"The first goblin rebellion occurred in 1612, not 1625!"
"Fine, 1612. It's only off by about ten years; what difference does it make? It all happened hundreds of years ago."
In Hagrid's hut, the scorching air made it impossible for anyone in the room to concentrate properly, at least that was the case for Ron.
Wiping streams of sweat from his forehead, Ron wearily slumped over the wooden table, crossing out the year in his notebook with thick black ink and scribbling in the correct answer with frustrated strokes.
Ron's mood was quite complicated at the moment. He glanced at Harry practicing spells nearby with determined focus, then at Hermione who was simultaneously memorizing historical dates while helping Harry practice and still had the energy to point out errors in his homework with irritating precision, and shook his head with a deep sigh.
Lately, Harry and Hermione were no longer like before, putting all their obsessive attention on investigating Snape's suspicious activities.
Harry returning to normal was definitely a good thing, but the result of Hermione returning to her usual academic intensity wasn't so great for Ron's sanity.
When they were dealing with Snape before, at least they were united in doing dangerous things under an urgent shared goal.
But now that their primary goal had changed from exposing Snape to relentless studying, he just couldn't muster any genuine interest whatsoever.
"Speaking of which, didn't we come here to persuade Hagrid to send away that unhatched dragon?"
As he spoke, Ron wiped the sweat from his forehead again and turned his exhausted gaze to the large figure sitting by the roaring fireplace, radiating nervous anticipation and stubborn determination.
If not for this critical matter, he wouldn't have voluntarily entered this steamer-like house at noon during spring weather.
"We can't persuade him. Haven't we been trying desperately for almost a week?"
Setting aside his wand with obvious frustration, Harry also sighed heavily as he looked at Hagrid, who wasn't listening to what they were saying at all.
But Hagrid proved impossibly obstinate. Logical arguments bounced off him, emotional pleas fell on deaf ears—nothing could shake his perilous determination.
Hagrid's stubbornness had reached legendary proportions. Reason couldn't penetrate it, desperation couldn't crack it—his dangerous enthusiasm remained utterly unshakeable.
Over time, he'd somehow developed an almost magical talent for filtering out criticism and hearing only praise for his questionable choices.
For example...
"Actually, I think watching a dragon hatch would be quite a novel experience," Harry said quietly.
"Right, right!"
The moment those supportive words left Harry's lips, Hagrid's great head snapped around to face him, though he'd somehow missed Harry's previous shouted objections entirely.
Hagrid's hearing had apparently evolved into a highly sophisticated filtering system, perfectly calibrated to detect praise while blocking out inconvenient truths.
Nodding helplessly, Harry fanned himself with his hand and stopped paying attention to Hagrid, who was clearly already completely enchanted by dragon fever. He turned to discuss with his two companions another matter that greatly puzzled him.
"Speaking of which, have you noticed that Malfoy has been acting incredibly strange lately?"
"I noticed long ago!" Ron's face twisted into a disgusted expression. "His sudden enthusiasm for studying is absolutely nauseating!"
"Right, right!" With an increasingly interested expression, Ron and Harry began whispering together conspiratorially.
Hermione had absolutely no interest in discussing Malfoy with them. Seeing that Harry had also given up practicing spells, she simply spread out her detailed notebook completely and concentrated on memorizing her carefully organized exam key points.
This room was really far too hot for productive studying. Even for her legendary focus, studying efficiency would inevitably decline in such a suffocating environment.
Although she felt distinctly dizzy from the oppressive heat, it wasn't quite to the point where she couldn't memorize anything useful.
Five minutes later...
"If you ask me, he must be cursed!" Ron wore a terrified smile, looking as if he were the actual culprit who had made Malfoy this way.
"Cursed? There's magic like that?" Harry showed genuine interest. He had never heard of dark magic that could make people love studying with such intensity.
If such magic really existed, he believed Snape would definitely use it on every single student in Potions class, unless this magic had severe limitations or consequences.
Encouraged by Harry's fascination, Ron launched into an increasingly theatrical explanation. "I'm serious! Dad told me about this horrifying dark magic that strips away someone's consciousness entirely, leaving them as puppets for the caster to control!"
"So Malfoy has to be..."
Knock, knock, knock.
The abrupt rapping at the door cut through their intense conversation.
Harry, who was closest to the door, turned his head curiously. The next second, he saw Hagrid's hut door being pushed open as Professor Kahn stepped in with a confident smile, then was immediately forced back out by a wave of oppressive heat.
"Holy... Impervius!"
After casting a protective fire protection charm on himself and adding a Bubble-Head Charm to his head, Evans cautiously re-entered the sweltering hut, also casting the same beneficial spells on the three young wizards inside who were sweating profusely.
"You really can stay in such a dangerously hot room?"
Under the immediate effect of the cooling spells, Hermione, who had been focusing on memorizing and was noticeably dizzy from the heat, felt her rationality return somewhat. She turned toward the door, her eyes lighting up with desperate hope as she said urgently.
"Professor Kahn! Please talk sense into Hagrid! He's completely lost it! He wants to raise a dragon in such a tiny wooden hut!"
Although they had been trying to persuade him for almost a week with absolutely no effect, Hermione still felt they couldn't let Hagrid continue down this dangerous path.
Raising a dragon in such a small wooden hut was far too dangerous for everyone involved!
Actually, scratch that—dragons were a mortal threat to ordinary people regardless of location!
That was a dragon, one of the most powerful and destructive creatures in the entire world! What if the dragon got unhappy later and burned both Hagrid and the entire hut to ashes in one breath?
And privately raising dragons was completely illegal! Wasn't Hagrid afraid of being arrested by the Ministry of Magic?
She had heard that if wizards committed serious crimes, they would be taken to a prison called Azkaban!
That place was full of unimaginable dangers. Even those notorious dark wizards thrown there couldn't come out alive!
Hearing Hermione's desperate words, Evans immediately put on a business-like attitude, preparing to scold Hagrid as a responsible professor for this addled gamekeeper who wanted to break the law so flagrantly.
But before he could work up the appropriate stern expression, Hagrid ruthlessly interrupted him.
"Hmph, your Professor Kahn is probably even more eager than I am for this little cutie to be born. How could he possibly stop me?"
"You're quite lucid, aren't you." Evans smiled casually and sat down nearby, placing what he was carrying on the ground.
"Fresh chicken blood brandy. I also added some of my special feed, the kind I use for feeding giant squids. Should work well for dragons too."
"...Thanks." Looking at the large basin Evans had placed on the ground, Hagrid muttered with genuine gratitude.
Although he had also prepared food for the little dragon, Evans's feed was quite beneficial for magical creatures.
After all, it was something he had researched for a long time with one of his "friends" when he was in France.
"But Professor..." Hermione wanted to say something more, but seeing that even Professor Kahn had joined Hagrid's side, she just puffed out her cheeks and sat down next to Evans with resignation.
Since they couldn't stop it, they might as well watch.
Dragon hatching wasn't a scene you could see very often.