After Professor Kettleburn had thoroughly examined and joyfully played with his new prosthetic, he suddenly paused mid-motion looking like suddenly remembering something.
"Come look at this, little Ed," He abruptly said with excitement.
He carefully picked up the leather briefcase that had been inconspicuously set aside against the leg of his chair during their earlier conversation. The briefcase had gone completely unnoticed by Adrian until this moment.
Professor Kettleburn gently placed it on the table between them.
While Adrian watched with a thoroughly confused expression, Professor Kettleburn unfastened the tarnished brass clasps of the briefcase with a soft clicking sound. He opened the lid, and inside the case, Adrian could see a thick, plush layer of what appeared to be Demiguise hair cloth wrapped around a mysterious round object.
Kettleburn gently pushed aside the fabric with his new prosthetic fingers, revealing the egg-shaped object nestled securely within the protective cocoon.
"Is that a dragon egg?" Adrian blurted out in astonished surprise, the words escaping his lips before his mind could fully process what his eyes were seeing.
"It's a Chinese Fireball egg," Professor Kettleburn explained with unusual briefness considering the extraordinary nature of the object. "I traded a large piece of fresh Norwegian Ridgeback dragon hide for."
He spoke as if acquiring illegal dragon eggs was a perfectly ordinary transaction, no more extraordinary than purchasing a new quill.
The Chinese Fireball also known as the Liondragon for its distinguishing crown of golden spikes was an exceptionally rare species of dragon, primarily found in the mountainous regions of China.
Adrian had seen several of them during his travels. But for Professor Kettleburn, this egg was a rare treasure beyond measure, given his lifelong obsession with magical creatures, especially those classified as dangerous, large, and particularly aggressive species. Dragons undeniably symbolized the very pinnacle of that category, being among the most formidable magical creatures known to wizardkind.
Despite this, Adrian was obviously confused, his eyes lingering thoughtfully on the egg for several long seconds before turning to meet his professor's expectant gaze.
"Professor," He began cautiously, considering his words, "Why exactly are you showing me this? Is it simply to show off your impressive illegal items procurement skills?"
Professor Kettleburn smiled without answering directly, and carefully returned the egg to its nestled position in the briefcase and meticulously covered it once more with the protective Demiguise hair fabric.
"That's only half the reason," He finally replied, his voice dropping to a whisper despite them being alone in the workshop.
"And the other half?" Adrian asked, leaning forward with growing interest.
"The other half," Professor Kettleburn began with a sigh, "is that I'm not quite sure how to properly handle this egg anymore."
He nervously drummed his fingers, both flesh and wooden on the closed briefcase. "I recently received some information that the Ministry of Magic's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is actively tracking a missing Chinese Fireball egg."
Adrian was momentarily stunned into speechlessness, his quick mind rapidly processing the implications. He had almost completely forgotten that privately owning dragon eggs was strictly illegal throughout magical Britain without special permits that were virtually impossible to obtain.
The realization came with a jolt of irony, as he quickly acknowledged that he himself regularly was involved in quite a few activities of questionable legality.
"So, is this particular egg the exact one the Ministry is frantically searching for?" Adrian couldn't help but ask directly, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as he studied the professor's face for any telling microexpressions.
Professor Kettleburn looked directly at Adrian and blinked with exaggerated innocence: "I would wager my remaining limbs it isn't."
"..." Adrian was momentarily rendered speechless, thinking to himself that the old man's supposedly quiet retirement life was certainly proving to be colorful and eventful in ways that most wizards half his age would find exhausting.
He shrugged slightly with resignation at the situation he now found himself being drawn into, then looked at the professor once more.
'This was quite a predicament,' He thought to himself, mentally cataloging the numerous laws they were potentially breaking and the severe consequences should they be discovered.
Nevertheless, Adrian found he couldn't bring himself to refuse helping his professor.
"Alright," Adrian finally agreed with a decisive nod. "I'll take care of the dragon egg."
He paused thoughtfully before adding, "Chinese Fireball eggshell powder is, after all, an extremely valuable and potent medicinal ingredient..."
Professor Kettleburn's expression changed with alarming abruptness, his face contorting into horror. He immediately interrupted Adrian before he could complete his thought, anxiously exclaiming, "No, Adrian! You misunderstood! This egg is fully alive! It's still actively incubating a dragon embryo within! Don't think about any improper handling or—Merlin forbid—harvesting it for ingredients!"
"Fine, fine," Adrian replied with poorly disguised disappointment, raising his hands in a pacifying gesture. Although he verbally acquiesced to the professor's passionate demands, he silently decided to collect just a little amount of powder from the egg's outer layer later when the opportunity arose. Not much, an ounce would be enough.
After receiving Adrian's apparent agreement, Professor Kettleburn's tense posture visibly relaxed. He stood up with a series of audible joint cracks, stretched his aging limbs with a satisfied groan, and took one final, lingering look at the Chinese Fireball dragon egg carefully placed in the briefcase. Despite his attempted casualness, his face showed a trace of trace of barely noticeable worry.
"Well, little Ed," He said as he began walking toward the door. "I need to urgently find someone with the right connections to help figure out how to properly deal with this complicated mess without involving official channels. In the meantime, you absolutely must take good care of it."
He paused at the doorway, turning back as if suddenly remembering a crucial detail. "Ah, yes, according to my calculations, it should hatch in approximately a week, give or take a day, so remember to contact me immediately when that happens."
Observing Professor Kettleburn's worried expression, Adrian couldn't help but ask the obvious question that had been nagging him: "Professor, but why don't you simply take care of the dragon egg yourself? You're unquestionably the leading authority in this field!".
Professor Kettleburn paused, then frowned, looking somewhat displeased. He said angrily, "The blasted Ministry of Magic has already conducted an unannounced and thoroughly invasive search of my home yesterday morning,"
He said with anger tinging his voice. "Damn it! How could they possibly suspect a newly retired old professor with decades of distinguished service to magical education? After all my contributions to the field! I simply can't believe their audacity!"
Adrian gave a wry, awkward smile without directly responding to the professor's outburst. Privately, he thought that if he were an investigator from the Ministry of Magic tasked with locating a missing dragon egg, Professor Silvanus Kettleburn would certainly top his list of prime suspects. The professor's notorious history with dangerous creatures and multiple disciplinary hearings before the Wizengamot made him an obvious person of interest in any investigation involving disappearance of rare magical beasts.
"Don't worry yourself unnecessarily, Professor," Adrian finally said with reassuringly. "I'll keep it exceptionally well hidden from prying eyes and Ministry inspectors. And if you encounter any unexpected issues with your new prosthetic, don't hesitate to write to me immediately. Day or night."
He added this last part to shift the conversation.
...........
After seeing Professor Kettleburn off, Adrian stared at the Chinese Fireball dragon egg on the table in a daze.
'About a week until it hatches?' He mentally planned, considering the necessary preparations for a newborn dragon.
Just then, interrupting his mental planning, the dragon egg on the table suddenly moved slightly from side to side as if responding to his thoughts or sensing his scrutiny.
"?" Adrian unconsciously moved several steps closer to the. He carefully extended his index finger to lightly touch the iridescent surface of the dragon egg.
'Hmm, it was surprisingly ice cold to the touch—quite an extraordinary feat for an object to maintain such a low temperature during the peak of summer heat,' He noted with professional interest.
This was highly concerning; dragon eggs required extremely high temperatures to develop properly.
Perhaps sensing Adrian's presence and warmth, the dragon egg suddenly began to shake violently, nearly rolling completely off the edge of the table in its apparent desperation. It seemed instinctively aware that it was dangerously close to freezing to death without proper incubation conditions.
Dragon eggs require extraordinarily high temperatures to successfully incubate—this was common magizoological knowledge that almost everyone in the wizarding world knew, and Adrian was certainly no exception.
"High temperature, huh..." Adrian muttered thoughtfully to himself, quickly closing the box containing the dragon egg and carefully carrying it against his chest as he strode toward his magical plantation.
For Lupin's convenience, Adrian had designed the main entrance to be located in greenhouse number three, where most of the daily harvesting tasks were performed. It was certainly a wise decision to make the door magically relocatable between greenhouses.
After all, the complete plantation complex was quite expansively large, spanning several acres of magically expanded space, and if the entrance door were permanently fixed in one specific location, it would require a tediously long walk each time someone needed to access different areas of the facility.
As soon as he entered greenhouse three, Adrian immediately spotted Lupin crouching attentively in the carefully separated toxic dittany growing area. He was intently focused on harvesting the mature plants. With the previous experience in mind, all of Lupin's movements now appeared extremely cautious.
Particularly noticeable were the thick dragon hide gloves covering Lupin's hands. To completely avoid any potential skin contact with the sap of the toxic dittany, Lupin had wrapped himself in protective gear.
Toxic dittany, reached its optimal medicinal potency when freshly matured—just as humans typically achieve their physical peak capabilities when they reach full adulthood.
As the plant ages beyond this perfect point of maturity, the medicinal effectiveness of toxic dittany gradually diminishes. This was why, immediately after harvesting the toxic dittany at its perfect maturation point, Adrian would promptly process it into concentrated dittany essence to preserve its maximum effectiveness.
No, Adrian mentally corrected himself, it should properly be called toxic dittany essence to differentiate it from regular dittany products.
When standard dittany is carefully processed into essence form, its inherent medicinal properties increase significantly in potency and stability, and the same beneficial transformation applies equally to toxic dittany.
Moreover, properly prepared dittany essence has a very long shelf life compared to the raw plant. If appropriately stored in enchanted crystal vials away from light and extreme magical fields, it almost never deteriorates or loses its effectiveness over long periods of time.
Every growing season, Adrian would plant a fresh batch of both standard dittany and its more volatile toxic mutant, which had thus resulted in his warehouse accumulating large quantities of both dittany essence and toxic dittany essence over the years.
Regular dittany essence was, of course, a commonly used and highly valuable potion ingredient, particularly valued for healing preparations and certain advanced transfiguration processes. Its market value remained consistently high, making it an excellent investment.
As for toxic dittany essence, despite years of experimentation and research, Adrian had never discovered or developed a perfectly suitable practical application for it. Several promising research directions were in the end proven disappointing or too unstable for practical use.
'But who cares about immediate usefulness?' Adrian theoretically reasoned to himself. 'Better to have resources and not need them than need them desperately and not have them available.'
He believed that there would eventually be a significant use for his stockpiled toxic dittany essence someday.
Lupin noticed Adrian's arrival and, while carefully placing the toxic dittany in his basket, quickly turned his gaze toward him.
Almost instantly, Lupin's eyes were fixed on the box in Adrian's hands.
"What's the matter?" Lupin asked with a hint of confusion. "What unusual item have you brought into the greenhouse this time?"