Dragon Egg on a Snowy Night

The lingering warmth of Christmas had yet to fade, and Hogwarts Castle still lay under a thin blanket of snow, frost flowers on the window frames glinting faintly in the moonlight.

The first week after the holiday break carried a lazy yet slightly excited air—students fretting over returning to class while also buzzing at the chance to see their friends again.

Julien Black came back to school in just such a mood.

The winter sun of Bordeaux and the magical lessons in his grandfather's secret study were fond memories, but the towers of Hogwarts, the dust of the library, and the real starry sky in the Ravenclaw common room were now his home too.

Time passed quickly. That evening, Julien was in the library looking up materials on ancient Runes, and before long his head was spinning.

For a first-year, studying Runes was indeed too early, but perhaps because his grandfather had taught him a few obscure spells over the break, a book titled Is All Ancient Magic Dark Magic? had popped into his mind, and many of the ancient spells in it involved Runes.

Just as he was doing eye exercises by the Black Lake, a girl's voice called out to him.

"Julien! What's that weird move you're doing?" Lyria emerged from behind a massive beech tree, a few unmelted snowflakes still clinging to her cloak.

"Oh, I'm practicing an Eastern magic—the art of pressure points," Julien said offhandedly. "See, this is pressing the temples, circling the eye sockets! Pretty impressive, right?"

"Ha, impressive!" Lyria's cheeks were flushed from the cold wind, but her ice-blue eyes sparkled with a lively light.

"Enough joking around. You're just in time! I'm heading to Hagrid's—come with me!"

Julien was a bit surprised. Lyria usually kept to herself; aside from necessary exchanges in class, she almost never invited anyone along.

Just as he was wondering why, Lyria told him on her own that Hagrid was one of the few people who made her feel at ease, because he treated all creatures equally and never pried into her origins or her tribe's secrets.

"Hagrid? This late?" Julien glanced at the sky.

"He said he has something 'special' to show me tonight." Lyria winked mysteriously, a childlike anticipation in her voice. "Come on, don't dawdle!"

Unable to refuse her, Julien followed the girl from the North, trudging through the soft snow toward the gamekeeper's hut.

Warm orange light glowed from the hut's windows, looking especially cozy against the pitch-black backdrop of the Forbidden Forest.

As soon as they stepped inside, they heard Hagrid's booming, excited voice, mixed with a strange sound like a cat purring crossed with a dog barking. That, of course, was Hagrid's cowardly boarhound, Fang.

"...Shh! Quiet, Fang! Don't get excited, you've got to stay calm, or we'll be found out!" Hagrid's voice was low, but his excitement was plain.

Julien and Lyria exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes. They knocked softly on the door.

"Who's there?" Hagrid's voice carried a hint of nervousness.

"It's me, Lyria. And Julien."

The door creaked open, and Hagrid's big, bearded face appeared. When he saw them, he first relaxed, then looked a bit flustered. "Oh! You two! Come in, come in! It's freezing out there!"

As soon as they entered, Hagrid's Neapolitan Mastiff—Fang—bounded over and licked Lyria's face twice, clearly familiar with her.

Then he suddenly spotted Julien behind her, stopped in his tracks, and tilted his head, staring at Julien as if to say, "Who's this? Never seen him before."

The fire in the hearth blazed warmly, making the hut especially cozy. But what really caught the eye was the enormous egg sitting on the massive oak table in the middle of the room. The egg's surface was patterned with gray-black markings.

Just then, the egg seemed about to hatch—something inside was tapping against the shell with a rhythmic thump-thump-thump.

"Wow, Hagrid, is that...?" Julien's attention was instantly drawn. He remembered—this must be the part where Hagrid hatches a dragon egg. That was a rare sight.

Hagrid's face turned beet red. He clumsily tried to hide the egg, but seemed afraid of breaking it, his movements both awkward and endearing.

"Uh... nothing, nothing! Just... a... well... a special pet egg! That's right, it's about to hatch!"

Lyria had already barged right over. She reached out a finger and carefully touched it. The next second, she stopped breathing.

"Wow, this is a dragon egg!!!" Lyria gasped.

"Shh—!" Hagrid nearly jumped out of his skin, quickly covering her mouth. "Quiet! For Merlin's sake! This is a secret!"

Just then, there was another knock at the hut's door. This time, it was hurried and panicked.

Hagrid's face went pale. "Blimey! It can't be..." He fumbled around, as if trying to stuff the little dragon somewhere to hide.

Seeing Hagrid's flustered state, Julien frowned, walked to the door, and peered through the peephole.

Three figures stood outside, somewhat blurry in the moonlight, but he immediately recognized the boy with round glasses and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

"It's Harry, Ron, and Hermione," Julien said over his shoulder.

Hagrid's expression shifted from terror to embarrassment. He let out a resigned sigh and opened the door.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?" Hagrid asked, forcing calm.

"Hagrid, we need to talk to you!" Harry cut straight to the point before even stepping inside. "We... we found out someone's trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. We think it's Snape!"

Ron and Hermione nodded emphatically beside him, their faces full of worry and determination.

But when the three stepped inside and saw Julien and Lyria standing by the fireplace, they froze.

"Julien? Lyria?" Harry asked in surprise. "What are you two doing here?"

"We came to hang out with Hagrid," Lyria replied simply, her gaze already drifting back to the huge egg on the table.

The atmosphere grew a bit awkward. Harry and the others clearly hadn't expected to run into anyone else here, especially Julien. They'd planned to have a secret conversation with Hagrid about the school's safety.

Hagrid seemed to realize this too. He rubbed his hands together, his eyes darting around. "Uh... since everyone's here, how about some tea and a bit of rock cake?"

As he poured tea for the Young Wizards, Hagrid said, "Snape? Why are you still suspicious of Professor Snape? He's one of the guardians of the Philosopher's Stone..."

He clapped a hand over his mouth. "Blimey, I shouldn't have said that."

"What? That's even more dangerous..." Ron said urgently.

Hagrid immediately cut him off. "Alright, listen to me, this isn't something you lot need to worry about. Just focus on your studies."

"But, Hagrid..." Hermione chimed in anxiously.

Knock knock knock

Just as Hermione was about to say more, the giant egg on the table let out another sound.

"Hagrid, what's this? An egg?" The three of them finally noticed the oddity on the table.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed. "Blimey, this isn't just any egg—it's a dragon egg, and a Norwegian Ridgeback at that, hoo hoo."

Ron's brother Charlie studied dragons in Romania, and Ron had been to see him before.

Crack—