The day of the dreaded match rolled around quicker than Bella could blink and she watched Harry at the breakfast table that morning with a heavy heart.
"You need to eat something mate." Ron urged.
"Even just a bit of toast." Hermione added.
"To build up your strength." Freya said.
"I'm not hungry." Harry grumbled, pushing his plate away from him.
Harry stood dejectedly from his seat, muttering about a warm up as he trudged from the Great Hall.
"Is he okay?" Seamus asked as he reached over Bella towards the butter dish.
"I hope so." She replied.
After a quiet breakfast the group made their way to the Quidditch pitch, Bella hanging back slightly to walk between Seamus and Dean.
"That explains why he's been so quiet." Dean said.
Bella had just finished explaining about Snape refereeing today's match and about how worried she was for Harry.
"He'll be okay." Seamus assured her.
Bella would worry about Harry until she saw with her own eyes that he was okay and her worry was squashed only a little when she settled herself in the stands and spotted him doing laps of the pitch.
"You didn't bring your blanket with you." Dean commented.
"I love my blanket but I thought I would look just a little bit stupid if I brought it with me." She replied.
"It's alright, I've got my coat with me." Seamus laughed.
"It was cosy last time I'll give you that." She laughed back, turning her eyes to the pitch as the voice of Lee Jordan boomed through the stadium.
While she had tuned out Ron's grumbling from further down the bench she couldn't mistake the wince of pain he let slip.
"Didn't see you there Weasley." She heard Draco drawl from behind him.
She rolled her eyes at his attempt to bait Ron and was pleasantly surprised when he didn't react, keeping his eyes trained firmly on Harry. She groaned when Draco advanced down the bench towards her.
"Up for making a bet with me Weasley?" He asked just behind her.
"I'm not up for doing anything with you." She mockingly drawled, keeping her eyes forward.
"Come on, I know you could do to earn some gold." He laughed.
Bella whipped around in her seat, her wand gripped tightly in her hand. The necklace around her neck caught his eye and his smirk was back in place.
"Didn't know green was your colour." He commented nonchalantly
Bella looked down to see what had caught his eye and hastily tucked the necklace back into her robes.
"Shove off Malfoy." She growled, turning in her seat, pushing him hard as she went.
Just as she turned around she heard Hermione yell Harry's name and watched as he took a spectacular dive towards the ground, gaining speed instead of slowing down. When Bella thought she was going to be peeling a splattered Harry from the pitch he pulled quickly up, the small Snitch clasped in his hand. The entire Gryffindor section erupted into screams of delight as Harry descended to the ground, only to be tackled in a hug by an emotional Oliver Wood.
The happy atmosphere continued up to the common room. Fred and George had raided the kitchens and a party was now in full swing. The portrait swung open and Harry trudged in, looking distressed. He quickly made his way over to the assembled group and looked around for anyone who was listening.
"What's wrong Harry?" Bella asked.
"Come up to our dorm and I'll tell you."
Quickly the group moved from the busy common to the silent boys dormitory. Harry paced the room, running his hands through his hair as his friends looked on from his bed in concern.
"We were right." He finally spoke, ceasing his pacing to face them. "The Philosopher's Stone is what Fluffy is guarding."
"How do you know?" Freya asked.
"I heard Snape talking to Quirrell, he's trying to force Quirrell to tell him how to get past fluffy - he said something about 'hocus-pocus' - I think it's not just Fluffy guarding the stone. Other teachers will have put something, like spells and enchantments, and Snape wants Quirrell to tell him how to get past his."
"So really, the only way the stone will be safe is if Quirrell stands up for himself?" Emily asked.
"Well we may as well just hand it over right now." Ron huffed.
"It'll be gone by next week." Hermione added.
Next week came and went and to their surprise, Quirrell didn't look as though he'd cracked; Bella made regular detours past the third floor to check Fluffy was still growling away inside.
Hermione had other ideas and she spent the next few weeks berating them for their subpar studying.
"Hermione the exams are ages away." Ron whined when she handed him a colour co-ordinated study timetable she made for him.
"Ten weeks Ronald!" She snapped.
Unfortunately, it seemed the teachers had the same idea and their workload doubled. They had so much extra work that Bella spent her Easter holiday in the library, a new piece of homework in front of her anytime someone looked her way. It was harder to concentrate however, with Hermione chanting her notes to herself and Ron grumbling that he would never remember everything they needed to know.
"Why don't we go see Hagrid?" Harry asked after an intense morning spent studying.
His question was met with enthusiasm as the group abandoned their work for the day and headed off to see the gamekeeper. When they knocked on his hut a little while later they were surprised when Hagrid didn't immediately open the door; he poked his head out after a minute or two and ushered them quickly in, slamming the door shut behind them. It was sweltering hot inside and Bella wiped at the stream of sweat making its way down her nose.
"What's going on Hagrid?" Harry asked.
His question was answered when there was a large cracking sound and all eyes turned to the large table in the middle of the room on top of which lay a giant egg. There was another loud cracking sound then an almighty shriek came from the egg before it split and a small gooey thing rolled out from it.
Hagrid rushed over to the table and began fretting over the small being.
"Hagrid, is that-" Hermione was cut off when the thing on the table burped and flames shot from it's mouth, singeing Hagrid's beard.
"I know what that is!" Ron gasped as he pushed through towards the table.
"It's a dragon." Bella commented.
"A Norwegian Ridgeback." Ron added.
Hagrid beamed teary-eyed at the small dragon who was trying to nip at his fingers.
"He knows his mummy." Hagrid smiled.
"Hagrid, you can't keep a dragon here." Emily commented.
"And why not?" He asked outraged.
"You live in a wooden house." Freya added.
Their advice fell on deaf ears as Hagrid was too besotted with the dragon to notice they had even opened their mouths. They left him alone with the promise that they would return.
"He can't possibly keep that dragon." Emily stated as they entered the castle.
"He just can't." Freya added.
"I'm going to write to Charlie, see if he can come and get him. It would be easier for Hagrid if Charlie took him." Bella said.
"That's a good idea. Hopefully then we can convince Hagrid to let it go." Hermione said.
Once in the common room Bella quickly penned a letter to Charlie and borrowed Hedwig to send it to him, hoping he would get it before anyone found out what Hagrid was keeping hidden in his hut.
