The day after Halloween arrived quickly.
Friday's Potions lesson once again brought Gryffindor and Slytherin students together beneath Professor Snape's terrifying supervision.
As always, Snape's expression looked colder than the dungeon walls themselves.
His dark eyes swept across the classroom like sharpened blades searching for mistakes, while his black robes billowed softly behind him as he moved between cauldrons. Every student sat stiffly, terrified that even the smallest error might trigger one of Snape's infamous verbal executions.
Fortunately, today's lesson passed without any explosions.
Mostly.
After Potions ended, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Charlotte, Leo, and Rose made their way down toward Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Halfway there, Harry suddenly frowned.
"Did any of you notice," he said slowly, "that Professor Snape's limping?"
Everyone looked at him.
Ron scratched his head.
"Seriously? I didn't notice."
Hermione folded her arms thoughtfully.
"That is strange," she admitted. "How would Professor Snape even injure himself?"
Draco immediately scoffed.
"That's impossible."
He sounded utterly confident.
"Didn't you see him deal with that troll last night? There's no way Professor Snape got hurt."
Charlotte nodded enthusiastically.
"That golden crescent spell was amazing."
Faced with everyone's skepticism, Harry began doubting himself.
Maybe he had imagined it.
Leo remained silent.
Privately, however, he strongly suspected Snape's injury had something to do with whatever had happened during the troll incident.
Still, this wasn't the time to discuss it.
Before long, the group arrived at Hagrid's cabin.
Warm light glowed through the windows.
Smoke drifted lazily from the chimney.
The cozy little house felt like a refuge from the increasingly cold autumn weather.
Hagrid welcomed them enthusiastically.
"Come in, come in!"
The enormous gamekeeper ushered everyone inside and immediately began preparing tea.
The group gathered around the fireplace.
Almost at once, Harry noticed something unusual resting near the flames.
An egg.
A very large black egg.
The shell sat partially buried among the hot ashes and radiated visible heat.
The moment Harry stared at it, Hagrid's expression changed.
Instinctively, he shifted his enormous body to block the egg from view.
Unfortunately, he was too late.
Crack.
A faint sound emerged from inside the shell.
Without hesitation, Hagrid pulled on a pair of thick gloves and carefully lifted the egg away from the fire.
Harry's curiosity immediately flared.
"What kind of egg is that?"
He pointed toward it.
"And why is it black? Were you trying to roast it?"
Hagrid completely forgot that he had been attempting to hide it moments earlier.
A mysterious smile spread through his beard.
"It's a dragon egg," he announced proudly. "Got it from a mysterious trader down at the Leaky Cauldron."
The moment everyone heard the word dragon, the atmosphere exploded.
Harry's eyes widened.
Ron nearly fell out of his chair.
Even Hermione looked genuinely shocked.
Then realization suddenly struck her.
"Wait!"
She pointed accusingly at Hagrid.
"No wonder you borrowed all those dragon books from the library!"
Hagrid froze.
"Oh."
He scratched awkwardly at his beard.
"Right."
A sheepish expression appeared on his face.
"I s'pose I wasn't very careful."
Then, as though remembering something exciting, he leaned forward conspiratorially.
"D'yeh know how I got the egg?"
Everyone immediately leaned closer.
Hagrid lowered his voice dramatically.
"I traded information fer it."
"What kind of information?" Harry asked eagerly.
Hagrid grinned.
"The trader wanted ter know how ter handle a three-headed dog."
At this point, Hagrid looked deeply pleased with himself.
"That was easy fer me," he declared proudly. "I used ter own a three-headed dog named Fluffy."
His face positively glowed while describing it.
"Fluffy was a good dog, too. Loved music. Soon as he heard someone play music, he'd fall asleep straight away."
The moment those words left his mouth, silence descended.
Harry and Ron exchanged shocked looks.
Harry immediately leaned forward.
"Where's Fluffy now?"
The instant Hagrid realized what he had just revealed, his entire expression changed.
His eyes widened.
His mouth formed a horrified O.
Then he slapped both hands over it.
Too late.
Draco frowned suspiciously.
"Hagrid," he said slowly, "why are you acting weird?"
"Where is Fluffy?"
Hagrid suddenly looked very nervous.
"I—I can't say," he stammered. "It's secret."
Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"Hagrid... are you hiding something dangerous inside Hogwarts?"
Charlotte softened her voice.
"Hagrid, we're your friends," she said gently. "If something's wrong, maybe we can help."
Leo sat quietly to one side.
He already knew considerably more than the others.
Even so, watching Hagrid slowly panic remained surprisingly entertaining.
For a brief moment, Leo genuinely wondered whether Hagrid needed professional training in how not to reveal classified information.
Eventually, Hagrid sighed heavily.
"Alright."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Fluffy's somewhere inside Hogwarts... but I can't tell yeh where. It's fer everyone's safety."
The group exchanged bewildered looks.
Then—
Crack.
Everyone immediately turned back toward the dragon egg.
A tiny black head slowly pushed through the shell.
The newborn dragon ignored the humans entirely.
Instead, it immediately began devouring its own eggshell.
Despite the shell being larger than the hatchling itself, it disappeared astonishingly quickly.
Leo watched thoughtfully.
The wrinkled little creature genuinely resembled a burnt umbrella that had somehow grown wings.
So this is what dragons look like.
Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"It's a Norwegian Ridgeback!"
Harry and Hermione looked equally fascinated.
None of them had ever seen a living dragon before.
Hagrid, meanwhile, looked delighted.
"That's right," he said proudly.
"A Norwegian Ridgeback."
He gently stroked the hatchling's head.
"Isn't little Norbert adorable?"
The tiny dragon suddenly burped.
A puff of flame shot directly from its mouth.
"N-Norbert?" Ron repeated weakly.
"Perfect name, isn't it?" Hagrid asked happily.
He casually smothered the tiny flame with one enormous hand.
Charlotte suddenly spoke up.
Her eyes sparkled with interest as she observed the hatchling carefully.
"Norwegian Ridgebacks are extremely dangerous dragons," she explained excitedly. "They're naturally aggressive, but baby dragons can be surprisingly cute."
She moved closer.
"They prefer very hot environments and require enormous amounts of food. Their scales are also remarkably resistant to magic."
Then she paused.
A strange smile slowly appeared on her face.
"Hagrid," she said.
Her tone suddenly became very certain.
"Your dragon isn't male."
Everyone blinked.
Charlotte pointed calmly toward the hatchling.
"She's female."
The cabin fell silent.
Hagrid stared.
Ron stared.
Harry stared.
Even the tiny dragon paused her chewing and blinked up at Charlotte.
Several seconds passed.
Then Hagrid finally managed to speak.
"How d'yeh know that?" he asked.
....
Join my P@treon and get 60+ advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/0LordSilvere0 (Remove the *)
Free members get 2 chapters free.
Join Right Now