Chapter 90: Hagrid And The Dragon
Dumbledore asked Vaughn to return to Hogwarts as soon as possible, naturally because Harry had successfully mastered Legilimency.
It was two days prior, on a night like any other, when the Scottish Highlands’ sky was shrouded in dark clouds and fine rain.
Harry, as usual, dawdled and stammered, only reluctantly coming to the Potions Office late at night—Professor Snape believed the Room of Requirement’s study-cum-lounge was too comfortable and highly detrimental to practicing Legilimency.
Even though several days had passed, Harry still remembered Snape’s maliciously drawn-out voice when he proposed changing the practice location to Dumbledore:
“A lazy, comfort-loving fool needs a harsher environment to remind him that what he’s learning might save his life!”
Harry strongly suspected that Snape moved the practice location to the basement because it was remote, seldom visited, cold, and damp, and even Slytherin students were unwilling to go near it when there were no classes.
It was an ideal place for a murder.
That day, Harry indignantly told Ron and Hermione what had happened.
He wanted his two good friends to stay by his side recently, lest he be quietly murdered by Snape one day.
Regarding his expressed worry, Hermione felt there was no need to worry: “Professor Snape couldn’t possibly kill you because there’s no need. He just needs to breach your mind and implant all sorts of terrible self-destructive thoughts into your head, and you’ll jump off the observatory yourself!”
Harry’s face turned ashen, his lips pale.
Fortunately, his good brother Ron could always make him smile again.
“Ha, Snape knows the basement environment is bad? I thought he liked that kind of bat cave!”
Ron laughed heartily in the busy corridor, and then he was caught by Professor McGonagall.
The fair Deputy Headmistress trembled with anger, “Weasley, how dare you slander and insult a professor like that? It seems the last detention didn’t make you realize your mistake. Now, go clean the lavatory, no magic allowed… Hand over your wand!”
Ron grunted, reluctant to hand it over.
Hermione, standing beside him, spoke up righteously, “Professor, Ronald doesn’t know the Cleaning Charm yet, so it makes no difference whether he hands over his wand!”
Ron stared at her incredulously, seemingly unable to comprehend why she was so malicious as to expose his academic weakness to the usually stern Professor McGonagall.
As expected, Professor McGonagall’s expression grew uglier, “Mr. Weasley, I don’t believe I’ll be mistaken; the Cleaning Charm is one of the simplest spells for a first-year. Professor Flitwick should have taught you all three months ago. Even for a troll, three months…”
Good manners prevented her from finishing her sentence.
However, her exploding anger made her unable to control herself, and she twisted Ron’s ear, dragging him all the way to the office amidst the stares of the students.
Looking at Ron’s miserable retreating back, Harry couldn’t help but curl his lips—when you have to face someone who despises you and might even want to kill you every day, and then you see your carefree companions, anyone would be unable to resist thinking:
I really wish he’d suffer with me!
Harry suddenly felt much better, and even the gloomy sky seemed brighter, but he still kept Hermione’s words in mind.
So, that night he desperately resisted Snape’s Legilimency. It was a strange scene: a big one and a small one in the basement, staring at each other, making all sorts of contorted faces.
They would only shiver and stop when one of them was completely exhausted, then they would gasp for air.
The scene was difficult to bear.
Even after the practice ended, Harry felt no relief. The fear and anxiety towards Snape unleashed a potential he hadn’t even imagined.
On the morning of the 21st, Harry opened his eyes and subconsciously observed his surroundings—this was a habit he had recently developed. His not-yet-fully-mastered Legilimency always dissolved during sleep due to subconscious relaxation, triggering the punishment mechanism of the auto-responder personality.
Harry had almost forgotten how many people or animals he had “transformed” into since the auto-responder personality was implanted.
But to his surprise, he didn’t find himself in some inexplicable place today.
What greeted his eyes was the familiar dormitory. To his right, Neville lay sprawled on his bed, the Memory Charm in his hand emitting a crimson glow.
He wondered what he had forgotten in his sleep again.
To his left slept Ron. Scabbers was in a cage by the bedside. The fat rat heard the movement, yawned, and looked at Harry blankly.
Seeing Scabbers always made Harry recall the feeling of it wriggling in his mouth last time…
Gag!
Harry turned his face away, forcing himself to forget that terrible scene, and sat on the bed in a daze, then pinched himself hard.
The pain in his arm was clear; it wasn’t a dream.
Harry’s first reaction was confusion: Had the auto-responder personality failed? He quickly dismissed this doubt, as he clearly felt his thoughts were encased in a weak, yet incredibly clear, barrier.
It had no physical form, but was a sensation, a faint coolness covering his brain. If he didn’t pay attention, he might even mistake it for an illusion.
“Is this… Legilimency?”
Harry murmured to himself, somewhat hesitantly.
He had never had this cool sensation before, but Vaughn had told him that if one day he felt something had been added to his brain, it meant he had completely learned Legilimency.
…Snape had said the same thing!
Cold, refreshing, hot, empty…
Everyone’s Legilimency was different, depending on what “ingredients” were used to “construct” the barrier.
The ingredients could be false memories or emotions.
Harry wasn’t entirely sure. As he was lost in thought, Ron, on the next bed, suddenly sat up, his face flushed, and shouted, “Professor McGonagall, I really can’t eat anymore, I…”
His voice stopped abruptly, and he met Harry’s gaze.
“Uh, Ron, were you dreaming?”
“…Yes…”
Harry’s eyes darted around. Thinking of something, he asked ‘curiously,’ “I remember Professor McGonagall asked you to clean the toilets yesterday. How could you dream about eating…”
Then, a flushed Ron frantically lunged over to cover his mouth.
After a bit of roughhousing, the two left the dormitory and went to the dining hall. When they found Hermione, Harry told his companions about the strange sensation in his head and his guess.
“That’s great!” Ron slapped his thigh. “Now that you’ve learned it, you don’t have to go to that old bat anymore…”
His voice trailed off, as Hermione was staring fixedly at him.
Ron mumbled resentfully, “Hmph, yesterday you framed me in front of Professor McGonagall, and today you look like you want to eat someone. You just said a few bad words about Snape? Traitor!”
Harry and Ron both felt that Hermione had been acting strange lately.
Especially around Valentine’s Day.
Everyone had initially thought Snape was the black-robed man, and even Hermione’s own previous observations and deductions had reached a similar conclusion.
Even though she was unwilling to believe it, when faced with Harry and Ron’s suspicions, she had only remained noncommittal.
But for some reason, one day she suddenly started defending Snape.
She wouldn’t give a reason when they asked her, becoming rather cryptic.
Of course, apart from that, she was still the Miss Know-it-all they were familiar with.
For example, when it came to homework.
Ron, under Hermione’s glare, dared not speak, and Harry didn’t escape either. He didn’t even have time to celebrate learning Legilimency before Hermione dragged him to the library after breakfast.
Hermione, who was already taller than Harry, placed a stack of books taller than herself on the table and, under their fearful gazes, took out her notebook.
“Since Harry has learned Legilimency, from now on, you two will review with me!”
Hermione said sternly.
Her demeanor made Ron feel as if he were seeing Professor McGonagall.
In the entire school, Ron feared her the most. He only dared to fantasize in his dreams about Professor McGonagall inviting him to dinner and calling him a genius.
Ron stared blankly at the pile of books, “Review? Are you crazy? It’s only February…”
“It’s the end of February, almost March. There are only 13 weeks left until the end-of-term exams. June is the exam month. Do you want to wait until then to review?”
Hermione stood with her hands on her hips in front of them. Against the backdrop of the pile of books beside her, her figure was so tall and imposing!
It made Harry and Ron’s scalps tingle.
Even Harry couldn’t help but retort, “Hermione, can you stop playing with time concepts every time? There are still more than 3 months left. Even if you convert it to weeks, it won’t make it any shorter.”
“Have you considered Nicolas Flamel? He lived for over 600 years. Three months would be like the blink of an eye to him…”
Ron interrupted her, “We’re not Flamel, and we don’t live to be 600 years old.”
“That’s why we need to cherish time even more—”
Hermione, with her clever little brain, always managed to confuse Harry and Ron. By the time the two came to their senses again, they were already sitting at a table in the library, not far from Madam Pince, who, holding a feather duster, glared menacingly at the young wizards.
No one dared to make noise or disrespect books in front of her, otherwise, the feather duster in her hand would teach them what manners were!
Harry and Ron had no choice but to steel themselves and dive into the task of flipping through books.
Although they didn’t understand.
If they, two academic underachievers, had to review, why did Hermione also have to review?
That afternoon, when Ron saw Hermione flipping through her notebook and writing plans with different colored marker pens, he finally couldn’t help but ask her, “You understand everything, you can recite the contents of the books with your eyes closed. Are these review plans really useful to you?”
Hermione sneered, “Ronald, if you were as smart as your brother, you would never say such arrogant words. Even Dumbledore wouldn’t dare say he knows everything!”
Ron’s face turned red, not from shame, but from indignation.
He felt that Hermione was becoming more and more like Vaughn, becoming equally sharp-tongued, unpleasant, and venomous.
At noon that day, while going to the boys’ restroom, he and Harry snuck out to the courtyard for some fresh air and complained, “Silly little girl, don’t think I don’t know why she’s working so hard. It’s because Vaughn is too much of a genius, and she feels pressured… It’s like those little girls in St. Catchpol Village when they were young, desperately flipping through Potions books just to have something to talk to Vaughn about. So stupid!”
“I’m telling you, Harry, never try to force yourself to change just to attract someone. People who do that are fools.”
Harry, who had turned red after encountering Cho Chang in the dining hall at noon but hadn’t managed to speak to her, and was thinking about how to inquire about her hobbies to strike up a conversation, blushed deeply upon hearing this.
Ron continued obliviously, pontificating, “Muggles call people like that ‘Simp’ （, meaning something like a puppy-dog lover ）. I don’t know the exact meaning, but it’s clearly not a compliment… Harry, why are you looking at me?”
Understanding what that word meant and feeling a little embarrassed and annoyed, Harry said dryly, “You know so much. Did you have a girl you liked before who preferred playing with Vaughn?”
Ron: “…”
The boat of friendship could capsize at any moment.
However, for children of this age, a temporary awkwardness was far from escalating into a quarrel or hatred.
The next day, the two were friends again.
The reason was not only that neither of them dwelled on the awkwardness but also because the so-called “review” was no longer solely Hermione’s individual endeavor.
The professors also seemed to think it was time to make the students feel the pressure!
Hogwarts did not have compulsory education.
To advance from first year to second year, one had to pass an exam; those who failed had to repeat the year.
Therefore, starting on the 21st, professors of all subjects unanimously assigned a large amount of homework.
The content covered all the knowledge points of the entire academic year, along with a large number of essays. Faced with a mountain of assignments, Harry and Ron had no choice but to let go of their grudges and band together for warmth.
“Merlin, when will this kind of day ever end!”
In the library, having only lasted half a day, Ron, feeling as if he were about to die, sighed softly and slumped onto the desk.
Across from him, Harry’s forehead was covered in sweat from flipping through books.
He was searching for a plant called Comfrey in 《Magical Herbs and Fungi》.
Although 《Magical Herbs and Fungi》 sounded like a Herbology textbook, it was actually a Potions textbook. That afternoon, Snape had sarcastically taunted Harry, believing he absolutely couldn’t figure out what Comfrey was used for.
He said that Harry’s thick, crowded skull now contained some things and definitely couldn’t hold more.
So Harry vowed that he would find that damned “Comfrey,” even if it killed him today!
Ever since Snape learned that Harry had mastered Legilimency, his temper had worsened, and his attitude towards Harry had become even more hostile.
Harry didn’t want to admit defeat in front of such a person.
Seeing Harry engrossed, and Hermione also burying her head in her notebook, Ron listlessly looked out at the sky.
The sky was still overcast and drizzling today, with heavy clouds.
After the spring arrived in the Scottish Highlands, the rain seemed to pour down as if to empty the surrounding seas. Seeing the sun felt like a lifetime ago.
Since spring arrived, Ron hadn’t seen Hagrid take off his heavy oilskin coat… Wait!
“Hagrid? What are you doing here?”
Ron exclaimed loudly, surprised to see Hagrid, who was at least 11 feet tall and hiding furtively behind a row of bookshelves by the window.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ron remembered he was in the library and quickly covered his mouth.
As expected, Madam Pince, clutching her feather duster, quickly came over.
Her eyes, filled with fighting spirit and oppression, swept around fiercely.
The young wizards at the surrounding desks, trembling, all pointed to Ron.
Subsequently, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid were all driven out by Madam Pince…
“I really can’t believe it, what do you always think about, Ronald Weasley? I haven’t even finished taking notes, and those few books are so hard to borrow. This time, I begged Madam Pince to specifically keep them for me, and you…”
Hermione, whose review had been interrupted, went berserk and ranted at Ron.
Harry, on the other hand, felt a sense of relief.
He had reached his limit after spending half the day looking up books out of spite, so it was good to rest.
Moreover, he was curious about why Hagrid was at the library.
Although it wasn’t good to label people,
To be honest, Harry didn’t think Hagrid was the type of person who could sit still and read, unless it was related to magical creatures.
Seeing Hermione’s temper growing more agitated, Harry quickly asked:
“Hagrid, why are you at the library… Uh, is there something you’re hiding behind your back?”
Hagrid kept his hands behind his back under his large oilskin coat and stammered vaguely, “I wanted to find some books on agriculture… Yes, books on cultivating pumpkins, ones that make pumpkins big and sweet, or cultivate the flavor of fried cod and fried potatoes…”
He began to ramble and soon urged them, “You guys should go back quickly and apologize to Madam Pince. I heard you have a lot of classes… By the way, you haven’t been investigating the matter of the Philosopher’s Stone recently, have you?”
Mentioning this, Harry’s spirits immediately lifted, and he probed,
“We’ve found out. The one who wanted to steal the Philosopher’s Stone was Snape. Hagrid, you…”
“It couldn’t be him,” Hagrid shook his head repeatedly. He glanced left and right, saw that the library exterior was bustling with people and not a good place to talk, and then whispered, “You guys come to my hut tonight. I’ll tell you why.”
Having said that, he quickly hugged the few books he was hiding behind his back, bid farewell to the trio, and soon disappeared into the rain.
Looking at Hagrid’s receding back, Ron pouted, “He definitely wasn’t borrowing books on agriculture, at least not on cultivating pumpkins. Otherwise, why would he hide? Could pumpkins grow to be man-eating?”
Harry also thought it wasn’t.
But Hagrid clearly didn’t want to say, and there was nothing he could do. However, what pleased him was that Hagrid, who had always been tight-lipped and would even get angry when they pressed him about the Philosopher’s Stone, was now willing to tell them some information.
This made Harry look forward to it.
Just as he was wondering why Hagrid was so certain it couldn’t be Snape.
Hermione, who had quietly left at some point, returned with a piece of paper.
She spread the note in front of Harry and Ron and huffed, “Hagrid is looking for books about dragons. Look, 《A Guide to Raising Dragons》, 《Encyclopedia of World Dragons》, 《How to Hatch Eggs》.”
Harry immediately lost interest.
He shrugged, “Then it’s not surprising. Hagrid has always wanted to raise a dragon. He told me when we first met.”
“But it’s different, Harry. Anyone in the whole of Hogwarts would know Hagrid likes dragons.”
Ron suddenly said, “That’s not a secret at all. I bet if anyone showed interest in raising dragons, Hagrid could talk to them for a whole day, not like today, where he’s afraid of being discovered.”
Harry was astonished, “You mean…”
“Exactly, Harry. Liking dragons isn’t illegal. There’s no need to be sneaky unless Hagrid has one… a live dragon, no, perhaps a dragon egg!”
At this point, Ron excitedly flared his nostrils and gasped for air.
Hermione immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm, “Ronald, don’t forget that privately raising dragons is a one-way ticket to Azkaban.”
“…”
Ron, whose daydream had been shattered before it even began, huffed and said no more.
Harry, who was unfamiliar with the wizarding world and disliked reading, was surprised, “You go to Azkaban? Then Hagrid…”
Hermione glanced at him, then at the busy corridor, “So, when you talk about this topic, can you find a secluded place?”
Ultimately, they decided to go to the Room of Requirement to study. In all of Hogwarts, there was no better place for studying and chatting.
No boy could resist a live fire dragon.
On the way to the Room of Requirement, Harry kept asking Hermione and Ron questions about fire dragons.
Because even in the wizarding world, fire dragons were majestic, powerful, and mysterious magical creatures.
At least Harry hadn’t seen any at Hogwarts.
Ron answered his questions, “Because all dragons are protected. Not confined, but each country’s Ministry of Magic designates a protected area and hires professionals to provide wildlife containment for fire dragons. This is mainly to prevent poachers who attack fire dragons for dragon blood, dragon nerves, and other materials.”
“Charlie works in a fire dragon sanctuary in Romania.”
Influenced by Charlie, he was half a fire dragon enthusiast and could recall some basic information about them offhand: “…Actually, there are still wild fire dragons in the wild. I heard that not too far from Hogwarts, on the Hebridean Islands in Scotland, there lives a group of black dragons.”
“They are one of the only two native fire dragon species remaining in England. The other is the common Welsh Green Dragon…”
Throughout the afternoon, Hermione remained busy with her review plans, while Ron regaled Harry with dragon knowledge he had overheard. His learned demeanor made Harry once again wonder what he himself was doing all day.
As night fell, the trio ate a quick meal in the dining hall.
Hermione returned to her dormitory to get Guo Guo Cha, intending to let Guo Guo Cha stretch its legs during the trip to Hagrid’s hut.
Ron was unhappy about this, as it meant he couldn’t bring Scabbers.
“Can’t you consider my feelings? Scabbers is so pitiful, having to be kept in a cage all day now.”
“Isn’t Guo Guo Cha pitiful too? It sees mice in front of it but can never eat them!”
Ron was dumbfounded. Could a person say such a thing?
At this moment, Guo Guo Cha, which had been quietly following behind Hermione, suddenly perked up its nose, sniffed the air a few times, and then meowed, running towards a corridor.
“Guo Guo Cha!”
“It’s your fault, Ronald. Guo Guo Cha is very smart. You must have broken its heart.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, it’s a cat; it can’t understand human speech!”
“Alright, alright, let’s go find it quickly. We still need to hurry to Hagrid’s!”
The three of them bickered and hurriedly chased after it.
But they soon stopped—as they rounded the corner of the corridor, Guo Guo Cha hadn’t gotten lost.
The plump, big cat was rubbing its belly against a boy’s leg, acting affectionately towards him.
Hearing footsteps, the boy turned around, “Hi, Hermione, Harry, oh, and my brother, Ronald Weasley!”
