Contrary to the Sprigs' belief, Quirrell must have been fairly brave. In the weeks following Harry's eavesdropping, he did seem to be getting paler, but nothing so far indicated that he'd cracked.

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, the Sprigs would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Draco had quietly confessed one afternoon that he'd stopped spending his Sunday mornings in the potions lab with his godfather.

Whenever Harry and Neville passed Quirrell these days they gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Ron and El had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter or complaining about the garlic smell of his classroom. Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone. She had started drawing up revision timetables and colour-coding all her notes. The others wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away."

"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 revising for, you already know it all."

"We've been so caught up in this Stone business, I haven't been anywhere near my usual standard of studying," Hermione worried aloud. "I should have started revising a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"

"Merlin, Hermione, did you live in the library before Hogwarts?" Elowen asked, watching as Neville let the girl start coloring him a study schedule. "You're in there all the time as it is!"

Hermione's face flushed. "I didn't exactly have friends before you guys," she mumbled. "My books were my friends."

"That is so sad," Draco remarked and batted the study schedule out of Neville's hands. "If we all agree to spend an hour a day studying with you, will you let up on the nagging?"

Hermione brightened. "I'll make a schedule!"

Ron groaned as she scurried off to the Den's board. He glared at Draco. "Why'd you agree to that?"

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you were tired of it." Draco rolled his eyes. "Giving in and studying a bit certainly won't hurt you."

"Sometimes I really hate you."

~~~

Unfortunately for Ron, 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. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practising wand movements.

The board in the Den had been taken over by Hermione's new study schedule for the group and the Sprigs ended up spending much of their free time in the library reviewing with her.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon in May, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really beautiful day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, cloudless blue and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

"I agree," Neville moaned, shoving his History book away. "Why are there so many goblin rebellions to remember?"

"Because Dumbledore won't get rid of Binns," Elowen reminded. She sighed, glancing out the window. "Really, Hermione, we can't study outside?"

Hermione frowned over her books. "You'll all just get distracted."

"It would hardly matter," Draco pointed out. "They're barely staying focused as it is."

Harry, who was looking up 'Dittany' in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't bother to 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," Ron said dismissively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St — ow!"

Draco had kicked Ron under the table.

"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Flufmhmp!"

Elowen had smacked her hand over her twin's mouth. "Sorry, Hagrid, you were saying?"

"S'alrigh',"Hagrid said. "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 Elowen.

Hagrid shuffled off. Ron glared at Draco.

"You didn't have to kick me!" he hissed.

"Not if you knew how to keep your mouth shut, I wouldn't," Draco retorted.

"What d'you think Hagrid is in here for?" Neville wondered, ignoring Ron and Draco's bickering.

"He was hiding something behind his back," said Hermione thoughtfully, her studying abandoned. "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. Draco slammed his Transfiguration book shut, looking far more interested now. "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 seems like the exact sort of person to want a dragon," said Harry. All the Sprigs were familiar by now with Hagrid's affection for creatures.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that." Neville and Draco's bewildered looks suggested that, no, everyone did not know that. "It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry," Draco scoffed.

Harry gave him a deadpan look. "Well, I wouldn't know, would I?"

"Of course there are," cut in Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

~~~

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.

"Why in Morgana's name is it so hot in here?" Draco demanded. "It's the middle of May!"

It was stiflingly hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made a mumbling excuse none of them could make out, made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Harry promptly. He saw no point beating about 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?" The six of them nodded. Hagrid huffed. "Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"By pure accident," Elowen quipped.

"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." Draco. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that," he said, and they beamed. "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."

"Snape?" Ron asked incredulously.

Draco frowned. "You don't have to like or trust him, but he is very talented and also a teacher at this school."

"Exactly," Hagrid frowned at them. "Yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

"To be fair," Neville said. "Wouldn't that just mean he already knows what else there is to get through?"

Harry nodded quickly; he knew the others were thinking the same thing he was. Snape probably knew everything except Quirrell's defense and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.

"Somehow not as reassuring as I thought it'd be," El remarked.

Draco was scowling at the fire. "Absolutely mad to have the fire that hot in May."

Harry glanced around at all of their red faces. "Hagrid, can't we open a window or something? Draco's right, it's boiling in here."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. He glanced inconspicuously at the fire — or at least he tried. Six sets of eyes followed his line of sight.

"Hagrid," Hermione said slowly. "What is that?"

"That's a dragon egg, isn't it?" Neville sighed.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard. "That's… er…"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron from where he and Draco were 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."

"Must have been some game of cards," Draco mused, reaching out to poke at the egg. Ron smacked his hand away before he could get burned.

"What is wrong with you?" Ron hissed.

"A dragon egg," Draco hissed back excitedly. "I just want to touch it."

Ron rolled his eyes, grabbed Draco's arm to drag him back to the table and deposited him next to El.

"But what are you going to do with the egg when it's hatched?" Hermione was asking Hagrid.

"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 recognise diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

He looked around at the six first years, looking very pleased with himself. They did not feel the same.

"Hagrid," Hermione said, "you live in a wooden house."

Hagrid wasn't listening, too busy merrily stoking the fire.

"He's lost it," Elowen said as they trekked back up to the castle. She shook her head in disbelief. "We're gonna wake up someday soon to that hut being just a pile of ash."

"We don't know that," Hermione tried. "Maybe he really has got it all figured out."

"Mione, this is Hagrid we're talking about," Ron pointed out. "We'll be lucky if he manages not to burn his house down now."

~~~

The dragon egg was exactly what they hadn't wanted: something else to worry about — namely, what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. The tables in the Den were constantly covered in parchment now, and the board had been covered in pinned up notes and revisions. Hermione had started making revision timetables for the other Sprigs, too. It was driving them mad.

"I expect any semblance of a peaceful life for us went out the window when we met the Potter Twins," Draco replied.

Then, a few weeks later at breakfast, Hedwig brought the twins another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.

Ron wanted to skip the morning's classes and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing—"

"Is nothing more important to you than your books?" Draco demanded.

"Shut up!" Harry whispered.

Nott was only a few feet ahead and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Nott's face at all.

Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Theory, and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other five during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their Herbology lesson, the five Gryffindors dropped their trowels at once and hurried out of the greenhouses, meeting Draco outside the castle. They hurried through the grounds to the edge of the Forest. Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it and something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped on to the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body and it had a long snout with wide nostrils, stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

"Amazing," Draco breathed. Harry was very inclined to agree.

The dragon sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers with sharp pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face – he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"Hagrid?" Neville asked as they all turned to look at him confused. "What's wrong?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains. It's a kid, he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking the dark hair and green robes.

Nott had seen the dragon.

~~~

Nott spent the next week smirking at the Sprigs and generally making them all nervous. They spent so much of their free time that week trying to reason with Hagrid.

"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."

They all looked at the dragon, which had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"Hagrid, you can't even keep up with your job and the dragon," Elowen pointed out. "It won't be long before someone comes to find out why the gamekeeper hasn't been gamekeeping."

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. He was fully ignoring what Elowen was saying. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered to the others.

"Hagrid, you have to see sense," Draco snapped. "You are not equipped to raise a dragon!"

"And even if you were," Neville added, "it is illegal."

"I give it two weeks before Norbert is too big for this house," El said, crossing her arms.

"And Nott isn't going to wait that long," Harry finished.

Faced with all six stern faces, Hagrid bit his lip.

"I – I know I can't keep him for ever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry leaned around Hermione to look at Ron.

"Charlie," he said.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No, Charlie," Harry said again. "Your brother Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"We had a dragon expert we could've contacted this whole time?" Draco threw up his hands and turned away.

"Brilliant!" Ron said to Harry, ignoring Draco. "How about it, Hagrid?"

And in the end, Hagrid agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

~~~

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Elowen, Harry and Hermione sitting by the fire in the common room, long after Neville and everyone else had gone to bed. Elowen's back was against Hermione's knees as she braided El's hair. Harry was sitting in front of Elowen, Charms textbook open on his lap as he quizzed his twin and Hermione.

The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off the twins' Invisibility Cloak. He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"It bit me!" he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me, he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"Norbert's not poisonous is he?" Elowen asked as Hermione tied off the braid. Ron sat down next to Hermione.

"Nah, it's fine," he said, then looked nervously down at his still sluggishly bleeding hand. "Probably."

There was a tap on the dark window.

"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

"Smart owl, you are," Elowen praised Hedwig as the owl preened proudly. "Bringing us Charlie's reply when we're alone. You deserve extra bacon in the morning."

With a soft hoot and an affectionate nip at all of their ears, Hedwig flew back out the window towards the Owlery.

"D'you have to promise her more bacon?" Ron complained good-naturedly. "She already steals most of it as is."

"Shush," Harry shushed them. "Do you wanna hear what Charlie has to say or not?" He scooted right next to El and held out the note so all four of them could see.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

They looked at each other.

"We've got the Invisibility Cloak," said Harry. "It shouldn't be too difficult."

"The Cloak's not big enough to cover all of us, though," Elowen thought aloud. "It'd have to be two, at most, and Norbert."

It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other three agreed with her. Anything to get rid of Norbert – and Nott.

~~~

Of course nothing could be that easy. By the time they woke up the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size.

"I thought you said Norbert wasn't poisonous," Elowen said, eyeing his hand in concern. Ron was sat in between Harry and Neville, Elowen and Hermione across from them so that no one else could see what was going on.

Ron shrugged. "I just said that, I don't actually know."

"You have to go see Madame Pomfrey," Hermione told him. "That needs medical attention."

"Are you mad?" Ron shook his head. "What if she knows it's a dragon bite? What if she tells my parents? Or McGonagall?"

By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were, in fact, poisonous. Elowen filed this fact away for later.

The Sprigs rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Nott told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me."

"She believed that?" Elowen muttered.

"He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me," Ron continued. "I've told her it was a dog but I don't think she believes me – I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

"No, he's doing this because he's a prat," Draco corrected. "I'll admit you hitting him doesn't help though."

Elowen shook her head and pulled Draco back as the other tried to calm Ron down.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday, anyhow," said Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no, oh no, I've just remembered! Charlie's letter was in that book Nott took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

Harry and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told the others as they gathered in the Den. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the Invisibility Cloak, Nott doesn't know about that."

"If Theodore catches me sneaking out, he's going to know what's happening," Draco pointed out. "I'll have to stay in the Slytherin dorms, he may assume we've changed our plans if I'm acting like nothing is going on."

"Ok," Harry said, pacing back and forth. "I think at least either Elowen or I should go. If we get caught with the Invisibility Cloak, we can claim Family Heirloom, and then no one can confiscate it."

"I… I don't think I'll be much help," Neville said quietly. "I'll just stay in the common room."

"You would do amazing, Nev," Elowen said firmly, "but it's your choice. I'll stay with Neville," she decided. "It would be stranger for Harry and Neville to be the only two of us left in the common room than me and him."

With Harry and Hermione agreeing to ferry Norbert, the Sprigs left the Den to go tell Hagrid of what happened. They found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they reached the hut. Hagrid opened a window to talk to them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage – nothin' I can't handle."

When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot — jus' playin', he's only a baby, after all."

The group exchanged doubtful looks as the baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. They walked back to the castle, feeling like Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.

~~~

Harry and Hermione would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say goodbye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because Peeves had been in their way in the Entrance Hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall.

Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a thick voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though teddy was having his head torn off. Why Hagrid had given the dragon a stuffed animal was beyond him.

'Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!"

How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Harry resolved halfway back to the castle to learn the featherlight charm as soon as possible. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – even one of their shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.

"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.

Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away.

A lamp flared. They froze.

Professor McGonagall, in a tartan dressing-gown and a hairnet, had Nott by the ear.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you —"

"You don't understand, Professor, Henry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on, I shall see Professor Snape about you, Nott!"

The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. As soon as they stepped out into the cool night air, they threw off the Cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione did a little dance.

"Nott's got detention! I could sing!"

"Don't," Harry advised her.

Laughing about Nott, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much. One of them handed Harry a letter.

"Charlie Weasley wants you to give this to a Tonks?" the man said. "Don't know why he can't just use an owl like a normal person." Harry just took the letter and nodded, tucking it into his pocket. Charlie's friends all waved goodbye and rose into the air.

At last, Norbert was going, going… gone.

They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon, Nott in detention – nothing could spoil this mood.

Except maybe what was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."

Harry and Hermione exchanged panicked looks. They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.