Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 79 Win-win situation for all parties
"...Hagrid got the dragon egg during the Christmas holidays. He said he won it from a Greek merchant. Now that I think about it, that Greek merchant was Quirrell in disguise!"

The little witch angrily recounted Norbert's origins.

Harry pushed up his glasses and said darkly, "Hagrid refused to tell us about Nicolas Flamel and Fluffy, but after a few glasses of whiskey, he told a strange wizard everything!"

"I'm sorry..." The half-blood giant lowered his head in shame.

"..."

In fact, if you had also used whiskey to force him to drink, you could have also extracted the information.

Melvin wanted to defend Hagrid.

The thick wooden door opened a crack, and Melvin looked inside curiously. The first thing he saw was the fire dragon cub in the center of the room.

The dragon cub was about three or four feet long, with orange-red eyes that were slender and protruding, revealing a bit of wildness. It was very skinny, with several bone spurs extending from the upper and lower parts of its wing membranes. Its body was covered with a layer of black scales, which reflected a faint blue metallic luster under the candlelight. The spines on its back were sparse and smooth, and it was very short and not sharp enough.

The throat and vocal cords are not fully developed yet, so the roar sounds a bit strange, like a hoarse cat's meow.

Blood-stained chicken feathers were scattered on the floor, and there were a few wooden barrels in the corner. The room was filled with a pungent fishy odor, a layered and complex smell, mainly composed of a faint smell of blood, poultry manure, and the aroma of brandy.

Seeing several people enter the room, the fire dragon cub immediately turned around and bared its teeth at them. It had only been hatched for a few weeks, and its sharp teeth had already taken shape. Its nostrils were slightly flared, and hot air and a pungent smell of sulfur came out of its throat.

Almost all the furniture had teeth marks from the dragon cubs.

Ron had a sad face, Fang hung his head, and whimpered softly. The man and the dog moved two steps back.

"It's called Norbert. It's very pretty, isn't it?"

Hagrid said to the others, his face bright and his tone proud.

The young wizard didn't understand what he was so proud of. He looked disgusted and just wanted to solve this problem as soon as possible.

"The first thing the little guy saw when he broke out of the eggshell was me, and he thought I was his mother."

Hagrid reached out to touch the dragon cub's head with a smile, but Norbert had no intention of cooperating with the performance and bit it. Fortunately, the gamekeeper was agile and quickly retracted his hand. The dragon cub's teeth touched each other with a loud and crisp sound that made his teeth ache.

"Nobert bit Hagrid the first time he saw him, and Hagrid thought it was just a way of acting cute. In fact, he had just hatched at that time, and his teeth were not sharp enough." Hermione explained in a low voice, and Harry nodded silently.

Hagrid, who was almost bitten, rubbed his hands and explained to the four people in a sullen tone: "Actually, Norbert is a good boy. He usually has a good temper. It's just that he's hungry now, so he's a little irritable."

"..."

"Don't worry, dear Norbert. Mommy will make you some milk powder right away."

"..."

Melvin and the three students watched Hagrid busy himself. He had looked up the formula for the dragon cub's milk powder in a book himself: one bucket of chicken blood to three buckets of brandy. After the baby teeth erupted, he could add some complementary food to the cub - dead mice.

Hagrid easily moved the stone jar that was half his body high in front of the dragon cub, picked up a wooden barrel that stored chicken blood in the corner, unscrewed several bottles of expiring brandy bought from the Hog's Head Bar with one hand, and poured them into the stone jar with both hands.

After a while, the fishy smell in the room became stronger, and the evaporation of alcohol was a bit irritating to the eyes.

Hagrid's talent in raising dangerous animals is comparable to Riddle's talent in the field of dark magic. This jar of chicken blood brandy was made of rough materials and sloppy workmanship, but the moment the dragon cub smelled the scent, its eyes lit up, it spit out a mouthful of sparks, fluttered and crawled for two steps, flapped its wings and jumped onto the stone jar, buried its head in the jar, and drank happily.

"Snoring... snoring..."

There was blood everywhere and the scene was a bit gory.

"..."

Melvin moved his lips, cast a head-bubble spell on himself, and watched the dragon cub eat with interest.

According to the Fire Dragon Breeding Manual, Fire Dragons mature at around two years old, and a young dragon's first burst of sparks, usually accompanied by thick, gray smoke, occurs around six months old. The ability to fly appears even later, typically around ten months, but can take up to a year.

This Norbert showed his abilities just two weeks after hatching. It seems that he has great talent and Hagrid is raising him very well.

At this moment, something unexpected happened.

The fire dragon cub may have drunk too much brandy and became excited and agitated, flapping its wings. The dragon cub had not yet learned to fly, and could not control its body balance, so it fell headfirst into the stone jar.

The chicken blood brandy inside could not drown the young dragon, but made it even more excited. It flapped its wings and hit the brandy, splashing the chicken blood wine everywhere, filling the whole room with a strong smell of blood and wine.

Several people watched as the young dragon's nostrils expanded and it choked on a few mouthfuls of chicken blood wine. The sticky liquid poured into its nasal cavity and organs. It suddenly twitched convulsively a few times. The discomfort of drowning made it cough, and then it spewed out sulfur-smelling smoke.

Melvin hurriedly set up the armor bubble wrap. The three little wizards were stunned as they watched the young dragon instantly ignite the entire stone jar.

A faint but scorching dragon flame ignited deep in his throat and erupted, instantly igniting the nearby liquor. Fortunately, the expiring brandy at the Hog's Head Bar was of inferior quality, and some of it had evaporated when mixed with the chicken blood. The flames quickly died out, leaving only the flames within the stone jar burning fiercely.

Of course, the fire dragon cub was not afraid of fire. It started to cough twice due to choking, but soon began to enjoy the stimulation brought by the alcohol, and the fire dragon vibrated its wing membrane vigorously.

The entire stone jar was like an alcohol lamp, and Norbert was the wick, illuminating the entire wooden house.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh——" Ron screamed and looked up and down at his limbs in horror.

"Quiet." Harry covered his mouth.

"It nearly burned the whole cabin down!"

"I saw it."

Harry had to yell several times to calm him down.

This accident did not cause any casualties. The students were relatively far away from the fire dragon and relatively close to Professor Lewinter, and the armored bubble film also protected them.

Only Hagrid, who was standing nearby, had most of his beard and hair burned, and looked extremely miserable.

The whole room was filled with the strange smell left by flames, like the smell of roasting the wool of chickens and sheep over charcoal fire when slaughtering them. It was smoky and not so disgusting.

Hagrid stood there in a daze.

Hermione's face was tense and ugly. She took a deep breath and suppressed the discomfort in her stomach. "Hagrid, you really can't keep him alive any longer. You have to send Norbert away as soon as possible."

"I can't abandon it..." Hagrid lowered his head, avoiding their gaze. "Nobert is still young and can't hunt. He won't survive in the wild without a companion."

"Wake up, Hagrid!"

Hermione glared at Hagrid, raising her voice abruptly: "It's stronger than Tooth now, it can fly and breathe fire. If anyone doesn't survive, it'll only be the ordinary animals that encounter it." "I can't abandon Norber!" Hagrid insisted.

Harry sided with Hermione: "Malfoy has already discovered it, do you want to be expelled?"

"Don't worry about Draco." Just when Hagrid was speechless, Melvin cleared his throat and said softly, "He plans to use this incident to buy Neville's forgiveness, so he won't report it."

Hermione looked up and glared at the professor. Who are you here to help?

"But I must make it clear to you, Hagrid." Melvin's gentle voice echoed in the cabin. "As early as 1709, the Wizarding Council banned private dragon breeding. Later, Mr. Newt Scamander perfected the Dragon Protection Act, prohibiting any wizard or unofficial organization from privately hatching, breeding and raising dragons for any reason. You have probably violated hundreds of laws this time."

Hagrid remained silent, standing still.

"You should be well aware of the growth rate of fire dragons. In half a month, Norbert will be bigger than you. In two months, it will be bigger than the cabin. The Forbidden Forest can't possibly hide a fire dragon. It wants to hunt, fly, and breathe fire. That's its nature."

Melvin paused. "If it injures any student, even if it only burns the back of its robes and scares them, the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures will send out an executioner to chop off its head."

Hagrid's massive figure swayed slightly.

"And you, the gamekeeper who raises dragons, have a history of raising dangerous animals during your school days. If you're lucky, you might be fined and expelled from Hogwarts. If you're unlucky, you'll be sent to Azkaban and have to raise Dementors on an island.

"And Headmaster Dumbledore, who recommended you, is a poor judge of people and a manipulative administrator, putting students in danger. He will definitely lose his position as Headmaster and may even be expelled from the Wizengamot. The once respected legendary wizard has become a confused old wizard."

Hagrid's face turned pale.

Harry and Ron were silent, feeling that Professor Lewynter was even scarier than Professor McGonagall when he was strict.

Hermione tilted her head slightly, a glimmer in her eyes. This persuasive method of stating facts in a calm tone and shocking the other party left a very deep impression on her.

I have heard Professor Lewint preach before, but this kind of preaching is different from that kind of preaching. It has a profound power.

"I, I, I don't want this either..." Hagrid cried, his eyes were wet, and he didn't care about pretending to be stubborn at this time.

Harry had always been close to Hagrid, and seeing him like this, he felt a little sorry for him and asked on his behalf, "Sir, can you help us?"

"Honestly, I don't want to do this." Melvin spread his hands. "Everyone has to pay the price for their mistakes. When Hagrid was in school, he was expelled for secretly raising dangerous animals. Dumbledore took him in, but unfortunately, decades later, he still hasn't learned to properly develop his interests and hobbies."

Hagrid sniffed and big tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.

Melvin continued, "Instead of becoming more mature, he even went too far, developing a bad habit of alcoholism and leaking confidential information to the Dark Lord, nearly killing Harry. I think maybe he should pay for his mistakes so that he can learn to grow up."

"Ugh..."

The half-giant, nearly ten feet tall, could no longer bear it and burst into tears. Tears and snot streamed down his face and seeped into his tangled beard. He sobbed and choked, "I, I can go to Azkaban, but I don't want to implicate Dumbledore!"

Seeing Hagrid like this, several students felt very uncomfortable and their throats were blocked.

"Professor..." Hermione tugged at Melvin's sleeve.

"What?" Melvin looked down at them. "Don't you think he should be held accountable for his mistakes?"

"Yes, absolutely." Hermione said stiffly, "But he hasn't made any irreparable mistakes yet, and Hagrid has already admitted his mistake. He will definitely remember this experience. Just help him."

"Really?" Melvin pretended to be doubtful.

Hagrid wiped his nose quickly and nodded heavily: "Yeah!"

Melvin hesitated for a moment, and after careful consideration, he made a difficult decision: "Okay, for your sake, I can help you."

Cheers rang out in the room. Harry and Ron ran up to comfort Hagrid. The big man sobbed and wiped his face, wiped a handful of sticky liquid on his leather jacket, and couldn't suppress a smile.

Melvin himself felt a little guilty: "But this kind of help is conditional."

The cheers quieted down, and Harry and the other two were a little confused: "Professor, you say."

Melvin looked at the three students and said, "I want you to sign an agreement with me to sell out... no, to star in my movie."

"what?"

……

The young dragon lay on its back on the round table, its head drooping over the edge. The nictitating membrane covering its eyes was half open and half closed, with half of its tongue sticking out. It was no longer as ferocious as before, its chest rising and falling evenly, its breathing slow and long, with a strong smell of alcohol. Occasionally it sneezed, sending a few sparks out of its nose.

Its claws occasionally rubbed against the table, causing wood chips to fall off.

There were still dried tear marks on Hagrid's face. Looking at it sleeping lazily, his heart melted, but he didn't dare show it.

Yaya lay under the table, staring at his paws, lost in thought.

Several young wizards sat around a round table. Hermione carefully looked through the agreement provided by the professor. Harry was whispering to Ron about what a movie was, and occasionally pulled Hagrid over to talk about the shadow mirror.

The older students had seen it at Hogsmeade on weekends, but they were too young to do so and could only hear about it from others.

"Professor, didn't we sign an agreement before?" Harry asked in a low voice.

"That was the agreement for the Quidditch match. This time it's the film." Melvin was very patient and answered every question. "I plan to adapt your experiences and show them to wizards around the world. You can rest assured that the film will be consulted on its content and will only be released publicly after we reach an agreement."

The young wizards were silent, they felt that the professor would always have a way to make them reach a consensus.

“And the pay is very generous.”

"..."

Although it felt a little wrong, Harry and the others had no other choice but to save Hagrid, so they quickly signed the agreement in triplicate, keeping one copy for themselves and returning the other two to the professor.

"And yours, Hagrid."

"Huh? Oh!" Hagrid was very cooperative.

Melvin put away all the contracts and was very satisfied with his actions. He helped Hagrid and achieved his goal. By the way, he also helped the principal with pre-professor training. It was a win-win situation for all parties.

Well, find time to sign Dumbledore too.

Just consider it your overtime pay.

(End of this chapter)