Chapter 30. The Convenience of Status
In the potted plant shop at dusk.
Adrian Wesson was being questioned. As a law-abiding citizen, he was naturally willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Magic's investigator.
Moreover, Adrian knew that so long as the Chinese Chomping Cabbage hadn't been seen by Muggles, the Ministry would be unlikely to make things difficult for him.
"Name."
"Adrian Wesson."
"Occupation."
"I'm teaching at Hogwarts now."
"What about the incident that happened at your house?"
"...Just an experiment gone wrong."
"Not some sort of magical creature?"
"No."
...
After a round of questioning, the investigator from the Ministry of Magic had filled a whole page with notes.
Because Adrian was extremely cooperative, the investigator's work went unusually smoothly.
"Er... Mr Wesson? Are you really a professor at Hogwarts?" he suddenly asked.
Adrian nodded. "Is there a problem?"
"No," he shook his head, then smiled. "It's just the first time I've seen a professor this young."
"In fact, I only joined this year," Adrian said with an easy smile.
"A newly appointed professor?" The investigator raised his eyebrows.
He lowered his head and flipped through his record. "Let me see... Which subject do you teach?"
"Care of Magical Creatures," Adrian answered offhandedly.
After hearing this, the investigator added one last line to his report and rose from his chair.
"That concludes our inquiry, Mr Wesson," he said.
Adrian was a bit surprised. Was that it?
"Is that all? Do I need to do anything else?" he asked cautiously.
"Er..." the investigator explained, "in truth, there's a possibility you were keeping a dangerous creature. But, you know, I didn't find any prohibited creatures here."
"And," he winked at Adrian, "we trust you, Mr Wesson—after all, you're a Hogwarts professor."
Did being a Hogwarts professor have this kind of effect?
Adrian nodded to himself inwardly. It seemed this status carried very high standing in the wizarding world.
"All right then, sir," the investigator put on his windproof cap and walked to the door. "I'll be off. If you're willing, you can come to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow to make a statement. Of course, if you don't, that's fine as well."
With that, he hurried away.
Since the matter could be handled so easily, Adrian certainly wasn't going to make trouble for himself by voluntarily going to the Ministry to make a statement.
That would be like a sheep walking into a tiger's den—he had broken quite a few laws, after all.
The charge of privately keeping a dragon alone was enough to send him to Azkaban.
However, he felt that even if the Ministry knew he had broken the law, they wouldn't be able to find any evidence.
...
After seeing the investigator off, Adrian took out his pocket-watch and glanced at it. It was already six o'clock.
Seeing how hurriedly the investigator had left, Adrian guessed he was rushing to clock off.
Before leaving, Harry had left the Chinese Chomping Cabbage in Adrian's care because he was afraid it might suddenly grow huge again.
If his aunt's house got burst apart, it would not be so easy to sort out.
He wasn't Adrian, who could wave his wand and restore a house with ease.
Adrian turned his gaze to the Chinese Chomping Cabbage on the table.
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage seemed to have recovered a bit of energy now and was no longer as wilted as it had been right after shrinking back from its giant size.
As Adrian approached, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage immediately opened its mouth.
He knew it was demanding Dragon Dung Mixed Fertiliser.
However, Adrian's stock of Dragon Dung Mixed Fertiliser was nearly gone.
"I haven't prepared that much Dragon Dung Mixed Fertiliser," Adrian said as he fetched some ordinary magical fertiliser from the storeroom. "You'll have to make do with this for now."
When Adrian put the fertiliser into the Chinese Chomping Cabbage's mouth, it seemed reluctant.
"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."
It chewed a few times and then spat the fertiliser back out, giving a few coughs as if in distaste.
"Getting picky, are we?" Adrian's face darkened. "Keep that up and I won't feed you."
Sensing Adrian's displeasure, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage immediately stopped coughing and no longer disdained the ordinary fertiliser.
It still knew who held the trump card.
After absorbing some of the fertiliser's nutrients, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage returned to normal.
"Can you freely control your size?" Adrian asked.
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage bobbed up and down—count that as a nod.
As before, a faint black gleam seeped from its body, and it began to swell.
This time, however, it was clearly able to control its own size.
Previously, it might have been because it had just gained the ability and wasn't yet adept at controlling it.
"Stop!"
When the Chinese Chomping Cabbage had grown to half a metre high, Adrian called for it to halt.
In most situations, that size was frightening enough.
To test its bite strength at that size, Adrian took a block of fine steel from storage and set it in front of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage.
But the Chinese Chomping Cabbage didn't move at all—just stared at the large block of metal.
"What are you dawdling for? Go on and bite it," Adrian urged.
"..."
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage seemed to say: Are you serious?
In the end, under Adrian's insistence, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage managed to leave a tooth mark on the fine steel—at the cost of one of its own teeth.
After leaving the mark, it seemed to have exhausted its magic again, and its size promptly returned to normal.
"Not bad," Adrian praised.
Bear in mind, that piece of fine steel was a quality item he had scrounged from the black market—it was goblin-made.
That the Chinese Chomping Cabbage's tooth could rival such steel for hardness truly surprised him.
While the Chinese Chomping Cabbage whimpered "oo-oo" over its precious lost tooth, Adrian poured a small vial of specially brewed Growth Potion down its throat, which finally quieted it.
After soothing the Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Adrian collected the tooth it had lost and had the Tree of Wisdom analyse it.
"Eldra."
[Category: Chinese Chomping Cabbage tooth]
[Trait: Gigantification]
...
Indeed, the tooth taken from the Chinese Chomping Cabbage also possessed the "Gigantification" trait.
With such a tooth, Adrian could brew a specific Growth Potion to grant other plants the "Gigantification" trait.
However, acquiring this trait came with a success rate—only plants suited to it would succeed.
As for which plants would adapt to this trait, that could only be determined through one experiment after another.
Fortunately, a Chinese Chomping Cabbage's teeth were renewable, so he didn't have to worry about supply during testing.
Whenever he needed to, he could extract them from the Chinese Chomping Cabbage without limit.
This might require the Chinese Chomping Cabbage to make a small sacrifice.
He believed the Chinese Chomping Cabbage wouldn't mind.
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