Hagrid and the Dragon Shadow

The Christmas holidays flew by in a flash, and compared to before the break, Hogwarts felt noticeably emptier.

But the school remained quiet, and aside from a few laments about the holiday vanishing in the blink of an eye, it seemed no one really cared about the matter.

This was slightly beyond Ezio's expectations; at the very least, he thought he would have been affected to some degree. After all, he hadn't exactly made a small scene out of it, and it would be perfectly normal for parents to be furious. Someone had essentially dragged their family's reputation through the mud, and leaving Hogwarts in such a dejected state was hardly a glorious affair.

If Dumbledore knew of Ezio's thoughts, he would surely have laughed out loud.

You, kid, still want a chance to stir up trouble? The wizarding world has finally found a moment of peace; you'd better keep it bottled up. During my tenure, Ezio, you little rascal, don't even think about pulling these stunts. Do you think I'm the kind of person who would give you an opening? How many wizards are there in England? Even if you wiped them all out, it wouldn't be enough to add a centimeter to that mountain of skulls of yours.

Dumbledore had worked overtime during Christmas, a rare occurrence. He went out to have some pleasant, peaceful, and friendly conversations with certain people, after which he resolved their inner knots. Under Dumbledore's kind persuasion, they expressed their understanding and reflected deeply on how they had managed to raise such a useless fellow who had brought nothing but shame to the family name.

At the very least, on the surface, they were willing to give face to Dumbledore, the possessor of the "Face-Giving Fruit" from another dimension. After all, the combined length of his titles was longer than their lives.

As for those who wanted to act out in the shadows, Dumbledore could only say that Merlin does not save those who seek their own death. He believed Ezio would handle it properly; once they were out of school, the matter had nothing to do with him, and he had already given them a heads-up anyway.

Fudge might have some trouble during this period, as there were still those who refused to give up and wanted to pressure the Ministry of Magic, attempting to get the authorities involved. But that was Fudge's trouble, not Dumbledore's.

The second half of the school year at Hogwarts was much more pleasant than Ezio had imagined. In the weeks following Christmas, he became increasingly busy because there were only ten weeks left before the term ended. He also had to attend to some matters regarding going abroad during the break, so he needed to pick up the pace to avoid delaying his planned schedule.

One afternoon, just as Ezio and Harry were "recharging" in the library, a massive figure walked through the library doors.

"Hagrid, what are you doing in the library?" Harry, who had looked up to stretch, caught sight of Hagrid, so he nudged Ezio and stood up to follow him.

"Oh!" Hagrid jumped in fright. He had been too focused on the few books in front of him. Upon seeing who it was, he spoke uncomfortably, "I was just... just... the weather is nice today, isn't it? Hahaha."

Hagrid stiffly changed the subject and then tucked the books from the shelf into his arms.

"Are you raising a dragon?" Just as Hagrid was about to make a run for it, Ezio spoke from behind him, which nearly made Hagrid drop the books in his arms.

"Shh!"

He held up a thick finger and looked left and right like a thief. "You'll know when you come to my hut."

Watching Hagrid's comical expression, Ezio couldn't help but find it a bit funny. It was hard not to be amused by someone of his massive size acting like that.

"Then let's go now."

"Sigh... alright." Hagrid sighed. He knew the moment he saw Ezio that he couldn't hide it from this kid. If only Harry had come, it would have been fine; at least he would have had the confidence to bluff his way through.

The three of them left the castle one after another. Hagrid walked in a hurry, too busy to say anything to them. Once he picked up his pace, the two behind him had to run to keep up. There was no helping it; compared to Hagrid, the vast majority of people in the world were short-legged. Even if Yao Ming were here, he would only reach Hagrid's chest.

When they arrived at the door, Hagrid turned his head, looking nervous and uneasy as he spoke to Ezio, who had jogged up beside him, "You must not tell anyone else."

"So it seems you really are raising a dragon."

"To be precise—a dragon egg."

Hagrid pulled the door open, and a wave of heat surged out from the gap. It was no longer the cold season, but the fire in Hagrid's hut was burning extremely bright. However, for his half-giant constitution, the heat didn't bother him much; he didn't even break a sweat.

"Want some ferret sandwich?"

After putting the books down, Hagrid greeted them enthusiastically. "This time I added cumin and chili to roast it. The method you mentioned is actually quite good."

"I'll take one."

Ezio took a sandwich the size of half a washbasin. It was a corner cut from a larger piece, less than a fifth of the total, but it was already enough to stuff Ezio.

While gnawing on the ferret sandwich, Ezio watched Hagrid bustling about in front of the fireplace.

In the hearth, where a kettle was perched, sat a pitch-black egg. The flames licked at the shell, but it seemed as if the egg were devouring the fire itself. If Hagrid didn't add firewood in time, the pile, which should have burned for three or four hours, wouldn't even last an hour.

If Ollivander were to see this scene, the old man would surely be in such pain he couldn't breathe. The wood Hagrid was using to fuel the fire was all high-grade magical timber that was at least a century old. The rings showed how long they had breathed the air, but now, it was time for them to burn themselves away.

"Look, how cute this little guy is!"

Hagrid poked the fire, speaking with a face full of tenderness, his gaze like that of a parent looking at their child.

"Do you know what kind of dragon this is?"

After finishing his dinner, Ezio crouched down beside Hagrid to look at the dragon egg with him.

"Of course! Of course! I went to borrow books to check as soon as I returned to Hogwarts. This is a Norwegian Ridgeback. They grow reverse spikes on their backs. However, this little cutie isn't very big; at least among fire dragons, it can only be considered a small one. But no matter what, it will grow up to be very beautiful. I can't wait to touch its scales and introduce it to the other little cuties in the forest."

"Then congratulations on fulfilling your wish soon, Hagrid." Harry said happily, though he felt that doing this might be a bit improper.

"Of course, it's worth celebrating. But we need to be careful and not let him find out. After it hatches, you can come over, and we'll have a little celebration."

"So, Hagrid, you do know that you aren't allowed to raise a fire dragon privately."

Ezio's voice carried a hint of teasing, and Hagrid nodded with a bitter expression. "But what else can I do? I can't just ignore this child, can I?"