I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)

Cooking the rock

Harriet and Pansy were nearly inseparable for the next few days. 

After Pansy had calmed down from the shock of almost being eaten by a three headed dog, she and Harriet had sat in front of the common room fire for a while discussing their fears and sharing childhood stories. Harriet had carefully left out anything to do with the Dursleys. Pansy wouldn't elaborate on her crippling fear of dogs. She'd almost jumped out of her seat when a wolf had howled in the distance. 

The girls were often seen sitting close together and whispering. They stopped immediately when anybody got too close. It caused many knowing smiles from older students and teachers.

If they knew...

Pansy and Harriet exchanged many theories on what valuable object was being hidden at Hogwarts. They had a list of suspected thieves too.

Harriet had been trying to subtly ask Hermione about various magical artifacts. She feigned interest in the subject and as a result, Hermione became more interested in them aswell. They spent hours in the library pouring over books. Hermione remained in the dark as to the real reason behind the research.

Pansy was busy using her social know-how and charisma to ask around who everyone thought the person behind the Gringotts break in was. The list of suspects grew. She left interrogating Hagrid about the dog to Harriet. She wouldn't go near him for some reason. Harriet, who had been looking for an excuse to visit him, didn't complain.

"Hagrid!" Harriet called, waving at the caretaker as she walked up. "How are you?"

"Harriet," He smiled. "Have time for a cuppa tea?"

"Sounds great, thank you." she said stepping into the hut. A large dog in the corner barked and ran up to her, sniffing at her legs.

"Hello!" she greeted, petting it.

"Tha's Fang." Hagrid told her, while putting on the kettle. "He's a bit o' a scaredy cat but he's very friendly."

Harriet took a seat in a very large armchair and looked around. The place was cozy and a bit of a mess. She noticed something that looked like a colourful rock in a cauldron above the fireplace and some green twig-like creatures climbing around.

"Bowtruckles!" she said, deciding not to mention the very obvious rock (that definitely wasn't a rock) over the fire.

"Yeah," Hagrid grinned, "they seem te like me windowsills."

"Are there any other creatures around?" Harriet asked, genuinely interested. She accepted the large cup of tea gratefully.

"Well... erm..." He cast a glance towards the fireplace, confirming Harriet's earlier suspicions. "There's plenty in the forest. An' I suppose a few around the castle. Near the greenhouses."

"And in the third floor corridor. The forbidden one." Harriet said.

"How do yeh know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked sharply.

"Heard there was something in there."  She shrugged. "Didn't know it was true." It was a bold faced lie but telling the truth was probably not the way to go here.
"Fluffy," she mused, "Must be something really shy."

"Well, a cerberus is pretty shy until yeh get to know 'em." Hagrid said.

"A Cerberus?" Harriet asked, feigning obliviousness. 

"Three headed dog." Hagrid said. "Rather large. Should be careful around them though. The love music."

"But they sound cute!" Harriet commented.

"Abou' as cute as a dragon." Hagrid chuckled.

"Dragons are adorable!" Harriet insisted. "Wish I could keep one as a pet. They're not made for that though. They need their freedom."

Hagrid nodded. Harriet felt as if he hadn't taken the hint. The dragon egg above the fireplace looked a short while away from hatching. Best guess was 5 days. Harriet made a mental note to stop by more often. The dragon needed to be out of the hut for safety reasons and it's own health. Dragons in captivity didn't have too high of a life expectancy. 

She made a mental note to visit more often to work on convincing him to give up the dragon to a reserve of some kind.

Sitting down next to Pansy in the common room some time later, she whispered, "It's possible to get the dog to sleep by playing it some music. Also, I think Hagrid is hatching a dragon in his hut!"

"What!" Pansy gasped rather loudly. "A dragon?"

"Quiet down will you!" Harriet hissed. "You could get him arrested! We need to handle this discreetly!"

"It's a dragon! We need to call the ministry!" Pansy looked like she had just suggested murder.

"No." Harriet said, "We don't. I have a plan - of sorts - and I do think that this can be sorted out without arrests and other not so nice events."

"But -" Pansy tried again.

"Let me handle it." Harriet cut across her.

Pansy frowned at her, then relented nodded and gave up.

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Yes. I know this is earlier than in the book. No. She doesn't have an invisibility cloak.

Definitely. I'm using this as an excuse to include other characters. 

Thanks,

Drachma XOXO