A few months later, I was reading quietly in the Slytherin common room when Draco flopped down onto the sofa next to me, grinning like a madman.
"You'll never guess what I just heard," he said, a slightly disturbing gleam in his eyes.
"Mhmm," I replied dispassionately, turning the page.
Draco was by no means deterred by my lack of interest, instead shifting on the sofa to face me a bit better. I turned over another page.
"It was at breakfast," he continued. "I was just passing the Gryffindor table, and I heard Potter and his friends talking. They were arguing—"
"So you stopped to eavesdrop, naturally," I commented drily. He ignored me.
"-and I overheard the ginger one say 'how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching' and then the girl said something about Hagrid!"
I frowned, unable to see what the fuss was about. "And?"
"And," Draco said impatiently, "clearly, it means that Hagrid is trying to breed dragons!"
"Right," I said slowly, still not really interested.
"Which is illegal," Draco prompted.
"Oh," I said, vaguely surprised. "It didn't used to be."
"What?"
"Doesn't matter," I said hastily. "Why are you so obsessed with this, anyway?"
"You mean aside from the fact that it's illegal?" Draco replied, his eyebrows raised.
I thought about that for a second. "Yeah."
"And against the law?"
"Mmhmm."
He paused for a moment, before saying "Hagrid lives in a wooden hut."
"Oh shit," I said without thinking.
"Yeah," Draco said.
"Dragons breathe fire."
"Yeah," Draco said. Then, after a moment, "So, you want to go watch this dragon being born or what?"
"Absolutely," I said immediately, and without hesitation.
In truth, I was mostly going to ensure that Harry didn't get prematurely burned alive, although having said that, I was a little curious to see the dragon. It had been a long time since I'd met one, and even longer since I'd seen one be born. Plus, Draco seemed excited by the prospect, and I wasn't about to say no to him. I had a feeling he was secretly hoping Hagrid's hut would burn down, maybe out of some twisted sense of humour.
We ran down to Hagrid's hut, keeping well out of sight, and skirted around the ramshackle walls until we found a cracked, dusty window to peer through. Harry and his two friends were already there, gazing with avid interest at the large egg atop the table. The egg was already cracking, and my breath caught in my throat as it split open and a tiny baby dragon flopped out onto the table.
"Oh, she's gorgeous!" I whispered to Draco.
He frowned. "It looks like a crumpled umbrella," he said, but I could see the wonder shining behind his eyes.
"Bet you ten galleons that someone gets torched in the next five minutes," I said.
"You're horrible," he whispered back, grinning. "Make it twenty."
Just then, the door to the hut flew open and Hagrid stood there, his face ashen. Draco and I backed away from the window sheepishly. "Knew I saw something at th' window," he said, looking round at us with a kind of wild, animal fear in his eyes. "What're you lot doin' there?"
Draco elbowed me. "Go on Zara," he said, smirking. "Tell Hagrid what we're doing."
"I hate you," I muttered. "We're… looking for snails."
Draco facepalmed.
"Snails," Hagrid said.
"Yes," I continued. "You see, Draco and I run an illegal snail racing venture, so we're looking for snails to capture and enslave for our monetary benefit." I spotted a lone snail, sitting complacently on a rock by the hut. "There's one," I said, pointing, and picked it up delicately. "Would you like to hold the snail, Draco?"
"No," said Draco quickly.
"Ah," said Hagrid gruffly, seemingly unperturbed by the word illegal. In fact, he appeared rather relieved. "Tha' seems alright then, I guess."
"Also, can we see the dragon?" I asked hopefully.
Just then, Harry poked his head out of the hut in time to see Draco elbow me again, causing me to almost drop the snail I was still holding. "Oh, it's just Zara and Draco," he called to the others inside the hut. "Zara, do you want to come and see the dragon?"
"Sure," I replied, putting the snail down carefully.
We ventured inside the hut. The little black dragon was wobbling around on its tiny, spindly legs, sparks occasionally shooting from its snout as it sneezed. I reached out a hand to stroke its scaly spine, and it curled into my touch almost like a cat.
"It tried to bite Hagrid's fingers off when he did that," Harry's ginger friend said in mild amazement.
"She's beautiful, isn't she," I said softly.
"She?" Hagrid asked, surprised.
"…Yes?" I replied, frowning. "It is female, after all."
"Oh," said Hagrid, reddening. "I was goin' to call him Norbert."
I went to stoke the baby dragon again. "Well, it's definitely a—"
Everything went silent and black. Then Hogwarts bloomed into colour before me, dark and menacing, fire flowering between the towers and ramparts. The windows glowed with flame, tendrils of fire licking up the charred stone walls. There was the dull sounds of shouts and explosions, an echo of battle. Lances of green light flickered across the courtyard.
It was Hogwarts as I'd seen it before in my dreams, burning and ravaged. Above the castle, wisps of green smoke were coalescing, forming the vague, haunting image of a skull.
I could hear, then, in the distance, faint beats, like a far-off drum. They grew louder, and I realised that they were the sounds of great, flapping wings as a massive black dragon broke through the clouds and spewed its fiery breath over the scorched castle.
I gasped, my eyes opening wide. Draco and the others were staring at me with concern, and I realised I was standing frozen, completely rooted to the spot.
"Zara?" Draco said cautiously. "Are you alright?"
"It can't stay here," I said.
"What?"
"The dragon. It can't stay here. It's too dangerous."
The girl- Hermione- harrumphed, folding her arms. "That's what I've been saying."
"Zara," began Draco again. "You- you blacked out for a second there. Are you sure you're okay?"
"What?" I said distractedly. "Yes, of course." I turned to face Hagrid. "I know somewhere she can go, where she'll be safe. You know she can't stay here, there are too many risks. Please, I promise she'll be fine."
Hagrid sniffed. "But she's just a baby- I can't- I can't leave her."
"Hagrid, she can't live here forever. She needs to be properly taken care of. You know that. It'll be easier the sooner you say goodbye."
Hagrid paused, tears beginning to drip down his face.
"I know a safe place," I insisted. "I promise she'll be looked after."
"I jest- I jest have to think about it," Hagrid sniffled.
"Be sure that you do," I warned him.
Two weeks later, Hagrid reluctantly handed the dragon over to me.
Aristomache and I sat on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets, watching as the baby dragon galumphed about, frolicking around the glittering, obsidian cavern. It sneezed, and a tiny jet of fire flared in the gloom, lighting up the serpentine columns.
Aristomache was not impressed with her new roommate, and she did not hesitate to tell me as much.
"It's so… flappy and excitable," she said in disgust as the little dragon energetically performed an abysmal, skewwhiff somersault. "I mean… just look at it."
"I'm sure she'll grow on you," I said placatingly, patting her smooth, scaly head. She nuzzled my shoulder with uncharacteristic affection, which could only mean that she wanted something. Namely, the removal of a certain young dragon.
"Pretty pretty please, Salazar," she whined.
"You know that won't work," I replied resolutely.
Aristomache grumbled something under her breath that I chose not to hear.
"What do you think we should call her?" I said after a moment.
"Pesky fly," Aristomache offered unhelpfully.
"What about Guinevere?" I asked.
"You're so pretentious."
"Maeve?"
"No."
"Aderyn?"
"Where do you even come up with these names?"
The little dragon spewed another bout of flame, and I remembered my vision of Hogwarts burning.
"Fajra?" I asked. "It means fire, I think."
Aristomache sighed. "I suppose that'll have to do. At least you can't get any worse than Aristomache. I mean, who even thinks that name up?"
"I'll have you know that it's actually a very meaningful name from Ancient Greece," I said in mock outrage.
"Right," said Aristomache. "So meaningful that anyone who tries to pronounce it has a stroke and dies."
It's been too long, I know. Here is a very overdue chapter, so thanks for bearing with me. I didn't quite anticipate how busy I would be, so updates might be irregular and far between. I'm currently planning on doing a couple more chapters for Harry's first year, then moving pretty quickly through the next few years because, due to the changes I've made to the timeline, pretty much nothing happens between Philosopher's Stone and Goblet of Fire, which is when the real action will start to kick in. From then on, it's going to be drama after drama until the end. So yes, i do have a (vague) plan which I'm really excited about sharing with you guys.
Hope everyone is safe and well,
Amy Grace xx
