Sorry! Worst case of writers block ever! Hope it's good enough to make up for how long it to to make. Please review!


Chapter 10: Can We Keep It?

Much to Alexis and her friends' surprise, Quirrell turned out to be braver then they'd thought. The Professor did seem to be getting skinner and paler as the weeks progressed but he didn't seem to have given in to Snape, yet. Alexis, however, still avoided him like the plague.

Snape seemed to stay his moody and rude self, which hinted at the fact that he hadn't stolen the Stone. Fluffy remained in the room on the third-floor corridor, sometimes even howling to himself, which in turn scared a great deal of students. Whenever Harry saw Professor Quirrell in the halls, much to Alexis's discomfort, he would give him an encouraging sort of smile and Ron would tell people off for making fun of his stutter.

Hermione, however, was too engrossed with making herself study schedules for the up coming exams to really think about Nicholas Flamel's Stone. Alexis didn't mind her over studious friends actions but Harry and Ron grew annoyed when she continually nagged at them to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away."

"Ten weeks," corrected Alexis.

"And that's not ages, that's like a second to Nicholas Flamel," snapped Hermione.

"But we're not six hundred years old," corrected Ron.

"True," said Alexis and Harry.

Hermione ignored them and continued, "Besides I should have started months ago! I don't know what I was thinking..."

Unfortunately the teachers were on Hermione's side in this argument. They piled on more homework then ever before and once more Alexis was forced to refuse the Malfoy's invitation to join them for the holiday, only this time it wasn't an excuse to help Harry and Ron out- though she and Hermione did help them a great deal over Easter Break.

Finally they were able to find time to all visit their favorite half-giant on a very sunny Saturday morning.

"Who is it?" called Hagrid as they knocked on his hut's door. All of his windows were covered with thick curtains.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, and me," said Alexis.

"Jus' a sec," mumbled the groundskeeper before he opened his door and quickly ushered them in and closed the door behind them.

The inside of Hagrid's hut was like the inside of a furnace. The fire was blazing high and Alexis and her friends had to take off their outer robes just to breath in the heat.

"So - you want to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point and beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what else is guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned.

O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. 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 yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh come on, Hagrid," said Alexis, her green eyes flashing as they met Hagrid's. "You can trust us."

Harry didn't know why when Alexis's eyes shined bright green he felt like he really could trust her with anything- even though he had already told her all his secrets. Hagrid must have felt the same because he smiled at her under his thick bushy beard.

"Well I s'ppose tellin' yeh who else is helpin' couldn' hurt... let's see... some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout- Professor Flitwick- Professor McGonagall-" he counted them off with his fingers, "Professor Quirrell- an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

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

Alexis knew what her friends were thinking without even reading their minds. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, he must have already found out how all the other teachers were protecting it. He probably knew everything- except how to get past Fluffy without Quirrell's help.

"You are the only one that knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" asked Hermione. "You and Professor Dumbledore, I mean. None of the other teachers do right?"

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

"Well that's something," muttered Ron.

Harry shook his head in agreement. "Hagrid, can we open a window? I'm boiling."

"No can do, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. It was then when the first years noticed a rather large black egg sitting in the heart of the fire.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "what is that?"

"A dragon!" exclaimed Ron and Alexis together. Both ran over to the fire for a better look.

"Must have cost you a fortune," said Ron in awe. "Where did you ever go to get it?"

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest. Gonna be a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

"Hagrid, where are you going to keep it? You live in a wooden house," said Hermione.

But Hagrid wasn't listening and neither was Alexis.

"Can we keep it?"

While Alexis found herself growing more excited about seeing a real dragon, her friends grew very concerned with the fact that Hagrid was going to keep the dragon, which were illegal in England, on school grounds. Even Ron, who Alexis was almost certain was going to be as excited as her, was afraid the dragon would cause trouble.

Then, at lunch, a small letter with two words on it arrived: It's hatching.

Ron and Harry both wanted to skip their last class to go see Hagrid but Hermione refused to let them. Fortunately for Alexis it was Tuesday and her classes were already done. She quickly made her way down to Hagrid's hut to await the dragon's hatching. It took all her strength not to sprint down there like a little child chasing after the ice cream truck.

"Come in," said Hagrid. He waved at Alexis through the curtains, his face was red either from excitement or the temperature of the room. It was hotter then before!

Alexis's eyes locked on the giant black egg on Hagrid's long wooden table. It already had a great deal of cracks in it that left scorch marks everywhere it rolled.

"Have you named it yet?" Alexis asked.

"No," said Hagrid. "Haven' had da time. Thinkin' Norbert, I has. What yeh think?"

Alexis flashed a rather large smile at her friend. "I think Norbert is perfect. Harry and them should be coming shortly."

Sure enough Harry, Hermione, and Ron stumbled in just as the egg split open. Out popped a baby dragon on the table.

"It's adorable!" squealed Alexis and Hagrid beamed. Unfortunately this seemed to not be the opinion of everyone else in the room. The rather large baby dragon had spiny wings that were enormous compared to its skinny jet black body, a long snout with very large nostrils, small horns all over it, bulging, orange eyes, and strange line of green scales crossed the dragon's back starting right above the left eye and ending at the tip of the tail.

'It looks like a crumbled umbrella,' thought Harry.

Alexis threw him a glare and he smiled shamefully, actually afraid she had read his mind- which she had.

"Hagrid you can't possibly keep that!" cried Hermione.

"Norbert," Alexis corrected. "And why not?"

Just then a rather large flame shot out of Norbert's nose as he sneezed. Hagrid petted him on the back and he snapped viciously towards him, showing his rather dangerous fangs. Alexis started to see where Hermione was coming from but Hagrid remained oblivious.

"Look, he knows his mommy!" exclaimed Hagrid with a tear in his eye. "How cute is he?"

Alexis forgot what she had just saw and reached out her hand to the baby dragon. Norbert charged at it but instead of attacking her hand he ducked his head under it so she could pet him.

Hagrid beamed.

"He likes yeh! Knows his Auntie Hex, he does."

Alexis grinned. She was petting a baby dragon, a real dragon.

"Wonder what he thinks of Uncle Ron," said Ron. He reached his hand out towards Norbert who in return bit him harshly. "Bloody hell! Get him off!"

Norbert released Ron's hand with almost a smile on his scaly face. He jumped in Alexis's arms for protection as if Ron had been the one who had attacked him. Alexis and Hagrid found this quite adorable.

Hermione, however, was screaming.

"He's bleeding! Hagrid do something!"

"Huh? O'!" Hagrid grabbed a rag and rapped it around Ron's now very bloody hand. "Shouldn' have scared him like dat, Ron. Hasn' Charlie taught yeh no better?"

"What?" cried Ron in both pain and anger. "Charlie doesn't keep dangerous dragons in tiny, little, wooden huts!"

Hagrid looked taken aback by Ron's words. Harry quickly stepped in.

"He's just mad Hagrid," he said patting Hagrid on the back. "But you can't keep err- Norbert. He needs more room to grow."

"But I can't let him go. He's too little, he'll die."

"Charlie," replied Hermione. "We could send, Norbert, to Ron's brother Charlie."

"Brilliant Hermione! I'll write him right now," said Ron ignoring Hagrid's whines. Luckily Norbert had only bitten his left hand and Ron began writing at once.

"It's okay Hagrid," mumbled Alexis, not exactly happy with her friends. "It's for the best. Norbert will be happy in Romania with other dragons."

"But what if da other dragons bully hem? His so little."

"I'm sure Norbert will make tons of friends."

Norbert nuzzled his head into Alexis's shoulder as if he knew what they were talking about. Alexis let out a sigh knowing she couldn't keep him while Hagrid grumbled in defeat. He was just about to speak again when he suddenly turned pale as a ghost and froze, his eyes locked on the window behind Harry.

"What's wrong, Hagrid?" asked Harry worried.

"That pale boy," said Hagrid. "He saw Norbert."

Alexis, Harry, and Hermione ran to the window. Sure enough Draco Malfoy could be seen running away from the hut towards the castle.

If Draco had wanted to turn Hagrid in for having a pet dragon he was taking his sweet time doing so. It had been three days since he had caught them and Ron, who's hand had become very infected by Norbert's bit, was now in the hospital wing having his wound treated as a stray dog bite.

"I told you, Harry, Draco isn't that bad," said Alexis. "He isn't going to tell anyone about Norbert."

"Yes, but even if he doesn't the- Norbert has tripled in size already," said Hermione. "We have to give it-him to Charlie when he comes tonight."

"But-"

"Hermione is right, Hex," said Harry.

Alexis bit her lip but gave in. Norbert was growing extremely fast, and Hagrid was barely able to feed him. Only yesterday she had had to stay in Hagrid's hut with Harry all night just to give Hagrid time to catch up on his groundskeeper duties which he had be missing while he had been taking care of Norbert. Surprisingly, for a dragon, Norbert had behaved quite well with Alexis there, far better then he did for Hagrid, but he had taken a great disliking to Harry.

"I guess," she sighed in defeat. "Let's visit Ron then. Tell him we'll do as the note says."

The trio made their way to the hospital wing in silence. When they arrived they were greeted by a very worried looking Ron.

"What is it Ron?" Harry asked.

"Malfoy," whispered Ron. "He came by and told Madame Pomfrey that he needed to borrow a book from me. Kept threatening to tell one of the professors about Norbert. Pomfrey finally kicked him out but he took my Herbology book."

"And?"

"And my letter from Charlie was in there!" exclaimed Ron. "He knows we're getting rid of him tonight. There's no way you can up to the Astrology Tower now."

Harry and Hermione both looked distraught. Alexis, however, was quick to find a solution.

"The invisibility cloak, Harry. You, me, and Norbert can fit under it. We'll be find!"

"Oh," said Harry not really listening. "Oh! Good thinking Hex!"

"Good?" said Ron, "It's bloody brilliant!"

It had been a difficult job but somehow Alexis and Harry had convinced Hagrid to give them Norbert. He packed him in a large crate full of food and a teddy bear, which he promptly ripped to pieces, before slowly handing Norbert over to them, sobbing the whole time.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid wailed, as Alexis and Harry pulled the crate under the invisibility cloak. "Mommy will never forget you!"

How Alexis and Harry had been able to make the journey back up to the castle, they never knew. Norbert was constantly rattling around in his cage, and the two quickly became great full that they had learned the silencing spell.

As they reached the seventh floor, Alexis and Harry nearly dropped the crate. Heading straight at them was a very furious Professor McGonagall and a terrified Draco Malfoy. Forgetting they were invisible, they dove into the shadows and watched the two march down the hall.

"Detention!" McGonagall shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"

"You don't understand, Professor. Potter's bringing a dragon!"

"What rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on- I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

Alexis felt guilty as she watched Draco disappear down the hall with an enraged McGonagall. She had really been sure he wouldn't try and get her friends in trouble but she still wished she had warned him not to.

"Finally," sighed Harry as the reached the top floor. He threw off the invisibility cloak, completely unaware at Norbert's failed attempt to bite his hand.

"I wish Draco hadn't gotten in trouble," mumbled Alexis. "His housemates are going to be really mad at him."

Luckily for Harry, he didn't have to tell Alexis how happy he was that Draco had finally gotten in trouble, for right then Charlie's friends arrived. They were a merry lot. They showed Alexis and Harry how they were rigging Norbert's crate so he wouldn't slide about before letting the two first years say their goodbyes- well, Alexis say her goodbyes.

"Bye, Nor," whispered Alexis. She hugged the dragon through the crate much to the company's surprise. "Behave yourself, okay? Don't be too reckless?"

Norbert nudged his head into Alexis's shoulder in a strange form of affection.

"For a Ridgeback, he's a rather friendly dragon," said one of the wizards.

"Oh, yeah," said Alexis. "Norbert here, he's a really pushover."

The company laughed but the face Harry gave them told them that he was anything but that. Alexis and Harry watched as they disappeared with Norbert, being very careful to stay away from his teeth.

"You think he'll be okay, Harry?" asked Alexis as the walked back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Trust me, Hex. Norbert will be fine."

Unfortunately Harry couldn't say that about Alexis and him. They had no idea what tomorrow had in store for them.


Don't hate me! I know it's pretty bad, but sadly this is my best work, so quit your laughing! Anyway I hope some of you liked it and please review. I already told you I've never done this before so please tell me what you think.

thanks D.C.F