Endeavor

Chapter 11

        Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

        "Where're you going?" Ron said sleepily.

        "I've just thought of something," Harry said. He had turned white. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

        "Why?" I panted, hurrying to keep up.

        "Don't you think it's a bit odd," Harry said, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

        "What are you talking about?" Ron said, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer.

        Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

        "Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

        "Yes, please," Ron said, but Harry cut him off.

        "No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

        "Dunno," Hagrid said casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

        He saw the four of us look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

        "It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head -- that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

        Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

        "Mighta come up," Hagrid said, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after... so I told him... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon... an' then... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks... Let's see... yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

        "And did he -- did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

        "Well -- yeah -- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep--"

        Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

        "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey -- where're yeh goin'?"

        Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until we came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

        "We've got to go to Dumbledore," Harry said. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak -- it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

        We looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing us in the right direction. We had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did we know anyone who had been sent to see him.