Harry's Twin - Book One // Complete // Editing

The "Baby" Dragon

'What was that?' Hermione says walking to the window.

'Hedwig!' exclaims Harry. 'She'll have Charlie's answer!'

He let's his owl in and then removes the letter from her waiting leg.

He puts the letter on the table, so the four of us can read it.

"Dear Ron," it reads.

"How are you? Thanks for the letter. I'll be very glad to take the little guy- a Norwegian Ridgeback? Wow! How did Hagrid even get one?! It won't be easy getting him here...

I think the best way will be to send him over with some friends of mine. They're coming to visit me next week. Trouble is... they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon. Wait, does Hagrid know this is illegal?

Could you meet my friends up in the tallest tower at midnight, on Saturday? They can meet you there and get him away before dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible, and good luck little brother.

Love,

Charlie."

'We've got the cloak,' Harry muses. 'It should be big enough to cover... let's see... two of us? And Norbert, of course.'

I think the other three would agree with me that the past week hasn't been great- and if we got the dragon to go, then there wouldn't be time for Draco to ask awkward questions that I'd have to answer with a lie. I don't want to lie to Draco...

Only thing was... once we'd all woken up and met in the common room this morning- the morning after the letter came- I noticed instantly that Ron's hand had swelled. 'You should go to the hospital wing,' I comment.

'But then I'd have to tell her what happened...' he says, wincing in pain. 'Don't worry, Lyds, it's fine. I swear.'

At lunch time, Hermione and Harry offer to take our bags up for Ron and I- it's something we do sometimes, usually in turns, just because then we don't all have to go up to the common room. And we can save seats in the hall for the other two, meaning we all have a place close to each other.

Walking into the hall I look down at Ron's hand. 'Don't freak out, mate, but you're hand... it's green.' The long I look at it, the more the colour of my face changes to match the colour of his hand. Norbert's fangs must be poisonous!

'Fred, George, can you tell the other two that we've popped off to the hospital wing? Thank you!' I hurry off before they can reply.

In the hospital wing, Ron tells Madame Pomfrey he was bitten by a dog. She obviously doesn't believe him, but she doesn't question it either.

After the last lesson, Harry, Hermione and I head up to see Ron. 'Ron! Are you all right?' I ask, as soon as we're they're.

'Yep,' he smiles at me. 'I'm okay, Madame Pomfrey gave me a couple of potions- I can barely feel a thing. Oh, yeah, your boyfriend paid me a visit.'

'Stop saying "boyfriend". She doesn't not have a boyfriend. He is simply a...' Harry stops, trying to find the word.

'A what, Harry? A "friend boy"? A "boy friend"? Nope, he's my boyfriend!' I sing the last word, mocking him.

'Whatever he is,' Ron says, drawing our attention back to him. 'He came to see me. Told Madame Pomfrey he needed to borrow a book. He just wanted a good laugh at me, though. It's true, Lydia, ssh and let me continue.' I fall silent, in the middle of complaining that he wouldn't of come just to laugh- although I knew what Ron was saying was the truth. 'Anyway, he threatened to tell her what really bit me. We need to get rid of this Norbert thing. Soon, rather than later.'

'Have you send a reply to Charlie?' I ask. 'No... I forgot. Hedwig will be tired. So what do we do?' Harry replies. 'Use Owen,' I smile, knowing my boy would love a job. Harry nods and leaves. Hermione goes, too, leaving Ron and I.

'I shouldn't've hit him at the Quidditch match... that's why he's doing this!' Ron sighs. 'Sorry about hitting him, by the way.'

'Eh, don't worry. He deserved it.'

'I wasn't apologising to him. I was saying sorry to you, because you're my frie- wait- you're my best friend,' he jokes.

I smile and pat his arm reassuringly. 'It'll all be over on Saturday midnight!'

'HOLD ON A MINUTE!' Ron yells suddenly, causing me to jump and Madame Pomfrey to come scurrying out of her office. 'Sorry, Madame. Lydia just told me- told me that we had homework due tomorrow that I forgot about.' She gives him a stern look, but leaves all the same.

'Nice cover up,' I mutter, high-fiving him. 'Now, what's the matter?'

'The book Malfoy borrowed. It had Charlie's letter in it- he knows exactly what we're planning!'

I'm about to reply, but Madame Pomfrey comes out again, telling me to let him rest. I ask for just one more minute and she agrees grudgingly.

'I could try and get it back... but then he'd know something was up and go through the book, meaning he'd definitely find it.'

'Don't suppose the other two got held up and haven't sent the owl, so we can change it?'

I look out the window. 'Nope, here they come,' I sigh.

'OUT!' Madame Pomfrey says loudly. 'THE BOY NEEDS SLEEP.'

'Bye Ron!' I say quickly before running to the entrance hall.

'HARRY, HERMIONE!' I yell. 'WHAT?' they yell back, together. I wait until they're right next to me, before I explain what happened.

'Why don't you just ask for it back?' asks Hermione.

'He'd get suspicious and look through all of the book and then he'd find it for sure! It's not just a simple matter of saying "Hey, so Draco, heard you burrowed a book from my best friend, Ron. Could I have back, right now immediately?!".'

'Your best friend?' Hermione says acting hurt. 'Inside joke,' I reply, 'fine, I'll tell you. I was trying to get him to do something for me and he said "it's lucky we're friends" and I made him say that we're "best friends". See, it's not even that funny!'

Harry, however, was thinking. 'We still have the invisibility cloak... Draco doesn't know about that- right, Lydia?'

'Woah, woah, of course he doesn't, stop being so accusing!'

-----

We go off to visit Hagrid, to tell him about the plan and Charlie's letter. Fang is tied up outside, his tail bandaged. I go over and pet him as the other two explain through a window.

'Don't worry, 'e's just a a tricky stage. Nothin I can handle!' I hear Hagrid say. I can't help but smile at his positivity. Near the end of the other two's explanation I go over and stand with them.

Hagrid's eyes fill with tears- wait no, Norbert just bit him. 'It's all right, he's just got me boot. Just playing, 'e is! He's just a baby after all!'

The "baby" dragon hits the wall with his tail, causing the windows to shake. After saying a quick goodbye, the three of us head back up to the castle, shaking our heads at Hagrid's blind love for the creature. Saturday can not come fast enough.