Stealing Vegetables? Qilin Saliva

Dawn was just beginning to break.

Beside a clearing somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.

Lucien let out a long yawn and stretched.

He took out the notebook stuffed with sheets of paper and started flipping through last night's results.

The Mooncalf's physical traits, habits, and so on had all been recorded.

Lucien submitted them to the system, finally completing the record for one magical creature.

After recording information on four more magical creatures, he would be able to repay the Pet Growth Loan.

Mm, he had also gained a bag of Mooncalf dung. He could take it back and try using it as fertilizer for the Chinese Biting Cabbages.

"Liuguang?"

At Lucien's call, a pale golden figure dropped from the clouds and landed beside him.

"Found something to eat?"

Lucien rubbed Liuguang's forehead and asked casually.

"Yes, Master. I found lots of vegetables at the edge of the woods!"

"There were yellow ones, red ones, and green ones. Their plant aura tasted different too—some sweet, some sour..."

Liuguang's voice kept ringing in Lucien's mind, and he merely nodded.

The Forbidden Forest really was rich in resources. There were actually so many plants that a little Qilin liked.

It seemed it would be no problem to let Liuguang come to the Forbidden Forest to forage by himself in the future.

"Oh, right, Master. I also ran into a, um, blackish creature over there. I think that kind of creature is called a 'dog'?"

"When it first noticed me, it wanted to bark loudly, but after I glanced at it, it started trembling. It felt like it was really timid."

Blackish, dog, timid?

Those words from the little Qilin instantly woke Lucien up quite a bit.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a place with lots of vegetables, and there was also a timid black dog there?

That couldn't be Hagrid's vegetable garden, could it?

Liuguang had gone and stolen Hagrid's vegetables?

Good heavens. If that was true, he would have to apologize to Hagrid.

Wait!

Not good—his own cabbages!

"Liuguang, when you absorbed the plant aura, did it affect any tender shoots, the kind with little mouth-like openings growing at the tips?!"

Sensing his master's urgency, Liuguang hurriedly replied:

"No. Those seedlings were too small and had very little plant aura, so I ignored them."

Lucien's heart had only just settled before he gave a helpless wry smile.

Great. Since he had seen his Chinese Biting Cabbage seedlings, that meant the little Qilin really had gone to Hagrid's vegetable garden for a buffet!

"Master, did I do something bad?"

Liuguang sensed that his master's mood was off and looked at Lucien cautiously.

Lucien waved a hand and said helplessly:

"It was my oversight. I forgot to explain it to you."

"Forget it. If the child is not taught, the father is at fault. I'll handle this."

"Master, what does 'if the child is not taught, the father is at fault' mean?"

Looking at the little Qilin, whose mind had not yet been tainted by knowledge, Lucien once again firmed his resolve.

Mm, childhood education was urgently needed.

For now, he had to hurry over to Hagrid's. This place was some distance from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and it would take half an hour to get there. The sooner, the better...

Lucien's gaze suddenly shifted to the little Qilin, to that body slightly smaller than a fine steed.

A few seconds later.

A golden streak shot up from the ground!

With Lucien on his back, Liuguang charged straight into the sky.

His dark-gold hair was whipped into chaos by the fierce wind, but Lucien felt utterly exhilarated.

Wasn't this better than riding some lousy broom?

Nimbus 2000, Nimbus 3000—whatever. They could eat his Auspicious Cloud dust.

The great sun rose.

Bathed in golden sunlight, Lucien stood above the clouds.

Riding a qilin, he trod the clouds and roamed the sky.

"Hahahahahahaha..."

In that vast sky, Lucien laughed wildly for once.

Last night's exhaustion vanished completely in that moment.

For some reason, a line of poetry came to Lucien's mind.

Accompanied by the distant, otherworldly cry of the qilin, a clear, ringing voice carried through the clouds:

"A great wind rises—"

Headmaster's Office.

Dumbledore and Snape were both seated before the desk. Across from them sat a pale, middle-aged man with long, pale blond hair.

Anger and dissatisfaction smoldered in his gray eyes.

"Dumbledore, Snape, I believe I need an explanation."

"Why did my son, Draco, fall and suffer multiple fractures all over his body during Flying Class?"

"And why has the culprit behind all of this, Harry Potter, been defined as having merely injured someone by accident?"

Dumbledore adjusted his glasses and said unhurriedly, "Lucius, I understand your concern for your son, as well as your dissatisfaction with the school. This was indeed a dereliction of duty on our teachers' part."

"Draco received timely treatment at the time, and Harry was also given the punishment he deserved..."

But Lucius cut Dumbledore off directly.

"The punishment he deserved? Doing volunteer work for a week and copying the school rules ten times—that counts as punishment?"

"Someone who dares abuse Potion from such a young age and harm his classmates should be expelled from Hogwarts outright!"

Snape frowned almost imperceptibly.

"Harry Potter's actions were, of course, very reprehensible. Those punishments were proposed by me, but..."

"..."

The three of them argued endlessly. Lucius insisted on severely punishing Harry, while Dumbledore and Snape tried to smooth things over.

Suddenly, an extremely distant sound entered the Headmaster's Office.

It seemed to be too far away for those present to hear the cry clearly, but all of them, without exception, sensed something extraordinary and uncommon within it.

The three fell silent at the same time.

After a long while, Lucius spoke again.

"If there is a next time, I will make Harry Potter leave Hogwarts!"

With that, Lucius rose and left.

He had seen it long ago. Not only Dumbledore, but even Snape, the Head of Slytherin, was actually protecting that boy!

Yet Lucius had still argued with them for so long in order to make his stance clear and emphasize that the Malfoy Family was not to be offended!

Dumbledore glanced at Snape, signaling for him to go and comfort that school governor a little more.

When Snape walked out of the Headmaster's Office, however, he saw that Lucius was already standing there waiting, as if he had expected him to come.

"Lucius, about this matter..."

Before Snape could finish, Lucius raised a hand to stop him, while taking a small crystal bottle from inside his robes.

The crystal bottle contained a semi-transparent liquid. It was slightly viscous and gave off a faint glow.

"Severus, look at this first."

Snape took the bottle, opened the stopper, and sniffed it lightly.

"This is Qilin Saliva?"

There was some surprise in Snape's tone. Clearly, he had not expected Lucius to take out something like this.

This small bottle of Qilin Saliva was probably worth upwards of five hundred Galleons.

And it was the sort of thing that had a price but no market, something that usually required special channels to buy even a little of.

"That's right. It's from that magical creature unique to the East. The saliva it secretes has very powerful healing effects, and would be even better made into a Potion."

"But only a true Potion master can handle this kind of material, correct, Severus?"

Snape nodded, roughly understanding what the other man meant.

"I can help you brew the Potion, but Draco's injuries are basically healed. You should know the standard of medical care in Hogwarts' Hospital Wing."

Yet Lucius still shook his head.

"Qilin Saliva can heal hidden injuries within the body and ensure there are no lingering aftereffects."

"Only this kind of elixir is worthy of a child of the Malfoy Family."

Lucius did not say outright that the remaining Qilin Saliva was the payment for asking Snape's help.

Because he believed that someone as clever as Snape would understand, and he also believed that a Potion master would never refuse such a rare material!

Seeing Lucius's self-important manner, Snape had long since grown used to the ways of these pure-bloods.

Wealth, glory, strength—everything was only to reinforce their sense of being superior to others.

After dealing with the matter, Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose.

He took a letter from the drawer—a reply from Newt Scamander.

Thinking of the contents of the letter, Dumbledore looked toward the phoenix preening its feathers on the perch.

"Fawkes, could you help me find a child?"

"His name is Lucien Grafton."