At Last//Harry Potter [1]

20

At one breakfast, Harry's owl brought Harry a note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it. Autumn also wanted to wait after Herbology was over.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing—"

"Shut up!" Harry whispered.

Malfoy was right there when they were talking. He had a stupid gleam on his face as he walked away. How much had he heard?

Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Hermione and Autumn agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break.

When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the four of them dropped their bags at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited. "It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was laying on the table. It rocked side to side, made a few clicking noises, then it cracked. All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging orange eyes.

It sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face. He leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains. It's a kid -- he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry and Autumn bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking his stupid blond hair. Malfoy had seen the dragon.

Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Autumn, Ron, and Hermione very nervous. They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.

"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."

They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept falling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered in Harry's ear.

"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

Hagrid bit his lip. "I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry suddenly turned to Ron. "Charlie," he said.