"That's great, let's go!"
Neville was quite pleased that he had managed to drag Dylan away.
Hearing there might be something tasty as well made him even happier.
Dylan did not bother packing much; he just shoved the books on his desk in a pile, got up, and headed off with Neville toward Hagrid's hut.
"Mrrow!"
Coalball immediately followed.
"You want to come too?" Dylan chuckled.
"Mrrow!" Coalball mewed crisply.
"Then let's go." Dylan opened his arms.
Coalball leapt, turning into a flicker of shadow, and in the next moment landed in Dylan's arms.
Neville looked at the furry creature with a touch of envy.
If only he had such a cute pet.
"Huh? Wait a second, I feel like I've forgotten something again."
Neville stood in place, blinking.
But right then, Dylan, already a few steps ahead, turned back and asked in puzzlement, "What's wrong?"
"Ah? N-nothing." Neville quickly shook his head and hurried to catch up.
On the way, he tried as hard as he could to find topics of conversation so Dylan would not feel bored.
Dylan humored him and chatted along.
By the time the two of them—and one Shadow Wyrm—reached Hagrid's hut,
Hagrid happened to be standing in the doorway, puttering around with something.
Seeing them, his eyes lit up.
"Well now, two little wizards. How come I don't see Harry and the others today?"
"Harry's got a match, and Ron went to watch," Dylan said as he walked up.
"What, a match? Oh, shame I can't go see it." Hagrid's face fell with regret.
But soon his attention was drawn to Dylan's bird's nest hair instead. "Did some ghosts pull a prank on you?"
"No."
Hagrid blinked, then looked down at Coalball in Dylan's arms.
"Hey there, little one. Come to play with everyone today?"
Coalball had snuck out to Hagrid's once before, so they knew each other.
It bounded into Hagrid's open arms and immediately started batting at his thick beard with its paws, making Hagrid laugh.
For all his size, Hagrid's hands were very gentle with Coalball.
He scratched lightly under its chin and stepped aside to usher Dylan and Neville inside.
The hut was warm, filled with the smell of wood and smoke.
Hagrid let Coalball romp around his big room while he went into the kitchen,
and came back out with a tray.
"Just baked a batch of rock cakes, still warm. Want to try one?"
Seeing the steaming cakes and remembering Dylan's mention of "something good," Neville nodded at once.
"Please, I'd like one!"
"Oh, of course."
Hagrid handed him an entire rock cake, uncut.
"I'll pass. I just ate, and it's still a bit early for tea." Dylan declined with a smile.
"All right then." Hagrid nodded, then looked expectantly at Neville.
Neville's eyes shone. Without another word, he grabbed the rock cake and, under Dylan's equally eager gaze, bit down hard.
Crunch.
Neville's eyes went round at once.
His mouth stayed half open, the muscles in his face twisting slightly with pain as his expression collapsed.
"Ow…" Neville clapped a hand over his mouth and looked miserably at Dylan.
Dylan's shoulders shook as he held back a wicked grin, then he could not help it and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! They really are tasty—just a little hard to chew."
"Dylan!" Neville caught his breath, then gave him a pretend punch.
Hagrid scratched his head. "Still a bit tough, eh? Then…"
Fang had already seized the moment and bounded over, tongue out, wagging his tail at Neville.
Neville glanced at Hagrid.
"Give it to him. He loves them," Hagrid said with a nod.
Only then did Neville shove the chunk of masonry—no, the rock cake—into Fang's big mouth.
Dylan let his laughter fade and got to the point.
"We came about the special feed for the Flame-Thorn."
"The Flame-Thorn feed?" Hagrid was momentarily confused. "Didn't I already send some over to Professor Sprout?"
"Professor Sprout has some, but Neville doesn't. She gave him a Flame-Thorn sapling to raise. The special feed she supplied is gone now, and it's not really convenient to ask her for more," Dylan explained.
"I see." Hagrid nodded.
Flame-Thorns were not easy to keep.
They were temperamental and could only be fertilized with a specially balanced mixture.
Otherwise, the plant might take offense and literally burst into flames.
"But if Professor Sprout trusted you with a sapling like that, she must think highly of you," Hagrid added.
Neville flushed. "It's all thanks to Dylan."
It was true that the only reason Professor Sprout had let Neville handle a Flame-Thorn
was because Dylan had gently nudged things in that direction when he went to ask her for extra lessons.
Neville had a real knack for Herbology as well.
Over time, Professor Sprout had realized that if she was already tutoring one student, adding another made little difference.
So she had agreed to Dylan's request.
The result was that whenever she tutored Dylan, Neville would also be called over—
and soon be left behind, staring blankly as professor and classmate volleyed high-level Herbology back and forth over all sorts of magical plants.
Even if the pace was fast, all those extra sessions had still given him a lot of progress.
"The Flame-Thorn's special feed is tricky to make and needs quite a few ingredients. But the Forbidden Forest is full of good fertilizer. With enough of it mixed together, you can get something close enough. Would that work?" Hagrid asked.
"Of course!" Neville answered at once.
Dylan was only here to accompany Neville, so once they got into the details he stopped interrupting and let his gaze drift to the window.
The trees of the Forbidden Forest towered, branches and leaves thick, blocking his view of what lay within.
"The Forbidden Forest really is a great place."
He was turning that over in his mind.
Over the past weeks, he had worked on Potions with Snape many times.
Almost every time Snape tutored him, the materials came from the professor himself.
Dylan could not very well keep cramming all Potions practice into Saturdays.
If he wanted to experiment on his own,
he obviously needed ingredients.
He could not just keep going back to Snape and ask for more.
And besides, Snape's stores were meant for brewing advanced potions; using them just to practice would be a waste.
So where were the ingredients going to come from?
(End of Chapter)
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