Chapter 11: Punishments

"Good evening, Dumbledore," came a polite voice one day several weeks after Christmas.

This was all it took for Albus to focus his entire attention on the man right behind his chair. "Good evening, Armando," he replied gravely. "And how is our young friend today?"

"Should've known that'd be the first thing you'd ask about," Armando Dippet replied with a chuckle, "Well, what can I say? Things are going pretty normally for the boy. Harry's doing well in his classes."

"Ah, that is good to hear. And Quidditch?"

"From what I've heard, the boy's a natural."

"Good, good. And Mister Weasley and Miss Granger?" Albus asked, wanting to know every last detail.

"Still friends with Harry, and oddly enough with each other. Though they argue every chance they get."

Dumbledore smiled at that. "Anything unusual lately?"

"Well…" Armando began slightly, "There is one little problem."

Albus sat up straight in his throne-like chair and asked quickly, "What? Is something wrong?"

"Well, it seems as though they have finally figured out what's beneath the trapdoor, Albus," he answered.

All the other portraits let out gasps of surprise, even some of outrage.

"How?"

"When did this happen?"

"Did they tell anyone else?"

"How could they…?"

Albus waved them down before turning his attention back to the previous Headmaster, "Armando…?"

"How am I supposed to know? I overheard them talking about it this morning and I also overheard that they think that it's Severus Snape who's plotting to steal it!" Armando told them.

That surprised Albus… but only for a moment. He then asked, "Why do they think that?"

"Well, Miss Granger said that she saw Snape at the Quidditch match and they think that he was the one trying to throw Harry off the broom. But we have more important things to worry about. Students aren't supposed to know about the stone… I mean what if they try to go after it? You can't admit that it isn't a very tempting object…"

"Oh, I highly doubt that they'll do something like that," Albus said pleasantly. "I'm sure that they know that the stone is protected by many spells and enchantments. They won't go after it."

"Well, I blame you for this Albus," Armando said. "After all, I know that you've been encouraging this all along."

Several weeks went by without great event. Albus kept an eye on things as usual, with the portraits daily reports on Harry and Severus's suspicions on Quirenius. So far nothing progressed any further, and life went on as usual at Hogwarts. That is, until one day, when Armando changed everything with just five words: "Hagrid has a dragon egg!"

Mass chaos broke out among the other portraits.

"Where in the bloody hell could he have gotten his hands on a dragon egg?"

"The Ministry will have his head if they find out!"

"I always said he'd be trouble!"

"He's bound for Azkaban now. A year at least. Maybe two!"

"How irresponsible!"

"Quiet," Albus said loudly. "Armando, are you sure? You're quite sure it's a dragon egg?"

"Why would I joke about this?" Armando snapped. "I overheard the trio talking about it. Apparently they were able to weasel information about the stone out of Hagrid. They now have an idea what's beneath the trapdoor. And then all of a sudden they were talking about Hagrid getting the dragon egg."

"And Hagrid told them what else, beside Fluffy, is protecting the stone?" Albus said amazed that Hagrid would come out and tell the kids such information.

"Well, he didn't tell them exactly what's there. But he told them who helped put up protections. Now they know which of the teachers helped with the guarding of the stone."

"I see. I didn't think that Hagrid would tell them… at least not everything. And now we have a dragon to worry about. Hagrid always said that he wanted one…" Alarm bells suddenly went off in Albus' brain. "Did he say where he got the egg?"

Armando rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore, I'm not dense. I do know that you want me to tell you any information you'd find useful. No, they didn't mention it."

"I have to say this is something that not even I expected. Is there anything else you need to say?" he asked.

"Yes, how am I supposed to keep an eye on them when they visit Hagrid?" Armando demanded. "They go down to that hut at least once a week, and who knows what they could be talking about? I can't tell you about anything because I can't hear them when they're at Hagrid's!"

Albus sighed, "Dear, dear, Armando, that's not like you at all. What's happening to your manners?"

Armando looked distinctly put out. "Don't lecture me on manners right now Dumbledore! Now what about listening when they visit Hagrid?"

Phineas Nigellus, sat up straight in his chair and said, "You're becoming quite nosy yourself, Armando. Who would have guessed you'd like tagging along after a couple of Gryffindors?"

Armando ignored him, intent on Albus's answer.

"I must say, I hadn't thought of that," Albus admitted. "There are generally so many places in this castle that contain portraits that I don't consider the places without."

"Send Hagrid a portrait!" Armando suggested at once. "Today, if possible."

"He does have that photograph of himself and his father—would it work with a photograph?" he asked, frowning slightly as he looked up at Armando. "If I send a portrait, Hagrid will wonder what it's for, and you know he's never taken kindly to you ever since you expelled him."

Armando scowled, then mastered himself, before saying, "Well, I suppose it might work. I can't appear in photographs, but I could perhaps listen just beyond the frame… yes."

"Good. Now then—keep your ears open. Tell me what they're going to do about the dragon."

*A few days later*

"The egg hatched!" Armando called out one afternoon.

Dumbledore dropped his quill and asked, "Are you sure?"

"It hatched during break this morning," Armando answered, and he seemed annoyed at Albus for doubting his word. "As far as I can tell, Hagrid sent Harry a note that it was hatching during breakfast, but Hermione insisted they went to Herbology, so they ran down during break."

Albus sat back in his chair, and stroked a cooing Fawkes. To buy time before making a decision, he asked, "What does Harry think of all this?"

Phineas raised an eyebrow, and inspected Dumbledore. "Don't you think this amounts to a bit of an obsession, Dumbledore? Harry this, Harry that… What do you care, anyway? He's just a scrawny first year who had talented parents."

"Phineas…"

"Oh, all right. There was that tiny matter with the prophecy, but still—"

"Phineas I told you before that I have my reasons and leave it at that," Albus reminded the portrait. He turned back to Armando and asked, "Is there anything else?"

The stuffy portrait sighed, "All right, all right. What Harry thinks. He's worried of course. I'm sure he knows the whole affair is illegal. The Weasley boy must have known, and probably filled him in."

"And yet they're not willing to turn Hagrid in," Albus mused. "Another show of loyalty to his friends. That's good to hear. Yes, quite good."

Armando snorted delicately. "Yes, that's if the Ministry doesn't catch him. Just failing to inform someone marks him as a bit of accomplice, doesn't it?"

Albus waved that remark aside. "You're thinking of the laws as they apply to adults, Armando. The Ministry has very little authority at Hogwarts. Rules tend to be enough for students." He frowned, and glanced out the window at the grounds. He could just see the gamekeeper's hut, and a tendril of smoke rose from the chimney against the sunset. He came to a decision. "Hagrid is a very able gamekeeper, and I don't want to do anything that could get him in trouble with the Ministry. I'm going to leave the situation be for a few days. Let me know if Harry or his friends try to persuade Hagrid to get rid of the dragon."

"Oh, I'm sure that they'll try! But you know Hagrid—the way that he talks about some of his monsters… it's like he thinks it's their bunny rabbits or something else that's completely harmless!" Armando called out.

"Yes, this is a true test for them," Albus said mildly. "Now, I believe you'd better get back to watching Harry. Thank you for the information."

It was nearly a week later that Armando reported to Albus that Harry came up with definite plan to get rid of the troublesome dragon. Albus hadn't been expecting it; after a few days, he was a little pessimistic that Harry would come up with any sort of solution.

"Any news?" he asked Armando who was seen bobbing around the other portraits that evening.

"Well…" when the infuriating portrait could draw out the silence no further, he smiled. "They seem to have thought up a way to get rid Norbert. Probably a good thing, too, because from the sound of it, the cabin nearly caught fire on Monday."

"Norbert?" Albus repeated.

"That's what Hagrid named the dragon," Armando explained.

A small smile came Albus's his face as he shook his head. "Did he say what kind of dragon that Norbert is?"

"I believe that it's a Norwegian Ridgeback."

"Oh, no," Dumbledore moaned. Young Ridgebacks develop the ability to shoot flame earlier than any other breeds of dragon and are ranked third on the list of most dangerous dragons. (The first being a Hungarian Horntail.)

The other portraits let out similar moans as well as they listened. "Want me to hurry his report along, Dumbledore?" One of them asked, drawing a wand. "He's taking forever."

Albus waved aside the proffered assistance as Armando looked, scandalized, at the brandished wand.

"All right, I'm hurrying! They're writing to Weasley's brother in Romania who works with a dragon colony, and they're sending the little monster to him," he said in one breath.

"Ah, good," Albus said, leaning back in his chair again, relieved.

"Yes," the portrait answered, looking askance at the wizard who'd drawn the wand on him. "It's about time, really. Apparently that Slytherin rat is aware of the dragon as well."

Albus nearly smiled. Most of the portraits never referred to young Draco Malfoy by name if they could help it, finding the boy unspeakably rude and arrogant. Of course, this was merely a front for how attached to Harry they had gotten over the past few months.

"Well, keep me informed," Albus said pleasantly as Armando gradually couldn't help from showing how impatient he was to get back to Gryffindor Tower. "Until you bring me your report tomorrow night."

As it turned out, the night worked out for the departure of Hagrid's scaly charge fell to a week from Saturday at midnight. Albus made a note on his calendar to look after things personally that night. By the time the night came, however, things had become complicated enough that Albus imagined Harry must be getting very nervous about this venture. Ron had been bitten by the baby dragon while helping Hagrid to feed it. Draco Malfoy somehow found out exactly when it was supposed to leave, and told Severus, who in turn informed Argus. It seemed that more Hogwarts staff than Albus himself would be out and about that night.

"You really ought to just summon them all to your office and give them detention for the rest of the year," Phineas said disapprovingly as Albus prepared to leave.

"I'll take care of it, thank you, Phineas," Albus informed him as he cast the invisibility charm on himself, and left.

He caught up with Harry and Hermione as they were entering the castle, a heavy crate containing the dragon between them. It was all very awkward beneath Harry's invisibility cloak, and their feet were visible several times as the cloak shifted.

It was as they reached the base of the Astronomy Tower that Malfoy made his appearance for the night, along with a rather ruffled Professor McGonagall. Albus stifled a laugh wondering what his Transfiguration professor had been doing up at midnight. He didn't think she'd caught rumor of the situation; the infamous rivalry between herself and Severus would have ensured that.

"Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you!" she barked.

Draco struggled in her grasp. "You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming—he's got a dragon!"

Albus raised his eyebrows at the scene thoughtfully. Draco Malfoy was telling the truth, of course, but Albus doubted Minerva would realize this. But then again, the boy should've known better than to wander the castle like this. He glanced at the place where Harry and Hermione had shrunk into the shadows with the dragon's crate. They looked wary, but also slightly smug.

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies? Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!" Minerva and Malfoy disappeared around the corner, which left Albus free to follow Harry and Hermione up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower.

When they were finally up the stairs, the two students set the crate down with an almighty sigh and threw off the cloak. Instead of appearing tired, however, Hermione did a funny sort of jig.

"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"

"Don't," advised Harry, who seemed to be slightly more winded than Hermione.

It was a short wait until Charlie Weasley's friends appeared. After that, they helped to strap Norbert's crate to a harness attracted to the brooms, and their problem literally flew out the window and out of sight.

Harry and Hermione seemed so happy that their troubles were gone that they went skipping down the stairs—almost literally. Albus shook his head ruefully behind them. He was quite sure that the absence of the invisibility cloak would be noticed eventually. And—

"Well, well, well. We are in trouble," came the voice of Filch, echoing up the tower.

Albus picked up the fluid material of the cloak and tucked it into his pocket. He reached the bottom of the stairs in time to see Filch leading the two first-years away to Professor McGonagall's office. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that he couldn't do everything for them. They deserved the punishment if they were careless enough to leave the invisibility cloak behind. He could, after all, only interfere so much.

Minerva strode briskly into his office the next morning as he was feeding Fawkes.

"Professor Dumbledore," she began.

Albus, knowing very well what she'd come about, looked up from feeding Fawkes. "Pleasant morning, Minerva. Sleep well?"

"No, I did not," she answered sharply. "I thought you should know that I found Miss Granger and Misters Potter, Longbottom, and Malfoy out of bed and wandering the halls last night."

Albus turned around, trying to look surprised. "Ah. And—what sort of punishments did you give them?"

She looked down her sharp nose at him with furious disapproval. "You knew about this, didn't you, Albus?"

He blinked. "Knew about this? Well, I—can't say I…" he trailed off as she continued to glare at him, nostrils flaring. He knew that there was no point in keeping this from her. "Alright, I might have been following them."

She raised an eyebrow. "I knew it as soon as I detected that disillusionment charm. I only gave them one detention apiece because I thought you might want some input on the matter."

"That's all? I could have sworn I saw some difference in the House points when I passed the hourglasses later that night." Albus turned back to feeding Fawkes as the phoenix nipped at his hand. "I think one detention should do it. They didn't have any mischief in mind. Well, Mr. Malfoy might have, but I think one detention will suffice to discourage all of them from trying it again."

"Then do you mind telling me what were they doing? They didn't have an answer when I asked them."

"They got rid of a troublesome dragon for me."

"A dragon?" screeched Minerva.

"Hagrid recently acquired it, and Harry and Hermione made plans with Ron to send it off to Charlie Weasley in Romania." Albus returned Minerva's stern look with a cheery smile.

She sighed. "I'm not even going to ask how you know all this. I suppose I'll have them do lines for me, then."

"Oh, no," Albus answered, finally having finished feeding Fawkes. "I intend to have them help Hagrid with a small task in the forest for me."

Minerva eyes widened at this and she began telling him off. "Dumbledore, they're only first years! Such a thing would be most irregular even as punishment for an older student. Shouldn't I just assign them to help Argus with some cleaning?"

Albus shook his head. "Hagrid will be there to protect them. And I do think that if Harry is anything like his father, he needs more than lines to make him think he did wrong, or he'll start thinking that there's nothing wrong with breaking the rules."

Minerva sighed again, and shook her head before leaving. "Have it your way, then, Dumbledore."

Through the eyes of Armando, Albus watched Harry closely through the next week. The portrait reported that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were being shunned by the other Gryffindors, and even by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, for all the points they'd lost. Harry was bearing the brunt of it all, and had sworn to stop meddling in things because of it.

"The boy even offered to resign from Quidditch he feels so awful," Armando grumbled. "And it's not fair, he was just trying to help a friend."

"Life is never fair, Armando," Albus answered, to which Armando huffed and left without a proper goodbye.

Their detention was tomorrow evening. Albus took the opportunity to fold up Harry's invisibility cloak and return it to him, hiding it under the covers at the foot of his bed, along with a note that read:

Just in case.

He'd made the decision to stop Quirenius himself, as close to the end of term as possible for the sake of the students. But he had a nagging suspicion that things wouldn't go as planned.