Chapter 64: That is Just How Little Puppy Dragons Are

The Earl's flying speed was limited, and Cohen had no way to make the "sell venom — get paid — buy feathers" process go any faster.

During nearly a week of waiting, Cohen, Harry, and the others watched the complete process of Norbert, who had originally been the size of Hagrid's fist, grow to the size of Fang the boarhound.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cohen and the others arrived at Hagrid's cabin.

"It's growing way too fast — I feel like by next week it'll be as big as this house!"

Ron refused to step inside Hagrid's cabin no matter what, because Norbert was rampaging around inside, and its thick tail was causing the entire wooden hut to rattle and bang.

Just looking from the outside, one could tell what kind of utter chaos reigned within.

"It's fine, as soon as Cohen goes in, it calms right down," Harry advised Ron with a wealth of experience. "For some reason, every time Cohen walked through the door before, Norbert would get very quiet."

"Maybe it's just afraid of me," Cohen said, feigning uncertainty. "I suppose cracking its eggshell for it gave it psychological trauma."

"True, just imagine, when you were just born, there was some behemoth outside the shell trying to pull you out..." Ron said dramatically, pinching the air in front of him with both hands as if mimicking the appearance of some terrifying imaginary demon.

"Let's just hope it doesn't burn down Hagrid's house..." Hermione caught a whiff of something burning — unsure whether it was Hagrid's beard or Hagrid's house.

Cohen stepped forward and knocked on the door, greeted by Norbert's roars and Fang's whimpers.

"Oh — hold on... Norbert, don't get excited — be a good dragon..."

Hagrid was struggling hard to control Norbert.

After a bout of wrestling, the door cracked open.

The other three besides Cohen all took a synchronized step back, waiting for Cohen to subdue Norbert before following him inside to avoid accidental injury.

The moment Cohen pushed the door open, he saw Hagrid cradling Norbert like a baby. The entire dragon's spine was curved into a C-shape, yet it was still writhing frantically in an attempt to break free.

"Sizzle —"

Sparks were constantly spewing from its nostrils, and several patches of Hagrid's beard were already singed.

The instant Cohen appeared in Norbert's field of vision, it abruptly stopped struggling, slipped out of Hagrid's arms like an eel, and happily nuzzled up against Cohen's leg — though by now, Norbert had grown almost to the height of Cohen's waist.

"If this were applied to a human, I believe that's called Stockholm syndrome."

Cohen looked with utter incomprehension at Norbert, who was circling around him.

When it had just hatched, the sight of Cohen would induce feelings of terror.

Yet now, crowding close to Cohen only brought it feelings of joy — and even more intense joy after Cohen reached out to pet its head.

What was this? Was it a masochist?

Once Norbert instantly turned docile, the entire world seemed to grow peaceful again.

Fortunately, Hagrid's home was littered with rugs and wall hangings made from the pelts of magical creatures, many of which were fireproof, meaning Norbert could only scorch the wooden tables, chairs, wooden walls, and Hagrid's beard.

"It's so adorable..."

Hagrid's eyes welled with tears as he looked at Norbert, which had now burrowed onto Cohen's legs and curled up into a ball.

"..."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all remained silent — they didn't think this black dragon was particularly adorable, especially since they were currently sitting amidst a wasteland of its own creation.

Scattered everywhere were shredded rags and hair from unknown creatures. Hagrid's unicorn wool blanket had been torn to pieces, looking as though it had once served as Norbert's teething toy — though it now had a new teething toy, a crude little wooden dragon carved by Hagrid, bearing very fresh tooth marks.

It was probably carved from the wood of some wand-tree, which was why it hadn't been burned by Norbert.

"I actually think it's okay."

Cohen offered a neutral assessment.

From a certain angle, it really was quite adorable — when it was quiet, of course.

If it maintained this puppy-like personality all the time, it would indeed be a novel and quite useful pet.

"Shouldn't we move it to that room in the next couple of days?"

Harry asked.

"Right, the reason I dragged you guys here to see Norbert today is because of this matter." Cohen intended to reveal Dumbledore's intentions. "We can no longer keep it in the castle."

"What?" Hermione asked in horror. "But by the end of the semester, it'll be as big as a house!"

"Meaning I can raise it in the forest?" Hagrid asked hopefully.

"No, once its wing membranes get a bit thicker, it'll be able to fly, and by then the whole school will know there's a dragon in the Forbidden Forest," Cohen shook his head. "The school governors won't let it stay alive here; the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures will send people to bump it off."

"Bump it off meaning..." Harry said cautiously.

"If it reaches the age criteria for usable dragon materials, it will be killed to harvest dragon blood and hide," Cohen stated briefly. "If it doesn't meet the age criteria, it'll probably just be captured and hauled away."

"They can't do that!" Hagrid said with grief. "It's too cruel!"

Norbert seemed to understand Cohen's words as well — it began rubbing its head against Cohen's stomach, attempting to sway Cohen with adorable actions.

If any other less endearing creature had rubbed against that spot, it probably had a death wish...

"Why can't we raise it in that room?" Hermione asked with some worry. "We have no choice — perhaps we should have Ron contact his brother Charlie."

"But the dragons at Charlie's place end up being turned into wizarding materials too, don't they?" Harry said with clear-eyed logic. "Seems like the ending is the same..."

"Because Dumbledore wrote to me," Cohen replied. "He won't allow us to raise a dragon in the castle; it's too dangerous for the students — and what he said is indeed correct."

Upon hearing that Dumbledore knew about Norbert, the color drained completely from Hagrid's face.

"D-D-Professor Dumbledore knows?" Hagrid's voice trembled slightly. "Nothing ever gets past him after all..."

"Don't blame yourself too much, Hagrid, Dumbledore isn't forbidding this — even though it's against the rules, at least he isn't going to report us," Cohen comforted him. "Besides, he also intends to help us."

"Oh, heavens... boo-hoo... Dumbledore is truly... ugh..." Hagrid covered his face, not knowing what to say. "I... he trusted me so much... and yet..."

"Then what's the solution?" Ron asked cautiously. "If all else fails, I'll write a letter to Charlie right now — he can definitely help..."

"We can raise it in a trunk."

Cohen replied:

"Using the Undetectable Extension Charm. I'm currently working on it; Dumbledore provided a reference book. Now we just need to wait for the Earl to return with the final material I need, and the trunk capable of raising a dragon will be complete."