Hey everyone. I'm at home sick, so I'm getting ahead with this story. Hope you like chapter 14!
Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Chapter 14
Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he seemed to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he had cracked yet.
Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Jessica, Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the stone was still safe. Harry started giving Quirrell an encouraging smile every time thy passed, and Ron started telling people off for laughing at his stutter.
Jessica and Hermione, however, had more on their minds than the Philosopher's Stone. They had started drawing up revision timetables and colour-coding all their notes. They kept asking Harry and Ron to do the same, but they wouldn't
"The exams are ages away!"
"Ten weeks," said Jessica. "That's not ages away, imagine how long that is for Nicolas Flamel!"
"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her.
"Anyway, what are you two revising for? You already know it all."
"What are we revising for?" Hermione gasped. "Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, we should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me …"
The teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Jessica and Hermione. They piled a mountain of homework on them for the Easter Holidays, so they we're nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron would spend most of their spare time in the library with Hermione and Jessica, trying to get through their work.
"I'll never get through this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of 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.
Jessica, who was so absorbed in her work, didn't even look up until she heard Ron say "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty voice that got their interest at once.
"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not sill lookin' for Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago, said Ron impressively, "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St–"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked about quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy –"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen – come an' see me later, I'm not promising I'll tell yeh anything, mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I told yeh –"
"See you later, then," said Harry.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?" asked Jessica.
"I'll go see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking stuff up about dragons! Look at these: Dragons Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me the first time I ever met him," said Harry.
"But it's against our laws," said Ron.
"Yeah, dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709. Because, you know, it's really hard for muggles to not notice huge dragons in our back gardens," said Jessica.
"Anyway, you can't tame dragons – you should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.
"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating about the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him.
"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, you might now want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on around here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry, Ron and Jessica beamed at Hermione.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that … let's see … he borrowed Fluffy from me … then some o' he teachers did enchantments … Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall –" he ticked them off on 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 about that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Jessica knew Harry, Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as she was. 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, except how to get past Fluffy and Quirrell's spell.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
"Well that's something," Harry muttered. Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."
"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Jessica saw him glance at the fire. Jessica looked at it too.
"Hagrid – what's that?"
But she already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "that's – er …"
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."
"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 to be rid of it, ter be honest."
"But what're you going to do once it's hatched?" said Jessica.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library – Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit – it's a bit outta date, o' course, it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognise diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," sighed Ron, as evening after evening they worked through the extra homework they were getting. Hermione and Jessica had started making revision timetables for Harry and Ron, too.
Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, bought him a note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.
Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.
"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 whispered.
Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Jessica didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
Ron and Hermione argued all the way down to Herbology and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other three during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle for the end of the lesson, the four of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest.
Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He ushered them 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 drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped on to the table. I wasn't exactly pretty; Jessica thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the snubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out his hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from him face – he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Jessica sprinted out the door with Harry and looked back to the castle. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.
Malfoy had seen the dragon.
Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, Jessica, and Hermione. They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can't," said Hagrid. "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 furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeper duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's mummy?"
"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered.
"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it a fortnight and Norbert will be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I – I know I can't keep him for ever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."
Harry turned suddenly to Ron.
"Charlie," he said.
"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"
"No – Charlie – your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie could take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"
And in the end, Hagrid agreed they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione, Harry and Jessica 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. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had been helping down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.
"It bit me!" he said, showing his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"
the four of them put their heads together to read the note.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for your letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing is to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble 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 its still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
They looked at each other.
"We've got the invisibility cloak," said Harry. 'It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloak's big enough to cover three of us and Norbert."
It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert – and Malfoy.
There was a hitch. By next morning, Ron's hand had swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey – would she recognise a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.
Jessica, Harry and Hermione rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.
"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me – I've told her it was a dog but I don't think she believes me – I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."
Harry, Jessica and Hermione tried to calm him down.
"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.
"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a horse voice. "Oh no – oh no – I've just remembered – Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."
Harry, Jessica and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.
"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry said. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."
They found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them.
"I won't let you in," he puffed, "Norbert's at a tricky stage – nothing I can't handle."
When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although, that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.
"Aargh! It's all right, he only just got my boot – jus' playin' – he's only a baby, after all."
The baby banged his tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. Jessica, Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come fast enough.
They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say goodbye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall.
Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.
"He's got loads o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his favourite teddy bear in case he gets lonely."
From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Jessica that teddy was having his head ripped off.
"Bye bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry, Hermione and Jessica covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped under it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!"
How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – even one of Harry's short cuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
Then a sudden movement ahead of them almost made them drop the crate. Forgetting they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall , in a tartan dressing gown and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering in the middle of the night, how dare you –"
"You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
the steel spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed like the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breath properly. Hermione did a sort of jig.
"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"
"Please don't," said Jessica.
Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping out of the darkness.
Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry, Hermione, and Jessica the harness they'd rigged up, so they could support Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Jessica, Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
At last, Norbert was going … going … gone.
They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon – Malfoy in detention – what could spoil their happiness?
The answer was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower.