Chapter 80: Kiss of the Young Dragon

Over the next week, the sinister smile hidden on Malfoy's face made Harry, Ron, and Hermione extremely uneasy.

Allen was immersed in his own troubles; he still had not found a way to break the Unbreakable Vow. The method of talking in his sleep was too inefficient, so in the end, he abandoned it.

The three of them also noticed Allen's change, because usually Allen was very cheerful when he was with them, but for the past week and more he had been frowning, often zoning out, and he had become haggard all over.

They found a time and cornered Allen in a corner of the library.

"What's wrong with you recently?" Hermione asked first.

Looking at his friends' sincere and concerned eyes, Allen hesitated for a moment but still prepared to speak about his situation indirectly.

"I've been worrying recently that Snape will steal the Philosopher's Stone!" Allen weighed his words carefully.

Harry and Ron clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ron said lightly, "I thought it was something serious. Snape can't get past Fluffy the three-headed dog anyway, and there are other protective measures set up by other professors!"

"The Philosopher's Stone is still safe for now, and Hagrid said the Stone will be moved soon, so you don't need to worry too much about this," Hermione comforted Allen as well.

Allen then realized he had been fixating on a trivial point recently. He only had this much ability; why worry about something clearly beyond his capabilities? Besides, he had not helped Professor Quirrell steal the Philosopher's Stone. Allen suddenly felt he understood.

He had been tricked by Professor Quirrell into making an Unbreakable Vow, but if he hadn't made it, he would have had no chance to discover that Professor Quirrell was the mastermind behind it all! If he didn't make it, he wouldn't know; if he made it, he could know but couldn't speak, and the result of both was the same.

If he thought from this angle, then he actually hadn't made any mistakes. Let the more powerful professors worry about the matter of the Philosopher's Stone! Thinking this way, Allen's mood finally improved a bit.

"Oh, what you say makes sense. I actually acted like a fool for so long on this matter..." Allen smiled and ended the topic, and he became more cheerful as a whole.

But there was still a tiny lingering worry in his heart; he thought of the three shocking fumes of five grains and miscellaneous cereals he had placed on Professor Quirrell's purple turban on Halloween.

Was Professor Quirrell pretending to be unconscious or truly unconscious at that time? Allen was now a bit unsure.

If he was pretending to be unconscious, then hadn't he made an enemy of the Dark Lord's henchman? A layer of shadow covered Allen's heart again...

But Allen was quickly distracted by another matter...

The four of them had been persuading Hagrid to send the young dragon away recently, but Hagrid kept evading the issue, and he had even named the young dragon Norbert.

In just one week, the young dragon's length had already tripled. Puffs of smoke spurted from its nostrils. Hagrid had set aside his duties as gamekeeper because the young dragon had him running around in a panic. Empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers were scattered all over the ground.

Allen had to take on more work for Hagrid; on Friday he took Fang to patrol the edge of the Forbidden Forest himself.

Finally, after the four of them persuaded him, Hagrid reluctantly agreed to let Ron send a letter to his brother Charlie in Romania, who studies dragons, to ask if they could adopt the young dragon.

The next week was simply like watching days pass like years.

On Wednesday night, after everyone else had gone to bed, Hermione and Harry were still sitting in the common room. The clock on the wall had just struck twelve when the portrait hole suddenly opened.

Allen took off Harry's Invisibility Cloak, appearing as if he had descended from the sky. He had just gone to Hagrid's hut to help him feed Norbert; Norbert had now started eating dead mice packed in wooden crates.

"It bit me!" Allen said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloodstained handkerchief. The rabbit ears on his head trembled with pain.

Hermione carefully opened the handkerchief. Norbert had bitten Allen's hand several times; from the wounds it could be seen that the young dragon's teeth were extremely sharp, and in some places the bite was so deep the bone could be seen.

"You must go to Madame Pomfrey!" Hermione said firmly, looking worriedly at Allen's wound.

"No—" Allen said weakly, "Hagrid has been very good to me and has helped me a lot. If we just hold on for a few more days, Charlie will reply, and then perhaps we can find a good home for Norbert."

"I can't explain the wound now. Going to Madame Pomfrey will only expose Norbert's existence. If Norbert is exposed, Hagrid will suffer terribly; he might even lose his job. I don't want to see that situation."

"Maybe the wound will heal by tomorrow. Maybe I just won't be able to hold a pen for a week." Allen finally said to Hermione with a smile, but the pain distorted his smile a bit.

Hermione was convinced by Allen. She carefully examined the hand on Allen's hand and said uneasily, "Your wound is still bleeding, and the blood is clotting very slowly. Norbert's teeth are likely poisonous..."

"Although it's slow, it is still clotting. I estimate the bleeding will stop by tomorrow morning," Allen said optimistically, though the pain had changed his voice.

After speaking, Allen wrapped up his hand and returned to his dormitory.

But by the next morning, things had become troublesome. Allen's wound had stopped bleeding, but the several injured fingers had swollen to twice their original size, and the wound had turned an ugly green color. It seemed Norbert's teeth were indeed poisonous.

Harry and Ron supported the weak Allen out of the dormitory. They wanted to force Allen to go to the hospital wing, but they ran into Hermione in the common room.

Hermione seemed to have been waiting in the common room for quite a while.

After seeing the three of them come out, she asked concernedly, "How is Allen!"

"The situation is very bad! Allen still won't agree to let us take him to the hospital wing!" Harry said angrily as he supported Allen to sit in a corner of the common room.

Allen sat weakly in a chair in the common room without making a sound; the rabbit ears on his head drooped listlessly.

Hermione keenly sensed this. She bent down, held Allen's shoulders, and said to him, "Allen, listen to me. Didn't you perform your innate Transfiguration last night?"

Allen didn't understand what Hermione meant and said softly in a hoarse voice, "Yes, it was too painful. I couldn't sleep last night—"

"That's even better! I thought of a method that might help you, allowing you to avoid going to Madame Pomfrey for treatment!" Hermione said quickly.

Allen's spirits lifted, and he looked at Hermione with hope.

"If you can use your innate Transfiguration to transform into an animal's claw, wouldn't your wound be able to heal?" Hermione voiced her thought.

"Allen's innate Transfiguration effect cannot remove wounds," Harry countered.

Hermione glared at Harry and said, "What if Allen can transform into the claw of a magical creature? Wouldn't that allow us to use the healing ability of the magical creature to heal the wound?"

Harry was instantly convinced, and Allen also thought this method was feasible. The cost of trial and error for this method was very low; he only needed to sleep and see the result. If it didn't work, he could go to the hospital wing immediately.

At this moment, Ron, who had been silent, spoke up:

"Why must it be a claw? A unicorn's hoof is the most suitable!"