Before closing the door, Professor Kettleburn said with a mysterious expression,
"Chet, I daresay you're in for a surprise in a moment."
"...I hope it's a pleasant surprise," Brian said.
The first thing Brian saw when he opened the trapdoor was something strange: two crates of brandy pumping up and down.
The bottles clinked together, their fragrance filling the air.
Beneath the two crates, the Little Sapphire Dragon stood on two legs.
Its claws were hooked into gaps in the bottoms of the wooden crates. With a determined gaze, it raised its arms-or perhaps its forelegs-and lowered them again, repeating the weightlifting motion.
It held a thick, magically reinforced rope in its mouth.
The other end was attached to two Land Whales struggling to run forward-the whales were panting with exhaustion, while the Little Sapphire Dragon remained rooted to the spot.
A hardworking dragon, a dragon that kept exercising even without anyone watching-Brian was proud of his child, but he was inevitably bewildered as well.
Was this the dragon-training method Professor Kettleburn had devised? Why was it completely different from what he had read in books? Surely the Hogwarts Library didn't stock fake books?
Brian didn't interrupt the Little Sapphire Dragon's training. He slowed his steps and walked over to the two crates of brandy, discovering that the one on the left didn't contain only brandy.
Half the crate was occupied by Norberta, who was fully half an arm long-Norberta was asleep, still biting the head of the teddy bear Hagrid had bought as a toy. The poor bear was bleeding-cotton, that was-and its body was covered in cuts and slashes from sharp blades.
Those were probably caused by Norberta's wings. Something was clearly wrong with this dragon too-what dragon grew at such an astonishing rate?
Just then, the brandy