The Return of Norbert

By: lucky-cyber-bunny

Chapter Four: More in the Circle

I'm sorry this one took so long. I was working on it and school came and projects and I'm sorry. Please forgive me… Any way, you'll get the title name in a bit. TTYL lucky-cyber-bunny! Keep Pleasant!

"Hello, Harry, Hermione, Ron. How are yeh doin today?" Hagrid said in unusual cheeriness. He was just about to start his Magical Creatures class.

"Hi, Hagrid" the three said in all together.

Harry came up to him and smiled. "So, what are we going to be learning about today?" This was one of Harry's favorite classes.

"Oh, if I told yeh I'd spoil the surprise." Hagrid said excitedly.

"A surprise huh?" Hermione said looking at him suspiciously. "Hagrid, this isn't anything dangerous, is it?"

"O' course not. I'd never do anything like that. I know what trouble is. I don't want to get caught or anything. I know my limits. After Buckbeak an all." Hagrid said distractedly watching his students slowly filter in.

"If it has eight or more legs, I don't want to get near it. And no blast-ended skewerts." Ron said shivering at the memory.

"Nah, they're cute." Hagrid said smiling. "Oh, and I need to talk to yeh guys after the lesson, ok?"

"Sure." Harry said, throwing Malfoy an angry look. He was the one that almost got Buckbeak killed. Harry had gotten him back very good thought, his father was in very big trouble and Malfoy had been acting extra nasty towards him.

"All right, class, I know that we've been doing lessons on those magical bugs, but today I have a special treat for yeh guys." Hagrid said starting the lessons. "Yeh girls are gonna like this." The girls backed up. "Naw, I mean it. Oh girls!" He called to something behind his hut "Yeh can come out now."

Suddenly a large mass of pink stuff emerged from behind the tiny home in a whirl of wind. As soon as it was in front of the class, it stopped to reveal the mass was a group of fairies. It was the Fat Fairies.

"Now don't go insulting them or comparing them to anything. I want you to ask them questions. I have given them all paper, and they are pretty good artists. Once they've answered your questions, you can draw them. They each have different poses they like, but don't touch them. I don't want you to get fairy dust all over you."

The class got underway and the girls did like the fairies. Lavender even got to have her hair done by her fairy. The translations were a bit shaky, but each of them answered the question "Where do you guys come from?" by drawing a picture of a forest, Hagrid's hut, and a large arrow from the hut to the forest. It wasn't much, but it was pretty good.

At the end of class, everyone left for lunch except Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Hagrid pulled them towards his door and said "Now don't get all freaked out, I didn't bring him here, he came." The group of students were puzzled, but agreed. They stepped in the door and settled into the chairs.

Hagrid had the fat fairies come in as well. He looked at his friends' faces worriedly, but then in a happy voice called "Norbert, yeh can come out now."

Norbert came out of Hagrid's bed room and immediately Hermione gasped as Harry and Ron rushed to the dragon. He stretched his neck to accept hugs of welcome.

"Hagrid!" Hermione snapped "How did he get here? Why did he come? You do know that you will get into trouble and he will get either taken away or killed."

"Aw calm down, Hermione." Ron said looking the dragon over. "Hagrid, he hasn't grown an inch! Was that why he came back?"

"How did he know where to go to get here?" Harry asked looking at Norbert's head quizzically.

"Now, now slow down. Why don't you ask Norbert?" Hagrid said proudly.

"Now why would we do a silly thing like that?" Hermione said curtly.

"Because I can answer you." Norbert said. The three let their chins drop as Norbert went on. "I got here by flying with a magical cloak from the Fat Fairies. I know the consequences, but I had to do it. I am under another spell from the fairies and they shrunk me so I'd fin in the house. Normal size I'm bigger than Hagrid's hut. No. I've come back because the 'caretakers' at the colony want me to sacrifice myself to make wands for more students. And I knew where to go because I never forgot. Oh, and to answer the next question, all dragons raised by a human can talk. Even the short amount of time that I was in Hagrid's care was enough."

After the stunned teens recovered from the shock, they all looked at Hagrid suspiciously. They figured that this would happen someday, that he would be reunited with Norbert, and they'd read in the Daily Profit of how Hagrid had permanently moved to Romania to live out his older years, but they had never thought it would happen so quickly! And while they were still in school to stop him.

"Hagrid, you can't keep him here forever." Hermione said sadly. She liked Norbert as well as the rest, but she was wary of the rules. She didn't want Hagrid to back to Azkaban. None of them did.

"I'm not gonna keep 'I'm here forever. Just until the Romanians forget about 'I'm, I guess..." Hagrid hadn't really thought about what he was going to do with Norbert. Or where he'd keep him. Or even how long he was going to keep him. He sat down in his big chair and rubbed his temples.

Ron looked at Hermione angrily. "It's all right, Hagrid. You don't have to think about that now. Enjoy it until..." Ron ran out of comforting words.

"Until Dumbledore comes down and tells you other wise." Harry finished. "He never gets mad at you and he knows all. He is a great headmaster after all."

Hagrid looked up. He looked at Harry. "Thanks. I really needed that." He stood up and was greeted by the Fat Fairies and a plate of sugar cookies.

Norbert, who hadn't said anything, slowly said "You know, with the Fat Fairies magic, I could stay here forever." He looked at the children he remembered from his birth day. They had grown up so nicely. The boys were entering puberty, and Hermione was finishing her delicate growth stage. He looked at them for support.

The Fat Fairies had all given them sugar cookies too, and they looked at each other, trying to help Hagrid, but also trying to help Norbert.

"Why do they need you to sacrifice yourself?" Hermione said, breaking the silence.

"They need my heart strings for wands. They say that I have a lot of positive magic in me. I don't want to die though. I wish that there was a way to help without me dying. I'd really like to help the kids and stuff, but I don't want to die for a cause that I don't even know." Norbert paused. "I mean, if I was to die to put a heart string in one of your wands, then I would. No problem. But what if I contribute and nobody ever uses the wand? I'd be lying on a shelf. I know that I probably sound selfish, but that's how I feel."

Everybody went quiet again. They looked at their cookies and quietly thought about how they'd feel if it was them. Hagrid shuddered and wiped a tear away.

"I agree with you." Harry said. "Don't dragons get old and die like people?"

"Yes, but it takes a long long time. Dragons have been known to live up to 5,000 years old. That is if they don't encounter disease, bad magic, bad people, or other things that could kill them. The thing is, though, that as a dragon starts to grow old, and their magic starts to disappear. By the time they die, there is little to no magic left in them. That's why they need dragons in their prime. And, unfortunately for me, that's where I am."

The kids sat quietly, not feeling very hungry any more. They thought of what their wands were made of and felt guilty. The wands they wielded that saved their lives were so mistreated. Ron had even broken one of his wands, and he felt even worse.

"Tha's why I, we need yer help." Hagrid said, wiping a tear away. "I need yer help. We don't know what to do."

The three young wizards looked at each other. Harry squared his shoulders and smiled. Ron smiled too as Hermione nodded her head.

"Sure, Hagrid. We'll be glad to help."