The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 22: Even the Best Laid Plans

The next morning, the plan to rid themselves of Norbert was put in danger. When they woke up, Ron's bitten hand had swollen up to twice its usual size. They didn't want to risk bringing him to the hospital wing, worrying that Madam Pomfrey would recognize a dragon bite, but the choice was taken away from them in the afternoon. Ron's cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It turned out that Norbert's fangs were poisonous.

At the end of the day, Jason, Harry, and Hermione rushed to the hospital wing to find Ron in a terrible state.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy made an excuse to come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell Madam Pomfrey what really bit me - I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me - I shouldn't have fought Malfoy at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

The three of them tried to calm Ron down, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione tried, but that didn't soothe Ron at all. In fact, it only made things worse, as Ron bolted upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no - oh no - I've just remembered - Charlie's letter was in a book that Malfoy took. His excuse to see me was that he needed to borrow a book. He's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

"We'll just have to deal with this," Jason assured Ron. "Don't worry, we will get through this, and then we won't have to worry about any bloody dragons anymore."

Ron opened his mouth to survive, but they never heard what he had to say, as Madam Pomfrey came over. She made them leave, saying that Ron needed sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told them as they made their way out of the castle to find Hagrid and tell him about Charlie's letter. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the Invisibility Cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that. Since Ron can't go, Jason will go with me."

"And we'll be sure we're extra careful," Jason added.

Fang was sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they reached Hagrid's hut. When they knocked, Hagrid only opened the window to speak with them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage - nothin' I can't handle."

When they told Hagrid about Charlie's letter, he started to cry. Although they couldn't tell if he was crying because Norbert was being taken away, or because Norbert had just bit his leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, it was jus' on my boot, he's jus' playing. He's only a baby, after all."

The huts windows raddled as the baby banged its tail on the wall. On the way back to the castle, all Jason could think was that he couldn't wait for Saturday to come.

The plan went astray once again on Saturday. They had spent the day worrying about what they had to do. Jason felt confident that with the Invisibility Cloak they would be able to get Norbert to Charlie's friends and back to the Common Room undetected. By the time they went for lunch, Jason was more worried about how Hagrid would handle having to say goodbye to Norbert. He was thinking of ways to cheer up Hagrid once Norbert was gone when he was interrupted.

"Hey Jason, want to play some chess?"

Jason looked up to see Quinn and Harper standing next to him.

"I heard Ron was in the hospital wing," Harper said. "When he gets out I'm planning on challenging him to a match and finally beating him, so I need some practice."