"This way, Professor," one of the twins said, walked confidently up the wooden ladder.
Anthony followed, said quietly: "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you, Professor Anthony," the other grinned. Teeth reflected faint light in the dim cellar. "We can't let you get in trouble before coming to the Burrow. Mum would kill us—'Ungrateful wretches!'"
He squeaked his voice, hands on hips, mimicked Mrs. Weasley: "'Professor Anthony even gave you an owl!' No, Professor, we won't let that happen." He glanced at the crate marked "NORBERT." "Though if we'd known you were actually using it for something, we might've pointed you to another route. This one's a bit troublesome."
Slow footsteps upstairs approached. The door cracked open. A man muttered complaints, looked back at the clerk, showed his backlit head.
Anthony freed one hand, grabbed the Weasley's elbow to pull him back. But he just stood confidently, smile on his face, listening to the commotion upstairs.
"Ow!" someone in the shop suddenly cried. Then footsteps upstairs became chaotic, mixed with "What happened," "Who remembers the Vanishing Spell," "Poor child, did he faint from fright" discussions.
The bald head in the doorway suddenly disappeared.
"Let's go, Professor." The teenager opened the door wider, ran out crouched and nimble, fast as a weasel.
In Honeydukes, everyone's attention focused on the shop center. A tall barrel of rubber candy blocked Anthony's view. Noisy conversation everywhere. Norbert's banging blended into the buzzing, became less noticeable.
Anthony followed his student, hugged Norbert, crawled out from behind the counter, circled two boxes of coconut ice, tugged anxiously concerned Hagrid's hem, passed through shelves full of chocolate, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizzbees, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, walked outside.
He and George peered through the shop window—hoped he hadn't caused Honeydukes too much trouble.
"Good heavens, Henry, thank goodness you're out," Hagrid said, coat draped over his arm. After a moment squeezed out, snatched the crate from Anthony. "Norbert—oh, Weasley!"
The red-haired teenager whistled. "Mission rescue Professor Anthony and Hagrid: success." He drew his wand, pointed at the shop, squinted one eye aiming. "Hiss hiss let him go. Run hiss hiss."
Another outcry from the crowd. A colorful, rubber-candy-like snake-shaped object flew out the shop window, quickly disappeared.
"We'd better leave quickly," the Weasley who'd put away his wand said. "See you at the usual place, Fred!"
Without further ado, he pulled Anthony into a sprint. Pedestrians glanced at them, ignored the Disillusioned Anthony, just shouted at George: "Fred, where's your brother? What did you do now?"
"Roger the Snake—you deserve one!" George yelled.
Hagrid thumped along in large strides, asked confusedly: "Wait, uh... George, right? Why are you here?"
Norbert jostled in the crate, angrily puffed a huge plume of black smoke.
Another redhead leaped up from the ground, shouted: "Roger the Snake—you deserve one! Created by Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Emery Thinn, and Roger Davies! Interested parties owl us!" He laughed, ran out of the stunned crowd, suddenly braked, leaned on the glass door, shouted: "Remember the password: hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss! Get ten percent off!"
They came to Hogsmeade's outskirts. Here, the noisy voices had faded.
Passing fields, Anthony could hear wind blowing from one wilderness to another. Hagrid was clumsily following behind. Norbert was violently thrashing in the crate. The crate groaned dangerously. Creaking.
George led them, said: "We knew you asking about Hogsmeade passages must have a purpose, Professor, but didn't expect you'd use it so soon."
"How did you know I used it?" Anthony asked.
"Well, we have some little secrets," George smiled. "Anyway, we discovered someone who shouldn't be in the castle entered the castle, then lingered by the statue. We knew immediately something was happening. Who's Norbert?" He glanced at the crate in Hagrid's arms again.
"How much did Charlie tell you?"
"Pretty much everything. He doesn't hide anything from us," George said. But Anthony just looked at him knowingly. So he sighed. "All right, Professor... We know you needed to get from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade. Very important. Couldn't be seen. We also know it was all to get Norbert here."
George walked to a seemingly abandoned wooden hut door, stopped abruptly. "This is it. Honored guests, allow me to proudly introduce—" He pushed the door hard. Wood chips and dust fell together. "A—choo! The sneeziest place in all Britain."
"A—choo!" Hagrid sneezed deafeningly, walked hunched into the dilapidated hut.
"So, Norbert?" George asked eagerly, rubbing his nose, craning his neck trying to peek through the crate cracks at the restless little thing. "I should at least know what you used our secret passage for. Fair's fair, Professor. We saved you. If not for us, what would you have done, Professor Anthony?"
Anthony pressed his lips, tapped Norbert's crate with his wand, transformed it to look like the candy crates in Honeydukes' warehouse—the Transfiguration notes from Christmas and his own practice weren't wasted—shook his head: "Students can't cast spells during holidays doesn't mean I can't... Mr. Weasley, what spell do wizards like using most when dealing with Muggles?"
"Confundus Charm?" George asked questioningly, then laughed himself. "All right, Professor."
Then Fred pushed open the door, panting. "Good afternoon, Professor Anthony. Good afternoon, Hagrid. How was my fainting act, George?"
"Brilliant!"
After high-fiving, Fred asked eagerly: "Who's Norbert?"
Norbert pushed the lid. Fire flashed in the crate. More ashes fell through the cracks.
"Whoa, no way?" Fred said softly, leaned closer. "You got a dragon, Hagrid?"
Hagrid tried hiding his pride. "Um, yeah, that's right. A Norwegian Ridgeback. We call it Norbert..."
"That makes sense. I was wondering why you needed the secret passage," George said. "Quite a few common spells fail on dragons... I hope Charlie doesn't turn into Professor Kettleburn when he comes home."
Fred asked keenly: "Are you on good terms with Honeydukes, Professor?"
"Pretty good, I suppose," Anthony smiled slightly at him. "You can imagine, I'm a big customer—maybe not that big, but as long as Norbert didn't burn down the warehouse, they probably still have some patience and tolerance for me."
Charlie's friends were thrilled to see Fred. Shook hands with him one after another. "Charlie's brother, right? He showed us photos of your whole family... Are you Fred or George?"
"You can guess," Fred said cheerfully.
"You must be Professor Anthony then?" another wizard asked. "Charlie said Hagrid's a big guy big enough for everyone to recognize immediately."
Anthony shook hands with them again. "Yes, yes, thank you so much."
"Let's go. Hagrid and the other Weasley are waiting in the hut," Fred said. "We decided not to move that hot-and-cold creature around. Let you walk a bit more instead."
"Of course, right," the lead wizard said, walked alongside Anthony. "If we could enter Hogwarts, you wouldn't need to figure out how to bring it to Hogsmeade... Nothing went wrong, did it?"
"The biggest thing that went wrong is two extra Mr. Weasleys here," Anthony smiled. "No. Everything went smoothly. The crate reinforcement methods and fireproofing charms you sent were very useful."
A brown-haired witch interjected: "Charlie originally wanted to come too, but we told him to save his leave. He asked us to send regards to your owl—heard she flew straight into the reserve?"
"That's not my owl. It's Hogwarts' messenger owl. How does the reserve usually receive mail? I suspect I wrote the wrong address."
"You did write the wrong address, Professor Anthony," the brown-haired witch said. "We usually send letters to the nearby town. The reserve has someone go to the post office daily. That was probably the first owl to fly directly into the reserve."
Anthony reminded himself to find that brave messenger in the Owlery when he got back.
After they reached the hut, Hagrid was also impressed by that owl. "Furious bird. Dropped the letter and flew off. Didn't even give me time to write back... I went to the shed to call for an owl to deliver mail. Only she squawked and scolded me..."
"Think five pieces of bacon are enough?" Anthony asked worriedly.
Fred and George said they had to get home before dinner. Told Anthony not to burn down the hut. Left hastily.
Hagrid, eyes red and swollen, brimming with tears, watched Charlie's friends take over Norbert. They smeared some potion on dried meat, reached into the crate. After Norbert ate, it fell into a deep sleep.
"Good heavens, Norbert!" Hagrid choked. "My poor Norbert! Mummy won't forget you!"
Steady snoring came from the crate.
The group of wizards said they had some "special channels," inconvenient for others to know. But they represented Charlie welcoming Anthony and Hagrid to visit the dragon reserve in Romania.
Anthony shook hands goodbye. "We'll definitely go, won't we, Hagrid?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah..." Hagrid sniffled, said dejectedly. Tears splashed onto the ground.
Anthony patted his arm. "Norbert will be happy you visit. It'll get professional care there. Be well protected."
Hagrid sat motionless by the dusty table. Sunset slanted through the broken window onto him. He looked almost like a stone statue.
Anthony walked the dragon experts to the door. "I won't follow. Safe travels."
"Don't worry, Professor Anthony!" the lead wizard smiled. "Others will be too busy avoiding us."
They put Hagrid's carefully decorated crate into a bag, hoisted it onto their backs. "Heavy. You raised it well, Hagrid. Goodbye, Professor Anthony."
Anthony stood at the door watching them walk away laughing. Hagrid suddenly stood up, rushed to the door—his forehead hit the doorframe—shouted loudly: "Norbert, Norbert!"
His voice exploded across the wilderness like muffled thunder, then scattered by endless wind. Hagrid watched that row of tiny figures and the pack on one person's back, howled in pain, suddenly hugged Anthony beside him.
"Good heavens, Hagrid!" Anthony said, leaned on the doorframe, reached up trying to support the big man.
Huge tears rolled into his beard. Hagrid wiped wildly, sobbed uncontrollably. "Norbert's gone!"
Anthony pushed up again. "We can visit it in Romania. We'll go in a few days, all right?"
"Norbert's gone..." Hagrid said. "Henry, you don't know how far Romania is! Hogwarts' Keeper of Keys can't leave school too long. I can't visit it... I'll never see it again in my life! Oh, Norbert, no matter how long it waits, I can't go see it!"
"Keepers of Keys should have holidays too," Anthony said. "You can toss the keys to Minerva or Dumbledore. Then you'll have a holiday. Worst case, quit and work at the dragon reserve. I bet they'd want you—you heard what they said. You raised Norbert well."
Hagrid laughed weakly. "No, you don't understand, Henry. I won't go anywhere but Hogwarts. Dumbledore trusts me—I won't go anywhere."
He was silent a moment. Sobbed again. "But Norbert... Why, Henry? Why?"
"Why what?"
"Aragog's old. Fang will get old too..." Hagrid sniffed loudly. "Norbert could've lived a long time, but it's gone!" A tear splashed onto Anthony's shoulder.
"Oh, Hagrid." Anthony tried lifting his head, tried seeing his expression under the mass of beard and hair. "I don't know the answer either. But you'll have new friends, all right? We're all rivers..." Endless, viscous black rivers. "So we'll pass many stones."
Rivers might struggle to turn back. But stones will stay in the river forever. Anthony thought of his former friends... After his resurrection, he'd never disturbed them again. But he still remembered how they'd walked through streets and alleys, talked endlessly about potatoes, night skies, and sedans, tossed bread to seagulls, drank until streetlights lit stone roads then went out.
"I hate this," Hagrid said. "I don't want new friends. I want all my old friends. I want Norbert." He muttered a few words, cried again. "But I'll never see Norbert again in my life! It'll live alone. What do we do!"
"All right, all right, Hagrid," Anthony said, patting his back. "You can meet after death."
"Really?" Hagrid asked, completely ignoring what an absurd, powerless comfort this was.
"Really," Anthony said firmly.
Assuming there's a Death in the world, He should be Death for humans, dragons, and beetles simultaneously. If not, Anthony would smash His skull with Hagrid's rock cakes.
───── ⊹ ⊹ ─────
📖Read up to (100+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
🔍 Search:p a t r e o n.com/GoldenLong
───── ⊹ ⊹ ─────