Because of the destroyed cabinet, Adrian, caught on the spot, reluctantly accepted a full hour of lecturing. After repeatedly promising to be careful next time, he barely escaped other punishments.
Two days later, Adrian, having made enough preparations, finally met the belated Dougt.
During the two days of waiting, Adrian hadn't been idle.
Considering he might encounter more than one werewolf this time, Adrian took time to repair the weakening protective circle. He also found Irene and used his experience points to quickly learn an offensive spell. He couldn't rely on blood magic to support every battle.
After learning Adrian was preparing to study a potion that would keep werewolves sane, Dougt quickly became interested.
If a student who hadn't graduated had said so, he would have sneered.
But because of the potions Adrian had brewed before, and Adrian said he was inspired by Snape's classroom, Dougt gained a bit more confidence.
"If the development succeeds, you'll probably be the youngest Order of Merlin holder," Dougt couldn't help but admire. He enthusiastically proposed joining the Wolfsbane Potion research.
Of course, Adrian readily agreed. He'd been thinking about how to rope Dougt in to cover for himself. He hadn't expected Dougt to take the bait so conveniently before he'd even proposed it.
After chatting for a while, Adrian soon discovered he might have underestimated Dougt.
Being able to become Deputy Director in his thirties, Dougt definitely had real skills. Though he hadn't usually dealt with werewolves, he still put forward some feasible plans from a pharmacological perspective.
Adrian profited greatly for a while. If he'd just brewed the potion mindlessly following the formula before, he now had a deeper understanding of the Wolfsbane Potion's composition.
After walking for over half an hour, the road grew worse and worse. The east side of Knockturn Alley was almost a forgotten place. Abandoned houses and broken stone pillars were everywhere, along with weeds and shrubs.
Adrian looked around. Though he'd had some preparation, he hadn't expected werewolves to live here.
Because it didn't seem like a place people could live at all.
Was it to avoid running wild and hurting people on full moon nights?
Or was it simply because of poverty?
When Adrian was guessing, a red light hit the ground not far ahead. Rubble splashed up. Adrian instinctively activated the Protective Ring on his right hand. The magical barrier that rose blocked the scattered debris.
On Dougt's side, he gently waved his wand and swept away the rubble.
Being suddenly targeted this way, even though there was no intention to attack directly, still made Adrian frown. This wasn't a good signal.
Adrian held his wand but didn't mean to fight back. Instead, he spoke. "Come out and talk. We're not hostile."
After a moment, a thin young wizard walked out. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, at most, only a bit older than George and Fred. He wore old, shabby robes that were whitened from washing.
He seemed to laugh at himself, saying sarcastically, "Not many wizards come to this ruined place. Why don't you explain what you're here for first?"
Seeing his appearance, Adrian faintly remembered the other small werewolf he'd seen at the second-floor window. But this obviously wasn't the time to think about it. Adrian quickly sorted his thoughts and pointed to Dougt.
"This is the former Deputy Director of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Dougt. He's been studying werewolf emotional control after transformation in Knockturn Alley for many years.
The research has made some breakthroughs now, so we want to ask a few werewolf wizards some questions."
Considering he was a young wizard who'd only be in second year next term, there was really no authority, so Adrian put the research title on Deputy Dean Dougt's head.
It was a half-truth, and he hadn't directly mentioned blood sampling.
Listening to Adrian's words, Dougt had a strange expression. He didn't know when he'd been studying werewolves in Knockturn Alley.
But Dougt didn't refute anything. Instead, he followed Adrian's words and said to the young wizard, "Yes. Do you know the werewolves here?"
"Dougt? You're the one who injured Fren last time?" The young wizard didn't answer Dougt's question but frowned.
"Fren?" Dougt paused, then continued. "Some time ago, I did treat a werewolf. If you're referring to him, that's correct."
"If you know him, then you should know how good my medical skills are." When saying this, Dougt was a bit smug. He felt things would be easier to handle with layers of connections.
After all, he was also the savior of that werewolf.
But Adrian wasn't so optimistic. He became alert because he found the other party's expression growing angrier.
Whoosh~
A dazzling red light flew from the young wizard's wand and shot into the sky.
Seeing the other party's movement, Adrian, no matter how slow, knew the other party didn't plan to talk nicely. He suddenly turned to look at Dougt angrily, asking what was going on. He'd known he should have come alone.
The latter had an innocent expression. He usually didn't bother paying attention to werewolves. The only contact he'd had was healing the other party's injuries.
'Unless that werewolf had been killed by him last time... Dougt stroked his chin. But that shouldn't be...'
According to his judgment, the werewolf injured by dark magic would heal in a few days at most.
The two being so inattentive made the young wizard feel insulted. A Severing Charm was thrown out after raising his hand, the target directed at Dougt.
"Diffindo!"
Adrian didn't mean to help at all.
Dougt didn't care either. At some point, the Protego charm had been cast on his body, and the curse light returned to its original path.
Not only that, Dougt didn't have the habit of being passively beaten. He tapped his wand lightly and cast spell after spell.
Though the werewolf wizard didn't look great, his skill was unexpectedly good. Most importantly, he didn't care about image at all, rolling on the ground awkwardly to evade several spells.
But that was it.
Seeing Dougt hadn't dealt with the opponent immediately, Adrian frowned, worried the rising red light would attract more enemies. He waved his wand...
The winding vines on the wall were instantly activated, like a long whip drawn toward the opponent. The werewolf wizard, already awkward under Dougt's curse attacks, was unable to dodge and was struck on his right arm.
The next second, the vine coiled around the arm, while another vine underneath pulled violently on the werewolf wizard's right leg, forcing him to lose balance and fall to the ground...
Dougt took the opportunity to throw out black light. The wizard's struggling strength slowly diminished.
"Let's grab him and leave first. I'm afraid it'll be troublesome to stay here. Anyway, you only need a few tubes of blood, right?" Dougt said, looking at the young werewolf wizard on the ground, very curious why the other party had acted upon hearing his name...
Thinking of this, Dougt was a bit annoyed. When had his reputation gotten so bad?