AN: I really shouldn't be up right now considering I have to get up at 4:30 for work, but I just had to finish this chapter. Anyways, I hope anyone who reads enjoys.

Norbert

Selena Potter paid very close attention to Professor Snape and Quirrell over the next few weeks. Nothing seemed to change for either of them. Quirrell didn't seem any more anxious than normal and Snape regarded her with the regular amount of disdain.

One day she and Terry were the first two students to enter the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The door was wide open when they arrived so Professor Quirrell must not have heard them come in. He was muttering to himself. His eyes were steadily trained on his desk. It was almost as if he was in a furious conversation with it.

Selena and Terry looked at each other in utter confusion. 'What a nutter' Terry mouthed to her before taking his seat. Selena cleared her throat to alert him to their presence. A look flashed across his face. It was a mix between realization and anger, but Selena could see no embarrassment which she found odd.

More students shuffled in and he greeted them as if nothing had happened. Quirrel began class by reviewing the lessons from the first month of school. Exams were in ten weeks and all the Professors were preparing them for what was to come.

That was Hermione's favorite subject to talk about. She was convinced that if she didn't have everything in the class textbooks memorized, she would fail out. It didn't matter what Selena said. She was inconsolable.

"Here, I've drafted up a revising schedule for us to use. Terry, you can follow along if you'd like." Hermione sat down across from them.

"No way!" Terry scoffed. "We've got mountains of homework as it is. No way am I adding revising to that."

"Mione, you haven't even left time on here for fun reading," Selena complained.

"Or using the toilet for that matter." Terry pointed out not looking up from his Potions book.

"Well, I didn't think I needed to pencil in toilet time," Hermione replied lightly exasperated.

"Just pretend he's not here." Selena rolled her eyes. "So," she cleared her throat and picked up the schedule to look at. "We start with Herbology, specifically Venomous Tentacula, then?"

Hermione nodded eagerly. They went through the textbook reviewing for about thirty minutes before Terry announced that he couldn't focus on Potions with all of their talking about plants. He got up and left them rather loudly.

Shortly after he left, Harry and Ron came walking through the door. They sat down across from each other so that Harry was beside her and Ron was next to Hermione. "You two are late," she chastised. "We're already on Dittany."

Harry rolled his eyes and flipped through his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. "It's on page one-"

"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron asked rather loudly. Selena and Harry looked up from the book.

Seeing Hagrid in the library was very strange. It reminded Selena of that one time they saw Mrs. Gotswack, their Year three teacher, at Sainsbury's. She had quietly greeted them and moved on with her shopping. Aunt Petunia seemed very displeased that anyone had seen them together. She and Uncle Vernon didn't like it when Harry or Selena's existence was acknowledged.

"Jus' lookin',' Hagrid said in the most suspicious tone he had used yet. "An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," Ron boasted. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St–"

"Shhhh!' Hagrid's eyes went wide and he hastily checked to see if anyone was near. 'Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy –"

"SHHHH!' Hagrid cut him off with another powerful sush. "Listen – come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'posed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh –"

Hagrid sheepishly headed out the door holding something behind his back.

"What's Hagrid hiding?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"I'll go check what section he was in," Ron volunteered bouncing up from his seat. He disappeared between the towering shelves. They all waited expectantly. After a few minutes, Ron came jogging back clutching a few books to his chest. He haphazardly dumped them on the table in front of them. They clunked loudly against the wooden surface. "Dragons!" Ron whispered excitedly. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

Selena and Harry looked at each other. It was clear that they both remembered what the other was thinking of. "Hagrid's always wanted a dragon. He said so the first time we met him." Harry supplied.

"But it's against our laws. Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"There aren't wild dragons in Britain though, are there?" Selena asked, suddenly incredibly confused and worried.

"Of course there are," Ron answered. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget." He explained.

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?"

When they made the trek through the courtyard and down the grounds, they discovered that Hagrid's hut was all shut up. Normally his windows were open to let the sunlight shine through, but the curtains were drawn and the windows sealed shut.

When Harry knocked on the door, Hagrid answered in a loud alarmed voice, "Who is it?"

"It's us Hagrid."

He opened the door, hurried them in, and swiftly shut the door. It was sweltering in Hagrid's little wooden hut. Selena's hair became frizzy after only a few moments of standing in it and Hermione's was much worse. Her cheeks were sizzling to the touch. Her eyes stung. Anytime she wiped at them they simply burned worse.

"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," Harry answered. His bright green eyes were watering and his messy hair was wilting. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid's expression went sour and Selena frowned. Harry truly had very little tact. If he wanted Hagrid to answer them he couldn't be so blunt.

"O' course I can't," he answered frowning. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'pose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

'Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here,' Hermione insisted. Her voice was pleasant and gentle and her words were flavored with flattery. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Selena hid a smirk with her sleeve. Hermione knew exactly how to speak to Hagrid.

'Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that ... let's see ... he borrowed Fluffy from me ... then some o' the teachers did enchantments …" He held up his fingers and began to count off, "Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"'Snape?" Harry asked, alarmed.

"Yeah – yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

The tea kettle on the corner countertop began to whistle shrilly. He turned away from them to tend to it. They could all sense Hagrid getting testy. Selena worried that if they pushed him too hard about the stone, they might be asked to leave before they found out his new secret.

"Hagrid?" Selena asked as he handed her a cup of freshly brewed tea. "Why have you got a fire going? It's burning in here."

"Oh… hehe…" Hagrid started sheepishly.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Harry asked, pointing in the fire. Selena wiped steam off the lense of her glasses and looked into the flames. Now that she could see more clearly, she noticed a black kettle sitting in the middle. And underneath it was something round and black. Selena's eyes widened. So he did have a dragon egg.

"Ah, That's – er …"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid? It must've cost you a fortune" Ron asked sauntering over to the flames to get a closer look.

"Won it," Hagrid answered simply. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked, her voice marked with exasperation.

'Well," Hagrid began. He walked over to his bed and pulled a thick book out from beneath his pillow. "I've bin doin' some readin'. Got this outta the library – Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit – it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognize diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house!" Hermione pleaded.

Selena could not believe this. She stood in place, mouth agape. The hot air in the hut dried her tongue, but she couldn't close it. She was simply too shocked.

A few days later they received a letter from Hagrid that the egg would be hatching. Selena decided that she would head to his hut during morning break right after Potions. She would have to be quick since the dungeons were just about as far as she could get from Hagrid's home.

After class, she pushed her way out the door and broke off from the slow walking crowds. She left a very confused Terry in the dust. By the time she managed to catch up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she was very out of breath.

"Where'd you come from?" Ron asked.

"Potions…" She replied breathily. "So far… couldn't miss this."

As soon as they reached their destination, Hagrid rushed them inside. "It's nearly out."

The dragon egg was sitting on the middle table riddled with cracks. They sat around the table and watched in quiet anticipation. Hermione jumped beside her when a crackling sound came from within. They leaned in closer.

There was a sharp sound much like that of knives being sharpened and a piece of the egg broke off. The dragon slipped out of the egg and plopped onto the table. Its body was thin, smooth, and much smaller than its shiny black bat-like wings. Selena felt something between horror and amazement.

It twitched, reared its head back, and sneezed. Red sparks launched from its long snout. "Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid asked, wiping at his eyes. He reached his hands out to pat its head and was greeted with a snap. "Bless him, look he knows his mummy!" Hagrid said excitedly.

"Hagrid, how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow?" Hermione asked her voice heavy with concern.

Hagrid was not listening. He was staring out the window worry encompassing his bearded face.

"Hagrid? What's the matter?" Selena asked. "Is someone out there?"

"It's a kid," He replied gruffly. "he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry leaped up from his seat and yanked the front door open. "It's Malfoy!"

The next week of Charms classes were infuriating. During group revising sessions Malfoy would always find a way to pepper in that he knew about the dragon. Not only did she have to worry about him telling someone, but Terry had started to catch on. Malfoy was very far from subtle and Terry was observant.

"Any ideas on why Malfoy has felt the need to emphasize certain words and waggle his eyebrows at you?"

"Nope, not a clue," She answered, attempting to stay cool but she could feel the heat rising on her cheeks.

"Words like 'flying'- 'fire' and 'illegal'" Terry asked incredulously.

"Er-" Selena answered through closed teeth.

Luckily Sue Li butted in and asked her a question about the softening charm. Sue's question turned into a full-blown conversation that lasted until they had made their way to the next class. Fortunately, it was Transfiguration, so there would be no speaking time that Terry could use for pestering.

After class, Selena shook off Terry and went with Harry and Ron to meet Hagrid. "He's driving me mad!" She complained.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Yes," She huffed.

"What's he doing?" Ron questioned.

"He won't stop hinting that he knows. Terry's suspicious!"

"Well, you can't tell him. We don't want Hagrid to get in trouble."

"I know Harry," She sighed. She and Hermione had neglected to tell either of them that Terry knew about Snape and the Philosopher's stone.

Once inside they debated what to do, "Let him go. Just set him free." Harry pleaded.

"He can't set him free, Harry. That's irresponsible." Selena argued. Harry glared at her. She was not supposed to be on Hagrid's side.

Hagrid's hut was a horrible mess. The floor was littered with brandy and chicken feathers. Soot dusted the counters. The curtains were torn and singed. It was clear that the dragon, who was now the size of Fang, was too much for him to handle.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," Hagrid informed them with a forced cheery tone. He was obviously spread too thin. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"

Ron whispered something in Harry's ear. "Hagrid," Harry said sharply, gaining the Gamekeeper's attention, "give it a fortnight and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

"I – I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't," Hagrid replied in a wobbly voice. His bottom lip was quivering and his eyes were misty.

"Charlie!" Harry said suddenly.

Ron looked at him like he had six heads, "You're losing it too. I'm Ron, remember?"

Selena gazed at Ron in disbelief, "Not you, numpty. Your brother!"

"He's in Romania studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant!" Ron realized. "How about it, Hagrid?"

After a few moments of anxious silence, Hagrid agreed.

Two days before they were meant to hand off Norbert to Charlie, Ron was bitten. They had tried to bandage it up but by the next day Ron's hand had swollen up to the size of his head. Selena linked up with Harry and Hermione during lunch break to visit him in the hospital wing.

"Oh Ron," Hermione cried. "Your poor hand. It must feel terrible."

"It's not just my hand,' Ron replied softly, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me – I've told her it was a dog but I don't think she believes me – I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

Selena rolled her eyes, "Oh please, he deserved it."

"It'll all be over by midnight on Saturday," Hermione said reassuringly.

But Ron wasn't reassured at all. In fact, he was quite alarmed. He shot upright. "Midnight on Saturday! Oh no – oh no – I've just remembered – Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

Before they could discuss more, Madam Pomfrey shooed them out of the hospital wing.

"We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it." Harry said as they walked down the corridor. "We'll take the invisibility cloak."

"You and Hermione take care of Norbet. I'll take care of Malfoy," Selena resolved sourly.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"I'll follow him around and make sure he doesn't get a chance to tell."

"Terry!" Selena shouted at him before he could exit the common room. "I need your help." Selena proceeded to quietly fill him in on everything that happened over the last few weeks on the way to breakfast.

"I knew it!" He cheered. "I knew it was a dragon."

"SHHH!"

"Sorry," He apologized, a cheesy grin adorning his face. "So, Malfoy knows about it and he's going to tell a teacher before you lot can get rid of it?"

"Precisely," She said nodding. "I need you to help me spy on him."

"You want me to follow Malfoy around all day?"

"It would look suspicious if it was just me. If I'm with you it looks like a coincidence."

Terry begrudgingly agreed. They followed him around all day to no avail. He showed no signs of telling. "Ugh, he must be waiting until after curfew!" Selena growled.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Terry asked.

"More like what am I going to do. You are going to bed." She replied.

"You can't tell me what to do."

"No, but David can. He'll notice if you're gone."

"He'll notice if you're gone too!"

"Exactly," She said frustratedly. "You can cover for me."

"Fine," He huffed. "But what are you gonna do?"

It was a time like this that Selena wished she had her own invisibility cloak. She found a group of Slytherins and tailed them closely. She followed them through the halls and down the stairs into the dungeon. She stopped just before the common room and scouted a place to hide. She ducked behind a sterling silver coat of arms. She stayed as silent as she could and listened carefully.

Just as she'd begun to lose hope, she heard the sound of a great door swinging open. Footsteps echoed down the corridor. As soon as she saw a head of pale blond hair, she leaped out from behind the armor. She followed him quietly up the tower as he made his way to the Astronomy Tower.

She couldn't let him get there, but she also didn't want to get caught. She mulled it over, weighing her options as she quietly shadowed him. "You've gone far enough!" She called out. Her voice echoed through the halls. Her heart began to beat furiously against her chest. She was going to be in so much trouble.

"Potter!" He spat. He didn't have time to say anything else because footsteps sounded around the corner. He took off running and she chased after him. She couldn't let him get away. If she had to get in trouble, he was going down with her.

She shook her head in disbelief at herself and leaped at him. She caught his legs and tackled him to the cold stone ground.

"Mr. Malfoy!" A very familiar voice called out. "Ms. Potter! What are you two doing out of bed!"