Percy was the first to react. He frowned, touching his chest, and his expression immediately changed. "My prefect badge!!"
His tone had a hint of panic as he suddenly looked up to find that his prefect badge was dangling in Peeves' hand.
"Looking for this?" Peeves giggled, deliberately tossing the badge high into the air, then precisely catching it between two fingers just before it hit the ground.
"Give it back to me, Peeves!" Percy said with a tense face. "Do you want me to call the Bloody Baron?"
"You're so anxious!" Peeves burst into laughter, ignoring Percy's threat. Though he feared the Bloody Baron, he had already confirmed that the Baron was still in the Great Hall at this time.
Percy's expression darkened as he drew his wand.
Seeing this, Peeves laughed even louder, spinning in a circle and dramatically flapping his limbs.
"Spells don't work on me!" he said in a mocking tone, making a face at Percy. "What are you going to do, Mr. Prefect?"
Percy's expression grew even more grim. He knew Peeves was right. Against ghosts, ordinary spells had no effect. Just then— "Ah, what are you all doing?"
A puzzled voice came from the back of the line. Harry, who was in the middle of the queue, immediately recognized the familiar tone.
When he turned around, sure enough, Adrian was walking slowly toward them.
"The corridor is not a place for lingering," Adrian said gently while walking. "What happened?"
When Adrian reached the front, he discovered Percy and Peeves facing off.
"It's you, Peeves. What mischief are you up to now?" Adrian put away his smile and looked sternly at Peeves.
He had no fondness for Peeves. The troublemaker spent his days doing nothing but pranks and more pranks.
Peeves froze upon seeing Adrian, the smile immediately vanishing from his face. "It's you!" he said in horror.
Adrian noticed Peeves' nervous demeanor and smiled slightly, and said slowly, "I see you still remember me."
Peeves' face instantly turned pale, his body beginning to float backward, clearly wanting to escape.
"Hey," Percy, seeing this, quickly said to Adrian, "Professor, he still has my belongings."
Adrian nodded, and almost instantly, a wand appeared in his hand. "Incarcerous!"
As the spell was uttered, a seemingly ordinary rope flew from the tip of Adrian's wand. Almost immediately, the rope coiled around Peeves' body, binding him tightly. It even tied a pretty bow for good measure.
Peeves struggled, trying to break free from the plain-looking rope. "Let me go! Let me go!" he screamed, his voice was filled with panic.
He couldn't understand why Adrian's spells could affect him—it had been this way before, and it was still the case now.
Moreover, the rope around him not only bound him but also sapped all his strength. This familiar feeling seemed to take him back six or seven years. That was how Adrian had dealt with him back then!
In truth, the Binding Spell was the only thing Adrian had against Peeves. Compared to those spell masters, his skill with other spells was merely average.
But when it came to the Binding Spell, Adrian believed no one in the world understood it better than he did. One could say that the Binding Spell was Adrian's most powerful spell. He was a genuine master of bondage.
For normal people, the Binding Spell could only summon a single rope. But Adrian was different. He could summon all sorts of restraints. Things like chains, ropes, thorny vines... Even ropes that could trap ghosts!
During the previous dragon test, he had used this trick to summon a large chain of magical links to subdue the dragon created by the Transfiguration Spell.
Finally, the bound Peeves gave up struggling and sat on the ground, looking ashen, with Percy's prefect badge falling nearby.
"I surrender, sir. Do as you wish," he said.
However, Adrian couldn't really do much with this lawless troublemaker. After all, Peeves couldn't be killed. All Adrian could do was keep him bound with ropes.
But this would drain a lot of Adrian's magical power and was not worth the effort. So, whenever Adrian caught Peeves, he would only bind him for a few hours to teach him a lesson.
Unfortunately, Peeves' mischievous nature couldn't be eliminated. No matter how many times Adrian bound him, he never learned his lesson.
After dealing with Peeves, Adrian picked up the prefect badge from the ground and turned to hand it to Percy.
"This belongs to you, doesn't it? The prefect badge—if you truly value it, you'd better keep it safe."
"Thank you, Professor Adrian." Percy sighed in relief, quickly taking the badge, his expression slightly embarrassed but mostly grateful.
Thanks to Adrian's help, he had avoided further embarrassment. When Adrian finished, applause suddenly erupted from the line of first-years. It started with one person, then a group, and finally everyone.
"Ah, thank you," Adrian nodded, bowing to everyone and smiling, "but I must go now. If Peeves bothers you again, you can find me, and I'll bind him for a few more hours."
Adrian put away his wand and walked in the opposite direction from the line as his office was in another direction. When passing by Harry, Adrian patted his head and whispered: "Thank you for the applause, Harry."
"You're welcome," Harry replied, looking excited.
After dealing with Peeves, Adrian headed to his office. Hogwarts provided each professor with living quarters, and Adrian's quarters were conveniently connected to his office.
Of course, it wasn't time to rest yet. When Adrian opened the door, he found two pieces of parchment had been added to his office.
It seemed Professor McGonagall had already prepared everything for him. One was his course schedule, and the other was a list of all students who had chosen Care of Magical Creatures.
Among all the courses at Hogwarts, Care of Magical Creatures was probably one of the least demanding for professors. After all, it was an elective course with few students, and only those in third year and above could choose it.
In fact, generally speaking, not many fifth-year and above students chose to continue with Care of Magical Creatures—this year there were none at all. For most students, taking Care of Magical Creatures was just for the O.W.L.s examination in their fifth year.
After completing the exam, unless they particularly enjoyed the course or needed to continue for the N.E.W.T. examination in their seventh year, they wouldn't continue with it.
This meant that Adrian's course schedule wasn't very tight. Compared to other core subjects, he had considerably more free time. This also meant he could spend more time on his own research.
After confirming the schedule and student list, Adrian's first day teaching at Hogwarts came to an end.
It was a successful good day.
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