Harry Potter: Who cares about belated motherly love?

Chapter 297 Goodbye

The Easter holidays are approaching.

This means I have to say goodbye to Puff.

Originally, the International Dragon Research Society stipulated that I would take care of Pav for one year, and that one-year period was about to end.

Therefore, Charlie's term as a temporary "supervisor" at Hogwarts is about to end.

Charlie had repeatedly requested his superiors to let him stay in Hogwarts, believing that as a natural dragon trainer, it was dangerous for me to stay here in the current situation where the causes and truths of attacks are unknown. However, his request was not approved.

In the wild, dragons leave their parents and become independent within a year.

Although Puff's fostering period was coming to an end, Charlie's role was limited to auxiliary staff and he could not continue to stay at Hogwarts on his own.

During the five days of the Easter holidays, I will go to Romania with Charlie. Although it is said to be five days, we will actually be there for only one day, and the movement is done by magic, and it takes less than half a day.

To go overseas, we have to go to an airport similar to the Muggle world.

While Muggles fly, we in the wizarding world use "portal keys" to move long distances, including international travel.

On the first day of the Easter holidays, Charlie and I went to Hogsmeade village and used Floo powder in the fireplace of the Three Broomsticks pub to teleport to the International Mobile Teleportation Bureau in London.

The International Portal Bureau is a department under the Ministry of Magic, responsible for managing "portal keys" and supervising the movement of portal keys at home and abroad. There is also the "Portal Key Bureau" that is confused with it, but this is another department that specializes in combating wizards who illegally make portal keys and recovering non-compliant keys.

The "International Mobile Transmission Bureau" is similar to the airports and customs in the Muggle world, especially responsible for monitoring entry and exit.

Many wizards and witches come in and out every day, so this department covers a large area. Although it is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic, it is not located in the Ministry of Magic, but in another place in London. Muggles cannot detect it because of the Muggle-proof spell. Muggles only see the dilapidated office building.

Here, numerous international and domestic Portal Key flights depart and arrive every day.

***

Charlie and I took the 1pm Portal Key flight to Bucharest, the capital of Romania. From there, we traveled further to Transylvania via the fireplace. Hidden in the plains facing the Carpathian Mountains was a dragon sanctuary unknown to Muggles.

The Carpathian Mountains consist of 14 mountains, 3 of which have large areas where dragons' lairs are found.

The Romanian branch of the International Dragon Study Society has confirmed that there are about 70 dragons in the reserve, about a quarter of which are "Norwegian Ridgebacks" of the same species as Pav.

Norwegian Ridgebacks are extremely aggressive towards dragons of their own kind and have a very strong sense of territory, but are relatively tolerant towards their blood relatives or other dragon species. As long as their territory is not destroyed, they will not actively expel invaders, and they themselves will not enter the territory of other dragons at will, so they can coexist.

Although there is a Romanian longhorn nesting near Pav, Pav's nest is right on the edge of the territory.

When we were taken to Puff's new lair, I asked Charlie and Mr. Jefferson, the Romanian branch chief, to let me spend one last night here with Puff.

Romania was relatively warm at this time of year, but it was still very cold to camp out in the mountains for a night, especially at night when the temperature dropped sharply. Despite Charlie's objections, Mr. Jefferson understood my feelings and asked Charlie to accompany me to the nearby Dragon Observation Hut. If something happened, I would only need to fire a special flare.

I held Pav, who was now 1/10 smaller than he was before, and prepared the hay for the new nest, spreading it in the cave.

"Woo?"

Puff made a very cute noise because of his shrinkage. I laid him gently on the hay and chanted a healing spell.

This area is filled with dragon magic, and as an underage wizard, I can use magic here without being detected.

Puff quickly returned to his original size, looked around, and then looked at me in confusion.

"I love you, Puff."

Puff let out a happy cry as I hugged his outstretched neck.

A dragon's skin is very tough and can resist almost most spells. Puff trusted me so much and was not on guard, which meant that he trusted me completely.

I started providing Puff with live goats as prey for his hunting training two weeks ago.

Puff captured his prey very well based on his instincts, and I believe he will survive well in the wild.

I didn't sleep that night.

Puff seemed to have sensed something and was a little excited. I leaned on his belly and sang the song I often sang to him.

“Puff—lives in a world of magical dragons—in a bay shrouded in low autumn mist—?”

Puff's throat moved slightly as he sang, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.

Puff and the boy in the song took different paths.

The separation between dragons and humans is inevitable.

I knew this from the beginning, but over the course of the year I have developed a deep affection for Pav.

I leaned against Puff and looked at the pictures Charlie had taken of me earlier until dawn.

***

"Goodbye, Puff."

"Woooo..."

The next morning, the moment of farewell finally came when Charlie and Mr. Jefferson came to pick me up.

I told Puff that the time had come for him to be independent, and although he cried out in despair, he was sensible and did not try to follow me.

Puff finally rubbed his head against my chest, looked at me quietly with his amber eyes, and called out softly.

"goodbye……"

I finally hugged Puff's head tightly and ran towards Charlie and the others.

Charlie patted my shoulder to comfort me, and we left the reserve together.

I didn't look back.