Harry potter and the Time of Retirement
Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Chapter 20
"Hannah, could you…" said Wayne, pointing at the empty orange juice pitch.
It was lunch time, with all the students being quite busy eating and talking between each other. Nothing special, except that they had all been warned during their morning classes how the headmaster had an announcement to give, and so they were expected to be present.
That had aroused some of their interest before, but it soon gave way to hunger and – beside the fact that for once the Great Hall lacked the usual stream of kids coming and going, everything seemed normal. It was only near the end of lunch hour, when most of the students were obviously done with eating, that Dumbledore stood up and draw their attention by clinking his chalice with a spoon.
"Silence, silence please" he started, as amiably as always.
"It's about time for all of you to go back to class, so I will be brief. Due to unpredictable, but lucky circumstances our school has just took possession of a dragon egg" said Dumbledore.
While not chaotic, the reaction of the students was of obvious excitement. Whispers started to spread around the hall, though most stopped when the gaze of the professors, all lined beside the headmaster, fell upon them.
"Silence, please. Some of you may not know that, due to the danger they pose, dragons are strictly found only in their reserves nowadays and private possession of a living specimen is generally forbidden. Our school has received a special permission to host this egg, though, for as long as it is safe to keep it and the cub that will eventually hatch" continued Dumbledore.
"Professor Kettleburn, here" said Dumbledore, waving to the man sitting a couple chairs on his left "has agreed to give special lessons about it and its development each evening. Every day of the week, each day open to a year only: Monday the first years, Sunday the seventh, starting today."
"Those who wish to participate only need to show up – participation is voluntary, but extra credits for Care of Magical Creatures will be awarded to those that are enrolled in the class. Just show yourself at Mr. Hagrid's hut, our groundskeeper, at 6 p.m."
Concluded his small speech, Dumbledore allowed a couple of students to ask some questions. Those ranged from serious – "Can we extract ingredients for potions, headmaster?" asked a random older year – to the lighthearted "Can we ride it once its big enough?" from the Weasley twins.
Eventually, they were all dismissed: Harry's classmates, recovering their bags from the floor, moved in group towards their next class, History.
Unsurprisingly, also due to the utter disinterest everyone had towards the subject, they usually passed that hour talking between himself even when there was no new gossip to share. This time, all the boys purposedly remained nearby each other.
"A dragon! Cool" started Justine.
"Dragons are hot, moron" countered Zacharias.
"It's the muggle word for when something is amazing, Zach" said Wayne.
"Eh" was Ernie's only comment.
Justin, that had been glaring at Zacharias with disdain, restarted talking.
"Anyway. It is…. nice! The only animals I have seen until now are those from Defence, and they are all lame."
"For now it is only an egg, though. Wonder where it came from?" asked Ernie to no one in particular.
"Harry, aren't you a friend of the groundskeeper? When did you learn about this egg?" added Wayne.
"I saw you going inside his hut lately, too. You could have shared the news with us, you know?" said Zacharias. The others seemed to agree.
"I knew already, sure, but I was asked not to tell it around" lied effortlessy Harry.
"We would have kept the secret! Come on" whined Justin.
Harry looked at him with a teasing expression, smiled, and said nothing. Justin seemed to get irritated, while Zacharias sniggered.
"Whatever. So, how is this dragon? I mean, the egg" asked Wayne.
"Big, black, unimpressive for now. Oh, and it has to stay constantly inside a fire."
"Weeeird" said Ernie.
"You know the specie, too?" asked Zacharias.
At this, Harry tried to dig deep into his old memories. Total blank.
"….no, sorry. In any case, this is all stuff that Kettleburn guy will tell us on Monday."
"Is the lesson going to be inside the hut? There is not enough space for all of us, inside that shack" said Ernie – only to grimace when Harry turned at him with an offended expression.
"They'll find a way, I am sure. Beside, once the egg hatch, the dragon will be able to get out of the fire… right?" asked Wayne, turning towards Harry. The others did, too.
"Since when I am an expert in dragons?" countered Harry.
"True that. But you usually have an answer, if we ask something" said Justin ironically. No one else denied it.
"My answer is that we should at least pretend we are listening to the ghost. And, yeah, a dragon cub does not need a fire anymore" said tiredly Harry, thinking of his youth.
"Know it all" commented Zacharias, in a low voice. Wayne and Ernie sniggered, and then everyone focused back on the lesson – for a while at least.
A couple days after, it was the first years' turn to attend their lesson around Hagrid's hut. The egg still had not hatched, though professor Kettleburn insisted it was really close to it, so they had to take turn inside the hut to watch it while the lesson proper had been kept on a meadow nearby. For all of them this was the first time they even heard a lesson in Care of Magical Creatures, so professor Kettleburn must have decided to keep it simple and focused on what the kids could enjoy.
After an hour, he let them go and so a wave of kids went slowly back to the castle, for dinner. While the houses sticked mostly to themselves there were also kids going from one group to the other to chat with friends and similar. Harry, too, left his group of Hufflepuff – quite busy to talk about the coming hatch of the egg, or how shabby Hagrid's hut was – and moved towards the first years of Gryffindor.
Getting close, he could hear what they were talking about – and he was not surprised by the topic.
"Come on, there are lots of professors here. They would be able to keep it" said an obviously excited Dean Thomas.
"No! Wasn't professor Kettleburn clear? You can't tame a dragon. No one can, they are too violent" said Hermione.
"Dumbledore could, probably" said casually Ron.
"I said that…" started Hermione, before grunting and giving up. The other Gryffindor girls teased her for still trying, and Harry was surprised – and pleased – to see that Hermione, instead of becoming angry, ironically commented that even she did not know who was more hopeless of the two.
"Can you imagine playing quidditch riding dragons?" was saying, in the meantime, Seamus Finningan.
"Wow, that would be awesome" commented Neville.
"For those ten seconds before they ate you, sure" said Harry, getting finally close enough.
"Ehi Harry – Hi Potter – Hey" said the kids and some of the girls.
"Hi all. Ron, I need a favor" said Harry.
"Really? What about? Said Ron.
"Just tell your twin brothers I would like to talk to them. If they are free after dinner..." said Harry.
"Why don't you talk them directly?" asked Dean.
"Haven't been introduced yet. So, Ron?" said Harry.
"Sure, I guess. No problem. Harry, what do you think of the egg? A dragon is about to hatch!" said Ron.
"Is it true the groundskeeper showed it to you before everyone?" asked Lavender Brown, a bit behind them.
"Yes. I visit him once in a while, so I knew about it already" answered Harry.
"Of course" said Hermione, in a neutral tone. Harry stared at her for a second, but said nothing.
"Do you think we could go there with you, when the dragon get out?" asked Seamus.
"It would be nice to be there without a crowd" said Parvati Patil.
"Sorry, but no. It would not be fair to the others, or Hagrid" said Harry.
"But you are going to go visit again, right?" asked Ron to Harry.
"Sure."
"It's not fair to the others – or Hagrid" said Hermione, again with no discernible tone in her voice.
"Maybe to the others, true. Lucky me?" said Harry, shrugging. Hermione just shook her head.
"Harry, ask Hagrid if we will be able to ride it" said Dean.
"We won't, Neville. Dragons are really hard to control, even when cubs" answered Harry.
"You too, Potter? Listen: you can't tame a dragon" said Hermione, now obviously irritated.
"Goblins do, actually, or get close enough to it. And I heard of three people that once managed to ride one – though that could have been just a story" answered Harry.
"Are you serious?" asked Neville, wide-eyed. In the meantime, they had all managed to reach the entrance of the castle.
"I am – ask Kettleburn, next time" said Harry. "I am going now, bye all. Ron, thanks for the favor" said Harry moving away. A chorus of goodbyes followed him, while Harry walked faster to catch up with his own classmates.
It did not take long, and soon Harry was sitting at his table with his own housemates.
"I'm back. Did you reserve me a place?" asked Harry.
"Sure, there. What were you talking about with them?" asked Wayne.
"Just asking Weasley for stuff" said Harry, sitting down and considering what to eat that night.
"Watch out Harry, he'll become a stalker if you are not careful" said Justin.
"What is a stalker?" asked Ernie.
"My dad said its guys that follow famous people" answered Justin.
"He probably meant someone more famous than me, Justin. Or attractive" sniggered by himself Harry, while picking some roasted chicken. At the blank stare of all the boys around him, he just sighed.
"Just eat, please. This is not something you have to worry about, yet" said Harry, starting eating himself. Everyone else shrugged eventually went back to their own business.
The dinner was almost over and, while still dining and talking with the kids around him, Harry had made sure to check what was happening at Gryffindor's table. He could see, then, how Ron talked a little with one of the twins before sitting down so he was not caught unaware later when the two of them left their table to come at his. After a couple seconds, he could feel someone tapping on his shoulder.
"Hello Potter" said one.
"Ron says you wanted to talk to us" said the other.
"Sure I do, thanks. Let's go somewhere else, if you have the time" said Harry.
"Why, what are you planning that couldn't be said in front of your friends here?" said teasingly one of them.
"You might be a weird 'puff, but you should not leave them behind" added the other.
"If I needed something I could describe in public, I would not need you two" said Harry smiling, while standing up. Behind him, some protests rose from the other first years.
"Good point. Let's go, we have some free time" said a twin.
"You better deliver on being interesting though, or you'll regret it" said the other, faking a menacing look that soon disappear again under their friendly attitude.
Relaxed, Harry started walking: first out of the great hall and then towards some random hallway. There were some paintings around, but Harry was not worried about them eavesdropping.
"Far enough, Potter. Come on, spit it out" said a twin.
"Out of curiosity, what are your names?" asked Harry, casually. The twins, unsurprisingly, seemed happy at the question.
"Oh, I am George" said one.
"I am Fred" said the other.
"Sure you are" snorted Harry. "In short, I need something that should be inside Filch's office, and I am not sure I can take it by myself. Here you are, then."
"Wow, no matter our reputation we don't just help because someone asks, kiddo" said 'Fred'.
"Yep. No offense, Potter, but being famous is not enough" said 'George'.
"Really? Not even for the glory of doing it under his nose?" asked Harry, lightly.
"That's tempting, of course" said one.
"But the answer is still no" said the other.
"Fair enough. I offer you free use of the item we need to rescue. Well, only once in a while, it's still mine" said Harry, now getting focused.
"Really? What does a first year have, that we could find it interesting?" asked one.
"Your autograph, maybe? Mind you, I do know someone that would be interested in it" said the other, tapping his twin with the elbow, which grinned widely himself. An inside family joke, that made Harry feel a pang of nostalgia. He squashed it immediately, though, as it was not the right time.
"It's actually a family heirloom, a map of Hogwarts. That shows where everyone is at any moment" said casually Harry. The effect on the twins was obvious.
"Wait, what?" said one.
"A map of Hogwarts?" asked the other.
"Yes. Quite useful i am sure, made by my dad and his three best friends. I want it back, Filch has no right to keep it" said Harry.
The twins had fallen silent, and Harry could not blame them. It was quite the surprise, he had just dumped on them. Still, he needed the map – and for something more serious than school pranks or however else they used it.
"Potter…" started Fred, unsure.
"Can we think this over a little, first?" continued George.
"Sure, don't worry. Ron swear you joke around a lot, but are both honest. I know you won't backstab me" said Harry, with a completely fake but naïve-looking expression. The twins seemed troubled, but kept their control and after hurriedly greeting Harry they left him behind.
'Make the right choice, guys' thought Harry, still unsure about the path he had chosen. He felt no moral trouble, if necessary, in stunning them and just taking back his map; he still wanted to leave that as a final option. Giving them a chance to return it back honestly felt better to Harry, especially towards Fred.
'Let me work and you'll live this time around' thought Harry, sad and again full of old memories. Shaking his head, he started moving towards his common room. There was nothing else to do, for the day.
Author's notes: a first draft of the last scene involved Harry asking the twins for general help in moving around the castle, and them offering the map for service. It really felt lazy – even forgetting how he and Ron are not that friendly this time around, it is just not convincing that they would give up on something so obviously valuable. Kids are NOT that generous, and I can't imagine someone coming from a poor family to casually give around the few items they obviously value. To your own brother, and his best friend that coincidentally also saved your little sister's life? Sure. To a random kid? No way.