The Wrong Weasley | Harry Potter

Chapter 10 - The Sorcerer's Stone

"Artemis! I've been looking all over the castle for you." Harry says as he spots her walking outside. Romulus meows at him, rubbing against his legs.

"Romulus loves the snow, so I've been spending some time out here with him." She tells him, sitting at the edge of the fountain. He joins her and Romulus jumps onto his lap. "Is there anything I can help with?" She asks.

"No. My present for you didn't get here in time for Christmas, but I still wanted to give it to you." He tells her, pulling the gift out of his robes. He hands it to her, and she smiles at him before she carefully opens it.

"I love it!" She tells him, setting the book on Roman mythology aside so she can hug him. He blushes and awkwardly hugs her back. She gasps when she feels snow dumped on their heads. Romulus hisses and jumps off Harry's lap, shaking the snow from his fur. "You jerks!"

Artemis runs at Fred and George, who laugh nearby, enjoying their prank. George moves out of the way in time, but she tackles Fred, knocking them both into the snow. Ron comes out of nowhere and tackles George, the two younger twins covering the older twins with snow.

Fred and George quickly get the upper hand, using magic to enchant snowballs to throw at them. Artemis and Ron run towards Harry and take cover behind the fountain. The five of them spend the rest of the day having a big snowball fight, their other friends joining them when they spot them.

***

"I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid?" Hermione says as she joins their table. She slams a large book on the table as Artemis rolls her eyes.

"Hermione, you're the least stupid person here." She tells her. She smiles but shakes her head.

"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." She continues, flipping through the pages.

"This is light?" Ron asks, shocked.

"Some of us enjoy reading, Ron." Artemis tells her brother, rolling her eyes as Hermione glares at him for a moment. She turns back to the book and gasps when she finds what she's looking for.

"Of course! Here it is!" She exclaims. "'Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone.'" 

"The what?" Ron and Harry ask at the same time.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione asks.

"I spend more time teaching them how to do their homework then doing my own, so no, they don't read." Artemis huffs, rolling her eyes.

"'The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal.'" She reads.

"Immortal?" Ron asks.

"It means you'll never die." She explains.

"I know what it means!" He scoffs, glaring at her. Harry shushes him.

"'And the only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday.'" Hermione reads. "That's what Fluffy is guarding on the third floor. That's what's under the trap door. The Sorcerer's Stone."

***

The next day, the four head down to Hagrid's cabin. Harry knocks and the door opens a moment later.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." He tells them, closing the door.

"We know about the Sorcerer's Stone." They say, making him open the door again.

"Oh." He replies, leading them inside.

"We think Snape's trying to steal it." Harry explains.

"Snape? Blimey, you're not still on about him, are you?" Hagrid asks.

"We know he's after the stone, we just don't know why." Artemis scoffs, sitting next to Hermione.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the stone. He's not about to steal it." He replies.

"What?" Harry asks as the friends look at each other.

"You heard. Right, come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today." He tells them, waving them towards the door.

"Wait a minute. One of the teachers?" He asks.

"Of course, there are other things defending the stone aren't there? Spells, enchantments." Hermione says.

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me. Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy." Hagrid replies, chuckling. "Ain't a soul knows how except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I should not have told you that."

Suddenly, something in the fireplace rattles loudly. Artemis looks closer and spots an egg inside the cauldron hanging above the fire. She gasps as Hagrid pulls it out and moves towards the table. He sets it down and they follow him. 

"Hagrid, how did you get one of these?" She asks, looking closer at the egg.

"I won it, off a stranger I met down at the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact." He answers. Ron pulls his sister back as the egg starts cracking. It explodes as the dragon breaks free, looking around at them.

"Is that...a dragon?" Hermione asks.

"It's a Norwegian Ridgeback! Charlie works with them in Romania." Artemis says.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid asks. "Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy." He chuckles as the dragon turns to face him. "Hello, Norbert." He scratches the dragon's neck.

"Norbert?" Harry asks.

"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he? Don't you, Norbert? Eh?" He replies, tickling Norbert's chin. He hiccups, spitting fire at Hagrid. His beard burns and he quickly pats the embers out with the oven mitts. "He'll have to be trained up a bit, of course."

"Hagrid, he can't stay here!" Artemis exclaims. 

They spend the rest of their time trying to convince Hagrid to let her send a letter to Charlie about taking in the baby dragon. He eventually agrees and she sends a letter when they get back to the castle.

Artemis gets Charlie's reply a few days later during breakfast, and unknown to them, Draco Malfoy hears their plan to take Norbert to the Astronomy Tower later that night.