“Hm?” A gift box visible only to Adam suddenly appeared before his eyes.
The translucent box floated quietly in the darkness while shaking slightly from side to side.
Colorful fireworks burst around it as though celebrating some major event.
Then the box opened.
A familiar system notification echoed inside Adam’s mind.
Congratulations!
You have obtained 200 proficiency points for Protego!
“Protego proficiency again…” Adam leaned back against his bed helplessly.
As expected, most rewards from the Mentor System’s lottery were still spell proficiencies.
Sometimes he would obtain a few dozen points.
Sometimes several hundred.
Occasionally, if luck favored him, he could even receive one or two thousand proficiency points at once.
This time— Two hundred.
Not terrible.
But definitely not impressive either.
Still, Adam couldn’t complain too much.
Among his various spells, Protego remained one of his weaker areas.
He had only barely trained it to Level Two proficiency so far.
For ordinary wizards, Protego was an extremely important defensive spell during the early stages of magical growth.
Whether facing curses, jinxes, or dangerous magical creatures, defensive magic often determined survival.
“At least it’s useful.” Adam rubbed his hands together slightly.
“Again.” The second lottery draw began immediately.
The gift box shook once more before exploding open.
Congratulations!
You have obtained 400 proficiency points for Avis!
“Another proficiency reward…” Adam’s expression twitched slightly.
Avis was the Bird-Conjuring Charm.
Useful.
Interesting.
But still not what he wanted.
“Again.” The third draw opened instantly.
Congratulations!
You have obtained 300 proficiency points for Expelliarmus!
Adam stared silently at the notification.
“…Seriously?” Three proficiency rewards in a row.
And all ordinary rewards at that.
“Again.” The fourth draw activated.
This time, the gift box burst open with noticeably brighter light.
Congratulations!
You have obtained 1000 proficiency points for Lumos!
Adam paused slightly.
One thousand points.
That amount wasn’t low at all.
In fact, it was enough to directly push his Lumos proficiency into Level Three.
At Level Three, silent casting became possible.
Objectively speaking, this was an extremely valuable reward.
Unfortunately— Adam still wasn’t satisfied.
Because it still wasn’t what he truly wanted.
“Four draws.” “All proficiency rewards.” Adam narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“My luck tonight is terrible.” The final draw remained.
And somehow, Adam felt reluctant to waste it.
At that moment, he suddenly thought of someone.
Or more accurately— Something.
“Fou…” Adam looked toward the empty side of his bed.
Since arriving at Hogwarts, Fou had developed the terrible habit of disappearing at night regularly.
Although Adam still wasn’t entirely certain what Fou’s “luck blessing” ability truly was, one thing remained obvious— Fou possessed terrifying luck.
Unfortunately, the blessing only affected Fou itself and not Adam directly.
Still— If he hugged the little creature before drawing, perhaps some of that luck might rub off accidentally?
“Fou,” Adam muttered quietly.
“When are you coming back…” Meanwhile, the cat being desperately missed by Adam was currently living its best life somewhere else entirely.
Inside the Headmaster’s Office, warm golden light illuminated the room softly.
Albus Dumbledore sat comfortably behind his desk while feeding dried fish to a certain fluffy white criminal.
“Here,” Dumbledore said kindly.
“There’s still more.” Without hesitation, Fou bit the dried fish directly from Dumbledore’s fingers and happily began chewing.
Its long ears twitched in satisfaction.
Nearby, perched upon a golden stand, Fawkes let out a soft chirping sound.
“Chiu…” The phoenix clearly looked somewhat unhappy.
After all, some strange cat had suddenly appeared and stolen part of Dumbledore’s attention.
Fou immediately noticed the sound.
It raised its head slowly and looked directly toward Fawkes.
Then— Almost provocatively— Fou rubbed its face against Dumbledore’s hand.
Fawkes: “…” The phoenix stared silently.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore couldn’t help laughing.
“Hehehe…” Several portraits hanging around the office watched the scene with varying expressions.
Naturally, one portrait immediately ruined the atmosphere.
“It’s truly an ugly little thing,” Phineas Nigellus Black declared disdainfully.
Fou instantly turned toward him.
“Meow!” Its expression practically screamed: ‘Are you blind?’ How could something as adorable as Fou possibly be ugly?
The old man on the wall clearly needed glasses.
At that moment, another portrait suddenly spoke thoughtfully.
“I remember this creature.” Dilys Derwent narrowed her eyes slightly.
“It belongs to that student.” “The Ravenclaw boy.” “Adam Ambrosius.” Dumbledore nodded while gently stroking Fou’s back.
“Yes.” “It belongs to Adam.” Fou immediately relaxed further under the headmaster’s touch.
To Fou, Dumbledore felt strangely warm.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
The old wizard carried no hostility toward it whatsoever.
And because of Fou’s unique instincts, it could sense that clearly.
As a result— Fou had completely accepted Dumbledore as an excellent food supplier.
Another portrait suddenly frowned thoughtfully.
“This cat feels… unusual.” “Unusual?” another portrait repeated.
“Besides looking strange, it seems like an ordinary magical pet.” Dumbledore adjusted his glasses slightly.
“No.” “There is definitely something special about it.” His blue eyes studied Fou carefully.
“I can sense a unique magical presence surrounding this creature.” The room fell thoughtful.
One former headmaster specializing in magical creatures suddenly spoke.
“Could it possibly be an undocumented magical species?” The Wizarding World contained countless magical beasts, many of which remained undiscovered or poorly understood.
Perhaps Fou belonged to one of them.
“A magical creature…” Dumbledore quietly repeated the words.
In truth, he had already considered that possibility himself.
However, his contact with Fou remained limited.
There simply wasn’t enough information yet.
At that moment— “Meow.” Fou suddenly raised its head again.
The dried fish was gone.
Completely gone.
Dumbledore blinked before looking down at the empty snack bag.
“Oh?” “You’ve already finished everything?” He shook the small pouch gently.
Nothing remained.
“I’m afraid there’s no more tonight.” The moment Fou realized the dried fish had run out, an unbelievably human expression of disappointment appeared across its tiny face.
Even the portraits looked amused.
Dumbledore chuckled softly.
“It’s already late.” “You should return and rest now.” Then he smiled warmly.
“If you visit again tomorrow, I’ll prepare even more dried fish for you.” Fou’s ears immediately perked upward.
“Meow?” Really?
Dumbledore nodded solemnly.
“Tomorrow, I’ll prepare two bags.” After thinking briefly, he corrected himself.
“No.” “Three bags.” Fou’s eyes instantly brightened.
“Meow!” Deal.
The little creature leapt gracefully from the desk onto the windowsill.
Before leaving, however, Fou turned back once more.
“Meow.” Its meaning was crystal clear: ‘Human, you’d better not forget.’ Dumbledore laughed again.
“I promise.” Satisfied, Fou finally departed.
With a graceful leap, the little white creature vanished into the night beyond the window.
The Headmaster’s Office stood atop one of Hogwarts’ tallest towers.
Yet Fou moved effortlessly across the castle exterior.
Like a white spirit dancing through darkness, it leapt from wall to wall with astonishing agility.
Soon, it reached Ravenclaw Tower.
Then, using a window Adam always secretly left open for it, Fou slipped quietly inside.
After climbing through the window, Fou even used its body to nudge the window shut again proudly.
“Meow…” Sleepiness quickly overwhelmed it.
Without hesitation, Fou leapt toward Adam’s bed— Then suddenly froze.
A large hand shot out from the darkness instantly and grabbed it.
“MEO—!” Fou nearly screamed in terror.
Fortunately, before it could panic properly, it smelled something familiar.
Adam.
Immediately relaxing, Fou allowed itself to be pulled into Adam’s arms.
“You finally came back.” Adam sighed dramatically while rubbing Fou’s fluffy head repeatedly.
Fou looked utterly confused.
Why was the human suddenly so affectionate tonight?
After thoroughly absorbing what he believed to be “luck energy” from Fou, Adam finally took a deep breath.
“One last draw.” The atmosphere suddenly became serious.
“System.” “Lottery.” Whoosh!
Golden light exploded across Adam’s vision instantly.
Unlike the previous rewards, this light was dazzlingly brilliant.
A rich golden glow filled the darkness around him.
Adam’s eyes widened immediately.
Gold.
A gold reward!
The gift box opened slowly.
Then— A notification appeared.
Congratulations!
You have obtained the spell: Occlumency!
For a brief second— Adam froze completely.
Then his eyes widened in shock and excitement.
Occlumency.
One of the rarest and most valuable mental magic techniques in the wizarding world.
A spell capable of defending the mind itself.
Protecting thoughts.
Blocking Legilimency.
Preventing mental invasion.
This was absolutely not comparable to ordinary spell proficiency rewards.
This was a genuine high-tier magical ability.
“A GOLD DROP!!!” Adam nearly shouted out loud in excitement.
Beside him, Fou blinked sleepily in confusion.
It had absolutely no idea why its human suddenly looked like he’d lost his mind.
Give me more motivation!