The trio of friends felt lopsided and weird for a bit after the troll incident; Hermione seemed closer to Harry, but Neville seemed more distant.
Harry's direct approach soon found the cause while talking privately to Neville. It seemed that his friend had a bunch of mixed feelings that were confusing him. Neville was glad that Hermione was alive, but doubted that he would have been brave enough to face the troll, which in turn made him feel like a bad friend and caused him to doubt his status as a Gryffindor. He also felt awkward around Harry and Hermione for another reason, a reason that so seemed to embarrass him that Harry needed to almost scare him into revealing it: Neville diagnosed Hermione's extra closeness to Harry as the result of a crush on her hero, and felt like a third wheel whenever he was around the pair of them.
Harry did not know how to feel about all this, and certainly didn't know how to confront the issue. He wanted to reassure Neville that he would have been brave enough to face the troll, but having been raised among kaiju he knew that most humans responded to danger by running away and screaming. On the hand, he also didn't know how to deal with the thought that Hermione might be infatuated with him. He'd come to love her like a sister in the months since meeting her, and he wasn't sure how he felt about the prospect of becoming more.
The result was an awkward November, in which Harry reluctantly used his stealth skills to avoid both of his friends while he tried to think of how to solve the problem, exploring different floors in the hopes that one might have an option.
That was how Harry discovered the forbidden corridor. Not realizing where he was, he came upon a locked door and let himself in, only to find himself face to face to face to face with a three-headed puppy. Not scared in the least, Harry started talking to it in the language of kaiju, and unlike the owl all those months ago on Monster Island, the dog not only understood him, but spoke back.
As a puppy, the dog was not very articulate. It's first "words" to him were "My name is Fluffy, and you shall not pass."
"Well, I don't want to pass. I just wanted to see what was in here. Everybody was told to avoid this place."
"Oh. You're okay then. Happy Friendly Man doesn't visit so much now, and I'm lonely. Will you pet me?"
And so Harry snuggled with Fluffy and scratched his belly for a bit and promised to come back soon. Fluffy didn't know what he was guarding, only that Hagrid (or in his words "Happy Friendly Man") told him to stay put. He also told Harry that two people had tried to get past him so far: a "slimy man" and a "stinky man." Harry guessed that that meant Snape and Quirrell, but what could they be after? He figured he would ask Hagrid some other time, after he resolved his issues with his friends.
So Harry continued his wanderings over the next week, and he eventually found himself on the seventh floor, pacing beside a picture of crazy man trying to teach trolls ballet, when a door appeared beside him. He fearlessly entered and found a book on a plinth.
The book, entitled Relationships – A Wizard's Guide, had chapters about helping friends with their problems, turning friends into lovers without magic, and letting people down easy. It was exactly what he needed… but he found it really odd that just what he needed would be mounted prominently in a room that suddenly appeared.
Still, Harry chalked it up to magic and left. He even left the book behind because he got what he needed from it and it may be there to help others.
At the next Quidditch game (or maybe it was the first of the season, Harry hadn't kept track) Harry took his friends aside and prefaced everything with an apology for avoiding them. What followed was a long, emotionally draining conversation.
Harry went first explaining that things had seemed to him like the dynamics in their friendships were changing, leaving unsaid the idea that it might not be for the better, and that he wanted things to be the way they were before the troll. Having grown up in an emotionally healthy environment (if a very strange one) Harry was able to express the fact that he'd grown to love Neville and Hermione like the human siblings he had never had, and wanted to move past whatever weirdness was messing with their friendship.
Neville looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Hermione looked slightly sad and rather embarrassed, and Harry feared that he'd misinterpreted the book's advice and made things worse, but eventually Neville found his courage and spoke up.
He explained the things that he had told Harry privately, about his guilt about not being there for Hermione and wondering about his worth as a Gryffindor. Hermione gave him a hug at that point and started her own explanation.
She began by telling Neville that she did not blame him for not being there, and that she was supposed to be a Gryffindor but had still been scared witless. She also explained that while she'd had a tiny crush on Harry after the incident, enough time had passed that she realized it was less love than it was a feeling of safety mixed with admiration of his courage, something that brought a smile to Harry's face.
It ended with a group hug and a walk to the Quidditch game, which had only just started, as Harry told his renewed friends about his new friend Fluffy…
Time passed easily and quickly after that, although that is not to say that it was always smooth sailing. Neville still struggled with his spellwork, even with Harry and Hermione's help, and Draco kept trying to get under his skin, but like any good hunter Harry recognized bait when he saw it, and was smart enough not to take it.
The only other thing that really persistently irked him so far was how difficult it seemed to be to make friends between houses. The Slytherins seemed to follow Malfoy's lead, though for what reason Harry couldn't fathom. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw rarely had classes together (at least in first year, it was possible that that changed in later years), but ought to be able to interact at least in the halls; both house's common rooms were in towers, so there was theoretically a place between both to meet. Lastly, Harry only really interacted with Hufflepuffs during herbology, and while they seemed nice enough they also seemed hesitant to make friends outside their house for some reason.
Harry's fame didn't help him here. While the stares fell to a minimum if he kept to himself, if he tried to interact with someone they became starstruck all over again and asked truly ridiculous questions. Did he really live in a castle guarded by tame dragons? Had he really beaten an army of pitchfork and torch wielding muggles with an enchanted spoon? Were the halls beneath his mansion really filled with treasure? Was it true that he defeated a banshee with a well aimed pacifier?
Apparently all of these false beliefs came from children's stories written about him, despite him only being a baby when he "defeated" Voldemort. Harry wanted to be among peers; it was the entire reason he left Monster Island in the first place. Despite this, it seemed that circumstances would force him to maintain a small group of close friends. He didn't mind this, it was just while that growing up among the Infant Islanders in their village he'd gotten used to being part of a crowd.
Things got a little lonelier around Christmas as well, since both Neville and Hermione left the castle to spend time with their families. Monster Island didn't really have Christmas for multiple reasons, so at first Harry didn't understand the big deal, but after Hermione explained it as a time for giving gifts and appreciating family, Harry understood. At least the Weasley twins were around. It had been hysterical to see them casting snowballs at the back of Professor Quirrell's turban. He'd been unable to stop himself from laughing out loud at that, although a sudden pain in his scar stopped him cold. He wondered about how that might have happened, but his trail of thought was cut off when another professor came along to punish the twins. At that point he decided to leave as discretely as he could, all pain forgotten.
Still, waking up on Christmas morning virtually alone in the dorm was a strange feeling after growing used to the sounds of Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Ron all blundering about half-asleep. Ron was still around, but Harry didn't get along so well with him. Any time that Ron and Hermione were near each other they seemed to fight, and Harry couldn't and didn't blame Hermione for it.
Starting to upset himself with his thoughts, Harry got up and found a number of gifts beside his bed. Neville (no doubt with some difficulty) had managed to navigate muggle shopping to get him a so-called dinosaur plant, which would never truly die and would keep coming back if it was watered. Harry was touched at the salute to Godzilla, even if Neville still expressed the odd doubt that he existed. Hermione got him some treacle tart, his favorite dessert since coming to Hogwarts. And Hagrid had sent him a rough, hand-carved, wooden flute; Harry didn't know how to play the flute, but then he remembered that he hadn't made the time to visit Hagrid very much, so the man had been flying blind. He resolved to fix that very soon.
But there was another gift, an envelope with no indication of who sent it. A note fell out, along with a silvery cloak.
The note read, "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well."
No name, no signature, no information whatsoever. Jet Jaguar would probably want to perform all sorts of tests on it before deeming it safe. But Harry was fearless and he pushed his arm through the sleeve–
–And very nearly had a heart attack on finding that he could no longer see it. He yanked his arm back out, and it was fine. Intrigued, he put his arm back in and wiggled his fingers. He could still feel everything that he could not see, so nothing bad was happening.
Harry was startled, not stupid. As more of his body was covered by the cloak and more of it disappeared, he realized that he was wearing some kind of invisibility cloak.
It was a magnificent gift, and the fact that it had belonged to his father made it that much more precious to him, but Harry knew how to stalk prey, and while the cloak would be invaluable for that, he could not fathom what else he would use it for. He wasn't the type to sneak around at night, nor was he a coward who struck his enemies from the shadows. However, he knew that he did have enemies in the wizarding world, and even he could admit that defeating the troll had been mostly luck. He decided to carry the cloak folded up in a pocket just in case.
A few days after Christmas all the students who'd left had come back, including Neville and Hermione. Harry had almost immediately pulled them aside to thank them for their gifts, and to apologize from the bottom of his heart for not getting them anything because he hadn't even known what Christmas entailed, and then showed him the mysterious extra gift.
"And this belonged to your dad?" Neville asked.
"It did according to the note that came with it," Harry replied, wondering why his friend might ask.
"It's just that growing up in an old family you start to hear about other family's heirlooms and artifacts, and it's very uncommon for an invisibility cloak to be handed down because the charms wear off and holes get punched and eaten in them."
"Maybe Harry's dad bought a really well enchanted one, or he bought it not long before, er…" Hermione trailed off, realizing what she was bringing up.
Harry gave her a little hug to reassure her that he wasn't offended, and Neville replied, "I guess those are possible. I just thought it was odd. I'm really happy for you Harry."
"Thanks Neville. Oh, before I forget, I'm going down to visit Hagrid later to thank him for this flute. Do you two want to come?"
Not long afterwards the trio had made the trek down towards Hagrid's hut and knocked on his door.
Very loud barking came from inside, slightly startling Neville. Harry was unaffected, both because he'd met the larger sounding Fluffy and because he'd grown up listening to the roars and rumbles of kaiju.
"Back Fang, back, I need teh see who's at the door," the door opened only a crack, as if Hagrid were nervous for some reason, but on seeing the three of them he beamed and flung it wide, "Harry, and yeh brought friends, come in come in, let me get yeh some tea."
Though Hagrid's rock cakes were some of the toughest things Harry had ever eaten, the tea was good and the conversation was better. The trio shared how their years had been so far, and Hagrid shared some of his fonder memories from the days when Harry's parents had been at school. It looked for a moment like he was about to share stories about Neville's parents too, but there was a not-so-subtle exchange of glances between the giant and the boy, and he moved on to another subject. Harry and Hermione decided not to pry; their friend would tell them when he was comfortable enough.
The discussion lasted into the evening, past the point where they probably should have been in the castle, but as the hour grew later, Hagrid started glancing more and more at his fireplace. Finally, Harry and his friends looked too, and were both shocked at what they saw and that they hadn't seen it before.
"Hagrid," Hermione exclaimed, "is that a dragon egg?"
"I hope not," Neville gulped, "ignoring that it would be illegal, dragons breathe fire, and this house is made of wood."
Hagrid nervously started trying to explain himself, "Well, I might've gone out for a drink or two, and this stranger came up and asked if I might be interested in a game o' cards. I wasn't really, but then 'e held out this egg, and I couldn't resist. And would yeh believe that part way through the game he started 'avin' doubts about me ability to handle a dragon, so I told him about Fluffy and how easy it was ter handle 'im if yeh only played music."
"Wait, you told some stranger about Fluffy, even though he's guarding something really important?" for the first time Harry got a little upset with Hagrid, not because of whatever Fluffy was guarding, but because this person might be a danger to the puppy themselves.
"'Old on, how do you know abou' Fluffy?"
Neville and Hermione both looked to Harry, and he replied, "I blundered into the room by accident and talked to him. He's lonely and wishes you'd visit more."
Hagrid moaned at the thought of his beloved pet being lonely, "I want teh, really I do, bu' I lent him to Dumbledore to help protect Mr. Flamel's– I mean–"
"Hold on, Flamel?" Neville asked, "As in, Nicholas Flamel the only alchemist to ever make a Philosopher's Stone?"
Hagrid looked like he was about to deny it, but a sudden cracking noise interrupted him, causing him to run to the fireplace. Harry realized what was going on and cleared the table for him.
Hagrid came back to immediately lay the egg on the table. It wobbled a few more times, and more cracking sounds were heard, until finally the egg split open and a fully formed but tiny dragon emerged, curled up and looking for all the world like a damp black umbrella. It unfurled and then let out the tiniest roar of victory Harry had ever heard at its triumph over the eggshell.
"Isn't 'e adorable!"
Neville and Hermione looked aghast at Hagrid's statement.
"Yes he is," Harry paused and sniffed the air, "although I think he smells more like a she to be honest."
Neville and Hermione looked even more aghast at their friend.
"Really? I was gonna name 'im Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, but I guess she's Norberta now." The hatchling belched a bit of flame. "Oh look she's showing off for mummy!"
Harry suddenly heard a noise and looked to the window, and he saw Draco Malfoy peering in before setting off for the castle.
Author's Note: Here, have this cliffhanger to hold you over until chapter 11.
So, what was with all that awkwardness in the early part of the chapter? Well, little changes in the past can cause big changes in the future. In the canon timeline Harry, Ron, and Hermione became a trio because of the troll incident. In my story Harry, Neville, and Hermione were already a trio from making friends on the train, but Neville wasn't there for the troll incident, so instead of a dynamic being created, an existing dynamic was thrown off, and Harry had to spend nearly a month angsting about how to fix it.
And I know that Harry talks to snakes, not dogs, but I just feel that a three-headed dog would speak something close to kaiju for some reason, mainly because I couldn't resist the line "My name is Fluffy, and you shall not pass."