February to April 1992, 1st year

As February went on, Professor Quirrel became noticeably thinner and paler and everyone took notice of it.

"Maybe you're on to something," Draco said to Lynea after another one of Quirrel's disappointing lessons. "Maybe he really is dying."

"What's that about Quirrel dying?" Pansy asked.

"Lynea told us out of the blue, right before Yule, that our lovely Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor has been slowly dying for months."

"I did," Lynea agreed. "I wonder if there have been any more attacks on unicorns – if it really is Quirrel, he might leave behind some evidence. Not that I want any of the unicorns harmed."

"It's the jinx taking effect," Pansy said conspiratorially and then shrugged, "or maybe he is just ill and will get better soon."

"Or maybe," Harry said, "Professor Snape is threatening him for preventing him from murdering me."

Draco shook his head. "Why would uncle Severus want to murder you?"

"Because he hates me. Why would Quirrel do it?"

"Because he will be gone by the end of the year anyway," Pansy said. "He's a very strange person – who knows what's actually going on in his head. For all we know, he might be secretly planning to commit mass murder and kill us all and then leave the school with a bang."

"Riding undead unicorns," Lynea added solemnly.

Harry stared at them and then threw his hands in the air. "You're all mad."

They stared at each other for a few more seconds until they couldn't keep their faces straight anymore and broke out into muffled laughter.

Professor Quirrel neither tried to commit mass murder nor did he seem to get any better as the weeks went by and February turned into March. They celebrated Ostara, the feast of balance, rebirth and fertility, right before the Easter Holidays and then used the break to work through the piles of homework their teachers had assigned them in preparation of the upcoming exams – over which Hermione was slowly losing her mind and driving the others mad.

At least she couldn't bother them too much whenever they were in the library, although she still tried. There was a reason neither of the Slytherins had bothered to learn any privacy spells, yet.

"Nine weeks is not nearly enough time to adequately prepare for the exams," she whispered furiously, when Harry tentatively suggested taking a break one day. "These exams are important. If we do not pass, then we can't move on to second year."

"Hermione," Harry whispered, "we are nearly finished with our homework. You have already memorized literally everything, and you can perform every spell we learned so far flawlessly. There is no reason why we can't take a break. Just look outside, Hermione. We haven't had such perfect weather in ages."

"Too warm for my liking," Lynea muttered and Harry sent a glare in her direction.

He was right, of course. They hadn't had such a cloudless day in a long time and the temperatures were starting to rise, albeit slowly.

Hermione looked ready to argue her point when she spotted something behind Lynea. Harry followed her line of sight and his eyes widened. Turning around, Lynea spotted Hagrid behind the shelves. Harry called out to him and the big man shuffled forward, failing to inconspicuously hide something behind his back.

"Jus' looking," he said and the tone of his voice made the others look up as well. "An' what're you lot up ter?"

"Homework," Harry said, "and studying for the exams."

"But those are months away," Hagrid said. "Shouldn' yeh be outside an' enjoy the fine weather?"

Harry raised his eyebrows at Hermione, who sighed in frustration.

"Why don' yeh come down and visit me later, hm? We haven' had a good talk in a while, Harry. Bring some o' yeh friends along," Hagrid said, looking at Hermione.

"We'll make sure to stop by," Harry said.

No sooner had Hagrid shuffled out of sight than Draco said, "I'm not going. I already had to suffer through one of his invitations and that will last me for a lifetime."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I really don't know what you have against him. Hagrid has been nothing but nice."

"To you," Draco shot back.

"If anyone is interested in what he was doing in here in the first place," came Theodore's voice from behind them. "It's dragons."

They hadn't even noticed him getting up, but Theodore had apparently just looked at the section Hagrid had been hiding in and come back with a pile of books.

"Hagrid has always wanted a dragon," Harry said. "He told me about it the first time I ever met him."

"Naturally," Draco huffed. "Big, dangerous beasts that could potentially eat him alive, if they don't burn him to a crisp first, are perfect for that – him, perfect for him."

"But why would he look them up now?" Harry wondered.

"No talking in the library!" came the librarian's voice, as Madam Pince rounded a corner, looking at them with narrowed eyes.

Harry put down his quill. "Alright, that's it. I'm done for today. Anyone else want some fresh air?"

"I do," Neville said. "Hermione?"

"But – I still need to study!"

Harry sighed. "I would like for you to meet Hagrid."

Lynea and other Slytherins looked at each other. At least one of them would have to accompany Harry. They trusted Neville and Hermione to take care of him, but rules were rules. Neither of them were particularly fond of Hagrid, so their silent communication turned into somewhat of a silent argument until Pansy gave in.

With Hermione gone, the Slytherins soon finished their work and dispersed to enjoy the rest of the day. Lynea went outside with Theodore and Daphne to read by the lake. Theodore had brought The Decline of Pagan Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, Lynea was enjoying The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by some Muggle author, and Daphne was reading Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart.

"I enjoy his books," Daphne had said at Lynea's and Theodore's raised eyebrows. "That does not mean I like him, as a person. That man is so narcissistic, he could give the Malfoys a run for their money. And I do not entirely believe his claims that he really did all of it, himself, either."

"We didn't say anything," Lynea had replied.

"No, but your auras practically screamed 'judgement' at me."

o

"He offered us stoat sandwiches," Pansy exclaimed indignantly. "Stoat sandwiches. When we have this at the castle." She gestured at the fine food on the table.

"Yes, Pansy," Draco said, rolling his eyes, "we all know how primitive our groundskeeper is."

"Hagrid is not primitive!" Harry said affronted, but Draco only waved at him dismissively.

"More importantly," Theodore interjected. "We should discuss that he has an actual dragon egg, which he won off of a stranger and intends to hatch and raise in his wooden hut."

"Well," Pansy said. "It's not like we expected him to hatch some brilliant plan, did we?" She snickered at her own play on words.

"Do you still want to eat that?" Gregory asked Harry, who hadn't continued eating his dinner for a while now. Harry shrugged and then pushed his plate over to him.

Vincent looked expectantly at Lynea's barely touched meal, but Millicent whacked him lightly on the head and then raised her eyebrows at Lynea.

"I'm trying," Lynea said, but she knew it was a futile attempt. She had suddenly started feeling sick right in the middle of eating a rather fine dish of grilled vegetables and the nausea hadn't gone away, yet.

Harry was slowly starting to get better at eating a healthy amount of food, although sometimes his eyes were bigger than his stomach. But Lynea could neither manage to increase the amount of food she ate, nor predict when her body decided to feel nauseated and when everything was fine. She had written to her grand-aunt to aske for advice, but Naenia's answer had not been helpful in the slightest.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Theodore asked.

"We should investigate the stranger that gave him the egg in the first place," Draco said.

"We?" Daphne said. "We're eleven year old children –"

"Twelve," Blaise interjected.

Daphne glared at him. "Twelve, eleven – does it matter? We're children. It's not our responsibility to investigate shady characters, that's for the adults to do."

"We can at least report the issue to Professor Snape," Lynea said. "Then he can decide how to proceed."

"I don't trust Snape," Harry said. "What if he hurts Hagrid? Hagrid has always wanted a dragon. I don't want to take this away from him. And besides, we don't know whether Snape isn't actually behind this, after all."

"Putting aside the fact, that Hagrid shouldn't raise a dragon in any case," Lynea said, "because he acquired that egg through illegal means, the act itself is also illegal without a licence, he still lives in a wooden hut and he's hardly competent enough to raise such a dangerous creature, least of all on the school grounds where it could easily endanger the students." She paused to take a breath. "What do you mean by saying Snape might be behind this?"

Harry furrowed his brows at her words. "All the more reason not to go to Snape – he will only get Hagrid into trouble for owning an illegal dragon."

"He needs to face the consequences for his actions, Harry," Lynea said, trying to be gentle. "He is an adult and needs to take responsibility. Now, what was that about Snape?"

It was Pansy, who answered. "They're hiding something very valuable in the castle. Something that is related to both Headmaster Dumbledore and a Nicholas Flamel. And it is being protected by different contraptions made by Hagrid and our teachers."

Lynea and the others looked at her in bewilderment.

"How do you even know that in the first place?" Theodore asked.

"Oh, you know," Pansy said, fluttering her fingers, "give him some empty flatteries and he will be ready to tell you anything." She smirked. "It's like throwing bones to a dog."

"Hagrid is not a dog!" Harry exclaimed. "Could you all please stop insulting him all the time?!"

Draco shook his head. "Oh, Harry. Just accept it already – no one likes that oaf except for you. And we might be willing to be polite to him for your sake, but you can't make us like him."

Harry scowled. "I don't understand what you have against him."

"A lot of things, Harry, darling," Blaise said. "Many of which we have already mentioned several times, but you either just won't listen to us or you think they're actually endearing traits." He shook his head. "We can't help you, if you remain stubborn about this."

"Hagrid is my friend and I don't like it when people bad-mouth my friends."

"Is it bad-mouthing if it's the truth?" Blaise asked and earned himself a furious glare from Harry.

"Back to the more urgent matters," Lynea interrupted. "So Dumbledore is hiding a valuable object at Hogwarts – which we haven't identified, yet – and you think Snape is after it. Why?"

"He was limping right after Halloween," Harry said. "You remember that, right? And his mood was worse than normal – obviously, the troll was a distraction, so he could try to get past the protections, but he failed."

Lynea frowned. "That's a rather farfetched theory, if you ask me."

"I just have a feeling that this is it. And – and maybe trying to kill me with Bludgers had something to do with that as well."

Lynea shook her head. "I really can't follow your logic there, Harry. It sounds to me like you're just childishly clinging to some wild theory you came up with and don't want to accept that maybe it wasn't Snape who tried to kill you, but Quirrel."

"It's not childish!" Harry exclaimed.

"Well, you are a child," Draco pointed out.

Daphne sighed. "We are all children."

"While we're on the matter of Quirrel …" Lynea said, deep in thought. "Harry's whole theory could just as well be applied to him. And he might even have a proper reason – he's still dying, after all. Maybe whatever they are hiding in the school is something that could prolong his life."

"Maybe we could find some clues if we look up the other person you mentioned," Theodore mused. "What was his name?"

"Nicholas Flamel," Pansy answered.

"I know that name," Gregory said slowly and all eyes went to him. He shrugged. "Can't remember from where, though."

"We could ask Hermione," Draco said, earning himself a few astonished looks. "That girl knows nearly everything – she's like a walking library or something."

"Let's do that," Lynea agreed. "And what do we do about the dragon egg?"

"Tell Professor Snape," Theodore said and then glanced at Harry. "You might not trust him, but he is our Head of House."

"We could go to Dumbledore," Harry grumbled.

There was an exclamation of "No!" from several of the Slytherins.

"What do you guys even have against him?" Harry asked. "He's the headmaster, he must be a good person."

Theodore raised an eyebrow. "Just like Snape is a teacher and must be a good person?"

Harry scowled. "You guys certainly think he is."

Lynea sighed. "This is becoming very similar to the whole Hagrid debate. We're still in public, in case you all forgot. This is not an issue we should discuss during dinner."

Draco straightened up and nodded. "We are mostly finished anyway." He looked at Vincent and Gregory. "Will you be done soon?"

Gregory nodded, while Vincent just grunted.

"Good," Draco said. "Then we shall wait for you and head back together. We will continue this discussion once we're in our common room."

Their conversation was a very lengthy one where they mostly went around in circles, never quite managing to agree on anything, because Harry remained stubborn about Snape and the others remained stubborn about Dumbledore and they all tried to ignore the Hagrid issue altogether. It nearly evolved into a full fight when Draco pointed out that Harry was the only one who opposed and Harry nearly broke out into tears because he felt they were being unfair with him and all he ever wanted was to have friends and a place he could call home and they were actively ruining that for him. Then they suddenly had a 'don't make Harry cry' faction, made of Lynea, Tracey and Daphne, and a 'Harry is just overreacting' faction, made of Draco and Pansy, while the rest tried to mediate between them.

In short: It was a mess.

"Alright!" Lynea eventually said loudly. "Everyone kindly shut up!"

And they all listened, because she was still the one with the highest authority among them and this was what the hierarchy was for. "This is not doing us any good. Theodore, do you have an idea what we could do to solve the problem with the dragon egg?"

"Go to an adult we all see as trustworthy. It doesn't have to be either Professor Snape or Dumbledore – there are other people around."

Lynea nodded and looked around. "Any proposals?"

"Professor Flitwick," Tracey said.

"Professor McGonagall," was Daphne's suggestion.

Blaise snorted. "If we're naming Heads of Houses, then Professor Sprout."

Lynea rolled her eyes. "That is not what this is about, Blaise. But then again, they are the Heads of Houses for a reason. Anyone else?"

There was a pause and then a general shaking of heads.

Lynea nodded. "Let's put it to a vote."

That, finally, got them somewhere and they decided to approach Professor McGonagall the next day with a majority of six people.

Their transfiguration teacher listened to them carefully and then accompanied Harry, Lynea, Pansy and Draco down to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid, of course, tried his best to hide the egg from her, but he wasn't very subtle about it and Professor McGonagall would not be deterred. She very sternly told a teary-eyed Hagrid that he could not possibly try to raise an illegal dragon in his wooden home, endangering himself and the students and then, in a softer voice, assured him that she would make sure the creature would be taken care of by people who knew how to handle dragons. Apparently, a former student of hers was currently working at a dragon preservation in Romania.

"Charlie Weasley," she told the Slytherins, "he is the older brother of your classmate, Ronald Weasley."

Draco sneered at that, but was elbowed in the side by Lynea before Professor McGonagall could see his expression.

Their Transfiguration teacher then proceeded to give Hagrid a very lengthy lecture about his inappropriate and highly immature behaviour – delighting Draco and abashing Harry (Lynea reserved judgement) – and finished by telling him that she would have to inform Professor Dumbledore, which seemed to be what hit Hagrid the hardest.

Apart from the fact that the dragon hatched before Charlie Weasley and is co-workers arrived to retrieve it, Professor McGonagall's plan went over without a hitch and everyone (except, probably, Hagrid) heaved a sigh of relief – even Harry was glad the issue had been resolved mostly peacefully.

"That's sorted, then," Draco said, as they were watching 'Norbert's' departure. "If only all our problems could be solved that easily."

Lynea, thinking back on their heated discussion from several days ago, would hardly call the whole process 'easy', but the issue had certainly been resolved very fast.

Meanwhile, Hagrid had grown very attached to the dragon, even though the little menace had bitten his dog, nearly set his house on fire several times and thrashed around in his little room quite a bit. The big man was sobbing heavily, Harry looked sadly on, while the other Slytherins only watched the proceedings with intertest.

Lynea shrugged. "Unfortunately, we can't have everything in life."

Draco snorted. "You sound like an old woman."

"Always with the compliments," Lynea huffed and Draco laughed.

Later that day, Harry quietly admitted that maybe Hagrid wasn't always making the best decisions, but he was still the first person to be truly nice to Harry and he wished the others would respect him more – even if it was only for Harry's sake.

The Slytherins exchanged meaningful looks at that and then nodded dutifully. They would try, for Harry's sake.