"Alright then." Hagrid finally finished treating Fluffy's wound. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before addressing Adrian: "Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that someone broke in. I already told Dumbledore about this this morning, but he just told me not to worry and to take good care of Fluffy."
"Is there anything I can help with?" Adrian asked after seeing that Hagrid had finished treating Fluffy's injuries.
"Certainly," Hagrid nodded, then patted Fluffy's head. "Music helps Fluffy feel better. Come on, Adrian, can you sing?"
"?"
And so, the ghastly wailing of the two men echoed throughout the small room.
In fact, someone had once described Adrian's singing as sounding like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Fortunately, Fluffy didn't seem particularly picky about music and quickly fell asleep.
"You sang really well, Professor Westeros."
"You too, Hagrid."
Days passed, and Fluffy was soon bouncing around energetically again.
The incident of his injury didn't cause any further ripples.
Besides that, Harry officially joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and received a broomstick from Professor McGonagall, beginning his three-times-weekly practice sessions.
As for Adrian, in addition to teaching and caring for plants, he added another activity to his weekly routine: frequenting the Hogwarts library.
In fact, Adrian had never stopped his pursuit of knowledge.
As he had once said: The most important thing for a wizard is to keep learning!
Ever since he learned that the Philosopher's Stone had a certain attraction to the Tree of Wisdom, he had been searching the Hogwarts library for materials on alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone, hoping to find some clues.
Alchemy was a very mysterious magical art, widely used to create various magical artifacts including potions, instruments, creatures, and more. Among these, the most famous was undoubtedly the Philosopher's Stone.
Adrian had once taken the alchemy elective course at Hogwarts, but unfortunately, the subject was extremely difficult. At that time, he had only learned some theoretical concepts.
However, after searching the library for a long time, he found very little information about alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone apart from the class textbooks.
He had no choice but to turn his attention to the Restricted Section.
Of course, as a professor, Adrian no longer needed to obtain permission to enter the Restricted Section like students did.
As long as he didn't upset Madam Pince, he could browse the Restricted Section as much as he wanted.
During this period, Adrian spent almost all his free time researching alchemy.
The eve of Halloween.
In fact, Adrian had almost forgotten that Halloween was approaching.
It wasn't until he saw Madam Pince place a grotesque pumpkin head on the table at the library entrance that he realized tomorrow was Halloween.
In the afternoon, when he arrived at the Great Hall, he found Professor McGonagall directing the other professors as they decorated.
Seeing Adrian appear, McGonagall immediately walked briskly toward him. "Ah, Professor Westeros, you've come at just the right time. We need another helper... We need to hurry! I want everything ready before the feast."
"Happy to help."
Adrian's task was to assist Hagrid in turning a pile of pumpkins in the corner into jack-o'-lanterns.
Hagrid was using a huge axe to cut away the excess parts of the pumpkins. However, Hagrid's movements were too rough, and he accidentally split one pumpkin in half.
Adrian used magic to handle the pumpkins for Hagrid.
First, he scooped out the pulp and seeds from inside the pumpkins, then traced his wand over the surface to carve out ghostly faces, and finally placed candles inside—very simple.
In just a few minutes, Adrian had prepared a large batch of jack-o'-lanterns.
After placing all the pumpkin lanterns on the dining tables:
"Hmm," Hagrid wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I'm not suited for delicate work."
"If you were willing to use magic..." Adrian waved his wand, pouring a glass of water for Hagrid. "These wouldn't be a problem."
"No, no, no..." Hagrid hurriedly waved his hands. "I can't use magic, you should know that, shouldn't you?"
Seeing Hagrid's flustered reaction, Adrian shrugged without saying much.
He did know. Although Hagrid claimed not to use magic, who knew what he did in private?
Adrian remembered that Hagrid had a pink umbrella, with his wand hidden in the handle.
Clearly, in this respect, Hagrid wasn't as straightforward as he appeared.
When all the preparations for the feast were complete, Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief, her expression softening somewhat.
She looked around, then nodded with satisfaction.
The Great Hall had been transformed. Countless floating jack-o'-lanterns were suspended from the ceiling, orange light spilling through the carved faces onto the floor below. A large flock of bats and ghosts slowly circled in the air, occasionally emitting eerie laughter.
The ghosts also greatly enjoyed Halloween.
Adrian saw Nearly Headless Nick repeatedly playing with his head with evident enjoyment.
"Thank you everyone for your hard work," said Professor McGonagall. "Now, if there's nothing else, please take your seats. The students will be arriving shortly."
At the professors' table, Adrian kept recalling the original storyline.
He remembered that Quirrell was supposed to release a troll this evening, planning to use the chaos as cover to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
"Adrian?"
Professor Flitwick's voice pulled Adrian from his thoughts.
He looked up to see the elderly Charms professor watching him with curious eyes.
"What's the matter?" Professor Flitwick asked with concern. "What are you thinking about? You seem quite distracted."
"No, nothing," Adrian came back to himself, smiling slightly. "I was thinking about Professor Quirrell... Oh, being the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor must be difficult. I've heard his recent classes haven't been going so smoothly."
Hearing this, Professor Flitwick nodded in agreement. "Ah, Professor Quirrell... Indeed, I've heard some rumors from the students as well. However, he seems to have some new ideas lately. A few days ago, he actually brought in a troll, saying he wanted to show it to the upper-year students during class. Can you imagine? A troll! In the classroom!"
"..."
Adrian fell silent for a moment. It seemed Quirrell had a special fondness for trolls.
"That doesn't sound very safe," Adrian shrugged.
"But it is a good change," Professor Flitwick displayed a satisfied smile. "Students certainly don't like professors who only read from textbooks. I quite approve of Quirrell's approach."
Now Adrian understood. It seemed the plot hadn't completely changed—Quirrell had still prepared a troll.
However, that would certainly be a wasted effort. Releasing a troll to create chaos was just too stupid.
If a troll were released, everyone's attention would definitely be focused on Quirrell, including Dumbledore.
After all, the troll was Quirrell's doing. Could Quirrell escape Dumbledore's watchful eye?
Certainly not.
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