The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

The twins were now a part of the inner workings of their group. They all seemed to be spending more time together, and had chosen the name Marauders' Recruits to identify themselves. They met up every so often in an abandoned classroom to plan pranks, and used codewords to signal a meeting. However, the room was uncomfortable, and it seemed no matter how many Scourgifying Charms they cast, it was still stuffy and dust-ridden, so they'd abandoned that idea pretty quickly.

Draco couldn't sleep sometimes, and so wandered about the castle at night under Harry's Cloak. During one of his night time adventures, he came across a tapestry of a wizard trying to teach trolls how to dance. The next day, Draco showed the other Recruits the secret room he'd found, and how it was perfect for them to hang out in. They all agreed that it was awesome, and that the room would be their headquarters from then on. Hermione, of course, did some research and came up with the theory that this was the legendary Room of Requirement, a secret chamber built by Helga Hufflepuff herself for those in need. As the days went by, they found themselves talking less about pranks, and more about the Stone, and their theories about what else was guarding it.

Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone. One meeting, the Recruits walked into the room to find it utterly different from how they normally had it. It was structured like a classroom, and Hermione was surrounded by several bits of parchment. Draco approached her, and saw that she had started drawing up revision timetables for all of them, and colour-coding her notes. "Hermione, the exams are ages away," he said, exasperated.

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicholas Flamel. Besides, Fred and George's exams are in nine weeks."

"But we're not six hundred years old, Hermione," Fred reminded her gently. "Besides, it's only third-year for us, it's not exactly like we actually need study."

"What are you revising for, anyway?" asked Neville. "You already know it all."

The teachers, unfortunately, seemed to be thinking the same thing Hermione was. They piled heaps of homework on all of them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. They'd all decided to stay at Hogwarts over break to get the work done, and the Room of Requirement became a place of study rather than amusement and intrigue, even though their prank of having thousands of water-filled paper cups in the Entrance Hall was brilliant. One day, Harry came back from the library with an odd expression.

"What is it?" asked Draco from where he was seated, looking up 'Dittany' in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"I... um... ran into Hagrid in the library. He was acting shifty again. I don't know why he thinks I don't know when he's lying; he's so bad at it. Anyway, he kept me from seeing the book he was hiding behind his back all the way out the library, and when he left, I went to see which section he was in." Harry explained.

"Well?" asked George. "Which one was it, then?"

"Dragons!" he exclaimed. "Not that it's a surprise, mind, he's wanted one for as long as I've known him, but it looked like there was a book missing from the Dragon Breeding subsection."

"You don't think he's-" started Neville.

"Yes." said Harry.

"But it was outlatwed," said Fred.

"Yeah, it was, by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709," George continued. "The only people allowed to raise and breed dragons are the ones who live in really isolated areas, and who have a permit. Why d'you think Charlie went there?"

The others shrugged. "I think it's time to pay him a visit again," said Hermione.

*

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they weren't exactly surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let them in and shut the door quickly behind them. It was stiflingly hot inside. Even though it was such a perfectly warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.