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Kurata and Gottsumon, however, must have been braver than they thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler thinner, but it didn't look like he'd cracked yet.
Every time they'd pass the third-floor corridor, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Sato and Impmon were sweeping about in their usual bad temper, which meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Daisuke and V-mon passed Kurata and Gottsumon these days, they'd give them an encouraging sort of smile, and Takeru and Patamon had started telling people off for laughing at Kurata's stutter.
Hikari, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone. She had started making up a study schedule. Daisuke and Takeru wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.
"Hikari-chan, the exams are ages away." Daisuke said.
"10 weeks." Hikari replied. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Fuhii Naca."
"But we're not 600 years old." Takeru reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."
"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the 2nd year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"
"Hikari-chan, relax, you're getting too concerned with your studies." Daisuke said.
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hikari. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hikari next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood and practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work.
"I'll never remember this." Takeru bursted out one afternoon, throwing down his pen and looking longingly out the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Daisuke, who was looking up "Dittany" in "1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi", didn't look up until he heard Takeru say "Hengai-san! What are you doing in the library"?
Hengai shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Just looking." He said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "And what are you lot up to?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still looking for Fuhii Naca, are yeh?"
"We found who he is ages ago." Takeru said impressively. "And we know what the dog's guarding, a Philosopher St-"
"Shhhh!" Hengai looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don't go shouting about it, what's the matter with you?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you as a matter of fact." Said Daisuke "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"
"SHHHHHHH!" Hengai said. "Listen, come and see me later. I'm not promising I'll tell ya, but don't go rabbiting about it in here, students aren't supposed to know. They'll think I've told you-"
"See you later, then." V-mon said.
Hengai shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" Tailmon said thoughtfully.
"I'm going to see what section he was in." Said Patamon. He came back a minute later. "Dragons! Hengai was looking up stuff about dragons!" He whispered.
"Hengai's always wanted a dragon, Jun said he told her so the first time she ever met him." Daisuke said.
"But it's against our laws." Takeru said. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden-anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns my uncle Tatsuya's got off wild ones in Romania."
Everyone just looked at him strangely, wondering how he knew that.
"My uncle." Takeru simply responded.
"But there aren't any wild dragons in Japan?" Daisuke asked.
"Well, no, but there is the Chinese Fireball. Our kind has to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth's Hengai-san up to?" Tailmon asked.
When they knocked on the door of the Gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hengai asked "Who is there?" before letting them in and then quickly shutting the door behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hengai made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So, yeh wanted to ask me something?" Hengai asked as he sat beside Muchomon.
"Yes." Daisuke said. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hengai and Muchomon frowned.
"Of course I can't." He said. "Number one, we don't know ourselves. Number two, you know too much already, so we wouldn't tell ya if we could. That Stone's here for a reason. It was almost stolen outta Mahginko-we suppose you've worked that out and all? Beats us how you even know about Fluffy."
"Oh, come on Hengai-san, you might not want to tell us, but you do, you know everything that goes on around here." Said Hikari in a warm, flattering, adorable voice that could make anyone break. Hengai's beard twitched and you could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Damaro and Hyokomon had trusted to help him, apart from you."
Hengai's chest swelled at these last words. Daisuke and Takeru beamed at Hikari.
"Well, I don't suppose it could hurt to tell you that…let's see…he borrowed Fluffy from me…then some of the teachers did enchantments…Moyashi-sensei, Kurushin-sensei, Nakamura-sensei," He ticked them off his finger "Kurata-sensei, and Damaro-sensei himself did something, of course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Sato-sensei."
"Sato?"
"Yeah, yer not still about that, are ya? Look, Sato helped protect the Stone, he's not about to steal it."
Daisuke and V-mon knew that Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon were thinking the same as they were. If Sato had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything-except, it seemed, Kurata's spell and how to get past Fluffy.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hengai, Muchomon?" V-mon said anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except us and Damaro and Hyokomon." Hengai said proudly.
"Well, that's something." V-mon muttered to the others. "Hengai, can we have a window open? I'm, boiling."
"Can't V-mon, sorry." Hengai said. He glanced along with his partner at the fire. Daisuke and V-mon looked too.
"Hengai…what's that?"
But they already knew what it was. At the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah," Said Hengai, fiddling with his beard "that's a, uh…"
"Where did you get it Hengai-san?" Takeru asked, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at it. "It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it." Hengai said. "Last night. I was down in the village having a few drinks and got into a game of cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad to be rid of it, to be honest."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Tailmon said.
"Well, I've been doing some reading." Hengai said. "Got this out of the library, "Dragon Breading for Pleasure and Profit", it's a bit outta date, of course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, cause their mothers breath on them, see, when it hatches, feed it on a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour."
"And see here." Muchomon said. "How to recognize different eggs. What I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
They looked very pleased with themselves, but Hikari and Tailmon didn't.
"Hengai-san, Muchomon, you live in a wooden house." They said.
But Hengai and Muchomon weren't listening. They were humming merrily as they stroked the fire.
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hengai and Muchomon if anyone found out they were hiding an illegal dragon in their hut.
"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life?" Takeru sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hikari had been nice enough to bother and make study schedules for Daisuke and Takeru, and, although they were grateful, it was driving them nuts.
Then, one breakfast time, Yushiba had brought Daisuke another note from Hengai. They had written only two words: "It's hatching."
Takeru and Patamon wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down the hut, but Hikari wouldn't hear any of it.
"Hikari-chan, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Takeru said.
"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Henga-san and Muchomon're gonna be in when somebody finds out what they're doing-"
"Shut up!" Daisuke whispered.
Koaku and Dracomon were only a few feet away and had stopped dead to listen. How much had they heard? Daisuke and V-mon didn't like the look on Koaku and Dracomon's faces at all.
Takeru and Hikari argued all the way down to Herbology and, in the end, Hikari agreed to run down to Hengai and Muchomon's with the other four during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru dropped their trowels at once and they, plus their partners, hurried through the ground to the edge of the forest. Hengai and Muchomon greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." Hengai ushered the inside.
The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside, a funny clicking noise was coming from it.
They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a cracking noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Daisuke and V-mon thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging orange eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its mouth.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hengai murmured. He reached out a hand to stoke the dragons head. It snapped at his fingers, showing its fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hengai said.
"Hengai-san, how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow exactly?" Hikari asked.
Muchomon was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from Hengai's face-he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone was looking through the gap in the curtains-it's a kid-he's running back up to the school!"
Daisuke and V-mon bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking them.
Koaku and Dracomon had seen the dragon.
Something about the smile lurking on Koaku and Dracomon's face the next week made Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon. They spent most of their free time in Hengai and Muchomon's darkened hut, trying to reason with them.
"Just let him go." V-mon urged. "Set him free."
"I can't." Said Muchomon. "He's too little. He'd die."
They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept curling out of its nostrils. Hengai and Muchomon hadn't been doing their Gamekeping duties because the dragon had been keeping them so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.
"I've decided to call him Nagato." Said Hengai, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Nagato! Nagato! Where's Mommy?"
"He's lost it." Takeru muttered in Daisuke's ear.
"Hengai-san, Muchomon, give it two weeks and Nagatos's going to be as long as your house. Koaku and Dracomon could go to Damaro at any moment."
Hengai and Muchomon but their lips.
"I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't just dump him, I can't." Muchomon said.
Daisuke suddenly turned to Takeru.
"Tatsuya." Daisuke said.
"You're losing it too." Takeru said. "I'm Takeru, remember?"
"No-Tatsuya-your uncle, Tatsuya. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Nagato to him. Tatsuya can take care of him and put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant! How about it Hengai-san, Muchomon?" Takeru asked.
In the end, Hengai agreed that they could send an owl to Tatsuya to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon sitting alone in the Common Room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Takeru and Patamon appeared out of nowhere as they pulled off Daisuke's Invisibility Cloak. They had been down at Hengai and Muchomon's hut, helping them feed Nagato, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.
"It bit me!" Takeru said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a pen for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most terrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hengai-san and Muchomon go on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me they told me off for frightening it. And when I left, Hengai-san was singing it a lullaby."
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Yushiba." Daisuke said, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Tatsuya's answer!"
The six of them put their heads together to read the note.
"Dear Takeru,
How are you? Thanks for the letter-I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Throuble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Tatsuya"
"We've got the Invisibility Cloak." Daisuke said. "It shouldn't be too difficult. I think the Cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Nagato."
There was a hitch. By the next morning, Takeru's hand had swollen to twice its usual size. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Nagato's fangs were poisonous.
One night, on Friday evening, Koaku sneaked into the Hospital Wing and took away one of Takeru's books. He had just sneaked in to get a good laugh out of Takeru, but took the book as a set up for a reason to pass by, and Takeru was forced to stay quiet or else Kaoku would tell Madam Nopshu. Unfortunately, the envelope containing the answer to Tatsuya was inside the book, meaning that Koaku knew about the plan to get rid of Nagato, so they had to dispatch Nagato tonight.
Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon went to Hengai's hut that night. Nagato was put into a crate and handed to them by Muchomon.
"Bye-bye, Nagato!" Hengai and Muchomon sobbed, as Daisuke and Hikari covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and then stepped under it themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"
The highest tower in the castle was Damaro and Hyokomon's office, so they had to go to the second largest, the Astronomy Tower. How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Nagato up the marble staircase in the entrance hall along the dark corridors.
Up another staircase, then another-even one of Daisuke's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Daisuke panted as they reached the corridor beneath the second tallest tower.
A lamp flared. While walking through the corridors, they passed by Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, WhitePawnChessmon, Koaku, and Dracomon, the Goono House Head pulling Koaku by the ear.
"Detention!" She shouted. "And 20 points from Suruberu! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"
"You don't understand sensei. Motomiya Daisuke's coming-he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come one-I shall see Sato-sensei about you, Koaku!"
The group climbed the spiral staircase up to the Astronomy Tower, before throwing the Cloak of, glad to be able to breath properly again.
"Dracomon and Koaku's got detention! I could sing!" Tailmon said.
"Don't." V-mon advised her.
They waited about 10 minutes before four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.
Tatsuya's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Daisuke, Hikari, Tailmon, and V-mon the harness they'd rigged up so they could suspend Nagato between them. They all helped buckle Nagato safely into it and then Daisuke, Hikari, V-mon, and Tailmon shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
At last, Nagato was going…going…gone.
They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Nagato was off them. No more dragon-Koaku and Dracomon got detention-what could spoil their happiness.
The answer was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Fuki's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well." He whispered. "We are in trouble."
They had left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.
I hope you liked the chapter. Thank you to reviewers ssss, HPfan, J, and Mar the Fox. And please, continue to review.