Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
Whatever Quirrell's goal and allegiance is, in the weeks that followed, he seemed to be getting paler and thinner, not having cracked under Snape's threats and words.
And every time the trio passed the third floor corridor, they'd press their ears against the door to check that Fluffy was still growling in there. Snape would sweep about in his usual temper, a sign that the Stone was still safe.
They'd of course keep their eyes on Quirrell to see if he slips up on his act and if he's doing anything suspicious.
As this occurred, Chrys would start preparing herself for the exams on the horizon.
"Why are you prepping this early for them?" David even questioned her about it.
"Because I desperately want to make sure I get into second year. You two should do the same since I'm sure the teachers would start to prepare us all soon." She replied.
It seemed she was psychic because the teachers did indeed start prepping them all. They piled so much homework, making the Easter holidays not as fun as the Christmas ones. It all stressed the students out immensely.
Both Arthur and David moaned and yawned as they spent their free time in the library with Chrys, trying to get through their extra work, wanting to get into second year.
"I don't even know if I'll even remember this, but I'll try." David said before he looked out the library window. It was the first day at Hogwarts where the weather was just perfect. The sky was cloudless and light blue with a feeling that summer was coming in the air.
Arthur was looking through the book One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi on Dittany when he heard David speak.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
He looked to see him shuffle into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked so out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'." He replied in a shifty voice, which caught their attention.
"An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicholas Flamel, are yeh?" He then asked, looking suspicious.
"Oh no. We already found out. And about what your dog's guarding." David said, smartly not mentioning the Philosopher's Stone in such a public place. This made Hagrid's eyes widen, shocked.
"There's a few things we've wanted to ask you, in fact. Like what else is guarding You Know What other than your dog." Arthur added.
"Alrigh'. Listen, come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it. Students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh-"
"Well, see you later, then." Arthur said before Hagrid shuffled off.
"Any idea what he was hiding behind his back?" Chrys asked them.
"I'll go take a look at the section he was in to see." David said, deciding to take a break from working. He came a minute later with a pile of books in his arms, slamming them down on the table.
"It's dragons! He's been looking up stuff about dragons. Look at all of this: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide." David whispered.
"I remember him saying he always wanted a dragon when we were at Diagon Alley." Arthur added, recollecting when they had ice cream, he heard him say so.
"Well, he clearly forgot that it's against our laws. Dragon breeding got outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709. Everyone knows that. It's hard to prevent Muggles from noticing us having dragons in our backyards. Plus you can't even tame a dragon, they're so dangerous. Kenny's burns from wild ones in Romania prove this." David explained to Arthur and Chrys.
"So are there wild dragons in Britain?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah. There's Common Welsh Greens and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job to hush them up, of course. We even have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, so that they could forget them." David further explained.
"So what is Hagrid up to?" Chrys questioned. Arthur had an idea, and he didn't like it one bit for plenty of reasons.
An hour later, they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut and were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.
"Who is it?" Hagrid called before he let them in and shut the door quickly behind them.
It was so uncomfortably hot inside. Despite it being a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid would make them tea and offered stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes. We were wondering if there's anything you can tell us about what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy." Arthur said as there was no point in beating around the bush. Though the three agreed to not tell him about their suspicions about Quirrell since he's already against the idea of Snape trying to steal the Stone.
What he said, though, made Hagrid frown.
"O' course I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts. I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Please, Hagrid. You may not want to tell us, but you do know. You know all that goes on around here." Chrys started off with the warmest, kindest and most flattering voice possible. Hagrid's beard twitched, clearly smiling.
"We only wondered who had done the guarding, that's all. We just want to know who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him, other than you, of course." She went on. It clearly worked because Hagrid's chest swelled at that last sentence. Both boys beamed at her.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah. Professor Snape." He ticked off on his fingers.
"Snape?" All three of them repeated.
"Yeah. Yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
All three looked at each, concerned. If Snape, and Quirrell for that matter, had been in on protecting the Stone, it must be easy to find out how the other teachers helped guard it. Well, excluding how to get past Fluffy in particular.
"I'm willing to guess that you're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, right? And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even any of the teachers?" Arthur asked.
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore." Hagrid said proudly. That was something.
"By the way, can't you open a window? It's boiling in here." Arthur said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"Can't, Arthur, sorry." Hagrid said, glancing at the fire, which everyone noticed. Arthur looked and his eyes widened upon seeing what was under the kettle in the fire.
"Hagrid… is that what I think it is?" He asked, despite knowing that it was a huge black egg. A dragon egg.
"Ah… That's, er…." Hagrid nervously fiddled with his beard.
"Where'd you even get it? It had to have cost a fortune." David said, crouching by the fire to get a closer look at the egg.
"Won it. Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"But what will you do once it's hatched?" Chrys asked with concern.
"Well I've bin doin' some readin'." Hagrid said, pulling out a large book from under a pillow. "Got this outta the library, Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit. It's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here, how ter recognise diff'rent eggs, what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
He looked so pleased with himself, though Chrys didn't.
"But Hagrid, your hut has a lot of flammable stuff in it." She said, though he didn't even listen as he hummed while stoking the fire.
Worrying about the Stone being stolen was bad enough, but the idea of Hagrid getting into trouble for hiding an illegal dragon in his hut was just as bad.
Arthur, for the first time while at Hogwarts, wished he had a normal and peaceful life because all of the worrying added to the stress of all the extra homework.
One breakfast time, Athena brought Arthur a note from Hagrid. It only had two words: It's hatching. David wanted to skip Herbology and go straight to the hut, though Chrys wasn't too sure.
"Chrys, how often does someone get to see a dragon hatch out of an egg?" He retorted.
"But we could get into trouble, and that'll be nothing compared to what Hagrid would go through when someone finds out what-"
"QUIET!" Arthur hissed quietly at them because Draco was only a few feet away from them and had stopped to listen to them. This worried them because they didn't know how much he heard and Arthur was especially worried about the look on Draco's face.
Eventually, they decided that they'd go to Hagrid's hut during morning break. When the bell rang from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three dropped their trowels at the same time and sprinted through the grounds and to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them all looking flushed and excited all at once.
"It's nearly out." He led them inside his hut.
The egg was laying on the table. There were various deep cracks in it. And something was moving inside with a funny clicking noise coming from within the egg.
All of them drew their chairs up around the table and watched with such focus.
Then all at once, a scraping noise was heard and then the egg split open. The baby dragon had flopped onto the table. Arthur didn't exactly find it pretty as it looked more like a crumpled black umbrella. Compared to its skinny jet body, it had huge spiny legs. It also had a long snout with wide nostrils, stubs of horns and orange eyes that were bulging.
When it sneezed, a couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured, reaching out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. But then it snapped at his fingers, showcasing its pointed fangs.
"Uh, Hagrid… how fast does a Norwegian Ridgeback grow, exactly?" Chrys asked.
Hagrid was going to answer when the colour drained from his face. He then leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's wrong?!" Arthur asked, feeling worried.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains. It's a kid. He's runnin' back up ter the school."
This made Arthur bolt right to the door and look out. Even at a distance, there was no mistaking Draco's white blonde hair. He's seen the dragon.
Seeing Draco's smile during the next week made the trio worried. They also spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, all trying to knock some sense into him.
"Hagrid, please, you must let him go." Arthur urged, sounding desperate.
"I can't. He's too little. He'd die." Hagrid said. The dragon had grown three times its length within just a week. Smoke kept fuming from its nostrils. Hagrid also hadn't been doing his duties as gamekeeper because the dragon kept him busy. There were also empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.
"I've decided to call him Norbert. He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?" Hagrid said with misty eyes.
"He's starting to lose it." David whispered into Arthur's ear.
"Hagrid! If you give it a fortnight, Norbert will be as long as your home. Draco might've gone to Dumbledore by now!" Arthur tried to reason with him again. This made Hagrid bite his lip.
"I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can' jus' dump him. I can't."
"Kenny. He's studying dragons in Romania, remember? We can send Norbert to him. He'd take care of him and put him back into the wild!" David suddenly came up with an answer.
In the end, Hagrid agreed with his plan, since he liked Kenny, and so they sent an owl to Kenny to ask him.
The next week dragged on. On Wednesday night, Chrys and Arthur sat in the common room long after everyone else went to bed. It was now midnight, based on the clock on the wall chiming and that was when the portrait hole burst open. David then appeared out of nowhere when he pulled off Arthur's Invisibility Cloak. He was down at Hagrid's hut to help him feed Norbert, who started eating dead rats by the crate.
"That bloody dragon bit me!" David snapped before showing the pair his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. Arthur cringed, glad he didn't get bit.
"I think I may not be able to hold a quill for a week. How Kenny can deal with dragons is beyond me. Plus the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think he was talking about a fluffy little bunny rabbit. He even told me off for frightening it after it bit me. He was singing a lullaby when I finally left." He then ranted.
A tap from the dark window attracted their attention.
"Athena! She must have Kenny's answer." Arthur said, letting her in. The three then put their heads together to read the note:
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter - I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Kenny
"The Invisibility Cloak can cover two of us and Norbert. We can use that to get to the tower." Arthur suggested. Of course the last week was so bad that they'll do anything to get rid of Norbert and deal with Draco.
But the next morning, things became complicated. David's hand that got bit had swollen to twice its normal size. David wasn't sure about going to Madam Pomfrey to deal with it because she would for sure recognise a dragon bite. But when he reached the afternoon, he really had no choice. The cut turned to a really nasty shade of green, as though Norbert's bite was poisonous.
Both Arthur and Chrys rushed to the hospital wing at the end of the day and found David looking miserable as he laid in bed.
"It's not just my hand, though I wouldn't be surprised if it falls off. Draco told Madam Pomfrey that he wanted to borrow one of my books so that he could laugh at me. He even kept threatening to tell her what really bit me, as I've told her it was a dog, though I'm sure she didn't believe me. This is his revenge for me punching him at the Quidditch match, I know it." David went on, getting heated, resulting in Arthur and Chrys to try and calm him down.
"Don't worry, it'll all be over at midnight on Saturday." Chrys tried to reassure him, but it didn't work. In fact, he ended up sitting upright and broke into a sweat.
"I've just remembered. Kenny's letter was in the book Draco took. He'll know we're getting rid of Norbert." David said in a hoarse voice.
Both Arthur and Chrys didn't even answer because Madam Pomfrey came over and made them leave, insisting that David needed to sleep.
"We can't change the plan now. There's not enough time to send Kenny another owl and this is our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We're just gonna have to risk it. Plus, we have the Invisibility Cloak, Draco doesn't know that." Arthur explained to Chrys.
When they reached Hagrid's hut, they found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail. Hagrid opened the window to talk to them, unaware of the news they're bringing.
"I won't let you in. Norbert's at a tricky stage, nothin' I can't handle."
Once they told him about Kenny's letter, his eyes welled up with tears, although that could be because Norbert had just bitten his leg.
"Aargh! It's alright, he only got my boot, jus' playin', he's only a baby, after all."
Said baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. Arthur and Chrys walked back to the castle, wishing Saturday could come quicker.
If the two weren't so worried about what they're about to do, they would've felt sorry for Hagrid once the time came for him to part ways with Norbert.
It was truly a dark and cloudy night and the two were late arriving at Hagrid's because they had to wait for Peeves to get out of the way in the Entrance Hall, having played tennis against the wall.
Hagrid had Norbert packed up and ready in a large crate.
"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey. An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely." Hagrid said with a muffled voice. Ripping noises came from inside the crate, making Arthur imagine Norbert tearing the teddy bear's head off.
"Bye bye, Norbert! Mummy will never forget you!" Hagrid sobbed, watching Arthur and Chrys cover the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and step underneath it themselves.
The two were amazed they were able to get the crate back up to the castle. Midnight was approaching as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall and through the dark corridors. Then up another staircase, then another. Even a shortcut Arthur made didn't make it any easier.
"Almost there!" He strained as they made it to the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
But then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Despite the fact that they're invisible, they hid in the shadows, staring at two dark outlines of people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.
It seemed that McGonagall, wearing a tartan dressing gown and a hairnet, held Draco by his ear.
"Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"
"You don't understand, Professor, Arthur Pendergast's coming, he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on, I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
After all that, the steep staircase to the top of the tower looked like the easiest thing in the world. It was only until they stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the Cloak, glad that they could now breathe properly.
"Draco has detention! This had better not be a dream." Chrys said quietly.
The two waited while Norbert was thrashing around in his crate. Then after ten minutes, they saw four broomsticks swooping down from the darkness.
Kenny's friends were cool. They even showed Arthur and Chrys the harness they'd rigged up so that Norbert could be suspended between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then the two shook hands with the others, thanking them so much.
Finally, Norbert is gone. The two were so overjoyed that they jumped on the sport and made a quite high five before slipping back down the spiral staircase, hearts as light as their hands.
However, any joy they felt was ripped away once they reached the foot of the stairs. Because as they stepped into the corridor, Flich's face loomed out of the darkness like he was a part of it.
"Well, well, well, we are in trouble." He whispered.
That's when Arthur's heart sank. He let his emotions cloud his judgement and left his Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.
The end of this chapter showcased another one of Arthur's flaws: That in certain circumstances, he'd let his emotions cloud his logic and judgement. This will come into play, of course, when I get around to Order of the Phoenix.