Disclaimer: Anything in which you recognize is J.K. Rowling's and the things you don't perhaps belong to me.
Chapter 10: Lessons Learned
"Oh give it a rest already Harry!" Dorinda groaned as she grabbed the back of her brother's robes and tugged him around the corner.
"Dorinda!" Harry puffed loudly. Ron at least had the decency to look ashamed or at the very least embarrassed at being caught.
"Let's be honest Harry, even if Professor Snape was intending to steal the stone, he surely wouldn't be doing it in the middle of a school day!" Dorinda whispered harshly.
"I know that." Harry resigned in a sigh. "I wasn't even spying on him, I was on my way to Hagrid's and he walked by."
"You should be more careful Harry. Snape is a capable wizard; he probably realizes that you're watching him." Dorinda said logically. "What are you going to Hagrid's for?"
"Rose says he has been acting weirdly. So I thought I might head out there and make sure he isn't in any trouble." Harry explained.
Dorinda nodded knowledgably; they had all been worried about the half-giant. It was already the end of March and Dorinda was practically frantic about the upcoming final exams. She and Hermione had teamed up to organize a study schedule in order to properly prepare them. Harry and Ron did their best to avoid most of the grueling sessions but it was getting harder as the exams grew nearer. Rose was constantly in the library with her sister, she didn't like to disappoint her. Julian made it to less of the sessions than Harry; he made up excuses that he was studying with Draco. Merlin only knew what he was honestly up to. All in all, they hadn't had much time to spend with Hagrid and were all feeling a bit guilty about it.
"Well I wish to go with you, meet me at the Great Hall in twenty minutes." Dorinda hurried away as Harry nodded.
Dorinda swiftly made her way up to the Ravenclaw dormitory to put her school bag away. She had to admit she was a bit worried about Julian. He was naturally smart and as far as she knew, he was passing all of his classes perfectly but it unnerved her at how much time he spent with Malfoy. She had heard many things about the Malfoy family and she had to be honest, none of it was reassuring. Julian didn't speak much of his and Draco's friendship but he didn't seem at all worried by the Malfoy's supposed connection to their parent's murderer.
"And where are you off to in such a hurry?" Said boy's voice broke into her thoughts. Her green eyes met his identical ones happily and she smiled at her brother lovingly. The smile turned into a grimace however when her eyes then met the steely gaze of Draco Malfoy.
"Off to Hagrid's for a bit of tea." Dorinda turned her attention back to her brother whose wide and mischievous grin instantly took the misgivings from her mind. "Fancy coming?"
"Actually I think I might?" Julian answered surprisingly, Dorinda's eyebrow rose as she glanced at Draco.
"I must be off, father is awaiting this letter." Draco dismissed himself and with a frosty glare at Dorinda, took off towards the owlry.
"Oh come on now Dorinda," Julian put his arm around his sister's shoulder, "do play nice!"
"Haven't seen Rose around have you?" Dorinda quickly changed the subject; she didn't feel up to another argument over Malfoy. He wasn't worth it. "Perhaps she might enjoy Hagrid's company as well?"
"Can't believe it's already goin' ter be April." Hagrid shook his head, making his evermore dirty beard shake back and forth. He looked a bit of a mess to be honest, his clothes were burnt in several places and covered in filth. His face could use a washing as the dirt was crevassed in wrinkles that made Hagrid look quite troubled over something. "Yer guys are already goin' ter be second years!"
"The year has indeed flown by." Rose smiled as she sipped the bland tea. She was the only one who still took Hagrid's cooking genuinely, not wanting to offend him.
"Hagrid are you alright?" Dorinda asked as worry etched into her childish face. Hagrid looked surprised at the sudden question, his cheeks instantly reddening as his eyes glanced over at the fireplace nervously.
"Why would yer ask me tha'?" Hagrid smiled and laughed tensely. "Course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be!"
"You just look a bit unkempt that's all." Rose hurried to assure him, her gentle smile seeming to calm him down a bit. "We worried about you."
"Bout me?" Hagrid asked abashed. "It's me who should be worried! Up ter no good the lot of yeh!"
"Personally I think you look fine!" Julian smiled encouragingly. "Sure your beard is scraggly, your hair tangled and you honestly look to have been living in a dumpster for awhile-"
"Julian!" Rose's eyebrows knitted together at her brother's bluntness.
"But you look happy to me!" Julian finished in a laugh as if Rose had never interrupted. He clapped Hagrid's sturdy shoulder and smiled brightly at the man.
"There's nothin' goin' on wit' me that yer be needin' ter worry 'bout!" Hagrid tried to convince them. It probably would have worked to, only at the exact moment he finished; the cauldron hanging over the fireplace gave off a very loud noise. Hagrid instantly jumped to his feet, rather quickly for his size and all but ran over to the cauldron in a hurry to peer inside.
"Hagrid what is in that cauldron?" Hermione spoke up, her voice anxious and slightly afraid. Hagrid didn't seem to be listening to them any longer however; his full attention was on whatever was inside the cauldron.
"Hagrid?" Rose said softly, slowly rising to her feet and making her way over to the doting man curiously. "Oh my!"
"A dragon egg!" Ron gasped, having come over to get his own look at what was happening. "But Hagrid, they are highly illegal in Britain!"
"Shh keep yer voice down!" Hagrid whispered, seeming to come back into reality.
"But Hagrid, how did you get this?" Dorinda asked horrified as she peered down at the large black egg. Hagrid wasn't exactly making loads of galleons as Gamekeeper of Hogwarts she was sure. "I imagined they aren't easy to come by."
"I won it off an Irish feller I met down in the pub!" Hagrid said proudly. "In a poker game."
"And this man just happen to be carrying a dragon egg with him?" Dorinda asked suspiciously. It didn't seem at all normal or coincidental.
"Well I suppose he was off ter sell it." Hagrid said distracted once again as the egg hit the side of the cauldron, resulting in another loud bang. "It's hatchin'!"
"Hagrid this can't be safe!" Hermione squeaked out urgently, backing away as Hagrid started to lift the egg out of the cauldron and placed it on the small table. It was twitching creepily.
"Come on little guy!" Julian whooped excitedly, Dorinda and Hermione sent him incredulous looks. Ron however seemed quite excited as well if not a bit petrified. Harry smiled at his brother's antics; it was a bit exhilarating he had to admit.
"Oh!" Rose covered her mouth with her hand, her emerald eyes switching from the encouraging face of Hagrid to the now breaking egg on the table.
"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback!" Ron exclaimed as the small dragon emerged from the remnants of its now broken shell. "My brother Charlie studies these in Romania! They are really rare!"
"Well 'ello Norbert!" Hagrid's face grew wide to support the enthusiastic smile that spread across his face. "Bless 'im he knows 'is mummy!"
"Hagrid this is reckless and very dangerous!" Dorinda screeched hysterically as the situation began to hit her. "You can't possibly believe that you can raise this creature?"
But Hagrid was no longer listening; he only had eyes for the dragon that now seemed to find that he could already blow tiny flames from his mouth quite easily. Hagrid bustled around and started making a large cauldron mixture of chicken blood and brandy. Dorinda left in a huff back up to the castle, not wanting any part of the charade.
"Amazing." Harry muttered shaking his head in astonishment as Hagrid began to feed the hungry dragon.
Harry soon learned however that Norbert, while amazing, grew quite fast. He was becoming exceedingly dangerous to not only Hagrid but to his home as well. Norbert didn't listen despite Hagrid's attempts to explain that he was only a baby. They were all quite sure that soon, Hagrid would no longer be able to hide the growing animal within his hut. As the Easter Holidays came upon them, they were all quite certain that it was time to find Norbert a new home. Harry, Ron and Julian decided to bring it up after an incident in which the table had caught fire.
"Hagrid, we love Norbert as much as you." Julian began nervously. "That's why we know you only want the best for him."
"Course I do!" Hagrid agreed in a sigh. He had large and deep circles beneath his eyes; taking care of a baby dragon was a full time job. Hagrid hadn't slept properly in two weeks.
"Well then we need to find a new home for him, where he can be free."
"Barmy, he's happy 'ere!" Hagrid glanced over at the dragon that was eating a raw piece of meat hungrily.
"Charlie." Harry whispered looking at Ron. Everyone turned to look at him now, as if he like Hagrid had too indeed lost his mind.
"You're losing it too," Ron said slowly, "I'm Ron remember?"
"I know that!" Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Your brother Charlie! We can send Norbert to him?"
"Oi I didn't think of that." Ron said, suddenly smiling at the revelation. "Yeah that would be a great idea, Norbert would love it there Hagrid."
"I dunno." Hagrid gazed at said dragon lovingly but he no longer seemed so against the idea.
"It's for the best Hagrid." Julian clasped the man on the shoulder in support. "After all, your house is wooden."
Ron sent out a letter to Charlie and they all were surprised by how quickly he responded. Charlie had some friends that agreed to meet them the Saturday before the end of Easter Holidays and would drop him off in Romania. Charlie's friends were going to meet them at the top of the tallest tower. Harry and Ron decided to volunteer to be the ones to do the job but as the day came, they couldn't help but be less than optimistic about being caught.
"This whole idea of Hagrid's was foolish in the first place!" Dorinda ranted quietly in the library. "How he ever thought he could actually raise a wild dragon is beyond me!"
"He has a good heart Dorinda." Rose defended Hagrid in a whisper, Dorinda sighed. "He only meant well."
"Of course he did but this has been more trouble than it was ever worth." Dorinda continued. "Final exams are closing in on us and we should be solely focused on passing them, not having to worry about sneaking an illegal animal out of the school!"
"It will all be over soon enough." Harry agreed with Dorinda, the dragon idea could have only been conceived by Hagrid. "Then we can refocus our attentions back on Snape."
"Oh not that again Harry, I thought we were passed that!" Dorinda rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Snape hasn't made a move yet, what makes you so convinced that he even will?"
"He is waiting on something." Harry muttered shaking his head. "I just don't know what."
"You can't even be sure that it's Snape who is even after the stone Harry." Rose spoke up seeing that Dorinda was obviously done talking about the subject. "Quirrell is just as likely."
"Oh come on, Snape or Quirrell really?" Ron exasperated taking Harry's side. "He is a slimy Slytherin!"
"Not talking about me now are you?" Julian's smooth voice joined the conversation as he and Draco came up behind Dorinda and another Ravenclaw first year, Padma Patil. "No need to be rude."
While Julian was doing his best to get along with Ron after the unfortunate fight at the Quidditch match for Harry's sake, the same couldn't be said about Ron. He still made Slytherin comments quite regularly and while Julian chose to ignore those most often, Malfoy just couldn't resist a reason to fight with the redhead. Ron still held a grudge against Julian for punching him in the jaw and Harry was quite sure it wouldn't just disappear anytime soon.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Ron chose to ignore his best friend's brother for the moment and focus his attention on getting a rise out of the blonde.
"Bit touché today Weasley?" Malfoy remarked, one pale blond eyebrow rose in humor. "On edge perhaps, not up to something you shouldn't be are you?"
"I don't need an excuse to fight with a dirty Slytherin like you." Ron spat instantly getting heated.
"Not today boys, if you please." Dorinda demanded in annoyance, House rivalry was beyond childish. Even for eleven year olds! "It's getting old."
"To right you are Dorinda!" Julian smiled clasping a hand onto both Draco and Ron's shoulders. "We're all friends here."
"Yeah right." Ron mumbled but said boy went back to attempting to finish his Charms essay.
Nobody spoke of the conversation after that. Except for Julian, they all agreed that Malfoy was best left out of any dealings. His parents had been followers of Voldemort and therefore, he could not be trusted. The two Slytherin boys didn't stay long; they left right after Hermione bustled into the library. Her hair looking frizzier as the final exams drew closer. She wasn't the only one who was beginning to look more than a little frazzled.
Speaking of Professor Quirrell, he was looking paler and quite a bit thinner as the weeks had progressed. Harry swore that this was because of the impending threat of Snape stalking around him. Dorinda waved off this explanation but didn't provide one of her own. However, that didn't deter Harry. He took it as a good sign that at least Quirrell hadn't broke yet.
"Come on Ron; let's go down to Hagrid's." Harry gathered his stuff up and said his goodbyes as he hurried off with a thankful Ron.
"Didn't think I was going to be able to act like I was working much longer!" Ron huffed, the strenuous effort obvious in his voice. Harry laughed at his friend.
"That essay is due tomorrow; you'll have to finish it sometime." Harry said after he finished laughing with Ron, he grimaced he sounded too much like Dorinda.
"I will finish in the common room later." Ron brushed it off. "You'll let me borrow yours won't you? I doubt Hermione will."
"Sure." Harry assured him as they came to Hagrid's door and knocked loudly. Hagrid peaked one bleary eye out before ushering them quickly inside. "Another fire, Hagrid?"
"Not 'is fault!" Hagrid instantly defended Norbert as he patted out the rest of the flames that had been licking up the sleeves of his moleskin coat. "Dunno any better."
"Hagrid I've been meaning to ask you something." Harry said slowly, trying not to look too interested. Hagrid put a kettle of tea on the table as Norbert settled down a bit, perhaps to take a nap. "Do you have any reason to believe that Snape is untrustworthy?"
"Harry this isn't 'bout that ruddy stone again isit?" Hagrid tensed up suspiciously. "Snape isn't 'bout ter steal it, why he is on' of the professors protectin' it!"
"So there are other things protecting the stone then?" Harry asked perplexed, this of course seemed reasonable now that he thought about it. "Like enchantments and spells?"
"Yes, the stone is safe." Hagrid finally relented. "Now quit yer worrying."
"Of course." Hermione muttered to herself later on in the common room. Harry and Ron had just got done explaining to her what they had discovered. "Something as sought after and as valuable as the stone must have much more protection than a simple Cerberus."
"Cerberus?" Run muttered confusedly.
"That's the proper name for Fluffy." Hermione explained but she was distracted as she thought about the possible traps that awaited the person who attempted to find the Sorcerer's stone.
"Come on Ron, we should get ready." Harry told his puzzled friend as climbed off the Gryffindor couch.
"Now wait just a minute." Hermione came back into reality as she placed her hand firmly on Ron's closing Charms book. "That essay is due first thing tomorrow morning and you still need another whole foot."
"Oh come on Hermione!" Ron whined as he tried to budge the books grasp from under Hermione's firm hold.
"No you must finish this Ronald." Hermione said seriously. "I will go in your place."
"What that's no fair!" Ron looked to Harry for help but his friend only grimaced. "It's one bloody essay."
"You should have thought about that before you skived off." Hermione said, her tone ranging on bossy.
"She's right mate, I told you." Harry agreed with Hermione, laughing as Ron angrily settled back down to finish.
"That was much easier than I thought it would be." Hermione whispered as they made their way down the stairs from the tallest tower. Norbert was on his way safely to Romania now, the trouble was at least gone. Now all they had to do was make it safely back to Gryffindor tower and with the invisibility cloak, that hardly seemed like a task.
"Hermione?" Harry whispered putting his hand on the girl's arm to stop her. "The cloak!"
"Well, well, well we are in trouble aren't we?" Filch snickered as he came from out of the shadow. "Out about the castle after curfew?"
"I didn't realize-"Hermione started but Filch cut her off rudely.
"Save it for Professor McGonagall deary." Filch smiled, his mouth full of missing and brown teeth.
"Never in all my years!" McGonagall was clad in green night robes and she stared down at them from irritated eyes. "Fifty points will be taken, from all of you."
"I'm sorry Professor but I must have heard you wrong?" A silky voice came out from the corner, Harry and Hermione's heads whipped around and glared at the familiar voice. Malfoy.
"No Mr. Malfoy you did not." Professor McGonagall said sternly. "As gallant as your actions were, you too were out of bed passed hours. So you too will be punished."
"Fifty?" Harry whispered astonished. There went their lead over Slytherin in house points; he couldn't even imagine how angry his housemates would be.
"Yes Potter, fifty." McGonagall repeated severely. "And you all will be serving detention with Hagrid. I'm sure he has something for you three to do." She gave a meaningful look to Harry and Hermione.
"What are you doing awake?" Draco asked twenty minutes later after Filch had escorted him back to the Slytherin dormitories.
"You disappoint me dear friend." Julian shook his head sadly as he sat directly by the fire, his hands seeming to caress the flames almost lovingly. He was clad in just a pair of silky green pajama pants, the same ones Draco had bought him for Christmas. "I thought better of you."
"That great oaf deserves what he gets." Draco muttered not quite meeting the eyes of his friend.
"Whether that is true or not, you're supposed to be my friend." Julian sighed. "Not my family's enemy."
Draco stared at Julian, his confused gray eyes defrosting ever so slightly. Draco nodded in understanding, not quite an apology for what he had done but perhaps an acknowledgement that he had been wrong.
It was a start.