Bab 46: Norberta
"How did you know?" Asked Hermione, ignoring the look on Ben's face.
Instead of answering, Ben made a silencing gesture and said, "Quick, grab a chair, she's almost out."
They all sat around the table and watched the moving egg with bated breath. The cracks on the shell enlarged as scraping noises increased from inside. Soon, the egg split open and an ugly black lizard fell out of it.
Her skinny jet-black body was overbalanced by the large spiny wings, tiny little Stubbs of horns protruding on her head and her bright orange eyes looked around in curiosity.
It sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of the wide nostrils on her long snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured.
He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs. It seemed very angry at being woken up from its long slumber.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face — he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains — it's a kid — he's runnin' back up ter the school."
The trio bolted to the door to look at the silhouette running towards the castle.
Ben already knew who it was; the young master, running like a common voyeur.
When Hagrid and the trio turned back to question what to do next, they got the shock of their lives.
The nasty dragon that was glaring fangs at everyone else was acting like an enamoured kitten in Ben's hand; lying on his palm, making cute sounds as if asking for belly rubs.
To make the situation more absurd, Ben proceeded to not only give belly rubs but even head scratches and got away without a scratch.
"She's a wee little darling, isn't she now? The picture of cuteness, she is!" Ben said, with the same face that Hagrid had made a few moments ago.
"He's lost it too," Ron said to his two dumbfounded friends.
And he really had lost it, the care in his eyes for the newborn dragon was real, and there was a sense of familiarity that he felt with the firebreathing lizard that he had never felt with anyone before.
His motive for coming here had been forgotten, even though he could not speak with the Dragon like a Parselmouth would to a serpent, he was able to understand the creature without any words.
It was kind of like how Sirius was able to communicate with Crookshanks despite him being a dog and her a cat, albeit a very smart cat.
There was a significant distinction between Ben and the vicious reptile, proven by the fact that she was trying to win his favour instead of trying to bite his fingers off; Norwegian Ridgebacks are most aggressive against their own species.
This proved that the dragons of this world were not the same as the Dragons of Skyrim, but they seemed somewhat similar as Ben could feel some familiarity.
Over the next week, Ben spent most of his time in Hagrid's murky hut as he tried to uncover the secrets of his familiarity with the dragon. The place looked worse than ever as empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers lay on the floor.
The trio were trying desperately to make Hagrid see reason,
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."
Well, the dragon wasn't little anymore, it had tripled in length after drinking Hagrid's concoction of Brandy and Chicken blood for a week. Between feeding the dragon and keeping it from burning everything down, Hagrid had little time to look after his other duties.
One could see smoke unfurling out of its wide nostrils and Ben had seen it breathe fire multiple times now. Still, there was no sign of a Thu'um, it seemed that the dragons of this world were not intelligent or powerful enough to be able to wield such power.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"
But like an ungrateful teenage girl, she ignored the labouring half-giant and ran into Ben's arms instead as he entered the hut.
There was a look of betrayal in Hagrid's eyes.
"Sure and begorrah, ye can't be callin' her Norbert, she's a bonnie lass and deserves a name as lovely as she is!" Ben declared as he brought out a vial of [Potion of Vigor] and fed it to the Dragon.
[Potion of Vigor], as Ben found out, was like a tonic full of nutrition. Unlike a stamina potion, it had long-lasting effects.
The dragon gulped down the whole thing and exhaled a fiery breath at his face in excitement, but Ben was unfazed as he had [Stoneflesh], he had learned to localize the effect of the spell to solve the problem of rigidity that came with transforming into stone.
"Am I dreaming mate? How's he fine after that?" asked Ron to Harry, who himself was looking at the scene in confusion.
Hagrid was not as shocked though; he too was resistant to most things and a little bit of fire was no big deal for him.
"Where d'ye get that notion, I say? This little rascal here's got the spirit of a young master, he does!" he said looking at the entitled dragon.
"By the light of the stars I knew she'd be here, and they've tasked me with savin' this sweet thing from a name not worthy of a queen,"
"They've both lost it, it's like a couple fighting over their kid's custody," said Hermione, it totally went over Ron's head.
It took a while to convince everyone of my prophetic might, but with a few notes on Norwegian Ridgebacks that he had copied from the Library, everyone was convinced that it was indeed a female.
And to prevent the tragedy of a name that was Norberta, Ben had to give a few suggestions that meant roughly the same but were more suitable for a female dragon, not that it matters what gender the beast is.
She was finally named Norene, but while Ben and Hagrid were busy discussing such important matters, the trio was losing their minds.
"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks, and Norbert or Norene's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."
"And why are you indulging in this madness? A Dragon is not a pet," said Hermione, looking at Ben a little frustrated.
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I - I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't," said Hagrid.
"And I just want to soak up all the time I can with her before she's sent away," said Ben, mimicking the expression on Hagrid's face.
"What do you mean sent away?" Hermione asked, grabbing onto the meaning behind his words.
"Is this another one of your prophesies?" asked Harry.
"It can be, it depends on what Charlie says," said Ben, pointing towards Ron.
"I warned ye mate, he's gone round the bend," Ron said to Harry.
"I'm Ron, not Charlie, don't ya forget it," he said, elongating each word as if talking to a child.
"Feels bloody brilliant to finally have some proof that he's not playing with a full deck," he said to Hermione. Ron had been severely doubting the mental faculties of this Raven for a while now.
"No - Charlie - your brother, Charlie. In Romania," Harry said to Ron, "Studying dragons. We could send Norbert-"
"Norene," interrupted Ben.
"Yes- send NORENE to him. Charlie can take care of HER and then put HER back in the wild!" Harry said, this time really stressing certain words.
"Better now?"
"Much Better," Ben said with a wide grin.
--Dreamscape--
So, still no sight of a Thu'um anywhere, the wait is just killing me.
Read more at Patre@n/DreamyApe to find out what the hell is wrong with our Dragonborn.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
DreamyApe
DreamyApe DON'T you lie to mee, I know you have the stones. Empty your pockets right now or there won't be anyone worse than me, I promise.
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