To make sense of this story, we advise you to read Christmas Has Been Cancelled first. It can be found on my profile.

Dennis was running down the steps as fast as he could. The Quidditch team was practising and since the sky was so incredibly blue today, he wanted to get some pictures. For his brother. Not that Colin would ever see them, of course, but Dennis liked taking pictures of things and imagining telling Colin about them. It made it feel like he wasn't really gone.

It had been nice having Colin around as a ghost, but Dennis understood why he had had to move on. And he was proud that his brother had been one of the first of the battle-ghosts to do it.

Suddenly his foot slipped and he stumbled. As he flew through the air down towards the hard stone floor below, he just had time to think that he might be seeing Colin soon, when something grabbed him by the hair and pulled. And by the arms, the back and the legs. A lot of somethings, clinging to his clothes. He slowed down and when he hit the floor, it didn't hurt at all.

"Thank you," he said, rolling onto his back and smiling up at all the little dragons hovering above him. "You guys are really strong. For your size." One of them, Molly, judging by the colour of her wings, fluttered down and landed on his chest, studying him intently as if checking he was really okay.

Dennis reached up and patted her on the head. She crooned softly and then took off, fluttering out the window.

Dennis got to his knees and looked around for his camera. He couldn't see it, so he crawled over to check behind the two suits of armour standing, or rather slouching, by the wall. No camera, but instead he spotted something small, round and very colourful. An Easter egg. Just like the ones dad used to give to him and Colin.

Eagerly he picked it up, only to realise that the sparkly, colourful surface wasn't foil or paper. And it was definitely not made of chocolate. It was too heavy and too hard. But too light to be a stone. He gasped and almost dropped it in surprise as he realised that it must be a real egg. A tiny dragon egg.

He glanced around, worried that the mother might spot him and attack, just like some aggressive birds would do when you got too close to their nest. But there was none in sight. Slowly he got to his feet, holding the egg carefully with both hands. Maybe he should tell somebody… Show it to someone…

As he was walking slowly down the corridor, his very favourite teacher came into sight. "Professor Trelawney!" he called, hurrying towards her. "Professor Trelawney! Look what I found!"

As she saw the egg in his hands, she frowned. "Is that an Easter egg?" she asked.

"No, Professor," Dennis said, beaming up at her. "I think it's a dragon egg. A Draculus rubeus egg."

She bent down further, adjusted her glasses and squinted a little. Then she gasped and pulled back.

"Goodness me," she cried. "You're right. They're… They're breeding…"

To Dennis' surprise, she looked more alarmed than excited.

"Are you okay, professor?" he asked.

"Yes… Yes… Of course," she said, taking deep breaths as if to calm herself. "I'm fine. Thank you for showing me, Dennis. I think perhaps… Could you bring it up to my classroom for me? Give it to Winky?"

"Sure thing, Professor," Dennis said, nodding eagerly. He liked Winky.

"Thank you," Professor Trelawney said. "I'll just go… fetch someone…"

Muttering to herself, she wandered off.

…

"No students! No class today!"

Dennis had only just opened the trap door to the Divination classroom when the small figure of Professor Trelawney's elf came charging at him, screaming at the top of her screechy voice.

"No… Winky…" Dennis cried. "I'm not here for class. Professor Trelawney sent me. I've… I've got something for you."

"For Winky?" the elf stepped back and blinked at him, clearly taken aback.

"Yes," Dennis said, climbing the last steps into the classroom. Carefully he took the egg out of his pocket and showed it to her. "Look. It's a dragon egg."

"No…." Winky squeaked, covering her large eyes with her hands. "Nasty dragons not allowed in Mistress' tower. Only Lavender may come up here."

As she mentioned its name, the small dragon fluttered over and landed on Dennis' shoulder, leaning forward to study the egg in his hand. She crooned and looked up at him questioningly.

Dennis shrugged. "I don't know who laid it," he said. "It wasn't in a nest or anything. It just… lay there…"

Winky looked out between her fingers. "Is it… okay…?" she squeaked.

"I don't know," Dennis admitted. "I mean… Aren't they supposed to be kept really hot? It's kind of cool."

Winky yelped and stormed out of the room, quickly followed by Lavender. A moment later she was back with a small cauldron. She held it out to Dennis. "Put egg in," she urged. "Quickly."

He did as he was told and watched anxiously as Winky hurried over to the fireplace. She put the cauldron next to the flames and then wrung her hands nervously. "I hope it's okay…" she muttered. "Little baby…"

Lavender keened and landed on the edge of the cauldron, studying the egg inside.

…

Dennis wanted to stay and watch the egg, but soon Winky shooed him out, needing to clean before her Mistress returned. After one last look into the cauldron, he reluctantly went back down the ladder.

But soon he was rushing down the staircase below, eager to tell his friends about his discovery. He was in such a hurry that he actually stumbled again. This time, however, he wasn't rescued by dragons, but tumbled head first into the arms of two seventh years.

"Oh… hi… Ginny," he said, blushing. "I'm sorry…"

Ginny helped him back on his feet. "Are you okay, Dennis?" she asked, frowning slightly. "You almost looked like you were running from something."

"I just fell," he said. "But I've just seen the most amazing thing. Right here in the school. You'll never guess what I found!"

"A dragon egg?" Hermione asked.

"No, a dra…" Dennis gasped and stared up at her. "How… How did you know?"

"I've been expecting it for days," she said. "Oooh, I wish I had found it myself…"

Ginny poked her in the side. "Isn't it enough you were the one to see that the dragons were courting? I think it's great that you found it, Dennis." She smiled at him and Dennis tried his best not to turn even more red. "Can we see it?"

"Oh…" Dennis' smile faltered. "I don't have it anymore. I showed it to Professor Trelawney and she made me give it to Winky. She's keeping it warm…"

"That's probably a good idea," Hermione said. "Oh, Hagrid will be so proud! We should tell him right away. He'll probably have a lot of advice for Winky."

"You go to him," Ginny said, shouldering her broom, which she had almost dropped when Dennis bumped into her. "I need a shower before dinner. Or…" She glanced around. "You can send Pig… If he isn't off again, chasing dragons."

Hermione smiled. "He does like playing with creatures of his own size. I'll just rattle the owl treats tin and he'll show up in a second."

…

By dinner time, the tale of the egg had spread over the whole school and everyone was eagerly discussing which dragon had laid the egg and who the father might be. It seemed that most students had their own preferred pairings and a few Ravenclaw girls almost got into a fight over whether Cedric or Sirius was responsible.

But since the Headmistress was away (and both Hagrid and Professor Trelawney were missing from the teacher's table) no official announcement was made about the egg or what would happen to it.