Disclaimer: I don´t own anything all rights go to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 13: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
AN: So here is another chapter. I´m sorry it has taken so long but University really takes up a lot of time. Hope you´ll like the chapter
Surprisingly, Jen´s words seemed to ring true and Quirrell was braver than they had thought. In the weeks that followed Quirrell seemed to get thinner and paler for every time Jen saw him but it didn´t seemed like he had cracked jet.
Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Jen, Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside and whenever Jen saw Snape, he was in his usually bad temper which surely meant that the stone was safe.
Jen had started to smile encouraging at Quirrell every time she saw him, and she had seen Harry do the same while she had heard Ron tell people off for laughing at Quirrell.
But the Philosopher´s Stone wasn´t the only thing on Jen´s mind, there were also exams. Jen had started to think about them when she had seen Hermione start drawing up revision timetables and colour-coding her notes.
Jen had started to go through her notes too, especially those she had in Astronomy and History of Magic as it was the subjects she needed to study most for. She would have been happy to just study her notes to start with, but Hermione kept nagging her to study more. Which she also did, but it wasn´t enough for Hermione and she had eventually taken Jen´s notes and colour-coded them before making Jen revision timetables. Jen thought it was annoying but as Hermione stopped nagging her about it, she didn´t complain.
When Hermione was satisfied with Jen´s studying she turned her nagging to Harry and Ron, as they hadn´t even started to study jet, which Jen agreed with Hermione was incredibly stupid.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away," Ron said one day.
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That´s not ages, that´s like a second for Nicolas Flamel."
"But we´re not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you revising for, you already know it all."
"What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into second year? They´re very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don´t know what´s got into me..."
"Hermione is right Ron," Jen said, interrupting Hermione. "If we want to pass, we got to study and it´s better to start early."
Ron grumbled something intelligible under his breath.
The teachers, to the boy's horror, seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione and Jen. They piled so much homework on them that no one had time for going home over Easter holiday. Jen was a little disappointed about that because she had wanted to see her little sister again, but she was too nervous about the possibility of not passing the exams that she welcomed the extra study time the holiday provided.
Jen, Ron, Harry and Hermione spent most of their free time in the library trying to work through all their extra work, Harry and Ron did it a bit reluctantly. Jen´s worry about the exams didn´t pass especially as Hermione usually sat next to her perfectly reciting the twelve uses of dragon´s blood or getting a spell right on the first try.
"I´ll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they´d had in months. The sky was clear, forget-me-not blue and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Jen ignored him as she was looking up the meaning of the Polaris Star in Northern Stars: Their Positions and Meaning.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron said suddenly and Jen looked up to see one of the strangest sights she had ever seen, the enormous wild looking Hagrid in his moleskin overcoat shuffling into view from between the small gap of two bookshelves holding something behind his back.
"Jus´ lookin´," he said in a shifty voice which immediately caught Jen and the others attention. "An´ what´re you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still looking fer Nicolas Flamel, are jeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," Ron said impressively.
"As we said we would," Jen said.
"And we know what the Cerberus´s guarding," Ron continued as if Jen hadn´t said anything. "It´s the Philosopher´s St –"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don´ go shoutin´ about it, what´s the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said, "about what´s guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy –"
"SHHHH!" Hagrid said again. "Listen – come an´ see me later, I´m not promisin´ I´ll tell yeh anythin´, mind, but don´ go rabbitin´ about it in here, students aren´ s´pposed ter know. They´ll think I´ve told yeh –"
"See you later, then," Harry said.
Hagrid shuffle of but when he turned around Jen saw a flash of what it was he had been hiding behind his back.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"I thought it looked like an old book," Jen said.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Harry asked Jen excitedly.
"I don´t know," Jen said. "I didn´t see the title."
"I´m going to see what section he was in," Ron, who clearly had had enough of working, said. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species off Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper´s Guide."
"Hagrid´s always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," Harry said.
"But it´s against our laws," Ron said. "Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks´ Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It´s hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we´re keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can´t tame dragons, it´s dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie´s got off wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren´t wild dragons in Britain?" Harry said.
"Of course, there are," Jen said. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. There's even a small reservation here in Scotland, though they mostly take care of injured dragons."
"Yeah," Ron said nodding. "The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who´ve spotted them, to make them forget."
"So, what on earth´s Hagrid up to?" Hermione said, voicing the question that was swirling around Jen´s head.
((&))
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper´s hut an hour later, Jen was a bit surprised that all the curtains were closed. She became even more surprised when Hagrid instead of opening the door directly as normal first called, "Who is it?" before letting them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.
When Jen stepped inside, she felt like she had walked into a sauna. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which Jen and the others politely refused.
"So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin´?"
"Yes," Harry said. "We were wondering if you could tell us what´s guarding the Philosopher´s Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him.
"O´ course I can´t," he 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."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on around here," Hermione said in a warm flattering voice while Jen smiled at Hagrid and nodded enthusiastically. Jen could see Hagrid´s beard twitch and knew he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid´s chest swelled at these last words. Jen, Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione and when Hagrid turned away Jen did a discreetly thumbs up at Hermione.
"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 – Professor Sinistra –" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell – an´ Dumbledore himself did somethin´, o´course. Hang on, I´ve forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah – yer not still going on abou´ that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone; he´s not about ter steal it."
Jen felt dread fill her as she swallowed nervously. If Snape had helped protect the Stone, then he must know what the other teachers had done to protect it and how to get past them. The only things that stood in his way and he didn´t know how to get past seemed to be Fluffy and Quirrell and his unknown spell.
"You´re the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren´t you, Hagrid?" Harry said anxiously and Jen knew that he had been thinking the same as her. "And you wouldn´t tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an´ Dumbledore," Hagrid said proudly, and Jen breathed a relived sigh.
"Well that´s something," Harry muttered to Hermione, Jen and Ron who nodded. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I´m boiling."
Jen was also wishing they could open a window as it was unbearably hot inside the hut and she was sweating profusely.
"Can´t, Harry, sorry," Hagrid said glancing at the fire.
Jen looked at the fire and gasped in shock.
"Hagrid – what´s that?" said Harry, who had looked at the fire too.
But without Hagrid saying it Jen knew exactly what it was that were lying in the heart of the fire, underneath the kettle. It was a dragon egg and by the size of it, it wasn´t long before it was going to hatch. One of the books about magical creatures she had bought in Diagon Alley had been about dragons and how to recognise them, and by its shape and black colour Jen knew that it was either a Hebridean Black or a Norwegian Ridgeback.
"Ah," Hagrid said, fiddling nervously with his beard. "That´s – er..."
"It´s an egg," Jen said crouching down by the fire to get a better look at it. "A dragon egg."
"Were did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron said crouching down next to Jen. "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."
"But what are you going to do with it when it´s hatched?" Hermione said.
"Well, I´ve bin doin´ some readin´," Hagrid said, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library – Dragon-Breading 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 breath on ´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 recognise diff´rent eggs – what I got there´s a Norwegian Ridgeback. They´re rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn´t.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn´t listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
((&))
As if they hadn´t enough to worry about with the Philosopher´s Stone and exams, they now also had to worry about what might happen to Hagrid if someone discovered he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Wonder what it´s like to have a peaceful life," Ron said, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting.
Hermione had started to make revision timetables for Harry and Ron, too. It drove them mad, but Jen was only laughing at them as they complained as she had long since realised that Hermione's revision timetables was very useful.
Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: it´s hatching.
Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut but Hermione wouldn´t have any of it. Jen was torn between the burning desire to see a dragon hatch and the unwillingness to skip a lesson.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Ron said.
"We´ve got lessons, we´ll get in trouble, and that´s nothing to what Hagrid´s going to be in when someone finds out what he´s doing..." Hermione said.
"Come on, Hermione, we can run down after Herbology," Jen said. "Hopefully the dragon won´t have hatched jet."
"Shut up!" Harry whispered.
Jen looked at Harry, who was looking at something behind them. Jen turned her head in the same direction as Harry and saw Malfoy standing there only a few feet away. Jen went cold as she wondered if he had heard what they had been talking about.
Jen had been too preoccupied with worrying about Malfoy to follow the conversation Ron and Hermione had about going down and see the dragon. But just as they reached the greenhouses Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid´s during break after Herbology.
When the bell from the castle sounded the end of their lesson Jen threw her towel away and jammed her Herbology book in her bag before hurrying down to Hagrid´s hut together with Harry, Hermione and Ron. Hagrid greeted them looking flustered and excited.
"It´s nearly out," he said and ushered them inside.
Jen could barely contain her excitement as she stepped into the hut and saw the black egg lying on the table. There were deep cracks in the shell and more appeared continuously as the creature inside moved and in time with the moving they could hear a strange clicking noise.
Jen and the others drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breaths as more cracks appeared in the shell.
Suddenly there was a loud cracking and the egg exploded and out onto the table toppled the baby dragon. It was black and its wings took up most of its body which Jen thought made it look a bit like an old, crumpled umbrella. Its head consisted mostly of its long snout with big nostrils, its stubs of horns and its bulging orange lamp like eyes. Jen couldn´t say she thought it was cute or pretty, but she thought that it was one of the most amazing creatures she had ever seen.
It sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of its snout, nearly burning Jen´s hand, which she had placed on the table, and she hastily pulled it away.
"Isn´t it beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon´s head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" Hagrid said.
"Hagrid," Hermione said, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid didn´t say anything so Jen, who was looking transfixed at the dragon, did it instead.
"Fast," she said. "In a week it will probably have more than doubled in size and…"
But Jen was interrupted when Hagrid suddenly jumped to his feet and ran to the window looking out, his face white.
"What´s the matter?" Harry said.
"Someone was lookin´ through the gap in the curtains – it´s a kid – he´s runnin´ back up to the school."
All four bolted and ran to the window. Harry reached the window first and as he looked out his face turned white. Harry and Hagrid stepped away from the window so Jen, Ron and Hermione could look out.
As Jen saw the person walking up to the castle, she felt her face turn as white as Harry's and dread fill her body. She would have been able to recognise that swaggering walk and platinum blond hair anywhere.
It was Malfoy and he had seen the dragon.
((&))
Jen spent the following week in a state of constant nervousness over that Malfoy would tell someone or that someone else would discover the dragon. Malfoy´s smug smile didn´t help either.
Jen and the others spent nearly all their free time down in Hagrid´s hut, trying to reason with him. That meant that they had even less time to study which led to Jen and Hermione sitting up half the night to catch up with all the homework.
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can´t," Hagrid said. "He´s too little. He´d die."
All five individuals in the hut looked at the dragon. As Jen had predicted it had nearly grown three times in length in the week that had past and smoke was now furling out of its nostrils, indicating that its fire breathing had gone from sparks to actual fire.
Jen shifted in her chair as the dragon turned its head towards her, accidentally kicking one of the empty brandy bottles that lay littered together with chicken feathers all over the floor. Jen had noticed that the dragon was taking up so much of Hagrid´s time that he wasn´t doing his gamekeeping duties or cleaning his hut.
"I´ve decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where´s Mummy?"
"He´s lost his marbles," Ron muttered and Jen couldn´t help but agree.
Hagrid was treating the dragon like a dog, Norbert was definitely not a dog, he was a dragon and should not be treated like anything else. Jen also knew that dragons were impossible to tame so all Hagrid´s attempts at taming the dragon would be useless.
"Hagrid," Harry said loudly, breaking Jen out of her thoughts. "Give it a fortnight and Norbert´s going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."
At the mention of Malfoy Jen nervously looked at the door as if he would be bursting in any minute.
"I – I know I can´t keep him forever," Hagrid said making Jen look back at the dragon, "but I can´t jus´ dump him, I can´t."
Harry suddenly turned to Ron.
"Charlie," he said.
Jen stared at Harry, thinking that he had lost it too.
"You´re losing it, too," Ron said. "I´m Ron, remember?"
"No – Charlie – your brother Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"
Jen felt her face split in a wide smile at Harry´s words as it seemed that they had just gotten a perfect solution at one of their problems.
"Brilliant!" Ron said, echoing Jen´s thoughts. "How about it, Hagrid?"
Jen turned to Hagrid who looked a bit doubtful.
"Eh – I don´ know," he said.
"Oh, come on, Hagrid," Jen said. "Norbert will get a good home there and he´ll be living with those of his own kind in the wild, where he belongs!"
It took some convincing but, in the end, Hagrid agreed that it would be best for Norbert if he got to live with those of his own kind and agreed to send an owl to Charlie to ask him.
((&))
The following week was as nerve wreaking as the last, except Jen could see a tiny ray of hope in form of Charlie's reply, which they hoped would come soon.
Jen, Hermione, Ron and Harry had all agreed to help Hagrid feed Norbert, as the dragon was growing fast, and they could all see Hagrid needed help. So as Wednesday rolled around it was Jen and Ron´s turn to sneak down to Hagrid´s hut under Harry´s Invisibility Cloak.
The common room was nearly empty, apart from Jen, Hermione, Ron, Harry and a couple of studying fifth and seventh years, when the clock chimed half past ten Jen and Ron drew the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and sneaked out of the common room.
They sneaked down to Hagrid´s hut without meeting or seeing anyone. When they reached the hut, they took off the Cloak and went inside.
"Did everythin´ go well?" Hagrid asked as they stepped into the hut.
"Yeah, we didn´t see anyone on the way here," Jen said, before leaning in and quietly whispered to Ron, "Let´s get this over with."
Ron nodded and together they helped Hagrid prepare the rats Norbert was now eating by the crate and the brandy.
Jen was helping Hagrid with the rats when there was suddenly a loud scream behind them.
"AAAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!"
Jen whirled around and saw that Norbert had bitten Ron in the hand.
"What are yeh doin´?" Hagrid roared.
At Hagrid´s load roar Norbert let go of Ron´s hand and Jen hurriedly ran forward and wrapped the bleeding hand in a handkerchief she had had in her pocket.
"It bit me!" Ron said.
"Cause yeh scared him! Yeh got ter be more careful!" Hagrid said and gave Norbert a rat. "Look here Norbert Mummy´s got a good rat for yeh. Don´ be scared anymore."
"We should go," Jen said. "The clock´s nearly midnight."
Hagrid barely acknowledge what she said and as they went out through the door, they could hear him sing a lullaby for the dragon.
"I didn´t scare it!" Ron said as Jen threw the Invisibility Cloak over them. "I barely went near it and it bit me!"
"Right," Jen said distractedly as she was watching his hand worriedly.
"What?" Ron said seeing her expression.
"It´s just, Norwegian Ridgebacks fangs are poisonous," Jen said.
"They are what!?" Ron said loudly.
"Shhh!" Jen hushed him as they were nearing the castle. "Grown Norwegian Ridgebacks have poisonous fangs, but I don´t know if Norbert´s fangs are poisonous. It might not have developed jet."
"And how will we now if they are poisonous?" Ron whispered as they entered the castle.
"We´ll see tomorrow," Jen said. "Anyway, if its fangs are poisonous it won´t be on the same level as a grown one."
"Well that´s nice to hear," Ron said grumpily while studying his bitten hand.
The walk up to the common room was uneventful, except when they had to hide behind a suit of armour when the ghost of a headless knight floated past them. Just as the clock chimed midnight they climbed into the common room where Hermione and Harry waited. They threw off the Invisibility Cloak and rushed over to their friends.
"It bit me!" Ron said, holding up his hand with Jen´s bloody handkerchief wrapped around it. "I´m not going to be able to hold a quill for a week and Jen says its fangs might be poisonous. I tell you, that dragon´s the most horrible animal I´ve ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you´d think it was a fluffy bunny rabbit. When it bit me, he told me off for frightening it. And when we left, he was singing it a lullaby."
"He´s treating it like baby," Jen said. "It´s a dragon and dragons can´t be tamed, they are dangerous and..."
Jen was interrupted by a tap on the window and all four turned towards it.
"It´s Hedwig!" Harry said, hurrying to let her in. "She´ll have Charlie's answer!"
The four of them put their heads together to read the note:
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
They looked at each other.
"We´ve got the Invisibility Cloak," Harry said. "It shouldn´t be too difficult – I think the Cloak´s big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."
"And the twins showed me a secret passageway going nearly all the way from the Fat Lady´s corridor to the astronomy tower," Jen said. "I can go there and wait to make sure that Charlie´s friends stay if they show up before you get there and make sure that the cost is clear."
All of them agreed with the plan. Jen thought it was a horrible plan but at this point she was willing to do anything to get rid of Norbert – and Malfoy´s smug smile that seemed to be following her everywhere.
((&))
The next morning a new problem appeared, Jen´s fears had proven right and Norbert´s fangs had been poisonous. Ron´s bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size.
Jen thought it would be best to go immediately to Madam Pomfrey as they didn´t know how poisonous Norbert´s teeth was. Ron argued against it as they didn´t know if it was safe to go to her – would she recognise a dragon bite? They decided to wait, but by the end of the day the cut on Ron´s hand had turned a nasty shade of green and he had to go to Madam Pomfrey.
When the last lesson for the day had ended Harry, Jen and Hermione ran up to the hospital wing, where they found Ron looking far worse than he had before.
"It´s not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it´s about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me – I´ve told her it was a dog, but I don´t think she believes me – I shouldn´t have hit him at the Quidditch match, that´s why he´s doing this."
"It isn´t only your fault, Ron," Jen said solemnly. "I put the Body-Bind Curse on him and even if we hadn´t done anything he would've done this because he hates us."
Harry and Hermione nodded.
"Jen´s right, Ron," Hermione said. "Besides, it´ll all be over by Saturday."
As Hermione said this Ron sat bolt upright and broke out in a sweat while his face lost the little colour it had.
"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no – oh no – I´ve just remembered – Charlie´s letter was in that book Malfoy took, he´s going to know we´re getting rid of Norbert."
Before Harry, Jen or Hermione got a chance to answer Madam Pomfrey ushered them out of the hospital wing, saying that Ron needed sleep.
As the door to the hospital wing closed behind them Jen felt like the little hope they had that the plan would work had just disappeared.
((&))
"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Jen and Hermione. "We haven´t got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We´ll have to risk it. And we have got the Invisibility Cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."
"He wouldn´t know about the twins' tunnel either," Jen said. "George said that Filch doesn´t even know about it."
When they reached Hagrid´s hut they found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tale. Jen went over and petted him on the head which he seemed to appreciate.
When they knocked at the door Hagrid, instead of opening the door, opened a window and poked his head out.
"I won´t let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage – nothin´ I can´t handle."
When they told him about Charlie´s letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg. Jen guessed that it was a bit of both.
"Aargh! It´s all right, he only got my boot – jus´ playin´ - he´s only a baby, after all."
Jen winced as the "baby" banged its tale on the wall making the whole hut shake and the windows rattle.
As they walked back up to the castle Jen felt like Saturday couldn´t come fast enough.
((&))
When Saturday finally came, Jen, Hermione and Harry huddled together under the Invisibility Cloak before climbing out of the portrait hole.
They walked down the corridor the Fat Lady´s portrait was hanging in until they reached an alcove where they stopped, and Jen slipped out from under the Cloak and into the alcove. She drew her wand from the inside of her robe before tapping a pattern on the wall with it. When she had finished an opening in the wall appeared and she turned to what appeared to be thin air but where she knew Harry and Hermione were standing.
"Good luck," she said.
"Good luck," two bodiless voices echoed back to her before she slipped into the opening.
The tunnel was dark, narrow and cold, but it was easy to follow and soon she was on the other end of it. Jen carefully opened the door at the end of the tunnel and looked out. The corridor was deserted and there was only one other corridor before the bottom of the stairs to the Astronomy Tower.
Jen sneaked through the corridors in the shadows before reaching the stairs to the tower and started to climb them.
The top of the Astronomy Tower was deserted when Jen reached it. She looked around for somewhere to hide if Filch or a teacher would come up the stairs. She didn´t find anything so she decided that crouching down in the shadows would be enough.
Jen crouched down and waited. She had been waiting for about twenty minutes when she suddenly heard someone walk up the stair. Jen sat ridged in the shadows waiting to see who it was that was coming up the stairs.
Suddenly the air at the top of the stairs seemed to shift and Harry and Hermione threw the Invisibility Cloak off themselves and a crate that Jen presumed Norbert was in.
As fast as the Cloak was off them Hermione did a sort of jig before happily saying: "Malfoy´s got detention! I could sing!"
"Don´t," Harry advised her before turning to Jen. "Did all go well?"
"Yes, all went well," Jen said. "But what happened? How did Malfoy get detention?"
Hermione and Harry told Jen how Malfoy had sneaked out of bed and been caught by McGonagall. Jen thought it was the best thing that could have happen and all three were chuckling about it as they waited, while Norbert thrashed about in his cage.
They had waited about ten minutes when four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.
Charlie´s friends were a cheery lot. They showed Jen, Harry and Hermione the harness they´d rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Jen, Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
Then Charlie´s friends mounted their brooms and flew away taking Norbert with them.
When they no longer could see Norbert and Charlie´s friends they slipped back down the spiral staircase. Jen couldn´t be happier with how the night turned out, with Norbert gone forever and Malfoy in detention, the only thing they had to do was getting back to the Gryffindor common room.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs Jen felt all the happiness drain from her and all the colour left her face because as they stepped out into the corridor, Filch face loomed out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
And at that moment Jen realised that they had forgotten the Invisibility Cloak at the top of the tower.