CRIMSON TEARS | Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone [1]

𝘅𝗶𝘅 | 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲

Something about the way Malfoy leered at them over the next week unsettled Gwen and the other three. Gwen had recently learned the Bat-Bogey Hex and she had had to be talked down at least six times by Harry, Ron and Hermione throughout the week about using it on Malfoy. The four of them spent most of their free time at Hagrid's, trying to talk some reason into him.

  'Set him free,' Harry urged.

  'I can't,' said Hagrid, 'he's too little. He'd die.'

  The dragon had grown three times its original length in the space of a week and there were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the hut. Hagrid hadn't been keeping up with his gamekeeping duties either, since he was so busy with the dragon.

  'I've decided to call him Norbert,' he told them. 'And he recognises me now, too. Watch this; Norbert? Where's mummy?'

  'He's gone mental,' Ron muttered in Gwen's ear.

  'Hagrid,' Hermione said, 'You do realise how fast he's growing, right?'

  'Give it two weeks and he'll be as long as your house,' Harry added.

  They were terrified that Malfoy was going to go to Dumbledore at any moment.

  Hagrid sighed sadly. 'I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't just let him go. I can't.' They watched Norbert as he spat sparks from his nose.

  Gwen suddenly had an idea. She turned to Ron, grabbing his arm. 'Charlie!'

  'You're losing it, too,' he said. 'I'm Ron, remember?'

  'No, your brother, Charlie. He works with dragons in Romania, right?'

  Ron nodded.

  'We can get Charlie to take Norbert to Romania. He can take care of him then put him back in the wild, right?'

  'Brilliant!' said Ron. 'How about it, Hagrid?'

  It took a good hour, but they managed to convince Hagrid to send an owl to Charlie.

• • •

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Gwen and Harry playing wizard's chess in the Common Room long after everyone else had gone to bed. Hermione and Ron were down at Hagrid's Hut helping him feed Norbert.

  Gwen had just lost her second game to Harry (she'd only won once) when the clock chimed midnight and the common room door swung open. Ron and Hermione appeared out of nowhere, pulling Harry's invisibility cloak off him - a gift he'd received mysteriously for Christmas - and Ron looked less than happy.

  'It bit me!' he cried, to which Hermione shushed him. He ignored her. 'The bloody thing bit me! Honestly you'd think it's a little fluffy rabbit the way he treats it. That dragon's the most horrible creature I've ever come across. He even told me off for frightening it, and when we left he was singing it a lullaby.'