Hey, Hey, Hey! I saw how many of you have read my story this month and how many countries you guys are from and *tearing up* you guys are so amazing and I don't deserve fans like you. I don't mean to disappoint y'all but this'll be my last update for a few weeks but don't worry. So, enjoy…

Disclaimer: you all know by now that I don't own Harry Potter!

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Quirrell was obviously braver than the students assumed. Even though he got paler and thinner as the weeks passed, but he didn't crack.

Every time Sydney, Nicki, Ron, and Justin passed the corridor on the third floor, they put their ears up to the door to make sure Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was still in his normal bad mood, meaning the Stone was still safe. Whenever the twins passed Quirrell in the halls, Sydney gave him a warm smile and Nicki didn't frown at him. Ron and Justin started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.

Still, Sydney kept her mind focused on more than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all of her notes. Nicki and the boys wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Sis, the exams are like forever away."

"Ten weeks," Sydney snapped. "That's not forever; that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron 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 second year? They're very important! I should've started studying a month ago! I don't know what's gotten into me…" Sydney started rambling and hyperventilating.

The boys ran over to help the overreacting girl, but Nicki just leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the table. She was used to her sister's pre-exam freak-outs.

Unfortunately, the teachers had the same train-of-thought as Sydney. They practically buried the students in homework over Easter break. It was hard to relax with Sydney next to them having Justin quiz her on the twelve uses of dragon's blood or matching wand movements with spells. Sydney and Justin were an unofficial couple, but even Justin got a little annoyed by his almost-girlfriend's insane study habits. Moaning and yawning, Nicki and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with the other two, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this!" Ron burst out one afternoon, receiving a strict shush from Madam Pince.

"Well this is what I get for not checking out Mom's brains from the gene library," Nicki complained, throwing up her hands in the air. "Why couldn't I have gotten those and Dad's looks and Quidditch skills? That would make life so much easier," Nicki grumbled, throwing down her quill and slumping in her seat joining Ron in looking out the library window.

It was the first great day they'd had in months, a day that just screamed "Come and play outside!" The sky was a bright blue that announced the coming summer.

Justin, who was looking up "dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid moved into view, clearly hiding something behind his back. He stood out like a sore thumb in his moleskin overcoat. He kept shifting position as Nicki kept trying to see what he was holding.

"Jus' lookin'," he responded shiftily, immediately catching the interest of the kids. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He suddenly gave them a suspicious face. "Yer not still lookin' for Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh we found out who he is ages ago," bragged Ron. "And we know what the dog is guarding—it's a Sorcerer's St—"

"Shhhh!" Hagrid whispered, looking around to make sure nobody had heard. "Don' go shoutin' about it! What's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you actually," said Sydney, breaking out of her exam-freak-out mode for her curiosity, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"

"SHHHHH!" Hagrid shushed again, more loudly this time. "Listen, come an' see me later. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', but don't go rabbitin' about it in here. Students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"

"Ok, ok, we'll see you later then," Nicki interrupted in an impatient voice. "Seriously Hagrid, you need to relax and take a vacation or something.

Hagrid shuffled out of the library.

"Really, Nicki? You need to learn to be nicer. Can't you see that Hagrid is under a lot of stress?" Sydney scolded.

"Ignoring Nicki's lack of manners, what was Hagrid hiding behind his back?" Justin asked.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Nicki asked.

"I'm going to see what section he was looking in," Ron offered, throwing his book behind his back to show that he'd had enough of working. He came back a few minutes later with a stack of books and slammed them on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was researching dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told Nicki and me when we first met him," said Sydney.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "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 Charlie's gotten from wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" asked Nicki.

"Of course there are," Ron explained, proud that he know something the others didn't. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind has to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them in order to make them forget."

"So what could Hagrid possibly be up to?" Justin questioned.

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. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, shutting the door the minute they stepped inside.

It was boiling hot inside the hut. Even though it was warm and sunny outside, Hagrid had a fire going in the fireplace. Hagrid made the four kids tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which the students politely (well Sydney and Justin) declined.

"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," started Justin. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone other than Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at her.

"O' course I can't," he replied. "Number one, I don't even know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh even if I knew. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts. I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how hey even know bout Fluffy."

"Oh come on Hagrid. You might not want to tell us but you do know. You everything that goes on around here," said Sydney in a warm, flattering voice. The kids could see a smile stretching over the tops of Hagrid's beard. "We only wondered who had done the guarding really." Sydney continued. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, other than you."

While Hagrid considered Sydney's last three words, Ron and Justin beamed at the blonde twin and Nicki crossed her arms and shook her head, chuckling to herself at her sister's talent of flattering adults.

"Well I don' s'ppose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments: Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall," he counted each of the teachers off on his fingers; "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"SNAPE?!" the kids shouted.

"Yeah—yer not still on about that are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone. He's not about ter steal it."

The four kids looked at each other, thinking the same thing. If Snape 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—everything except Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you Hagrid?" Justin wheedled. "And you wouldn't tell anyone would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Nope. Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," Hagrid answered proudly.

"Well that's something," Nicki muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we open a window or something? I'm boiling."

"Sorry, Nic, no can do," said Hagrid, shrugging his shoulders. Nicki noticed him glancing at the fire. Nicki and the others looked at it too.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Justin asked nervously.

However, all four kids knew exactly what it was. Underneath the kettle, right in the middle of the fire, was a huge black egg.

"Ah, that's—er…" Hagrid scratched nervously at his beard.

"Where did you get it Hagrid?" Ron asked in amazement, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"I won it, down at the pub. I won it from a stranger in a game o' cards. Seemed pretty glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it once it's hatched?" Sydney asked.

"I'm gonna take care o' it. I've bin doin' some readin' and what I've got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're pretty rare."

Hagrid looked pleased with himself, but Sydney look disapproving.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house. One sneeze from that dragon and you'll have to rebuild the whole house," Justin reprimanded.

But Hagrid wasn't listening—he was too busy tending to the fire around the egg. Suddenly, the kids heard a crackling sound coming from the fire. Hagrid put on some floral oven mitts and reached into the fire. He took out the egg, making little sounds of pain from the heat. He put the egg in the middle of the table and the kids gathered around it.

The shell broke and what looked like a little black lizard slithered out.

"Awwwww," Sydney cooed, overcome by the baby dragon's cuteness.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out to stroke the dragon's head, but it snapped at his fingers.

"Awwwww," Nicki said affectionately, finding the baby dragon's playful and rebellious spirit adorable.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hagrid chuckled.

The kids looked at each other awkwardly and then started laughing. While laughing, Justin turned his head toward the window and saw two heads of distinctive platinum blonde hair.

"Malfoy and Cynthia!" Justin growled.

Malfoy's mouth formed an o shape and he knew that he and Cynthia had been spotted, running up toward the castle.

"Oh no!" Hagrid muttered with a worried expression on his face.

"Get him!" Nicki yelled, sounding like an army general commanding her troops.

The four kids ran out of the hut, trying to catch Malfoy before he found one of the teachers. But, they were too late. Standing next to a smirking Malfoy and a sneering Cynthia was an annoyed Professor McGonagall. Even though it was late at night and McGonagall was wearing a tartan bathrobe and no hat, McGonagall still had the same irritated face that she used in class to discipline students.

"Um, we were sleepwalking?" Nicki said unconvincingly, shrugging her shoulders and smiling weakly.

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Thank you for reading and I'll update hopefully in the next two weeks. Don't forget to review!