Chapter Nineteen
Spring arrived at Hogwarts like a breath of fresh air to the students.
Trees flourished with leaves as green as can be and flowers peppered the grounds. The tranquility that settled over the castle was matched only by the dread of the quickly approaching exams.
Most students could be seen by the lake, or strolling on the grounds, breathing in the crisp air and listening to the birds' songs which had returned in an orchestra over the grounds.
Most students were relaxing.
Unfortunately for the Potter twins, they were friends with Hermione Granger.
"Ronald, you have to pay attention," Hermione snapped. She sent Ron a glare, slamming the book she had been dutifully reading for hours closed. She pushed the book to the side of other books read at an alarming rate unmatched by anyone, but her.
Ron paused at the complaint, looking away from the game of chess he was playing against Harry (and winning) to glare at the bushy-haired girl.
"Pay attention to what?" Ron said, crossly. "Exams aren't for months from now!"
"Ten weeks! Which means we only have a few weeks of studying left! What happens if there's a question on the history of brooms in History of Magic? Or you forget the spell you need for the Charms essay?"
Ron shrugged, "I'll wing it."
"It flabbergasts me how you can pass any of your classes," Hermione sniffed haughtily.
"50% dumb luck, 30% guesswork and 20% I'm just that awesome," Ron grinned, before turning back to the board as Harry ordered a piece to D5.
"Checkmate," Ron declared, sending Harry a smirk. Harry opened his mouth in shock as Ron's queen moved straight towards his king, swinging her chair around and busting it into pieces.
"89-1," Neville declared boredly. He flipped through a book, much less dense than any of the ones in Hermione's pile.
"89-0. That win didn't count," Ron scowled at them. "The board had to be reset."
"Technicalities, Ron. You've won 89 times, let poor Harry have one," Mara grinned, brushing a hand through Harry's messy mop of hair.
Harry batted her hand away with a scowl. "I don't need technicalities to win. I'll win, I will." Harry growled, staring down at the board determinedly.
"Sure you will," Mara snickered.
"For some reason the only thing Ron's actually good at is chess," Neville grinned.
"I do pride myself on my chess skills," Ron grinned, resetting the pieces.
"And Neville's skill is fighting off Slytherins," Mara commented lightly, scribbling on her homework.
Neville's cheeks turned red as he ducked down his head behind the book.
"Fighting off Slytherins and getting injured in the process, you mean," Harry sent his friend an amused glance.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Neville," Mara shot Neville a grin, who blushed, sinking lower into his seat.
"Do you think we'll need to know about the National Warlock Convention of 1289?" Hermione spoke up, biting her bottom lip nervously.
"No," The other four Gryffindor's chimed in together.
"I'll put it in just in case," Hermione said, piling 3 new books onto the tower in front of her. "We need to research as much as possible."
"You'll be fine, Hermione. Professor Binns only cares about the goblin rebellions anyway," Harry said dryly, as he helped Ron reset the chessboard.
"You never know when you'll need to be prepared! I've made study schedules for each of you as well," Hermione said, handing out a piece of parchment to every single one.
Mara raised her eyes at the color-coded schedule. "Did you leave any extra time?" She said in disbelief.
"For what?" Hermione asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Fun," said Ron, deadpanned.
Hermione shot him a harsh glare and he returned with a challenging look, crossing his arms firmly.
"Can you two not?" Neville sighed, leaning his head against his palm.
Harry shook his head, throwing the parchment back towards Hermione. She caught it with no problem, frowning deeply at Harry.
"Is something wrong with it?" She asked, shifting slightly in her seat.
"No, Hermione. I just don't have time to spend all my time studying," Harry said.
"You do have us studying thirty-five hours a week. That's a part-time job," Mara grimaced.
"What could be more important than studying for exams? If we fail, we'll be held back and if we're held back, our magic will suffer and if our magic suffers then we'll get thrown out and never learn magic again and we'll try to get jobs but we won't know how to control our magic and we'll blow up the store and then we'll be arrested for exposing all of wizardkind and then-" Hermione was quickly turning pale she spouted this at them very quickly.
Mara quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. "Breath, Hermione," She said, lowering her hand and letting Hermione take in a few big gulps of air.
Harry sighed, eyeing her. "No offense, Hermione, but I'm more concerned about Snape getting a hold of the Stone."
"He's right. Snape with eternal life," Mara shuddered. "That is a terrifying thought."
"Never-ending assignments. He could just turn every cauldron he vanishes into gold and he'd be loaded in a day," Ron grimaced, shaking his head.
"Am I the only one taking this seriously?" Harry snapped.
"Of course not, Harry," Hermione snapped the book shut to face him. "But realistically what do you expect us to do? We don't know what Professor Snape wants with the stone or if it's him at all. We don't have any evidence except for a conversation Mara overheard. We don't even know if that was what he was referring to either. We're a bunch of first years, Harry. There's not much we can do."
Harry scowled, crossing his arms. Hermione huffed, staring down at him as if he was a petulant child.
"She's right, Harry," Mara spoke up, giving him a sorrowful look. "I don't know what I heard exactly. Why would Snape be after the stone? Something just isn't right here."
"You said he was threatening Quirrel," Harry hissed at her, suddenly.
Mara flinched back from the fury in his voice, her eyes trailing down to his hand where she could see the faint green glow around where he gripped his book tightly.
"Breath, Harry," Hermione said, frowning deeply.
Harry closed his eyes, taking in a few deep breaths and letting them out slowly.
"I told you what I heard, Harry. It sounded like Snape was threatening him and he did mention "Hagrid's beast" but Hagrid is the groundskeeper, Harry. He could be referring to any of them. Plus they were in the Forbidden Forest, there's no telling what they were referring to."
Mara dropped her gaze to her hands, where she was picking at her fingernails. She didn't mention that Snape had specifically said 'the stone'.
She was positive there was something else going on here but revealing that would only cement Harry's belief that Snape is after the stone.
Mara couldn't believe that her mom would be friends with someone like the person Harry believed he was.
No matter how much a tosser he was to her.
"Is that Hagrid?" Ron said suddenly.
Sure enough, as Mara looked up said Giant was looming over the shelves as he navigated the library, bending low to avoid the lamps floating around on the ceiling. He stood out with his moleskin coat, being nearly three sizes bigger than the tallest seventh year.
They watched precariously as he grabbed one of the books off the shelf, nodding to himself as he held it in his arms. He shuffled out of the aisle, turning around to face them as he did so. His eyes went wide as he spotted them.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron asked.
Hagrid shuffled on his feet, hiding the book they just saw behind his back. "Just looking."
He eyed their table filled with books. "And what are you lot doing?" He narrowed his eyes. "Still not looking for Flamel, are ya?"
"Oh, we found him out ages ago," Ron said with a grin. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's the Philo-"
Hagrid shushed him, taking a step forward alarmingly. He looked around at all the students. No one looked up except for Madam Pince who sent them a harsh glare from the seat.
"Don't ya know how to keep a secret? What's the matter with you lot?"
Mara stared up at him incredulously. They didn't know how to keep a secret?
"What are you reading?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowed at Hagrid.
"Eh?" Hagrid's eyes widened as he stared at them like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
"The book you're hiding behind your back. What's it about?" Harry asked innocently, tilting his head.
"Uh," Hagrid stammered, his face turning red as his eyes shifted around the room. "Nothing interesting'. Just some boring groundskeeper stuff."
"Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and profit? Whatever do you need that for, Mr. Hagrid?" said a soft voice behind Hagrid.
Hagrid jumped, swirling to hide the book behind his back as he turned in two directions, looking frantically between the Gryffindors and the newcomer.
Lily smiled patiently at the giant, unconcerned at his panic.
"Lily!" Mara grinned.
"Dragons?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow towards Hagrid. "Why are you researching dragons?"
Hagrid hushed them again, looking panicked now as he looked around. He leaned forward "come and see me later but don't go mentioning this to anybody, ye hear me?"
The group of five consented, giving their nods as Hagrid shuffled out of the library, giving Madam Pince a placating smile as she stamped his book with a pointed glare.
"I swear that woman could curdle milk with just her eyes," Mara shook her head sympathetically towards the giant.
"Dragons?" Hermione asked, a familiar gleam in her eye. "Why would Hagrid be checking out books about dragons?"
"Who knows?" Ron shrugged with a large grin, "But it beats studying for exams."
Hermione glowered at him as he took off, running out of the library like there were hounds at his feet.
"We'll study later, Hermione," Harry soothed her. "We'll go check out Hagrid's later tonight."
"But the curfew-" Hermione protested, looking scandalous.
Harry rolled his eyes. "We're not breaking curfew if they can't see us," He said pointedly.
Mara laughed delightedly.
"Oh, how wonderful. I will join you." Lily commented with a huge smile. "But I would rather prefer my own methods, thank you very much."
Lily winked at Mara, who laughed. "We'll see you there then."
As Lily skipped off, the three other Gryffindors turned to look at her incredulously.
"What?" Mara frowned.
"I know she's your friend but there's no reason to involve her," Harry grounded out, disapprovingly.
Mara pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "Probably but at least she doesn't hide things from me."
And with that, Mara grabbed her things and stalked out of the library.
"Ow- Ron that's my hair!" Hermione whispered loudly as the group of five shuffled underneath the cloak.
"Well, stop stepping on my foot!"
"I'm not!"
"Sorry, Ron. That's me!" Neville whispered sheepishly.
"Will you lot shut up?" Harry snapped. "We're almost there."
Mara shuffled behind Hermione, wishing she had taken the secret passage Lily had shown her. She really didn't want to know what Hermione's hair tasted like but here she was.
Harry knocked on the gamekeeper's door.
"Why are the curtains closed?" Hermione wondered aloud.
Looking around the girl's bushy mane of hair, Mara spotted the windows in the curtains were as Hermione said, drawn firmly so no light got into the hut at all.
The door creaked open and Hagrid made a show of looking around confused, even calling out "Who is it?" as he stepped aside just enough that they were able to push past him into the hut.
Once the door shut behind them, Mara all but threw the cloak off of her.
She took in deep breaths of gasps, collapsing onto the stool next to the fireplace. She might have to cough up a hairball after that.
"Oh, hello," a familiar voice said. Mara looked up in a whirlwind, spotting Lily sitting innocently at the table, sipping a cup of tea from a mismatched teacup and teapot.
"She arrived just before you lot," Hagrid said gruffly.
"Alright, Mara?" Lily asked. Mara nodded once, wiping her forehead.
The room was burning hot due to the roaring fire in the fireplace. Mara was already starting to sweat and scooted slightly away from the fireplace for some relief.
The group of five all took seats around the room- Harry and Hermione at the table and Ron and Neville near the window.
Hagrid shuffled off to the small stove area, grabbing a large plate of his famous stoat sandwiches and tea.
Mara was the only one who took the tea but Neville was too polite to refuse a stoat sandwich.
"So- ye wanted to ask me something?" Hagrid said, avoiding their eyes as he eyed the cauldron on the fire.
"Yes," Harry nodded. "But first- why are you researching dragons?"
"I am very interested in that question as well," Lily said, plainly. "As I'm sure you're aware, breeding and possession of dragons were outlawed in Britain."
Hagrid swallowed nervously.
"Ah, That's- er"," Hagrid fiddled nervously with the ends of his beard, casting a glance at the fire.
Lily's eyes stared him down as Harry and Mara both leaned forward to see into the fire.
At the very bottom of the fire, roasting on large logs was a huge, black egg.
"Blimey!" Ron shouted, jumping out of his seat.
"Please tell me that's an ostrich egg," Hermione said, pale.
Mara gaped at the egg, unsure what to make of it.
"That's bloody brilliant, that is!" Ron shouted, leaning closer for a good look. Harry shot forwards to grab the back of Ron's cloak to prevent him from falling in.
"How on earth did you get one? It must've cost a fortune!" Ron was all teeth as he fawned over the egg.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," Neville spoke up, even whiter than Hermione.
Mara swallowed uncomfortably.
"Well, I won it," Hagrid said, looking at the egg proudly. "Last night. I was having a few drinks and got into the game with a stranger. He looked rather glad to be rid of it, to be honest."
"It's a dragon egg," Lily said bluntly. She took another calm sip of her tea. "A Norwegian Ridgeback to be exact."
"You can tell from the egg?" Ron said, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course. All dragon eggs have their unique shape and colors, Ronald," Hermione said though she eyed the egg warily as if it might hatch and bite her nose off. "Norwegian Ridgebacks have a dark, shiny, outercoat."
"After the Ironbelly and Horntail, they've got the strongest eggs," Lily stated, her eyes gleaming now.
"But Hagrid, what are you going to do with it once it hatches?" Hermione looked at him wide-eyed, pleading him not to say what they all knew he was going to.
Hagrid grinned, pulling the book he had taken from the library out from under his pillow. "That's what this is for. That's why It's gotta be so hot in here. Uh, when it hatches, ya feed it a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour-"
"Hagrid-" Lily said gently, "A Norwegian ridgeback egg needs a fire of at least 1100 degrees celsius. Your fire is only providing around 600-800 degrees. And a Norwegian ridgeback needs to be fed smaller prey which is killed and ground up by their mothers for easy swallowing. They would need at least six full-grown chickens a day."
"Well, I'll just make it hotter," Hagrid said determinedly. "And I'll get some more chickens."
"If you make it any hotter, you'll burn your shack down!" Neville exclaimed.
"And a full Norwegian ridgeback diet doesn't just consist of chickens but all types of small prey such as shrew, bats, hares, lemmings, voles, rats and mice and even some weasels and badgers. After they grow they need a consistent diet of large mammals like sheep, oxen, deer, and even water mammals."
"How do you know so much about Dragons?" Mara asked, impressed, and curious.
Lily smiled, taking a sip of her tea.
"Hagrid, you can't keep it," Harry told him.
Hagrid wasn't listening. He just stoked the fire, humming along to a song none of them knew.
There was barely any time for the group of Gryffindors as they developed a schedule to both keep an eye on Hagrid and his dragon egg and Professor Quirrel, who Harry was still convinced was opposing Snape getting the stone.
Something about Quirrell just didn't sit right with Mara so she ended up spending most of her time in Hagrid's hut having tea with Hagrid and Lily.
Hermione was in full research mode, going between studying for exams, looking for an answer about Harry's scar, and researching dragons awfully quickly. Mara wouldn't have been surprised if she read the entire library by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Ron, Neville, and Harry often switched between Quirrel duty. Ron had remedial lessons in the afternoons with McGonagall so it was usually Harry or Neville who followed Quirrel or Snape around. So far, there's been absolutely no progress which was expected.
Yet, the end of the year was coming. Mara was beginning to wonder if the entire debacle of the stone was a mass hallucination.
They'd quickly found a solution for Hagrid, who clearly didn't know the danger of housing a fire-breathing dragon inside of a wooden hut. Ron contacted his brother, Charlie about the dragon to see if Charlie was willing to pick up the dragon. This allowed both the dragon to be safe with its own kind and Hagrid to keep his job without getting arrested.
Then, one morning at breakfast, Hedwig came swooping down with a note from Hagrid. On it, written in Hagrid's scratchy handwriting was two words; "It's hatching."
This set off an argument between Ron, who wanted to skip their Herbology lesson to go see it, and Hermione and Neville, who both wanted to wait until after the lesson. The three managed to compromise ongoing during morning break.
Lily, however, had left immediately, skipping out of the Great Hall with a huge smile as she waved at them. Mara sulked all throughout the Herbology lesson.
When at last, the bell rang and Madam Pomfrey let them go, Mara was the first out of the door.
"See you later, Breena!" Mara called out to her familiar as she passed her in the halls. Breena simply turned tail, walking away.
Ever since she had learned of the dragon, she'd been giving Mara the cold shoulder. Mara had no idea when she would ever be able to see a dragon hatching in her current life though and as such, her familiar simply had to put up with it.
Hagrid was standing out on his porch, his face flushed with excitement when they arrived.
"It's nearly out!" Hagrid rushed them inside the room.
It was burning inside the hut, a staple ever since finding out about the egg. The black egg was lying on the table, cracks on the outside as it wiggled every once in a while.
It tilted back and forth on the table, the creature inside struggling. It seemed to be making a clicking noise, as the group crowded around the table, drawing their chairs up to see better.
They watched with bated breath as the dragon attempted to hatch.
All at once, with a muffled sound from inside the egg, it split open, the eggshell flying in every which way.
Mara ducked to avoid the debris and quickly looked up, brushing a few pieces from her hair.
It was a dragon.
A tiny, spiny, leathery thing. Compared to the egg, it was half the size, it's dark green colored body thin and small compared to the large leathery wings on it's back. It had no front arms, instead long, spiny back legs with three claws on each foot. The tail formed into a spiny point at the end, almost like what she'd imagine a devil's tail to look like. Tiny dark spikes grew along the spine all the way down to the tail.
With a long neck and snout, it's orange eyes looked up at them curiously. Horns surrounded the creature's face, giving a threatening look.
The little thing sneezed, its wings flapping as tiny sparks shot out from its nostrils.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid sniffed, wiping a tear from his beady eyes.
He reached forward, his hand uncovered as if to pet the dragon. It snapped forward, baring its tiny little fangs.
"Bless him! Look he knows his mommy!"
"Norwegian Ridgebacks have venomous fangs," Lily frowned in disapproval, "Please be careful, Hagrid."
Hagrid wasn't listening, instead cooing at the little dragon as if it were his own child.
"Did you get a reply from Charlie yet, Ron?" Hermione turned to Ron, looking very pale as she eyed the dragon with both fascination and wariness.
"Not yet. He's pretty busy so it'll take at least a week to get a reply from him," Ron eyed the dragon with awe.
"It'll learn how to breathe fire quickly, Hagrid," Lily said as she reached out to the creature, gloves properly on her hands. The Ridgeback nibbled at her fingers, luckily not able to bite through the dragon-hide gloves. "It's teething right now so we need to worry about biting but Ridgebacks learn to breathe fire in one to three months."
"That's fast," Neville paled.
"They're the fastest breed to do so!" Lily beamed at him, like a proud parent showing off.
"What are you gonna name him?" Mara asked the real questions, smiling at the little dragon. She kept her arms firmly under the table so she wouldn't be tempted to pet it. The dragon perked it's head, still nibbling on Lily's gloved fingers.
"Hm," Hagrid leaned down until he was face to face with the tiny dragon. It perked it's head, eyeing Hagrid as it chewed.
Suddenly, it let go of Lily's gloved hand, it's wings flapping as it puffed out, sparks shooting from its mouth.
Hagrid jumped backward, his beard now sporting burning embers. He patted his beard quickly to get rid of the flames. Luckily, it was only a bit singed.
"Excuse me," Neville's voice shook as he eyed the dragon and Hagrid's burnt beard. "I need some air."
Neville practically ran out of the hut, tripping over himself as he threw the door open and raced down the steps. The door shut firmly behind him.
"I don't think Neville's up for babysitting," Mara stated plainly.
"What a smart child," Lily grinned.
Hagrid seemed to agree, "He certainly knows me! I'll call him Norbet!" Hagrid boomed with laughter, looking at the dragon with adoring eyes.
"They've lost their marbles," Ron deadpanned as both Lily and Hagrid cooed at the baby dragon.
"This is gonna be a long week," Harry sighed into his hand.
After only a week, the dragon had tripled in size. Lily seemed to spend the most time with it after Hagrid. After two weeks of bites, they learned that though Hagrid was immune to the dragon's venom, Ron was not.
After getting too close one day, Ron had ended up with a huge gash on his finger. After only a few hours, it had turned a nasty green color and Ron ended up being admitted to the hospital wing by Mara's insistence. None of them could meet Madam Pomfrey's eyes when she asked how Ron had been bitten.
Anytime one of them came to visit, she'd eye them down like a hawk.
Charlie's letter came quickly, though, giving them a bit of relief.
On Saturday, Charlie's friends would meet them in the tallest tower to hand off little Norbert.
Hagrid cried when they told him, though Mara was going to be relieved once she couldn't see his hands and ankles full of bites. Even fang had a bandage wrapped around his tail, luckily the venom didn't work on him either.
Neville didn't want to be around the dragon so he would stay in the common room to cover for them.
On the morning of the day, Ron's hand was nowhere near healed enough so it would just be Mara, Harry, and Hermione.
None of them were in a good mood that Saturday morning. Even less when Draco Malfoy appeared at their table with a cocky look on his face.
Mara eyed him suspiciously, her head on the table from the sleepless night she had had.
"Morning, Potters, Granger," Draco smirked, crossing his arms. He clutched a letter in his hand, a smug look upon his face.
"What do you want you twat," Mara snapped.
She didn't regret it, not when she was this tired. A sense of dull satisfaction welled up in her chest when Draco's eyes widened, his mouth falling open at her foul language.
Harry sighed, reaching over to thump Mara on the head. She was too tired to respond.
Draco coughed into his hand, his smug look back on his face.
"Perhaps you should be nicer to me," Draco said, smugly, "and be warier about what letters you leave in books."
Draco unfolded the letter, holding it out to them.
Harry jumped up from the table, his eyes wide as Mara and Hermione stared wide-eyed.
It was clearly Charlie's letter about Norbert.
Harry narrowed his eyes, his expression cold as he looked at Malfoy.
"What do you want?" Harry hid his hand behind his back, clenching it tightly. Luckily, it was only dully glowing but if this pompous brat pushed him any further, Mara knew it was not going to end well.
"Nothing," Draco smiled innocently, "I'd never do anything to trouble my friends."
Mara and Harry's eyes narrowed though Hermione sputtered, her face red. Mara raised her head, grabbing onto Hermione's arm to pull her down into her seat. Hermione sent her a bewildered look but Mara only shook her head, eyeing Draco suspiciously.
"I don't recall us being friends, Malfoy," Harry said, his mask perfectly in place, not a single emotion clear.
"You can never have too many friends," Draco said with a grin. "But if you prefer, I could always give this to the professor to hold onto." He waved the letter a little, grinning with triumph.
Harry didn't move as the two stared one another down. Mara growled inwardly, crossing her arms.
He'd caught them.
Harry sighed and Draco lifted his chin, victoriously.
Harry held out his hand tentatively and Draco dropped the letter into his waiting hand.
"Thank you, friend," Harry grumbled through his teeth.
"No problem, friend," Draco grinned, "I know you'd do the same for me."
Harry glared up at him venomously but Draco only grinned before stalking away from the table.
Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair as he collapsed onto the bench.
"What just happened?" Hermione looked between them flabbergasted.
Mara sighed, rubbing her temples at the headache that was building.
"I mean I could follow the subtext fine but did Malfoy just threaten us to become your friend?"
"It's not just being a friend, Hermione," Mara huffed, "It's about the pureblood speech inside of his words."
"By doing us this favor as a friend," Harry grumbled, "He's forcing us to return the favor at a later date. Favors are very serious matters in the wizarding world, Hermione."
"He left us no option to refuse," Mara sighed, "If he tells a teacher, not only will we get in trouble but Charlie's friends, who are transporting an illegal dragon, and Hagrid, who is raising an illegal dragon. They could be sent to Azkaban for this, Hermione. He put us in a corner so we had to agree to his favor."
"What's so important about this favor anyway?" Hermione huffed, "I didn't read anything about favors being special."
Harry shook his head tiredly, "You wouldn't. They're a cultural thing, Hermione. It's only used by the pureblood families. Owing someone a favor is basically a promise you can't refuse. He could ask us to do whatever he wants and we have no right to refuse."
"He could tell us to kill someone and we'd be obligated to fulfill the request, Hermione," Mara said grimly.
Hermione paled.
"I doubt he'd do that, though," Harry shook his head frustrated. "There's no benefit for him in that situation. Mostly, he just wants to use Mara's fame as the Girl-who-lived as a stepping stone. Just her backing can influence which policies are passed in the Ministry."
"That's…" Hermione gaped, "wrong! An eleven-year-old can't decide government votes! That's against the law!"
"But it's not," Harry grimaced, "Just by saying she supports a policy, others will rush to support it as well. All she has to do is say she likes something in front of the press and everyone will bend over backward to gain her favor."
Mara grimaced. "It's horribly annoying. Mum has to write me scripts whenever I go in front of the press because of it."
"Just one bad word from Mara and she could ruin entire businesses," Harry sighed, "That's how important she is in this world, Hermione. That's also why I'm so hesitant to let Malfoy anywhere near her."
"Luckily," Mara pointed out, "He asked Harry for a favor and not me. I keep my right to refuse, even if Harry has to take the punishment for failing the favor."
"That's barbaric!" Hermione growled.
"That's pureblood politics," Harry sighed.
Hagrid was sobbing when they arrived at his hut sometime after eleven pm. After a nap in the afternoon, Mara was feeling wide-awake as the three of them crammed under the invisibility cloak.
Lily was already there, patting Hagrid's arm sympathetically.
Norbert was in a wire cage, a wool blanket wrapped around it for warmth, as Hagrid explained.
"I convinced him not to pack extra chicken blood. It'd be too messy," Lily sighed.
Mara silently thanked her.
"I packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely," Hagrid sobbed, fat tears rolling down his cheeks and into his beard.
The shaking and growling in the air caused Mara to doubt the bear would make it to the tower in one piece, yet along to Romania.
"I'm sure he loves it," Mara laughed nervously.
Mara stepped forward to help Lily hold the cage as they covered the four of them and the cage with the invisibility cloak. Luckily, it was large enough to cover them completely.
" Bye-Bye, Nobert!" Hagrid sobbed, waving goodbye as they headed out of the hut. "'Mommy will never forget you!"
Hagrid stood on his porch, watching from a distance, his sniffling still audible even as they entered the castle.
It was a miracle no one had heard him.
Lily and Mara heaved the crate underneath the cloak, heading down the hallways, Lily walking behind Hermione, who kept a hand on the red head's back to lead her. Mara struggled with her puny muscles to keep the dragon cage even so it didn't make too much noise.
There were a couple close calls, especially on the staircase when Mara had almost slipped and dropped the cage. Luckily, the dragon stopped snarling only a few steps later.
"Remind me," Mara huffed at about the halfway mark, "to learn...the featherweight...charm."
Harry pitied her a bit. Only a bit.
Exhausted, Mara and Lily were both red from exertion when they finally reached the corridor to the tallest tower.
"Nearly there," Harry sent the two girls a pitied look. Mara almost groaned as she eyed the spiral staircase. There was no way.
"I and Harry can switch with you," Hermione said, eyeing Mara's panting form sympathetically.
"Please," Mara whispered.
"That'd be awful nice of you," Lily huffed, leaning against the wall.
They moved into the small room with the staircase and Mara and Lily carefully set the cage down. They carefully shuffled underneath the cloak, switching places. Finally, Hermione and Harry lifted the cage together and Mara took front as Lily held the back.
Mara led them to the staircase, rubbing her sore arms as she kept one hand on Harry's arm, leading him up the stairs one at a time.
At last, they had reached the top. Mara surveyed the room, brandishing her wand to check for any lifeforms.
"Exploro!" She muttered under her breath. Once she got the all-clear, Mara threw the cloak off, relishing in the cold fresh air in the nighttime breeze.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked.
"Tempus," Lily whispered, brandishing her wand. The time lit up in its orange glow. 11:48.
"They should be here in about ten minutes," Harry whispered.
They leaned Norbert's cage up against the wall, all taking a seat. Mara was still winded from carrying the cage the majority of the way here. Her arms were killing her and she focused on relaxing her muscles for a bit of relief.
For ten minutes, all was quiet.
And then four broomsticks came flying out of the darkness.
"Are you Charlie's friends?" Harry asked as they landed in the empty room.
"You the ones with the dragons?" One of the men grinned his sunny disposition quite a turnaround from the night they'd had.
"Yup," Mara sighed.
"This is Norbert," Lily got to her feet with a smile, "He's quite aggressive so I suspect he might be a she but I can't confirm it."
As if to prove her right, Norbert thrashed and snarled from the cage.
"Oof sounds about right," One of the men said, a cheery smile.
"Norberts a girl?" Mara turned to Lily accusingly.
Lily shrugged with a soft smile. "Sorry I didn't say anything but I wasn't sure and I didn't think it was a priority."
Mara pouted but nodded at her reasoning. She could understand.
Charlie's friends were nonchalant as if they did this all the time which made Mara wonder what kind of lives these people lived to come to a school and pick up a baby dragon from a bunch of first years and not even bat an eye.
Mara didn't ask, half out of anxiety of the answer and half out of exhaustion.
The four people hooked up the cage to a harness so they could carry the dragon better. They shook hands with Harry, Hermione, Lily, and Mara. Mara made sure to thank each of them twice before they were off out the window, Norbert along with them.
Mara yawned, covering her mouth behind her hand.
"Let's never do this again," Mara said.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
Harry and Hermione agreed at the same time.
"Agreed."
A new voice spoke from behind them. The four students turned around to face the dark, furious face of Professor McGonagall and Filch.
Filch grinned at their misfortune.
Behind them, Neville nervously shuffled from foot to foot, a guilty and anxiety-ridden look on his face.
"Fuck," Harry cursed.
"Irresponsible, foolish, and shameful!"
Professor McGonagall paced in front of them, fury like they'd never seen before on her face. Each word dug at their conscience as they stood in a line, each of them still as a statue from her harsh lecture.
"Sneaking out after hours, wandering the halls at night, having one of your friends lie to both your head of house and fellow roommates! This is unacceptable behavior!" Professor McGonagall lectured. "I have never been more ashamed of my house."
Mara kept quiet, knowing from enough of her father's stories that talking back against McGonagall when she was this furious was pointless.
"I will be writing to each of your parents!" McGonagall huffed, crossing her arms, her eyes narrowed deadly at them. "All of you will have detention! And 50 points will be taken from your houses."
It seemed Professor McGonagall's anger outweighed her competitiveness this time. With four Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff, it was clear they would be taking a huge hit.
"Excuse me, Professor," Lily spoke up from beside her, "Would that be 50 from each house or each student?"
"Each person!" McGonagall snapped.
Mara winced.
"Thank you, Professor," Lily, the maniac said.
Mara shut her eyes, hoping this was all a bad dream. They'd just lost 200 points from Gryffindor.
"Miss Moon, Mr. Filch will escort you back to your house. I will inform your Head of House in the morning of what you have done."
"I understand, Professor," Lily stated.
Mara looked up to see Lily being led out by Filch, who grumbled along the way. Lily sent her a small smile as she left and then the red-head was gone. Mara felt tiny in the face of McGonagall's stare, reminded of her mother's scolding as she stood still, too ashamed and guilty to move.
None of them had spoken a word.
Hermione's face was pale, her eyes wide. Mara could feel the tremble of Hermione's cold skin on her right. Harry's hands were clenched behind his back, hiding the slight glow from his hand. Mara supposed McGonagall was too angry to notice. Neville was the worst, as she could hear him sniffling from the other side of Hermione. She could imagine his red face, tears falling down his face. Neville never handled getting scolded well.
"You three are to head straight to your beds and stay there for the rest of the night," McGonagall said sharply.
Mara nodded her head solemnly.
"I have never been more disappointed in my students."
And with those final words, McGonagall led the four back to the tower.
Somehow, the silence of her head of house and her brother and friends was more damaging than she at first thought.
They entered the common room, silent and stiff like soldiers marching to their deaths. Harry and Neville headed up the boy's staircase, neither taking their eyes off the ground. Mara followed Hermione up the girl's staircase. Neither of them said a word as they slid into the room. Hermione drew her curtains around her bed without saying a single word.
Breena sent waves of comfort as Mara collapsed on her bed, drawing her curtains around them. Breena curled up on Mara's chest, purring to help soothe her. Mara brushed tears from her eyes, looking up at the canopy above as a way to distract herself from the terrible shame and guilt weighing down in her stomach.
Mara pretended not to hear the muffled sobs from Hermione's bed.