The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Seventeen

Invitation to Tea

Hogwarts

Hermione and Yuery arrived back in the Gryffindor common room early the afternoon before classes were scheduled to resume. Ron and his brothers had enjoyed the holiday as the only students left from Gryffindor so they had the run of the tower while everyone was away. Yuery had been escorted by General Alex Armstrong who would be staying until Princess Chen arrived just before the end of term.

As soon as they arrived, Ron bounded toward them smiling "Happy Christmas Yuery! Hermione Mum sent your gift on to your house, but she wasn't certain if yours would arrive Yuery so she sent it here for you to receive when you returned."

"Yes, thank you Ron. I adored the sweater." Hermione said politely. "Did you receive my gift?"

"Yes thank you." Ron replied while handing a wrapped package to Yuery.

"Oh no. I was unaware there was to be a gift exchange." Yuery said, uncertain whether it would then be considered more in appropriate to refuse the gift or to take the gift without one to hand over in exchange. "It was my understanding it was to be celebrated with family?"

"Don't fret, Yuery. Mum wanted you to have this." Ron offered the package again. "I told her you hadn't heard of Christmas before and I did a bad job of explaining."

"Still, I will be sure to send you a gift next year." Yuery said as he opened the package to reveal a red sweater and a package of baked goods.

"I still can't believe you don't have Christmas where you're from." Ron said with a sad shake of his head. "You do have holidays though right? At least some holidays?"

"We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with gifts. We do have national holidays as well yes. Some of the churches have holidays as well, which are not official holidays though I have been to a few bigger celebrations over the years with my father and grandfather."

"Never mind Ron, don't start asking questions again now." Hermione said with a sigh. Ron had been asking nearly all the same questions since he learned Yuery didn't celebrate Halloween and it was made worse to learn he didn't have Christmas. "Yuery, did you have a good break?"

"Yes, I spent most of my time with my brothers and sisters, but Mom let me go with her to the hospital once, and I spent a couple of days in the office with Dad." Yuery said with an excited nod.

"Ugh, you had to go to work with your parents? For the holidays!" Dean asked as he sat down next to them.

"As I explained to Ron and Hermione, we do not celebrate Christmas in my country. I also enjoy spending time in the office or hospital. Besides, it is important that people are accustomed to seeing me in the office, as when I finish school I will be there all of the time." Yuery said calmly. "I must be a reassuring presence to better establish myself."

"What?" Seamus asked as he and the Weasley twins joined them as well.

"Ethics of Leadership class insisted that the earlier we establish ourselves as a presence, the easier the transition will be for our people." Yuery quoted calmly. He had given up the idea of pretending to be a normal Amestrian exchange student a few weeks into his Dad's visit when his dormmates had asked about his Dad's position. He had explained his Dad was second in command after his grandfather. It hadn't taken long for the others to realize based on that statement that Yuery was also a future leader then. No one had treated him differently, so he hadn't cared.

"Oh, Yuery! Hagrid handed me this note and asked I pass it on to you." Neville said as he joined them.

Yuery opened the note, and read aloud. "Yuery, should you have the time, can you come around for tea this afternoon?"

"Well. Better to go today since we'll be busy the rest of the week." Hermione reasoned.

"Good point." Yuery nodded. "Ron. Hermione. Would you like to come along?"

"I'll go." Ron agreed, while Hermione debated between a visit and studying. "Come on Hermione, you already finished the homework, we all know it. Just take a break."

"Fine. I'll take a short visit, but you have to promise to study with me later then." Hermione said with a sniff.

"I'm going to see if Draco would like to join us." Yuery decided as he stood to go in search of his friend.

"To Hagrid's or to studying?" Ron asked. He still didn't like the other boy but had learned early not to complain too loudly if he wanted to spend the afternoon with Yuery.

"Both?" Yuery shrugged.

Draco joined them as they made their way down to Hagrid's cottage. Strangely, the shutters were closed tightly and Hagrid's dog, a giant boarhound named Fang, was tied in the garden. When the boys hesitated, worried that Hagrid was away or ill, Hermione marched forward to knock loudly on the door.

Hagrid barely opened the door as he let them in, and quickly set out their tea and cakes. The one room cottage was stifling hot and dark. A fire was blazing in the fireplace. "Could we open a window Hagrid?" Ron asked, having already stripped off his coat, scarf, and sweater and left in his thin button up.

"Err, no. No, that wouldn't be the best idea." Hagrid stammered as he glanced at the fireplace.

"Hagrid, is that a dragon egg?" Hermione gasped, having read about them over break.

"Hagrid, dragons are illegal." Ron chided.

"A dragon?" Yuery questioned.

"I didn't know there were still dragons in England." Draco murmured.

"I got it off a man in the pub." Hagrid said proudly. "I won it over a hand of cards."

" What will you do with it Hagrid? Even a small dragon will be huge." Ron asked as he leaned closer to the fire. "My brother Charlie works with dragons in Romania."

"You could be hurt." Hermione fretted.

"Oh, dragons are just misunderstood. It's only a baby after all." Hagrid dismissed. "He'll be hatching in the next couple of days, do you want to come down when he's ready?"

Yuery was uncertain. On one hand, this was likely his only chance to see a live dragon. On the other hand, getting involved in what was an illegal animal trade would surely be a bigger infraction than flying without permission. He looked at the others, who seemed just as undecided as him and seemed to be waiting for him to decide. Biting his lip he once again decided to throw caution to the wind. After all, the chances of this getting back to Amestris were slim and even if it DID, well he'd heard the stories of some of the things his father had gotten involved in when he was young.

"You said it would be hatching soon?" Yuery asked.

"Yes, tomorrow or the next day at the latest." Hagrid agreed.

"Alright then. As long as it doesn't interfere with classes or studying." Yuery decided, the others nodded along.

Shortly after, they all were bundled up again and headed back to the castle with pockets full of hard cakes that they would scatter for the birds. Not one of them brave enough to attempt to eat them themselves.

"If he gets caught, he could be in serious trouble." Ron sighed as they walked.

"Will we be in trouble if we're there?" Hermione frowned.

"Legally, no." Draco shrugged. "We'd likely get detention though."

"Well, none of this can go on long, with my involvement. At the latest when Princess Chen Li arrives. She's the representative of Xerxes Academy to decide if they should attempt an exchange program." Yuery said. "General Armstrong isn't going to notice the animal, but she is going to without a problem."

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"My Uncle told me over break." Yuery answered. "He's the Headmaster of Xerxes. Princess Chen is his sister-in-law."

"Wait. Does that mean your uncle is married to royalty?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. Aunt Mei is Princess Chen and Emperor Ling's sister." Yuery said. "I did tell you that I've known the emperor my whole life."

"Are you related to everyone important in Cselkcess?" Ron frowned.

"I still cannot believe there's an entire continent hidden by magic." Hermione moaned.

"None of us would know about it if Yuery hadn't come to school this year." Draco said.

"I am not related to the ruling bodies of Drachma or Aerugo. Yet, I'm sure someone sometime will marry. We no longer speak to Creta." Yuery interrupted before they could go any further, it made him a bit uncomfortable to be reminded that he was famous here as well, under a different name, but still strangely important.

"My brothers didn't believe me when I first told them about it." Ron laughed. "Then they remembered overhearing things that my parents and their friends had said that means some of the adults know about it."

"I'm not sure my parents would believe me if I told them." Hermione said. "What are we going to do about Hagrid."

"Nothing, anything we do would make it worse for him and probably get us in trouble." Draco said. "I do want to see it though. I wonder if it would be alright for me to slip away to see the hatching. Crabbe and Nott have been very annoying recently."

"Not Goyle?" Ron snorted. He had reluctantly accepted Draco into their group of friends but overall he still didn't like Draco's dormmates. He also still did not fully trust Draco.

"Goyle is always annoying." Draco shrugged. "When I was younger, Crabbe and Goyle were frequently brought around to my house to force us to be friends. I never did like them, they were always breaking my things and arguing."

They arrived back at the castle and parted ways to gather their books with the intention of meeting in the library. It wasn't long before they were around their usual table, now joined by Neville, Pavarti Patil and her twin, Padma who was in Ravenclaw. Draco arrived shortly followed by Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini. The children settled into their study session easily, no one concerned about the mixed house status of their table.

"You always study together, then?" Blaise asked after a while. "Is that why you disappear in the evenings Draco?"

"Yes, well, I can't exactly invite them to the common room to study. I also prefer to avoid Goyle. "Draco shrugged. "He's still in a tiff over his poor scores in transfiguration and blaming it on favoritism."

"Well, some professors do favor their own house to be fair." Ron said softly, ignoring Yuery's eyeroll and Hermione's glare.

"Some professors prefer people pay attention in their classes and have no patience for complaints about supposed favoritism. "Padma stiffly sniffed before returning to her work.

"It isn't supposed." Ron insisted. "Everyone knows Snape favors Slytherins!"

"Ronald!" Hermione's tone as well as Yuery's expression said he was going too far, but Pavarti was nodding along with him and Neville seemed conflicted.

"It's true! Name one Gryffindor with top marks in Snape's class." Ron said stubbornly, despite knowing it was a losing battle.

"Hermione, for one." Yuery said angrily. "Then there's me. Pavarti is doing well too."

"I always get good marks in both Snape and McGonagall's classes." Padma added.

"I have good marks in McGonagall's class as well. Flitwicks too. Goyle is just lazy." Zabini added.

"Yeah, well, Snape hates Yuery and we all know it." Ron refused to back down. "Even if he's giving you good marks, that's just because he knows Dumbledore would look into it."

"Ron, you're being ridiculous." Yuery frowned. "The classes are not rigged to let one house win over the others like that."

"Well, House Points certainly are to be fair." Pansy said carefully. "Surely we can agree on that."

Everyone nodded stiffly with this. It was true that they had all seen the teachers giving out points unevenly favoring their own houses and since Pansy hadn't single out any particular teacher they all agreed. Stiffly they returned to their study session, all agreeing to forget the argument after Yuery insisted. He decided once again that he agreed with his father. The House system did nothing but divide the students.

He had read into the history of the school and agreed that the Houses were originally intended to place students into a track that played to their strengths, but as time passed it became a social status. Slytherin and Gryffindor at the top of the ladder, but with strong prejudice toward the character of the students placed in them.

Strangely, he was almost certain the hat was leaning toward Ravenclaw for him before it decided to place him in Gryffindor after a brief debate with itself between Gryffindor and Slytherin. His father had been angry about the whole thing, and never really explained why beyond his belief it was used to divide students.