I am so sorry for such a long wait. You would think that having so many different projects going on, you'd be able to write a page or two for one of them. Nope, I had such severe writer's block, I couldn't think of how to progress any of my stories. Sigh. I hope this lengthy chapter makes up for the long wait. I am always doing my best to write and update as quickly as I can. Hang in there with me.

"So," Harry said as he frowned down at the baby griffin purring in Hermione's arms, its tawny ears flicking contently. "What do we do now?"

Hermione gently scratched the griffin behind an ear. "We can't just leave him. And we certainly can't put him back. How would he have gotten in the chamber in the first place?"

"Griffins usually nest in high places," Draco said, "like trees or cliffs. They have to keep their eggs warm—anything too cold or damp would kill the egg."

"Then how would his egg end up in that chamber?"

"Maybe someone put it down there," Ron suggested. "Someone else must know how to get down there. His egg wasn't that cold either, so whoever did it must have done it pretty recently."

"But why would anyone have a griffin egg?" Draco said. "They are a classification XXXX because they're endangered. And wild ones can be dangerous."

"I remember Uncle Sirius talking about a Wizard Black Market he was going undercover for." Harry frowned in thought. "Something about selling dark artifacts and magical creatures for a lot of money. I wonder if someone here may be involved in that."

"That's a big accusation, Harry," Hermione said. "Who would do such a thing?"

Draco scoffed and said, "Hagrid."

"He would not!"

"He had a dragon last year! And those are illegal. Just think – he's most likely trained to handle griffins, and he was nearly caught with that dragon last year. Obviously, this time he's learned to be more secretive."

"Draco might be right," Ron said.

Everyone stared at the redhead, who glared and said, "What? I said 'might be.' Think about it – no one else would be dumb enough to try and raise another dangerous beast. After what Hagrid did last year, it seems like the most logical explanation."

"Seems like another big accusation," Hermione said. The small griffin yawned before curling up in Hermione's arms. Hermione smiled and stroked its feathers. "I think it's nap time. Where will he stay? Should we take him to Hagrid's? He'd at least be the most likely to know how to care for him."

"No." Harry shook his head. "We don't know if Hagrid is the one who brought the griffin here. I mean, how would've he have gotten the egg down into the chamber? Besides, it's just a baby. Hagrid might mean well, but . . ." Harry didn't want to say anything insulting about his half-giant friend. The other three seemed to understand him regardless as they nodded their head.

"Good point," Hermione said.

The sound of students in the hall made all four kids jump, the griffin stirring in Hermione's arms, giving a loud coo as its ears perked up.

"We should get out of the hallway," Draco said.

"Let's go to the tower," Ron suggested.

Hermione used her cloak to cover the griffin in her arms. Together, they made their way up to Gryffindor tower, the small griffin asleep in Hermione's arms. They paused right in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, Draco clearing his throat.

"I'll just wait here for you guys," he said.

"You've joined us this far, might as well as come in," Hermione encouraged.

"But – that's the Gryffindor tower! I'm a Slytherin!"

"He has a point," Ron frowned. "Would the Fat Lady even let him in?"

"Why, of course, dearies," the Fat Lady spoke smiling down at them. "Until six pm, students may spend time in different common rooms if allowed entry by a student of the respective house."

"Really?" Ron blinked. "Huh. I never knew that."

"Let's get inside before people start asking questions," Harry said, pushing Draco toward the portrait. He gave the password as he did so. "Wattlebird."

The Fat Lady swung open and the four kids entered the common room. Harry led the way to the second-year boys' dorm room, noticing how several students did doubletakes upon seeing Draco.

"Oy," an older student called to the group. "You can't let Slytherins infiltrate our tower."

"We'll just be in our dorm studying," Ron said quickly, blocking the covered griffin in Hermione's arm as they made a run for the stairs that led to the dorms.

The four kids ran to the second-year dormitory and shut the door, glad to find the room empty. Harry dumped everything out of his suitcase and made a makeshift bed out of it, throwing in a spare blanket. Hermione set the griffin in the suitcase. The little baby sniffed around, kneading the blanket.

"Now what?" she asked.

"We can't keep it here forever," Draco said. "Someone's gonna find it. I give it three days."

"I give it twenty minutes," Ron said, crossing his arms. "We should find it a new home."

"We should find out how it got here in the first place," Harry said, catching the griffin as it jumped out of the suitcase. He set the griffin back in the bed, covering it with the blanket "Someone put that egg down there. There's no other way it could have gotten down there."

"But who else would know how to get down to that chamber?" Hermione questioned. "It took the magic of the tooth for us to get down there. What if there's another way down to it? We should check for other entrances."

"Is everyone forgetting the huge monster snake that tried to eat us?" Ron asked.

"It's dead now," Draco said. He frowned. "I think."

"We don't have to go back inside," Hermione said, grabbing the griffin as it crawled out of the suitcase once more. It cooed as she laid the baby on its back and swaddled it in the blanket. The baby wriggled in the snug confines, using its beak to gnaw on the fabric, its tuft ears wiggling. Hermione looked at the others. "We just have to know how someone could have gotten down there without access to the bathroom sink."

"I don't think going back to the chamber is a good idea," Harry said, wincing from the memory of his punishment. The others looked down, cheeks reddening. "But we could keep our eyes out for anyone acting suspicious."

"Like they've lost something," Hermione nodded. "We can do that. Tomorrow when classes start up again, we will observe the teachers closely. "Tomorrow, Harry, Ron, and I have Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology together, so that covers McGonagall, Lockhart, and Sprout."

"I share Herbology with you guys," Draco said, "but I have Charms and History of Magic. I'm pretty sure we can cross out Binns as a suspect, but I'll observe Flitwick."

"This is all great," Harry said, "but we can't really leave the baby here alone while we are all in class. And what do baby griffins eat?"

"Err, Draco?" Hermione looked to the blonde.

Draco shrugged. "I only know what I read from the children's edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I never got the actual book. And the kids edition didn't go into much detail. All it said was that the mother feeds the baby for like . . . two weeks. And then both parents feed it. Not sure what that means exactly."

Hermione kneeled in front of the suitcase and studied the griffin's beak, the little animal still wriggling in the blanket. Hermione frowned. "We could ask Hagrid . . ."

Suddenly, a white mist flew into the room. The kids gasped and quickly blocked Hermione from view, Hermione shoving the suitcase behind her as she plopped on the floor. The mist solidified into fox-sized Sam, who landed on the bed and tucked his tails against his side.

: I hear you four are feeling reenergized since your morning exercises, Sam said, smirking and flicking the tips of his tails.

"Whoever told you that?" Harry smiled innocently.

: Your father told me you four ran out of his quarters like hounds after a rabbit. Did you have an important event to attend? In this dorm?

"Something like that."

A small sneeze startled the three boys. Sam's ears perked and he looked past the boys and down at Hermione, who's eyes had doubled in size.

"Sorry," she said, sniffing and rubbing at her nose. "I think I've come down with a cold. Achoo."

"Really?" Ron asked through gritted teeth.

: Probably from going down into that awful chamber, Sam said, his ears pivoting sideways. You should see Madam Pomfrey for that before it turns into something worse. You would not want to catch pneumonia or the chills.

"Yeah, I'll do that right away," Hermione said. She remained where she sat, however.

: Your Uncle Sirius is here, Sam said, redirecting his attention to Harry. He'd like to see you before he leaves again.

"He's here? That's great! Umm, guys?" Harry looked at his friends, raising his brows. "Will you be okay?" he mouthed to them.

"You go, Harry," Hermione said, the boys nodding. "We'll be fine."

Harry nodded and followed Sam out of the dorm, running down to his father's quarters. He hadn't seen Sirius since his birthday party. As he entered his father's apartments, he ran right into Sirius's arms, hugging his uncle.

"Hey, tiger cub," Sirius ruffled his godson's hair, his other hand holding on to something. "Long time, no see. How are you doing in your studies?"

"Great! I've missed you."

"And I've missed you, kiddo." Sirius pulled back from the hug and smirked at Harry. "I heard about your little adventure last night. You must have had quite the weekend."

Harry blushed, ignoring the smirk Sam was throwing him from his dog bed.

"Dad told you," Harry stated more than asked.

"He told me everything," Sirius said, noting the boy's embarrassed look, "everything but what your punishment was."

"Oh." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "This weekend was a little crazy."

"Battling a basilisk is just a little crazy? I'd hate to see your definition of exhilarating. I'm surprised you've managed to find yourself so much trouble so early in the school year. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked, given your track record. You couldn't even give it a week, could you?"

"What do you mean 'my track record?'" Harry frowned. "I'm usually very good."

"'Usually' meaning twenty-five percent of the year? Why, yes, you are."

"Uncle." Harry smiled.

"I'm kidding. To be honest, I would have found myself very interested in Sam's tooth necklace myself." Sirius opened his hand to reveal the dragon tooth necklace. Harry blinked. "The magic this artifact displays is impressive and unstudied. It could inspire new ways of controlling and directing energy and spells. Extraordinary."

"Why do you have it?" Harry asked.

"I asked to see it."

"And Sam just gave it to you?"

: Sirius is not the first to have interest in my necklace nor ask me directly to check it out. And he is a trained Auror, not a mischievous child.

Sirius reached down and draped the necklace over Sam's neck, the fox shaking out his fur to drop the necklace to its place on his chest.

"I apologized for that," Harry said.

: Yes, you have. Twice.

"Right." Harry winced at the reminder of how many times he disobeyed Sam's order of leaving the necklace be. Then he frowned in thought. "Who else asked you directly to see the necklace. I don't believe Dad has ever done so."

: An old wizard friend from years back.

"Let me guess," Sirius said, "the one who broke you out of prison?"

: Exactly.

Sirius snorted, shaking his head. He smiled down at Harry. "So, you were attacked by black mambas, went on an adventure to the Chamber of Secrets with your friends, and defeated a basilisk brought back to life, and you didn't think to owl me? You know I'm a sucker for a good story!"

"Sorry, Uncle Sirius, but it's been so crazy!"

"I know, and I've missed all the fun. I remember when it was you and I who would do all the crazy things in this school, but it looks like you've upped the game with your friends."

Harry and Sirius sat on the couch in the living room and chatted for a while. Harry told Sirius everything that had happened from the beginning, only leaving out the griffin. Sirius asked questions throughout, wanting to understand how the tooth worked exactly. Sam took over in some places to explain that the tooth was alive in its own way, a dark object capable of using its magic to gain more power. Sirius found it exciting while they ate lunch a house elf delivered to them.

"That is something. And you are comfortable wearing it?"

: My father once told me that our greatest strengths are revealed by the temptations we resist. By wearing this and using it only for good, I am greater than the magic contained inside it.

"Wow, that's pretty deep." Sirius nodded his head to Sam. "And respectable. Bravo to you, Sam."

: For now, unfortunately, I will have to hide it far away. It is clearly on a power-hungry spree. I must isolate it, so it is unable to use its magic on those around the school and grow in strength. With time and resistance, it'll weaken.

"Is it that late already? I must get back to work before three o'clock. It was nice talking to you, Harry. I hope we can do this again soon. Tell your father I said hello, will you?"

"Okay," Harry said, standing as Sirius jumped to his feet and brushed himself off.

"By the way, swiped this for you," Sirius said, winking as he handed Harry his Ivanhoe book. "You're still grounded for another couple more days, right? I doubt your father even remembers it. And if he does, rat me out."

Harry laughed as he took the book and pocketed it. "Thanks." Harry's eyes widened as he remembered something. "Hey, Uncle Siri, how much would a griffin cost?"

"Why, you want one?" Sirius smiled. "I don't think they'd make good pets."

"What makes you say that?" Harry couldn't help but ask, a bit sidetracked. He bit his lip as he waited for an answer.

"Well, they're always hungry and they love getting into mischief."

"Sounds like Sam."

Everyone laughed, including Sam.

"Yes, well, Sam is fifty times smaller than a griffin," Sirius said.

"Well, say someone wanted to sell a griffin egg or baby," Harry said redirecting to his original thought process. "How much would they cost?"

"Hmm," Sirius tapped his chin in thought, "considering their conservation status as endangered and the supposed healing ability of its beak and talons, I suppose a baby could be anywhere from five hundred to eight hundred galleons. Capture a full-grown griffin and you're looking at easily two thousand galleons at least."

"That's a lot of money."

"Yes, well, if anyone buys a griffin, hopefully it's a magizoologist looking to help the species and not some crook looking to stuff it."

"Yeah. Umm, do you know what a baby griffin eats?"

"Raw meat, I would assume. That's what the adult eats. Why all these questions? You're not in Care of Magical Creatures yet."

"Just curious. Thanks for the answers."

"Anytime. Got all your homework done?"

"Err . . . yes?"

"From what you've told me about your weekend, I would say no. Now go get that done. Run along."

Harry was quick to leave his father's quarters and run for Hogwarts kitchen. He surprised the house elves with his appearance and shocked them with his request.

"Can I have a bowl of raw meat, please?"

A house elf blinked at him before giving him some raw beef.

"I's not advise eating it," she told Harry.

"I won't. It's for a . . . project. Thanks."

Harry took as many secluded halls as he could so as not to run into anyone. He gave the Fat Lady the password and made his way up to his dorm, ignoring curious stares. He entered the dorm and slammed the door shut behind him with a bowl of meat. He winced at the loud, screeching cries he was greeted with.

Hermione was trying to rock the screaming griffin while Draco was buried in a thick book. Ron was trying to offer leftover turkey sandwiches to the baby, who refused to even sniff it. Neville was also in the room, flipping through another book, wearing the earmuffs from herbology. Everyone looked up at him.

"Oh good, you're back," Hermione said, her face tense. "He's been crying all afternoon. We've been trying to look up what baby griffins eat but there's not a lot of information on this species." Harry looked at Neville, and Hermione said, "He showed up. He's helping us look stuff up. He promised not to tell."

Neville gave Harry a thumbs up and Harry smiled before rushing across the room to the baby with the bowl of meat. "How could I not hear him in the common room?"

"Silencing spell," Ron said. "You get quite good at them when you live in a loud house like mine."

"I asked Uncle Sirius, and he thinks they eat raw meat," Harry said. He made a face as he picked up a gross strand and held it over the baby. "I hope he likes this."

The baby sniffed at the meat and there was blissful silence for three whole seconds. The baby pulled its head away and screamed again, sounding like a cackling eagle. Ron and Draco put earmuffs on. Hermione sniffed and her eyes were watery. "We have to go to Hagrid," Hermione said.

"What if he doesn't even know what the babies eat? Or even have whatever that is? Then what?"

"I don't know, I don't know." Hermione shook her head and thrust her arms out. "Here."

Harry accepted the griffin, but its cries hurt his ears and he quickly shoved it to Draco.

"Hold him for a minute," he said, "I'll be right back."

"Wait!" Draco called, holding the baby out by its armpits. He frowned as the griffin continued to cry. "Harry! You're ditching us again!"

Harry ran out the dorm, quickly shutting the door behind him. He was going to run all the way down to Hagrid's if that's what he had to do. As he stepped out of the entrance, he nearly ran right into McGonagall, who had been talking to Ginny.

"Watch where you are going, Mr. Snape," McGonagall said, frowning at him.

"Sorry, Professor." Harry was about to run off when he looked back up at his teacher. "Out of curiosity, would you know what baby griffins eat?"

McGonagall narrowed her eyes at Harry while Ginny blinked, tightening her hold around a book she was clutching to her chest.

"Why would you want to know such information?" McGonagall asked.

"Trivia," Harry said, smiling. It was the first thing that came to mind. "We're all playing trivia inside and no one knows the answer to that question. So, I thought I'd go ask Hagrid. Unless you know?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to see Hagrid about that one," McGonagall said. "Carry on. And have a good day, Miss Weasley. Remember what we talked about."

McGonagall walked away, disappearing into her office. Harry looked at Ginny. "What were you talking about?"

"Just stuff," Ginny said, shrugging her shoulders. "Why do you really want to know about griffins?"

"Like I said, trivia." Harry forced a smile, but Ginny didn't look impressed. His smile faded and he grew uncomfortable, so he turned away. "I have to go see Hagrid."

As Harry walked down the hall, face burning, he heard Ginny say, "They drink milk."

Harry froze. He turned back around and tilted his head at Ginny, frowning. She shrugged again and said, "For the first two weeks, the mumma nurses the gryphlets."

"How do you know that?" Harry said, walking back over to Ginny.

She shrugged again, then lowered the book she was holding away from her chest. The title: Dragons and Thestrals and Puffs, Oh My! Harry took the offered book and flipped through, scanning the many handwritten notes in the margins. He looked at Ginny.

"It was a birthday gift from Charlie," Ginny said. "He used it like a journal. His notes and what's already written provide a lot of information about different animals he's had the chance to work with."

"I thought Ron said he was a dragonologist."

"He is, but when tracking dragons and studying their population and habitats, you encounter other animals, too."

"I see." Harry handed Ginny the book back. "And griffins nurse their young? But what about the beak? I don't understand how that would work."

Ginny flipped to a page halfway through the book. "It says here that the mothers have mammary glands like whales. So, when the babies bump against her teats, it stimulates the gland to squirt milk into the baby's open mouth. She does that for the first two weeks of life and will then graduate them to regurgitated meat."

"That's a lot of information," Harry said, making a face at the last bit. That wasn't happening. He wondered what they would do if it got to that point.

"You asked."

"I did. Does it say anything about orphaned babies?"

"It might if you let me see it."

"It might if . . . there's nothing to show you!"

"Please?" Ginny stubbornly closed her book and held it to her chest once more, giving Harry a puppy-eyed face.

Harry knew there was no point in denying the griffin's existence to Ginny at this point. He sighed and nodded his head. Ginny smiled brightly and opened her book back up, scanning her brother's notes. "Charlie and his group came across a half-starved fledgling that had fallen out of its nest and got stuck in mud. The parents couldn't get into the small space between the rocks to save him. So, Charlie rescued it and they fed it – aha, ". . . goat milk because of it low levels of lactose and high levels of potassium that makes it very similar to griffin milk. Once the little one was full, we climbed up the mountain and returned it to its nest where Mum and Dad happily greeted it." So, goat milk."

"That's sweet," Harry commented. "We're going to need a lot of goat milk. Do you think this school serves that?"

"Of course! It helps the students who can't handle cow's milk. We could go to the kitchen and get milk right now. Come on!"

Ginny and Harry ran down to the kitchens, where the house elves gave the two suspicious looks.

"We need goat milk," Ginny announced.

A house elf rolled his eyes and gave her a milk bottle with the requested milk.

"We're going to need a lot more than this." Harry tapped the bottle.

With another roll of his eyes, the house elf picked up two gallons of goat milk. "Just hit milk bottle with spoon or something when yous is needing more. I's send these to yous dorm. Here is a bottle nipple."

Ginny accepted the bottle nipple and watched as the elf snapped his fingers at the gallons of milk and they disappeared. She looked at Harry, who gulped and asked, "You know?"

"We sees all, Mr. Snape and Miss Weasley. But we won't tell unless it is a danger."

"Well, thanks!" Harry said, pulling Ginny along to leave the kitchen.

They ran back up to Gryffindor Tower, Harry pausing to breathe halfway up the stairs. He had done an awful lot of running today. Ginny waited for him, then they continued. They arrived back to the Tower and Ginny followed Harry to the boy's second year dormitory.

"Oy," an older student called to them. "What are you kids doing, having a party?"

Harry was unsure what he had meant until he opened the door to his dorm, finding Hermione, Ron, Draco, Neville, Dean, and Seamus all sitting in a circle on the floor, the baby swaddled in the suitcase gnawing on the tuft of his tail while everyone caught up on homework.

"What did you get for the fourth question on the Charms assignment?" Draco asked Hermione. She tiredly held up her parchment. Draco nodded. "Me too."

"Can I check mine?" Ron asked. He studied Hermione's answer. "I didn't get that at all."

"Are you guys okay?" Harry asked, walking toward them with the milk bottle. Ginny smiled at the baby.

"We're fine," Hermione said, looking up. She frowned at the milk. "He drinks milk?"

"Yep. Goat's milk since we don't have a girl griffin nearby. I guess you have to squirt it in his mouth." Harry lifted the two gallons off his desk and set them on the floor, noting how chilled they felt. The house elves must be keeping it fresh for them magically. He would have to use heating charms to warm the bottle up when he refilled it. At least the bowl of raw meat was gone. He would have to thank the house elves properly for all their help at some point.

Ginny held the bottle out to Hermione, who smiled and eagerly accepted it. Hermione picked up the griffin and tried to jab the nipple in between his beaks but the griffin would not open his mouth. After a few more tries, he grew annoyed and opened his mouth to cry. Hermione used the opportunity to squirt the milk in his mouth.

Everyone watched as the griffin smacked his beak, then cooed as he eyed the bottle and reached up to nudge it. He opened his mouth expectantly and Hermione squeezed the bottle.

"He's so adorable," Ginny said, stepping over to Hermione and sitting next to her, watching the bushy haired girl feed the hatchling.

"Hey, could I try?" Dean asked.

"You can get the next feeding," Hermione said.

"You're not getting that baby away from her anytime soon," Draco said, shaking his head at Dean. He looked up and spotted Ginny, who stood awkwardly at Harry's side. "You told her?"

"She knew what the baby needed," Harry said. "And what it'll need in two weeks."

"I'm glad someone does. By the way, Thomas and Finnigan promised not to say a word about this. They think he's cool."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "He could be the Gryffindor mascot."

"He needs a name," Seamus said.

"I suggested Godric," Ron said, "you know, like Godric Gryffindor."

"I still think that's an awful idea," Draco said. "He looks more like a Sagittarius."

"What about Storm or Zephyr?" Neville suggested. "I think those are cool."

"I think we should call him Leo," Dean said. "He is representing the house of the lions, after all."

"But that makes it so cheesy," Seamus said. "He should be named something that sounds brave – like Achilles or Baldwin. Those are good names."

"No, no, no, no and no," Hermione said. She adjusted the sleepy and full griffin in her arms, setting the empty milk bottle down. Ginny scratched the griffin behind an ear. Hermione cooed down at the griffin curling himself up against her, purring. "Look at him. He's such a sweetheart. He's such a little Teddy."

"We are not calling him Teddy," Draco said.

"Well it's a good thing you don't get a final say," Hermione said.

"You don't get one either. We should all vote."

"I think we can decide on a name later," Harry said. "It's almost dinner in the Great Hall. Maybe he'll sleep well tonight now that he's fed."

"He'll probably need another feeding in a few hours," Hermione said, swaddling the griffin and settling him in the suitcase. "But we should go eat now and get back here before he wakes and cries again."

Everyone stood and put their homework away. Hermione pushed the suitcase toward Harry's bed, out of sight of the entry door. They all left for dinner.

Later that night, after feeding the griffin again and then hours of homework, Harry woke to the griffin crying softly and squirming in the suitcase bed. He crawled out of bed and filled the milk bottle, tapping his wand to it to warm it. He yawned as he picked up the griffin and the baby nudged the nipple and opened his mouth expectantly. Harry squeezed the bottle and the griffin swallowed happily. Harry was glad no one else woke. He would hate if anyone else got disturbed sleep because of the hungry griffin.

Once the baby was full once more, Harry set the baby down on the newspapers that Hermione had collected. The baby tried to walk away to explore, but Harry held it still. The griffin sat down, looking up at Harry curiously, its amber eyes glowing in the dark. It opened its beak in a friendly manner, as if smiling up at Harry. After a while, Harry picked up the griffin, but as he did so, it finally decided to use the bathroom after all, and Harry set him back down on the papers to finish.

He was glad when the soiled newspapers vanished, believing the house elves were assisting in that. He went to put the griffin back in the suitcase, but it wriggled free and tried to crawl under the bed.

"No, come here." Harry picked the fledgling up and cradled it. "Would you like to sleep with me?" Crawling into his bed, Harry tucked the griffin in next to him, but the baby jumped around on the blanket, trying to pounce on Harry's hands sliding under the blanket, it's tiny wings fluttering. "Shh! You need to settle down."

Harry eyed his Ivanhoe book; glad his father hadn't yet noticed it missing. He picked it up and used his wand as a flashlight. He crawled under the blanket, encouraging the griffin to crawl under with him.

"How about a bedtime story?" Harry said. The griffin sat and tilted his head at the book Harry was flipping through. "I'll pick up where I left off in this chapter. But you have to settle down and go to sleep. Okay?"

"Cruu," the griffin said.

"Good." Harry looked at his bookmarked page and cleared his throat and began reading the last half of the chapter he was on. As he read, the griffin yawned and stretched, lying down on the bed, his head rested on his paws. Harry came to the last passage: ""And there is mine in return," said the Knight, "and I hold it honored by being clasped with yours. For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears. (i)""

"Cruu." The griffin blinked its eyes open, peering at Harry.

"I know," Harry agreed, closing the book. "Good story right. I bet you'd like Ivanhoe."

"Cree," the griffin agreed.

"Ivanhoe, huh? What do you think? Too much? How about just Ivan? Do you like that?"

The griffin yawned and snuggled closer to Harry.

"Ivan, it is. Hope the others like it."

The griffin snored softly. Harry chuckled softly before setting his book aside and closing his eyes as well. He and Ivan fell into peaceful dreams.

Meanwhile, Sam walked to the edge of the forbidden forest, close to the lake. He dug at the trunk of a tree, digging a deep hole so erosion would not bother what he buried. He shook off the dragon tooth necklace and let it fall into the hole. He buried it, packing the soil firmly before clawing at the trunk of the tree, then rolling over the dirt patch. Once he was finished, he trotted back to the school.

Below the ground, the necklace glowed blue, and a blue misty trail rose from the ground and stretched for the school, finding its way through a window in Gryffindor Tower – the second-year boys' dorm. The trail weaved over to Harry's bed, circling the boy and griffin.

Suddenly, Ivan's eyes opened, glowing blue.

(i): Taken from Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott, Chapter 33 – disclaimer: do not own. This was not random. The book was chosen for a purpose, and this passage has significance. Let me know if you've already made the connection.

Remember to leave your thoughts. I will try to update My Little Runaway next, I have been slowly building up the next chapter. Thanks for reading!