Chapter Nine: The Final Word
Some time passed, and finally, it was just a few more days before school ended for summer break. The students had finally finished with their final exams, and now were enjoying a peaceful afternoon in the sunshine. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and Tony walked outside to get some fresh air after finishing their last exam. Hermione and Riley seemed to be the more cheerful of the bunch, Ron and Tony appeared to be mentally exhausted from the whole ordeal, while Harry looked to be in pain.
"My brain is about to explode." Tony groaned, exhasperated. "I never want to see another book again."
He saw Riley taking a comic book from his backpack, then flip it open to read it, and glared at him.
"You torment me." the Slytherin student growled.
"I'd always heard Hogwarts' final end of year exams were frightful," Hermione stated, brightly. "But I found them rather enjoyable."
"Speak for yourself!" exclaimed Ron.
He then noticed that Harry appeared to be irritated. The spectacled boy rubbed at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, his expression fixed in one of great pain.
"Alright there, Harry?" Ron asked, concerned.
"My scar, it keeps burning." replied Harry.
"It's happened before." Hermione pointed out.
"Not like this."
"You should see the nurse." suggested Ron.
"But what's causing it to hurt on and off like this?" asked Tony.
"I think it's a warning," Harry described, thoughtfully. "It means danger's coming."
He gave another grunt of pain as he rubbed at his throbbing forehead, while his friends watched, growing more and more concerned.
"'Danger', huh?" muttered Riley. "But what kind?"
"Snape?" guessed Ron.
"Ron, I hate to burst your bubble, but if that were true, Harry's scar would be burning everyday."
"Fair enough."
"You think it could be because of You-Know-Who then?" asked Hermione.
"Now that seems a little more believable." replied Tony.
Harry wasn't really listening to the conversation, his attention had been grabbed by the sound of a flute playing. He looked across the green grass field, towards a small hut that stood in front of the massive forest, where Hagrid was sitting on a porch, playing a wooden flute. The young Gryffindor's friends followed his gaze, and saw what he was looking at.
"Hey, that's Hagrid!" exclaimed Riley.
"Man, is that his house?" asked Tony. "That looks so cool!"
"Of course." breathed Harry.
His friends looked at him, confused, as they followed him towards the hut.
"What is it?" asked Hermione.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger just happens to have one?" Harry explained, as the group marched. "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pocket?"
"So, they made an offer Hagrid couldn't refuse in a sense?" Tony guessed, catching onto what Harry was saying.
"Exactly! Why didn't I see it before?"
Hagrid halted in his flute-playing when he saw the five students approaching him, and lowered his wooden instrument.
"Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg?" asked Harry. "What did he look like?"
"I don't know, I never saw his face." replied Hagrid. "He kept his hood up."
"This stranger though, you and he must have talked."
"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after. I said 'after Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem'."
"Was he interested in Fluffy?"
"Of course he was interested in Fluffy, how often do you come across a three-headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him, I said, 'the trick with any beast is to know how to calm him'. Take Fluffy for example. Just play him a bit of music, and he falls straight to sleep."
Hagrid paused when he saw the looks on the students' faces, and immediately regretted what he said.
"I shouldn't have told you that." he realized.
Riley and Tony remained behind while Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed off back to the castle, and Hagrid called after them. The half-giant glanced between the two students that stayed behind, and finally Tony spoke.
"Well, at least I can look my father in the eye and tell him this year, I didn't magically hex a teacher's pants down." he cracked.
This caused Hagrid to stare at him, and Riley simply smacked his friend upside the head, making him yell in pain.
"What was that for?!" demanded Tony.
"Figure it out, Tony." Riley snapped, dragging his friend off back to the castle. "We're sorry, Hagrid!"
Hagrid weakly waved farewell to the two boys as they ran off, then let out a weary sigh.
Riley and Tony hurried down the corridors, looking for where their friends had gone, then spotted them inside Prof. McGonagall's classroom, talking to her. The two of them entered the room, as the two sides conversed, and saw that Prof. McGonagall had appeared to be quite serious.
"...Now would you go back to your dormitories?" Prof. McGonagall whispered, sternly. "Quietly."
She looked up at Riley and Tony, who stood there, confused.
"And you two as well." she ordered.
Riley and Tony looked at one another, even more confused, then followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the classroom again.
"That was no stranger Hagrid met, it was Snape." Harry whispered to his friends. "He knows how to get past Fluffy."
As he talked, Tony noticed that Prof. Snape was walking towards them, and thought fast of a way to warn the young Gryffindor in time.
"Hi, professor!" he greeted, once his Head of House was in earshot.
Harry looked at him, confused, for a moment, then saw his Housemates were following his gaze, and slowly turned around to see Prof. Snape standing behind him.
"Good afternoon." the potions teacher greeted. "Now what would one of my Slytherins, and four young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?"
"A page fell out of Riley's comic book and we're helping him find it." Tony explained, calmly.
Prof. Snape studied him and the Gryffindors for a moment, as if wondering if he was telling the truth or not.
"I see, well, you ought to be careful," he said, finally. "People will think you're...up to something."
Harry and Prof. Snape exchanged a glance for a moment, then the latter took off back down the way he came. Ron patted Tony on the shoulder as he let out the breath he was holding, and Riley looked at Harry.
"I hate to point out the obvious, but I think he's onto us." he stated.
"You're right." agreed Harry.
"Now what do we do?" asked Hermione.
"We go down the trap door. Tonight."
Apologies for the short chapter. It's the calm before the storm, people, and next up, the guys get moving to take on Voldemort and his co-hort. Stay tuned, I'll update soon.
Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.