Chapter 207. Guard
The next day, after a night of careful deliberation, Remus Lupin finally accepted Albus Dumbledore's invitation. This was exactly what Adrian Wesson had expected.
In the morning, Adrian said to him, "A fine choice. Tending plants here really does bury your talents."
Seeing Adrian's attitude, Lupin couldn't help letting out a breath of relief.
"If it had been a month ago, I probably wouldn't have agreed," he said. "But the potion you gave me gave me some ideas—at the very least, I don't have to worry about attacking people when I turn into a werewolf."
In fact, Adrian thought that even without the Purification Potion, Lupin had nothing to worry about.
After all, there was a Potions Master at Hogwarts; the Wolfsbane Potion was no problem for Severus Snape.
As for the cost of ingredients, that wasn't Lupin's concern either.
For a werewolf, the effect of the Wolfsbane Potion was not much different from Adrian's Purification Potion.
It was just that the Purification Potion was permanent, whereas the Wolfsbane Potion had to be taken every month.
Mm, and it was said to taste awful—so bitter it could make a troll vomit—and adding sugar would render it ineffective.
"Then it's settled," Adrian patted Lupin on the shoulder. "If you like, you can keep working here until the summer holidays end."
Lupin shook his head, his eyes drifting to the House-elf watering the Venomous Tentacula. "With Dobby here, that's enough."
Late July.
United States, Tiamorrison General Hospital.
Adrian stood by his little sister's hospital bed.
Just this morning, the Tree of Wisdom had finally finished purifying the remnant of Voldemort's soul from before.
This purification of Voldemort's soul fragment had taken unusually long, but the leaves produced were unusually crystalline and clear.
Adrian gently placed the leaf imbued with soul-power on his sister's forehead.
Just like the previous two times, the instant the leaf touched the girl's brow, it turned into a thread of flowing light and seeped between her eyebrows.
However, although the soul-power had entered Ariana's body, she still showed no sign of waking,
her eyes remained tightly shut.
[Soul Integrity: 80%]
When the Tree of Wisdom's message came through, Adrian felt the weight lift from his heart.
It seemed the soul-power contained in the diary was a bit greater than that in Ravenclaw's diadem.
Perhaps… when Voldemort first split his soul, he hadn't judged it properly and cut off too much?
In any case, his sister's soul repair had made great progress.
Maybe, once he obtained two more of Voldemort's Horcruxes, he would be able to repair her soul completely.
At that point, Ariana would probably wake up.
Adrian was suddenly filled with hope.
Because Dobby was at the plantation, Adrian spent a few days in America with his parents before returning.
When he arrived back at his shop, Dobby hurried up to him.
"Sir, Dobby… Dobby thinks Dobby has made trouble." It frantically knocked its head against the floor.
Even though Dobby was no longer anyone's servant, some House-elf habits still drove it to self-punish.
Seeing this, Adrian quickly stopped it. "What happened?"
Only then did Dobby lift its head, rubbing its eyes. "That… that tree—Dobby didn't look after it properly."
"The tree?"
Puzzled, Adrian stepped through the portal.
The sight that met him the moment he entered made him stop in spite of himself.
The Tree of Wisdom, at the very centre of the lawn, had shed its disguise. Green light covered the whole tree, and a faint pressure pulsed from it again and again.
What surprised him even more was that white mist was constantly spilling from the Tree of Wisdom.
The white mist had almost filled the entire area, with no sign of stopping its expansion.
"Dobby, what did you do?"
Adrian couldn't help but look at Dobby.
Dobby trembled and shook its head. "Dobby… Dobby only wanted to fertilise the tree, but before Dobby even touched it, it…"
Hearing this, Adrian looked back at the Tree of Wisdom.
In truth, the Tree of Wisdom didn't need fertiliser, and Dobby likely hadn't done so anyway.
So this clearly wasn't the cause of the Tree of Wisdom's change.
By now, the white mist emanating from the Tree of Wisdom had drifted to Adrian's feet.
"Eldra?"
Adrian reached out mentally to the Tree of Wisdom.
However, the Tree of Wisdom seemed to have fallen suddenly silent; it didn't respond for a long time.
Seeing this, Adrian had no choice but to walk up to the Tree of Wisdom and examine it carefully.
Now he was practically buried in the fog; oddly, the mist didn't obscure his vision at all.
And that silvery-white mist caused him no discomfort—on the contrary, it made him feel pleasantly warm.
As Adrian focused on the sensation, an accident suddenly occurred.
The mist, as if guided by something, surged toward him.
Adrian meant to back away, but words from the Tree of Wisdom made him stop.
[Do not resist, sir.]
Adrian settled. He knew the Tree of Wisdom would never harm him.
There must be some secret to this silvery-white mist.
Sure enough, once the Tree of Wisdom's voice came, the mist began slowly to sink into Adrian's body.
A gentle delight, a happy mood, welled up in his heart all at once.
It made Adrian freeze where he stood. He suddenly recalled many happy moments: the first time he received his Hogwarts letter, the first time he performed magic, the first time…
When the last wisp of silver mist was absorbed, the plantation returned to normal, and the Tree of Wisdom once more donned the disguise of an ordinary oak.
"Eldra."
[Name: Eldra (Tree of Wisdom)]
[Species: Oak]
[Level: 6]
[Traits: Object Analysis, Soul Link, Soul Purification, Energy Amplification, Ravenclaw's Wisdom, Guard]
[Status: Growing (0%)]
Indeed, the Tree of Wisdom had broken through its bottleneck and gained a new trait—Guard.
And those silvery-white mists just now were most likely caused by this trait.
Adrian suddenly realised those mists were very much like one particular thing.
An unformed Patronus.
Before most witches' and wizards' Patronuses take shape, they appear as silvery mist in just this way.
Add to that the delight and happiness those mists had stirred in him.
Adrian was certain the Tree of Wisdom's "Guard" ability must be related to the Patronus Charm.
At once, Adrian drew his wand and gave it a light flourish.
"Expecto Patronum!"
As the incantation left his lips, an unprecedented silver radiance burst from the tip of his wand.
A vast silver oak sprang up from nothing, towering until it seemed to cover the entire sky.
A small silvery-white hedgehog darted among the boughs. In flashes of silver light, it nimbly clambered down along the branches and finally dropped lightly onto Adrian's shoulder, rubbing his cheek affectionately.
Adrian watched the scene with a smile.
It seemed his Patronus Charm had undergone a small change.
At last, he knew where those white mists he had absorbed had gone.
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