The Philosopher's Stone
Chapter Eighteen
Norbert
Yuery received an owl with lunch to inform him the egg was hatching. Ron wanted to skip class and straight down. Hermione insisted they should go to class anyway. Yuery thought about it, then agreed with Hermione, as he explained to Ron. "If we skip class, then we will be noticed and that could get Hagrid caught. Plus, McGonagall will absolutely notice if Draco isn't in her class."
"We could go ahead, and he could meet us?" Ron said, but the combined frowns of his friends made him throw up his hands in defeat." Alright, alright, we will wait until after class."
"I'm just glad it happened now, before Chen arrived. She would notice if I left the castle for sure." Yuery said. "She would also write my Dad."
On the way out of the Hall, Yuery handed the note off to Draco, then they made their way to Binns History of Magic class. Draco was reading it as they turned the corner, tipping the note so no one else could see what it said, though it sounded like Nott and Goyle were taunting him again. Yuery nearly turned back at that, until he noticed Snape sweeping toward their table.
History of Magic was a tragically dull class on the best of days. Yuery, who was normally a fan of history, found the best way to keep up the appearance of paying attention in class was to work on his morning assignments. Hermione frowned that he never took notes, but he at least stayed awake unlike most of their classmates.
Today was particularly hard with the knowledge they could miss the hatching. Yuery barely listened as he worked on his Charms essay; Ron stayed awake for a change but was squirming in his seat and kept glancing out of the window. Hermione managed to take notes as usual, though she was distracted enough that she wasn't fretting over the boys' inattention.
As soon as the bell rang, the trio were out of their seats and packing their bags before the other students had managed to rouse themselves from their tired haze. Draco was waiting by the doors of the castle bouncing lighting in expectation. They didn't bother to look around to be sure no one noticed them as the rushed down the lawn to Hagrid's cottage with their school bags still in hand.
Hagrid ushered them inside with a smile as he quickly shut the door behind them. Sitting on the table was the large egg, wrapped in a warm towel. It was shaking slightly, and a chirping noise could be heard through the slight cracks in the shell. The children dropped their bags into a chair and gathered around the table with Hagrid. "I'm so glad we didn't miss it." Ron exclaimed excitedly.
Soon enough, the egg had cracked open and a tiny, scaled nose poked out. The children watched in excitement as the small dragon made its way into the world. Hagrid smiled happily as he picked up the small creature as it stretched its wings. "Hello there Norbert, I'm your new mom."
The newly dubbed Norbert sneezed, setting Hagrid's beard on fire. He laughed as he patted it out as the children cried out in alarm. "Its breaths fire already?!" Draco demanded as he backed up slightly.
"It's fine, he'll learn soon enough. He just hatched after all." Hagrid assured, even as he patted out a second small fire the dragon sneezed onto the table.
"Hagrid. You live in a wooden hut! Everything in here is flammable." Hermione said with growing concern.
"He'll be fine." Hagrid repeated stubbornly. "He's just a baby."
"Maybe this isn't the best idea Hagrid." Yuery said reasonably. "He should probably be somewhere that's at least made of stone."
"Nonse- Is that another kid?" Hagrid said as he pointed at the window.
The children rushed to the door to see Crabbe and Goyle running back toward the castle. "Well, that's a problem." Draco said drily.
"We'll take care of it. Come on Draco." Yuery said as he rushed after the other two. Draco sighed as he ran after Yuery. Ron and Hermione stayed with Hagrid, not wanting to draw further attention to the cottage at the moment.
Draco and Yuery caught up with the other two in the courtyard, Draco yelling to them to stop. "Why should we? We need to go tell the headmaster straight away." Goyle sneered.
"Then that big oaf will finally be gone, and so will you, blood traitor." Crabbe added.
"What do you want." Draco said with a sinking feeling. He had known these boys for long enough to know how to keep them quiet, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"Stop hiding from your own house and hanging around these Gryffindor losers. It's an embarrassment. I had to tell my father that Draco Malfoy of all people was befriending Harry Potter." Goyle sneered.
"Yeah, that's not my name. I am Yuery Elric. Stop calling me Harry Potter, it's annoying." Yuery rolled his eyes.
"So, you think you can just make up a fake name and all of a sudden everyone's going to forget that they worship you for no reason?" Crabbe asked.
"I didn't make up a name! I have always been Yuery Elric, no matter what you think. I will not answer to Potter, I don't even know who that's supposed to be. Truth, I'm done with this place." Yuery growled.
"Good because you and your little friends are as good as gone." Goyle sneered.
"No wait." Draco interrupted. "I'll do what you ask, just keep your mouths shut."
"Draco, no. You can't give in to them, they'll just keep going." Yuery said.
"It's fine Yuery. We'll work it out. Just…try to reason with Hagrid." Draco said quietly as he joined the other two boys.
Yuery rolled his eyes, these boys were not going to get away with blackmailing his friends. The worst they could do was get them expelled and they could always return to Xerxes…except he didn't know if Ron and Hermione could go to Xerxes. Hagrid too, what would happen to Hagrid?
Yuery thought about it as he turned to return to the cottage, what would his father or grandfather do in this situation? Well, he knew the answer. Exactly what he was doing, walk away and plan a better solution. Actually, his father probably would have punched them first, at least when he was younger. No, this was better. Allow them to think they won, then take them down.
Hermione and Ron were about to walk out of the door when he returned. "They are blackmailing Draco into being their friends in exchange for their silence." Yuery said flatly. "We need to fix this."
"My brother, Charlie. He could take the dragon." Ron offered. "I can write him right away; it shouldn't take him long to arrange it."
"Now we just got to convince Hagrid." Hermione said with a sigh. "Maybe if we told him that Draco's being blackmailed."
"Hagrid is stubborn. We can try though." Ron said.
"I will not stand for them doing this to Draco." Yuery growled. His face scrunching in anger. "I will not allow this, especially not a friend."
"What can you do about it though Yuery? If he refuses before we rid ourselves of the evidence, we will be expelled." Ron said wide eyed. "I for one, do not want to know what my mom would say if that happened."
"My parents would be very disappointed in me." Hermione agreed. "I would be disappointed."
"I cannot allow an injustice to happen in front of me and do nothing!" Yuery said stubbornly. "Go back to the castle. I will deny you knew anything about this. Draco will agree. I am not letting this go though. Now, head back up, I need to talk to Hagrid."
"Yuery, no. We can't let you do that." Hermione insisted, turning around to go with him. "You can't take the blame for us."
"Well, when you think about it, we didn't actually do anything wrong." Ron agreed joining his other side. "We're with you Yuery. We can't let those idiots do this."
They made their way back to Hagrid's cottage. The man was cuddling the tiny dragon with a frown as he saw their expressions. "Don't worry. Dumbledore's always done right by me; he isn't going to kick you lot out over this."
"Sure. He's a great guy." Yuery said with a snort none of the others understood. He knew far more than they did about what the man was capable of, more than his father realized he knew for that matter. He had overheard plenty of conversations over the summer to know his father was unhappy with this agreement and feared what Dumbledore intended to do to Yuery.
"I know you have issue." Hagrid said, "With good reason, after all. He's seriously protected me before and will again. He isn't a bad man even if he's made some bad choices."
"I am not going to argue with you Hagrid." Yuery sighed. "We need to contact Ron's brother and get Norbert somewhere safe. He's illegal here, think about it. What will they do to him if he's turned over to the Ministry?"
"He's just a baby! He's just hatched, how's he going to make it out there with all those big dragons?" Hagrid cried.
"They have a hatchery. For the orphans." Ron offered as he patted Hagrid's arm. "You know Charlie Hagrid, he loves animals. He wouldn't let anything happen to a little baby."
"Okay. Write your brother." Hagrid said in defeat. "I'm going to go talk to the staff."
"Thank you, Hagrid." Yuery said. "Now, to go deal with Crabbe and Goyle."
Yuery stormed back to the castle, set to deal with the bullies. Unfortunately for him, they had already disappeared into their own dorm along with Draco. It would have to wait until morning then, but he didn't want to wait until morning and have them torment Draco all night. There was only one other option as far as he was concerned, so he went to knock on Snape's office.
Ron and Hermione caught up with him at this point, and Ron looked at him with terror. "Why are you bothering Snape with this? He's just going to punish us."
"No, he won't." Yuery said. "I have to tell him what Crabbe and Goyle are doing to Draco. You don't have to stay; I know you are scared of him."
"I don't understand why you aren't! He hates you." Ron demanded.
"Oh, this again." Yuery rolled his eyes. "He doesn't hate me; he wouldn't hurt me. Go up to our dorm, you have homework."
"But Yuery- "Hermione started, not wanting him to take the blame alone.
"No, just go both of you. I have this well in hand." Yuery said. "I only came back to warn you of my intentions, I will not be swayed."
Ron and Hermione refused to go, even as they heard Snape's footsteps on the other side of the door. "It's not too late, dinner's in an hour. You could wait until then and tell the teachers. We don't have to go in there." Ron whispered.
"I'm not waiting. Do you know how much someone can be hurt in an hour Ron?" Yuery hissed. "as I said, go on back if you're nervous."
"Ron let's go. We can wait around the corner." Hermione said, not wanting the boys to argue anymore but not wanting to leave Yuery alone either.
"Can I help you?" Snape asked, making Ron and Hermione squeak unaware he had opened the door.
"Yes, Draco Malfoy's having trouble." Yuery said. "I needed to warn you right away."
"Come in and explain." Snape said as he opened his door wider. "You as well, Granger, Weasley."
"Well, it all started with Hagrid's new pet." Yuery said quickly, not bothering to sit. "He invited us all down to see it. Us being Ron, Hermione, Draco and me. Apparently, Crabbe and Goyle must have overheard this or just were following Draco around again, they do that a lot, but they were spying through the window and when Draco tried to talk to them, they blackmailed him."
Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What has Hagrid gotten himself into this time? Another spider? A snake this time? How illegal is it?"
"He has a newly hatched dragon. He said he was coming to the teachers and headmaster." Ron said. "I offered to contact my brother to collect it."
"What did they say?" Snape said quietly in the tone that most of the students feared.
"They said they would have Hagrid arrested and the rest of us expelled unless Draco stopped speaking to me and returned to the dorms with them." Yuery said.
"Thank you, Elric, Granger, Weasley. I will take care of this. I am certain that the headmaster will agree with your plan for the dragon. I will see you in class tomorrow." Snape said as he opened his door intent on going to the dorms. "Oh, and Weasley? Do have your homework done this time, I will not offer you another extension."
"See? He isn't bad." Yuery said as they went the other way from the man.
"I don't know why you aren't afraid of him." Ron said with a shake of his head.
"You do have your homework done though, don't you Ron?" Hermione said, but then glared when he just shrugged. "Ronald! Homework is important."
"Yuery Elric." The booming voice of Alex Armstrong called as the rounded the corner.
"Shit." Yuery groaned quietly and ignored Hermione's glare. "Go on, I'll handle this."
"What have I been hearing? Illegal animals? Blackmail? Do you know how angry your father will be when he learns of this?" Armstrong said as the other two disappeared.
"I was not going to allow Draco to be blackmailed, what would you have done?" Yuery said with a frown. "Dad's not going to be angry, I am not out of bounds."
"Then you can write him and tell him exactly what happened, right now. Before Dumbledore decides to call you into his office." Armstrong still frowned as he lead the boy to the office he had been given while he was visiting.
