Norwegian Ridgeback

"Slap!"

Looking at the clearly dark magic-related book before him, Damon's face showed a look of disgust.

Dark magic—spells that required intense negative emotions to unleash their power—had once driven every power-hungry wizard to mad obsession.

But in Damon's view, aside from being undefendable, this stuff really had no merits.

Not to mention the risk of dark magic corrupting one's mind—almost every top-tier Death Eater had a screw loose upstairs.

Even the so-called Three Unforgivable Curses (Cruciatus Curse, Imperius Curse, and the most famous Avada Kedavra—the Killing Curse) actually needed strong negative emotions to take effect—a fifth-year Hogwarts student using the Killing Curse would only manage to make a wizard's nose bleed.

In other words, learning this curse wasn't enough; you'd have to hypnotize yourself daily with "I'm a killer! I kill without blinking! I hate this world!" and constantly nurture the evil in your heart to strengthen your power.

For a polymath like Damon, learning dark magic was completely unnecessary.

Was Transfiguration not versatile enough? Or were his self-created spells not satisfying?

By the time he'd hypnotize himself into a lunatic, he could have already pushed Charms and Transfiguration to their peaks—and besides, coming to this world, he was practically overjoyed every day. How could Damon force himself to hate? He really couldn't!

"Slap."

Damon directly tossed the just-picked-up Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic onto the floor.

Even so, he still felt it wasn't enough. He pulled out his wand and cast spells on the hand that had touched the book:

"Expurgo Malum!"

"Surgito!"

"Scourgify!"

After finishing, he still felt uneasy and used a Microcosmic Incantation to confirm he hadn't been contaminated by dark magic in any way. Then he stepped straight over the book that many wizards dreamed of, not even glancing at it.

Judging by the boy's expression, if he weren't in the library, he'd probably have cursed out loud.

"Madam Pince, why is there a stray copy of Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic lying around in the Restricted Section?"

"I believe such an evil book shouldn't be kept in the library at all, even in the Restricted Section! It's a disregard for students' education and safety!"

Hearing the indignant voice of the boy outside the door, a pair of aged hands quietly appeared, swiftly picked up the Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic from the floor, and vanished again.

In an unseen place, the owner of those hands felt both deeply gratified and somewhat ashamed under scrutiny—he really shouldn't have given that book to a child, even as a test, it was going too far.

But at least now he was a bit more reassured. This time, only one final step remained—then Dumbledore would consider whether, at the right moment, to reveal everything to a child.

Damon returned to the Common Room with two reference books. The trio, rare to see him there, immediately surrounded him.

"Damon, are you free?"

Their faces looked like they'd discovered a new continent.

"What's up?"

"Well—" Ron leaned in close to Damon and whispered, "Hagrid hatched a dragon. Want to go see it?"

"A dragon?"

Damon's head shot up as a plot point came to mind.

Hagrid had gotten a Norwegian Ridgeback egg from Quirrell, and had accidentally revealed the secret that the Three-Headed Dog Fluffy could be lulled to sleep by music. Had it already hatched?

"Come on! We shouldn't be discussing this like we're going to gawk at zoo monkeys!"

Hermione said disapprovingly from the side—dragons were extremely dangerous creatures, and Hagrid raising one privately was a serious violation of the law.

"Hermione's right, so I definitely want to see it before it gets sent away."

Damon smiled and agreed to meet the trio after class to head to Hagrid's hut, which made Hermione's expression soften. Ron and Harry were also happy to have found something that interested Damon.

To be honest, they'd been spending less time together lately.

But the trio always felt Damon was busy with something extremely important. If it wasn't a big deal, they'd be too embarrassed to bother him. A group activity like this had never happened before.

The four of them arrived at Hagrid's hut, and Damon got to see the lizard-sized Norwegian Ridgeback as promised.

Hagrid had abandoned his job watching over the grounds, flustered by the little dragon. The floor was littered with empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers—the Norwegian Ridgeback's favorite food.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," Hagrid said, looking at the little dragon with tear-blurred eyes. "He really knows me now. Look, Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"

To Hagrid's surprise and dismay, the Norwegian Ridgeback, which had been somewhat indifferent to people, now crawled straight toward Damon, excitedly flapping its not-yet-fully-spread wings.

A smile spread across Damon's face as he reached out a hand to the little dragon. It climbed right onto his palm, worked its way up, and perched on his shoulder, puffing out a spark with an imposing air.

"Merlin—Norbert—"

Hagrid's face was a picture as he watched the Fire Dragon bonding so closely with Damon.

Damon scratched the little dragon under its chin and voiced the concerns Harry and the others had:

"Hagrid, you can't keep this dragon here forever. Norwegian Ridgebacks grow incredibly fast. In two more weeks, it'll be as big as your house."

Hagrid bit his lip:

"I—I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't just throw him away. I can't."

Harry chimed in with a suggestion:

"Ron's brother Charlie is studying in Romania. Why don't we send Norbert to him? Charlie can take care of him and then release him into the wild."

Hagrid wasn't willing to accept it, but Harry and Ron could already see the cracks in his resolve—a few more attempts at persuasion and he'd likely give in.

But they hadn't expected Damon to suddenly speak up at that moment:

"We can raise it in the Forbidden Forest."

The three of them whipped their heads around to stare at Damon, their expressions screaming—Damon, have you lost your mind too?

Hagrid's face grew complicated as well, and he hesitated:

"Th-this... will it work? I'm afraid the creatures in the Forbidden Forest will all be killed by Norbert once he's grown."

"Of course, before that, we have to tame its wildness."

Damon grabbed the Norwegian Ridgeback off his shoulder and locked eyes with it, subtly tightening the grip in his palm.

"SCREECH!!!"

The little dragon felt a sting of pain and let out an irritated hiss, its gaze toward Damon losing its earlier calm.

Amid everyone's startled cries, it opened its jaws wide and bit down straight at Damon's hand!