"Raising… a dragon?"
Charles stared at the four figures squeezing through his office door, momentarily lost for words.
Hagrid sat awkwardly on the sofa, his enormous frame squashing Harry and the others into one corner.
"What happened?" Charles asked, his tone caught somewhere between curiosity and suspicion.
"It's like this, Professor—" Hermione took a deep breath and rushed to speak before Harry could.
"Snape tried to threaten Quirrell to learn about the obstacles protecting the Philosopher's Stone. We were worried he might not hold out for long, so we decided to ask Hagrid if he might have told anyone how to get past Fluffy.
"But—" she exhaled sharply, "he said he met a dark wizard at the Hog's Head. That man got him drunk, then traded him a dragon egg in exchange for the secret of how to lull Fluffy to sleep!"
"And you just accepted that dragon egg?" Charles raised an eyebrow.
"I—I thought he just seemed desperate to get rid of it! I didn't think much about it!"
Hagrid looked as if he were about to cry—no, he was crying, blowing his nose loudly into a tiny handkerchief. The sight was… rather distressing.
"I—I've let Dumbledore down! He trusted me so much! I'm practically the person he trusts the most!" he wailed, eyes red and face full of guilt.
Even so, he quickly added, "Of course—well—except for you, Professor! After you, I'm definitely the one he trusts most!"
"He let me fetch Harry! Me, not anyone else! He let me design the first test for the Stone's protection! And yet I—"
A tremendous honking sound interrupted his speech—it was Hagrid blowing his nose again, like a hoarse trumpet blasting through the room.
"He trusted me so much!"
Charles: …
To be fair, Dumbledore really did trust him—trusted that he'd inevitably let something slip sooner or later.
Facing Hagrid, Charles could no longer bring himself to scold him. The man had a good heart, but perhaps his giant blood had dulled his reasoning a bit. He was like a child who'd never quite grown up.
Charles had told him countless times before, but it never seemed to matter. Eventually, he'd stopped bothering.
Still, this time—
"I remember giving you a Charmander egg last Christmas," Charles said.
Back then, he'd thought giving Hagrid a Pokémon egg as a gift would keep him too busy to fall for Quirrell's tricks. Clearly, he'd been overly optimistic.
"Professor, you gave him a Pokémon egg?!" Hermione shrieked, staring at him in disbelief.
"Y-yes…"
"We've never even seen a Pokémon egg before!" Harry added, equally astonished.
Although they all owned Pokémon, none of them had ever witnessed one of their eggs firsthand.
"I—I never managed to hatch it…" Hagrid confessed, embarrassed—but at least no longer fixated on his dragon problem.
"I went to the library to find a guide on hatching fire-type dragons, but it didn't seem to help. I think I might've broken it somehow."
Charles: …
"You mean you still haven't hatched it?"
"To hatch a Charmander egg, you only need to keep it warm. It's not that different from hatching a dragon's egg. What exactly did you do?"
"I wrapped it in blankets… then tried holding it near the fireplace," Hagrid said mournfully. "But nothing happened. I even roasted it for a week—still no sign. Then I got that dragon egg and… well, I kinda forgot about the first one."
Charles sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'm afraid I'll have to take the Charmander egg back. Honestly, I'm not sure you're capable of taking care of it properly."
He was speechless at Hagrid's carelessness.
Fortunately, Pokémon eggs were famously durable—some could last for thousands of years without decaying. Otherwise, Hagrid's "cooking" might've truly destroyed it.
"So… how do you hatch a Charmander egg, Professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"The best way is to carry the egg with you as much as possible," Charles explained patiently. "Even before hatching, Pokémon can sense the presence of others. Constant movement and human contact encourage the life inside to awaken faster.
"The other key factor is temperature. Fire accelerates hatching—Pokémon eggs can even be placed directly into flames without harm. But the incubation time varies wildly, even among the same species."
His own Riolu had waited inside its egg for years, while his Woobat had hatched within minutes once exposed to fire.
"I see," Hermione nodded, jotting everything down in her notes.
Then she abruptly shook her head. "Wait—that's not what we should be talking about right now!"
"The dragon is the real issue!"
"His name's Norbert," Hagrid corrected.
"I don't care what it's called! Keeping a dragon privately is illegal! You'll be sent to Azkaban, Hagrid!" Hermione shouted.
The words made Hagrid blanch in terror.
"Oh no—no, I don't want to go to Azkaban!" he wailed, tears welling again. This time, his sobs were even more pitiful.
Years ago, he'd been wrongly imprisoned there because of Riddle. The memory of those horrible creatures—the Dementors—still haunted him. He never wanted to feel that suffocating emptiness again.
Death, at least, didn't make one suffer.
"Please, Professor, help him!" Harry pleaded. "There's nowhere safer than the Pokémon Reserve to keep Norbert!"
"I must remind you," Charles said calmly, "this is a Pokémon Reserve, not a dragon sanctuary. Dragons have their own protected grounds."
"But, Professor—"
Harry faltered, taken aback. He hadn't expected Charles to refuse so firmly. Wasn't that heartless?
Luckily, Charles clarified at once.
"Pokémon and magical creatures are entirely different species—and vastly diverse within their own worlds. Housing a dragon here would be like throwing a leopard into a tiger's den. Do you really think that's wise?"
"You're right," Hermione admitted reluctantly.
Even Ron nodded in agreement this time.
"Speaking of dragon reserves," Ron suddenly said, "maybe I can contact my brother. Charlie—you remember him? He works at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. I could write to him, and we can send Norbert there."
Everyone thought that was a brilliant idea—everyone except Hagrid.
"No!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Norbert's still a baby! He can't leave me!"
(End of Chapter)