After chatting casually with Dumbledore for a while, Adrian finally revealed the purpose of his visit.

  "Professor, I was wondering if you would allow me to include the Thunderbird in the practical portion of my Care of Magical Creatures css?"

  Adrian's tone carried a hint of caution, as the special nature of Thunderbirds made this request somewhat sensitive.

  "Why not?" Dumbledore expressed a look of surprise: "I fully support you, Adrian. Hogwarts won't interfere with your teaching unless—well, unless you cause serious harm to your students. But I think that's quite impossible, given your well-known capabilities."

  Adrian was a bit taken aback; he hadn't expected Dumbledore to respond this way. Still, he pressed on: "Will the Ministry of Magic allow it? Privately keeping protected magical creatures seems to be against the w."

  "This isn't private keeping," Dumbledore smiled and winked at Adrian after hearing his concern, "Let me think—you're raising the Thunderbird for Hogwarts' educational needs, aren't you? The Ministry will certainly agree. It's completely reasonable, and legal!"

  "Well, you're right, Professor."

  Adrian breathed a sigh of relief internally. It seemed he had been too narrow-minded.

  Dumbledore didn't care at all about him keeping a Thunderbird. He didn't even care about the Ministry of Magic.

  But then again, that was to be expected—this was Dumbledore after all!

  If he wished, the Ministry would have to go along with whatever he said.

  Dumbledore also gently stroked the young Thunderbird's neck—and as expected, it wasn't afraid of him at all.

  "How do you find teaching at Hogwarts?" he asked with a smile as he stroked the bird.

  Adrian paused, then shook his head. "Actually, I'm not sure yet."

  "Not sure?" Now it was Dumbledore's turn to be confused. "What happened?"

  "I haven't taught any csses yet. My first lesson is this afternoon," Adrian paused, then continued, "Professor, I think we should consider increasing the number of Care of Magical Creatures csses. Even though it's an elective..."

  'Increase the number of csses?'

  Dumbledore had never heard such a request before.

  After Adrian passionately expined on the importance of Care of Magical Creatures until his throat was dry, Dumbledore finally could bear it no longer.

  "Perhaps you could start a club for Care of Magical Creatures," he suggested, before waving his wand and "inviting" Adrian out of his office.

  Adrian felt a gust of wind that carried him outside the office.

  This outcome was within his expectations.

  At Hogwarts, Care of Magical Creatures was equivalent to physical education css in a regur school.

  Important, but not that important.

  Schools would increase academic courses, but rarely physical education ones.

  So, Adrian's suggestion to add more csses was merely wishful thinking.

  Besides, Hogwarts' curriculum was already quite full.

  After leaving the headmaster's office, as Adrian was walking down the corridor considering names for the young Thunderbird, he suddenly smacked his forehead.

  He had forgotten the young Thunderbird in the headmaster's office.

  At the end of lunch, Adrian was invited by Professor Sprout to visit her greenhouse.

  On the way there:

  "Do you remember when you were a student?" Professor Sprout began as they walked, "You would often come help me tend to the herbs, then ask me for some herb seeds... Ah, when you get old, you tend to reminisce about the past."

  "That was truly helpful for me, especially during my ter travels," Adrian smiled and added regretfully, "Actually, I'm sorry I haven't come to see you since graduation, Professor."

  Hearing Adrian's words, Professor Sprout's eyes crinkled into thin lines as she smiled reassuringly, "Oh, that's not a big deal, Adrian. As long as what you learned from me has been useful, that's enough."

  By this time, they had arrived at the greenhouse entrance.

  Professor Sprout's greenhouse and Adrian's pntation had completely different styles.

  The greenhouse was mostly filled with herbs that required meticulous care, including some pnts that would be considered quite valuable outside. Many of these pnts would struggle to survive if there was even the slightest mistake in their care.

  Adrian's pntation, on the other hand, contained a bit of everything. Common or rare, he pnted them all together messily. As for whether they would survive—that was up to fate.

  However, due to Adrian's unique magical affinity, the survival rate was still decent. In fact, with each successive generation, the pnts' vitality seemed to grow stronger.

  The only issue was that some pnts grew rather oddly, like those highly toxic dittany pnts. Who would have thought that dittany, a pnt known for saving lives, would suddenly become poisonous?

  "Please come in," Professor Sprout opened the greenhouse door, then took a pair of thick dragon-hide gloves from a nearby shelf and handed them to Adrian. "There's a new batch of venomous geraniums that need their roots trimmed. You'll help me, won't you? Just like old times."

  "Venomous geraniums?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, took the gloves, and put them on skillfully. "I hope I still remember how to do this."

  Despite saying this, Adrian hadn't forgotten at all.

  When it came to pnt care methods, Adrian remembered them vividly.

  For him, caring for pnts was like riding a bicycle—once learned, they were never forgotten.

  A moment ter:

  "Your movements are still skillful," Professor Sprout nodded approvingly as she watched Adrian expertly handling the venomous geraniums. "It seems you haven't let your skills deteriorate since graduation."

  While neatly trimming the roots of the venomous geraniums, Adrian smiled and said, "Of course not, Professor. In fact, I've been running a pnt nursery to store magical pnts I've found during my travels."

  "Goodness, you never told me about this!" Professor Sprout looked at him in surprise. "And now? How is your nursery doing?"

  Adrian raised his chin somewhat proudly: "If there's an opportunity, I'd love to show you around."

  "Then I'll look forward to your invitation, Professor Westeros," Professor Sprout finished processing the st venomous geranium and wiped the sweat from her eyebrow. "Thank you so much. Without your help, I probably wouldn't have made it to my afternoon css on time."

  The css preparations had her overwhelmed.

  Adrian removed the dragon-hide gloves and set them aside, saying, "You could select a few students to help you, like you did in the past."

  Hearing Adrian's suggestion, Professor Sprout ughed lightly, "That won't work, Adrian. Not all students have your natural talent. I might end up having to clean up their messes."

  "If there are no suitable students, I'm always avaible to help," Adrian shrugged, "Just like before."

  Professor Sprout looked pleased but shook her head, "Professors are much busier than students, you know."

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