Emily Lily Lupin-Black

1. Chapter 11 Norbet

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than We'd thought. In the weeksthat followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look asthough he'd cracked yet.Every time we passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was stillgrowling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, whichsurely meant that the Stone was still safe. Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone.She had started drawing up study schedules and colour coding all her notes. Harry, Ron and I wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same."Hermione, the exams are ages away.""Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second toNicolas Flamel.""But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway,what are you studying for, you already know it's an A.""What am I studying for? Are you crazy? Do you realize we need to passthese exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should havestarted studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me...."Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines asHermione. They piled so much homework on us that the Easter holidaysweren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax withHermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practisingwand movements. which is why i spent most of my time with the twins and lee. Moaning and yawning, Harry, Ron spent most of their freetime in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work."I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing downhis quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was one of those day when i was with them and didnt want to be. It was the first reallyfine day we'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, andthere was a feeling in the air of summer coming.I was looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbsand Fungi, and I didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doingin the library?"Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He lookedvery out of place in his moleskin overcoat."Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once."An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not stilllookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?""Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And weknow what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St—""Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly 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," I said, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy —""SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen — come an' see me later, I'm notpromisin' 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.Hagrid shuffled off."What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully."Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?""I'm going to see what section he was in," I said. I came back a minute later with a pile of books in my arms andslammed them down on the table."Dragons!" I whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons!Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg toInferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide.""Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever methim, " said Harry."But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed bythe Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stopMuggles 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 burnsCharlie's got off wild ones in Romania.""But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry."Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and HebrideanBlacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Ourkind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make themforget.""So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?"before he let us in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there wasa blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made us tea and offered us stoat sandwiches, which we refused."So yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?""Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "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 myself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't' tell yeh if I could. That Stone'shere fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts — I s'ppose yeh'veworked 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 around here," said Hermione in a warm,flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." I went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you." Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed atHermione and myself. "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 —" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell — an' Dumbledore himself didsomethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, ProfessorSnape." "Snape?" "Yeah — yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."I knew Harry, Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as he was. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything — except,it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy."You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren't you,Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Noteven one of the teachers?""Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly."Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling.""Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance at the fire.Harry looked at it, too. "Hagrid what's that?" But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneaththe kettle was a huge, black egg. "Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's er...""Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get acloser look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune." I continued "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 terget rid of it, ter be honest.""But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione."Well, I've been doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large bookfrom under his pillow. "Got this outta the library — Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit — it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep theegg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches,feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here — how ter recognize diff'rent eggs — what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't."Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said. But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen toHagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut."Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making study schedules for myself, Harry and Ron, too. It was driving us nuts. Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching. Ron and I wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it. "Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragonhatching?" "We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to whatHagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing" "Shut up!" Harry whispered. Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? I didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology and in the end,Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the four of us dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited."It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. we all drew our chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath. All at once, there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty. Its spiny wings were huge compared to it's skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns andbulging, orange eyes. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout."Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs."Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid."Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow,exactly?"Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face he leapt to his feet and ran to the window. "What's the matter?" "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. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Malfoy had seen the dragon. Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next weekmade myself, Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous. we spent most of our freetime in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him."Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free.""I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just aweek. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing hisgamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There wereempty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor."I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragonwith misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where'sMommy?""He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered in Harry's ear."Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks and Norbert's going tobe as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."Hagrid bit his lip."I — I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."Harry suddenly turned to Ron. "Charlie." I said."You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?""No — Charlie — your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons.We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put himback in the wild!""Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?" And in the end, Hagrid agreed that we could send an owl to Charlie toask him.The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Myself Hermione andHarry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone tobed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burstopen. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak.He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was noweating dead rats by the crate."It bit me!" he said, showing us his hand, which was wrapped in abloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tellyou, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagridgoes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me hetold me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."There was a tap on the dark window."It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie'sanswer!"The four of us put our heads together to read the note. Dear Ron,How are you? Thanks for the letter — I'd be glad to take the NorwegianRidgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be tosend him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week.Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday?They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.Send me an answer as soon as possible. Love,Charlie They looked at one another."We've got the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It shouldn't be toodifficult – I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other twoagreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert — and Malfoy. 'i wont be able to go, proffesor dumbledore wants to talk to me that night.' There was a hitch. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen totwice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to MadamPomfrey — would she recognize a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he hadno choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert'sfangs were poisonous.Harry, Hermione and i rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the dayto find Ron in a terrible state in bed."It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's aboutto fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my booksso he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell herwhat really bit me — I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me— I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down."It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione, but this didn'tsoothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat. "Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no oh no — I'vejust remembered — Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going toknow we're getting rid of Norbert."Harry, Hermione or I didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfreycame over at that moment and made us leave, saying Ron needed sleep."It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione. "We haven't gottime to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid ofNorbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoydoesn't know about that."They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside with a bandaged tailwhen they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them."I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage — nothin' Ican't handle."When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears,although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg."Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot — jus' playin' — he's only ababy, after all."The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. when hary and hermione left i stayed to talk to hagrid. 'wha'd yeh tell 'em.' hagrid asked. 'i told them that dumbledore wanted to talk to me. i dont even know what i was thinking. it was so sudden.' hagrid gave me a pity smile. 'it's okey, em.' i just thought of something. 'hagrid can i try somethig with norbet.' i asked with a smile. 'of cor's em.' he replied. i walked over to norbet and before he could do anything i changed my eyes to gold. norbet stoped in his tracks and sat down. 'h'w yeh do'ng that.' hagrid asked. i looked at him with my gold eyes and smirked. 'domainance, I'm tall, and im showing that im boss with my eyes, showing im the alpha.' I told him. Then I left the hut. friday came and I was in a terrible mood. i was walking to the hospital wing to ask poppy for a calming potion when i came across malfoy and his gang. 'ohh looky here its a lone wolf.' I looked him in the eyes, not in the mood for whatever games hes playing at. 'bugger off malfoy.' 'ohhh a fisty pup.' i stormed up to him and held him by the collar threateningly 'Dont call me pup, ever.' i said with gold eyes. i didnt care who saw. i didnt take notice of the crowd around us. 'you want a go at me today, fine, but ill be damned if you call me that ever again.' I felt arms pulling me away from malfoy and a soft voice. 'em, come on lets go.' i wasnt taking notice of were we were walking or who i was with. i was jut focusing on not letting the tears fall down. 'earth to emily.' i was snapped out of my thoughts and faced with georg weasley. 'hey now that your finally with us, what was going on there.' he asked and i realised what I had done. 'he-he called me-e pup.' I said shakily still trying not to cry. 'whats wong with that.' fred said from beside me. 'uncle james ue to call me that.' that was when i couldnt help but cry into georges sholder. he rubbed my back and waited for me to stop.

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It was finally Saturday and I was In the common room with Hermione and harry waiting for the time to go down. To hagrid or the hospital wing in my situation. 'are you okay Emily, you seem really pale.' harry said worriedly. I took a deep breath. 'yea I'm just nervous for you guys and the talk with Dumbledore.' i replied. I knew it was wrong to lie, but I was scared that they would banish me if hey knew. 'what did he want to talk to you about anyway.' i shrugged my shoulders. I haven't thought that far ahead, I didn't even know hat I would say if they asked tomorrow. a couple of minutes later it was time for me to go. 'i have to go and talk to Minnie before I see dumbledore, so I probably won't be there for dinner, I wish you all the best for Norbert.' i left them there before they could ask any more questions. the time was around. 6:00 since I heard people in the great hall. I walked down to minnies office. after hearing a come in, I entered. 'ey Minnie. umm, I have a favour to ask.' she nodded her head telling me to continue. 'well I told the others that I had a meeting with dumbledore after dinner but I said that I had to meet you first so they wouldn't think it was suspicious. so-.' i was cut off when she started talking. 'so because Mr Weasley is in the hospital wing, you would like me to take you down to the shack and stay with you until just before the transformation.' she finished and I honestly love that she did. 'yes please.' she nodded her head and lead me out to the shack and waited until 7:00.

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I woke up in the hospital wing the next morning. next to me was a very tired and frustrated looking Minnie. 'your awake how do you feel.' she asked me and her face went soft again. I tried to sit up and with minnies help I was successful. 'I'm feeling fine, just sore.' she told me a story of my fathers. halfway through the story the doors flung open and I smelt, joke products and boys cologne. 'hey Fred, hey George.' i said before they even came into view. 'ohh sorry professor we didn't know you were here.' George said looking a little nervous. 'it's okay I was just checking on miss lupin here. she had quite the fall last night.' she waved at me and left me with the boys. if it were even possible I think they got more nervous by the second. 'spill it.' i told them a little nervous myself. did they figure it out? were they scared of me. Will they tell everyone. what will happen to me. they pt up silencing charms around us and turned back to me. they came over and hugged me. 'Emily we have to ask you something.' they said together I nodded my head not trusting my voice. 'are you a werewolf.' i stopped breathing. they had figured it out. what if they told everybody. I nodded my head letting them know they were right. they ran up to me and hugged me again. 'so-so you, you don't hate me?' i asked them shocked. 'of course we don't, why would we hate you.' Fred asked. 'because im a monster, a beast.' they looked at me with pity. 'no your not your still you always you.' i thanked them. 'so who else knows.' George asked with a grin. I smiled at them. 'well there's you guys, aunt cissa, uncle Lucius, Draco, Minnie, dumbledore, snape and Neville.'

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'YOU GOT CAUGHT AND LOST GRYFFINDOR 50 POINTS EACH AND DRAGGED NEVILLE INTO THINGS.' I yelled at Hermione and harry they looked terrified. 'Em we didn't mean too.' harry tried to reason. I stormed out of the common room in search for Neville. I found him crying in a corridor. I walked up to him and sat down with him. I put his head on my lap to calm him. 'hey its okay, if anyone gives you any trouble you come to me.' I whispered in his ear. 'im so sorry Neville, its all my fault.' i whispered a tear escaped my eyes. 'he sat up and looked at me. 'its not your fault at all. you have your own little furry problems last night so don't worry.' i chuckle and pulled him into a hug. 'and this is why you're my best friend.' i said and put his head back on my lap and listened to him sniffling. 'thank you, Emily.'