As the end of the Easter term approached, Draco was eagerly anticipating the end of the quidditch season. Whilst himself a keen player of the sport, he was an even keener player of Hogwarts' summer sport, cricket. So, after the summer term had begun, Draco had dragged Harry and Ron out to their first nets session. Despite his success with the boys, Draco had been unable to persuade Hermione, who felt they ought to be studying for their exams, to come along.

Ron and Harry weren't quite sure of what to make of it all. The strange nets, the three vertical stumps with the horizontal bails across the top all baffled the two other boys, but not Draco. No. He had grown up playing cricket for the village team. His father had always told him that it was good for learning proper temperament. Nervously Draco lined up to bowl at the burly 6th year padded up in the nets. He came in. Right foot down, left foot round, arm straight over the top, just clipping his ear. Release the ball and... The 6th year's middle stump went flying down the pitch and into the back of the net.

'Bloody Hell!' exclaimed the 6th year. 'That's the fastest ball I've ever seen!' as he stamped down the net. The next batsman in nervously adjusted his box and pads before facing up to the bowling attack. The balls came down the net one at a time. The first was bowled by Harry. It went wide of the off stump and the batsman sent it flying out into the field beyond. As Harry trotted off to fetch it, Ron came into bowl. It was much faster than Harry's. It was however even further off the mark. As it smashed into the post holding up one end of the net Ron went red and everyone started to laugh.

Draco did his best to stifle back the laughter. Eventually the gales of laughter stopped and the batsman looked ready for another bowler to try and dislodge him. Several older Gryffindors tried before it was Draco's turn again. He started his run up, ran in, bowled the ball and the ball clipped the bail. The bail wobbled. For one awful moment Draco thought it wouldn't fall. For what seemed like an eternity it wobbled. It fell. The batsman was out. The next man went in and Draco was sent to pad up. He opened up his cricket bag. Pulled out the bat, the two leg pads, the helmet and what was, in Draco's view, the most important piece of protective equipment, the box. Soon after he had gotten his pads on, Harry came into bowl. Somehow he had managed to get the ball on target. The previous man in the nets was out. Draco was ready; it was time to go in for the first practise of the summer. He marched down the wicket and took his guard in front of the stumps. The first bowler came in to bowl a ball at him. Draco decided to take a bit of time to play himself in. He waited for the first ball to come down. Now. Foot to the pitch of the ball. Keep the left elbow high. Play the ball into the ground. There we go, first ball dealt with. Next Ron was up to bowl. This time, he managed to get the ball in the net, although it was going marginally slower than some of his previous deliveries. Draco saw that the ball was going wide of his off stump and decided to send Ron off on a quick jog. A flash with the bat and the ball went up, up, up, sailing out of the net and into the next field. Harry came into bowl. This next ball was a bit slower, as one of the 5th years was trying to teach Harry how to bowl spin. What came out of Harry's hand though was not a ball spinning rapidly, but a slow paced ball of easy length- a full toss! There was no way Draco was going to miss this one. He came down the wicket, took a hefty swing and the ball went flying off into the distance. Draco felt like this session was going to go well.

Later that day, when they had persuaded Filch to bowl Draco out – he was the leading wicket taker in the annual Hogmeade - Godric's Hollow match – they all trudged back to the castle.

'So, Ron,' asked Hermione at dinner, 'what do you think of cricket?'

'Bloody hard work!' he replied, 'particularly when Draco's batting or bowling. I reckon he's got a good shot of making the house team.'

Harry didn't like cricket as much as quidditch, but he said he would carry on going to training. He'd quite enjoyed the bowling thing, even if he did need a lot more practise with the bat.

As such the four didn't see much of each other socially, Ron and Hermione studied in the library, Harry and Draco played cricket whenever they could, between the occasional break for studying. This arrangement carried on until the exams. They transfigured snuff-boxes, made pineapples dance and completed what seemed like endless written papers. By the end even Hermione's wrist was aching from writing too much.

It was not long after exams had finished, that a mysterious owl arrived at Gryffindor tower, bearing a letter for Draco.

Dear Draco,

I hope you are well. I am fine. Sorry I have not written for a while, I have been in Morocco on business for the last couple of months and have discovered that it is illegal to own an owl there.

Anyway, have finally gotten home- a relief- so am dashing this off quick before heading to bed. I am sure you know how tiring international travel can be.

By now I suppose that you have finished all of your exams. Enjoy the break! But don't be too lazy, there are a lot of opportunities at Hogwarts that get missed like that.

At any rate – Good News! The ministry has finished doing the paperwork – you can come and stay with me during the holidays.

If anything interesting is happening send me a letter, but I dare say I shall see you at platform 9 ¾ come the end of term.

If you need anything, let me know, but for now I'm off to bed.

Yours,

Uncle N.

Draco was somewhat surprised about the letter – after all, his uncle hadn't sent him anything in months. Now at least, there was a reason why he hadn't heard from his uncle. Draco sat in silence until Harry leapt from his seat by the fireplace – there was no fire, the weather was far too hot- and declared he was going to visit Hagrid.

Draco, Ron and Hermione quickly packed up their stuffed and ran after Harry. Something was up and they wanted to know what.

When they arrived Harry asked Hagrid about how he had gotten Norbert.

'Well,' said Hagrid, with tears welling in his eyes- he'd only just been persuaded by Dumbledore to send the Dragon to Romania - 'I got talkin' to this fellow down in the pub. Said he had a dragon's egg on him. Wanted to know tha' I could look after it o' course. Told him after Fluffy, I said, after Fluffy a dragon'd be easy.'

'And did he seem interested in Fluffy?'

'Course! How often do you meet a three headed dog? Even if you are in ter tha' sort of thing. Told him, the trick with any animal is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy, play him a piece o' music and he'll drop straight off to sleep.' For a moment Hagrid's face looked placid. Then it was gripped by light panic.

'Now. I oughtn't to 'ave told anyone tha', so jus' you four forget about it. That dog is none of your concern!'

Harry dropped the subject and started to talk to Hagrid about how the pitches were going to be prepared for the upcoming inter-house cricket matches. Hagrid seemed to feel that he shouldn't be drawn into answering this one, so they finished their tea and left, heading back to the castle.

They went straight to Professor McGonagall, who told them that they couldn't see Professor Dumbledore. Harry mentioned the stone. McGonagall seemed upset by the mention of it, but told them they couldn't see Dumbledore since he had gone off to the ministry of magic after receiving an urgent owl.

They decided that they would have to take matters into their own hands and after a couple of abortive attempts to head off their prime suspect, Professor Snape, they decided that he couldn't try anything during daylight anyway. That night therefore, they decided to sneak off, and go through the trapdoor under Fluffy themselves.