Little Fire Dragon Looks for Mom

"Someone's spying outside!"

Hearing Hagrid's exclamation, Harry immediately darted out, trying to catch up with and stop the man.

After a while, Harry came back dejectedly.

"That person ran away, he looked like..."

"It looks like Malfoy."

Ron said somewhat uneasily:

"Then, will he report Hagrid?"

Lucien, who was busy mixing chicken blood brandy, shook his head slightly upon hearing this.

Although these guys all studied with him, Malfoy still didn't become friends with Harry. He would only behave a little better during tutoring sessions, but otherwise he would act the same way.

Lucien didn't care about this; it was just a matter of children making friends.

Bullying and isolation are naturally not allowed in their own little classrooms, but there's no need to worry about it on ordinary days, since there's still a lot of knowledge to learn and things to do.

The conflict between different houses, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin, has been long-standing.

I probably won't have the time or inclination to deal with school discipline issues until I actually become a Hogwarts professor or even headmaster.

Tsk tsk, I don't know how Malfoy got the information, but he's been following Harry the whole way.

That dedication!

He wanted to be friends with Harry but felt awkward. Of course, Malfoy's normal attitude and way of making friends was a bit... well...

"Lucien, what about Malfoy?"

Hermione looked at Lucien with a worried expression. She believed that since Malfoy was also learning from Lucien, Lucien would definitely be able to handle this troublesome matter.

Lucien waved his hand as he stirred the brandy and chicken blood.

"It's okay, I'll just tell him."

While preparing baby food, Lucien also observed the hungry little Fire Dragon, Norbert.

A typical Norwegian Ridgeback, when born, should be entirely black with scales that have little to no other color.

But Norbert's body was tinged with golden light; was this a change brought about by incubating the egg with the Qilin's Purifying Fire?

Its body looks plump and strong; it's a healthy little dragon.

I witnessed another hatching. The last time was back when Liu Guang was Liuguang. I miss that time.

As Lucien sized up Norbert, the little dragon stared back at Lucien with its large, orange-red eyes, which held the fear and curiosity typical of a newborn, as well as a strange sense of familiarity.

"Alright, let's eat."

Lucien carried the barrel of wine to the little Fire Dragon, then drew his wand with one hand, pretended to wave it, and chanted a spell.

A flame, almost pure gold, drifted out of the fireplace and hovered steadily in front of Norbert.

Chicken blood mixed with brandy is just supplementary food; a young dragon's first proper meal must be fire, any kind of fire or magical fire will do, but the best is definitely dragon flame provided by its Fire Dragon parents.

Let's use the Purifying Fire of Liuguang instead now. The egg hatching has been successful, so this should be fine too.

He stretched out his long nose and sniffed, his white nostrils flaring, as Norbert drew closer to the golden flame.

"Awoo."

Without much hesitation, Norbert downed the Purifying Fire in one gulp.

A few seconds passed.

"Belch--"

A rather loud burp escaped from Norbert's little mouth, accompanied by a few sparks flying from his mouth and nose.

Seeing this, Lucien breathed a sigh of relief.

After Liuguang lowers the temperature of the Purifying Fire, it can be used as food for the little Fire Dragon.

Otherwise, you'd have to feed him with magical flames, which would definitely be less effective than dragon fire and would put Norbert at a disadvantage from the start.

That's great, the flames of the mythical beast Qilin are stronger than the breath of the Fire Dragon.

After swallowing his first meal, Norbert suddenly looked up at the roof, but saw nothing. So he stared straight at the barrel of wine next to Lucien, looking at the liquid inside, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Lucien first ladled out a large bowlful and brought it to Norbert's lips, who then buried his head and began to lick it.

Seeing the little Fire Dragon eating with relish, Lucien smiled, then looked up at a beam on the roof.

The shrunken Liuguang poked its head out and winked at him knowingly.

"Master, after that little dragon ate the flames, I felt like I established a little... a special connection with it."

"Actually, I had this feeling ever since it hatched, but it wasn't very strong. I only just confirmed it."

connect?

Was it because Norbert used the flames of the little Qilin to hatch, and then consumed the flames, that a connection was established between them?

Is this a characteristic of the Fire Dragon, or a result of the Liuguang?

"Yes, we can study this further later."

Norbert quickly finished the bowl of chicken blood mixed with brandy, so Lucien refilled it.

I have no idea how such a small body can drink so much alcohol.

That's a whole bucket!

Magic, isn't it amazing?

"Hehe, Lucien, can I try feeding him?"

Hagrid, sitting to the side, rubbed his hands together; he had been eyeing it for a long time.

But considering that Norbert already belonged to Lucien, and that Lucien himself provided the flame for hatching the egg and took care of it the whole time, it was definitely Lucien who would personally do the meaningful thing of feeding it the first bite of food.

But isn't this already the second or third bite?

Lucien nodded to indicate that it was no problem, and handed the bowl to Hagrid.

As Hagrid held the bowl up to Norbert with both hands, Norbert's gaze shifted back and forth between the bowl and Lucien.

With a snap, the little Fire Dragon spread its wings, leaped and glided to Lucien's feet, its four claws moving in a flash as it scrambled onto Lucien's knees, squeaking all the while.

Hagrid and Harry, of course, didn't understand and just thought the little Fire Dragon was playing around. But Lucien, blessed by the Unicorn, heard it clearly and understood what Norbert was trying to say:

"Mother, don't you want me anymore, Mother...?"

"I... I don't want anyone to feed me, Mother..."

Lucien had intended to pick up Norbert, but his outstretched hand suddenly froze.

What did you call me?

"Mother."

Norbert stared at Lucien with his big, round eyes, and even stretched his neck to rub Lucien's hand, which was hanging in mid-air, with the corner of his forehead.

Lucien felt a little embarrassed; how did she become a mother?

Well, in nature, most young animals have a concept of their mother, and they instinctively seek out their mother as soon as they are born.

Because it was the first creature the little Fire Dragon saw and the first creature to feed it, it started to see itself as its mother?

Or perhaps Liuguang used the Purifying Fire to hatch a baby Fire Dragon, and he himself was Liuguang's master—there's a connection in that respect...

No, that little Fire Dragon should be looking for Liuguang.

"Ahem, I'm not your Mother."

Norbert's mind went blank, and he looked at Lucien with a dazed expression.

"Then who is my Mother?"

This question left Lucien speechless; he himself had no idea where Quirrell had gotten the dragon egg.

He probably didn't steal it from the Fire Dragon's mother himself; he likely bought it through illegal channels.

"Well, never mind, just treat me like Mom—uh, treat me like Dad."

Norbert didn't quite understand what Lucien meant, but he knew it didn't mean he was abandoned. He shook his head slightly.

"Okay, Mother."

"Uh, it's Dad."

"Yes, Mother."

"..."