It was, indeed, a dragon.
Hermione was aghast.
She'd tagged along with Harry, Ron, and Neville the next day for their visit. Hagrid's love for the tiny dragon he'd named Norbert was adorable, but vastly outclassed by Hermione's alarm.
"Hagrid, it's illegal to raise a dragon like this," Ron tried again. "You could get thrown in prison if they find out."
"Aw, but I can't just let him go! He needs his mummy," Hagrid proclaimed. "You love your mummy, don'tcha, Norbert?"
Hagrid dangled a strip of raw steak in front of Norbert, who leapt and snapped it out of his hand. Hagrid laughed in delight, while the rest of them flinched at the many rows of sharp teeth the baby dragon had rapidly developed.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," Hermione pointed out. "Baby dragons grow very rapidly, and they're very testy. Norbert isn't going to have enough room to grow."
Hagrid's face fell, but perked right back up.
"We'll take Norbert to the forest, when 'e's old enough," Hagrid said. "He'll love it – lotsa game to hunt and burn."
Hermione exchanged a dismayed look with Harry. Dragons preferred open plains and cliffs – places where they could stretch their wings and fly. Dragons didn't live inside forests naturally.
"We still need to worry about Malfoy," Harry told Hagrid, reminding him. "He could go to Dumbledore at any moment."
Draco Malfoy was too busy laughing over the idiocy of Hagrid to bother going to Dumbledore, Hermione knew. He and Blaise had started a pool over how long it would take until Hagrid's hut burned down. Hermione had declined to participate.
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I – I know I can't keep 'im forever, but I can't jus' dump him. He's too little. He'd die."
Harry suddenly turned to Ron.
"Charlie – your brother, Charlie. He works with dragons, right?"
Ron's eyes widened.
"Brilliant! He can take him and raise him until he can go out into the wild."
Harry turned to Hagrid. "How about it, Hagrid? He'd be safe, at a dragon preserve."
Hermione watched as Harry and Ron gradually persuaded Hagrid around, who eventually agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him to take the dragon.
That night, she reported back to her housemates what she had learned.
"They're going to ship him off to Romania?" Draco scowled. "That's no fun."
"Having a dragon around is dangerous," Blaise pointed out. "Better they get rid of it now, while it's young, before it comes and terrorizes us one day in the middle of Herbology and eats someone."
Draco grumbled, which meant Blaise had made a good point.
"This can be turned into an opportunity, though," Hermione suggested. "Hagrid is too conspicuous. Ron will have to be the one to slip the dragon to his brother, somehow."
Draco's eyes gleamed.
"Downfall to Weasley," he said, nodding.
Hermione nodded back, then blinked. When had 'downfall to Weasley' become such a reflexive response to anything remotely involving Ron?
Blaise looked thoughtful.
"He's been ignoring our taunts for a while, now," he said. "This is a good idea to get him in trouble again."
Draco clapped his hands together, malicious glee in his eyes.
"Hermione, you'll find out when the trade-off is happening?" he asked her. Hermione, reluctantly, nodded.
"You'll have to make it seem like you found out some other way," she warned. "I'm not having them accuse me of being a traitor – not when I still have to get Ron to make me cry."
"Of course," Blaise assured her. "We'll even let Potter get away and just get Weasley, if it makes you feel better."
It did make her feel better, though Draco scowled and had to be persuaded around by Blaise.
It was while her friends were waiting around for an owl from Charlie Weasley that Hermione unexpectedly received an owl herself.
Hermione Granger, the letter began.
Hermione Granger,
These are loan contracts. Sign them with the enclosed quill. Then mail them back. Do this soon.
Bloodthorne
There was an addendum scribbled at the end.
I have had these for a while, but it is only with some resistance in paying us back
from one of the borrowers that I have felt you must sign these.
Do not let anyone see you use the quill.
Hermione slipped into an empty classroom to quickly sign the contracts, hissing at the use of the blood quill. She felt a sting on her hand, as if the quill was sucking blood right out through her palm.
There were more contracts than she'd thought there would be. She'd expected three to four; she'd received nearly twenty.
No matter – she scribbled her signature several times, before an idea caught in her head, and she hurried back to her dorm.
Flipping open her trunk, Hermione pulled out her latest batch of galleons (Jade and her friends had been very happy to order from Hermione's mysterious makeup friend) in a feather-light bag. After a moment, she pulled out her prize from the obstacle course as well. If it was something valuable, better to put it somewhere where it would be safe.
I have signed the contracts. Hermione wrote. Also, please deposit these in my vault. I trust you know what to do with them. Hermione.
Hermione grinned to herself. With another 160 galleons, Bloodthorne could make another few loans. It might take a while, but the interest would surely add up.
The wretched-looking owl the Gringotts goblin had sent was still circling the Great Hall when Hermione returned, though breakfast was breaking up. It flew down at her beckoning, and Hermione tied on the parchments and bags on securely. She gave the bird a rasher of bacon and tossed it into the air, and it flew off with a defiant hoot.
"Heavy mail, Hermione?" Theo commented, lagging behind to walk with her to Potions.
Hermione shrugged, smiling. "Just taking care of some business."