Dragon Egg

Clearly, most of the professors shared Hermione's view. Aya received a mountain of homework, and when the school broke up for the Easter holidays, she grew fond of Percy again.

"Lord Prefect, may your radiance shine upon the world-" Aya reverently held her homework aloft in both hands. Across from her, Percy's mouth twitched.

Ever since helping Aya with her schoolwork at Christmas, Percy had refused to meet her eyes. Even now, when she looked at him with that pitiful gaze, as though he were the Chosen One, he... well, he couldn't refuse. He had to revise for the O.W.L.s Examination anyway, so he had to go to the library regardless.

He was only teaching a blockhead. He could do it! He was going to be Minister for Magic one day; a little setback like this couldn't get him down!

"Why did you bring him here?" Ron muttered under his breath, lowering his head in discontent. Across from them, Percy was telling Hermione about his experience with exams. Her eyes were shining as though she had found a treasure, and her quill never stopped moving. Clearly, Percy was also in a wonderful mood as he held forth.

"He's really good at helping with homework!" Aya said confidently, pulling out the essay she had swum through the Black Lake with. "Percy helped me at Christmas, and he can do it again!"

"But Snape said your essay was like a Troll's snot," Harry said with a quiet laugh. "He said he could put the parchment on the floor and tread on it twice, and it would still be better than what you wrote."

"That's because he can't appreciate it!" Aya glared at Harry. He just had to bring that up. "Professor McGonagall and the others never said anything like that!"

"Professor McGonagall said your essay looked like a human being wrote it," Harry added.

"Is there a problem with that?" Ron asked.

"...No problem. I think you two are about as bad as each other." Harry was speechless.

Across from them, Percy and Hermione had moved on to the O.W.L.s Examination he would be taking that year. Every sentence he spoke stressed how important the exam was, successfully sending Hermione's anxiety through the roof.

"...Yes, if your O.W.L.s Examination results aren't good enough, you won't be able to continue studying some subjects with their professors. In that case, you won't be able to take the N.E.W.T.s Examination in your seventh year, and you won't have any results," Percy said, raising his chin. "That will shut the door on a lot of jobs."

Ron watched Hermione's expression grow more and more serious and muttered, "I think taking a few fewer classes would be nice."

"I think so too," Aya said, offering her wholehearted support.

The Easter holiday lasted several days. Aside from spending time in the library doing homework with the two top students, Hermione and Percy, Aya ran wild everywhere else. She received plenty of Easter eggs from her friends and stuffed more than ten into her mouth each day. Sometimes she thought she must taste like chocolate herself.

Of course, just before Aya put another piece of chocolate in her mouth, Hermione remembered something very important. "Can you eat chocolate? Aren't you from the cat clan?"

"The Feline Spirit Clan," Aya corrected her, stuffing the chocolate into her mouth. "I can eat it. Why wouldn't I be able to? I've eaten it loads of times before, and nothing happened."

Hermione nodded. It was good that she was fine. After all, chocolate was highly poisonous not only to dogs, but to cats as well.

"Why are we wasting such a wonderful day in the library?" Ron watched enviously as Aya dashed off her homework, then happily lay over the table, unwrapping a chocolate Easter egg an older Hufflepuff girl had given her after appearing from who knew where. It was as big as a fist.

He looked out the window. It was the first fine day in months. The sky was clear and bright, and there was even a hint of summer holidays in the air.

"Why?" Harry repeated blankly, his eyes glazed over.

There had to be something wrong with his head for him to refuse to ride his broom on the pitch in weather like this, but he really didn't want to repeat a year!

Who could accept a Chosen One who had to repeat a year?

"Hagrid?" Ron suddenly spotted a familiar, burly figure appearing and disappearing between the bookshelves. He glanced at Percy and Hermione, who were both writing furiously, then pulled the dazed Chosen One over.

Before long, he returned with a strange expression, carrying several books. "He's reading about dragons? Why is he reading about dragons?"

"What dragons?" Aya sat bolt upright. "Are there dragons here too?"

"Not at school, but Britain has Common Welsh Greens and Hebridean Black Dragons. My second-oldest brother works on a dragon reserve, though not around here. I mean—but why is Hagrid reading books about dragons?" Ron put the books on the table.

Curious, Aya picked one up and leafed through it. It was called "Dragon Breeds of Great Britain and Ireland."

Her world had a dragon too, called Dvalin. He was a faction boss, very hard to beat, and very, very big. When he first went live, his stats were poorly balanced, and players had spent a whole month paying their respects to the developers' families.

"Hagrid's always wanted to raise a dragon. He said so the first time I met him," Harry said.

"But keeping dragons privately is against the law!" Ron glanced at Percy across the table and continued in a low voice, "The ban on keeping dragons was officially passed at the Wizards' Convention of 1709. It's not just because they're afraid Muggles will discover them; they're also very hard to tame. Charlie still has plenty of burns, all from wild dragons in Romania."

"Then what is Hagrid going to do?" Harry had a slight feeling of foreboding.

After they finished studying for the day, the three of them dragged Hermione, whose head was full of the O.W.L.s Examination, along to Hagrid's Hut.

Aya still hadn't eaten a meal Hagrid had cooked, but some time ago she had been fortunate enough to try his Rock Cakes-food that looked more like a weapon than even a baguette. The moment Aya took her first bite, she felt she could call it "The Rock Cake Murder Case."

But she wasn't a picky child. She soaked the fist-sized-Hagrid's fist-sized-Rock Cake in milk and managed to finish it.

It was so filling that she ate nothing else for an entire day.

Afterward, she classified Rock Cakes as strategic supplies and put them in a corner of her backpack, intending to eat—or use-them in an emergency.

"Hagrid has definitely committed a crime," Aya said, pointing at his house. "His curtains are drawn tight. I can tell he looks guilty."

"Yes, yes, you can tell," Harry said dismissively as he went up to knock.

"Who is it?" Hagrid called from inside.

"Open up! We're here to check the water meter!" Aya called solemnly.

"What's checking the water meter?" Ron asked.

"Er, it's a Muggle World thing, a meter that measures how much water a household uses?" Hermione said uncertainly. Mainly, she didn't understand what Aya meant by saying it here.

"Oh, coming!" Hagrid clearly didn't know either. Hearing familiar voices, he came to the door, hurried them inside, then shut it tightly behind them.

The hut was as hot as the height of summer. A roaring fire blazed in the fireplace, and Hagrid brought them tea and stoat sandwiches.

Harry and the others said outright that they had already eaten. Aya eagerly took one.

The interrogation began.

"So, yeh've got summat yeh want ter ask me?"

"Yes. I was wondering if you could tell us what other protections there are for the Philosopher's Stone, besides Fluffy."

"Course I can't tell yeh, and I don't know anyway." Hagrid frowned as he said it. "And yeh already know too much. I really don't understand how yeh even found out about Fluffy."

"Oh, Hagrid, perhaps you just don't want to tell us. You must know," Hermione said in a sweet tone she had never used before. Aya chewed her slightly salty sandwich and glanced at her several times. "Actually, we only want to know who helped design them. Then we'd know who else Dumbledore trusts."

Aya had thought they would have to coax him some more, but to her surprise, Hagrid spilled everything as soon as he heard that. "Let me see. He borrowed Fluffy from me, then asked a few professors: Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell. Dumbledore put enchantments on it himself, too. Oh, and Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

"Yeah. Don't tell me yeh still suspect him? He helped protect the Philosopher's Stone. He wouldn't steal it."

Aya chewed and chewed, matching the instance she had cleared last term to the professors Hagrid had named. But apart from Snape's Potions and the three-headed dog, she couldn't match a single one.

"It's a bit hot," Aya muttered. "Hagrid, are you trying to roast yourself until you swell up even more? I feel like I'm in an oven."

"I think so too." Ron tugged at his collar. Outside, the temperature was still that of spring. Though it was sunny today, it wasn't particularly warm, but it was still a little strange for Hagrid to have such a blazing fire.

"Can we open a window? It's really too hot." Even Harry's fringe was a little damp with sweat.

Hagrid glanced guiltily toward the fireplace. "No, sorry." But his face was big, and the four children easily caught the look.

"What's this?" Aya went closer. "Hagrid! You're keeping all the good food for yourself! You gave us stoat sandwiches, but you're roasting such a huge egg all for yourself!"

"We didn't eat those sandwiches," Ron corrected her. Then he came over for a look himself and confirmed that it really was a dragon egg. "Where did you get it? It must have cost a fortune, right?"

"Won it. I was drinking in the village and got it playing cards with a stranger." Hagrid looked a little proud. "To be honest, he was probably eager ter get rid of it!"

"Why would he want to get rid of such a big egg?" Aya squatted in front of the fireplace, wanting another taste. "How much longer until it's cooked?"

"It's hatched," Hermione said. "But what are you going to do when it comes out?"

"It's not for eating?" Aya was a little disappointed.

"A fire like this won't cook it," Ron explained. "This is one step in hatching it. Honestly, can't you think about something else?"

"Once it hatches, we can eat it?" Aya asked hopefully, only for Hagrid to shove her aside with his backside. She dared say that if Hagrid sat on someone, they would die much faster than if Xiaohua sat on them.

"What d'yeh mean, eat it!" Hagrid said indignantly. "Our baby Norwegian Ridgeback can't hear things like that! The book says ter put the egg in the fire, because their mothers breathe on them. Once it hatches, feed it a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour, and it'll grow up healthy. I was just about ter order a great big barrel of brandy from the pub later!"

"I do hope he remembers he lives in a wooden house," Hermione said worriedly on the way back to the castle. "Does Dumbledore know about this?"

"Probably not?" Harry was a little worried too. "It's against the law, against the law!"

"If only we could eat it before it's discovered," Aya said worriedly as well. "Then there'd be no proof, and I could taste dragon meat too."

"Oh, dragon meat doesn't taste good," Ron said with a curl of his lip. "Charlie says every part of a dragon can be used as magical material, especially the meat. It's just that, by comparison, it isn't worth as much as dragon blood."

Hatching a dragon egg wasn't something that happened overnight. After Aya left, she went to the kitchens to find Duoduo, hoping for a huge roasted egg to satisfy her craving.

Duoduo thought long and hard, then went and got her an ostrich egg. It wasn't as big as the dragon egg, but it still looked impressive. However, roasted eggs could easily explode, so Duoduo suggested boiling it.

Aya agreed.

More than an hour later, Aya returned to the common room carrying a gigantic boiled ostrich egg. Harry and Ron were being made by Hermione to draw up revision schedules. Ron was so muddled that when he saw Aya come in carrying an egg, he held his face in his hands and said she had robbed Hagrid.

"It's an ostrich egg!" Aya refused to take the blame for something she hadn't done. "Duoduo got it for me. It took ages to boil!" she said happily. She was also carrying some sauces to eat with the egg.

"No wonder I didn't see you at dinner," Hermione said. "Is that all you're eating tonight?"

"Yes. It's all Hagrid's fault for making me curious," Aya complained. Then she put the ostrich egg on the table. "You do your homework. I have to eat!"

They watched Aya stand the egg upright on the table, make an opening in the top, and take out a golden spoon—the kind of cutlery that seemed to be used at feasts. Then she began scooping out the egg and eating it, adding different sauces every few bites.

All sorts of jams, ketchup, pasta sauce, hot-and-sour vinegar dressing, chocolate sauce, spicy soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce...

Wait?

"Why is there chocolate sauce too?!" Ron shrieked, unable to accept the combination.

"Oh, Duoduo must have picked up the wrong one." Aya licked the chocolate from the corner of her mouth. "But it tastes all right. It's kind of weird."

"How can it taste all right if it's weird?" Harry's eyes went wide. "Aya, when you went to steal that turban, didn't the smell make you lose your sense of taste?"

"That's possible!" Hermione chimed in. "She even ate a stoat sandwich today!"

"No," Aya said, stirring it again. The yellow and white inside the shell blended with the color of the chocolate. "I think I'm perfectly fine now. I haven't lost my sense of taste!"

"...I'm going to bring up my dinner." Harry didn't dare look inside the egg.

"I'd like to request a half-hour break." Ron raised a trembling hand.

"Maybe I should add the rest of my Easter chocolate too," Aya mused. "Little eggs inside a big egg. How special! I'll definitely be able to come back to life lots of times in the future!"

"That's not what Easter eggs mean!" Hermione stopped her. "Please, don't pollute my thoughts. If your real chocolate egg is all I can think about while I'm revising, I'll be in trouble on my exams!"