At breakfast, Harry was still immersed in the dangerous encounter from the previous night.
However, what pleased him particularly was that when Malfoy appeared before him, he could give him a meaningful smile, and then...
"Coward."
Then he could contentedly watch as Malfoy's face twisted as if he had swallowed an entire sour lemon, before turning back to happily cut himself a piece of pumpkin pie and leisurely put it in his mouth.
In the afternoon, Adrian stood by the Black Lake, preparing the magical creatures needed for next week's Care of Magical Creatures class—a large pack of Crup dogs.
These Crups were sent by Ruskin, who said that all of them had been professionally trained.
Crups are dogs bred by wizards, and as their name suggests, they have forked tails like a swallow's tail.
However, when Crups reach six to eight weeks of age, wizards are legally obligated to use a painless severing charm to remove their tails, to avoid attracting the attention of Muggles.
Of course, if you don't want to, you don't have to cut it off, but then you can't let the Crup appear in front of Muggles.
These Crups were prepared for fifth-year students, as content related to these animals frequently appeared in the O.W.L.s exams.
"Alright, line up, little ones!" Adrian clapped his hands.
Hearing Adrian's command, the Crups immediately stood in a neat row, just like a well-trained army, impeccably arranged.
Adrian nodded with satisfaction. Ruskin had indeed told the truth, the Crups were incredibly intelligent, especially those she had trained herself.
"Roll over," Adrian commanded next. However, this time, all the Crups looked straight at Adrian, without any movement.
"Roll over," Adrian repeated.
The Crups still remained motionless, just staring at Adrian with what seemed like... disdain in their eyes?
"..."
Well, they seemed too smart. In that case, some special methods were needed.
Eventually, Adrian successfully threatened all the Crups with dinner, and made them reluctantly roll over.
As Adrian finished training the dogs and had them line up again, Hagrid hurriedly passed by, as if he hadn't seen Adrian at all, and did not even say hello.
He even ignored the Crups. Adrian was now genuinely puzzled. Normally, if Hagrid saw a pack of Crups, he should have excitedly run over.
"Hagrid?" Adrian waved at him from a distance. "What's wrong?"
Hagrid finally turned around to look at Adrian.
"I've got an emergency!" Hagrid shouted, somewhat anxiously. "Fluffy is injured, I need to treat him."
'Fluffy? Isn't that the three-headed dog?'
Adrian was confused about what could have injured a three-headed dog.
'Could Quirrell have made his move already?'
Seeing Hagrid about to leave, Adrian quickly followed.
"Need any help?" He asked as he caught up.
Hagrid turned to look at him, seemingly hesitating for a moment, but eventually nodded and beckoned to Adrian: "Follow me."
Adrian immediately quickened his pace, jogging alongside Hagrid.
"What happened exactly?"
Hagrid frowned deeply, saying in a low voice: "This morning, when I went to feed Fluffy, I found a deep wound on his left leg, and his blood was all over the floor..."
"That sounds serious."
As Adrian and Hagrid walked toward the castle, the Crups watched them leave, exchanging puzzled glances among themselves.
Hagrid led Adrian all the way to the fourth floor of the castle, to the room where the Philosopher's Stone would be kept.
In fact, the Philosopher's Stone wasn't actually being stored there yet; it was still with Dumbledore.
Hagrid unlocked the room with a key, and they entered together.
The air was filled with a heavy smell of blood.
Indeed, as Hagrid had said, Fluffy was curled up in the corner of the room, all three heads drooping, emitting low whimpers.
There was a deep wound on his left leg, mangled and bloody, with blood staining the surrounding fur and floor.
"I discovered him injured this morning," Hagrid went forward to stroke Fluffy's heads, saying with concern: "Oh, poor Fluffy... don't be afraid, boy, I'm here."
Adrian also wanted to approach Fluffy, but whenever he got close, Fluffy would bare his teeth and growl at him.
"It looks like he doesn't like me," He said, then moved aside to let Hagrid treat Fluffy's wound.
While Hagrid worked, Adrian stood to the side, carefully observing the situation in the room.
His gaze slowly swept across the floor. Suddenly, near a pool of blood in the corner of the room, he spotted an inconspicuous leaf.
The leaf was almost completely dark red, blending with the floor—perhaps that's why Hagrid hadn't noticed it.
Adrian frowned, walked forward, and crouched down to examine the leaf carefully.
"Eldra."
[Type: Chomping Cabbage leaf]
Well, Adrian had pretty much guessed what had happened in this room last night.
Who could it be but Harry's Chomping Cabbage?
After picking up the leaf, Adrian asked Hagrid: "Hagrid, do you have any idea why Fluffy would be injured?"
Hagrid was busy applying ointment to Fluffy's wound. Hearing Adrian's question, he looked up, seeming somewhat at a loss: "I'm not sure either, Adrian. But I don't think it was an intruder. Looking at the scene, I guess... it's probably because his three heads got into a fight."
"The three heads fighting each other?"
Hagrid nodded, "Yes, Fluffy's three heads sometimes argue with each other, even fight. Although they share one body, each head has its own thoughts. Sometimes, they quarrel over food or other small matters. But this time... they actually bit the leg, it's strange..."
Hearing Hagrid's words, Adrian couldn't help but feel puzzled.
When a three-headed dog gets injured, does one head feel the pain, or do all three heads feel it together?
"Alright, Adrian, help me get the bandages from my bag," Hagrid said after using almost an entire basin of ointment, pointing at the bag at Adrian's feet. "They're in there."
Adrian crouched down, opened the bag Hagrid had indicated, and rummaged inside.
However, he didn't find any bandages. Instead, he felt a large bundle of white hair, like fur shed from some large animal.
"Hagrid," Adrian looked up, "There are no bandages in here, just some fur."
"That's it," Hagrid confirmed.
Adrian had no choice but to bring the large bundle of fur to Hagrid.
"This is unicorn tail hair," Hagrid explained as he skillfully began wrapping it around Fluffy's wound. "Bandages made from them are more secure than regular cloth, and they won't stick to the wound, allowing it to heal faster."
"..."
Adrian remembered that a small bag of unicorn tail hair cost ten galleons.
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