The days at Hogwarts

Chapter 97: The Fire Dragon Incident

Loren knew the result from the beginning and was not worried about the dragon. After reading various cases, Hermione was immersed in the anxiety of reviewing.

Harry wanted nothing more than to see the dragon with Hagrid.

Only Ron sighed more and more as the dragon was about to hatch, feeling both excited and worried.

"If you don't know, you would think the Charmander came out of Ron's stomach." Loren complained to Hermione.

Breakfast time, at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione ate her bread while reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood, claiming that she had the best results reciting it in the morning.

"Come on! Hermione, we're expecting a little Charmander."

Harry was terrified of the first sight of the Charmander he saw, and thought to himself, "The twelve known uses of dragon blood include oven cleaner, spot remover, wart treatment..." If Hagrid knew, he might stuff him back into the Charmander eggshell.

"I'm just reviewing," Hermione replied.

"Dragon nerves can also be used as the core of wands. That's what Hermione's wand is made of." Loren added with a smile.

Harry and Ron stared at Hermione oddly, as if she were some evil dragon slayer.

Hermione clenched her wand, wanting to demonstrate to them the power of the dragon nerve core.

"Speaking of wands, Neville, how about your new wand?" Loren turned his head to look at the side and changed the subject.

The weekend after the Quidditch match, Neville went to Ollivander's wand shop, but it seemed that he didn't get much. During the Easter holidays, he went again.

After hearing Loren's words, everyone turned their attention to Neville.

He was working on a cranberry cookie that was a little tough, and the crumbs were all over his chin.

"Cough cough!"

Neville was not used to being suddenly stared at, and hurriedly wiped his face, rubbed his hands vigorously on his clothes to clean them, then took out his new wand.

This is a brand new wand. The beeswax has seeped into the wood grain to create a dark red color, making it look restrained and mysterious.

"When I first went there, I tested many wands, but none of them were suitable." Neville introduced in a low voice, "Mr. Ollivander tailored this one according to my situation. It's made of cherry wood and unicorn hair."

"Cherry wood often gives wands extraordinary lethality." The knowledgeable Hermione immediately cited the characteristics of this material.

"Oh!"

For little wizards, lethality is a particularly cool thing.

The noise in the hall continued. Hedwig, dressed in snow-white, followed a large group of owls and flew into the hall from the skylight, flapping her wings and landing in front of Harry.

Hagrid wrote him a note with only four words on it: Almost hatching.

These four words seemed to have magic, lighting a fire under Harry and Ron's buttocks, making them feel very uneasy.

After breakfast, the little wizards walked towards the greenhouse in groups of three or five, ready to start today's herb class.

The weather has been so good recently. The sky is clear and blue like the color of forget-me-nots, and there is a scent of the coming summer in the air.

Harry and Ron said nothing the whole way, their minds were full of Charmander.

They walked through the vegetable garden and arrived at the door of the greenhouse. Everyone turned into the greenhouse, but Harry and Ron continued walking forward.

Hermione almost went crazy when she saw this scene. No one knew how many points would be deducted for skipping class, so Loren hurriedly pulled the two back.

"Do you want to skip class?" Hermione clenched her fists, wishing she could open their heads and see what was inside.

Harry and Ron finally came to their senses and dejectedly entered Greenhouse No. 1. In the greenhouse, they kept looking towards the Forbidden Forest, trying to see the dragon egg through the obstacles.

The first thing Professor Sprout said when he entered the greenhouse was, "Today is a rare good day. There is sunshine but it is not glaring. It is very suitable for turning the rhizomes of herbs out to bask in the sun."

Small shovels were handed to the little wizards, and everyone was sent to the fields to turn the weeds.

The weather was bright and sunny, there were no labor targets, the little wizards were playing in the fields, and from time to time they would scream when they saw little bugs. The sun made the scene shine.

Harry and Ron held the shovels listlessly, swinging them without even looking, and they killed the herbs one by one.

Loren and Hermione's eyes twitched. If Professor Sprout saw this scene, he would definitely throw them into the ground.

Hermione approached and reached out to hit the two wooden heads. They looked up and looked at Hermione blankly.

"Focus on your studies and don't get into trouble," she warned.

"Hermione, let's go, no one will find us." Harry's voice actually sounded a little pitiful.

The young wizards who were in class were scattered on the grass. There would be a break later. The professor would not check the number of students at the end of the get out of class, so no one paid attention to them.

Just pass through the greenhouse and walk a little further forward, you can see Hagrid's hut, and the little fire dragon they have been thinking about is inside.

"How many times in our lifetime can we see a little dragon hatch?" Ron agreed.

The two of them stopped picking herbs and just surrounded Hermione to debate with her.

Finally, Hermione agreed to run over to Hagrid's hut with them during the morning break.

When the get out of class was over, as soon as the bell rang in the castle, the three of them dropped their shovels and ran.

Loren was basking in the sun at the edge of the field. He thought that not only herbs, but also people were suitable for basking in such a sun. Sitting on the ground, his eyes were squinting and he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

"Loren, stop sleeping in, let's go!" Harry passed by and kicked the shovel next to Loren away.

Ron pulled Loren up from the ground.

Before Loren could come to his senses, he was dragged by the two men and his feet moved unconsciously. "What are you doing? Kidnapping."

Hermione pushed Loren from behind from time to time, "Run, we have to be back before class."

The sweat-soaked hairs looked somewhat crystal clear on her fair little face, and the little witch's voice concealed an excitement that she herself was not aware of.

When the four approached the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid, led by Fang, greeted them. His face was flushed and he looked very excited.

"It's almost out." He led them into the hut.

A large black egg lay on the table, with coal ash from the charcoal fire on it, and its own tangled black and red lines.

The three little ones hurriedly surrounded it. This was the first time Loren saw a fire dragon egg. The eggshell was flowing with a deep red magical light that he had never seen before, and this light was converging towards the center.

When all the magic power gathers at one point, perhaps that will be the time for the fire dragon to hatch.

"Long time no see! Loren, I thought you didn't like dragons." Hagrid greeted Loren while making tea, his voice louder and more excited than usual.

"I'm busy tinkering with something using the unicorn hair you gave me last time." Loren reached out and poked the dragon egg; it was warm.

"You've come at the right time." Hagrid excitedly pointed out a pattern on the eggshell. "The book says that when this pattern turns into three colors, it means the little one is about to come out."

Their eyes turned to the place where Hagrid was pointing. It was originally black and white, but now it was faintly showing a light red color, and was getting darker at a speed visible to the naked eye.

They all moved their chairs closer to the table and watched closely, holding their breath.

Suddenly, with a sharp scraping sound, the eggshell shattered on the table, the egg cracked, and an ugly little fire dragon hatched.

It looked a bit like a lizard with wings, a typical Western dragon, only slightly larger than Loren's hands. It had a slender neck, thin, wide wings with many small thorns, and black, wrinkled, hard shelly skin. It had a slightly long nose, white nostrils, horns on its head, and orange-red eyes that bulged outward.

"Squeak!" It sneezed, and a few sparks came out of its nose.

Hagrid stared at it and murmured, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

He reached out a hand and touched Charmander's head. Charmander bit his finger, revealing his long fangs.

The little wizards were frightened.

The little dragon failed to bite through Hagrid's skin, and he even felt happy, "Oh my God, look, it knows its mother!"

"Why not Dad?" Loren asked.

Harry and Ron had discussed the issue, and they had given their reasons in a flurry.

Hermione slammed the table. The ferocity of the little dragon just now was beyond her expectation: "Hagrid, do you know how fast a Norwegian Ridgeback grows? In less than a month, it will be able to treat your hand as a snack--"

Before he could finish his words, Hagrid suddenly looked out the window and his face turned pale.

By the window, a blond boy turned and ran away quickly.

Harry jumped to the door and looked out.

The magic robe was inlaid with green borders. It was the magic robe of Slytherin College. Even from a distance, he would never mistake it.

It was Malfoy, and he saw Charmander.

"He must have followed us here." Harry blamed himself.

They returned to the greenhouse before the class bell rang. Their originally happy mood was overshadowed, and even the bright sunshine became less warm.

Except for Loren, who still enjoyed his time in the sun.

For the next week, Malfoy always had a malicious smile on his face, which made Harry and Ron very uneasy.

Hermione told them that as long as the dragon did not pose a threat, Hagrid should be fine, but she, Harry, and Ron still advised Hagrid to release Norbert before he grew up.

Norbert is the name Hagrid gave to Charmander.

Loren lay down completely. The progress of the second pair of magic runes in the alchemy laboratory was encouraging. It would not be long before he had space equipment.

From an outsider's perspective, it was clear. If Malfoy really wanted to make a fuss about this, the school board and the Ministry of Magic would have sent someone to visit Hogwarts that day.

But now a week has passed and there is still no movement. It is obvious that this bad boy is trying to scare Harry. Loren is also happy to watch such excitement.

It was an ordinary night. Harry and his two friends failed in their routine attempt to persuade Hagrid to release the fish, and returned to the common room dejectedly.

"Hagrid's right, Norbert's too young to throw him away," said Ron.

"But when it grows up, the Ministry of Magic can punish Hagrid and Norbert for threatening the safety of students." Hermione felt that they should not have been allowed to leave the Herbology class in the first place.

Harry had been frowning, but he suddenly remembered something and looked at Ron happily: "Charlie!"

Ron was a little confused, "You are confused, I am Ron, I am Ron, remember?"

Harry told his idea that Ron's brother Charlie, who was studying dragons in Romania, could adopt Norbert.

An unstoppable smile appeared on the two men's faces. They finally found a way to get rid of Norbert, or rather, a way to get rid of Malfoy.

Not long after, Harry and Ron put on their invisibility cloaks and went to the Forbidden Forest to write a letter to Romania with Hagrid, asking Charlie for his opinion.

There was hope, but the next week was even more difficult.

Malfoy's smile became more sinister and more frequent, as if he was about to lead people to execute Norbert at the next moment.

Harry and Ron were trembling with fear all the time, but they also held on to a vague hope. They were struggling between hope and fear.

To outsiders, Malfoy often ran up to Harry recently with a fake and sinister smile. Some immature children look funny when they make this expression.

But Harry was frightened every time and showed his anxiety on his face, so Malfoy became more active in this game.

Loren felt that this kid had some family-inherited skills and knew how to torture people.

It was another Wednesday night. The clock on the wall had just passed twelve and everyone had gone to bed. Hermione took Loren to wait in the lounge.

The portrait hole suddenly opened, and Harry and Ron appeared in the common room as if falling from the sky.

Putting the Invisibility Cloak aside, Harry helped Ron to sit on the soft chair. Ron's right hand was injured and wrapped in a blood-stained handkerchief.

"Nobert is not safe anymore. He bit me when I was feeding him mice just now. Looking at all the wounds on Charlie's body, I thought a dragon's bite wouldn't hurt." Ron said casually.

His lips were pale, and he was afraid to look at Loren and Hermione, two smart people, for fear of revealing a flaw. He turned to Harry and forced a smile, "Tell them some good news."

"We received a reply from Charlie. Bring Norbert to the tower at midnight on Saturday. Charlie's friend will pass by on a broom and take Norbert away."

Harry didn't notice Ron's strangeness, and he suppressed the joy in his voice. He could finally get rid of Malfoy's torture.

Loren sat down next to Ron and opened the handkerchief to check his hand. Ron tried to pull his hand away stiffly, but he calmed down after being slapped.

There was a small circle of fine teeth marks on it, and the edges of the wound were faintly black. The hand was already swollen.

"I think this could be a big problem." Loren pressed his hand around the wound and squeezed it, and a stream of pus with a faint foul smell came out.

"Ah!" Ron's forehead was sweating from the pain and he collapsed on the soft chair.

It had only been a short time since Norbert was born, and his teeth had not yet been tempered by bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms. Apparently, the teeth of the Norwegian Ridgeback were poisonous.

As a poison from a XXXXX-level dangerous creature, this was not something that could be resisted head-on, nor was it something that a first-year wizard's half-baked herbology and potions could cure.

"We have to get Ron to Madam Pomfrey." Lauren looked at Harry and Hermione.

"No." Ron turned as pale as Malfoy. "Madam Pomfrey might be able to tell that it was a dragon bite."

"Charlie has a lot of wounds on his body, but it's not a big deal." Ron said this, as if he was persuading his friend, or as if he was persuading himself.

Newt and Hagrid were both expelled for keeping dangerous animals. He was not sure what punishment he would receive if his situation was discovered, and he did not want to implicate Hagrid, Norbert, or his friends.