"A dragon?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise, looking around. "Where is it?"
Harry pointed to the egg in the fireplace. He couldn't be mistaken; it was a dragon egg, and specifically, a Norwegian Ridgeback egg.
Ever since that incident two years ago, he estimated he would never forget the Norwegian Ridgeback.
"Oh my goodness, Hagrid, where did you get a dragon egg? Are there dragons in our Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asked, astonished.
"Oh, no… I got this last night while drinking. I was playing cards with a Wizard, and he lost so badly he had to give it to me. To be honest, maybe that guy was eager to get rid of it."
"Eager to get rid of it?" Harry's jaw almost dropped. He stared blankly at Hagrid.
"Hagrid, don't joke. Dragon eggs are priceless."
Just last year, he had personally witnessed a group of illegal Goblins in Norway lose their lives for dragon eggs. This was something ordinary people couldn't even dream of obtaining, so how could someone be eager to get rid of it, especially at a drinking table?
Harry instinctively felt something was wrong.
"Hagrid, I don't think anyone would really put a valuable dragon egg on a drinking table. What did you give in return?" he asked.
"What do you mean, what did I give in return? We had a great chat," Hagrid said dismissively.
Harry leaned his hand on the table, moving closer to Hagrid.
"You drank a lot, didn't you?"
"Of course. What are you trying to say, Harry? You're acting strangely."
"He didn't steal anything from you while you were drunk, did he?" Harry asked.
"Harry, don't worry about it. He's a good person. We talked a lot about magical creatures."
Seeing Hagrid's confident demeanor, Harry could only nod helplessly: "Alright, maybe I'm overthinking it. But I still think you should tell Dumbledore about this.
Keeping a dragon privately is illegal, and you don't want to lose this job."
Hagrid nodded, saying in a somewhat perfunctory tone: "I know, I just… I'll hatch him first. Otherwise, he might die, right?"
Harry glanced at the Dragon Training Manual next to Hagrid and could only nod, not mentioning the matter again.
After chatting for a long while, the two couldn't stand the stuffiness of the hut and had to take their leave early.
Walking on the breezy lawn, after the heat on their bodies dissipated, they felt as if they had come back to life.
"Hagrid really loves small animals," Hermione said. "His eyes were so gentle looking at that egg, they looked like they would drip water, and he was even humming a song."
Harry could only nod, but still had to add: "That's not a small animal. A dragon can grow bigger than his table within a week, and its fire-breathing organs can mature within a month.
Only someone with Hagrid's physique could see these huge animals as little treasures—"
His words stopped abruptly. In his mind, Professor Snape's grim face and his bloody thigh flashed before his eyes.
A beast that even Snape found troublesome and was injured by, was in the Castle!
"What's wrong?"
"I… I'm not sure, but I think we need to go back to Hagrid's place." Harry instantly grasped the problem. He knew why he kept feeling something was off.
Led by Harry, the two quickly returned to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door.
After a while, when the door opened, Harry got straight to the point: "Hagrid, did you put some beast on the fourth floor, the one you called 'that plan'?!"
Hearing this, Hagrid immediately turned pale with fright: "What? Why are you still thinking about that? No, absolutely not."
Even Hermione could tell from Hagrid's expression that he was lying.
"Did you talk to him about it too? You just said you had a great chat and talked about many magical creatures," Harry continued.
"Who?"
"The guy who gave you the dragon egg, did he talk to you about the huge beast you put on the fourth floor?"
"That's not a beast…" Hagrid argued, while at the same time, his mind involuntarily began to review what had happened last night.
"Yes, I did talk to him about Cerberus, and he was very interested…" Hagrid's voice grew softer and softer.
"Who is Cerberus?" Hermione asked.
"Cerberus is a three-headed dog I use to guard the Philosopher's Stone for Dumbledore, no! Don't ask about it, it's confidential." Hagrid was already a bit flustered.
Hearing this, Harry couldn't help but gasp: "A Cerberus, no wonder Professor Snape's injuries were like that."
He then explained to Hermione: "That thing gave even Snape a hard time."
A beast that could even stop Snape was protecting the Philosopher's Stone! Was that Dark Wizard trying to get some tips from Hagrid on how to deal with Cerberus?!
"Impossible!" After hearing Harry's guess, Hagrid said confidently: "Only Dumbledore and I know how to deal with Cerberus. I definitely haven't told anyone else."
Harry looked at him: "Drunk people can't remember what they've said."
His last sentence removed Hagrid's last shred of hope, immediately making his body slump.
"Hagrid, go tell Dumbledore. I'm just guessing, and telling Dumbledore is the best option," Harry said:
"You don't want any mishaps to occur with the Philosopher's Stone that Dumbledore is trying his best to protect, do you?"
Hagrid felt as if a thousand knives were cutting through his heart; Harry's words went straight to his core.
His loyalty to Dumbledore meant he would never allow any mistakes to happen in this matter.
Well, even though there were already mistakes everywhere…
Hagrid's face was a twisted mixture of expressions. After a long while, he finally nodded dejectedly: "Harry, I think you're right."
With that, Hagrid turned around, closed the door, and followed the two towards the Castle…
…
A week later, something they hadn't expected happened. Hedwig delivered a note at breakfast. They opened it to find shaky, distinctly personalized writing.
"It's about to hatch."
??
Harry's head almost couldn't process it. What did this mean… hatch? The dragon? Dumbledore allowed it?!
After Herbology Class that morning, the two of them arrived at the hut. Hagrid quickly opened the door, his face flushed with joy, extremely happy. He laughed: "It's such a shame you came late, otherwise you definitely would have seen the moment he hatched."
Harry didn't feel much about it; he had personally seen baby dragons hatch, and four at once. Hermione, however, was a bit regretful, but it was only regret. She would never skip class just to see a dragon hatch.
"Dumbledore said I could raise it a bit bigger first. It's too small and can't withstand the bumpy journey to a dragon sanctuary."
"What about the thing on the fourth floor?" Harry was more concerned about that.
"Dumbledore already knows, and he'll handle it. He's omnipotent," Hagrid said easily, clearly in an exceptionally good mood.
With that, the two were led into the house by Hagrid and immediately saw a small dragon on his table.
It had spiky wings and a thin, inky black body. It also had a long snout with white nostrils, bony knobs on its head, and bulging orange eyes.
At that moment, it was drinking the brandy mixed with chicken blood that Hagrid had prepared for it, its entire head buried in the mixture, looking very bloody.
"Oh… this is… a dragon." Hermione found it a bit hard to accept; this little creature was certainly not pretty. But looking at Hagrid, he clearly adored it.
Harry and Hermione could only hope that Hagrid could really raise it well.
However… this was clearly unrealistic.
A week later, when Harry personally saw the baby dragon bite Hagrid's hand, and Hagrid just chuckled, he knew that if this dragon was allowed to continue like this, it would sooner or later be no different from the former "Dudley."
Raising without teaching harms both oneself and others.
However, Harry knew where there was a Dragon Training Manual.
The Vikings' exclusive manual!
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