Kane: ???
Hagrid nodded. "Although your preparations, along with Harry, Ron, and—oh, Mr. Longbottom's cooperation, were perfect, the greenhouse contains many dangerous plants, such as Mandrakes and Chomping Cabbages. So Dumbledore specifically used a special spell."
Kane picked up the Rock Cake that had fallen onto the plate again. However, because his eyes were locked tightly onto Hagrid's face, he failed to notice that what he had picked up was not the Rock Cake, but a shard from the white porcelain plate.
"So? What special use did that spell have?"
Hagrid considered his wording. "Simply put, that spell can record anything that happens inside the greenhouse. Whenever necessary, it can show people everything that happened at the time."
Crack!
The white porcelain plate, fired at twelve hundred degrees Celsius, was bitten clean through by Kane.
"Fine, fine, fine. You even came up with magical surveillance... Dumbledore set me up." Kane sighed dejectedly and lowered his head, only to see the chunk he had bitten out of the plate.
"So none of you were planning to remind me?" Kane looked around at Harry, Ron, and Hagrid, only to find them all staring at him in shock.
"You..." Ron pointed at Kane, then at the plate in Kane's hand. "You... ate it?"
Only then did Kane realize that his mouth was full of silicon dioxide. He hurriedly found a trash bin and spat it all out.
Then he picked up the Rock Cake again. "Once I finish this Rock Cake, I'll go see Dumbledore and accept my death."
Hagrid awkwardly waved his hand. "It isn't that serious, really."
Kane nodded. "I know. I was just joking."
With that, he viciously bit down on the Rock Cake.
Under Hagrid's eager gaze and Harry and Ron's horrified stares, a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Kane's mouth.
"Is that Rock Cake poisonous?" Ron fearfully tossed his Rock Cake onto the table.
Kane let go, shook his head, and calmly slipped the completely intact Rock Cake into his pocket. "It's too hard. My gums~"
He slowly stood up. "I need to go. Before I head to Dumbledore's, I have to visit the infirmary and see how to fix my teeth... or maybe meatballs will work too. Either way, they both restore health points..."
The three remaining people in Hagrid's Hut heard Kane's voice grow farther and softer, until it eventually became absurd, incoherent muttering that was rather unsettling.
In the end, Hagrid was the one to liven up the mood again. "Have some of my biscuits! They're so good they make you bleed!"
As he spoke, he pushed the plate of biscuits toward Harry and Ron.
Harry and Ron looked at the porcelain plate Kane had unconsciously bitten apart on the table, then at the gum marks he had left when biting the Rock Cake...
It was really hard to agree with that assessment.
Unlike the boring incident of the three people in Hagrid's Hut discussing how to use tooth enamel to attack diamonds, Kane had already arrived at Dumbledore's Office.
Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be found, and he could not find any potion for treating teeth on that enormous shelf. So he simply came to see Dumbledore first.
The headmaster's office was usually quite peaceful. For instance, there were only Kane and Dumbledore there now—provided one ignored the portraits of past headmasters behind Dumbledore.
"Well, do you know why I asked you here?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.
"Isn't it because I stole a Mandrake?" Kane looked at Dumbledore, who was asking a question he clearly knew the answer to, and felt that he was just a lonely old man making conversation. So he chose not to play along.
"I specifically asked Hagrid not to tell you, so I could give you a surprise." Dumbledore put on a disappointed expression before looking back at Kane. "Then take out the Mandrake. That plant is indeed far too dangerous."
Kane sighed and took the Mandrake, which had dropped dead the instant it was pulled from the soil, out of his pocket and placed it before Dumbledore.
"This is... a Mandrake?" Dumbledore stared in surprise at the thoroughly dead, ugly turnip before him. Something was wrong. Although his last Herbology lesson had been over a hundred years ago, he remembered that Mandrakes did not look like this.
Yet the magical fluctuations from the plant clearly showed that it was a genuine Mandrake...
"So you used that miraculous shadow ability of yours to turn this Mandrake into this... dead turnip?" Dumbledore curiously poked the Mandrake with a finger.
"Mhm. It's actually quite useful. It can be made into a magical item that hypnotizes other creatures, called Panpipes." Kane explained, saving Dumbledore the trouble of wasting more words.
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together. His expression practically had I don't believe you written across it.
He continued, "Does it have any other uses?"
"Eating it," Kane replied.
Dumbledore nodded. "Will you need a knife and fork?"
"Not at all." Kane spoke as he casually headed toward the bedroom.
"There's no dining table in my bedroom, Kane." Dumbledore followed him in confusion, only to see Kane sit on the lower bunk of a bunk bed, shove the entire Mandrake into his mouth, chew it a few times, and then fall backward.
In that instant, Dumbledore was certain that the claim about this Mandrake being usable to create an item that hypnotized other creatures was true.
Because he was already starting to feel a little...
Thud.
Evening.
Kane strode energetically back into the Gryffindor Common Room and was instantly surrounded by a crowd of young wizards, all chattering at him.
Most of them wanted to know why he had vanished during that afternoon's flying lesson. Otherwise, Slytherin surely would not have dared to bully Neville so much. There were also a few others.
For example, Harry and Ron's question was much more practical. "Professor Dumbledore didn't expel you, did he?"
Harry asked quietly.
Hermione, who was reading nearby, had long since learned the real reason behind Kane's disappearance from Neville at the infirmary. It was most likely that his theft of the Mandrake had been exposed.
But given Kane's status as a magical Celestial Dragon, it was highly unlikely that he would be expelled so casually. At most, it would be a case of making a grand show of punishment before letting him off lightly.
Well, he was a Celestial Dragon. They could not really expel him, could they? Still, even a reasonable punishment would send a signal to disadvantaged groups like them: in Hogwarts' abstract conception, there was still a distinction between right and wrong, and Dumbledore, as the concrete individual, could still tell right from wrong.
It was rotten, but not rotten to the core. There was still a possibility of saving it in the future. That was enough for her.
Just as Hermione felt deeply certain of her prediction, Kane spoke.
"Of course not. I just took a nap there. Then Dumbledore gave me some extra lessons for my Summoning Charm study plan and asked me to help him with a few things."
As Kane spoke, he took out his wand and gave it a light flick. Through the combined power of the Summoning Charm and shadow, a toad with glowing eyes appeared before him and landed on the ground.
Kane looked at Harry, who was closest to him. As though it understood his thoughts, the toad swiftly stretched out its tongue and gave Harry a heavy lick. The damage was low, and the humiliation was not particularly high either, but somehow Harry's wand was licked right out by the toad.
Hermione was stunned by the sight, yet instinctively happy for Kane. After all, she was not a petty person. Seeing a classmate learn a new spell naturally made her happy.
As for the remaining ninety percent, it was all condemnation of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World's unfairness. This was beyond even being too lazy to use the back door.
Change? Saving it? Save my ass!
Hogwarts and this disgusting Wizarding World were probably rotten to the core already. If she stayed even one day after finishing her seven years at Hogwarts, she would write Granger backwards!
After silently making up her mind, Hermione angrily rose from the sofa and left the Gryffindor Common Room. She needed some fresh air to temporarily forget the contradictions of class and instead look at the other happiness close at hand.
Kane and the other two did not notice anything strange about Hermione. Harry had also snatched his wand back from the toad, and in the next moment, the toad vanished with a bang, leaving nothing behind.
"What about Dumbledore? What did he ask you to do?"
Before you continue