Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but my OC's are mine.


Chapter Seven

Schoolwork got the best of Ira throughout the next couple of weeks. If it wasn't sleeping or eating, she was studying. She didn't know why she was so nervous for these exams, but she was making sure she remembered every bit of detail. Ira was never striving to be so perfect. However, with the Soares name, it was like perfection was in your blood. Rhys was perfect at everything; Quidditch, school, the girls. Ira was just perfect at – wait, what was she even perfect at?

Ira glanced down at all her notes and sighed. Writing, maybe? No, she hated getting cramps in her hand and running out of ink. Maybe…Potions? She was second in line next to Draco when it came to that class. Hermione faltered behind the two of them. So, maybe she was perfect at something else that she doesn't know of yet. She didn't believe in the word 'perfect', though, there really was no such thing. Everyone had their flaws. Ira surely had hers.

Theo was across from her, scribbling furiously on his parchment. He, too, was worried about the exams. That's why he joined her for their afternoon studying time. Theo by no means strived for perfection. He didn't care as much as Ira did, but he did make a fruitful effort.

"So…I've seen you get cozier with Daphne Greengrass," Ira said after placing her quill down and rubbing her hands together. "That's a new development."

Theo stopped scribbling. "She's my friend, Ira."

"Mhmm." Ira wasn't jealous, per se; she was just confused as to how Theo and Daphne got so tight so fast. The Greengrass girl was friends with Pansy, automatically making her an enemy. Lily and Sally didn't seem to care when Ira brought it to their attention.

Theo dropped his quill and sighed. "What?"

"Nothing."

Theo mocked her, "Mhmm."

"Okay, okay," Ira blurted. "I just don't understand. Why be friends with Daphne Greengrass? The same Greengrass that is friend with the Pansy Parkinson? The same Pansy Parkinson that bullies your other friends? It's strange to me. And plus, she isn't really that bright, is she? I mean, she could pass for a Hufflepuff, if we're being honest. She doesn't know what she's doing half the time and hardly pays attention in her classes. She's kind of dumb."

Theo gaped at her. His jaw was clenching, and Ira knew she said something wrong.

Ira deflated with a wince. "Was it something I said?"

Theo collected his books and slung his bag over his shoulder. "It's everything you say, Ira."

Ouch. Ira watched his frame disappear around the corner. She put her head in her hands and berated herself for being so stupid.

"That went well," a voice said from above her.

Peeking through her hands, she almost groaned. It was Blaise Zabini.

"Can I help you?" Ira bit out.

Blaise slammed his things down and took a seat. "I was wondering if you could…actually, yeah, help me?" He said it so quietly it was almost inaudible.

"Help you?"

"This is embarrassing, but I really suck at History of Magic. I've seen you in that class and you know what you're doing."

The compliment almost raised Ira's spirits. Almost.

"Look, I know you don't like me, which is understandable, but I really need to pass this exam if I want to go into next year," Blaise pleaded. The Blaise Zabini was begging for help, it was comical in a way.

Ira giggled, earning a frown.

"What?" Blaise asked.

"It's just unexpected, I guess," Ira laughed. "But I'll help you."

Blaise shared a small smile, opening his textbook and flipping to a page.

"How about we start with the Werewolf Code of Conduct?" Ira asked, watching as he readily grabbed his quill and parchment and began scribbling down everything that came out of her mouth.

After studying with Blaise for another hour, Ira left the library feeling hungry. She wondered if she could run to the kitchens and grab a quick snack. As her stomach growled more and more, she considered it.

"Ira!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were coming in the opposite direction. By the look on their face, they had something important to tell her.

Or more like show her. The four of them walked down to Hagrid's hut without a word as to what was going on. Ira guessed they didn't know why either, because their faces were worried with confusion. After knocking on the door, Hagrid asked who it was and allowed them to enter, hurrying to shut the door.

It was stifling hot inside the small hut. Ira shed her cloak off and waved a hand toward her face. At the same time, Hagrid offered them stoat sandwiches. Ira didn't know what 'stoat' was, but took one anyway when her stomach groaned.

She scarfed it down quickly.

Hagrid appeared worried. "So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," Harry started. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Fluffy was the three-headed dog that Hermione, Ron, and Harry had a run-in with.

"O' course I can't," Hagrid said. "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'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

Hermione smiled warmly. "Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here. We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." She folded her hands together. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Somehow, Hermione's words did a number on 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... Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – " he listed off, "Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

All four of the kids looked at each other. "Snape?"

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

Harry was next to speak. "You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. Aren't you, Hagrid? And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers? "

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore."

Ira fanned herself. "Hagrid, can you open a window? I'm about to die."

"Can't, Ira, sorry," Hagrid said as his eyes shifted to the fireplace.

Ira narrowed her eyes at the glittering black egg sitting under the kettle. She knew what it was when she saw it. "A dragon egg?" Her words rattled off the walls.

"Uh…no," Hagrid said sheepishly.

Ira rolled her eyes. "My great grandfather was a dragonologist, Hagrid. I know a dragon egg when I see one."

Ron, unfazed, crouched in front of the fire to get a better look. "Where did you get it, Hagrid? It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," Hagrid said. "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."

"That's illegal," Ira said.

Nobody listened to her. They were all amazed.

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," Hagrid said, pulling a book out from behind him. "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 I 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."

Ira slapped herself with the palm of her hand.

Realization dawned on Hermione.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house."

Hagrid ignored her, humming merrily as he watched the egg being warmed by the fire.


"Hagrid can't keep a dragon at his house," Ira told them when they walked back to the castle. "Let alone in a hut. It's illegal to have a dragon, anyway."

"We'll figure something out when it starts hatching," Harry said nervously. Ira could tell he didn't have any clue what they were getting themselves into.

And then it happened.

Harry was the first to get an owl from Hagrid one morning, with two simple words – it's hatching.

Instantly, Ron wanted to go straight to Hagrid's and skip Herbology. Hermione groaned and made of fuss about it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing—"

"Shut up!" Harry whispered, eyes darting to a blond foe a few feet away.

Ira cringed and realized they were standing in a public corridor with other students. They should've been more secret about this.

Malfoy had stopped to listen to what they were saying. The look on his face said it all. He heard every word.

During morning break, the four of them nearly ran to the edge of the forest to Hagrid's hut. Inside, the giant was full of glee, eyes glued to the now cracked egg. Something inside was moving. They all heard a clicking noise of shell and finally, a small dragon broke free.

Ira was in awe. He was beautiful. Something inside her wanted to reach out and touch it. She didn't get too carried away because Hermione slapped her hand away.

It sneezed and sparks flew from its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful ?" Hagrid asked. He tried to reach out, but the dragon snapped at Hagrid's fingers. "Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!"

Hermione, being the voice of reason, turned her attention to the gamekeeper. "Hagrid, how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes widened at a sight through his window. He jumped to his feet and hurried to see what was going on.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Malfoy.

Ira was unable to get him off her back that night. Once she walked into the common room, he was on her like a snake ready to attack.

"Dragons, huh?" Draco started. "Those are illegal, you know. Hagrid should be put in Azkaban for this." He eyed her closely. "Maybe even you, too."

Ira scoffed. "You're making a bigger deal about this than you need to."

"Oh, am I? Please tell me how else I'm supposed to react."

Ira took a deep breath and realized the only way she was going to get through to him was to be as civil as possible. She wouldn't yell, insult, or have an attitude with him. They'd just talk – maturely. Well, as maturely as any eleven year olds could.

"Malfoy, listen to me," Ira said quietly. "We're getting rid of the dragon soon. We just need to figure out how we're going to do that first. We don't need you poking your nose where it doesn't belong, because then it only causes more problems than we already need. If you get into this and we do get in trouble, you're going down with us. Do you understand?"

Draco's face beamed suddenly, a slimy smile on his face. "I understand."

Ira could tell this wasn't good at all. As he turned around and walked to the boy's dorms, Ira knew she made the wrong decision by trying to be nice about the whole thing.


"We have a small problem," Ira said when she found Harry and Ron a few days later outside the Gryffindor common room. She'd been so busy lately that she was unable to go directly to the boys after talking to Draco. Actually, she was kind of ashamed because she knew that they wouldn't like what she had to say. She was putting it off until now.

Both of the boys looked at each other worriedly.

"It's not that bad. It's just…I might've made things worse with Malfoy."

Harry groaned. "Ira."

"I know it looks bad, but it's not. I have a plan. But I need you guys to keep pestering Hagrid about the dragon while I think of something."

"We already have," Harry said. "Hagrid's attached to Norbert."

"Norbert?" Ira realized this was bad. Really bad. "He named it didn't he?"

Ron nodded, holding his hand out. "And look at my hand. The damned thing bit me."

Ira was unfazed and shook her head. "Have you guys at least figured out how you're going to get rid of it?"

Around them, students were walking to breakfast, so to make it look unsuspicious, Ira latched onto Harry and Ron and walked to the Great Hall.

"Yeah, Charlie's going to take Norbert off our hands," Harry said while rummaging around in his robes. He pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "Charlie works with dragon's and is Ron's brother. We just got a message back last night."

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter - I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

Ira handed it off to Ron. "This is a start. Maybe I can distract Malfoy, just in case he decides he wants to intervene." Ira wouldn't put it past Draco.

"That's a good idea," Harry admitted as they walked into the Hall. The smell of breakfast caused Ira's stomach to rumble.

She saw Sally waving her over from the Slytherin table. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

Harry and Ron bid her a goodbye. Ira then took her seat between Lily and Sally, the former of the two glaring down the table. Ira frowned and followed it, seeing Daphne with her arm around Theo, laughing obnoxiously at something he said.

"I told you guys, this isn't good," Ira said, causing Lily to growl.

"At first I didn't care, but now he's not even sitting with us. He's sitting with them. And now he studies with Daphne and – oh – it's only about her, that twofaced toad." Lily's knuckles turned white around her fork.

Sally didn't look pleased, either. But unlike Lily, she wasn't one to keep quiet. She was more outspoken than her and by the look on her face, she was going to say something.

"Sally—" Ira tried to say something but her friend was already on her feet.

Sally was behind Theo, tapping his shoulder. Around Theo, his other friends glared at Sally at the intrusion.

"Theo," Sally started. "Is there a reason you're not sitting with us?"

Theo went rigid with tension. "I have other friends, too." He didn't even turn around.

"Really? Because we haven't heard from you in days. We made study plans yesterday but you blew them off to be with her." Sally narrowed her eyes at Daphne, who was oblivious to the whole thing. "A real friend you are."

Theo whipped around. "Maybe if you guys weren't so…so…small minded, maybe we all could be in good spirits. But no, Ira has a vendetta against everyone in Slytherin besides the three of us. Nobody is good enough to be allowed in our circle. I'm trying to make friends while you guys just sit back and make enemies. You don't even try to make good."

Ira swallowed. Now, his friends were glaring at her. These friends included: Pansy, Daphne, Blaise, Draco, Millicent, Gregory, Vincent, and a quiet girl named Tracey Davis.

"Well, maybe if you weren't friends with a bunch of bullies, maybe we'd be open to…expanding our friendships," Sally retorted. "You're just as bad as them."

Praise Sally, Ira thought. She was such a down-to-earth kind of soul. She didn't appear to have a bad bone in her body, but when you messed with her friends, she decided to mess with you.

"Then so be it." Theo didn't care. Or maybe he did but was really good at not showing it. He turned back to his food and ignored Sally while she still stood there.

"What's gotten into him?" Ira asked when Sally came back to her seat. Glancing over, she saw tears glisten in her friend's eyes. "Oh, Sally—"

"I'm fine," Sally insisted. She was so far from fine. She shook as tears came from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I have to use the loo."

Lily finally spoke up when Sally was gone. "You know, they've been friends for years. He's never acted like this with her."

Ira remembers when she boarded the boat that took the students to Hogwarts. Sally had chided Theo for stepping on her robes. But he was so comfortable with her that he didn't care, and neither did she.

"I knew that," Ira said quietly.

"See, you have Draco who's hated you for years, and then there's Sally who has Theo who's loved her for years."

"Love her?"

Lily chuckled. "Not like love-love. We're only kids." Then her eyes darkened. "Plus, I think if he's going to love someone it'll be Daphne, unfortunately."

Ira looked at Theo again. This time Theo had shrugged Daphne off of him and was hardly eating. As if sensing her, he looked up and his eyes were filled with regret.

Two days passed. In those two days, Ira hadn't heard from Lily, Sally, or Theo since. The only time she talked to them was at breakfast, lunch, and dinner – minus Theo. Sometimes, Ira realized, Sally would skip meals and hole up in their room to put as much distance between her and Theo. She felt so bad for her friend. When she saw Sally do this, Ira would stop by the kitchens at the end of the day and get the house elves to make a quick meal. She'd sit and watch Sally lazily pick at her food and finish only a fourth of it. It was a start.

Also, Ron's dragon bite only got worse. He was hospitalized in the hospital wing until it was time to send Norbert away. While he was stuck there, Draco took advantage of this and stole a book off of Ron. Inside the book was the letter Charlie had sent. When Ira heard this, she knew things would be worse. She had a lot of work to do midnight on Saturday.

The Slytherin common room was quiet by eleven. Everyone had gone to bed except the higher years. Ira snacked on a cauldron cake while listening to Rhys recite historical figures in the wizarding world. She wasn't surprised to hear Ozwell's name pop up in the text book.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ira spotted a flurry of movement towards the entrance. Sure enough, it was Draco making his exit. Rhys was too focused on his schoolwork to notice that Ira had got up from her spot and follow behind Draco.

She followed him for a while, always ten steps behind so he wasn't able to spot her. She was trying to muster up some courage to confront him, but with Filch out and about, it was hard to walk up and make conversation.

Instead, she turned around on her heels and rounded on him, coming in the opposite direction so it appeared she hadn't been coming from the dungeons.

"Soares?" Draco questioned upon seeing her figure down a corridor beneath the tallest tower at Hogwarts.

At the same time, McGonagall had come out of the shadows, causing Ira to shrink back.

"Malfoy? Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you—" she began as he cut her off.

"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!" Then he tried to spot Ira in the darkness that wasn't lit by torches. "And Soares is right there!"

Professor McGonagall pivoted around and Ira shrunk deeper into an alcove in the wall. Turning back, she grabbed him by his ear. "What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

There was jingling of metal coming from the left. Ira saw a glimpse of feet beneath something invisible. The cloak! Of course.

"Psst," Ira whispered, trying to be discrete.

However, she was louder than she thought. Because McGonagall raised her lantern and glared in her direction.

"Come out here this instant," she yelled.

Ira swallowed her pride and slowly walked into the light. McGonagall wasn't even shocked at the sight.

"Well, Malfoy, you were right about something. Soares, that'll be twenty more points and detention for you as well." She jutted her finger behind her. "Come now."

Ira and Malfoy glared at each other while they walked behind McGonagall.

"I can't believe you followed me," he hissed quietly.

"I wasn't following you," Ira lied.

Draco looked at her pointedly.

"Okay, fine. I was making sure you weren't foiling Harry's plan."

"Well, now look what you've done. Lost us forty points and got us detention!"

"For the record half of that is your fault," Ira corrected. "You lost twenty points first and got detention first, so I don't want to hear it."

Malfoy pierced her with an icy stare. Ira wasn't paying attention though. She just kept her face forward and followed her Transfiguration professor to Snape's study. There, he told them the same thing McGonagall had said – twenty points and detention. After getting yelled at, he sent them off to their dormitories for the night. Ira was quiet the walk there, refusing to speak a word to Malfoy.

"Just wait till Potter gets found," Malfoy said. "I can't wait to hear about the trouble he'll get into."

Ira had enough. "What is it that you've got against Harry? Why do you hate him so much?"

Draco thought about it for a moment, and then simply said, "He exists."

Ira glowered. She wanted to say more, at least get some sort of rise out of Draco, but what good would that do? It'd just cause more problems. And like Theo already said, she doesn't try to make good. She just makes more enemies for herself which ultimately leads to more problems. She hated how right he always was. It was probably why she liked having him as a friend so much; if they were even friends at all.

"You think too much," Draco commented, noticing how she spaced out.

Ira, annoyed, put her nose in the air. "You don't think at all."

She didn't wait around for a response. Instead, Ira turned her back and darted up to her room, leaving Draco alone in the common room with only the sound of a crackling fire to keep him company.


Writer's Note: A special thanks goes out to the guest reviewer on the last chapter. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and your feedback made me really excited to post another chapter. This one is a little shorter than the last, but I hope it suffices for all of you readers. Until next time!