"Professor Kettleburn has given quite the complicated dilemma," Adrian said with resignation in his voice as he carefully opened the box in front of Lupin, revealing what was inside.
This particular situation, Adrian thought, wasn't sothing that needed absolute secrecy.
Lupin stared wide-eyed at the dragon egg in the box. "A fire dragon egg?" he asked in a low voice tinged with surprise. "Where did it co from?"
Adrian nodded and pointed at the surface of the egg. "It's a Chinese Fireball egg. Professor Kettleburn gave it to , and by the way, it might be only a few days away from hatching."
Lupin naturally recognized the na Professor Kettleburn without need for explanation. The eccentric, accident-prone wizard had served as the Care of Magical Creatures professor during Lupin's own student years at Hogwarts.
Hearing that the dragon was about to be born, Lupin quickly moved closer to examine it. "Looks like trouble," he said.
"Indeed," Adrian sighed heavily. After a mont's contemplation, he reluctantly added the more concerning part: "And there's considerably worse news—I've heard that the Ministry of Magic is actively searching for this little treasure."
Lupin frowned, shifting his gaze from the egg to Adrian. "Then why not just give it to the Ministry? It's just a dragon egg. Although valuable, it shouldn't be indispensable to you."
"Professor Kettleburn would kill if I did," Adrian said with a smile, explaining, "The professor is only storing it with temporarily."
"Well, I won't say anyone anything about this," Lupin said seriously.
"Ah, I trust that you wouldn't," Adrian nodded with a hint of amusent. "In fact, I never doubted it."
Regardless, being trusted felt nice. Especially for Lupin.
When Lupin tried to touch the dragon egg, Adrian stopped him. "Be careful, your gloves just touched toxic dittany."
Although Adrian couldn't be absolutely certain whether the toxic residue would adversely affect the developing dragon embryo within the shell, years of experience with both magical creatures and potent botanical plants had taught him that excessive precaution was extrely preferable to subsequent regret.
Hearing Adrian's urgent warning, Lupin's outstretched hand froze instantly in mid-trajectory, hovering inches from the egg's surface.
"What do you plan to do with this?" Lupin inquired thoughtfully. As he spoke, he withdrew his wand from an interior pocket of his robes.
With ticulous attention to detail, he perford several consecutive "Scourgify" cleansing charms on his protective gear, ensuring complete decontamination.
Adrian waved his hand, gesturing for Lupin to follow him. "We need to put it in a more suitable place. What does a developing dragon embryo above all else for successful incubation? Extraordinarily High temperature!"
The two wizards advanced through the interconnecting doorway of Greenhouse Three, entering the adjacent second greenhouse. Although Lupin had visited this particular greenhouse before, his explorations had been largely limited to the entrance area and the main pathways.
His knowledge of this section remained limited—he was only aware that it contained various species of magical trees.
After entering the greenhouse, Adrian guided Lupin straight ahead toward the distant left side.
"Where exactly are we going?" Lupin asked curiously while looking around.
"I told you, a more suitable area for a dragon to live," Adrian replied, turning his head. At the sa ti, a wave of scorching heat blew in from ahead.
"Look," Adrian turned his head back, "we've arrived."
Lupin looked ahead to see a massive tree standing in front of them. It was a beautiful tower-shaped tree with a straight, sturdy trunk, obviously thriving. Most striking were the brilliant red flowers densely covering the top of the tree.
These flowers resembled tulips, like a burning fla.
No, wait! Those flowers weren't just like flas—there were actual flas burning on the flowers!
Lupin observed the phenonon with ticulous attention for several long monts, noticing that the air surrounding each flaming bloom was dramatically distorted by extre heat, creating visible thermal ripples that radiated out from every petal.
The cumulative effect transford the entire crown of the massive tree into what appeared to be a continuously burning inferno that sohow coexisted harmoniously with the living matter that produced it.
'Flowers that generate actual fire?' Lupin unconsciously rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, attempting to confirm that fatigue or so lingering effect from the toxic dittany wasn't creating a hallucinatory experience.
However, the intense temperature assaulting his skin from across the distance still separating them from the tree provided irrefutable physical evidence that what he observed was unquestionably real.
Even maintaining their current position—which Lupin estimated to be at least thirty feet from the base of the extraordinary tree—the temperature had already reached uncomfortable levels.
He could feel sweat beginning to form on his forehead and beneath his protective clothing as the tree continuously emitted what must have been an absolutely astonishing quantity of heat into the surrounding atmosphere.
[Type: Fla Wood]
[Level: 2]
[Characteristic: Burning]
[Status: Growing (22%)]
[...]
This was a mutated variant of Fla Wood that Adrian had transplanted from its native environnt sowhere in the magical regions of Africa. After being affected by Adrian's plant mutation ability, the tree had developed the extraordinary "Burning" characteristic that now manifested so spectacularly in front of them.
"I believe it would be wise to maintain our current distance rather than approach any closer," Adrian suggested, turning toward Lupin.
The temperature in the vicinity appeared substantially higher than during Adrian's previous inspection of the tree. Based on the thermal intensity and the tree's current growth trics, he calculated that it wouldn't take long for this tree to closely match conditions found within an active volcanic crater.
Fortunately, Adrian had designed his greenhouse complex with exceptional foresight, incorporating magically reinforced ceilings of extraordinary height specifically to accommodate the potential growth of specins like the Fla Wood. The design eliminated any concerns about the tree's fiery top potentially burning through the structure above.
Adrian waved his wand and softly uttered a spell. The dragon egg in the box slowly floated up and finally settled beneath the Fla Wood.
The temperature there was absolutely perfect for a dragon's birth. Almost instantly after being placed there, the surface of the dragon egg turned bright red.
"There isn't a risk of it cooking within the shell, is there?" Lupin asked, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve.
Adrian observed the egg with the satisfied expression of soone who had identified the perfect solution to a complex problem. The slight trembling now visible in the egg confird his assessnt—the embryonic dragon within was responding positively to the temperature change.
"Don't worry, it won't be cooked, you could even theoretically place one dragon egg directly within a cooking fire without causing harm to the embryo inside. For dragons, high temperatures that would be catastrophic to other creatures actually represent optimal developntal conditions. As long as the heat doesn't exceed their species-specific tolerance threshold, the hatchling will actually develop more robustly and rapidly in this environnt than under conventional incubation paraters."
Lupin accepted this explanation with a thoughtful nod, his expression telling he had already lost exact count of how frequently he had experienced astonishnt within Adrian's extraordinary plantation. It seed that virtually every plant species cultivated within these magical greenhouses possessed could surprise him.
"Should we let Harry know about the dragon's existence?" Lupin suddenly asked.
"Why not? Every wizard should learn sothing about dragons. Dragons—almost every part of them can be used as valuable material. Scales, bones, teeth..."
Speaking thus, Adrian patted the dust off himself and turned to leave. "Co, Lupin, we have other work to complete."
............................
The Chinese Fireball dragon erged from its shell precisely six days later.
The newborn dragon was very lively and even tore off a small branch of the Fla Wood—which made Adrian a bit heartbroken.
Dragons as magical creatures have historically possessed trendous appeal to both wizards and Muggles.
And Harry was no exception to this universal fascination. After learning that Adrian had obtained a dragon egg, he ca to check beneath the Fla Wood almost every day.
But he soon lost interest because the newborn dragon was quite ugly and not very well-behaved. Like an ugly, hyperactive troublemaker kid, it would make anyone who saw it dislike it.
With one notable exception, of course: Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, whose lifelong fascination with dangerous magical creatures made him essentially immune to their less appealing characteristics. Where others saw inconvenience and hazard, he always saw unique beauty and fascinating potential.
The Newborn dragons needed to be taken care of which required regular feeding, constant monitoring, and specialized care to ensure proper developnt—responsibilities that Adrian was unwilling to personally accept given his nurous other obligations.
Harry, despite his initial enthusiasm, was obviously far too young and inexperienced to take responsibility for such a dangerous creature and Lupin had his regular work making consistent tending to dragon impractical.
So, the important task of caring for the baby dragon was assigned by Adrian to the Devil's Snare.
Fortunately, the newborn dragon had not yet developed the ability to produce its signature fireballs. This developntal tiline provided a crucial grace period during which the Devil's Snare could safely interact with the hatchling without risk of burning.
As promised, Professor Kettleburn ca to see the dragon when it was born and even gave it a na: "Torch."
Adrian strongly suspected the inspiration for this particular na ca from the professor's fascination with the extraordinary Fla Wood tree rather than any characteristic of the dragon itself.
During the naming ceremony, Professor Kettleburn had spent considerably more ti observing the magnificent flaming tree than the actual dragon.
Following this brief visit and perfunctory naming ritual, Professor Kettleburn left leaving the newly launched "Torch" in Adrian's continued care.
User Comments
0 comments from readers