Norwegian Ridgeback

Smack!

The moment Damon saw the book before him, so obviously related to Dark Magic, a look of disgust appeared on his face.

Dark Magic required intense negative emotions to display its power. Every wizard fanatically pursuing strength had once been crazily obsessed with it.

But in Damon's eyes, aside from being impossible to defend against, it really had no advantages.

Not to mention the risk of Dark Magic corrupting the mind—hardly any of those top-tier Death Eaters had been mentally sound.

Even the intimidating-sounding Three Unforgivable Curses—the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the most famous Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse—required intense negative emotions to produce any effect. A fifth-year Hogwarts student casting the Killing Curse might not even do more than give another wizard a nosebleed.

In other words, learning the spell was not enough. One had to hypnotize oneself every day: I'm a murderer! I kill without batting an eye! I hate this world! Only by constantly feeding the evil thoughts in one's heart could one increase its power.

For an all-rounder like Damon, there was absolutely no need to learn Dark Magic.

Was Transfiguration not versatile enough? Or were self-created Charms somehow not appealing enough?

With the effort it took to hypnotize himself into a lunatic, he could have continued refining his Charms and Transfiguration to their peak—and besides, he had been so happy every day since coming to this world that he nearly died of it. Asking Damon to hate? He simply could not do it!

Smack.

Damon tossed the copy of Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic he had just picked up straight onto the floor.

Even so, he still did not feel it was enough. He pulled out his wand and cast spells on the hand that had touched the book.

"Expurgo Malum!"

"Surgito!"

"Scourgify!"

Afterward, he still did not feel reassured. He used Microcosmic Incantation to confirm that he truly had not been tainted by Dark Magic in any way, then stepped straight over the Dark Magic book that countless wizards longed for without even sparing it a glance.

Judging by the boy's expression, if he had not been in the library, he would probably have cursed aloud.

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

"I don't think such an evil book should be kept in the library at all, not even in the Restricted Section! This is a disregard for the education and lives of students!"

As the boy's indignant voice drifted in from outside the door, a pair of aged hands silently appeared, swiftly picked up Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic from the floor, and vanished once more.

Out of sight, the owner of those hands felt both relieved and ashamed, as though being reproached. He really should not have shown that book to a child. Even as a test, it had gone a little too far.

But at the very least, he felt more at ease now. This time, there was truly only one final step left—then Dumbledore would consider whether, at the right time, to reveal everything to a child.

Damon returned to the Common Room with two reference books. The three of them rarely saw him in the lounge these days and immediately surrounded him.

"Damon, are you free?"

The expressions on their faces made it seem as though they had discovered a new continent.

"What is it?"

"It's like this—" Ron leaned closer to Damon and lowered his voice. "Hagrid hatched a dragon. Do you want to go see it?"

"A dragon?"

Damon suddenly looked up, recalling part of the story.

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

"Please! What we should be discussing right now is not sightseeing as if we were looking at monkeys in a zoo!"

Hermione spoke unhappily from the side. Dragons were extremely dangerous creatures, and Hagrid was already seriously breaking the law by raising one privately.

"Hermione's right. That means I should see it before it gets sent away."

Damon smiled and arranged to visit Hagrid's hut with the three of them after class. Hermione's expression immediately improved, while Ron and Harry were delighted that they had found something that interested Damon.

To be honest, they really had spent less time together lately.

But the three of them always felt that Damon had been doing something extremely important. Unless something major came up, they were genuinely embarrassed to disturb him. An activity involving all four of them like this had never happened before.

The four arrived at Hagrid's hut, and Damon finally got his wish of seeing a Norwegian Ridgeback the size of a lizard.

Hagrid had cast aside his duties as Keeper of Keys and Grounds. The baby dragon had left him in a frantic mess, and 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 through tear-blurred eyes. "He really knows me now. Watch this—Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"

To Hagrid's surprise and heartbreak, the Norwegian Ridgeback, which had always been somewhat indifferent toward people, crawled directly toward Damon instead, excitedly flapping its wings, which had not yet fully unfolded.

A smile appeared on Damon's face. He extended a hand toward the baby dragon, and it promptly climbed onto his palm, made its way up his arm, and perched on his shoulder, proudly puffing out a spark.

"Oh, no—Norbert—"

Hagrid's expression was utterly spectacular as he watched the Fire Dragon being so intimate with Damon.

Damon scratched the little dragon beneath its chin and took the initiative to voice Harry and the others' concerns.

"Hagrid, you can't keep raising this dragon here forever. Norwegian Ridgebacks grow incredibly fast. In another two 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 offered a suggestion then.

"Ron's brother Charlie is doing research in Romania. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him, then release him back into the wild."

Hagrid was unwilling to accept that, but Harry and Ron could already see his attitude softening. With a little more persuasion, they would probably succeed.

But they had not expected Damon to suddenly speak at that moment.

"We can raise him in the Forbidden Forest."

The three of them snapped their heads toward Damon, their expressions seeming to say—Damon, have you gone mad too?

Hagrid's expression became equally colorful as he hesitated.

"Th-that could work? I'm afraid a grown Norbert would kill every creature in the Forbidden Forest."

"Of course. Before that, we'll have to tame his wild nature."

Damon grabbed the Norwegian Ridgeback from his shoulder and held its gaze, quietly tightening his grip around it.

"Hisss!!!"

Feeling a little pain, the baby dragon let out an unhappy hiss. The calmness in its gaze toward Damon vanished as well.

Amid everyone's cries of alarm, it opened its mouth wide and bit down on Damon's hand!