Book: Courage
Chapter 10
Word Count: 2967
Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.
Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Layla, Ron, and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Layla and Ron had both started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.
Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and colorcoding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same. Layla, however, was also studying but she didn't draw up schedules or colour code notes, she just kept to practice questions and flashcards.
"Guys, the exams are ages away."
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped at Harry. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."
"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."
"Hermione, it's okay," chuckled Layla, amused by Hermione's stress and panic. "You'll do great, I know it. Have a little faith. If the boys fail, they have no one to blame but themselves."
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with her and Layla, trying to get through all their extra work.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Layla smiled out the window, staring cheerfully at the sky, and pulled out the Polaroid camera that Hermione had brought her for her birthday and had already showed her how to use it. Layla snapped a picture of the outdoors and waited for the photo to develop on the Polaroid before placing her camera and the little Polaroid into her bag, going back to flicking through her flashcards, muttering the answers quietly to herself and smiling when she got them right. She then looked over when she heard Ron speak.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St—"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen — come an' 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—"
"See you later, then," said Harry.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Layla thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him, " said Harry.
"But it's against our laws," said Layla. "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."
"Yeah, exactly," agreed Ron. "Anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.
"Of course there are," said Layla. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean 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."
"So what on earths Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So — yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at her.
"O' course I cant," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. 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."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Layla in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Layla went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry, Ron, and Hermione beamed at Layla.
"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."
"Snape?" wondered Harry.
"Yeah — yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Layla knew Harry, Ron, and Hermione were thinking the same as she was. 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, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Layla anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.
"Hagrid, can we have a window open?" Layla requested. "I'm boiling."
"Can't, Layla, sorry," said Hagrid. Layla noticed him glance at the fire. Harry noticed it, too, and decided to question Hagrid.
"Hagrid — what's that?"
In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's er..."
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it," said Hagrid. "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."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library — Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit — it's a bit 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 — how ter recognize diff'rent eggs — what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting.
Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another 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.
"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.
Draco was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard?
Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break. Layla, however, had told them that she wanted to stay in and chill in her dorm and had asked the others to tell her all about the dragon later.
When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest, whereas Layla began her journey back to the Gryffindor tower.
She was walking up a flight of the many, many stairs, just as a familiar boy was walking down the same flight of stairs.
"Oh, hey, Cedric," greeted Layla after noticing that the boy was her new third year Hufflepuff friend.
"Hey, Layla," Cedric smiled. "Nice to see you."
"You, too. Where are you heading?"
"Down to the Quidditch pitch," said Cedric, holding up the broom in his hand that Layla only just noticed. "Thought I'd get some late night practice."
"Are you sure?" said Layla. "It's almost past curfew. What if you get caught?"
"Well, that's the fun of it. Being out past curfew is unpredictable. I might get caught, I might not," Cedric shrugged, smiling at the younger girl. "Besides, I'm third year's golden boy. All the teachers think I can do no wrong, it's amazing. Plus, I am great with thinking up excuses on the spot."
"That's a good thing," said Layla with a chuckle.
"Do you want to come?" asked Cedric. "It's the perfect time for me to help you practice for Quidditch tryouts next year. Better to get on the team earlier than later, and I did tell you that I'd help you practice."
"I'm not sure," said Layla uncertainly, worried that they'd get caught. "I don't want to get caught."
"You won't be alone, Layla. If you go down, I go down with you. It always helps to know that if you get in trouble, you won't be alone," said Cedric with another shrug. "But it's your choice."
Layla hesitated, then sighed and nodded.
"Okay, let's do it."
Cedric's smiled widened. Layla followed Cedric down to the pitch, stopping at the broom closet on the first floor to get Layla a broom, and then once they'd reached the pitch, Cedric walked into the changing rooms and came back with the box full of the quaffle, the two bludgers, the beaters bats, and the tiny golden snitch.
"So, you said you wanted to be a chaser, right?" asked Cedric. Layla smiled at him.
"Good memory. Yes, I do."
"Okay, well, I may be a seeker but I tried for all four positions before I was given the seeker position," said Cedric, pulling out one of the quaffles from the box. "I'll pretend to be a keeper for now so you can work on your shooting. Come on."
The two mounted their brooms and up they went. Layla gripped the front of her broom, leaning forward slightly to propel her broom further up until they were in line with the Quidditch hoops. Cedric handed the quaffle to Layla and then zoomed over to the hoops.
"Give it a try!" he shouted over to her.
Layla drew in a nervous breath, using one hand to grip the broom and then held the quaffle under her other arm. She leant forward and her broom zoomed forward towards the hoops. Once she was close but not too close, she lifted the quaffle up and made it look like she was aiming to throw it in the left hoop, but threw it towards the right in the last minute.
Unfortunately, Cedric looked like he had been expecting that move, diving towards the right hoop and catching the quaffle before it could go through the hoop. Layla groaned.
"How did you know that I was going to do that?"
"It's every beginner's go-to move," said Cedric with a chuckle. He threw the quaffle back to Layla. "Here, try again."
Layla tried and tried. Every attempting to score for the fourth time, she grinned once Cedric reached for the quaffle, his fingertips grazing it, but he didn't quite reach it and the quaffle soared through one of the hoops.
"Yes!" cheered Layla with a proud grin.
"Not bad," said Cedric. "Let's try a few more times."
So, as the minutes flew by, Layla wasn't missing them that much anymore, scoring more and more.
Once Cedric told her that she had gotten the hang of it, they moved onto catching and throwing, but that was nice and quick as Cedric declared that Layla had an amazing throw and an even better catch.
Next, Cedric showed Layla some of his favourite chaser moves that he'd found out about. Moves such as Porskoff Ploy and and Reverse Pass. Layla had got the hang of both moves very quickly.
"That was amazing, Layla," Cedric had said with a proud grin after Layla had delivered a perfect Reverse Pass. "You're a natural! I think you have a very good shot at being a chaser next year!"
After that, Cedric had suggested that they'd head back inside, but Layla had asked to try use the beater's bat. Cedric had warned her that it could be difficult, but she insisted on giving it a go. However, as the bludger zoomed straight for her face, Layla realised she wouldn't have enough time to raise her bat, underestimating how quick bludgers really were. Luckily, Cedric had grabbed the second beater's bat and jumped to Layla's rescue, knocking the bludger away.
"Told you that being a beater was difficult," said Cedric with a chuckle as he gathered all of the balls, placing them back in the box.
"I should have listened," chuckled Layla. "I thought you wanted to practice, too."
"I can practice any day," said Cedric. "I'm just happy to help you out for now."
"Thanks," said Layla with a smile. Cedric went to put the box back in the changing rooms before walking back over to Layla.
"Come on. Let's put that broom back in the broom closet and then I'll walk you back to your dorm."
"You really don't have to do that, Cedric."
"No, I want t--"
"Yes, Mr Diggory, you really don't have to do that," a different voice spoke. Both Cedric and Layla froze, turning to see the stern face of Professor McGonagall.
"Professor?" Layla's eyes widened. "W-what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you and Mr Diggory the same question, Miss Lupin. You should be in your common rooms. Curfew began thirty minutes ago," said McGonagall. "I was alerted by one of the prefects that they thought they'd spotted students on brooms up in the air, spotting you from one of the second floor windows."
"Oh," Layla frowned.
"It wasn't Layla's fault, professor. I asked her to join me. I was helping her practice f--"
"Save it, Mr Diggory. Miss Lupin can speak for herself. Both of you were out here," said McGonagall. "Twenty points will be taken from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, along with a detention. Now, off to bed, both of you. Now."
With heads hung low, Cedric and Layla headed back into the castle in silence, heading different ways without so much as a goodnight.