After a flurry of chaos.
In the Headmaster's Office, a faint scent of singed air replaced the usual atmosphere. Dumbledore had just extinguished the flames from his chin, looking at his beard, singed yellow and curled by a flame from Norbert, his eyes held not anger, but a thick incredulity.
William, quick on the uptake, caught the little fire dragon, which seemed to realize its blunder and was trying to take flight to escape.
This time, he used the Immobulus spell to prevent it from vanishing like last time.
"Albus, your beard..."
William's tone carried a hint of apology mixed with an uncontrollable amusement.
"No worries, Fawkes burns brighter in Nirvana."
Dumbledore waved it off nonchalantly. Fawkes, the phoenix, was woken up on the sycamore perch, flapping its wings to land on William's shoulder, locking eyes with the fire dragon in William's palm. Norbert instinctively arched its back, adopting a Ridgeback form... wait, wasn't it originally a Norwegian Ridgeback?
After a moment, Fawkes began to sing a melody that was both strange and beautiful.
"Alright, I'll admit now—I might not have researched this little guy thoroughly enough; it seems it's more than just indigestion."
Dumbledore habitually stroked his chin—where there used to be some surviving beard. The power of the fire dragon's flame exceeded his expectations, and a simple Extinguishing Spell was insufficient, leading to the heroic sacrifice of the beard not rescued in time.
"Those three badges... I feel like this guy might be leveling up."
William was also somewhat helpless as he looked down at the small creature nestled in his palm; its miniaturized form shimmering with a tricolor hue on its scales—these three colors matched exactly with the badges Professor Flitwick invented.
By then, Dumbledore had taken out the Elder Wand, but instead of immediately casting a spell, he donned his half-moon spectacles, leaning in for closer observation.
The old man's crooked nose almost poked Norbert's body, "Filius's alchemical skills have grown stronger." He gently waved his wand, and a candelabrum in the corner ignited, emitting a soft milky light that was neither glaring nor dim, allowing every detail of Norbert to be clearly illuminated.
Then, from his sleeve, he withdrew a small crystal mirror engraved with a complex star chart—under its reflection, the fire dragon's body slowly turned transparent. Norbert curiously stared at his paws turning translucent, subconsciously took a bite—
Without mercy.
"Ouch!" Norbert yelped in pain.
"Whose intelligence does it inherit?" William sighed in despair.
"Relax, little one."
Dumbledore suspended the crystal mirror a few inches above Norbert's head, a light tap with the wand tip on the mirror, and the flame-dragon, reduced to a blurry outline, began to emanate a glowing light. A deep blue crystal core appeared at its heart, with streams of light-grey and earth-yellow spreading from it throughout its body.
"Alright, I think I understand."
William nodded knowingly, watching the scene before him.
"What did you understand?" Newly grasping some clues, Dumbledore was slightly puzzled and after a pause, asked curiously.
"It's about to mega evolve, I told you I'm a Pokémon Master."
"?"
"There's only so much we can really infer from looking, maybe we need something more..."
William took a deep blue Rune Stone from his pocket, knowing full well they would soon be obsolete in about a week. With a flash of blue light, the Rune Stone crumbled to dust, and the two men, a dragon, and a bird found themselves in a corner of the Forbidden Forest. Gazing at the towering trees around him, William nodded, "Here, we won't cause any big disturbances."
"You're planning to..."
Dumbledore nodded and stepped aside a few steps after taking Fawkes, clearly understanding what William intended to do.
William tossed the little fire dragon to the side, "I choose you!" The dragon's form rapidly expanded mid-air, with charcoal wings extending to block out sunlight overhead. The original rustling grass sound ceased instantly as the robust Black Dragon grasped the giant trees around it, lowering its head to look down—
In its resplendent golden eyes flowed a bewitching halo.
"Stop cosplaying Nidhogg and give it a try—"
A slipper was tossed onto Norbert's head by William. Norbert let out a wronged cry but then nodded, raised his head to the sky, and "Roared—" The deafening beast cry was followed by scarlet flames shooting toward the heavens like meteors. The original Dragon Flame seemingly transformed into molten magma, and even at such a distance, its blistering heat reddened Dumbledore's complexion.
Hot.
But Norbert's "performance" wasn't over yet.
After the Dragon Flame ceased, it roared again. This time, a layer of translucent scarlet-golden armor equipped it head to tail. Eyes that usually looked no different from a husky's now seemed filled with the fury of a tyrant. Silver glowed on its wings as Norbert flapped, disappearing from his spot—
The fire dragon flickered in and out within the visual range of the two until the silvery gleam faded, and Norbert returned to William's side.
Its body reduced in size to about that of a medium-sized adult dog, while a mischievous expression crept back onto its face. After eagerly circling William's feet twice and a half, it went over near Dumbledore, its rump inviting play—not towards the old man who once shared cockroaches with it, but to the phoenix on the old man's shoulder.
"Screech—!"
But obviously, this time Fawkes wasn't in the mood to entertain, arrogantly turning its head away.
"Although potentially not his original intent, I must say—Professor Flitwick is truly a genius."
After shrinking the fire-dragon trying to warm Fawkes with enthusiasm was returned to his sleeve, William reflected and then gave an honest evaluation.
"However, the danger level of this creature is probably beyond XXXXX now. Perhaps the Ministry of Magic needs a new classification for it?"
Dumbledore was slightly resigned, "You must keep a close watch on this creature; I wouldn't want to wake up one day to find Hogwarts burned to a rubble pile—a dragon that can casually spew Fiendfyre, teleport, and defend..."
"Sounds like a SSR." William nodded, not denying.