Chapter 60: Isn't It All Mine?
April rain drummed endlessly against Hogwarts, and the waters of the Black Lake outside had risen high enough to lap against the dungeon windows.
Tamara Riddle sat in the common room with a copy of Moste Potente Potions open on her lap, studying material she had borrowed from the Restricted Section in hopes of finding a way to make the main soul dissipate completely.
A paper crane suddenly fluttered down and landed on the page before her.
She unfolded it and found only a single hurried line.
Hagrid's hut, emergency! Only you can help us! Harry
Tamara lifted an eyebrow.
"Only I can help?"
She let out a silent sneer.
"What trouble have those Gryffindors caused this time? Have they set the Forbidden Forest on fire? Or turned Hagrid's beard into snakes?"
Despite her disdain, she closed the book.
[Ding! Triggered Quest: The Giant's Secret.]
[Quest Description: The simple minded half Giant seems to be raising something he should not. As a member of Hogwarts, you have a responsibility to deal with this potential danger.]
[Quest Reward: Unlock Passive Skill, Magical Creature Affinity increased by 20 percent.]
"Magical Creature Affinity?"
Tamara's eyes sharpened slightly. Her fingertips brushed the edge of the closed book.
For an ordinary wizard, that might mean little more than being liked by Kneazles.
For her, it meant something entirely different.
Control. Domination. Enslavement.
"Basilisks, Dementors, even Giants that might become useful later..."
Her mind moved quickly.
"If I gain that kind of innate suppression, rebuilding a proper Dark Creature army will become far easier."
"It seems this system is not entirely useless after all."
She fastened her cloak, took up her wand, and slipped out of the castle.
Hagrid's hut was stiflingly hot.
The curtains had been drawn tightly shut, the fire in the grate roared like a furnace, and all manner of strange things cluttered the table: chicken soaked in brandy, a huge slab of raw meat, and in the middle of it all, a small black creature with wings that had only just hatched.
It was a dragon.
A Norwegian Ridgeback.
At that moment, the hatchling lay on the table and breathed a tiny puff of sparks at Harry's finger, making him jerk back with a yelp.
"Oh, look at that, it recognises its mummy!" Hagrid said tearfully, his face full of foolish affection.
"Hagrid!" Hermione cried. "It nearly burned Harry's finger! You can't keep it. It's illegal."
"But it's Norbert," Hagrid protested, shielding the little dragon with both hands like an overprotective parent. "He's only a baby."
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.
The three of them jumped, and Hagrid hurriedly dropped a ragged cloth over the dragon.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
Tamara pushed open the door and stepped inside, a gust of cool air swirling in with her and briefly cutting through the oppressive heat.
She lowered her hood, revealing her pale, delicate face.
Her gaze went at once to the moving cloth.
"Riddle!" Ron blurted. "What are you doing here?"
"Potter sent for me."
Tamara gave Harry a cool glance.
"Well, what is this emergency?"
Harry pointed awkwardly at the table.
"That... Tamara, look."
Hagrid hesitated, then pulled the cloth away.
The little dragon immediately stretched out its neck and hissed at her.
Tamara's eyes narrowed at once.
What she saw was not merely a dragon.
She saw dragon hide saturated with magic, eyes that could become top tier ingredients for Polyjuice Potion, and dragon blood full of immense power.
"Truly beautiful," she said softly, and there was a chill in her voice that made even Hermione uneasy.
"A Norwegian Ridgeback. Its blood has twelve known uses, its hide can resist most hexes, and its heartstring makes excellent wand cores..."
Hagrid shuddered.
"Er... Miss Riddle, it's a pet, not a pile of ingredients."
"Of course."
Tamara withdrew that appraising gaze and replaced it with a look of composed concern.
"But Hagrid, do you understand what it means to raise a dragon?"
She stepped closer to the table and extended one slender finger.
The dragon, which had just been irritable and aggressive, visibly flinched at the sight of it.
It sensed something in her that belonged to a higher predator.
Instead of breathing fire, the young Ridgeback lowered its head and rubbed timidly against her fingertip.
"Look at that, it likes you!" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise.
It did not like her.
It was frightened of her.
"Listen, Hagrid," Ron said hurriedly. "We've already come up with a plan. My brother Charlie studies dragons in Romania. We can send Norbert to him."
"Charlie?" Tamara cut in. "You mean the Weasley working at the dragon reserve?"
She gave a small, dismissive shake of her head.
"That is a dreadful idea."
"Why?" Ron asked at once, bristling.
"Because the reserve is effectively under the Ministry's authority," Tamara said calmly. "The moment this dragon arrives there, it ceases to be yours. It will be catalogued, observed, and if they decide it is too dangerous, possibly executed."
Hagrid's face went deathly pale.
"Exe... executed?"
"And more than that," Tamara continued, twisting the knife with quiet precision, "smuggling an illegally raised dragon out of the country would not only risk prison for you, it would also get every person involved expelled."
She turned her gaze to Harry and Ron.
"Do you intend to be expelled?"
The room fell silent.
"Then... then what am I supposed to do?" Hagrid asked miserably. "I can't just throw him out. He'd die."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Tamara's mouth.
"Actually, I know someone."
She spoke slowly, her voice smooth and persuasive.
"He has a private magical creature habitat in Albania. It is remote, concealed, and well outside the Ministry's reach. He is a true expert, and if Norbert is sent there, he will receive proper care."
It was a lie.
In reality, it was one of Voldemort's former hidden bases, guarded by a Dark wizard named Pyrites. Though Voldemort had fallen, Pyrites had remained there in loyal seclusion, raising an assortment of dangerous magical beasts.
"He understands dragons. He is very fond of them," Tamara went on, turning to Hagrid.
"If Norbert goes there, he will be well looked after."
Then she offered the final lure.
"And because it is private land, you could visit him whenever you wished. When he is grown, you might even fly on his back."
Hagrid's eyes widened until they looked like saucers.
"Really? I could go visit him?"
"Of course," Tamara said with a small smile. "Provided the Ministry never finds out."
As soon as she said it, Hermione's eyes sharpened.
"Wait, Tamara."
She frowned, suspicion surfacing immediately.
"You grew up in an orphanage, didn't you? How do you know an expert with private land in Albania?"
Harry and Ron both looked at Tamara as well.
It was a fair question. What sort of first year orphan had international scholarly contacts?
Tamara did not hesitate.
She turned to Hermione and regarded her with a trace of cool approval.
"A very good question, Granger."
She adjusted her cuffs with elegant calm and answered without haste.
"Have you read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander?"
"Of course I have," Hermione said at once.
"Then you should remember that on page 342, in a footnote connected to chimeras, there is a brief mention of an elderly scholar living in seclusion in Albania who has unusual expertise in ancient creatures."
Tamara lied the way other people breathed.
"When I found that note in the library, I happened to disagree with one of his theories regarding magical degeneration in hybrid creatures, so I wrote to him using the obscure contact information referenced there."
Hermione stared at her.
"You... wrote to a scholar because of a footnote?"
"Why should I not?" Tamara replied coolly. "Academic exchange has nothing to do with age. I did not expect an answer, but he turned out to be very interested in my views."
She lifted her chin slightly.
"We have been corresponding for several months. He is an eccentric old man who despises the Ministry's bureaucratic interference, which is why he lives in seclusion. One might say we have become pen pals."
The explanation was smooth, precise, and almost offensively convincing.
Hermione's face flushed red at once, a confused mixture of admiration, embarrassment, and envy filling her expression.
"My goodness... you can actually correspond with someone like that," she murmured. "I thought it was just a footnote..."
"That is because you read to memorise, Granger," Tamara said lightly. "Not to think."
"That's brilliant!" Ron said, though he clearly had only half followed the conversation. "I knew Tamara would think of something."
Harry looked even more convinced than Ron. At this point, he already considered Tamara capable of almost anything.
"So," Tamara said, smoothly reclaiming command of the room, "sending Norbert there is the safest option. That old gentleman will never report him to the Ministry."
"Really? I could still visit him?" Hagrid asked again, still fixed on that point.
Hermione hesitated.
"It... does sound safer than Romania," she admitted.
"A great deal safer," Tamara said. She stroked the dragon's head, and it let out a soft, obedient little rumble.
"See? He seems to agree."
Harry watched the scene with complete trust.
"I think Tamara's idea is better," he said firmly. "That way Hagrid doesn't lose Norbert."
Ron looked a bit put out, but he nodded all the same.
"Fine. As long as we don't get expelled."
"Then it is settled."
Tamara straightened, and a glint of satisfaction flashed through her eyes.
"This Saturday night, I will arrange for someone to collect him."
She paused a moment.
"At the top of the Astronomy Tower."
"Thank you, Tamara. You're such a good person!" Hagrid blubbered, tears and snot running freely as he lurched forward as though to crush her in a grateful embrace.
Tamara sidestepped neatly before he could touch her.
"You're welcome, Hagrid."
Inside, she sneered.
"After all, a dragon this fine would be wasted on a penniless pack of Weasleys."
"With this, my future army has its first true cornerstone."
[Ding! Quest Completed: The Giant's Secret.]
[Reward: Passive Skill, Magical Creature Affinity increased by 20 percent.]
[Detected that you have successfully intercepted the ownership of a dragon.]
[System Evaluation: Although your motives remain highly impure, the end result is that this poor little creature has, most likely, found a better home.]
Tamara stepped out of the hut and drew in a deep breath of cool night air.
The moonlight tonight was especially beautiful.
.....
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