Dragonology 101

Chapter 8

Summary: "Well, in all my years of teaching I've never heard the like. Two students raising a dragon on their own, sustaining no injuries and keeping it secret for so long. Might have to submit your names as keynote speakers for the next Man-Eating Creatures conference!"

"Well, that's unfortunate." says Juniper glumly, staring down into an empty barrel.

This particular barrel is usually full of the magically preserved corpses of small animals used to feed Professor Kettleburn's carnivorous creatures, and, for the last few months, Juniper and Felix's illicit dragon; a dragon that is now eating a half tonne of rabbits every few days and growing increasingly dissatisfied with this meagre offering. Felix crosses the Care of Magical Creatures paddock to peer into the barrel behind Juniper.

"It was nearly empty the last time I was here." he admits. "I just assumed Kettleburn would refill it."

Juniper shakes her head. "How inconsiderate of him! Doesn't he know how much Sparky eats?" she says in mock outrage, but Felix is too concerned to be amused.

"No, and if we want to keep it that way we have to find an alternative. He really needs bigger game, in any case." Felix begins inspecting the other barrels and bags strewn haphazardly throughout the paddock, but none look large enough to be secreting anything that might tempt a hungry dragon.

"Hmm." Juniper hums thoughtfully, resealing the barrel and perching herself on top of it. "What do you think Kettleburn feeds his Chimaera?"

Felix shoots her a suspicious glance. "How do you know Kettleburn has a Chimaera? He doesn't show it to third years."

Juniper rolls her eyes. "Everyone knows about the Chimaera. It spends more time running loose on the grounds than it does in class."

This is too true to be argued with. Felix pauses in his search and tries to remember his lesson from two years previous.

"I think he feeds it steaks of some kind." he muses. "I don't know what sort of animal they're from, though."

Juniper hops off her barrel excitedly. "Well, they had to come from something, right? And Kettleburn has to keep them somewhere, doesn't he?" She begins re-opening the same barrels Felix has just searched through.

"You think I accidentally missed a great bloody pile of steaks hiding in there?" huffs Felix in mild irritation. "Anyway, it makes more sense for Kettleburn to keep the Chimaera's food near where he keeps the Chimaera itself. Just in case. Like we do with Sparky."

Juniper stops rifling through a pile of feed sacks and straightens up.

"Good point. Where does he keep it?" She cocks her head, thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, where does he keep any of the animals we work with in class? In the forest?"

Both Juniper and Felix turn in the direction of the trees automatically.

"I wouldn't think they could all just live in the forest together." Felix muses. "There must be a stable or building of some sort where he keeps them."

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" asks Juniper.

"No," Felix admits. "But I don't spend as much time as you wandering around in places I'm not supposed to be."

Juniper pulls a face at him. "Okay, well I've never seen anything like that either. And I've done quite a bit of exploring." She spins around to scrutinize the landscape in the direction of the castle and the open space of the Hogwarts grounds.

Felix sighs and leans against a post supporting the paddock. "We may have to ask Kettleburn himself."

Juniper swivels her head toward him and makes that ridiculous attempt to raise an eyebrow. "And how do we explain that?"