In the Hogwarts library, Asterion, Rose, Luna, and Cedric were together.
Looking at the baby dragon walking beneath Asterion, Rose couldn't help but widen her eyes. Without hesitation, she picked up the hatchling with her hands and lifted it, staring at the dragon with a strange expression.
"Asty..." Rose turned to look at Asterion. "You didn't give the dragon Juice, did you? I mean, he looks like a bodybuilder with all those strong muscles. That's not normal for a hatchling!" Rose remarked in a bewildered tone. What kind of hatchling is born with muscles? None!
In her mind, Asterion must have injected the poor hatchling with Juice and ordered it to train relentlessly.
Rose also noticed the color of the scales and horns, which didn't belong to a newborn of the Hebridean Black breed. Normally, their scales are black and their eyes purple.
But the hatchling before her had dark red-black scales and an imposing crown of horns, still growing! This was definitely not supposed to happen in a Hebridean Black.
In the books she had recently read, the Hebridean Black hatchling didn't resemble this one at all.
Luna and Cedric also glanced curiously at Asterion. There was no denying it—the baby dragon was truly eye-catching.
Faced with the accusing and confused looks of his teammates, Asterion responded calmly, "It was born like this. I had nothing to do with its mutation." His heartbeat didn't even speed up as he blatantly lied to his teammates.
Rose, Luna, and Cedric, hearing his words, rolled their eyes and focused on petting the little dragon. Even though it seemed like Asterion wasn't lying, they didn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth. There was no way such a huge mutation could occur naturally!
Unbothered by whether they believed him or not, Asterion sat down while watching the three of them touch the baby dragon indiscriminately.
"Does he have a name yet?" Luna asked, stroking its scales, which felt warm to the touch, almost as if they were made of fire.
"Ancalagon," Asterion replied without hesitation, honoring his dragon with the name of the most terrible and famous dragon he knew.
"Ancalagon…" Luna murmured to herself as she looked at the harmless little dragon. Suddenly, Luna's eyes began to shine, and an emotionless voice escaped her lips—loud enough for everyone around to hear clearly.
"You will be the one who brings his death… and from your body, he will emerge as something else, a monster in the eyes of the world."
It was a short, simple phrase, yet filled with mystery.
Asterion looked at Luna, frowning. Luna's phrase had too many variables. But the main message was that Ancalagon would kill someone, and from his body, someone would be reborn to become a monster.
He had a pretty good idea of who that person was.
That was why Asterion hated prophecies—always so vague and overly dramatic. After a while, he stopped caring about the prophecy Luna had given.
Asterion didn't want to be another fool who, in trying to prevent the prophecy from coming true, ended up fulfilling it through his own actions. It was so stupid that he didn't even want to think about the prophecy, preferring to forget it existed in the first place.
Honestly, the idea of killing Ancalagon crossed his mind and didn't go away. He'd rather kill him than deal with such a massive headache in the future.
Breaking the silence, Rose asked with a hint of uncertainty, "Are we going to talk about the prophecy or not?"
Luna looked at Rose and replied in a sincere tone, "It's better to forget what you heard; nothing good ever comes when a prophecy is involved."
It wasn't the first time she had prophesied something, nor would it be the last. She had small prophecies weekly, but this kind of prophecy, involving the entire world, was a first for her.
As a seer, she knew that just trying to unravel the prophecy could be its trigger, so Luna shared Asterion's view: pretend it never happened and forget it.
Cedric, standing beside them, also nodded in agreement with Luna's words. "It's best not to meddle with the future; focusing on the present is always the most realistic option."
Rose thought for a moment and also nodded in agreement. She was someone who thought logically due to her Six Eyes. She saw the world based on information and data, not on some ridiculous future that may or may not exist.
However, they all agreed on one thing: Ancalagon was no ordinary baby dragon. No creature capable of sparking a prophecy could be considered normal or simple.
"Unfortunately, you can't help me hatch my own team's egg," Cedric broke the silence between them, causing Luna to nod helplessly at the situation of hatching her own egg.
This was a rule established for the Second Task: everyone must hatch their own eggs without assistance, even from their own team. It was a measure to avoid having more than forty dragons flying on the day of the race.
Rose wasn't worried; she could use a fire spell and raise the temperature as much as she wanted, gaining huge amounts of magical energy. But neither Cedric nor Luna had that privilege.
Sitting down, Cedric commented with a bitter tone in his voice, "Honestly, if I weren't afraid of losing points for Hogwarts, I'd want to drop out of this task. I'm sure I can't handle a Hungarian Horntail."
There was no way—this task was far too hostile for him. He didn't have the necessary skills to hatch the egg in the first place, and even if the hatchling was born, how in Merlin's name was he going to tame one of the most aggressive dragons on the planet?
It wasn't a dog that you fed, and it would bond with you. It was a damn dragon, extremely territorial and full of hostility towards anyone who stood in its way.
"No matter. With the victory in the King's Game, Hogwarts has ten points, about three more than the second-place team, the French. Even if you fail, it won't hurt us too much," Rose tried to comfort the Hufflepuff representative, or at least, that's what she thought she was doing.
Cedric's face turned embarrassed at Rose's words. What she said was essentially telling him that he was useless and that his presence wouldn't be missed in the tournament.
"Puff~" Luna couldn't resist and began to laugh. It was a bright, cheerful laugh that completely changed the atmosphere. "Rose, I suggest you let other people comfort Cedric. You're definitely not good at consoling anyone with your words~."
"Hmph, he should feel honored to receive comforting words from the great and amazing Rose Potter!" Rose said in a playful tone as she straightened up proudly.
"Silence is sometimes the greatest blessing a man can ask for," Asterion subtly criticized Rose, causing the white-haired girl to glare at him rather unpleasantly.
Luna rested her head in her hand and looked at her teammates with a gentle and surprisingly happy expression. She was grateful to have these three as companions.
The life of a seer wasn't easy. Knowing that her own mother was going to die even before it happened, and failing to save her, had made Luna's already fragile mind extremely unstable.
Add to that the fear people have of a seer, and you get an insecure and crazy child in the eyes of many.
Luna never thought that even after revealing her gift to her companions, she would be accepted without much difficulty or even prejudice towards her ability.
Maybe it was because Rose and Asterion were crazy in their own way and never cared about her madness, and Cedric was just a guy with a heart of gold in a world where power spoke louder than anything else.
Luna thanked whoever had brought them together as friends. Loneliness was something extremely terrible for some, and it was especially cruel for her.
She was sure that many people would have been frightened by her gift and would have distanced themselves from her at some point. Not everyone could handle her quirks or overcome their fear of the unknown.
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Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 192 - How to Train Your Dragon (3), Chapter 193 - How to Train Your Dragon (4), Chapter 194 - How to Train Your Dragon (5), Chapter 195 - Dragon Race (1), Chapter 196 - Dragon Race (2), Chapter 197 - Dragon Race (3), Chapter 198 - Dragon Race (4), Chapter 199 - Dragon Race (5), Chapter 200 - Dragon Race (6), Chapter 201 - Dragon Race (7), Chapter 202 - Dragon Race (8), Chapter 203 - Golden Path (1), Chapter 204 - Golden Path (2), Chapter 205 - Golden Path (3), Chapter 206 - Battle in Desert City (1), Chapter 207 - Battle in Desert City (2).