Chapter 54: Dragon Blood and Bad News
"Yes, I heard from George and the others that Evan's Transfiguration is so advanced he could sit the O.W.L.s with no problem," Harry chimed in, unable to resist joining the conversation.
He thought Hermione was already doing exceptionally well; if she was complaining, then he and Ron might as well throw in the towel.
Evan could see Hermione's spirits were still low, so he tried to encourage her again.
"It's not good to be so tense before exams. You need to balance work with leisure and relax a bit, or it could affect your performance."
Harry and Ron immediately set their books aside, nodding eagerly in agreement. They thought Evan's point made a lot of sense; constant studying was exhausting.
Evan ignored them and continued.
"I've nearly finished training Norbert. Charlie will come to take him away in a couple of days. Since today is a day off, we could all go see him."
Hermione had been buried in the library all week, sometimes skipping meals to study. Evan hoped to use this opportunity to get her to relax a bit.
"No, thanks. What's so great about a dragon? I need to review 'An Exhaustive Guide to Basic Transfiguration' again," Hermione stubbornly shook her head. She was determined to be first in every class, Transfiguration included.
She might let other areas slide, but she refused to be outdone by Evan on exams...
While Harry and Ron, on the other hand, had already tossed their tedious History of Magic books aside, eager to hear about Evan's dragon-taming experience.
Evan didn't hold back, recounting the process of taming Norbert with Hagrid, keeping his voice just loud enough for Hermione, who was trying to read, to overhear.
Sitting in a secluded corner of the library, Evan wasn't worried about being overheard by others.
Hearing that Norbert had grown larger than a table and could now follow commands to jump, roll over, and breathe fire, Harry and the others were excited to see the dragon for themselves.
As Evan spoke, he watched Hermione out of the corner of his eye. The pace of her page-turning had slowed considerably; she was clearly intrigued...
"Norbert can fly now. Don't you want to experience what it's like to ride a dragon?" Evan pressed his advantage with his trump card.
"But it's so close to the castle. What if you get caught?" Hermione finally couldn't help but interject.
"We can go in the evening, flying low. As long as we're careful, we shouldn't be spotted," Evan responded with a smile.
Hermione nodded, torn between continuing her studies and the alluring prospect of seeing Norbert. Within seconds, she snapped her book shut with a "thwack" and shot Evan an annoyed glance. Her mind was now filled with dragons, and she couldn't focus on her revision material any longer.
...
Hours later, Evan sat lazily outside Hagrid's hut, issuing commands.
"Norbert, jump!"
"Norbert, roll over..."
"Norbert, breathe some fire... You're a big kid of two hundred pounds now; time to learn to grill your own fish."
On the grassy patch before him, a large and fearsome Norwegian Ridgeback happily rolled about, following Evan's commands and shooting scorching flames at the fish grill.
Then, gripping the grill with its toothy maw and flapping its wings, it trotted over to Evan, placing two grilled fish into a bowl, waiting for Evan to sprinkle some taste-enhancing potion before gulping them down.
Evan gently patted Norbert's head to show affection, impressed by the rapid growth of the fire dragon. In just over a month, it had grown several times his size.
"This is so cool!" Ron, envious, reached out to stroke Norbert's wing like Evan had done, with Harry and Hermione looking on with longing.
"Don't move!" Evan suddenly shouted.
Ron flinched, startled, and was about to retort when he realized Norbert's massive head was inches away, its sharp teeth dripping with yellowish saliva.
He then understood Evan's warning wasn't for him, and, scared stiff, he plopped onto the ground. Harry quickly helped him up.
"Quite hard..." Evan commented, giving Norbert's head a tap to signal it to retract its teeth, the tough scales making his knuckles ache a bit.
"Evan, haven't you tamed it yet?" Ron asked, still shaken.
"It hasn't been that long; how could it be so fast? I'd say we've made some initial progress," Evan shook his head. Norbert might be compliant now, but that was only due to a mix of strict discipline and grilled fish. Once Norbert grew larger and realized Evan wasn't as powerful as it thought, their relationship could easily fall apart.
But for now, keeping Norbert in check wasn't an issue. After a bit of soothing and warning, Evan told the others they could touch the dragon now.
Ron, still spooked from the scare, hesitated, but Harry bravely reached out his hand.
"Hermione, why don't you give it a try?" Evan encouraged the conflicted girl.
Hermione initially planned to refuse, deeming it too dangerous, but couldn't resist the temptation to touch the young dragon. She placed her hand on Norbert's head, and despite the rough scales, she was thrilled to touch such a creature for the first time, her lips curling into a smile without her realizing.
Although Norbert was uncomfortable with the unfamiliar "shorties" touching it, it refrained from flapping its wings to send them flying, with Evan standing close by.
Evan carefully watched Norbert's expressions and movements, ensuring it wouldn't lash out unexpectedly before relaxing a bit.
Over the past month, under the guise of training the dragon, Evan had already collected enough dragon blood. The fusion potion in the Room of Requirement was ready; all he needed to do was add the dragon blood to complete the process.
But thinking about the dragon blood he had collected and the item evaluation he had seen made Evan frown.
[Magic Item: Dragon Blood
Description: This is dragon blood extracted from a young Norwegian Ridgeback. Its vitality and magical properties are inferior to those of an adult, but it possesses the same potential...]
Although Evan had anticipated this, he was still somewhat disheartened when he received the information.
Fortunately, the description indicated that the potential of the young Ridgeback's blood was essentially the same as that of an adult; it would just require more time to develop. This reassured Evan.
He decided to add the dragon blood to the potion that very night...
As Evan was lost in thought, a chilling howl suddenly pierced the air from the Forbidden Forest. Following the sound, a bloodied, limping dog emerged from the nearby bushes and ran towards Evan...
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