The Mystery of the Philosopher's Stone.

Chapter 17: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet. Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the stone was still safe. Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging smile and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter. 

Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone. She had started drawing up revision time-tables and colour-coding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same. The teachers were giving them more and more homework and all the students were spending most of their free time in the library. One day, they were surprised to find Hagrid in the library looking conspicuously shifty and out of place. He held something under his coat. Harry told Hagrid that they had found out about Nicolas Flamel but wanted to ask more questions. Hagrid was reluctant to speak in front of other students, so he insisted that they speak to him later.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working.

He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered, "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," said Harry.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron, "Dragon-breeding was out-lawed by the Warlock's Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden-anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.

"Of course there are," said Ron, "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Out lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

They went down to Hagrid's hut two hours later. The curtains were closed and it was stiflingly hot inside. Hagrid made tea and stoat sandwiches. Harry, Ron and Hermione refused the sandwiches and accepted the tea.

"What do you want to know?" Hagrid asked in a distracted manner.

"Do you know what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy?" Harry asked.

"I don't know and shouldn't be telling you anyway," Hagrid replied.

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice.

Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling.

"We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," Hermione went on, "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don't s'pose it could hurt to tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some of the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall-" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell- and Dumbledore himself did something, of course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."