Chapter 7: Hagrid & the Egg
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house" she said .But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire. As they left Hagrid's hut behind, Harry and Hermione burst out almost at the same time "We need to tell a teacher!" Ron's eyes almost popped out of his head with surprise. "Have you both gone completely mental?" he demanded. "If we tell a teacher, Hagrid'll end up in Azkaban!" "What's Azkaban?" asked Hermione. "Wizard prison, it's horrible," replied Ron. "Dad had to go visit once, and he felt miserable for days afterwards."
"He'd probably end up there anyway," said Harry sadly. "Think about it. We don't tell a teacher, the egg hatches, the dragon burns Hagrid's house down, and he goes to Azkaban for having a dragon. We tell a teacher, he gets caught, and goes to Azkaban for having an egg. We don't tell, it hatches, it doesn't burn his house down but someone sees it and he gets caught, then goes to Azkaban for having a dragon. And on top of that, whoever it was who gave him the egg gets away with it, and steals the Stone."
"What do you mean, "steals the Stone"?" asked Ron. "What Hagrid wants most in the world is a dragon egg, and then he meets someone who just happens to have one? How many people walk around with dragon eggs in their pockets? How much would you bet that someone got information about the Stone out of him with it, like we just did?"
Ron gulped nervously. "Yeah, you're right. Hagrid's a nice bloke, but something's not right about that egg." A few minutes later, they found Professor McGonagall in her classroom, marking homework. "We need to talk to you, Professor," said Harry nervously. "Yes, Mr Potter, what is it?" Professor McGonagall crisply. "It's about Hagrid, Professor. He's got a dragon egg." "Don't be ridiculous, Mr Potter, why would"- "It's true, Professor," added Hermione. "We've just seen it." "A Norwegian Ridgeback egg" Ron cut in. The stare Professor McGonagall gave them could have split rock. "You will stay here," she said sternly, "while I investigate your claims. If they turn out to be false, all three of you will receive a detention." With that, Professor McGonagall left the room. She was back ten minutes later, looking quite pale. "You may go," she said shakily. "Professor Dumbledore will want to speak to you about this soon. When he does, I shall find you."
That evening, Professor McGonagall took Harry, Ron and Hermione to Professor Dumbledore's office. He told them that the dragon egg had been taken by a specialist team from the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. They were relieved to hear that Hagrid had not been arrested, as Dumbledore had managed to talk the Department officials down to a heavy fine. The fine was more money than Hagrid had, but he was able to pay it by giving the officials a bundle of unicorn hair that he had collected in the Forbidden Forest. However, Professor Dumbledore suggested to the three of them that they avoid talking to Hagrid for a while.
The next morning, Professor Dumbledore announced at breakfast that the third floor corridor was no longer out of bounds. "He must have worked out that if Hagrid let anything slip to whoever gave him the egg, the Stone's not safe there anymore." said Harry quietly to Ron and Hermione.