After I Graduate, If I Don't Get Out Within a Day, I'll Write Granger Backwards!

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 gaze was fixed firmly on Hagrid's face, he failed to notice that what he had picked up was not a Rock Cake, but a shard of the white porcelain plate.

"So? What special purpose did that spell serve?"

Hagrid considered his wording. "Simply put, that spell could record anything that happened inside the greenhouse. Whenever necessary, it could show people everything that had happened at the time."

Crunch!

The white porcelain plate, fired at 1,200 degrees Celsius, was bitten clean through by Kane.

"Fine, fine, fine. You even set up magical surveillance... Dumbledore set me up." Kane sighed dejectedly and lowered his head, only then seeing the chunk he had bitten out of the plate.

"So none of you planned to remind me?" Kane looked around at Harry, Ron, and Hagrid, only to find all three wearing expressions of 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 still 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 waved his hands awkwardly. "It isn't that serious, really."

Kane nodded. "I know. I was just joking."

With that, he took a fierce bite out of the Rock Cake.

Under Hagrid's eager gaze and Harry and Ron's horrified stares, a faint trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Kane's mouth.

"Is that Rock Cake poisonous?" Ron tossed his own Rock Cake onto the table in panic.

Kane released his bite and shook his head. With relief, he put the completely intact Rock Cake into his pocket. "It's too hard. My gums..."

He slowly stood up. "I'd better get going. Before I see Dumbledore, I need to visit the hospital wing and find out how to fix my teeth... or maybe meatballs would work too. Either way, they both restore health points..."

The three remaining in Hagrid's Hut heard Kane's voice grow farther and softer, until it became absurd, incoherent muttering. It was deeply unsettling.

In the end, Hagrid was the one who tried 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 traces left behind when he had bitten the Rock Cake...

It was really hard to agree with that.

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 locate any potion meant for treating teeth on that enormous shelf. So he came to Dumbledore first.

The headmaster's office was peaceful most of the time. Right now, there were only Kane and Dumbledore present, naturally ignoring the portraits of past headmasters behind Dumbledore.

"Well, do you know why I asked you here?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"Wasn't it because I stole a Mandrake?" Kane looked at Dumbledore, who was asking a question he already knew the answer to, and felt he was simply a lonely old man making conversation. So Kane deliberately refused to play along.

"I specifically asked Hagrid not to tell you, so I could give you a surprise." Dumbledore put on a disappointed expression, then looked back at Kane. "Now then, take out the Mandrake. That plant really is too dangerous."

Kane sighed and pulled the Mandrake from his pocket—the one that had dropped dead the instant he had pulled it from the soil in the Great Hall—and placed it in front of Dumbledore.

"This is... a Mandrake?" Dumbledore stared in surprise at the thoroughly dead ugly radish before him. Something was wrong. Although his last Herbology lesson had been more than a hundred years ago, he remembered Mandrakes not looking like this.

Yet the magical fluctuations from the plant clearly indicated that it was a genuine Mandrake...

"So you used that miraculous shadow ability of yours to turn this Mandrake into this... dead radish?" Dumbledore asked curiously, poking the Mandrake with a finger.

"Mm-hm. It's actually quite useful. It can be made into a magical item that hypnotizes other creatures, called Panpipes." Kane explained briefly, saving Dumbledore the trouble of wasting more words.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. His expression practically had I don't believe you written across it.

He continued, "Does it have any other uses?"

"Eating it," Kane answered.

Dumbledore nodded. "Do you need a knife and fork?"

"Not at all." Kane spoke as he headed toward the bedroom with practiced ease.

"There isn't a dining table in my bedroom, Kane." Dumbledore followed him in confusion, only to see Kane sit on the lower bunk of the bunk bed, stuff the entire Mandrake into his mouth, chew it a few times, and then fall backward.

In that instant, Dumbledore was certain that Kane had not lied when he said this Mandrake could be made into an item that hypnotized other creatures.

Because he was already feeling a little...

Thud.

Evening.

Kane strode energetically back into the Gryffindor Common Room, only to be surrounded by a crowd of young wizards in an instant as they chattered noisily around him.

In summary, most of them wanted to know why he had disappeared during the afternoon's flying lesson. Otherwise, Slytherin surely would not have dared bully Neville so badly. There were also a few other questions.

For example, Harry and Ron's question was very down-to-earth. "Headmaster Dumbledore didn't expel you, did he?"

Harry asked quietly.

Not far away, Hermione had already learned the real reason behind Kane's disappearance from Neville, who had returned from the hospital wing. It was most likely because 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. Dumbledore would probably just make a show of punishing him before letting him off lightly.

Well, he was a Celestial Dragon, after all. They could not really expel him, could they? Still, even a passable punishment would send a signal to weak groups like them: in Hogwarts, as an abstract concept, there was still a distinction between right and wrong, and Dumbledore, as a concrete person, could still distinguish between them.

It was bad, but not rotten to the core. There was still a chance to make amends in the future. That was enough for her.

Just as Hermione was deeply convinced of the accuracy of her guess, Kane spoke.

"Of course not. I just took an afternoon nap there. Then Dumbledore gave me some extra tutoring for my Summoning Charm study plan and asked me to help him with a few things."

As Kane spoke, he pulled out his wand and gave it a light wave. 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 the nearest Harry, and the Toad seemed to understand his thoughts. It swiftly lashed out its tongue and gave Harry a heavy lick. It was neither particularly harmful nor especially humiliating, except Harry's wand somehow got licked right out by the Toad.

As Hermione watched, she instinctively felt happy for Kane despite her shock. She was not a petty person, after all. Seeing a classmate learn new magic naturally made her happy.

As for the remaining ninety percent, it was all condemnation of the unfairness of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. This was beyond even being too lazy to use the back door.

Change? Amends? Amends my ass!

Hogwarts and this foul Wizarding World were probably rotten to the root. If she stayed even one day longer than necessary after finishing her seven years at Hogwarts, she, Granger, would write her name backward!

Having secretly made up her mind, Hermione rose angrily from the sofa and left the Gryffindor Common Room. She needed some fresh air to temporarily forget the conflict between classes and instead look at the other happiness within reach.

Kane and the other two did not notice anything unusual about Hermione. Harry had also snatched his wand back from the Toad. The next moment, the Toad vanished with a bang, leaving nothing behind.

"Then what about Dumbledore? What did he ask you to do?"