About a month ago, Hagrid had started noticing signs of intruders in the Forbidden Forest. At first, he'd assumed it was just older students sneaking in for thrills, but a few days later during a routine patrol, he'd discovered a unicorn that had been attacked. That's when he realized something was seriously wrong.
Since then, Hagrid had been making frequent trips into the forest, trying to figure out what was happening. During tonight's patrol, he'd stumbled across the black-robed figure attacking another unicorn.
Seeing it with his own eyes, Hagrid had been so blinded by rage that he'd charged in without thinking.
The results spoke for themselves.
If he'd managed a surprise attack, Hagrid might have overpowered his opponent with sheer half-giant strength. But in a direct fight, his massive frame had made him an easy target.
Without his thick skin, Fang's warning, and Cecilia's sacrifice, Hagrid would have died tonight.
"For something this serious, you should have told Professor Dumbledore the moment you noticed something was wrong! How could you think to handle such a dangerous enemy by yourself?" McGonagall interrupted, her voice sharp with anger.
The thought of what could have happened if Adrian hadn't arrived in time made her stomach clench.
Hagrid opened his mouth but couldn't find words. He'd been secretly raising Norbert, going to Dumbledore hadn't been an option.
"Later, I got separated from Fang and tried to lead the black-robed wizard away from him. I thought Cecilia had already run away, but she must have followed us and... and took that curse for me."
Hagrid's voice broke as he spoke. Though he'd only met Cecilia a few times, their brief battle together and her ultimate sacrifice had earned his deep respect.
"Unicorns are intelligent and proud creatures. They don't take risks lightly. Clearly, your courage earned its recognition." Dumbledore's voice was gentle, but his eyes held steel as they turned to Adrian.
"Adrian, you did exceptionally well tonight. I must say, your actions continue to surprise me."
"It's what anyone would do. Hagrid is my friend." Adrian kept his mental shields up while nodding modestly. Truthfully, he wanted nothing more than to avoid Dumbledore's attention entirely.
Dumbledore nodded approvingly, then turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, please escort Hagrid and Adrian back to the castle, and tell the other professors to keep their students locked in their dormitories."
"As for me..." A rare flash of anger crossed Dumbledore's weathered features, and magical energy rippled outward as his emotions briefly slipped his control. The oppressive force made Adrian take an involuntary step back.
Norbert fared worse, immediately curling into a ball and losing all pretense of being a top predator.
"I will personally search the Forbidden Forest for this murderer."
It was the first time Adrian had seen Dumbledore truly angry, and he felt a spark of hope. Maybe the headmaster would find Quirrell and Voldemort and end this once and for all.
Professor McGonagall glanced at Norbert. "Professor Dumbledore, what about the dragon?"
"Handle it before the Ministry arrives for their inspection." Dumbledore waved his wand, summoning dozens of blue lights that scattered in all directions through the forest before choosing a path and disappearing into the darkness.
"Handle it how? With a Vanishing Spell?" McGonagall still didn't understand his meaning, though in her opinion, the cleanest way to make a dragon disappear from Hogwarts would be complete magical erasure.
Absolutely thorough, guaranteed to leave no trace.
With Dumbledore's power, it should be possible, shouldn't it?
Adrian was horrified. He hadn't expected the proper Professor McGonagall to have such ruthless solutions. He quickly explained:
"Ron's brother Charlie studies dragons in Romania. We've already arranged to send Norbert there in two days."
McGonagall nodded approvingly at this plan, then glanced at Hagrid, who was still struggling to stand.
"Can you transfigure a stretcher?" she asked Adrian.
"Of course." Adrian immediately understood. He drew his wand and tapped a long piece of broken wood, picturing the structure of a medical stretcher in his mind.
As magic flowed through the wand, the branch twisted and grew longer, slowly transforming into a black metal frame with a hardwood platform suspended between two support bars. The components fused seamlessly, as if they'd grown together naturally. For Hagrid's comfort, Adrian even added a soft cotton cushion to the wooden surface.
Such complex transfiguration was challenging, but he managed it successfully.
"Excellent work. I don't believe there's a student at Hogwarts more advanced in transfiguration." Professor McGonagall's face showed a small speck of admiration.
She'd been prepared to give on-the-spot instruction, but clearly it wasn't needed.
Adrian's previous feat of transfiguring spikes during the troll incident had already impressed her. His abilities had improved dramatically since then.
"Professor McGonagall, I feel like my transfiguration has hit a wall. I haven't improved in several days." Adrian wasn't satisfied, his transfiguration had reached [Level 3 (799/800)] a week ago. Just one more point of proficiency would break through to level four.
But no matter how much he practiced, the progress bar remained stubbornly stuck.
"I must caution you, Adrian." Professor McGonagall's expression turned serious. "Transfiguration is extremely complex and dangerous magic. You must never rush for quick advancement. Your skill already far exceeds your peers, you should focus on building a solid foundation."
In her decades of teaching, McGonagall had seen too many gifted students become overconfident and attempt dangerous transformations, even trying to transfigure their own bodies.
Those who succeeded naturally needed no mention, they broke through transfiguration's boundaries and achieved their own Animagus forms.
But the failures... their fates were horrible. Magical disruption leading to death was actually a mercy. The worst cases became trapped as grotesque human-animal hybrids, unable to reverse their botched transformations, condemned to exist in that twisted state forever.