It was stormy weather that visited the school the next day. The students, teachers and the guests assembled themselves in the Great Hall to satisfy their hunger with a hearty breakfast. Harry walked through the Hall's doors with Remus, Sirius and Dr. Clark and they helped themselves with plates of fruit and toast.

After everyone had finished their tuck-in, Mr. Weasely decided that today, he would like to read. So he picked the book up off the dais and read the title to himself, he smiled to himself.

"I think Charlie should have requested to read this one." he said with a laugh.

"Why's that, dad?" asked Charlie.

"The title is Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback."

Charlie paled, as did Hagrid, Ron, Hermione and Harry, who stood up quickly and unceremoniously took Madam Bones and Dumbledore by the hands and pulled them out of the hall. He pulled them almost to the Great Staircase when he finally stopped.

"What is wrong, Mr. Potter?" asked Madam Bones curiously.

"I wanted to ask, if something happened four years ago, can one be held accountable?" Harry asked quickly.

"You don't need to worry, Harry, no student will be in trouble." Dumbledore said kindly.

"It's not a student I'm worried about." said Harry, "It's a teacher."

"I can't press charges against someone if I find out about it from these books." said Madam Bones gently.

"That obviously didn' t stop you from arresting the Dursleys." said Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"Child abuse is another matter entirely, and we had your physical evidence to back it up." said Madam Bones.

"There may be physical evidence here to." said Harry carefully.

"I'll think about it, unless someone gets killed, I won't pursue anything." she said kindly.

"Thank you Madam Bones, it's a weight off my mind." said Harry heaving a sigh, he walked back to the Great Hall.

"He shouldn't' have anything weighing on his mind, in my opinion." said Madam Bones.

"I agree as well." said Dumbledore seriously. "But I fear, that he may have to at some point, this year."

"Can't you leave it for when he's a bit older?" asked Madame Bones sternly.

"I don't think I can. He's deserving of some knowledge, especially that which I have been keeping from him." said Dumbledore sadly.

When they reentered the Great Hall, Dumbledore looked over to Charlie Weasely.

"Mr. Weasely, may we count on your expertise in this chapter? I think the students would absolutely love to hear some interesting facts about Ridgebacks and other species of dragons." said Dumbledore eyes twinkling.

"Sure thing, sir, be happy to." said Charlie with a wide grin.

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought,

"Yeah, not nearly chicken-hearted." said Fred with a laugh.

In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.

"I would have given him a day, to crack." said George with a smirk.

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside.

"As long as you don't go in there, I have no problems." said Sirius, looking at Harry sideways.

Snape was sweeping about it in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe.

"Wow, is the stone STILL safe?" asked a brave first year, Snape heard it and sent a reproachful look towards the foolish young Gryffindor.

Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him as encouraging sort of smile, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.

"Pardon us, I think we're going to be sick." said Harry and Ron, shaking their heads.

Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"I don't nag!" said Hermione in a hurt voice.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away."

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped.

"That is over two months, Hermione!" said Sirius staring at fifth year girl.

"I just wanted them to be prepared." she said shuffling her feet.

"Trust us, we were fine." said Ron shaking his head. "Harry was tutoring me in the evenings. I needed a lot of work, but he and I were doing our best."

"That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"You aren't six hundred years old, Miss Granger." said Dumbledore kindly.

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her,

"It appears that Mr. Weasely and I agree on that." said Dumbledore smiling happily. Ron had a pale tint in his cheeks as he smiled broadly.

"Anyway, what are you studying for, you know it all."

"You never know, I might have forgotten something!" said Hermione.

"You failing a test is like Harry screwing up a recipe, doesn't happen." said Ron with a broad grin.

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year?

"We've never had a student fail their tests so badly that they didn't pass into the next year." said McGonagall.

They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"

"cough...Nicolas Flamel...cough..." Harry coughed into his hand.

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione.

"When don't they?" asked Neville to Ron in a whisper. Ron snorted

They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones.

"They never are." moaned a majority of the students.

It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood

"That is not on your first year tests, Miss. Granger." said Professor Flitwick.

or practicing wand movements.

"Some movements are required on the tests." said Professor Vector nodding.

Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work.

"We managed to get through it, too bad it took a long time." said Ron moaning.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window.

"Harry helped me a bit with that, it was for Herbology class." said Ron quietly.

It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue,

"You really like colors don't you, Harry?" asked Luna serenely. Harry groaned.

and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

"I wasn't looking forward to that." said Harry quietly.

"I wouldn't either if I had only the Dursley's to look forward to." said Sirius giving Harry a squeeze as the young man lounged against him. "But look on the bright side, you don't have to go back there anymore!" said Sirius brightly.

"I know, I'm looking forward to summer now." said Harry happily.

Harry, who was looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

"That was one weird coincidence." said Harry calmly.

"What do you mean?" asked Charlie.

Harry got up and walked over to Charlie and whispered into his ear. "Dittany makes dragons sneeze."

"Oh! Duh!" he said smacking his forehead "That is one odd coincidence." said Charlie with his eyebrows raised. "Why not say it out loud?"

"Don't want to ruin the surprise for everyone." said Harry with a malicious grin.

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Sorry Hagrid, but you look out of place everywhere." said Harry fondly.

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once.

"Oh that's not fair." said Dr. Clark trying to stifle a laugh. "He can't even keep a secret to himself, without you three pestering him."

Ron, Hermione and Harry shifted their feet guiltily, but Hagrid laughed. That made them feel a bit better.

"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Nope, they moved onto greener pastures." said Fred.

"Yeah, they want to know what else is going on that doesn't concern them." said George

"Right on." said a voice out into the Hall. People looked around keenly, trying to find the speaker. If they had looked over towards Professor Snape, they would have seen him an amused look on his face, and his hand covering his mouth.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St—"

"Oh, don't say it there! Go somewhere else, if you must!" moaned McGonagall slapping her forehead with her hand.

"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"Thank you Hagrid, for having sense!" she said shaking her head.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"

"I feel real ashamed of myself now." said Harry shaking his head while it was in his hands.

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"

"And you didn't, least not in so many words." said Ron with a sheepish grin.

"See you later, then," said Harry. Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"Looking back, it couldn't' have, he didn't really care about what was down there, he knew what it was." said Hermione thoughtfully. Harry smiled over to her. She saw his face.

"You knew it didn't have anything to do with it!" she said with a shocked look on her own face.

"I had a feeling." said Harry with a sly smile.

I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron,

"Good thinking." said Dumbledore approvingly.

who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Hope Madam Pince didn't hear that, she'd skin you alive for slamming the books down." said Terry Boot with a slight cringe.

"Dragons!" he whispered.

"Huh?" asked a few students in confusion.

"Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide. "

"Those are both really good Dragon books." said Charlie absently.

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him, " said Harry

"Good memory there, Potter." said Moody approvingly. "Only heard it once and you memorized it."

Lionus's eyes twitched excitedly. Very good memory, that. He thought to himself. He had been toying with the idea to recruit Potter for several years now. Ever since he attracted their attention. But his age always made Lionus take a step back in that decision. But now, Potter was becoming more and more appealing as an agent, despite his age. The only downside he could foresee is that he may have a furious battle with the wizened old Auror over who got to take him under their wing.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that.

"Ummm...not everyone..." said Seamus.

"Huh?" asked Ron.

"You only know that as common knowledge, because Charlie, here, wouldn't ever shut up about dragons." said Bill clapping a hand to his younger brother's back.

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.

"Just misunderstood." said Hagrid defiantly.

You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"They get pretty bad sometimes. I landed myself in the Romanian branch of St. Mungo's a few times. Nuthin' serious, Mum!" he said quickly seeing the shocked look on his mother's face.

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

"There are quite few dragons, still soaring about." said Charlie fondly, but then his face fell. "I just wish that we could at least tag them. That way, we don't have to worry about them so much. But we can't get near enough to do so."

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

"That spell does more harm than good, in my opinion." said Harry fiercely.

No one, aside from Dumbledore, McGonagall, Ron, Ginny and Hermione could understand why.

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

"Good question! C'mon dad! Continue reading so we can find out!" said Fred.

"I would have continued on, if you...hadn't...had...interrupted...me." said Mr. Weasely sternly, but he said it with a smile.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.

"Sorry if I was a bit rude." said Hagrid a little guiltily.

"Don't be, Hagrid, we were imposing on you." said Harry with a smile.

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

"I'm all better now, Hagrid, when do you want some cooking lessons?" said Harry happily.

"Whenever is good." said Hagrid with a smile, "Sorry if I ain't much of a student." he added with a bit of worry in his black eyes.

"If I can tutor Ron in magic, I can teach anybody, anything." he said with a grin.

"Can you indeed?" said Rivers with a small smile. Harry turned over to him quickly. He had forgotten he was there.

"I might want to talk to you at some point, Mr. Potter." he said drumming his fingers on his chair.

Moody and Lionus looked over to him quickly, as did the Unspeakables. They all wanted Harry to join their ranks. Harry saw the looks in their eyes. Picking his career might not be as easy as he thought. Especially if they wanted to put their two knuts in.

"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

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

"You never do waste time, when you want information." said Hermione with a grin.

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

"No, he can't." said Professor McGonagall sternly.

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

"Very good, Hagrid." she said approvingly.

"Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell 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."

"They're just too nosy for their own good." said Remus trying not to laugh.

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice.

"When you need information out of a guy, and he ain't giving it, always send in a girl. They'll spill their guts in a heartbeat. Especially if you use flattery." said Harry with a laugh.

"Did this little talk with Hagrid teach you that?" asked McGonagall sternly, crossing her arms and peering over to him.

"No, he's known that for a while." said Lionus with a laugh. Harry looked over at him again, how much about him did that Ranger know?

Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

"That was playing dirty." said Dumbledore, the sides of his mouth twitching.

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that-

"Yes it will! But I guess," said McGonagall to Professor Flitwick, "we should be thankful he told them, goodness knows if they went down there and they didn't have any idea of what was there."

"Oh dear, I really don't want to think about it." squeaked Professor Flitwick, covering his eyes.

let's see-he borrowed Fluffy from me- then some o' the teachers did enchantments-

"We volunteered, we didn't' want anyone getting ahold of the Stone either." said Professor Sprout quietly.

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."

"He helped?" said Fred in disbelief.

"That's unbelievable!" said George loudly.

Snape snarled at them

"Snape?"

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

"The same can't be said for someone else." said Hermione to Ron.

Harry knew Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as he was. 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.

"Just switch Snape's name with someone else's and you've got it right." muttered Harry.

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?"

"He told a student, what is so far-fetched about him telling a stranger?" said Pansy nastily.

"Were you conscious at all before this?" asked Harry, snapping out of his calm ravine.

"What are you talking about, Potter." she snapped.

"Hagrid didn't tell us how to get past the dog, just accidentally let on some clues as to what was down there. Everything else we found out." he said sternly. "So, unless you have an intelligent, or a half-way decent, witty remark, keep your forked-tongue behind your teeth." he hissed.

Pansy stared at him with pursed lips.

"I know where that statement came from." said Hermione with a broad grin.

"My favorite line from those books." said Harry with a large grin. "Gandalf rules!"

"Amen!" said Dumbledore broadly.

"You've read them too, sir?" said Harry and Hermione together.

"Oh, yes. I was good friends with Tolkien, I believe he said once that I was the inspiration for Gandalf."

"I can buy that." said Harry quickly but quietly.

"Though I don't see it myself." Dumbledore added.

"He's the only one." muttered Hermione.

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

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid.

"Hagrid! The past neglect and malnourishment left him with a very weak internal system! He's very delicate!" said Madame Pomfrey angrily.

"I'm not delicate!" said Harry shortly, people were trying not to snigger or laugh out loud.

"Of course not dear." said Madam Pomfrey absently. Harry gritted his teeth.

Harry noticed him glance at the fire. Harry looked at it, too.

"Never look at anything that you don't want him to know about." said Dumbledore a large smile.

"Hagrid—what's that?"

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

"Wait a minute, wasn't he looking up dragons in the library?" asked Ernie.

"Yeah, so that means...that's a dragon egg?" said Hannah.

Madam Bones looked to Hagrid quickly and then to Harry.

"That is what I meant." said Harry.

"Ah," said Hagrid, 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."

"An egg, especially what breed it is, is worth over nine hundred thousand galleons." said Charlie with widened eyes.

"Won it," said Hagrid.

"How do you win something like that?" asked Charlie. "Where can I get in on that game?"

"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."

"Hagrid! That should have been your first clue! If he wanted to get rid of it, (though I hate saying that) he could have just sold it in Knockturn Alley! There are several different people that would have given you the full nine hundred thousand galleons!" said Charlie shaking his head.

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

"That is a very good question." said Remus carefully.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library—Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit—

"That's a horrible book!" said Charlie angrily. "But it does have some helpful info on raising young hatchlings." he added rather half-heartedly.

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,

"Thank God I'm not a dragon. I'd be burnt to a crisp before I was even a year old." said a first year.

"Dragons have fireproof scales, their mothers strengthen them up by breathing fire on the eggs. The scales start to harden themselves as the heat builds inside. Unfortunately, sometimes the scales are too weak, and they don't form as fast. Some hatchlings don't even make it out of the egg." said Charlie sadly. "Survival of the fittest, right off the bat."

see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour.

"Why? Sounds nasty!" said Neville shuddering.

"It's a perfect mix to imitate the mother dragon's milk." said Charlie. "It's got the proteins and the burning taste it wants."

"That's disgusting." said Parvati faintly.

An' see here—how ter recognize diff'rent eggs—what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

"More than rare, there's only thirty left in the world. They're barely hanging on." said Charlie sounding even more depressed.

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

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

"Yeah, that could pose a really big problem." said Tonks, with a small smile.

"Why are you smiling?" asked Remus looking at her.

"His house is still standing, so nothing bad happened." she said shrugging.

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

So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Harry lost a few night's sleep worrying about it." said Ron out loud.

Hagrid turned to look at Harry with a look of intense guilt on his face. Harry glared at Ron, as Remus and Dr. Clark swung his legs up onto their laps and covered him with a blanket.

"And I thought I needed a filter for my mouth." Harry said with a frown on his face.

Sirius 'shh' ed sound. "Hey, we want to know these things."

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed,

"Wish I knew." said Harry wistfully.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and bowed his head slowly.

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.

"We already had a study time, and you giving us more was...yeah it was driving us nuts." said Ron trying to explain to Hermione, who was looking insulted.

Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.

Charlie leaned forward in his chair eagerly.

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut.

"I would too!" shouted Charlie, Fred, George and Lee.

Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Awwwww! Come on, Hermione! How many times are you going to be able to see a hatching?" asked Lee disappointedly.

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

"Not many times, I work with dragons, and I've never seen one up close. The mothers tend to scorch things that try to come in within visual range of their eggs." said Charlie.

"How did you manage the First Task, last year?" asked Harry.

"We had to knockout the dragons before we got too close." said Charlie.

"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—"

"I'm don't think that keeping an illegal dragon is the same as not doing your homework, Miss Granger." said Madam Bones seriously.

"Shut up!" Harry whispered.

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

"Your face is no better Potter!" smirked Pansy.

"Explain then, the Valentine you sent me in our second year." said Harry with a sneer.

Pansy whitened and stuttered.

"Did she really?" asked Lupin.

"Yeah, but it was more a hate-tine then a valentine." said Harry with a smile.

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

"Like I really would have missed it." said Hermione.

When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, 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.

"That would be the claws against the shell of the egg." said Charlie earnestly.

They all drew their 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 wasn't exactly pretty;

Charlie turned to stare at Harry. "Sorry, but, um...it was just a shock." said Harry smiling a little bit.

Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

"Just hearing the description, she was a beautiful baby Ridgeback." sighed Charlie quietly.

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

"Aww!" said Charlie.

Bill slowly turned to look at his brother. "You're...freaking...insane."

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

"Nice baby." said Blaise chuckling.

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

" 'Mommy'? Why not 'Daddy'?" asked Dennis curiously.

"Male dragons don't stick around for the baby dragon's life, once they mate with the female, then they take off again. Never to be seen by the baby dragon, unless either they fight over the same female, or they mate with each other." said Charlie matter-of-factly.

Several students stared at him, "They mate with their kids?" said Lavender faintly.

"Sometimes the Norwegian Ridgebacks have to, not enough young females to go around, after a female dragon lays eggs about three times, they can't lay anymore." said Charlie.

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

"They're the fastest growing species of all the dragon species." said Charlie.

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face — he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"Oh no." moaned Sirius, "What now?"

"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."

"Well that's not good." said Dr. Clark.

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

"That would be your seeker sight, right there." said Fred proudly.

Malfoy had seen the dragon.

"Oohh, not the person you want seeing something like that." said Tonks worriedly.

Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous.

"Back when I was here, any smile on a Slytherin's face was never a good thing." said Sirius, "And we had Bella in there a few years ahead of us. You never wanted to see her smile."

They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.

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

"He's too young, he could die before he's even a week old." said Charlie.

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

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

"At the least the internal flame is going, that means the dragon is so far really healthy." said Charlie thoughtfully.

Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy.

"That would explain why the grounds' flora were looking so decrepit." said Snape.

There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"And that means that the dragon is eating all right." said Charlie.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"

"Umm...we kinda needed to change the name, Hagrid." said Charlie looking up at Hagrid.

"What? Why?" said Hagrid. "What did you change it to?"

"Norberta. He's a she." said Charlie with a smile. Hagrid stared at Charlie, but then smiled.

"Didn't you people ever think to check?" asked Ernie.

"Dragons don't develop reproductive organs until they are at least seven months. So Hagrid would never have known in such a short amount of time." said Charlie.

"You, Mr. Weasely, are a fountain of knowledge, especially where dragons are concerned. Hagrid, perhaps you should have a Dragon Week for your class, Mr. Weasely here or one of his friends could come and give lectures. I think people would find that immensely fascinating." said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. Several students talked amongst themselves excitedly.

"If Charlie's up to it." said Hagrid smiling down at the Dragon keeper.

Charlie beamed.

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

"He lost them when he got that dragon." whispered Snape to McGonagall.

"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house.

"Actually that would need to take five weeks for that breed." said Charlie.

Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

"No, I never did." said Malfoy regret filling his usual drawling voice.

"Why not come to me?" asked Snape.

"Didn't think of it." said Malfoy sadly.

Hagrid bit his lip. "I—I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry suddenly turned to Ron. "Charlie." he said.

"Harry...I'm Charlie, he's Ron." said Charlie, pointing to himself and then to Ron.

You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

Fred and George snorted.

"No—Charlie—your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"How often had you told him about me, Ron." said Charlie curiously.

"Actually, I only told him once about you." said Ron with a small smile.

"And months later...HE REMEMBERED?" said Charlie in shock.

"Yeah...shocked me too..." said Ron smiling over to Harry.

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

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

The following week dragged by.Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room,

"Where was Ron?" asked Ginny

long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open.

"Who would have been out and about at that later hour?" demanded McGonagall.

Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"That's gross!" said Padma cringing.

"It bit me!" he said,

"Oh, CRAP! That's not good! Ridgebacks have venom in their teeth!" said Charlie loudly.

Mrs. Weasely turned and stared fixedly over to Ron, "I'm fine mom." he said quickly.

"Tell me that you went to the hospital wing right away!" said Charlie weakly.

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 I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"Sorry, Ron." said Hagrid shamefully.

"Don't be, I'm fine." said Ron graciously. "I was just ticked that Norbert...ta, bit me."

There was a tap on the dark window. "It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

The three of them put their heads together to read the note.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter—I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon. Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

McGonagall paled, that day, that Saturday, so there really was a dragon in the school!

They looked at one another.

"We've got the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It shouldn't be too difficult–I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."

It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert—and Malfoy.

There was a hitch. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size.

"CRAP! Go to the hospital wing!" moaned Charlie.

He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey—would she recognize a dragon bite?

"Not then anyway." said Madam Pomfrey angrily. She hated the students being subjected to dangerous situations. And last year was full of opportunities for the students to get hurt. "Also, I have a no questions asked policy. That way, if the students really wanted a teacher to know what was going on, they could just ask. But if I see something horrible, I ask. The bite was bad, but not nearly bad enough for me to ask questions."

By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.

"They are, oh please go to Hospital Wing!" said Charlie trying hard to keep his mother in her seat.

Harry and Hermione rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books

"I don't know why I bought that." said Madam Pomfrey to the angry looks that she received.

so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me-I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me-

"I didn't, but I stuck to my policy." said Madam Pomfrey.

I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

"He would have come up with reason, even if you hadn't struck him, I shouldn't wonder." said Mr. Weasely towards his son.

Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no oh no—I've just remembered—Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

"Oooohh!" moaned the students.

"That was stroke of luck for Malfoy, wasn't it." said Dr. Clark, clapping a hand to his good eye.

Harry and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.

"You did, you looked really tired and worn." said Hermione.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."

"He knows now." said Tonks with a singsong voice.

They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them.

"Norbert, er...Norberta nipped his tail a little too hard." said Hagrid scratching the back of his head.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage—nothin' I can't handle."

"...that was a good idea, Hagrid. If anyone especially Harry had gone in there, They would almost had been ripped to shreds." said Charlie heaving a sigh of relief.

"Why would Harry have been in the most danger?" said Sirius worriedly.

"At that stage, they grab and latch onto anything shiny. Jewels, pearls, beads, stuff like that. They tend to like green things, we found that out in a behavior study. With Harry's emerald-like eyes..."

Harry blushed a deep red.

"I think Norberta would have killed him. Despite Hagrid being there." said Charlie seriously.

Sirius gripped Harry tightly, Harry's breath hitched up, Remus had to smack Sirius's shoulder to release Harry just a bit so he could breathe.

"Thankfully the stage only lasts a day or two. But it is a dangerous stage to be around." said Charlie, continuing on.

When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.

"I was sad! I was gonna lose 'im!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid, it was either Norberta or Harry, you really couldn't choose both. Despite the stage ending, Harry's eyes would always attract her attention and she would always claw her way to him." said Charlie honestly.

Hagrid looked down sheepishly. "I would've picked 'Arry."

"There you go." said Charlie. Charlie then smiled over to Harry who looked at Hagrid with a small smile.

"Thanks, Hagrid." he said quietly.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot—jus' playin'—he's only a baby, after all." The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle.

George laughed loudly. "Nice, Harry."

Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.

They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall.

"Peeves?" asked Dr. Clark.

"He's the ghost that stole one of your eye patches and did a pirate impersonation." said Harry rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I thought he was kind of funny." said Dr. Clark with a smile.

"You'll want to smack him about, soon enough." said Sirius.

Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.

"Good, then he can't see Harry, He might bust right through the crate." said Remus worriedly.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

"His teddy? You packed his teddy?" said Draco with a laugh.

"Remember when we would take Harry for an outing? And we forgot Scorchie? He was not a happy little camper." said Lupin with a laugh.

"Oh lord, you screamed, cried.. Nothing we gave you would make you happy, We had to finally go home and grab your stuffed dragon. Then you were all smiles. Only time I ever called you 'Brat'." said Sirius to Harry, laughing so hard he was crying.

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though the teddy was having his head torn off.

People in the Hall began to laugh, even Hagrid.

"Thankfully," said Remus wiping a tear away from his eye, "you never tried to destroy Scorchie."

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"

"Neither will we." said a few students. "And we didn't know her nearly as long."

How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew.

"It weighed about as much as I did." said Hermione.

"And twice Harry's weight." muttered Madam Pomfrey darkly.

Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another–even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.

"If that's the shortcut I think it is, that takes away the need to go up seven sets of stairs." said Ron.

"Where is that one?" said Neville.

"Is that one besides the tapestry of Merlin and Morgan Le-Fay? asked the twins.

"No, this one is next to the statue of Hogwarts founders on the second floor." said Harry.

"Whoa, might have to look for that one." said Seamus and Dean.

"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.

"We had to stop a few times to catch our breath." said Hermione.

Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows,

"Can't be too careful." said Moody approvingly.

staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.

Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.

Several snickers rang through the hall as they imagined that picture in their minds.

Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"

"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming—he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

"I apologize for accusing you of lying, but you should not have been out of bed." said McGonagall fairly.

Draco stared at her, and nodded slowly.

The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione did a sort of jig.

"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"

"Don't," Harry advised her.

"I want Harry to sing again." said Hermione with a laugh.

"I would rather not." said Harry.

Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Charlie's friends were a cheery lot.

"I'll tell them you said that. They liked the two of you, a lot." said Charlie with a smile.

They showed Harry and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.

"They were sort of hoping you would have another dragon soon. They loved the excitement." said Charlie with a laugh.

At last, Norbert was going… going… gone.

"Sounds like a baseball game." said Colin.

"What's baseball." asked Ron.

"I'll show you sometime." said Harry.

They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon—Malfoy in detention—what could spoil their happiness?

"Famous last words." said Tonks, covering her eyes.

The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well at least he can't see you." said Sirius.

"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."

"What? How can he see you?" asked Remus questioningly.

They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.

"Oh no! This isn't good!" moaned Remus. "I'll read the next chapter, Arthur. I want to know what is going to happen, right now!" he said quickly.

He stood up and took the book quickly, he then walked over to the bowl and sat down.

"All right, let's see how much trouble you get into." he said turning the page.

"The Forbidden Forest."

Remus stared at the chapter title. "It just went from bad to worse." he said looking deathly pale.