Little Dragon Norbert (The Mistake of Connection)

Unfortunately, while she might have thought that way, the others clearly could not remain indifferent to matters outside themselves—especially when they involved people they knew.

In the end, Harry could not suppress his curiosity or the unease in his heart. He stood up, walked over, rose onto his toes, and patted Hagrid on the arm.

Hagrid jumped at the touch, hurriedly hiding the book in his hands behind his back. When he looked down and saw Harry, he abruptly let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's you, Harry. You gave me quite a fright..."

Harry swallowed, his unease growing stronger. He raised a hand and pointed at the book Hagrid had hidden behind his back.

"Hagrid, why... why are you reading books about dragons?"

"I'm not! I, I mean... how did you know I was reading a book about dragons? Have you... heard something?" Hagrid asked, looking at Harry rather nervously.

That question left Harry confused. "No, I haven't heard anything. I knew you were reading a book about dragons because I asked Lin Yue. She knows the Library really well."

Miss Lin Yue—the famous study maniac among Hogwarts students, a tireless monster, the professors' favorite good student. Hagrid had undoubtedly heard the rumors about her, not to mention that they had met once before.

"Miss Lin Yue," Hagrid nodded. "She really is an outstanding Ravenclaw. If it was her, then it's not strange that she could tell what I was reading."

"So why exactly are you reading about that?" Harry asked stubbornly.

Hagrid uneasily glanced around, then bent down and spoke to Harry in a low voice. "Come to my hut tomorrow afternoon, and I'll tell you all about it. It'll definitely be a surprise. You can bring Miss Lin Yue too—I think she'll be interested."

With that, Hagrid straightened up and strode out of the Library with his book. In his view, for a studious Ravenclaw, being able to witness a Dragon egg firsthand should be something that greatly sparked their interest.

Harry watched Hagrid's departing back and sighed helplessly. For some reason, he felt that things seemed to be developing in the direction he had vaguely suspected.

When he returned to his seat, Hermione turned to look at him. "Well? What did Hagrid say?"

Harry spread his hands. "He told us to go to his hut tomorrow afternoon, and he'll tell us then. He also said Lin Yue should come along—she'd probably be interested too."

As he spoke, Harry glanced at Lin Yue. Hearing her full name, Lin Yue emerged from her studying state and blankly looked at Harry with lifeless eyes before turning to Hermione.

Tomorrow afternoon was supposed to be study time. If only Harry had asked, she would not have gone. But Hermione...

"Why don't you come with us?" After hearing Harry, Hermione looked at Lin Yue with sparkling eyes. She was more than willing to do something besides studying with Lin Yue!

Sure enough, the moment Hermione finished speaking, a thought urging her to agree to Hermione abruptly surfaced in her mind again. Lin Yue nodded. "All right. I'll go with you tomorrow afternoon."

"Mm!" Hermione nodded happily with a smile. If she could take Lin Yue out to experience the outside world and interact with other people more often, she believed that one day she would see Lin Yue show expressions and learn how to feel.

After speaking with Hermione and the others, Lin Yue calmly withdrew her gaze and resumed reading without wasting a second.

Hermione blinked as well, signaling Harry and Ron to continue reviewing. She lowered her own head and slowly organized the key points of each subject and the possible exam topics.

Harry and Ron let out a synchronized, silent sigh before continuing their revision seriously.

It was not until Curfew was approaching that Lin Yue emerged from her studying state. By then, Harry and Ron had been slumped over asleep for quite a while, and even Hermione could not help yawning.

Having remained in a studying state for so long, they were all beginning to feel tired.

Noticing that Lin Yue beside her had started packing up, Hermione quickly shook her head to wake herself up.

"Lin Yue, are we leaving?" Hermione asked softly.

"Mm." Lin Yue nodded and said in an utterly flat tone, "It's almost Curfew."

"All right." Hermione closed her book and lightly patted Harry and Ron on the shoulders. "Wake up. We should head back. You can sleep once you're back in the dormitory."

"Mm, huh? Okay..." Harry and Ron woke up and rubbed their eyes, sluggishly packing their things before following Lin Yue and Hermione out of the Library.

They climbed the stairs together, and when they reached the corner where they needed to part ways, Hermione was the first to wave at Lin Yue. "See you tomorrow. Good night."

With an expressionless face, Lin Yue copied Hermione and waved. "Good night. See you tomorrow."

Then she turned and headed toward Ravenclaw Tower without looking back.

Hermione smiled as she watched Lin Yue's retreating figure, then turned toward the two boys who still looked half-dead and helplessly reached out to support them.

"From now on, I should make you go back to the dormitory earlier. All right, hurry up." With that, she practically dragged them toward Gryffindor Tower.

When she returned to the dormitory, Qiuzhang and Marietta had already finished bathing and were leaning against their beds reading. After greeting them both in an even tone, Lin Yue picked up her toiletries and entered the washroom.

Just three minutes later, Lin Yue emerged from the washroom, wiping her hair as she walked.

After rubbing her hair a couple of times, Lin Yue took a book from her bag, sat at her desk, and began reading intently. It was not until midnight that she closed the book and lay down on her bed.

Closing her eyes, she spent another six hours drifting between sleep and wakefulness.

The morning classes were as usual and posed no difficulty for Lin Yue, but she still listened attentively and took meticulous notes.

After quickly finishing lunch, Lin Yue remembered that she had agreed to visit Hagrid's hut with Hermione and the others that afternoon, so she stood at the entrance of the Great Hall to wait for them.

While waiting, she took a book from her bag and lowered her head to read it carefully.

After quite some time, Hermione and the other two finally finished lunch and came out. Hermione spotted Lin Yue reading by the entrance of the Great Hall at once and hurried over in a few quick strides.

"Lin Yue, have you been waiting long?"

Lin Yue raised her head and looked at Hermione, her expression unchanged. "Not long. Sixteen minutes."

Hermione awkwardly raised a hand to scratch her cheek. "Sorry for making you wait so long."

"Not long. No need to apologize," Lin Yue replied mechanically. "Let's go."

"Mm." Hermione nodded, while Harry walked in front to lead them toward Hagrid's hut.

Lin Yue followed behind Hermione, wasting none of the time along the way. She kept her head lowered, reading as she walked.

At the door to Hagrid's Hut, Harry raised his hand and knocked lightly twice.

Hagrid came to the door and cautiously opened it a crack to look outside. Only when he saw that it was Harry and the others did he relax and step aside.

"Come in, quickly!"

The four of them hurried into Hagrid's Hut one after another.

Hagrid looked left and right outside, then swiftly shut the door.

"Hagrid, what's going on? Why are you so nervous?" Harry asked, puzzled, as he watched Hagrid return from closing the door.

Hermione looked at the fireplace in Hagrid's Hut—or, more precisely, at the enormous egg sitting in the pot over the fire—and struggled to open her mouth.

"I think... it's because of that?"

"Merlin's Wand!" Ron followed Hermione's gaze and let out an involuntary cry. His eyes were full of disbelief and excitement.

"That's a dragon egg, isn't it?"

Hagrid nodded excitedly. "That's right! I won it in a bet with someone at The Hog's Head!"

Lin Yue looked calmly at the dragon egg in the pot. "Norwegian Ridgeback."

The moment she saw the dragon egg, her brain had instinctively compared it with information she had read in books, ultimately reaching that conclusion.

"That's right!" Hagrid nodded vigorously, returning to the egg and gazing at it with fascination. "Isn't it beautiful? I figured you Ravenclaws all like reading, so you'd probably want to see something like this with your own eyes. It's not something you get to see very often."

Lin Yue spoke in an even tone. "It is indeed rare, but keeping a dragon privately violates Wizarding Law and Hogwarts School Rules."

A faint, embarrassed blush spread across Hagrid's face, and he became visibly flustered.

"I... I'll take good care of it. And look, it's only an egg. If I don't take care of it, it'll be in danger."

Hermione raised a hand to cover her face. "Hagrid... if you take care of it, then you and the students will be the ones in danger."

"Dragons—even young ones—are extremely dangerous. They breathe fire and have venomous fangs. Their destructive power can't be ignored. And I don't think you've forgotten that you live in a wooden house?"

Once their initial excitement faded, Harry and Ron also calmed down and realized just how dangerous Hagrid's actions were. They began trying to persuade him to send the dragon somewhere else.

Lin Yue stared fixedly at the dragon egg, her mind rapidly analyzing the situation.

"At most, by the time it is two months old, your hut won't be able to hold it anymore. That's assuming no other accidents happen in the meantime, such as it breathing fire and burning this place down."

Hagrid let out a heavy sigh. "All right... I'll send it away. But... but it's already started to hatch. Look—could we wait until it hatches before sending it away?"

Hermione, Harry, and Ron exchanged looks. Well... who wouldn't want to see a dragon hatch with their own eyes?

"All right, Hagrid," Ron said, nodding. "Once it hatches, I'll contact my brother Charlie. He studies dragons in Romania, so he can come and take it there. I promise it'll be well cared for. Is that okay?"

Hagrid sniffled loudly and nodded. "All right. When it hatches, I'll call you all over to watch."

"Thank you." The four of them thanked him politely, then left Hagrid's Hut.

"Merlin... Hagrid really is raising a dragon." After leaving Hagrid's Hut, Harry closed his eyes briefly, still unable to believe what he had just seen.

"He really does love dragons, doesn't he..." Ron sighed as well.

Hermione pressed her lips together. "At least once the dragon hatches, it can be sent away. Nothing should happen, right? And seeing a dragon hatch must be incredibly rare, shouldn't it?"

"It really is rare," Ron nodded. "Even professional Dragon Keepers wouldn't want to get close to a mother dragon while she's incubating eggs, let alone watch a baby dragon hatch. That would be suicidal."

"Let's hope nothing goes wrong." Harry nodded beside them.

Lin Yue silently followed the three of them, listening to their conversation as two thoughts clashed in her mind once more.

Keeping a dragon violated Wizarding Law and School Rules. It was illegal and should be reported.

This concerned Hermione. It concerned Harry and the others. You should not report it.

The two thoughts collided madly in Lin Yue's brain, pounding against each other until her head ached.

Without showing even the slightest emotion on her face, Lin Yue calmly said goodbye to Hermione and the others, then walked alone toward Ravenclaw Tower.

The two thoughts continued to clash, but in the end, the thought of not reporting it prevailed. Lin Yue slowly came to a stop.

Not reporting it meant helping conceal someone else's illegal and rule-breaking actions. That meant her own actions also violated the rules, and violating rules required punishment.

She instinctively raised her right hand and pressed it against her left arm. Then the image of Hermione examining her left arm suddenly flashed through Lin Yue's mind.

Slowly lowering her right hand, Lin Yue bent slightly and pressed her left hand against her left thigh. With all her strength, she viciously pinched it with her right hand. Pain instantly flooded her mind, yet her expression remained as unchanged as ever.

Only after repeating this punishment ten times did Lin Yue release her hand. Her left leg was already trembling faintly on its own, and a thin sheen of sweat had formed on her forehead.

After standing there for a while to recover, Lin Yue straightened up expressionlessly and continued toward Ravenclaw Tower. Only her gait had changed slightly from usual.

Back in her Dormitory, Lin Yue sat at her Desk, took out a book she had borrowed from the Library, and immersed herself in studying.

She read until six in the evening before closing the book, standing up, and opening the Dormitory door to head to the Great Hall for dinner.

She kept her head lowered over her book all the way, and Hogwarts' staircases continued to cooperatively carry her where she needed to go.

But as she stepped down one stair, the muscles in Lin Yue's left leg suddenly twitched. Losing her balance, she fell forward.

Clang! A burst of metal-on-metal noise rang out as a suit of armor beside her reached out and caught her.

Lin Yue stood up without expression, kicked her left leg a few times, and, after confirming there was nothing wrong with it, steadied herself on the ground. She then politely nodded to the suit of armor that had caught her.

"Thank you."

The suit of armor shook its head in response, seeming to indicate that she needn't worry about it.

Lin Yue withdrew her gaze and continued walking toward the Great Hall while reading. As for why the suit of armor had caught her just now—

She neither felt nor was capable of feeling any confusion. She merely made a detached analysis in her mind.

Hogwarts was a Magic school, so everything here possessed magic, including suits of armor. Therefore, it was perfectly normal that it could catch her.