57 Dragon Blood and Bad News

"Yeah, I heard from George and the others that Ivan's Transfiguration was good enough for OWLs," Harry interjected.

He thought Hermione was good enough, and if she complained about it, he and Ron would be dead.

Sensing Hermione's continued disinterest, Ivan tried to persuade her again.

"It's not good to be tense before an exam. You should strike a proper balance between work and relaxation, otherwise it will affect your performance."

Harry and Ron immediately put down their books and nodded in agreement with Ivan's reasoning.

Ivan ignored them and continued.

"I'm almost done with Norbert. Charlie will be here to pick Norbert up in the next couple of days, and we can go and see him together during the holidays."

In the past week, Hermione had been cooped up in the library revising, sometimes neglecting to eat, so Ivan wanted to use this opportunity to relax.

"No, there's nothing to see in a dragon. I have to go over the Basic Transfiguration Guide." Hermione shook her head stubbornly. She wanted to get first place in every subject, and Transfiguration was no exception.

She was fine with everything else, but she didn't want to lose to Ivan on her best exam…

Harry and Ron, on the other hand, had long ago tossed aside their boring History of Magic books and asked about dragon taming.

Ivan told them about his and Hagrid's dragon-taming, keeping the volume down just enough for Hermione to hear.

As she was sitting in the corner of the library, Ivan was not worried about being overheard unless he spoke loudly.

Harry and the others were excited to see Norbert for themselves when they heard that he had grown to be larger than a table and could jump, flip and breathe fire at orders.

As Ivan spoke, he kept a discreet eye on Hermione, who was apparently much slower at turning the pages of her book, and was most likely tempted…

"Norbert can fly now. Don't you want to try dragon-riding?" Ivan asked, striking while the iron was hot.

"It's so close to the castle. What if you get caught?" Hermione finally asked.

"We can go in the evening, and fly low enough that we shouldn't be seen if we're careful," Ivan said with a smile.

Hermione nodded and tried to go back to her revision, but she slammed the book shut after two seconds and glared at Ivan, her mind too full of dragons to be able to concentrate on her revision.

…

Several hours later, Ivan was sitting outside Hagrid's house with a chair, idly issuing instructions.

"Norbert, jump!"

"Norbert, come and turn over…"

"Norbert, come and breathe fire… You're already a two-hundred-pound child. You have to learn to roast fish for yourself…"

On the lawn not far ahead, a large and ferocious-looking Norwegian Ridgeback was happily rolling on the ground, breathing hot flames at the grill as per Ivan's instructions.

He then bit the rack with his fanged mouth, flapped his wings, and ran to Ivan on all fours. He placed the two grilled fish in a basin and waited for Ivan to sprinkle a taste-enhancing potion on them before eating them.

Ivan reached out to caress Norbert's large head as a sign of affection. He was impressed by how fast a dragon could grow. It had only been a month, but he was already several times his size.

"That's cool!" Ron exclaimed, reaching out to touch Norbert's wings as Ivan had done.

"Don't move!" Ivan suddenly shouted.

Ron shuddered and was shocked. When he came back to his senses, he looked unhappy and wanted to say something, but when he turned his head, he found that Norbert's big head was inches away from him, and his fangs were dripping with yellow saliva.

Ron then realised that Ivan's words weren't meant for him, and fell to the ground in shock.

"It's so hard…" Ivan reached out and hit Norbert on the head, causing him to retract his fangs.

"I thought you'd tamed it, Ivan?" Ron asked, his voice tinged with fear.

"It's only been a short while," Ivan said, shaking his head. "How can it be that fast? I'd say it's only preliminary results." Despite Norbert's subservience to him, this was an authority he had established by roasting fish with one hand and a stick with the other.

When Norbert grew older and realised that he, the dragon tamer, was not as powerful as he thought, the relationship could collapse at any time.

However, there was no problem restraining Norbert at the moment. After a series of reassurances and warnings, Ivan spoke to the few people who were afraid and wanted to pet the dragon.

"You can touch it now if you want."

Ron, who had just been frightened, was momentarily afraid to approach, but Harry bravely extended his hand.

"Hermione, why don't you give it a try?" Yvonne asked Hermione.

Hermione was going to refuse, as it was too dangerous, but she couldn't resist the temptation of petting the dragon and placing her hand on Norbert's head. The dragon's hard scales were rough to the touch, but the little witch was excited to be touching a dragon for the first time, and her lips curled into a smile.

Despite Norbert's discomfort at having several strange dwarves touching him, he could not flap his wings and send them flying because Ivan was nearby.

Ivan watched Norbert's face and movements for a few moments to make sure he wasn't about to go on a rampage.

Over the course of the past month, Ivan had managed to gather enough dragon blood, thanks to his dragon-taming, and he had finished brewing the fusion potion in the Room of Requirement. All he needed to do was add the dragon blood and he would be done.

However, Ivan frowned when he thought about the evaluation of the dragon blood he had collected.

[Magical Item: Dragon's Blood

[Description: This is dragon blood extracted from a young Norwegian Ridgeback. It is less active and magical than an adult Norwegian Ridgeback, but has the same potential…]

Even though Ivan expected this, he was frustrated when he received the information.

Fortunately, the potential of the young Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon was basically the same as that of an adult, which meant that it only took a little more time to develop its potential, which was a relief to Ivan.

He immediately decided to add the dragon blood tonight…

While Ivan was lost in his thoughts, a shrill barking suddenly came from the Forbidden Forest, followed by a large, bleeding, limping dog running towards him from a nearby bush…