Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I attempting to make any personal gain from this story.

Harry Slithers-in; Philosopher's Stone: Chapter 10: Norbert and Fluffy

Most students stayed at Hogwarts over Easter. Harry followed the same pattern as over Christmas, finishing all his assignments in the first week and relaxing with his friends over the second week. His closest friends were Blaise and Theo while Tracey was always hanging around as well. The others were beginning to think of Harry and Tracey as a couple which, of course, they were.

He wasn't quite certain exactly when this had happened and guessed it was just something that had always been there. Tracey was a bright, outgoing girl but she never tried dictating to Harry, although he had noticed himself she usually got her way eventually. Since generally her suggestions were good and well thought out he was happy to follow her lead, although Draco in particular had taken to reminding him about their conversation back in the first week of the first term about Tracey being almost his master.

"Draco," Harry finally said, "Tracey is not my master. I admit she comes up with a lot of ideas but I only bring them up after I have considered them myself. I don't do everything she says."

"All the same, when did you last come up with an idea that was wholly your own?" Draco asked.

This stumped Harry. Finally he decided Draco did have a point; he did seem to follow Tracey's lead with a lot of things. He decided to be more independent in future, spending more time with the boys and less with the girls.

It was early in the third term when Harry, Theo and Blaise were in the library finishing off some assignments when they were interrupted by Hagrid. "'ello Harry, how are yeh?" Hagrid asked.

"Fine. I've got some assignments to finish but nothing I can't handle. Why are you here Hagrid?"

"Jus' lookin' fer some books, yeh know."

After Hagrid had left Theo asked "What do you think he's really doing?"

"Don't know. Why don't we see what he was looking at just now?" Harry replied.

He and Theo went to the area Hagrid had been in and discovered it was mainly books on dragons. While they were there Ron Weasley arrived. "Potter, Nott. Why are you looking at books on dragons?" he asked.

"They look interesting," Theo replied. "Why are you here?"

"Just curious," Weasley replied before returning to a table where several other Gryffindors, including Hermione Granger, were sitting.

"That's suspicious," Theo said to Harry. "Weasley in a library and apparently studying."

"Not as suspicious as Hagrid in a library looking for books on dragons," Harry replied as they returned to the table. They told Blaise what they had seen and he agreed Hagrid's actions were unusual.

Friday afternoon Harry decided to visit Hagrid to try and find out what he had been doing in the library. As usual Tracey was the only one who wanted to accompany him so the two of them left together straight after lunch. As they approached the cabin they were surprised to see smoke from the chimney and that all the curtains were drawn, even though it was a hot day. Harry knocked on the door.

"Oh hello Harry. I'm kinda busy at the moment. Things to do an' all," Hagrid replied.

"We were just wondering what you were doing reading up on dragons. And why is the fire lit when it's so hot outside?" the heat coming from Hagrid's cabin was quite intense.

"Alrigh', come in, but don' expect many answers," Hagrid said.

It really was hot and dark inside. "Hagrid," Tracey began, "can we open a window, please?"

"Er, no, not jus' now," Hagrid replied. "Would like a cup o' tea?"

"No thanks. I'm warm enough already," she said.

Harry, meanwhile, was looking at the fire place. "Hagrid? What is that in there? It looks like a giant egg."

"Tha's not important," Hagrid said evasively. "How are yer subjects goin'?"

"Pretty well," Harry replied.

"Hagrid? Isn't that a dragon egg?" Tracey, who had approached the fireplace, looked shocked.

"Er, yeah it is. Tha's not important, though. How are your classes goin', Tracey?"

"I'm doing ok but dragon eggs are illegal in Britain. Didn't you know that?" she answered.

"How did you get it?" Harry asked.

"I won it off a bloke in a pub. He told me it was a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're really rare."

"What did this person look like?" asked Harry.

"Dunno. He kept his hood up the whole time. Tha's not that unusual at the Hogs Head," Hagrid added when he saw the expressions on the student's faces.

Since it was so hot inside Harry and Tracey decided to leave. As they walked back to the castle they discussed what Hagrid had said. Tracey explained about the ban on dragon breeding and that it was illegal to possess a dragon's egg off a designated preserve without permission from the Ministry of Magic. Since it was to say the least unlikely Hagrid had obtained such permission she felt they needed to see Dumbledore about it. Harry disagreed; he felt as long as it didn't hurt anyone they should just let it be. He added Hagrid had told him he'd always wanted a dragon and, now that he had one, he might realise just how difficult it would be. Eventually everyone would find out anyway so he saw no need to push the matter. Reluctantly, Tracey agreed with him, deciding not to do anything as long as no-one got hurt.

It didn't take them lone to realise they weren't the only students who knew about the dragon egg. Over the weekend they noticed Weasley and Granger heading to Hagrid's cabin. Clearly they knew about it too. Over the next week or so Harry and Tracey took turns watching Hagrid and the Gryffindors who were visiting almost daily. They realised the egg must be hatching when Weasley and Granger headed to the cabin during morning break, something they had never done before. Harry was planning on going as well when they saw Draco approach the cabin right behind the Gryffindors. They decided to wait.

That evening in the Common Room Harry asked Draco, "Why did you go to Hagrid's cabin this morning?"

"I was following Weasley. Hagrid will be in so much trouble when everybody finds out what he's doing," Malfoy replied.

"Has the egg hatched?" Harry asked.

Draco turned to him in shock. "You know about it?"

"Yeah. It's a Norwegian Ridgeback. I am aware of what he's doing and I think he's an idiot for doing it but, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, I'm going to let it go," Harry said.

Several days later they found out Ron Weasley was in the hospital wing. They didn't know what had happened but it was a safe bet it was dragon related. Draco confirmed this after visiting Weasley to ask if he could borrow a book which he then showed to Harry. In the book was a note. Apparently the dragon was to be moved secretly later that night. Draco intended catching the Gryffindors in the act but Harry moved first. He sent an anonymous note to Dumbledore using a school owl telling the Headmaster everything. When he told Tracey she agreed wholeheartedly with his decision.

Next morning Harry awoke to an angry Draco Malfoy. "I can't believe it," Malfoy growled. "I went out to catch those Gryffindor scum with a dragon but, not only did I get caught, but then I find out that Dumbledore knew about it already and was helping them move it.'

"Dumbledore know?" Harry said, acting surprised.

"There was a dragon in the castle?" Theo asked.

"You knew about it, Potter?" Blaise added.

"Yeah," Malfoy said. "Hagrid had a dragon, Potter knew about it as did I and, as it turns out, so did Dumbledore. I got a detention and those Gryffindors got a reward, well Granger did anyway, Weasley's in the hospital wing. I hope it's serious."

Harry knew what must have happened. Malfoy knew the dragon was being moved that night and had decided to try and have the Gryffindors caught out of bounds but had himself been caught. Harry didn't really feel sorry for him since it was his own fault. At least it hadn't cost them too many house points.

The next Friday Harry visited Hagrid. "Come in, Harry," Hagrid said.

"Why do you look so unhappy?" Harry asked.

"Yer know they took Norbert don' yer?"

"Norbert? Is that the dragon?"

"Yeah. Dumbledore came down and said sending 'im ter the dragon habitat in Romania was the best thing for it but I dunno. What if he's unhappy there?"

"He's a dragon. I'm sure he will be well looked after. Besides, you've still got Fluffy." Harry tried to put a positive spin on the situation.

"Don' you go on abou' Fluffy," Hagrid growled. "Yeh already know too much.'

"I know Fluffy is guarding Nicolas Flamel's Philosophers Stone."

"How did yeh find tha' out?" Hagrid seemed angry suddenly.

"It's on a chocolate frog card," Harry explained. Hagrid huffed. "I was wondering, something so valuable must be well protected."

"It is. Several teachers helped out. All the heads o' house, an' Quirrell. You don' need to worry about it. Now go on, off yer go." With that Harry left Hagrid's cabin.

Several nights later Malfoy left the Common Room to do his detention. Harry thought it unusual that a detention would take place at night and wondered what he was doing. He intended to ask Malfoy in the morning but, in the event, Malfoy woke everybody up when he came running into the dormitory at 2-30 am. "There's some kind of blood sucking monster in the forest." Malfoy was clearly very afraid of what he had encountered.

"What do you mean? A vampire?" Theo asked.

"Whatever it was, it was drinking unicorn blood, and a centaur said only someone with nothing to lose would kill a unicorn," Malfoy explained.

"Centaur?" Harry was surprised to hear that.

"I am never going into that forest again. I don't care what might happen to me by refusing, but I'll take that over death." That was the end of the conversation.

Harry told Tracey everything Malfoy had said. She already knew of Harry's conversation with Hagrid and this new information made her wonder if this monster might be after the stone. Quickly they realised the two were connected and Harry wondered if Voldemort might be behind it. He explained he had been getting weird surges of pain from his scar and decided to see if there was a pattern to them. Tracey agreed to help him out by assisting him in keeping notes. He concluded from this record that somebody in the castle was helping Voldemort and that it was probable one of the teachers who had helped protect the stone was guilty.

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The Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff distracted Harry over the next few weeks. Slytherin won but the margin was probably too small for them to win the Quidditch Cup. They now had to hope Ravenclaw beat Gryffindor by less than 100 points, if Gryffindor won the cup was theirs and if Ravenclaw won by more than 100 they would win.

Exams also distracted Harry. He got through all his exams and thought he had done well. Tracey was confident of reasonable results too while the rest of the first years also seemed satisfied with their efforts. The afternoon after their last exam Harry, who had been thinking back over the year's events, suddenly realised something that had happened many weeks earlier had a sinister undertone. Who was the man whom Hagrid had won the dragon egg off? As he sat outside in the sun watching an owl fly up to the castle he told Tracey of his suspicions.

"I think the person who gave Hagrid that dragon egg might be the one after the stone," he said.

Tracey realised what he was saying. "We need to see Hagrid, now."

They ran to Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid," Harry called.

"Hello, Harry; hello Tracey. How are yeh?"

"Hagrid, when you won that dragon egg, did you talk to this man about anything?"

"Yeah. We talked all sorts of things, what I did; what types of animals I had here. Why are yeh askin'?"

"Did you talk about Fluffy?" Tracey asked.

"Yeah. He asked me how I handled some of the animals an' I told him after Fluffy a dragon would be easy. I told 'im it was jus' a matter of knowin' what to do. Like wi' Fluffy all yeh have to do is play some music an' he'll drop off to sleep jus' like that. Wait, forget I said that."

"We've gotta go," Harry said as he and Tracey ran back to the castle.