Hagrid truly loved raising dangerous creatures.
Ali was currently sprawled lazily across Hagrid's bed, occasionally flicking her tail while reminding Ethan there were several empty Butterbeer bottles lying beside her.
[Actually… I take it back. Butterbeer tastes pretty good.]
A thick blanket had been spread across the floor nearby, which strongly suggested Hagrid had voluntarily surrendered his own bed to the black unicorn and chosen to sleep on the ground instead.
Honestly, none of that surprised Ethan in the slightest.
At the moment, however, Hagrid's attention had been completely consumed by the dragon egg.
"But I don't know anythin' about hatchin' dragons," Hagrid admitted excitedly. "Ethan, could yeh help me borrow some books from the library? About dragon hatchin', I mean."
He stared at the egg with almost childlike wonder.
"I never thought I'd actually get one. It's beautiful…"
Personally, Ethan thought "beautiful" was generous.
The thing looked like an oversized duck egg covered in grimy black scales.
"Fine," Ethan agreed. "I'm returning some books later anyway. Besides, I want to see what a dragon actually looks like once it hatches."
Naturally, his real interest wasn't the dragon itself.
He wanted to measure the strength of its soul.
Last time, Fawkes's soul had possessed nearly the same intensity as Dumbledore's. Perhaps dragons also exceeded normal magical creatures by a ridiculous margin.
Whether he would eat it afterward was another matter entirely.
Killing a newborn dragon just to gain one extra percent of soul completion felt a little unreasonable.
At that point, stealing candy from children sounded morally equivalent.
Borrowing books from the library turned out to be extremely easy. Madam Pince had already grown accustomed to Ethan checking out books three times a week. As long as he avoided the Restricted Section, she barely questioned him anymore.
This time, Ethan returned carrying:
British and Irish Dragon Species
From Dragon Egg to Inferno
A Practical Guide to Raising Dragons
And one particularly suspicious book titled Dragon Breeding for Fun and Profit.
Madam Pince never once suspected Ethan actually possessed a dragon egg. The idea seemed too ridiculous even for her imagination.
After all, what kind of eleven-year-old casually acquired illegal dragons?
By the time Ethan returned to Hagrid's hut, Hagrid had already built both a nest and a crude hatching setup.
"Dragons take two weeks to hatch," Ethan reminded him while staring at the enormous pile of cotton blankets. "And they definitely don't live in nests like this. One burst of fire and your entire hut will burn down."
Using the descriptions inside British and Irish Dragon Species, Hagrid eventually identified the egg as a Norwegian Ridgeback.
According to the books, dragon eggs required constant heating over open flames because mother dragons normally incubated them using their breath. Once hatched, the babies needed feeding every thirty minutes using a mixture of chicken blood and brandy.
"Why exactly is dragon childcare dependent on alcohol?" Ethan asked suspiciously while reading.
Unfortunately, while still inside the egg, the hatchling possessed no visible soul whatsoever. Ethan would need to wait until after it emerged to properly examine it.
Which meant Hagrid inherited the glorious responsibility of maintaining the fire continuously for the next two weeks.
The remainder of Christmas holiday passed quickly after that.
Before long, classes resumed.
Hermione returned to Hogwarts and immediately learned Harry and Ron had spent several nights sneaking around the castle during the holidays.
Naturally, she reacted like an exhausted mother.
"What if Filch had caught you?!" she demanded.
Unfortunately, an even bigger problem soon appeared.
During breakfast on the first weekend after classes resumed, everyone learned Snape would be refereeing Gryffindor's upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin.
"Snape?!" Ron nearly shouted. "Has someone gone insane? Since when does he referee Quidditch matches?"
"He's definitely planning something," Hermione said darkly. She now completely believed Snape was trying to hurt Harry. "Maybe you should teach us the counter-curse, Ethan. Just in case he attacks Harry again…"
"A saint never falls for the same trick twice," Ethan replied calmly.
The real threat this time wasn't Snape anyway.
It was Quirrell.
And technically himself.
Now that Snape would be watching the entire match from the center of the field, Quirrell wouldn't dare try openly cursing Harry's broom again. A referee had one of the best views in the stadium.
After failing once already, Quirrell would never risk the exact same method again.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione still looked deeply nervous.
"You could just skip the match," Hermione suggested anxiously.
"Pretend you're sick," Ron added immediately.
"Or fake a broken leg," Hermione proposed.
"We could actually break your leg," Ron continued thoughtfully.
"I can help with that," Ethan said in a very professional tone. "Ten Galleons. Though I'll probably get solitary confinement for assaulting a classmate."
He casually pulled out his wand.
Harry stared at him blankly.
"…Thanks."
"But I can't quit," Harry continued helplessly. "There's no backup Seeker. If I don't play, Gryffindor forfeits the match."
In the end, Harry, Ron, and Hermione prepared themselves for disaster.
The match itself, however, unfolded exactly as Ethan predicted.
Nothing happened.
With Snape refereeing and Dumbledore watching from the stands, Quirrell practically radiated fear the entire game.
Without outside interference, the match ended absurdly quickly.
Harry caught the Snitch within five minutes.
His flying ability looked downright illegal.
"He cheated!" the Slytherin captain yelled furiously afterward. "That's impossible!"
Apparently, Harry's existence itself now counted as cheating.
"It's only cheating because you lost?" Ethan replied lazily before anyone else could speak. "This victory was achieved entirely through hard work and determination, wasn't it, Harry?"
"Exactly," Harry replied with a grin so wide it looked painful.
Unfortunately, his happiness lasted less than half a day.
When Ethan saw Harry again later in the common room, his expression had become gloomy again.
Ron and Hermione also looked unusually tense.
After Ethan sat down beside them, the three immediately began whispering about what had happened after the Quidditch match.
Harry had gone to return his broomstick when he spotted a hooded figure sneaking out of the castle toward the Forbidden Forest.
"So I followed them on my broom," Harry explained nervously. "It was Snape and Quirrell. I overheard them talking."
"And?"
"Snape was threatening Quirrell," Harry said seriously. "He wants Quirrell to help him steal the Philosopher's Stone."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"So we're assassinating Snape now?"
"If possible," Harry admitted hopefully.
"Don't even think about it," Ethan replied immediately. "You won't be capable of killing Snape even after another five years."
Harry's fantasy died instantly.
"Instead of worrying about murder," Ethan continued, "you should probably worry about the homework you still haven't finished this week."
By the second week of term, Harry had once again transformed into Hogwarts's self-appointed detective.
The Philosopher's Stone mystery completely consumed him.
In order to investigate the protections surrounding the Stone, Harry eventually dragged Ron and Hermione to visit the only person they thought might know something useful:
Hagrid.
Which naturally meant all three of them discovered the illegal dragon egg hidden inside the hut.
"Shhh!" Hagrid hurriedly pulled them indoors before nervously lowering his voice. "Don't tell anyone. This belongs to me an' Ethan…"
"Hagrid," Ethan said calmly, "you just exposed me."
"Oh—right." Hagrid immediately slapped a hand over his mouth.
"You're raising a dragon?!" Harry stared at Ethan in disbelief.
"That's illegal!" Hermione squeaked in horror. "And Hagrid lives in a wooden hut!"
"We'll move the dragon somewhere else once it grows larger," Ethan replied. He'd already begun considering several possible disposal plans. "Relax."
"I'm watchin' the time carefully," Hagrid muttered distractedly while crouching beside the egg again. He had already forgotten the entire legal discussion.
"The little dragon'll hatch in two days," he announced excitedly. "Yeh definitely don't wanna miss it. We'll be the first people to see it bein' born!"
Ethan silently looked at the dragon egg beside the fire.
Hopefully the poor creature wouldn't suffer lifelong psychological trauma after opening its eyes and immediately seeing a half-Dementor staring directly into its face.
At this rate, Norbert was going to spend his entire life recovering from birth-related emotional damage.
....
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