I know this is know whole chapter in the book, but it was getting too long. So I broke it down and made it two.
You understand :)
Chapter 13: Norbert Part 1
Quirrell was braver than we thought. Weeks had passed work nothing happening, and he didn't look as nervous as he usually did.
Every time we would pass the third-floor corridor, the three of us would press our ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling or snoring inside. Snape was still being a greasy bitch, of course. And we had began to be a bit nicer to Quirrel and encourage others to do the same.
Hermione, being the studious student (kinder than saying know-it-all) that she was, had started drawing up study schedules for us and color coding all her notes. At first, we didn't mind. But then she started nagging us to do the same.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away." said Harry.
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old." I reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for? You already know you'll get A's."
"What am I studying for? Are you crazy?" said Hermione in a mental voice. "You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important! I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me."
"I could ask the same question." I mumbled to Harry, who snickered.
"I heard that!"
Unfortunately, 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 practicing wand movements. Hermione drug us the the bloody library every chance she got
"I'll never remember this!" I exclaimed, throwing down my quill and looking out of the library window like a lost puppy. It was sunny and warm outside. Perfect day for a fly or a lazy day of lounging,around by the lake. But no. We were trapped under Hermione's educational dictatorship.
I looked over and saw someone walk into the door. "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid looked like he was trying to hide something behind his back. He should have known not to do that in front of our nosy selves.
"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice peaked our interest even more.
"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." I said as if the matter was nothing. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St-"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid interrupted, looking around 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."What's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy?"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "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 Harry, smiling.
Hagrid walked off, still trying to avoid something being shown.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" pondered Hermione.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" asked Harry.
"I'm going to see what section he was in." I said, getting up and going to the place where he had been standing. As I scanned the titles, my mouth dropped. Why would he be looking op books for this?
I pulled some titles and brought them back over to Harry and Hermione.
"Dragons!" I whispered. "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's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." said Harry.
"But it's against our laws." I said. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from 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.
"Of course there are." I said. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind 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.
"There's only one way to find out." I said, pulling Hermione up and I got up and walked towards the door.
Anything to get the hell out of there.
We knocked at Hagrid's door. The hut's curtains were drawn, which Hagrid never did.
"Who is it?" he called before he let us is. Once he seen it was us, he yanked us in, closing the door quickly after him.
It was so hot, I felt my face was going to melt. I felt like I was in the inside of Percy's room on a summer day. And that's hot.
"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" he asked, nervously
"Yes," said Harry. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer'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? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"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 is a sweet and innocent voice that made Hagrid smile. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid seemed honored by her words. Harry and I grinned at Hermione.
"That was brilliant." I whispered in her ear.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that. Let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me, then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?" the three of us said at the same time.
"Yeah. Yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
"Well if he is protecting it, why is he trying to steal it?" I mumbled loud enough for Harry and Hermione to hear. Both gave tiny nods in agreement.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren't you, Hagrid?" asked Harry. "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 us. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."
"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid, glancing over at the fire for some reason, causing us to look over as well
"Hagrid, what's that ?" I asked.
I already knew what it was. There was no mistaken it. I had seen way too many pictures of them in all kinds of colors and patterns from Charlie's old study guides.
"Ah," said Hagrid "That's...er..."
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" I asked, crouching over the fire, trying to get a better look. "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."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" asked Hermione.
He went in to explain the books that he had read about how he had gained enough knowledge to take care of one. Or so he thought. It was bad enough he had a bloody dragon egg. It was even worse when he said that it was gonna hatch into a Norwegian Ridgeback. Very rare, and, if I remembered correctly, very dangerous.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house." said Hermione, looking worriedly at Hagrid.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life." I said with a sigh as we returned to Gryffindor. Studying didn't seem like a bad idea after all now.
A few days later, at breakfast, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid. He had written only two words:
IT'S HATCHING!
"Brilliant!" I said. "We can ditch Herbology, and then-"
"We aren't skipping anything!" said Hermione, firmly.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" I said, almost whining.
"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-"
"Shut up!" Harry whispered suddenly.
Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped to listen. By the look on his face, we could tell that he heard something. Smug git.
We started to make our way to Herbology. However, I was too intent on seeing this hatching. There was no way I was going to miss this.
"Come on Hermione, let's just skip it! We would hardly be missed! How many times do you think you will see a dragon hatching in your life?" I argued.
"No!" said Hermione. "I refuse to skip class for some silly dragon that will get all of us into trouble!"
"Silly dragon? Silly dragon?! It's a bloody Norwegian Ridgeback!" I said, flabbergasted.
"I don't care what kind it is! I'm not going to fail because a dragon is hatching out of its egg! A dragon that isn't supposed to be here in the first place!" Hermione snapped.
I heard Harry groan from behind us.
"You're never going to fail because you're already top of the class, Hermione, damn! Come on, live a little!"
"No Ronald! We are going to class!"
I put my foot down. Something had to be done. We were going to see this, she had to see reason.
I jumped in front of her and dropped to my knees.
"Hermione, I'm begging you!" I pleaded, linking my hands together. "We will more than likely never get an opportunity to see this ever again in life! You've read about dragons right? Think of it as a hands on project. Instead of reading about it, we can witness it! Please Hermione? I'm literally begging you!"
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright." she said. "BUT...we go AFTER Herbology, as soon as first break starts. And after that, we go to our next class."
Harry and I each latched onto her.
"Get off!"
When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, we were the first ones out the greenhouse, running until we stopped in front of Hagrid's hut. We pounded at the door. Hagrid answered, looking beside himself.
"It's nearly out." he said, letting us in. We rushed over to the table and gathered around it. The egg was lying in the middle of it. There were deep cracks in it already and you could hear the movement inside. We drew chairs up to us and sat down, staring intently at the egg
Suddenly there was a scraping noise and the egg cracked open. The baby dragon flopped onto the It was all black with spiny wings that were way bigger than his tiny body, it had a long nose with nostrils you could stick your pinky in, tiny horn stubs, and eyes the color of ripe pumpkins. When it sneezed, sparks flew out of its nose, creating tiny embers on the wooden table that we quickly snuffed out.
"Isn't he beautiful ?" Hagrid beamed as he reached out to stroke the dragon's head. The dragon snapped at his fingers, letting him know it very well had sharp fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.
The three of us looked at each other. Mummy? Meal was more like it.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when suddenly his mouth gaped open and he jumped up, eyes staring at a window.
"What's the matter?" asked Harry.
"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. He turned and looked solem at us and we instantly knew.
It was that bloody git Malfoy. And he had seen everything.