Hogwarts is my Home

Chapter 11: Some Dragon Thing (SS CH14)

If I was going to find this stone before Snape, I'd have to do some serious training and study up on my spells. Good thing the library had every book one could ever want. 

Ron came up to me. "Toni, we're going to Hagrid's Hut in an hour, wanna come?"

Figuring I'd done enough work today, I said sure. 

All the curtains were closed when we arrived, which surprised all of us. Hagrid was normally really inviting to his guests.

"Who is it?" he called. 

"Toni, Ron, Harry, and Hermione," Hermione called back.

He opened the door only a crack and shuffled us in fast. It was stifling hot inside- Hagrid had a fire going. 

"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 Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned. "O' course I can't. Number one, I don't know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts- I s'pose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

I put on my most flattering voice. "Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know. You know everything that goes on around here." Hagrid's beard twitched. He was smiling, it was working. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really."

"We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you," Hermione finished.

"Well, I don't 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?"

"Yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

"And you're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, right?"

"Jus' me and Dumbledore."

"Hagrid, can we open a window? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry." And then Hagrid glanced in the fire, and all of us noticed, too. The huge, black dragon egg.

"Where did you get that, Hagrid?" Ron asked. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it. Las' night, I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Seemed quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

This was not good. I'd heard Charlie talk about dragons for two years and knew they were highly illegal and highly dangerous. 

"What are we gonna do?" Hermione asked. "This isn't safe."

"I'll send a letter to Charlie and see if he can pick it up, hopefully before it's hatched. You three need to keep an eye on both it and Hagrid in the meantime and keep me updated. Classes are harder this term and I need to be studying a lot more."

I sat down at the table in the Gryffindor Common Room with my quill and parchment and started writing while the three watched me.

Dear Charlie,

Hagrid won himself some dragon thing- a Norwegian Ridgeback- and from everything I've heard you say, this is not exciting news. He seems pretty happy about it, but you know how naive Hagrid can be. It's still in the egg but we don't know how much longer. Hoping you can fly down here or something and get it before it hatches. Know you'll be able to give it a good life. Hope to see you soon,

An 

"An?" Harry asked.

"That's what he calls me. Can I borrow Hedwig?"

"Sure." The owl was off.  

"Now we'll just have to convince Hagrid," said Ron.

"He knows Charlie. Probably his favourite Weasley, no shocker there."

By Wednesday, Hedwig returned with Charlie's answer:

Dear An,

How are you? Thanks for the letter. I'd love to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but I'm far too busy at the moment so I'll send some friends by. 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 whilst it's still dark. Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love, Charlie

"We've got the Invisibility Cloak. It shouldn't be too difficult. I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."

"Excuse me, two of us?" I asked bewildered. "Which two?"

"Me and Hermione. You've helped us enough, Toni, and we appreciate it. We'll take it from here."

After that was said, I didn't really care if they got themselves in trouble. It'd give me more time to find the stone with them out of the way.