How is This my Life?

by FMPtrumpets

Harry and Ron were in the middle of a rescue when they suddenly found themselves in a room full of loved ones, the Dursley's, and a few who were supposed to be dead. All to read a few books about him. Can't his life ever be normal? And why is Snape here! Great. slight Dumbledore bashing. (Re-titled; formerly 'reading Harry Potter')

17. the Norwegian Ridgeback

Those from the past with an older self. Everybody else.

Parselmouth

Sign language

---

They looked up when there was a knock on the door. "Hey, we've started gathering again." Neville was standing in the doorway, having been sent to find everyone by Molly, who wanted to try and finish this book tonight so they could have a few days to process everything that happened in the Trio's first year.

"Alright, we will be right there, Neville. Thank you." Remus smiled at him. He was glad to see how much Neville had grown in confidence over the years, he'd been worried back in the boys third year. Neville smiled back and went back to his mission, asking the Room to guide him to where everyone had scattered to.

When they were finally all gathered again, "Alright, let's get to it, shall we?" Filius asked as he restarted the charm on the book, making sure it was starting in the right spot.

Chapter 14 Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

"Excuse me?" Minerva demanded to know, her voice was low and dangerous. Hagrid flinched backwards slightly, remembering just what it was he let slip in getting that egg. The Trio glanced at each other while Neville jerked around and stared at them. Charlie shrank back in his seat carefully and tried to pretend he knew nothing of this... he would try to get away with it for as long as possible.

"'E was jus' a baby." Hagrid muttered quietly, unfortunately his idea of quietly was still perfectly loud enough for everybody in the room to hear him loud and clear.

Draco glared at nothing in particular.

"Why don't we keep reading." Harry suggested, eyeing his Head of House cautiously.

(Quirrell, however... than they'd thought.)

"Or he was working on finding a way in and not being successful." Harry muttered darkly to himself.

"And of course, all you came to a professor with your suspicions right away." Minerva muttered sarcastically. Harry eyed her blankly. He distinctly remembered going to a teacher once he knew they were in over their heads and the Stone was about to be stolen so Voldemort could come back. The bit where they were wrong about who was actually doing the stealing was irrelevant right now.

(In the weeks that... paler and thinner, )

"Voldemort probably wasn't too pleased with him at this point." Harry said quietly with a frown. Severus heard and flinched.

Harry, Draco, and Severus were probably the only ones there who knew just what Voldemort could be like when something wasn't going his way, or he kept getting bad news and results.

(but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.)

"Oh, no, he'd most certainly cracked by this point." Severus muttered, thinking about what he'd witnessed in the corridors or teachers lounge when nobody else was around. Of course, now that he knew the Dark Lord was there the whole time... it put a new perspective on things, that was for sure.

"I think he was cracked a long time ago." Harry muttered darkly. Anybody who would let a Dark Lord's spirit possess them, willingly, had to be at least a little cracked.

(Every time they... still growling inside.)

"Tha' don' mean nuthin', he growls in his sleep, too." Hagrid informed them, helpfully. Ron shot him a weak glare.

"Tell me about it. And since music makes him go to sleep..." Harry was still sore about that. Honestly, if your going to set a guard dog, make sure its one that doesn't have something so common as music as it's biggest weakness! Even the most music illiterate (and tone deaf) of people can hum a simple tune.

(Snape was sweeping... Stone was still safe.)

There were a few chuckles at the assumption, and Severus merely sighed. "I was irritated with Quirrell, the man was an incompetent, and his stutter made everything worse." Honestly, he was irritated just thinking about it.

"It's not his fault he has a speech problem." Hermione frowned at everybody, honestly offended on his behalf.

Harry snorted. "Don't feel sorry for him. You don't know anything about what happened. Not yet, anyway." He said darkly.

(Whenever Harry passed... at Quirrell's stutter.)

Now, Ron scowled, not happy with himself for doing that.

"Ah, we'd wondered why the turn-around." Fred commented.

"Yeah, just the week before you were complaining about it the loudest." George added, nodding his head sagely. Ron's scowl deepened.

(Hermione, however, had... color coding all her notes.)

Draco blinked in mild surprise, although he really shouldn't have been surprised.

The teachers looked at her with raised eyebrows. They knew she worked hard, but was this really healthy?

(Harry and Ron... them to do the same.)

Hermione frowned, she didn't nag, did she?

Hermione looked deeply insulted. "Not everyone learns the same way or on the same schedule, dear. You can help them study, but you can't dictate when they study, what they study, or how they study it." Pomona said gently. She frowned at the motherly professor before looking away, looking an odd mixture of rebellious and thoughtful.

Harry, though he didn't really show it, was glad that somebody was talking to her now, and trying to temper her study habits. Especially when it came to forcing them on others.

("Hermione, the exams are ages away. "

"Ten weeks,")

"Whoa!" Draco exclaimed. "That's ages away. Why would you start that early? You have plenty of time, you won't even know all the material at this point, the teachers won't have covered it."

"Maybe," Hermione shrugged. "But that's no reason not to start reviewing what we already know." The teachers gave her strange looks, but let it go.

Ten weeks wasn't that bad, it was a good time to start thinking about reviewing. As long as she didn't take it too far.

(Hermione snapped... to Nicolas Flamel.")

"You're not six hundred years old." Neville frowned. What did Flamel have to do with any of this? Both Ron and Hermione turned a little red.

("But we're not six hundred years old,")

Neville turned a little red, but didn't back down, because it was true.

(Ron reminded her... know it all.")

"Exactly!" Harry and Ron both said at the same time. Honestly, they had this same argument every year, and every year she refused to listen to them and constantly overworked herself until they had to stage an intervention before she ended up in the Hospital Wing.

Hermione shut them up with a glare.

("What am I studying... what's gotten into me. . . ")

Everyone eyed the girl after her little rant with a strange expression. "I think what got into you, was the fact you were acting your age, and enjoying time with your friends." Pomona muttered. The teachers all thought that maybe Ron and Harry were better influences than they thought.

"Three months is a little early to start studying for exams." Draco said, eyeing the girl oddly. Two months was more than a little early to start thinking about exams, in his opinion, but three was really pushing it. The girl didn't really believe in the concept of taking it easy, did she?

The teachers glanced at each other in alarm. "That is how you burn yourself out. Take it easy, Miss Granger, if you already know the material, then worrying yourself over it will do nothing but put yourself under unnecessary strain and see you in my Hospital Wing." Poppy said sternly, wondering if Harry and Ron weren't to thank for Hermione not having to pay her a visit due to overwork.

(Unfortunately, the... same lines as Hermione.)

"Not that early!" Minerva protested. The Twins and current students all shot her a strange look, except for Hermione. She shot her two boys a triumphant look that had them rolling their eyes.

(They piled so much... the Christmas ones.)

"Yes, but that is more to keep the students busy and out of trouble for that week when we are not in class. That's not in exam prep. That's so us teachers can have a peaceful Easter week without having to deal with disciplining students too much." Minerva said seriously, eyeing the girl.

"We won't get in trouble if we don't have work." The Weasley Twins honestly looked innocently offended.

The teachers graced them with dry stares that clearly said they did not believe the Twins in the slightest.

Harry exchanged a smirk with his younger self, and Severus was very glad that Harry Potter wasn't a Twin.

(It was hard to... of dragon's blood)

"We don't cover that until third year." Severus had a strange look on his face as he said it.

"Why don't you focus on the material for that year, and not read ahead so much." Pomona suggested to Hermione. "Otherwise you will only be bored in later years. Slow down, it's not a race to learn as fast as you can, you have seven years at Hogwarts. Pace yourself, enjoy being young and time with your friends." She said sternly, stopping the girl from protesting. She still looked mutinous, but she didn't say anything.

Throughout the discussions about Hermione's study habits, Sirius and Remus said nothing. They merely watched their cub/pup's best female friend in concern. They both remembered the time when Remus did the same thing, and ended up spending a week in the Hospital Wing with his parents being called in, because he made himself so sick from overwork and worry. And no, it was no where near the full moon at the time. In fact, it was in the middle of the month, right around the time when he was fully recovered from the last full moon, and right before he started feeling the effects of the next full moon.

(or practicing wand... out one afternoon,)

Fred and George snorted. "I wonder how you did with the pressure of OWLs..."

"...if you reacted like this for first year exams." They said. They weren't there at the end of the year, after all. Since they skipped out early because of Umbridge, and then had to take their NEWTs at the Ministry with the home-school students.

"He actually wasn't that bad for OWLs." Harry said.

"And I did actually remember all of it, more than I thought I would, anyway." Ron shrugged. The Professor's all hid smiles, because that happened all the time. When the time came, you would always remember more than you thought you would.

(throwing down his... of summer coming.)

"That sounds so beautiful and peaceful." Luna said wistfully. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Why not study outside?" Percy asked, that was what he did when it was nice out, it actually helped him concentrate better.

In response, both boys pointed at Hermione with sour expressions. In six years, they never could get her to leave the castle (or the library for that matter) to study out by the lake, although the two boys went outside whenever they could, usually whenever they managed to escape her nagging about their study habits.

She seemed to think that the only place that it was possible to study in was the library.

(Harry, who was... in the library?")

"You only go in the library when you've brought home a new animal that you've never seen or cared for before." Minerva said with a frown. The chapter title was bouncing around in her head, making her feel almost sick.

Hagrid flushed a bright red and said nothing.

(Hagrid shuffled into... behind his back.)

Everybody's interest was immediately peaked.

Fred and George looked disgusted. "We should really teach you how to be sneakier." Fred said. Honestly, his behavior screamed, 'look at me, I'm hiding something.'

Hagrid looked sheepish while others groaned and shook their heads.

(He looked very... moleskin overcoat.)

"Oh, is that why Madam Pince glares at you when she sees you?" Percy wondered. She probably thought the coat was covered in dirt, and here he was, in her precious library.

Minerva snorted. "Yes and no." Was all she said. That was part of it, but only because of an incident from several years ago.

"It's not very hard for Hagrid to look out of place somewhere." Bill muttered to Charlie, who looked amused.

("Jus' lookin'," he... their interest at once.)

"See, you can't yell at me for it, either. Because stuff like this is just begging to be investigated." Harry pointed out. Honestly, complain about him being as curious as a cat, and then they went and dangled stuff like this in front of him? Come on!

Minerva groaned. "I blame James and Lily completely." She muttered. Two of the most curious people in the world should never have had a child together.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Remus muttered. It was something he'd said often to James when they were in Hogwarts.

"Satisfaction brought it back." Harry countered, and Remus groaned while Sirius looked amused.

"Can we not tempt fate, though? Please?" Minerva wasn't quite begging the younger Harry, but close enough. Harry merely smirked.

("An' what're you lot up ter?")

"Umm... studying. Teachers like to torture us with work during our times off." Ron informed the gentle half-giant, who flushed a little red. He should have realized it, he knew the teachers liked to assign work over Easter.

The teachers did not look impressed by Ron's comments.

(He looked suddenly... Ron impressively.)

The Weasley brothers looked at their brother in amusement while Ginny snorted. Ron merely flushed red.

("And we know... a Sorcerer's St-")

"Do you not know when to keep your mouth shut? It's obvious that the teachers didn't want it to be known, why would you just blurt everything out like that?" Draco asked, dumbfounded about how those three kept anything secret.

Ron turned beet red and Hermione stomped on his foot before he even opened his mouth to deliver a scathing retort. "Ow! Hermione, what was that for?!" He demanded.

She raised an eyebrow. "You know full well he is right. You are well aware that there are things Harry hasn't told us over the years because he knows you can't keep your mouth shut." She scolded. When Ron tried to argue back, and pull Harry over onto his side, his best friend was very obviously busy with his drawing pad.

"Harry!" He whined.

He glanced up and grimaced apologetically. "I'm staying out of this." He muttered and went back to his new drawing. Ron's jaw dropped and he looked comically betrayed.

Everyone else laughed before quieting down to keep reading the book.

("Shhhh!" Hagrid... matter with yeh?")

"Indeed." Minerva and Severus muttered dryly. They spent all year trying to keep everyone from learning about it, and here the students, who shouldn't have even known about it, were the ones blabbing it to the whole school.

Dumbledore frowned. He didn't want everyone to know, only those three were supposed to know, that was safest.

("There are a few... apart from Fluffy-")

"Oh, come on, you too?" Draco asked, almost fed up with it all.

Harry flushed bright red. "This was the only time." He assured the room, not even raising his head from his drawing pad.

("SHHHH!" said Hagrid... think I've told yeh-")

"Thank you, Hagrid." Minerva sighed. This was one of the few times when Hagrid showed a sense of knowing when to keep his mouth shut.

"I tried." Hagrid muttered, he still blamed himself for the Trio getting in danger like that.

("See you later, then,"... Hermione thoughtfully.)

"As much as I want to say not to pry into his privacy, this is the sort of thing that it is alright to be curious about. It's not dangerous, there's nothing life threatening about it. Of course, if it looks like it will be dangerous then you should drop it, which I don't think you will. But this is the sort of thing it is alright to be curious about." Remus ranted.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at him in shock. This was clearly something he felt strongly about. Sirius smirked while trying not to laugh.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of times me and James got the same lecture. I even overheard Snape giving Lily the same kind of lecture once in our third year." He whispered to the kids. Remus gave him a dirty look while the other teachers gave Remus speculative looks.

("Do you think... with the Stone?")

"Probably not, why would he need to research it?" Neville asked, curious. All three of them shrugged, not really knowing why they would have thought that.

("I'm going to see... enough of working.)

Both Hermione and Molly shot Ron a withering look while the Twins cat-called.

When he saw Hermione's look, he protested. "You know I'm not made to just study like you." He told her under his breath, she just gave him a look, which Pomona met with a look of her own.

(He came back a... Dragon Keeper's Guide.")

Minerva got a sinking feeling in her stomach when it was announced that Hagrid was in the section on dragons. That combined with the chapter title...

"That book is wildly inaccurate. It was written by somebody that knows nothing of dragons beyond what they've read, and the sources they used were outdated and biased." Charlie burst out. Honestly, relying on those books had gotten people killed.

"Then why is it in the Hogwarts library?" Hermione asked, wouldn't they check their books for accuracy?

"Because somebody clearly saw the title and didn't check that it was at all accurate. Either that, or whoever is in charge of approving the new book-list for the library wants to get people killed." Charlie could almost guarantee that Madam Pince had the correct books ordered, but somebody changed the order for some bogus reason and then cited cost.

("Hagrid's always wanted... Convention of 1709,)

Everyone looked at the youngest Weasley boy, amazed, except for the rest of the Weasley's. "How do you know something like that?" Neville asked, wide-eyed. It was such a random fact, and he was pretty sure it was never covered in History. The only things that were really covered in there were Goblin rebellions, and occasionally something like the Witch burnings. But never anything to do with laws or conventions.

Also, this was Ron Weasley. The only thing he was known for knowing a lot about was Quidditch. It was often joked about in the Tower that if there was a class on Quidditch History or something, Ron would probably be able to teach it better than the professor.

The Weasley children, Percy and younger, were confused. "Doesn't everybody? Don't you?" Fred asked, looking around. Everybody else shook their heads no, leaving them stumped.

"So, how do you guys know it?" Draco asked. He wasn't going to admit that he himself knew about it because he found dragons fascinating. (And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that his name was Latin for 'dragon'. Whoever said that was lying.)

As one, every single Weasley pointed at Charlie, who didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. So, he liked to discuss what he'd read about dragons with his family when he was younger, and he liked to rant about some of the laws he'd read about. Although, there were some he did agree with as being needed, like the one banning wizards from breeding dragons. Dragons were too wild and dangerous to try and raise in a wizarding house or area. Especially when the Statute of Secrecy was brought into the discussion.

Everybody no longer acted as though it was strange for the Weasley's to know random facts about dragons like this. After all, everybody knew Dragon Handlers have to be crazy to willingly want to work with creatures as dangerous as dragons as they do. Dragon Handlers were also known for trying to attack anybody who they overheard bad-mouthing their precious dragons.

(everyone knows that.)

"No, they don't." Almost everyone chorused at once. The Weasley children blinked at them, still surprised that something like this wasn't common knowledge. Sirius and Remus were trying not to laugh for some reason that only they seemed to know.

(It's hard to stop... wild ones in Romania.")

Everyone glanced towards Charlie, who was still wearing his work uniform, having seen no need to put anything else on when this was just as comfortable. His wand was in his holster at his belt, tied next to it was a drawstring pouch full of potions, while a spare wand was attached to his calf. His clothes were all soft dragonhide, all gathered by the Handlers after being shed by the dragons, whatever skin they gathered in a day they were allowed to keep and do what they wanted with, and most had their work clothes made out of it. His pants were black, as was his shirt, while the sleeveless vest he was wearing was dyed a deep red and had the Romanian Reserve symbol carefully stitched on.

(Wizard robes were too restrictive, and tended to get in the way. It was also a safety hazard, because there was so much more material there for a dragon to set on fire or catch in their claws. If that happened, then you had better hope the robe ripped, but since most robes were charmed not to tear... So, Dragon Handlers tended to wear as little as possible, and they were only loose-fitting enough that they could still move freely.)

However, the more notable part was that what he was wearing did nothing to hide the burn and claw scars he had littering his upper body.

He looked down at himself, holding his arms out to eye the burns himself before shrugging. "Part of the job." He said simply. He purposely avoided looking at his mother, he knew how much she hated that he had such a dangerous job, but he frankly didn't care. No, he didn't like making her worry, but at the same time he wasn't going to let it dictate his life. If she had her way, all of them would be working nice, safe desk jobs in the Ministry where the most dangerous thing that could happen to them was a 'paper-cut', as he thought the Muggles would put it.

("But there aren't... Britain ?" said Harry.)

"Oh, sure. There's even some living in the Forbidden Forest. Deep in it, mind" Charlie warned the Twins, who looked like they were going to investigate the moment they left this room. They scowled, but not even they were stupid to go too deep into the forest.

The Dursley's made noises of terror at the thought.

("Of course there are,")

Both Petunia's screeched and fainted, making everyone look at them in shock.

"Humph. You would think that Lily would have told her about this at some point." Arabella muttered to her godfather, who nodded.

"Whenever Lily and I spoke about anything magical, she always made it a point to leave the room." Severus informed the room, eyeing them curiously. The Vernon's yelled in alarm and tried to help her, but didn't know how. Poppy merely shot off a diagnostic from where she was sitting, and claimed that they would be fine.

(said Ron. "Common Welsh... to?" said Hermione.)

"Good question." A few muttered, wanting to know the same things. Hagrid shifted, only slightly uncomfortable.

(When they knocked... quickly behind them.)

"Hiding something, Hagrid?" Sirius asked, trying to tease the half-giant. He was always so open and friendly with others, having his curtains shut and being so quick to close the door behind them was concerning.

Hagrid flushed red.

"That was a little obvious, now that I think about it." Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione. They nodded in agreement.

(It was stifling... fire in the grate.)

Charlie nodded in approval, at least one of the books Hagrid got were accurate enough. Most dragons species needed heat in order for the hatchling to properly grow.

"Ugh, how did you stand that?" Draco asked in disgust. Honestly, he would not have been able to stay in there long. If it was winter or something, that was more understandable, but it was getting warmer the closer it got to summer. And Hagrid was usually wearing leather, or that coat of his.

"The House-elves enchanted my clothes." Hagrid shrugged. "The heat and cold don' 'ffect me much."

"He really gets along well with the elves." Somebody muttered.

(Hagrid made them tea... which they refused.)

"Good." Was the general consensus. The younger kids and those who never ate it before looked at them curiously.

"Hagrid's cooking is not made for human consumption." Harry answered them, grimacing apologetically at Hagrid.

Hagrid just waved them off.

"His tea is good, though." Charlie muttered to the others, who nodded in agreement.

("So- yeh wanted...

"O' course I can't,")

The professors looked at him in surprise and approval. He was actually refusing to tell them something.

Hagrid shifted uncomfortably.

(he said. "Number one... fer a good reason.)

"Depending on your point of view." Harry added bitterly.

Albus frowned at him. It was for a very good reason, they needed to draw Tom out, so they could defeat him once and for all.

"There is nothing that can justify bringing that thing into a school as bait." Ron agreed, it was something the three had discussed the night before. There were a lot of things over the years that didn't add up.

(It was almost stolen outta Gringotts-)

"That vault was empty, so security wasn't as tight anymore as it should have been." Bill reminded with a grimace. That, and everything his team found afterward indicated Black Magic was used, after one of the Goblin tellers was Imperiused into letting him through.

"Even if it had been stolen out of the vault, I doubt the goblins would have allowed the thief to leave the tunnels with it." Charlie commented. He figured they would have ways to know when something was taken that shouldn't have been, even if a goblin took them down there.

"True." Bill agreed.

(I s'ppose yeh've... know abou' Fluffy.")

"It's easy, just open the door." Fred said.

"Yeah, I think everybody knew about Fluffy by Halloween, maybe sooner." George agreed with his brother. The other teachers all glanced darkly at Albus. They had protested letting the students know so blatantly that something was going on with the corridor they had Fluffy in, but they hadn't even considered at the time that he would have such flimsy protections in place.

"If they did, they didn't talk about it." Ron muttered, and Harry nodded in agreement. He hadn't heard anything about anybody other than them knowing it was a Cerberus.

("Oh, come on, Hagrid... on round here,")

"He really does." Neville commented. Or at least, he knew more than most ever gave him credit for. He was one of those that most usually didn't really notice, which was odd since he was so big, and you wouldn't think somebody like him could ever blend in, but he managed it sometimes. Especially while at Hogwarts.

"Flattery, nice." Sirius murmured to himself.

"Better than getting him drunk, no?" Remus deadpanned at his friend. That was, after all, how Hagrid got drunk and set his bed on fire that one time. Although the fire part was mostly James, but now he had a reputation for it in certain circles, as Malfoy had stated earlier the first time he ever met Harry.

(said Hermione in a... at these last words.)

Everyone else groaned while Sirius and Remus chuckled appreciatively. "The best way to get information out of Hagrid, or anyone else, really." Sirius said. How many times had they gotten information out of Hagrid by doing the same thing?

"Please don't encourage them." Minerva dryly requested. They all grinned impishly at her.

(Harry and Ron... ter tell yeh that...)

"Hagrid!" The teachers groaned, disbelieving.

"'e already knew what was goin' on." Hagrid explained sheepishly with a shrug, and the others grimaced.

It was true, after all. And they had learned the hard way that with Harry it was best to let him know what was going on, otherwise he was just going to find out of his own, attracting or getting into all kinds of trouble in the meantime.

"That doesn't mean you should help them learn more." Severus muttered.

(let's see... he borrowed... Professor McGonagall-")

"They were brilliant, by the way. Easy to get past, but brilliant." Harry complimented the teachers in question. They smiled slightly at the compliment towards their traps, but were mostly disgruntled with how easy the then-first years found them to get past.

"They were fun to get past, though." The Twins mentioned. They'd gotten past all of them during the first month of school.

(he ticked them off... yeah, Professor Snape.")

"That one was by far the most brilliant, though. That riddle was amazing and I enjoyed the challenge." Hermione said, somewhat enthusiastically.

Severus quirked an eyebrow at her. If it was still easy enough for a first year to figure out, then clearly he was slipping.

"But why actually have the potion to get past the flames there? If it was to keep people out, then wouldn't it have made more sense for the riddle itself to be a lie? And instead of a potion to move forward, you have another poison instead?" Harry asked. "Not a fast acting one, but something that would keep them there and unable to leave until somebody came to investigate, and then have alarms on the bottle."

"That was what I originally wanted." Severus said, shooting a glare at Albus. He'd had the perfect poison in mind, but Albus refused to let him use it.

("Snape?")

Severus said nothing, merely shot them an irritated glare, while his godsons glared at the wall behind Harry. The Trio in question looked up at Harry guiltily.

("Yeah- yer not... about ter steal it.")

"Quirrell was helping protect it, too. He still tried to steal it." Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione, who all nodded in agreement. They loved Hagrid, but sometimes he could be oblivious to other people's intentions.

(Harry knew Ron and... teachers had guarded it.)

"Right track, wrong person." Harry explained with a grimace.

(He probably knew... to get past Fluffy.)

Severus snorted. "On the contrary, I knew all of it. I helped plan it, even though all my ideas for actually making it difficult were shot down." He informed the room.

("You're the only... aren't you, Hagrid?")

The Twins snorted. "Not even close." Fred scoffed.

"Most of the student body probably knew." George added.

"They probably looked it up..."

"... or asked Kettleburn..."

"... as soon as they saw..."

"... the Cerberus."

"All books that mentioned Cerberus were removed from the Hogwarts Library for that year." Albus said quietly. No need to make things too easy for Harry or Tom, after all. Hermione glared at him for that, she'd spent weeks in the library trying to look up the Cerberus after the first time she saw it, with no luck.

"And that stops kids from writing home about them, owl ordering books about them, or speaking with the Care of Magical Creatures Professor about them... how?" Mrs. Figg asked, skeptical. Everything she'd just listed was exactly what she would have done. Albus stared at her for a moment, not having even considered that those could be options.

(said Harry anxiously... said Hagrid proudly.)

The Twins shot Hagrid a look that was almost pitying, and the man looked down, almost ashamed.

"Not your fault, Hagrid. You're not the one who set the protections on the door, and let curious students know there was something to find." Harry reassured his large friend.

("Well, that's something,"... open? I'm boiling.")

"It was really hot in there." Harry nodded in agreement with his book self.

"I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did before saying anything." Draco said.

Harry snorted. "I'm used to dealing with extreme temperatures, usually from working outside or not having anything proper to wear during the winter. I'm more surprised that Ron and Hermione didn't say anything." He informed the room. (Glares were sent the Dursley's way after his comments.)

"It was really uncomfortable, but my parents paid extra for runes to be sewn into my robes that controlled the temperature around me to an extent, Professor McGonagall described the castle to them, and they didn't want to me to get too cold in such a large castle so far up north." Hermione explained. And it was a good thing they did, the school got really drafty, no matter the weather outside.

"I was just trying to bear it." Ron shrugged. It was very uncomfortable, and he had almost said something before Harry spoke up, he was honestly surprised Harry said anything at all, and he said as much.

Harry turned a faint red and didn't look up from his drawing. "If I was starting to get uncomfortable, then I can't imagine how you two might have been, and I didn't know Hermione had... temperature control runes sewn into her robes."

Hermione and everyone else who studied Runes choked on air. "Temperature control runes?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

Harry flushed a deeper red. "I don't know what else they could be called, and that's what they were basically doing." He muttered. Everyone laughed at him over it.

("Can't, Harry, sorry,"... was a huge, black egg.)

"How did you know what it was? It was just an egg." Dudley asked, confused.

"He was looking up books on dragons, and he told me he'd always wanted one. It wasn't hard to put together." Harry said dryly.

"Oh... good point." Dudley said lamely, ignoring the snickering Twins on the other couch. Bill rolled his eyes and smacked them on the back of the head quickly.

("Ah," said Hagrid... you get it, Hagrid?")

Moody narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his quill, ready to write down the criminals name so he could send a team to check it out.

(said Ron, crouching over... a fortune."

"Won it,")

There was silence. "Huh?" Was the general response.

"When you say 'won it', what kind of game of were you playing for a dragon egg to be the prize?" Charlie was incredulous. Who in their right minds would just give a dragon egg away like that, let alone carry it on their person in the first place.

"It were jus' a game o' cards." Hagrid shrugged.

Jaws dropped further, and Moody scribbled furiously away.

(said Hagrid. "Las' night... it, ter be honest.")

Charlie snorted. "I should say so. The Reserve in Norway was going crazy trying to find it, it was stolen right out of her mothers nest while she was away hunting. Her mate was found severely injured nearby. After we took charge of her, we called around trying to figure out if the egg was stolen from a wild nest or a protected one." He explained. He saw no reason to hide his involvement, he was the only Dragon Handler that Ron knew, so it was only natural that Ron call him in a situation like this. Assuming he had sense, which he had shown that he did, so...

"But, didn't you say that she was still at your Reserve?" Harry asked, confused.

Charlie grimaced. "The Reserves... don't really communicate much, not unless there is something big going on. We all knew a dragon egg had been stolen, we all knew when, but they never said what species of egg was stolen, they were panicky and kind of forgot to mention that. So, it wasn't put together until later that their egg had been found, hatched, and was given over into our care. By then, she had been pretty well integrated into life at our Reserve, so it was decided that it would be best to just leave her there." He shrugged. He didn't mention that the mother and hatchling never finished the 'bonding' process that started once the egg was laid, and ended once the egg hatched.

As a result, the mother would have been more likely to kill her than accept her. Mother dragons were extremely territorial over their nests, and didn't let anybody nearby, not even their mate was allowed near once the eggs hatched. An unfamiliar hatchling wouldn't have stood a chance.

("But what are you... said Hermione.)

"I should hope he would contact the nearest Reserve, but since I know how Hagrid can be..." Charlie shrugged, a fond smile on his face towards his half-giant friend. Hagrid only looked confused. Why would he want to do that? He'd always wanted a dragon, giving him up had been hard enough as it was, no need to have done it any earlier.

("Well, I've bin doin'... for Pleasure and Profit-)

Charlie suddenly got a very strange look on his face. "I'm surprised books like that are still around. Dragon breeding has been illegal for three hundred years, after all." He muttered to himself.

(it's a bit outta date... blood every half hour.)

Charlie made a face. "Eh, no, actually. When they hatch, they are fully capable of eating meat within the first few days. Before that, their mothers know what to feed them. Like you yourself said, that book was out of date. Brandy actually isn't recommended for us to give to orphaned hatchlings. It's been found that the alcohol affects them the same as people, and when your a fire-breathing creature that already can't control their flame... that's not a good thing." He explained to the room.

Everyone else looked at him, eyes wide, especially the Trio. Having the dragon there was bad enough without knowing all this.

(An' see here- how... They're rare, them.")

"They also grow incredibly quick, and have one of the hottest tempers." Charlie informed with a grimace.

"Temper?" Ron asked. They hadn't seen that, she was actually the sweetest thing.

"Yeah, you don't really see it much when their young. When they got older, though... then you need to be careful." Charlie informed, looking at his arms real quick. "This one here." He pointed at one the burn scars up on his shoulder. "I got this one from an adolescent Ridgeback when I accidentally got between him and the deer he was hunting. I didn't even know he was there, but he must have thought I was taking away his food." He admitted dryly.

Molly gave a noise of concern and tried to grab her sons arm to inspect the scar, but he pulled away. "Mom, I got this years ago." He told her, a little irritated.

(He looked very... wooden house," she said.)

Hagrid looked somewhat confused, wondering what that had to do with anything. Neville looked at her, and she just shrugged.

It needed to be said, Hagrid never seemed to think of things like that.

Minerva sighed. "Hagrid, I realize that there is not much a baby dragon can do to you physically, however. Dragons breathe fire, and wood burns. Very easily."

"Especially hatchlings. Once they start developing their flame, they can't necessarily control it at first. There parents must teach them that control." Charlie chimed in, and the Trio paled once they realized just how close their friend was to becoming homeless. And they were in that hut with it for a while!

"'E wouldn' ta done nuthin' to me hut." Hagrid dismissed.

"Hagrid, she was young, and she couldn't control her flame yet. Intention or not, your hut would have gone up in flames." Charlie said quietly, trying to get this through to his large friend. "And unless you can suddenly breathe fire yourself or speak Dragon, you wouldn't have had a way of teaching her to control them." Hagrid looked down sadly.

"Breeding and keeping dragons is illegal for a reason, best let them keep to themselves." Moody advised. Dragons were, to put it simply, not pets. No matter what some idiots seemed to think, they couldn't be tamed or housebroken like a dog or a cat.

(But Hagrid wasn't... he stoked the fire.)

"He doesn't listen a lot." Remus said dryly. Hagrid only turned red.

(So now they had... illegal dragon in his hut.)

"At best, the dragon will be sent to a Reserve. However, there are some on the committee who would order it destroyed and harvested for parts just because. Hagrid, on the other hand, would go to Azkaban." Charlie informed, honestly angry about it

Hagrid's eyes widened. "See?" He demanded of the Trio. "I told yer, tha committee has it in fer interestin' creatures." The three looked at each other, fondly exasperated.

"Yes, Hagrid, we know. The fact remains that having a dragon of your own is illegal. That doesn't mean they are right to kill it, but the law is the law." Hermione said, patiently.

"You know, I'm glad I didn't know all this stuff back then. At least when we didn't know what could happen to him, we could pretend it wouldn't be that bad." Ron informed Harry, who nodded his agreement.

("Wonder what it's... a peaceful life,")

"I still want to know what that would be like." Ron sighed wistfully. Harry and Hermione nodded their agreement while everyone else (those who cared) looked at the three of them in agreement.

(Ron sighed, as evening... driving them nuts.)

Hermione shot them a hurt look, to which they looked completely unrepentant.

"Your study schedules may help you study, but they all they do is annoy us because you are dictating when we can and can't study, and when we can study certain subjects." Harry said, patiently. "If I'm feeling pretty good about a subject, then I'm not going to study it beyond brushing up on it. Instead, I'm going to study something that I feel like I need to study." He flushed a little red when he realized he went on a little rant there, in front of everybody, but he also knew that he'd been holding that back for years now.

Everybody stared at him, Hermione was wide-eyed while Ron eyed him in concern. Neville looked like he thought it was about time one of them said something.

Pomona nodded her agreement and nudged Hermione's arm. This was what she'd been telling the girl for a while now. She couldn't dictate the study habits of others. Especially her friends. She wasn't their mother, she was their friend. Now, if she wanted to make sure their homework and such was actually done, that was fine. But she couldn't dictate it.

(Then, one breakfast... note from Hagrid.)

"Hedwig doesn't get much work when you're at school, does she?" Dudley asked, eyeing the owl perched behind Harry on the back of the couch.

Harry shrugged. "She delivers the occasional letter for Dean or Seamus, Ron and Hermione have a delivery for her sometimes. I have usually have owl order forms for her more towards Christmas. After this year, I was able to write Mr. Weasley, and Sirius and Remus later on." He couldn't think of anybody else he had to write to. Pretty much everybody he knew was at Hogwarts with him, and he had no desire to write the Dursleys. And if he did, he wasn't sending Hedwig anywhere near them if he could help it, it was bad enough she had to live with them during the summer.

"That's... actually kind of depressing." Ginny said with a frown.

"What is?" Harry asked, confused.

"That you don't have anybody to write to." Luna answered for her, everybody else nodded in agreement. Harry just shrugged. He didn't mind. She provided companionship, and that was more important to him sometimes than a few letters being delivered.

(He had written only... It's hatching.)

An air of excitement swept over the room.

They were going to read about a dragon hatching!

Of course, it would be better to have actually witnessed it...

(Ron wanted to skip... down to the hut.)

Pomona was torn between being offended that they were wanting to ditch her for a dragon that wasn't even hatched yet, and wishing she could have joined them. Hermione gasped, scandalized.

The other teachers looked like they weren't sure whether or not to disapprove, either. On the one hand, they couldn't condone skipping class. On the other, it could be very educational to see. It would certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see it happen.

(Hermione wouldn't hear... a dragon hatching?")

"Not often, even on the Reserves." Charlie said, slightly envious. He'd only seen it twice and he'd worked on a dragon reserve for several years. They were eleven year old students, one of whom probably hadn't even known dragons were real before this. Hearing this, everyone else looked at them in envy, and Harry only smirked.

"Exactly, who cares about plants, that's a dragon egg hatching." Ron said, looking at Hermione.

"Hey!" Neville protested, and Pomona looked just as offended.

"Ah..." Ron looked at Hermione and Harry for help, but they both happily threw him to the annoyed Herbologists.

("We've got lessons... what he's doing-")

"Which is why you should stop talking about it in the open!" Moody shouted. Hermione looked at Hagrid guiltily, he waved it off.

("Shut up!" Harry whispered... dead to listen.)

Everyone groaned. Draco was unrepentant. "If they don't want people like me to overhear their secret conversations, then they shouldn't be having them in the open where everybody can hear."

"Don't worry, this was the only year that was a problem." Harry sighed, honestly, he'd been so annoyed with the other two this year, because they insisted on discussing anything and everything out in the open, and often they didn't even lower their voices or look around to make sure nobody was nearby. "Just how much did you hear, anyway?" He asked Draco.

"Just that Hagrid was doing something that could get him in trouble." Draco said honestly. If he'd known in the first place that it was a dragon egg hatching, he probably would have begged to go with them from the beginning. He hadn't gotten the best view of it hatching from his spot by the window.

Sirius and Remus looked decidedly unimpressed, while the Twins shot the two of them a small glare, they'd thought they would be better about it than that.

(How much had he... Malfoy's face at all.)

"No, I did not. He had that look on his face, like he was already planning on doing something, and I had no idea how much he'd heard." Harry agreed with his book self.

"Well, apparently he heard enough." Sirius said, not happy with that fact at all.

(Ron and Hermione... way to Herbology)

"At least they were quieter about it." Harry muttered to Sirius, who raised an eyebrow.

They should have stopped talking about it, period, after finding out somebody had overheard them. There was too much risk that the person kept eavesdropping now that their interest was peaked.

(and in the end... during morning break.)

"But it might be too late by then." Charlie protested. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! "You can ask anyone else later on what they did in class, but you will never have the chance to see this happen again!"

"Charlie!" His mother snapped, interrupting Hermione. "Their studies are more important. Don't encourage them to go skipping classes." She scolded.

"I'm... actually in agreement with Charlie. I would not have minded if they skipped my class this day, I would have been more important that they didn't tell me so I could witness it with them." Pomona admitted. The other professors, even Severus, nodded in agreement.

The Marauders and Twins stared at them in shock while Molly look betrayed.

(When the bell sounded... their trowels at once)

"Ah, I was wondering what was up with you guys. You usually stay behind to help clean up on days when we don't have to hurry to our next class." Neville suddenly realized.

"Sorry, guys." Harry apologized for running out on them. Both Neville and Pomona waved it off They were going to see a dragon hatch, or see the baby dragon. There was always the possibility that they would get there and the dragon would have already hatched.

"You gotta be careful with that, somebody might get suspicious about what has you so excited." Sirius cautioned.

(and hurried through... flushed and excited.)

It was at this point that the screen came back to life, making everyone get excited. Especially Charlie and Draco, the two dragon-crazy ones in the room.

Filius lit up in excitement as he stopped the charms on the book, and everybody watched with bated breath as the egg hatched.

("It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.)

Everyone was leaning forward in their seats, staring intently at the screen.

(The egg was lying... deep cracks in it.)

"You guys got there just in time." Charlie breathed. "It will only be a few more minutes at the most." Everyone glanced at him, but their attention was focused on the egg.

(Something was moving... with bated breath.)

Everyone in the reading room watched with the same expressions on their faces. Not even Severus could hide his interest.

Only the Dursley adults looked bored and disinterested with what was happening, but then they had been disinterested or disgusted with everything that had happened the last few days.

(All at once there... the egg split open.)

A few people jumped at the suddenness of it, they hadn't expected it to just happen like that.

Charlie grinned at their reactions, and muttered to Bill, "Hagrid's lucky he had a Ridgeback, and not something like a Chinese Fireball. Their eggs explode, violently." Bill tore his gaze away from the screen to stare at his brother in shock. Charlie shrugged and grinned.

(The baby dragon flopped onto the table.)

The women cooed while the men looked a little disappointed, but still awed. Severus squashed the voice in the back of his head that was listing the valuable potions ingredients that could be harvested from a dragon hatchling. (He didn't use those kinds of ingredients... well, not outside the Dark Lords labs, anyway. Some of the potions the Dark Lord wanted required some... questionable ingredients.)

It was so cute!

(It wasn't exactly pretty... bulging, orange eyes.)

"Aww, it's so cute." Ginny murmured quietly, watching the screen. Luna nodded serenely beside her.

"She's going to be so pretty when she grows up." Luna agreed, enjoying the scene in front of them.

"She's a beauty, alright." Charlie agreed with the girls.

Vernon (both of them) was doing his best to look disinterested, but even he couldn't deny that this sight wasn't fascinating, he'd always been fascinated with dragon myths and legends when he was younger, until he grew up and got his head out of the clouds, anyway. Petunia was still unconscious.

(It sneezed. A... out of its snout.)

"Yeah, that will happen a lot." Charlie said with a grimace. Hermione grumbled something about her favorite sweater.

("Isn't he beautiful?")

"She." Charlie muttered.

Bill snorted. "You two are certainly alike." He muttered to his brother, who gave him a dry look.

"Only you two would think that was beautiful." Percy joined in the ribbing of his brother.

"Well, there was a kind of beauty to it." Hermione commented, looking at the screen. The other women nodded their agreement.

"All life is beautiful, if you take the time to look." Luna said, in complete agreement.

(Hagrid murmured. He... his mommy!" said Hagrid.)

The younger crowd burst out laughing while the adults and teachers tried to stifle or hide their snickers. Draco hid his sneer while his older self looked like he didn't know quite what to make of it.

"What?" Hagrid asked, he didn't see what was wrong with it, honestly. He knew that animals tended to imprint on their 'mothers' when they first met them, they didn't know the difference between a male or female human.

"Don't ever change, Hagrid." Minerva patted him fondly on the arm, which was about as high as she could reach, despite sitting next to him. He still looked confused, but didn't let it go.

("Hagrid," said Hermione... grow, exactly?")

"Very, very fast." Charlie said seriously. "It only takes about two years before they can be considered fully grown, that dragnet will be larger than Hagrid's hut within three months. It will triple in size within the first week alone, and will only continue to grow from there." He informed the room. As the dragon expert there, he felt it his job to let people know this information.

The Trio glanced at each other. They got that hatchling out just in time, then.

(Hagrid was about to... ran to the window.)

"What?"

"What's wrong?" A few people cried in alarm at the sudden change in Hagrid's behavior.

None of the four that were there answered them, though, knowing it would probably explain in the book.

("What's the matter?"... ter the school.")

Minerva looked like everything was starting to come together for her. That night the four of them were caught out of bed...

Two of them were getting rid of the dragon somehow, while Malfoy somehow found out their plans and tried to get them in trouble, while Neville overheard Draco's plans somehow and came to find the other two.

Harry and Hermione had been telling the truth, and she accused them of lying and being the ones trying to get Draco in trouble. She hadn't even bothered to ask Hagrid if he knew anything about that night, and they had both named Hagrid as their excuses for being out that night.

Neville looked like things were coming together for him, as well.

Everyone else leaned forward, hoping that they, too, could get a glimpse of the spying student.

(Harry bolted to the... was no mistaking him.)

Here, the screen cut out, and Filius hurried to restart the charm so they could find out who it was. They hadn't gotten a very good angle on the screen to see who it was, although Harry had clearly gotten a good look, if the look on his eleven-year old self was anything to go by.

(Malfoy had seen the dragon.)

Everyone else froze and looked in shock at the Malfoy Heir.

"You know, George?" Fred asked suddenly, eyeing Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Neville.

"Yes, Fred?"

"That 150 points lost is starting to make some sense."

"Agreed." George nodded, eyeing the four of them, too, along with Minerva.

(Something about the... Hermione very nervous.)

"I would be nervous, too." Sirius said, glaring briefly at Severus, who saw it and smirked.

How often had he had that same look on his face after witnessing something the Marauder's didn't want him to witness? Or after doing pulling some kind of 'prank' on them and was only waiting for it to either kick in or for them to fall into it?

Remus sighed. "Not now, you two." He said tiredly. He'd been trying to referee those two for years, when were they just going to drop it already? Although, he supposed they had already sort of set aside their 'rivalry' for the sake of Harry. He would wait and see if it held or not.

"So, it was the 'I know something' look, the one that lets you know that one word to the teachers...?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny!" Her mother gasped, shocked that her daughter would ever have experience with that look. (What did she expect...? The girl grew up with Fred and George. Bill and Charlie weren't exactly perfectly behaved growing up, either.)

"Something like that." Harry replied, amused.

(They spent most of... to reason with him.)

"Ha, good luck with that." Minerva muttered. Albus chuckled at his old friends stubborn nature, Sirius and Remus grimaced, remembering a few occasions where they needed something from Hagrid and he refused to tell them what they needed to know, or get what they needed.

(He did know how to keep his big mouth shut on occasion.)

("Just let him go,"... "Set him free.")

"Bad idea. Do not just let her go." Charlie burst out. "Hatchlings are very good at getting into things they shouldn't, they are very much like puppies in that regard, and that regard only." He stressed, raising a finger in Hagrid's direction. "An unsupervised hatchling will get itself into trouble, which will attract Ministry attention, who will order her to be destroyed on the basis of being dangerous."

"What? But, she's not dangerous, she's a baby who doesn't understand. Why kill her, why not send her to a Reserve?" Hermione asked, appalled.

"Because the British Ministry is full of idiots." Bill deadpanned. He had to deal with the Ministry and how they treated non-humans species often enough while working with the Goblins.

"Yeah." Charlie snorted. "Ironically, the British Ministry is the only one that treats dragons like this. In other cultures, like the Chinese for example, they are sacred. Other communities simply have more respect for other living beings, whether they are pureblooded wizards or not." British society was so stupid sometimes. Honestly.

Hermione actually looked angry at what he said.

("I can't," said Hagrid... He'd die.")

"She'd actually be pretty self-sufficient after the first little bit, once she figured out how to hunt on her own. Which, teaching her how to do would be her mother's job." Charlie said matter-of-factly. "It's just the curiosity getting her in trouble that you would have to probably worry about. But, then it's not recommended that they be on their own until they reach three months."

He seemed to have taken it upon himself to provide the needed information they might need during this chapter.

(They looked at... in just a week.)

Charlie nodded his agreement with this. That was a healthy growth rate, so Hagrid was obviously keeping her well fed. Despite the current diet he had her on.

(Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils.)

"She will start actually breathing fire at roughly two months." Charlie informed. "Until then, she will sneeze random sparks, or produce random flames as she grows and develops what we call the 'flame sac'."

"And Hagrid lives in a wooden hut." Neville muttered to Luna, who grimaced with a nod.

(Hagrid hadn't been... call him Norbert,")

Charlie coughed. "'Him' is actually a 'her'." He reminded, just in case they hadn't heard him earlier. "The males don't have spines on their wings or horns." Hagrid flushed a slight red at this. "This is actually the case with all males of any species. The females will all have spines or horns as an extra way of protecting themselves and their young."

He didn't know it, but his voice actually took on a lecturing tone.

(said Hagrid, looking... in Harry's ear.)

There were a few chuckles, while Hagrid turned a light red under his beard. Only Charlie looked like there was nothing wrong with Hagrid's behavior.

("Hagrid," said Harry...

Hagrid bit his lip.)

"Wow, you're actually getting through to him." Minerva said, surprised. Once Hagrid had his mind set about something, it was very difficult to get him to change it. And he had his mind set on raising that dragon.

"I was just happy he was listening, I didn't want him getting hurt or in trouble." Harry said. He knew, even back then, that once Hagrid made his mind, that he didn't change it easily.

("I- I know I... dump him, I can't.")

"I wouldn't have asked you to just 'dump him'." Harry said quietly. "I only wanted you to figure out something else for her. A school is on place to raise a baby dragon."

"That's what we love about you, Hagrid. Your heart." Luna smiled serenely at the large, gentle man.

(Harry suddenly turned... "Charlie. " he said.)

"Ah, that's where Charlie came in." Ginny said, she'd been wondering about this since this chapter started and Charlie made a few comments.

"I'm surprised Ron wasn't the one who thought about me." Charlie wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not that his brothers friend, who had only heard his name once was the one to think about him as a solution.

Ron turned red. "I would have thought of you!" He exclaimed, defensive. "Eventually." He muttered quietly enough that Remus and Sirius were the only ones that heard what he said for certain.

("You're losing it... "I'm Ron, remember?")

Everyone laughed while Ron's already red face deepened.

"Would have thought of me, huh?" Charlie repeated dryly. Ron groaned and thumped his head on the back of the couch. Everyone else chuckled again.

("No- Charlie- your... back in the wild!")

"Good idea. Unfortunately, because she had so much human contact so early in her life, teaching her how to... more or less be a dragon is slow going. Otherwise, she's doing very well on the Reserve right now. She's definitely never going to leave the Reserves, though." Charlie praised Harry's idea and gave them a bit of bad news all at once.

Hagrid frowned, not liking that.

"Well, at least she'll be happy and well cared for there." Hermione frowned, trying to be optimistic. Charlie nodded his agreement. It wasn't ideal, but she would've been born on a Reserve, anyway. At least then she would've been able to leave, though.

("Brilliant!" said Ron.)

Ron snorted and signed, "We should have known when Harry came up with the plan, that something would go wrong." He was, of course, referring to him getting bit so he couldn't be there, then Malfoy finding the letter from Charlie, and then the other two getting caught by Filch. He couldn't think of anything else that could have gone wrong off the top of his head, but he was sure that something could have.

Harry frowned and almost threw down his drawing book and pencils in his haste to protest. "Hey! My plans aren't that bad!"

Hermione snorted. "The plans themselves, no. It's actually carrying out the plans where we run into problems. Always. Without fail." If it was possible to deadpan in sign language, she pulled off perfectly. Harry sulked while he picked his stuff back up, and refused to look at either of them. Severus raised an eyebrow in interest. He couldn't wait to hear this plan, now.

("How about it, Hagrid?"... Charlie to ask him.)

"This book makes it sound like convincing him was easy." Hermione deadpanned, and the boys nodded their agreement while Hagrid didn't even have the decency to look sheepish about it.

Everyone else hid their grins, knowing how bull-headed Hagrid could be.

(The following week dragged by.)

"Ugh, that week took forever!" Ron groaned, in complete agreement with the books. He frowned. "It's your fault, by the way. We were waiting for you to turn Hagrid in at any second." He pointed at Draco, semi-dramatically.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "It was perfect blackmail material, wasn't it?" He mused, not at all sorry about how the week went for them, if they didn't want something to worry about, then they shouldn't have been harboring a dragon hatchling.

He only regretted that he hadn't had a chance to really use it, and then when he tried, he got in trouble along with them.

(Wednesday night found... Harry's invisibility cloak.)

"What were you doing out that late, young man?" Molly demanded to know. She knew he wasn't in the Maze, if he was he wouldn't have come in through the portrait, he would have used the Common Room entrance.

"Er..." Ron glanced at Hagrid before eyeing his mother warily. "Helping a friend?" He tried. She still looked ready to spit fire, and none of the teachers looked happy, either.

"And what kind of help could they have possibly needed so late at night, and that you needed to be out past curfew for?" She hadn't seen his glance towards Hagrid, but some of the others did.

(He had been down... rats by the crate.)

Charlie nodded in approval. Better than brandy.

Molly glared at Hagrid, not liking at all that he was encouraging them to be out after hours, and really not liking that he had them helping him with a dragon. Did he have no concept at all of how dangerous that was?!

"That's... disgusting." Ginny muttered, referring to the baby dragons diet.

("It bit me!")

"Then what are you there for?! You should have gone straight to the Hospital Wing, Ridgeback bites are poisonous!" Charlie yelled in shock. Molly's eyes widened in shock and she scrambled out of her seat to rush to Ron, examining his hand and generally just fussing.

Poppy gave Ron a dirty look and glanced at his hand, as though checking it to see that it was alright, even though she knew it was, having healed it all those years ago.

"Mom!" Ron complained and yanked his hand away before his dad managed to pull her away, knowing that the hand would have healed years ago. Ron then turned red. "And I didn't know that." He muttered to Charlie, a little petulant.

The teachers glanced at him in concern before sharing significant looks with each other. Minerva pursed her lips and started writing on her parchment, making a note for her younger self to keep a closer eye on Hagrid and his tendencies with the creatures he cared for. Also, it seemed another chat was in store for the gentle giant. Hagrid didn't look too repentant, he maintained that Ron must of spooked her somehow, she wouldn't have hurt a fly.

Harry and Hermione patted Ron on the back, giving him a sympathetic loo, while Ron looked at his mother warily, really not wanting to be fussed over right now. Especially not with a Malfoy in the room!

(he said, showing them... for frightening it.)

"What were you doing when she bit you?" Charlie asked, curious.

"Nothing! I was just sitting there talking to him, she came up and sniffed at my hand for a moment, and then just bit me!" Ron explained.

"She wouldna hurt nobody. You spooked 'er." Hagrid insisted again. Ron looked incredulous.

"Hagrid... she's a baby dragon. She's going to bite and claw, maybe even try to gnaw on something or someone, unless you tell her not to, and even then she still might. Believe me, she will hurt somebody. She's not a 'fluffy little bunny rabbit'." Charlie quoted what Ron said in the book. "She is a deadly creature, no matter her age." He said firmly.

(And when I left... it a lullaby.")

"Ah, that explains a lot." Charlie said, wincing. Everyone glanced at each other. "When we got her, she had a bad habit of biting. She had a lot of bad habits, come to think of it," He muttered quietly. "What the mother dragon will do when their hatchling is misbehaving, is she'll usually bite them on the tail, swat at them, roar, she will tell them off very forcefully. Bad behavior is not tolerated. By not scolding her, and then essentially rewarding her, you taught her that that behavior was ok, and acceptable, even. Which, for a dragon to learn that, is not good for everybody and everything else around it." He said. He had plenty of bite marks on his legs just from her alone.

Since he was the one to arrange for her to be brought in, he was basically in charge of her, although they'd managed to get some of the older dragons to agree to teach her how to be a dragon. One of the best kept secrets of the Dragon Reserves (especially for governments like Britain's), is that dragons could be communicated with. They had several species that were telepathic, and some others learned over time and exposure to humans how to understand human speech, even if they themselves couldn't physically speak it. Other dragons were close enough to snake families that they spoke Parseltongue, and Romania happened to have a Parselmouth on staff.

He'd asked one time why they didn't share everything they knew, and his boss laughed and told him to look at how some wizarding communities treated nonhumans in general, but especially the intelligent ones. No, it was best that some governments didn't know, otherwise they would be passing laws trying to restrict dragon movements and such even further.

(There was a tap... have Charlie's answer!")

"You know, when she arrived, I was trying to figure out who I knew that had an owl like that. I was surprised when the letter was from my little brother using a friends owl." Charlie commented. "She's an amazing girl." He'd honestly been disappointed when Ron hadn't really written anymore after that.

Hedwig preened from her spot on the back of the couch near Harry's head.

(The three of them... looked at one another.)

"Hmm, not a bad plan, but wouldn't it be simpler to pick up the dragon as official Reserve business?" Remus asked.

"Maybe, but then the Ministry would have known that Hagrid had an illegal dragon." Charlie said bluntly. "Of course, I did send a letter with them just in case they got stopped crossing the borders or something. It had the Reserve's seal on it, so if any Aurors that stopped them had any sense, they would have known that the Dragon was being transported on official Reserve business. If anybody tried to complain about not being notified ahead of time about a dragon being transported through their country, my friends would have claimed a mix-up with the parchmentwork." Charlie explained, and Mad-eye raised an eyebrow in his direction, but chose not to comment.

Molly gaped in astonishment. Did her son really just...?

Bill and the Twins looked at their brother in surprise. Percy stared in disapproval, but didn't say anything (he was only just now fixing his relationship with his family, he didn't want to jeopardize that), Ron and Ginny didn't care, Charlie was her favorite brother for a reason, and as far as Ron was concerned, his brothers were just all like that. Well, except Percy...

"We were just glad he answered so quickly." Harry said, and the other two shuddered before nodding in agreement. That was very true.

("We've got the... of us and Norbert.")

Sirius nodded, thinking back to his school days. "Yeah, if it can cover three fourth year boys and a Grim, it should be big enough to fit three first years with a crate." He mused.

Remus made a face. "If I remember right, it barely fit then, and that was the last time we were all able to to use it at once." He deadpanned.

Sirius shrugged. "We still fit, though." He pointed out. Remus sighed. Severus scowled, he was pretty sure some of the times they used it were against him in some way.

(It was a mark of... Norbert- and Malfoy.)

Draco blinked, but shrugged minutely, deciding to take it as a compliment.

"He was making such a nuisance of himself." Harry groaned dramatically, slumping down in his seat. Draco had to look away quickly to hide a smug smirk.

"Always there, always giving us this smirk..." Ron scowled at the memory. Severus looked vaguely proud while Draco smirked minutely. Hermione merely sighed at her boys dramatics.

(There was a hitch.)

"Already?"

"It's only been a few hours..."

"...you haven't even told Hagrid the plan yet!" The Twins exclaimed.

The Trio shrugged helplessly while the two pointed at Harry as if that explained everything.

To some in the room, it did.

(By the next morning... twice its usual size.)

Molly made a faint noise, but Arthur restrained her with a comforting arm around her shoulder.

Charlie grimaced. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He muttered.

Poppy clucked her tongue in disapproval of him not coming in right away, and scowled at Ron and Harry. She saw the two of them the most often of the three of them, for the strangest of reasons most times.

(He didn't know... recognize a dragon bite?)

"Yes." Poppy said immediately. "I may not see them often in a school, but I can at least recognize them." She actually prided herself on her knowledge of Healing and her healing ability.

Ron turned red. He knew she hadn't believed him.

(By the afternoon, though... Norbert's fangs were poisonous.)

"Luckily, she was still young enough that her venom wasn't fully developed or potent yet. And, the Ridgeback's venom is slow-acting, anyway. It takes two days to kill, but it causes plenty of damage along the way. It's a very slow, very painful way to die if not treated right."

As happy as Molly was that her son knew all this and was so good at his job, sometimes she really wanted him to shut up. She made that noise again while Ron held his hand to his chest, protectively.

(Harry and Hermione... terrible state in bed.)

There were a few murmurs of concern, and Poppy shot Ron a dirty look for not letting her know if he was in pain or something.

Nobody spoke, though, wanting the book to continue so they could find out what was wrong.

("It's not just my... about to fall off.)

Poppy nodded. "Good, that means the treatment is working as it should." She informed the room. Molly looked relieved, she'd thought for a moment that something was wrong with his hand.

Dudley frowned. Why on earth would something like that be a good sign? That time he broke his leg when he was younger, the doctors were very not happy when he lost all feeling in the lower half of his leg, apparently that was a sign that the blood wasn't flowing properly or something. Wizards were strange sometimes.

(Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey... what really bit me-)

Severus pursed his lips. "You are being far too obvious." He rebuked. Honestly, Draco could be more Gryffindorish than the Gryffindor's sometimes. Draco turned a bright red and Draco looked down at the ground.

The other Gryffindors in the room all shot him a small glare, not at all happy with how he was constantly targeting the Trio. And now he was going after Hagrid, which was worse. Poppy, in particular, though, wasn't happy at all about being tricked like this.

(I've told her it... she believes me-)

"Nope." Poppy muttered, still sore about this. "For one thing, it was clearly not a dog bite. For another, there is only one dog on the castle grounds, and if Fang had bitten you, Hagrid would have been the one to rush you to my domain."

Hagrid nodded his agreement. That was very true, after all.

(I shouldn't have... he's doing this.")

"No, I would have probably been doing that whether you hit me or not." Draco freely admitted, and wasn't even ashamed of it. He got dirty looks from the others in the room, while his younger self just glanced at him in slight surprise by his free admittance.

Everyone else had a feeling that his sole reason for doing this, was because Ron's last name was Weasley.

(Harry and Hermione... soothe Ron at all.)

Ron's older brothers frowned in concern. Why would that not soothe his worries? One would think that Ron would be leaping in joy.

When Percy said as much, Ron scowled and didn't say anything.

Draco was the only one who had an idea, and he merely smirked.

(On the contrary... into a sweat.)

Poppy scowled at her patient being so worked up. If she could have...

("Midnight on Saturday!"... getting rid of Norbert.")

"Oh, that's not good." All the Weasley boys said at once, while Ginny groaned dramatically. Draco Malfoy had already been a pain, and now he knew their plans.

"That explains it." Percy muttered, their question earlier was now answered.

Minerva nodded, satisfied that she'd figured out the timeline of that Saturday night, and resolved to apologize later, once they reached that point in the book.

(Harry and Hermione... Ron needed sleep.)

Ron grumbled. He hadn't fallen asleep, instead he laid there, bored out of his mind because he didn't have anybody to talk to or distract him from the strange feeling in his hand. It hadn't hurt, but that was only because it was so numbed up he kept looking at it every so often to make sure it was still there.

("It's too late to change... know about that.")

"Well, the Cloak does lessen the risk." Sirius said with a grimace.

"But, at the same time..." Remus pursed his lips in thought.

"It is very risky to continue since somebody knows now." Harry frowned, in agreement with his godfather and uncle.

(They found Fang... a bandaged tail)

"Poor Fang." Luna exclaimed, raising a hand to her mouth. "He was alright, right?"

"Yeah, he was alrigh'. Nuthin' I couldn't fix." Hagrid told her, pleased with her concern.

Charlie nodded. "It was good that you sent her to us when you did. She was learning bad habits, and was becoming a danger to everyone around her." He said with a sigh.

(when they went... nothin' I can't handle.")

Charlie scoffed in obvious disagreement.

(When they told him... him on the leg.)

The Gryffindor's all looked at Hagrid in worry.

Charlie frowned in concern. "I don't think Hagrid would be affected by her venom... if I remember right, giants are more or less immune to most venoms and poisons." He looked at Hagrid in question, who flushed lightly at his giant heritage being brought up.

"Tha's right. I got me mum's immunity." He confirmed. It came in handy sometimes, too. He hadn't felt it, anyway, her fangs barely got through the leather in his boot. No, the tears were because he was going to have to say good-bye to her so soon.

("Aargh! It's all right... boot - jus' playin'-)

Charlie groaned in exasperation, wondering how his large friend survived until the hatchling was sent away. "No, Hagrid, she was not just playing. She was testing her limits, you should have disciplined her, or you teach her bad habits. If she were with her mother, you can bet that she wouldn't have been allowed to bite her mother." Honestly, maybe he should have sent his friends sooner than Saturday...

(he's only a baby,... the windows rattle.)

"Forget burning his house down, she just might bash it down." Ron muttered to Ginny, who nodded in agreement.

"Baby, huh?" Remus muttered in amusement.

(Harry and Hermione... they had to do.)

"And if it weren't for the fact that we wanted her gone so badly." Hermione said with a snort. Harry nodded his agreement.

"Sorry, Hagrid, but..." Harry shrugged helplessly when he noticed the slightly hurt expression on the older mans face.

"She wasn't made to be raised in a small hut." Hermione said quietly. "She's a wild animal, and she is very dangerous to others, whether she means to be or not. A school is no place for her."

(It was a very dark... the entrance hall,)

All the adults looked suspicious. What was he doing down there?

(where he'd been... against the wall.)

Everyone looked shocked and surprised. "That's..." Filius started.

"He's not doing anything to make trouble." Minerva was surprised. Now, she knew that Peeves didn't cause trouble all the time, but sometimes it felt like that was all he was good for. He'd actually helped out over the years, like when Sirius slashed the Fat Lady's portrait and Peeves told them who did it.

They would have found out eventually, but by then they wouldn't have even had a hope of finding him, he would have been long gone for sure. Of course, he was already long gone, but the point stood. They were able to start searching right away instead of having to wait until they found the Fat Lady and then waited for her to calm down enough to tell them anything.

"Where did he get the tennis ball?" Harry asked.

"Probably stole it off a Muggleborn who brought it for some reason." Hermione said with a shrug. It was true enough, too. "If he did, then they probably thought they just misplaced it or it rolled away."

All the teachers frowned.

(Hagrid had Norbert... fer the journey,")

Charlie nodded in approval. Good, it wasn't that long of a journey, but there was no need to let her go hungry even in that short time. And that crate had been big enough for her to be comfortable.

(said Hagrid in a muffled... case he gets lonely.")

"Oh, that's what that lump of burned fluff was." Charlie said in realization. "I'd wondered." He shrugged.

Everybody else looked at Hagrid, incredulous. A teddy bear? For a dragon?

Seriously?

(From inside the crate... his head torn off.)

"That didn't last long." Neville muttered dryly, and a few people nodded in agreement with him, all looking bemused.

But then, what did Hagrid expect to happen there?

("Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid... will never forget you!")

"Hmm, maybe I could arrange a visit to the Reserve for you." Charlie murmured, and wrote it down. Hagrid could probably benefit from spending summers or something at the Reserve. They had more than just dragons there, it might be useful for his classes.

(How they managed... they never knew.)

"It was very awkward to carry." Harry said in agreement.

"And heavy." Hermione reminded. This was, sadly, before they learned feather-weight charms in class, and she'd been so worried about Malfoy knowing their plans she hadn't even thought to look them up before that Saturday. Harry nodded his agreement with her.

"Feather-light charms?" Draco asked, a strange look on his face.

She flushed and told him snappishly, "I didn't think about looking them up for this, I was too worried about what we were about to do and the fact that you knew."

(Midnight ticked nearer... work much easier.)

"What if they don't get there in time? Would your friends have waited?" Neville asked suddenly, startling a few people.

Charlie blinked at him in surprise. "Yeah, they wouldn't have been too happy about it, since the wait would have increased their chances of getting caught, but yeah. They would have waited. Not for too long, mind, but long enough to be sure whether or not Harry and Hermione were really coming with the dragon." He explained. Meaning, they would have waited for a half-hour, maybe a little longer, at most.

("Nearly there!" Harry... ten feet away.)

A few people made faces of disgust, or smirked in amusement, thinking that a few students had come up to make use of the tower for the night. The Astronomy Tower was one of the more favored meet-up locations for couples or people that just wanted to get together and have a bit of 'fun', after all.

Only Harry and Hermione's smirks were for a different reason, and they both directed their smirks towards Draco, who saw them and scowled, knowing that they'd seen him after being caught by the Professor.

(A lamp flared.

Professor... Malfoy by the ear.)

Draco grimaced and rubbed his ear as it ached in phantom pains. Severus shot her a dirty look and then transferred it to Draco for being out after curfew, and then being caught.

"What were you doing up there?" Ron asked, surprised. The older people in the room were either relieved or disappointed that it wasn't a pair of older students.

"I was waiting for those two." He pointed towards Harry and Hermione, who smirked again. "Professor McGonagall happened to come up to the Tower during the last bit of her patrol before going to bed." He assumed so, anyway. He was still sour about that. Why couldn't her patrol route have brought her to the tower later, right when she would have caught Potter and Granger with the dragon? Honestly, they had all the luck. Although, he supposed he could count himself lucky that they had still been caught in the end.

("Detention!" she shouted... the night, how dare you-")

Severus shot a dirty look at the Transfiguration Mistress, while Harry, Hermione, and Neville shot an equally angry glare at her. She only took twenty points from Slytherin? And yet Gryffindor lost 150 points. How, in any sense of the word was that fair?

"He only lost twenty?" Neville hissed under his breath.

"Hey, isn't this the night Gryffindor lost 150 points?" Fred suddenly asked his twin, who blinked before nodding in realization.

"Yeah, I think it is." Sirius looked at them curiously, how could Gryffindor lose 150 points in one night? That didn't make any sense, unless... his eyes slid towards his godson and his female friend. But who would the third have been?

Minerva suddenly looked horrified as she remembered what she said and did this night.

("You don't understand... he's got a dragon!")

Sirius made a noise of concern, but Harry smirked bitterly. "She's not going to believe you." He said bitterly. Minerva's face was full of regret when she looked at him, but he didn't look at her.

A few of the others looked between the two suspiciously.

("What utter rubbish!... about you, Malfoy!")

Draco flinched at the subtle reminder of the horrible mood his godfather had been in after being woken up at midnight, when he'd spent all day getting ready for the exams and cleaning the classroom after a pair of seventh year students weren't paying attention during their Saturday lesson and blew up their cauldron, resulting in a spectacular explosion that rocked the castle and created quite the mess. (He would have forced them to clean it themselves, but they were in the Hospital Wing, unconscious all weekend, and he needed his classroom before Poppy would have released them.)

Needless to say, Draco had a very long and drawn out lecture and was heavily punished by his godfather for being out after curfew. And then the rest of Slytherin House found out about the point loss...

(The steep spiral staircase... breathe properly again.)

"The air gets stale under there after a while." Harry remarked absently, and those who'd been under an Invisibility Cloak for any period of time nodded their agreement.

"It's not so bad when you learn air-freshening charms." Sirius said with a shrug of his shoulders, and Harry nodded after a moment's consideration.

"To be honest, I never thought of trying that... I'll have to do that next time I wear the Cloak."

(Hermione did a... I could sing!")

"Please don't." Ron, Neville, and Ginny all muttered. Harry had to look away to hide his smirk while Hermione looked affronted.

If there was one thing Hermione could not do, it was sing.

("Don't," Harry advised her... about in his crate.)

"She was starting to get impatient, I think." Hermione informed the room, and a few glanced at Charlie.

"She had some minor bruising on her sides, and wing, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. The crate was well cushioned on the bottom, but it could have used some cushioning charms along the sides." He informed.

(About ten minutes... out of the darkness.)

Minerva narrowed her eyes and made a note on her parchment for the castle's ward scheme to be checked, because she was pretty sure they should not have been able to get in so easily.

(Charlie's friends were a cheery lot.)

Charlie decided not to mention who was among that group, he didn't want to get Tonks in trouble or anything...

"Wish I could have been there, I might have known a few from when Charlie was in school." Ron muttered quietly to his friends, who shrugged.

(They showed Harry... going... going... gone.)

There was a sudden burst of cheering from Ginny, Fred, George, and even Luna and Neville a little bit. The professors, too, looked pleased that the dragon was gone with no more incident. Hagrid brushed away a few tears, sad to hear about the departure of his old friend like this.

Minerva made a note in her letter to her younger counterpart, to keep an eye out for her Hagrid to somehow get ahold of a dragon egg.

Sirius and Remus sat back in satisfaction. Now, to get back to the dorm, and nobody would ever know Malfoy had been telling the truth about a dragon...

However, there was still the matter of 150 points running through Sirius' mind...

(They slipped back down... spoil their happiness?)

Groans rose up around the room. Hermione was easily the loudest. "You just had to think it, didn't you?" She deadpanned with her head in her hands.

Harry looked sheepish and refused to meet anyone's gaze. "Sorry, about that." He muttered. She sighed.

(The answer to... foot of the stairs.)

Everyone leaned forward in concern, as though the change in position would make them suddenly know what it was they wanted to know.

But they had the Cloak, so what was the problem?

(As they stepped into... of the darkness.)

"Scared me half to death." Harry muttered with a shudder. Filch had played a part in his nightmares for weeks after this, especially after they actually had their detention.

Fred huffed. "Well, at least you're wearing the Cloak." He commented, and Sirius was the only one who didn't miss the wince from Harry and Hermione.

("Well, well, well,"... are in trouble.")

Everyone frowned in confusion. Did they not put the Cloak back on?

(They'd left the... top of the tower.)

Everyone now groaned while Harry and Hermione turned a bright red.

"Are you kidding me?" Sirius yelped.

"Oh, Merlin." Remus groaned.

"How could you pull such a rookie move?" Fred and George asked in unison, incredulous.

Harry's head impacted with the back of the couch. "I know!" He moaned. "I can only blame my relief of Norberta being gone." After a moment, he glanced up at Hagrid. "Sorry, Hagrid." He said, and their large friend sighed. He couldn't find it in himself to be angry about their happiness.

Sirius sighed. "Did you at least go back for the Cloak later? Anybody could have picked it up." He decided not to get on Harry's case about forgetting it in the first place. Even the Marauder's made mistakes when they were younger, after all.

Harry frowned at nothing. "Yeah... yeah I got it back." Just in time to use it to save the Stone...

"Well, shall we continue with the next chapter?" Filius asked, although he already had a pretty good idea what happened next. Minerva had ranted enough in the staff room after this. When everyone agreed and fell silent, the book restarted itself.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest