On the weekend, the night at Hogwarts was quiet. A full moon hung in the sky emitting a soft light, sprinkled on the campus, occasionally a few owls flew by, and a few night cats called. A peaceful scene.
But in a basement not far from Hogsmeade, an explosion was brewing.
"Damn it." Malfoy muttered.
The soft golden yellow in the crucible began to tumbling, and the bubbles tumbling, first turned into a strange pink, then turned into a bright red, and finally turned into black, and the reaction became more and more intense, like a turbulent explosion. The waves rolled endlessly, and more and more bubbles began to separate from the body, making the sound of "pop, pop".
"Two months of work will be ruined in one day." Malfoy couldn't help but sighed as he looked at the black body. It was obvious that when he struggled to a third of the time, he failed, and he was brewing a bliss potion.
"Which link went wrong." He began to sit on the ground thinking hard, frowning. He actually forgot the pot of failure potion that was still boiling.
"Thrilling, stabbing." The strange voice pulled him back from thinking and back to reality.
"Armor protection!" Malfoy used this spell subconsciously, and his intuition told him that if he didn't use it, he might become the first traverser to die in the experiment.
As soon as the voice fell, there was a "boom", and a violent explosion occurred in the basement. The huge impact force and frenzied air flow brought him to the corner, and the dust was flying all over the sky.
"Cough cough." Malfoy got up slowly from the ground, coughed twice, looked at the messy basement, and the potion flowing everywhere, couldn't help showing an ugly smile.
"Chemicals should be recycled after the experiment." This sentence appeared in his head inexplicably. "I'm really living and going back." Malfoy held his forehead in pain, he didn't know if it was because of his own negligence, or if he hurt his head from the explosion just now.
"I have no choice but to draw its attention." Then his eyes suddenly became sharp again, like an eagle that has found its prey and is about to pounce on it.
--
The Easter holiday is much more boring than the Christmas holiday. The students have endless homework, and the final exam is coming soon, and they have to study.
However, the Iron Triangle of Gryffindor didn't seem to be studying quietly in the library, to be exact, not now, they were attracted by a dragon.
Not long ago, they were reading books. Hermione made her review plan, marked all her notes with different colors, and wrote a few words of encouragement on the title page, such as must surpass someone kind. Ron threw the quill away as Harry was looking up 'whites' in A Thousand Wonderful Herbs and Fungi. He stared helplessly out the window of the library. The sky outside the window is clear and clear, as blue as the color of forget-me-not flowers, and there is a breath of summer in the air.
Under normal circumstances, it should be serious and serious, lazy and lazy, and then spend a peaceful day like this, but today is obviously an abnormal situation.
"Hagrid. How did you get here!" In the library, Ron shouted, and saw Hagrid walking over with a stomp, leaving something xc behind him. Of course, such hiding is useless, and they soon knew that Hagrid was collecting some information about dragons.
Then they followed Hagrid to the door of the hut in the hunting ground. They didn't show curiosity immediately, but asked some questions about the Philosopher's Stone.
As an IQ-crushing player, Hermione basically finished Hagrid's words after many exchanges. They learned that Snape was also one of the professors who protected the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as information about the three-headed dog. Of course, they were more suspicious of him, and the three of them thought it would be easier for Snape to keep his own hands with the precautions off.
Their current focus is on dragons.
"Hagrid, can you open the window? I'm so hot."
"No, Harry, I'm sorry," said Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance towards the fireplace. Harry turned to look at the fire, too.
"Hagrid - what's that?" Harry asked.
In fact, he already knew. In the very center of the fire, under the kettle, lay a large black egg.
"Oh," said Hai Ge, twirling his beard anxiously, "that's—oh"
"Where did you get that, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching down by the fire, to study the large egg more closely. "It must have cost you a lot of money!"
"Win it," said Hagrid. "Last night, I was drinking in the village and playing cards with a stranger. In fact, the man probably just wanted to get rid of it."
"But what are you going to do with it when it hatches?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, I've been reading," said Hagrid, pulling a large tome from under his pillow, "Borrowed from the library—Keeping Dragons for Fun and Profit—of course, already A bit outdated but it's pretty informative. Put the eggs in the fire because their mother breathes on them. Look, it says, when it hatches, feed it a bucket of brandy every half hour Add chicken blood. Look here again - how to tell the difference - I got a Norway Ridgeback. Very rare."
Her intuition told Hermione that this was an illegal act. He wanted to persuade Hagrid, but seeing Ron, Harry, and Hagrid all looked excited, she didn't know how to speak. She had absorbed some of the Levitating Curse last time. Lesson - learn to tolerate friends. Thinking of friends, she thought of someone again. "Am I considered a friend in his heart?" she asked herself.
"Hermione? Hermione?" Ron said: "Don't be dazed, come and see the dragon egg, I guarantee you have never seen such a big egg."
"Okay." Hermione forced herself to look at this thing she wasn't interested in, but it was strange to say that when she thought that a new life might be born from it, she was not so disgusted, and even had some expectations.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on the cabin, and they realized that it was late.
"Hagrid, we have to go," said Harry.
"We'll be back." Ron at the door waved to Hagrid.
"Me too." Hermione nodded slightly.
Then, at breakfast one day, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. There are only four words written on it: it is about to come out of the shell.
Ron didn't want to go to herbalism class and wanted to go straight to Hagrid's cabin. Hermione strongly disagreed.
"Hermione, how many times in a lifetime can we see dragons hatch?"
"We've got to have lessons, or we'll get in trouble; if anyone finds out what Hagrid's doing, he'll be worse off than us—"
"Stop it." Harry warned softly.
Ron had been arguing with Hermione in herbalism class. Finally, Hermione agreed to run up to Hagrid's cabin with the two of them during the morning recess. When get out of class was over, the three of them threw down their small shovels as soon as the bell rang in the castle, and hurried across the field, towards the edge of the forbidden forest. Hagrid greeted them, flushed and excited...
"Come out soon." He let them into the cabin. The egg lay on the table, and there was already a deep crack in it. Something was moving inside, making a funny clicking sound. They all moved their chairs closer to the table and watched closely, holding their breath.
Suddenly, with a harsh scratching sound, the egg cracked. The little dragon was waddling and thrashing on the table. It wasn't really pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled black umbrella. Its spiny wings are very large compared to its thin black body. It also has a long, large nose with white nostrils, horned bumps on its head, and orange-red eyes that bulge outward.
It sneezed and spewed sparks from its nose. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" murmured Hagrid. He stretched out a hand and touched Xiaolong's head. Xiaolong bit his finger, showing his long pointed teeth.
"Jesus, look, he knows his mother!" said Hagrid. "Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast does the Norwegian Ridgeback grow?" Hagrid was about to answer when he turned pale.
"There is someone outside the window." He said, and then he jumped up, his huge body seemed to cover the light, and it was pitch black under him.
"It's you!" After opening the door, Ron and Harry's expressions changed, and Hermione pursed her lips, wondering what she was thinking.
"You're eavesdropping on us outside!" Ron raised his wand directly. Normally, he probably wouldn't have the courage to treat Malfoy, the strongest in his grade, like this, but it's different now because the opponent doesn't have a wand.
A wizard without a wand may be worse than a Muggle, which is what many wizards think.
"Don't come here!" Ron snapped, but Malfoy walked into the room step by step.
A flash of green light shot from Ron's wand, and he yelled, "I won't let you do that!"
"No!" Hermione yelled eagerly. But neither Hagrid nor Harry noticed her cry, they were both stunned by the situation.
"I hate people pointing wands at me." Malfoy said flatly.
"Armor protection!"
The green light seemed to hit an invisible wall, and it stopped abruptly, giving people a weird feeling of using the wrong force, and then, the light bounced back at a faster speed than when it came.
"Ron, how are you?" The green light hit Ron, and he couldn't help but backed up a few steps and fell to the ground. Harry and Hermione quickly helped him up and asked with concern.
Harry looked up, looking at Malfoy angrily.
"Don't look at me like that." Malfoy shrugged. "I'm just defending myself. If I don't fight back, I'm the one who's showing my ugly face now."
After finishing speaking, Ron hiccupped, and a few slugs fell from his mouth onto his lap.
He went on to say: "Only a dark wizard will point a wand at a person without a wand, just like a regular army will not point a butcher knife at civilians, they will only fight with real opponents." Malfoy paused, then Said: "But it seems that I, a commoner, are better."
Obviously, this sentence was just fabricated by him immediately, although it sounds somewhat reasonable.
"You were the one who eavesdropped on us first!" Harry said loudly, but he lacked confidence and was a little shaken.
"A law-abiding citizen has an obligation to report illegal activities. Let me think about, um, what is written in the Fantastic Beasts Protection Act." He buried his head in a thoughtful look, and suddenly snapped his fingers. "Taming dragons without permission will be sentenced to five to ten years, not to mention that our custodian seems to have some criminal records, and it is estimated that he will have to increase his sentence." Malfoy said it in an understatement tone.
Hagrid's beard trembled a few times abnormally, and he had maintained this posture from just now until now.
"As for the fellow prisoners." He touched his chin and said, "Prison?"
When he saw the three people, their faces turned pale instantly, and Ron even spit out a few more slugs.
"That's not likely, but it's likely to be expelled. I guess our house will be happy to see the Gryffindor points drop." He started to make up things, but they were reasonable enough to deceive a few people.
Just kidding, can Dumbledore allow this to happen
But now Harry was obviously petrified. In his eyes, being expelled was worse than letting him die. Gryffindor's glory was damaged because of him, and it would be worse than going to prison.
"So, are you going to report us?" Hermione tried her best to calm down her tone. She was the only one present who could maintain her composure, but it was only on the surface. Her slender fingers were tightly clenched. , the white knuckles betrayed her long ago.
"He's not that kind of person, he's not that kind of person." Hermione said to herself repeatedly, and waited painfully for his answer.
"Hey..." Ron wanted to speak, and spit out a few more slugs on the ground, "Hermione, don't ask him, he is Snape's student, there must be a conspiracy in it." Ron tried his best Just said such a sentence.
"Lock tongue!" Malfoy cast another spell.
Now Ron's mouth began to bulge, and he wanted to spit out the slug, but his mouth was sealed again, his cheeks bulged more and more, and soon his throat also bulged. His breathing became difficult.
"You'll kill him," Hermione yelled, clearly terrified by the sight. "Untie it, please." She said in a crying voice.
"Curse stop," Malfoy said softly.
Ron spit out all the slugs with a wow, he lay on the ground panting heavily, he looked at Malfoy hatefully, but after looking at each other, he quickly lowered his head, he was afraid.
"For most people in this world, death is the ultimate fear, and so is the Dark Lord. I believe you can learn from it in the future, and don't interrupt when others are talking." Malfoy still looked indifferent.
"What do you want?" Harry asked courageously. Obviously, the scene Ron showed just now has been deeply engraved in his mind, and now he just wants to know what Malfoy wants.
"A deal, a fair deal, but now it's obvious that you can only understand it as coercion." Malfoy shrugged helplessly, apparently a little helpless with the current situation.
"What deal?" Hermione asked hastily.
Malfoy didn't answer her directly, he said slowly: "Norwegian Ridgeback, a type of fire dragon, grows faster, and can grow to twice its original size within a week."
"Sooner or later, this big man's house will not be able to accommodate this fire dragon, and perhaps because of its extremely aggressive nature, it will lead to disaster sooner or later if it is not properly domesticated."
"Have you forgotten that giant monster? If you divide the strength of magical creatures, the strength of this dragon when it grows up will be much higher than that giant monster last time."
"If something goes wrong at that time, you will not be going to an ordinary prison, it may be Azkaban, big Mr. Hagrid, the taste of dementors is not good."
Hagrid staggered suddenly, almost falling to the ground. Obviously Azkaban's deterrence is too strong.
"It's more likely to happen because it caused such a catastrophe that it might need to be destroyed humanely."
"No!" Hagrid exclaimed suddenly. "Noble is just a child." He knelt down with his head in his hands, as if he had already thought of the scene at that time.
"I can help you, you only need to pay a small price." Malfoy continued.
"What price, how to help." Harry asked quickly, now he didn't care who Malfoy's student was or what conspiracy he had.
"To show my sincerity, I'll tell you the method first, and that's me," Malfoy pointed to himself. Then he said: "My father has a lot of investments in various parts of the UK, and he has also dabbled in various parts of the world. There is a dragon farm in Romania, where my father owns a lot of shares. Sending the dragon there should be the best choice."
"How can I trust you?" Ron asked extremely suspiciously.
"I really feel sad for the IQ of the descendants of the Weasley family." Malfoy couldn't help rubbing his forehead, "If I lied to you, couldn't you report me? Think about your brother Charlie's job."
Hagrid said pleasantly: "That little guy Charlie is also studying dragons there. He told me that he is also in Romania." Then his voice became low: "But I can't bear Norbert." He began to sob, reluctant Not to mention that a big man was crying in front of him, Malfoy felt that he was out of harmony.
"Then what do you want?" Harry whispered.
Malfoy stared at Hermione for a moment, making her feel very uncomfortable.
"What does he want to do?" Hermione's heart accelerated when he stared at her, and her cheeks blushed when she thought of a possibility. "Impossible, impossible." She said to herself, trying to calm herself down.
"I just need a bottle of dragon's blood." Malfoy suddenly straightened his posture and said seriously.
Hermione, who was in the midst of the battle between heaven and man, was suddenly relieved when she heard this request, but she felt a little lost, she pursed her lips and didn't know what she was thinking.
"No, you can't do that to him, he's just a kid." Hagrid suddenly went mad again. He hugged Noble tightly, repeating these words over and over again.
"Then I can only act as a young pioneer once to expose the evil forces." Malfoy turned and left, and said a joke that he thought was funny by the way.
"By the way, there seems to be no Young Pioneers in Britain." He seemed to have thought of something.
"I promise you for Hagrid," said Harry.
"Harry, how could you..." Ron, who seemed to be in a better state now, hurriedly dissuaded him.
"We have no choice." Harry said in a deep voice, and it has to be said that it is not a correct approach to view Gryffindor as brave or reckless. There is Peter Pettigrew in it, but there is Regu in Slytherin Les Black. Harry showed the wisdom and determination he should have at the moment.
"I wish us a happy cooperation." Malfoy turned around and held out his hand, smiling all over his face.
"Happy cooperation." Harry also stretched out his hand, forcing himself to make a smile that he thought was kind.
"My father should send someone over in the next week or so. By then, the dragon should have grown a lot. Get ready, so there won't be any problems then," Malfoy said.
"We're not like you." Ron said harshly.
"Hehe, that would be the best." After speaking, Malfoy slowly stepped out of the door. Better yet he added: "One last word of advice, remember it's a dragon!"