Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 396 A Group of Fire Dragons

It's 11:30 p.m. in the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry tiptoed out of the dormitory, glancing at the next room as he gently closed the door. Ron's bed was empty; he hadn't returned yet. They had met at dinner in the Great Hall, but hadn't spoken. It seemed Ron was still sulking.

He had more important things to do and didn't have time to argue with Ron, so he shook his head, closed the door, and quietly went downstairs.

There were a few people in the common room. Ron was fiddling with Quidditch on the table, while the Crevy brothers had collected some other warriors' tokens and were designing tokens for Harry Potter, but the two were not good at alchemy and had not made any progress.

Wearing an invisibility cloak, Hermione was already waiting outside the portrait cave as she passed by. After they met, they immediately headed to the Forbidden Forest hut.

Stepping out of the castle, no longer needing to be careful or worried about being discovered, the two immediately spoke of Hagrid's instructions from earlier that day:

Why did Hagrid tell us to go find him in the middle of the night?

"I don't know what he wants to do either."

"Whatever Hagrid wants from us, we have to get this over with quickly. If anyone finds out that the two contestants were out in the Forbidden Forest at night, Professor McGonagall will really disqualify us this time."

"..."

The autumn clouds were thick and heavy, and the ground was pitch black. They followed the path toward the light shining from the Forbidden Forest Lodge. Along the way, they could see the faint light coming from the portholes of the giant ship on the Black Lake, and the huge carriage of Beauxbatons was brightly lit. They could almost hear Mrs. Maxime speaking.

The door opened immediately after two knocks. Hagrid seemed to have been waiting for a while, and he looked around.

"You're here, Harry and Hermione?"

Hagrid didn't let them answer. After welcoming them into the hut, he didn't offer them hot tea as usual: "I'm going to show you something, something very important. Stay close to me from now on, and don't make a sound, okay?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a confused look.

The two then noticed that Hagrid was dressed up, with a flower pinned to his chest, and his coarse beard and hair were neatly combed, though a broken tooth from the comb was still stuck in it.

After Hagrid finished speaking, he walked toward Beauxbatons' carriage and picked up Ms. Maxim, who was dressed similarly. A silk shawl was draped over her broad shoulders, and her lips were painted with light red lip gloss, which made her smile sparkle.

"Ah, Hagrid... is it time?"

"Yes, good evening."

Hagrid smiled and offered his arm, which Madam Maxim took with a smile, and the two walked together around the edge of the paddock deeper into the enclosure.

Their long legs allowed them to stride wide, and they walked at a pace far exceeding that of ordinary people, forcing the two people hiding in the invisibility cloaks to jog to keep up.

"..."

So, this is a date?
Harry and Hermione were even more confused.

The forest was quiet in the dead of night, with only the sounds of a few nocturnal animals. The footsteps of the two hybrid giants were the loudest. They quickly passed through the territory of the eight-eyed giant spider, and even crossed the clearing where Quirrell had attacked the unicorn, and continued to walk in.

“Where are you taking me, Hagrid?” Mrs. Maxim asked in a joking tone.

Harry and Hermione had the same question.

"Don't say anything yet, you'll like it, trust me."

Hagrid said in a muffled voice, "But you must remember, don't tell anyone that I brought you here, okay? The teachers and students of your four schools shouldn't know."

"Of course I won't tell."

Mrs. Maxim's long, dark eyelashes fluttered, and Harry and Hermione held their breath. They had already realized that it must be related to the first match of the Goblet of Fire.

They had walked for an unknown amount of time, following the forest for a long way until the castle and lake were no longer in sight. After rounding a grove of trees, a sudden commotion arose ahead, particularly noticeable in the deep night of the forest. They looked over and were struck by a blinding light, not from torches, but from dragon flames.

Flames shot into the sky, creating strong air convection. The howling wind shook the leaves. A sorcerer dressed in linen ran through the firelight, casting spells toward the source of the flames and embedding them into the metallic scales.

"Beware, this is a female dragon, and she's in heat!"

"Go quickly and call Charlie to calm it down!"

"Beware of dragons in other caves, watch out for a riot!"

"..."

Several male wizards were shouting and yelling in front, followed by a deafening, piercing roar—the roar of a fire dragon.

Hagrid and the other three held their breath, carefully avoiding disturbing the giant beasts and the zookeepers who were busy running around them.

Those are fire dragons, a group of fire dragons.

In the vast mountains, a fire dragon enclosure has been carved out. They live in the caves that have been dug out. Some of them heard the noise, so they stuck half of their bodies out of the cave entrance and let out a series of roars.

With heavy breaths, bursts of flame leaked from their gaping maws, shining brightly in the darkness. Their necks were held high, at least fifty feet long, making the giants look like toys in a shop.

Harry's mouth gaped open, as if he had been burned by dragon's breath.

He had seen Hagrid hatch Norbert, and under Ron's influence, he had heard of some dragons. Among the ones he could recognize were the Norwegian Ridgeback, the Australian White-eyed Dragon, the Chinese Fireball, the Welsh Green Dragon, the Hebrides Black Dragon, and the Hungarian Wood Bee...

“Peruvian Venomosaurus, Romanian Longhornosaurus, Swedish Short-nosed Dragon, Ukrainian Ironbelly, Catalan Fireball, Portuguese Longsnout Dragon…” Hermione murmured, reciting the names of the other six dragon species.

"It's so beautiful..." Hagrid said with admiration.

“Beautiful,” Ms. Maxim murmured, her eyes slightly dazed.

The black dragon, which was surrounded by its keeper, suddenly turned its head. It had orange-yellow eyes, a lizard-like appearance, bronze horns on its head, and sharp spikes on its tail.

Its spine straightened from head to toe, convulsed for a moment, stretched its neck and roared at the four people who were peeping. The deafening sound swept past their ears, followed by scorching dragon flames, as if a volcano was erupting inside the fire dragon's body.

It struggled to swing its spiked tail and beat against the chains binding it, trying to break free from the wizard's restraints.

Hagrid and Maxim didn't react in time, and Harry and Hermione were dumbfounded as orange flames rushed towards them.

The raging dragon breath did not come down in the end. The keeper interrupted the agitated mother dragon in time. The keeper, named Charlie, took out a blue flame. Its light was as smooth as silk, which gradually calmed the mother dragon down and made her shut her mouth.

It flapped its wings, watched Charlie put the blue fire into the cave, let out a low chirp, and burrowed back inside.

"..."

Ms. Maxim snapped out of her daze, took a deep breath, and her hand clutching the shawl trembled slightly.

"Stay there, Hagrid!" A zookeeper noticed the two hybrid giants while cleaning the area and waved to them. "It's almost a full moon, and these guys are getting a bit grumpy."

"I know!"

Hagrid wasn't afraid at all; on the contrary, he was delighted: "Melvin brought over twelve fire dragons. These are Hungarian tree peaks, capable of breathing fire up to 50 feet away. They're amazing, Orim, don't you think?"

Where they couldn't see, beneath the invisibility cloak, Harry and Hermione were deathly pale.

(End of this chapter)