At Last//Harry Potter [1]

24

Hagrid sat in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl. "Hello," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, but Harry cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn't take his cloak off." He saw the four of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows. "It's not that unusual," he explained, seeing the look on their faces. "Yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head -- that's the pub down in the village. Mighta been a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry spoke next. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah. . . he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here. . . He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after. . . so I told him. . . an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon. . . an' then. . . I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks. . . Let's see. . . yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted. . . but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home. . . So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy. . ."

"And did he-did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Autumn asked, feeling like she knew the answer.

"Well -- yeah -- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep—"

The four looked at each other, all seeming to think the same thing. One, Hagrid told Snape how to get past Fluffy. And two, they now knew how to stop Snape.

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out.

Autumn, Hermione, Ron, and Harry ran away from Hagrid and towards the castle. They needed to tell someone or people would get hurt.

"Forget I said it! Hey -- where're yeh goin'?" Hagrid yelled after them. but they were long gone. The four bolted to Professor McGonagall's classroom and ran towards her desk in the back of the classroom.

"We have to see ProfessorDumbledore, immediately!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London," Professor McGonagall said.

"No! He can't be gone -- the Sorcerer's Stone is about to be stolen!" Autumn urged.

Professor McGonagall gaped at the children. "How do you know about—"

"It's not the point! Someone's going to try to steal it," Harry said.

"I don't know how you four found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly."

They all walked out of Professor McGonagall's room with caution.

"That was no stranger Hagrid met in the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy."

"And with Dumbledore gone—" Hermione started to say, but a loud set of footprints cut her off.

"Good afternoon," Snape said eerily. "Now, what would four young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?

"Oh, um. . . We were just. . ."

"You want to be careful. People will think you're. . . up to something." Snape slowly walked past them and into his classroom.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked once Snape was out of sight.

"We go down the trapdoor. Tonight." Harry said, a look of worry and determination on their faces.

>>>

Autumn fiddled with her necklace as she and Hermione slowly walked down the stairs and into the common room. To say Autumn was nervous was an understatement -- she was petrified. Autumn only brought her wand with her, and they were stored in her old boots that were on her feet.

As soon as the the two walked down the stairs, they joined Harry and Ron on their walk to the third floor corridor. They had only made it a few steps when they heard an odd croaking sound.

"Trevor," Harry complained.

"Trevor shh! Go, you shouldn't be here!" Ron whispered.

"Neither should you," Neville appeared from behind a chair. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?"

"Neville, if you give us a chance to ex—" Autumn started to say, but Neville cut her off.

"No! I won't let you!" Neville stood up. "You'll get Gryffindor in trouble again! I-I'll fight you." Neville got himself into an awkward fighting position with both fists up.

"Neville," Hermione said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I'm really, really sorry about this. . . Petrificus Totalus."

Once the spell hit the boy, he froze up, then fell backwards flat on his back. He was as stiff as a board.

"You're a little scary sometimes. . . you know that? Brilliant, but scary," Ron stated, Harry and Autumn agreeing immediately.

"Let's go," Harry said stepping over Neville.

They each said their apologies to Neville as they passed over him.

Harry threw the invisibility cloak over the four them and they made their way down to the corridor on the third floor.