"I believe I told you, Hagrid! If you want to hatch a Norwegian Ridgeback, you can't raise the temperature for more than ten minutes at a time! You're supposed to keep it at a steady forty-three degrees!"
"But, Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit says—"
"Oh, for the love of Merlin! That book was written in the fourteenth century! Back then, wizards still thought Mandrakes cried because they missed their mothers!"
Draco was practically jumping up and down in frustration. He couldn't understand it. He had explained the process perfectly clearly, yet this giant oaf still insisted on doing things his own backwards way!
"And doesn't that stupid book also say that mother dragons breathe fire on their eggs? Breathe fire! Have you ever seen a dragon that can breathe fire continuously for an hour straight?! You're not incubating an egg; you're clearly trying to roast it for dinner!"
[See? I told you there was nothing to worry about. As long as Ron saw this, he'd realize that Draco was just stirring the pot in the Great Hall.] Watching the argument unfold, Tom spread his paws and signed to Ariana, who was standing beside him.
"I really didn't expect Ron to conquer his fears and actually come along," Ariana replied with a smile, shaking her head. Ron was absolutely terrified of spiders, yet he had braved the Forbidden Forest just to keep an eye on Draco. The bond between him and Harry truly ran deep!
"Potter, what do you think?!"
Unable to get through to Hagrid—who was, after all, the egg's owner—Draco turned to seek outside support.
"Well... I..."
Harry held Hagrid's battered old book, stammering and unsure of what to say.
Logically, he sided with Draco. No matter how you looked at it, Hagrid's incubation method seemed completely reckless. Emotionally, however, he didn't want to contradict Hagrid, knowing the giant had poured so much love into caring for the egg.
"Malfoy, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?! You're trying to drive a wedge between Harry and Hagrid, just like you did in the Great Hall!"
Ron glared furiously at Draco. See? A Malfoy is always a Malfoy—rotten to the core!
"Who's doing what on purpose?! Am I wrong?! I seem to recall your brother works at a dragon sanctuary! If you don't believe me, go write him a letter and ask if I'm lying!"
Draco glared right back, not backing down an inch. This obnoxious Weasley just had to oppose him at every turn! He had clearly said he wasn't coming, so why the bloody hell did he follow them down here?!
[Ahem—]
Just as the two boys were glaring daggers at each other, looking ready to draw wands, Tom suddenly interrupted.
[You two can argue all you want, but please step away from my masterpiece. Don't get your spit on it. It might be miraculous, but it's still made of cardboard. It's not waterproof.]
"You actually have the nerve to call it that?! I paid you several hundred Galleons, and you gave me this piece of junk?!"
Tom would have been better off staying quiet. The moment he spoke up, Draco felt his blood boil all over again.
He had paid top Galleon for Tom to build a proper incubator. And what did the cat do? He scrounged up a few cardboard boxes, some rubber bands, a lighter, a saucer, and a spoon, cobbled them together on the spot, and declared the resulting pile of trash an "incubator"?!
Draco hadn't been able to see exactly what Tom had done during the assembly process, but just looking at the materials, it was the least reliable-looking contraption in existence! Yet, to his absolute bewilderment, when he tested it, the damn thing actually worked! Which somehow only made him angrier.
For a pile of literal garbage, Tom had charged him hundreds of Galleons?! Did the cat think Malfoy gold just fell from the sky?! To scrape together that much cash on short notice, Draco had even been forced to write his father and ask for an advance on his allowance!
[You tell me—does this 'piece of junk' work or not?~] Tom gave an exaggerated look of pure innocence. He had only guaranteed a working final product. As for the materials used? Draco should have specified "no cardboard" in the contract! Worst case scenario, Tom could have just stolen a cauldron from the kitchens~
"...Whatever," Draco sighed. What else could he say? As Tom pointed out, it worked, and that was all that mattered. "Hagrid, please, just do as I say! This is the most advanced, modern method of dragon breeding—unless you want your dragon to be hard-boiled."
Seeing how adamant Draco was, Hagrid finally offered a reluctant nod, even though he firmly believed this method didn't properly convey his love for Norbert.
Despite the nod, Draco highly doubted Hagrid would actually follow through. After all, they had had this exact conversation multiple times now. Every time, Hagrid would agree to his face, and then go right back to doing whatever he wanted the moment Draco left.
If the egg didn't belong to Hagrid, and if Draco wasn't acutely aware that breeding dragons in secret was highly illegal, he would have already found a way to confiscate the egg for himself.
"Speaking of which, Tom, what's going on with your shop? Things have been pretty quiet over there recently," Ron asked, turning to Tom now that Draco had stopped arguing.
Even though working for Tom meant having to adopt that humiliating, gender-bent form, Ron found it an acceptable sacrifice to avoid doing his own homework.
It wasn't like this was a completely new experience anyway. Back at the Burrow, he was constantly forced to act as Fred and George's guinea pig for their experimental prank products. Having survived all those harrowing ordeals, a little crossdressing was practically a walk in the park.
[Oh, that. The space was just way too empty. Even though I'm only using it for pet translation, who wouldn't want their shop to look nice?] Tom smiled.
[Plus, I rented out a section of the shop, so I'm having my new tenants handle the renovations for me while they move in.]
---
"Over here! Put the table over here! This is the space Dumbledore gave to Tom, so obviously he gets the prime spot facing all five doors!"
At that exact moment, inside the massive room Dumbledore had provided, a flurry of chaotic construction was well underway.
Hannah hadn't gone with Tom's group to the Forbidden Forest; instead, she was currently overseeing the shop's interior design and layout.
The Weasley twins were busy levitating various pieces of furniture, following Hannah's directions to place them in specific spots, occasionally using minor spells to modify the room's architecture.
They also had to carve out their own dedicated space to sell their prank products, as well as a secure area for developing new items. This R&D section needed to be heavily partitioned off from the rest of the shop—after all, they didn't want an explosive experiment to accidentally level this perfect new storefront.
On top of all that, they were sorting through a mountain of small gifts and trinkets brought in by Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and even a few Ravenclaws. While most were just cheap novelty items, they made for excellent decorations.
---
"That must be nice. Having a bunch of people do all the hard work for you while you just sit back," Ron said, shooting Tom a look of envy. "Unlike me. I have to stand here and make sure a certain Slytherin isn't using the dragon egg as an excuse to pull something shady."
"Who are you accusing of using the egg as an excuse?!"
"Whoever the shoe fits!"
"You—!"
Instantly, the smell of gunpowder filled the air between the two boys again.
"Alright, alright, stop fighting," Hagrid intervened, trying to play peacemaker. "I'll turn the heat down now."
Saying that, he walked over to Tom's cardboard contraption and gently nudged the spoon hanging off the side. The next second, the intense red glow radiating from inside the box dimmed significantly.
Any actual Alchemist witnessing this would have screamed that it was impossible. Nothing about the setup looked even remotely magical. But since no one here actually understood Alchemy, they simply marveled at how incredibly effective Tom's handiwork was.
"There we go. Now, next—"
Hagrid was about to say something else when a faint crackle suddenly echoed from the dragon egg inside the cardboard box, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"It's hatching?! How is that possible?!" Draco gasped in shock. "According to my calculations, it shouldn't hatch for at least another few days—!"
Unfortunately for him, no one cared about his calculations. Every pair of eyes in the room was completely glued to the dragon egg.