As tense as the quartet's life became after that day, weeks passed by and everything remained perfectly in order. It seemed that Professor Quirrell was far braver than he let on. Over the course of the next weeks, he seemed to become thinner and frailer, but Harry was still alive, which meant he hadn't given in yet. With exams approaching in a few months and school work piling on, the quartet thought less and less about the Stone, as it was seemingly safe. Moaning and yawning, they still spent most of their free time in the library trying to get all their extra work done.
"I'll never remember this," Ron said suddenly one afternoon. He threw down his quill, looking longingly out the window, where they could see students from all years enjoying themselves out in the sun.
"Really?" Maribella asked, closing her book as well. "Because I've heard Hermione recite it so many times it might as well be imprinted in my brain." And in a higher-pitched voice she recited, "'The twelve uses of dragon blood are as follow: one; oven cleaner, two; spot-remover, three-'"
"No more!" Ron exclaimed, now throwing his quill at her. Maribella was about to retaliate when-
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" she questioned, surprised. Hagrid had just come out of an aisle of books hiding something behind his back.
"Jus' lookin'," he said evasively. That immediately made Maribella sit up straighter. "An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron proudly. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's the Philosopher's Sto-"
"Don't go shoutin' about it," Hagrid cut him off, looking around quickly. "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-"
"SHHH!" Hagrid hissed, leaning closer. "Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh."
"See you later, then," Harry said, and Hagrid headed out of the library, still trying to hide whatever book he'd gotten.
"What was that about?" Maribella asked.
"Why was he trying to hide that book?" said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Harry asked, and Maribella shook her head. The Stone was safe, why should they have to worry about it?
"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, though Mari knew that he was only postponing his homework. He returned after a minute, dropping a pile of books on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid's looking up stuff about dragons!"
That got Maribella 's attention.
"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 noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden."
Maribella and Hermione eyed him, surprised at his amount of knowledge.
"My brother Charlie works with dragons," Ron explained, shrugging.
"Why would Hagrid want one, then?" Harry asked.
"Why wouldn't he?" Maribella leaned forward on her seat, suddenly excited. "Dragons are fire-breathing flying creatures who are so… so awe-inspiring, it's hard to explain. Really, you haven't truly lived if you haven't watched the birth of dragon."
"They're dangerous. You can't tame a dragon," Ron, for once the voice of reason, said, giving Maribella a weird look. "Charlie has got thousands of burns of wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't any wild ones in Britain?"
"'Course there are," said Maribella . "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. But don't worry, they're mostly inoffensive."
"Our lot still has to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, though," Ron completed.
"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.
"We better go see," said Maribella , who, after getting worked up about the creatures, would not be able to concentrate enough to study.
They packed away their things and hurried down, out of the castle, and to Hagrid's hut. They were surprised to see the windows and curtains were all closed and Hagrid had a fire going, despite the warm weather. They all sat down, refusing the tea Hagrid offered. It was hot enough in there, they didn't need hot drinks as well.
"So- yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry. "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," 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, Ron, and Maribella beamed 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-" 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?"
Maribella felt a little sick at those words. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything- except, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.
"Yeah- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
"But nobody knows how to get past Fluffy, right Hagrid?" Maribella asked anxiously.
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
She was about to make another comment when she noticed something. Basking in the huge fire Hagrid had set up was an equally huge shiny black egg. The fire crackled, and Hagrid glanced at it nervously.
"What's that Hagrid?" Maribella questioned, even though in her gut she already knew the answer. Her mother hadn't specialized in dragonology, unlike Ron's brother, but Maribella had seen her fair share of dragons and their offspring. Like she had mentioned earlier, witnessing a young dragon peck its way out of its encasing shell was the apex of her life. Never had she imagined, though, to see such a rare specimen of egg in a wooden cabin at Hogwarts, of all places. Maribella moved closer to inspect it.
"Ah-" Hagrid said, fiddling with his beard. "That's, er…"
"Ron," Maribella called, motioning him over. Out of her friends, he was the only one who seemed to understand the slightest bit about dragons.
"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. Good read, as well. See here- how ter recognize diff'rent eggs- what I got there's a-"
"Hungarian Horntail," Maribella interrupted. "I can tell because of the color."
"Not quite," said Hagrid, not unkindly. "It's easy to get 'em mixed up. Yeh see, Hungarian Horntails' eggs are cement-coloured, but the fire and soot tends to blacken' 'em up, which is why yeh migh've gotten confused."
Maribella blushed a deep crimson. She hated being wrong about things she knew about, and making such a rookie mistake in front of her friends… argh.
"This righ' here," Hagrid continued, "is a Norwegian Ridgeback." he said the last words proudly.
"Those are pretty rare," Maribella mumbled. "And they do resemble Hungarian Horntails."
"They're easier to take care o'. Just gotta keep the egg in the 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."
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, and the quartet had no choice but to leave, hearts heavy with yet another burden.
"We have got to get him to see reason," said Hermione one breakfast. "This is illegal. What happens if he is caught?" Just then owls flew in with the mail.
Harry and Ron murmured their agreements, more interested in what Hedwig, Harry's exquisite snowy owl, had brought them. Maribella , who absolutely adored the owl, preoccupied herself with feeding Hedwig bits of her untouched waffle, subtly avoiding speaking to Hermione about their diverging opinions regarding the dragon. Of course the other girl, being her usual perspicacious self, didn't let it slide, raising her eyebrows and nudging Maribella waiting for her affirmation. Upon her silence, though, Hermione grimaced.
"Do you… do you really approve of what he's doing? He can't keep that dragon. Maribella, I can't believe you're endorsing his behavior." Hermione said.
"I'm not endorsing it," Maribella retorted, making Hermione huff in annoyance. "I just want to see the egg hatch."
"You're in luck then," Harry chimed in, grinning. He held up the note he had received, which contained only two words; it's hatching.
Maribella immediately stood up, as did Ron, both willing to skip Herbology and head down to the hut, but Hermione wouldn't hear of it.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"
"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-"
"Shut up," Harry hissed.
Malfoy had been walking past them, and stopped dead in his tracks to listen once he realized how secretive the group of friends were being. He had heard, Maribella was sure of it. His smirk said it all. She opened her mouth- to scream and shout? Wail and beg for his silence? Maybe bargain their way out of this mess?- but before she could say anything, Malfoy turned and left.
"That did not look good," Maribella said to her friends.
"We are not going down to Hagrid's," Hermione said decisively, standing and stalking out of the Hall.
Maribella and Ron kept arguing their case all the way to Herbology, and eventually convinced Harry and Hermione to go over to Hagrid's cabin after the class. When the bell reverberated out in the halls, the four dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the Forest. Hagrid was eager to greet them, hurrying them inside the hot hut.
The egg was lying on the table with long cracks scattered along the shell. There were some odd noises coming from inside and Maribella approached it, almost as enraptured as Hagrid himself. All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split. The baby dragon flopped onto the table.
The first time Maribella had seen a baby dragon peck its way out of its enclosure, she had been frightened. It was a docile breed, at least more amicable than the young Ridgeback Hagrid had acquired, but she had been a small child and she was afraid. Her mother had been called to oversee the birth of the orphaned beast, making sure it'd be dealt with before any Muggles spotted it, and Maribella went along with her. Despite her age, she remembered the moment perfectly- herself clutching her mother's robes as the eggshell ruptured and two small crimson wings plopped out, glistening in the sun. Baby eyes met baby eyes and Maribella instantly fell in love with the sultana-looking being.
Years later and she was equally amazed by dragons. The newborn creature was black, with spiny wings and a skinny jet body. It had a long snout, and when it sneezed, its nostrils widened beyond what was thought to be possible.
"He's… beautiful," Maribella said, mouth agape with fascination.
"Um," muttered Hermione, eyebrows flying up her forehead.
"Isn't he?" Hagrid murmured, reaching out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid. The pair cooed over the dragon, blatantly ignoring its pointed fangs and menacing demeanor. The other three children, however, didn't share their wonder.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face- he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains- it's a kid- he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Maribella uselessly moved in front of the dragon, shielding it from view. Harry bolted to the door and looked out. When he turned to his friends, he was pale.
"It was Malfoy."
The following week was spent in jitters. Now that Malfoy knew Hagrid was in possession of a dragon, it was only a matter of time before he used that information against the groundskeeper. Even Maribella agreed that it'd be best if the dragon was gone. They tried to talk Hagrid into getting rid of the dragon, who had been affectionately named Norbert, but he was having none of it. It was only when Ron was bitten by Norbert that Hagrid complied, and together they decided to send him off with a few of Charlie's dragonologist friends. They wrote him and anxiously waited for his response, which arrived only a week later.
"Let me see it," said Ron, detaching the letter from Hedwig's left claw. "'-could you get the Ridgeback up to the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? My friends can meet you up there and take him away while it's still dark,'" he read to the others.
"That sounds perfect," Maribella exclaimed, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Yeah, it should be easy enough," said Harry. "We've got the Invisibility Cloak. I think it's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."
Deciding who those two would be wasn't an easy task. Harry, of course, was a given. Not only was he the owner of the cloak, but he also had a taste for adventure that none of the others had. Conversely, Ron was completely out of question. His bitten hand had swollen to twice its size and he had no choice but to check himself into the Hospital Wing. Hermione point blank refused to go. Her previous experience with roaming around school late at night had been disastrous, and she didn't care much for the dragon. Maribella was conflicted. She'd love to see Norbert one last time, but she had wished hard for her place at Hogwarts, a place she wasn't even sure she deserved given her condition, and taking unwarranted risks was almost out of the question.
The other three seemed to think she was the most suitable alternative.
"You know most about dragons, Mari," said Ron as they sat by his bed in the Hospital Wing.
"We don't need someone who knows about dragons," she countered. "We need someone who can efficiently carry Norbert up to the Astronomy Tower."
"Norbert likes you best," said Harry, mouth full of roast beef as they ate lunch later that day.
"Norbert seemed to like Ron, and look what happened," she retorted. "Besides, it's not like he'll be able to tell who's carrying him, he'll be locked in a box." And Maribella stood up and headed towards the dungeons for Potions, without a look back.
A few minutes later she heard somebody running after her.
"Mari," Hermione shouted.
Maribella rolled her eyes and took a few more steps, mostly to show Hermione she was mad at her. Eventually, though, she slowed down and let her friend catch up.
"Are you," Hermione started, panting slightly, "going to tell me why you don't want to go see Norbert off?"
"It's not like you want go either, Hermione," Maribella said.
"That's different," Hermione said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm me and you're you, which means," Hermione continued, not letting Maribella , who had opened her mouth, speak, "you should have been excited at the prospect of just spending additional time with the dragon, but you're not."
"Right you are," Maribella said and walked faster.
"Mari," Hermione said, grabbing her arm and giving her a pointed look. For a moment the two girls only stared, Hermione with raised eyebrows and frowned forehead and Maribella with slightly narrowed eyes. A few seconds passed, and Maribella looked away.
"I'm just scared," she started hesitantly. "Not of the dragon, mind you, but of getting caught. When I was younger-" Maribella looked down, embarrassed. "I mean even a few months ago, I had doubts I'd even be invited to attend Hogwarts." She lowered her voice. "I'm a werewolf, Mione. I don't want to give Dumbledore reason to expel me."
"Mari, Dumbledore was the one who accepted you in the first place. He's brilliant. You know he's absolutely brilliant, and if you get caught he'll treat you as he would any other student, I'm sure of it. He won't expel you," Hermione said kindly. "And you'll have the cloak, you shouldn't worry about getting caught. You go up to the Astronomy Tower on Saturday night, let Norbert go, and you'll- Oops, sorry," They had bumped into a platinum-haired boy. "If you really don't want to go, I'll do it," she continued, paying no mind to the disruption.
A pause.
"No," Maribella said. "It's ok. I'll do it."
And on Saturday night, after the other students had long gone to bed, Maribella and Harry bid Hermione goodbye and left to Hagrid's hut. They were stopped in the Great Hall, where Peeves, the resident troublemaker, was playing tennis against the wall. Maribella held onto Harry's robes tightly.
"It's alright," he said. "Peeves can't see us." And they carried on their way, arriving a little later than usual because of the disturbance.
Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate. His eyes were tearful, and Maribella decided she was very glad she had come, if not to help with the dragon, then to console her big friend. She understood perfectly the pain and suffering that came with the loss of a pet.
"There, there," Maribella said, patting Hagrid's back.
"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed him his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."
"They'll treat him well, Hagrid," Maribella said, as Harry covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak.
"Bye bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, while Maribella and Harry stepped underneath the cloak themselves. "Mommy will never forget you."
How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another- even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier. Their arms were sore, their shoulders throbbing, and their faces were sweating.
"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
Suddenly there was a movement in the dark. Maribella 's hand trembled so much she almost dropped the crate. She pulled Harry behind a tapestry, forgetting they were already invisible. The two scooted closer to each other, trying to decrease the amount of space they occupied. A lamp flared.
Professor McGonagall, in a tartan dressing-gown and a hairnet, had a student by the ear. Malfoy.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"
"You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming- he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on- I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the Cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. They sat on the ground, heaving, but still happy.
"Malfoy's got detention!" Harry exclaimed and laughed.
"Shh," Maribella sibilated. "Somebody might hear."
"Relax, Maribella ,"said Harry. "We made it!"
Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.
Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry and Maribella the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Maribella shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
"I'm going to miss him," Maribella sighed as they disappeared into the night.
"I won't," Harry snorted. "Come on."
They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon- Malfoy in detention- What could spoil their happiness?
The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.
A/N: Ninth chapter, and we're almost reaching our climax. Hope Maribella's hesitation was well-explained. If not, don't be afraid to hit that little review button and send me a question (hint, hint)!