Author's Note: I don't own the story or the characters of Harry Potter, this work is entirely fan-made. The rights to everything Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling.
If 'mwinter1' has got to this point yet, thanks for the review: 'Kinda of stuck on Zoe and Harry being only a month old. How do you figure this?' and it would be useful had I not already read the mistake. I assume you mean that you are confused as to why Harry and Zoe were born a few days apart, not that they simply have not aged yet. I had recognised it in 'Chapter 15 : Loyalty' but i will not change it as it only serves to feed the monster that is recognition. Either way, changing it wouldn't inspire me to become a better writer, but would make me forget that mistake for the future.
Thanks for the continuous support on the story.
The exams were upon them. Class, after class was spent revising the laws of transfiguration or the Goblin Rebellions of the 1500s or the proper way to deal with an acromantula, should you ever come across one. The last exam that Hermione had left was the transfiguration practical. She walked out biting her nails and rubbing her hands in anxiety. The ones that weren't doing their electives had the rest of the day and week off due to all of the hard work that the students had been putting in. This was the prime opportunity to relax and sit back to reflect on their work this year at Hogwarts. They would not get their exam results back until the day before they left for the summer holidays.
The next few days were agony for Harry and the group, as they expected Quirrell to strike at the stone at any moment. Their collective thoughts were interrupted when a letter dropped into Zoe's lap by Sidera. The letter was from Hagrid, he wanted to show them something and to come to his hut at 6:00 pm after dinner and an hour before curfew. They all agreed to go, though Neville did so begrudgingly as he did not like some of the beasts that Hagrid was said to have kept. So at the specified time, Harry threw the invisibility cloak over them all and they wandered down the outside steps to Hagrid's hut. When they arrived at the large oak door, Hermione rapped on it with her knuckles and the half-giant ushered them into the hut. The humidity was nearly unbearable for them under the cloak but didn't get better after taking it off. They noticed that all of the windows were closed and the fire underneath the cauldron in the fireplace was at an almost alarming height.
They peered inside trying to avoid the roaring flames that Hagrid insisted were under control. There in the pewter container was a dark, black, round object that Hagrid naturally had to use oven mitts to handle. On closer inspection, Zoe, using her in-depth knowledge of magical creatures recognised it as a dragon egg. "Hagrid, how did you get one, they're almost impossible to breed in Britain. That must have cost you a fortune" Zoe stated, still keeping her eyes trained on the egg as if it was going to pounce on her. "Nah. 'Ony cost me a game 'o cards with some strange 'fella down the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it I reckon." Then the egg started to make a tapping sound and then a piece of the egg broke away onto the table. A large yellow eye followed Neville as he looked at it. Fang was the only one not even slightly intrigued as he was content chewing on a piece of rawhide.
Only seconds later, a tiny black dragon burst through the egg's exterior shell and onto the table where it stared straight at Hagrid and growled in a high pitch. It sent small sparks out of its nostrils and batted its wings to fan the small blaze it had created on the tablecloth. "Uhh, Hagrid. You realise that this is a wooden house and that is going to be a large, fire-breathing dragon soon don't you?" Neville said to an oblivious game-keeper that was enamoured with the small reptile. "Tha' isn't just any Dragon Neville. Tha's a Norweigan Ridgeback, one fierce breed." Hagrid replied, ignoring the boy's previous question. Then the clock on the wall of the stifling hut struck 7:00 and the children noticed they were out past curfew. Harry also noticed some green and black robes billowing in the wind that two Slytherins had left behind. There was no mistaking the hair colours even from the back. A fiery red-head and a blonde pompous prick were running back up the stairs to the castle.
The three said their goodbyes and promised to be back later in the week. They promptly followed suit of the two Slytherins and forgot, in their haste to put the cloak back on. It was only when they ran into Professor McGonagall at the Lady's portrait that they remembered the cloak of invisibility in Harry's pocket. Astoundingly the Professor didn't deduct points from them for being out only two minutes past curfew but did give all six people some work to for Hagrid next week as a slight punishment. She ushered the Gryffindors through the portrait and bade them goodnight before escorting the other two back to their dorms. Hermione heard a flustered Ron Weasley stammer to McGonagall "I swear, they- they helped him hatch a dragon!" She said that she would inquire about it but there would be nothing to fear. He wasn't technically lying but he was trying to get them into more trouble and Hermione still hated the prat.
The next day, Hagrid flashed some sad looks toward the Gryffindors at breakfast. That wasn't a good sign for the dragon situation. They went down to his hut after breakfast with him and had some tea paired with scones, jam and clotted cream. All thanks to the book that they had given him for Christmas. He explained what Professor's McGonagall and Dumbledore had said about the dragon that he had named Norberta. The baby dragon was to be sent to Albania to live amongst her kind and Ron Weasley's brother, Charlie with some expert Dragon handlers were coming to pick her up after lunch. They all sat in silence save for Hagrid's sobbing and comforted him. They really felt his pain but they also felt the pain from Hagrid's bone-crushing hugs.
The time came for Hagrid to let the little Dragon go to her new home as they saw Charlie Weasley and three other dragon-handlers swoop down with a cage strung an equal distance between four brooms. They all stood with Hagrid as he said goodbye to his own little dragon and watched as the brooms and creature flew off in the direction they came from, the sunny horizon. "Goodbye Norberta, I'll come and visit yeh sometime" Hagrid yelled through stifled sobs. From between the trees near Hagrid's hut, a lone Slytherin student also waved off the dragon-keepers and came out to apologise for his misdemeanour as his older brother had told him to. "Hey. Uh Hermione, I came to apologise for the stuff I said. I just wanted to be friends with Harry and I got jealous of your friendship. I think I want to be friends with you too if that's alright." Ron Weasley said, almost sounding like he meant it.
I know that it seems like Ron is being apologetic profusely, for an apology from him that is. If you think he will honestly get along like the four do with each other, clearly you don't understand the term 'Weasley-bashing'.
On a slightly different note, the 1991-1992 school year is close to it's end and the next year awaits Harry after summer.