Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry starts studying for the end-of-term exams due to Hermione's insistence, and he and his friends find out that Hagrid has acquired an illegal 'pet'.
The week after the Quidditch match, Hermione became preoccupied with the end-of-term exams. She had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all her notes. Her friends wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away," pointed out Alex.
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it's an all."
"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Beth was the only one that didn't complain and joined her friend in the library to study, and with great reluctance Alex, Ron, and Neville joined them, though the latter didn't voice his complaints in front of the girls.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Alex, who was looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once.
"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St—"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"Sorry, Hagrid," apologized Beth. "We're not intending to concern ourselves with anything more about it, but I was curious as to what else was guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen — come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh —"
"See you later, then," said Alex.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" mused Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide. "
"Hagrid's always been interested in dragons," said Neville with a shrug.
"But why would he be looking up information about them now?" asked Beth, frowning. "Especially since his interest goes as far as actually wanting to own one."
"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that."
"I didn't know that," interrupted Neville. "Well, I know that dragon breeding is outlawed, but not the year or by whom."
"That's not the point," said Beth impatiently. "The point is that Hagrid suddenly is looking up stuff about dragons."
"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?" wondered Hermione.
"Nothing good, I bet," responded Beth grimly, having a nasty suspicion as to what Hagrid was up to. "I hope I'm wrong, though."
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So — yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Alex. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him. "O' course I can't," he said. "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."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice.
Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. The other four beamed at Hermione.
"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 —" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell — an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
Alex and Beth exchanged looks. None of the teachers mentioned appeared to be the sort that would go after the Stone. Well, Professor Snape had his moments, but if he really were that sort, then Aunt Sarah and Uncle Niko wouldn't have named him Ivan's godfather and their families wouldn't be on good terms with him. Alex and Beth hadn't properly met Snape before Hogwarts, but Ivan certainly had, since he spent one afternoon a week with his godfather since the age of six, and would know if something was amiss.
"Hagrid, it's boiling in here," said Neville. "Could we have a window open?"
"Can't, Neville, sorry," said Hagrid. The quintet noticed him glance at the fire. They looked at it, too.
"Hagrid — what's that?" asked Alex
But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
Beth groaned. "Oh, Hagrid, you didn't!" she exclaimed, wishing that her suspicions would stop coming true. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, for that was how her Sight manifested, along with being able to read people's futures in playing cards and tarot cards.
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it," said Hagrid. "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 quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his 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 recognize diff'rent eggs — what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't. "Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
When the quintet returned for the castle, Beth said, "Something needs to be done about this. I don't want Hagrid to get in trouble, but he can't just try to hatch a dragon in his house."
"Maybe Vera would be able to help us," suggested Alex. "She's three years older than us and in Ravenclaw, after all."
Vera looked alarmed when she heard about Hagrid and the dragon egg he was attempting to hatch. "How can he do something like that? I know that he's always wanted a dragon, but I never thought he'd resort to illegal means to get one. I'll talk to Hagrid and try to get him to see reason. If that fails, then I'll write to Bubbe Lise and Zeyde Eli for advice on dealing with this."
"What does 'zeyde' mean?" asked Hermione, looking confused.
"It's Yiddish for 'grandfather'," answered Vera. "Do you mind lending me your owl, Alex, if I have to write that letter to our grandparents?"
"Nope, you can use Hedwig," replied Alex.
After dinner, Vera took the quintet aside, a mildly annoyed look on her face. "I managed to convince Hagrid that the dragon would be better with its own kind, but he still wants to hatch the egg and getting to know the dragonet before sending it off. Ron, do you mind asking your brother Charlie if he can raise it on the dragon preserve he's working at? I'll write to Dad and ask if he can arrange some way to send the dragonet to Charlie."
Ron agreed to write to Charlie, and a week later got a reply back saying he would be willing to take the dragon, who had hatched in the meantime and was named Norbert. A few days later, late at night, Uncle Niko showed up at Hogwarts and smuggled Norbert out, and then friends of Charlie that were going to visit him in Romania took the dragonet away.
The quintet was very relieved to have the whole dragon business settled, and after spending some time comforting Hagrid, returned their attention back to revising for the exams.