Adopted by the Malfoy's {Harry Potter fanfic}

17. Dragons

A/N: I own only Lexie, Ruby and Max. Apologies to the delay my good folks, it was when I spent 4 hours writing 2 chapters for a very much later part of this story that I realized I should probably write some more from where I'm at lol. All credit goes to J.K. Rowling, her excellency. And without further ado...

Chapter 17: Dragons

The next day Lexie didn’t have much time to think about her brother as the twins had chosen that day to swoop down and kidnap her. Both were talking a mile a minute about plans for pranks, one twin’s arm around her waist while the other had placed his around her neck. They laughed and joked and did their best to tease their friend as they led her into the Great Hall for breakfast. Her thoughts remained blissfully light as her roommates kidnapped her back from the twins after the meal and the girls spent the time in the Common Room and then their dorm.

It wasn’t till around lunch that she’d tracked Harry down and he’d relayed to her about Flamel and about their suspicions, finally letting her in on the secret of the Stone’s presence in Hogwarts. He confided in her about Quirrel as well and the trio all started trying to silently support the stuttering teacher. Lexie noticed the way the Professor seemed to become paler and lose weight, but as the school wasn’t being attacked, he didn’t seem to have cracked yet. While Harry and the others would listen for the Cerberus whenever they passed the corridor, Lexie did her best to stay far from it. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Harry; she just didn’t want to be anywhere near the beast.

Hermione though, was also busy color coding schedules for the upcoming end-of-year exams, which most of the students just seemed to shrug off. She often nagged the boys to do the same but only Lexie really took her seriously and had been spending more time in the library and in empty classrooms practicing. She was often too tired to even read her father’s journal, she studied so hard. It seemed the Professors were also on the same wavelength as the bushy-haired first year. They began to assign so much homework Hermione even had trouble. Lexie helped Ruby as much as she could, even let her come with her to practice potions or spells.

“I’ll never remember this!” Ron yelled one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out the library window. They were all working on homework and it was the first good day in months, summer was clearly just around the corner.

“Hagrid!” Ron cried and they looked up from the books. “What are you doing in the library?”

Hagrid shuffled into view, but from their viewpoint it appeared as if he was hiding something behind his back. He was slightly too big for the library, towering over some of the smaller bookcases.

“Jus’ lookin’,” he said in a shifty voice that got their attention immediately. “An’ what’re you lot up ter?” He peered at them suspiciously. “Yer not still lookin’ fer Nicholas Flamel, are yeh?”

“Oh, we found out who he is ages ago,” Ron boasted and Lexie rolled her eyes. “And we know what the dog’s guarding, it’s a Sorcerer’s St—“

“Shhh!” Hagrid hushed and Lexie punctuated the point by kicking Ron under the table with an exasperated look. They weren’t supposed to know after all. “Don’t go shoutin’ about it, what’s the matter with yeh?”

“There’s some things we wanted to ask you, actually Hagrid,” added Harry, “about what’s guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—.”

“SHHH!” said Hagrid again. “Listen – come an’ see me later, I’m not promisin’ I’ll tell yeh anythin’, mind, but don’t go rabbitin’ about it here. Student’s aren’ s’posed to know ‘member? They’ll think I’ve told yeh –.”

“See you later, then,” said Harry glumly and Hagrid shuffled out of the library.

Ron hissed and rubbed his leg sourly, glaring at Lexie. “What’d you kick me for?”