Although Lupin felt this job seemed somewhat unreliable perhaps even downright hazardous considering the unpredictable plants he had already encountered, But! The boss was paying plenty of Galleons.
One could only say, the power of Galleons is truly invincible, capable of persuading even the most cautious individuals to accept certain risks.
For Lupin, who was living in increasingly desperate financial strain, this was a rare good opportunity.
'Hopefully the boss would discover my werewolf identity later rather than sooner,' Lupin couldn't help thinking.
Because of his werewolf identity, his jobs never lasted long, rarely ranging past a single lunar cycle once employers became aware. The pattern had become predictable: initial appreciation for his competence and diligence, followed by suspicion about his monthly "illnesses," culminating in awkward dismissals lightly concealed as budget constraints or position eliminations.
Most people in wizarding society wouldn't be willing to employ a werewolf under any circumstances, after all. In the public's eyes, werewolves had always been considered dangerous, unstable, and basically untrustworthy creatures. If one was accidentally bitten by a werewolf, then basically the rest of their life would be ruined.
Hearing Lupin's agreement, Adrian also felt relieved. He also knew that the Whomping Willow's unexpected reaction earlier did indeed look somewhat dangerous perhaps even terrifying. If it had been a more timid wizard applying for the position, they might have already been frightened away. Fortunately, Lupin wasn't.
As for the salary? For Adrian, who owned such a large patch of precious medicinal herbs, this wasn't an issue at all. Moreover, in Adrian's warehouse, there were still many Galleons left—those were money he had earned from selling rare dragon materials.
"Come here, and stay close to me at all times," Adrian said, his voice carrying a serious tone. "I'll introduce you to the specific job responsibilities in detail. Remember, don't wander off under any circumstances—not even a few steps."
Adrian clapped his hands sharply, signaling Lupin to follow closely, and walked deeper into the greenhouse.
The greenhouse's actual area was even more impressive and extensive than what Lupin had initially glimpsed upon entering. By the time they had explored half of it, a full thirty minutes had passed. For Lupin, he had gradually become accustomed to the staggering quantity and preciousness of the medicinal herbs cultivated here.
At first, seeing those precious herbs—some worth their weight in gold on the apothecary market—planted casually in the ground like common weeds made him feel somewhat distressed and even slightly indignant. But later, as they advanced through the greenhouse, he became philosophically resigned to Adrian's unconventional methods, which clearly produced healthy specimens.
However, as they ventured deeper into the greenhouse, Lupin gradually discovered that he didn't recognize a large portion of the plants they encountered. He noticed that the plants became increasingly peculiar and unfamiliar, with their shapes becoming more and more bizarre.
"Is that a watermelon? I've never seen anyone successfully grow watermelons in England's climate," he said in surprise, momentarily distracted from Adrian's ongoing explanation about watering schedules.
Lupin pointed at a perfectly round, vibrant green spherical object among lush vines on the ground. Its skin had the classic dark green striping of a common watermelon, though perhaps a bit more vivid than usual.
Then, before Adrian could open his mouth to issue a warning, Lupin had already approached the innocent-looking watermelon.
At that precise moment, the watermelon suddenly rotated in place as if on a pivot, revealing a previously hidden feature. It opened what could only be described as a large, yawning mouth on its bottom, displaying a row of sharp teeth.
"What in Merlin's name?" Lupin was startled into stillness.
But it was already too late for second thoughts; the watermelon quickly opened its mouth wider, and bit Lupin's calf ferociously. Lupin felt a sharp, burning pain through his leg and couldn't help but gasp loudly, instinctively trying to pull away from the aggressive fruit. His pant leg tore audibly under the sharp teeth after just a few desperate tugs as the watermelon maintained its determined grip.
Fortunately, Lupin's reflexes were quick. He immediately took out his wand from within his robes and waved it at the clingy watermelon, wordlessly casting a repulsion charm. The fruit was promptly flung several meters away, releasing his leg as it tumbled through the air before landing with a thud.
Witnessing this embarrassing and potentially dangerous scene unfold so quickly, Adrian hurried over.
"I forgot to warn you specifically about that," He explained somewhat helplessly, "That's a mutated watermelon I've been developing—it bites people when approached without proper introduction."
He had warned Lupin early on not to wander around independently, but perhaps hadn't emphasized strongly enough just how unique and potentially hazardous the plants here truly were.
The greenhouse was filled with plants unlike anything found in nature or conventional magical botanical gardens; almost every plant here had its own unique mutation. Just like the watermelon that had attacked Lupin, its characteristics were "sharp-teeth" and, "deliciousness."
Yes, the reason Adrian kept this aggressive type of watermelon was because it truly tasted extraordinarily good. Although it was somewhat aggressive, its culinary qualities made it worth the trouble, at least in Adrian's view.
Adrian walked to the side, intending to take the watermelon that Lupin had flung away—this couldn't be wasted.
Meanwhile, Lupin looked down at his pant leg, now completely stained dark red with rapidly spreading blood, and couldn't help but grimace in pain and annoyance. "Ouch! I think you should have stopped me earlier," he said, then looked around the vicinity.
When his gaze fell upon a familiar plant nearby, his eyes suddenly lit up with recognition and relief.
It was dittany—the magical healing herb that any wizard with basic medical knowledge would recognize immediately. This magical herb he wouldn't mistake for anything else, having used it countless times throughout his difficult life. Just apply fresh dittany to a wound, and it would heal quickly. So, his bitten calf wouldn't remain a problem for long.
Lupin quickly reached out and tore off a dittany leaf from the nearby plant, crushed it between his palms without hesitation as he had done many times before, and pressed the resulting paste firmly onto his wounded area.
The expected reaction began immediately; a cooling sensation spread across his wounded skin, providing relief from the burning pain. A wisp of greenish smoke rose from the application site and the wound began to gradually close.
Fortunately, the bite from the mutated watermelon, while painful and bloody, wasn't particularly deep, so a small amount of dittany seemed sufficient to heal it completely.
However, just as Lupin breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the worst was behind him, Adrian's panicked voice suddenly came from several meters away: "Wait! Stop! What did you just do?"
Lupin was somewhat stunned by this reaction, he looked back and saw that Adrian's face had become unnaturally pale, as he sprinted toward him even carelessly throwing aside the mutated watermelon he had just carefully taken.
Seeing Adrian's panicked expression, Lupin couldn't figure out what was happening. But he still immediately stopped applying remaining dittany paste, and said in confusion: "What's wrong now? Don't worry about me unnecessarily, I just used a bit of dittany for the bite. Look, the wound has already formed a scab and is healing properly."
As he spoke, he rotated his leg slightly to show Adrian his wound, which had indeed formed a healthy-looking scab.
"You didn't use this, did you?" Adrian asked pointing at the dittany nearby that had already had a section clearly torn from it.
Lupin nodded without hesitation, perplexed by the question: "Yes, of course. Isn't this just ordinary dittany? I've used it hundreds of times for similar injuries. It's working exactly as expected."
He genuinely couldn't imagine he had made a mistake in identification; whenever he was covered in self-inflicted wounds after full moon transformation, he often used such dittany for treatment. It could be said without exaggeration that dittany was the medicinal herb he was most familiar with.
However, just as Lupin finished speaking, attempting to reassure his clearly distressed employer, he suddenly felt a strong, unnatural chill surge through his body, beginning at the wound site and spreading with rapidity through his veins like ice water.
"!?"
Lupin already sensed something was terribly wrong. He quickly looked down at his calf and Sure enough, his entire calf was now covered with purple spots, and these purple marks were continuously spreading.
"This dittany is poisonous!?" He gasped in horror.
[Type: Dittany]
[Level: 2]
[Characteristic: Highly Poisonous!!!!]
[Status: Mature]
Adrian once again silently asked the Tree of Wisdom, to analyze the dittany in front of him, and indeed, this was the highly poisonous dittany he had planted earlier. This type of dittany looked identical to ordinary dittany on the outside, but it was extremely toxic!
Adrian had tested this before that just one moderately-sized highly poisonous dittany plant contained sufficient toxin to poison and render a full-grown dragon completely unconscious for several hours. And Lupin had used half a plant directly on an open wound!
"Uh..." seeing that the situation was already well beyond simple remedy and likely approaching a critical medical emergency, Adrian could only say: "When you see Merlin, remember to give him my regards."
Lupin completely ignored Adrian's poorly timed attempt at humor; he only felt his head spinning, the unnatural chill in his body growing stronger with each passing second. Even drawing breath became increasingly difficult as his chest muscles began to stiffen. He forced himself to keep his eyes open wanting to say something but discovered his mouth had already begun to lose sensation and words formed in his mind could only spin uselessly in his throat.
Finally, as the paralysis reached his facial muscles and the edges of his vision darkened, his eyelids closed, and he collapsed backward onto the soft greenhouse soil, fainting completely.
Seeing this development, Adrian slowly exhaled a resigned sigh. "What a situation...."
Seeing that Lupin had stopped moving, Adrian took out a small bottle from his robe pocket, containing a transparent liquid that looked completely unremarkable. This was an antidote potion he had concocted himself; although the effect might not be immediate or complete, having it available was better than nothing.
As Adrian poured the potion into Lupin's mouth, he prayed: "Merlin's wisdom bless you, please don't die. I don't know where your home is, and if you die , I can only bury you somewhere here in the greenhouse—"