Dumbledore hadn't expected this. After waiting a moment, his face stayed completely calm.
"Mr. Seamus Finnigan, I think I explained this pretty clearly. As for what you think you saw..." Dumbledore stopped, his smile coming back. "Maybe you should ask Mr. Blackwood how he pulled off such an amazing illusion."
Every eye in the Great Hall turned back to Adrian. Even some teachers leaned forward, looking curious.
Adrian stared at Dumbledore like he couldn't believe it. The nice old headmaster had just thrown him under the bus without thinking twice. When Adrian looked at Dumbledore, the old guy had the nerve to wink at him, basically saying 'you're on your own.'
Adrian felt annoyed. This had to be Dumbledore getting him back for burning half the Forbidden Forest.
With hundreds of students staring at him, Adrian could only shrug. "You really think a first-year could tame a dragon and go for a joyride while it's breathing fire? That's completely crazy."
"We believe it!" George and Fred said at the same time, grinning at each other.
Anyone else, they might not believe. But Adrian? The guy had a history of doing impossible stuff.
Adrian rolled his eyes. What was he supposed to say to that?
Luckily, his explanation worked for most students. Dragons were the most dangerous magical creatures, adult ones bigger than houses, moody and mean. Even professional dragon handlers barely dared to ride one, since dragons thought it was really insulting.
Of course, they didn't know Norbert was only about a month old.
Thanks to Seamus saying he saw someone riding a dragon, Adrian had to quickly eat a few desserts before leaving the feast completely. Hermione, Harry, and Ron got similar questions and followed him out, all of them wanting to escape the interrogation.
They didn't stop running until they got to their dorm and slammed the door, accidentally locking poor Neville outside.
"Adrian, what do we do now?" Harry asked, pacing around nervously. "Seamus saw Norbert with his own eyes. Is Hagrid going to end up in Azkaban?"
Ron nodded seriously. "Not just that, half the school heard Norbert roaring. There's no way to hide this."
"Chill," Adrian said, sitting on his bed. "We just need to get Norbert out before the Ministry comes to check. Without real proof, Dumbledore should be able to deal with it."
"Right! I'll write to Charlie right now." Ron ran to his trunk and grabbed some paper and a quill. "He should already be coming, I told him to come tomorrow."
"Don't make it too obvious in the letter," Adrian warned. "Don't even say the word 'dragon.' Letters can get intercepted."
"Got it." Ron thought this was being way too careful, but he changed his message anyway.
Once the owl flew off into the night, Harry and Ron looked way more relaxed.
Adrian had never been too worried. Dumbledore was still the most powerful wizard alive, a few rumors and one kid's story wouldn't cause him real trouble at Hogwarts.
After their secret planning, they remembered Neville was still locked outside. When Harry opened the door, they found him alone in the hallway, looking like someone had let all the air out of him. Some buttons had been ripped off his robes when the crowd pushed around earlier, and he obviously had no clue what was going on.
Adrian felt awful. After saying sorry a bunch of times, he used Reparo to fix Neville's buttons.
The day had worn out Harry and Ron, they were snoring within minutes of getting into bed.
Adrian rested for a bit before sneaking out of bed at midnight. He had one important thing left to do.
Remembering the castle would be on high alert, Adrian decided to try a spell he'd learned but hardly ever used, the Disillusionment Charm.
"Disillusionment," he whispered, tapping his wand against his forehead.
A cold feeling washed over him like getting dunked in thick water, heavier than normal but it didn't mess with his breathing or movement. Unlike wearing an invisibility cloak, he didn't feel cut off from everything, just free to move without fabric getting in the way.
Adrian checked himself in the small mirror by his bed. It only showed his pillow and blanket, like it was looking right through him.
Getting around Hogwarts at night was easy for him now, especially with the Marauder's Map showing where everyone was patrolling. Adrian carefully avoided Filch and the teachers on duty as he moved through the castle.
He also looked for Quirrell's name on the map, it wasn't anywhere in the castle. Maybe the guy didn't dare come back after getting his ass kicked.
---
"I need a place to brew potions," Adrian mumbled, walking back and forth three times in front of the blank wall on the seventh floor.
The Room of Requirement opened up to show his personal potions lab. Compared to his first visit, the place had changed big time. Almost a third of the empty bottles now had liquids of different colors and thickness in them.
Aging Potion... Skele-Gro... Euphoria Elixir... Fire-Protection Potion...
All made from ingredients he'd "borrowed" from Snape's private stash. Better to actually use them than let them sit there collecting dust, and every successful brew made him better at it.
In the middle of his workspace sat the cauldron with his semester-long project: the Bloodline Fusion Potion.
After months of careful work, the mixture didn't look like regular water anymore. The liquid had taken on a weird quality that would've made Adrian think he was going crazy if he hadn't watched it change every day.
His heart beating fast with excitement, Adrian pulled out two test tubes from his robes, each one containing blood from a different magical creature.