Madam Pomfrey's healing magic was exceptional, and the infirmary's supplies were well-stocked. A few bottles of magic potion later, both the Fire Dragon and the Unicorn, originally suffering from their wounds, calmed down and soon fell asleep.
Professor McGonagall decided to temporarily place the Fire Dragon in the Quidditch Pitch, where she was busy setting up barriers with spells around it to prevent students from accidentally entering and getting hurt by the dragon. Meanwhile, the Unicorn was resting near Professor Sprout's greenhouse, where the plump witch happily prepared plenty of berries and fresh oats for it.
Other professors came rushing upon hearing the news, marking a rare bustling night at Hogwarts.
"A Fire Dragon!"
A peculiar little old man, eyes gleaming, rushed to Norbert's side. He was covered in scars, with wooden prosthetics for both legs and one arm, and he was now fondly stroking Norbert's black wings with his only hand, excitedly saying, "Hagrid, you should have told me you were raising a dragon!"
Having set up the barriers, Professor McGonagall walked over and, upon hearing this, sternly said, "Professor Kettleburn, it's highly illegal to raise dragons privately!"
The notorious ire of Hogwarts seemed to have no effect on the little old man; he smiled slyly and said, "Don't be so rigid, Minerva! Who's illegally raising dragons? Clearly, it's just a wild young dragon from the Forbidden Forest breaking into Hogwarts because it was hungry, and our kind Gamekeeper merely fed it a bit! Hardly counts as illegal…"
"Oh… there's that angle!" Hagrid suddenly realized, smacking his palm.
"Please don't encourage illegal behavior anymore, Professor Kettleburn! Don't forget you're still on probation!" Professor McGonagall initially spoke sternly, but soon she too began to laugh.
"Indeed, sixty-two times on probation. But it doesn't matter, as I'm close to retirement anyway." Professor Kettleburn shrugged and leaned closer to the Fire Dragon, asking, "Does this little one have a name, Hagrid?"
"He's called Norbert!" Hagrid said proudly. "I saw him emerge from the shell myself!"
"—He?" Professor Kettleburn hesitated, then looked carefully again and laughed, "Should be 'she' actually… It's a little girl!"
"What?" Hagrid was taken aback and leaned forward, while Professor Kettleburn began teaching him how to distinguish the gender of young dragons.
"So, is calling her Norbert inappropriate?" Hagrid quickly transitioned into "silly dad with a daughter" mode, seemingly worried that his precious daughter might face discrimination due to the name.
"Why not call her Nobeta?" suggested Professor Kettleburn. "Sounds like a girl's name, and it's quite cute."
"Oh, you two are really giving me a hard time!" Madam Pomfrey suddenly appeared, looking at Vid and Harry, and said hurriedly, "Come along — Dumbledore says you might need a calming potion?"
"No, we weren't frightened." Vid said.
But Madam Pomfrey didn't listen and hurriedly took them to the infirmary, pressing a calming potion into each of their hands, saying, "Drink up, then have an early night. Dawn's only a couple hours away."
Vid noticed it was a potion he had brewed himself!
"Has Dumbledore returned?" Harry asked urgently as she was about to leave.
"How should I know, child?" Madam Pomfrey replied.
"But you said — he told you we needed calming potions?" Harry stubbornly pursued.
"Dumbledore sent his Guardian God to notify me."
"What is a Guardian God—"
"Drink up the magic potion, sleep, child."
Under Madam Pomfrey's oppressive smile, both had no choice but to drink the calming potion, and sleepiness swiftly overtook them.
…
The next morning, though no official announcement was made, it seemed like all the students knew what happened last night. They all rushed to see the Fire Dragon and the Unicorn. SSC members, after making rounds, heard that Vid and Harry had been involved and ran to the infirmary to find them.
"I heard someone attacked the Fire Dragon!" Hermione burst in worriedly, "Are you alright... did you encounter that person?"
"Never mind the Fire Dragon, I—" Harry glanced around and said, "I have a secret to tell you, about last night's attacker—"
"Wait, Harry." Michael suddenly interrupted him, walked to the door, looked outside, and then closed it.
Leian caught on, also heading to the window to ensure no one was eavesdropping.
Vid asked, "Did you see that person?"
"Yes, I got there a bit earlier than you all. I saw the person's appearance; he was…" Harry couldn't help but shiver and said, "Professor Quirrell."
The room instantly fell silent.
Harry, a little anxious, hurriedly explained, "You may think I'm lying—but I'm not! I actually overheard several weeks ago—in the woods! It was the day of the Quidditch match when Gryffindor won! I heard Snape threatening Quirrell to collaborate with him to steal the Philosopher's Stone hidden on the fourth floor! Last night, they were the first to reach the Forbidden Forest too!"
Theo asked, "I heard Professor McGonagall also arrived first?"
"You weren't there, so you didn't see it—Professor McGonagall arrived still in her pajamas! Clearly, she had been awakened by the Fire Dragon from sleep!" Harry elaborated on the basis of his reasoning: "But Snape and Quirrell… they were neatly dressed, likely wandering in the Forbidden Forest before, even possibly attacking Norbert and the Unicorn! Just later, Hagrid arrived, forcing them to flee, then pretending to have been startled and rushing over, without time to change into proper clothes!"
For a moment, no one spoke.
In the silence, Neville glanced around, trying to make conversation, and said, "Harry, you seem particularly fond of Professor Quirrell lately… I thought you had started to like him more…"
"I thought he was opposing Snape!" Harry said, irritatedly. "I even wanted to encourage him to stand firm! Never thought he'd switch over to Snape so quickly!"
Seeing the group's complex expressions, Harry couldn't help but feel annoyed, raising his voice: "Are you saying—that they're professors, trusted by Dumbledore, so they wouldn't do that? But I really—"
"Harry, calm down."
Vid suddenly interrupted his rants, his calm voice dousing Harry's agitation like a bucket of cold water. Harry looked at Vid, only to see Vid looking at the others.
"Tell him about it." Vid said, "Since Harry has reached this point, revealing the truth doesn't count as us breaking our promise to Dumbledore."
Harry was bewildered.
"Tell me… what?"