#455 - Fire Dragon and Wolf Cub

“Oh… Merlin…”

Michael couldn't help but whisper, a hint of fear unconsciously creeping onto his face.

Passing through the dense forest, the group finally saw the massive creature.

This Norwegian Ridgeback appeared to be fully grown, its entire body strong and intimidating, muscular, with thick, black scales covering its rough skin, seemingly able to blend perfectly into the darkness.

It had incinerated a forest area equivalent to a small square, leaving the ground barren, with scorch marks and claw prints covering the gray-white rocks.

About fifty meters ahead was a dark cave, the rocks on either side of the entrance covered in scratches and friction marks left by the dragon, looking at first glance like they were covered in ancient, incomprehensible writing.

At this moment, the giant dragon threw a large fish on the ground, roasting it half-cooked with its fiery breath, then voraciously tearing into it, revealing a mouthful of sharp, venomous teeth that sent shivers down your spine.

“That big guy must weigh at least five tons.” Padma couldn't help but shiver, whispering, “Are we really safe standing here?”

“Trust Hagrid.” Harry said, then couldn't help but add, “...It should be fine.”

“Get out of the way, Scarhead!”

Malfoy couldn't help but step past the others to the front, pushing Harry aside, looking at the dragon, and saying with affection:

“Did you see her orange-red eyes? Look at her wings, I bet they're fifty meters wide when fully spread…”

Norberta heard the voices of the crowd, her red eyes glanced over, and her long tail suddenly swung!

Hagrid quickly pushed with his hand, and the people in the front all involuntarily fell backward. When Harry fell, he watched as a tail with sharp hooks swept past not far in front of him, leaving deep marks on the nearby tree trunk.

“Sorry, are you guys alright?”

Hagrid said, while bending down to pick up a few people, as if he didn't think it was a big deal that they almost had half their faces scraped off by the dragon's tail. He cheerfully said, “Norberta is very protective of her food, you can't get close to her when she's eating.”

“Thanks, Hagrid.” Ron said with lingering fear, “But you should have told us before her dinner.”

Hermione noticed the dragon slightly turning, half of its triangular head facing the crowd, one eye secretly staring at them, and immediately felt her scalp tingle, quickly saying, “Don't talk, be quiet!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Hagrid waved his hand and said, “Hi, Norberta, don't be afraid, it's Mom!”

The dragon “whooshed” and breathed a puff of flame from its nostrils. Although the flames didn't ignite Hagrid, the scorching air still made everyone feel parched.

In the incredulous eyes of the crowd, Hagrid patted the dust on his beard and said with affection, “So affectionate… she's still a baby!”

“Is Hagrid blind?” Michael looked at Wade, squeezing out a low voice from between his teeth, “I've never seen a sixty-foot baby before!”

He already regretted participating in this activity. It wasn't fun, it wasn't beautiful, it was better to be in the lounge, thinking of some interesting jokes, or writing a boring essay.

Wade couldn't help but chuckle.

Hagrid strode over.

The dragon's eyelids lifted a little, looking at Hagrid. It let out a low dragon's roar, without any extra movements.

Hagrid touched Norberta's nose and neck, then waved back, signaling the students to come over.

A moment later, Harry was the first to walk towards Hagrid.

Wade could tell that Harry probably regretted his first step forward, but he couldn't bear to disappoint Hagrid, forcing himself to keep approaching, his pace getting slower and slower.

Norberta's gaze turned to him, and even half of those orange-red eyes were enough to make one's heart tremble.

But fortunately, it remained motionless, only breathing out thin streams of hot air.

“Don't be afraid.” Hagrid encouraged, “Norberta is in a good mood now, you can touch her.”

Harry cautiously reached out and gently touched the dragon's wrinkled wings, a look of surprise gradually appearing on his face.

“Come on, kids, she's not fierce at all, is she?” Hagrid said loudly, patting Norberta's neck.

Rolf immediately ran over excitedly, and the others followed one after another. Malfoy, who had fallen earlier, observed for a while with his arms folded before carefully walking over.

The well-fed Norberta did seem extremely docile, or rather, it didn't take the little ones around it seriously at all, generously letting them wander around it, gently stroking its scales and claws.

Norberta, who hatched at Hogwarts and was raised by Hagrid, was not as wary of wizards as its kind. When it was first born, it looked like a firecracker that could explode at any moment, but the older it got, the more docile it became.

Hagrid tirelessly instructed, “Norberta has a good temper, but don't secretly bully her when I'm not paying attention. She's not easy to mess with when she gets angry. Don't pull her scales and feathers, but if they fall on the ground, you can pick them up as you please.”

In fact, the students who came here were all carefully selected by Hagrid. Fred and George couldn't come because they were busy with classes. He knew very well that there were no troublemakers among these students.

All those words were for Draco Malfoy. Hagrid had half his attention on this Slytherin.

If the half-giant hadn't racked his brains to think of a legitimate way to break the agreement, he wouldn't have brought Malfoy to his precious Norberta.

But unexpectedly, Malfoy didn't secretly make trouble, nor did he speak rudely like he did to the Hippogriff last time.

He gently stroked the dragon, his eyes full of amazement and affection. He even accidentally bumped into Harry, but he didn't even notice that it was his most hated “Scarhead.”

At this moment, he looked like a pure child.

Hagrid was finally a little relieved. He took off a bag from his back and distributed the jerky and fruit inside to the students.

“You can feed her some food. Norberta also likes to eat fruit. Remember to stay away and throw it from three or four meters away.”

Hagrid said, he also gave Malfoy an extra handful, so that he could be absorbed in feeding the dragon and not cause trouble.

Wade also followed the crowd and took some fruit. A handful that Hagrid grabbed casually was a big pocket for him, with a total of two apples, a handful of cherries, and a few kiwis, all exuding a sweet fragrance.

He fed for a while, his expression suddenly changed slightly.

From the forest not far away, came the sound of dead branches being broken, as well as suppressed whimpers.

Could it be that a student secretly followed them into the Forbidden Forest but was accidentally injured?

Wade listened more carefully, but didn't find any more movement.

He looked at Hagrid, who was focused on watching the students feed the dragon, thought for a moment, and decided not to disturb him—Hagrid absolutely couldn't leave at this time, otherwise, if Norberta was suddenly angered, the students here could be wiped out.

But Wade was also a little concerned about the sound he had just heard. He stuffed the remaining fruit to Rolf, patted him on the shoulder and said, “You can take these and continue feeding. I'm going to take a leak.”

“Oh, okay.” Rolf took the fruit and urged, “Be careful, don't go too far.”

“Don't worry, I know.”

Wade said, waving his hand casually, and walked into the forest. Fang, the boarhound, vigilantly noticed a student leaving the group. It looked at its master, then at the direction Wade was leaving, quickly made a decision, and ran over here.

At the same time as being blocked by the tree trunk, Wade used the Disillusionment Charm, quickly and lightly approaching the direction from which the sound came.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

Fang suddenly ran over, even though he couldn't see him, he still relied on his sense of smell to find Wade's location, blocked in front of him, barking softly, urging him to quickly return to the group.

Wade suddenly had the feeling that a sheepdog was driving a flock of sheep. He canceled the Disillusionment Charm, bent down and touched the boarhound's head.

“There are strange sounds nearby, maybe a student is alone. Help me listen carefully, is that right?”

The animals of the magical world are generally very intelligent. Hearing this, Fang stopped barking, pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

The surroundings became quiet, and the sound became much clearer—rustling… clicking… and the sound of heavy breathing.

Fang suddenly became extremely vigilant, baring his teeth fiercely, looking like he could scare a child to tears. But Wade, who knew Fang a little, knew that this timid dog was almost scared to run away.

Fang only seemed particularly brave when he was by Hagrid's side.

Hearing the clicking sound like the impact of chelicerae, Wade raised his eyebrows, and probably knew what was on the other side. He took out his wand and walked forward gently, Fang following him timidly behind.

After they bypassed a bush, they finally saw the guy making the sound.

They were several Acromantulas as big as horses, and they were slowly surrounding a large tree, their eight legs walking out of a domineering feeling.

“Blood.” Along with the clicking sound, one spider said, “The smell of blood.”

“The dragon's prey… escaped.” Another spider said happily.

“Dinner, snacks.” The other spiders also happily tapped their chelicerae.

“Quiet! Quiet! Don't attract the dragon.” The largest Acromantula said.

There was a tree hole at the root of the tree they were surrounding. Something was faintly breathing heavily in the darkness, its body undulating slightly, and occasionally making fearful whimpers.

“Hi!” Wade suddenly spoke, he came out from behind the tree, holding his wand and asked, “What are you doing?”

All the Acromantulas turned their heads together, dozens of eyes shining brightly, staring at him.

“Human!”

“Stranger!”

“Brought by Hagrid, cub!”

“Eat! Eat!” The Acromantulas said resentfully.

Wade felt something was wrong. The head of the Acromantulas—Aragog should still be alive at this time, but these spiders didn't seem to have any good feelings for Hagrid.

He didn't have time to think too much, waved his hand, the wardrobe space suddenly unfolded, and Mihail flew out of it like an arrow, excitedly spraying a thin stream of flames from his mouth.

Several Acromantulas who were about to pounce on their prey suddenly froze. A second later, they quickly turned around and ran away, their eight legs wishing they could run out of afterimages.

Mihail clicked his mouth and looked at Wade from the tree branch.

After thinking for a moment, Wade said, “There don't need to be too many Acromantulas, go and control the number.”

Mihail “cooed” and three long flame feathers stretched out from his unfolded wings.

Wade smiled, then said, “Leaving ten percent is enough.”

If the Acromantula's venom wasn't really valuable, he wouldn't want to leave any of these cold-blooded creatures who were destined to betray.

Mihail happily chased after them, and clusters of fire began to flash in the dark forest.

With Mihail in control, Wade wasn't worried about causing a forest fire or anything. He put away the wardrobe space, bent down and looked at the tree hole, and said softly, “Lumos Solem.”

The bright white light illuminated the dark tree hole, and the guy inside immediately blocked his eyes and asked fearfully, “Who's there?”

Wade was stunned.

That was obviously the voice of a little boy, milky and childish, sounding like he wasn't even old enough to go to elementary school.

This couldn't possibly be a Hogwarts student.

Fang suddenly became excited, approached and barked several times, and was pulled back by Wade, who grabbed the collar around his neck and pushed him to the side.

Wade got closer, and finally saw the little guy hiding in the dead leaves.

It was a wolf cub.

Its head was round, its body was like a small fluff ball, exuding a bit of naivety. Its tail was very short, its black nose was wet, trembling slightly, its eyes were wide open, full of panic and helplessness, and its light yellow fur was covered in blood.

There were several terrible scars on its back, which looked like they had been scratched by Norberta.

Wade was silent for a moment.

This wolf cub was probably a snack or a living toy that Norberta had grabbed for herself, but somehow, it had escaped.

Even if it briefly gained freedom, it would probably die soon if its wounds weren't treated in time.

If it was an ordinary wolf, it would be fine, but this little guy could actually speak human language…

Wade asked, “Are you a werewolf's offspring?”

He had read in books that if werewolves had relationships in wolf form, they would give birth to a litter of real wolf cubs, but they would have intelligence close to that of humans.

But the book didn't say that these wolf cubs could speak human languages.

Vader was initially surprised, but he quickly realized that in this magical world, even spiders could speak human languages. So, wasn't it normal for a wolf cub with human blood to speak English?

"I... my father is a werewolf..." The young wolf didn't dare to hide the truth. After saying that, it hugged its head with its front paws and pitifully said, "Please... spare me... I will never dare to approach the school again..."

Seeing its pitiful appearance, Vader sighed, waved his wand, and the young wolf involuntarily flew out of the tree hole.

It struggled in terror, but then fell into a warm embrace.

"Don't move, you'll die if you do that. Let me help you heal."

As Vader spoke, he pointed his wand at the young wolf's wound and softly recited a healing spell.

The bleeding slowly stopped, but the wound wasn't so easy to heal.

The Norwegian Ridgeback's claws probably carried some toxins, making the wounds it inflicted difficult to recover from.

"Come back with me. It looks like we'll have to find Madam Pomfrey to heal your wound... I wonder if she can moonlight as a veterinarian."

As Vader spoke, he tapped the young wolf with his wand, putting it to sleep. Then, he put it in his pocket and turned to head towards where his classmates were.

In the dark forest, some bushes were faintly shaking. After a moment, a pair of amber eyes appeared in the gap, watching the direction Vader left in.