NORBERT THE
NORWEGIAN RIDGEBACK
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open.
The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn’t exactly pretty;
Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny
wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long
snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange
eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
“Isn’t he beautiful ?” Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand
to stroke the dragon’s head. It snapped at his fingers, showing
pointed fangs.
“Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!” said Hagrid.
“Hagrid,” said Hermione, “how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks
grow, exactly?”
Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained
from his face — he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
“What’s the matter?”
“Someone was lookin’ through the gap in the curtains — it’s a
kid — he’s runnin’ back up ter the school.”
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there
was no mistaking him.
Malfoy had seen the dragon.
Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy’s face during the
next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous. They
spent most of their free time in Hagrid’s darkened hut, trying to
reason with him.
“Just let him go,” Harry urged. “Set him free.”
“I can’t,” said Hagrid. “He’s too little. He’d die.”
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