Reacting to the Potter Quadruplets

Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

"Norbert the Norweigan Ridgeback." Narcissa read as Hagrid beamed.

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

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron,Harper,Leo,Liv,Logan and Ruby would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Harry and Harper passed Quirrell these days they gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter. Leo had somehow gotten the Weasley triplets to stop spreading rumors about Quirrel's turban.

Liv,Logan,and Ruby, however, had more on their minds than the Sorcerer's Stone. They had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all their notes. Harry,Harper,Leo and Ron wouldn't have minded, but they kept nagging them to do the same.

"Liv,Logan,and Ruby, the exams are ages away." Ron said.

"Ten weeks," Liv snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Leo reminded them. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it's an A."

"What are we studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, we should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into us..." Logan said.

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Liv,Logan,and Ruby. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Ruby,Liv,and Logan next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Harry,Harper,Leo and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with them, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

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

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

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"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--"

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

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

"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--"

"See you later, then," said Harry.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Ruby thoughtfully.