A slight breeze flitted through the grounds of Hogwarts, and Draco hitched his cloak a bit higher, snuggling deeper into the warm material. He felt wonderfully liberated. Sometimes, he would just go take a stroll across the grounds to escape the cold, suffocating atmosphere in the Slytherin dungeons. He found that the cool night air was always able to clear his mind, leaving him feeling refreshed. There was another up side….he had recently taken to standing under the Gryffindor Tower, staring up at the lighted windows, and wondering which room held a sleeping Hermione Granger. How he wished he could nick a broom and fly by the windows, just to risk a peek…
He inhaled deeply, eyes closed. Hmmm. The smell of the woods, carried by the breeze was just –
He thought he just saw something moving by the hut of that great big oaf, Hogwarts' gamekeeper. Curious, he approached the wooden hut cautiously. By default, students should not be out of bed at this time, and certainly should not be wandering around the grounds. He, of course, was never one to follow the rules.
Reaching the hut, he stood tall on his toes, and peeked in. What he saw nearly caused his eyes to pop out. Figuratively, that is.
A dark, scaly thing was stumbling around the table, letting out the occasional hacking cough that would release a small burst of flames. A baby dragon. Draco could not believe his eyes. What kind of an idiot would get their hands on a dragon egg, hatch it, and possibly attempt to raise it?...In a wooden hut at that? Oh, right. This idiot. He could not help but roll his eyes in the oaf's direction. Then, he suddenly remembered why he was there in the first place. Oh, yeah. The moving shapes I saw by the door just now…
It was Potter, Weasley and Hermione. He had almost forgotten how close the three were with the gamekeeper. Draco stifled a chuckle when he saw that his classmates were just as dumbfounded as he. Obviously, he didn't do a very good job of it as Potter suddenly looked over.
"!" Draco's eyes widened, and he quickly fled towards the Entrance Hall before he was discovered.
o-o-o-o-o
"It was Draco Malfoy."
Harry announced, after rushing to the door to see who the intruder was. There was no mistakening the blonde hair. "He knows now. What should we do?"
"Hagrid, you have to send him away. Knowing Malfoy, he is going to rat you out the first chance he has. You're keeping an illegal dragon in a wooden hut, for goodness' sake!"
"…I…I guess you're right, 'Ermione. But…he is just a baby. Mummy will miss 'im so much…" Hagrid burst into tears.
Hermione was furious at Malfoy. Sure, there was no way Hagrid could really raise a dragon in that hut of his, but Malfoy's appearance ruined everything. How on earth would they have the time to contact Ron's brother, hear out his response, and get a dragon safely off the grounds before the others found out about it…?
o-o-o-o-o
Draco paced around his bedroom. His footsteps were soft, hardly audible - a skill he had achieved in all the years he had to sneak around the Malfoy Manor soundlessly, for fear of angering his Father. Everyone else was asleep. So concentrated on his thoughts was Draco that the thunderous snoring didn't even bother him in the slightest.
What should I do…what should I do…
He was contemplating telling McGonagall about what he saw tonight. On one hand, Hermione was sure to hate him even more than ever, if he were to rat them out. On the other hand, there was no way he could allow Hagrid to raise a baby dragon in his hut. He knew that Hermione would be involved, and the dangers that could arise from this situation were countless. She could be bitten or burnt, or, even worse, the whole hut might burn to the ground with one cough from the dragon, trapping her in this fiery coffin. He shuddered at the thought.
No. If Hermione wanted to hate him, let it be. He was not going to risk her safety, just for his own selfish means. And anyway, he had been doing a great job of angering her. One more thing to put on the list of reasons of why she hates him would hardly make a difference.
He would seek out McGonagall tomorrow.
A/N: I just felt like writing this but I don't have the books with me and stuff so the scene may not be exactly like the original. But hey, I warned you that this would be slightly AU. PS scenes should probably come to a close by the next chapter or so. (:
