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"They're here!" Hagrid rubbed his massive hands together and hurried to open the door.
The heavy wooden door barely opened a crack before the Golden Trio squeezed their way inside.
"Where's the dragon?!" Ron's excited voice entered the room before he did.
Pushing past Harry and Hermione, Ron started bouncing around the small hut like a kangaroo.
Unable to take the chaos, Hagrid snatched Ron by the collar, effortlessly lifting him straight off the floor.
"Whoa. Okay." Dangling in the air like a piece of laundry, Ron's eyes finally focused. With his feet off the ground, his brain quickly took back control of his mouth.
"Keep it down, you reckless boy! Don't scare the little one!" Hagrid warned him. "Even if it's still in its shell."
Ron gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I was just a little too excited..."
After Ron swore to behave, Hagrid finally set him back down.
"Hey, Richie!" Harry spotted Richie standing next to Hagrid and waved. Richie gave Harry and Hermione a quick nod.
Just then, a loud gurgle echoed from the fireplace. It didn't sound like boiling water; it sounded more like someone violently thrashing and struggling to stay afloat.
All four kids snapped their attention to the hearth.
"Oh, he's coming out!"
Hagrid practically sprinted to the fire. Throwing on a pair of thick, heat-resistant gloves, he reached into the iron pot of boiling water and pulled the egg out, hissing from the intense heat.
"Hot, hot, hot! Move, make way!" Hagrid frantically set the violently trembling dragon egg down on the table. The kids immediately crowded around it.
A second later, deep cracks spiderwebbed across the shell.
Four pairs of eyes locked onto the egg, completely mesmerized. Richie, however, took a subtle half-step backward, strategically using Hagrid as a human shield.
Crack... crunch.
The fracturing sounds grew louder. Seconds later—POP! The egg completely shattered, blasting viscous, hot slime in every direction.
"Merlin's beard!"
The kids scrambled backward to dodge the splash. Once the coast was clear, Richie peeked out from behind Hagrid with genuine curiosity.
A tiny pair of leathery wings pushed out from the broken shell, followed by a head that looked remarkably like a lizard's, complete with tiny, sharp horns.
"That is an actual dragon!" Hermione wiped a stray piece of eggshell off her robes, her eyes completely wide. Coming from the Muggle world, this was her very first time seeing a living, breathing dragon.
"Not just any dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback," Ron said confidently, wiping the slime off his face.
"Oh, ho ho! Isn't he just absolutely gorgeous?" Hagrid leaned in close, his voice incredibly soft and tender.
Hearing the familiar voice, the baby dragon dragged itself out of the shell and clumsily crawled toward Hagrid.
"Hey... does it think I'm its mommy?" Hagrid's heart practically melted. He carefully reached out a massive finger and gently stroked the creature's head. "Hi there, Norbert~"
"Norbert?"
"Well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?"
Right on cue, Norbert gagged, let out a tiny hiccup, and blasted a small fireball straight into Hagrid's thick beard.
"Whoa!" Hagrid frantically started slapping at the flames.
Seeing the fire catch, Richie instantly raised his wand and fired a spell directly at Hagrid's face. "Aguamenti!"
Hiss...
A jet of water doused the flames, leaving behind a thick cloud of white smoke.
"Thanks, Richie." Hagrid let out a heavy sigh of relief, glad his face hadn't completely burned off.
"I really think keeping Norbert... is going to be a massive problem," Hermione said, her face lined with deep concern.
"Oh, relax. Norbert just needs a bit of proper training..."
"Who's there?!" Hagrid suddenly barked, snapping his head toward the hut's only window.
Realizing they had been spotted, the figure outside immediately bolted.
"Was someone out there?" The kids frantically looked out the window, but the yard was empty.
"A kid was just looking through the glass!" Hagrid said, suddenly looking terrified.
"It's Malfoy!" Harry said with absolute certainty. He had caught a brief flash of blonde hair. His gut told him it was definitely Draco Malfoy.
Ron violently scratched his head, looking totally panicked. "Merlin's beard, if it's him, we're completely screwed! If he knows Hagrid is raising a dragon, he'll immediately tell a professor—or worse, his dad!"
Hermione nodded in firm agreement. "I told you keeping it was going to be a problem!" She turned to Hagrid, dead serious. "We need a plan to handle this right now! Like releasing Norbert immediately!"
"Oh, absolutely not!" Hagrid exploded, completely rejecting the idea. "Absolutely not! Norbert is way too little! He'd never survive out there on his own!"
"Hagrid!" Harry pleaded. "If Hogwarts finds out, you might just lose your job as gamekeeper. But if the Ministry finds out, you're going to jail!"
"N-no... they wouldn't..."
Hearing Harry lay out the brutal reality, Hagrid wavered. He looked down at Norbert on the table, his eyes full of heartbreak and frantic denial. "Actually... what if I just saw it wrong? What if it wasn't Malfoy?"
"Hagrid!" all three of them groaned.
Watching the Golden Trio try to reason with Hagrid, Richie silently sighed. He hadn't expected this mess to blow up so quickly. But he fully agreed with Harry and the others. Keeping a dragon in a wooden hut was an insane risk. If they really cared about Hagrid, the Norwegian Ridgeback absolutely could not stay.
The more the kids tried to convince him, the more agitated Hagrid became. Finally, he just kicked all four of them out of the hut, claiming he needed to be left alone to think.
"This is a total disaster," they muttered, standing outside the closed door and looking at each other.
"Let's just get back to the castle and see how Malfoy is acting," Hermione said, pivoting to action. "We need to figure out what his play is. If something goes down and we're not there, it'll be too late!"
With that, she spun around and power-walked toward the castle, clearly fuming. Harry, Ron, and Richie had no choice but to follow her.
Walking back into the Great Hall, the four of them immediately spotted Draco sitting at the Slytherin table.
Draco saw them walk in, too. A nasty, triumphant smirk crept across his face. Twirling a quill in his hand, he deliberately mouthed the words: "I. Caught. You."
The group exchanged grim looks. The secret was definitely out. But since Draco hadn't snitched yet—or at least, his blackmail letter hadn't been sent—they just had to play it by ear and wait for his next move.
The four of them split up and headed back to their respective tables.
Just as Richie sat down, Ravenclaw prefect Joel walked up to him.
"Richie, Professor Dumbledore requested you in the Headmaster's office. Someone is looking for you."
"Someone's looking for me?" Richie had barely even warmed his seat. Hearing Joel, he let out a sigh, stood right back up, and walked out of the Great Hall.
"Man, Richie is always so incredibly busy," Terry muttered, having spent half the day just grinding through homework.
Anthony and Stephen nodded in complete agreement.