Chapter Twelve:
It seemed that Elizabeth was right. As the weeks went on, Snape still looked very much in a foul mood, and any time Elizabeth passed the third floor corridor, she could hear growling coming from the other side of the door. It seemed the Philosopher's Stone was still perfectly safe. Elizabeth was happy with leaving its protection up to Dumbledore.
Besides, they had something more important to worry about. Hermione was fretting over exams two months away, and kept insisting Harry, Ron, and Elizabeth begin studying as well. What was worse, is the homework was beginning to pile up more as well. Easter Holidays were spent doing homework all day, every day, and the library was fuller than usual, students from all years studying for approaching exams.
Elizabeth was beginning to hate the library. Here she was, on a beautiful day, stuck at a table bent over a Potions essay. Why couldn't they do their homework outside? Where it was warm and sunny?
"This is impossible," Elizabeth said with a groan, leaning back and rubbing her eyes under her glasses, "How are we expected to remember all of this?"
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Elizabeth looked up quickly and saw Ron was right. Hagrid had just come from an aisle of books, and immediately hid something behind his back.
"Jus' lookin'," Hagrid said evasively. Elizabeth immediately sat up a little straighter. Well, that tone was definitely suspicious.
"An' what're you lot up ter?" Hagrid went on, "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he was ages ago," Ron said proudly.
"And we know about the Philosopher's St—"
"Don't go shoutin' about it," Hagrid cut Elizabeth off, looking around quickly, "What's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said, "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"
"SHHH!" Hagrid hissed, leaning closer, "Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh."
"See you later, then," Harry said and Hagrid headed out of the library, still trying to hide whatever book he'd gotten.
"What was that about?" Elizabeth asked, "Why was he trying to hide that book?"
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Harry asked.
Elizabeth sighed, but didn't say anything as Ron went to go look at the section Hagrid had been in. The Stone was safe, why should they have to worry about it?
Ron returned after a minute, dropping a pile of books on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered, "Hagrid's looking up stuff about dragons!"
"What?" Elizabeth asked in shock, pulling over a couple of books.
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon," Harry said, "He told me so the first time I ever met him."
"But it's illegal!" Elizabeth said in shock, "They're dangerous, and it's nearly impossible trying to keep Muggles from seeing them if we have them as pets. They already have enough problems with the ones in the wild!"
"There are wild dragons in Britain?"
"Of course there are," Ron said, "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks."
"And like I said, he Ministry has a hard time covering up sightings," Elizabeth added, "If Hagrid's looking up stuff on dragons, it can't be good."
The four of them couldn't seem to concentrate on studying after that. Even Hermione seemed more preoccupied with what was up with Hagrid rather than studying for exams. After an hour, they packed away their things and hurried down out of the castle and to Hagrid's hut.
Inside was stifling hot. All the curtains were closed and Hagrid had a fire going, despite the warm weather. Elizabeth undid the buckle of her robes over her dress and slipped it off her arms, wanting the heavy, black robes off in the hot hut. They all sat down, refusing the tea Hagrid offered. It was hot enough already in there, they didn't need hot drinks as well.
"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Do you know what's guarding the Stone other than Fluffy?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't think they should be doing this, getting involved. But maybe if Harry, Ron, and Hermione saw that the Stone was perfectly safe, they'd drop it finally.
"O' course I can't," Hagrid replied, "Number one, I don't 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," Hermione said in a sweet voice, "You might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything around here. We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's beard twitched and he puffed his chest out. He looked quite proud of himself and Elizabeth glanced at Hermione, thinking that was quite a dirty trick, playing on Hagrid's pride. He was their friend, after all.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that..." Hagrid said slowly, "Let's see. He borrowed Fluffy from me...then some o' the teachers did enchantments...Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick—Professor McGonagall—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."
Elizabeth looked over at her friends. For the first time, she felt a bit worried. She remembered hearing Snape's conversation with Quirrell in the woods. He was in on protecting the Stone, he probably knew how to get past all the enchantments protecting it. Except for Quirrell's and Fluffy. The other teachers had to believe Snape was on their side.
But then she remembered Hagrid told them Dumbledore was protecting the Stone as well. Dumbledore, the greatest wizard there ever was. There was no way Snape could get past what Dumbledore had. Or past Fluffy.
"And only you know how to get past Fluffy?" Elizabeth asked, looking to Hagrid.
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore."
Elizabeth glanced at her friends again. They at least had that. Though Hagrid had told them about the other teachers with a little flattery...Could he accidentally let slip about Fluffy at some point?
They couldn't talk more about it, now, though, and Harry turned back to Hagrid.
"Can we have a window open?" he asked, "I'm boiling."
"Can't, Harry, sorry."
Hagrid looked towards his fire and Elizabeth followed his gaze, then gasped. Sitting in the middle of the fire was an egg. And from the books Hagrid had been looking at, it was very clear that it was a dragon's egg.
"Hagrid!" Elizabeth's voice squeaked, "What are you thinking?! Those are illegal!"
"Where'd you get it, Hagrid?" Ron seemed more interested, though, leaning closer to the fire, but stayed far enough that he wouldn't get burned, "It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it," Hagrid said, "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."
"Of course he would be!" Elizabeth said, "They're illegal!"
"What are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked.
"Release it, of course!" Elizabeth looked over at Hagrid, who was reaching over and pulling a book out, seeming not to have heard Elizabeth.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," he said, "Got this outta the library—Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit—it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here—how ter recognize diff'rent eggs—what I've got there is a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," Hermione said.
"And what happens when it's grown?" Elizabeth asked.
Hagrid didn't seem to hear and Elizabeth groaned. She looked at her friends as they headed on out of the hut.
"This is a disaster," Elizabeth said, "Having a dragon is illegal!"
"Yeah, we got that the first two times you said it, thanks," Harry said sarcastically. Elizabeth glared at him.
"And what do you think will happen when someone catches Hagrid with that thing?" she asked, "He'll get sent straight to Azkaban!"
Ron paled at that. Azkaban was the wizard prison, out on an island and guarded by horrible creatures known as Dementors. Elizabeth's mother had to go there once, to help with a situation of a prisoner. She'd come back pale and weak and insisted that St. Mungo's could fire her if they wanted, she was never going back again. And that was only after spending a day there.
"We've got to get him to see reason," Ron was agreeing with Elizabeth now, "He can't keep that dragon."
It was a task easier said than done. Most of their time was spent studying, and when they weren't, they were making failed attempts to convince Hagrid to give up the dragon egg. Each try, however, only made Hagrid seem to want to keep it more.
It kept happening over the next couple of weeks until one morning, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught Elizabeth at the door of the Great Hall after breakfast, Harry holding a piece of parchment.
"It's hatching," Harry said, a bit of excitement in his voice.
"We should go down right away," Ron said, "I don't want to miss this."
"But Herbology!" Hermione said.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"
"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing—"
"Shut up!" Harry hissed.
Elizabeth looked up at that, noticing Malfoy was nearby. He apparently had been leaving the Great Hall, but stopped to try and eavesdrop. He seemed to have heard enough. He was smirking and Elizabeth got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Elizabeth had agreed with Hermione, they couldn't skip Herbology. Besides, she could honestly do without 'watched a dragon hatch' on her list of events in her life. Ron disagreed, however, and he and Hermione were arguing in whispers the entire way to the greenhouse. Elizabeth sighed, suddenly wishing she shared a different class than Herbology with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She didn't want to listen to arguing all morning.
By the time they reached the greenhouses, Hermione finally agreed to go visit Hagrid during their morning break. Elizabeth thought they could spend the time better anywhere except there, but she reluctantly agreed herself.
So, once Herbology was over, Elizabeth followed her friends down to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was eager to greet them, hurrying them inside the hot little hut.
Elizabeth saw the egg laying on Hagrid's table, moving slightly and long cracks were scattered along the shell. There were odd noises coming from inside and Elizabeth stayed a bit back from the others. Though she had to admit, now that she was in here, watching the egg...There was definitely something fascinating about it.
It seemed they had arrived just in time. No sooner had they gotten around the egg, a loud crack came from it and the shell broke away, revealing a small, leathery black creature with orange eyes and wings bigger than the body.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid asked, reaching for the dragon, which snapped at him, "Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!"
Elizabeth pursed her lips at that. She didn't really think the dragon was in any way beautiful. Sure, watching it hatch had been more fascinating than she thought it would, but there was still the problem of what would happen when someone found out Hagrid had it.
"Hagrid," Hermione spoke up, "How fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid looked up as if he were going to answer, but suddenly what little of his face was visible through his hair went pale and he jumped to his feet, hurrying over to the window.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains," he said, "It's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Elizabeth hurried over to the window and looked out. There definitely was a kid running back to the castle. And there was no mistaking that pale blond hair.
It was Draco Malfoy.