Very few wizards knew lightning magic.
He had not expected it to hatch so quickly. He had originally estimated that it would not break out of its shell until early July.
The owl looked at Gerald and hooted twice.
He casually fed the owl a piece of jerky, and it flapped its wings and flew away.
Gerald put the letter away, glanced at his still-sleeping roommates, and abandoned the idea of waking them.
He dressed quietly, went to the Great Hall to collect two breakfasts, then headed straight for Hagrid's Hut.
The late-June morning was still a little chilly, and fine beads of dew clung to the grass at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Fang caught his scent from a distance and rushed over, tail wagging. He circled Gerald several times, so excited that he nearly tripped him.
Hagrid was crouching beside a wooden crate outside the hut, his large, shaggy face wearing a mixture of nervousness and anticipation that Gerald rarely saw.
"Gerald, you're just in time! Come and look. There's another crack in the shell. I reckon it'll be out in another few dozen minutes." Hagrid shifted aside to make room for him.
The wooden crate was lined with thick layers of dry grass and cotton batting, with the Thunderbird Egg resting quietly in the center.
Sure enough, several hairline cracks had appeared in the dark gray shell, stretching from its tip to its middle. A faint golden glow flowed within the cracks, and every time it brightened, an extremely faint pecking sound could be heard from inside.
"It's all thanks to you, Hagrid. Without you looking after it, there's no telling whether this egg would've hatched." Gerald handed Hagrid one of the breakfasts he had brought from the Great Hall, then bit into the toast from