Madam Pomfrey's healing magic was highly skilled, and the infirmary's medical supplies were well-stocked. After a few bottles of potion, the dragon and unicorn, previously in pain from their wounds, calmed down and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Professor McGonagall prepared to temporarily house the dragon in the Quidditch Pitch. She was busy setting up magical barriers around it to prevent students from accidentally wandering in and getting hurt by the dragon. The unicorn, on the other hand, was allowed to rest near Professor Sprout's greenhouses, and the plump witch happily prepared many berries and fresh oat hay for it.
Other professors also arrived upon hearing the news, making Hogwarts unusually lively for a late night.
"A dragon!"
A peculiar old man, eyes shining, rushed towards Norbert. He was covered in scars, with two wooden prosthetic legs and one wooden arm. At this moment, he lovingly stroked Norbert's black wings with his one remaining hand, exclaiming excitedly, "Hagrid, you should have told me you were raising a dragon!"
Professor McGonagall, who had finished setting up the barrier, walked over. Hearing this, she said sternly and angrily, "Professor Kettleburn, raising a dragon privately is a serious offense!"
The fury that everyone at Hogwarts feared seemed to have no effect on the old man. He smiled slyly, "Don't be so rigid, Minerva! Who's illegally raising a dragon? It's clearly a wild baby dragon living in the Forbidden Forest that broke into Hogwarts because it was hungry, and our kind gamekeeper merely fed it a little food! It's not illegal at all..."
"Oh... it can be like that!" Hagrid slapped his palm, enlightened.
"Please stop encouraging illegal activities, Professor Kettleburn! Don't forget you're still on probation!" Professor McGonagall, who had been very serious, started to laugh herself as she spoke.
"Yes, yes, sixty-two times on probation. But it doesn't matter, I'm almost retired anyway," Professor Kettleburn said, shrugging. He then leaned close to the dragon again and asked, "Does this child have a name, Hagrid?"
"He's called Norbert!" Hagrid said proudly. "I watched him hatch with my own eyes!"
"—He?" Professor Kettleburn paused, then looked closely again before laughing. "It should be 'she'... this is a little girl!"
"What?" Hagrid was shocked and leaned forward. Professor Kettleburn then began teaching him how to distinguish the gender of baby dragons.
"In that case, is calling her Norbert not very good?" Hagrid quickly entered "doting father of a daughter" mode, seemingly worried that his precious daughter would be discriminated against because of her name.
"How about Norberta," Professor Kettleburn suggested. "It sounds like a girl's name, and it's cute."
"Oh, you two, I've been looking for you!" Madam Pomfrey suddenly appeared, staring at Wade and Harry, bustling. "Come with me—Dumbledore said you might need a Calming Draught?"
"No, we weren't frightened," Wade said.
But Madam Pomfrey didn't listen at all. She led them to the hospital wing, and without explanation, shoved a bottle of Calming Draught into each of their hands, saying, "Drink the potion, then go to bed early. There are only a few hours left until dawn."
Wade took a look and realized it was a potion he had brewed himself!
"Is Dumbledore back?" Harry asked anxiously when he saw her about to leave.
"How would I know that, child?" Madam Pomfrey said.
"But you said—he told you we needed a Calming Draught?" Harry insisted.
"Dumbledore sent his Patronus to inform me."
"What's a Patronus—"
"Drink the potion and sleep, child."
Under Madam Pomfrey's rather oppressive smiling gaze, both of them had no choice but to gulp down the Calming Draught. Sleepiness quickly washed over them.
The next morning, even though no one had deliberately publicized it, it seemed all the students in the school knew what had happened last night. They flocked to see the dragon and the unicorn. After touring around, the SSC members learned that Wade and Harry had also been involved, so they rushed to the hospital wing to find them.
"I heard someone attacked the dragon!" Hermione burst in, worriedly saying, "Are you two alright... did you encounter that person?"
"Forget about the dragon for now, I—" Harry glanced around and said, "I have a secret I want to tell you, about last night's attacker—"
"Wait, Harry." Michael suddenly interrupted him, walked to the door, looked out, and then closed the room door.
Ryan reacted and also walked to the window, ensuring no one was listening outside.
Wade asked, "Did you see that person?"
"Yeah, I got there a bit earlier than you two. I saw what that person looked like; it was..." Harry shivered involuntarily, "Professor Quirrell."
The room fell silent all at once.
Harry became anxious and hastily said, "Maybe you think I'm lying—but I'm not! Actually, I overheard it a few weeks ago—in the forest! On the day of the Quidditch match, the day Gryffindor won! I heard Snape threatening Quirrell to cooperate with him to steal the Philosopher's Stone hidden on the fourth floor! Last night, they were also the first to arrive in the Forbidden Forest!"
Theo asked, "I heard Professor McGonagall was also among the first on the scene?"
"You weren't there, so you didn't see it—Professor McGonagall was still in her pajamas when she arrived! She was clearly woken up by the dragon!" Harry tried to explain the basis of his reasoning: "But Snape and Quirrell... their clothes were very neat; they might have been wandering in the Forbidden Forest beforehand, or even attacked Norbert and the unicorn! It was only when Hagrid arrived later that they had to flee, then pretended to be startled and rushed over, but didn't have time to change into proper clothes!"
No one spoke for a while.
In the silence, Neville looked left and right, trying to make conversation. "Harry, I've noticed you've been particularly enthusiastic towards Professor Quirrell lately... I thought you'd grown very fond of him..."
"I thought he was standing up to Snape!" Harry said in annoyance. "I even wanted to encourage him to be resilient! I didn't expect him to side with Snape so quickly!"
He looked at their complex expressions and couldn't help but feel irritated, raising his voice, "Are you trying to say—they're professors, people Dumbledore trusts, so they wouldn't do that? But I really—"
"Harry, calm down."
Wade suddenly interrupted his outburst, his calm voice like a splash of cold water, extinguishing Harry's excitement. Harry looked at Wade, but Wade was looking at the others.
"Tell him about it," Wade said. "Harry has already figured this much out; telling him the truth won't be breaking our agreement with Dumbledore."
Harry was stunned.
"Tell me... what?"
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