Getting to Know Himself

Even after being defibrillated by his alarm clock, George felt more than enthused to start the day. All of the pain George was used to enduring had gone, he felt like he had been reborn. It didn't take long for him to realise his pep was induced by the unexpected incident at the Shrieking Shack. Yesterday's big transformation had left George's body in significantly greater health.

His skin was soft and smooth and without a single blemish, His muscles and joints felt like they were ready to run a marathon. George got washed and dressed faster than he'd done any day prior and hurried to the Great Hall to eat his breakfast. He guessed that it will take at least a week of heavy eating to fully recover his energy since he lost a lot of blood.

Even though George was so pale that he was practically transparent, walking around without the constant pain of bruises tearing open felt better than ever. He ate his full English extremely quickly and left the Great Hall before it had a chance to settle in his stomach. Normally, George would have left the Great Hall in a rush because of his superstition, but today he had far more pressing matters to attend to.

Yesterday's revelation left him with questions he needed to answer as soon as possible. Although he'd said to himself that he wouldn't go back before the month was over, George was contently heading toward the Library with a skip in his step. Although his affliction may be irreversible, a better understanding of his body would potentially help him cope with the physical and mental changes he'd observed over the past few months.

Last night, George had compared his appearance to the information he'd gathered. Thanks to the famed Magizoologist Newt Scamander and his book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', he was able to work out which species of dragon he was becoming. The book had a whole section dedicated to Newt working with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau department in the Ministry. During that time, Newt travelled to Ukraine and spoke to the locals about their native dragons and recorded his observations.

According to Newt's notes, both George and the Ukrainian Ironbelly had metallic grey scales and deep red eyes. They also shared the same shape of limbs and horns. George had seen a drawing that Newt Scamander had made of one of these dragons and immediately recognised the irrefutable similarities. In his dragon form, George would say he looked like an adolescent version of the detailed drawing.

After deducing his species, George recalled everything referencing the Ukrainian Ironbelly in the book. As the name implies, the Ukrainian Ironbelly is a species of dragon native to Ukraine, but there had been dozens of cases where they'd been spotted across Eastern Europe. Two main characteristics separated these dragons from the rest, their outstanding endurance and size. The dragons could grow over sixty feet long and weigh up to six tonnes, which officially made it the largest species of Dragon on the planet.

The Ironbelly is known as the hardest dragon to subdue because of its thick metallic hide which could deflect most spells. Newt had witnessed over a dozen trained wizards struggle to successfully stun one after a bombardment of Stupefy spells. Also, the Ironbelly had the highest recorded temperature of fire breath. Their fire was so hot it could melt unenchanted cast iron and reduce an unprotected wizard to ashes in seconds.

If George had just read that far, he would have assumed he was going to be immortal when he grew up. However, the opposite seemed true. Newt went on to surmise the Ukrainian Ironbelly was at risk of going extinct due to mass culling by the Ukrainian ministry. Unfortunately, with every benefit came a negative and the Ironbelly wasn't an exception. Although they were the largest and strongest species of dragon, the Ironbelly wasn't considered dangerous.

The reason was due to the Ironbelly's speed and mobility, it was known as the slowest and laziest of the dragons. Although they could fly, these dragons preferred to stay on the ground and live inside caves rich with ore and gems. The dragons only left their dwellings to rarely hunt and mate. The Ironbellys had another name in Ukraine which roughly translated to 'Lying Dragon'. The dragons got this nickname because they spend ninety per cent of their lives hibernating in their caves for months at a time.

They were such heavy sleepers that one brave, or stupid, wizard reportedly climbed inside a sleeping Ironbelly's mouth and took a saliva sample without waking it up. A Ukrainian Ironbelly was only dangerous if you attempted to disturb their home. Damaging or stealing something would wake the dragon instantly and it wouldn't be in a good mood.

The Ukrainians told Newt a story about a group of foreign gem miners in the early nineteen-hundreds that attempted to extract a rare ore from the home of an Ironbelly whilst it was asleep. The natives tried to warn them, but their words fell on greedy ears. Once the miners entered the cave, they were never seen again. Over thirty people died that day and a small village near the cave's entrance was evacuated when the locals smelt a rancid odour that was unmistakably burnt corpses.

The Ukrainians said the Ministry eventually killed the dragon by filling the cave with an air-born poison and sealing the exit. Sadly, the disaster started a trend of the Ukrainian Ministry trapping and poisoning Ironbellys in their caves whilst they slept. The Ministry claimed the culling was to ensure the safety of their citizens, but the Ukrainians said the real reason was to mine the rare ores in the Ironbellys caves. Apparently, the minister wanted to supplement public demands to lower taxes by selling the ore abroad.

Within a decade, the Ironbellys were slaughtered until there were less than two dozen left in the wild. If it hadn't been for Ironbellys migrating to other countries, they would have gone extinct. Luckily, a new minister took over the office and introduced a new scheme to protect the remaining Ironbellys. The ministry turned a series of mountains into the largest dragon reserve in Europe. Since then, the number of Ironbellys has been slowly increasing, but it will take over a century for them to completely recover their numbers.

After all this time, George understood why he found it so hard to keep a normal resting schedule. Fifty per cent of his life was already spent unconscious, increasing that to ninety was going to be impossible. Unfortunately, that was the end of what Newt had written about the Ukrainian Ironbelly. George was hoping he could go to the Library and uncover more information that may elude to a method to help cure his dragon insomnia.

George entered the Library and immediately headed towards a section dedicated to magical creatures. It didn't take him long to find it since most of the students hovered around that area of the Library. George walked past several dozen students of all ages seated at the tables beside the large shelves of books, they all appeared to be frantically scribbling down notes on parchment.

He kept walking along the row of grunting students until he reached the magical creatures department. Once George found a golden sign in the shape of a pointy tail with 'Draconic Creatures' written in fiery red along the shaft, he looked at the accompanying bookcase and was bewildered by what he saw. The shelves were completely empty, there was not a single book related to dragons or draconic creatures remaining.

George turned around and looked at the table opposite him and he didn't find a single student reading any of the unaccounted-for books. He was struggling to rationalise the absence of an entire section of the Hogwarts Library, so George decided to ask the one person he had previously attempted to avoid.

George made his way to the centre of the Library, there was a circular open space illuminated with a huge golden chandelier decorated with thousands of rubies. Directly underneath the mesmerising chandelier, in stark contrast, was a large dull desk in the shape of a horseshoe. All of the varnish had worn away from hundreds of years of books sliding across it, a shallow valley had formed in the oak where the students would return their books.

Sitting at a grand wooden chair behind the desk was an old scowling woman reading the thickest book George had ever seen. The stress on the binding was on the verge of tearing the book in two. The woman was looking through a dented silver magnifying glass to examine the microscopic text. She was flicking from page to page in quick succession as if she was comparing them or perhaps looking for inconsistencies.

The woman appeared to be very old as her wrinkly face scrunched up whilst she strained her eyes to read. She was wearing a thick black robe which appeared to be covered in a layer of dust. But upon closer inspection, George realised that there were incredibly fine grey patterns stitched into the robes in the shape of cobwebs.

Even though the Library was very well heated, she was wearing a thick jet-black scarf which was coiled around her neck repeatedly. The scarf appeared to be woven out of some sort of expensive silk and the light shining from the chandelier above made it look like an adder was strangling her.

The most outstanding item of this woman's clothing was the large worn-out top hat on her head, it was extremely hard to miss since it was over a foot tall. George's attention was brought back down to the desk as the Librarian finished reading the book and closed it abruptly. The weight of the book was enough to make the entire table shake. The Librarian looked quite infuriated as she slammed the magnifying glass on the table and glared in his direction.

She asked him in annoyance, "come on, out with it. What do you want?"

George allowed a blush to form on his face, "I'm sorry for bothering you, Miss. If you're busy, I could come ba…"

"I wouldn't be talking to you if I was busy now, would I? Are you handing in an overdue book you accidentally took home with you over the summer holidays?", the Librarian assumed.

George shook his head nervously, "not at all, Miss Librarian. This is my first term at Hogwarts."

She looked at him doubtfully, "you're a first-year?"

George timidly nodded in response.

She reclined back into her creaking chair and tutted, "you're tall for a first-year. It must be that tripe those house elves are feeding you lot. That's why I make my own food, that way I know what I'm eating."

Then she shook her head disapprovingly, "Well, if that's the case, then what do you need?"

George politely asked, "I was just perusing the magical creature section and noticed that all the books related to dragons were absent. I was wondering if you could be so kind as to tell me where I could find them."

The old woman's grumpy face morphed into a smug smile, "it's the same every year, you new students never change. I'm surprised you haven't worked it out already, those books were taken because of people like you."

"People like me? I'm afraid I don't understand", George asked perplexed.

Her smile broadened, "you're not the only one you know. A lot of the first years can't help themselves, you're just a bit too slow off the mark."

Unless the school was full of dragon-human hybrids, George doubted the other first-years were reading these books for the same reasons as him.

He insisted, "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Miss. Could you elaborate?"

Her smile vanished as she reclined back into her chair, "you can address me as Madam Pince. To answer your question; first years, like yourself, get swept up with all the mystery and wonder of the magical world when they come to Hogwarts. Most of the muggle-borns and half-bloods come to the Library and indulge their childish curiosities. Dragons are always a favourite so it's no wonder all the books had been taken."

"Is there a chance that those books would be returned any time soon?", George asked optimistically.

Pince continued to smile, "I'm afraid that in previous years, most new students returned their books only after a month. A month is the default longest time a student can loan a book and they all choose that option. If you're desperate, you could always check the returns I've not had the chance to shelve."

A glimmer of hope returned to George, "and where would I find the returns, Madam Pince?"

Pince gestured towards the ground, "they're right by your feet, dear."

George smiled and nodded at Pince before looking down at all the books neatly stacked around her desk. There were around thirty books of varying sizes and colours with the top book's cover reading 'Advanced Potion-Making by Libartius Borage'. George could only perceive that as a bad omen as he reached down and began to look through the books one by one.

To his amazement, he came across a yellow book with an image of a vibrant Chinese dragon on the cover. His excitement was quickly extinguished as he read the title, the book was called 'Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit'. George sighed whilst picking the book up and placing it on the table so Pince could check it out for him.

Pince glanced at the book and sneered, "well, at least you found something related to dragons. Now, do you want to read it here or in your own time?"