"Fang?" Adrian recognized him right away and rushed forward.
Fang ran straight into Adrian's arms, whimpering in terror, with blood on his legs.
"He's hurt!" Harry noticed too and ran over quickly, with Ron right behind him.
"It looks like a curse, but luckily it didn't hit him directly, just grazed him," Hermione said, much calmer than the other two. But this calmness let her think of even scarier possibilities.
"Maybe Hagrid had an accident in the Forbidden Forest!" Hermione was worried now.
"Woof..." Maybe understanding Hermione's words, Fang immediately climbed out of Adrian's arms, grabbed Adrian's pants with his teeth, and tried to drag him away.
This confirmed Hermione's guess. Harry and Ron, both hotheads, were about to rush into the Forbidden Forest to rescue Hagrid, but Adrian stopped them.
"It's too late, running would be too slow now. If Hagrid and Fang together couldn't handle whatever's out there, you won't be able to help either. The best thing to do is go back to the castle and get a professor."
Among everyone there, only Adrian knew that Hagrid had been tracking down what was attacking the unicorns recently, meaning he'd very likely run into Quirrell possessed by Voldemort.
Adrian hadn't expected that stopping Malfoy from hearing about the dragon egg would lead to this mess.
"But Hagrid's in danger right no, we have to save him!" Harry knew in his heart that getting backup was the smart move, but like Adrian said, it might be too late for Hagrid by then.
"That's why I said you were going back..." Adrian sighed, then jumped onto Norbert's back while everyone stared in shock, settling in by gripping the dragon's horns.
"Adrian, are you planning to..." Hermione suddenly realized something, her face showing surprise.
"Yeah. I can't run fast enough, but I might be able to catch up with Norbert," Adrian nodded. This whole thing was connected to his actions, so he couldn't just ignore it.
Then Adrian looked at the big dog on the ground.
"Fang, come up! You'll have to show me the way."
"Woof..." The scared Fang looked at Norbert's huge, scary body and tucked his tail in fear, but with Adrian's constant calling, he finally got brave enough to jump up.
"Good!" Adrian hadn't expected that Fang, coward that he was, could actually overcome his fear. He'd been thinking about having Hermione or Harry carry Fang instead.
"If you're telling a professor, Ron alone will be enough. Harry and I could come with you," Hermione said, very worried seeing Adrian about to go alone.
Harry nodded seriously, while Ron looked confused about why he couldn't go too.
Adrian glanced at Harry, somewhat touched. After all, to deal with Quirrell possessed by Voldemort, Harry would be a trump card.
"No, Norbert can't handle the weight of three of us."
After hesitating for only a second, Adrian dismissed the idea. Norbert was only a month old, flying with just him and Fang would be tough enough.
And to avoid getting caught, Quirrell probably wouldn't want a direct fight. He and Norbert would be enough.
"Norbert, fly!" Adrian reached out and patted Norbert's head. The young Norwegian Ridgeback flapped his wings, stirring up wind, and took off with the help of his front legs.
Adrian gripped the dragon's horns like a steering wheel, letting Fang guide the way. The big dog didn't seem to care about the terror of suddenly flying into the sky, he only barked in the direction he'd come from.
Adrian understood, pulling the dragon's horns and guiding Norbert to fly where Fang pointed.
Though the whole dragon-raising thing had been exposed these days, Adrian had been keeping Norbert from flying high in the sky. Still, Adrian occasionally rode Norbert at low altitude when it was dark.
After all, the temptation to ride a dragon was impossible to resist, at least Adrian couldn't resist it. Because of this experience, Adrian was confident he could save Hagrid.
Right after Adrian flew away on Norbert, Harry, Hermione, and Ron rushed toward the school without stopping.
"Excuse me... Let us through!"
Harry led Ron and Hermione in a crazy dash. They wanted to go straight to the headmaster's office, but halfway there realized they didn't have the password. In the end, Hermione remembered that Professor McGonagall would be teaching a third-year class.
So the three of them violently burst through the door...
The moment the door broke open, every pair of eyes in the classroom turned toward them, but what made Harry and the others feel most pressured was Professor McGonagall's furious glare.
"Mr. Potter, if you don't have a reasonable explanation..." Professor McGonagall was prepared to scold them calmly, but before she could finish, Harry and Ron forcibly dragged her away.
"Professor McGonagall... something terrible has happened! Let's go, and we'll explain on the way..." Hermione only had time for this explanation before joining Harry and Ron in pulling Professor McGonagall along.
Dozens of third-year students in the classroom watched their professor being dragged away by a few first-years, clearly something urgent had happened. Professor McGonagall probably wouldn't be back for a while.
"So... we don't have class this afternoon?" George suddenly realized among the silent students.
Then these third-years erupted in cheers:
"Hooray! No class!"
In the corridor, Hermione held Professor McGonagall's hand, running with her while quickly explaining what had happened.
"You mean Hagrid is in danger in the Forbidden Forest, his life and death uncertain, and Adrian rode a Norwegian Ridgeback named Norbert to rescue him?" When McGonagall heard this news, her first reaction was wondering if Hermione was making up a story to trick her.
"I have to tell you to stop this fantasy, there is no dragon at Hogwarts!" McGonagall stopped, no matter how hard Hermione and the others pulled.
Harry didn't know how to explain to McGonagall, it was a long story that might take forever to tell.
ROOOOOAR!
Just as Harry was about to give a quick summary, a dragon's roar came from the distant Forbidden Forest. The group of four, who happened to be standing by a window, saw a fire dragon rising from the Forbidden Forest,
a shocking scene.
"I think we don't need to explain," Ron shrugged.