Sending Norbert Away

Hermione: "Quick, see what the letter says!"

The three of them huddled their heads together.

"Let me have a look too." Oren craned his neck to read the letter, triggering a chain collision.

"Bang, bang, bang! Ow!" ×3

The young witch clutched her head and glared resentfully at Oren. "So Charlie agreed to adopt Norbert."

Ron rubbed his head. "That's right. We just need to bring Norbert to the Astronomy Tower at midnight on Saturday."

"But will the Invisibility Cloak be big enough to cover all four of us?" Hermione asked.

"Two people," Oren said. "To be honest, Headmaster Dumbledore taught me the Disillusionment Charm ages ago. I just never used it because I don't usually need to hide from Filch."

"And Ron, his paw's already starting to turn green. I guarantee it'll swell up as big as a radish by tomorrow morning."

Ron looked at his hand in panic. "Then what should I do?"

"What do you mean, what should you do? Go book yourself a private room in the Hospital Wing, obviously."

"But what am I supposed to say if Madam Pomfrey asks how I got hurt?"

"Easy." Oren said calmly. "Just say a dog bit you. Don't worry, Fang has a tight muzzle. He definitely won't rat you out."

Ron pursed his lips. "I think I can hold on a little longer. No need to go to the Hospital Wing."

Oren...

Early the next morning, Ron rushed to the Hospital Wing in a panic, flailing a hand swollen to twice its normal size like a pig's trotter.

As soon as class ended, they went to the Hospital Wing to visit poor unlucky Ron.

"My hand hurts so much it feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy even came to threaten me," Ron said listlessly.

"Here, Ron. Take this picture of Miss Malfoy. If he comes again, threaten him with it. Tell him you'll publish a photo album of his female version."

"Will that work?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Of course. There's a seventy percent chance it'll work."

"And the other thirty percent?"

"The other thirty percent, he might kill you to silence you."

Ron...

Hermione asked, "How did he get in? What excuse did he use?"

"He told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow a book from me."

"Wait, we're screwed!"

Seeing Ron break out in a cold sweat, the other three felt their hearts drop.

"We're totally screwed. Charlie's letter was tucked inside the book Malfoy borrowed." Ron was panicking badly now.

Oren's vision went dark. This useless organism was about to make him faint from rage.

"It's too late to notify Charlie," Harry said anxiously, pacing through the Hospital Wing. "Wait, Malfoy still doesn't know we have an Invisibility Cloak."

Hermione said, "Let's tell Hagrid that Charlie sent a letter."

"You go ahead," Oren said. "I need to go replenish my candy stock at Headmaster Dumbledore's."

Inside the Headmaster's Office.

"You're here, child. Is something the matter?" Dumbledore asked, pouring Oren a cup of tea-flavored syrup.

"Nothing. I just came to chat with you." As he spoke, Oren looked around for hidden candy stashes.

Dumbledore...

If you came to chat, then chat. Since when does rummaging through cupboards count as conversation?

"Headmaster, did you know?" Oren said as he shooed away the nervous Fawkes and opened the cabinet beside him. "Hagrid's gotten rich lately."

"Oh?" Dumbledore set down his teacup. "What happened?"

"He got hold of a dragon egg. It's already hatched into a baby dragon."

Dumbledore nodded. "I had no idea Hagrid bought a dragon egg."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's a Norwegian Ridgeback, a huge pile of walking Galleons." Oren dug out candy hidden in a flowerpot and stuffed it into his pocket.

Dumbledore's eyelid twitched wildly at that entire display.

"Then Hagrid must have sold off a great deal of magical creature materials he had saved up to buy it."

"No way. How could he trade the renewable parts shed by his magical creature companions for Galleons?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "True enough. But it is precisely because of Hagrid's kind heart that he has made so many magical creature friends."

"Hagrid won it in a card game." Oren sat across from Dumbledore. "He'd wanted a dragon for ages. There was no way he could refuse."

"That person must be a magical creature enthusiast like Hagrid, then."

"Maybe." Oren secretly glanced at Fawkes several times. "After all, everyone knows Hagrid is best at magical creatures and keeping secrets."

"Cough, cough." Dumbledore choked.

"It's not that bad, child. You said last time that he told Harry certain things."

"Does Harry count as an outsider? Telling your own people doesn't count as leaking secrets." Oren winked mischievously.

Dumbledore...

"I'll have Hagrid's baby dragon sent away."

"There's no need, Headmaster. Harry and the others already found Charlie. He'll take the baby dragon from the Astronomy Tower on Saturday night. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sneaking out after curfew to make a delivery—just thinking about it is exciting."

"This is my first time joining a large-scale group midnight adventure."

Dumbledore's eyelid twitched wildly as he complained inwardly, Is it really okay to say that right in front of me, the Headmaster?

"If there's nothing else, I'll be off. Oh, and Headmaster, if anyone reports Hagrid for secretly raising a dragon, don't believe them. It's a rumor."

Dumbledore...

Just as Oren stood and made to leave, he suddenly lunged at Fawkes the phoenix.

Fawkes had been on guard against Oren all along. With a flash of fire, he vanished from the spot.

"Tsk!" Oren said indignantly. "Is that really necessary? Do you really have to guard against me so much? It's not like I'm some kind of demon."

"Right, right, no need to guard against you. The tail feather you plucked from Fawkes still hasn't grown back yet," Dumbledore retorted.

Only after sacrificing another bag of candy did Dumbledore finally manage to send Oren away.

In the common room.

Harry said, "Oren, did you know? When we told Hagrid that we were sending Norbert away, he was nearly in tears."

"You sure those were tears of sadness?" Oren asked skeptically. "Couldn't Norbert have bitten him?"

"Uh..." Harry recalled the bandage tied around Fang's tail and suddenly wasn't so sure.

Hermione said, "Sending Norbert away is the right thing to do. That little guy is incredibly naughty. He's already driven Hagrid and Fang out of the house."

"That's right. Hagrid can barely handle him now," Harry said with lingering fear.

Oren...

Saturday night.

"Let's go. Tonight's darkness makes it perfect for an operation." Oren pulled Harry and Hermione toward the exit.

"Why?" the young witch asked curiously.

Oren deliberately lowered his voice and used the tone of someone telling a ghost story. "A moonless, windy night—the perfect time for murder and arson."

Hermione glared at him, then pinched his waist. "What kind of nonsense is that?"

When they reached the entrance hall, Harry asked, "What do we do? Just wait here?"

"What else can we do?" Hermione said helplessly. "Are you planning to play tennis with Peeves?"

Watching Peeves play tennis in the entrance hall, Oren thought, If there had been a proper venue, I'd have already developed a soul-body-exclusive Cruciatus Curse. Someday, I'll make Peeves understand who the real boss of Hogwarts is.

It took quite a while before Peeves finally left. By the time the three reached the hut, Hagrid had already packed Norbert into a crate.

"I prepared some dead rats and a little brandy. That should be enough for him to eat on the journey. I was afraid he'd be lonely, so I put his toy bear in there too," Hagrid said, wiping away tears.

"Riiip." The sound of fabric tearing came from inside the crate.

Harry and Oren exchanged a look. The toy bear had probably already been slain in action.

Hagrid said, "Goodbye, Norbert. Sob... I'll never forget you."

Looking at this several-hundred-pound England strongman crying so delicately, Oren had no idea where to begin mocking him. For the first time, he felt that his mother tongue might be speechlessness.

"What are you two doing?" Oren asked helplessly.

Harry said, "Carrying the crate?"

Hermione said, "Is there something wrong with that?"

"You're wizards. You should use magic. What kind of ridiculous operation is carrying it yourselves?"

Oren cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself and the other two, covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak, then lifted it with the Levitation Charm.

"Now that's what being a wizard is about! Watch closely and learn."

Harry...

Hermione...

"Bang, bang, bang." The three of them collided after only a few steps.

"It was just an accident. Just hold onto my sleeve," Oren said, rubbing his head.

The three held hands as they climbed several flights of stairs.

"Stop! Professor McGonagall is up ahead. It looks like she caught someone?" Oren said in a low voice.

"Mr. Malfoy, Slytherin loses twenty points for your nighttime wandering! And you'll have detention as well." McGonagall said, tugging Malfoy by the ear.

"That's not it, Professor! I came to report Potter. He's taking a dragon somewhere right now!"

"Save those words for Professor Snape." McGonagall dragged Malfoy away by the ear.

Having witnessed Malfoy's miserable fate, the three nearly laughed aloud in sympathy.

At the Astronomy Tower, Hermione said happily, "This is wonderful! Malfoy is getting detention. I'm so happy I could sing." She even began doing a strange dance.

Oren evaluated the young witch's dancing in his heart: It had the beauty of a bear rubbing itself against a tree.

"My advice is, don't sing. Trust me, you'll howl the werewolves out of the Forbidden Forest," Oren said as he removed the Disillusionment Charm from the three of them and pulled the Invisibility Cloak off the crate.

"Hmph. I wonder who it was that drank himself unconscious on the Astronomy Tower," Hermione shot back.

Harry: I should be at the bottom of the tower, not on top of it.

"Um, Oren, Hermione, stop arguing. I think I can see Charlie and the others flying over."

Twenty minutes later~

After Charlie shook hands with Oren, Harry, and Hermione respectively, he flew away with his companions and Norbert.

"Whew, we finally sent Norbert away." Harry let out a long breath.

They skipped down the tower in high spirits, only to run into Filch at the Astronomy Tower entrance.

"Oh ho, you're done for." Oren teased the other two. "That's what you get for celebrating too soon."

Filch hated Oren, the little wizard he could only watch break school rules but could never catch. He grabbed Harry and Hermione and headed for Professor McGonagall's office.

With no other choice, Oren followed along to see what fate awaited his two companions.

Inside Professor McGonagall's office, Harry kept muttering about what to do, his CPU running at full speed as he tried to find an excuse that would save them from punishment.

Hermione, meanwhile, kept trembling, clearly resigned to her fate.

Oren patted the two of them on the shoulders. "Don't be so nervous. Calm down. You're probably dead anyway, so you might as well stand tall. At least you'll look dignified."

Harry...

Hermione...