Disclaimer: see another chapter.
/watch?v=hfz6hZb18GQ
Right, sorry I haven't updated in a long time but, for this story, I'm losing inspiration. I'll stick with it and WILL finish it but, if I can't get ideas for new, non-canon things then it'll take a while and be, more or less, follow canon story line with little deviation.
So, any things you'd like to see in here?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: DRAGONS
Over high seas and mountains
We fly to the heavens
On wings of a dragon tonight
Proud and so glorious, standing the four of us
- Dragonforce "Heart of a Dragon"
Hermione delivered. In the middle of the crowded corridors, she handed the Cloak back to Harry, who stuffed it hurriedly in his bag. Who knew when they might need it again? And with Hagrid and his dragon egg, they really didn't. The egg was always in the firepit, flames leaping around it. Harry wasn't looking forward to seeing how fast it grew.
Ron was apparently still a little in shock that Hagrid had gotten a dragon's egg, and, to tell the truth, so was Harry. It was a bit suspicious, wasn't it, that Hagrid just won a dragon egg when he wants one? It was a bit suspicious but Harry pushed it to the back of his mind. There were more important things, after all, as Hermione reminded them all as they studied in the library again.
"Exams are ages away," complained Ron.
"Ten weeks!" she said, sounding slightly hysterical as she lifted books, looking for her Potions notes. "That's like a second to Nicholas Flamel!"
"We aren't six hundred, though," said Draco as he flipped through a Charms book without any interest. "Let's take a little break, huh?"
"I can't!" said Hermione, sounding scandalized. "These exams decide if we can graduate to second year! Do you understand what happens if we fail?"
So, much to their dismay, Harry, Ron and Draco found themselves spending outrageous amounts of time studying and reviewing complicated Transfiguration diagrams and instructions to complex potions—whether they needed it or not. To Harry's great surprise, Potions was fast becoming his best subject but he found he was doing almost as well as Hermione in a few other classes, namely Transfiguration and Charms. Ron, they were finding, needed a lot of help and Hermione, who was top of their year, freaking out over exams did absolutely nothing for his own nerves, which George had assured was the only thing wrong with him, before Fred came around and said that Ron's flying skills weren't exactly "right" either.
Unfortunately, the teachers were thinking along the same lines as Hermione and refused to sympathize with every student who didn't want to study—which was everyone except Hermione. The teachers piled on so much work that Harry was sure he'd be in his seventh year before it was all finished. The Easter holidays weren't as fun as the Christmas ones, which were mostly due to the homework load and Hermione revising everything verbally as though she had the audio tape of every textbook in her, playing on a loop. Harry felt her every word was, by now, etched on the inside of his skull.
Harry, on more than one occasion, retired to the Slytherin common room to escape her, Ron and Draco hurrying behind him. But, even though less work-crazy than Hermione, the Slytherins were hardly making the atmosphere more relaxing. The fifth- and seventh-years were studying in corners, their noses inches from books and parchment, reciting things feverishly.
"OWLs and NEWTs," Draco explained. "End-of-the-year exams."
"They're super-important," said Ron. "They decide jobs and stuff. I remember Charlie saying that the British Dragon Keeper Society didn't want to take him because he only got an 'E' in Care for Magical Creatures. That's why he got the job in Romania."
"Charlie," said Harry suddenly. "Do you think he could get Hagrid to see sense? With Norbert?" he added quickly.
"I dunno," said Ron. "I doubt he'd get off work; he's got some mates, though, that fly from Greenland to Romania a lot, bringing new species and stuff."
"Let's find him, then," said Harry, standing up. "Shall we get Hermione?"
"Er—it's kinder to let her study," said Draco apprehensively.
Reluctantly, Ron and Draco followed him down the grounds to Hagrid's hut. "Hagrid!" shouted Harry, banging on the door. "We gotta talk to you."
The door opened and Hagrid's face appeared in the crack before he saw them, and he opened the door fully. "What are yeh doin' here?" he asked, setting about making a cup of tea.
"The dragon," said Ron, sitting down quickly to avoid being bowled over by Fang. "Charlie's got some friends I want you to talk to; dragon experts who can tell you how—"
"I'm not gettin' rid o' Norbert," said Hagrid flatly. "And that's that."
"Would you prefer we talk about Nicholas Flamel?" asked Draco innocently, taking a sip of tea as Hagrid placed a plate of rock cakes in the center of the table.
Hagrid almost dropped his own mug. "'Arry," he said. "Yeh told 'em."
"They're my friends," said Harry defensively.
"And we know what's in the third floor corridor, besides a massive dog," said Ron proudly, "the Philosopher's Stone!"
At this, Hagrid dropped his mug which broke on the floor. "How'd yeh find out 'bout that?"
Starting to feel guilty they hadn't brought Hermione, too, Harry said truthfully, "We—I overheard a teacher talking about it. He said that there were other things guarding it; any idea what they might be?"
Draco cast him a look that plainly said, "He's not that stupid."
Hagrid puffed himself up. "I wouldn't tell yeh even if I did know—and I don'—yeh lot know too much."
"Who did the guarding, then?" asked Draco quickly. "Who did it besides you? Who did Dumbledore—trust enough to help guard such an important and powerful object?"
Hagrid half-smiled. "Well, there isn't any 'arm in tellin' yeh that. There was Professor Sprout, then Professor Flitwick"—he ticked them off his fingers—"and Professor McGonagall, then Quirrell did a lil' somethin', and Dumbledore did his bit last—hold on, I'm forgettin' someone. Snape! Yeah, Professor Snape did something."
"Snape?" asked Ron, Harry and Draco at the same time.
"Yeah," said Hagrid, looking from one to the other. "Yeh might not be his favourite student, 'Arry, but he isn't evil."
"You try Double Potions when he wants to poison you," muttered Ron, who got the worst of Snape, no matter what Draco tried.
Harry shrugged at that; during the last class, when he had gotten an "E" for his potion while Draco's wasn't any better, and he got an "O", Snape had gritted his teeth hard and walked by his cauldron, saying something that sounded like, "You clearly take after your mother," something Harry was deciding to take as a compliment.
"So, a potion, a Transfiguration, a Charm, a plant"—Draco snorted—"an Anti-Dark Arts thingy, and the superpower of love?" repeated Draco, scoffing. "Wow, he sure is going all out to protect it."
Hagrid frowned sternly at him. "The power o' love can do wonders, yeh know."
Draco shook his head and smiled, clearly not believing Hagrid. "Sure."
Ron looked at the egg uneasily. "Uh, Hagrid? Is it meant to be clicking like that?"
Hagrid jumped up. "Oooh, it's ready."
"Ready for what?" asked Harry, who was ready to duck under the table if the egg wanted to explode.
But Hagrid lifted it out of the fire and placed it on the table, crushing the rock cakes. The odd ticking noise accelerated, becoming louder and faster.
Draco stared at it, torn between awe and fear. Ron looked as though he would like to run away. Harry kept glancing at the door, hoping that Hermione would come through it. But she didn't.
"It'll take a few hours," said Ron, standing up. "We'd love to stay here, Hagrid," he added as Hagrid's face fell, "but we've got exams to study for, you know."
Hagrid nodded his great head. "Sure, 'course I know. Yeh come back and see Norbert hatch, though?"
"Yeah, of course," said Draco as they filed out of Hagrid's hut. "Then we'll take a sledgehammer and—"
"We should go find Hermione," said Harry loudly. "Come on, maybe if we help her she'll get over her exam nerves."
"Rather you than me," said Ron grimly as they marched back to the castle to find Hermione in a state of considerable panic over mountains of notes and books in the Great Hall.
Ron threw Harry a look that said, "I told you so." But Harry just continued to try to help her as she skimmed the History of Magic notes so fast the words were blurring.
\ \ / /
Hermione found the dragon-hatching to be fascinating but flatly refused to give up her revision time so they ended up returning to Hagrid's hut during dinner.
"Couldn't we wait until after supper?" complained Draco as they left the Great Hall. "I mean, we're hungry, right?"
Ron and Harry nodded.
"We have exams coming up," said Hermione briskly, "and we're going to see, hopefully for the first and last time, a dragon hatch so—"
"Shut it," hissed Draco suddenly.
Blaise was right behind them and had stopped dead to listen. The smirk and look on his face wasn't something Harry, Ron, Hermione nor Draco liked. Harry frowned in disbelief; could Blaise really still carry that grudge?
But the four of them still ran down the grounds to Hagrid's. After they squeezed into the room, they all saw the cracked egg was rocking back and forth as the clicking continued.
"Uh, Hagrid?" asked Harry uneasily, prepared to duck again, should shards of shell start flying. "When will it—?"
But his question was answered as the egg exploded like the bomb image it was giving off. Shells flew into all corners of the room and the gooey substance on the inside flew into their faces as they bent over it, a large creature that, to Harry, looked like a crumpled black umbrella stumbled out onto the table, slipping on the bits of shell on the table as it looked around at the four humans and giant.
Harry felt something he hadn't for a while: the silver snakes had been hissing and curving up his arm in fright. Harry thought he had gotten them calmed down, although they still refused to let him leave without them.
"Beau'iful, isn't he?" asked Hagrid, reaching out a hand to the baby dragon. Harry didn't think so but didn't say anything.
Norbert sneezed and a jet of fire came through his mouth, sparks flying from his nose. He snapped at Hagrid's hand, showing pointed fangs, its tiny ears folding back like a cat's.
"Bless him, he knows him mommy!" exclaimed Hagrid.
"Hagrid," said Hermione slowly, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow exactly?"
Ron's groan was answer enough. Hagrid was about to say something when he stood up abruptly and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?" asked Draco, keeping his eyes on the dragon, who had smoke rolling from both nostrils.
"Someone was looking through the window," Hagrid said, "it's a kid, running back up ter the school."
Harry and the others ran to the window.
"Yeh know him?" asked Hagrid, stepping back.
"Wish I didn't," said Draco darkly.
Draco was right; even at this distance there was no mistaking that dark head. Blaise had seen the dragon.
\ \ / /
The grin that was on Zabini's face for the following week did nothing for Harry, Ron, Draco or Hermione in the nerves department. They spent much of the time with Hagrid, trying to convince him to set Norbert free but there was no hope. He flatly refused, being reminiscent of Hermione on the topic of giving up revision time.
Within a week, Norbert had grown several feet in length and took so much of Hagrid's time that he hadn't done anything besides take care of the baby dragon. There were chicken feathers and empty brandy bottles littering the floor and scorch marks on the table.
Ron had taken desperate measures and wrote to Charlie, asking him to send word about Norbert to his friends. Charlie had done one better than that.
One day, Hedwig had swooped down with a letter in her beak, landing in front of Ron. "It's Charlie," he said as he skimmed the letter. "Brilliant!"
"What?" asked Draco, taking the letter and grinning. "Thank Merlin. I'm not doing another Norbert feeding." He handed it to Harry.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Nice sorting, by the way. Thanks for the letter—I could ask Mark and Antony to talk to Hagrid but I doubt that. I could take care of the Norwegian Ridgeback here, in Romania, and ask Mark and Antony to send him over. Yes, I think that'll be the best thing for both dragon and Hagrid. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon; all the legal ones have tags and it's impossible to magick the tags.
Could you get the Ridgeback up to the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
"We've got the Cloak," said Harry under his breath. "No problem."
"No problem at all," another, colder voice said right behind them.
"Bug someone who cares, why don't you?" snapped Draco. "We're busy."
"Very busy," sneered Zabini.
Harry could practically see the sparks of hatred fly from the ex-friends.
Ron had gone whiter than milk. "Go away."
Zabini smiled again but left.
"Can't we change the date?" asked Harry quickly as soon as Zabini was out of earshot.
"No," said Ron. "Hedwig can't make the trip before Saturday comes. We'll have to hope for the best."
"Yeah, hope he didn't hear about the Cloak," muttered Draco, stabbing his porridge more ferociously than normal.
When they told Hagrid about Charlie's plan his eyes filled with tears, although that might've just been because Norbert had sunk his fangs deep into Hagrid's boot. "Arg—on'y playing," said Hagrid. "He's just a baby; nothin' I can' handle."
The baby banged his tail, sending what sounded like shingles sliding off the roof and making the windows rattle. Harry felt like Saturday couldn't come soon enough.
\ \ / /
Along with Saturday, however, came the issue of who would carry Norbert to the Astronomy Tower, since the Cloak couldn't cover all of them. Eventually, they drew straws, which only meant that Harry and Hermione would have to go, much to the amusement of Draco and Ron.
"Have fun!" Draco called brightly as they left their room, invisible.
Harry and Hermione made their way down to Hagrid's a little slower than usual but arrived when he was setting up Norbert's traveling cage. To Harry, it resembled a dog's kennel, complete with blankets and a stuffed animal.
"I put his teddy in there, case he gets lonely," said a weepy Hagrid as Hermione and Harry each took an end and heaved. A ripping sound told Harry that teddy was getting his head torn off. "And some brandy and blood, case he gets hungry, and lots o' rats."
Harry felt his hands sweating already and his arm cramping.
"Bye-bye, Norbert!" weeped Hagrid. "Mommy'll never forget yeh!"
Harry exchanged an exasperated look with Hermione under the Cloak as they checked every inch was covered. They made the journey up to the Tower extremely slowly; Harry hoped that Mark and Antony would wait for them. One staircase, two, three—even one of Ron's shortcuts didn't make the trip much easier.
Then a loud, barking voice made them freeze and, forgetting they were invisible, vanish into the shadows. From a corridor ahead of them came Professor McGonagall in a tartan bathrobe and hairnet, holding and dragging Zabini by his ear. "Detention!" barked Professor McGonagall. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the dead of night—how dare you?"
"You don't understand, Professor," began Zabini, wincing with every dragged step, "Harry Potter's coming. He's got a dragon!"
"What rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—we shall see Professor Snape about you, Zabini!"
They rounded a corner and Harry and Hermione lugged the crate-kennel up another curved staircase in silence before Hermione said, "Zabini's in detention! I could sing!" They threw off the Cloak and waited at the top for Mark and Antony. Hermione did a sort of dance.
"Don't," advised Harry. "Slytherin's behind twenty points," he added darkly.
Laughing about Zabini and ways they could earn the extra twenty points, they waited for another ten minutes before two broomsticks descended from the night sky. Both young men jumped off and shook hands, and peeked into the crate.
"Blimey, never thought Hagrid was that nuts," said one of them. "To keep a dragon in that hut of his."
The other snorted. "He had a stuffed bear, too, look at the stuffing."
They started to show the harness and strap the cage between them so that Norbert didn't fall. Harry and Hermione helped to buckle the dragon in and shook hands with the other two, thanked them very much and watched as the brooms and kennel shrunk before finally disappearing.
They threw the Cloak back over them and smiled, their hearts as light as their hands. Zabini in detention—Norbert gone—what could ruin their happiness?
The answer to that was at the bottom of the steps. They had literally ran into Filch, who swung his arms around hopefully. "Who's creeping about invisible? Eh?"
Harry and Hermione tried to go one way but decided to split up. Hoping that Filch didn't know the Trip Jinx, Harry threw the Cloak over Hermione and ran for it. He rounded a corner and jumped down a flight of stairs before he felt someone poke him in the back. Groping for his wand, he heard Hermione hiss, "You idiot! Get back under here!"
She threw the Cloak over both of them and kept up a stream of rebukes, sounding like a hoard of angry bees, all the way back to the Gryffindor portrait, where Harry bid her goodnight and headed for the Slytherin common room.
He took the Cloak off when he saw the wall and said, "Emeralds." The wall shifted like Diagon Alley and Harry bundled the Cloak into a wad and stuck it in his pocket. Good thing, too, otherwise he never would have gotten it back.
"Well, well, well, Mr. Potter," said a snide voice.
Snape was in the common room, looking like he might throttle Zabini, who stood in front of him, gasping his pleas that Harry Potter had a dragon.
Harry had only one thing to the scene in front of him. "Oh, crap."
\ \ / /
I decided to get Harry in trouble another way because I think, as a Slytherin, he'd never forget the Cloak up the stairs.
Likey, no likey?
(I'll never do that again if you review)