Hearing Newt's reply, Dumbledore's eyebrows rose slightly, though he did not press the matter further.
After exchanging a few more casual words, Newt shifted the conversation back to Lucien, his tone becoming much more relaxed.
"Oh, Lucien, how have the little ones been lately?"
"They're all doing very well."
Lucien smiled and took out a small, exquisitely decorated box from his pocket, only palm-sized in appearance. It was actually the briefcase after its appearance had been altered and shrunk down.
"However, some of the 'residents' inside are too large to release here, so we can go into the case later to see them. For now, though, we can take a look at…"
He opened the tiny box and lightly waved his wand inside.
A moment later, a sleepy Niffler covered in platinum-blonde fur clumsily waddled out of the box.
It was Ginger.
Newt reached out and caught the little creature in his hands.
Ginger rolled around in his palm until it found a comfortable position.
Newt instinctively weighed it in his hand, feeling the heavy yet soft and bouncy sensation in his palm.
His expression instantly became rather subtle, and his tone carried a trace of strangeness.
"Lucien… don't you think Ginger seems a little… sturdy compared to an ordinary Niffler of the same age?"
"Perhaps the little fellow secretly stuffed even more treasure into its nest, which increased the weight."
Lucien said this while reaching out a finger to gently scratch Ginger's soft belly.
Clatter, clatter—~~!
Along with a series of crisp and pleasant sounds, all sorts of gold and silver jewelry, sparkling cufflinks, and even hundreds of Galleons and Sickles poured out from the pouch on Ginger's stomach.
In an instant, the Headmaster's office glittered with dazzling light, overflowing with treasure.
"Squeak!"
Ginger was abruptly startled awake by the commotion.
Watching the treasures it had "painstakingly collected" spill everywhere, it frantically stretched out its tiny paws, trying desperately to scoop everything back.
Unfortunately, its little arms were far too short. It could only wave helplessly in the air, its tiny eyes filled with despair and heartbreak.
However, the embarrassing part was that even after all the treasure had been emptied out, Ginger's round platinum fluffball body showed absolutely no sign of slimming down…
For a moment, the Headmaster's office fell into awkward silence.
Lucien silently stuffed all the treasures back into his pocket while simultaneously tucking Ginger, who was desperately trying to stop him, into his arms.
Then he gave a light cough.
"Ahem, I'll strictly supervise this little fellow's diet from now on."
Looks like he would have to build the child a hamster wheel…
Behind his half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore's eyes were full of amusement.
"Hahaha, I can tell that you have quite a talent for caring for magical creatures, Lucien. They seem to be living very… 'comfortably' under your care."
Dumbledore's gaze then shifted toward the miniature briefcase once again, and he asked with obvious interest,
"I wonder if I might have the honor of visiting the world inside your case?"
In truth, Dumbledore had not asked on a whim.
During the Quidditch match a few days earlier, he had vaguely glimpsed something resembling a Thunderbird high within the clouds, and doubts had lingered in his mind ever since.
Now that he had seen a briefcase in Lucien's possession identical in style to Newt's, he already had most of the answer.
"Of course. No problem."
Lucien agreed without much hesitation. After all, he did not keep that many magical creatures inside the case.
Soon afterward, Lucien led Dumbledore and Newt into the miniature world he had personally arranged within the case.
Not long later, the tour came to an end, and the three of them returned to the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore looked at Lucien and spoke with unusual seriousness.
"Lucien, while you are attending Hogwarts, you absolutely must keep a very close watch over this case."
Because Dumbledore had not only seen the Thunderbird he had expected.
He had also seen a dragon.
The dragon appeared somewhat unusual, but Dumbledore could still roughly identify it as a Norwegian Ridgeback.
The mere thought of this young student casually wandering around Hogwarts every day while carrying a case containing creatures such as a Thunderbird and a dragon made even Dumbledore feel rather speechless.
Seeing this, Newt quickly spoke up.
"Dumbledore, don't worry! The case I gave Lucien has already been completely modified. The protective magic on it is of the highest level. Those little creatures absolutely, definitely cannot escape!"
Dumbledore looked at Newt, silently recalling his old friend's long history of "incidents" involving magical creatures…
"Headmaster, don't worry. I'll definitely keep them under control."
Hearing Lucien's assurance, Dumbledore suddenly thought that if Lucien could already perform Magical Creature Transfiguration himself, then perhaps keeping a few magical creatures really was not that big of an issue after all.
Young Fawkes had barely rested before he was already busy sending Newt back, leaving only a few unextinguished sparks drifting through the air.
Now, only Lucien and Dumbledore remained in the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore calmly looked at Lucien.
"Regarding the Basilisk, do you have any further thoughts beyond what we've already discussed?"
Lucien pondered briefly before answering.
"I believe the Basilisk's existence should remain confidential for now and only be known by the Heads of House. If news spreads among the students, it could cause uncontrollable panic. The immediate priority should still be locating the Basilisk within the castle and dealing with it completely."
"After all, the Basilisk's deadliest feature is its eyes, which contain death magic. Every victim so far has only been 'fortunate' enough to suffer petrification because of reflective mediums such as water, mirrors, or ghosts. We cannot rely on luck forever."
Although Lucien had already observed Lockhart and Tom's conspiracy, Lockhart himself did not dare genuinely kill students, and Tom had promised him that the attacks would only result in petrification.
However, Lucien did not trust Tom's so-called "promise." More likely than not, it was merely an excuse to keep Lockhart calm and manipulate him into cooperating.
As he spoke, Lucien took out a pair of simple-looking glasses from his pocket and gently placed them on the desk.
"Speaking of which, Headmaster, this is an experimental alchemical item I recently created. It suddenly occurred to me that it might be effective against the Basilisk's gaze."
Dumbledore made a slight gesture, and the glasses floated steadily into his hand.
Holding them before his eyes, he carefully examined the seemingly ordinary glasses. A moment later, understanding flashed through his eyes.
"Oh? Thestral tail hair has been integrated into the material, correct?"
"Yes, Headmaster."
Lucien nodded.
"My original intention was to utilize the unique trait of Thestrals, that they can only be seen by those who have witnessed death, and see whether it was possible to create a special magical item."
"The current function of these glasses is to blur anything related to 'death' within the wearer's vision. I wondered whether they might also block or weaken the effects of the Basilisk's gaze."
Hearing this, Dumbledore took out the Elder Wand.
He lightly tapped the frame of the glasses with the wand tip, and magic slowly flowed into them like a stream, carefully examining the internal magical structure.
The office remained silent for several minutes.
Dumbledore withdrew his wand and handed the glasses back to Lucien, his eyes filled with undisguised admiration.
"A remarkably ingenious concept."
Over the course of this term, Dumbledore had already grown accustomed to Lucien's endless stream of inventions. Seeing him produce yet another original creation now only inspired appreciation and familiarity rather than surprise.
Lucien accepted the glasses.
"Do you think there are any areas where the design could still be improved?"
Dumbledore pondered briefly.
"Perhaps you could try incorporating permanent magic that deflects vision or scatters light, adding another layer of protection for the wearer…"
The old wizard and the young one soon began discussing the alchemical principles related to improving the Thestral glasses.
Not long afterward, Fawkes returned.
Rather than landing on his perch, the young phoenix lightly glided down onto Lucien's shoulder.
Using his still-small beak, he carefully preened the slightly messy ends of Lucien's hair.
________
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