Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Letter
Harry wandered back down to Hagrid's grounds to see Spike, but this time he had Patches trotting along beside him. As soon as Spike looked up and saw Harry he came running towards him with his tongue hanging out and then skidded to a stop in front of him and sat down with his tail thudding on the ground as he panted.
Harry laughed, but Patches began to bark at him which made Spike wince back and crouch down and roar at him while he arched his back. "Now you two need to learn how to get along because I'm taking Spike back to Romania to where he belongs,.. somehow." He said but Spike just lowered his head sadly and looked at him with sorrowful eyes while tucking his rather long tail in-between his legs.
"What? Are you saying that you don't want to go?" He wondered and that's when Spike gently nudged his cheek and started licking it making Harry stifle a laugh and that's when suddenly he heard a giggle behind him and turned around to see Hermione, Ron, Draco, and his father Severus Snape standing behind him.
"Well Harry, it looks like you have a new pet. I mean you already have a dog and an owl so adding a dragon into the mix isn't going to be that much more." She told him.
"I can't have a dragon though it's illegal remember?" He questioned her back.
"Well then, I guess you're just going to have to find a way to fix that." His father told him.
"Yeah, but dragons also can live up to a million years and even though I have a much longer lifespan than the average human I'll probably be in Heaven before his life is over and then who's going to watch over him?" He wondered.
"You can worry about that later." Hermione began. "You've always told us that you always wanted a dragon ever since you were little, and you know you want to keep him." She finished.
"Yeah mate, any witch or wizard in the world would love to be able to have a dragon to fly around on and you do." Ron began. "And for what it's worth I really am sorry about what happened between us, and I agree with them and think that you should keep him." He finished as Spike sat down in front of Harry again thumping his tail on the ground while panting before Harry heaved a heavy sigh.
"Fine, you win." He began while gently stroking his nose and giving his cheek a pat and then turning his head back to look over at Ron. "But you're probably just saying that so you can go on rides." He told him as Ron grinned back at him.
"That too." He replied as Spike lifted one of his hind legs and started scratching himself behind the ear. "He acts like a gigantic dog." He pointed out.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that Patches sees it the same way." Harry replied.
"Hey Harry, did you ever open up the egg to find out what the clue was?" Hermione wondered.
"No, but I should." He told her before grabbing the golden egg off of the ground and opening it. Everybody else quickly covered their ears, Patches began to whimper while he ran away, and Spike flew up into the whispering willow tree shrieking as the egg let out a high piercing scream.
"For heaven's sake shut that bloody thing!" Draco snapped before Harry forced it shut.
"What the bloody hell was that thing!?" Ron cried.
"I don't know, but I highly doubt that I'll be able to get a clue out of that." Harry told him.
….
The next afternoon at lunch time Pigwidgeon started soaring into the Great Hall with a package strapped to his foot before he landed down on top of the table in front of Ron. Hedwig was also flying into the room with an envelope clamped underneath her beak addressed to Harry.
"What do you got for me Hedwig?" Harry wondered as she landed down on the table in front of him and he quickly snatched it up and tore it open. "It's from my mum." He suddenly realized before he started reading it silently to himself and his heart began to sink as he saw some of the words before Hedwig flew off again. Although he could tell by her letter that she hadn't mentioned the Triwizard tournament so he had figured that that had meant that his father hadn't told her anything about it or Spike.
Dear Harry,
First of all, I am extremely disappointed in you for sneaking out into the middle of the night AGAIN, but I'm more relieved to know you're alright and I hope that you're having a good year at Hogwarts so far. Unfortunately, I have some really bad news for you pumpkin. Your little sister Evie is currently in the hospital. She was burned up pretty bad and the healers don't think that she's going to make it. I think that it's probably better if you stay at Hogwarts this year for Christmas if she's still in the hospital by then and it looks like she's going to be in there a rather long time sweetheart. All we can do right now is just pray.
All my love, your mummy
Harry could tell that there had been tearstains on the letter and slowly crumpled it up inside his hands. Of course he had to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas as it was required of him since he was a Triwizard champion. He quickly got up and left the table.
"You alright mate?" Ron questioned him out of concern, but it had already been too late for he had already been out of earshot.
"I'll go talk to him." Ginny said as she got up from the table as well and quickly hurried out of the Great Hall after him and Ron and Hermione exchanged silent and worried looks.
