The weekend night at Hogwarts was quiet. A full moon hung in the sky, casting a soft glow over the campus. Occasionally, a few owls flew by, and the calls of night cats could be heard—a peaceful and serene scene.
However, not far away in a basement in Hogsmeade village, an explosion was brewing.
"Damn it," Draco cursed under his breath.
The previously soft, golden liquid in the cauldron began to churn. Bubbles roiled, turning first into an eerie pink, then into bright red, and finally into black. The reaction became increasingly violent, like surging waves, churning endlessly. More and more bubbles began to detach from the liquid, making "pop, pop" sounds.
"Two months of work, ruined in an instant." Draco sighed, looking at the black liquid. Clearly, he had failed when he was only a third of the way through. He was brewing Felix Felicis.
"Where exactly did I go wrong?" He sat on the floor, deep in thought, brow furrowed, completely forgetting about the failed potion still boiling away.
"Sizzle, sizzle." A strange sound pulled him back to reality from his thoughts.
"Protego!" Draco subconsciously cast the spell. Instinct told him that if he did not use it, he might become the first transmigrator to die from an experiment.
As soon as the words left his mouth, a "boom" echoed, andan explosionn occurred in the basement. The massive shockwave and wild airflow threw him into the corner, and dust filled the air.
"Cough, cough." Draco slowly climbed up from the ground, coughing twice. Looking at the chaotic basement and the potion flowing everywhere, he could not help but reveal an ugly smile.
"I should have recycled the chemicals after the experiment." This thought inexplicably appeared in his head. "I really am regressing as I live." Draco rubbed his forehead in pain, unsure whether it was because of his own negligence or because the explosion had hurt his head.
"No other choice. I'll have to set my sights on that." Then his eyes suddenly sharpened, like an eagle that had found its prey and was preparing to swoop down.
The Easter holiday was much more boring than the Christmas holiday. Students had endless homework, and final exams were approaching, so they had to study.
However, the Gryffindor trio did not seem to be studying quietly in the library—or, to be precise, not right now. They were distracted by a dragon.
Not long ago, they were reading in the library. Hermione was planning her revision schedule, marking her notes with different colours and writing motivational phrases on the front page, such as "must surpass someone." Harry was looking for "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, while Ron threw down his quill, gazing longingly out of the library window. The sky outside was clear and bright, blue as a forget-me-not, and the air carried a hint that summer was coming.
Under normal circumstances, they should have been studying diligently or slacking off, passing a peaceful day. But today was clearly an abnormal situation.
"Hagrid, what are you doing here?" Ron said loudly in the library. Hagrid walked over, shuffling his feet, and hid something behind his back. Of course, such hiding was useless; they soon learned that Hagrid was gathering information about dragons.
Afterwards, they followed Hagrid to his hut on the grounds.
They did not immediately show their curiosity but instead asked more questions about the Philosopher's Stone.
As someone with a superior intellect, Hermione managed to extract most of what Hagrid knew through repeated conversation. They learned that Snape was one of the professors protecting the Philosopher's Stone, along with details about the three-headed dog and other information. Naturally, they became even more suspicious of him; the three of them believed that Snape would find it easier to steal something if he knew the security measures.
Their current focus, however, was the dragon.
"Hagrid, can you open a window? I'm roasting."
"Can't, Harry, sorry," Hagrid said. Harry noticed him glance towards the fireplace. Harry turned to look at the fire as well.
"Hagrid—what is that?" Harry asked.
Actually, he already knew. In the centre of the fire, under the kettle, lay a large black egg.
"Ah," Hagrid said, nervously twisting his beard, "that's—er—"
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron asked, crouching by the fire to inspect the large egg more closely. "It must have cost you a fortune!"
"Won it," Hagrid said. "Last night I was drinking in the village and played cards with a stranger. To be honest, the man was probably dying to get rid of it."
"But what are you going to do once it hatches?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, I've been reading," Hagrid said, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Borrowed it from the library—Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit—a bit outdated, of course, but the content is very complete. You have to put the egg in the fire because their mothers breathe on them. Look, it's written here: once it hatches, feed it a bucket of brandy mixed with dragon's blood every half hour. And look here—how to identify different eggs—I've got a Norwegian Ridgeback. Very rare."
Instinct told Hermione this was illegal. She wanted to persuade Hagrid, but seeing Ron, Harry, and Hagrid all looking so excited, she did not know how to begin. The last time with the Levitation Charm had taught her a lesson—she needed to learn to be tolerant of her friends. Thinking of friends, she thought of someone else. "Do I count as a friend in his heart?" she asked herself.
"Hermione? Hermione?" Ron spoke. "Stop spacing out, come look at the dragon egg. I guarantee you've never seen such a big egg."
"Alright." Hermione forced herself to look at this thing she was not interested in. But strangely, once she thought about how a new life might be born from it, she was no longer so repulsed and even felt a little anticipation.
The sunset glow spilled over the hut, and they realised it was very late.
"Hagrid, we have to go," Harry said.
"We'll come back," Ron waved at Hagrid from the doorway.
"Me too," Hermione nodded gently.
Then, one day at breakfast, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. It only had four words written on it: It's hatching.
Ron did not want to go to Herbology; he wanted to go straight to Hagrid's hut. Hermione firmly disagreed.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives will we see a baby dragon hatch?"
"We have to go to class, otherwise we'll get into trouble; if anyone finds out what Hagrid is doing, he'll be in even worse trouble than us—"
"Quiet," Harry whispered a warning.
In Herbology, Ron kept debating with Hermione. Finally, Hermione agreed to run to Hagrid's hut with them during the morning break. When class ended and the bell rang in the castle, the three of them dropped their trowels and hurried across the grounds toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid welcomed them, his face glowing with excitement…
"It's about to come out." He let them into the hut. The egg lay on the table, already sporting a deep crack. Something was moving incessantly inside, making a funny clicking sound. They all moved their chairs closer to the table, holding their breath and watching intently.
Suddenly, with a harsh scraping sound, the egg split open. The baby dragon wobbled and flailed on the table. It was not actually pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled black umbrella. Its spiky wings seemed disproportionately large compared to its thin, jet-black body. It also had a long snout, white nostrils, horn bumps on its head, and bulging orange eyes.
It sneezed, and sparks flew from its nostrils. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. The baby dragon bit his finger, revealing sharp, long teeth.
"Good heavens, look, it recognises its mother!" Hagrid said. "Hagrid," Hermione said, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow?" Hagrid was about to answer when his face suddenly turned pale.
"Someone's outside the window," he said, then leapt up. His massive body seemed to block out the light as he jumped, plunging everything below into darkness.
"It's you!" After opening the door, Ron and Harry's expressions changed. Hermione pursed her lips, wondering what she was thinking.
"You were eavesdropping on us!" Ron immediately raised his wand. Usually, he would not have had the courage to treat the top student in the year, Draco, like this, but things were different now because his opponent had no wand.
A wizard without a wand might be worse than a Muggle; this was what many wizards thought in their hearts.
"Don't come over!" Ron shouted sharply, but Draco still stepped into the room, step by step.
A green light shot out from Ron's wand, and he shouted: "I won't let you get away with this!"
"No!" Hermione cried urgently. However, neither Hagrid nor Harry paid any attention to her shout; they were both stunned by the current situation.
"I hate it when people point their wands at me," Draco said flatly.
"Protego!"
The green light seemed to strike an invisible wall and came to an abrupt halt, giving the odd impression of wasted force. Then it rebounded with even greater speed than it had come.
"Ron, are you alright?" The green light had struck Ron, forcing him to stumble back and fall to the ground. Harry and Hermione rushed to help him up, asking with concern.
Harry looked up, glaring at Draco with resentment.
"Don't look at me like that," Draco shrugged. "I was just defending myself. If I hadn't resisted, it would be me making a fool of myself right now."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ron let out a loud belch, and a few slugs fell from his mouth onto his lap.
He continued, "Only a Dark Wizard would point a wand at someone who isn't holding one, just as a regular army wouldn't point their blades at civilians; they would only fight against real opponents." Draco paused for a moment before adding, "Though it seems this civilian is a bit more capable."
Clearly, this was something he had just made up on the spot, even if it sounded somewhat reasonable.
"You were the one eavesdropping on us first!" Harry said loudly, though his voice lacked conviction.
"A law-abiding citizen has an obligation to report illegal activities. Let me see, hmm, what does the Protection of Magical Creatures Act say?" He lowered his head, feigning thought, before suddenly snapping his fingers. "Privately raising dragons carries a sentence of five to ten years. And considering our gamekeeper here seems to have a prior record, I imagine his sentence will be extended," Draco said casually.
Hagrid's beard twitched abnormally; he had remained in that same posture from the beginning.
"As for the accomplices," he said, rubbing his chin, "prison?"
He saw the faces of the three turn pale instantly, and Ron even spat out a few more slugs.
"Not that far, but expulsion is very likely. I expect our house would be quite happy to see Gryffindor lose all its points." He began making things up, but it sounded reasonable enough to fool them.
As if Dumbledore would ever allow such a thing to happen.
But clearly, Harry was terrified. In his eyes, expulsion was worse than death; if Gryffindor's honour were damaged because of him, he would rather go to prison.
"So, are you going to report us?" Hermione tried her best to steady her voice.
"He's not that kind of person, he's not that kind of person," Hermione repeated to herself, waiting in agony for his answer.
"Her…" Ron tried to speak but spat out a few more slugs on the ground. "Hermione, don't ask him. He's a student of Snape's; there's definitely a conspiracy here."
"Langlock!" Draco cast another spell.
Now Ron's mouth began to swell. He wanted to spit out the slugs, but his mouth was sealed shut. His cheeks puffed out larger and larger, and soon his throat began to bulge as well. His breathing became difficult.
"You'll kill him!" Hermione cried. "Undo it, please." Her voice trembled.
"Finite Incantatem," Draco said softly.
Ron retched and spat all the slugs out at once. He lay on the ground, gasping for air. He glared at Draco with hatred but quickly lowered his head after meeting his gaze.
"For most people in this world, death is the ultimate fear, and the Dark Lord is no different. I trust you will learn your lesson in the future; don't interrupt when others are talking," Draco said calmly.
"What do you want?" Harry asked.
"A deal. A fair deal. Though, quite obviously, you can only interpret it as coercion now." Draco shrugged helplessly.
"What deal?" Hermione asked hurriedly.
Draco did not answer directly.
"A Norwegian Ridgeback, a type of dragon. It grows quite quickly; it can double in size within a week."
"This hut won't be able to hold the dragon for long, and given its aggressive nature, without proper training,g it will eventually cause a disaster."
"Have you forgotten that troll? If you were to rank magical creatures by strength, the strength of this dragon when it grows up would far exceed that of the t troll."
"When problems arise, it won't just be prison you face; it could be Azkaban. Big Hagrid, the Dementors are not pleasant company."
Hagrid suddenly stumbled, nearly falling.
"More likely, because the disaster would be too great, it might even need to be put down."
"No!" Hagrid cried. "Norbert is just a child!" He crouched down, clutching his head.
"I can help you. You only need to pay a small price," Draco continued.
"What price? How can you help?" Harry asked quickly.
"To show my sincerity, I'll tell you the method first. It's me." Draco pointed to himself. "My father has investments across Britain and abroad. There is a dragon sanctuary in Romania where my father holds significant shares. Sending the dragon there would be the best choice."
"How can I trust you?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"I truly feel sad for the intelligence of the Weasley family descendants," Draco sighed. "If I were lying, couldn't you simply report me? Think about what your brother Charlie does."
Hagrid said in surprise, "Charlie… he studies dragons there in Romania." Then his voice dropped. "But I can't bear to part with Norbert." He began to sob again.
"Then what do you want?" Harry whispered.
Draco stared at Hermione for a moment, making her uncomfortable.
"What is he trying to do?" Hermione's heart raced.
"I just need a bottle of dragon's blood," Draco finally said.
Hermione felt an inexplicable mix of relief and disappointment.
"No, you can't do this to it. It's just a child," Hagrid cried again.
"Then I'll have to play the part of a dutiful citizen and expose the illegal activity," Draco said as he turned to leave.
"I'll agree on Hagrid's behalf," Harry said.
"Harry, how could you…" Ron protested.
"We have no choice," Harry replied firmly.
"I wish us a happy cooperation," Draco said, turning back and extending his hand.
"Happy cooperation," Harry replied, forcing a smile as he shook it.
"Around next week,k my father should be sending people. By then, the dragon will have grown quite a bit. You'd better be prepared," Draco said.
"We're not like you," Ron muttered.
"Heh, that would be for the best." Draco stepped outside.
"One last piece of advice: please remember—it is a dragon."
---
A/N: Advance Chapter Has Been Uploaded. Please Check It Out. It will really help me out and will keep me motivated to continue.
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San