"Dragon egg?!" Harley blurted out.
Hagrid nearly jumped, then his face split into a massive grin.
"Harley, you recognize it?!"
Harley nodded, eyes wide with excitement.
"Yeah! It really is a dragon egg! I've only ever seen pictures in books before."
Ted couldn't help but feel a pang of envy.
The Potter and Black family libraries were goldmines of magical knowledge.
No wonder Harley knew so much—growing up with access to those books was like having a cheat code to the wizarding world.
Considering that the Marauders had managed to create the Marauder's Map and master Animagus transformations as students, their legacy was no joke.
Now Harley had all that knowledge at her fingertips.
Hagrid looked like a kid on Christmas morning—if that kid was three times the size of a normal person and obsessed with dangerous creatures.
"Yep! A real dragon egg! This one's a Norwegian Ridgeback, very rare!" he said with unmistakable pride.
It was almost a given—Hagrid had a deep, unshakable love for enormous and deadly creatures.
To him, raising a dragon was probably a dream come true.
"Hatching a dragon egg's tricky business, though. Needs constant warmth and careful handling," Hagrid continued.
"I turn it every three hours, and I've been reading up on how to care for it!" He gestured to a pile of books stacked precariously on the wooden table.
The titles, however, didn't inspire much confidence:
[Fire Dragons: From Birth to Battle Gear]
[Breeding Dragons for Fun and Profit]
[From Egg to Ashes: How Not to Get Burned Alive]
[A Beginner's Guide to Raising Dragons—And Surviving It]
Ted skimmed through a few pages and quickly decided that trusting these books was like trusting Lockhart to actually fight a Dark creature.
Some of the advice was downright bizarre—feeding dragon hatchlings chicken blood?
Yeah, that didn't sound right.
Speaking of dragon eggs… Ted suddenly remembered something.
'Now that I think about it... I have a dragon egg too!'
And not just any dragon egg—an Azerothian red dragon egg, leagues above your typical fire-breathing menace.
But hatching it?
That was a whole other issue, one he wasn't ready to deal with yet.
Ron, who had been staring at the egg in disbelief, finally found his voice.
"Hagrid… raising dragons is illegal, isn't it?"
At this, Hagrid's smile faltered. "Er—well, technically, uh… but we're different!"
Hermione crossed her arms. "Does Dumbledore know?"
"Ah…" Hagrid hesitated, then completely clammed up.
Ted could tell Hagrid hadn't really thought this part through.
He was too caught up in the excitement of it all.
Seeing his obvious distress, Ted decided to change the subject.
"We can worry about that later," he said. "At least until the dragon gets too big to hide in your house."
Hagrid immediately brightened up. "Exactly! See, Ted gets it!"
That was Hagrid for you—living in the moment, no long-term planning whatsoever.
If there was a tomorrow problem, it was a tomorrow problem.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was hatching the egg.
With the topic shifted, everyone turned their attention back to the dragon egg.
It wasn't every day you got to see one up close.
Laws and ethics aside, it was fascinating.
"Hang on, Hagrid," Harley spoke up again. "Where did you even get this?"
The room went quiet.
They all knew dragon eggs weren't exactly sold at Diagon Alley's pet shop.
"Ah… well, I won it!" Hagrid admitted sheepishly.
"You won it?" Hermione repeated in disbelief.
"Yeah! In a card game!" Hagrid said, puffing out his chest. "That bloke thought he could beat me, but I showed him!"
The group exchanged skeptical looks.
Winning a dragon egg in a card game sounded like something out of a bad wizarding drama.
Hagrid, oblivious to their concern, launched into the story.
He had met the mysterious stranger in the Hog's Head, a shady little pub in Hogsmeade.
The man had been desperate to offload the egg, and one thing led to another—soon they were drinking, playing cards, and talking about magical creatures.
Next thing Hagrid knew, he had won the egg.
"Hah! He even asked if I knew how to take care of it!" Hagrid laughed.
"I told him, 'Course I do! Why, I've raised all sorts of creatures! Even my three-headed dog, Fluffy! Just play a bit of music, and he'll doze right off!"
Silence.
Hermione's sharp gaze zeroed in. "Three-headed dog?"
Harley and Ron's eyes widened as realization hit them.
"You mean that three-headed dog?" Harley asked, thinking back to the monstrous creature guarding the third-floor corridor.
"Wait, wait, wait—Fluffy is yours?!" Ron exclaimed.
Jerry swallowed hard.
The memory of the terrifying beast was still fresh in his mind.
That thing could chomp down an entire cow without even trying.
It all clicked now.
If Hagrid was comfortable keeping a giant three-headed Cerberus, then of course a dragon seemed like a reasonable next step.
"Uh—" Hagrid visibly panicked.
"N-no, I, uh—alright, fine! Yes, he's mine! But I had to take him! Bought him off a Greek chappie when he was just a pup—bloke wasn't taking care of him right! He wouldn't have lasted a week!"
He looked at Hermione, as if pleading his case.
"And for the record, Dumbledore knows about Fluffy! He's the one who told me to let Fluffy guard the—oh!" Hagrid clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing he had said too much.
Harley's eyes gleamed. "Wait a second—Dumbledore knows about Fluffy? And Fluffy is guarding something?"
Finally.
The mystery they'd been chasing all year was starting to come together.
Hagrid leaned back as if he were facing a dangerous monster.
"No! No! I don't know anything, I didn't say anything…"
"Come on, Hagrid! We know you do!" Harley pressed.
"I have no idea!"
"Just say it!"
"I can't!"
"Look at you, you do know!" Harley shot back, arms crossed.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, don't push me. I promised I wouldn't say a word!" Hagrid was clearly panicking.
He had gone from denying any knowledge to admitting that he couldn't say, which was as good as confessing.
Ted smirked. "But you already let slip about the weakness of the three-headed dog."
"I didn't!" Hagrid insisted, looking more flustered by the second.
"Didn't you tell the bloke who won your dragon egg?" Ted added, his voice dripping with amusement.
"Ah…" Hagrid choked on his own words, his face turning red as he realized he'd walked right into that one.
Hermione pounced. "That's right! Play music, and it falls asleep, doesn't it?"
"No, don't—" Hagrid's voice was full of desperation, and Neville, feeling secondhand embarrassment, averted his gaze.
Harley grinned. "Even if you don't confirm it, we could just try playing music and see what happens. Then we can slip right in and take a peek."
"Don't! You can't! That's Dumbledore's and Nicolas Flamel's secret—oh!" Hagrid clamped both hands over his mouth, his eyes wide with horror.
Ted and Harley exchanged a triumphant look.
No matter how much they teased him after that, Hagrid refused to say another word, his hands never leaving his mouth.
It was a solid strategy—if he didn't talk, he couldn't slip up any further.
But really, what was the point? The key information was already out.
"Nicolas Flamel…" Hermione frowned, deep in thought. "I know I've read that name somewhere before."
The problem was, Nicolas Flamel had lived centuries ago.
Books written in the past hundred years rarely mentioned him, making it harder to recall.
Ron, ever the opportunist, turned to Ted.
"Ted definitely knows."
Years of copying homework had taught him that Ted always had the answers.
Ted shrugged nonchalantly.
"Nicolas Flamel is one of the greatest alchemists in history. He created the only known Philosopher's Stone, also called the Sorcerer's Stone. It's a legendary artifact that can turn base metals into gold and produce the Elixir of Life."
"He and Dumbledore also worked together to study the twelve new uses of dragon blood. That's actually on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card."
"Ah!" Hermione suddenly slapped her forehead. "That's where I saw it!"
Ted winced. "Please slap your forehead next time."
Ron gulped. "So… it can turn things into gold? And Dumbledore just left it under a three-headed dog?!"
His brain was short-circuiting, overloaded with thoughts of infinite wealth.
His mental image of the Philosopher's Stone had morphed into something out of a video game, complete with a shimmering gold aura and an inventory slot.
As they left, the group continued discussing the Philosopher's Stone, their excitement barely contained.
Meanwhile, Hagrid slumped over in his chair, looking utterly defeated.
He had done the unthinkable—revealed Dumbledore's secret to a bunch of students.
He could practically feel the weight of his failure crushing him.
Hagrid groaned. "Just… just go, alright? I'm too tired for this…"
Honestly, Dumbledore had chosen well when he tasked Hagrid with keeping this secret.
It was airtight—like a vault with the door wide open.
And now, between Professor Quirrell, Voldemort, and their little group, it seemed like everyone and their owl knew about the Philosopher's Stone.
It was almost comical.
Speaking of the dragon egg, that had been a stroke of genius.
Whether it was Quirrell or Voldemort behind it, the scheme was brilliant—two birds, one stone.
First, they got Hagrid to reveal the secret of the three-headed dog, making the hardest part of breaking in significantly easier.
Second, by distracting Hagrid with the responsibility of hatching and raising a dragon, they kept him too preoccupied to patrol the Forbidden Forest properly, giving Quirrellmort free rein to hunt unicorns.
Ted grimaced.
"Right. That settles it. I'm not setting foot in the Forbidden Forest this year. If I run into Voldemort, I'm dead."
Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.
A familiar ding echoed in his mind.
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[New Quest Triggered: Forbidden Forest Adventure (Red)]
Half of Hogwarts' wonders lie within the castle… but the other half is hidden in the Forbidden Forest. Countless secrets, mysteries, and riches await those who dare to explore. What kind of adventurer spends seven years at Hogwarts without setting foot in the most dangerous, magical location on the grounds?
Objective: Explore the Forbidden Forest.
Progress: 0% / 100%
Reward: 1200 EXP, +Lv1 Magizoology, Random Card.
There are tens of thousands of magical creatures in the world, and the Forbidden Forest houses half of them!
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Ted's eye twitched. "Oh, come on!"