barnaby agreed that they were now glad that he didn't. Barnaby explained that his uncle Cecil was different, recalling how he took the entire Lee family, including Barnaby Lee's grandmother on a camping trip where he made a roaring campfire and served them some of his famous cocoa, complete with Vulcan performing the cocoa-warming trick. Barnaby claimed that everyone loved seeing the trick, even his parents, recalling that the moment was one of the only happy memories he had of them and hoping that he could replicate the feeling of that moment with his new friends at Hogwarts, whom he saw as his new family.

Having prepared everything they needed for the campfire, Barnaby asserted that the bond between Jacob's sibling and this salamander was just as strong as that between Cecil and Vulcan, with Jacob's sibling agreeing that that would greatly help them when performing the cocoa-warming trick. The pair waited until nightfall, where they met up with Hagrid, Ben Copper, Penny Haywood, and Nymphadora Tonks, along with this salamander and Vulcan, on the shore of the Great Lake for the campfire party. Barnaby explained that Vulcan had fully recovered and was ready to spend his evening by the campfire.

However, before Jacob's sibling could start the campfire, Todd Cribb reappeared, claiming that he wanted revenge against Jacob's sibling in addition to the blood of both salamanders. Todd asserted that Jacob's sibling had caught them off guard in their previous encounter and that he had gotten lost in the forest after locating his wand, claiming that he was tired, hungry, and eager for revenge. When Todd produced his wand, Jacob's sibling noticed it was damaged, leading Todd to explain that he had accidentally stepped on it while searching for it in the Forest. Jacob's sibling tried to dissuade Todd from using a broken wand, but Todd asserted that his wand was as good as new after repairing it with Spellotape and attempted to use the Freezing Spell on them. However, the spell quickly backfired and encased Todd's body in a block of ice.

After deciding whether to leave Todd frozen, make him leave, or allow him to join their bonfire, Jacob's sibling lit the campfire with the Fire-Making Spell, officially beginning the campfire party. Jacob's sibling used the command words to tell this salamander to heat up the cocoa Barnaby had previously prepared, to which this salamander responded by performing the trick perfectly. The group enjoyed the campfire, with Barnaby asserting that Vulcan hadn't had this much fun since the family camping trip when he was a child and that this salamander was doing a great job of keeping the cocoa hot. Barnaby thanked Jacob's sibling for helping him relieve a childhood memory and share it with his new friends as the group continued to drink hot cocoa by the campfire into the night.

Behind the scenes

• The salamander's name, just like all creatures in the Magical Creatures Reserve, can be customised by the player. The dialogue of the quest will subsequently change according to the name determined by the player.

Appearances

• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (First appearance)

Notes and references

	Magical Creatures Reserve