Ch. 60 A grieving mother

Hagrid's hut was silent, except for the egg currently tumbling in the cauldron, no one was making a sound.

"I don't know why everyone's so nervous for. I mean as long as you don't try to raise it and get it to the proper caretakers everything's fine. If you don't, which I really wouldn't suggest, you'll have to go Azkaban when you get found out. Obviously we wouldn't do that to you Hagrid, your our friend too. But you do realize just how hard it is to keep a very large, flying and fire-breathing lizard hidden right? Can't exactly keep it in your hut, your place is really flammable." I say trying to cut the tension.

My words relax the trio, but saddens Hagrid.

"Aedan's right Hagrid. As much as I love creatures, and trust me when I say dragons really aren't an exception, this is something you really shouldn't do. It's not like Fluffy. The only way a dragon's ever been tamed is with training akin to torture and I know you would never do that." Added Christian.

"They're right Hagrid. You could go to prison for this!" Agreed a very nervous Hermione as she thought about the consequences, which are very serious.

"We could get my brother Charlie to do it! He works on a reserve in Romania!" Exclaimed Ron.

But before Hagrid could try to refuse, the egg started to act up. He hurriedly took it out of its cauldron and laid it on the table. The egg danced about as whatever was inside fought to get out. Then the egg basically exploded and the newborn dragon could be seen. She had a slightly brownish-red coloring to her scales, with bony wings quite large for her body, a long snout, horn stubs and bulging orange eyes.

At that moment Hagrid fell in love with her as if it was a puppy and Malfoy, whom I've been waiting for as I kept my sense up, suddenly left to tattle like he always does.

"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback!" Exclaimed Christian.

"My brother works with those! Sending it to him in Romania would be perfect!" Exclaimed Ron.

"Oh, I couldn't bear an' leave lit'le Norbert alone." Was Hagrid's response as he was petting the dragon which was constantly trying to bit his enormous fingers.

"Hagrid! You know how much trouble you could get in for this!" Squeaked out Hermione in horror at what the man just said.

"But look at 'im. He thinks I'm his mum." Was his really bad counter-argument.

"Well then Hagrid, it appears my own good news should help speed up this discussion." I announce getting everyone but Christian's attention, since he already knows.

"Since my family businesses have been booming lately, I've invested in a certain reserve for dragons in Romania alongside a fellow creature lover. I know how much you love dragons so i wanted to invite you to visit it for the summer. Thought it would have been a nice thank you for everything you've told us over the last few years. But now, as Ron suggested, it would be good to send it over to his brother quickly. You can then visit little Norbert in two months max. What do you think?" I asked the very torn half-giant.

"You reckon he'll be alright?" He asked very hesitantly.

"He'll be fine Hagrid, they're all very good at their jobs and I've been helping them better the environment a lot." I reassure the man, only barely getting a nod of agreement.

"Splendid! I'll get in touch with my friend and the reserve. Ron, would you be ok asking your brother Charlie to come pick him up quickly? I dont know the man and I'm only one of the owners, so asking for someone directly can be met with refusal. And I'm sure all of you would much prefer someone you knew and trusted to handle things." I say to Ron and the rest.

"Yeah, alright." He agreed feeling reluctant now that I had asked.

"Good. I'll take care of that and you three will arrange things with Charlie. Now with that settled I think everyone should head back to the castle, don't want to get caught out past curfew." I said to finalize everything.

"Thanks for the unique experience Hagrid, I guess I'll see you next time. Be careful Norbert doesn't burn your hut down by accident." I say as I step out with a reluctant Christian and the trio.

"Do you three have a way back without being spotted? It's dangerous to walk around at night." I then 'ask'.

"Yeah we'll be fine." Answered Harry.

"That's good. Have a pleasant night everyone and I hope everything goes well to get Norbert to a proper home." I say as I wave my wand over me and Christian to conceal us.

"See yah firsties, and don't be a prat about this Ron." Christian couldn't resist saying as he disappeared from their sights.

"They can turn invisible?!" Exclaimed the shocked Harry.

"That's a disillusionment charm! It's fifth year charm and a very advanced application of it. I can't even tell where they are and I can't hear them!" Hermione explained to the two as usual.

And hearing that little bit, we left the three alone to head back to the castle.

"That was great, but really wish the prat wouldn't be there." Exclaimed Christian as we returned to our common room.

"Yes Ron can be rather extreme, but all I can do is show patience. If he doesn't change then I'll simply treat him politely but with proper distance." I sighed in response. Even I'm getting pretty annoyed at his obvious actions. Honestly, he's worst than Malfoy with the discrimination.

"But never mind him, gotta write some messages. The reserve doesn't have a box yet so gotta use the owl for that and my friend has one but it's late, so I'll wait till tomorrow." I say as I stretch a bit.

"Alright, goodnight then Aedan. See you in the morning for our run?" He asked.

"Yeah no problem. Meet you at the lake." I answer as we head to our rooms.

I got up to my room and contacted Scott to send my request over to the Romanian reserve. And the next morning I went out early to send a message using Artemis, then joined Christian for morning exercises. With everything I could do taken care of, all that was left was for the canon to take place. I convinced Hagrid to let the dragon go, got Ron to call his brother over, made the kids handle it, and I know Malfoy will try to get everyone into trouble, but will McGonagall honestly believe I'm involved in this because Malfoy says so? Ha! Doesn't help his case that I'm not going to do anything else, so I'm not gonna be there when the kids give away the dragon.

With everything in its place, I spent the week in quite a relaxed manner. I spent time with my friends relaxing, studying and training together. I've been tinkering with my broom when I had time since I've officially finished my elf magic ward and the werewolf vaccine will not be able to undergo further development until the summer.

It wasn't until Madam Pomfrey called me to the infirmary that I remembered something kinda funny happened in the week between Norberta's birth and her handing over to Charlie: Ron gets bit by her venomous little fangs. So I headed over to the infirmary to have a look.

"What do you think Aedan? It looks like either an infection from the bite or an extreme allergic reaction to one, but Mr. Weasley insists that a dog bit him." She asked me while shacking her head.

"Hmm. I don't think it's an allergic reaction. But from the size, it should be a small creature or large insect, i'm leaning more on the side of infection or maybe a bit of venom." I reply, making Ron pale a bit.

"Possible. I'll go look through some more uncommon bites and records of past matrons to see if anything similar has happened. You will make sure Mr. Weasley doesn't get worse." She ordered as she left.

A minute later she was gone.

"So Ron, guessing you got bit by Norbert right?" I ask, but not really.

"You knew!?" He asked, apparently surprised at the fact.

"Of course I knew. I'm a healer, a creature enthusiast and I know about the little fellow, so of course I'm going to recognize the bite of the little guy." I answer with a role of my eyes.

"Then why didn't you say anything? What are you trying to do?" He eyed me with suspicion.

"Because Hagrid is my friend and I don't want trouble for the man. If anyone hears about what he has then he will be in deep trouble, especially due to his past. It's much better to keep everything quiet for a week and let the rest be handled by professionals." I answered seriously while examining the bite.

"Right." Was his only drawn out reply whilst i finished looking a the poisoned bite.

"So what do you want to do about this?" I ask the boy.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he gets cautious again.

"Well I can cure this in about 10 minutes. All I need is to whip up the proper antidote and let your body expel the poison, letting you leave within the day. But if I do that, Madam Pomfrey will question me about what the bite was and I'll have to explain it to her. I won't be able to hide anything from her because she's too experienced in the field and will be able to tell if anything doesn't add up." I explain to the kid.

"Then what good are you? You're just trying to get away like a snake." He murmured.

"That's not very nice Ron. I've shown a lot of patience and understanding with you during the year, but you keep being increasingly rude towards me and my friends. I don't know why you are doing this but it has got to stop. I will stop the spread of the venom and contain it. I will also give you a painkiller and anti-inflammatory to deal with the swelling. With this in place and the small dose you been exposed to, your body will develop natural antibodies towards the poison within a week and fight it off." I say seriously to the disappointing boy.

He was about to say something in anger at my tone and what I said but I started to speak again.

"In addition, you have shown excessive levels of rejection and discrimination towards innocent fellow students so, in accordance to the rules, you are no longer welcomed to the Exchange." I then announce.

"Ha! You think I want to be in that nerd room with you slimy snakes!" He responded with venom ironically.

"I hope you can change one day Ronald, because right now you are acting worst than Malfoy does around Muggle-borns." I simply said as I left and gave Madam Pomfrey my counter measures against the poison. Leaving a speechless Ron in the infirmary.

After that event, everything else went well. Harry and Hermione were left to deal with the dragon. The weekend came and they were able to hand it off to Charlie. Malfoy got in trouble, then Harry and Hermione. So just on schedule the forbidden forest event should happen as well.

The only problem was Hagrid sobbing in his cabin about hoping his baby didn't miss his mother and that it was just temporary. So I did the sensible thing. I left the grieving mother alone.