Harry Potter And The Prince Of Slytherin 43 Dragon Pt.2

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him.

"0' 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 around here," said Hermione 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." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron 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."

"Snape?"

"Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Harry knew Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as he 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 Harry 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? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance at the fire. Harry looked at it, too.

"Hagrid -- what's that?"

But he already knew what it was. 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 I 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.

"You're really an idiot, aren't you?" All of them froze up when they heard the voice.

Hagrid's face was pale as snow, and everyone was very nervous. Hagrid slowly stood up and opened up the door to find Draco smirking with Theodore behind his back.

"May we come in?" Draco asked

Hagrid was still frozen when he saw Draco, so he couldn't say anything,

"What are you doing here?" Harry spoke up coming towards them.

"Oh! Didn't Hagrid say to meet up after some time, so I came along." Draco said innocently. "Didn't you Hagrid?"

"I--"

"Dragon's are really dangerous, I wonder what will happen after Dumbledore or maybe even the board of chairmen find out that there is a live dragon egg in Hogwarts." Theodore said cutting off the nervous Hagrid, "Draco, isn't your father one of the chairmen?"

"He certainly is." Draco said chiming in.

"C'me in." Hagrid said quickly listening to their conversation.

Draco and Theodore smirked and walked in, "Don't mind us."

Hagrid looked around and quickly shut the door.

Hagrid's hut only had one room inside, with hams and pheasants hanging from the ceiling. In the corner stands a ma.s.sive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. Overall, his house was small and slightly dirty.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked looking at Draco and Theodore.

"Oh! I was interested in the philosopher's stone so I thought I will listen to what you guys had to say." Draco said. "But I didn't expect to hear such interesting words about Dragon."

"And I am just here for fun." Theodore replied looking around the small hut.

Hermione didn't say anything but Ron's and Harry's expressions were yelling at them to get out. Both of them were worried more than ever, they were sure that Draco would likely tell all the information to Snape and he will likely steal it sooner now.

"So Dragon, huh?" Theodore said looking at the egg in the fireplace.

Looking at Hagrid's pale face, Hermione quickly said, "Draco, Theodore, please don't tell about this to anyone."

"Sure." Theodore said not even looking at her.

"You do know, that it's dangerous, right?" Draco said.

"Norbert won't hurt anybody." Hagrid said in a paced tone.

"Norbert?" Draco looked at Hagrid, "You already named the Dragon? So you must be even planning on keeping it?"

"I-- yes, at least until it grow' up enough to defend its'lf."

"Are you nuts?" Theodore said, "This dragon after it hatches will likely grow into your whole house in just a couple of weeks."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were surprised by what Theodore said, they didn't know much about Dragon's in the first place and to hear that it will likely grow into the house, they were more worried for Hagrid, who looked like a stubborn child.

"Sigh! How about you give it to me?" Draco said looking back at Hagrid.

"What-- No." Ron and Hagrid hurriedly said.

Draco's face turned sour looking at Ron, "Weasly, mind your business. I am talking with the owner, not you."

"I am not giving him to anyone." Hagrid added looking at Draco.

"Listen here, Hagrid." Draco said, "Either you give me the Dragon, and I will help raise your Dragon safely and properly or you can wait here raising it and be sent to Azkaban later on."

"Are you threatening us?" Harry asked angrily,

"Oh! I am not threatening you nor am I threatening your friend here." Draco replied with a sly smug on his face, "I am just giving you a suggestion."

"Draco.." Hermione wanted to convince Draco to stop but she knew he was right.

"Hermione, Draco is right, you know?" Theodore said, "Even if we don't report it, the dragon itself will grow big enough to be noticed and you should know that raising a Dragon without permission will lead to at least 5 years in Azkaban and in case something bad were to happen, then a student might even lose his life making your huge friend here be sent to Azkaban forever."

"Azkaban--" Hagrid murmured, he knew how bad Azkaban could be, since he himself has been there, not for long but it was enough to drive him to the point of insanity.

"Azkaban?" Harry asked looking at Ron,

"Azkaban is similar to muggle's prison Harry," Hermione replied. "I have read that it is much worse than a normal prison."

Harry hearing that, turned over to Hagrid, "Hagrid get rid of it, please. I don't want to see you go there."

Hagrid was struggling, not knowing what to do.

"So Hagrid, can I call you that?" Draco said, "You see after I got hold of the Black property, I now own a Dragon farm in Romania. The farm right now is empty as the ministry auctioned off the Dragons but since I am in control now, I would love to fill that place with Dragons reforming it back to its former glory. I will guarantee you that I will hire people especially to take care of it and make sure that it grows up healthy."

"Charlie, Ron." Harry said suddenly, "Didn't you say that your brother is studying Dragons in Romania. Maybe we can send the Dragon there?"

"Yes, Hagrid. My brother can take care of it." Ron quickly said with a smug face.

Hagrid eyes lit up, he would rather send the Dragon to Charlie whom he knew that with Draco.

"Che, you annoying pest." Draco clicked his tongue.

"What did you say?"

"I said that you are an annoying pest." Draco repeated again, "Hagrid, you can send your Dragon to this Charlie fellow, but I will like you to consider it, since the thing about philosopher stone.."

Draco didn't complete his sentence but everyone knew that he was blackmailing Hagrid.