Alohomora

12) Dragon Trouble

Hermione came bounding over to us, parchment in her hands, a flustered look on her face. "Revision timetables!" she announced. "but they aren't for ages" sighed Ron, giving her a confused look. "Ten weeks! seconds to Nicolas Flamel!" she cried. "well what are you revising for anyway?you already know everything" Ron replied. "Hermiones right, we need to pass or we won't make our second year and i certainly dont want that" i joined in.  Harry nodded. "i guess we do, but at least give us all a night or two off"he said. Hermione rolled her eyes. "do you want to pass?" Sometimes, it was easier to just let her get along with things. The teachers were piling the extra work on us and i was trying my hardest to keep on top of it all. Luckily Hermione was more open to help me than the boys, as i didn't complain to her. Most of our time was being spent in the library.

One particular day, we spotted Hagrid, which was odd.He seemed to be trying to hide something. "Hagrid, what are you doing here?" asked Ron. Hagrid looked uneasy. "jus lookin, yeh not lookin for Flamel are yeh?" he questioned. "we found who he was ages ago, we know the dogs guarding the Philosophers St-" "sshhh dont shout about it" hissed Hagrid. "we wanted to ask you a few things " replied Harry, "what else is guarding the stone other than Fluffy?" "SHHH, come and see me later, im not saying ill tell yeh anything though, be quiet students arent meant to know and they'll think i told yeh" "see you later" said Harry, as Hagrid hurried out the library. "what was he hiding" asked Hermione thoughtfully.

After our lessons had finished we hurried down to Hagrid's before dinner. The curtains were drawn and the windows were steamed up. Ron banged on the door. Hagrid's voice shouted "who is it?" . "its us!" replied Harry. The sound of Hagrids footsteps rushing around and something hitting the floor could be heard. A minute later the door opened and Hagrid was stood red faced. He moved aside to let us in. His small hut was boiling hot because his fire was blazing. He slammed the door shut the second we were all in. We all sat on the bench as he made tea, spilling it because he was jumpy. "is everything ok?" Hermione asked but Hagrid 'shook her question away with his hand. causing him to knock over the plate of sandwiches.

He sat down opposite. "yeh wanted to ask me something?" "yes, can you tell us what else is guarding the philosophers stone other than Fluffy?" Harry replied.  "i cant! i dont know and youre not supposed to know anythin,  the stone is only here because its safer than Gringotts, how do you even know about Fluffy?" "you do know everything about here though dont you?" replied Hermione smiling widely at Hagrid.  "we just wanted to know who else Dumbledore trusted apart from you?" Hagrid beamed, Hemiones flattery had seemed to work. "i guss i could tell yeh summit, he borrowed Fluffy from me and Pofessors Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, Quirrell and Snape all did some enchartments" Harry looked shocked. "Snape?" Hagrids expression changed. "yeh not on about that still? hes protecting the stone!" Hagrid explained.  "does anyone else know how to get past Fluffy?" Harry continued. "No one except me and Dumbledore" "ah can we open a window?" asked Ron, wiping some sweat from his forehead. " cant sorry" replied Hagrid, looking at the fire.  "what is that?" i asked curiously. In the middle of the roaring fire was a large black egg. Hagrid didnt say anything. "where did you get it?it must have cost loads!" joined in Ron. "i won it, last night in the pub over a game of cards with a staranger," "what are you going to do when its hatched?" "ive been reading and it stays in the fire until its hatched then it feeds on brandy and chicken blood every half an hour this is a Norweigan Ridgeback they're rare." He looked very happy. "but Hagrid, you live in a wooden house"said Hermione but Hagrid wasnt listening.

-

A few days later Hedwig brought Harry a note telling us the egg was hatching.  Ron was trying to persaude Hermione to let us go straight away but she warned us that we would get in trouble and so would Hagrid if people found out. "shhh!" Harry hissed, looking behind Hermione . At Draco.  I could tell by the look on his face he heard, and wanted to find out more. 

At break we ran down to the hut and Hagrid let us quickly, beaming. The egg was on the table with crack in it. Something was moving inside. All our eyes were on the egg  Then suddenly the dragon fell onto the table. I had never seen anything like it, i was expecting it too be cute but it was wrinkly and  huge orange eyes. "isnt he beautiful!" Hagrid was busy cooing over the dragon  "How fast do they grow?" asked Hermione, her eyes on the dragon still.  Hagrid was about to answer but he sptopped in his tracks. He pushed the baby out of view and said "someones looking throught the gap in the curtiains"  I looked outside to see Draco running back up to the school. I was praying he wouldnt say anything.

-

Drraco looked very happy with himself all weel and it made me uneasy. I knew my friends hated eachother but i didnt want to be caught in the middle again.  So we deicded we had to persaude Hagrid to let Norbert go because Draco could get him in trouble. Hagrid wasnt budgng on the idea but Harry came up with tthe perfect plan. Send Norbert to Rons brother Charlie. It ltook alot of persauding but Hagrid finally agreed. 

Thankfully, Charlie agreed  and we were all set. The only problem would be getting Norbert to the top of the astronomy tower at midnight.

And the fact Draco had found Charlies letter.  We couldnt change the plan, so we just hoped  Draco didn't find it.

Hagrid said an emotional goodbye to the dragon and i felt sorry for him, but i knew it was for the best.  With the invisibilty cloak over us we slowly navigated our way around the castle, trying to be quiet. We thought we were caught when we saw Professor McGonagall shouting at Draco. 

When we reached the top off the tower, Harry wipped the cloak off, relieved. We waited in the shadows for the wizards and they arrived after what felt like hours.. Soon Norbet was up in the air on the way to Romainia and we were on the way to our beds.  But Filch was waiting at the end of the staircase. "well" he spoke, with a twisted smile on his face. Thats when we realised we had forgotten the cloak.