Deep in the Forbidden Forest, a beautiful phoenix was lying on the little unicorn, tears streaming from its eyes, healing the deep wound that reached the bone.
Nearby, Evans was half-kneeling on the ground, feeling the little unicorn's breathing and heartbeat. After confirming there was no life-threatening danger, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the injured area didn't involve any vital organs, so treatment wouldn't be too difficult.
After stroking the unconscious little unicorn's head again, Evans stood up and looked toward a clearing not far away.
There, a severed arm and an eyeball lay quietly on the ground. The cut on the arm was incredibly smooth, with barely any blood seeping out.
As for that eyeball, Evans didn't look at it much—it was rather disgusting.
A soft sound came from not far away, but he temporarily ignored it. Instead, he walked to the clearing, picked up the severed arm, examined it for a few moments, and then spoke softly.
"I just boasted that even Dumbledore couldn't protect him."
"And then less than half a minute later, you had to undermine me."
As his words fell, Evans gripped the severed arm and turned around, looking very displeased at the old wizard who had suddenly appeared behind him.
When that hooded figure had tried to forcibly Apparate earlier, he actually had some ways to stop it.
If he hadn't suddenly heard Dumbledore telling him to go easy, he definitely would have tried.
Although he wasn't 100% certain he could stop a wizard who wanted to forcibly splinch himself while Apparating, "not necessarily able to stop" and "completely not stopping" were two different things.
This was a matter of attitude!
Fortunately, Kelly hadn't been too seriously injured, otherwise he would have risked splinching to force a Side-Along Apparition, and no one could have stopped him.
However, the root cause of this incident was still Dumbledore letting a dark wizard into the school—and a famous dark wizard at that.
He had to compensate for the mishap in his fishing plan!
Seeing Evans's very displeased gaze, Dumbledore smiled helplessly.
"This time I indeed didn't consider things thoroughly enough. What compensation do you want?"
He truly hadn't thought that person would target the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest, since the curse of unicorn blood was even more terrifying than his current state.
He had underestimated a person's desire to have a normal body.
"Compensation is secondary." Evans crossed his arms, his tone full of resentment.
"'Even Dumbledore can't protect you'—I've only said this twice in my life, but each time, you personally slapped my face."
"I feel very embarrassed now."
Hearing Evans's words, Dumbledore shook his head helplessly.
"You were indeed too arrogant last time. If you had really caused some serious damage to that Mr. Selwyn, then I really couldn't have protected you."
Speaking of this, Dumbledore seemed to suddenly remember something and winked somewhat mischievously at Evans, his tone carrying a hint of teasing.
"However, you didn't seem to need my protection at that time?"
"Don't change the subject!"
A rare flash of unnaturalness crossed Evans's face as he directly cut off this topic.
"Let's talk about compensation instead."
Seeing the expression on Evans's face, Dumbledore very cooperatively didn't mention certain things again, but the amusement in his eyes couldn't be hidden at all.
Even more annoying!
However, Dumbledore's desire to compensate him seemed genuine. Although the requests he made weren't excessive, there were quite a few of them.
"Add wards around the red pine forest, the kind with both warning and defense functions. Very reasonable, right?"
Tonight's incident was mainly because that person wanted to use unicorn blood to extend his life. This request was reasonable.
"Alright."
"For each of my little friends who came to help, one portion of high-grade food suitable for their species, distributed by body weight. No problem, right?"
"No problem."
"My recent research is stuck on spatial transportation related to Portkeys. I remember you have deep research into Portkeys. Could you give me some guidance?"
"Fine."
"Since we're talking about Portkeys, could you also help me apply for permission to cast the Undetectable Extension Charm? I need a legal Undetectable Extension Charm container."
"...Alright."
"Speaking of which, could we reduce the classes a bit? Eight classes a week feels like too much, or at least the homework..."
Meeting Dumbledore's helpless gaze, Evans smacked his lips and didn't continue.
Forget it, the classes probably couldn't be reduced, but the previous conditions were already enough.
As for grading homework, he had his homework-grading little witch anyway, so there wasn't much he needed to grade himself.
Just a bunch of academic garbage, he could find a few bright spots to praise and be done with it.
After negotiating the compensation, Evans threw the severed arm to Dumbledore to handle as he saw fit, then turned to look at the friends who had come to help.
The centaurs had left after the battle ended. Their leader Ronan had acted all proud, saying he was just passing by and hadn't wanted to help, definitely a bit stubborn.
Besides the centaurs, some loners or more introverted creatures had also left, but before they departed, Evans had already said goodbye to each of them.
And promised to treat them to a good meal in a couple of days.
Yes, Dumbledore would pay, he would host, no problem.
Apart from those, what remained were only the magical creatures who had good relationships with Evans and some who liked to join in the excitement.
"Long time no see, Tim."
Stroking the head of a creature that looked like both a cat and a leopard, listening to its purring sounds, Evans showed a gratified smile.
This Wampus Cat had been accidentally transported to Hogsmeade by a Portkey last year. At that time, he happened to be at school reporting his year's experiences to the headmaster, so he helped this Wampus Cat find a habitat and established a friendship with it.
Initially, this little thing was very shy. Everyone who saw it would be subjected to Legilimency, and the more filth it saw, the more violent it became.
But now it seemed its condition had improved considerably.
After greeting the Wampus Cat, Evans patted the backs of nearby Thestrals and checked their wings.
Then came the fairies, house-elves, Re'em, Kappa...
Watching Evans over there acting like he was greeting old friends, flitting around and keeping every magical creature happy, amusement appeared in Dumbledore's eyes.
It was precisely because of Evans's nature that he could confidently let him return to school to teach.
He had weaknesses and his own principles. Such love would make him refuse all baseless temptations.
Even though he was a Slytherin.
After communicating with his little friends and promising them a good meal in a couple of days, watching the magical creatures gradually disperse, Evans crouched down and gently picked up the still-unconscious little unicorn.
Fawkes's tears were indeed very effective. In just this short time, the little unicorn's injuries had mostly healed.
The remaining wounds should be fine after a few days of rest.
As the soft fur touched his arm, the unconscious little unicorn's nose twitched for a moment, and its frowning expression gradually relaxed.
As if it was having a beautiful dream.
Feeling the warmth of the small creature in his arms and looking at the wound on its back, a trace of heartache flashed in Evans's eyes.
Kelly would never leave the red pine forest for no reason, let alone run out this far.
It had left on its own only because it came out looking for him.
Thinking of that person's actions, a barely perceptible killing intent flashed in Evans's eyes. He turned around, looked at Dumbledore, his tone low.
"This is the last time."
"If I see him again, I will definitely kill him."
"When that time comes, don't stop me anymore."
Hearing Evans's words, Dumbledore's eyes flickered slightly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but ultimately didn't speak, just nodded lightly.
Then he watched as Evans transformed into a silver light and completely disappeared.
"Kill him, huh..."
Dumbledore adjusted his glasses and reached out to catch the flying Fawkes. Flames enveloped him completely.
Before leaving, he looked once more at the clearing formed by the battle, his tone carrying some inexplicable meaning.
"I hope you can really do it."
[Chapter Complete]
***
Want more? Check out my Patreon for:
✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories
✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics
✓ Early access content www.p@treon.com/meowthtl
💪 Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter!
Thanks for reading and supporting the story!