"Tom, what do you think?"
Jokes aside, animals are still animals—there is a clear line between them. Norbert might be clever, but at the end of the day it was just a pet. Tom, on the other hand, was their friend. The difference was huge.
Even though everyone had basically been turned into dragon fangirls by how adorable the little fire-dragon was, they still turned to Tom for the final verdict.
[Well…]
Tom hesitated too. Keeping it meant he really didn't want to get roasted several times a day. But letting it go… he also felt a little reluctant.
After all, this was the dragon baby he had personally incubated. Unlike the mindless fire-dragons elsewhere in this world, forcing Norbert to live among them would probably feel like torture to the poor thing.
[Fine. I agree to let it stay.]
Tom waved a paw magnanimously. Before Norbert could even celebrate, however, his next sentence instantly cooled the little dragon's excitement:
[But as punishment, from now on whenever I need it, you will supply me with enough dragon blood!]
Dragon farms existed, but drawing blood from a real fire-dragon was still extremely dangerous. Dragon blood was relatively cheap compared to other rare ingredients, but it definitely wasn't pocket-change cheap—at least not cheap enough for Ron's allowance to cover.
Norbert, though, was different. They still didn't know exactly why it had mutated, but outwardly it was still a perfectly normal Norwegian Ridgeback, which meant its blood was genuine dragon blood. And because it could actually talk, collecting that blood would be ridiculously easy. Right now Tom could already see an endless river of Galleons flowing straight into his paws.
Norbert nodded its tiny head vigorously. Giving a little blood? That was nothing.
If Tom wanted, even though it had just been born, it could donate an entire teacup of blood in one go without any real problem—at most it would need a short nap to recover.
"Achoo!"
Before Tom could even relax, Norbert sneezed again. Tom looked up in resignation—sure enough, the little fireball was flying straight at his tail with laser precision.
[Enough already! Once or twice is fine, but there is no third time!]
Face lined with black frustration lines, Tom whipped out an iron pot and slammed it over the flame.
Just a tiny spark and it still wanted to burn him for the third time? Dream on!
As a newborn baby, Norbert's stamina was limited after all. After spitting fire several times in a row and even controlling the flames to put on an entire performance, it finally ran out of juice. Its little head started nodding off.
Even though it tried hard to keep its eyes open, the heavy eyelids won. Its claws slipped, and it slid right off Tom's shoulder.
Hagrid's eyes and hands moved like lightning—he reached out to catch it—but Tom was faster. He scooped the little dragon into his paws and gently set it on the table.
[I agreed to let it stay, but Hagrid, you still have to think about what comes next.
You can't possibly keep raising it in your little hut forever, right?]
"Th-this… how about putting it in the Forbidden Forest?"
Hagrid suggested cautiously.
If it had been a savage, bloodthirsty fire-dragon like the original Norbert, Hagrid would have felt terrible but would still have let Charlie take it away—he knew such a terrifying creature would completely wreck the forest's ecosystem.
But this Norbert was different! It was smart, obedient, and could actually talk to people! How could he bear to send away such an adorable little guy?
"The Forbidden Forest…"
Hermione was also hesitating now. Norbert wasn't a mindless beast—it had intelligence, emotions, and real power. If they left it in the forest, wouldn't they suddenly have a super-strong ally?
(An ally that usually had to stay hidden, of course.)
[Have you considered how the forest's original residents feel about this?]
Seeing that none of his human friends were stopping Hagrid, Tom helplessly cut in.
First the eight-eyed giant spider, now a fire-dragon—Hagrid, are you trying to raise bosses in the Forbidden Forest?! Only the strongest survivors get to live there?
Forget the other creatures; the centaurs were probably going to curse Hagrid to death! This wasn't forest patrol duty anymore—this was straight-up raising Gu worms in the Forbidden Forest!
"Them? They won't mind, right? Norbert's so cute after all."
Hagrid scratched his head uncertainly. A fire-dragon this adorable—surely the creatures in the forest would like it too?
"I don't know what will happen in the future—"
Draco, who had somehow wandered over to stand beside Norbert, looked up at Hagrid. "But Hagrid, I think you need to change its name."
"Why? Norbert sounds great."
Ron instinctively objected. Even though his impression of Draco had softened a little, old habits died hard—he still wanted to oppose Malfoy on principle.
"It sounds nice, sure, but haven't you noticed the name doesn't suit it?"
Draco rolled his eyes. Seeing Ron's blank face, he shook his head and pointed at the baby dragon. "And your brother works at a dragon sanctuary! You really didn't notice something this obvious? This little fire-dragon is female. Do you think it's appropriate to call a mother dragon Norbert?!"
"Oh, right! I completely overlooked that!"
Hagrid smacked his own forehead, looking embarrassed. "Little Norbert—the little one is a girl, so the name really isn't suitable. In that case… let's call her Norberta!"
Actually he had already prepared names for both genders; he just hadn't noticed the gender until now. "Norberta Hagrid. That works, right?"
"ZZZ~"
Little Norberta smacked her lips, rolled over, and fell into a contented sleep, completely unaware that while she was napping her name had already been decided for her.
If she had been allowed to choose, she probably wouldn't have minded "Norberta"—she hadn't protested when they called her Norbert earlier—but she would absolutely refuse the surname Hagrid.
According to her own words: Born as Mama's dragon, died as Mama's bone dragon! Who the heck is Hagrid? Some random guy on the side of the road? If she was getting a surname, it had better be the same as Mama's!
Of course, nobody else knew about that little detail, so little Norberta officially received her new name.
Watching the group casually change the subject in just a few sentences, Tom could only sigh. Whatever. He couldn't control the future anyway. Might as well let them do what they wanted.
Of course, he would still have to tell Dumbledore about the dragon later—otherwise one day Hagrid might actually get thrown into Azkaban for secretly raising a fire-dragon.
Suddenly Tom remembered something. He turned to Hagrid.
[By the way, Hagrid, right when little Norberta was hatching earlier, didn't you have something you wanted to say?]
He vaguely recalled that Hagrid had been about to announce what they were going to do next.