Saving Us

9 : Year 1

          It's been several weeks now. We- well, Ron and Harry have been being nice and defending Quirrell. Hermione's been busy with studying. She's been preparing for the exams but they're WEEKS away. My reason of not being nice or defending him is- well, I don't actually have one. I just don't like Quirrell, he makes me uncomfortable. And his stuttering is quite annoying. He could never say a sentence properly. I haven't told anyone what Malfoy did that night or what he gave me. But I do wear the brooch, it's very pretty. I told Malfoy I was only wearing it because he stood up for me. I really don't want to admit to him that I like it. I'm stubborn. When Harry and Ron asked about it I told them Mills sent it to me. Anyways back to the exams, the teachers have been giving us so much homework, nobody really enjoyed the Easter holidays. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. We were all in the library studying.
"I'll never remember this." Ron suddenly said throwing down his quill, which made me jump. I sigh and get back to working.
"Hagrid!" Ron said a second later. I look up and see Hagrid hiding something behind his back.
"What are you doing in the library?" Ron asked.
"Jus' lookin'," Hagrid said in a shifty voice. I narrow my eyes at him. What is he hiding. I put my pen down.
"An' what're you lot up ter?" He asked. He looked suddenly suspicious.
"Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?" He asked.
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," Ron said impressively.
"And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's Sto-"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening.
"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?" Hagrid said.
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said.
"About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy.-"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid said again.
"Listen- come an's 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-" Hagrid said. You kind of did.
"See you later." Harry said. Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" Hermione asked.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" I asked.
"I'm going to see what section he was in," Ron said getting up and leaving. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" Ron whispered.
"Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragons species of Great Britain and Ireland; From egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide." Ron said. My eyes light up in excitement.
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." Harry said.
"But it's against our laws. Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. 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. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania." Ron said. I want one! Even if it is dangerous.
"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry asked.
"Of course there are. Common Welsh Green and Hebriden 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." Ron said.
"That's incredible!" I said grinning. Ron nods, smiling.
"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione asked.
"Maybe he's looking to buy one illegally." I said.

When we knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let us in, and then shut the door quickly behind us. It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made us tea and offered us stoat sandwiches, which we refused.
"So- yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid asked.
"Yes," Harry said.
"We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy." Harry said. Hagrid frowned at him
"O' course I can't. Number one, I don't know myself. 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." Hagrid said. I sigh.
"Come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," Hermione said in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched which meant he was smiling.
"We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wonder who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you." Hermione said. Harry, Ron and I beamed at Hermione.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me.. then some o' the teachers did enchantments. 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." Hagrid said.
"Snape?" I asked surprised.
"Yeah- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it." Hagrid said. I shake my head. But it got me thinking. 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 Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy. I'm sure Harry, Ron and Hermione were thinking the same thing.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" Harry asked anxiously.
"And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?" Harry asked.
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," Hagrid said proudly.
"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to us. I nodded.
"Hagrid, can we have the window open? I'm boiling." Harry said.
"Can't, Harry, sorry." Hagrid said. I noticed him glance at the fire. Harry seemed to notice it too because he also looked at it, too. There was an egg in the fire.
"Is that a- oh my god!" I said sounding shock and excited.
"Hagrid- what's that?" Harry asked.
"Ah," Hagrid said fiddling nervously with his beard.
"That's- er..."
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?' Ron asked, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg.
"It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it. 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 said.
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked. I want it. I could stea- no I can't do that, that's mean and illegal.
"Well, I've bin doin' readin'," Hagrid pulled out a large book from under his pillow.
"Got this outta the library- Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit- it's a but outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here-" He showed us pictures of different kinds of eggs.
"How ter recognize diff'rent eggs- what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback." Hagrid said. He looked very pleased with himself. I smiled at that.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house." Hermione said, but Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.