Earl's flight speed was limited, and Cohen couldn't speed up the "sell venom—get money—buy feathers" process any faster either.
Over nearly a week of waiting, Cohen, Harry, and the others got to witness the full transformation of Norbert—who'd started out the size of Hagrid's fist—into the size of Hagrid's hunting dog, Fang.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cohen and the others arrived at Hagrid's doorstep.
"It's growing a bit too fast—I swear it'll be as big as this hut by next week!" Ron said, refusing to step inside. Norbert was rampaging within, crashing around so hard that the entire wooden hut shook with each thump of its sturdy tail.
Even from outside, you could tell the interior was a complete ss.
"It's fine. Once Cohen goes in, it calms down," Harry said to Ron with seasoned confidence. "I don't know why, but every ti Cohen walks in, Norbert gets quiet."
"Maybe it's just scared of ," Cohen said, feigning uncertainty. "Probably got so trauma from cracking its egg open."
"Yeah, imagine—just born, and there's this giant thing outside your egg trying to yank you out…" Ron said dramatically, clawing at the air with both hands as if mimicking so terrifying monster from his imagination.
"I hope it doesn't burn Hagrid's house down…" Hermione muttered, catching a whiff of sothing charred—whether it was Hagrid's beard or the hut itself, she couldn't tell.
Cohen stepped forward and knocked. From inside ca Norbert's roars mixed with Fang's whimpers.
"Oh—hold on… Norbert, don't get worked up—be good…" Hagrid's voice called out as he struggled to manage the dragon.
After a brief scuffle, the door creaked open a crack.
Everyone except Cohen instinctively took a step back, waiting for him to subdue Norbert before following. They didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.
As Cohen pushed the door open, he saw Hagrid cradling Norbert like a baby. The dragon's spine was bent into a C-shape, but it was still thrashing, trying to break free.
*Hiss—*
Sparks shot from its nostrils, and several patches of Hagrid's beard were already singed.
The mont Norbert caught sight of Cohen, it stopped struggling. Like a slippery eel, it wriggled out of Hagrid's arms and scampered over to Cohen's legs—though by now, Norbert had grown almost up to Cohen's waist.
"This would be called Stockholm Syndro if it were a person," Cohen said, utterly baffled, as Norbert circled him eagerly.
When it had first hatched, seeing Cohen had filled it with fear.
Now, being near Cohen brought it nothing but joy—and that happiness only grew when Cohen reached down to pat its head.
What was this? A masochist?
With Norbert instantly tad, the world seed to quiet down.
Luckily, Hagrid's ho was full of blankets and decorations made from magical creature hides, many of them fireproof. So Norbert could only scorch the wooden tables, chairs, walls—and Hagrid's beard.
"It's so adorable…" Hagrid said, tears in his eyes, watching Norbert coil itself around Cohen's legs.
"…"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron stayed silent. They didn't find this black fire dragon particularly cute—especially not while sitting in the wreckage it had created.
Scattered fabric and unidentified creature fur littered the floor. Hagrid's unicorn-hair blanket was shredded to bits, likely having served as Norbert's chew toy. Now it had a new one—a rough wooden dragon carving Hagrid had made, marked with fresh bite marks.
It must've been carved from so kind of wand wood, since Norbert hadn't burned it.
"I think it's alright, actually," Cohen said neutrally.
From a certain angle, it *was* kind of cute—when it was calm, at least.
If it kept this puppy-like personality, it could be a pretty novel and useful pet.
"Shouldn't we move it to that room in the next few days?" Harry asked.
"Right, I dragged you all here today because of that," Cohen said, ready to relay Dumbledore's stance. "We can't keep it in the castle anymore."
"What?" Hermione asked, alard. "But by the end of the term, it'll be as big as a house!"
"So I could raise it in the forest?" Hagrid asked hopefully.
"No. Once its wing mbranes thicken, it'll be able to fly. Then the whole school will know there's a dragon in the Forbidden Forest," Cohen said, shaking his head. "The school governors won't let it stay alive here. The Departnt for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures will send soone to take care of it."
"Take care of it aning…" Harry said cautiously.
"If it's old enough to et the standards for usable dragon materials, they'll kill it and harvest its blood, hide, and so on," Cohen explained briefly. "If it's too young, they'll probably just capture it."
"They can't do that!" Hagrid cried, devastated. "That's too cruel!"
Norbert seed to understand Cohen too—it started nuzzling his stomach with its head, trying to win him over with cute antics.
If a less likable creature rubbed that spot, it'd probably be asking for trouble…
"Why can't we keep it in that room?" Hermione asked, worried. "If we can't—maybe Ron should contact his brother Charlie."
"But the dragons with Charlie would end up as wizard materials too, right?" Harry said soberly. "It's the sa outco either way…"
"Because Dumbledore wrote to ," Cohen replied. "He's forbidden us from raising a dragon in the castle. It's too dangerous for the students—and he's right."
Hagrid's face went pale the mont he heard Dumbledore knew about Norbert.
"D-Dumbledore knows?" Hagrid's voice shook. "Of course nothing gets past him…"
"Don't beat yourself up over it, Hagrid. Dumbledore hasn't banned it outright—sure, it's illegal, but at least he won't report us," Cohen said reassuringly. "And he wants to help us out."
"rlin's beard… *sniff*… Dumbledore's really… *sob*…" Hagrid covered his face, at a loss for words. "I… he trusts so much… and I…"
"So what's the solution?" Ron asked carefully. "If it cos to it, I can write to Charlie right now—he'd definitely help…"
"We can raise it in a trunk," Cohen answered. "With an Extension Charm. I'm working on it. Dumbledore gave a reference book. Once Earl gets back with the last material I need, I'll have a trunk big enough to hold a dragon."
(End of Chapter)
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