After receiving Adrian's definitive refusal, Lockhart didn't pester him any further.
He left behind a parting remark—"You can take more time to think about it"—before leaving.
After Lockhart's departure, Ray's feathers bristled slightly, his pupils contracting into thin slits as he stared intently in the direction of Lockhart's retreat.
Adrian gently stroked the thunderbird's tense neck feathers. Obviously, it too had sensed the malice that Lockhart harbored deep within his heart, just as Adrian had.
In front of the thunderbird's keen perception, any dark thoughts had nowhere to hide.
It seemed he would need to be even more cautious around Lockhart in the future.
Soon, the students arrived, and today's Care of Magical Creatures class proceeded as scheduled.
As Adrian had prepared, today's lesson involved using nifflers to help find various coins he had hidden in the vicinity.
However, despite the nifflers' assistance, finding those coins proved to be quite difficult.
Most of the nifflers were unwilling to cooperate with the students.
The scene became chaotic at times.
These greedy little creatures not only refused to cooperate but also pilfered several sickles from the students' pockets.
In the end, only half the students managed to find coins.
Among them, Hufflepuff's Cedric Diggory was lucky enough to find a galleon.
Cedric initially thought it was leprechaun gold, but when the coin hadn't disappeared after several hours, he realized it was a real galleon.
Their Care of Magical Creatures professor was certainly generous!
After class, Adrian began cleaning up the students' mess—in their search for coins, the clearing by the Black Lake had been thoroughly torn up.
The nifflers had riddled the ground with holes and even managed to burrow through several rocks larger than their heads.
Fortunately, with the Repair Charm, restoring the area to its original state didn't require much of Adrian's energy.
"Reparo, Reparo, Repar—"
Adrian stopped waving his wand because he spotted a familiar figure.
It was Luna Lovegood, wearing a slightly oversized Ravenclaw robe, a necklace of butterbeer bottle caps around her neck, and still sporting her carrot-shaped earrings, with her wand tucked behind her ear as she bounced toward Adrian.
"Good afternoon, Professor!"
Luna paused briefly in front of Adrian to greet him, then continued bouncing toward the Black Lake.
"Luna, please wait a moment." Adrian called after her, giving his wand a gentle flick to restore the last patch of grass.
"What is it?" Luna turned back, asking in her dreamy tone.
"You seem rather urgent. What are you going to do?" Adrian tucked away his wand and asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm going to show this to the giant squid." Luna turned around and gently raised the copy of The Quibbler in her hand. "The latest issue has an article about underwater crumple-horned snorkacks. I think it would be interested."
Underwater crumple-horned snorkacks? That sounded even less credible than water monkeys.
Adrian blinked, while Ray, perched on Adrian's shoulder, tilted his head in confusion.
The giant squid was a massive squid that, after being domesticated, lived in Hogwarts' Black Lake. On sunny days, it would swim to the shallows and let Hogwarts students scratch its tentacles.
"I think the giant squid probably can't read," Adrian reminded her.
"That's alright—" Luna shook her head lightly. "I'll read it to him. Goodbye."
With that, Luna continued on her path to the lake's shallows.
Seeing this, Adrian felt somewhat concerned, so he followed Luna to the Black Lake shallows.
Sure enough, the giant squid was lying there sunbathing, with its several thick tentacles lazily slapping the water's surface.
Luna didn't remove her shoes but waded directly into the water, carrying The Quibbler as she approached the giant squid.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Squid," Luna greeted in her characteristic ethereal tone.
Then she simply stood there, opened The Quibbler, and began reading its contents word by word.
Seeing this, Adrian couldn't help but tilt his head—he truly couldn't understand Luna's thought process.
The giant squid, meanwhile, looked like it couldn't be bothered with Luna.
Adrian stood to the side, watching this scene with interest.
A few minutes later, Luna's reading was suddenly interrupted—not because she had finished the article, but because a sudden splash of water hit The Quibbler, immediately soaking a large portion of the magazine's pages.
"What a pity," Luna didn't seem angry, only regretful. "I suppose we'll have to try another time."
Then Luna turned around and finally noticed Adrian, who had been quietly watching from the side.
She immediately bounced over to him.
Adrian smiled slightly and waved his wand. A spell circled around Luna several times, instantly evaporating the water stains from her robes and magazine.
"Thank you, Professor Westeros." Luna looked at the magazine in her hand—now restored to its original condition—then turned her gaze to Adrian. "Do you need my help, Professor?"
Adrian was momentarily surprised. "How did you know?"
"It's the wrackspurts," Luna pointed near Adrian's ear. "There are many there. They told me."
Adrian instinctively touched his ear—obviously, there was nothing there.
However, although he wasn't sure if wrackspurts actually existed, Luna was right—he did indeed have something he needed Luna's help with.
"I'd be happy to help you, Professor," Luna said, clutching her magazine. "If I can be of assistance."
Though he didn't know how Luna had figured it out, Adrian nodded. "Excellent, Luna."
Adrian led Luna all the way to his office.
There was only one thing he needed Luna's help with—the matter of the "spirits" around him.
He needed Luna to help him observe the relationship between the "spirits" on him and those mutated plants.
Upon reaching the office, Luna was immediately drawn to the Devil's Snare vines emerging from the suitcase.
She had already seen Devil's Snare during the summer holidays, so she wasn't surprised by this.
Luna touched the Devil's Snare vine that reached toward her. The vine gently coiled around Luna's fingers and softly brushed against her palm.
Adrian noticed Luna's eyes light up.
Obviously, she was very fond of the Devil's Snare.
"We should have had tea first," Adrian glanced out the window, where the evening sun's afterglow was gradually fading and dusk was beginning to envelop Hogwarts castle. "But time is pressing."
Adrian nodded, then walked over to the suitcase. The Devil's Snare emerged from within and attached itself to Adrian.
Then Adrian picked up the suitcase and threw it into the air.
A few seconds later, a door appeared in the center of the office.
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