Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Rewritten - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 14: The Quidditch Season Begins

On Sunday morning, Harry and Ron met up with Irene and Hermione for a late breakfast. Skipping the large feast laid out the tables, they grabbed stacks of toasts and muffins wrapped in napkins and headed out to the grounds, eager to discuss last night's events.

Harry wanted to pick Hermione's brain on what might be in the package but Hermione had other things in her mind.

"We left those Doxies locked up in there and eventually someone will go to feed the dog. That could be Filch. If he finds hundreds of awake Doxies shut up in that room with the dog, then he'll know we were in there. Or someone else might put two and two together..."

Harry hadn't considered this angle at all.

"Maybe the dog ate up the Doxies and the eggs" said Ron hopefully.

"There's still the basket, dog won't eat that," pointed out Irene.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Hagrid. Harry thought Hagrid must be heading up to breakfast, but Hagrid was marching straight towards them.

"Need to have a word with yeh lot" he told them.

Harry began to introduce Hermione and Irene but Hagrid shook it away. "I know who yeh two are. Whole staff have bin talking about yeh two for weeks" he said. "A prodigy level student itself is rare. A pair of 'em in one year... well if yeh manage ter do it, it'll be a record or summat."

"Prodigy level!" squealed Hermione. "Oh, did the teachers really say that?"

"I said so, din' I?" said Hagrid. "Anyways that's not what I wanted ter discuss. I heard Filch made yeh go after Doxies yesterday. Is that true?"

"Er---yes," said Harry cautiously.

"And what did yeh do with 'em doxies that yeh cleared out?"

"Er---"

"Yeh din' go ter the dungeons by any chance did yeh?"

"We went to clear a couple of nests there" said Harry, deciding that they might as well be honest when Hagrid seemed to know the truth already.

Hagrid gave Harry a stern look but it melted into a smile. "Jus' like yer dad, Harry," he said shaking his shaggy head. "Always lookin' fer trouble, poking yer nose where it don' belong. James was exactly the same."

Harry grinned.

"So, what's the dog guarding?"

"What Fluffy's guardin' is none o' yer business" Hagrid said at once. Harry opened his mouth but Hagrid cut him off. "No, Nothin doin'. I'm not telling yeh and thas it."

And nothing Harry tried had any effect on Hagrid. After a few minutes of chatter, most of which Hagrid aimed at the girls, he left for breakfast.

"It's really nice of him to let us off like that," said Hermione. "I was getting so worried. He must really like you, Harry."

"He'll like you too," Harry told Hermione. "And Irene. He already likes Ron. He's got a large heart, Hagrid."

Hermione's question being addressed, they moved on to the one that had ruined Harry's sleep the previous night. But an hour of discussion later, they had neither a good guess about what could be in the package nor any idea on how to persuade Hagrid to tell them the truth.

Nor did the coming days yield any further clues. Harry finished his detentions and resumed training for his upcoming Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs Slytherin which was scheduled to happen on the second Saturday of November.

Flying had quickly become Harry's second favorite thing about Hogwarts, after his friends, and Harry treasured his Nimbus 2000 broomstick over any of his other possessions.