Lucien glanced at the rat in Ron's hand, a spark of curiosity flickering in his mind.
"Ron, do you always carry that pet rat around with you?"
"Yeah, Scabbers is really old now, so I've got to keep an eye on him," Ron replied, gently stroking Scabbers' head. The rat, though, looked utterly listless, like it was half-asleep.
Ron's tender expression and careful touch made Lucien's gaze grow even more peculiar.
"Old? How old is Scabbers, exactly?"
Ron tilted his head, thinking for a moment. "Well, he's been with our family for twelve years now."
Lucien fell silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "A house rat living that long… that's pretty rare, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but my mum says it's the magic of love that's kept Scabbers going this long."
That nearly made Lucien lose his composure, but years of practice kept him from laughing outright.
Magic—pretty incredible, right?
Is it because of magic that wizards are so quick to accept all sorts of odd phenomena?
Watching Ron pull out a biscuit to feed Scabbers, Lucien gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
Let's see if you still love him when Scabbers turns out to be a balding, short man.
For now, there was no need to expose Scabbers' true identity as Peter Pettigrew. When Lucien reached the stage of learning to become an Animagus, Scabbers could serve as a perfect case study. An Animagus who'd maintained their transformation for over a decade was rare, after all. Plus, Peter Pettigrew was an unregistered Animagus, tied up in that whole betrayal mess, so he wouldn't dare seek help from anyone.
Once Lucien got closer to Ron—maybe after teaching him some alchemy mechanics—borrowing Scabbers for a few days of "study" shouldn't be a problem.
…
Deep in the Forbidden Forest.
Lucien strolled through moonlight and tree shadows with his young qilin companion, Luster.
"Luster, can you sense that unicorn we saw last time, or maybe others like it?"
Lucien was hoping to track down a unicorn and record some data to send to Newt Scamander, along with a letter. If Newt thought Lucien had a decent grasp of magical creatures, maybe they could trade for some Thestral tail hair or even Boomslang skin to brew a "Delayed Truth" potion. Of course, if he stumbled across other magical creatures first, he'd record their details too—might as well clear his "creature observation debt" while he was at it.
"Master, I found them!" Luster chirped.
"Oh, where?"
Before Lucien could finish, two silver-white shapes darted through the trees, stopping just a few meters away.
In the moonlight, the two unicorns stood before him, their silvery coats glowing with an ethereal chill. One was likely the stallion he'd seen before, while the other was smaller, with a more delicate horn and less pronounced spiral patterns.
Oh, a female unicorn. They must be mates.
The male unicorn approached first, its partner trailing behind. As they drew closer, both unicorns dipped their heads respectfully toward Luster.
Lucien pulled out his parchment and quill, already jotting down details about the unicorns.
He hadn't been writing long when a shadow fell over his parchment, dimming the moonlight. Looking up, he saw the female unicorn's large head hovering curiously over his notes.
"Er, Luster, can unicorns read human writing?"
"Master, Asterion says they can't. It's just that Seleneia is pregnant, so she's extra curious about everything."
"Asterion? Seleneia? You named them?" Lucien asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup, Master! It's easier to call them by name, and they seem to like it!"
Lucien looked at Luster, impressed. In such a short time, his little qilin had already started naming creatures. Talk about natural intelligence—worthy of a mythical beast. It seemed Luster had mastered everything Lucien had taught so far. Time to start a new lesson plan.
Turning his attention to the female unicorn, Seleneia, Lucien noted, Pregnant, huh? Did pregnancy make unicorns more curious? He scribbled that down.
"Luster, can you ask them what they usually eat and what their habits are? Oh, and any changes in Seleneia since she got pregnant?"
Luster immediately took on the role of translator between human and magical creature.
Lucien scribbled furiously, capturing rare details that most people would never learn about unicorns—especially the unique changes in a pregnant one. Unicorns were surprisingly intelligent, unlike many magical creatures. Without Luster's help, communication would've been limited to basic instinctual responses.
Once he'd finished, Lucien called out to his system: "System, does this unicorn data count as a complete magical creature observation record?"
[Relatively thorough, but insufficient sample size. Please record more individuals from the species.]
The system's response didn't dampen Lucien's spirits—it was just a casual attempt, after all. Unicorns were solitary creatures, only gathering with mates during breeding season. Even if Asterion and Seleneia were willing to lead him to others, it'd probably take ages.
Lucien tucked away his parchment and looked at Seleneia. He pulled a small vial from his pocket, extracted a single drop of qilin saliva, and used his wand to float it toward her. Luster's saliva had powerful healing properties—when he'd given some to Aragog, the acromantula had seemed more lively afterward. Maybe it had nourishing effects too. Let's see how Seleneia reacts.
To his surprise, Seleneia swallowed the drop without hesitation. The silver patterns on her abdomen glowed briefly, becoming more intricate.
"Thank you so much," Luster translated. "Master, Asterion and Seleneia say Seleneia feels her foal growing stronger."
Lucien nodded, pleased his hunch was correct.
"Master, should I give them some more?" Luster asked eagerly.
"No, hold off!" Lucien said, cringing at the thought. The idea of a pristine qilin and unicorn spitting saliva under the moonlight was… well, less than magical.
After the unicorns bid their farewell and left, Lucien continued his trek through the Forbidden Forest, searching for one last magical creature.
"Master, something's approaching from that direction," Luster warned.
Lucien followed Luster's gaze, raising his wand slightly.
"Lucien Grafton, the one yet to come, Master of the Qilin…" a voice called out.
"Firenze, the centaur, greets you."
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