After Hagrid left with Fang, Kyle turned to the three of them with a grin. “So, the egg’s in the fireplace... How long were you planning on keeping it hidden?”
“Oh, come on...” Ron groaned. “Hermione, didn’t you say you read that book before? How come you didn’t know a dragon egg would give off a smell when it’s in the fire? Or did you misread the title?”
“Shut up! Do you really think I’d miss something like that? I’m not you!” Hermione snapped. “‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is a required school book, of course I read it—and not just once.”
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know!” Hermione said, scratching her head. “I don’t remember anything about a smell. The book only talks about how to hatch dragon eggs!”
As they spoke, all three turned to Kyle.
Ron looked at him suspiciously. “You’re not making this up, are you?”
He still trusted Hermione’s memory more than Kyle’s—Hermione had never been wrong when reciting from a textbook.
“What about Fang?” Kyle replied. “Do you think he’d fake it for me?”
Harry thought for a moment. “Maybe... he just wasn’t feeling well.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Pretty convenient timing if that’s the case.”
He took a sip of tea from the table, then looked over at Hermione. “I’d guess you bought your copy of the book before the start of term?”
“Yes, I picked it up the first time I went to Diagon Alley,” Hermione said, frowning. “Why?”
Kyle spread his hands. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has actually gone through several revisions. I think the person at Flourish and Blotts gave you an older edition.”
As he spoke, he pulled out his own copy of the book and handed it to Hermione.
“Take a look for yourself.”
Hermione took the book and quickly flipped to the section on dragons. Sure enough, just as Kyle had said, the note about the smell was right there. When she checked the publication date, she realized the two editions were more than fifty years apart.
“This is outrageous...” Hermione said indignantly. “That’s practically fraud! How could they do this?”
“It’s actually pretty normal,” Kyle explained. “Newt’s revised it so many times over the years, but they’ve kept the cover design the same. Unless you open it up, it’s hard to tell which version you have.”
“Plus, the store was packed before term started, so the assistant probably didn’t notice they’d handed you an old copy.”
Hermione recalled her trip to Flourish and Blotts. All the Hogwarts textbooks had been placed near the entrance, but the area where Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was supposed to be had been picked clean. The assistants had been swamped, and she’d ended up rummaging around in a back corner to find her copy.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake!”
Now Hermione was mad at herself. Kyle’s book was packed with more detailed information, and if she’d known, she would have held out a little longer to find the latest edition.
“If it really bothers you, you could always take it back to Flourish and Blotts during the holiday and swap it out. I bet they’d be fine with that,” Kyle suggested with a smile.
Fifty years ago had been Newt’s peak writing period, and new revisions were sometimes released just days apart. Back then, old editions were quickly phased out, so they didn’t circulate much anymore. Now, most bookstores kept an entire set of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a badge of prestige, even if the older versions weren’t useful to most readers.
Hermione handed the book back to Kyle. “It wasn’t that expensive, anyway. I’ll just buy a new one next time.”
With that, she sat back down on a nearby stool. It was far too warm by the fireplace, and since Kyle had already discovered the dragon egg, there was no reason to keep sweating by the fire. Harry and Ron followed suit.
Now that nothing was blocking his view, Kyle spotted the large, dark egg stashed beneath the kettle. “A Norwegian Ridgeback?”
“That’s right!” said Hagrid, who had just re-entered. He shut the door behind him, practically vibrating with excitement. “What do you think? Pretty rare, isn’t it?”
Kyle nodded. The Norwegian Ridgeback was one of the rarest breeds, just behind the Hungarian Horntail and the Antipodean Opaleye.
On the way to find the rowan trees, Hagrid kept glancing anxiously back toward his cabin.
“You can go back and take care of the dragon egg. I know the way, so there’s really no need for you to come along,” Kyle suggested.
But Hagrid shook his head firmly. “No, I can’t let you go into the Forbidden Forest alone!”
“Alright,” Kyle sighed, sounding a bit disappointed. “I’ll just try to pick the quickest route then.” After a pause, he added, “But by the way, how did you even manage to get hold of a dragon egg?”
“Didn’t buy it—I won it!” Hagrid replied with a hint of pride. “Was pure luck, really. The other day, one of the lads I drink with told me someone down in the village had a dragon egg and was usin’ it in a game of cards. Asked if I’d be interested.”
“So you went to Hogsmeade?”
“I wasn’t keen on goin’, what with the Forbidden Forest actin’ up lately. But it was a dragon egg...” Hagrid lowered his voice and added excitedly, “The guy was clueless. I tricked him easy with a bit of a bluff.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow at the grinning Hagrid, staying silent. For someone to be outwitted by Hagrid… well, that said a lot about the person’s intelligence.
“But what’s your plan once it hatches?” Kyle asked.
“Oh, I’ve been readin’ up,” Hagrid said, though his gaze drifted once more toward his hut. “When it hatches, you just feed it a bucket of chicken blood mixed with brandy every half hour.”
“Be careful,” Kyle advised. “Norwegian Ridgebacks are far from quiet. They’re just as aggressive as Hungarian Horntails, so it’s not exactly easy to keep one under wraps.”
“Well... yeah, I’ll be careful,” Hagrid replied, a bit evasively. The excitement of soon raising a dragon seemed to overshadow any concerns he might have had.
“In that case,” Kyle said, patting Hagrid’s arm, “if you ever need help, just ask. Don’t hesitate.”
Dragons grow quickly, and within a month, the Ridgeback would be larger than Fluffy. Kyle figured he’d need to expand the suitcase as soon as he got back.
The two eventually arrived near the Mooncalves’ habitat, where the rowan trees thrived best. Kyle walked over and began carefully examining the trunks of the rowan trees, while Hagrid stood guard—but his mind was clearly elsewhere.
He couldn’t stop worrying about the dragon egg back in his cabin. One moment, he fretted about whether the fire in the hearth would go out; the next, he worried that Harry and the others might accidentally crack the egg. His anxiety grew, and he kept glancing back, looking as though he’d rather head straight back to his hut.
Meanwhile, Kyle scoped out the area and quickly identified two young, less dense rowan trees. They would be ideal for transplanting, as they’d be much easier to move and far more likely to survive.