Hogwarts: I Am an Exemplary Wizard

Kael narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. "Like you said, I rarely get to come to Beauxbatons, so I have to sit down and catch up properly. And I just happened to bring a bottle of good wine."

"Aren’t you supposed to go to the training hall?" Professor Rockneil struggled to pull his arm back, but after a few tries he still couldn’t break free. Kael seemed to have prepared for this, his grip especially tight.

"It’s only half a day, it’s fine. Besides, I’ve got a perfectly reasonable excuse. As a newbie who’s just getting started in Magizoology, of course I have to visit an expert in the field.

"How’s that for a reason? Ms.Maxime definitely won’t turn it down."

"But I still have class this afternoon." Rockneil mumbled. "How about another day?"

"Today’s Saturday."

"But I don’t like drinking."

"All the better. We can talk about Fantastic Beasts with clear heads." Kael didn’t give Rockneil any more chance to make excuses. He stood up and dragged him toward the outside of the Auditorium.

"Mr. Scamander just revised a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them a while ago. There are some parts I don’t quite get, and I wanted to ask for your opinion."

Rockneil was dying inside.

Ms.Maxime had only just managed to find such a useful laborer to help slightly improve Beauxbatons students’ weakness in Charm work. If Kael managed to find an excuse to bail, she absolutely would not let him off.

The likely consequence would be getting rolled up into a ball and stuffed into a Quidditch chest to personally take part in the next match.

And if you can’t understand Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you can just go ask Newt, can’t you? Why ask him... he’s just a guy who keeps a Zouwu, how dare he put himself on the same level as a master like Newt.

"I..."

Rockneil wanted to say more, but Kael suddenly let go of his arm and darted out of the Auditorium at a sprint.

"Professor Rockneil, I’ll wait for you outside!"

Kael’s voice was still echoing around the Auditorium, but he was already more than ten meters away.

Rockneil’s expression looked worse than if he’d eaten a pound of bitter melon roots; he’d never imagined Kael would be this decisive.

From the moment he shouted that sentence, no matter where Kael went, whether he was really with him or not, it stopped mattering.

Because everyone would assume they were together.

Rockneil felt as if the previously bright ceiling had turned oppressively gloomy, like countless storms brewing overhead—just like Ms.Maxime’s expression tomorrow.

But there was nothing he could do; he could only follow.

Either way, he at least had to know where Kael was going.

Rockneil ran out of the Auditorium and searched across the vast campus. He finally found Kael standing beside the Magic Fountain.

"This is Mr. Flamel’s masterpiece, and also what he donated to the school, in memory of how he and Madam Perrenelle met here."

Rockneil walked over and said, "And this fountain has a Fantastic function. Frequent contact can beautify the skin and heal certain injuries. You can let that beautiful girlfriend of yours give it a try."

Conna, trailing behind them, subconsciously reached her hand into the fountain when she heard that.

"Is it really that magical?" Kael tried it as well.

The spring water wrapped around her hand like clouds, and also like a breeze at dawn, still carrying dewdrops.

"Do you think Ms.Maxime would mind if I took some with me?"

"She definitely wouldn’t," Rockneil said. "But once this water leaves Beauxbatons, it becomes ordinary and doesn’t retain that Fantastic ability anymore.

"Though if you like it, you could stay here long-term. Ms.Maxime wouldn’t mind that either."

His intention was obvious: he was trying to keep Kael here to make up for his slip of the tongue.

"I’ll pass..." Kael said with a grin. "The rent’s too expensive here."

Rockneil looked over at Conna, preparing to change his angle of attack.

He was sure that as long as she was a Witch, she wouldn’t be able to resist a beauty fountain that could improve her skin. Even Fleur used to come here a lot when she was at school.

But before he could speak, Conna had already pulled her hand out of the fountain.

"Ah... its effect is similar to a beauty Magic Potion." Conna flicked the water with her fingers again. "This gentle touch... maybe I could try swapping the mint leaves for Pod Fruit from the cloud-vine."

"Kael, can you keep an eye out for me? That plant mostly grows near Cornwall Pixie nests; it’s rare to find in France."

"No problem," Kael said. "Once we’re back I’ll have Fred and George get some for us. They have their own Herbs network."

Rockneil felt his whole being go out of sorts.

"Don’t be surprised." Kael looked at him and smiled slightly. "Conna’s like this—whenever she runs into something new, her mind goes straight to Magic Potions. And she just happens to be very good at it."

Rockneil fell silent. His lips worked soundlessly for a long moment before he finally muttered, "Forget it. Weren’t you going to discuss Fantastic Beasts? Come with me."

"I’d love to," Kael said.

"I’ll sit this one out," Conna said. "I want to study this fountain a bit more."

"All right then," Kael said. "I’ll come find you later."

"Mm."

After that, the two of them went to the south side of the fountain. There stood a wooden cabin that looked very simple, completely out of place beside the gorgeous manor.

"You live in a cabin too?" Kael blurted out.

He wondered if every Fantastic Beasts researcher had a habit of living in wooden houses.

Newt was the same—his house in Dorset Forest was one he built himself. And Kettleburn and Hagrid also had cabins set up on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.