Chapter 96: Birth of the Dragon and 'Sneak Attack'

Over breakfast, Harry received a letter from Hagrid warning him that the dragon was almost hatching. They had a debate about skipping herbology class so as not to risk missing the birth of the dragon, and in the end they decided to go at recess in the morning.

I had no problem thanks to my clones, so I went ahead and chatted with Hagrid while we waited. I found that even though we have different personalities, if I put aside some of my particular personality traits, I can have a nice conversation. We also ate something while watching the egg.

I did nothing but wait during this time. I could have secretly stolen the egg, taken it to the dealer to sell it and have an unlimited supply of Norwegian Ridgeback eggs, but I didn't.'

The egg was already in Hagrid's fire constantly, and I was somewhat afraid that removing it from its incubation period would cause the death of the unborn dragon. Maybe I could have prevented it from happening with some precautions, but I wasn't going to risk it and bring more problems. Charlie works with dragons, if I want one I would just go and pay him a visit. I would leave this dragon to grow and fulfill the role he had in this first year.

The lions arrived when there were already some cracks in the egg. As they sat expectantly around the table, the egg hatched and the wrinkled black baby dragon emerged from its interior, flapping its enormous wings.

Hagrid was very excited to see his little boy, who spat out sparks. He was so excited that he wanted to touch it, taking a bite as a result, but this didn't stop his joy, rather it increased it.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how long do Norwegian Ridgebacks take to grow?" She asked somewhat concerned but could not receive an answer.

As Hagrid was about to reply, he stopped abruptly, stating that he noticed someone looking at us and ran towards the castle. Everyone became anxious about it except for me, I was more interested in the dragon hatchling.

I wanted to try some things with a being like this, so I turned on my [Predator Presence] after so long without intentionally using it. The little Norwegian ridgeback shuddered and tried to get as far away from me as possible, which proved that against a creature like the dragon, my aura would still be that of a predator, but I have yet to find out if it would work on an adult.

...

After learning that Malfoy knew the dragon's secret, the lions couldn't calm down and tried to reason with Hagrid to get rid of him, even Hermione risked asking me for help.

"Let him go" Harry urged him "Let him go free"

"I can't" Hagrid answered "He's too little. He'd die"

We looked at the dragon that had tripled in size in just a week. Smoke was already coming out of his nostrils, and Hagrid was not fulfilling his ranger duties because the dragon was taking up all of his time. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor, in addition to the normal clutter.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," Hagrid said, looking at the dragon with moist eyes, "He recognizes me now, look. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mom?"

"He's lost his marbles" Ron muttered.

"Maybe we should put him down" I also whispered.

"Do you mean the dragon?" Hermione questioned me, that she didn't feel my words were the right ones.

"Obviously yes. Hermione, I can't accept that you thought I could have suggested other things, that's very dark of you. If you want to win my heart, it will have to be honest and not showing me that dark side of you" I falsely reproached her, having fun in the process. I knew this situation would be resolved, so I wasn't that worried.

Hermione was about to argue that that wasn't what she meant and that there was no reason for her to want to win my heart, but Harry and Ron stopped us by complaining that we should focus on what mattered.

"Hagrid," Harry said loudly, "wait two weeks and Norbert will be as big as your house. Malfoy will tell Dumbledore any minute now."

Hagrid bit his lip.

"I... I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't kick him out, I can't"

"Charlie!" Harry said, turning to Ron suddenly.

"You're sick in the head too" Ron said "I'm Ron, remember?"

I have to say I found him genuinely funny, Ron has his moments.

"We've already lost Harry... We'll have to sacrifice him, too, so this doesn't spread any further." I laughed while I took a nudge from Hermione, as I now showed that I was just teasing her before.

"No… Charlie, your brother, is in Romania studying dragons. We can send Norbert to him. Charlie will take care of him and then let him live free!"

"Brilliant! What do you think of that, Hagrid?" Ron exclaimed.

In the end, Hagrid agreed to let an owl be sent to ask Charlie for help.

...

Before we get an answer from Charlie, a week had passed in which some minor events took place.

I had taken my time out of all the things I do to find a way that I could get the stone and use it for my benefit. I had a few talks with the archmage and was able to form a plan, risky, but a plan nonetheless.

I hadn't gone looking for it on my own until now for two reasons. The first thing is that I didn't know if the stone was already in the right place, and the second thing is that I'm sure the director must be paying close attention and would easily go after me the moment I set foot there.

I also took the opportunity to annoy Hermione with what she did in Hagrid's hut, actually I do it because it's a kind of relaxation from all the stress, and although I know it's very bad of me I'll make sure to make it up to her in the future.

I didn't do much on my own, I just had to say a few things to Lavender and that's it, Hermione had to endure the harassment and teasing of her friends, while I watched her from one of the vibrating chairs, drinking a little juice.

Another big thing I did this week was I started doing some surprise attacks on the girls to supplement their training. I received so many complaints that it almost seemed like they were going to start a protest against me. I had taken them by surprise, and they were angry, at least most of them, because I used some of the most annoying but not very harmful spells.

Once they had all gathered, I warned them that this would continue and hoped that they would be able to react correctly to my surprise attacks and that if they failed I would personally punish them for each time they couldn't 'survive' the attack. They did not agree and refused to participate in this game that did not seem necessary at all, something that made me miss Tonks that she had quickly agreed.

I reminded them that even if they didn't want to, I wouldn't stop and that instead of complaining, it was better to prepare their mentality. They threatened to complain to the teachers, but I just laughed and told them that they knew me well enough to know that I am efficient enough to make them regret it before they get it... and that depending on their performance, I would give them a surprise. The last blow I made to get them to agree was that this would become a competition.

I received some calls for attention from some teachers after some battles started in the middle of the corridors, and I was close to being punished several times if it wasn't for convincing and bribing several people. To solve this problem, I also tried to make an improvised combat area, trying to create a bloody curtain that covered us and that making it invisible gave us privacy.

For the girls the worst was not my surprise attacks, as some quickly picked up the pace, the worst was that I completely released my auras with them. The mental pressure exerted was so much that Susan fainted once, and they yelled at me for overdoing it, but Susan, being the bread of god she is, stood up for me and blamed herself for not being able to hold on.

Even though I didn't attack them by surprise during class, I did use my auras on them to make them uncomfortable and not give them a break, plus it was good control practice for me to direct my auras at particular people.

And one of the things they hated the most was that my [Aura of Mystery] prevented them from predicting my movements. They had almost gotten used to combat once I appeared out of nowhere, but this aura disoriented them, making it very difficult for them to react to my movements and giving them the feeling that something was going to happen at all times, making them very tense.

I not only caught the attention of the teachers, but also of the other students who were surprised to see that from one moment to another a duel could start and due to my clones, these could appear in more than one place at the same time.

With the resentment of the males for not being able to enter the Lair, they sought to use this to get us into trouble, and I was called to the director's office. I wouldn't know if Dumbledore was upset or happy to see me in this situation... I had to give in and hold my Friday lectures at least 3 days a week for two hours in public areas to get out of this.

Once that problem was solved, there were those who wanted to get in and attack the girls to alleviate their resentment against their privileges with the excuse of helping them 'train' as I did, but this only caused a stampede. By the time one of the girls was attacked, it wasn't long before the entire group of girls, like hyenas, jumped to use everything I forced them to learn.

There were students who were taken to Madam Pomfrey because of this and the girls were lightly punished, but it did a lot to get them closer to each other. Thanks to this, they also learned to go out in groups to cause me problems and that my surprise attack would fail. I must say that I liked their attitude a lot, since now I could train them to work as a team.

It didn't matter who I attacked anymore, if another of the girls saw me, she would join the battle against me. There were times when I had to bring some clones to my side when they all colluded with each other to attack me, including Penelope and Gemma with some of her friends from the Lair... although I think Gemma was involved so that I would punish her later, which I gladly did.

I will say that it was an entertaining week, in which I earned a lot of resentment, but I will not deny that I had fun.

...

Right now, I was going to the Gryffindor common room with my Brother, who was covering the hand that was bitten by Norbert. I was wearing my invisibility, while he was wearing Harry's cloak. We had gone to help Hagrid feed his beast rats, and now we were going back.

It was weird to be able to get along with my brother, as easy as this walk was, but also interesting to be able to share something with him. We entered the common room around twelve o'clock, but I didn't remove my invisibility. Harry and Hermione who were waiting inside knew I was here, but to avoid causing problems I wouldn't let me see.

"It bit me!" Ron exclaimed as he showed him the wound and explained what happened and how Hagrid defended the dragon, blaming him for scaring him.

At that moment there was a noise at the window, and we could see how Harry's owl, Hedwig, came with a letter and the lions were excited by the long-awaited response.

"Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter — I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

P.D.: Is it true that Red now expresses emotions? I read it in Fred and George's letters, but I couldn't believe it. Our immutable brother is not so immutable anymore?

Love,Charlie"

"Okay, I think this solves your problem, I have to go. Good luck with that" I said from the shadows before approaching Hermione and giving her a kiss on her neck "Goodbye Hermione, sleep well" Then the clone disbanded without anyone could realize.

"RED!" Hermione cried out in shock as she rested one of her hands on her neck where she received the kiss "You're a...!" She complained angrily.

The lions asked what was going on, but Hermione just insulted me without saying what exactly had happened. They asked if she was still here, but she told them no, knowing that after what I did, had possibly escaped.

"Ron, your brothers are amazing" said Harry, who, like the others, thought that my invisibility was a spell that I cast "I would love to have his ability to hide, it would make it much easier to hand over Norbert"

"Yes Ron, Red has his special magic. Does anyone else in your family have it?" asked Hermione, who was always curious about that, but she never got a very clear answer from me.

"No, he's the only one. My brothers and I just found out now that he had an ability like that, and our parents are also very concerned. They already sent letters to him, but they complain that he doesn't answer them or that he gives very short answers and simple"

"But in your family, do you want an ancestor...?" Hermione insisted.

"Not that I know of" My Brother replied, who was partly jealous of my power.

"He really can't help us...? I'm sure if he's involved in this, it will be a lot easier," Harry said.

"He could make the delivery himself without anyone knowing" said Hermione already knowing my abilities very well, as if flattering but also reproaching me "But he said he wouldn't do it, that he has things to do and that this is our business... but I'm sure that if he helps, he will ask for something wrong in return" she said this last whispering to herself.

"Well, we have the cape, so I guess..."

And so the lions hatched the plan to get rid of Norbert...