Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 93 92. Promise to Neville and Little Dragon Breaking Out of His Shell

"That's not fair!" Ron shouted.

"Oh, shut up, Ron." After glaring at the noisy Ron, Hermione glanced at Harry, her face seemed to get even redder. "I, I saw Mum and Dad, they were both congratulating me because I became the Minister of Magic. Uh, I also saw Filch, he was applauding me..."

Hermione's voice became smaller and smaller, and in the end it simply became a gibberish, and no one knew what she was saying.

"There's no need to feel embarrassed about seeing Filch," Harry nodded in understanding. "You probably saw Filch only because he's a Squib. This is a good thing. It means you really take improving the status of Squibs to heart and regard it as a goal. That mirror can reflect everyone's desire, right?"

Harry originally thought that Hermione was hesitant because he saw Filch in the Mirror of Erised, a man who left a dislike impression on too many students. However, he did not expect that after he finished speaking, Hermione not only did not relax, but became even more nervous.

"No, uh, I mean, yes - that's indeed what I want to do," Hermione said seriously, straightening her back.

The serious little girl looked like she was about to go on stage to receive an award.

"...I always feel like you're not telling the truth," Ron muttered softly. Before Hermione could glare at him, Ron quickly asked Neville, "Where's Neville? What did you see?"

"I, I saw Dad and Mom." Neville's voice even choked up. He felt like crying when he talked about this. "They all woke up and stayed by my side..."

"Awake?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"Well, my parents have lived in St. Mungo's Hospital all year round..." Neville's voice was very low, and he cried as he told about the unfortunate things that happened to his family.

Like Harry, Neville was also a victim of the Wizarding War eleven years ago. His father Frank Longbottom and mother Alice Longbottom were two powerful Aurors who bravely stood up against Voldemort and his followers eleven years ago.

In a battle with the Death Eaters, Frank and Alice were defeated and captured. Both of them suffered the most severe torture of the Cruciatus Curse, which broke down both physically and mentally. After the war, they could only live in the ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Wizardry all year round, while Neville could only grow up under the care of his grandmother.

"I, I don't know if Mom and Dad can return to normal," Neville said with tears in his eyes. "After all, I'm not as talented as you, Harry, and I always forget a lot of things... But I still hope to become stronger, so that if Mom and Dad really wake up, I can also be in front of them..."

Neville was crying so hard that he couldn't speak anymore. What he saw in the Mirror of Erised had pierced Neville's heart. Ron and Hermione even forcibly pulled Neville away, otherwise he would probably have stood there until he starved to death.

"Don't be silly, Neville." Hermione's eyes were red, and she looked like she was about to cry out of sympathy. "Have you forgotten? You are Professor Sprout's pride, and you are very talented in Herbology."

As if he suddenly remembered this, Neville laughed despite his tears and snot.

"So, the Death Eater who attacked your parents is still in Azkaban?" Harry suddenly asked, "What's his name?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange" blurted out this name. This was the only name that Neville would never forget in his life. "It was her. It was said that she was imprisoned in the deepest part of Azkaban - Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters were imprisoned there."

"I've made a note of that," Harry nodded. "Although I don't know why the Ministry of Magic wants to keep these people who have committed serious crimes, but I can promise you, Neville, I will avenge you if I have the chance."

"Thank you! Harry! Thank you!!" Neville was excited for a moment. He never doubted Harry's ability.

"You're welcome, we are friends, aren't we?" Harry said with a smile.

"By the way, Harry," Hermione suddenly turned her head and said, "Is it possible that your kind of witchcraft - those potions used by shaman priests - can cure Neville's parents?"

"I don't know," Harry shook his head and said, "So I can't promise Neville anything about this. According to Neville, his parents suffered mental breakdowns due to the torture of the Cruciatus Curse."

"My current research on spells has not yet reached the depth of the three unforgivable curses. If I act rashly, there may be accidents that I cannot control." Harry looked at Neville and said, "So I'm sorry, Neville, you have to wait a little longer, but I can assure you that if it is possible to cure your parents, I will never delay."

"It's okay, Harry, this is enough." Neville smiled through his tears, "At least there is still a possibility - this is enough, the healers at St. Mungo's can't do anything now."

Neville's experience made the atmosphere among the group depressing for a while. After a while, Ron told a few jokes, which at least made the atmosphere less heavy.

"Alas, it's a pity," Ron sighed exaggeratedly. He put his arm around Neville's shoulders and said, "Although we have passed so many levels, we still haven't got the treasure guarded by the professors - what is it called? The Philosopher's Stone?"

"It's a bit regrettable indeed," Hermione agreed. "There's only a mirror in the last room, and there's no Philosopher's Stone at all... I guess it's probably been taken away by Headmaster Dumbledore, after all, there's no guard in one of the rooms."

"Normally, you will get the Philosopher's Stone from the Mirror of Erised," Harry said with a smile, "According to Dumbledore, the happiest person in the world can use the Mirror of Erised as a normal mirror."

"But he saw me becoming the Minister of Magic, Neville saw his parents, and Ron..." Hermione looked at Ron with disgust, "Ron saw himself becoming the Head Boy, and there were things like the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup."

"Hey! Hermione!" Ron immediately protested, "Why do you sound like you're looking down on the Head Boy and the House Quidditch Cup? I admit that what I've seen is indeed a little bit inferior to the Minister of Magic, but it's also a great honor! At least the Head Boy never has to worry about finding a job after graduation."

"Yes, yes, that's awesome, really awesome," Hermione said perfunctorily, and Ron was immediately furious.

"Given Dumbledore's character, he would probably make it so that only people who don't have any desire for the Philosopher's Stone can take it from the Mirror of Erised," Harry said with a smile, "After all, it's difficult to control one's desires. If Voldemort and Quirrell had reached the last room, their desire for the Philosopher's Stone would have prevented them from ever getting it."

"Ah, it sounds like a fairy tale, warning us that greed will lead to nothing." Hermione sighed deeply, "I really want to see the Sorcerer's Stone... It's a legendary treasure, also known as the Philosopher's Stone. Its legend is circulated in both the wizard world and the Muggle world."

"After hearing Harry talk about it before, I went to the library to look for it. The Philosopher's Stone can turn any metal it touches into pure gold, and it can also be used to make the Elixir of Life," Hermione said with a look of longing. "It is said that Nicolas Flamel, the maker of the Philosopher's Stone, has used it to keep himself and his wife alive for six centuries. Wow... I guess they must know a lot of things."

"Uh, so Hermione, what does the Philosopher's Stone look like?" Ron suddenly asked, "I mean, is it red in color? It's about the size of a palm, and the shape is not very regular. Well, it's like red wine. When light shines through it, it seems like something is shaking inside..."

"How should I know?" Hermione said unhappily, "I haven't seen the Philosopher's Stone, and why can you describe it in such detail? It's as if you have seen it with your own eyes..."

Hermione's voice became smaller and smaller, and her eyes opened wider and wider. In the end, even her breathing seemed to stop.

"--Sorcerer's Stone?" A very hoarse voice came out of her throat. Hermione stared at the red stone spinning on Harry's fingertips, raised her head in disbelief and asked Harry.

"Yeah," Harry nodded happily. Hermione's reaction was very funny, which made him find pleasure. "It's the reward for the mission. Dumbledore gave it to me."

Hermione shuddered as if she had been struck by lightning.

"So, you've always known what's in that room." Hermione said slowly in a hoarse voice with dull eyes, "Even the treasure we risked our lives to get has long been in your hands, but you never said anything - just like what happened with Quirrell and Voldemort before, you knew everything, but you said nothing."

After thinking for a while, Harry raised his hand and waved it in front of him, activating the Vision Spell.

The next second, a screen of light appeared out of thin air in front of the four people. The scene in the screen was very familiar to Hermione and the other two, so familiar that it couldn't be more familiar - they had just come out of those rooms.

Obvious thing, isn't it?
Even Ron could understand what this meant - while the three of them were working hard on their adventure, someone was hiding by the warm fireplace, playing with the treasure at the end of the adventure, and enjoying their adventure process. Hermione took a deep breath.

Without saying a word, she grabbed the parchment beside the fireplace, dipped the quill pen in ink, and began to write on it rapidly in a flamboyant handwriting.

"Um, Hermione?" Harry asked, but there was no response.

"Hermione? Miss Granger? Hello? Are you still there?" Harry continued to ask without giving up, "Excuse me, what are you writing?"

"Suicide note!" Without even looking up, Hermione threw out these two words. She gritted her teeth and drew the last long line on the parchment. Then she slammed the quill on the table with a 'snap' and let out a thunderous roar, "I will fight you to the death! Harry!!"

Are you really trying hard?
Really hard work.

Hermione jumped up from her chair, pounced on Harry, and sat on him, trying to strangle Harry by the neck with both hands.

Harry, with a look of confusion on his face, quickly used his arms to block the little girl's hands that were trying to strangle him - he really didn't expect Hermione to be angry about this.

Well, okay, actually I have thought about it a little bit.

But isn't this fun?
"Harry! Potter! You evil cow!!!"

On this day, the roar from Hermione Granger abruptly woke up the Gryffindor dormitory at midnight.

....................................

Good news, Hagrid's egg is about to hatch... Well, this statement always sounds a bit weird, as if a little Hagrid will hatch from the egg.

But Hagrid's eggs were about to hatch, and he notified Harry and the other three via an owl at breakfast time, for fear that they would miss such a good thing.

The good thing about this incident for Harry was that after a day, Hermione was no longer angry with him.

"Are we going to do something?" Ron asked, looking up. "Help it or something?"

The black egg was now placed on the table in the middle of Hagrid's room. There was a deep crack on it, and something seemed to be moving inside, making bursts of crackling sounds.

"It's better not to." Rejecting Ron's suggestion without hesitation, Hermione explained seriously, "In the process of breaking out of the shell, it is actually exercising the muscles of various parts of the body and promoting blood circulation, which is good for it."

"And breaking out of the shell on its own can help it better adapt to the external environment. For example, it can get in touch with fresh air and improve its physical fitness... In short, during the process of egg-laying animals breaking out of their shells, it's best not to give them any help unless they are really dying."

"I didn't expect you to know so much, Hermione," Hagrid looked up at Hermione and said, "Can Muggles teach this kind of knowledge?"

"Uh, it's just about birds." Hermione's voice suddenly dropped, and she said with a guilty look on her face, "But they are all oviparous animals, so I think the same principle should apply... Well, magical creatures are also animals."

Reasonable, this is too reasonable.

As they were talking, the little dragon on the table seemed to hatch faster, and Harry could see an eye flashing through the continuously expanding gap, as if someone outside was observing the egg, and the creature in the egg was also observing something outside.

"It's coming out," Harry whispered.

Following his words, the other people stopped talking and just stared at the egg intently.

Suddenly, with a crisp scraping sound, the egg was torn open in the middle, and a small dragon jumped out. To be honest, Harry was a little disappointed based on its appearance, because the dragon was not handsome when it was a child. On the contrary, it was even a little ugly.

The two open wings remind people of bats at first glance. There is still egg liquid on the little dragon's body, so that it looks a bit like a wrinkled black umbrella wet by the rain. But even when it was just hatched, there were many thorns on the little dragon's wings. Compared with its thin black body, its wings were a little too big.

The main body of the whole body looks more like a lizard, with a pointed head and a protruding and long nose with white nostrils, a pair of orange-red eyes protruding outward, and a bunch of horns on the head.

Xiaolong sneezed, and a few sparks came out of his nostrils.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Hagrid's mind was completely taken away by the little dragon. There was nothing else in his eyes. He muttered to himself and stretched out his hand to touch it - but the little dragon bit his finger.

Ron shrank back on the spot, because even though the little dragon was just born, its fangs looked sharp enough.

A natural predator.

"Hey, look," Hagrid suddenly turned around with an excited look on his face and said, "It remembers me! It knows its mother!!"

As Hagrid said this, he shook his fingers, and with his movement, the little dragon that was still biting his fingers shook along with it - although its fangs were very sharp, it was obvious that the little dragon did not penetrate Hagrid's armor.

"Let's not talk about why you suddenly became the mother, but at least you have to be the father, right?" Harry couldn't help but complain: "The little dragon was just born, how could it remember you - well, I think it's probably hungry and wants to find something to eat."

"Oh my God, Harry, you reminded me." Hagrid finally woke up from the surprise of the little dragon's birth. He flicked his fingers and flicked the little dragon back onto the table. Then he hurriedly moved the food he had prepared for the little dragon from the side.

"Aha, feed him a bucket of brandy and chicken blood every half hour, I remember it all," Hagrid said proudly.

Very gently, he threw the little dragon... into the big bucket he had prepared. Hagrid looked at the little dragon swallowing it in big gulps with a kind face... His expression gave Hermione and the other two goose bumps and they rubbed their arms non-stop.

This isn't Hagrid at all! Uh, wait, this seems very Hagrid again?
Especially when facing magical creatures.

"Honestly, Hagrid, is that book really reliable?" Ron covered his nose to block out the pungent smell of alcohol and blood, and frowned, saying, "Dragons in the wild don't have brandy to drink, do they?"

"So this is the technique for raising dragons, Ron. Believe me, I'm a professional," Hagrid said with a blink. He was even humming a little tune happily now. "Norbert, Norbert... Grow up quickly, tall and strong."

The voice was full of blessings and expectations for Xiaolong's future.

"...and then eat us whole?" Neville grunted.

But apparently Hagrid couldn't hear it.

(End of this chapter)