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Resets Weekly! [Monday]
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After much persuasion from Glenn, the little girl finally let go of her determination to uncover the truth, at least temporarily.
The only thing they could be certain of was that the cores of their wands were definitely not ordinary dragon heartstrings.
That was the first point.
The second was Glenn's awareness of his continuously improving physical condition. If Glenn felt this way, Hermione, who had gone through the same experience, should feel the same. Though they didn't understand why, it was undoubtedly a good thing.
Other information remained unclear, waiting to be discovered later.
Having been blessed by the white mist, Hermione was now full of energy, showing no signs of fatigue typical after a full day of classes. Adhering to her principle of not wasting energy, she dragged Glenn to review for the final exams until curfew.
Though Hermione still seemed energetic, Glenn refused her request to stay up, insisting on maintaining her healthy sleep schedule. He carried the protesting and struggling girl back to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, despite her obvious displeasure.
When he knocked on the door, Parvati, who had become quite accustomed to such scenes, opened it and efficiently took charge of the squirming Hermione. Glenn then returned to his own dormitory.
To his surprise, Draco, who usually went to bed early when there was no training due to exhaustion, was wide awake and sitting on his bed, appearing to be waiting for something.
Seeing Glenn return, his eyes lit up. He jumped off the bed, put on his slippers, and pattered over to Glenn, excitedly asking like someone seeking praise, "Glenn, guess what I discovered at that dim-witted gamekeeper's place today?"
Glenn raised an eyebrow. The words sounded familiar, but he wasn't in the mood to play along. He answered directly: "A dragon."
Draco's smug expression froze, clearly not expecting Glenn to know already. He scratched his head awkwardly and said with a sheepish smile, "How do you always know everything? I wanted to surprise you."
But his tone shifted as he added mysteriously, "That's not all. Guess who else I saw there?"
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," Glenn replied flatly.
"...How do you know everything?!" Draco irritably ruffled his usually well-groomed pale blonde hair.
"That's not the point. What matters is that I know keeping dragons is illegal, and now that I have this information, we could use it to threaten Potter and Weasley, or even get them deducted points or expelled for covering it up," Draco continued proudly, seemingly waiting for Glenn's approval.
"Yes, that's a clever idea that could benefit Slytherin," Glenn nodded, acknowledging Draco's reasoning.
"However, Hagrid is a friend to both Hermione and me. If you report them, Hagrid might get fired, which is something neither of us wants to see," Glenn calmly explained, causing Draco's excited expression to fall.
"But if you keep this secret, you can come with Hermione and me to see the baby dragon at Hagrid's."
Draco hesitated. For a first-year Slytherin wizard, the choice between house points and seeing a real dragon was obvious.
He promptly abandoned the idea of reporting and agreed to keep the secret.
Draco 'Dragon' Malfoy: Potter, Weasley, and some Gryffindor points versus a real dragon? Was that even a question?
Seeing Draco choose secrecy, Glenn nodded and added, "I hope you'll refer to our gamekeeper as 'Hagrid' rather than using any discriminatory terms. You're my friend now, and so is Hagrid. I'd like you both to get along."
Draco pursed his lips. Though he still harbored some prejudice against those from Gryffindor, his bias had been gradually fading due to his relationships with Glenn, Hermione, and Neville.
After a moment's consideration, he nodded seriously, "I promise."
"So when can we go?" he asked eagerly, his eyes twinkling. It seemed no young wizard could resist the allure of a baby dragon.
"We can go tomorrow after classes," Glenn replied. With their conversation concluded, it was time for Glenn's nightly patrol of the Forbidden Forest. As he began putting on his gear, Draco finally returned to his bed, already dreaming about tomorrow afternoon's adventure.
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"Well, well, how did Draco manage to stumble upon this? It seems wherever Harry Potter is, Draco appears - quite peculiar, isn't it?" Hermione commented wryly after hearing about Glenn's conversation from the previous night.
Glenn shook his head, indicating he had no explanation. They were now waiting at the Great Hall's entrance for Draco, who had gone back to his dormitory to drop off his textbooks.
(The Undetectable Extension Charm is indeed convenient! laughs)
"Let's go!" Draco's voice called out as he came running up to Glenn's side, clearly unable to contain his excitement.
"Are you a child?" Hermione rolled her eyes at his eager expression, conveniently forgetting she had acted the same way yesterday.
"But it's a dragon! They're incredibly rare - most wizards never get to see one in their lifetime," Draco protested, though he didn't argue further. Talking back to Hermione was out of the question - he'd never risk that, not wanting Glenn to make his training sessions any harder.
The three chatted casually as they made their way to Hagrid's hut. After knocking and entering, they found Norbert still on the table, with Hagrid reading something nearby. Hermione asked curiously, "What are you doing, Hagrid?"
"Shh, I'm giving Norbert his early education. Since he wasn't raised in the wild, I need to teach him how to survive in nature," Hagrid held up a finger for quiet, waving the book he was holding. Hermione caught a glimpse of the title "Dragon Babies: A Complete Guide" and had to suppress a smile, choosing not to comment.
Draco could barely contain his excitement as he carefully approached Hagrid's side, his eyes fixed on Norbert, who was nodding off on the table.
Hagrid noticed the pale blonde head drawing near and frowned, "Young Malfoy, what brings you here?"
Draco, his attention still focused on the dragon, replied absently, "I saw Potter, Weasley, and this dragon yesterday, Rubeus Hagrid. You wouldn't want me telling anyone else about this, would you?"
Hearing this, Hagrid's face turned pale. Hermione sighed and reassured him, "Don't worry, Hagrid. He's promised us he won't tell anyone about this."
She then glared at Draco, "And you, stop scaring Hagrid!"
The latter gave an embarrassed smile and scratched his head.
Relieved by Hermione's words, Hagrid's expression improved slightly. He moved closer to Glenn and Hermione, whispering, "Why are you two mixing with a Malfoy? Really, they're typical Slytherins, absolutely terrible people... Sorry, Glenn, I didn't mean you."
Glenn waved off the apology, indicating no offense taken, but spoke seriously to Hagrid, "Hagrid, since you know I'm a good Slytherin, then surely you can accept that there are other good Slytherins too. Draco is our friend, and I hope you can view him without prejudice."
Hermione continued, "Though he can be quite annoying, he's become much less insufferable thanks to Glenn. At least he no longer discriminates against Muggle-born wizards and doesn't hate Gryffindors as much anymore. It's not just him - the whole of Slytherin is changing because of Glenn. I'm also working to change Gryffindor's prejudices against Slytherin. While there's still a long way to go before our two historically opposed houses can be truly friendly, both Glenn and I believe it's possible."
She spoke with conviction, truly believing that young wizards shouldn't harbor such prejudices and hostility toward each other. She was genuinely working to change Gryffindor's perception of Slytherin, though this was contingent on Slytherin's own transformation from their previously problematic behavior.
Glenn hadn't given much thought to these matters, as relationships between others didn't concern him. He had no particular response to Hermione's words.
After a subtle pinch to his waist from the little witch, Glenn nodded vigorously, confirming Hermione's statements.
"I hope that the starting point for friendship between our houses can begin with you and Draco letting go of your preconceptions about each other," Hermione said earnestly.
Hagrid hesitated. He had developed a strong dislike for Slytherin after being expelled from Hogwarts due to false accusations from a certain Tom Marvolo Riddle of Slytherin house.
But Glenn was also a Slytherin, and Hagrid didn't dislike him. After hearing Hermione's words, his long-held beliefs began to waver.
Looking at Draco, who was trying to sneak closer looks at Norbert, Hagrid realized that, setting aside prejudice, he was simply a young wizard who loved dragons.
Blast it! How could anyone who loves dragons be a bad person?
"All right, all right, you two little ones have convinced me!" Hagrid threw up his hands in surrender.
Seeing Draco finally unable to resist his urge to get closer to the dozing Norbert, carefully trying to inch forward, Hagrid slowly approached and held him back.
"If you want to safely approach a sleeping dragon, you should do it like this..." Hagrid began sharing his extensive knowledge about dragons, carefully explaining each precaution to Draco.
"Well, this oaf... I mean, Hagrid isn't so bad after all. Indeed, how could anyone who loves dragons be bad?" Draco thought to himself while attentively listening to Hagrid's dragon expertise.
Watching the large man and the small boy interact harmoniously, Hagrid reflected, "Indeed, how could anyone who loves dragons be bad? Glenn and Hermione weren't lying - perhaps I really do need to change my thinking."
Hermione, observing the pair's peaceful interaction, pretended to wipe away a tear as she leaned against Glenn, whispering, "It feels like watching our children grow up and mature."
Glenn glanced at the little witch but chose not to comment on her obvious excuse to snuggle closer to him.