Remus began his chapter, feeling a mite concerned about what he was fixing to read. So far, ever since Harry's first week at Hogwarts, they really hadn't been able to go one chapter without Harry nearly dying, or all wanting to burst into tears at the emotional reminder that they weren't there for him.

At this point Remus would have gladly taken Harry getting a detention, at least to keep him out of trouble for a while.

Quirrell though, must have been braver then they would have thought. In the weeks that followed, he did grow paler, but he didn't seem to have cracked yet.

"Don't suppose any of the other teachers noticed how stressed he was?" Lily asked.

Harry simply shrugged, he had no idea about that.

Every time they went by the third-floor corridor, they would press their ear against the door to check and make sure Fluffy was still growling behind it.

"Better than poking your head in I suppose," Sirius muttered.

Snape was still stalking around the castle in his usual foul temper, which surely meant he didn't have the Stone yet.

"Not really," James wanted to laugh, but forced himself to say in normal tones, "he's just always like that."

They were also trying to give Quirrell a little encouragement, like Ron had started telling people off who mocked Quirrell's stutter.

"Well, props for doing that," Remus said, "but personally I think Quirrell's in on it for a cut. I don't see even Snape bullying a full grown wizard into forcing him to do anything."

All three of the adults agreed with him on that, while Harry was frowning to himself and thinking in annoyance that he regretted doing these things all together.

Hermione on the other hand had something else on her mind. She had started making a study chart for herself, and was insisting Harry and Ron should do the same.

"You mean she hasn't memorized every textbook in the castle?" Sirius demanded, faking real surprise.

"She's just nervous," Remus rebuked, "I got pretty testy around exam time to."

Ron tried to remind her that exams were still ten weeks away,

"Okay, I wasn't that bad," Remus acknowledged. "Two weeks, tops."

but Hermione snapped back that this was like a second to Nicolas Flamel.

"Yes well you aren't six hundred something years old," James rolled his eyes.

Ron reminded her that they weren't six hundred years old,

Now all five of them were laughing at this odd habit.

but Hermione insisted she should have started studying for these ages ago, and can't understand what could have gotten into her.

"When do you ever stop studying?" Lily demanded, really she was happy Hermione had friends to pull her out of books from time to time.

"Your friends have," James replied to Hermione's rhetorical question, "and it's worth it."

Sadly the teachers were going along with Hermione, piling so much homework on them that their Easter holiday wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the last one.

"They never are," all four graduates sighed in annoyance.

"It only gets worse as the years go on," Sirius groaned.

"Honestly, they gave you that two weeks off just so you have the time to do it," James agreed.

They spent so much extra time in the library studying that they were quickly losing their patience.

"And that's why it sucks spending any extra time in the library," Sirius agreed.

Ron shouted out in frustration how he wasn't going to remember any of this as he glanced longingly out of the window and the perfectly clear, sunny sky.

"Perfect Quidditch conditions," James and Sirius groaned.

Harry looked around miserably as well, when his eyes caught on Hagrid.

"Now that is a surprise," Lily agreed, Hagrid wasn't known for coming into the castle outside of meals, let alone up there.

Hagrid looked rather out of place with his usual bulk, and clearly hiding something behind his back.

"Subtle as ever I see," Remus chuckled.

He greeted them casually enough, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he demanded to know if they were still looking for Nicolas Flamel.

"Nah, they found out about him, through the use of chocolate!" James cried with glee.

"I want to use that as a slogan, and buy the company," Sirius laughed.

Harry admits that they already did find out about him, and the Philosopher's Stone, but Hagrid quickly shushes him, saying they shouldn't be shouting about that.

"He's got a point," Remus agreed, fighting the impulse to laugh.

Harry presses on and tries to ask Hagrid about what else could be guarding the stone, but Hagrid shushes him again, telling Harry he shouldn't be looking into that kind of stuff here, and invites them over to his place later to talk.

"Well thank you Hagrid, for literally inviting them over to ask you questions you'll most likely answer before they ask them," Lily said, rolling her eyes fondly at the giant.

Harry agrees with chipper, and Hermione wonders aloud what Hagrid could have been hiding behind his back, perhaps it was something to do with the Stone?

"I doubt that," Remus said, "Hagrid really wouldn't even have that much to do with it."

"Then what was he doing?" Sirius asked.

Remus glanced down, and realizing they were fixing to find out, just kept reading.

Ron gets up to go find what section Hagrid had been in, and comes back with a stack of books on dragons.

"Oh, well that makes sense," James said, "in his free time he'd look up stuff about his favourite magical creature."

"He was still acting pretty shifty about it," Lily disagreed.

"What?" Sirius asked, raising a disbelieving brow at her, "You think he's got a dragon stashed away in his wooden house?"

Harry startled a bit, his mind bursting to show him something in response to that, but he really couldn't see that happening, so he forced himself to let it go.

Lily had to admit this was ridiculous, but none of them could think of another reason.

Harry tells them how Hagrid had always wanted a dragon, and Ron tells them that it was against wizarding laws, had been since a convention in 1709.

"Now look what studying has done for you," Remus said with glee.

Pointing out how difficult it would be to keep the Muggles from noticing them if they kept dragons on a leash. Harry demanded that there can't be any dragons in Britain,

"Course there are," Sirius said, shivering, "and they're as bloody awful as you imagine."

"Are you saying you've run into a wild dragon?" Lily demanded.

Sirius got a very shifty look about him, but when the silence dragged on, Remus decided to spare his friend and keep reading. He knew either Harry or Lily were going to demand the full story to that later.

Ron says that of course there are, naming the surrounding breeds of a Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks.

Sirius shuddered for real this time, and Lily dearly wanted to know which dragon had made him do it.

Hermione voices what Hagrid could be up to with this, which they wonder until they go down to his hut that night where Hagrid was acting very shifty. He had all of the curtains closed on his house, and called out for who it was before shooing them inside and closing the door quickly behind them.

"If he acts any more suspicious I'm actually going to start getting worried," James said, looking a little green already.

Hagrid reminds them that they had wanted to ask some questions, and Harry says yes, they wanted to know what was guarding the stone apart from Fluffy.

"Blunt as a dull axe," Sirius laughed, coming back to the present.

Hagrid tells them that he doesn't know,

"Thought so," Remus said with a sigh.

and he still can't figure out how they figured out about Fluffy in the first place.

"Hum," James said, rubbing his jaw, "tell a school full of children not to go into a certain room, and then be bloody surprised when students know what's in that room that can be unlocked with a simple first year charm. Yep, that's a real mystery."

Even Lily had to agree with that logic, or lack thereof in this case.

Hermione points out that Hagrid would still know, since he knows about everything in the school,

"Flattery is a sin even Merlin forgives," Sirius laughed, knowing this tactic all too well.

and continues whittling in a kind voice that she just wanted to know who Dumbledore trusted to guard the Stone, apart from Hagrid of course.

"Laying it on a bit thick?" James laughed.

"Oh, but I bet it will work," Remus said.

Hagrid caves and admits that all he knows is that all of the teachers at the school did a particular something, including Snape and Quirrell.

"So all the teachers there did something," Lily mused.

"I'm surprised they let Quirrell," James said, "considering he had only started that year."

"Most likely they all did something relating to their subjects," Sirius said slowly.

"So what, if you have a well-rounded education, it might not even be too difficult to get down there," Remus concluded.

"Now hang on," James disagreed, "I would fear for my life if I wound up on the bad end of half those teachers wands. Plus, Dumbledore himself did something to keep that Stone guarded. It can't be as easy as all that."

"But Snape has been there how long?" Sirius argued, "the other teachers would have trusted him enough that if he asked, they may have just told him what they did."

"Oh not this again," Lily moaned.

"Got a better argument?" Sirius snapped.

"Yes," Lily snapped right back, "I wouldn't be surprised if all of the teachers knew what all of the enchantments are. So the only problem they seem to have is Fluffy. That's a mutual problem between both," her breath hitched for a moment before she continued "suspects. I say Severus is checking Quirrell to make sure he doesn't know how to get past Fluffy on Dumbledore's orders. Maybe Quirrell did something suspicious that he doesn't like or..." she trailed off, running out of steam at all the circumstantial facts that kept floating around.

Really, neither one had a fair point, since both teachers had been in both places every instance.

Remus cleared his throat after a nasty silence seemed likely to continue, and said, "How about I just keep going? I'm sure we'll figure this out soon."

Harry was privately thinking 'sooner than you might think.'

Harry repeats Snape's name in shock, Hagrid reminds that Snape wouldn't try and steal the Stone, since he was one trying to protect it.

"Or it just gave him a better chance to go after it," Sirius huffed.

Harry exchanged an anxious glance with Ron and Hermione, clearly still not believing this, and asked whether anyone knew how to get past Fluffy. Hagrid replies in the negative, saying not a soul knew except for himself and Dumbledore.

"There's a way to get past Fluffy without being torn in three?" Remus demanded.

"Kind of hoping not," James said, "that way that thing will stay down there forever, and this

whole problem can just go away."

"I'm starting to feel a little bad for Fluffy though," Lily said sadly, having just thought, "the poor things locked up in a room that barely fits him. How is he going to the bathroom, or just to stretch his legs, and who's feeding him enough-"

"Lily," James said in exasperation, "I have full confidence Dumbledore and Hagrid are making sure that thing is being taken care of somehow."

Harry then asks if they could perhaps open a window, it was really hot in there, but Hagrid denies with an uneasy look at the fireplace. Ron catches sight of where he looked, and asked what was in there.

"You're joking," Sirius groaned, he can't have. He really can't have...

It was obvious what it was though, a black egg sitting in the middle of the fire.

"You're joking," the other three said in disbelief.

"No, I'm not," Remus said, looking at the book like it had just bitten his hand off.

"Who, how, why-" Lily spluttered.

"I'm done," James said, flopping back against the couch in exasperation. "I really am just done with this. Harry's first year, and he's come into contact with a bloody three headed dog, a troll, and now Hagrid's keeping a dragon egg around! That's not even the worst-" His voice trailed off as he still continued grumbling.

All five of them were simply stunned into silence for a moment before Remus gathered himself up and began again.

Ron wanted to know how Hagrid got it, and Hagrid admits that he won it in a game of cards, that the man seemed rather glad to be rid of it for some odd reason...

"I wonder why," Sirius gasped, looking like he was about to faint at any moment, "couldn't be because it's illegal to walk around with a Dragon egg, and play a game of cards for it!"

"Of all the stupid, irresponsible," Lily grumbled.

James still looked like he had passed out against the back of the couch.

Hermione wanted to know what Hagrid intended to do with it once it hatched, and Hagrid wanted to raise it of course. He'd gotten a book from the library all about the subject, and had even found the breed his was, which was a Norwegian Ridgeback, a rare one.

"Because that makes this all so much better," Remus groaned.

He looked rather pleased with himself, but the others didn't. Hermione chose to remind him that Hagrid lived in a wooden house.

"That's the least of my concerns," Lily yelped, "how fast do dragons grow? How long before we've got a fully grown dragon stampeding on the grounds?"

Sirius jumped like someone had just branded his side, and Remus didn't have the heart to tell them that dragon's grew at a considerable rate. It would be born poisonous, be able to breath fire after the first month, and then grow approximately a foot a week, reaching full growth in less than three years. Though dangerous enough to a normal person at about six months. With any luck the egg would hatch, Hagrid would recognize he'd made a horrible mistake, and someone would get rid of that thing before the week was up.

Hagrid clearly wasn't listening to their concerns though as he began stoking the fire while humming.

That shocked James out of his stupor, he jolted into an upright position and cried, "oh yes,

humming to the egg will make it feel better."

All five of them felt like a twitching mess. A dragon! How could it be possible that Harry would have to deal with a dragon on top of everything else this year!

So now on top of everything else they had to deal with, the three of them were now stressing out what would happen if someone found out that their friend was keeping an illegal dragon egg.

"Fired for sure," Sirius said slowly. Despite his disgust at the beasts, he really didn't want Hagrid to get fired, he liked him too much for that.

"A hearing in front of the Department for Control of Dangerous Creatures," Lily added on.

"Maybe a pretty large fine could be the worst," James said without any real hope.

Ron bemoaned what it would be like to have a peaceful life.

"I might think that was funny if he wasn't serious," Harry said.

"No I'm Sirius," Sirius blurted out before anyone could stop him this time.

Remus smacked Sirius in the shine with the book for that, while both of Harry's parents turned to him with pleading eyes and James said, "Harry, I'm begging you, think before you speak."

Harry couldn't take them, well serious, right then. He was too busy laughing.

Less than a week later, they received a note at breakfast from Hagrid that simply said 'it's hatching.'

"Don't," Sirius said at once, he had been rubbing his knee and giving Remus the stank eye until he heard that, "don't go Harry. Please."

Harry gave him an odd look, but no one had the heart to point out to him this time how pointless that please was.

Ron wanted to skip class and go straight down there, but Hermione refused. Harry pointed out that how many times would they get the chance to see a dragon hatching?

"Now that I will give them," James nodded, "it might be cool for the first five minutes."

"Until the bloody thing starts breathing fire at you," Sirius hissed in disgust.

Hermione still wouldn't hear it, pointing out that if they skipped classes to go to Hagrid's they'd get in trouble, but Harry quickly told them to shut up.

"Well that was a bit rude," Lily said to Harry, "she was only trying to warn you."

Harry shook his head, saying, "No, I think there was someone listening to us," he muttered, just as Remus kept reading.

Harry had spotted Malfoy not to far away, who was clearly listening in on them.

"Oh," all five of them winced at this. While they all disapproved of what Hagrid was doing, the last person they wanted to find out was Malfoy.

Harry felt uneasy at once at the look on Malfoy's face, but didn't get much of a chance to think on it as Hermione convinced them to go to class. The second the teacher called for the class to be dismissed, they sprinted down to Hagrid's and got there just in time to see the egg on the table, with funny little clicking noises coming from inside of it.

Remus couldn't help it either, he was rather curious to hear first-hand what a dragon hatching would be like.

Sirius was edging away from the book with an annoyed look on his face.

With one more loud scraping noise, the egg came apart and a baby dragon flopped out. Harry didn't think much of it, comparing it to a crumpled black umbrella.

"Here I thought all babies were cute," James chuckled at the description.

Harry couldn't help a slight frown though the longer this dragged on. From the moment he'd heard about the little dragon egg, he'd had some odd feeling he would meet this dragon, but it was coupled with a terrible adrenaline rush. Why would a baby cause that though? Was it possible he was thinking about another dragon? How many of these things did he run into though? It was a very vague feeling, he decided it must not be related to this one at least, so he pushed it aside for now.

It had tiny wings already twice the size of its skinny body, with a thin snout and stubby horns with dark orange eyes.

Sirius shivered in disgust this time, more than happy he wasn't there for this, and wanting to drag Harry away from it as well.

When it sneezed, sparks sprang from its nostrils.

"Oh great," Lily groaned, any fascination she had gone in an instant, "how soon can dragon's start breathing fire?"

When they all looked to Remus, he shrugged and said, "Why do you lot assume I know

everything about every magical creature?"

"Are you saying you don't know the answer?" James asked in disbelief.

"Two months," he admitted, grinning widely, "I was just curious why you thought I knew that."

"We knew you knew that, because you're a know it all," Sirius grumbled.

Hagrid was clearly fascinated, stating he thought the baby was a beauty.

"Nothing about what Harry just described sounded beautiful," James laughed.

He reached out a finger to pet it, to which the dragon reacted by turning sharp fangs on him.

"Sweet nature then," Lily muttered, shaking her own hand as if having avoided the bite herself.

Hagrid only smiled wider, claiming that the dragon which he proclaimed a boy, knew his 'mummy.' Hermione uneasily asked Hagrid how fast Ridgebacks grow, but Hagrid didn't get the chance to answer as he got to his feet and ran to the window.

"Oh he didn't," Harry said in disgust.

"What?" The others asked him.

Harry just waved Remus on, hoping dearly this time he was wrong.

Explaining with unease that he had seen someone peeking through the window, a student.

"Oh bloody hell," James groaned, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"If that's not Malfoy then I'm a fish," Sirius agreed, wishing Ron had done more then give him a black eye now.

Harry sprinted to the door and saw for himself that there was no mistaking him, it was Malfoy who had seen the dragon.

"Nosy git," Remus and Lily muttered.

He was pretty obvious about it to, as the whole of next day he kept throwing superior smirks at the three of them.

"You mean he didn't tell?" James asked in surprise.

"I don't know why not," Sirius said, "Hagrid could hardly hide the bloody beast. No matter who he went to, probably Snape, would have gone down there to at least investigate."

Remus just shrugged, he had no idea what his motives were, and so read on.

They tried to convince Hagrid to just let the dragon go for Hagrid's safety, but Hagrid refused on the basis that the dragon was to small, that he'd die.

"Now that's most likely true," Lily said sadly.

"I think I could live with myself," Sirius muttered.

Weeks began dragging on, and the baby dragon was keeping Hagrid very busy, so busy he was no longer keeping up with his game keeping duties.

"This is just getting better as time goes on," Remus huffed.

And his affection was only growing. Hagrid had decided to name him Norbert, and claimed the baby could even come to him now. Ron said he thought Hagrid had lost his mind.

"I'm rather inclined to agree with Ron," James said.

Harry was still trying to convince him to go to Dumbledore, and while Hagrid admits that he knew he couldn't keep Norbert forever, he couldn't just dump him either.

"I'm sure Dumbledore would come up with a fair solution," Remus said at once, "and it really would be better for Hagrid if he went to him and explained, rather than a student telling."

"I can only hope Harry convinced him to do this," Lily said.

An idea struck Harry, he turned to Ron and exclaimed 'Charlie!'

All four adults puzzled at that, before Remus said slowly, "no, I don't see how that would work. If his brother's all the way in Romania, but I suppose he might be able to get away with coming round to Hogwarts. The only real problem would be taking the dragon back with him, hum..." he trailed off.

Lily was shaking her head furiously, saying, "Ron could get his brother into real trouble for that. It's illegal to transport dragons without proper paperwork, which none of them have."

"Really, just go to Dumbledore, you won't get in trouble," James insisted.

Harry simply shrugged, having no answer to this.

"I just want that thing gone, I don't care how," Sirius muttered.

Ron now thought Harry was losing it to, reminding Harry that his name was Ron.

All four of them snorted with laughter at this.

"Come on Ron," Remus laughed, "not only did your friend think of your brother before you, but you didn't catch that?"

Harry reminded Ron that if Charlie worked with dragons in Romania, couldn't they just ship Norbert, and Charlie could take care of it?

"Oh sure, just send him on a couple of owls, that should work out," Lily rolled her eyes.

Ron agreed to the plan at once, and then the two finally convinced Hagrid. That

Wednesday at midnight,

"Thought you had Astronomy then?" Lily asked with a frown, hating to think Harry really was skipping classes for this.

"It was raining that night, and Professor Sinistra had a cold," Harry shrugged. "We were lucky and got out that night."

the portrait hole seemed to open on its own until Ron tore off Harry's invisibility cloak.

"Are you happy now," Lily asked them all, "Harry and his friends are clearly using the cloak to sneak around the grounds now."

"To see a dragon," Sirius told her like he thought she was being daft, "I will never be happy to hear about that."

"You lot snuck out to go see a werewolf, what's the difference?" she demanded.

James looked at her sharply and said, "never when we didn't think we couldn't handle it."

"Well, we had Hagrid, and we were handling it alright," Harry defended.

They had been taking turns to go down and help Hagrid with Norbert, and this time Ron had come back with a bite.

"Never mind," Harry sighed, placing his head in his hands as all the adults felt fear at once.

"Norwegian Ridgebacks are poisonous," Remus said at once, "please tell me he went straight to the hospital wing. Pomfrey never asks too many questions."

"Well, his hand doesn't fall off," Harry said with only a little confidence.

Hagrid had actually told Ron off for frightening Norbert when it happened,

"Okay, no more sympathy for the bloody beast," James said at once.

"I never had any," Sirius snarled.

and when Ron left Hagrid had been singing to it.

"I'm agreeing with Ron. Hagrid's lost his marbles," Remus said, shaking his head in disbelief.

They didn't get a chance to chat anymore when Hedwig arrived with a note for Harry, from Charlie. It contained well wishes for Ron, asking how he was,

"Just fine, you know I've been bitten by a dragon and all," Lily muttered.

and how he'd be more than happy to take the Norwegian Ridgeback from them, but it wasn't going to be easy.

"You think," James snorted.

He asks if it's possible for them to get the dragon to the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday.

"Really?" Remus said weakly, "that's their plan. Carry a live dragon through the school, up to a tower!"

"Why, why can't Harry have any kind of normalcy in his school life?" James groaned weakly.

Ron writes back in agreement to this plan, and Harry agrees that it wouldn't be impossible for two of them to fit under his cloak plus Norbert. It would honestly be a relief to get rid of the dragon, and Malfoy.

"There's the silver lining I was looking for," Sirius said brightly.

A problem arose the next morning though, when Ron awoke to find his hand had swollen to twice its normal size.

"And it's gone again," he huffed, slumping back into the cushions.

"Ron's okay though, right?" Lily asked in concern.

"I'm positive," Harry said at once.

He was afraid to go to Madam Pomfrey with the injury, would she recognize a dragon bite?

"She definitely would," Remus said slowly, "but he should go anyways."

"Agreed," James said, "she never asks questions about the injuries. Otherwise students might not come to her, try and fix it themselves, and real problems can start happening."

"You three are just so knowledgeable," Lily muttered, rolling her eyes. Then a new thought

occurred to her, and she asked, "Wouldn't Pomfrey tell Ron's parents though?"

"Depends on how severe the wound gets," Sirius said thoughtfully, "as far as I'm aware, they don't write home unless it's life or death."

Lily didn't really look encouraged by this, but then she remembered a few accidents she'd had during school and was more than grateful Pomfrey hadn't informed her parents about it, so she couldn't say much.

But they really had no choice as Ron's hand began to turn green, and they figured out that Norbert was venomous.

"Yet another reason to love the bloody thing," Sirius grumbled.

Harry and Hermione went to visit him after their classes, and he says that he told how a dog had bit him, though he wasn't sure if she believed him.

"She doesn't," all four of them agreed.

Then wishes he hadn't hit Malfoy at the last Quidditch game or he probably wouldn't be doing this.

"No," James shook his head, "I'm positive he'd have done this anyways."

"Not exactly comforting," Harry sighed.

Harry and Hermione tried to comfort him, reminding him this would all be over Saturday, but this only causes Ron to freak out as he remembers he left the letter Charlie had sent them in a book that Malfoy had taken. He had come up there to lord it in his face that he knew what was going on, and now he knew they were going to get rid of Norbert.

"Oh bloody hell!" Lily cried in exasperation.

"I, yeah I can't think of a single thing to say to that," Remus muttered.

"Of all the books," James groaned, rubbing his face.

"Please tell me this doesn't stop you though," Sirius turned to Harry, "you've still got the cloak. So long as you're careful, and you time it right, you should still be able to get rid of it."

Harry pondered this for a moment before saying slowly, "err, yeah, I feel like we do still get rid of it," which brought a gleaming smile to Sirius' face, so Harry left out the part where he also felt like perhaps they didn't fully get away with it.

They decide it's too late now to change the plans though, and as they still have the cloak they decide to go through with it. That night they went down to Hagrid's hut to find Fang outside, tail bandaged.

"Poor dear," Lily muttered. Fang didn't deserve that.

They knock on the door but Hagrid sticks his head out the window, telling them that

Norbert was in a 'tricky stage', but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

"I beg to differ," James huffed.

They told him about Charlie's letter, and he looked about to cry, though that may be because Norbert chose then to bite him on the leg.

"I don't think that would do much to him though," Lily murmured.

"There's a fight you don't think about every day," James mused, "Giant vs Dragon."

"Don't." Sirius said at once, "just don't."

Remus didn't even try to hide the laughter echoing his voice as he read on.

Hagrid quickly says that it just got his boot, that he didn't blame him because he was just as baby. The baby banged its tail against the walls, making the windows rattle.

"Baby demon," Sirius muttered.

They knew they would have felt sorry for Hagrid if they weren't so worried about how they were going to do this.

"Yeah, no offense, I don't feel sorry at all," James said, just happy this particular crisis was being dealt with right away.

Saturday finally rolled around and Hermione and Harry made their way down to Hagrid's to find Norbert packed away in a crate.

"At least he thought ahead," Lily smiled, "I had just pictured trying to put a muzzle on it or

something."

"Could he really not whip up a sleeping drought for it," James sighed.

"Not without knowing all kinds of things about the dragon, its weight for example. Otherwise they could accidentally kill it," Lily disagreed.

"Let's just be happy with the box for now," Remus cut in.

Hagrid was clearly tearful as he told them he packed up all of Norbert's favourites,

including his teddy bear in case he got lonely.

"Or gets bored and wants to tear something up," Sirius rolled his eyes.

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded like the teddy was having his head torn off.

"Well that happened quicker than I thought," he laughed.

As Harry and Hermione slipped under the invisibility cloak with Norbert, Hagrid gave one last tearful farewell, promising he'd never forget him.

"Good, then don't ever forget him from far, far away," James said slowly.

"And do us all a favour and don't ever try to replace him," Lily agreed.

The journey through the castle was hard going, staircase after staircase making the box seem to grow heavier with every floor.

"She was almost as heavy as Fang by then," Harry sighed.

"She?" James asked.

Harry blinked, frowning to himself, having no idea where that came from, and corrected, "uh, yeah I meant he."

They almost turned around one corner, but stopped just in time and ducked into the shadows as Professor McGonagall came by, holding Malfoy by the ear.

"You know what," Sirius said brightly, "I think I'll forgive this whole bloody incident, so long as Ron's hand is okay, just for that one beautiful moment."

"Hear, hear," the other four agreed, looking like they wanted to start dancing with joy as such a kid got the payback he deserved for butting into other's business.

Malfoy was trying to convince her that Harry was coming up with a dragon,

"The ironic thing is," Remus laughed, "he's telling the truth."

"He was still trying to do the right thing though," Lily said, instantly feeling bad for her initial

glee.

"For the wrong reasons though," James disagreed.

but Professor McGonagall wouldn't hear it and dragged him off claiming he'd have

detention for being out of bed. Once on top of the tower, Harry and Hermione were thrilled at this, Hermione exclaiming she could sing with joy.

"A well-deserved feeling," James laughed, picturing it in his head.

Charlie's friends arrived right on time, and the two students eagerly helped load him up with them.

"I really want to know what Charlie told them," Lily said mildly. "They must be some really good friends to have somehow been convinced to meet a couple of kids on top of a tower and transport an illegal dragon around."

"I don't care in the slightest, since it clearly worked," Sirius snickered.

Finally Norbert was flying out of sight.

"Thank you," they all breathed.

"And let you never again have to go near a bloody dragon," Sirius vowed.

Harry couldn't decide right then, tell them all that he felt very sure he would indeed run into a dragon again, or ask Sirius what his problems with dragon's were. The others had already agreed with Sirius though, and Remus was reading on happily.

In bright spirits they slipped back into the stairwell, positive that nothing could ruin their good mood now, which was immediately ruined when they found Filch at the bottom of the staircase.

"So?" James asked, it's not like Filch could see them.

Remus was reading with dread in his voice now, he didn't like what the book was implying.

He whispered that now they were in trouble,

"I hate the way he talks to that bloody cat," Sirius muttered.

and could easily see them, because they'd left the cloak at the top of the tower.

"You did what?" all four adults asked in disbelief.

My favourite chapter of this book, because awww, baby dragon! Yes, I am Hagrid.