Ravenclaw secured the match victory, yet Gryffindor snatched the Golden Snitch. This outcome—a team with the Snitch still losing the match—was a rarity in the professional UK and Ireland Quidditch leagues, usually seen only when a team was crippled by injuries or deep in a rebuilding phase. To happen in a Hogwarts inter-House match was practically unheard of.
Whether it was Ravenclaw's heady excitement or Gryffindor's crushing despair, these intense emotions gradually subsided as the final weeks of the term began.
While the air was thick with the lazy promise of summer, everyone's mental energy was sapped by the heavy workload the professors had assigned. The library was perpetually full of students buried in books. Allen spent much of his time there, often observing Miss Know-it-all and the two little lions she dragged around.
For a while, the trio frequently spoke in hushed Gryffindor whispers while studying in the library, snippets of which Allen could clearly hear from his distant corner. Harry had grown increasingly anxious after spotting Snape threatening Professor Quirrell in the Forbidden Forest. They were terrified that Quirrell, out of fear, would reveal the secrets to bypassing the magical defenses he himself had designed.
But Quirrell's current behavior suggested a much greater resilience than the young lions gave him credit for. In the weeks following the match, he appeared increasingly pale and frail, yet he hadn't collapsed or disappeared entirely.
Lately, the trio's attention had shifted back to the looming final exams. Hermione, a diligent and naturally curious student, didn't find the heavy study difficult; in fact, she thrived on it. Harry and Ron, however, were perpetually sighing and yawning.
On top of struggling to complete the mountain of assigned homework, they were now forced to follow the relentless study schedule Hermione had prepared for them. Hermione's fierce determination was actually a saving grace for Harry; otherwise, under Ron's influence, his academic standing would likely have plummeted even further.
Allen couldn't help but be amused by these scenes. He was particularly entertained today by Ron's bandaged finger, which looked clumsily self-treated, the occasional hiss of pain Allen heard, and the look of sheer dread on Ron's face when he glanced at the towering stack of review books on his desk.
On such a bright, beautiful day, spending time confined to a book-stuffed library, memorizing endless boring facts, was indeed torture. Allen gazed out the fifth-floor library window. The sky was clear and bright, the color of forget-me-nots.
The sunlight hit the rippling Black Lake, creating a stunning, sparkling spectacle. Some students were already outside, enjoying the sun by the lake's shore, even playing gently with the Giant Squid.
A thought struck him: fed up with reading, Allen stretched his arms, stood up, and decided a walk by the lake was exactly what he needed to clear his head.
After browsing a few nearby bookshelves, Allen spotted Hagrid, who was uncharacteristically present in the library today. As soon as Hagrid saw Allen approaching, he quickly shoved the large, thick book he was holding back onto the shelf. Hagrid was wearing his heavy moleskin coat, which looked entirely out of place in the stifling warmth.
"Hagrid, what brings you to the library?" Allen greeted the Gamekeeper casually. He glanced at Ron's injured finger and the bookcase Hagrid had just fled, confirming his suspicions: the shelf was neatly stocked with books on dragons, specifically Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, From Egg to Rebirth, and A Guide to Dragon Breeding.
"Ah, I've just come to find Harry," Hagrid's voice was instantly evasive. He looked around and spotted Harry and his two friends in the distance. His evasiveness gave way to sudden assertiveness. He waved a quick goodbye to Allen and lumbered off toward the trio.
This time, Allen decided not to leave. After Ron showed Hagrid a letter and quickly tucked it back into his book, Hagrid left, looking somewhat melancholy. Only then did Allen approach the trio.
"That thing bit him. It was Hagrid's dragon, wasn't it? Dragon fangs are notorious for carrying venom," Allen said, bending down to inspect Ron's wound closely. "Ron, that's a nasty business; your hand is swollen to twice its normal size, and the wound looks an ugly green."
"Yeah, my hand is throbbing like it's going to explode, and the smell is awful!" Ron nodded enthusiastically, then tried to thrust his swollen hand under Allen's nose. This motion only aggravated the injury, causing Ron to groan in pain, and Allen, not expecting the move, briefly gagged.
"Ron! I told you not to shove that under people's noses this morning!" Harry looked genuinely embarrassed, seeing Allen's normally composed expression momentarily flustered. "Sorry, Allen. Hagrid said he won that… creature… in a card game with a stranger while drinking in Hogsmeade."
"Ron! Harry! We promised Hagrid we wouldn't tell anyone!" Hermione snarled at her foolish friends, who had been tricked into giving up their secret with just a few leading questions. But this time, perhaps remembering how the Flamel incident had reset her competitive stance with Allen, she softened her tone, sounding uneasy but complimentary:
"Er… I'm sorry, Allen… You're so knowledgeable. You must know that the law banning dragon ownership was officially passed at the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, right? I hear your aunt works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry. You wouldn't tell her or anyone else, would you?… We've figured out a solution; we just have to wait a few days…"
"Actually, even if Ron hadn't said anything, the clear shape and characteristics of his wound, combined with his refusal to visit the Hospital Wing despite how bad it is, and where Hagrid was looking in the library earlier, were more than enough for a rough guess…" Allen awkwardly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, but felt slightly better when he saw Hermione's genuine look of concern. "It's fine. I can treat bites like that."
"I knew Allen wouldn't tell!" Ron's face flushed slightly, having realized he'd just given away a secret that was supposed to remain hidden. He was thrilled that Allen might solve the problem. "Like I told you yesterday, Allen's aunt's job is mostly keeping the existence of wild dragons in Britain a secret. They often have to cast memory charms on Muggles who see them."
Hermione, unsure how to treat Ron's injury, looked flustered again. She instinctively asked, "Allen, how do you know the recipe for a dragon bite antidote? It's not in our first-year textbooks."
This exchange finally pushed the strict Hogwarts Librarian, Madam Irma Pince, over the edge. She issued a sharp warning, though she was clearly being lenient given the students' otherwise good behavior.
"Ah, I apologize, Miss Pince… Let's go outside to talk." Allen quickly apologized, not wanting to antagonize Madam Pince, who was usually quite tolerant of him. "Let's go. We'll head toward Ravenclaw Tower… Don't worry, I've brewed plenty of potions for my own research outside of Potion classes."
The group approached the book stacks on the study table. An ever-present charm was cast over the table, making it seem as if invisible hands were taking the books and neatly returning them to their correct spots automatically.
Just outside the library, they unexpectedly ran into Draco Malfoy, who was lurking and peering around corners. Allen narrowed his eyes, then waved his wand, causing the small Slytherin snake, now without his usual henchmen, to cower and scamper back into the library entrance.
As they walked, Harry and Ron were highly envious of Allen's ability to so easily intimidate the annoying Malfoy, while Hermione persisted, asking the question Allen had avoided earlier.
Eventually, hearing Allen boast about his incredible memory, which allowed him to recall virtually every potion recipe in the restricted section of the library, Hermione fell silent, saying nothing more for the rest of the journey, while the other two little lions gaped in astonishment.
When they reached the foot of the Ravenclaw Tower, on the west side of the castle, Allen asked them to wait a moment, then climbed the stairs back to the Common Room to gather his ingredients and draw his wand to prepare the antidote. When Ron finally drank the antidote—a truly alarming, earwax-smelling green color—he nearly cried out in distress, convinced he'd just swallowed poison until the effects kicked in.
(Author's note: J.K. Rowling later implied that potion-making requires a wand to process and brew the ingredients, and to cast necessary charms. This would mean that even if Muggles had the recipe and ingredients, they could only achieve a dark, unappetizing sludge—a detail that contradicts Professor Snape's opening line in the first book about setting wands aside.)
But, just as Harry and Hermione, who placed great faith in Allen's abilities, had hoped, before Ron could even find his voice, the swelling in his hand visibly reduced due to the magical effect of the potion. The repulsive green color gradually faded, and his hand returned to its normal shade.
The trio immediately thanked Allen profusely. Harry, feeling their bond had been strained lately, asked tentatively, "Allen, since you already know so much, would you like to come with us to Hagrid's cabin to see the dragon?"
Allen genuinely wanted to see the dragon. He remembered his aunt taking him to see many magical creatures, including dragons, when he was very young, but she had done so by abusing her Ministry authority. Seeing a dragon up close now would be quite the experience.
"We're sending Norbert off from the highest tower at Hogwarts at midnight this Saturday. My brother Charlie is arranging for a friend of his to pick him up and take him to the dragon sanctuary where he works. Norbert's a Norwegian Ridgeback, by the way,"
Ron added, his voice regaining its normal, proud volume. "You should see the scars all over Charlie's body; they're from wild Romanian dragons. Maybe you could completely get rid of them? White moss isn't really good for those kinds of severe scars…"
"Ron! Keep your voice down!" Hermione hissed at Ron, then turned to Allen: "Allen, you need to be careful of Malfoy on Saturday night. He probably overheard Ron talking about dragons just now."
"With pleasure… but your Invisibility Cloak won't carry that many people. I'll meet you all near Hagrid's cabin before you send the dragon away." Allen accepted the invitation, said his goodbyes, and began climbing the stairs to return to the Ravenclaw common room.
After greeting a pensive Grey Lady in the Common Room, Allen sat down on a chair near the Ravenclaw statue and mused:
"The letter Ron showed Hagrid was obviously the message for Charlie. He carelessly put it back in the book, and Hagrid gave it back… Malfoy was definitely watching the little lions but didn't appear to notice the letter exchange… I feel a little bad for Harry, but if Ravenclaw wants to prevent Dumbledore from snatching the House Cup points at the last minute, I can't exactly warn them about this… If they get caught this time, Professor McGonagall will deduct a lot of points."