The Admiral of Hogwarts

After the Soviets acquired those estates suitable for breeding, they sent people to inspect them. They found the estates were in a state of completely free-range, looking like pristine wilderness, with nothing but a few facilities to deal with inspections from the Russian Ministry of Magic.

Initially, the Soviets thought the gang members had moved the wealth in advance. Only after repeatedly interrogating the captives did they learn that the place had never actually raised any magical creatures. Obtaining the permit was just a cover for laundering illegal magical creature trades.

However, after the Soviets took over these estates, they certainly couldn't let them remain barren as before. So, they recruited a group of people and began to earnestly manage the estates. Due to the chaos in the Muggle world, they easily recruited a group of Muggle-born wizards with considerable skills in this area and got the estates running.

According to the Soviet's report in the Admiral Network last night, the estates had been put into operation after several weeks of construction. According to a professional she hired at a high salary, the estates could be profitable in just two or three months when the first batch of herbs matured.

And the place Hugo recommended to Hagrid for Norbert was here. Just think about the books in the library, and you'll know that if it were possible to raise dragons at home, it would be a relatively tedious but not too difficult task. Normal estates that can obtain a XXXXX-level magical creature breeding permit should be able to do this.

"Moreover, your dragon is a Norwegian Ridgeback, a type of dragon that lives in the north," Hugo persuaded Hagrid. "So, I think it's more suitable for your dragon to go to the farm of Venetto's sister's friend, because the climate in northern Russia is closer to its native environment, which is conducive to its growth."

"Then—then, will they kill it to get the organs from the dragon's body?" Hagrid asked after a few seconds of silence after listening to Hugo and the others.

"No," Venetto said firmly. "Because dragons are not as common as goblins, so even for their own benefit, they can't kill this dragon. Besides, according to the law, it is not allowed to kill these dragons under normal circumstances. At most, they will only obtain the claws, scales, teeth, skin, and feces that the dragon naturally sheds or leaves behind, which is enough."

Don't think that dragon products seem to be everywhere, but there are not many places that really need to kill dragons. Taking the most common dragonhide leather goods as an example, they are widely used because dragons, as oviparous reptiles, shed their skin like lizards and snakes. And with the size of a dragon, even the skin shed by one dragon is enough to make a lot of dragonhide gloves.

Only a small part of the dragon products on the market require killing dragons to obtain the materials: the dragon heartstring in wands and the potions that can only be made with some of the dragon's internal organs. However, considering that wands are not consumables and not every wand needs a dragon heartstring, and the potions that require dragon internal organs are basically all made by potion masters like Professor Snape, the output itself is not high. Therefore, the demand for this type of raw material is not very large throughout the wizarding world.

More importantly, according to the size of the dragon, each dragon's internal organs actually have a huge volume. The entire British wizarding world only consumes one or two dragons' internal organs a year. Therefore, the dragons that die naturally each year, plus the occasional slaughter or even poaching, are enough to meet the needs of wizards, and there is no need to kill dragons additionally.

"More importantly, they are now focusing on the production of high-end magical raw materials, so they tend to let these magical creatures grow in the wild to improve the quality of the final product. Moreover, dragons are not the kind of magical creatures that can be kept in cages. If there are no accidents, it will live happily there until it dies of old age," Venetto finally said. Obviously, what she said moved Hagrid, and he agreed that they should send an owl to Russia to ask.

Although Hagrid was still a little hesitant, he finally chose to believe what Venetto said. Of course, in addition to the fact that he was more willing to believe Venetto, the legal breeding permit that the Soviets possessed was also the most convincing reason for Hagrid.

After all, reasoning from common sense, those who can legally breed dragons would definitely prefer to keep the dragon healthy so that it can provide various resources every year, rather than choosing to kill the dragon like poachers, a method of extracting the maximum profit in a very short period of time.

"You didn't lie to Hagrid, did you?" Ron asked Venetto, puzzled, after leaving. "The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy officially passed a law banning dragon breeding in 1709. How could anyone be allowed to breed dragons legally?"

"Of course, I know this decree," Venetto said seriously, looking at Ron. "But there is one question you can think about. If the breeding of dragons is really completely prohibited, how do you think those dragonhide gloves on the first-year enrollment list come from?"

"Uh, this—" Being reminded by Venetto, even Ron, who is not usually considered smart, noticed the problem and then asked, "Then, do you know what's going on?"

"If you have read the detailed rules of this decree, you will find that this decree only prohibits wizards from raising dragons, but it allows wizards to establish protected areas in places where dragons appear and observe them. At the same time, they can obtain some materials from the dragons without harming the dragons' lives as much as possible."

"So, the official name of the breeding permit I mentioned should be a permit to establish a protected area," Venetto shrugged and said. "It just so happens that Hagrid's dragon is a Norwegian Ridgeback, native to Norway, and its habitat is not far from the large estate of my sister's friend. After secretly transporting the dragon away this time, they can completely wait until it grows a little bigger and then claim that the dragon flew over from Norway."

"So, there are such big loopholes in the law!" Harry and the others realized after listening to Venetto. "If there is such a law, then what is the meaning of the prohibitions in the law?"

"Of course, there is meaning," Venetto snorted softly and said, "This way, pure-blood families can prevent individuals and breeding farms that don't have enough capital from breeding dragons, and then monopolize the business of materials related to dragons. After all, the so-called protected area requires a large area of land far away from the sight of most humans, and ordinary people really can't afford it."

"It should be wealthy pure-blood families," Weasley added. "With my family's financial conditions, let alone opening a dragon farm, just one dragon could completely eat my family poor."

"Anyway, we can finally get rid of that dragon, can't we?" Harry said excitedly after everyone finished speaking. "I really hope Venetto's sister can get a reply from her friend soon."

"Don't worry, it should be soon," Hugo said, patting Harry on the shoulder. "But we need to borrow your Hedwig, after all, it's really inconvenient to send this letter with the school's owl."