My Home Is Pretty Big

"Poor Professor Kayson." Draco looked at Kayson with a strange, compassionate gaze that had no business appearing on his face, making Kayson feel deeply uncomfortable.

Never in his life had he wanted so badly to know the Scouring Charm.

Under that bizarre gaze, he calmly took off his wizard robe, revealing the black shirt beneath.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" The others had no pleasant expressions for Malfoy.

"Ahem..." Kayson suddenly coughed, drawing everyone's attention. "Harry, strictly speaking, you shouldn't have said that, because this is Hagrid's home."

Hagrid merely shrugged. "I don't mind. All young wizards are welcome to visit my place."

"You're not too bad, big guy," Draco said with rare politeness.

Fine. Harry and the other three shifted their bodies on the sofa with pinched noses, making room for Draco. "You still haven't answered my question."

"I was coming back from the Quidditch pitch when I heard you talking about dragons, so I came to take a look. Didn't see any dragons, but I did see... uh... you crying pretty ugly, big guy."

Hagrid awkwardly wiped the lingering tears from the corners of his eyes. "You can call me Hagrid."

"Alright, Hagrid."

"Yeah, that's it. I was drawn here by the dragon at first, but when I came in, I didn't..."

After a long silence, he asked in an oddly strained voice, "Is that a dragon egg?"

"Yes, and it should be about to hatch." Hagrid sat on the sofa, gazing at the dragon egg in the fireplace with satisfaction.

"What are you plotting now?" Neville's tone was equally stiff.

"Can't I just like it?"

The moment Draco finished speaking, the dragon egg in the fireplace trembled. Hagrid stared at it, then looked helplessly at Kayson. "Should I put out the fire? Will it hurt the little fellow?"

And Kayson... what the hell did Kayson know about dragons?

In the end, Draco was the one who spoke. "You can put it out now..."

Everyone looked at him, and Draco rolled his eyes. "What are you all looking at me for? That dragon egg looks like a Norwegian Ridgeback. It's best not to have fire around when a Norwegian Ridgeback hatches... Of course, fire isn't impossible, but it's better to put it out."

Hagrid nodded and pressed a button. The flames in the fireplace instantly went out, revealing two blocks of lava.

Only then did Draco notice that this fireplace did not even need fuel. Among the seven people crowded into this little hut, Hagrid, Harry, and Hermione only knew a little about alchemy. Ron's family was poor, and his exposure to alchemy came from his twin brothers and his father's half-baked skills.

As for Neville's family, he had never heard of anyone skilled in alchemy, and they had gradually withdrawn from the center of the wizarding world in recent years...

Draco gave Kayson a pointed look. This alchemist, who had received apprentice training since childhood, had the least awareness of the value of his own alchemy. Precious alchemical items became fireplace switches, achievements other alchemists could lose themselves in were handed out to young wizards, and there was also his constant, unconscious showing off...

Of the seven people in this room, he was the only one who recognized quality.

"Um... Professor Kayson, are you still taking whole-house custom orders?" he asked, gathering his courage.

After all, he had already prepared himself for the professor to speak words at negative 273.15 degrees through a thirty-six-degree mouth, such as a six-figure sum in gold Galleons.

Kayson's answer made the corner of his mouth twitch nonstop.

"I don't plan on taking any more custom orders for now, because before that, I want to renovate Hogwarts first... It's just a pity Dumbledore won't let me use explosives, so I can only design it bit by bit."

"Um... alright."

Crack!

The sound of an eggshell breaking interrupted the conversation that was about to start up again. Everyone looked toward the egg standing on the Obsidian countertop.

A crack had appeared on its surface. It quickly grew larger, until an ugly little dragon head finally poked out.

Kayson, Hagrid, and Draco were all captivated by that tiny, ugly dragon head.

Meanwhile, Harry and the other three huddled together, whispering quietly.

"What should we do? I remember Hogwarts seems to forbid raising dragons," Hermione whispered.

"...Should we remind Hagrid?" Neville asked.

"No, Malfoy is here. If he remembers that, he'll definitely use it to threaten us!" Ron said decisively.

"Then what do we do? Just wait and see? He'll remember it sooner or later!" Ron said.

"...Do you know Obliviate?" Hermione suddenly asked.

Neville understood immediately. His hand began creeping toward one of the rock-hard rock cakes on the plate, clearly planning to demonstrate a physical Obliviate.

"Uh... can't we just ask Professor Kayson to vouch for us? And Neville, could you put down that rock cake? That's not Obliviate, that's Avada Kedavra," Harry said in a low voice.

"Would that work?" Neville put down the rock cake.

"It should. Professor Kayson and Dumbledore seem to have a good relationship..."

Just as they were about to continue planning, Draco interrupted them. "What are you all whispering about over there?"

"Nothing."

Draco curled his lip and looked back at Hagrid. "Big guy, how are you planning to settle it? As far as I know, a Norwegian Ridgeback could burst this house apart in less than a month."

"Uh... I'll ask Dumbledore to help me find a dragon reserve and send him there."

"I see... My family's place is pretty big. I mean, the dragon reserve..."

"I can contact Charlie. He works at a dragon reserve."

The two spoke at the same time.

The air was invisibly filled with the scent of gunpowder.

Hagrid sensed the strange atmosphere too. Just as he was about to look at Kayson, Kayson beat him to it by checking the watch on his wrist.

"Alright, young wizards. Without realizing it, it's already curfew. If you don't want Filch to catch you, leave now. I'll take you back."

Their clashing gazes stopped. They each snorted and stood up.

After leaving Hagrid's hut, Kayson summoned three glowing stones to circle around himself and led the five young wizards back to the castle. Only when the six of them were nearly at the entrance to the Slytherin common room did he hear a sudden commotion behind them.

Neville and Ron drew their wands, ready to give Draco a real beating and lose points for it, while Harry and Hermione still stood there, utterly confused about what had happened.

Kayson was confused too. He had no idea what had happened either.

Noticing Kayson's confusion, Neville quickly explained, "Malfoy called Hermione... called her... a Mudblood."