Memories & the Stone

Norberta the Dragon and Voldemort's Shadow

May 1992

Harry wanted to laugh at Hermione when she started prepping for their end of the year exams towards the end of March. She had insisted on dragging her friends to the library to review for the upcoming exams. Even though Harry didn't think they need to start to study that early he went along with it because even though they argued, she was his friend and he wanted to be as much help as he could.
It was on one such occasion when they were studying when Harry saw Hagrid trying to leave the library with a book hidden behind his back. Harry called him over before he could leave.
"Hey Hagrid," Harry called. "I've been meaning to ask you something."
"Oh, yeh?" Hagrid asked looking a bit nervous as he tried to hide the book he had farther behind his back.
Harry leaned in and said as loudly as he could without being over heard, "Why is the Philosopher's Stone at Hogwarts?"
"Shhhhh!" Hagrid shushed Harry, "Where did yeh hear about ta Stone? Students aren' supposed to know about dat!"
"I didn't know for sure until now." Harry said with a bit of cheek.
Hagrid's eyes went a bit unfocused for a moment before he gave a small chuckle. "Yeh know what, come see me tonight. Not promisin' to tell yeh anything, don' go talkin' about it in here."
Harry nodded and Hagrid left before Ron, Hermione, or Neville could say anything to him. Harry looked to his friends and leaned over to say, "I told you that there had to be something of great importance being protected inside the castle, and you guys said I was being paranoid."
Later that night Harry and his friends went and visited Hagrid in his hunt and were surprised to find that the small hut was scolding hot. Harry felt like he was walking into a fire. Looking around the room Harry noticed something inside the fireplace.
"Hagrid," Harry asked after everyone was inside. "What is that?"
Hagrid looked around the room nervously, "it's umm. It an egg."
"An egg?" Hermione asks.
"That's not just any egg!" Ron shouted as he took a closer look at the egg in the blazing fire. "That's a Dragon's egg!"
"A Dragon's egg!" Hermione shouted in outrage.
"It goin' to be me new pet." Hagrid said with a broad grin.
"Are you insane!" Hermione shouted, "Hagrid you can NOT keep a dragon in your tiny little hut!"
Harry who was never one to agree with Hermione agreed with her. "Hagrid," Harry said, "as much as it pains me, Hermione is right. That little dragon egg is going to hatch and that dragon is going to grow. It won't be long before that dragon is bigger than your hut."
Hagrid looked disappointed, he had always wanted a dragon and he told them as much. After much discussion, Harry and his friends finally got Hagrid to agree that Norbert, whom Harry insisted was a Norberta would be best off in a dragon reserve where he or she could grow and thrive with others like her or him.
Ron agreed to write to his older brother Charlie and ask if there was any way he could come and get the dragon. Days passed and Norberta grew larger and larger. Harry and his friends all grew more nervous as the days passed and Norberta grew. Finally, about a week after Norberta hatched Ron received a reply from Charlie.
Charlie told them that he had a few friends who would be passing through in the next few weeks. They would swing by and pick up the dragon at the top of the tallest tower at midnight.
Ron would have joined them but Ron had been visiting Hagrid earlier in the day and Norberta had bitten him. Harry had said that Ron should go to the hospital wing because dragon bites could be very dangerous.
That night Harry, Hermione, and Neville snuck down to Hagrid's Hut and got Norberta. Hagrid cried as he set Norberta in a large crate.
Harry put a hand on Hagrid's arm, "It will be all right." He said, "You should be able to head to Romania and visit her as much as you want."
Hagrid sobbed as he nodded and set a blanket and an old blue teddy bear. "I've packed 'im lots of rats an' brandy for the journey. Mummy will miss you."
Harry and Neville carried Norberta in between them while Hermione led the way to make sure no adults were there to catch them. They were very lucky on the way to the tower, they didn't run into anyone. Charlie's friends were waiting for the group.
A half hour passed and Harry, Neville, and Hermione headed down the spiral staircase their moods were soaring with Norberta the dragon gone nothing could get them down, almost nothing. Unfortunately, Mr. Filch and his ever-constant shadow Mrs. Norris, the cat.
"Aren't we in trouble." Filch said and Harry and his friends spirts flew right into the ground. Harry had thought they were going to make it back to Gryffindor Tower without getting caught. He was wrong.
Harry felt relieved when Filch knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door and not Snape's' or even the headmasters'.
"Come in," Professor McGonagall's voice came through the door.
"More students out of bed Professor," Filch said as he opened the door. Inside McGonagall's office Harry almost smirked when he saw none other than Draco Malfoy in front of McGonagall's desk being dressed down. The almost glaring look Professor McGonagall sent them stopped Harry from really smirking at Malfoy. Harry could tell that she was not happy seeing a group of her Gryffindor's out after hours.
Getting caught had cost Gryffindor House one hundred and fifty point and a detention. It seemed the three quarters of the school had turned on him the next morning when they noticed that Gryffindor had lost that many points over night. Gryffindor had lost its lead and everyone blamed Harry, even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw blamed him as they wanted to see Slytherin lose.
Harry threw himself into Quiddich after that to prove that he wasn't just a troublemaker. The others on the team weren't as forgiving. Wood worked Harry even harder than before. Harry took this in stride if it wasn't for the others glaring at him during practice he would have even been fine with them referring to him as 'The Seeker'.
One day after practice Harry had had enough. "What is your guy's problem?" He shouted, the team had the decency to look ashamed at how they had been acting. Harry looked over at the twins, "You two have lost more points than that and yet you two are acting like me and my friends losing fifty points each is the end of the world. I mean who really cares if we win the house cup, what matters is that we win the Quiddich Cup. I think proving that we have the better team is more important than who is the most behaved house. Don't you think?"
Before anyone could say anything, Harry left the pitch and headed back towards the castle still in his quiddich gear.
About a week before exams were due to start Harry heard something he probably shouldn't have heard. He heard Professor Quirrell arguing with someone or something. When he told his friends they all seemed to think that Snape was threatening Quirrell but for some reason Harry wasn't sure. He was reminded of the dreams he had been having all year, of Voldemort sticking out the back of Quirrell's head.
He wasn't about to tell his friends that though. They would think he was even crazier than they probably already thought he was. The last thing his friends needed to know about was the dreams he'd been having. It had of course crossed Harry's mind once or twice to ask one of his teachers or even Professor Dumbledore about what his dreams could possibly mean. Harry, however didn't think they would be able to give him any answers.
The next morning Harry, Hermione, and Neville all received notes from Professor McGonagall informing them that they would be serving their detentions later that evening with Hagrid.
That night at eleven o'clock Harry and two of his friends met Filch the Caretaker and Malfoy at the entrance hall. Filch led the group down to Hagrid's hut and let them know they were going into the forest.
Malfoy complained about there being werewolves in the forest.
Harry rolled his eyes as he looked up at moon which wasn't anywhere near being full. "Oh, yeah it's just crawling with werewolves on a night where the moon isn't anywhere near being full." Harry said sarcasm dripping from every word.
Hagrid explained about the injured unicorn and about the one that had already been killed. Draco imminently grabbed onto Fang looking at the dog's long, sharp teeth. He also regretted when Hagrid informed him that Fang was a bloody coward.
Hagrid tried to send Neville with Draco and Fang but Harry volunteered before he could. Fang stuck close to Harry and Draco, he was only bit on the skittish side. Harry took the lantern and shoved it into Draco's hands saying, "Here you carry this." After that he took his wand out and lit it with a silent "Lumos."
Harry led the way down the path, Draco and Fang followed closely behind. They were only in the forest about half an hour before Harry spotted a bit of the silvery blood they were looking for. Harry pointed it out to Draco and he nodded fear written all over his face. Harry couldn't help but think about his dreams and what he could possibly find at the end of the trail of blood.
He felt it before he saw it, the intense pain emanating from the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Instinctively his hand grabbed his head and he let out a low groan of pain. The sight was almost worse than the memory.
Someone or something was draped over the top of a poor innocent unicorn, it's legs would twitch even second or so and Harry felt the urge to throw up his dinner. Draco approached behind Harry and stepped on a stick, the stick made a loud SNAP and the creature turned its head to them.
Its face was unrecognizable as it was covered in the silvery blood of the unicorn. The pain was almost too much for Harry to take he let out a loud groan from the pain in his head as the thing stalked toward Harry.
Harry heard Draco let out a chocked scream as he fell backward on the ground. Fang whimpered as he back away before turning around and running away leaving the two boys to fend for themselves. Harry found himself wish for another dog, one he had seen in the dreams with his parents, the dog that could turn into a human and protect Harry from whatever that thing was.
It had only been a few short minutes when something else rushed into the scene and the frightful looking creature rush off before it could be caught. Harry looked at his savior from the ground up, he couldn't decide what it was. He found himself wondering if it was a horse or if it was a human. It seemed to be a bit of both.
"You should not be in the forest at times like these." The creature spoke. The creature who harry learned was a centaur and named Firenze led Harry and Draco away from the sad and horrific scene and out of the forest and back to the castle.
Professor McGonagall was waiting for them at the entrance way. For a moment, she looked shocked at the sight of Harry and Draco before she quickly covered it up. Firenze spoke and told McGonagall that he had found them in the forest about to be attacked be something that did not belong in the forest.
Harry and Draco spent the night in the hospital wing.