"Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me, Professor Lux and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that," Hagrid rambled, as Margaret and Holland hit their heads against the table and the cauldron over a fire began to rattle, "Oh!" The group watched, as Hagrid hurried over and grabbed something, "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"
He then put the thing, an egg, on the table. The group crowded around.
"Uh, Hagrid," Harry spoke up, "What exactly is that?"
"That? It's a ... its um...." Hagrid muttered, unsure whether or not to tell the first years, glancing over at the Slytherin in the hut, who shook her head at his unasked question.
Ron gasped, "I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?"
"I won it," Hagrid proudly replied, "Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid off it, as a matter of fact,"
The group jumped as the egg rattled and cracked, all leaning forward, intrigued as pieces of the shell flew off, and a dragon emerged, squeaking as it slipped on an egg piece.
"Is that...a dragon?" Hermione exclaimed.
"That's not just any dragon," Ron shook his head, "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."
"Oh, I told you he'd be beautiful, Hagrid." Holland smiled, pulling him into a side hug.
"Isn't he?" Hagrid grinned, "Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert." He cried, as the dragon squeaked looking up at Hagrid.
"Norbert?" Harry questioned.
"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?" Hagrid pointed out, "Don't you, Norbert?" Hagrid smiled, raising his fingers back and forth across Norbert's chin, goo-gooing at his new dragon.
Margaret leaned over to Holland with a fond smile, "Remind you of anything?"
Holland nodded, looking over at the Potter boy, the pair both reminiscing of when his father met his son.
Norbert then backed away, hiccupped and blew a ball of fire into Hagrid's beard.
"Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course," Hagrid said, patting his beard with his oven glove classed hands to put the embers in his beard out, before Norbert hiccupped, and Hagrid saw someone looking in the window, "Who's that?" He asked, as the mystery person scampered away.
"Malfoy." Harry growled.
"Oh, dear." Hagrid muttered.
"And detentions all around." Margaret whispered.
***
It had been a month since Draco Malfoy revealed the existence of Norbert and Holland and Margaret had only just been able to cheer Hagrid up over Norbert being taken from him.
Holland was invigilating the third years' end of year exams, so Margaret was sat with the half-giant outside of his hut as he played her a tune on his flute, when Harry, Ron and Hermione came bounding over to the pair.
"Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg?" Harry rushed out, out of breath, making Hagrid stop playing his flute, "What did he look like?"
"I don't know. I never saw his face. He kept his hood up." Hagrid shrugged.
"The stranger, though, you and he must have talked." Harry pressed.
"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after," Hagrid told them, "I told him. I said, 'After Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem'."
"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked.
"Well, of course he was interested in Fluffy!" Hagrid cried, "How often do you come across a three headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him. I said, 'The trick with any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy, for example, just play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep'," He said, making the four gape at each other, "I shouldn't have told you that." Hagrid realised, before the three took off, running back to the castle, "Where you going?! Wait!" He cried after the first years, before realising that his yelling was futile, and watched them run off with a sigh.
Margaret gave Hagrid a hard look, before hitting him in the arm with her book.
***
Holland entered Professor McGonagall's classroom, the two women greeting each other with a smile.
"How were the third years?" The older woman asked.
"Well, the ones that weren't either asleep or hitting their head against their tables seemed to have done well." The Irish woman chuckled, leaning against McGonagall's desk.
"Good."
The classroom doors then opened and Harry, Ron and Hermione came tearing into McGonagall's classroom and ran up the aisles between desks, passing a ghost, before stopping in front of the desk.
"Oh, Merlin, what now?" Holland muttered, rubbing her temples.
"We have to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!" Harry cried.
"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here," McGonagall informed them, "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."
"He's gone?!" Harry asked, "Now? But this is important! It's about...the Philosopher's Stone." He told her.
McGonagall looked at them, shocked, "How do you know-?"
"Someone's going to try and steal it." Harry continued.
"I don't know how you four found out about the stone," McGonagall said, glancing over at Holland - who held her hands up in defence with a shrug, "But I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly." Their Head of House told them, firmly, making them do as they were told, and leave the classroom with a defeated sigh.
Holland guiltily met her senior's gaze and sighed, "I don't know how they found out, but they told Hagrid, Maggie and I when Norbert hatched."
"And you didn't tell me why?"
"Because you took away Norbert."
McGonagall sighed, "Honestly, Holland you astound me."
"I know." Holland nodded.
Professor McGonagall then smiled, "You remind me of James when you do that."
Holland swallowed thickly, nodding again, wiping a stray tear away, "I know."
¡Ay! Esta imagen no sigue nuestras pautas de contenido. Para continuar la publicación, intente quitarla o subir otra.
