In the days that followed, they didn't see Lockhart again.
He didn't even show up at the staff table during meals. It seemed he was waiting for everyone to forget the whole affair.
Colin never came to bother Harry again.
See? Things are easy to resolve—as long as you talk things out, there's really nothing to fuss over.
Ron mixed up some glue and smeared it over the crack in his wand. Though it still sparked and smoked frequently, at least it could be used.
Because of this, there was always a cleared space around Ron in every class where wands were required.
The weekend finally arrived.
Harry was glad he had declined to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
They had to be at the field before dawn to train.
The previously vacant Seeker position had already been filled.
But team captain Oliver Wood still hoped Harry would join, saying the new recruit couldn't compare to him—too slow to improve and bad at teamwork.
Harry still turned him down.
He had the soul of a homebody; he preferred stillness over action. To him, Quidditch practice felt like a waste of time.
Besides, Cho Chang had joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
If Harry ran into Ravenclaw on the pitch, then what?
A typical bloke would charge in shouting, "I'm not going easy on you! Let's give it our all!"
And then proceed to absolutely destroy Cho on the field.
But Harry wasn't that dumb.
Fred and George had just returned from practice, dripping with sweat in their team robes.
George stuffed his mouth with pickled meat and mumbled, "I bet… Wood got dumped by his girlfriend—that's why he's training us so hard."
See? If Harry had joined the team, he'd have lost his precious day off.
Not only would he have to wake up early, but all his free time would be gone too.
Draco Malfoy strutted past Harry, wearing Slytherin team robes with an air of arrogance.
Harry couldn't take it anymore. "You really can't wait to brag about joining the Quidditch team, huh? Or is it that you want me to notice you've got the latest Nimbus 2001?"
Malfoy snorted. "You're just jealous. After all, you're still flying that outdated Nimbus 2000."
"Then why did you circle around me three times already?" Harry shot back.
Malfoy: "…"
"Hmph. Whatever you say, this year I'll definitely beat you on the field—just you wait."
"Oh really? That's awkward—I'm not playing Quidditch anymore."
"What—? You're that cowardly? You must've heard I joined and now you're scared to play."
Too many holes in that logic. Harry didn't even know where to begin roasting him.
Harry said seriously, "Do you even know who you're talking to?"
Malfoy took a step back. "Harry Potter, obviously."
Harry shook his head. "No. You're talking to the legendary Harry Potter, the top-tier Seeker who retired with a 100% win rate."
Malfoy: "…"
He didn't even know how to respond to that deadpan joke.
"Just some friendly advice: It's not too late to back out now. But if you quit after practice starts, that'll be unfair to everyone else."
"I won't quit."
Harry glanced at the scrawny Malfoy. "Well then, don't come crying later saying you don't want to play Quidditch anymore…"
Malfoy stormed off angrily.
Later on, Malfoy had to train with the Slytherin team every Saturday and Sunday before dawn.
As the newbie, he had the most to learn, and it was exhausting.
Even on rainy or snowy days, they had to go out and practice tactics.
Malfoy started to regret not listening to Harry.
If he had, he could be snuggled in a warm bed, sleeping in as long as he liked. When he woke up, he could sit by the Slytherin common room fireplace, sipping hot milk tea.
He thought about quitting the team countless times. But then he'd remember the look of doubt on Harry's face—and he'd grit his teeth and push on.
But that's a story for another time…
After breakfast, Harry walked out of the castle, across the lawn, and arrived at Hagrid's hut.
He knocked on the door a few times. It was yanked open suddenly by a very annoyed-looking Hagrid.
When he saw it was Harry, his grumpy face instantly turned cheerful.
"Whew! Harry, I thought it was that Lockhart fella again," Hagrid muttered.
"Lockhart? Why would he come here?"
"I've never seen anyone meddle more than he does," Hagrid said, swinging his arm like he'd gladly swat Lockhart if he were standing there.
"He came in here, acting all high and mighty, telling me how I should be growing vegetables and getting rid of pests."
"I'd bet my last Galleon that if I did what he said, I wouldn't even be able to grow a single carrot."
"He even gave me a signed copy of one of his books. Decent book, I'll admit—works great as a prop for the table with the busted leg."
Harry felt a little sorry for Lockhart. His smiling face was on that book cover, now permanently crushed under a broken table.
And possibly soaked with Fang's pee…
"But he's got this one idea stuck in his head—he wants to figure out what kind of creature left behind that pile of dung. He says creatures from the Forbidden Forest shouldn't be anywhere near the school and should be eliminated."
Hagrid chuckled. "So I took him to the edge of the forest. You should've seen him shaking when he stood next to Norbert!"
"It's not Norbert—it's Dahei," Harry corrected.
Hagrid ignored him.
"Afterwards, he claimed dragons were protected magical creatures and he wasn't allowed to attack them. But I'd love to see how he supposedly 'defeated a dragon' in Breakneck Battle with the Black Dragon."
Hagrid fumed. "I really should've taken a picture of him running away like that—let him see how heroic that looks."
"Harry, come look at something cool," Hagrid said mysteriously.
In the garden behind the hut were twelve massive pumpkins. Harry had never seen such enormous pumpkins before—each was nearly as tall as a person.
"Engorgement Charm?" Harry asked. A very practical little spell.
"I just… gave them a little help," Hagrid said, sneaking a glance at a pink umbrella leaning against the wall.
Harry knew Hagrid's wand was hidden inside that umbrella.
Because he'd been falsely accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago, the Ministry had banned him from using magic.
But that would all be cleared up soon. And it'd also prove that Voldemort was still alive.
These thoughts flashed through Harry's mind.
He was staring intently at the pumpkins.
This was truly beyond any scientific achievement Muggles could hope to achieve, even in the next few decades—and it didn't involve any genetic engineering.
If Muggles had access to this kind of ability, the world would change overnight. Harry immediately thought of using it for food—Yuan Longping could retire, and there'd be no hunger left on the planet. (As of 2018, there were still 800 million people going hungry globally. This is 1992.)
Harry was sure: if this tech appeared in the Muggle world, he'd be a bona fide savior—worshipped by billions, the greatest human in history. No contest.
And if he demonstrated a miracle or two? Bam! Instant cult leader status.
Christianity might even dissolve. Or they might just claim Harry was their messiah...
Cough cough—Harry snapped back to reality. He'd gone too far.
"Oh right—when did you get a sister? I never heard about that," Hagrid asked.
Harry thought for a second. "You mean Astoria?"
"Yeah, that's what she said her name was. She got lost yesterday, wandered over here."
"She even tried to take one of my big pumpkins. Said she was going to make a jack-o'-lantern and put you inside it."
Harry didn't get the logic. Was that… some kind of ritual sacrifice?
Later, Harry went to check on his little black dragon. It had grown to about three or four meters tall.
He could hardly believe it was the same creature from when it hatched.
From head to back to tail, it now stretched around seven to eight meters long.
Its wings were huge and powerful, lined with sharp ridges.
Every time it flapped, leaves and branches on the ground were swept into the air.
It looked delighted to see Harry—opening its mouth to reveal long, sharp teeth.
"Get back!" Hagrid shouted.
The dragon let out a loud belch—blasting a pillar of fire from its mouth.
Harry, of course, was unharmed. A blue shield appeared to block the flames.
Hagrid, on the other hand… well, a good portion of his thick hair got singed.
Dahei grabbed Harry in its jaws and gently placed him on its back, then crouched low and dashed off into the Forbidden Forest.
It had a clear sense of direction, weaving along an invisible path.
Harry quickly realized: this was its territory.
Whenever it moved toward a new section of the forest, a monster in the neighboring area would roar a warning. Dahei would roar right back—except in certain cases, when it slunk away looking slightly embarrassed.
Harry couldn't help laughing. It was just like in a video game—each zone had its own boss. Some were strong, some were weak.
Harry patted Dahei's neck. "Once you're fully grown, we'll go beat down every creature in the Forbidden Forest and claim it all as your turf."
-
-
-
-
THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER
⚡🦉 THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER 🦉⚡
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 MAGIC REBORN! 📢
The Rebirth of Harry Potter has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! ⚡📚
The wizarding world is changing.
Old destinies twist, familiar names return under new shadows, and magic itself may follow a different path this time.
🪄 A second chance.🌙 A different fate.⚡ A wizarding world reborn.
Discover the new path before public readers catch up.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System🧠 My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?🛡️ Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past🏰 Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ Vote with Power Stones for faster updates!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━