Before Alduin could tackle the matter of Harry's mysterious scar, there was some clean-up to be done from the whole Quirrell business.

The first problem that was left over was Hagrid's pet dragon.

Alduin didn't particularly want to deal with either Aurelius or the Weasleys, so after some hesitation, he decided to go through Alexandra.

She had been making friends with Mrs. Weasley for months now, using the excuse of her pregnancy to solicit advice, in the hopes of influencing the lady towards manners and behaviour that were a little more acceptable. Ronald, at the very least, was clearly Harry's close friend and wasn't going anywhere, and as such didn't deserve to have to be ashamed of his parents.

And so, at one tea where Molly arrived with Ginevra, Alexandra mentioned something about a need for someone who understands magical creatures, and in no time at all had at her disposal a two-way mirror Charles sent his parents to be able to communicate with them at speed.

Alduin thanked her and shut himself in his office with it, initiating the call. "Mr. Charles Weasley?"

A red-headed young man with heavily freckled face appeared on the other side. "Yes? What is it? Has something happened to Mum and Dad?"

"No, no, they are fine. Your mother was so kind as to lend me this mirror to communicate with you. My name is Alduin Travers, and I am your brother Ronald's best friend's guardian. It seems the boys discovered something rather irregular at school." He paused. "This information is private – I haven't even told your mother the precise nature of my call – but it seems Rubeus Hagrid got himself a dragon egg."

Charles laughed. "He would," he said, "though I can't imagine how he got the money."

"It's a rather involved story. At any rate, what he needs now is a way to get rid of it again, preferably without alerting the law that he ever had it."

"Hmm. Do you have any idea when it is about to hatch?"

"According to Harry, Hagrid's estimate is in the next two or three weeks."

Charles frowned. "Damn. My family is coming to see me for Christmas, so I thought they could bring it to me, but not if it's already hatched, my mother would never not notice smuggling a hatched dragon." He sighed. "I'll try to send an express to some friends and make them cover up for it, but it'll be up to you – or rather, Harry – to convince Hagrid to give the hatching up. If I know him at all, it won't be easy."

"Nevertheless, thank you. Should I contact you again, or…?"

"Nah, I'll arrange it from my end. Tell Harry to give my regards to Ron!"

Alduin promised to do so, relived, and went to return the mirror. That was one matter off his chest.

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Harry had not been looking forward that conversation with Hagrid, and he had been right. "Hagrid," he said patiently, "you live in a small, wooden house. You must know you can't keep the dragon here forever."

"I wasn' plannin' to! Once it grew a little, I'd keep it in the forest!"

"And you think no one would notice a dragon in the forest? They fly and breathe fire, Hagrid!"

"Yeh don' understand...I always wanted one, I always wanted a dragon...I can' let him go..."

Neville sighed. "Look," he said, "you could get into a lot of trouble. My Gran taught me about what happened to people who bred dragons illegally, and sometimes they are event sent to Azkaban!"

At this, Hagrid blanched. "Azkaban?" He asked, and his voice had the slightest tremble in it. Harry didn't wonder. If people like Black were there, he certainly wouldn't want to end up locked up in the same place.

"At least you'll get to see it hatch," Ron said soothingly. "That's good, right?"

"It'll jus' make it harder to part from him...I already named him, yeh know...I want to call him Norbert..."

The boys exchanged a look. "Okay," Harry said, "and you'll have a few fays with Norbert at least before Charlie's contacts come for him. And maybe one day you could go to Romania and see him. That would be nice, right?"

Hagrid nodded, though he looked like someone died.

Two weeks later, as the boys and Sophie – who insisted that she had to see this, no matter she had never visited Hagrid before – watched 'Nobert' hatch and sneeze small flames, Harry was thinking that even those few days were going to be hard.

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Meanwhile, Alduin devoted himself to the other, more complicated problem left over from Quirrell.

All Defence classes at Hogwarts have been cancelled until Christmas, so Alduin had at first assumed it was because Dumbledore already had a new teacher in mind, and they could only come after the New Year. However, when he Floo-called Severus Snape to update him on what happened with Quirrell in detail, he asked about it, and apparently, the actual situation was very different.

"Dumbledore doesn't have anyone," Snape said. "He's trying to pull some favours, get some old friends to do it, but from the names I've heard him mention, it's going to be a disaster."

"Do you have any examples?"

"Well, you know. The less capable of the old Order members. Dedalus Diggle and such."

Alduin almost choked. "He's considering letting Diggle teach?"

"Apparently so."

Alduin was silent for a time. "Do you think," he said at length, "that if I found a more viable candidate, he would consider them?"

Snape shrugged. "Most likely, but I wish you good luck with that. There are no viable candidates left."

Not for an actual job at Hogwarts, there weren't, but Alduin had an idea.

He ran in his head over the families he knew who had children at Hogwarts at the moment and would, therefore, be interested in making sure they got a decent education. He knew there were no actual Defence experts left who would be willing to do this, but a moderately competent witch or wizard would be better than nothing. He would do it himself, but not with Alexandra about to give birth at the end of next term.

The Shacklebolts didn't have anyone not directly involved in the running of the family, so that was out of the question, and he preferred a Ravenclaw family for a teaching job anyway...In the end, he settled on the Yaxleys and, after discussing the matter with Alexandra, they went for a visit.

"Aunt Artemis!" Alexandra said as they entered the parlour, greeting the lady with a bright smile and a kiss to each cheek. "And Uncle Leartes, I'm so happy to see you. It was kind of you to make time for us."

Alduin's greeting was more muted, but pleasant as well. He liked the older generations of Yaxleys, and from what he knew of him, he liked Horatio as well. It was only Perseus he had trouble with, and even for that man, he could muster up some sympathy, even though he had been true menace at Hogwarts.

"Think nothing of it," Mrs. Leartes said now. "What did you need?"

"Not so much we," Alduin began, "as the students of Hogwarts..."

It took a while. Leartes was a Potions expert and his wife's area of interest was Herbology, so Defence wasn't exactly a natural choice for either of them. But the suggestion of Diggle teaching at Hogwarts was powerful, and in the end, Alduin and Alexandra wore them down together. Mrs. Leartes would teach at Hogwarts for a term, as a volunteer.

"Well," she said, "going to all those charity dinners was getting a little repetitive. A new kind of community work might be just what I need!"

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Christmas was upon them in no time at all, and Harry was almost bouncing with excitement on the train ride home. He enjoyed Hogwarts, but now he was going to have two weeks without any classes, and with no murderous teachers or dragons out to get him. Just with his friends and family. It was going to be heavenly.

Alduin was waiting for him on the platform, wrapped up in his fur cloak. "Alexandra is waiting at home," he said, "apparition in later stages of pregnancy is not advised."

Harry nodded, and cheerfully waved goodbye to his friends and promised to write often. Then, his cousin took his arm and they were gone.

They appeared in receiving room of the manor, and Alexandra stood there, beaming, her belly protruding markedly. "Hello," Harry said, a little shyly, fascinated. He had never really been this close to a pregnant woman before. "How is little Wynn?"

"Judging from the amount of kicking he does, he's perfectly fine!" She replied, laughing.

"Go change, Harry," Alduin said gently, "it's almost dinnertime."

Once he was dressed properly and seated at the table, the story of his first term at Hogwarts poured out of him, every little detail he could recall. His cousins listened attentively, even though they already knew a lot of it from his letters and mirror calls, and in return, Harry asked a lot of questions about Wynn and his cousins' time in his absence.

"Well, we spent most of the first two months in the Maldives, as you know," Alexandra explained, "finally having the honeymoon we talked about. We headed back just in time for Alduin to drop by at school after that troll fiasco."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's one thing I wanted to ask about, that occurred to me only when we were trying to arrange things with Charlie in Romania: how come the letters came and went so quickly?"

"The letters went here, and Tobby then put them in a special case that allowed us to retrieve them in the Maldives. It's much more practical, and we have always been doing it this way with my parents when we went for holiday there," Alduin explained. "And then, after we came back, Alexandra really started to cultivate her friendship with Mrs. Weasley," he added with a small smirk.

Harry stared, and Alexandra grimaced. "We're trying to help that family for your sake," she said, "and we know there is slightly more hope for her than for him, since she at least has had a proper education. So I've been exchanging letters with her while away, and then I started to ask her over. Frankly, my main motivation now is Ginevra. I like her a lot, and I think she could grow up to be a great person if only she was not squelched by the terrible influence of her family. Mrs. Weasley is coming around, but it will take time. I'm using my pregnancy as a great excuse to talk to her, after all, if there is someone who knows all about it, it is her. I have given her one of our newly adult house-elves as a birthday present-"

Harry frowned. "You can just give elves away? Just like that?"

Alexandra gave him an amused look. "From what Lenny told me, it was quite a riot in their quarters when she asked for a volunteer on a hard job where they would be the only elf. There is a lot of potential prestige in it, you see, it's a chance someone this young doesn't get often. Anyway, I can tell that Molly's relaxed a lot since then. Having less work helps that way. They are all going to Romania to see Charlie for the holidays, as I suppose you know-"

"Of course I know," Harry interrupted. "I helped to arrange it that they would take Norbert the Dragon with them there." Well, really, it was mostly Alduin and Charlie who arranged it, but Harry did have some small part, what with convincing Hagrid to let Norbert go.

"Of course. Anyway, it's the first holiday they will have in ages. That should help too, even though she is going with all of her children, so I don't imagine she will get that much rest. At least they could afford to book decent accommodation, so she won't have to cook and clean."

Harry listened to the improved chances of Ron's family, content. He felt sure that by the time they graduated Hogwarts, Ron would get over most of his problems, and perhaps even get that Head Boy position. Harry wasn't too sure about the Quidditch Captaincy – he was on the team already, so even if Ron was to join him next year, it would seem somewhat unfair that the captaincy didn't go to him, if he was playing longer.

Harry thought about this, wondering if he was selfish if he didn't want Ron to get a position he obviously cared so much about, while Harry himself didn't give a damn. But, he thought, it's not like I can get what I saw in the mirror. So surely it's not so wrong to wish for the captaincy at least.

He spent the first two days at home, catching up with the Traverses – Alexandra even allowed him to feel her belly, and it was really very strange to feel his little cousin kick – but on the third day of the holiday, he visited Neville in the afternoon. It was a little astonishing to realize that it'd only been a year since he'd been there for the first time, nervous about Mrs. Longbottom and about making Neville talk. He now felt like he had belonged to the wizarding world for ages, and his Muggle relatives were just a distant memory, growing more hazy every day, pushed back by his new, vivid and exciting ones. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Alduin had thought it wiser not to tell anyone about the events with Quirrell, and Harry had expected Neville would be upset about it, but the boy seemed mostly relieved. "I wouldn't know how to explain it to Gran," he said. "It all sounds so bizarre and unlikely...not that I doubt you," he hastened to add, "but it'd be harder for her, not having seen the Cerberus and all that."

"It was a weird year," Harry agreed. "It'll be almost strange for Hogwarts to be without all of this, and to have a proper Defence teacher."

"Do you know who's about to take the job?"

"Yeah, Horatio's grandmother, I think. Like, Defence isn't really her field, actually, but Alduin said all the people whose field it is have either already taught it, or are either heads of their houses, and so don't have the time, or, in Mrs. Theodore Burke's case, have small children."

"How did Alduin manage to convince Horatio's grandmother, anyway?" Neville asked curiously. "I mean, she's the future lady of a Noble house, and she's going to be working?"

"Not if I understood it right. I don't really get the difference, mind you, but from what Alduin told me, she won't be taking on a job, technically speaking. She'll just be helping out her grandson's school in need. She won't live there, only coming for the classes, and she won't be paid or anything, so I guess that's the major difference. It's a desperate measure, because, from what Alduin said, there are no actual Defence specialists willing to take the place anymore. Too risky, he said."

"Yeah, most people don't want to take the chance twice, and basically everyone has already tried at least once. Gran taught there the year after my father graduated, I think. She says she got away alive once, she won't take the risk again, especially not if she has me to take care of, as she'd said."

Harry grinned. "I wanted to say we'd take you in if something happened to her, but perhaps that's what she's afraid of!"

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Besides Alduin and Alexandra, the person Harry had missed the most while at Hogwarts was Abdulaziz Shafiq, so he was very happy when an informal dinner with that family was scheduled soon after he holidays started. "How have things been?" He asked at dinner, while the adults discussed some boring political stuff.

"Quiet," Abdulaziz replied with a laugh. "So many of you have gone to Hogwarts now, it seems like there are half the pre-Hogwarts kids there used to be, honestly."

"Are you the eldest now?"

"Well, I would have been - me and a bunch of other people, Harriet and Astoria, out of those you know, and Richard, of course – Richard Slughorn – and Pansy's brother, Zephyrus. We're all roughly the same age. But I've actually met the Weasley girl somewhere a few times in the last month or so, and she's a year older than us."

"Do you liked her?" Harry asked curiously. He wondered how Ron's sister was doing.

"She's okay, I guess. Harriet really likes her, I think. Astoria less so."

"So that's why you think she's okay!"

Abdulaziz laughed. "Yeah, Astoria's dislike is pretty solid recommendation, that's true enough. But in this case I think she just resents that Ginevra or what's her name is pulling Harriet towards Gryffindor, while Astoria was hoping her friend would follow in her sister's footsteps and they'd end up in the same house."

"I thought Harriet was decided on Gryffindor?"

"Yeah, well, that was in the summer, before her sister was sorted to Slytherin. Astoria hoped that might change things, but then Weasley came around..."

Harry smirked. "Given how much you declare you can't stand Astoria, you know quite a lot about her."

Abdulaziz groaned. "Well, that's what I'm saying! She won't leave me alone!"

Harry was amused by his friend's misery, but decided to be merciful. "Okay, I'll change the topic. Any more interesting stuff I've missed?"

"Hm, let me think...the Ollivanders have another baby, have you heard that one?"

"No, really?"

"Yeah. A boy, named Geralt. He was born just about a week ago."

"He'll be close in age to Wynn, then," Harry mused.

"Of course, that's the other big piece of news, your soon-to-arrive cousin. Yeah, I'm sure Mrs. Mercurius and your cousin's wife are happy about this, they're friends, aren't they?"

"Best friends, as far as I know, so yeah, I guess they can sort of...hang out together with the kids." Harry seemed to remember that Aunt Petunia used to do something like that with her friends and their children who were of similar age to Dudley. He sincerely hoped Wynn got some better version of this.

"All right, so that's all of my news. Now finally, it's your turn: tell me everything about Hogwarts!"

"Come on, you must have heard so many people tell you about it."

"Never mind that, I wanna hear it from you all the same."

And so Harry told what he could tell, about the classes and teachers and friends, and then he realized there was one thing that could interest Alduin, and so he told him about Hermione Granger.

"Wow," Alduin said. "She memorized all the books? And all the spells worked for her? Just like that, without a teacher? That's incredible. Wow."

"Yeah, Horatio seemed pretty impressed as well."

"I bet." Abdulaziz sighed wistfully. "I wish I had that kind of talent."

"Hey, cheer up! You still have more than a year to go…maybe you'll be able to do that by then!"