Basil didn't come away empty-handed either.
The 1,000 Gems that arrived indicated that this female dragon, who would later return to Romania, be named Norbert, and subsequently renamed Norberta, would stay at Hogwarts.
As for whether Hagrid would go to prison because of this...
That wasn't a worry.
With Dumbledore around, and besides, he wasn't the only one like this.
But they also seemed to forget to ask Hagrid one question.
That was: How did he get the "dragon egg"?
Currently, from Harry's perspective, there were two groups eyeing the Philosopher's Stone.
Snape was in a group of his own—a good person who was merely tempted by the Stone and had bad thoughts.
Quirrell's identity was temporarily established as the protector of the Stone, mistakenly believing Snape had joined Voldemort.
The remaining group was Voldemort's Death Eaters.
The Dark Wizard robbery at Gringotts, the Troll breaking into Hogwarts, and Basil receiving Voldemort's Diary—which Harry later learned about—were all orchestrated by Voldemort remotely controlling his Death Eaters, all for the Philosopher's Stone.
Harry hadn't thought in the direction that Voldemort was right there in Hogwarts.
And Dumbledore undoubtedly hoped Harry would join this trial to stop Voldemort from taking the Stone.
For this, he had to make Harry realize Voldemort was at Hogwarts.
But now, Harry hardly ever went out at night, and Hagrid raising a dragon was unlikely to be discovered. Would Dumbledore still arrange for Harry to enter the Forbidden Forest and meet Voldemort?
Basil was very curious.
But in the days that followed, everything was stable. Dumbledore just checked the "surveillance" as usual in his spare time.
One day, some time after the Easter holidays.
During breakfast.
Harry, who usually received no mail, suddenly received a note from Hagrid delivered by Hedwig in full view of everyone.
It read directly: It's hatching.
It was practically screaming to be discovered.
Basil suddenly doubted how Norbert managed to remain undiscovered for so long.
Dumbledore must have been confident that Hagrid would leak everything to Harry, which was why he sat back and relaxed.
Dumbledore's previous slip-up was only because Basil's existence caused Hagrid to accidentally leak a more important secret that would never have been discussed otherwise.
Causing the topic that should have leaked the secret to be ignored.
It wasn't that Dumbledore wasn't smart, but that he simply couldn't have imagined there would be someone inside who knew the rough outline of the original timeline.
Even his old lover, the seer Gellert Grindelwald, wasn't that ridiculous.
At this time, Dumbledore's intelligence backfired, leading to the current situation.
But even so, everything seemed to be heading back on "track."
"How about I just extract the content of the Harry Potter movies and put it in Dumbledore's Pensieve? Go big right away? If it fails, I'll just flee to another world." Just as Basil couldn't hold back and wanted to do something drastic, a voice came from Riddle.
Riddle had heard many of Basil's ideas.
Like killing Fudge directly, writing the "Harry Potter" seven-book series, killing Quirrell... killing Scabbers, etc., were still relatively mild.
He also understood his master's penchant for recklessness and slacking off.
So, his words instantly scratched the itch in Basil's heart.
"My Lord, you forget that twisting the timeline back to its original direction doesn't deduct Gems. And you can also insert new variables. For example, when Harry and the others decide to go and take the Philosopher's Stone first to 'protect' it, you can just take it directly."
"Haven't you been planning this for a long time? Knowing that the Elixir of Life made from the Philosopher's Stone can truly grant immortality."
Thus, a storm that would have swept through the entire wizarding world subsided just like that.
Meanwhile, during Herbology in the morning, Harry and the others agreed to go watch the dragon egg hatch.
As soon as class ended, just as the bell rang in the castle...
Harry took the lead, crossing the grounds and running towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Basil jogged behind, still having the leisure to check the castle behind him.
In the castle, Quirrell was teaching fifth-year students; Dumbledore was teasing Fawkes; Professor McGonagall had turned into a cat and was curled up by the window sunbathing; Draco Malfoy, who had no class, was training on the Quidditch pitch.
Opposite them, Hagrid was waiting in front of his hut with a smile, glancing inside from time to time.
While running, Basil yawned.
It seemed Malfoy would miss seeing the dragon egg hatch.
About three minutes later, the four arrived at the hut and followed Hagrid inside.
A brown leather suitcase lay open in the corner. It looked perfectly normal, just empty.
Hagrid waved to them, stuck his head in, and then his whole body followed.
"Even now, I still find it amazing. After all, the diameter of Hagrid's head is wider than this suitcase," Harry marveled as he also stuck his head in.
Then Ron: "What's that? Inside is the most magical part."
Next was Hermione: "You guys didn't even close the door. Basil, I'm going in first."
Finally, Basil. He walked slowly into the suitcase. As he approached, the bottom of the seemingly normal suitcase turned into blue sky and white clouds.
Basil put his head in.
Then, the entire perspective changed, and up and down were reversed.
The bottom of the suitcase became the sky, and in front of him were rows of neat ladders.
Basil put his hand on them and started climbing "up."
About a minute later, he climbed out of a vertical tunnel resembling a well.
Stepping onto lush green grass and yellow sand.
Looking up, there was a yellow-white magical sun, a blue sky, and white clouds.
Sometimes, a breeze even blew past.
Turning his head, he saw a desert landscape and greenery all around. Pheasants were active within the greenery.
In the center of both, directly in front of the tunnel, was a clear lake.
Fish could be faintly seen swimming in the lake.
Surrounding the lake was a meadow where a flock of sheep was grazing.
Hagrid and the others were in the desert area, by the meadow. In their midst was an egg standing upright.
And they were waving at him now.
"Come over quickly, the egg is about to crack." Hermione trotted over and took Basil's hand. "Haven't you been here before? If you want, you can ask Ron's brother Charlie to buy one for you."
"I was just admiring the scenery. I have never felt the power of magic so clearly as I do now," Basil said, half-truthfully.
Actually, he was hesitating whether to inscribe this Pet Case.
Because, in his past life when his name was still Li Lin, he had seen short videos saying Newt's name appeared on the Marauder's Map. In Harry Potter's third year, it was said to be for a Thunderbird, or for Buckbeak's execution.
But regardless, this meant that the suitcase—the one housing countless magical creatures with a perfect ecosystem, like a small world—would appear.
He preferred to get it right in one go, rather than first making a Summon Card of a merely "excellent" Pet Case capable of raising dragons.
"Hmm?" A funny clicking sound interrupted Basil's thoughts.
It came from the dragon egg, which now had a deep crack running across it.
Hagrid, Harry, and Ron all squatted down, holding their breaths, watching closely.