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Hagrid gazed at Norbert with tear-filled eyes, pulling a dripping handkerchief from his pocket and blowing his nose loudly.
"Oh, Norbert…" he said emotionally, taking a few steps forward.
The dragon's whimpering stopped, replaced by a deeper, warning growl. Norbert bared its teeth threateningly at Hagrid, protectively backing away a few steps with its gifts, splashing a large wave of water.
"Likes Hagrid's gifts, huh?" Charlie whispered to Anthony. "But doesn't like Hagrid."
Anthony whispered back, "At least it's not trying to bite Hagrid's head off again. That's already a huge improvement."
Hagrid hurriedly turned to them, startling both Anthony and Charlie.
However, Hagrid seemed completely unaware of what they had just said. He simply stretched out his hand to Charlie. "Give me that bag with the brandy—" He turned back to Norbert, speaking softly to the wary dragon, "I have more gifts for you. Look," he said, opening the leather bag and pulling out a bottle of brandy, holding it high. "Brandy!"
Norbert stared intently at the bluish glass bottle, still firmly guarding its half-eaten teddy bear and a blanket.
"More," Hagrid said eagerly, pulling out more bottles of brandy from the bag one after another, lining them up on the bank beside him. The dragon let out a long breath from its nostrils, its sharp claws scraping against the river stones with a harsh, unpleasant sound, and its wings fluttered uneasily.
Hagrid took out another bottle of brandy. The bottles clinked together softly, producing a crisp sound. They reflected beautiful spots of light on the rocks and snow along the bank.
Whoosh! Norbert suddenly spat a burst of flame at Hagrid. The icy water in the stream evaporated into steam, and a large cloud of white mist rose from Hagrid's wet, tattered coat. A small flame flickered in Hagrid's hair and beard. He tilted his head, caught sight of it from the corner of his eye, and casually patted it out.
"Haha, you can't wait, can you?" he said indulgently, reaching into the bag again and finally pulling out two more bottles of brandy.
"That's all," Hagrid said. "The rest is the gift from your godfather. Henry?"
"Can you pass me the bag, Hagrid?" Anthony asked, cautiously moving to a not-too-close distance and stopping.
Charlie watched as Hagrid clumsily splashed his way to the bank and handed the bag to Anthony. Norbert's gaze followed the unassuming bag intently.
Charlie asked, "What did you say about Norbert just now, Hagrid?"
"Don't ask," Anthony said.
"Godfather," Hagrid said loudly. "Henry is Norbert's godfather. Even before Norbert hatched from its egg, when it was just a tiny dragon, it already had a godfather." He gazed dreamily at the dark, coldly shimmering dragon in the middle of the river, his face once again taking on a dreamy expression.
The dragon was gathering all the brandy bottles under its wings while keeping its eyes fixed on the bag in Anthony's hands. It snapped one of the brandy bottles between its teeth, crunching the glass as it chewed, sparks flying from its nostrils.
…
Feeding a small dragon crawling around on a table with dead rats was one thing, but handing a piece of applewood suitable for burning to a fifteen- or sixteen-foot-tall dragon was entirely another.
Norbert watched Anthony and his hand reaching into the bag with its large, cold eyes, its vertical pupils narrowing into thin black slits. Its snow-white teeth gleamed with a green, ominous light.
It was too close. Anthony could see every tightly packed, metallic black scale on its massive head. Its two nostrils exhaled cold breaths, but with a faint scent of something burnt, as if Anthony were facing a volcano about to erupt or a chimney that had just cooled down.
"Here," Anthony said decisively, tossing the applewood to a safe distance. "Your gift."
Norbert caught the applewood before it even hit the ground. The wood let out a short, overwhelmed crunch before being flung onto a freshly dried rock.
Just as Anthony was about to leave, Norbert suddenly turned its head and began staring at the bag in his hands again.
"You want this bag?" Anthony asked, shaking the bag.
"So clever!" Hagrid said proudly. "You must have figured out that the gifts all come from the bag, right? Oh, little darling, you're so smart!"
"I'm afraid I can't give this to you," Anthony told Norbert. "I suspect this is the reserve's property."
Charlie said, "It is."
Norbert slightly opened its mouth, revealing another set of beautiful, sharp teeth. It eyed Anthony's arm maliciously, assessing whether Anthony would grab its mouth like Hagrid had. A faint glow of fire lit up deep in its throat.
"But one less won't matter," Charlie quickly added.
Anthony smiled.
"Do you want to give Norbert this Christmas gift yourself, Charlie?" he asked.
"I don't…" Charlie said, then paused, his face showing clear hesitation.
Hagrid said, "That's right, this is your gift, Charlie!"
Charlie finally made up his mind. "Alright. Give it to me, Henry." He slowly walked toward Anthony, shaking his head and muttering to himself, "I must be crazy… Well, its temper has never been this good… I might only lose half an arm…"
Anthony placed the empty, deflated bag into Charlie's unnaturally curled fingers.
He heard Charlie take a deep breath, encouraging himself. "Hah, you don't want to regret this for the rest of your life, Charlie Weasley." In the dangerous glow of fire from Norbert's throat, Charlie's eyes also gleamed with light.
With eagerness and curiosity, he held his wand in one hand and hung the bag on Norbert's nose with the other. Norbert closed its mouth, exhaled, making the bag flutter, and then swiftly snatched it away. The dragon's massive head moved away from Charlie and Anthony.
Charlie pulled his hand back, looking down at it in amazement, as if he couldn't believe it was still attached to his body.
"Wow," he said delightedly. "I gave Norbert a Christmas gift! Is this real? Me, giving Norbert a Christmas gift? I gave it the reserve's storage isolation bag, not a piece of my own flesh? I've never seen it in such a good mood—never even heard of it!"
"It's real," Anthony said with a smile, watching the dragon lower its head to take stock of its haul for the day. "I think we might have confused it. It probably doesn't often encounter people actively giving it so many gifts."
Norbert let out a small burst of flame. The applewood was precisely burned into charcoal, then slowly turned to ashes amidst the flames.
Norbert coiled itself up, resting its massive head on a nearby rock, almost burying its nose in the burning charcoal. It slowly blinked its eyes.
It still lay across the stream, the obstructed water splashing against its folded wings, massive body, and coiled tail.
"Some dragons like wood with special scents. Catalina once encountered a Hungarian Horntail that liked burning pine," Charlie said, staring at Norbert. "But Longhorns have never been among the dragons with such leisurely tastes. I didn't expect a Norwegian Ridgeback to like applewood."
Anthony told him, "This dragon hatched in a pile of firewood containing applewood and rosemary."
"Really, Hagrid?" Charlie said.
"Hmm?" Hagrid asked, as if startled awake. "What?" He still refused to look away from Norbert.
Anthony said, "We were talking about how Norbert was born… Well, in a teapot placed over a fire of applewood and rosemary and such."
A smile spread across Hagrid's face. "Yes, yes. When it was just born, it was only this big… Goodness! In the blink of an eye, Norbert is already a big kid! I still remember how it desperately consumed my brandy and chicken blood…" His voice was full of emotion. "That was a lot of chicken blood. I remember even Fang started whining at the sight of chicken, and Aragog refused to eat chicken. Do you remember, Henry? We had stewed chicken for several meals, haha!"
The applewood burned out.
"What will it do next?" Charlie asked softly with interest, watching Norbert lying there with half-closed eyes.
Norbert slowly lifted its eyelids and blew out a breath. The grayish ashes were blown into the water and quickly disappeared.
It then chewed a few more bottles of brandy before slowly standing up. Under the watchful eyes of the three people on the bank, Norbert opened its mouth and swallowed the brandy bottles and the stones it used for grinding its teeth.
Charlie quietly explained to Anthony that this was a temporary way of storing food. Besides its main stomach, dragons had another stomach with very weak digestive functions, often used by adult dragons to store prey to feed their young.
Norbert held the half-eaten teddy bear and the leather bag in its teeth, clutched the water-soaked blanket in its claws, and stretched its wings.
"Leaving already?" Hagrid asked reluctantly, taking another step forward.
This time, Norbert didn't growl at him.
It flapped its wings slightly, then, as if suddenly remembering something, turned its head to look at Anthony again.
"What is it?" Anthony asked.
Norbert stared at him. Anthony checked his pockets but found nothing.
"I don't have any more applewood," he told Norbert.
Norbert let out an impatient, low growl. A wave of hot air rushed toward Anthony, making it almost impossible for him to keep his eyes open. His wizard robes clung tightly to him…
"Oh dear, Henry, I think Norbert wants your wizard robes again," Hagrid said loudly. "No, Norbert, Henry has already given you a gift."
Norbert bared its teeth threateningly.
Charlie asked, "Does it have to be wizard robes?" He looked down somewhat helplessly at his own leather jacket, then at Hagrid's battered coat.
"Alright, alright," Anthony conceded, taking off his wizard robes and standing in the snow in his shirt. Fortunately, he hardly felt the cold.
Sure enough, Norbert snatched away another cheap, standard black wizard robe from Madam Malkin.
"Greedy dragon," Anthony muttered under his breath.
Norbert whimpered again. It stretched its wings once more, lowered its head slightly, and looked sideways at Hagrid—who gazed tenderly at the large creature before him, his beard trembling—as if a hurricane had swept through, Norbert flew away.
Hagrid looked up longingly at it, sniffled, and waved his handkerchief at the sky, saying in a muffled voice, "Take care, Norbert! I'll come see you again!"
As a young, not-yet-fully-grown dragon, Norbert flew swiftly and steadily. Anthony could see the fluffy blanket Hagrid had given it fluttering under its claws, like a small flag.
Anthony whispered, "Merry Christmas."
Charlie was also watching Norbert depart. Aside from a few melted patches in the snow and some shards of glass, there was no sign that Norbert had spent a long time here, inspecting its Christmas gifts.
"They won't believe it," Charlie muttered. "I almost don't believe it myself."
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