Hello again! I'm back with chapter 8 and a huge thank you to my two reviewers, Guest, and upset-hufflepuff! I hope you like this next one.


The day of the Quidditch match dawned, and I was nervous. I wasn't even playing, but the idea of Snape refereeing was concerning. I slipped into the locker room and patted Harry on the back.

"If he tries anything, I'll jinx him."

I had spent several days in the library, realizing I needed to step up if anyone was to take me seriously. A brief meeting with a few fourth-year Slytherins had shown that quite clearly.

I was walking down the charms corridor towards the Great Hall, thinking about food when I bumped into them.

"Watch it Black!" One of the five boys shouted.

"Locomotor mortis." Another whispered.

I barely dodged, but that seemed to be the trigger, as the rest of them began throwing hexes. I took off down the hall, but my dodging was in vain. I was hit by a spell that knocked me off my feet, and then they came to fast for me to get up.

By the time they left, I was bleeding from my lip, my wrist ached, and had bruises everywhere. I managed to pry myself up off the floor, collecting my notes from where they spilled out of my bag. I limped to the Hospital Wing and crawled up into a bed.

I never told the twins.

Back in the locker room, Wood had taken Harry aside.

"Don't want to pressure you, Potter, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favor Hufflepuff too much. "

"The whole school's out there!" said Fred, peering out of the door. "Even - blimey - Dumbledore's come to watch!"

"Dumbledore?" Harry said, dashing to the door to make sure. Fred was right. There was no mistaking that silver beard.


I watched helplessly as Snape awarded Hufflepuff a penalty, for George hitting a bludger in his general direction. He seemed to be awarding penalties for no reason at all. I knew Snape was biased against Gryffindors, but this was ridiculous.

It was only a few more minutes into the game when Harry obviously spotted something. He dove towards the ground. Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see a whoosh of scarlet as Harry flew past, missing him by inches- his face turned white- the next second, Harry pulled up out of his dive, waving the snitch triumphantly.

The stands went crazy, and I cheered loudly. I turned to look for Ron and Hermione, to find Ron in some sort of scuffle, and Hermione was oblivious. I decided better to stay out of it, and went down to the pitch to congratulate my boys. I mean really, that had to be some sort of record, the game only lasted five minutes.

The twins had smuggled cakes and other foodstuffs from the kitchens and were throwing a party in the Gryffindor common room, but I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch.


I don't believe I've ever seen so much homework! The Easter holidays seemed more like extended study time than anything, and Hermione could frequently be spotted practicing her wand movements, muttering the pronunciation under her breath. I was helping Harry look up 'Dittany' in the library, and listening to Ron moan about being stuck inside with the finally gorgeous weather outside, when he burst out, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

I glanced up, narrowing my eyes as Hagrid shuffled into view, trying to hide a book behind himself.

"Jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty voice. "An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?" I glanced at the others curiously, but it was clear they didn't want to explain.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer'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," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid 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'posed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh-"

"See you later, then," said Harry.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. 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 of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide. "

"Dragons," I muttered. "Of course it would be."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him, " said Harry.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from 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 ?" said Harry.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget. "

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

I decided to go with the trio, in spite of their desire to keep me in the dark about this Fluffy business, and whoever Nicolas Flamel was. Hagrid was acting shifty, and I'd hate to see the gentle giant in trouble.


When we knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let us in, and then shut the door quickly behind us.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made tea and offered stoat sandwiches, which we kindly refused.

"So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy. "

Hagrid frowned at him as I sighed. I would get an explanation later. I'll pressure Ron. He seems the easiest to crack, especially since I can threaten to set the twins on 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," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell 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. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione. I rolled my eyes at her rather obvious flattery, but Hagrid didn't seem to notice.

"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 - " 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 on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it. "

The trio across from me all had knowing looks on their faces.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling. "

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. I noticed him glance at the fire. Harry looked at it, too.

"Hagrid - what's that ?"

But we already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's - er. . . "

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune. "

"Won it," said Hagrid. "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?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "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 the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I 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 recognize 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. I nodded.

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

So now we had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.


It was on the walk back towards the castle that I kept pace with Ron.

"Alright, what's going on? What stone are you all yapping about, and who's Fluffy? You better tell me the truth, or the twins will hear about this."

He crumbled right away. Told me about the duel Harry had gotten roped into, running from Filch, the third floor and the three-headed dog in it, and the philosopher's stone. He explained their theory about Snape letting in the troll on Halloween, and I was shocked. I got sent to the hospital wing because of that thing. I needed to think about this, but I was late for a meeting with the twins. There was a lightning storm on its way, and we had a potion to make.