"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Daphne marveled at the weighty golden egg in Jane Yu's hands. "It's really heavy; must be quite a bit of gold."
Jane Yu had already attempted to open the golden egg once before.
She pried her fingers into the groove on the egg and cracked it open, only to be met with a cacophony of wailing.
Clearly, it was just a trick meant to give the champions a scare.
"We need to open it," Jane said, sitting on her bed and flipping through alchemical texts. "The melting point of gold is as high as 1064.43°C."
Daphne's eyes widened, and the golden egg slipped from her hands onto the bed.
"How hot would the flames need to be for that? Can the Fiendfyre do it?"
Obviously, Fiendfyre couldn't melt gold, and using the Fire-Making Spell on the egg might burn down the entire Slytherin dormitory.
Although burning down the dormitory might achieve the goal of getting expelled, Jane would also be responsible for the lives of everyone from first to seventh year in Slytherin.
—And spend the rest of her life in Azkaban.
Fortunately, the dragon handlers from Romania hadn't left yet, and she quickly came up with a brilliant idea—
To have some pleasant and friendly interaction and trade with the Ukrainian Ironbelly.
For example, cooking... roasting... melting a golden egg.
...
When she approached Charlie with the golden egg and a variety of seasonings, the dragon handler was delighted.
"That Ironbelly threw a huge tantrum at us yesterday!" he complained, scratching his head. "It's the most ill-tempered dragon we've raised!"
He called over the other dragon handlers to observe Jane's dragon-handling skills and discuss the dragon's temperament.
"It flew to the reserve on its own two weeks ago, very irritable, and it took thirty of us casting Stupefy to calm it down."
"We suspect it's reached breeding age because it weighs over six tons, a rare sight for such a large dragon."
Charlie's superior eagerly joined the conversation, looking pained.
"We brought it here, but it hasn't been eating well, even when we tried to entice it with the scent of a male dragon."
Several dragon handlers arrived with large buckets of raw beef provided by the Hogwarts cafeteria.
Their eyes sparkled with excitement as they greeted her.
"Miss Jane, you're finally here. This Ukrainian Ironbelly hasn't eaten a thing!"
"Though it usually eats very little, it stopped eating altogether after the competition yesterday!"
"We tried beef, lamb, chicken, and even caught fish from the Black Lake — it still refuses to eat."
Jane was puzzled.
She could believe other dragons might not eat, but this Ironbelly... usually eats very little?
From her observations in Newt's suitcase, it was quite the eater!
Even in its juvenile stage, it could chow down 100 kilograms a day!
And it demanded grilled meat every meal, sometimes with brandy, chicken blood, black pepper, chili, and salt as seasoning.
Whenever she did this, it would devour an extra 50 kilograms! It could even breathe fire farther!
According to Newt, it continued to eat like this until it was released back into the wild—
Perhaps that's why it grew to over six tons — heavier than even adult dragons.
It had eaten itself into a fat dragon!
After all, by her calculations from her visits to Newt's place... this dragon should still be a juvenile, yet it's heavier than adult dragons!
"How much food do you feed it daily?" Jane turned to ask Charlie.
Charlie pulled out a notebook recording its food intake and checked the records from the past month.
"Normally, a healthy dragon of this weight should eat 150-200 kilograms of meat daily."
"It ate 220 kilograms on the first day it woke up, but from the second day on, its appetite wasn't up to par, barely eating."
"It ate less and less each day, eventually only eating 50 kilograms, and now it doesn't eat at all."
His expression was like a mother worriedly watching her picky child, wishing he could chase it around to feed it.
"We thought it might be sick, so we stunned it three times for examination, but found nothing wrong."
"And its temper has grown more irritable, breathing fire at the slightest provocation, burning all the meat we fed it."
"We had to quickly remove the charred meat each time to ensure its diet remained healthy."
Jane sighed.
She understood why it was so irritable.
This dragon was simply not getting enough to eat, clearly starving!
Trying to grill its own meat, only for the handlers to take away the cooked meat just as it was about to eat!
Even a human would be upset — let alone a dragon.
Not getting enough to eat and being stunned repeatedly for examination, who could tolerate that?
Especially since it's still a child, yet constantly harassed by the scent of a male dragon—
Who wouldn't be tempted to spray fire everywhere?
"Isn't it possible that it just wants to eat something good?" Jane sincerely remarked. "It likes grilled meat, and it needs seasoning."
Seeing her appear, the Ukrainian Ironbelly, which had been lying listlessly on the ground, bound by chains, suddenly stood up excitedly, its eyes filled with immense joy, its tail whipping the ground and creating several large pits.
But seeing the group of dragon handlers behind her, it was very displeased, its wings began to flap violently, making loud noises; its mouth started brewing sparks, preparing to attack them.
However, when Jane dangled a bucket of meat in front of it, it sat down like a puppy, half-folding its wings, the sparks in its mouth disappearing, and drool hanging three meters long from its mouth to its feet.
Jane began a live BBQ and sprinkled pepper, chili, and cooking wine on the meat.
The dragon, which had been hungry for nearly a month, had its deep red eyes shining with light!
It opened its mouth and plunged its head into the bucket, tossing raw meat onto the grill. Its nostrils flared as it sniffed the aroma of the barbecue, its feet stomping eagerly, causing the ground to tremble.
After waiting for over ten minutes, it couldn't hold back any longer, shoving its head onto the grill, devouring everything, even licking the iron tray clean.
The observing dragon handlers exclaimed in surprise, pulling out paper and pen to jot down the recipe.
"What spices do you use for the meat? Spirits, pepper, chili..."
"Exactly, these spices are great for the health of a dragon's flames! No wonder it loves it so much!"
Charlie directed them to orderly learn the grilling method and recorded the Ukrainian Ironbelly's food intake.
"50 kilograms... 100 kilograms... 200 kilograms... My goodness! It can still eat! 300 kilograms!"
After devouring 300 kilograms of grilled meat, the Ironbelly let out a burp, releasing a few sparks, and the entire dragon collapsed on the ground, exuding a satisfied and peaceful aura.
And when faced with the golden egg Jane handed over, this dragon that loved grilled meat quickly understood her intention to roast the egg.
Under its dragon fire and magic, the golden egg let out strange cries:
"Water—water—murdered the fish! Murdered the merpeople!"
Jane had to tell the Ukrainian Ironbelly to stop.
To make a boiled egg, why didn't the golden egg say so earlier?
If it had said earlier, it wouldn't have suffered so much!
The golden egg rolled away, hiding itself in a pile of grass, still screaming:
"Roasted the fish—turning into dried fish—water—water—throat—"
How strange, Jane could actually see fear in an egg.
After the dragon and Charlie, along with the dragon handlers, warmly bid her farewell, she returned to her dormitory with the egg and began giving it a hot bath.
The eggshell opened, revealing a transparent interior filled with bubbles, and some voices began to sing:
"Seek us where our voices sound."
"We cannot sing above the ground..."
"We've taken what you hold dear. You have only an hour's time..."
Based on the golden egg's shrill cries when it was almost roasted by the dragon, Jane quickly deduced the creature for the next task.
Retrieve the beloved treasure from the merpeople.
What beloved treasure could she possibly have?
Jane pursed her lips.
Besides, finding the merpeople meant going underwater.
In such cold water, getting wet and sticky all over would definitely lead to illness!
Excessive moisture in the body and cold entering it could easily obstruct and affect the function of the internal organs, causing dizziness, heaviness, colds, and other symptoms.
It seemed like another task perfectly suited for giving up!
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