Hagrid paused, a faintly embarrassed expression crossing his broad face.
"Later, I was expelled from Hogwarts. I thought that was it, that I'd never have another chance. But then this came along. It hatched from my egg. When it opened its eyes for the first time, it saw me."
His voice had gone hoarse.
"I can't bear to part with him."
Henry didn't speak. He simply rested his hand briefly on Hagrid's large one and let the silence hold.
After a long while, Hagrid drew a deep breath.
"But I know I can't keep him. You're right about that. He'll grow too big, too dangerous. I can't afford to feed him, and I can't protect him the way he deserves."
He looked at Henry directly. "You said you had something to tell me. What is it?"
Henry met his gaze and spoke slowly. "Hagrid, my family is going to fund the construction of a magical creature sanctuary in England."
Hagrid went very still. Even the trio, who had been quietly attempting to interact with Norbert, looked up sharply.
"What?" Hagrid said.
"A Magical Creatures Reserve, in the Scottish Highlands," Henry explained. "Dedicated to protecting endangered magical creatures, dragons, unicorns, hippogriffs, and others."
Hagrid's eyes widened gradually, as though the meaning of the words was reaching him in stages.
"You mean—"
"Yes," Henry said. "Norbert could go there."
Hagrid's mouth opened, but nothing came out. His hands trembled slightly against his knees.
"Would there be proper care?" he managed finally. "Experts? People who actually understand dragons?"
"Everything is still in its early stages," Henry said with a calm smile, "but with adequate funding, hiring the right specialists is entirely achievable. We can recruit from dragon reserves in other countries if necessary."
Ron's eyes lit up immediately. He was thinking of Charlie, his older brother, who had been working with dragons in Romania for years while their mother wrote letter after letter lamenting how far away he was.
"Your Highness," Ron said, barely stopping to consider before speaking, "my brother Charlie works with dragons in Romania. Mum always complains about how far he is and how rarely he gets home. If you need someone, I could write to him, ask whether he'd be willing to come back and work in England."
"Charlie?" Hagrid's thick eyebrows lifted, his expression brightening. "I know him! Gryffindor, same as me. Ron's told me about him over the years."
Henry looked at Ron with a thoughtful smile. "You're willing to write to Charlie and put the question to him directly?"
"Of course!" Ron said, his face flushing slightly with the energy of the idea. "Mum would be beside herself if he came home. That alone might be enough to convince him."
Hermione spoke from beside him, her voice measured and precise. "Beyond that, Charlie has spent years building connections in the dragon conservation world. If he came back and helped establish the team, he'd bring his entire professional network with him. That would make building a credible operation considerably faster."
Henry glanced at her with quiet appreciation. Hermione's analysis had cut straight to the most efficient strategy, getting Charlie to recruit from his existing circles rather than starting from nothing.
He hadn't expected her to see that angle quite so quickly.
Hagrid nodded with great enthusiasm. "Yes, yes! Charlie is exceptional, I've heard he's published research papers on dragons since working in Romania. He'd be exactly what you need."
Harry, who had been listening from nearby, ventured carefully, "Your Highness, if Charlie comes back, Norbert would be in good hands. And Hagrid could visit him whenever he wanted, couldn't he?"
"The reserve will be accessible to those with genuine connections to its residents," Henry said. "Not open to the general public without oversight, but Hagrid, as the person who raised Norbert from the egg, would certainly be welcome."
Hagrid blinked. A slow, wide smile spread across his face.
"Then I'll write to Charlie right now!" Ron said, already half-rising from his chair.
"Hold on," Henry said. "Have you thought about what exactly you're going to write?"
Ron stopped and scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I'll just say there's a dragon here that needs looking after, and we need him to come back?"
Hermione pressed her hand to her forehead with visible exasperation. "Ron. You can't write that. You need to explain the full situation, that the Royal Family is establishing a nature reserve and is looking for a chief expert, and that you wanted to ask if he'd be interested in returning to England for the role."
Ron considered this with a frown. "That's a lot of words. Can't I just say His Highness needs someone to head up a dragon reserve and wants to know if he's interested?"
Henry laughed. "That version works. But I'd add one more line, that your parents miss him."
Ron's face cleared immediately. "Yes. With that, he'll definitely come."
That evening, the atmosphere around the Slytherin common room fireplace was noticeably different.
Draco, Pansy, and Daphne had gathered there, and Theodore occupied a nearby armchair with a book open in his lap, though the pages hadn't turned in quite some time.
Henry joined them and gave a brief account of the sanctuary project, naturally omitting the more politically sensitive details.
The three listened with varying expressions.
"Twenty million Galleons?" Draco stared at him. "Your Highness, your family is that wealthy?"
For someone like Draco, twenty thousand Galleons already represented a substantial sum. Twenty million was another category entirely, something that could not be meaningfully compared to individual family fortunes.
"It's not my family's personal wealth," Henry clarified. "It comes from my father's charitable foundation."
"Even so," Pansy said, "twenty million Galleons could purchase half of Diagon Alley."
Daphne asked quietly, "Your Highness, why would your family do this?"
Henry returned her question with one of his own. "What do you think?"
Daphne reflected for a moment. "To build goodwill toward the Royal Family within the wizarding community?"
"That's part of it," Henry agreed.
Draco, who had been sitting quietly with a contemplative expression, interjected. "And beyond goodwill, with a protected area formally established in Britain, the Royal Family would have a legitimate basis for participating in wizarding world affairs whenever the need arose. It creates a foothold."
Henry glanced at him.
Draco smiled with understated satisfaction. "It's all thanks to Your Highness's excellent teaching."
He had clearly been thinking carefully, and his reading of the situation was accurate. Henry was quietly pleased, though he kept that to himself.
"But," Pansy asked, leaning forward, "will Fudge actually agree to allow non-magical people to become involved in wizarding affairs?"
"He will," Henry said, "as long as he's given sufficient reason to feel the arrangement benefits him."
"How do you give a politician that kind of reason?" Pansy asked.
"You make him feel that supporting the initiative reflects well on him," Henry said. "That he had a role in it, that it strengthens his standing."
Daphne looked at him carefully. "Your Highness, does that mean you'll be negotiating with Fudge directly?"
"Yes," Henry said.
The three of them exchanged glances and fell into a brief, thoughtful silence.
It was Draco who finally broke it. "Are you nervous, Your Highness? Sitting across from the Minister of Magic?"
Henry smiled. "Why would I be nervous?"
+++++++
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