The rescue didn't take much time. Since the second-floor windows were all open, they only needed to pull the young wizards out from outside the window.
In less than two minutes, the students from the classroom were standing on the grounds outside the castle, shivering one by one, looking as if they had experienced some extremely severe torture.
Finally, using the Summoning Charm to drag the unconscious Lockhart from beside the podium and casually throwing him onto the grass nearby, Evans frowned as he finally had a chance to observe that yellow-brown figure in the classroom.
His knowledge of magical creatures told him this should be a Bundimun, and quite a robust one at that.
But shouldn't this thing be green? What was with the yellow-brown colour?
Moreover, where did the Bundimun get such an intense odour? Where on earth had Lockhart gotten such a Bundimun?
On the grounds, Madam Pomfrey with a bubble around her head was reviving the young wizards lying unconscious on the ground.
To care for the students' emotional state, she first used Cleaning Charms to clear the dark green spots from their bodies before waking them up one by one.
If she didn't do this, those students would probably recall their previous traumatic experience the moment they woke up and faint again.
After waking all the unconscious students, Madam Pomfrey came before the unconscious Lockhart.
She wasn't so kind to this particular patient.
"Rennervate!"
Pointing her wand at Lockhart, Madam Pomfrey cast a Reviving Spell. The unconscious blonde man slowly awakened, then immediately retched.
"Ugh! Cough cough..."
After coughing lightly twice, Lockhart looked around in confusion, then his eyes regained their usual lustre.
"Haha, it seems my lesson has ended!" Appearing completely oblivious to the smell on his body and the angry stares from those young wizards, Lockhart was actually commenting on the students' performance in this class.
"Everyone still lacks something in actual combat. I think I should establish a club to help everyone adapt to real combat more quickly!"
Lockhart's expression was very confident as he looked at Professor McGonagall nearby.
"You should be willing to help me establish such a..." He noticed Professor McGonagall's expression wasn't quite right, and his voice gradually weakened.
"Providing young wizards with a place to practise duelling? No problem." Though Professor McGonagall said this, her expression was terrifyingly grim. "But before that, I plan to have a good chat with you about Hogwarts' safety issues..."
Seeing Professor McGonagall's expression, Evans couldn't help but shudder.
When he was in school, if Professor McGonagall caught him sneaking into the Forbidden Forest, she would have exactly this expression.
However, since this expression was directed at Lockhart...
Hopefully nothing bad would happen.
After finishing his mental prayer, Evans looked at the yellow-brown Bundimun still sprawled in the classroom with no one dealing with it.
Since he probably couldn't eat lunch anyway, he might as well take this thing to study with Hagrid.
Whether it was mutated or crossbred, it had great research value.
However, capturing it wouldn't be easy.
Pulling out a transparent box from his pocket, Evans cast a series of protective charms on himself before floating through the window into the classroom.
"It is indeed quite strange."
More than ten minutes later, poking the yellow-brown Bundimun, Hagrid, protected by his Bubble-Head Charm, completely ignored the creature's appearance and smell, making Evans frown.
This was the difference between Hagrid and himself. Although he wouldn't despise his own magical creatures either, he still couldn't quite accept Hagrid's expressionless poking of... this thing.
Perhaps uncomfortable from Hagrid's poking, the Bundimun splattered some dark green liquid, but it didn't go far before being blocked by an invisible barrier.
Casually waving his wand to clean away the liquid, Evans looked at Hagrid speechlessly.
Although this was Hagrid's hut, couldn't he care a bit about appearances?
"What do you think caused it to appear like this?" Hagrid murmured softly.
"It's probably an environmental issue. I asked Lockhart. He bought this thing in Knockturn Alley, and the seller apparently mentioned catching this Bundimun in a bathroom," Evans said.
He suspected Lockhart had originally just intended to buy an ordinary Bundimun when he made the purchase, never expecting to get such a premium specimen.
However, if Lockhart hadn't bought it, they wouldn't be able to study it here.
"Environment does seem to be the case. I remember quite a few books on magical creature breeding mentioning that living environments can affect magical creatures' attributes," Hagrid said.
Evans also looked at the Bundimun. "Although there's no direct evidence, it should be like that."
Suddenly, Hagrid's eyes lit up as his fan-like hand slapped down on the Bundimun, making Evans close his eyes and look away.
But Hagrid's next words made Evans instantly turn his gaze back.
"Do you think we might be able to replicate this phenomenon?" As if thinking of something very interesting, Hagrid couldn't help but gesticulate excitedly.
"Since a creature like this Bundimun can be born in a bathroom, what if we put Fire-Crab eggs in water? Might we create other varieties of Fire-Crabs?"
"Moreover, this approach seems applicable to hybrid creatures too. Some magical creatures need prerequisites for hatching, like Ashwinders. If we maintain their hatching environment but add eggs from other creatures inside..."
Listening to Hagrid's train of thought, Evans suddenly had an ominous feeling.
Why did he feel Hagrid's inspiration was somewhat dangerous?
He had originally just intended to study something interesting, but now he suddenly felt guilty.
Private animal breeding research was illegal, but breaking this particular law wasn't much for him and Hagrid. It was basically routine.
But if Hagrid really relied on his inspiration to create creatures that shouldn't exist in the world, would it bring down some kind of divine punishment?
However, the sins Hagrid committed shouldn't be blamed on him, right?
They shouldn't be, right?
No, he had to find a way to discourage this thinking.
But before he could speak persuasively, Hagrid's words once again made his brain freeze for a moment.
"What do you think? If humans and magical creatures used certain specific methods, might they produce magical offspring?" Hagrid's eyes grew brighter, and his words became increasingly terrifying.
"There are already quite a few wizards with magical creature blood, but those magical creatures are all ordinary humanoid beings like giants and veela. Feels somewhat boring."
"What if they were magical creatures like Sphinxes or Manticores..."
Evans, growing more horrified by what he heard: "???"
"Why don't you try with animals first!"