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After the Dawn: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Twenty Four: Relieved Farewell

Talking Hagrid into letting Harry take Norbert was hard work, but eventually they succeeded, and agreed on Saturday at Midnight. Harry would come, alone, beneath the Invisibility Cloak and take Norbert to meet with his 'cousin'.

"Can' I meet him?" Hagrid asked.

"My family are secretive, Hagrid. He won't come unless he only sees me while he's here," Harry replied. It wasn't quite a lie. Sirius would hardly come out and show himself to someone who thought he was a murderer.

Hagrid nodded sadly, "All righ' then," he muttered. "I'll have 'im here and ready for you."

"At ten o'clock on Saturday night?" Harry half-asked, half stated, wanting only Hagrid's confirmation of the fact.

"Yeah, I'll have 'im ready then," Hagrid replied.

"Good," Harry said. He did not have the time, or the inclination, to feel sorry for Hagrid – Norbert was a menace, and must be sent away as soon as possible. Hagrid would miss him, perhaps, but it would be better for the whole school if Norbert was no longer there.

"I have to go," Harry said, since he had to finish an assignment given him by Snape, which was due in the following morning, and which Harry had only just begun … he had not had time to think of homework, being rather busy with trying to get rid of Norbert and recovering from the bite to his hand.

He had told Hermione and Neville that the bite was probably recovering quickly because Norbert was yet young, and the poison on his fangs had not yet had a chance to become as deadly as it would be when the dragon was full grown.

Having done a little research on dragons, in particular the Norwegian Ridgeback, Harry had discovered that the bite of an adult of the kind, untreated, could easily kill. This knowledge had given Harry a stronger desire to see the end of the Norbert – he'd been lucky. If he had left the bite for long without getting medical help, and he had been bitten by a year old dragon, he might have been dead now.

Alls well. See you at the agreed time,

Harry sent the message with his owl and told Neville and Hermione what was going on. They just smiled and nodded, both of them still concentrating on finishing the homework due in the next day.

Harry sat down and started on the work himself, keeping quiet, since that was the rule of the day when it came to Hermione and homework. He would have much rather been down talking to Sirius, but he had to work on Potions, because he wasn't particularly good at it, and Snape didn't help – Harry was afraid of the Potions Master, who he thought wanted him dead, and had some interest in stealing something from Dumbledore.

"So?" Hermione asked.

"We'll be rid of Norbert by Sunday morning," Harry replied. "Someone from my family is coming to take him away."

"That's nice of them – not many people would be willing to deal with a dragon the size of a house," Neville remarked.

"Well, my uncle said that if the thing had bitten me, then it probably wasn't safe to give it the opportunity to do so again," Harry told them. "So he agreed to get it out of here, since Hagrid doesn't want it to get hurt. He's going to take it to a reserve."

Hermione and Neville nodded and the group settled down to do their homework quietly. Soon enough, Harry had finished his Potions homework and read over it several times to make sure it was acceptable. Snape was still picking on him a lot, and Harry wished he could call the man 'Snivellus' in class. He wouldn't though, because Snape would likely expel him for it …

Maybe there would be another way … if Snape was being particularly annoying, anyway.

"I'm going to send a note to Blaise and ask her if she wants to meet in the library in ten minutes," Harry said. "We can finish our homework there, if you guys haven't already?"

"I'm done," Hermione replied, putting the final full stop on her own assignment. "You go do that and I'll give Neville a hand."

Harry nodded and hurried off to the Owlery to write the note. A few minutes later he was back in the Gryffindor common room, and he and Hermione helped Neville finish his homework while they waited for a response from Blaise.

Eventually Hedwig appeared.

Nemo, love to. See you there.

The note was not signed, but Blaise's notes generally weren't. The three Gryffindor's had learnt what her writing looked like, but as it was very curly and very small, yet still very neat, it wasn't that hard to recognise.

"Let's go!" Harry said cheerfully, and the threesome packed away their things and headed for the library, arriving about the same time as Blaise did.

"I wish we had more classes together," Blaise said when she saw them, walking over to see them. "I've been debating whether I should send you an owl all day!"

"Why?" Harry asked.

"What's happened?" Neville enquired.

"Tell us!" Hermione said eagerly.

"Malfoy knows about Norbert," Blaise replied. "I know you know that … but he knows that you're going to try and get rid of him, and he wants to either stop you, or get you in a lot of trouble!"

"Oh dear …" Hermione whispered.

"It's ok, he can't find out what we've got planned," Harry said confidently.

"He's been after me all day, trying to information out of me. I told him that I only knew you were getting rid of the dragon, not when, where or how … which is, I might add, the truth."

Harry hadn't gotten a chance to tell her what was going on as yet. Hermione went to tell Blaise what was going on, but Harry stopped her. "Blaise, I don't like to leave you in the dark … but perhaps we'd better wait to tell you what's happening until after it's happened," he said, "That way you can tell Malfoy the truth, and there's no way he can get anything out of you. I know you'd never tell anything voluntarily, but there are ways of making people talk when they don't want to, and I'd hate for you to fall pray to any of them."

Blaise nodded and sighed, "I was going to suggest that myself," she told him tiredly. "I hate not knowing things, but at the moment I think it's for the best."

Harry, Hermione and Neville nodded in agreement. "So, do you think Malfoy has any idea what we're going to do?" Harry asked.

"I don't know – I don't think so," Blaise replied. "But I don't trust him…"

Harry nodded, "I don't either … but let's forget him and enjoy hanging out, shall we?"

Saturday night came round soon enough and Harry slipped under the Invisibility Cloak and out of the dormitory, hurrying down onto the grounds where he found Sirius waiting for him in the guise of a dog.

He smiled a greeting. "I'll get Hagrid to help me bring him around to the other side of the forest," Harry told his godfather, "Meet you there."

Sirius nodded and bounded away. Harry hurried onwards and knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut. It was opened by Hagrid, who was crying softly, tears dripping through his busy, tangled beard and soaking his jerkin.

"Ye'd best cum in, I s'pose," he muttered, opening the door and allowing Harry inside. Harry came in and dropped the Invisibility cloak on the ground.

"How is he?" Harry asked.

"I've packed 'im up in a nice crate," Hagrid replied, his voice wavering, betraying his sadness even more than his tears did. "'E's out in the pumpkin patch … waitin'."

Harry nodded, "Could you help me carry him around to the other side of the forest? My relatives will meet me there when you leave."

Hagrid nodded, and walked outside. A large crate was indeed waiting outside. "I've packed him a snack, and 'is teddy," Hagrid told Harry, as ripping sounds came from within the crate. It sounded like teddy wouldn't be there when Norbert emerged.

Hagrid lifted the huge crate with very little physical effort. Harry was glad that he wouldn't have to carry the thing himself, and didn't envy Sirius the job … then again, Sirius would probably cast a weightless charm on it, that way it wouldn't matter how much Norbert weighed.

Hagrid and Harry didn't talk as they walked around the forest, Harry leading the way until they reached a place where the forest dipped in a little ways. This was where Harry had meant, so he spoke softly to Hagrid, bidding him leave Norbert on the ground and leave.

Now sobbing quietly, Hagrid did as he was told and hurried back to his hut, not looking back once, as if he wanted to forget that he was abandoning his little Norbert.

Harry sighed, it was a pity that Hagrid had grown so attached to the creature, but it didn't matter now – the important thing was that Norbert was leaving, and then life could get back to normal.

Well, as normal as things could get when the Philosopher's Stone was hidden in the school and one of the teachers was trying to steal it, anyway.

Sirius emerged from the shadows on the edge of the forest. "Avoid the forest if you can, Harry," he told his godson softly, "There's dark things in there … the whole place is wary, and I swear I saw some unicorn blood … it's not a good sign, not a good sign at all."

Harry nodded. "That's Norbert," he said unnecessarily, nodding the crate on the ground between them.

"Harry, promise me you won't go into the forest," Sirius said, not allowing Harry to change the subject and get out of it.

"I promise that unless it absolutely necessary, I will avoid the Forbidden Forest," Harry replied. He would never break his promise, and just in case it was necessary, he wanted to cover the option.

Sirius's eyes narrowed.

"If the school needs me to go into the forest, I won't have a choice," Harry said, "And if I thought I could gain something really important, I'd go then as well."

Sirius sighed, "I know you would. I'm not sure if that's something I hate about you, or something I love."

Harry grinned back lazily, "Knowing you, probably a bit of both," he remarked.

"Probably," Sirius sighed, "Depends on the situation too."

"Yeah. You'll be right with Norbert?" Harry asked, getting back to business.

"I'll be fine. I bought myself a Nimbus Two Thousand since I went home … thought you'd like me to have one when you came back for the holidays – that way we can have real flying competitions."

Harry smiled back, and reached out to hug his godfather. "Be careful," he told Sirius quietly, "Don't be seen."

"I won't be," Sirius replied, "Or at least, I'll try not to be."

"Here," Harry held out the Invisibility Cloak, "Take this – that way you can be sure."

"But Harry, how will you get back to the dormitory?" Sirius demanded, eyes widening.

"I'll find a way," Harry replied. "I've got the Marauders Map, it'll tell me where everyone is, and I can always use the secret passageways to get out of trouble."

Sirius nodded. "Thanks," he told his godson, taking the cloak and swirling it around his shoulders, casting a charm on the crate that held Norbert, and then lifting it and disappearing into the gloom. Harry didn't hang around to wait for his godfather to take off – wearing the Invisibility Cloak, he wouldn't see the man anyway.

Taking the Marauders Map out of his pocket, Harry headed up to the castle, keeping an eye on ever moving thing near by him until he was back in the common room.

"Where have you been?"

Well, that's it for that chapter. A little cliffie, and just so you know, it wasn't Filch who caught him … rather, someone else… you'll find out who next chapter.

Thanks:

Surarrin, JeanieBeanie33, Nerwen Elendil, NateP, hermione21, Crissy Potter, Hermione Malfoy Potter, darkangelgep, athenakitty, Samara-Morgan-101, tish tosh, ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies, uNoeWhe, Dark Diviner, cyress.

WolfMoon