Chapter 33: Midnight at the Astronomy Tower, a Young Dragon Flying into the Vast Sky (Patreon)

In just one week, the baby Norwegian Ridgeback named "Norbert" had swollen to three times its original size, like a balloon being blown up.

Smoke hung thick in every corner of Hagrid's cabin. The curtains were singed through in several places, and the mess beside the big bed had grown into a heap of empty brandy bottles and gnawed dead rats.

Worst of all, the day before yesterday, Ron had tried to feed Norbert some raw chicken and the dragon had sunk its teeth into the back of his hand.

The venom took hold, and his whole right hand puffed up into a sickly green eggplant. He had to claim a guard dog had bitten him, and he was now laid up in Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing.

Fortunately, the urgent confidential letter Draconia had sent to Romania through Malfoy family channels had received a very quick reply.

Charlie Weasley's team sent word: at midnight on Saturday, four of his colleagues would arrive on specially made night brooms and meet them at the top of Hogwarts's tallest structure, the Astronomy Tower.

*

Saturday, eleven forty-five at night.

The whole castle lay swallowed in darkness. Only the bitter wind kept pouring down the spiral stone staircase.

On the steep, narrow steps of the Astronomy Tower, Raven walked at the front. His ebony wand held a precise, silent Feather-light Charm, floating the heavy, sturdy iron-bound wooden crate ahead of him.

Inside the crate, the little dragon, which Raven had dosed in advance with a trace of sleeping draught, let out faint, steady snores.

Harry and Hermione shared the Invisibility Cloak, one on each side, carefully steadying the crate's edges. Their foreheads were slick with nervous sweat.

At the rear, Draconia was wrapped in a thick, warm dark-green cloak. She gripped her wand in her right hand and eyed every patch of shadow warily.

The silver teardrop pendant at the young lady's chest gave off a faint warmth that held back the bitter cold of the heights.

"How much farther?" Draconia kept her voice low, but she couldn't quite hide the edge of nerves in it.

It was the first time in her life she had broken the rules and slipped out of her dormitory in the middle of the night. Her heart was pounding like a drum in her chest.

"Past this bend and we're at the platform," Harry answered softly, poking half his head out through a gap in the Cloak.

They climbed the last step and pushed open the wooden door to the open-air platform. The savage night wind howled in at once and filled everyone's robes.

A sky full of stars poured down overhead, and below them lay the black sprawl of the forest and the bottomless mountains.

Within two minutes, four indistinct figures on battered old brooms pierced the clouds without a sound and landed on the flagstones of the platform.

They were four sturdy young wizards in heavy dragon-hide protective gear.

"Hello! Charlie sent us!" The one in front, a freckled young man, strode over and studied the little group in the faint moonlight.

When his gaze passed over the pure silver clasp at Draconia's collar, stamped with the Malfoy crest, his expression turned noticeably more respectful. "Miss Malfoy? Thanks to your father's special permit, they didn't even inspect our gear at the border... So this little fellow is Norbert?"

"Save the chatter. Tie it up and take it away," Draconia said. Her nose was faintly red from the cold, and though she kept the stiff tone of a young lady, the relief in her eyes was obvious.

The four dragon handlers briskly produced several sturdy harness straps and fireproof leather cords, and lashed the heavy crate firmly in the middle of their four brooms.

"The little guy's sleeping soundly. You got the dose perfect," the young man in front said, giving Raven an approving look. Then he waved to the group. "Goodbye, Hogwarts kids! We'll get him safely to the mountains of Romania!"

The four brooms kicked off from the ground at once, carrying the heavy crate out into the night sky. In moments they shrank into four tiny black dots among the stars and vanished deep into the endless mountains.

"Phew..." Harry slumped against the freezing battlement as if all the strength had drained out of him, and let out a long plume of white breath. "We did it! We really got rid of him!"

Hermione wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and smiled with relief for the first time in days. Draconia folded her arms and turned away a little awkwardly, her small face flushed pink. "I told you so," she said with a sniff. "The Malfoy family's connections work far better than your childish ideas."

"Well then, heroes of the hour," Raven said calmly, tucking his wand into his inner pocket, a playful smile in his eyes. "I suggest we get back to our own beds before Filch finishes his patrol of the fifth floor."

But fate's jokes tend to land at the very moment you relax.

Harry had been so excited that he forgot to pull the Invisibility Cloak back over himself on the way down. The four of them had just reached the corner of the ground floor and were about to cross the marble archway to the entrance hall when—

A harsh, cold, yellowish light suddenly slammed into their faces from behind a shadowy pillar!

"Well, well... look who it is..."

Argus Filch's wrinkled face, like a shriveled walnut, slowly emerged behind the lantern. His mouth stretched into a smile that was almost cruel.

Mrs. Norris, bony and gaunt, crouched at his feet, her lamp-like yellow eyes fixed on them with a sinister stare.

"A quarter past one in the morning, and four first-year troublemakers from different Houses are wandering the highest part of the castle... I do believe Professor McGonagall will be delighted to receive you in her sleep."

From the shadows behind Filch, a stern figure in a tartan dressing gown, her hair bound tightly in a hairnet, strode out.

Professor McGonagall's normally severe face was trembling with fury in the cold wind. Her sharp eyes swept over them one by one: Raven in his black robe, Harry with the scar on his forehead, Hermione with her tousled hair, and finally the Malfoy young lady, shrinking into her cloak.

"Miss Malfoy? Mr. Capet? And Potter and Granger?!" Professor McGonagall's voice was so shrill it nearly pierced the ceiling. "Four of you! Two hours after curfew! Roaming the Astronomy Tower in a pack! I can hardly believe my eyes!"

The color drained from Draconia's small face in an instant. She edged half a step behind Raven without thinking, her fingertips going cold.

Harry and Hermione kept their heads down, not daring to breathe loudly.

"Fifty points each!" Professor McGonagall drew a deep breath and smacked her pointer hard against her palm. "A hundred points from Gryffindor, and a hundred from Slytherin as well! And what's more, next Thursday night, the four of you will serve a severe detention!"

"Professor McGonagall!"

Draconia finally couldn't hold it in. She blurted out, wounded and incredulous, "Where exactly are we supposed to serve this detention?!"

Professor McGonagall looked at her without expression and spoke a cold word that made every first-year blanch:

"Eleven o'clock at night. Go to the front doors and find Rubeus Hagrid," McGonagall said coldly. "Your detention will be... in the Forbidden Forest."