Chapter 24: The Little Boy on the Bed

"Hey, tell me, is it possible to build communism in the Wizarding World?" Harry said excitedly.

"I think we haven't reached the point of studying these problems yet," Zhang Qiu reminded. "What worries me more is that dragon. Did Hagrid give him a name?"

"He said it's called Norbert," Harry was a bit alert. "Could it be that it appeared in divination?"

"Hagrid caused a big disaster for Norbert, and you were caught by the professor for night-walking for sending Norbert away," Zhang Qiu said with some worry. "Although the master warned me not to tell you the content of the divination, I think being caught for night-walking is still, or rather, I also want to try, can I, change destiny."

"I also found that divination is not always accurate," Harry said. "Your master's divination sometimes arrives late, sometimes early, and sometimes only fulfills a part. I suspect this just shows that it is a reference."

"That's right, he specifically corrected me that divination and prophecy are two different things," Zhang Qiu said. "Then, you must not take risks for Norbert's sake. Other things are fine, but we don't need to hit the muzzle of the gun, right?"

"Strictly speaking, there are no guns in the Wizarding World," Harry said. "This way of yours is very strange, is it a Chinese proverb?"

"Hmm, similar ones include knowing there are tigers on the mountain, but still wanting to run to the mountain. Or you have to go on an adventure, and you don't know the danger until you see the vessel that holds your corpse, something like that."

"Really interesting, you say more..."

When Harry finally remembered that he still had homework to do, they had already wasted more than two hours on idle talk. Peishu was still pricking up his ears and listening, as if he could understand.

Harry touched Peishu's little head, put him on his lap, and began to write his Transfiguration homework. The second half of the semester was almost halfway through, and he had to prepare to start final review.

After a few days, Harry received a note from Hagrid during lunch break, saying that the dragon was about to hatch, and invited them to watch.

This time, Zhang Qiu also joined the queue of watching the fun, saying that the birth of a dragon was a big event and she must watch it from the side.

The three ran toward Hagrid's hut as soon as class ended. The half-giant was waving at them from afar, and when they were a bit closer, he couldn't wait to greet them into the house.

The egg was placed on the table, with a deep crack on the front, and something was squirming inside, making a strange sound. They all moved their chairs to the table and watched it nervously.

Suddenly, a burst of fragmented noise came from inside the egg, and then the eggshell cracked open. The little dragon fell onto the table with a plop. It wasn't very cute. Harry felt it looked like a crumpled black umbrella. Its weak wings looked very large compared to its thin body, its nostrils were large, there was a pair of bump-like horns on its forehead, and its eyes were bulging and orange.

It sneezed, and two pillars of sparks flew out of its nostrils.

"How beautiful," Hagrid said softly, reaching out a hand to tap its head. Norbert bit his finger hard, and even revealed two small fangs.

"It must have taken me as its mommy," Hagrid said.

"I was wondering," Harry asked, "how fast does a Norwegian Ridgeback grow?"

Hagrid was about to answer when his face suddenly changed color. He jumped up and ran to the window, asking nervously: "Who's there?"

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Hagrid," the window opened, and half a head with pale golden hair topped the window. It was Ma Erfu.

"I was just curious, I don't know what interesting things Harry saw at your place," Ma Erfu's peeping was caught red-handed, but he didn't seem nervous. "Now I noticed, it turned out to be a little dragon, this is really cool."

"You won't tell on me, will you?" Hagrid looked at him vigilantly. In his heart, most Slytherins were despicable villains.

"Of course not," Ma Erfu said confidently. "But I bet, in less than a month, this small wooden house won't be able to hide it. What do you plan to explain to Dumbledore then?"

"Then we'll talk about it then. He is too small now, if he is let go, he will die," Hagrid looked at Norbert with fascination. "You don't want to leave mommy either, right?"

Harry remembered Zhang Qiu's warning. He didn't like Ma Erfu's arrogant attitude of having no real ability but still being arrogant, so Harry said unkindly: "That's right, Hagrid. But you will have to send him away eventually. I think Sir Ma Erfu's family has a dragon farm, right?"

"Of course, in Romania," Ma Erfu said triumphantly. "My father owns thirty percent of the shares, sending a dragon in is naturally not a problem."

"In that case, let Norbert and mommy be together for a while," Harry said a compromise plan. "When Hagrid can no longer hide him, I hope Sir Ma Erfu is willing to lend a helping hand and quietly send this little cutie to a place suitable for him."

Hagrid agreed readily. He was of course very happy, as long as he could be with Norbert for a while, he wouldn't care about anything else.

As for Ma Erfu, he looked very happy for some reason. Perhaps it was because he successfully showed off that his family had a dragon farm in front of his classmates? Or maybe he felt he easily did something Harry Potter couldn't do?

"You are too bad, Harry," Zhang Qiu laughed and scolded softly when leaving.

"What's wrong, what are you talking about?" Luo En was a bit confused.

"Zhang Qiu's divination told me that sending away the dragon Norbert would cause me to be caught by the professor for night-walking," Harry explained softly. "So, let Ma Erfu send it, maybe he will also be caught by the professor."

"Good idea, you are really smart," Luo En also followed with a bad laugh. "It would be best if he is caught after sending the dragon away, so we will have two things worth being happy about at once."

"What divination said is indeed, because he was carried away by the success of sending the dragon and didn't notice Filch lurking in the corner," Zhang Qiu didn't mind revealing a few more details on this matter.

"Filch!" Luo En exclaimed. "Then he will have to suffer, being caught by Filch can be called the most miserable situation."

"Is your divination so detailed?" Harry was a bit surprised, clearly it was always ambiguous before.

"Hard to say, very strange," Zhang Qiu took out the small notebook filled with square characters. "In some small things, the time and place are very detailed, and they all came true in the end. But when encountering slightly larger things, it is very vague, and the characters are all referred to by proxy."

She flipped to the last page and showed it to Harry. Harry couldn't understand it at all.

"What is written on this page is the last thing of this school year, 'The resurrected Harry strikes in a fierce form, defeats the heinous two-faced person under the witness of the old bee, celebrate, Gryffindor, who gathers thousands of partiality, is about to harvest its first glory'."

"This reads like a heroic epic!" Luo En said excitedly. "But who is the two-faced person?"

"I would like to ask, what does fierce mean," Harry said helplessly. "And is there really anyone who is partial to Gryffindor?"

"This kind of riddle divination for major events is just, for me," Zhang Qiu shrugged. "I clearly recognize every word, but when put together, I don't know what it means at all."

"Well said, Zhang Qiu," Luo En agreed. "I feel the same way when I look at textbooks."

Days passed plainly like this again. Harry watched the dragon Norbert grow day by day, calculating when it should be sent away, looking forward to seeing Ma Erfu being caught by the professor.

However, on a Wednesday night, Harry and Luo En were watching Norbert at Hagrid's, and forgot the time. When they rushed to the Astronomy classroom, they realized they hadn't brought their textbooks.

"I allow you to go back to the dormitory to get your textbooks," Professor Sinistra was very tolerant.

When Harry and Luo En rushed back to the dormitory panting, they were stunned by the situation inside: a naked little boy was lying on Harry's bed, playing with a pillow on his back.

Harry only had time to see clearly that he had silver-gray hair, and then found his body shrinking rapidly, then turned into a tabby cat, and jumped onto Harry's chest.

"Peishu?" Harry looked at the familiar little head on his chest in surprise.

Responding to him was an innocent look.

"Don't think I didn't see anything," Harry poked his forehead. "Wait until I come back from class, we will discuss this problem."

Peishu obediently crawled back to Harry's bed, then drilled under a pillow, leaving only a tail still swinging outside.

"Too amazing, I mean, people and animals, changing back and forth?" As soon as he walked out of the dormitory, Luo En said in surprise.

"Haven't you heard your brothers mention it? This is called an Animagus, a

"Besides, many older students know about it too," he added. "Professor McGonagall is an Animagus; she can also freely transform into a human or a cat."

"But, Peixu transforms into a human who looks about our age. Is it normal to master the Animagus transformation at eleven?" Luo En questioned.

"This might involve a Blood Curse," Harry said with some sadness. "Some children with overly high talent for Transfiguration can learn the Animagus transformation naturally. But the consequence is often that they cannot distinguish whether they are truly human or animal. Peixu might be like this, which is why we have always treated him as a cat."

"You said, a Blood Curse?" Luo En's tone carried a hint of respect. "You really know so much."

"This is all knowledge I saw in the library. The occurrence of a Blood Curse is a very sad thing, and there is still no good way to cure it." Harry's mood was not very good; the events of this evening had truly left him feeling a mess, so he ignored the fact that this knowledge actually came from the Restricted Section.