Chapter 139: The Creatures Under His Care
Leonardo stepped into the space within the flask.
Norbert, who had been dogging Aurelius' heels like a shadow, immediately bounded toward him. Halfway across, she spread her wings, beat them a few times, and took to the air.
"Mum!"
The little dragon cried out and hurled herself straight into Leonardo's arms.
"Father would be better," he said, hugging her like an oversized dog, helplessness in his voice.
Trust a dragon to grow this fast. In just a few days, Norbert had doubled in size.
"All right, Mum," she chirped, still refusing to change.
Leonardo could only sigh. She was still young. Instinct had the upper hand.
Let her call him what she liked. No one else could understand her anyway.
He checked her over carefully. Development had been excellent. The wings, once crumpled and fragile, were broader and sturdier now. Her scales shone with healthy lustre, each one full and intact, the golden lines across them clearer than when she had hatched.
He called Aurelius over. A fist‑sized lump of cleansing flame drifted to hover in front of Norbert, and she swallowed it in a few quick gulps.
"Main course done. Time for your side dish," he said, mixing brandy and chicken blood with a smile, watching Aurelius and Norbert play.
Only a few days ago, he had confirmed that Norbert was, in fact, female.
Female dragons, in most species, were larger and more aggressive than males.
Which made grooming her into the Queen of the Norwegian Ridgebacks even better.
Their numbers were low to begin with. Conquering them probably would not be too complicated or take too long.
Malfoy's lecture had been accurate. Norwegian Ridgebacks were intensely combative, especially with their own kind. Not unlike Erumpents exploding their mates in breeding season. Some creatures seemed set on becoming rare by brute force.
Norbert polished off the brandy and blood in no time, and let out a satisfied burp, a neat puff of dragonfire slipping from her jaws.
Even among dragons, Norwegian Ridgebacks were early bloomers when it came to breathing fire.
Leonardo looked around. This flask's interior was broad and empty.
Aside from Norbert, he kept no other creatures here.
He had no choice. Dragons guarded their territory fiercely. House Norbert with anything else, and she would treat the rest as a buffet.
For all that she was barely hatched, her strength and the growing power of her fire already posed a threat to gentler, weaker beasts. She needed a space to herself.
Wand in hand, Leonardo walked the perimeter, expanding the area further as Newt had shown him. Norbert's home would be as comfortable as he could make it.
Before he left, he conjured a fresh array of toys. The last lot had been reduced to rubble.
He stepped out into another flask space.
Here, life was more varied. Puffskeins, Snidgets, and other harmless, friendly creatures wandered about.
He approached a very ordinary‑looking tree. At about chest height, there was a small hollow.
He bent and peered in.
If the trunk was plain, the hollow was anything but.
Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts layered the inside, Galleons most of all, bathing it in golden light.
Curled up in one corner lay a white‑gold Niffler, on her back, a coin in each paw, belly rising and falling in sleep.
Ginger's dopey pose made Leonardo smile. He drew a few more coins from his pocket and set them quietly among the pile.
He tickled her belly with a fingertip. She only clutched her coins tighter and did not wake.
"A few days more and I will bring you something new," he murmured.
He had already written to Aunt Penelope to send some jewellery and trinkets to the school. By his reckoning, they should arrive soon.
Nifflers liked shiny, precious things. Variety was best.
As Newt had said, this was important for a Niffler's mental health.
Raising one was not cheap. Good thing he had the funds.
A soft whicker sounded behind him, and something nudged his trouser leg.
He looked down. Aurora, of course.
He stroked her forehead and led the golden foal out into an open patch of ground.
He fed her berries washed in lake water and leaves of Moondew, then was about to open the Peeking Fiend's Eye to study her pathways when something caught his eye.
On Aurora's shoulders, just above the scapula, the gold coat now bore a new marking in the shape of a wing. Looked at closely, it could also have been a cloud.
The other side matched.
It had not been there yesterday.
Neither Asterion nor Seleneia had anything like it.
A mutation?
The tiny vortices rose in Leonardo's eyes.
With the Peeking Fiend's Eye active, he saw the change within her. A normal unicorn's pathways formed a nearly closed circle. Aurora's, after repair, had matched that.
Now faint ripples ran through that circle, like waves across a once‑still lake. They were subtle.
He ran back through the theory of Magical Pathway Weavecraft and quickly classified it as a benign variant.
True modification of a magical creature's circuits always brought some degree of mutation, good or bad.
Aurora had only been repaired, not fully remade. The change was mild.
It was a relief that it seemed beneficial.
By summer, the pattern would likely have settled entirely. Only then would he be able to see exactly what advantage this new structure would give her.
In theory, Weavecraft worked best on creatures in their growth phase. Their bodies were hardier and their pathways more malleable.
Infants were extremely plastic, but also far more fragile.
Leonardo ran through a dozen spells from the Weavecraft sequence, each with a different effect, and let the magic pass along Aurora's pathways.
Finally, he took out two phials of potion. He rubbed one across her coat, especially along her back and spine. The other he held to her mouth.
"Easy now. It will help you get better faster," he coaxed.
"It is… really bitter," she whickered softly.
Leonardo understood her perfectly. "If you finish it, you can have a lemon sherbet after."
He turned his hand and produced a yellow hard sweet in clear wrapping, dusted with white powder.
Aurora fixed on the sweet, then gave a tentative little call. "Then… can I have one more? The brown frog one?"
It took him a beat, then he realised. "Chocolate Frog", of course.
He took out a box, keeping the lid on so it could not hop off on its own.
Aurora's eyes lit up. She downed the potion obediently.
Leonardo fed her the sherbet and the Chocolate Frog in turn.
He had not expected unicorns to like sweets so much. She and Dumbledore might have a great deal to talk about.