The next day, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what had happened in the forest. He told them how Voldemort was the one drinking the unicorn blood, how his scar had hurt, and the truth about the Philosopher's Stone. He explained how the stone could make you immortal, something they had yet to find in their research. Harry knew Quirrell was going to try and steal the stone soon and decided to tell them about a conversation he had overheard Quirrell and Snape talking about it, some time ago. Ron seemed determined that Snape was the one trying to steal the stone but Harry knew otherwise.
They also had another problem. Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. Hagrid refused to get rid of her claiming he could easily take care of her. The golden trio were constantly visiting Hagrid in his hut. Norbert was slowly growing in size and Hermione was getting more and more anxious about Hagrid being caught.
"There has to be a way, Hagrid, you can't keep him. It's against the law!" Her shrill voice filled the small hut.
"If you're caught, you could be thrown out," said Ron
"Hey, Ron," Harry started, "Doesn't Charlie work with dragons in Romania or something?"
"Oh yeah! Charlie could take care of Norbert for you, Hagrid."
Hagrid didn't look too keen to let go of Norbert, but he agreed to let Charlie take care of her.
The week dragged along slowly as the trio waited for a response from Charlie. It was Wednesday when they finally got it. The letter detailed a plan of how to get Norbert to Charlie and his friends secretly and quietly. They were to be at the astronomy tower on Saturday at midnight with Norbert.
There was a problem. Earlier that week Ron had been bitten by Norbert and his hand had swollen to twice its normal size. The letter to Ron from Charlie was inside a book Malfoy had stolen from him to make fun of his financial status. He knew about the plan to sneak Norbert out, but Harry doubted Malfoy knew who Norbert was. With their track record, they were going to have to be very sneaky or Malfoy would find and snitch on them. That Saturday, Hermione stayed asleep as she didn't want to get another detention while Harry and Ron snuck down to Hagrid's at 11:00 pm, giving them plenty of time to get Norbert to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Harry was still worried Malfoy would snitch on them. He could only hope their detention in the Forbidden Forest kept him from leaving his dorm at night again.
Harry was wrong. They were halfway up the multitude of steps in the Astronomy Tower with Norbert, hidden by the invisibility cloak when he saw the unmistakable blonde hair. Malfoy was sitting on one of the steps looking down, searching for any sign of movement. The emotion written on his face was unreadable. Harry put a hand out to stop Ron from walking on.
"I'll distract him. You take Norbert up to Charlie, that way, only one of us will be caught," Harry whispered.
"You sure mate?" Ron responded, his voice barely audible.
"Yeah," Harry cast a silencing charm on Ron's footsteps and instructed him to carefully edge his way around Malfoy.
Harry lifted the invisibility cloak off himself and told Ron, hoping he was facing him, to go.
"Malfoy!" Harry called, in a measured volume.
"Potter," Malfoy spat back. "Leaving your dorm again so late? What, do you think the rules don't apply to someone so famous?"
"I'm flattered you think I'm famous, but you're out late as well. I'm really starting to think that you're stalking me."
"Don't be daft. Why would I follow you around."
"Didn't you say in the forest," Malfoy's smirk faltered slightly at the mention of the forest, "that you fancy catching Gryffindors causing trouble? I'm a Gryffindor, and I'm always the one you seem to catch."
"It's just a coincidence." Malfoy once again answered too fast for it to seem natural.
"Sure, sure. So what are you doing out this late this time?"
"I know about your little plan, and I intend to stop it. Where is this Norbert and why are you giving it to a Weasley brother?"
"That doesn't concern you, now does it."
"Tell me, or I'll go and get Filch."
"Good luck with that. I'm sure Filch would love to see you out of bed again."
Malfoy looked furious.
"Fine, I won't get Filch. Now tell me what you are doing."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Malfoy, but the plan has already succeeded," Harry said, leaning in close to Malfoy's face wanting to rub it in. "During this fun little encounter, Ron has taken Norbert to the top of the tower and-" Harry checked his watch, "It is already twelve so Charlie will have her."
"What!" Malfoy yelled. "I didn't see him! I was watching the whole time!"
"I guess you're just not as observant as you think."
As if on cue, Harry felt a little tap on his shoulder, most likely indicating Ron was beside him and ready to sneak back to their dorm.
"Well, not that this hasn't been exhilarating, but I'm going to go to bed now. You should do the same. All this staying up late can't be good for your skin."
With that, Harry walked back down the stairs hoping Ron was following him. When he reached the bottom, Harry checked to make sure Malfoy wasn't watching from the stairs, and then Ron pulled him under the invisibility cloak. Together, they snuck back to the dorms. However, there were two things Harry was wrong about that night. The first being that Malfoy wouldn't dare leave his dorm again at night and the second being that he wasn't watching as Harry disappeared under the invisibility cloak.
~✦~
Having delivered Norbert to Charlie, the only thing the Golden Trio had to worry about now was getting to the philosopher's stone before Quirrell. Of course, Ron and Hermione didn't believe it was Quirrell after the stone, but that was unimportant. It didn't matter who they thought was after it. As long as they agreed someone was and that they needed to get it before the person did. There was nothing they could do about the stone until after exams, Quirrell didn't seem to be making a move for it yet, he probably didn't know how to get past Fluffy, but that didn't mean he wasn't plotting. Harry passed his exams with flying colours, not even failing potions. Hermione, unsurprisingly, did amazing and Ron also did quite well. Harry felt as though the deadline for saving the stone was slowly approaching and racked his brain for some sort of clue on what to do. Suddenly it hit him. Well, not exactly. He just knew that he had to go talk to Hagrid once more. Surely he would tell them something important, something Harry was sure was to do with Norbert. He did find it weird that a random cloaked figure had given Hagrid a dragon egg, something he had always wanted, one random night at a bar after buying him a ton of drinks. Then it hit him, much harder than the sudden realisation had done moments before. The cloaked figure was almost certainly Quirrell. Harry panicked. They had to do something tonight, which meant they had to visit Hagrid now.
Harry gathered up Ron and Hermione and demanded they visit Hagrid at lunch. It meant they had to get through morning classes. They had potions, with Slytherin.
The trio walked into the cold potions room and sat down. Ron and Harry sat together while Hermione sat with Neville. The air seemed chillier today than usual, which wasn't exactly strange, the dungeons were always cold, but it gave Harry an unsettling feeling that didn't seem to want to go away. Not even the heat radiating from his bubbling cauldron could warm him up. Professor Snape had written the instructions up on the chalkboard. Because they had finished their final exams, Snape thought it only right to make the class brew a hard potion, a sleeping draught. Though the unsettling feeling wouldn't leave Harry alone, everything went well as he and Ron brewed their potion. They added the Flobberworm Mucus and stirred gently 5 times clockwise, then heated the concoction for 30 seconds, before adding some lavender. Harry thought the potion might turn out perfectly until Ron added the Nettle Essence 10 seconds too early. This caused the potion to bubble dangerously, resulting in Snape having to come over and stop anything from exploding, putting half the class to sleep.
"Ronald Weasley," Snape drawled, "is it so very hard for you to follow simple instructions? 10 points from Gryffindor."
"What! I thought it had been a minute! That's not fair!" Ron yelled back.
"Talking back to a teacher. Another 5 points. I think it is only right to separate you and Potter, hopefully, to stop you from foolishly ruining another potion. Weasley, you go with Mr Crabbe, Mr Malfoy, come sit next to Potter."
If Harry wasn't mistaken, he saw a glint of sympathy in Snape's eyes as he told Malfoy to sit next to him. The four boys groaned as Malfoy and Ron switched seats, each plonking themselves heavily down next to their new partners.
"Malfoy." Harry said, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
"Potter. Don't mess this up." Malfoy responded, looking very annoyed at this new seating arrangement. The boys worked in awkward silence for the next thirty minutes, only breaking it when Malfoy directed Harry or one of the boys made a snide remark.
"I saw you, the other night," Malfoy said randomly, still concentrating on the potion.
"What? I know you did. We had a conversation." Harry responded, visibly confused.
"No, after you walked away. You wandered down the stairs and then disappeared into thin air after climbing under something. What was that all about?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm not an idiot, Potter. It's not the first time it's happened either. The night we almost got eaten by that three-headed dog, you ran into me and appeared out of nowhere."
Harry was surprised. He didn't think Malfoy had noticed as he didn't mention it at the time.
"I just don't think you were watching very closely."
Harry wasn't using the cloak that time, but it would do him little good to let anyone know that he knew the disillusionment charm, along with many other more complex spells.
"Potter. I've caught you four times out of bed after hours doing dangerous or reckless things. First the troll, then you running from something alone, then you were in Hagrid's hut talking about weird stones, the forbidden forest, and then the 'plan' with the astronomy tower. You weren't even scared or worried! You're going to get yourself killed." Malfoy said in a hurry, his face turning red. Almost immediately Harry saw Malfoy's expression morph from worry, to shock, to the cool composure that usually registered on his face. The only sign of the outburst from before was the tinge of pink, left on Malfoy's cheeks.
"Wow Malfoy, it's almost like you care," Harry responded, but this time without the usual snide tone. He was astonished. He never truly thought that Malfoy could ever care about him. Wanting to be on equal footing was more wishful thinking, but now it might be a possibility. The old Malfoy could never have said something like that to Harry's face. The rest of the lesson went by, once again, in silence. This time, however, it wasn't awkward. Harry spent most of it thinking. About what, he wouldn't remember later.