Norbert Was Missing

A week later, a notice on the bulletin board finally displaced all the "coward" gossip. It said the base's lockdown would end on Monday, August 10. The dragons could go out and stretch their wings again! No more stockpiled canned food and salad vegetables, and everyone could exchange letters with family and friends!

Monday, Norbert's enclosure!

"Norberta, after a month cooped up, your wings must be getting rusty!"

Ager, who was in charge of her, spoke with a smile. Norbert had not seen him in ages. She gently rubbed her nose against his chest and whined for attention.

"Hello, I'm Rubeus Hagrid. I'm Norbert's dragon mum. Sorry, I'm used to calling her Norbert!"

"That's all right. Norbert and Norberta are just nicknames! Sorry, I was injured and had to recuperate at the Dragon Hospital. They only let me out today. I never expected so much to happen at the base while I was there!"

"Was it serious?"

Luo Bin asked as he fed Norbert chunks of mutton.

Ager waved it off with a smile. "Nothing serious. A wild dragon stepped on me a few times. I broke a few ribs, tore a few ligaments, had some internal bleeding, and spent half a month with my brain swollen. That's all."

Those injuries were enough to bring someone to death's door three times over. And he didn't call that serious?

Perhaps sensing Luo Bin's disbelief, Ager yanked open his collar, revealing a horrifying spread of scars.

Not a patch of skin on his chest was unmarked. Blue, purple, red, black—anything but its original color. In several places, burns, crushing injuries, and cuts overlapped. Just looking at them made Luo Bin's scalp prickle.

"Scared you, didn't I? Grab anyone at this base and strip off his shirt, and you'll find the same thing: