Dursley's In Hogwarts

Chapt. 14

"Harry?" Avery spoke gently. Everyone jolted when Harry jumped up.

"I wish I knew what this means!" He burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this!"

"Go to Madam Pomfrey" Dudley suggested.

"I'm not ill" Harry groaned in frustration. "I think it's a warning... It means danger's coming..."

"Harry, relax, the Stone's safe for now. Anyway, we've never had any proof Quirrell found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down, as much as I loathe to admit it" Pansy reassured.

Harry nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Daphne explained.

"That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one"

Harry was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Hagrid was the only one who ever sent him letters. Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore. Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy... Never... But...

Harry suddenly jumped to his feet after finally settling down again.

"Where're you going?" Wondered Dean sleepily.

"I've just thought of something" Harry said. He had turned white and took off running, startling his friends. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now!"

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

"Don't you think it's a bit odd" Harry explained, 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?" Avery asked, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer. The older members of the group had a sinking suspicion of what he meant though. They all arrived swiftly at the hut, where Hagrid was sitting outside with Onyx.

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

"Yes, please" Draco panted, 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 Onyx? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno" Hagrid replied casually. "He wouldn' take his cloak off"

He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows. Percy was twitching now, but remained silent. Avery's newfound instincts were also beginning to dawn, screeching danger and something wrong.

"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"

"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?" Harry asked.

"Mighta come up" Hagrid frowned, attempting 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..."