Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter

In the weeks that followed their conversation, Daisuke, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were relieved and seemingly surprised that Quirrell had not yet cracked and divulged any information to Snape about how to get his hands on the stone. Though, they noticed that the turban wearing man looked paler and thinner with each passing week, but they didn't think much of it, chalking it up to Snape's constant threats and demands.

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, they would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was prowling about in his usual bad temper, which must have meant the stone was still safe and out of his grasp.

Whenever Daisuke bumped into Professor Quirrell around the castle, she'd give him a reassuring smile and ask him how he was doing that day, he always stuttered out a thank you and quickly left, rushing off down the corridor or into a classroom.

Hermione meanwhile had begun drawing up revision timetables and colour coding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging the two of them to do so as well.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron tried to explain to the bushy haired girl as the four friends sat in the library one day after classes.

"Ten weeks, that's not ages, that's the blink of an eye to someone like Nicolas Flamel." She told him.

"But we're not six hundred years old." Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what're you revising at all for, you know everything already, don't you?" he then asked.

"What am I revising for, are you mad? You do realise we have to pass these exams to get to the second year, don't you?" she snapped at him. "Oh, I should have started studying a month ago. I don't know what's gotten into me." She then groaned.

Harry shared a look with Daisuke, the young girl currently reading through some of her notes on Charms while Demi-Veemon sat on her head, asking questions to test her. "Don't be surprised if the teachers begin giving us piles of homework now." She spoke up. "And Jun's probably going to up your lessons too Ron."

"Great…" Ron groaned, the Weasley slumping, resting his head on his arms. The other three shared a small chuckle at their friend's reaction before going back to their revision.

Sure enough, Daisuke was right, the teachers had begun piling up their homework. The Easter holidays weren't nearly as fun as the Christmas holidays had been. All the free time the four had, they spent in the library or in the Common Room studying.

Ron sighed to himself as he trudged along a corridor towards a classroom Jun had told him to meet her at for their next lesson, he looked out the window longingly at the light blue sky. It was the first really nice day that they had in months, a feel of Summer was in the air. And he was spending it working on revising how to brew a potion that he'd probably have to brew for his potion's exam. With a sigh, he continued down the corridor before walking into the right classroom.

"Ah Ron, you're on time. Welcome." Jun greeted the young boy with a polite smile. Ron nodded and noticed several desks in a semi-circle around the room, each with a cauldron and several ingredients. "Find a desk, the others should be here soon."

"Others?" Ron asked, walking over to one desk, and standing behind it. As soon as he did, the door opened again and in walked several other first year students. He recognised a few of them, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown gave their fellow Gryffindor a friendly smile.

There also was Terry Boot and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw, Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff and to Ron's surprise, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Theodore Nott from Slytherin.

"Excellent, you're all here. Welcome, I trust you've all had a good day. Probably exhausted from all the revision and homework the teachers have been giving you, yes?" Jun asked with a smile. The students all nodded and she chuckled. "Believe me, it doesn't get any easier. Which is why today we will be all brewing a potion together." She told the gathered students.

"Which potion?" Hannah Abbot questioned, raising her hand up and Jun grinned.

"The Wiggenweld Potion. I trust you all know what it is by now." she said. "Who can tell me what it is?"

A few of the students raised their hands, Ron being one of them. "Yes Ron?" Jun asked.

"It's a healing potion. It can cure injuries, and it's also an antidote to the Sleeping Draught." Ron answered quickly.

Jun smiled and nodded. "Correct. Who can tell me what some ingredients for this potion are?" she then asked.

"Dittany and Wiggentree bark." Daphne Greengrass answered, raising her hand and Jun nodded and she went around the room taking answers from the others.

Once she was done, she clapped her hands and grinned. "Alright, we've got cauldrons, ingredients and some future potion brewers ready to brew. Get to work." She told them. "And feel free to ask me for help whenever you are stuck. I am here to help you improve after all."

Ron muttered to himself as he checked his cauldron before adding some more of the ingredients and giving it a few stirs. He glanced over at Theodore Nott who was at the table next to him, the Slytherin looked up from his potion and glanced at him.

"Something on your mind, Weasley?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Ron gulped and looked away before noticing the Slytherin's potion colour.

"You should um add the Salamander Blood right about now, your potion has turned green, and it needs to turn turquoise." Ron answered softly.

Theodore blinked before he looked at his potion. "Blimey…right." He muttered, grabbing his vial of Salamander Blood and he began to pour it into the cauldron and slowly the liquid turned a light turquoise colour. "Now heat it until it turns indigo right?"

"Yeah." Ron answered, watching as the Slytherin did so, both were unaware that Jun was watching the two working together while she walked about helping the others brewing their own potions.

Soon, the group had finished brewing their potions and Jun was walking around examining them, a small smile on her face as she nodded to each student. "Well done, Neville. This is your best potion yet." She praised the boy who blushed bashfully and smiled gratefully at her praise.

"Th…thanks Miss Motomiya." Jun giggled and ruffled his hair before she continued to check the potions before coming to Ron and Theodore, she hummed and checked both their potions.

"Mr Weasley, Mr Nott." She said and both looked up to see her arms crossed and her expression unreadable until she smiled. "Well done, and I'm proud you were both working together today. Excellent example of inter-house cooperation."

"Thanks." Both said, the two boys sharing a smile before quickly looking away when the others all looked at them.

Soon, Ron was rushing into the library, he completely forgot he was meant to meet Harry, Daisuke, Demi-Veemon, and Hermione there. It seemed he and the others from Jun's tutoring session had spent more time chatting then he had realised.

"No running in the library!" Madam Pince scolded him as he entered the room, he flinched and nodded, slowing to a brisk walk he headed to the table he saw his friends were.

"Swish and Flick." Harry muttered, waving his wand around practicing the wand movements for the levitation spell.

"Very good." Daisuke said with a smile before turning to Ron. "Hey Ron, how did your lesson with Jun go?"

"Good." He answered, sitting beside Harry. "I think I did okay." His friends nodded and they went back to doing their homework, a short while later, Ron noticed an unusual sight. "Hagrid, what're you doing here?"

The giant gamekeeper stood out in his overcoat; he also hid something behind his back which instantly drew their attention. "Oh um…I'm just looking about." He said quickly, his eyes shifting about. "What about you?" he asked, turning accusatory. "You're still not looking up information about Flamel are ya?"

"Oh no, we learned about him ages ago." Ron said with a smile.

"We also know what Fluffy is guarding." Daisuke added. "A Philosopher's Sto…"

Hagrid cut her off by hissing loudly. "Not here. Do you want the entire library to hear ya?" he whispered, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you as a matter of fact." Said Harry who looked up from his book on 100 Magical Herbs and Fungi. "Like what is guarding the stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid hissed loudly again, looking around some more before leaning closer. "Listen, come and see me later. I'm not saying that I'll tell ye anything, but don't go rabbiting about it in here. Students aren't supposed to know, they'll think I've told you."

"See you later then." Harry said and Hagrid shuffled off out of the library.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" Demi-Veemon asked curiously, the young dragon sitting on Daisuke's head again.

"I'll go see what section he was in. Come on." Daisuke said to Ron, the two walking away from the table. They came back a minute later with several books in their arms and they set them down on the table, moving their stuff out of the way.

"Dragons. Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons. Look at these." Ron said, showing the other two the books. "Dragon Species of England and Ireland, From Egg to Inferno a Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I ever met him." Harry piped up.

"But it's against our laws." Ron said. "Dragon Breeding was outlawed by the Warlock's Convention in 1709. Everyone knows that. It's hard to keep the muggles from noticing us if we've got dragons out in the backyard. You can't tame dragons at all, they're dangerous. Just ask my brother Charlie to show you some of the burns he's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't any dragons in Britain." Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Of course, there are. Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Black. The Ministry of Magic has a job of hushing them up I can tell you. Our lot have to keep using spells on the muggles who spotted them, to make them forget." Ron replied.

"Then what is Hagrid doing reading about dragons?" Demi-Veemon asked curiously, the other four shared a similar look and decided to find out.

An hour later when they reached Hagrid's hut, they saw that all the curtains were closed. "Who is it?" Hagrid asked from inside before he opened the door and let them into the hut and shut the door quickly.

Inside the hut, it was stifling hot, there was a blazing fire in the fireplace. Hagrid made the four humans some tea and offered them stoat sandwiches which they politely turned down. "So, you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yep. What's guarding the stone besides Fluffy?" Demi-Veemon asked, jumping onto the table with a smile.

"I can't tell ya that. Number one, I don't know myself, and number two you lot know too much already." Hagrid said.

"But Professor Snape is trying to steal the stone, I saw him threatening Professor Quirrell over the Christmas holidays to give up information." Harry spoke up. Hagrid looked at the boy before he sighed deeply.

"Harry, Professor Snape is one of the teachers protecting the stone. He's not about to steal it. The stone is here for a reason, it was almost stolen from Gringotts. You lot know that."

"Protecting the stone?" Daisuke asked before she got an idea and she smiled. "It's okay if you can't tell us what's guarding the stone. But would it be alright if we asked you who else Professor Dumbledore trusted apart from you to help protect it?" she said in a sweet, gentle, flattering voice, she even fluttered her eyelashes and looked at Hagrid with wide innocent eyes.

Hagrid's chest puffed out and his beard twitched as he smiled. "Well…" he began, his cheeks turning a light pink. "I gave Fluffy to Professor Dumbledore, and there was Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Quirrell and I mentioned Snape already. Oh, and Dumbledore himself did something too." He listed off on his fingers.

"Meaning Snape probably knows how to get past the other's spells. Quirrell must be the only thing he doesn't know, that and Fluffy." Ron muttered to his friends who all nodded, coming to the same conclusion.

"Does anyone know how to get past Fluffy; you didn't tell a soul right?" Daisuke asked him.

"Course not. Nobody knows how to get past Fluffy, nobody except me and Dumbledore." Hagrid answered with a grin before there was a shuffling noise coming from the fireplace.

"What is that!?" Hermione gasped, seeing a large black egg in the flames.

"Ah…" Hagrid muttered, flinching when they all looked at him.

"A dragon's egg." Ron whispered, kneeling to get a better look. "Where the heck did you get this? It must have cost a fortune."

"I won it actually." Hagrid said with a grin. "From a fella I met down at the pub last night in the village. Beat him in a game of cards, he was glad to be rid of it now that you mention it."

He then took out a book from under his pillow. "I got this from the library. It's a bit out of date but everything is in here." He opened the book and began listing off instructions while the four humans and Digimon shared a look.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house." Daisuke said, but the giant man wasn't listening, humming to himself as he set the book down and stoked the fire.

They soon left Hagrid and the dragon egg, now they had even more to worry about then just Snape trying to get past Fluffy. It wouldn't be long now until the dragon egg hatched, Ron had guessed. They spent their days revising for their exams, Hermione had even made revision timetables for Harry, Ron, and Daisuke too.

One morning at breakfast, Hedwig arrived delivering a letter to Harry. The boy opened the letter to see it was from Hagrid, hastily scrawled onto the paper were two words. "It's hatching." He muttered, reading it to his friends.

Daisuke saw Hermione and Ron were about to argue about going to see the dragon hatch when she spotted Malfoy walking by. She held her hand up to stop them, luckily, they hadn't said a word and the blonde boy kept walking. "Don't say anything. We'll go tonight." She said without room for argument.

Her friends nodded. Later, very late at night, the four ran down to Hagrid's hut with Demi-Veemon holding onto Daisuke's shoulder and they knocked on the door. Hagrid opened it and let them in with a proud smile. "You're just in time." He told them.

There on the table was the egg, it was shaking and rumbling with bits of the shell cracking and splitting. They all sat at the table, leaning in close before the top half of the egg burst apart like confetti, bits of eggshell and yolk hitting them all in their faces and hair, they made noises of disgust before out of the remains of the egg came a baby dragon.

Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout and wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes. "Look at him, ain't he beautiful." The dragon cooed and turned around to face him. "Oh, bless him, he knows his mummy."

"Whoa…" Daisuke whispered, leaning closer with Demi-Veemon jumping onto the table to sniff the dragon who in turn sniffed him before licking his cheek.

"Aw he's made a friend." Hagrid said with a laugh.

"A Norwegian Ridgeback…they're very rare." Ron said, his eyes filled with wonder as Hagrid tickled the chin of the dragon, it then sneezed and a small fireball flew out hitting Hagrid's beard setting it on fire, the giant gasped in shock and quickly patted the flames out with his hand.

"That's my Norbert."

"Norbert!?" Daisuke whispered. "You named that thing?"

"Of course, I named it. He needs a name, don't he?" Hagrid replied, Daisuke frowned, upset with how Hagrid seemed not to see the danger in raising a dragon. She stood up quickly, grabbing Demi-Veemon before she marched to the door.

"Daisuke, where are you going?" Harry asked his friend.

"I'm going back up to the school." She answered. She opened the door and stepped outside, her face suddenly going quite pale, she gulped, Demi-Veemon doing the same. "Oh biscuits." There standing in front of her, holding Draco Malfoy by his left ear was her cousin Jun and standing beside her was Professor McGonagall, the elderly witch wearing a dressing robe over what was her pyjamas.

"Good evening." The head of Gryffindor house said with a thin-lipped frown. Harry, Ron, and Hermione poked their heads out of the door, and they paled as well.

They all followed Professor McGonagall and Jun back to the castle and soon they were standing in the Transfiguration Classroom. "Nothing and I repeat nothing permits any student to be out of bed at this hour." Professor McGonagall said sternly, glaring at the students while Malfoy looked smug, as if he weren't in trouble. "Your disregard for the rules is unacceptable."

"But Professor…we only were…" Daisuke tried to explain.

"Be quiet Ms Ainsworth." Her head of house said sternly, and Daisuke gulped but fell silent. "All five of you will receive detention. And you will all cost your houses fifty house points."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped.

"Each." Professor McGonagall said.

Malfoy smirked before he blinked and stepped up. "Um Professor, I think I misheard you. I thought I heard you say, the five of us."

"Oh, you heard me right Mr Malfoy. Don't think you're getting off scot free just because you felt it prudent to come find us after hours, you will join your classmates in detention." Professor McGonagall told him; the blonde scowled while Harry had a small smirk, feeling a little better now he knew Malfoy was in trouble as well.

"Um Professor…about Hagrid's dragon. What is going to happen to it?" Ron asked, concerned and McGonagall's face softened a moment.

"Don't worry Mr Weasley. Miss Motomiya shall send a note to your brother at the Romanian Dragon Reserve. He will come and collect the dragon, hopefully before it burns down Hagrid's hut." She said, Jun nodding in agreement with a small smile. "Now all of you, off to your dormitories, at once."

The group all left the classroom, Jun leading her cousin and her friends up to Gryffindor Tower. "I am so disappointed in you four. You could have all been in danger, a live dragon is not something to mess about with. Hagrid shouldn't have even told you about it, or let you come into his hut!" she ranted the entire way up to the Fat Lady Portrait.

Daisuke and the others said nothing the entire way up, they didn't think they should, knowing how much trouble they were in and how many points they just lost for their house. Two hundred points put them right at the bottom with no chance of making it up before the end of the year.

"Go to bed now. And you all better hope you're not having detention with Filch in the dungeons. That creep is liable to hang you by your thumbs in the old cellars." Jun muttered before she stormed off to her bed.

"Come on, let's go to bed." Daisuke said softly, carrying Demi-Veemon in her arms up to the girl's dorm with Hermione, Ron and Harry going to their dorm as well, the four of them feeling horrible and knew that by tomorrow everyone would know what had happened.

The end of the chapter

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