Chapter Fifteen
The next few weeks went by in a boring mix of avoiding the ever more angry, passive-aggressive Gryffindor's who were annoyed at how close the Slytherin/Gryffindor house points were and dealing with impending exams which according to every teacher in Hogwarts was a matter of life and death. They were all told several times a day that if they failed these exams they wouldn't be able to move on to second year.
Regular extra lessons from Snape kept Harry busy and for the most part not thinking about Fluffy, the stone, Dumbledore or McGonagall.
Ugh; McGonagall. Her never ending torment of Harry made him want to turn her into a stupid button rather than his beetle. He had no idea how he was going to pass his exams. He'd ended up paying Daphne three chocolate frogs and a liquorish wand to make him up a revision schedule.
Harry had his nose buried in a charms book over breakfast when Hedwig dropped a small letter next to him.
"Harry...Harry..." Draco said
Harry snapped to attention, "Sorry what?"
Draco waved the letter under Harry's nose. Harry smiled at him and took the letter.
"It's from Hagrid." Harry said scanning over the badly written, slightly singed letter, "He says he needs to see us; that there is something that he could use a hand with. Fancy heading down?"
"We have class Harry." Pansy pointed out pointing at the clock.
Harry sighed, "Sorry I hadn't realised it was so late."
He stuffed the book and letter into his bag and rushed off to class. Lunch time was taken up with a detention from Professor Binns because he was trying to read a transfiguration book under the desk. The one time that the batty old ghost paid attention.
So it was after tea, a dinner where Hargid was noticeably absent, that Harry, Draco and Neville found themselves wondering down to Hagrid's hut.
They knocked on the door and Hargid popped his head round the door, "Oh you're 'ere. Got a bit o' a problem."
"Hargid what's wrong?" Asked Neville, sure he could smell smoke, "Why is Fang outside?"
Hargid sighed and edged the door open a little more, "Orright, come in but don't freak out on me."
They moved slowly into the house and froze. Inside was a dragon about the size of a large baby elephant. It raised it's big black head and growled.
"Now now Norbet, Mummy's 'ere'."
"You named it!" Harry shirked
"Where did you get it Hagrid? It's illegal to traffic dragons." Draco hissed at him.
"Got him as an egg a few weeks back. Always wanted a dragon." Hagrid shrugged and looked more than a little sheepish.
"Hagrid, I'm sure that, that thin-that Norbet is a lovely….dragon but your house is made of wood. And from what you've said he's still only a baby he's going to grow." Draco said calmly not taking his eyes off the dragon that was pacing back and forth; looking like it was wanting to barbecue them all on the spot.
"I know! But 'e's still a baby, I can't just dump 'im!" Hagrid said loudly.
Harry shook his head, there was a dragon standing in front of him and Hagrid for some reason thought that they could help with it. A DRAGON!
"Right I'm going to do some research and we'll come back tonight." Neville said moving towards the door, "But I think it's time to say goodbye sooner rather than later Hagrid. Norbet is far too big and fiery to be a pet."
Hagrid nodded, "I know. But it's been a 'manzing experience."
They nodded and moved out the door,
"We'll see you tonight Hagrid." Harry called behind them.
They trudged back up to the castle and headed for the library. At curfew they went back to their dorms. Pansy saying she would go with them if Neville couldn't get out. They received a note shortly after that Percy was being a huge pain and watching Neville's every move towards the door of the Gryffindor tower so he was trapped in his dorm room. It was past midnight when Harry, Draco and Pansy found themselves tucked under the invisibility cloak tiptoeing down to Hagrid's.
They arrived to find a sobbing Hagrid clutching a torn teddy sitting on the front step.
"Hagrid are you all right?" Harry asked pulling the cloak off and sitting next to him, rather squished on the edge of the step, "Did you get hurt?"
"No no." Hagrid sniffed, "It's just, I gave 'im this teddy and 'e's torn it to bits."
Pansy picked up a bit of fluff and spun it between her fingers, "Why are you out here?" she asked hearing the thrashing from inside the cabin.
" 'e's just a bit worked up. Givin' 'im a bit o' space." Hagrid picked at his finger nails rather nervously. Harry could see Hagrid had a burn on his hand although it didn't look to fresh at least.
"Anyway we can calm him down?" Draco said worried about how much Hagrid's house was shaking, "Does he have a favourite snack or something?"
Hargid nodded, "Yeah we've got 'im some dead pheasants just round the back. Will you guys go get 'em?"
The three of them nodded and began to walk around the hut.
"What are we going to do?!" Pansy whispered roughly.
"I don't know but this isn't going to end well. It's clear that Hagrid can't cope and neither can his house." Harry said.
They spotted a hanging frame covered in pheasants, the blood pooling on the ground underneath them.
"Well that's just delightful." Draco huffed, wrinkling his nose.
"What were you expecting? Chocolate?" Harry hissed.
They marched over and grabbed a couple of the dead birds each. Harry fiddled with the knot when he heard a rustling nearby.
"Did you hear that?" He whispered, squinting in the dark.
"There's nothing there. We need to hurry up and get this over with." Draco huffed rubbing his frozen fingers together.
Pansy nodded at Harry. Harry shrugged his shoulders and finished undoing the knot slinging the bird over his shoulder.
They were marching back to the hut when the noise of disgust made them spin round.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "Three students out of bed! Stealing! There is no excuse!"
Hagrid wondered round to them, "They…."
"Oh no. Hagrid you caught us as well." Pansy said turning round to glare at Hagrid to get him to play along.
Hagrid nodded, "I'll take them." He took all the pheasants and slung them easily over his arm, "You could o' attracted somethin' real bad wi' this lot."
Harry and Draco bowed their heads.
"Thank you Hagrid, I'll take these three from here." Professor McGonagall said nodding to Hagrid, "You three follow me at once! Keep up."
She turned on her heels and marched quickly towards the castle. The three of them had to half jog to keep up with her.
"What are we going to say?" Pansy whispered.
"I don't know." Harry muttered, "We mustn't get Hagrid into trouble though. This could get him fired."
"He still has a dragon in the hut." Draco pointed out.
"I'll have to tell Dad. Hopefully he wont be to cross." Harry shrugged.
Professor McGonagall marched them into her office, slamming the door, and sent her Patronus off to fetch Professor Snape.
"Sit down at once!" She snapped.
Pansy, Draco and Harry turned around to see a smug looking Ron perched on one of the chairs, his feet up on another.
"Mr Weasley put your feet down!"
Ron did so, the self-satisfied look never leaving his face.
"I told you I heard something." Harry grumbled.
"Clearly it was the sound of a heavy footed snitch. That's the issue with Gryffindors. No loyalty to anyone!" Pansy snapped.
"Sit down!" Professor McGonagall boomed, "I will not have any rudeness. Especially from three students in as much trouble as you three are."
She waited for them all to sit before sitting straight backed behind her desk, "I am very disappointed in you all. All of you know that being out of bed after curfew is strictly against school rules, but sneaking out! Stealing! It is enough to have you removed from this school!" She took a few deep breaths, "As it is your first offence, you will loose fifty points each for sneaking out and an additional twenty points for stealing Miss Parkinson will loose ten more for being so rude earlier and all four of you will receive a detention."
"What do you mean all four of us?" Ron said the grin wiped off his face in a second.
"You may have been trying to be honourable, Mr Weasley, but you too were out of bed and around the grounds. Anything could have happened and these rules, which you also broke, are there to keep you safe. You will also lose the fifty points for sneaking out."
Ron huffed loudly and threw himself back in his chair loudly, sending hate filled looks towards Harry.
There was a sharp knock on the door.
"Come in." Professor McGonagall called.
Severus walked in and gave her a small nod, his face fell when he spotted the three students sitting awkwardly in the office being glared at by Ron.
"You called for me Professor." Snape said calmly.
"Yes. Three Slytherins, one of which I believe you know quiet well, were caught this evening out of bed and stealing from Hagrid. They have lost 220 points from Slytherin house and will each receive a detention." Professor McGonagall said sitting back in her seat as Snape's face at the thought of loosing so many points in one go, especially so near the end of term.
"And what about Mr Weasley who I assume was also out of bed?" Snape said sourly.
"He will also have a detention and has lost 50 points, the same number of points as the other students lost for being out of bed after curfew. He however was only tying to help and is not in your house so you don't need to know his punishment details." She huffed, "I suggest you remove your students from my office and make sure they get to bed this time. Maybe even make them stay there?"
Snape smiled politely, "Of course, if you three would like to follow me."
He opened the door. Harry, Pansy and Draco jumped to their feet and quickly left the room. Snape led them down the corridor and into his classroom; the already creepy classroom was made even worse by the lack of light.
Snape flicked his wand and the fire on the nearest desk sprung to life giving them enough light to see at least.
"What were you three thinking?" Snape hissed at them.
They remained quiet.
"Well?!" Snape demanded quietly, getting angry.
"We were trying to help." Pansy sniffed, trying not to cry.
"I'm sorry dad. Hagrid sent us a note saying he needed help, so we went down and...and he has a dragon. Someone gave him the egg and he wanted to keep it as a pet. Only it's going a bit nuts and he ripped up it's teddy-"
Snape put he's hand up to stop Harry speaking, "You should have come to me straight away with this. Dragons are very dangerous creatures and they need to be handled by someone who is fully trained. I am very disappointed with you all and will be writing to your parents. Now off to bed."
"I'm sorry Dad." Harry said making his way towards the door.
"I know you were only trying to help Harry." Snape sighed and rubbed his forehead, "It's going to be a tough little while for you. Slytherin hasn't lost the house cup in seven years and over two hundred points is going to cause a huge dent. Off to bed Harry. I'll see you in the morning."
Snape wrapped Harry in a hug before gently pushing him towards the door.
Harry woke the next morning, exhausted from only getting to bed at nearly three in the morning, and flumped down at the Slytherin table and began to butter some toast. He could hear people around him talking about how Slytherin could possibly have lost so many points in one night. They were now firmly at the bottom of the competition.
Draco and Pansy, looking equally tired, sat next to him and kept their heads down. A boy, they recognise as one of Ron's older brothers; one of the twins, stood up on the table and tapped a spoon of a glass of pumpkin juice.
"Attention everyone!" He called, "I, George Weasley, would like to make a toast, to Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and none other than famous Harry Potter; last night they selflessly lost Slytherin house over two-hundred points! Two-hundred and twenty to be precise, giving everyone else the best chance of winning the house cup they've ever had in years. As you all will have seen Slytherin is now well and truly loosing the house cup. So to Potter!" he cheered and drained his glass.
The other three tables began to clap loudly as Slytherin table turned to glare at Harry, Draco and Pansy.
"Mr Weasley get down this minute or you'll be loosing points!" McGonagall snapped.
George gave a small bow and grinned before jumping down to sit with his brothers, even Percy looked far too happy at his brother's speech.
Sally and Howard marched over. Sally slammed her hand down on the table making Harry, Draco and Pansy jump.
"Is it true?" She demanded.
They nodded solemnly.
"How? How could you loose so many points? The whole house has worked so hard this year!" Sally exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch with her anger.
"Slytherin hasn't lost in seven years and now we are at the bottom of the tables. How could you be so selfish?" Howard snapped.
"Look it's a long story." Draco said, "Talk to Snape if you want to know; I'm sure he'll fill you in on what you need to know."
Sally and Howard turned around angrily and stormed off. Harry sighed and flopped his head down on the table.
"I can't believe this is happening." Pansy said shaking her head, "It's only a few stupid points."
Harry and Draco nodded but none of them believed it. They knew they were in trouble and that in many ways they deserved the wall of cold shoulders from the other Slytherins and the sarcastic claps and thank yous from the other houses.
