"Careful!" Hermione warned, her voice tight with anxiety.
"It is fine," Maurice replied, stepping right up to Norbert.
Norbert wiggled his scaly head. Staring at the unfamiliar human, the baby dragon let out a menacing hiss, spraying a few warning sparks from the corners of his mouth.
"Now, Norbert, be nice to our guests," Hagrid cooed gently. He lumbered over to his massive wooden table, grabbed a kettle the size of a standard cauldron, and asked, "Who wants a cuppa?"
Harry immediately raised his hand.
Hermione leaned in close to Maurice, lowering her voice to a frantic whisper.
"Hagrid spoils him rotten. Norbert literally bit Ron, and Hagrid did not even scold him!"
"Understandable," Maurice nodded sagely.
After all, this was a dragon. A literal fire-breathing apex predator.
Maurice had no idea what a live dragon hatchling went for on the black market these days, but it certainly was not cheap. He wondered if Hagrid would ever consider selling it. If not... well, keeping a growing dragon inside a wooden hut at Hogwarts was not just unrealistic. It was spectacularly, undeniably illegal.
"Hagrid, where exactly did you get this dragon?" Maurice asked, genuine curiosity lacing his tone. If possible, he would not mind acquiring one himself.
Just then, Norbert let out a thunderous hiccup. A potent wave of cheap brandy mixed with the harsh sting of sulfur washed over Maurice.
Maurice wrinkled his nose. Small body, massive bad breath. On second thought, dead dragons were much better company.
Hearing Maurice ask about his prized pet, Hagrid immediately puffed out his chest.
"Won him in a pub! Playin' cards with a stranger."
"You must be an exceptional card player, then."
"Not too shabby," Hagrid exhaled proudly. "Luck was on my side that night. The bloke kept losin', and finally put the egg on the table. Honestly, I reckon he was glad to be rid of it."
"Why would anyone want to get rid of a dragon egg?" Maurice asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. A living dragon egg was an incredibly rare treasure, easily worth a small mountain of Galleons.
Hagrid suddenly looked shifty, his eyes darting away.
"Well, he... he was worried about bein' searched, see? Dragon eggs are strict contraband."
"What you are doing right now is also illegal, Hagrid," Hermione sighed heavily.
Maurice easily picked apart the massive holes in the gamekeeper's story.
'Playing cards with a stranger and betting a dragon egg? That was practically the same as tossing handfuls of solid gold into the Black Lake. Besides, who in their right mind would be desperate to lose a dragon egg?'
Maurice himself could think of half a dozen profitable ways to handle one. Even if you lacked the black market connections to sell it, whipping up a million-Galleon omelet was a far better use than losing it in a pub. He was fairly certain very few people in history had ever tasted fried dragon egg.
Harry sat by the table, nursing his massive teacup.
"We contacted Ron's brother, Charlie," Harry chimed in. "He agreed to have some friends pick the dragon up this weekend. That way, Hagrid will not get into trouble, and the whole problem goes away."
Maurice nodded, though he felt a pang of regret.
'What a waste of good magical materials.'
He reached out a hand, tentatively moving closer to Norbert's snout.
Just as his fingers were about to graze the dragon's scales, Harry shouted. "Watch out!"
Norbert reacted with lightning speed. The hatchling snapped his head around, opening jaws already lined with razor-sharp teeth, and lunged fiercely at Maurice's arm.
Crack!
A sickeningly sharp crunch echoed through the hut.
But Norbert's fangs had not pierced human flesh. Instead, the dragon had chomped down hard on a thick, greyish-white object that had materialized out of thin air.
It was a massive, solid bone. Maurice had silently cast a Bone-calling spell.
Norbert let out a pathetic whimper, having clearly underestimated the hardness of his unexpected snack.
Hagrid's eyes lit up when he saw Norbert chewing on the bone. "Oh! What a brilliant teethin' ring! I read in a book that baby dragons need sturdy things to grind their teeth on when they're little."
"That sounds exactly like a puppy," Hermione pointed out dryly.
Harry nodded in strong agreement.
For the next few minutes, Maurice repeatedly tried to pet the dragon. Every single time Norbert snapped at him, a perfectly sized bone would instantly pop into the dragon's mouth. At first, Norbert fought back aggressively. But after several frustrating mouthfuls of solid bone instead of human fingers, the hatchling finally gave up the offensive altogether.
Maurice smiled in extreme satisfaction as he looked down at the thoroughly defeated dragon sulking on the floor.
It was time to get down to business.
While Hagrid was busy rambling on about how adorable Norbert looked when he slept, Maurice let his fingers gently brush the back of the dragon's neck.
A tiny, barely noticeable prick of pain struck Norbert. The dragon let out a confused, low grumble from the back of his throat.
Hagrid immediately leaped to his feet.
"Norbert, what is it? Are yeh hungry? I'll get yer dinner ready right now!"
He hurried out the back door and returned moments later carrying a clear bucket full of what appeared to be pure brandy.
Norbert's attention was instantly captured by the promise of food, completely forgetting the tiny pinch on his neck. After all, what could possibly be more important than dinner? The baby dragon flapped his leathery wings and waddled clumsily toward Hagrid.
Hagrid smiled with pure adoration, using a massive wooden spoon to scoop the liquid into a shallow dish.
Maurice watched in silence. Hagrid might look like a rough, hulking giant, but his gentleness with animals was truly something to behold.
"Drink up slow now, my little beauty, no one is gonna take it from yeh," Hagrid coaxed, rocking the dragon like a newborn infant.
Maurice stood up.
"I should be getting back to the castle. Goodbye, Hagrid."
"Sure yeh don't want another cup of tea?" Hagrid offered. "I got rock cakes too!"
"Thank you, but I must decline."
After leaving the gamekeeper's hut, Maurice returned straight to his dormitory.
He pulled a small glass vial from his pocket and set it carefully on his desk. Inside the vial sat a few precious drops of dark red liquid. It was dragon blood, freshly collected from Norbert's neck.
Yes, this had been his true goal all along.
Wasting no time, Maurice set up his pewter cauldron and began brewing.
As he dropped in his base ingredients, the liquid in the cauldron bubbled slowly, turning a murky, pale grey color.
"And finally, just a touch of dragon blood."
Maurice painstakingly tipped the vial, letting Norbert's blood drip into the mixture. After stirring exactly three times clockwise, the dull grey potion instantly shifted into a much deeper, richer hue.
Perfect. The potion was ready.
Next, he retrieved a very specific item from his trunk: a fragment of dragon bone he had scavenged from the Forbidden Forest. He tossed it into the bubbling cauldron.
To be clear, he was not making bone broth.
He was attempting a highly complex magical procedure to restore vitality to the dead dragon bone.
After letting the mixture simmer for a full half hour, Maurice fished the bone fragment out with a pair of brass tongs.
It already looked entirely different. The originally rough, ashen surface had transformed into a creamy off-white color, and the texture felt noticeably smoother to the touch.
Maurice held the bone up to the light, inspecting it closely, and a wide grin spread across his face.
He had succeeded!
He had actually restored a spark of life to this dead fragment!
Unfortunately, the amount of vitality restored was so minuscule it was almost negligible. But that made perfect logical sense. He had only used a few drops of blood, and it came from a newly hatched baby dragon.
If he could just get his hands on a substantial amount of adult dragon blood, he had a real chance of fully reawakening these ancient dragon bones.
Excellent.
Maurice stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Now... how exactly was he going to get his hands on more adult dragon blood?