I'll Fly Away
That coming weekend, Harry found himself under the constant watch of Oliver Wood. Wood seemed to be going crazy; working the team to exhaustion so they could beat Slytherin without breaking a sweat.
"Wood, come on. We've been doing this for hours," Katie Bell complained.
"We need to be ready," Oliver snapped.
"Oliver, we're ready. We've been training like crazy all week," Angelina interjected.
After several more complaints from the girls, Wood let them go. Harry heaved a sigh as he dismounted from his broom. His legs ached a little from sitting on the broom for so long. So he, along with the rest of the team, hobbled back up to the castle. He had just enough time to get back to the Common Room and sit down before Hermione and Ron accosted him.
"You alright, mate? You look a little pale," Ron muttered.
"Just tired from practice. Wood has been really tough on us lately," Harry answered.
"Well we've been thinking and we think we need to try and find the stone soon before Snape gets to it," Hermione said.
"Can we do it after we play Slytherin?" Harry yawned.
"I think we're running out of time," she protested.
"We'll look for it soon," he mumbled and stood up. Without another word, he climbed the stairs to the boys' dorm for a shower.
"I thought he would have wanted to find it," Hermione huffed.
"Maybe he'll be thinking clearer after a shower," Ron suggested.
In the Ravenclaw Common Room, Irlynn was sitting, penning a letter to her parents. She hadn't written them but once or twice since she'd come back from holiday. She set her quill down and reread what she had written.
Dear Mum and Dad,
I hope you've been well. Things here have been very busy and hectic. I've been spending more time with Harry lately. He's a really nice boy, you'd like him, Mum. But don't' worry…I don't like him in that way.
I've had detention once. It wasn't too bad. Harry's been helping me with something and we lost track of time, staying up past hours. He's helping me look through old obituaries in the Wizarding paper. I'm looking for my birth mother. It would be sort of silly to look for her if she's dead.
Satisfied with it, she tacked on a short ending paragraph and signed it.
Well I will write again soon, I promise. I have a bunch of work to get done right now. Lots of love to both of you and I can't wait to come home for summer.
Love,
Irlynn
She let the ink dry on the parchment. She didn't notice Luna sit down next to her until the blond tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh hi, Luna," Irlynn greeted.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Just writing a letter t my parents. I haven't done it in a while," Irlynn replied.
"That's nice. Have you done the Charms essay yet?" she said, her voice still managing to maintain that dreamy quality.
"I did most of it," the other girl replied.
"Can you help me with it?" Luna asked.
"Ok," Irlynn agreed.
The girls spent the next hour or so working on Luna's essay. Harry and company spent much of their afternoon as well working on schoolwork. By the time dinner rolled around, all of them were ready for a break. They met up in the Great Hall.
"How was Quidditch practice?" Irlynn asked Harry, standing next to the bench he was sitting on.
"It was long and tiring. But I think Oliver isn't going to push us so much," Harry answered.
"Good. I just sent off a letter to my parents," she informed him.
"Did you tell them about the newspapers?" Harry asked.
"Yes. I think they should know. Oh, I asked Professor McGonagall to order back another five years. She said they came in yesterday. I know we haven't finished with the first batch but since I was born in 1980, we don't have to look back any farther," she rambled.
"Maybe we can ask Ron and Hermione to help us look? It would go faster," Harry suggested.
"Sure," she said, tapping Hermione on the shoulder. Hermione turned around.
"Would you and Ron want to help us look through old newspaper to see if my birth Mum is dead?" she asked bluntly.
"Ok. Sure. It doesn't too difficult," Hermione agreed.
"And I'm sure Ronald would love to help," she added. Ron was oblivious to the conversation. He had already dug into a plate of steak and kidney pie and a chicken leg.
"Thank you so much. It's been going rather slow with just Harry and I," Irlynn said.
"Whenever you want to do it, just let me know," Hermione said.
"Well I'll see you all later," she called and headed for her own table. Harry turned to Hermione and gave her a grin.
"Thanks for saying you'll help. She really appreciates it," he told her.
"Well more people will always make the work go faster," Hermione said and turned to her own food.
An hour later, the trio was lounging in the Common Room, doing nothing. There was really nothing to do. Ron let out a yawn and Hermione closed her book.
"I think we should go visit Hagrid. We haven't seen him in a while," Hermione suggested.
"I like that idea," Harry agreed.
"I'll meet you there. I'm going to see if Irlynn wants to come with us," he added and went t grab his cloak.
"Come on, Ronald. Wake up," Hermione muttered, nudging the redhead in the ribs.
"What?" he asked, looking around in confusion.
"We're going to see Hagrid," she informed him. He nodded hiss head and got up to go in search of his own cloak. Some ten minutes later the four of them met up in front of Hagrid's hut. Harry reached up and knocked on the large door. At first there was no response. He knocked again and this time he heard footsteps inside. The door swung open to reveal a puffy eyed Hagrid.
"Hagrid, what's wrong/" Irlynn asked.
"It…it's Norbert," he hiccupped, ushering them inside. They looked around but the dragon was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" Harry asked. Hagrid sunk down into his chair and sobbed some more, blowing his nose on a very damp handkerchief from his pocket.
"Dumbledore…he told me that I couldn't keep a dragon on the grounds…wasn't safe for the students," Hagrid began, trying to compose himself.
"So where did he send Norbert?" Ron asked.
"He…he sent him off to live with a colony in Romania to be with other Norwegian Ridgebacks," Hagrid choked out.
"But that's not so bad. He'll be with his own kind. And if he's going to Romania then Charlie will take good care of him,' Ron assured him.
"But…what if he doesn't get along with the others. What if they don't like him?" Hagrid sniffled.
"I'm sure they'll get along just fine," Hermione said, patting his large hand.
"So sorry to be all weepy. What are you all doing?" he asked, clearing his throat.
"We just wanted come for a visit, to see how you were. Have you caught whatever has been attacking the unicorns?" Harry replied.
"Unfortunately, not yet. We've been trying to keep the herd together. Dumbledore's even cast a few protection charms around their grazing grounds but one or two still go missing every couple of days," Harry said, shaking his head in disgust.
"You sound like you need a pick me up," Irlynn said with a smile.
"Thank you, Irlynn. I'll be ok. I've got Fang here to keep me company," Hagrid said. Fang looked up at his name being mentioned.
"Yeah we're talking about you dozy dog," Hagrid laughed, patting the hound's massive flank.
"It's getting dark. We should probably head in," Hermione said.
"Don't want to get in trouble again," Harry sighed and stood up.
After exchanging goodbyes with Hagrid, the quartet walked back up to the castle. They stopped at the Gryffindor Tower entrance. The Fat Lady wasn't in her portrait.
"I wonder where she went," Irlynn murmured. She was still not entirely used to the moving pictures and paintings of the Wizarding World.
"Does she wander off a lot?" she added.
"No. It must be important," Hermione replied.
"Are you all free tomorrow to look at papers?" she asked after a minute or two of silence.
"I believe I am," Hermione said just as the Fat Lady came back into her portrait.
"Wonderful. We can set up in the library if you want to. I have all of the papers," Irlynn said.
"Ok. See you tomorrow. Have a good night," Harry called. She waved back and the three Gryffindors climbed through the portrait hole.
As early morning approached, Irlynn found herself still awake in her bed. For some reason she couldn't fall asleep. She desperately wanted to but her mind refused to quiet. She kept thinking that somehow she was getting closer to finding an answer to her question. With a long sigh, she rolled over and closed her eyes.