Hagrid stood off to the side, rubbing his massive hands together nervously. Newt noticed and gave him a small, understanding smile.
"Norberta, at the very least you should say goodbye to Hagrid properly."
Norberta glanced at Hagrid, then leaned her head forward and rubbed it against him affectionately.
Rock had to fight back a laugh from the side.
The sharp little horn on top of Norberta's head had already torn a hole in Hagrid's coat.
"Oh! Norberta!"
Hagrid didn't care one bit. He reached out and gently stroked the baby dragon, his face lighting up with pure joy. But the thought that she was about to leave made his shoulders slump again.
"Does she really have to go right now?" Hagrid asked quietly, clearly reluctant to let her go.
Newt was more serious about this than Rock. "Hagrid, Norwegian Ridgeback hatchlings grow extremely fast. Your hut simply isn't big enough for her."
The meaning was clear: Hagrid's small cabin was already holding back the young dragon's proper development.
Newt's words dashed any lingering hope Hagrid had. The half-giant wiped the corner of his eye with the back of his hand, his voice thick with emotion. "Alright… I'll go pack her some food for the trip."
This time Newt didn't refuse, even though his magical suitcase was already well-stocked.
"Little Rock," Newt turned to his grandson, "I heard from Albus that you helped a unicorn give birth?"
Newt had always brought Rock along whenever he cared for magical creatures. Like any grandfather, he hoped his descendant would carry on his life's work. The only thing was that Rock had never shown that same deep passion for magical beasts.
"That's right. It actually felt pretty good," Rock nodded. "I did it the same way you helped that Aethonan winged horse that time, Grandpa."
Newt looked a little dazed for a moment, then broke into a warm smile. He reached out and gently ruffled Rock's hair.
"You did very well. Being acknowledged by a unicorn is an incredibly rare thing."
"I'm still nowhere near your level, Grandpa." Rock shook his head. Only after experiencing it firsthand did he truly understand just how difficult Newt's work really was.
"You don't need to compare yourself to anyone, little Rock," Newt said gently, clearly not fond of that kind of thinking. "And be careful out there."
Rock smoothly changed the subject and continued chatting with his grandfather until Hagrid finished preparing everything Norberta would need.
"That's… a bit much, Hagrid," Rock said, staring at the mountain of roasted turkeys, bottles of brandy, and the well-worn teddy bear that Norberta had been playing with these past few days.
Looking at the toy bear's head, which had been completely torn apart, Rock strongly suspected the little dragon had just been taking her aggression out on it.
Newt stood up, opened his suitcase, and with a wave of his wand neatly packed away everything Hagrid had prepared. He also gently pushed a curious Niffler back inside when it tried to poke its head out.
"Alright, Norberta. Time to go in."
Newt looked at the dragon and spoke softly.
Faced with the suitcase, Norberta suddenly turned into a complete coward. She hid behind Hagrid, only peeking out with one eye.
"It's okay, sweetheart. When school lets out for summer, I'll come visit you," Hagrid said soothingly, stroking her head. He thought she was just sad to leave him.
Newt had no choice but to use a Levitation Charm to gently float Norberta into the suitcase. Only then did he turn back to Hagrid.
"You're always welcome to visit, Hagrid."
"Thank you. I'll definitely come," Hagrid nodded. He pulled out his large, coarse handkerchief and started wiping away tears.
"Goodbye, Grandpa," Rock said quietly.
"Goodbye." Newt picked up a small vase from the table, and with a quick motion, he vanished on the spot.
With the matter settled, Rock could only offer a few words of comfort to the still-sniffling Hagrid. At least this ending was a good one.
"Oh! Right, Rock." Hagrid suddenly remembered something. He turned and walked over to the table. "I found these outside the hut this morning."
It was a sprig of mistletoe and several strands of unicorn hair.
Rock picked them up and examined them carefully. The hairs had a slight golden tint—they were probably from the two newborn foals. Looked like they were growing well.
"They must be very grateful to you. Though unicorns have always been like that," Hagrid explained from the side.
"It's fine, Hagrid. I think the little guy was probably just saying hello." Rock smiled lightly.
---
Back in the study room.
"Everyone, we need to get serious!"
Hermione suddenly stood up and looked at the group. The others in the study room looked up. Padma asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Hermione?"
"Exams are right around the corner, but I'm losing more and more confidence."
Hermione sat back down dejectedly, her voice full of self-doubt.
"But… aren't we already studying?" Adam asked, genuinely confused.
"I think what Hermione means is that she wants a proper review session focused on the exams," Michael said, catching on to her worry.
"Exactly. We might know the material, but getting an O on the actual exam is a whole different story," Hermione said anxiously. "I'm nowhere near as good as Rock at Transfiguration. I can't even imagine how disappointed Professor McGonagall would be if I mess up."
Rock put down his notebook. Hermione's anxiety was clearly coming from overthinking.
"Hermione, you should know that among everyone here, you have the best Transfiguration skills after me."
This wasn't empty comfort—it was simply the truth.
"Actually, you're wrong about that," Theo chimed in. "Neville's been doing really well lately too. I heard he even earned points for Gryffindor in the last Transfiguration class."
"It's nothing special," Neville said, scratching his hair shyly. "My wand just feels like it's fitting me better recently."
Ah. So that was it.
Neville's improvement had made Hermione feel like her own progress was too slow. Or maybe the approaching exams were just making the young witch overthink everything.
"Relax," Rock said gently. "No matter what the exam is, we just need to make sure we didn't waste our time this year. Otherwise, you could be doing well in every subject but still mess up because of nerves. That would be the real waste."
The others in the study room nodded in agreement.
Hermione seemed to take in a little of what he said, but it was clear she still hadn't fully relaxed.
Theo stood up and clapped his hands. "Alright, come on! Let's play a little game first. How about we see who can transfigure a button into the most beautiful design?"
"And the winner gets a one-week trial of Rock's notes. Sound good?"
Rock blinked, then noticed that Hermione's attention had clearly been caught. He nodded. "Sure. And they're actually Professor McGonagall's notes from when she was a student."
At those words, Hermione immediately jumped to her feet. "I'm in!"
"Me too!" Adam quickly added.
Rock was naturally excluded from competing. Not only were the notes already his, but he was also the best at Transfiguration in the group.
Still, it had to be said—Theo's idea was pretty smart. As the game got going, everyone stopped obsessing over the notes and started focusing on each other's transformed buttons, giving pointers and critiquing designs instead.