'When I was your age me 'n me dad went to Romania on holiday, ter go 'n see the dragons, 'cause I'd been goin on 'n on 'bout goin since I was 'bout six', confided Hagrid.

'My brother Charlie works in Romania' put in Ron Weasley, as he tried to avoid the drooling dripping jaws of Fang. Harry, Ron and Hermione, friends and fellow students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, were visiting Hagrid in the hope of squeezing some information out of the half giant gamekeeper about their quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid was especially fond of these three young Gryffindors and they loved listening to Hagrid's stories. This particular tale, Hagrid admitted, was one of his more dangerous challenges – a mission set by Dumbledore (Great man, great man, Dumbledore) – even trickier than rescuing a tiny baby from the rubble of a particular house in Cedric's Hollow on a borrowed motorbike, before any Muggles spotted the incredible sight!

'I know Charlie, he was a good student when he was here. Well, anyway my task was to get a dragon egg back to the dragon it belonged to before it hatched and whilst we was in Romania, me and me dad went and visited the dragons, part of me task off Dumbledore and I returned the egg no problem, just laid it by the dragons nest whilst it slept, that's why I'm so fond of them now. Me dad was petrified; I dunno why to be honest with ya as dragons are magnificent and beautiful animals, they are. Well, the only problem tha I had with returnin' the egg was me dad, cause like a said he was petrified an' cause of tha he didn't want me near the dragons, but a didn't listen cause I really wanted to finish what I had already nearly done.

I couldn't wait to see the dragons again so that night I snuck out of the hotel, bout half mile from where the dragons were. I took me dad's wand and set off towards the mountains.' Hagrid looked a little disappointed with himself at this, guilty maybe.

'You really shouldn't have done that Hagrid, you know how dangerous fully grown dragons are' said a disapproving Hermione.

'I know I shouldn't 'ave done it, but I really wanted to go and see them, an' I couldn't have used me own wand 'cause of the restriction of underage wizardry'

'What's that Hagrid?' asked Harry. Before Hagrid could answer Hermione answered for him, eagerly as ever, 'It's a law that stops underage witches and wizards from doing magic outside of school' she said throwing a disapproving look at Hagrid.

'Well I don't regret going and seeing the dragons, not at all'. As he said this a look of happiness spread over his face at the blissful memory. 'When I got to the dragons in the mountains, I used the wand to move things tha' were in me way, I snuck over to one of the sleepin' dragons'. At this Harry, Ron and Hermione sat transfixed to Hagrid, hanging on to what he was saying in awe.

'The dragon was really friendly even thou I woke it up when I was walking towards it, for a few seconds we stared at each other, the dragon's head tilted to the side, like he was wondering wha' I was doing an' as if I was crazy, ya no how much I love animals, I couldn't help but love this one too.

I sat by the dragon looking and watching how it behaved. I thought it was wachin' me as well, mind you dragons are very intelligent. 'Bout half an hour later, near dawn it was, the dragon, I decided to call her Custard, got to 'er feet and stretched, I got up too. Next thing I knew I was bein grabbed by the dragon…'

'Oh, my god,' gasped Hermonie as Ron breathed 'Bloody hell,' so low only Harry who was sat next to him could hear; making Harry grin.

'…and the dragon threw me on her back before settin' off flying' Hagrid continued as though he hadn't heard or seen the others responses. '…up through the mountains. It was great, the cool mornin' air in me face and flyin' so high that I could see the hotel and I could just make out two figures outside by the door. I asked the dragon to take me back an' it did just that, believe it or not' (by this stage Ron was sat with his mouth open in awe.)

'As we flew closer the two figures by the door of the hotel became clearer and finally I could make them out ta be me dad and Dumbledore standing having a conversation. When custard landed an' me dad saw me he stood transfixed to the dragon in shock, Dumbledore thou was smiling and walked over and helped me down, he had come to see if everything was ok and I had returned the egg, once me an' Dumbledore got me dad back inside and I returned the wand and me dad told me I was grounded, after telling them what had happened that night, Dumbledore, great man he is, produced this flute out of the air with his wand and gave it to me an' ive kept it ever since' he finished the story by producing the flute that he had just spoke about and unknown to harry, the flute had just become one of the many Christmas presents he would be receiving this year.