"An adult female dragon?!"
Ron's expression looked like someone had stuffed a toad in his mouth as he blurted out: "Mate, you're completely insane..."
"Hm?" Ethan turned his head, smiling pleasantly at Ron.
Ron's rationality immediately came online. "Ahem! I mean, do you really want to raise that thing?"
Ron pointed at the ugly black dragon hatchling, his face full of disgust. The little creature immediately huffed at him, the flames it spat out scorching a patch of the thick hardwood table.
Ron quickly withdrew his hand, looking accusingly at Hagrid.
Hagrid squealed: "Oh, how lively!"
"But, Ethan," Harry brought the conversation back, desperately trying to follow Ethan's train of thought: "Even if you want to use a mother dragon to raise the hatchling, where would you keep them? One foot of an adult dragon could flatten Hagrid's hut!"
Ethan was about to explain when Miss Hermione Granger suddenly called out: "Of course! There's a ready-made place right here!"
Hermione crossed her arms, her eyes shooting out confident, proud light. Like she'd solved a difficult problem posed by a professor, she said smugly: "Hogwarts might not have space, but isn't the Forbidden Forest quite spacious? We can keep the mother and child in the Forbidden Forest!"
Harry and Ron were dumbfounded. After two seconds of silence, before Hagrid could start agreeing with this plan, Harry hurriedly objected: "But... but that's illegal!"
Hermione "Outlaw" Granger raised her chin and curved her lips, looking at Harry with the gaze of someone viewing a pitiable person with insufficient intelligence: "It's clearly recorded in books that during the goblin rebellions, there were dragons in Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest, and more than one..."
"Because of rampant poaching, they gradually moved to reserves. The dragons lived in the Forbidden Forest on their own. How can you say we're keeping them? We're not breaking any laws!"
Harry and Ron stared in shock: It could work like that?!
"This is Ethan's carefully considered answer!" Hermione said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. "First, it lets the hatchling experience a natural environment and maternal love. Second, it allows Hagrid to visit it in the Forbidden Forest anytime without having to separate from it!"
Hagrid wept with emotion: "Oh, Ethan!"
Hermione paused, cleared her throat, and concluded: "Third, it enriches the Forbidden Forest's species diversity, recreating past glory and making Hogwarts great again! Even better, third-year Care of Magical Creatures classes could interact with real dragons!"
Harry and Ron thought desperately: Please, anything but that...
"Ethan, am I right? Isn't this exactly what you were thinking?" Hermione whipped her head around to look at Ethan, looking like she wanted praise.
Ethan, who simply wanted to get an adult dragon as his ancient city's boss, stared at her: "..." You've figured it all out... what can I even say?
After pondering for a moment, Ethan raised his head, showed a smile, and said firmly: "Yes. That's exactly what I was thinking."
Immediately, Hermione spread her hands and lifted her nose, looking down at Harry and Ron through her nostrils. Her expression seemed to say, See? That's exactly what Ethan was thinking!
Harry and Ron stared in shock. Looking at Ethan, though they felt something wasn't quite right, they were gradually convinced by this undeniable atmosphere.
"So... so that's it... In such a short time, Ethan thought of so much..." "So thorough, truly better than all three of our brains combined, worthy of being Ethan..." "Woooo, thank you, Ethan, you're such a good person..."
Amid the chorus of praise, Ethan gradually began to enjoy it.
Hermione continued: "But Ethan, there's still one thing I don't understand. Where are you going to get an adult female dragon?"
Ron said in horror: "Don't look at me! My brother Charlie may work with dragons, but he'd never send me one..."
Before he could finish, Hagrid's face suddenly changed dramatically! He leaped up and rushed to the window, shouting in a low voice: "Someone! Someone was just peeping through the curtain gap... a boy... running toward the school!"
Harry and Ron rushed to the door, looked outside, and exclaimed: "It's Malfoy! He saw the dragon!"
Harry's face darkened: "He'll definitely interfere with us, maybe even tell the professors."
Hermione's face immediately went deathly pale as she cried helplessly: "What... what do we do?"
Ron replied with undeniable relief: "We don't have time to find any mother dragon. We need to get this little thing away immediately..."
"Excuse me, move aside." Ethan's calm voice interrupted their argument. His cobalt-blue eyes stared directly out the window. "You're blocking my view."
The next second, a pitch-black doorway opened both inside and outside the hut.
"THUD!"
Malfoy, who had been running happily just moments before, crashed hard to the ground from inside the portal.
"Help... help me!" Malfoy screamed, desperately flailing his limbs like a fish thrown onto shore.
Looking up, he met five faces looking down at him.
Malfoy managed weakly: "Hello."
Malfoy was frozen in place by Hermione's Full Body-Bind Curse. He lay rigidly on the ground, his eyes staring in terror, unable to move.
Ethan spoke conversationally: "Now, I'm going to tell you what I need you to do. If you have any objections, just blink."
Malfoy, hit with the Full Body-Bind, thought frantically: Are you speaking human language?
Ethan continued cheerfully: "I need you to get us an adult female Norwegian Ridgeback, preferably one that just lost her eggs. Put it in the Forbidden Forest."
Malfoy's eyes widened: What? Me?!
Ethan grinned with a kind smile, squatted down with his legs apart, raised his hand, and patted Malfoy's face gently, saying sweetly: "I'm sure the Malfoy family has this capability and would be willing to support me, right?"
Malfoy looked like he might break through the Petrification Curse through sheer willpower, his whole body trembling.
Ethan turned his head and said brightly: "He says he'd be delighted to."
Hermione clasped her hands together: "Ethan, you're absolutely brilliant!"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances: "..." Mate, maybe you should get your brain checked.
And Hagrid, the only adult present, was completely immersed in the beautiful fantasy of the hatchling staying by his side. Constantly sobbing "thank you," choosing selective blindness.
Ethan straightened up and casually cast a Finite Incantatem, releasing Malfoy.
Malfoy instinctively said: "I'm going to tell my father..."
Ethan replied pleasantly: "Go ahead, we'll wait for your good news."
Malfoy's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
Ethan gently reminded: "Oh, and if you leak this, I'll lock you in my painting and let you have a good time playing with my Hell Cerberus."
"WAHHH!"
Malfoy ran away crying.
Except for Hagrid's emotional sniffling, the room fell deathly quiet.
"Alright," Ethan turned around satisfied and said to Ron, "You..."
Ron suddenly shuddered, instinctively snapping to attention and shouting: "Yes!"
Ethan looked at him oddly: "You still write to your brother Charlie, but just say a dragon flew into the Forbidden Forest and ask him to bring colleagues to help. After all, they're the experts when it comes to dragons."
And besides, I need manpower to help subdue an adult dragon.
Ethan already had inspiration forming in his mind. Simply stuffing a dragon under the trapdoor wasn't realistic. He needed a new painting: a second-tier artwork, a "Canvas Prison" that could seal creatures within paintings.
He'd use that extraordinary pigment, Star Color.