"Who is it?" Hagrid hesitated before calling out toward the heavy wooden door.
There was no verbal response from outside, only the persistent knocking proving the visitor hadn't left.
"It's probably not Ron," Harry frowned. "If it were him, he would have answered right away."
Hearing this, Hagrid's face drained of color. He frantically grabbed a thick blanket and tried to throw it over the dragon egg in the fireplace. As he scrambled to hide it, he yelled toward the door, "I—I'm just heading out to patrol the Forbidden Forest! Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow!"
"...It's me. Draco."
The knocking stopped. The person outside fell silent for a few seconds before finally speaking in a hushed voice. "Also... I heard everything you just said. A dragon, right? If you don't want me to tell the professors, you'd better open this door!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Draco immediately regretted them.
He had originally eavesdropped in the Great Hall and heard about Harry's group getting "detention," as well as Ron complaining that he refused to go. Draco had wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to Harry (and explicitly undercut Ron).
He had staked out the Hogwarts entrance and tailed them the whole way down, but he just couldn't find the right moment to step up and strike up a conversation. He had even debated just hiding near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, pretending he had gotten lost while night-wandering, and deliberately letting Harry's group "accidentally" find him as they went in.
That way, he could manufacture some alone time with Harry while intentionally handing him some blackmail material, hoping to deepen his impression in Harry's mind.
But just as he was gearing up to execute this plan, he accidentally overheard Hagrid.
Merlin's beard, what did he just say? A dragon egg?! He's actually hiding a dragon egg in his hut?!
Upon hearing that, Draco completely lost the ability to contain his excitement. After all, his very name—Draco—literally meant "dragon." When it came to a sheer, unadulterated obsession with dragons, he easily matched Hagrid!
Even in the original timeline, when he was constantly at odds with Harry's trio and discovered they were illegally raising a dragon, he hadn't initially told anyone. He had just secretly staked out the tower in the middle of the night, waiting to watch them smuggle the dragon out.
Sure, he eventually "snitched" to Professor McGonagall, but that was purely because he got caught sneaking around himself. "Forced" into a corner, he tried to sell out Harry's crew—who he wasn't exactly friendly with at the time—to secure leniency for himself. It was just his luck that McGonagall hadn't believed him, and Harry's group only got caught by Filch later because they forgot the Invisibility Cloak.
Think about it: he had so many opportunities to just tell a professor or Snape during the day. Why would he specifically wait until the middle of the night, risking detention for night-wandering, just to stake out Harry's group all by himself?
And now, having learned the secret early—coupled with the fact that his current relationship with Harry was already rather delicate—Draco completely lost his composure.
His brain short-circuited, and he knocked on the door. It wasn't until Hagrid called out that he realized what he had done, but it was too late to back out.
Listening to Hagrid's panicked questioning, Draco's mind went entirely blank. He had no idea how to respond. Should he just state his name? His dynamic with Harry was weird right now. What if they just chased him off and he didn't get to see the dragon egg?
But if he didn't give his name, what else could he say?
Then, hearing Hagrid's obvious attempt to brush him off, panic took over. The threat just blurted out on pure instinct. The second he said it, he wanted to punch himself. How is this trying to make friends? This is how you make enemies!
"Look, I didn't mean it like that," he stammered, desperately trying to salvage the situation. But the more he panicked, the more his brain seemed to freeze. "I mean—I saw Harry and the others heading this way, and I was just curious what you were doing. Then I heard you talking about a dragon..."
Merlin, I'm just digging the hole deeper! Draco's inner voice was screaming.
He clearly just wanted to say, "Count me in!" but somehow, by the time the words reached his mouth, they sounded entirely like a threat!
I'm doomed! They found me out!
Much like Draco, Hagrid was currently sweating bullets inside the hut. He was the only one who had explicitly mentioned the dragon egg just now. That meant he was the one who had personally blurted the secret out to a Malfoy!
He looked at Harry helplessly. Of course he knew who Draco Malfoy was. Partly because of the Malfoy family reputation, and partly because Harry had complained about the boy after their clash on the Hogwarts Express.
If Malfoy leaked the fact that he was illegally breeding a dragon... Hagrid could practically see Azkaban waving at him.
Hagrid wasn't the only one stressing; Harry was equally tense.
Although Draco warning them about the troll had thawed the ice between them slightly, they were still miles away from being "friends." If Draco ratted them out for harboring a dragon, Harry was terrified Hogwarts wouldn't let him stay. The mere thought of getting expelled made Harry tremble.
Maybe... I should ask Tom if he has any more of that transformation potion?
Recalling the look Draco had given "Harriet" back then, the bizarre thought suddenly flashed through Harry's mind. That saying really was true: crossdressing happens either zero times, or infinite times.
"Wait, Tom, what are you doing?!"
Just as Harry was deep in his chaotic thoughts, he realized Tom had somehow already slipped over to the door.
[Isn't it obvious? I'm opening the door~]
Tom blinked innocently, gave a light shove, and swung the heavy wooden door wide open.
Outside, Draco stood in the dark night, his face pale. Bizarrely, even though he was the one who had knocked, he currently had his back turned, looking exactly like he was about to bolt.
And that was exactly what was happening. After bungling his words twice and making it sound like blackmail, Draco had no idea how to face Harry. His flight instinct had kicked in.
But how could Tom possibly pass up a moment like this? He decisively threw the door open.
As the door swung wide, Draco's eyes collided straight with Harry's. Both boys instantly yanked their gazes away, looking like they'd just touched a hot stove.
But a second later, Draco's attention was completely hijacked by the half-hidden black shape nestled in the fireplace. His eyes widened to the size of saucers.
He forgot his embarrassment. He forgot his original goal. He even forgot every ounce of pureblood etiquette he had been drilled in since birth. Without so much as a greeting, he barged right past everyone into the hut.
Stripped of his usual arrogant drawl, Draco knelt with trembling hands and gently pulled back the thick blanket. He stared obsessively at the pitch-black egg resting in the flames.
"Merlin's beard... look at these exquisite patterns, this mesmerizing luster... I swear on my life, this is absolutely a Norwegian Ridgeback egg! It's breathtaking. This is the first time I've ever been this close to a genuine, real-life dragon egg!"
"???"
Watching Draco's near-fanatical, obsessive reaction, a giant question mark slowly formed over Harry's head.
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