Return of Salazar Slytherin

79- Holding the Wings of Destiny

"Roar!" Norbert, who was enveloped by an inexplicable sense of crisis, chose to use roars to dispel his inner fear and possible danger. But this could not scare Rhys away. In his eyes, adult dragons were just potion materials. How could he take a dragon cub that was only a few weeks old seriously?

He quickly moved to Norbert's blind spot, seized the opportunity, and grabbed the roots of his wings, lifting him up.

Hagrid was shocked.

He jumped up, intending to stop Rhys to prevent him from being bitten by the dragon.

To his surprise, the usually aggressive and unruly Norbert was now as docile as a chicken, allowing Rhys to handle his wings without resistance.

"Although dragon hatchlings stay in their mother's nest until they reach adolescence, adult dragons sometimes need to move or relocate their young. During such times, they grab the young dragons by the wings and carry them in their mouths. This habit creates a 'switch' at the base of the wings. Touching this spot can calm even the naughtiest dragon hatchling." Rhys explained as he held Norbert, giving Hagrid a mini "dragon taming guide."

Hagrid was intrigued by Rhys's explanation.

Watching Hagrid's eager expression, Rhys sighed inwardly: How could he dare to hatch a dragon without knowing these basic facts?

"Alright, it's time for a check-up." Given Hagrid's lack of expertise, Rhys took over his role, thoroughly checking Norbert's health.

Fortunately, the little dragon was quite healthy with no major issues, except for one thing...

"So why did you give her such a masculine name?" Rhys asked, puzzled.

The dragon in his hands was clearly female, yet she had a boy's name. Considering Hagrid's situation, he had a pretty solid guess.

"What? Norbert is a girl?!" Hagrid's eyes widened in shock.

"What?" Daphne and Ron exclaimed in unison, equally taken aback by Hagrid's reaction.

"Hagrid, you've had her for over three weeks..." Ron struggled to articulate his feelings, and Rhys and Daphne felt similarly at a loss for words.

Hagrid chuckled awkwardly, running his scarred, half-burnt beard through his large hand. "I wanted to check, but Norbert wouldn't let me. I didn't want to force her, so I kept putting it off."

Rhys sighed, exasperated by Hagrid's unreliability.

He walked over to Hagrid's bed and tossed Norbert under it.

The bewildered young dragon rolled under the bed, then quickly huddled in a corner, eyeing the feet of the people outside with caution.

"I'll go get you all something to eat. Rhys Linth, right? We can have a proper chat about dragon care while we eat." Hagrid said, stepping out of the room to prepare lunch, humming a cheerful tune.

Hagrid planned to make a potato, mushroom, and chicken stew. To ensure Norbert had enough chicken blood brandy, he had been slaughtering chickens frequently, so there was plenty of chicken meat—more than vegetables—in his pot.

Carrying a few defeathered and blood-drained chickens back into the hut, Hagrid began preparing the chicken.

He chopped the whole chickens into large chunks and threw them into a pot to blanch.

As the raw chicken pieces rolled in the boiling water, the smell of cooking chicken filled the room, causing Ron's stomach to churn.

He struggled to suppress the urge to vomit but ultimately failed, and with a loud retch, he threw up.

"Ron, are you okay? Did you eat something bad?" Hagrid immediately rushed to Ron's side. When he saw the pile of green vomit, his face changed dramatically.

That color didn't look normal at all!

"It's nothing serious," Rhys answered for Ron, "just a normal detox reaction."

He gave Hagrid a brief explanation of the treatment he had administered to Ron, leaving Hagrid a bit bewildered.

Hagrid didn't fully understand, but Rhys seemed very professional.

"Impressive!" He gave Rhys a thumbs up and then made an apologetic gesture to Ron.

"Make sure to eat plenty of meat at lunch today to build your strength back up. These chickens were raised on bugs, so they taste great."

While Hagrid was apologizing to Ron, Rhys drew his wand and cleaned the floor that had been dirtied by Ron's vomit.

Hagrid's stew-making skills were quite good. After blanching the chicken pieces, he set them aside, poured a generous amount of oil into the pot, and added chunks of potatoes, onions, eggplants, carrots, green beans, and freshly picked wild mushrooms.

He sprinkled in some salt and black pepper, then returned the chicken to the pot, covered it, and let it simmer over a low heat—he wanted to have a longer chat with Rhys.

Before Hagrid added the mushrooms to the pot, Rhys carefully inspected the types he had gathered.

Just by looking at Hagrid, Rhys could tell he had giant blood, and giants have a remarkable resistance to toxins.

Mushrooms that are harmless to giants might not be safe for ordinary wizards, so Rhys made sure to check them thoroughly.

Fortunately, Hagrid was reliable in this area; all the mushrooms he had gathered were safe and edible.

With the stew simmering, Hagrid invited Rhys, Daphne, and Ron to sit at the table. He poured each of them a cup of tea and served a plate of rock cakes.

Ron kept his eyes downcast, pretending not to see the plate of rock cakes.

Rhys and Daphne, unaware of the hidden dangers, each took one. After taking a bite, they quickly understood why Ron had avoided them.

The cakes were as hard as rocks! Daphne nearly chipped her perfect teeth on the cake.

Hagrid, oblivious to their discomfort, sat down at the table and started munching on a rock cake himself.

Rhys: ...

Giant blood, truly terrifying!

"Hmm..." Hagrid chewed on the rock cake, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually, he spoke up, not to reflect on the hardness of his cakes but about Norbert.

"Since Norbert is a girl, it's not suitable to keep calling her Norbert. How about renaming her Norberta?"

Rhys and the others naturally had no objections.

When it was time to eat, Hagrid made sure not to neglect his little dragon. He picked up a bottle filled with chicken blood brandy from the floor, preparing to feed Norberta.

Seeing the suspicious-looking mixture, Rhys frowned, "Hagrid, you feed her this?"

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12 Advance Chapters- 

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