A/N: To Ghostwriter16: Harry and Ron won't light up on the Slytherins just yet. Yes, commentators should be neutral. I don't think he's that biased as I accidentally portrayed him to be in the chapter. Yes, Cassia does remind Snape a little of Lily, especially with her friendship with Adrian and Terence; but there's a little something more to it than that. It wasn't her first game; by the way, it was her first game against her brother. As for a growing rift…maybe. Some siblings have to fight after all. And thank you.

To Wolfs Child: I'm glad you find it nice and that you love it.

Quick question: Does anyone like the friendship between Cassia, Adrian, and Terence?

I am finally almost finished with year one; after almost two years too. Just a few more chapters and then I will finally be done with year one.

Chapter 17: The Dragon

It was when Cassia got to the Great Hall the next day when Harry pulled her aside.

"Snape is going to steal the Stone," whispered Harry urgently.

For a brief moment, Cassia didn't know what Harry was talking about, before it dawned on her. "What?"

"Snape is going to steal the Stone," Harry repeated. A few older Ravenclaws walked by and the twins proceeded to pretend to act normal, which was basically kicking at the ground and looking around, which really looked abnormal.

"Nice game, Harry," one of the older Ravenclaw girls said.

Harry looked almost…smug, and he thanked them, before the Ravenclaws hurried on.

"What about the Stone?" whispered Cassia.

"Snape is trying to force Quirrell to help him steal the Stone," said Harry. "He asked Quirrell if he knew how to get past Fluffy and something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus'—"

"Isn't that a Muggle term?" asked Cassia. "I only heard the term 'hocus-pocus' used by Muggles. At least, I never heard anyone here use the term before."

"That's what you got out of that?" asked Harry. "Anyway, Hermione, Ron, and I reckon that there are loads of enchantments guarding the Stone and Snape is trying to break through them, at least, Quirrell's possible anti-Dark Magic."

Cassia frowned, "I believe that he's stronger than he looks and would out then."

She didn't believe that Snape was trying to get to the Stone though, but she'd rather not have another row with the three Gryffindors over that again.

Over the next few weeks, Cassia noticed that Quirrell was growing paler and a bit thinner. It wasn't her who noticed, Adrian and Terence had wondered if Quirrell's fear of everything was finally taking its toll on him. Adrian figured that Quirrell was going to leave before the end of the term and Terence figured that Quirrell was going to at least make it to the end of term before leaving.

Of course, Cassia couldn't focus on that too much because the teachers decided that since exams were coming up, they needed a lot more homework to go prepare.

Cassia felt swamped with the extra homework, however with some help from Terence and Adrian, she managed to get through despite them having homework too. They helped her set up a timetable and colour-coded notes for her to use, that apparently helped them get through their first-year homework load at Hogwarts.

Cassia had to hide her burning face with her hair as she thanked them. The exams were ten weeks away, but the exams were important to get into second-year.

They managed to get through most of their homework, but had to give it a rest when Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked in with Harry and Ron glaring at the two older Slytherins. They sat a table a little ways away and Cassia grew a little uncomfortable since she knew that Harry was just staring at the three of them.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to sit with my brother and his friends," said Cassia.

Terence and Adrian both looked over at the Gryffindors.

"Sure," replied Adrian.

Terence nodded, but looked a little sad. Cassia grabbed her messenger bag and tried gathering her books. Adrian and Terence decided to help her pick up some things that she couldn't quite hold and helped her move to the table that the Gryffindors were at. Harry and Ron at least surprised that the two Slytherin boys helped Cassia.

"Thanks," Cassia said to the two Slytherins. They just nodded acknowledgement and went back to their table.

They worked in silence a bit more until Ron said, "I'll never remember this." He threw down his quill and looked out of the library window. It was a beautiful morning.

Cassia was sure that if she had a blanket, she would go outside with Lily, Sally-Anne, Terence, and Adrian to have a study session, but she didn't have a blanket and she was sure that the two Slytherins wouldn't want to hang by the lake and study with three first-year Hufflepuffs. Then again, they were willingly hanging out with her.

Word had spread that Adrian had tried taking Quirrell's turban off and had gotten detention for it, because a Hufflepuff had told him to do it. It was strange how schools find out those things.

"Cassy, what's Dittany?" asked Harry. Apparently her sitting with her two Slytherin friends earlier was forgotten.

"It's a powerful healing and restorative herb," said Cassia. "It can be eaten raw to heal like small cuts and stuff, but not big wounds. It's used in potion-making."

"Thank you," replied Harry, setting his book down.

"How can you learn herbology when you have Cassia hand you the answers?" hissed Hermione.

"But is she wrong?" asked Ron.

"No, she's correct," replied Hermione.

"Hagrid, what are you doing here?" asked Ron cheerfully.

Cassia looked up to see that it really was Hagrid.

Hagrid was holding something behind his back and looking rather suspicious. He replied, "Jus' looking. An' what're you lot up ter?" He now looked suspicious of them. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"We found who he is ages ago," said Ron. Cassia glared at him and cleared her throat. Ron said, "Cassia figured out who he was and we know what that dog's guarding. It's a Phil – ow!"

Cassia had kicked him in the shin to get to keep quiet. They weren't supposed to know. Ron looked at Cassia.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of face," said Harry. "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"

Hagrid shushed Harry very loudly and from the corner of her eye, Cassia noticed that Adrian and Terence turned to look over at them.

Cassia turned to look at them and she can see that they wanted to know what was going on.

"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," replied Harry.

Hagrid walked off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" asked Hermione.

"It was probably a book that he didn't want us to see," said Cassia. "He was in a library."

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron. He went into the section that Hagrid came out of. He came back with books and set them on the table.

"Dragons! Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons!" Ron whispered.

"Dragons are illegal to have and they can't be tamed," said Cassia.

"Hagrid always wanted a dragon," said Harry. "He told us so the first time Cassy and I met him."

Cassia nodded, remembering.

"Like Cassia said, owning dragons is illegal and they can't be tamed," said Ron. "You should see the burns that Charlie got off of wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" asked Harry. He looked out the window as if expecting a dragon to swoop down and pick up a student.

"There are Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks," said Cassia.

"The Ministry has a job keeping it quiet, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget," said Ron.

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" asked Hermione.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Cassia. "He's got a dragon."

An hour later, they were down at Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Hagrid.

Cassia glanced at the Gryffindors, before Harry replied that it was just him and the others. Hagrid opened the door wide enough to let them in and when Cassia slipped in, Hagrid slammed the door shut.

The heat from inside the hut was near smothering and Cassia considered unbuttoning a few buttons on her shirt, but decided against it. She noticed that there was a blazing fire in the fireplace.

Hagrid offered them tea and stoat sandwiches. Cassia took Hagrid up on the tea but refused the sandwiches.

"So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" asked Hagrid after passing a tea cup to Cassia.

"Yes," replied Harry. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at Harry. "O' course I can't. 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'popose yeh've worked that out an' all?"

Cassia nodded,

Hagrid said, "Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. She was obviously trying to butter up Hagrid.

Hagrid's beard twitched like he was smiling.

Hermione continued, "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

For a brief moment, Cassia felt a little like she shouldn't be there since it felt like she wasn't needed.

Hagrid said, "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—"

Cassia smiled at the mention of her head of house.

"Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape," Hagrid finished.

"Snape?" said the three Gryffindors.

"Yeah – yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it," stated Hagrid.

Cassia was sure that it did make sense. Get in on the protection and figure out how to get by the rest of the enchantments. However, it seemed like Snape didn't know how to get past Quirrell's spell, but from what Terence and Adrian said to her, it seemed like Snape would know how to get past it since Snape knew a lot of the Dark Arts. It didn't make sense.

"Are you the only one that knows how to get past Fluffy, right?" asked Cassia.

Harry added, "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid in a proud voice.

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.

"Can we please open the window, it's suffocating in here," said Cassia.

"Can't, Cassia, sorry," said Hagrid.

Cassia looked at the fire and noticed what looked to be a huge, black egg. "What in the world is that?" However, she knew what it was. It was a dragon egg.

Hagrid seemed to fiddle nervously, "Ah, that's – er…"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" asked Ron. He had crouched over to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," replied Hagrid. "Las' night, I was down in the village havin' a few drink an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of of it, ter be honest."

Cassia thought it was a little strange for a wizard to be carrying dragon eggs around and so happens to come across a guy who wanted a dragon egg. Then again, what did she know?

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some reading'," said Hagrid. He took out a book, "Got this outta the library – Dragon-Breeding for Pleasure and Profit – it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour."

"Sound nutritious," muttered Cassia, grimacing at the mixture.

"An' see here – how ter recognize diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare them." He looked pleased with himself.

"Dragons breathe fire," said Cassia, hoping that it would've jogged something in Hagrid's mind.

"And you live in a wooden house," Hermione added.

Hagrid stoked the fire as he hummed.

"This is going to be a disaster," muttered Cassia.

On top of worrying about her homework load, she now had to worry about Hagrid and what would happen to him if it was revealed that he had a dragon.

She was sitting at a table, trying to decide which piece of homework to do first, when sweets fell on the table in front of her. She almost shrieked in surprise, but she was sure that some embarrassing sound came from her.

She looked at the sweets: Chocoballs, Nougat Chunks, Jelly Slugs, and Pink Coconut Ice. She smiled at them. "Thank you, Adrian."

Adrian was old enough to go to the village near the school.

"Figured that when I was down at Hogsmeade, I might as well get you something from Honeydukes," explained Adrian.

"Thank you for thinking of me," said Cassia. The door to the library opened.

"We've got to go," said Adrian.

Cassia listened as Terence and Adrian walked away.

Then Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat down at the table.

Ron moaned, "How did you get these?"

"Adrian bought them for me when he was in Hogsmeade," said Cassia. She started grabbing at the sweets to put up and almost sighed when she saw Ron looking at one of the packages of Jelly Slugs. She passed it to Ron who brightened immediately.

She passed Harry a tin of Nougat Chunks and she looked at Hermione, "You want something?"

"No thank you, Cassia. Adrian bought them specifically for you," said Hermione. "I don't want to take anything that he got for you."

In a way, Cassia appreciated Hermione not taking anything, but she didn't mind sharing. "Okay."

She packed the rest of the sweets in her bag before getting started on her homework.

"Do you want me to write you a revision table?" asked Hermione.

"No, thanks, I already had one made for me," replied Cassia.

"Should I even ask who made one for you?" asked Harry.

Cassia rolled her eyes. Will Harry ever stop hating her friends? She said "No, because you already know the answer and you don't want to hear it."

Harry nodded, like it was an agreement.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," said Ron as he looked through a book then leaned back in his chair. He was eyeing the Jelly Slugs, "How many do you think I can eat before Madam Pince kicks me out?"

"Don't push your luck, Ron," said Cassia. "She's still mad at me for drooling on her books during the Christmas holiday." She turned to see that the librarian was glaring at her. Cassia smiled and waved cheerfully at the librarian, who pinched her lips together, that oddly reminded Cassia of Aunt Petunia.

It was a week later when Hedwig dropped a piece of parchment on Cassia's plate and she picked it up to read: It's hatching.

She showed the parchment to Lily and Sally-Anne. At some point, she told them about the dragon. It wasn't fair to them that she would keep it a secret. She wasn't entirely sure if she should tell Terence and Adrian about the dragon either, but she knew that Harry and Ron would get mad at her for telling them, so she stayed quiet on the dragon subject.

"Are you going to go watch it hatch?" Lily whispered.

Cassia shrugged, "I don't know. I don't want to upset Professor Sprout by not showing up."

"We can cover for you," said Sally-Anne. "Say that you were feeling a little ill."

Cassia had to think about it. She could always make up for it; but…the dragon could wait. "I'll wait to see it." Hufflepuffs were known for their patience after all.

At morning break, Cassia, Harry, Hermione, and Ron made a dash for Hagrid's Hut. Harry pounded on the door.

Hagrid opened it, looking excited and said, "It's nearly out."

The egg was lying on the table, with deep cracks on the shell. A funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They drew chairs up to the table and watched the egg.

There was a scraping sound and the egg split open. The baby flopped onto the table. It looked crumpled up, like an umbrella. It had spiny wings that were larger than it body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils. It had stubs of horns and had bulging orange eyes.

It sneezed out sparks.

"Isn't he beautiful?" asked Hagrid. He went to stroke the dragon's head, but the baby dragon snapped at Hagrid's fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.

Cassia looked at the dragon and tried to remember what she knew about dragons. How big did they get anyway? Cassia asked Hagrid, "Do you know how fast dragons grow?"

"At least the Norwegian Ridgebacks?" Hermione elaborated.

Hagrid however was staring at the curtained off window and got up. He looked out the window.

"What is it?" asked Cassia.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry ran for the door and looked out. He came back and said, "Malfoy. Malfoy had seen the dragon."

"Maybe you can get your Slytherin friends to get Malfoy to back off before he can say or do anything," said Ron.

"They have no pull on the Malfoys," said Cassia. "Malfoy's already taking Terence's spot on the Quidditch team, so there's nothing Terence can do. Adrian would probably try, but Malfoy would just get Flint to kick him off as well. There's nothing that they can do."

"Quidditch is really more important to Pucey than this?" asked Harry.

"I haven't told them about the dragon," said Cassia. Harry looked surprised at that. Cassia elaborated, "The less people that know the better. Lily and Sally-Anne know, because they're my best friends. It would be too suspicious if I brought a lot of people with me."

"You're lying to Pucey and Higgs?" said Harry.

"It's not lying to them," said Cassia. "They don't know anything about the dragon. They don't ask, so I don't tell. They say that my business is my business and they respect that, as long as I respect that their business is their business, which I do."

Everyone looked grim and Cassia felt bad that she couldn't do anything to make them feel better. This was going to suck.