Dragon

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Humans, akin to books with enigmatic covers, invariably carry preconceptions penned by others' eyes. Yet, wisdom lies in the skill of deciphering beyond the initial pages, where inner chapters unfold, enabling a true understanding of the unique essence within each individual.

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 | May 1, 1992 | Hogwarts Library | 

(Lilian's POV) 

The silence, what a wonderful melody. Combine that with the nostalgic scent of books and the wood of the shelves, and you get the perfect environment for studying.

 Today, I was particularly content; upon thorough searching, I found a book on illusionism that I had never read before. Even if they are illusions that I consider low-grade, it's in mud where one can find gold, so I dig as much as possible for ideas. 

As usual, on Fridays, Hermione and I were both engrossed in our books at what we could call our usual table. 

"Tell me, Lilian, when are you and Ron going to reconcile? It's been three months since you last spoke," Hermione inquired.

 I took my eyes off my book, turning towards Hermione, who was hiding behind hers, and replied with a smirk, "It's very kind of you to try to reconcile two of your friends, Hermione. But he and I are not friends."

 I could see her shoulders slump at my response. "You are my friend, even if you don't like him. Daphné is my friend, Blaise is my friend, Tracey is my friend, but Ronald will probably never be my friend." 

She lowered her book, finally looking at me. "Why can't you two get along? You both mean a lot to Harry and me. Why?"

 I sighed at her question, even though I found it to be a foolish one; I had to answer it. "Listen, Hermione, whether it's wizards or Muggles, people label others; it works like that and will always work like that because humans unconsciously prefer order over chaos. So, to avoid making any encounter or similar things chaotic, we give attributes to people. Ronald has given me the attribute of Slytherin, something he learned growing up in a family with many prejudices against Slytherins due to their perceived villainous nature. And even if saving his life can't change his view of me, then it's highly unlikely that anything other than time will. As for me, I've attributed the terms 'good friend' and 'bad person' to him. He is a good friend because that's how his family programmed him to be. But at the same time, he is a bad person because that's what he is. And the more time he spends away from his family, the more his inferiority complex, jealousy, desire for attention, and anger will cause him to lose that good friend trait. So, in either case, he and I can't become friends."

 Satisfied with my explanation, thinking that Hermione could finally understand, I resumed my reading. But it seemed Hermione had other plans, as she then asked me.

« In that case... what label have you assigned to me? You know, you said everyone has one for everyone they know. So what's mine? »

 I responded nonchalantly, wondering why she would want to know that.

 « To me, you are a person with great intelligence, not as much as me but certainly above average. You have great potential, but it is hindered by three things. Your mental inflexibility, the fact that you are a first-generation witch, which, between you and me, is a foolish thing that the wizarding society's system prioritizes your belonging to an already-established wizarding family, whether weak or strong, over personal power. And finally, your lack of self-esteem. You underestimate yourself far too much. Whether it's your social difficulties, which I don't see as a problem, or even your appearance that you dislike, which, again, is foolish to me. You must have realized, with the change in my dear little brother, that it is easy to change one's appearance in this world. But changing one's self-image is difficult. So, you should believe in yourself more. »

 I had found an interesting passage in the book I was reading about an illusionist family with ocular abilities in Japan.

 Enjoying my reading, I suddenly heard sighs of sadness in front of me. Surprised, I turned my gaze once again to Hermione. I saw her crying, remaining motionless in her chair, sadness clearly displayed. I didn't know what to do.

 I had never been in such a situation, not understanding why she was crying. Panicking, I looked around, searching for something that could help. And I eventually found something. I cleared my throat and adopted the funniest tone I could muster. 

« Hermi... Hermione, do you want to see something interesting? Look over there. There's a very tall person behaving strangely. »

 Seeing that I had a bit of her attention, I continued with relief. « Look, this person who walks all over the place always keeps the dragon section close to him but acts as if he's inspecting other books, even holding them upside down. He also looks in all directions to see if anyone is watching him, and he always keeps his fists tightly clenched in nervousness. I'm telling you, he's plotting something sinister or planning to do something illegal. »

~~~~~~~(Hermione Granger's POV)~~~~~~~ 

I was sad; it's a very strange feeling to be understood so easily. It's very embarrassing, unsettling, and makes me very sad that someone exposes all my flaws so openly.

 In my previous school, before Hogwarts, before magic, they always made fun of… me…my hair… my teeth… my appearance.

 Mom and Dad always told me not to listen and that it wasn't a big deal, that I was beautiful as I am. But it's hard not to listen to all the taunts from the girls and boys in my class. 

In seeking to distance myself from them, I stumbled upon my school's library. A place without mockery, without noise, just stories that would never laugh at me and would sometimes tell me that it doesn't matter what I look like because if I have true friends, they'll see me for who I am without saying anything mean.

 I made an effort to memorize every passage from these books because they would never betray me. I ended up reading everything novels, English book, mathematics book, science book. For every truthful thing I said to the teachers, they would praise me and make my parents happy. 

Unfortunately, I never had real friends at school, and I thought it would be the same in the next one, where everyone already knew each other. 

But my letter from Hogwarts arrived. A new chance for me to make real friends. And wizards are known in all the stories for valuing knowledge, right? 

Anyway, things didn't go as planned, but after eventful events, I finally got what I wanted, real friends.

 But today, Lilian revealed a part of me that I didn't want him to know. So I cried about it.

 After a good while being like that, he caught my attention about Hagrid behaving strangely. The more he talked, the more I realized he was telling the truth and that Hagrid was hiding something after going out having read things in the dragon section. Something Harry told me he's always dreamed of having but is forbidden. 

We need to follow him to prevent him from making a mistake.

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~~~~~~~(Pov third person)~~~~~~~ 

| May 25, 1992 | Hogwarts |

In the total darkness of the night, a young wizard under the veil of a particularly well-constructed camouflage made his way outside the walls of the famous castle. Upon exiting, he crossed a pumpkin field to arrive in front of a cabin whose light shone through the windows.

Tok tok he knocked on the door, waited for a very tall man to open it, and then dispelled his camouflage.

"Harry?! What are you doing outside?" asked the giant, astonished.

"I'm Lilian Hagrid. You should know that; I can sense my brother is already inside," said the young blind wizard calmly.

"Oh, yes, that's true. Excuse me for that. Come in; we're just waiting for you."

Entering the cabin, tapping his cane against the floor, he sensed the three other people present. He had let his owl enjoy the night, not wanting to rely too much on her. He already felt, according to him, too dependent on his cane, and he didn't want to get too used to seeing through Skotádi. And it was amusing to surprise his owl by seeing what she did without him.

He greeted the people present. "Little brother, Firefly... Ronald."

Since the incident with Hermione, he had tried to lift his spirits by using the nickname his father gave his mother. He had seen that this nickname could get him out of quite a few situations, and, let's admit it, Hermione often made him think of her.

"So, is the dragon about to hatch?" he asked.

"Yes, Norbert should hatch tonight if all goes well," Hagrid said joyfully.

"Norbert, huh... Anyway, my dear little brother, I don't see the Invisibility Cloak with you. How did you get here?"

"Uh... we were so surprised by the news of the hatching that we forgot to hide," Harry said awkwardly.

"fuu... I really don't know what to do with you, Harry. But it doesn't surprise me that Hermione didn't think of hiding with her aversion to breaking rules."

"Huh... but we're visiting a Hogwarts staff member at night; that wouldn't be a violation, right?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Ahaha. Firefly, do you realize that this rule applies only to professors, and right now, Hagrid himself is doing something forbidden."

Hermione paled upon hearing this and turned furiously towards a guilty-looking Ron. "Ron!!! You lied to me."

Ronald Weasley defended his actions as best as he could. "But you wouldn't have come if you heard that."

Panic rose in Hermione as Lilian laughed even louder.

"Look, the egg is moving!" Harry suddenly exclaimed.

Looking at the heating cauldron, which housed the egg, movement could be seen inside.

Hagrid quickly extracted his precious treasure, and before the eyes and senses of everyone in the room, a beautiful baby dragon emerged.

"Come here, my little one, come see Papa. Come, Norbert." Hagrid was already purely in love with this little monster, even though he had already set his beard on fire.

"I believe, Hagrid, that this dragon is a female Norwegian Ridgeback. They are often used for their organs, which are ingredients in berserk potions and curse rituals to make the target more aggressive. It's the first time I've seen one up close," Lilian's words prompted Hagrid to grab his dragon and move it away from Lilian.

Norbert, now renamed Norberta, was decided by Harry and Ron to be sent to Romania with Ron's brother Charlie. Although sad to have to already part with his child, Hagrid had no choice if he didn't want to end up in Azkaban, the wizard prison.

While joy reigned in the cabin, the silhouette of a blond little boy looked through the window and witnessed the whole spectacle.

"Damn, I knew something would go wrong with you forgetting to hide," exclaimed Lilian, sensing Malfoy's presence.

"But at least I think it's finally time to use the Memory Erasure spell I learned," Lilian continued cunningly.

"No, Lilian, you can't do that. It will bring us more trouble if it becomes known. We can just hide Norberta and send her off as soon as possible this week," Hermione, despite her panic about being caught breaking the rules, still reminded Lilian of the order.

"fuuu... great, now we're really in trouble," said Lilian, watching the blond disappear into the castle.