The Point-Deduction Squad

The two of them arrived outside the castle, where Hagrid's hut glowed faintly with a dim yellow light.

"Eli, you... Malfoy?"

Harry and the others were about to pull Eli toward Hagrid's hut when they suddenly noticed Malfoy trailing behind him.

"What is it, Weasley? Are you the only one allowed to come?"

Draco and Ron Weasley particularly disliked each other. It was a conflict between their families.

They had never expected Eli to bring that detestable Malfoy along. Their expressions immediately darkened.

"Eli, why did you..."

Harry asked in confusion, and Draco shot him a provocative look.

Eli nudged Draco, signaling for the brat to stop building up everyone's anger.

Eli leaned close and whispered, "He spotted me when I left, so I figured I'd bring him along. If we drag him into this, he won't snitch on us."

Hermione Granger gave Eli a look that said, You're amazing. Harry and Ron's expressions softened somewhat, but seeing Draco's smug face still made their blood boil.

"All right, we don't have much time. Let's go."

The five of them knocked on Hagrid's door.

Hagrid rushed over and opened it. "Sorry, no visitors today," he said, immediately trying to close it again.

"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!"

Hermione suddenly cried out.

Hagrid froze halfway through shutting the door. He opened it again and stared at the children outside as if he had seen a ghost.

"How could you possibly know? Get in, quickly!"

They filed inside.

Draco was the only one who had no idea what was going on. He looked baffled. "What Philosopher's Stone?"

No one answered him. Eli signaled for him not to ask yet.

"Snape wants to steal the Philosopher's Stone!"

Harry looked impatient to say it.

Hagrid looked as though he had heard something utterly ridiculous. "You're still suspecting him? He's one of the professors guarding it!"

Hagrid realized he had let something slip again, and his expression changed.

Eli smiled helplessly. Hagrid had already revealed so much that it hardly mattered whether he slipped up again.

"One of the professors? So other professors set traps and spells too?"

Hermione immediately seized on Hagrid's words.

Hagrid was getting anxious from repeatedly letting things slip. "You shouldn't be meddling in this. He's a professor!"

Harry refused to let it go. "Even so, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he's stealing what he's supposed to guard!"

Eli said nothing, because the real highlight of tonight was not the Philosopher's Stone at all.

Hagrid kept a large black dog that looked very imposing.

But its personality was clearly unrelated to its size.

"I'm warning you, don't come any closer!"

Eli looked nervously at the goofy dog beside him, drool hanging from its mouth as it kept edging closer.

The dog seemed very interested in Eli and kept trying to nuzzle against him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't come over here!"

Slurp...

The dog gave Eli's face a big lick.

Eli said, "It's over. I'm no longer clean."

"Fang! Stop fooling around!"

Hagrid sternly scolded the dog, and Fang finally settled down.

Eli kept wiping the drool from his face.

The iron pot heating in the fireplace suddenly made a sound, and Hagrid turned around in delight.

"Oh, this is wonderful."

Hagrid eagerly went to take out what was inside, nearly forgetting to put on gloves.

"A dragon egg?!"

Draco, who had been completely confused by everything they had said, suddenly lit up when he saw what Hagrid was holding.

"A dragon egg?"

Hermione and the others looked at Draco in surprise, then turned to what Hagrid held. Sure enough, it was an enormous egg.

Draco and Harry immediately crowded around it. This was a rare sight indeed.

Dragons were extremely dangerous creatures, with a danger rating of at least five stars. They were strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic and were rarely seen under ordinary circumstances.

Not to mention a dragon egg that was about to hatch.

Draco looked as though he had found treasure and nearly drooled, leaving Eli unsure whether he wanted to admire it or eat it.

"It's a Norwegian Ridgeback!"

Draco blurted out.

Ron looked at him skeptically. "How do you know?"

Draco shot him a glance. "You can tell from the shell, of course. Norwegian Ridgeback eggshells are smoother and more colorful. You've probably never seen one before, have you, Weasley?"

Ron's face immediately turned red.

Crack.

The eggshell broke open from within. A baby dragon, like a lizard with wings, crawled out unsteadily and let out a few cries.

Hagrid's eyes instantly filled with motherly affection. "Oh, little Norbert."

He teased the baby dragon with his hand, making it cry out at him a few times.

Hagrid's heart nearly melted. "Oh, look, he thinks I'm his mother!"

The five of them stared at Hagrid, whose motherly affection had completely overflowed, with strange expressions.

Whoosh...

The baby dragon suddenly spat a burst of flame at Hagrid, instantly burning part of his beard.

Hagrid hurriedly patted out the flames in his beard. "He's a little nervous."

Draco's eyes never left the baby dragon. "You'd better be careful. This kind of dragon can breathe fire, and it's highly venomous."

Hagrid looked at Draco in surprise. "You seem to know a lot about them?"

Draco looked proud. "Of course. My family has dragon farms!"

Hagrid immediately understood. Ron could not stand Draco showing off and kept muttering under his breath.

Draco and Hagrid actually started chatting, and they seemed to get along quite well.

Was this the power of shared interests?

The young Wizards were all fascinated by dragons as well, asking question after question. The atmosphere in the hut was quite harmonious.

"But I read in a book that dragons grow very quickly. In a few days, your hut may not be big enough for him anymore. How are you going to house Norbert?"

Hermione's words immediately silenced the room.

Hagrid's face fell. Of course he knew how quickly dragons grew, but his love for dragons had made him overlook that.

"Well... the Forbidden Forest..."

Eli began offering silent condolences to the creatures of the Forbidden Forest. Not only did they have to suffer under the Acromantulas, they might now have to deal with a dragon too.

He said, "Hagrid, the Forbidden Forest probably can't hide such a large flying dragon, and besides, people definitely won't agree to it."

Everyone fell silent, and Hagrid was nearly in tears.

Draco looked reluctant to part with the baby dragon too.

Ron suddenly had an idea. "Maybe we can send Norbert to a dragon farm. My brother Charlie Weasley works at a dragon farm in Romania!"

Hagrid stopped sniffling too. Though he was destined not to keep Norbert, sending him to a dragon farm would still be a good outcome.

Draco's eyes lit up as well. "My family has several dragon farms there too. We can send Norbert to one of them. I'll make sure they treat him well!"

Hagrid's mood improved greatly. With Ron's brother and Draco's family dragon farms, Norbert would surely live well.

Hagrid wiped away his tears with a filthy handkerchief and looked gratefully at Draco and Ron. "Thank you, Draco. Thank you, Ron. I'll leave Norbert to you when the time comes. Boohoohoo..."

The scene suddenly felt like he was entrusting them with an orphan.

They played with Norbert for a while longer, though Hagrid was naturally the only one who actually touched him. Even Draco was too afraid of dying to dare reach out and pet him.

"All right, children, it's really getting late. You should head back to the castle early. Sneaking out at night isn't a good habit!"

It really was getting late. They had originally wanted to tell Hagrid about the Philosopher's Stone, but judging by his attitude, he would not believe them. They had no choice but to head back.

On the way, they continued talking about dragons. The feud between Harry's group and Draco was pushed aside.

It was not surprising, really. They were only eleven-year-old children. What strange prejudices could they possibly have? They had merely been influenced by their families and would eventually develop their own judgment.

Eli was also doing his best to correct Draco's way of thinking. He did not want Draco to become a Death Eater like in the original story. Besides, even after becoming a Death Eater, Draco had never been able to bring himself to fully commit evil.

Put simply, Draco had a kind heart, but his family's influence had robbed him of his own judgment. In the end, he did not even have the courage to truly harden his heart.

Seeing how pleasantly he was talking with Harry and the others now, it was entirely possible for him to change.

As they walked, a figure suddenly appeared ahead of them.

Eli said, "Oh, boy."

McGonagall looked at the same four who had faced the Troll last time. "Can any of you tell me why it's you again?"

They stammered incoherently.

She then looked at Draco, who had lowered his head. "Mr. Malfoy, I imagine your father would not be pleased to hear that you were punished for breaking school rules."

Draco's face immediately went pale.

Sneaking out at night was always considered a serious offense, and McGonagall never went easy on such matters. "The five of you, fifty points each!"

"Huh?"

Their faces instantly crumpled. This was far too harsh.

Eli and Draco lost a hundred points between them, while Gryffindor had it even worse, with three people losing one hundred and fifty points.

McGonagall's reputation for fairness and strictness was indeed well deserved.

In an instant, Slytherin and Gryffindor had fallen behind Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff overnight.

By tomorrow morning, the young Wizards would discover this wonderful surprise.

McGonagall still frowned and had no intention of letting them off. "To make sure you remember this, you'll accompany Hagrid on a patrol of the Forbidden Forest tonight!"

There Hagrid stood, speechless as he looked at the five children who had just returned. Children really were annoying!

"When we enter the Forbidden Forest, we'll split into two groups. Hermione and Ron will come with me. Draco, Harry, and Eli will go together. If there's danger, use your wands to send up red sparks. Understood?"

"So what are we doing?"

Draco asked.

A trace of solemnity crossed Hagrid's face. "Several Unicorns have been attacked in the Forbidden Forest lately. Another one was attacked today. We need to find the poor thing as quickly as possible."

After explaining everything, the two groups set off in different directions. Draco even brought Fang along, completely missing Eli's resentful look.

"If my father finds out I got caught sneaking out at night, he'll definitely scold me!"

Draco said nervously.

Harry put on the air of someone with experience. "What's so scary about getting scolded? Just pretend you can't hear it."

"Looks like you get scolded quite often, Scarhead."

Draco casually gave Harry a nickname, grinning wickedly.

"Don't call me Scarhead!"