Longshot Harry Potter Prediction Pays Off
Santa Monica-Louis CasaBianca, author of Defogging the Future: Unauthorized Speculation About the Seventh and Final Book in the Harry Potter Series, called his prediction about Norbert the Dragon his "longest shot," but it seems to be correct.
The recently released cover art for deluxe edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows depicts Harry, Ron and Hermione riding on the back of a dragon. Given that all the other dragons encountered by the characters of the Harry Potter series have proven less than friendly to wizards, it follows that the dragon depicted is more than likely Norbert, the dragon hatched and nurtured by Hagrid the gamekeeper.
In Defogging the Future, CasaBianca makes 33 "Fearless Predictions," all backed by supporting evidence in the text. Defogging the Future also examines 15 "Set-ups that Have to Pay Off," and gives a full analysis of 20 "Important Questions." There are numerous other predictions scattered throughout the book, as well as a truly exhaustive examination of the character, actions and motives of Severus Snape. The book concludes with chilling but all-too-plausible predictions on who will live and who will die in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The full excerpt of "Fearless Prediction #28: We'll see Norbert the Dragon Again" follows below. If this is CasaBianca's "longest shot," how many of his other predictions will prove correct?
Fearless Prediction #28: We'll see Norbert the Dragon again.
We spent a fair amount of time on Norbert in Philosopher's Stone and we didn't get much out of him. I suspect he's coming back, mainly because saying so allows me to take a shot in the dark so long and tricky that if I make it, I'll be a certified genius, an international psychic, and my "Potter expertise" will be utterly beyond dispute forever.
Motherhood is a very strong theme running through all six books. There's Lily Potter, of course, but also Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Crouch freeing her son from prison through her death, the killing of Hannah Abbott's mother, and Narcissa Malfoy, of all people, fighting to save her son, however unworthy he may be. Now look at the "Norbert" chapter in PS, and note what Hagrid says throughout:
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" (PS 235)
"Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?" (PS 236)
"Mommy will never forget you!" (PS 240)
Why does Hagrid say "mommy," not "daddy?" Hagrid feels like he is Norbert's mommy, not daddy? Well, the strange thing is, if Norbert were real, that's exactly what he'd be thinking: "Hagrid is my mommy."
In the 1870s, a British biologist named Douglas Spaldin demonstrated that some baby animals believe that the first living thing they see after they hatch or are born is their mother. This process, later called "imprinting," works across species. For example, a goat seeing a dog immediately after it was born would think the dog was its mother. In the 1950s an Austrian scientist named Konrad Lorenz demonstrated the same principle with baby ducks, which followed Lorenz around exactly as they would a mother duck.
To take my wild shot in the dark, I'm going to guess that JKR knows all about imprinting, and that we'll see Norbert again and Norbert will think Hagrid is his mommy. Why? Well, Hagrid says "mommy," not "daddy." And he says it more than once. And also because I so want it to be so! Hagrid's love of terrifying monsters (and all living things) majestically rewarded? A Hagrid-loving dragon swooping down and spewing a blazing torrent of fire, roasting dementors by the score? Oh please let it be so, JKR, let it be so!!
Okay, now that I'm back from my Happy Place, I freely admit this may just be my own crackpot fantasy cobbled together from a fact I somehow remembered from high school biology combined with my dreams of seeing hordes of dementors incinerated by a giant fire-belching lizard, but there you are. I admit it. And I'm not forgetting that JKR herself has said that one can't domesticate a dragon. As I said, this is the longest shot I'll take, and if I'm right, I will crown myself an international legilimens and certified genius.
Defogging the Future: Unauthorized Speculation about the Seventh and Final Book of the Harry Potter Series is available at and at Amazon.
Don't forget, for Snape-Trusters interested in the book, purchase it through this page for a free upgrade on shipping!