"Incendio!"
A point of red light shot out from his wand, and a flame appeared, igniting the firewood.
"Damn! It really works!" He was incredibly excited.
The "spell" for lighting the fire was just one word. He didn't even design any wand gestures; he simply uttered the word, and the firewood was successfully lit.
"Professor Flitwick was right! I must have a great talent for fire magic, it's just that it's too difficult!" He watched the firewood burn out and finally calmed down.
"Let's try again without chanting any spells, just relying on my thoughts." He took another piece of firewood and placed it next to the pile of ashes.
He remained in the same position, his mouth tightly shut, his eyes fixed on the firewood, with only one thought in his mind: "Light the firewood in front of me, light it!"
Another flash of red light, and the firewood was successfully lit again.
"Yes! I did it!" he exclaimed joyfully.
"What succeeded?" Hagrid asked, carrying a thick tree trunk and leading Fang out of the forest.
"Hagrid, look!" He became more and more skilled, extending his wand and pointing it at the still burning wood. A flash of red light appeared, and flames burst forth from the other end of the wood.
"Boom!" Hagrid threw the tree to the ground. "Oh, that's pretty good."
Once released, Fang pounced on him again, trying to lick his face.
"Alright, alright, Fang, stop." Ethan Jones shook the dog's head to stop it from moving, but unfortunately, his long tongue still left some saliva on his face.
Hagrid watched Fang and Ethan Jones interact with a smile: "You've come to see Little Black, haven't you? He's doing very well right now."
"Little Black? My black salamander?"
"Yes, isn't it a nice name?" Hagrid looked a little smug.
"Well, to be honest, although it's a very fitting description, it doesn't sound very good." After hesitating for a moment, Ethan Jones decided to tell the truth.
"Is it really that bad? I thought about it for a long time before deciding on this name." Hagrid said sadly.
Ethan Jones found the sight of a bearded giant making a tearful expression somewhat nauseating, so he quickly tried to appease him, saying, "How about we call him Black Dragon? His nickname is Little Black? What do you think?"
"Fine," Hagrid reluctantly agreed.
Ethan Jones quickly changed the subject: "This is a gift for you, roast meat from the kitchen."
"Thank you. Here, have some Rock Cakes!" Hagrid was pleased and extended the invitation to him.
"How could you repay kindness with enmity?" He looked at Hagrid with resentful eyes, while remembering that the two cakes he brought back yesterday were still in the dormitory.
Faced with Hagrid's enthusiasm, he had no reason to refuse this time, so he could only bite into a small piece, almost breaking his teeth in the process.
But under Hagrid's expectant gaze, he had no choice but to give a reluctant evaluation: "The taste is not bad, just a bit hard."
"Is it hard? It's alright." Hagrid crunched on the cake.
"It's alright for you, but my teeth aren't as strong as yours." Ethan Jones took a sip of tea, swallowed the remaining crumbs in his mouth, and was surprised to find that the Rock Cake tasted alright after being exposed to water.
He painstakingly broke off a small piece, dipped it in tea, and carefully put it into his mouth.
He nodded. The softened cake was finally tastable. "It's alright, Hagrid. But next time you're serving Rock Cakes to other people, remember to bring some black tea."
"Is that so? Why didn't Harry and Ron mention it when they came yesterday? Is it because your teeth are too fragile, Ethan?" Hagrid scratched his head.
"Impossible. No normal human being could bite through these rock-hard crusts," Ethan Jones retorted, flashing a gleam of white teeth.
"Really? I'll ask them both next time." Hagrid scratched his head again.
He asked curiously, "What are they doing here? I happened to see them coming this way when I went back yesterday."
"You know them?" Hagrid knew the three weren't from the same House.
"We took Potions together, and everyone knows such a famous person as Harry Potter, right?"
"Don't say that. Harry didn't want to either. Because of this, he..." Hagrid said sadly.
He shook his big, fluffy head: "Let's not talk about it anymore, it's all in the past. I called them over yesterday just to find out how Harry has been this week. I'm a little worried about him, and I don't know if he can adapt."
"You're really good to him. If I remember correctly, when you came to pick us up and take us on the boat at the start of the year, you specifically called his name, right?"
Hagrid was somewhat surprised: "You remember all of this? I used to be very close to his parents, what a pity."
He sighed again, downed the tea in his cup, wiped the water droplets from his beard, and directed Ethan Jones's gaze toward the fireplace.
"Look, isn't Little Black much more energetic now? It's all black, it's really beautiful, but it's not perfect because it doesn't have claws or teeth."
Ethan Jones disagreed with Hagrid's aesthetic sense, thinking the black salamander was already beautiful. Of course, it would be even better if some white or red scales were added to parts of its body.
Hagrid casually added two more pieces of firewood to the fireplace, making the flames burn even brighter.
Seeing Hagrid still wearing his leather jacket, Ethan Jones wiped the sweat from his brow: "Aren't you hot, Hagrid?"
"Oh, I forgot to change my clothes." Hagrid belatedly realized as he took off his leather coat, pulled out a water bottle, and placed it on the table.
Ethan Jones, who had also taken off his wizard's robes to cool off, stared at Hagrid for a while before asking, "Hagrid, can you teach me how you light a fire? I want to know if my method is different from yours."
"Shh! Keep it a secret, no one can know I've cast a spell!" He put a finger to his lips and peeked out the window to see if anyone could hear him, before nervously closing the window.
Watching his series of actions, Ethan Jones couldn't help but lower his voice: "Okay, now can you demonstrate it for me?"
"There's really no other way, please wait a moment." He took the umbrella from behind the door, placed a piece of firewood halfway into the fireplace, and pointed it at the exposed half, and the flames began to burn.
"You just need to think about lighting it, and you can do it if you try a few times. It's not difficult."
Ethan Jones was somewhat frustrated, as this was no different from what he had done himself: "Really? I thought I was just exceptionally gifted."
Hagrid comforted him, "That's already very good. Many first years can't do that."
"Really?" Ethan Jones was no longer so confident. He planned to continue learning more difficult fire magic and was going to bring Hermione along to prove whether he really had the talent.