The Admiral of Hogwarts

“Oh, I’ve been reading,” Hagrid said, pulling a large book from under his pillow. “Borrowed it from the library — 'Dragon Rearing for Pleasure and Profit' — it’s a bit out-of-date, of course, but it’s got all the basics. I reckon it’ll help me get things sorted.”

“Let’s have a look.” Hagrid flipped through the book, then pointed a carrot-sized finger at a line of text. “Got ter keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em. See, here it is, an’ when it hatches, feed it every half hour with a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood. An’ here — how ter spot different eggs — mine’s a Norwegian Ridgeback. They’re rare, they are.”

He looked very pleased, but Hermione wore a look of helplessness. “Hagrid, remember you live in a wooden house,” she said. But Hagrid wasn't listening. He happily hummed, poking the fire, seeming not to worry at all that his house might burn down into a big bonfire.

“Hagrid’s love for dragons is really…” Hermione shook her head helplessly to Hugo and the others after they left. “If anyone finds out he’s illegally raising a dragon in his hut, he’ll be in big trouble. The important thing is, it’s almost impossible to avoid such things, considering how fast dragons grow…”

“Don’t worry, Hermione, you don’t need to worry too much,” Hugo comforted. “Hagrid is already an old man in his sixties and is good at dealing with all kinds of magical creatures. I believe he should know what to do, after all, he has enough experience to support his next actions.”

Obviously, Hugo's comfort was just comfort. At least in the next period of time, when Hugo and the others went to Hagrid to revise the notes they had sorted out, they found that he was still taking care of his precious dragon egg.

In the next few days, Hugo and the others were immersed in studying again. Until one day when they had just finished breakfast and left the hall, they watched Harry walk in from the door, then trot a few steps to catch up with the three of them, called them, and then handed over a note.

The handwriting on the note was a little messy, and it looked like it was written in a hurry. There were only two lines of words on it. The first line of words was 'It’s about to hatch', and the second line of words was 'Show this note to Hugo and the others'.

“When are you planning to go?” Hugo asked after reading the note and burning it to ashes on the torch on the wall next to him. “I think we should go after lunch. After all, there are still classes in the morning. If we rush over in such a hurry, it will easily attract unnecessary attention from others.”

“We…” Harry stammered after uttering a word. Under Ron's encouragement, he originally wanted to skip the morning Herbology class and go straight to Hagrid’s hut, but after Hugo said this, he suddenly realized that he should not bring trouble to Hagrid under any circumstances.

“We should go over there during the break between the two morning classes.” After quickly thinking about it, he found a balance between his eagerness to see the dragon hatch and not wanting to bring trouble to Hagrid. “By the way, when are you going?”

“Let’s wait until after lunch. The 20 minutes of break in the morning is too tight, and there are certain risks.” Hugo whispered to the two ladies after chatting, “The most important thing is that we have already agreed with Senior Zhang to discuss the Transfiguration homework assigned by Professor McGonagall last time during the break.”

After dismissing Harry, Hugo and the others finished their morning classes and had lunch as usual. Then, Vinneto and Hermione slowly went to Hagrid’s hut. After knocking on the door, Hagrid greeted them, his face flushed and very excited…

“It’s out.” He let them into the hut, and Hugo and the others immediately saw a small dragon like a wrinkled black umbrella being placed in a box by Hagrid. Its spiky wings looked particularly large compared to its thin, dark body. It also had a long, big nose with white nostrils, and bumps on its head. Its orange-red eyes protruded outwards, and it didn’t look pretty at all, and looked a little rough.

“Oh—no!” After closing the door, Hagrid suddenly shouted loudly, then rushed to the side of the box and beat it hard. It turned out that at this time, the little dragon spewed out a flame that might only be the size of two knuckles from its nostrils, and as a result, it ignited the tassels on the edge of a piece of calico on the cabinet next to the box.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Hagrid said, taking the young dragon out of the box, as if holding a baby. Unfortunately, his action made the young dragon feel uncomfortable, so it spewed out a large pile of sparks from its nostrils again, igniting Hagrid’s beard, forcing Hagrid to pat out the small flames on his beard with his hands.

“This should be a special greeting method for fire dragons.” After confirming that all the sparks on his beard were extinguished, Hagrid said to Hugo and the others, “Look, it recognizes its mother!”

“I think this should just be a simple stress response, just like when you choke on water and cough desperately.” Hugo said, he felt that Hagrid should know these things, but after seeing the little dragon, he put these common sense behind him because a wish was fulfilled.

Obviously, Hagrid didn’t take Hugo’s words to heart. He tried to touch the little dragon’s head, but the little dragon bit his finger. At this moment, Hermione found something on a book by the sofa. Then she pointed to the words and said to Hagrid, “In at most a month, this dragon will grow as big as your house. So you really should think carefully about what to do next.”

However, Hagrid turned a deaf ear to Hermione’s words and began to hum a nasty lullaby to coax the little dragon in his arms. Seeing that it was impossible to reason with him, Hugo and the others could only exchange a few simple greetings before leaving here.

In the next period of time, Hugo and the others reduced the frequency of going to Hagrid’s hut because they were busy with reviewing and sorting out those notes. However, the only visit during the week made them discover that Hagrid’s condition was not good: he put aside the work of guarding the hunting grounds because the little dragon made him flustered. The floor was littered with empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers.

And Hugo also happened to run into Harry and Ron who came to help, and learned from them that Malfoy might have discovered this secret before. It’s a pity that no matter how much they tried to persuade him, Hagrid was unwilling to get rid of this trouble.

“I also know that in just one month, Norbert will be as big as my room.” Hagrid sobbed. “But I can’t just throw it away like this, I can’t. It’s too small, it will die if it leaves here.”

“I think I have a way.” At this time, Harry opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Vinneto said before him, “My sister has a friend who owns several large manors belonging to the magical world in the northern Ural Mountains of Russia, and also has a xxxxx-level magical creature breeding license. I think it shouldn’t be difficult to raise a dragon.”