"Forget those terrifying eight-eyed spiders. What you're doing is illegal, you know?" Ron stressed.
"I found it in the Forbidden Forest." Hagrid sounded perfectly justified.
Harry thought he'd misheard. "I picked it up."
"There's a loophole in the Ministry of Magic's laws. As long as a Fire Dragon lays its eggs somewhere without Muggles, and there's enough room, the Charmander can grow up where it was born."
Hagrid stirred the fire and hummed a tune.
"As for why it's in my cabin, I'm the Forbidden Forest Keeper. Keeping the students and Fantastic Beasts in the forest safe is my duty, and I can't shirk it."
"Have you told Dumbledore?"
"No."
Hermione had pinpointed the loophole. Hagrid seemed to shrink in an instant, but he still argued, "But what I'm doing is legal!"
"Yes, it's legal!" Draco finally spoke up, his eyes fixed on the dragon egg without blinking.
"It is indeed legal." A deliberately drawn-out voice, meant to project dignity but sounding distinctly uncomfortable, rang out.
"Father!" Draco cried.
"Ah..." Hagrid raised his brows in disgust, but after glancing at Draco and then Dumbledore behind Old Malfoy, his expression turned wary.
"Dumbledore! What brings you here?"
Like a child who'd done something wrong, Hagrid began fiddling with his fingers.
"I'll write to Macnair. He has influence on the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures." Old Malfoy forced himself not to look at Harry. His voice trembled.
"That executioner!" Hagrid forgot his unease, his lower lip trembling with anger. For a moment, he looked ready to tear Old Malfoy apart. "We all know what kind of man he is. His axe is stained with the blood of innocent creatures!"
Old Malfoy hurried behind Dumbledore.
"Now, Hagrid. I think the Dragon Research and Restriction Bureau would be more suitable. An old friend of mine, Newt Scamander, once worked there." Dumbledore tried to reassure him.
"I didn't come here because of this rare and unusual dragon egg, but because... of Harry."
"Me? Is this dragon egg special?"
Harry had noticed that when Dumbledore said "rare and unusual," his gaze had lingered on the egg for quite a while.
"This is good news. I think I know what Tom was planning yesterday. You saved Lucius, as well as an innocent life that had yet to be born."
"My father? Harry, you saved my father yesterday!" Draco's voice trembled.
"Tom? Who's that?" Ron had noticed that Hagrid fell silent the moment the name came up, while Old Malfoy started trembling from head to toe.
"Someone we all know, but dare not name."
"The mysterious man!" "The Dark Lord!"
As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Ron and the others guessed the answer.
"Harry..." Draco's eyes reddened. If he were a girl, he would probably have thrown himself at Harry.
"You came face-to-face with the mysterious man!" Hermione had already rushed over and was feeling him all over.
"Luckily, Harry only encountered Lucius, who was under the Imperius Curse."
Dumbledore's words made Old Malfoy lower his head in embarrassment, too.
Once, to escape punishment, he'd claimed that he'd joined the Death Eaters under the Imperius Curse.
And now he really had been controlled, by his former master, no less.
His son had found out, too.
"Of course, I believe that even if Harry had encountered Tom, he wouldn't have been a match for him now."
Dumbledore studied Harry's right hand with a fervent gaze that made one's scalp crawl, especially considering his sexual orientation.
"It was that... You blocked the Killing Curse once again."
"Would you let me see it? That Righteous Qi, the great power even Snape had to acknowledge, the true nemesis of Tom, as he saw it."
[Ding, ding, ding! Let the White-Haired Regent Minister witness the Savior Lord's true power! Show him what justice is, and make him understand who speaks for Hogwarts!] [Reward: 100 experience points, Golden Magic Knowledge 1]
"This kind of justice probably isn't what you want." Harry smiled more sincerely and simply extended his fist.
Death Light, wrapped in a torrent of Righteous Qi, burst forth.
Everyone in the cabin felt their scalps go numb, as if they were facing death itself, their breathing coming to an end.
But Dumbledore stepped forward instead of retreating, his silver-white hair and beard stirring without a breeze.
A warmth, carrying a sense of compassion and holiness, radiated from his body.
"The embodiment of nature's merciless side? A Sheer Force that corrects disharmony and distortion? The death of justice?"
Even the brilliant green light retreated beneath that warmth, drawing back into Harry's fist.
"As expected..."
Is it you, Death?
A flash of shock crossed Dumbledore's eyes.
The power seemed to have retreated, but it was rising steadily inside the fist, as if it would unleash a world-shattering strike at any moment.
[Quest completed: [The White-Haired Regent Minister's Shock]] [(100 experience points, Golden Magic Knowledge 1) received]
"Did you misunderstand something?" Harry withdrew his fist.
Perhaps it's time.
He realized that even with two Gold Grade reserves of magic, he was still some distance behind Dumbledore.
After the ball yesterday, the quest payout had given him the highest-tier stage reward.
Counting the Gold Talent entry from the stage quest, the Gold reward for the core entry breaking through another grade, and this one, he now had three Gold entries.
Not to mention the Bronze reward for saving Old Malfoy and the Silver reward for choosing Gemma.
Besides...
The new talents he'd drawn might help with finding the Horcruxes and completing the flight quest.
Experience allocation!
Time stopped once again.
[Core · Intermediate Savior lv. 2 · Silver] (All resistances +7) — 23/100 [Respected Savior Lord, you have accumulated 3 draws: one guaranteed Bronze Magic Knowledge draw, one guaranteed Silver Talent draw... one guaranteed Gold Magic Knowledge draw... two guaranteed Gold Talent draws... Draw now?] *Start drawing! Dogskin Book, show me your limits!* [Color Ball Fish Bubble · Gold] [A bubble that resists water pressure, an ascension of the Bubble-Head Charm's original rune, a perfect Barrier separating inside from outside, with an accompanying modification to skin tissue] [The Savior's luck is sky-high. Equip this talent entry? YES or NO] *Diving... the seabed?* [Desperate Path of the Big-Headed Hairy Monster · Gold] [A path of desperation and futility, no longer confined to a frail body, with an accompanying mental modification] [...YES or NO] *An interesting talent.* [Phase Shift of the Moon Demon · Gold] *The leader of the Eight Demons, Tso Lan? Isn't this gravity magic?* [Bowtruckle's Wood Affinity · Silver] [The origin of wand wood, a deterrent to dark creatures, with an accompanying transformation of magic] [...YES or NO] *So that's why Bowtruckles possess the magic to deter dark creatures through the Protector Tree? And the trees they live in must be wand wood, too?* *Wait!*
Harry clutched his splitting head and paused the draw. The Gold-grade magical knowledge he'd received had finally taken root in his mind.
The so-called Phase Shift was the Moon Demon's spell for going home: teleporting from Earth to the Moon, a distance of about 400,000 kilometers.
And the first Gold Talent he'd drawn wasn't merely related to diving. It could even provide oxygen in a vacuum.
"The Horcruxes are... on the seabed and the Moon?"
"How the hell did Voldemort manage that?"
"Was it Quirrell, the former Muggle Studies professor, who suggested it?"
"England didn't propose the Moonlight and Moon Rake lunar exploration plans until 2007."
"Could it be... the Space Hall?"
Before you continue