Rhys and Rowena's eyes widened at once.
They had heard Helga mention the concept of the Hundred-Flavour Fruit Tree before.
She had wanted to cultivate a fruit tree whose fruits could possess many different flavours, such as orange, tangerine, apple, lemon, or even fish, poultry, and meat.
She had eventually succeeded in creating this miraculous piece of "dark cuisine."
As long as fruit juice or animal blood was poured around the roots at sufficiently spaced intervals, the fruits on the tree would change.
For example, if orange juice was poured on it, some of the fruits would develop the flavour of oranges. If cow's blood was used, some fruits would acquire the texture of beef.
The only requirement was that enough time had to pass between each feeding, otherwise hybrid fruits might result.
And now, if that technology were applied to transformation magic...
The way Rhys and Rowena looked at the sapling immediately changed.
Helga understood the looks in her friends' eyes and became even happier.
"Yes. We only need to pour the blood of a magical creature around the roots, and the tree will produce the corresponding fruit. After eating the fruit, the corresponding animal element will enter the body. Then, once the right opportunity arrives, a trigger will complete the transformation."
Helga explained her concept for transformation magic to her friends.
"The advantage is that after one transformation, the special substance inside the body will be completely consumed, so the wizard won't permanently turn into some monster like a dragon-man or snake-man.
"The disadvantage is that you can't simply transform into whatever you want. The wizard eating the fruit has to communicate with the tree beforehand and choose a fruit with high compatibility. That way, the rejection reaction caused by the special substance will be relatively mild. It's somewhat similar to the way modern wizards choose wands."
Rowena glanced at Rhys.
"Salazar, if I remember correctly, you raised a Basilisk?"
"Yes. I'll go draw some blood from the Basilisk right now."
Rhys was a man of action. Once he decided to do something, he did it immediately.
At the same time, he asked Helga to obtain phoenix blood from Dumbledore, while Rowena would place an order for dragon blood from outside.
Of the three, dragon blood was the most common and could simply be purchased on the market.
Basilisk blood and phoenix blood, however, could only be obtained from specific wizards.
Fortunately, two of the very few wizards in the world capable of providing those materials happened to be at Hogwarts.
Once the tasks had been assigned, Rowena led Rhys and Helga out of the room.
After turning several times through the winding corridors, she brought them to a painting of a staircase and once again returned to the manor's entrance hall through it.
Back on the ground floor, the three immediately split up.
Rowena went to write a letter ordering dragon blood.
Rhys headed to the Chamber of Secrets to find his Basilisk.
Helga, meanwhile, went to the 7th floor of the castle, gave the password, and entered Dumbledore's Headmaster's office.
The moment she pushed open the door, Helga vaguely wondered whether there was something wrong with her eyes.
But after looking carefully, she realised she had seen correctly.
Dumbledore was lying face-down on a reclining chair, with a puppet on either side massaging him.
Several plates of sweets sat on Dumbledore's desk, along with a glass of black fizzy drink giving off wisps of cold vapour, a slice of lemon perched on the rim.
Helga: ???
Before she had gone into seclusion, she had received several orders, including one from Dumbledore.
He had ordered almost every available lifestyle function for his puppets.
At the time, she had already felt that something was slightly suspicious.
Today, she finally had proof!
Seeing that it was Professor White who had entered, Dumbledore could not even be bothered to open his eyes. He merely invited her to sit down.
"Professor White, would you like to try it as well? The puppets you made are truly exceptional at massage! They can even prepare magical ointments. Once applied, they make the blood flow smoothly throughout the entire body."
Helga: "..."
For a moment, she had no idea what to say.
She simply felt that Headmaster Dumbledore seemed extremely relaxed.
"Professor Dumbledore, this is working hours!"
Helga felt that Dumbledore had gone somewhat too far.
They had never enjoyed themselves like this back then!
Forget back then, they did not even enjoy themselves this much now!
Wasn't the Headmaster of Hogwarts supposed to do the hardest work and endure the greatest hardships?
How had Albus somehow turned it into a life of luxury?
Thinking about how she had been researching transformation magic day and night, even going so far as to use a Time-Turner, while Dumbledore sat in his office eating sweets, drinking chilled beverages, and receiving massages from puppets, Helga felt deeply unbalanced.
Dumbledore's peaceful life existed because someone else was carrying the burden for him!
Dumbledore was from Gryffindor House, wasn't he?
Fine.
Helga Hufflepuff would remember this debt!
Dumbledore rolled over on the reclining chair and said that for a Hogwarts "senior executive" like him, there was hardly any distinction between working hours and off-hours.
He was on call twenty-four hours a day.
In other words, he was always working.
And if there was no distinction between work and rest, then there was naturally nothing wrong with enjoying himself while working.
Helga took a deep breath, buried all her complicated emotions, and explained why she had come.
Dumbledore's gaze immediately sharpened.
With his experience, how could he fail to understand how extraordinary such fruit would be?
However, a few seconds later, the light in his eyes faded.
He raised a hand and pointed towards the space behind the office door, signalling that Professor White could help herself.
Fawkes the phoenix had originally been asleep.
When someone entered the office, he merely twitched his tail and did not even remove his head from beneath his wing.
But when he heard Professor White mention something about "transformation fruit," he immediately became alert.
Once Helga finally revealed her true purpose, Fawkes abruptly raised his head, every feather on his body puffing up.
But that could not stop Helga from obtaining phoenix blood.
She strode forward and directly cornered Fawkes against the wall.
Fawkes let out an uneasy cry, but Dumbledore acted as though he had fallen asleep and gave no response.
With no help forthcoming, Fawkes could only stare intently at Helga while clicking his beak, hoping to scare away the ill-intentioned witch.
Helga did not force the matter.
Instead, she took out a dark lump of something resembling mud and held it out in front of Fawkes.
A trace of confusion flashed through Fawkes's watery eyes.
You don't seriously think an ordinary-looking lump of mud is enough to bribe me, do you?
But soon, he caught an unforgettable aroma coming from it.
Fawkes: 'That thing smells incredibly good... but this witch clearly has bad intentions...'
While Fawkes was still struggling with the decision, Helga simply pushed the lump forward until it reached his beak.
Fawkes instinctively took a bite.
All his caution immediately disappeared.
What bad intentions could a grandmother who provided such delicious food possibly have?
And just like that, Helga successfully obtained phoenix blood.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI