"Oh… Merlin…"
Michael couldn't help but whisper and a trace of fear unconsciously appeared on his face.
Pushing through the dense forest, the group finally saw the giant creature.
The Norwegian Ridgeback dragon appeared to be fully grown. Its entire body was strong and intimidating, with bulging muscles and thick black scales covering its rough skin—making it seem as if it could melt into the darkness.
It had scorched an area equivalent to a small plaza into charcoal; not a single blade of grass remained on the ground, and the pale gray rocks were covered in burn marks and claw scratches.
About fifty meters ahead, there was a pitch-black cave. The rocks on either side of the entrance were covered in the dragon's claw and scorch marks, which at first glance resembled ancient, indecipherable script.
At that moment, the massive fire dragon threw a large fish to the ground and roasted it until it was half-cooked with searing flames, then tore into it ravenously, baring rows of sharp, venomous fangs—it was chilling to behold.
"This big guy must weigh at least five tons," Padma couldn't help but shudder, whispering, "Are we really safe standing here?"
"Trust Hagrid," Harry said, then quickly added, "...Probably."
"Out of the way, Scarhead!"
Malfoy couldn't help stepping forward past the group, pushing Harry aside. Staring at the dragon with admiration, he said:
"Did you see her orange-red eyes? Look at her wings—I bet they span fifty meters when fully spread…"
Norberta heard the voices and glanced sideways, her red eyes narrowed. Suddenly, her long tail lashed out!
Hagrid quickly reached out and shoved everyone back. The few people in front stumbled backward uncontrollably.
As Harry fell, he watched in horror as the dragon's tail, tipped with a sharp hook, swept past just meters away, gouging deep marks into a nearby tree trunk.
"Sorry, you all okay?"
Hagrid asked as he bent down and helped them up, acting as if nearly being swiped in the face by a dragon's tail was no big deal. Grinning, he said, "Norberta's very protective of her food—you can't go near her when she's eating."
"Thanks, Hagrid," Ron said, still shaken. "But you should've told us that before dinner time."
Hermione noticed the dragon slightly turning her triangular head with one eye secretly watching them, and felt her scalp go numb. She quickly said, "Don't talk—stay quiet!"
Just as she finished speaking, Hagrid waved and called out, "Hey, Norberta! Don't be scared—it's Mum!"
With a whoosh, Norberta exhaled a stream of fire from her nostrils. Though the flames didn't ignite Hagrid, the heat in the air made everyone's mouth go dry.
As the group stared in disbelief, Hagrid patted the ash from his beard and said lovingly, "So clingy… She's still just a baby!"
"Is Hagrid blind?" Michael muttered to Wade in a low voice through clenched teeth, "I've never seen a sixty-foot baby before."
He already regretted taking part in this activity. It wasn't fun at all—far from pleasant. He would've been better off staying in the common room, coming up with a few silly jokes or writing a boring essay.
Wade couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter.
Many people had been startled by what had just happened, but no one suggested leaving. Everyone waited patiently in the woods.
The way the dragon tore at its food was brutal, but the sheer spectacle of such a majestic creature—every gleaming scale on its body—was mesmerizing.
No matter how vividly textbooks tried to describe such beings, they couldn't compare to the awe of seeing this beast in the flesh.
After over ten minutes, Norberta finally finished eating.
She breathed another burst of fire to incinerate the blood and mess left on the ground, then found a relatively flat patch of land and lay down contentedly. Her tail swayed slowly, and her eyes drooped halfway shut.
"Hey, Norberta. Look—I brought a lot of friends to play with you."
Hagrid strode over.
The dragon raised her eyelids slightly to glance at Hagrid. She let out a low rumble, but didn't make any further movement.
Hagrid patted Norberta's snout and neck, then turned and beckoned the students forward.
After a moment, Harry was the first to step toward Hagrid.
Wade could tell that Harry probably regretted that first step the moment he took it, but he didn't want to disappoint Hagrid. He forced himself to keep moving forward, though his steps grew slower and more cautious.
Norberta's gaze turned toward him—those orange-red eyes, even half-lidded, were terrifying.
Fortunately, she remained still, and only let out thin streams of warm breath from her nostrils.
"Don't be scared," Hagrid encouraged. "Norberta's in a good mood—you can pet her."
Harry cautiously reached out and gently touched the dragon's wrinkled wing. A surprised smile gradually spread across his face.
"Come on, kids, she's not fierce at all, is she?" Hagrid called cheerfully, giving Norberta's neck a friendly pat.
Rolf ran over excitedly, and the others followed, one after another. Malfoy, who had taken a fall earlier, crossed his arms and observed for a while before carefully walking over.
Now that she was full, Norberta did seem extremely docile—or perhaps she simply didn't consider the little humans around her to be a threat. She allowed them to move around her freely, gently touching her scales and claws.
Having hatched at Hogwarts and been raised by Hagrid, Norberta didn't view wizards with the same suspicion as her kind usually did. In fact, the more she grew, the calmer she became—quite the opposite of the fiery little firecracker she had been as a hatchling.
Hagrid reminded them over and over:
"Norberta's got a good temper, but don't take advantage of her when I'm not looking. If she gets angry, she's not someone to mess with. Don't pull out her scales or feathers—but if they fall on the ground, you can pick them up."
In truth, the students who had come today were carefully selected by Hagrid. Fred and George couldn't come because they were busy with classes, and Hagrid knew none of these students were troublemakers.
Everything he said was directed at Draco Malfoy—Hagrid's attention was half on him the whole time.
If the half-giant had had any reasonable excuse to cancel the agreement, he wouldn't have brought Malfoy anywhere near his beloved Norberta.
But surprisingly, Malfoy didn't try anything sneaky. Nor did he act rudely as he had with the Hippogriff before.
Instead, he gently stroked the dragon, eyes full of wonder and admiration. He even accidentally bumped into Harry—and didn't even realize it was his most hated "Scarhead."
At that moment, he looked just like an innocent child.
Hagrid finally relaxed a little. He took a pouch from his back and handed out some dried meat and fruit to the students.
"You can feed her a bit. Norberta likes fruit too. Just make sure to keep your distance—about three or four meters. Toss it from there."
Hagrid said, even giving Malfoy an extra handful to keep him busy feeding the dragon and out of trouble.
Wade also followed the others and received some fruit. What was a casual handful for Hagrid turned out to be a whole pile for him—two apples, a bunch of cherries, and a few kiwis, all giving off a sweet fragrance.
He fed Norberta for a while, then his expression suddenly shifted slightly.
From the nearby forest came the sound of dry branches snapping underfoot, and a muffled whimper.
—Could it be that a student had secretly followed them into the Forbidden Forest and got hurt?
Wade listened more carefully but didn't hear anything else.
He looked at Hagrid, who was focused on watching the students feed the dragon. After thinking it over, he decided not to bother him—Hagrid absolutely couldn't leave right now. If Norberta were suddenly provoked, the students could all be wiped out.
But Wade couldn't ignore the sound he had heard. He shoved the rest of his fruit into Rolf's hands, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Here, keep feeding her. I'm going to take a quick bathroom break."
"Oh, okay." Rolf took the fruit and reminded him, "Be careful, don't go too far."
"Don't worry, I know."
Waving casually, Wade walked into the forest. Fang, the hound, immediately noticed that a student had broken away from the group. He looked at his master, then at the direction Wade had gone, and quickly made a decision—he ran after Wade.
Once behind the cover of the trees, Wade cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and moved swiftly and lightly in the direction the sound had come from.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
Fang suddenly ran over. Even though Wade was invisible, Fang followed his scent and quickly found him, then stood in front of him barking softly, urging him to return to the group.
Wade suddenly felt like a sheep being herded by a sheepdog. He removed the Disillusionment Charm and bent down to pat the dog on the head.
"There's something strange nearby—could be a student who got separated. Help me listen carefully, okay?"
Magical creatures were generally intelligent, and upon hearing this, Fang stopped barking and perked up his ears, and listened intently.
With the surroundings quiet, the sounds became much clearer—rustling... click-clack... and labored breathing.
Fang immediately became extremely alert, baring his teeth and looking vicious enough to make a small child cry. But Wade, who knew the cowardly dog well, could tell Fang was actually scared out of his wits and on the verge of bolting.
Fang only acted brave when Hagrid was around.
Hearing that click-clack sound—like the clashing of pincers—Wade raised an eyebrow. He had a pretty good idea of what was on the other side. He drew his wand and crept forward, with Fang shrinking behind him.
After circling around a thicket, they finally saw what had made the sounds.
They were several Acromantulas—giant eight-eyed spiders the size of horses—slowly creeping toward a large tree and their eight legs moved with an air of menacing arrogance.
"Blood." Accompanied by the click-clack of pincers, one of the spiders said, "The smell of blood."
"The dragon's prey… escaped," another spider said gleefully.
"Dinner, snacks," the other spiders chimed in happily, tapping their pincers in excitement.
"Quiet! Quiet! Don't attract the fire dragon," the largest Acromantula warned.
At the base of the tree they were surrounding, there was a hollow. In the darkness, something could be vaguely seen, it was breathing with difficulty with its body trembling slightly, and it occasionally let out whimpering sounds of fear.
"Hey!" Wade suddenly called out. He stepped out from behind a tree, holding his wand. "What are you doing?"
All the Acromantulas turned at once, dozens of gleaming eyes stared at him.
"Human!"
"Stranger!"
"Brought by Hagrid… a hatchling!"
"Eat him! Eat him!" the spiders said resentfully.
Wade felt that something was off. The Acromantula leader—Aragog—should still be alive at this point, but these spiders didn't seem to have any fondness for Hagrid at all.
He didn't have time to think more about it. With a wave of his hand, a wardrobe-space opened abruptly, and Mikaelshot out like an arrow with a thin stream of flame joyfully spewing from his mouth.
Several spiders that had been about to pounce froze mid-lunge. A second later, they turned and fled in terror, their eight legs scrambling so fast they nearly left afterimages.
Mikael clicked his mouth and perched on a branch, looking at Wade.
After a moment of thought, Wade said, "We don't need too many Acromantulas. Go trim their numbers."
Mikael let out a happy coo, and three long feathers of fire extended from his outstretched wings.
Wade chuckled and added, "Leave about ten percent, that's more than enough."
If not for the fact that Acromantula venom was so valuable, he wouldn't have wanted to keep even one of these cold-blooded creatures destined to betray.
Mikael joyfully gave chase, and bursts of firelight flickered through the dark forest.
With Mikael in control, Wade wasn't worried about starting a forest fire. He closed the wardrobe space and bent down toward the tree hollow, whispering, "Lumos Maxima."
A bright white light lit up the dark tree hollow. The figure inside immediately shielded its eyes and asked in a frightened voice, "Who's there?"
Wade froze.
It was clearly a little boy's voice—soft, high-pitched, and innocent, sounding like someone not even old enough for primary school.
This definitely wasn't a Hogwarts student.
Fang suddenly became excited, running over and barking several times, before Wade grabbed his collar and pulled him back, shoving him aside.
Wade leaned in closer and finally saw the small figure hiding among the dead leaves in the hollow.
It was a wolf pup.
Its head was round and fluffy, and its body looked like a little ball of fur, with a touch of clumsy adorableness.
Its tail was short, and its black nose was wet and trembling slightly. Its eyes were wide open, filled with panic and helplessness. Its light yellow fur was matted with bloodstains.
There were several terrifying gashes on its back—it looked like they had been inflicted by Noberta.
Wade fell silent for a moment.
This little wolf was probably a snack or a live toy that Noberta had caught for herself, but somehow, it had managed to escape.
Even if it had briefly gained its freedom, without timely treatment for those wounds, it would likely die soon.
If it were an ordinary wolf, that would be one thing—but this little creature could speak human language…
Wade asked, "Are you a werewolf's offspring?"
He had read in books that if a werewolf mated in its wolf form, it could produce a litter of actual wolf pups, but with near-human intelligence.
But none of the books had said that these pups could actually speak human language.
Wade had initially found it astonishing, but then he thought, In a Wizarding world where even spiders can talk, a wolf pup with human blood speaking English isn't that strange, is it?
"M-My father is a werewolf…" the pup said, too scared to lie. After speaking, it covered its head with its front paws and pleaded pitifully, "Please… let me go… I promise I won't come near the school again…"
Seeing how pitiful the little thing looked, Wade sighed. With a wave of his wand, the pup was pulled out of the hollow against its will.
It struggled in fear—only to fall into a warm embrace.
"Don't move. If you keep thrashing like that, you'll die. Let me help you," Wade said gently, pointing his wand at the pup's wounds and softly chanting a healing spell.
The bleeding slowly stopped, but the wounds didn't heal easily.
The claws of a Norwegian Ridgeback likely carried some form of venom, making its injuries difficult to mend.
"Come back with me. Looks like we'll need Madam Pomfrey to fully heal these wounds… though I'm not sure if she takes animal patients," Wade muttered.
With a tap of his wand, he put the pup to sleep, tucked it into his pocket, then turned and walked with Fang back toward the rest of the students.
In the dark forest, a bush quivered slightly. A moment later, through a narrow gap, a single amber eye peeked out, silently watching the direction Wade had gone.
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
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