Chapter 173: Dissecting the Dragon, Unmet Visit
Walking into the spacious dissection room, Ethan saw a Common Welsh Green lying motionless on the ground. Its snout was wrapped several times with dark brown ropes that appeared to be made of dragon hide, and its eyes were closed. The dragon wasn't dead, just unconscious.
"After we selected it, we waited until it was feeding alone, then hit it with Stunning Spells from several directions at once. Then, to keep it under, we poured a massive dose of Draught of Living Death down its throat. Enough to keep it out for a long time," Isaac explained, giving Ethan a quick rundown of how they'd captured the dragon.
Normally they'd still dose it before killing, but with Ethan here, they'd used nearly three times the usual amount. The potion wasn't hard to brew, but it wasn't cheap either. As professionals, they calculated based on the dragon's size to avoid wasting it.
"Begin." With the safety measures in place, Isaac nodded to the crew. They could start.
The bloodletter stepped forward first. He was a sturdy wizard in a full dragon-hide suit with a special protective helmet. Knowing the dragon wouldn't wake up, he still approached cautiously out of habit. He pulled a small knife with a blade no longer than ten centimeters from his pocket, found a blood vessel on the neck, stabbed in, and sliced quickly. Then he jumped back quickly, in case the pain woke the dragon and provoked an attack.
The pain made the Common Welsh Green's body twitch, but the Draught of Living Death kept it under. Bright red blood gushed from its neck.
"He hit an artery on the Green dragon. Draining it before killing it preserves the blood quality and reduces the chance the dragon wakes from the pain," Isaac explained.
A small amount hit the ground before they could react, but the rest was gathered into a hovering ball by another wizard using a Hover Charm and funneled into a huge bucket. This fresh dragon blood would soon be bottled and sold in apothecary shops across France.
Perhaps the rapid blood loss made the still-sleeping dragon sense something was wrong. Its claws twitched instinctively.
Instantly, every wizard in the room tensed. Except for the one still collecting blood, everyone else drew their wands and aimed at the dragon, ready to fire. But that was all the dragon managed. Even after bleeding out completely, it never woke up.
*The Draught of Living Death really lives up to its reputation. If you can get it down a creature's throat, probably nothing can escape death,* Ethan thought, watching the dragon that was essentially already dead.
"The most dangerous part is over. A bled dragon might still twitch from sheer vitality, but it's not a real threat anymore." Isaac holstered his wand, and the others relaxed too.
Ethan watched the sturdy wizard who'd bled the dragon pick up a huge silver broadsword and stride toward the Common Welsh Green, which was still slowly dripping blood. He aimed at the slender neck and brought the blade down in one clean chop, severing the head from the body right at the bleeding wound.
He had aimed to keep the dragon hide as intact as possible, as large pieces fetched a better price than fragments. The killing was done, and the task now fell to the dissectors. They would harvest every sellable part according to standard procedures.
Isaac pointed toward a senior wizard walking their way. "This is the best dissector at the reserve, Mr. Robert. He has worked here for nearly forty years. He started the day he arrived and hasn't stopped since. He knows the anatomy of both dragon species in the reserve inside and out. He could probably dissect both species even blindfolded."
The burly, brown-haired wizard, standing over six-foot-three, introduced himself. "David Robert."
"Cyril mentioned that you wished to study the anatomy of both dragon species?"
"Yes, Mr. Robert."
"Hmm. When you start working on this Common Welsh Green, just follow my lead. Feel free to ask me anything at any time." Robert nodded and walked over to the decapitated dragon.
The blood from the decapitation had already been cleaned away. Now, except for a small amount oozing from the severed neck, the floor was clean and dry once more.
Ethan stood behind him, watching his every move closely. Robert drew a skinning knife from the dragon-hide sheath beneath his robes. He found the right spot, made a clean cut, and started to peel the hide. As the skin split open along a long section in seconds, Ethan spoke up, "Don't remove the hide all at once. Do it section by section. If you peel it all off in one go, I won't be able to tell which part is which."
Robert paused. "Alright, you're the boss. But the hide won't come off as cleanly. The pieces that could have made protective clothing might only be good for smaller items like gloves now. That lowers the value."
"Doesn't matter." Ethan understood the implication.
"Okay." Deviating from his usual method clearly made Robert uncomfortable. He stood there holding the knife, reconsidering his approach. After a moment, he sheathed the blade, pocketed it, and took down a heavy broadsword hanging on the wall.
Starting with the front legs, he made circular cuts around the joints and removed both front legs first. Although it required some force to cut through the hide, his movements were as smooth as cutting through butter. He did the same with the hind legs. Using proficient, silent wandless spells, the four massive dragon legs were tossed to the ground.
Next, Robert leaped up, climbed onto the dragon's back, found the right position, and began removing the two dragon wings. After the shrunken wings were thrown down, he jumped off and started working on the tapered body. Since the hide was still on, the work was more difficult. The hide's magic resistance was high, so he had someone help flip the dragon over to cut from the abdomen.
The dragon's stomach still held undigested food, giving off a foul stench. They both cast the Bubble-Head Charm, which made talking difficult, but this step didn't require much communication. Ethan only asked him to pause after opening the abdomen to examine the arrangement of the internal organs. The rest of the time, he let Robert work freely.
Soon, the various organs removed from inside were laid out on prepared racks. With only the head left untouched, Robert began separating bones from muscles. Starting with the easier legs, he swiftly used the skinning knife to strip the hide off one leg, working from the claw down, snapping off the claw as he went. Then he switched to a mid-sized knife, slicing through thick muscles and tendons down to the bone.
The dragon claw took longer because of all the small joints, and Robert was meticulous with it. Ethan studied every step intently.
"I'll do the other one," Ethan said, stopping Robert from processing the other front leg.
"Sure." Robert nodded and moved to the hind legs.
Wherever possible, they left the remaining parts for Ethan. Dragon wings, half the body, even half the dragon head. Soon the bones and meat were sorted into separate piles. Robert's work was done. Now he'd guide Ethan through what remained.
"There's still a small bone you missed."
"Watch your angle here. Cut that tendon wrong and the meat won't strip cleanly."
Under Robert's supervision, Ethan worked at twice his usual pace. He finally managed to separate the muscle from the bone on his side. He washed the blood off his hands in a nearby sink before turning his attention to the internal organs. With every incision, he cross-referenced the tissue against the anatomical diagrams he had memorized, verifying each structure.
Ethan spent the entire afternoon in the dissection room. Cyril stopped by once, but Ethan was too engrossed in his task to pause. By the time night fell, only the dragon heart remained. After another thirty minutes, he completed the final dissection.
He looked at the dragon heart, now cut into small pieces, and let out a sigh of relief. "Finally done."
"How does the Swedish Short-Snout's anatomy compare to the Common Welsh Green?" Ethan asked over dinner.
"Not much different," Robert answered casually, eating some thick soup. "The functions and positions of the organs are largely the same. The bone structure and wing design are really the only significant differences."
With another dissection scheduled for the following day, Ethan and Cyril decided to stay overnight at the dragon reserve. Ethan retrieved Dumbledore's structural diagrams and compared them with the knowledge he had gained that day. Occasionally, he transfigured nearby objects into organ shapes to test his recall.
Before falling asleep, Ethan reviewed the day's progress. *If I attempted the Common Welsh Green Transfiguration now, I think I could manage it. Once I have the Swedish Short-Snout figured out tomorrow, I can start the redesign.*
The next morning was much the same, though the dragon lying on the ground was now a Swedish Short-Snout. They started early, and Ethan discovered that the two species shared significant similarities. By noon, a dragon larger than the previous one had been completely dissected.
That afternoon, Ethan summarized his findings in his room. He then accessed the reserve's database to pull up dissection references for the Ukrainian Ironbelly, Hungarian Horntail, and Romanian Longhorn.
On his third day at the reserve, Ethan dissected two smaller hatchlings on his own in a single morning. He had already memorized the anatomy of both species and could draw their internal structures by heart.
He had been at the reserve for only two days, yet he had already accomplished the main goal of his trip to France. This was far faster than the four days he had estimated. That afternoon, they drove back to Paris.
Around four o'clock, they arrived at Nicolas Flamel's residence in the Marais district to visit the legendary alchemist. Cyril knocked for quite a while, but there was no answer, not even from the house-elves.
"Nicolas probably isn't home."
"Let's go, then. We did come unannounced. Next time we visit France, we'll make an appointment first." Since they hadn't expected to have so much spare time, visiting Nicolas Flamel hadn't been part of the original plan. This was perfectly normal. After all, no one stays home all the time.
As they left, Perenelle, who had been watching from inside, asked Nicolas Flamel, "Why not see them? Aren't you quite fond of the Shafiq boy?"
"I'm not going. I said everything that needed to be said last time. The next time we see him will be when we are about to die." Nicolas Flamel, gaunt as ever, smiled and shook his head, then picked up a glass of dark, bubbling drink and took a sip. "This Muggle drink is interesting. It's more interesting than anything we've been drinking."
He raised the glass toward Perenelle.
"I'm not drinking that. You've been trying all sorts of strange drinks lately. I'm not sure I trust your judgment on what's delicious." Perenelle gently pushed his hand away and went back to the health tonic she'd been drinking for centuries.
"In the final stretch of life, shouldn't you try new things?" Nicolas Flamel brushed off her concern and downed the Coke in one gulp.
Since they had time to spare, they booked flights for the following day and visited Magic Street to pick up small items and books that were hard to find in Diagon Alley. They spent the night at the Shafiq ancestral home, chatting with the portraits of their ancestors, then flew back to the UK early the next morning.
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