Chapter 72: Malfoy's Dilemma

"Whose letter?" Hermione asked, raising her head.

"Hagrid," replied Ted.

"Hagrid? What did he say?" Harley inquired as he ate a meat pie.

Ted spread strawberry jam on his bread and casually remarked, "He mentioned something about it about to be born." 

The friends were stunned. Ron, wearing a confused expression, took out the chicken leg bone from his mouth and asked, "Who is about to be born?" 

Ted looked at him and replied, "Norbert."

"Who is Norbert? Ah! It's..." Ron covered his mouth - Hagrid named the unborn dragon hatchling Norbert!

Ted was worried that Ron might squirt out the drumstick.

"Let's go quickly!" Harley stuffed the meat pie into her mouth, wiped her hands casually, and stood up, urging the others to follow.

Neville protested, "I haven't finished eating yet! I haven't finished eating yet!" but Ron and Jerry picked him up and dragged him away.

The six-person group left in a hurry without attracting much attention. However, Malfoy at the Slytherin table couldn't help but pay attention.

He kept staring. Although every time he tried to regain his position, he got a beating, he never gave up.

It was the same this time. Malfoy grabbed the silly follower who hadn't eaten enough and followed him directly.

Speaking of which, more than a month had passed, and Ted almost forgot about the dragon egg.

It seemed that dragon eggs took a long time to hatch. Today was May 5th, almost five weeks ago.

They hurried along the way, fearing they might miss the exciting moment of a fire dragon breaking out of its shell.

After all, most people may not be able to witness a fire dragon breaking out of its shell in their lifetime. This kind of opportunity was indeed rare.

"Dong dong dong~"

The door opened, and Hagrid stuck his head out. "You're here, come in quickly; it's about to hatch soon."

"In the morning, I noticed it began to shake, and it became more and more violent. I guessed it must be hatching. Fortunately, I found Anzu playing near the Forbidden Forest, so I was able to inform you," explained Hagrid.

He opened the stove lid. Under the red charcoal fire, the egg did not change at all.

Ted thought, "It's better if it's not blackened."

As expected, the dragon egg shook every few seconds, as if something was about to come out of the eggshell.

"Click~" Suddenly there was a slight sound.

"Did you all hear it? Did you hear it?" Hagrid shouted excitedly.

"I heard it, I heard it. Not only did I hear it, I also saw it!" Ron pointed out a small crack on the dragon egg.

"Take it out quickly, Hagrid. You can't put it in the stove!" Ted reminded.

"Yes, yes, let me do it." Hagrid hurriedly put on thick dragon leather gloves, which made Ron and Jerry a leather hat each.

Hagrid put on his gloves, took the dragon egg out of the stove, and placed it on the table.

At this time, there were more tiny cracks, and the crackling sounds became more intensive.

A sharp, hard nose broke through an eggshell and stuck out.

"It's out, it's out! Oh my God~" Hagrid was so excited that he sobbed, as if the baby dragon in the egg was his own.

The whole process of breaking the egg lasted about five minutes. No one helped, so the young dragon broke the eggshell and got out by himself.

The new baby dragon was very ugly, resembling a wrinkled big bat with a long tail, or a black rag with a bunch of small bumps on its back.

In short, it had no feeling of power at all.

The expressions on Ron and Jerry's faces already revealed what they were thinking: "That's it? That's it?"

Despite being a newly born creature, the fire dragon stood at the pinnacle among magical animals. Within five minutes of its birth, it displayed remarkable abilities, crawling around with its body stretched out, emitting screams, and even spewing a mouthful of flame when Hagrid playfully reached out to tease it. Although the flame was no larger than a lighter, the dragon's potential was evident.

Hagrid gazed at the young dragon devouring meat on the table, his eyes filled with fascination. "This is a Norwegian Ridgeback. How beautiful it is~" he exclaimed, extending his hand.

"Hoo~" The young dragon exhaled another burst of fire. This time, possibly due to gaining strength after consuming meat, the flames were significantly more intense, scorching a portion of Hagrid's beard.

"Oh, don't be like this, Norbert. You are a good boy; don't get angry randomly~" Hagrid's demeanor made Ron uneasy, and he suddenly felt he had overindulged at lunch. Ron lamented, "No boy, mother!"

Ted observed the dragon eggshell on the table and inquired, "Hagrid, could you share some of the eggshell with me?" Hagrid gestured dismissively, saying, "Take it if you need it. I heard that dragon eggshells can be used to brew potions."

Ted received a substantial number of eggshells, thinking, "This material definitely has its uses! At the very least, the extraterrestrial knowledge - ninja prosthetic hand I acquired earlier can make use of it."

Of course, Ted didn't plan to wear a prosthetic leg, so he should be prepared.

Hagrid, Hogwarts' invisible rich man, with home pads made of unicorn hair, genuinely didn't care about the dragon eggshells, which were entirely useless to him. The other friends observed with great interest as the little dragon devoured meat and spewed flames. However, Hermione expressed concern.

"I read in the book that the Norwegian Ridgeback's ability to breathe fire develops early, and it could breathe fire in one to three months of age, truly breathing fire," Hermione shared.

Ted chimed in, "It will take less than three months, at most one month, for Norbert to grow to the size of a cow or horse. By then..."

Upon hearing this, everyone glanced around the hunting lodge, as if they could already envision the distressing scene of a blazing door and a fire consuming it all.

"Uh…" Hagrid was stunned.

At this moment, Ansu's unique cry suddenly sounded outside the window: "Quack, quack, it's horse dung~, horse dung is peeking, horse dung~"

Ansu shouted as he pounced on them, slapping and pecking vigorously. The Malfoy trio proved no match for Ansu, as his wingspan reached seventy centimeters, effortlessly overpowering the three of them.

The triumphant Anzu then stood on the fence, laughing in victory. Through the window, Ted and the others observed the Malfoy trio hastily retreating.

Neville expressed concern, "Is Malfoy going to tell the truth?" Ted reassured him, "Don't worry. Someone has to believe him if he snitches. It's okay to snitch on students, but which professor will bother with snitching on Hagrid?"

The question lingered: Did Malfoy actually report to the professors? However, this show-off was so blinding that he privately boasted to his classmates, claiming he witnessed a dragon hatch with his own eyes.

He witnessed next to nothing. Only catching a few glimpses, the dragon had hatched long ago, and Ansu had effortlessly subdued it with a resounding slap.

Malfoy protested, "Do you know how much psychological damage a big meal can do to a twelve-year-old child?"

Despite Malfoy's persistent bragging, classmates dismissed it, saying, "Just be happy! You keep boasting, I'm listening~" In short, they didn't believe him.

This infuriated Malfoy. He endured a severe beating just for trying to sneak a peek. Consequently, no one believed his exaggerated claims. Determined to find evidence to prove himself, Malfoy began closely monitoring the movements of the six-person group.

However, Ted and the others quickly discovered Malfoy's abnormal behavior. He was like a ghost in clattering boots, following them everywhere. His tracking skills were laughably poor, often getting caught pretending to admire the scenery.

Ted couldn't help but remark, "Can't you be more serious? What if you're bullying men and dominating women?"

In response to this, the six-person group couldn't tolerate Malfoy continuing to follow them, prompting a counterattack.

The retaliation began during dinner that day when Malfoy once again went out of his way to boast to his friends about witnessing the hatching of the dragon. However, most of his narrative was pure imagination - a click, a burst of fire, and the egg breaking. Was it a bomb? It seemed like he was struggling to keep up with the narrative, as if he had stepped on a booby trap.

His companions looked on with expressions of "please wrap it up quickly." Even Pansy, who had always been close to him, couldn't help but roll her eyes. Having endured several versions of Malfoy's "The Hatchling" in the past few days, she found herself dreaming about bombs – or rather, dragon eggs.

At this moment, Ted approached with an expression of concern, seemingly doing his best for Malfoy. "I genuinely believe our young master Malfoy should visit Madam Pomfrey for some dreamless sleep potion. It might help him avoid daydreaming every day, preventing potential mental disturbances over time."

At that moment, Jerry joined the conversation and said to Ted, "Oh, my dear friend, you are always so kind-hearted, even to some little liars who tell lies."

"Don't say that; I believe it's the right thing to do," Ted replied with a gentlemanly smile. Laughter erupted from everyone around.

Malfoy, seething with anger, "You two... one mudblood, one freak! You, you, I, I..." Malfoy attempted to articulate his frustration but was cut short by a cold female voice from the side: "Slytherin will deduct 20 points!"

Professor McGonagall, with a frosty face, approached. "Malfoy! How dare you utter such vicious words! Detention for two weeks!"

Malfoy stood dumbfounded, struggling to find words to explain for a long time.

Seizing the opportunity, Ron lightened the mood by grabbing chicken legs and jokingly telling Ted and Jerry, "If you two continue like this, our young noble will probably be angry to death before he graduates."

Ted shrugged, suggesting, "Then I suggest he opens his mind!"

Jerry chimed in, "I wish him good health." The two of them clapped happily, and the auditorium was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. 

(End of this chapter)

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