OHMYGOSH Last chapter before the epilogue!
Enjoy!
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That Saturday, George and I were walking side-by-side in the forest and I tried to avoid touching anything with my hand, I didn’t want the forest to suddenly freeze in the middle of September. That would be waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy too weird. George was probably upset because I wouldn’t hold his hand anymore, but that was for his own good, I would kill myself if I accidently froze him, so yeah. Well, anyone with common sense could see what happened next coming.
I tripped on my own feet, and of course, I grabbed the nearest tree to keep myself from hitting my head on a rock. I laughed and started dancing around with joy when it didn’t freeze. And, George took this as the right time and grabbed my hand and we continued walking. We were both smiling ear-to-ear, when we heard a crack of a twig not too far in front of us.
I smiled when I saw what had made the crack. It was a baby Tiger Dragon. But then I noticed its right wing was bleeding. I rushed forward to it and placed its wing in a position so that I could pick it up, and I started rushing towards Hagrid’s hut. George realized I had raced past him and tried to catch up with me, but I was running as fast as I could.
When I got there, I knocked on the door, and when Hagrid opened the door I rushed in telling him what I saw and everything, but when Hagrid walked into another room and came back with something that would help mend the poor creature’s wing, it wouldn’t let me hand it to Hagrid, it just buried itself into my stomach, and I smiled. Hagrid looked at me and said,
“I think that it is either afraid of me, or just feeling to loyal towards you to leave you, or maybe both.” I smiled and sat down on the floor with the baby and started to wrap up its wing just as Hagrid instructed me to. I smiled and leaned down to it and said,
“Well, if you like me so much, I’m going to have to give you a name, won’t I?” I thought for a minute, thinking of a good name, and after I concluded that it was a boy, I knew the perfect name.
“NERO!” I shouted. “That’ll be your name!”
George looked at me funny and I explained that it meant strong and he said
“Then why isn’t it my name.”And I laughed.
“Wow that is so something you would say.”
I looked at Hagrid and asked
“What will I do, I don’t think Nero will go out into the wild again, and I can’t bring him into school?”
Hagrid suggested talking to Professor Dumbledore and sure enough, as long as Nero doesn’t set the school on fire, I can keep him.
“YAY!Thank you soooo much Professor!” I exclaimed.
When we got back to the Gryffindor common room, all hell broke loose. A lot of people were scared that I would blow up the school, with Nero’s help. I laughed and explained everything to everyone, and went up to my bed.
“Well Nero, this is my home during the school year.” I explained to him. He replied by jumping up on my bed, curling into a ball and closing his eyes. I smiled and sat next to him and petting him. I made sure to avoid his wing. It was only a slight cut, and he will be able to fly in a few weeks, but it is never good for a creature’s main route of escape to be gone. So I would protect him for the next few weeks, and when he got better, if he wanted to, he could leave. I sat there, and eventually drifted off into a dreamless rest.
-x-
When I woke up a few hours later Nero was looking at me, his front paws on either shoulder, and when I woke up he got off of me and I took a shower, and got dressed, and took Nero down to the kitchen to get him some food. When I got to the kitchen door, I tickled the pear and it giggled and then turned into a doorknob and walked in.
“Hello Miss.” I heard one of the house elves say. I looked down and saw that it was Dobby. I smiled and asked
“Do you have any meat for my friend here?” Pointing at Nero who responded by rubbing against my leg.
“Yes,” Dobby replied. “We have steak, pork, and chicken.”
“I’ll have steak, and could it be rare please?” Dobby nodded and disappeared into the crowds of house elves, all busy at work. When he came back, he was carrying a bag. He handed me the bag, and I thanked him and then Nero and I left. Nero kept trying to get the steak, but I kept telling him to be patient and that I would give it to him when we got back.
Well, when we got into my dorm, I started to break it into small pieces, but Nero ripped it out of my hand and swallowed it whole. I laughed.
“Seems like someone is a hungry little one.” I took him outside and was sitting by the Black Lake with Nero running in circles around me and I saw Hagrid smiling and waving at me. I smiled and waved back and he walked up to me saying,
“Well, it seems like someone has grown attached to you.” Looking at Nero, I smiled and said
“Yeah, earlier I gave him a steak and he swallowed it whole.”
“You know-” Hagrid started
“The more I feed him, the faster he will grow.”I finished for him. He nodded and I smiled
“Well, I got to get going now, bye!” Hagrid said. Soon, he disappeared into the Forest.
I heard someone sit down next to me and saw it was Cece. She looked at Nero, then gave me a strange look, and I explained everything to her and she laughed.
“Wow Ellie, that is so you, to take in a Tiger Dragon and give it a name no one would have thought of.”
I laughed and nodded and the two of us sat there, talking and laughing for the rest of the day. But at the same time making sure Nero didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to.
