Disclaimer: Harry Potter cannot be defined analytically without the use of the JK Rowling function.

Chapter 18

Toward the end of March, the homework began to pile up again. Final exams were on the horizon, and exams always tended to make Hermione tense. So she drew up a rigorous study schedule for herself and dove right in. It was only the memory of the state she'd worked herself into last fall that kept her from going completely crazy over it. Harry and Ron thought she had anyway.

"Alright, Hermione, calm down," Alicia said one afternoon when she'd gone off at the study group. "Yes, the exams are important, but with your grades, you could do anything short of skiving them completely and still get promoted."

"I know," she said, "but Harry and Ron—"

"Will have to learn to handle themselves," Alicia interrupted.

"It's really not that bad," Cedric assured her. "Hardly anyone ever fails the final exams. Even Snape lets most people squeak by with an A. It doesn't reflect well on him to have too many people fail."

"And even then, the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s are the only things anyone ever looks at after you leave school," Roger added.

"Yeah, I know," Hermione admitted. "I just wish I could get Ron and Harry to actually apply themselves."

"Eh, boys. What can you do?" Alicia said with a grin.

"Hey!" Cedric and Roger said as Hermione and Alicia both laughed.

"Alright, you've had your fun," Cedric said. "Now tell us about this quadratic formula thing."

"Negative b plus or minus the square root of b-squared minus four a-c all divided by two-a," Hermione said automatically, just like every sixth former ought to be able to.

Cedric rolled his eyes. Roger sniggered and said, "Ask an obvious question, Ced."

Hermione smiled warmly and explained it for real. "It's just a formula that you have to memorise. I know I say that a lot, but that's really how everybody does it in this case. Technically, you can derive it. Do you remember completing the square in class?" They nodded. "If you complete the square for the general a-x-squared plus b-x plus c equation, you get the quadratic formula—so that's where it comes from."

"Okay, I'll take your word for that," replied Cedric. "So what's it actually good for?"

Hermione suppressed a sigh. "The quadratic formula gets used all the time in more advanced maths. You need it to calculate the elements a lot of simple charms and jinxes. Look here." She turned to near the back of Numerology and Grammatica and pointed out the many places where quadratic equations occurred. "And that's just the start. You can approximate almost any more complicated formula with a quadratic equation—They do that in muggle physics all the time. So even a lot of more advanced spells use it."

The three older students figured out soon enough that there really wasn't that much difficulty to the quadratic formula. As Hermione said, it was really just a matter of remembering it, even if they couldn't appreciate the usefulness of it, though she hoped they would in time.

"You know, Hermione, you've been a little bit on edge for a while, now," said Alicia as they were getting ready to leave. "Is everything okay?"

It was true. Ever since the day of the Quidditch match, Hermione couldn't stop herself worrying a little about the Philosopher's Stone. But that was a real secret, not something she could bring up here. "It's fine," she said. "I've just got a lot on my mind…like always."

"Well, you know we're here for you if you need anything."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

She tried her best to set the Philosopher's Stone issue aside, but things definitely got a lot hairier when Hermione, Ron, and Harry ran into Hagrid in the library one day, and Hagrid asked them if they were still looking for what was on the third floor. That made the hair on the back of Hermione's neck stand up. Hagrid must be really nervous about something if he thought of that before he thought of them studying for exams. He understandably got more nervous when Ron blurted out that they had found the answer ages ago. When Harry took the opportunity to ask about what else was protecting the Stone, Hagrid quickly shut them up and told them to come to his hut later. And as if that weren't bad enough, Ron noticed that he was checking out books about dragons.

That couldn't be a good sign, thought Hermione. Either the Stone was vulnerable, and they needed to bring in a dragon to help protect it, or…or Hagrid was illegally breeding dragons.

This wasn't going to end well.

"So…yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid said as the trio sat down in his stiflingly hot hut. Even in this private setting, he still looked pretty cagey.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione jumped in front of him, thinking it might be better to butter him up a bit. "Well, Hagrid," she said, "we know Professor Dumbledore must trust you a lot to help guard the Philosopher's Stone." Hagrid's chest swelled with pride. "But we were thinking it would be safest if there were other people setting enchantments to guard it, too, so that no one person knew what all the protections were. We were just wondering if Dumbledore did something like that."

"Aye, yeh are a bright one, aren't yeh," Hagrid grinned at her. "Ah, I s'pose it can't hurt ter tell yeh 'bout that. Dumbledore's a smart man—came up with the same idea. In fact, it was just about all o' the teachers who helped him. I don't think Professor Kettleburn added another creature—didn't have nothin' tougher'n Fluffy—but everybody else who had anythin' ter offer did somethin', even Dumbledore himself. Yep, ain't no dark wizard that can get past all o' them."

"Professor Vector added something?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. Said she made sure no one could get past it without a whole team o' curse breakers. Lot o' the others did, too."

"Did professor Snape?" Harry asked darkly.

"Well, o' course he did." Harry and Ron gave Hagrid a horrified look. "What, you're not still on about Snape bein' dark, are yeh? He's helpin' protect the Stone. He's not gonna steal it."

"Besides, Harry," Hermione added. "No one knows what all the protections are, and I'm sure it's safe with Professor Vector helping out."

"But she was a Slytherin," Ron protested.

"Not all Slytherins are alike, Ron. She actually keeps everyone in line, unlike Snape, and if she says no one can get through her protections, I believe her. Besides, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore came up with something even better than she did."

Harry seemed to accept that more the time being, and it was only then that the children's attention was drawn to the large, black spheroid that was sitting right in the middle of Hagrid's roaring fire.

"Hagrid…is that a dragon egg?" Ron asked nervously.

"Ah…yeah, matter of fact it is," Hagrid answered, fiddling with his beard.

"Where did you get a dragon egg?" Hermione demanded. "Aren't they illegal to trade in most of Europe?"

"I won it. Fella down at the pub last night said he had a dragon egg, and we could play card fer it if I wanted. So I said, o' course. An' he did say he had ter be sure I could handle it, but I told him after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy."

The children all gave a start and looked at each other in horror. Hagrid's face fell as he realised what he'd said.

"You told him about Fluffy?" demanded Harry.

"Well…yeah, I s'pose I did. Probably shouldn'ta said that…"

"You didn't tell him how to get past Fluffy, did you?" Ron asked.

"Course not," Hagrid said firmly. "I'd never give somethin' like that away, even when I'd been drinkin'."

"Phew, good."

"There, you see. It's perfectly safe," said Hermione. "I mean, even if somebody else knows about Fluffy, it's not like you can just play music for him or something—"

Hagrid yelled an exclamation and shot to his feet so fast that he tripped and fell onto his table, smashing it to bits. The children all screamed. Then, to their horror, Hagrid reached up and clapped an enormous hand on Hermione's shoulder, knocking her to the ground hard and bringing her face close to his huge one. "How'd you know about that?" he growled.

"What?" Hermione squeaked.

"Let her go!" Ron yelled.

"About playin' music to Fluffy. If you play him some music, he goes right to sleep. Nobody knew that but me an' Dumbledore."

"What!" Harry and Ron demanded. They tried to pull Hermione away from the huge man.

Hermione started crying. She'd only ever even heard of Hagrid getting truly angry once, and that was when he'd cursed Harry's cousin with a pig's tail. But he was so big it was almost as bad as the troll to see up close. "I-I didn't!" she whimpered. "I didn't think—I thought it wouldn't—It's the myth of Orpheus…"

"The what of what?" Hagrid said, starting to calm down.

"It's an ancient Greek story—muggle story…a musician named Orpheus had to sneak past a three-headed dog to get into the realm of the dead, and he played music to put the dog to sleep. I didn't think it was true because…" She braced herself with her arms blocking her face and whispered. "Because I thought it was too obvious."

Hagrid let go of her, slumped back on the floor, and started crying loudly himself. "I'm sorry," he bawled. In retrospect, she thought he had probably knocked her down by accident. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn' mean teh scare yeh like that. It's just this is so importan'. Dumbledore's trustin' me teh keep the Stone safe from…"

"From who?" Harry said.

"I can't tell yeh that. Dumbledore says someone's after it—same bloke who tried teh steal it from Gringotts, probably. But I know it ain't Snape. Dumbledore trusts him as much as me. We all worked together back in the—er—well, back in the war. Snape ain't very nice, I admit, but he's on our side."

"But Hagrid, do you think Snape could know how to get past Fluffy?" Harry asked.

"He couldn't!" Hagrid insisted. "There's no wizards who know but me an' Dumbledore—and don't you tell nobody else, either."

But Harry ignored him. "Hermione?" he asked.

"Well," she said slowly, hating that she had to undermine her earlier argument, "it's possible he could have read the story somewhere, and if he did…well, if I was desperate and just had to get past Fluffy, one of the first things I'd try would be playing music to him, because that's what Orpheus did in the myth…But he still couldn't get through the other protections," she said quickly. "Not with Vector and Dumbledore and everybody else helping out. Right, Hagrid? I bet Professor Babbling came up with something really complicated with runes, and McGonagall probably transfigured statues to fight or something."

"Yeah…" Hagrid said glumly. "They didn't tell me, mind yeh, but I'm sure it's somethin' real tough like that. But Merlin, if I'd known other people knew how teh get past Fluffy…"

"I…I'm sure you did you're best, Hagrid," Harry said, patting him on the arm. It looked like everything was still okay…for now.

Two weeks later, though, Hermione couldn't take it anymore and dragged Ron and Harry to a meeting in an isolated back corner of the library.

"We have to do something about Hagrid," she whispered.

"Why?" Ron said. "I though you said the Stone was safe."

"I'm not talking about the Stone. I'm talking about that dragon egg."

Hagrid had ignored the trio's (mostly Hermione's) protests to his keeping a dangerous and illegal wild animal in his kitchen.

"Well, I know it's not a great idea…" Harry trailed off.

"Not a great idea?" Hermione hissed. "Hagrid lives in a wooden house."

"Well, yeah, but if it's only a baby…"

"Hmpf." Hermione reached into her bagged and pulled out a book she had checked out last week: From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide, one of the few books on the subject Hagrid had left behind. She opened it on the table and flipped to the place she had marked. Here, listen to this: "'Keepers who hatch dragons must remain aware that newly-hatched dragons grow magically fast. Many species will triple in length in the first week after hatching and reach ten times their birth length by the age of one month.'"

Ron, at least, looked appropriately frightened by this revelation. "Okay, that is bad," he said. Harry just looked at his friends sceptically.

"Don't you see?" Hermione continued. "With the size of that egg, if Hagrid keeps that dragon for even a month after it hatches, it'll be as big as he is! We have to do something, or he's going to get hurt or worse…I…I think we have to tell somebody."

"But I don't want to get Hagrid in trouble," Harry said.

"He'll get in more trouble when his house burns down. Come on, Ron, you know about dragons, right?"

Ron looked very much like he didn't want to get between his two friends. "What if we, er, just get Hagrid to let it go when it hatches…" he suggested weakly. "You know, I don't think the British Dragon Reservation is too far from here."

"But Ron, you saw how Hagrid's been the past two weeks. He won't listen to reason. I don't want him to get in trouble either, but if he won't listen to us, what else can we do?"

"Well…" Ron said tentatively. "What if we talk to Dumbledore? He seems pretty, you know, friendly and understanding. My folks really like him—and so does Hagrid."

"But if Dumbledore finds out Hagrid told a stranger about Fluffy…" Harry replied.

"Hmm…" Hermione had another thought. "We could try talking to Professor Vector." Ron made a face. "I know she was a Slytherin, Ron, but I've never had a problem with her, and she's friends with Hagrid. They always sit next to each other at dinner. Plus, she didn't get us in trouble with the troll or looking up the Philosopher's Stone. I think she might be okay with taking care of this quietly."

"Well…maybe," Harry said. Ron still looked uncomfortable, but he reluctantly nodded. "But I don't want to go behind Hagrid's back," Harry added. "Can we talk to him one more time first?"

"Sure," Hermione said.

But Hagrid still didn't want to hear any criticism of his dragon-rearing skills.

"Hagrid, if you keep it too long, it's going to be too big to hide," Harry insisted. "You're going to get found out sooner or later."

"Besides, you can't keep a dragon someplace as small as Hogwarts," Ron said. "Charlie says they need lots of land to catch enough game to survive. I know you're good with animals—" (Actually, that was debatable.) "—but the forest just isn't big enough."

And miraculously, that actually seemed to get through to the huge man. Gazing at the egg in fire, he bit his lip and said, "I—I know I can't keep it forever. But I can't just dump it. It deserves a chance to hatch and grow up."

"We know, Hagrid," Hermione said sympathetically. "But you're not going to able to do that here. We, uh, we know you're friends with Professor Vector. Do you think she'd be willing to help if we asked her? She's been really nice with us. I don't think she'll ask too many questions."

"Who, Septima? Ah, she's a good woman, she is. Knew her when she was a student. Real curious 'bout things, an' a lot nicer than the other Slytherins. Hmm…well, I s'pose it'd be alright if you wanted to ask her to help."

"Thank you, Hagrid." She forced down her nerves and hugged him as best she could. It was a little difficult after their earlier confrontation, but she managed it. For everyone's sake, she vowed to get this thing sorted as soon as possible.

"Ah, hello Hermione—and Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley. Is there something wrong?" Professor Vector said when she saw the trio's nervous faces outside her office door.

"Professor, we need to speak with you in private," her star pupil said.

Vector's face fell. She had a feeling this wasn't going to end well. "Come in, come in." She ushered the children in and sat them down. "What is it?"

"Well, ma'am…" Hermione started, "we have this friend who's doing something dangerous…and we're worried he's going to get in trouble."

"I see," the Professor said warningly. "You have a friend?"

"It's not one of us," Harry jumped in. After a pause, he said, "It's Hagrid…He's trying to hatch a dragon egg in his hut."

"What! Augh." Vector pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, Rubeus, what have you got yourself into this time? Dragon egg. Of all the—" she muttered. She stopped and took a deep breath. "Do you know when it's going to be hatching?"

"Ron and I put our heads together, and we think it's going to be another week or two, from the books," Hermione said, thankful that she had a semi-dragon expert in her circle of friends.

"Yeah," Ron added, "we just barely got Hagrid to say he'll get rid of it, but now we don't know what to do about it."

"We were all hoping you could help out without…you know…" Hermione trailed off, not quite willing to say something so against the rules to a teacher.

"Without reporting him, you mean?"

The girl reluctantly nodded.

The professor sighed again. "Well, I'll tell you what we are going to do. We're going to hand that dragon off to a professional dragon handler, and the sooner the better—preferably before it hatches. Dragons are an endangered species, and the most important thing is to make sure it gets somewhere safe."

"Hagrid'll like that," Harry said.

"I'm sure he will. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. I can try writing some letters, but frankly, the British Dragon Reservation is barely functional as it is. Not enough space on the island. That's why the biggest ones are in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union—ah, Russia, excuse me. Not to mention the difficulty of transporting one illegally."

"Charlie!" Harry suddenly exclaimed. "Ron, couldn't you just write your brother Charlie and ask if he can do anything with the dragon?"

"Maybe," the redheaded boy said. "There's still the illegal part, but I know they've got the space in Romania."

"Good," Vector said. "I'll still write my letters, but you should write your brother right away, Mr. Weasley, and let me know as soon as you receive a reply."

"Yes, ma'am."

As expected, Professor Vector's contacts fell through pretty quickly, but Charlie's reply, which came a week later, was more positive:

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter—I'd be glad to take the Norweigian Ridgeback. The problem is that it's not a good idea to transport a dragon egg this close to hatching. I don't know how you got a teacher in on the scheme, but it'll be a big help, since we'll have to ship the dragon out under cover of darkness. I want you to write me again as soon as it hatches. The next Saturday night, I'll send some friends to pick it up. Bring the hatchling up to the top of the Astronomy Tower at midnight to make the hand off. Will that work? Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," Professor Vector said. "This will work very well. And if the dragon's less than a week old, I should be able to move it without much trouble."

"Will you need any help moving him, Professor?" Harry asked hopefully. Hermione could tell he was eager for a chance at being out after hours legitimately and was surely internally debating whether to tell the professor about his invisibility cloak.

But Vector gave him a firm, "No, Mr. Potter, I want you to stay well away from this. I could explain myself carrying a suspicious package through the castle on my own after hours, but not your presence with me."

Harry wasn't too happy with that, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Still, when the sun rose on the twenty-seventh of April, Baby Norbert (whom Ron was pretty sure was a girl dragon, but Hagrid wouldn't listen) was on her way to Romania, and none too soon, because Draco Malfoy had spotted her when she hatched. Even so, Hermione, Ron, and Harry got to see a baby dragon, Hagrid got to take care of one for a couple of days, Hermione got to brush the whole thing off as a fun and minor diversion to her parents, and Malfoy got detention when Professor McGonagall caught him out of bed trying to catch what he expected to be three Gryffindor students smuggling an illegal dragon after hours, so everyone got what they wanted in the end. Hermione adopted a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding whether Harry and Ron had followed Professor Vector under Harry's invisibility cloak, but at least they didn't get caught, even if Professor Snape did make a few suspicious remarks to them afterwards.

Hermione had a bit of an extra spring in her step after that. All was right with her world…at least for the next couple of weeks.

"Hey, Hermione, we're going to visit Hagrid. Do you wanna come?" asked Harry.

"I've got studying to do," Hermione said exasperatedly. "And shouldn't you by studying, too?"

Exams were one week away, and for Hermione, this was the prime time to be stressing out—certainly more than she was before. Her friends, while they were gearing up for finals as well, seemed much more laid back.

"Go on, Hermione," said Lavender Brown, who was sitting nearby with Parvati. "It's the last weekend before exams. You should take some time out to have fun."

"Lavender, these exams are very important—" she started.

"And you could pass them in your sleep," the blond shot back, putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone knows it."

"But I want to make sure I'm prepared."

"Hermione," Parvati said gently, "you told us to help make sure you don't lose it and break down again, and we're telling you you need a break. You've been getting all moody and antisocial the past few weeks, and even we can tell you work a lot better when you don't overdo it."

Hermione sighed. Since when did her giggly roommates get so deep? Of course, she knew the answer. It was when, in her desperation, she specifically told them what to watch her for. And she hated to admit it, but her eyes had been getting tired far too early in the afternoon for the past few days.

"Alright, alright," she groaned, "I guess I could do with a break."

"Great," Harry grinned.

"Thanks, girls," Ron said as the trio ducked out. They could hear the girls giggling behind them.

If Hermione was feeling tired, it certainly woke her up when Hagrid opened the door to his hut and pointed a huge crossbow at them. The children all yelped in surprise.

"Oh, it's you. Sorry," Hagrid said. "There's been some…it doesn't matter. 'Sgood teh see yeh. Come on in, I'll make some tea."

"Um, Hagrid…is something wrong?" Harry asked once they had sat down. He motioned to the crossbow.

"Oh, right, that," Hagrid said darkly. "Nasty bit o' business that. See, I found a unicorn dead in the forest on Wednesday."

Ron gasped. Harry and Hermione didn't know the full implications of that, but they both got a bit of a greenish tinge.

"Yeah, it weren't pretty. Somethin' had run it down, an' that's tough teh do. Unicorns are faster 'n anythin'. I never seen one hurt by a predator before, an' I've been here nearly fifty years."

"But what could do that?" Harry said.

"Dunno. I'll have teh try huntin' it if it happens again."

"Hunting it?" squeaked Hermione. "Isn't that dangerous."

"Yeah, but Fang an' I can handle it. Besides I can't let anything keep killin' the unicorns. Yeh shoulda seen it—blood everywhere. The animals all stay away from it, but it kills the plants like anythin'."

"It kills the plants?" Hermione said in surprise. "Unicorn blood is toxic?"

"That's the funny thing," Hagrid said. "It's too pure an' sacred for anythin' but the unicorns. It's powerful ancient magic. If it gets into your body, it can even save yeh from dyin', but it's so pure that it eats away at everythin' slowly. Horrible fate—horrible. Yeh don't want to hear any more 'bout it, I'm tellin' yeh."

Hermione thought she had to agree. Her imagination and what she's skimmed from her parents' dental school textbooks were more than enough to put images she didn't want in her mind. Ron looked equally green, but Harry looked oddly thoughtful—and worried.

"Hagrid…" he said. "Do you think…whatever this thing is could be killing unicorns…for their blood?"

"Don' see how," Hagrid muttered. "The animals all stay away from unicorn blood. It's instinct. And as for humans, well, who'd be that desperate? Still, I can't figure why anything'd be attackin' them in the first place."

Harry looked very much like he had more to say, but he didn't mention it until they got back to the castle.

"Guys," he said, "I'm worried about the unicorns."

"Well, so are we, but I'm sure Hagrid can handle it," Hermione said, if uncertainly.

"No, I mean I worried about whoever's attacking the unicorns."

"What about it?" Ron said.

"I think he's after their blood."

"But you heard what Hagrid said. The consequences are too horrible," Hermione told him.

"Yeah, but what if he could get something else? Something stronger that could fix what the unicorn blood did?"

Ron just asked, "Like what?" But Hermione made the connection.

"You mean the Elixir of Life," she said. "That might be stronger. Probably is, from what I've read."

"Right. So if they get hold of the Philosopher's Stone, they can be cured."

"But who is it?" Ron said. "I don't think any of the professors are dying or anything."

"No, but there's something else," Harry said. "On Tuesday night, I got this really bad headache. It wasn't like a normal headache. It was in my scar." He pointed to his forehead. "And the same thing happened at the start of term feast when Snape looked at me. What if…" He gulped and shuddered slightly. "What if it's Voldemort?"

"Don't say that name!" Ron hissed.

"Vol—You-Know-Who?" Hermione whispered, seeing the look on Ron's face. "It can't be."

"But it makes sense. Listen, people think Voldemort's still alive out there somewhere, but weakened."

"Stop saying the name!" Ron repeated.

"Maybe he's drinking unicorn blood to stay alive, and the pain in my scar has something to do with him because I'm the only one he couldn't kill. And then Snape's working for him, and he's trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone and use it to cure him so he can come back…" He shuddered again. "And then, Voldemort will come and finish me off."

"Will you stop saying his name!"

"Harry, that's crazy!" Hermione snapped. "Hagrid said Snape worked with Dumbledore against You-Know-Who."

"So? Maybe he was a spy. He's sure evil enough. And he tried to kill me, remember?"

"Bloody hell, I can see Snape as a spy," Ron said.

"But if all that was true," Hermione protested, "Don't you think Dumbledore or somebody would have noticed by now?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I just hope Snape really doesn't know how to get the Stone."

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore is the only person You-Know-Who was afraid of," she tried to comfort her friend. "With him around, You-Know-Who can't touch you or the Stone. And besides, I doubt it's really him out there. I bet it's just some kind of rabid magical creature."

"Yeah…maybe," Harry said, forcing himself to smile.

But on Monday night, Harry came down with another headache in his scar, and, checking with Hagrid on Tuesday, they learnt that another unicorn had been killed that night. Nothing was going to convince Harry Potter at that point.