꧁☬⋆ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ᴾᴼᵛ⋆☬꧂

"But unfortunately it's against our laws," I added.

"Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, and everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden -- anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"How did you know that?" Ron looked at me while raising his eyebrows.

"Well, Charlie does letter me time to time and sometimes visit me."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.

"Of course there are," said Ron as he places his head to my shoulder and crosses his arms.

"Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind has to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

I looked at Harry and Hermione but noticed how Harry is giving Ron a look.

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

When we knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's, aka my uncle's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.

Uncle called "Who is it?" before he let us in, and then shut the door quickly behind us.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Uncle made us some tea and offered us stoat sandwiches, which we refused.

"So -- yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush.

"We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy. "

Uncle frowned at him. "O' course I can't," he said.

"Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' say yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts -- I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy. "

"Oh, come on, uncle, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on around here," I tone my voice in a warm, flattering voice.

His beard twitched, and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding."

And I went on. "We wondered who grandpa had trusted enough to help him, apart from you. "

Uncle's chest swelled at these last words. Harry, Ron and Hermione beamed at me.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter say yeh that...let's see...he borrowed Fluffy from me...then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall--" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on; I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape. "

"Snape?"

"Uncle Severus?"

"Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone; he's not about ter steal it."

I knew it! He wasn't trying to steal it, but he's trying to protect the stone!

And I'm sure Ron, Harry and Hermione were thinking the same as I am If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything -- except, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

But I have a great hunch; I bet it's Prosser Quirrell but still not sure though, I mean why would he try to jinx Harry's broom?

Also ever since he got hired at the school, he's been keeping an eye to me, and it's creeping me out.

Every time I would catch him looking at me; he would smile at me as nothing happened.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. Aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously.

"And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"But I do always get away from it, I used to play with the dog, but it seems like Fluffy doesn't recognise me anymore since I got banned going there." I sighed.

"Well, it's dangerous. Why would you want to play with such a huge dog! Importantly three-headed dog!" Ron said.

"I don't know? I have a soft spot for that dog..." I smiled.

"Y/N, do you perhaps know what does three-headed dog mean?" Hermione places her hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"How about you, Hermione, do you know it?" All of us looked at her.

"Yes of course, in Greek myth, the three-headed dog, Cerberus or more like Fluffy, stands guard at the entrance to the underworld."

"Cerberus' job is to let you into hell but prevent you from ever leaving. One head of the dog represents the past, one the present, and the third is the future."

"Cerberus is a mythical multi-headed, though usually depicted with three heads, dog guarding the gates of the Underworld and preventing the dead from leaving. His symbol would represent evil, anger, vigilance and fury." I added.

"But he's somehow nice to you?" Harry asked, and I nodded.

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.

"Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said uncle Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance at the fire. I looked at it, too.

"Hagrid -- what's that ?"

But I already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah," said Uncle, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's -- er. . . "

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune. "

"Won it," uncle said. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

I can't believe it; I'm looking into a dragon egg.

"Well, I've been doin' some readin'," he said, pulling a large book from under his pillow.

"Got this outta the library -- Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit -- it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here -- how ter recognise diff'rent eggs -- what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them. "

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.

But uncle wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

"Does that mean, I can finally see a dragon?!" I grinned widely, uncle nodded.

"I can't believe it! I am so excited!"

"Seriously, Y/N." Hermione sighed and faced palm.

And so now we had something else to worry about: what might happen to uncle if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

⭇⭇⭇⭇

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting.

Hermione had now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts, while me?

I am laughing because of how they look so stressed out about the exams and homework.

Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry and I another note from uncle Hagrid.

He had written only two words: It's hatching.

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing--"

"Shut up!" I whispered.

Draco was only a few feet away, and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? I didn't like the look on Draco's face at all.

Ron and Hermione argued to Herbology, and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to uncle Hagrid's with the other two during morning break.

When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of our lesson, the four of us at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest, uncle Hagrid greeted us, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out. " He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

"Oh, Salazar, it's happening!" I bit my bottom lip from enthusiasm.

We all drew our chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once, there was a scraping noise, and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table.

It was pretty, but im sure the others think the opposite. Its spiny wings were enormous compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful ?" Uncle Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Aaaaaawwwwweeee." I sequel.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said uncle Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

He was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face, he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains -- it's a kid -- he's runnin' back up ter the school. "

I bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance, there was no mistaking him.

Draco had seen the dragon.

__

Something about the smile lurking on Draco's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, Hermione and I very nervous. We spent most of our free time in uncle Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.

"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free. "

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die. "

We looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils.

Uncle Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes.

"He knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered in my ear.

"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks, and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment. " uncle Hagrid bit his lip.

"I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't. "

I turned to Ron. "Charlie," I said.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember? Do you miss him that much?"

"Yes and Charlie -- your brother, Charlie. In Romania, he's studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"

And in the end, uncle Hagrid agreed that we could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

꧁☬⋆ᴺᴼ ᴼᴺᴱ'ˢ ᴾᴼᵛ⋆☬꧂

The following week passed by, Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed.

The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. You and Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak.

You both had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"It bit me!" he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief.

"I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me, he told me off for frightening it. And when we left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"Honestly, Ron. It's just a baby dragon, stop acting like a child." You rolled your eyes; you told Ron to sit down to the couch.

"That wasn't a baby dragon! It's a dangerous animal! I don't even know if its an animal!" Ron fumed in anger.

"Ron, please. Use inside voices; it's alright midnight." You swung your wand and managed to magic a first aid kit.

"How do you even do that? You didn't even use a spell for it." Hermione looked at you with questioning expression.

"Uhh... I actually don't know? I only think of it and swish my wand?"

You took care of Ron's hand, "if you want Ron, I can take notes for you." You smiled at him.

Ron blushes hard as he stared at you, "Y-you don't have t-to." He shuttered.