Chapter 79: The Birth of a Young Dragon

After returning to his dormitory, Allen thought things over again and came up with another plan.

Since the Unbreakable Vow judges whether it has been broken based on the vow-maker's subjective intent, could he exploit this to pass on information?

Allen first thought of hypnosis; if he could hypnotize himself into believing that leaking the secret was not actually leaking it, it might work. However, he had never encountered hypnosis in his past life, so he had to abandon the idea.

Then he thought of sleep-talking. Sleep-talking is not controlled by conscious will; could this bypass the Unbreakable Vow's binding mechanism?

As the saying goes, "What occupies the mind by day appears in dreams by night." If he silently repeated "Professor Quirrell is going to steal the Philosopher's Stone" ten thousand times in his heart every day, he would likely say it while sleep-talking and thus pass on the message. Allen felt this plan had promise.

The only trouble was that his roommates were all in a growth phase and slept soundly every night; he would have to remind them to get up at midnight to listen to his sleep-talking. Yet, his act of reminding his roommates to listen to his sleep-talking might itself be judged by the binding power as an act of leaking the secret.

Allen felt his head spinning from this logic.

Just then, Harry and Ron burst into the dormitory and pulled Allen off his bed.

"Do you know what we found?" Harry leaned in and whispered to Allen, "We found Hagrid looking up information on dragons in the library. I have a feeling he's hiding something from us! Let's go check on him!"

Allen shrugged indifferently, saying, "Nothing's going on. I just went to see Hagrid on Friday, which was the day before yesterday, and everything was the same as usual! Besides, Hagrid has always liked dragons; it's normal for him to look up information on them."

"Come on, I really think something is up this time. Hermione feels the same way; she's waiting for us in the common room to visit Hagrid together!" Ron whispered to Allen, his face beaming with excitement.

Seeing their excited expressions, Allen couldn't bring himself to refuse them and agreed to go along.

After meeting up with Hermione in the common room, the four of them set off for Hagrid's hut.

From a distance, Allen noticed something was wrong with Hagrid's hut; even in broad daylight, the curtains were drawn tight. Based on his knowledge of Hagrid, this was the first time such a thing had happened. It seemed Harry and Ron were right.

They soon arrived at the door of Hagrid's hut and knocked.

"Coming!" Hagrid called from inside. He opened the door, sticking out his furry big head. Seeing the four of them, he let them in and immediately locked the door behind them.

Hagrid's act of locking the door startled Allen; had he not been sure the person before him was Hagrid, he would have drawn his wand.

The hut was stiflingly hot. Although the weather outside was clear, a roaring fire burned in the fireplace.

Unable to bear the temperature inside, Allen took off his coat.

Hagrid then finished brewing the tea and served them a plate of rock cakes, warmly inviting them to eat.

The four of them had no choice but to each take one.

Then Harry began to ask Hagrid about the Philosopher's Stone.

Hagrid stammered and refused to say more, but the four still managed to catch him in a slip-up, learning that the three-headed dog on the fourth floor, named Fluffy, was Hagrid's pet and had been borrowed to guard the Philosopher's Stone.

They also learned that the professors at Hogwarts had each set up a trap to protect the Philosopher's Stone.

Hagrid even assured them that only he and Dumbledore knew how to get past Fluffy.

This made the four of them feel slightly more at ease.

However, Harry could no longer endure the high temperature in the hut.

"Hagrid, can you open the window?" Harry asked, having already unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt due to the heat.

"Sorry, I can't!" Hagrid said guiltily, then involuntarily glanced at the fireplace.

Following his gaze, the four of them spotted a black egg in the fireplace.

"Where did you get that?" Ron quickly recognized what it was. "That's a dragon egg."

Ron's words startled Harry and the other two.

Hagrid explained that he had won it in a card game and intended to hatch it and raise the dragon well.

Harry and the other three were shocked by Hagrid's plan, but had nothing better to say. They could only respect his decision and remind him to be careful with fire.

Then they prepared to leave, as the temperature in the hut was simply too high.

But before leaving, they needed to finish their respective rock cakes; since they had already taken them in hand, putting them back would be very rude.

Hermione bit hard twice but managed to break off very little. Turning around, she found that Allen had already finished his, while Harry and Ron were soaking their rock cakes in tea, hoping to soften them.

"How did you eat so fast?" Hermione asked Allen in surprise.

Allen gave Hermione a mischievous look, then opened his mouth to show her his teeth.

Hermione then realized that Allen had randomly received the teeth of some animal today. Judging by those huge front teeth, he must have received the teeth of some kind of rodent.

Hermione quickly realized what this meant. She angrily covered her mouth, threw her rock cake into the fireplace, and decided not to speak to Allen for a week...

For the next few days, they kept talking about this matter, and the appearance of the young dragon also diluted some of Allen's worries.

Then, one morning at breakfast, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid. It contained only four words: "Hatching soon."

Ron didn't want to attend Herbology class and wanted to head straight to Hagrid's hut. Allen expressed support, but Hermione firmly disagreed.

"Hermione, how many times in a lifetime can we see a baby dragon hatch?"

"We have to attend class, or we'll get into trouble. If anyone finds out what Hagrid is doing, he'll be in even worse trouble than we are—"

"Stop talking," Harry warned in a low voice.

Malfoy was just a few steps away, stopping to listen to their conversation. How much had he heard? Harry really hated the expression on Malfoy's face.

Finally, they decided to go after class.

When class ended and the bell just rang through the castle, the four of them dropped their small shovels, rushed across the grounds, and ran toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid greeted them, his face flushed and very excited.

"It's about to come out." He ushered them into the hut. The egg lay on the table, already bearing a deep crack. Something inside was moving constantly, making a funny clicking sound. They all moved their chairs closer to the table, held their breath, and watched intently.

This was the first time Allen had ever witnessed a creature hatching from an egg with his own eyes.

Suddenly, with a harsh scraping sound, the egg cracked open. The baby dragon flapped unsteadily on the table. Allen thought it looked like a crumpled black umbrella. Its spiky wings seemed especially large compared to its thin, dark body. It also had a long, big nose with white nostrils, horned bumps on its head, and bulging orange eyes.

A living Western dragon hatchling had thus appeared in reality.

It sneezed, spitting out a few sparks from its nose. Its cute appearance caused a small gasp of surprise from Allen and the other three.

Just then, a chaotic noise came from outside the hut.

Harry instantly darted to the door and looked out. Even from a distance, he would never mistake it.

Malfoy had seen the baby dragon.