0465 The Lesson
"There's one more thing I need to tell you, Hermione," Adrian said, focusing his attention on the brilliant young witch.
"Your research on soul magic over the past weeks has been truly exceptional. Better than work I've seen from many aspiring trainee Healers. If something happens tomorrow night, Professor Dumbledore will have access to my personal research notes which consist of materials on soul magic, advanced defensive spells, theoretical frameworks for various magical disciplines.
He knows to share them with you when you're ready, when you've demonstrated the maturity and wisdom to use such knowledge responsibly. Keep studying. Keep learning. The wizarding world is going to need brilliant minds like yours in the years to come."
"Professor, please don't—" Hermione's voice broke, tears finally spilling over despite her attempts to maintain composure.
"I have to go," Adrian said, standing quickly before the emotional weight of the conversation could overwhelm his control. "I have afternoon classes to teach. Remember your promise—stay safe tomorrow. Take care of each other. And if I don't return..." He gestured to the letter Hermione now held. "Make sure Harry gets that."
He left the library quickly, not wanting to see the tears streaming down Hermione's face or the fear in Ron's eyes.
This was hard enough without adding prolonged emotional goodbyes to the weight already pressing on his shoulders. He had to stay focused, had to maintain the mental and emotional discipline that would be crucial tomorrow night.
Adrian spent his lunch period not in the Great Hall with the other professors as he couldn't face the casual conversations and cheerful atmosphere today but rather made a quick trip through his enchanted suitcase portal to check on the plantation one more time.
The transition through the portal was as instantaneous as always. The plantation greeted him with its typical sense of peace and cultivated vitality, though Adrian could feel an underlying tension in the air.
The Tree of Wisdom stood at the center of everything, its massive trunk were rising from rich dark soil, branches spreading wide to create a canopy that dappled the ground below with shifting patterns of light and shadow.
Dobby appeared moments after Adrian emerged from the portal with the soft pop of Apparition. His normally cheerful expression had been replaced by anxious determination that showed in every line of his small body.
"Adrian, Sir!" Dobby said, hurrying over with visible relief. "Dobby has been checking the wards every single hour like you asked! Everything is holding strong! No breaches, no weaknesses that Dobby can detect!"
"That's good, Dobby. Very good," Adrian said, placing a hand on its shoulder. "But I need you to listen very carefully now. Tomorrow, someone extremely dangerous may come here. He'll try to hurt the Tree of Wisdom, and other plants in the greenhouse."
"Dobby will protect the Tree!" the house-elf declared with fierce intensity, his large eyes were blazing with determination. "Dobby will fight with everything Dobby has! No one will hurt the plants here while Dobby draws breath!"
"I know you're brave, and I know you care," Adrian said gently explaining. "But Dobby, if things go very badly tomorrow night, if the defenses fail and it seems like I will fall too, then I need you to run. Don't try to fight the enemies yourself. Get to Hogwarts as fast as you can, find Headmaster Dumbledore, and tell him everything that happened. Can you promise me you'll do that?"
Dobby's large eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. "But Boss, Dobby cannot leave you to fight alone! It is not right! Dobby should stand beside Boss Adrian!"
"The best way you can help me is by staying alive to get help if I fail," Adrian explained patiently.
"If you fall trying to fight, then no one will know what happened here. No one will be able to get help and warn Dumbledore. The information will be lost. But if you survive and escape, if you make it to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore everything, then at least Dumbledore may arrive in time and I may get help. Do you understand?"
After a long moment of internal struggle that showed clearly on the house-elf's face, Dobby finally nodded. "Dobby understands, Boss. Dobby promises that if the battle goes badly, Dobby will run to Hogwarts and tell Professor Dumbledore everything."
"Thank you," Adrian said sincerely. "That gives me one less thing to worry about tomorrow night."
He spent the next hour walking through the plantation, checking each greenhouse in sequence, examining every defensive ward, reviewing each carefully prepared plan.
The work was both necessary and calming—it gave his anxious mind something concrete to focus on, something productive to do rather than simply spiraling through worst-case scenarios.
In Greenhouse Three, the Chomping Cabbages were still noticeably agitated, some of them having grown to nearly triple their normal size in their defensive posture.
Their leaves were pulled tight against their bodies, making them look like enormous green fists ready to strike at any threat. They rustled and shifted as Adrian passed, their magical senses clearly detecting the same wrongness in the air that he himself felt.
The Venomous Dittany plants in Greenhouse Two continued to secrete excessive amounts of their paralyzing toxin, the thick purple liquid dripping steadily into collection trays that were nearly overflowing despite Dobby's diligent efforts to empty them regularly.
Finally, Adrian made his way to the Tree of Wisdom itself.
Adrian stood there for several more minutes, drawing strength from their connection, trying to calm his racing thoughts and anxious fears.
Then, he pulled his thoughts away from the tree and returned through the portal to his suitcase. He had afternoon classes to teach.
His afternoon class was sixth-years, a mixed group from all four houses who were studying for their upcoming N.E.W.T. examinations. The lesson was supposed to focus on Grindylows, dangerous water demons that inhabited ponds and lakes throughout Britain.
Adrian had planned an advanced theoretical lesson analyzing their pack behavior and the complex defensive spells required to repel multiple attackers, since actually bringing Grindylows to the surface for observation would be both impractical and potentially dangerous even for N.E.W.T.-level students.
But as the students settled into their seats in the outdoor classroom area near the edge of the Black Lake, Adrian found himself spontaneously changing his plans.
He noticed Fred and George Weasley sitting together near the back, their usual mischievous expressions showed interest, while Lee Jordan sat beside them taking out his parchment with unusual promptness. Alicia and Angelina were already prepared at the front, quills at the ready.
"Today," he announced once everyone was seated and attentive,
"we're going to do something different than what I originally planned. Instead of analyzing Grindylow pack dynamics through theoretical models and case studies, we're going to discuss practical defensive strategies for dealing with dangerous magical creatures in genuinely life-threatening situations."
The students looked interested, sitting up straighter in their seats. Even the Weasley twins seemed genuinely focused rather than plotting their next prank.
This was clearly more interesting than another standard N.E.W.T.-level lecture.
Adrian began to pace slowly in front of them, his mind was organizing thoughts.
"When you encounter a dangerous magical creature in the real world," He said as his voice resounded across the outdoor space,
"Your first instinct—your first reaction will almost certainly be fear. That's completely natural and appropriate. Fear is what keeps us alive in dangerous situations.
Fear is what makes us cautious, what triggers our fight-or-flight response, what gives us the adrenaline surge needed to react quickly. But fear can also paralyze you if you let it control you. Fear can make you freeze when you should be acting, can make you panic when you should be thinking clearly."
He paused to let this sink in before continuing. "So, the first rule of defending yourself against any dangerous creature or any dangerous situation, really—is this: acknowledge the fear. Feel it. Accept that it's there and that it's a legitimate response to danger. But then, consciously, deliberately, set it aside and think. Make your mind work despite the fear. Force yourself to assess the situation rationally even while your body is screaming at you to run or fight blindly."
Several students were scribbling notes rapidly. Adrian noticed Angelina Johnson listening with intense focus, her expression was thoughtful and serious.
"Your second instinct, after the initial fear, might very well be to attack," Adrian continued.
"To strike first, to eliminate the threat before it can harm you. But in many cases, perhaps even most cases—that aggressive response is actually a mistake. Most magical creatures don't inherently want to fight you.
They're not looking for conflict. They want to defend their territory, or protect their young, or simply be left alone to go about their lives. If you attack first, if you initiate violence, you turn what might have been a potential non-confrontation into a guaranteed battle. You escalate a situation that might have been resolved peacefully."
He stopped pacing and faced the students directly. "So, the second rule is this: always try the peaceful option first. Retreat if you can do so safely. Avoid confrontation whenever possible. Only fight if there's truly no other choice, if all other options have been exhausted or are clearly impossible."
Lee Jordan raised his hand, his usual joking demeanor was absent. "But Professor, what if you can't retreat? What if the creature blocks your escape route or corners you somehow? Or what if you're protecting someone else who can't escape?"
"Excellent questions, Mr. Jordan," Adrian said with an approving nod.
"If retreat genuinely isn't possible, then you need to very quickly assess your advantages and disadvantages. Every magical creature has weaknesses—biological vulnerabilities, behavioral patterns you can exploit, magical weaknesses that can be leveraged.
Your job in that critical moment is to identify what those weaknesses are and figure out how to use them. And if you're protecting others, that calculation becomes even more crucial because you need to keep them safe while managing the threat."
He gestured toward the lake behind him.
"Take Grindylows, for example. As individuals, they're actually quite weak. A properly cast Revulsion Jinx which all of you should be capable of by now at N.E.W.T. level—can send a single Grindylow fleeing in terror. Their strength doesn't come from individual power.
It comes from numbers, from pack tactics, from swarming their prey and attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. So, if you encounter a single Grindylow in shallow water, you have significant advantages.
But if you encounter a swarm of twenty or thirty of them in deep water where they can surround you completely, your disadvantages become severe very quickly."
Several students were nodding, clearly following the logic.
"The key to surviving an encounter with any dangerous creature," Adrian said, his voice becoming more intense,
"or any dangerous wizard, for that matter, is to stay calm enough to think strategically. Use your environment to your advantage. Exploit the creature's weaknesses. Consider unconventional solutions. And most importantly—and I cannot stress this enough: never give up.
As long as you're still conscious, as long as you're still capable of casting magic or even basic physical resistance, you still have a chance to survive. The moment you give up, the moment you decide you're defeated, that's when you truly lose."
The lesson had deviated completely from his original plan, but the students seemed more engaged than they might have been with a standard lecture about Grindylow pack coordination theories and advanced defensive spell theories.
Adrian found himself speaking not just about magical creatures but about defensive philosophy in general, about the importance of preparation and adaptability and creative thinking in the face of danger.
These were sixth-years, many of whom would be entering a world that was growing darker by the day.
It was only later, as the students were gathering their belongings and preparing to leave for their next class, that Adrian realized he'd been teaching them lessons he was simultaneously trying to internalize for himself.
Lessons he would need tomorrow night when facing Voldemort.
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