raised by dementor

chapter 19

"Why do we get involved in these things?" Draco sighed; two nights ago the group had discovered the existence of a baby dragon that had been identified as a Norwegian Ridgeback, why Hagrid thought he could keep a dragon in his hut was something else entirely. Only Harry and Draco had gone to see Hagrid; if everyone went then it would be slightly suspicious, also neither the girls or Crabbe and Goyle wanted to be in the same room as a dragon.
"Because neither of us want the school burnt down?" Harry suggested as he knocked on the hut's door, the evening was cool and a slight breeze caused the plants to shiver and people to seek warmth. That was the reason no one else was in the grounds and that meant it was unlikely Harry and Draco would be seen by prying eyes.
"Hello," Hagrid greeted but was taken aback when he opened the door to see Harry Potter of all people with Draco Malfoy. Harry smiled at him
"Hello Hagrid we need to talk," He announced politely
"Is summat the matter?" Hagrid wondered; he did not know Harry well and was slightly put off by the presence of a Malfoy; it seemed prejudices worked both ways.
"Yes, it's about the dragon you have in your hut," Draco replied somewhat dryly but not disrespectfully
"Dragon!, who's gotta a dragon?" Hagrid inquired feigning shock and wonder,
"You," Draco answered "We saw it through your window the other day,"
"You've been spying on me?" Hagrid declared angrily,
"No, we were following Ron Weasley and he was the one doing the spying thank you, no we're trying to help you before Ron tries to blackmail, bully or get your fired," Harry answered knowing a person like Ron would take delight in having power over someone. He saw reluctance in the giant's eye but eventually Hagrid conceded.
"I suppose you better come in then," he sighed knowing that his secret was now out in the open , he moved to the side so the two could enter and Harry looked around. It was small but at the same time it was cosy, a warm fire, a bed, it was definitely comfortable if nothing else. Harry took a seat at a table and Hagrid wanting to remain polite offered him a rock cake, it was hard and slightly burned but Harry ate in any way. Then Hagrid revealed the dragon; it was small but Harry knew it would grow much bigger in a few days; it was dark scaled and looked up at Harry curiously with wide yellow eyes. Obviously it knew that what it was looking at was not entirely human;
"I've decided to call him Norbert, he knows me really well now. Look; Norbert! Norbert! where's mummy?" Hagrid called wanted to show how friendly and peaceful the dragon was
"A man who enjoys being a mother to a dragon, Harry I think we've entered a maniac's home," Draco muttered under his breath; Harry did not laugh but knew his friend didn't really mean it; however what Hagrid was doing was very strange. Harry watched as the giant continued to play with his oversized pet before asking
"Where did you get him?" it was a good question; the breeding of dragons and the trading of dragon eggs was illegal. Looks like that book on Ministry Law Fudge sent him his birthday actually had some uses
"I won him off a man in the Hog's head," Hagrid answered truthfully "We were playing cards and he was asking about animals; I mentioned fluffy and how music puts him right to sleep and then I said how I always wanted a dragon. So he wagered a dragon egg he got and I won; then we spent the rest of the night talking; he was really interested in fluffy." Harry had no idea what Fluffy was but was slightly perplexed as to who would walk around with a dragon egg on them, it made no sense.
"He's getting a bit big," Draco commented looking at the creature who was walking around the table; obviously interested in something.
"Yeah, should be even bigger in a month, not sure where I'm gonna keep him; maybe the forest," Hagrid mumbled talking more to himself than anyone else. Harry sighed; the giant was already attached but he was concerned about two things; firstly a dragon being in the school and also the fact Ron might use what he knew to hurt Hagrid in a way.
"Dragons aren't very good pets," Harry commented
"Maybe not all of them but this one's ok," Hagrid chuckled thinking Harry was worrying for nothing.
"Norbert's a lovely dragon it's just you are next to a school and Dragons to grow very big," Harry explained knowing he needed to find some way to convince Hagrid to part with this dragon. It wasn't safe and dragons didn't belong in captivity
"Yeah but he's got nowhere to go," Hagrid pointed out knowing what Harry was getting at.
"There is somewhere," Draco pointed out; he and Harry had spent the entire night researching it
"Where?" Hagrid wondered, he didn't want to part with Norbert but he knew the dragon was getting a little big and couldn't stay hidden forever.
"There is a place, a sanctuary per say why lots of Dragons are kept. Norbert would have lots of company, food and also people to help her. It's run by Charlie Weasley," Harry explained. The name had been inside Ron's mind which Harry was reading from time to time; just to check up on things, but Harry had found out his brother worked with dragons. He had already contacted the man and it seemed Fred and George weren't the only Weasley's exempt from their mother's plans. No instead when Harry had mentioned a dragon might be near the school he had offered to come and collect it; however before he could organize the Dragon leaving the school he needed to persuade Hagrid to part with it.
"I liked Charlie, liked him a lot, great with animal," Hagrid commented, then Harry heard something. Well felt something would be the better phrase; he had felt nothing like it before and more importantly it was not a human feeling. His inner Dementor was pulsing as if it was growing in strength;
"Are you ok?" Hagrid asked seeing Harry had zoned out of reality.
"Fine," Harry began, then the dragon hissed and in a blur rocketed out the window and a loud yelp sounded. Hagrid was alarmed and grabbed his crossbow; obviously hoping to protected his dragon but Harry somehow already knew who it was; Ron Weasley. The name had come to his mind naturally and Harry had no idea why or how, what he did know was that this type of dragon was venomous
"Get off," Ron was screaming as the baby dragon sunk its fangs into the boy time and time again. Harry conjured a wave of energy and blasted it to the side. Hagrid ran to the dragon and began comforting it while completely ignoring Ron
"That thing bit me!" Ron exclaimed as he cradled his injured hand
"You were spying on us," Harry pointed out ignoring how ironic the situation was. They had been spying on him not forty-eight hours ago and Harry was lecturing people about doing it.
"It bit me!" Ron roared ignoring Harry completely
"It's poisonous," Draco remarked simply; as if he was talking about the weather; Ron for his part then began rolling around the on the ground; howling like a madman. Harry sighed
"A very low-level venom that can be treated by Madam Pomfrey." It took another five minutes before Ron finally calmed down, Harry gave him no sympathy but saw him run back the castle; obviously he wasn't stupid enough to not get his hand checked out. Hagrid was still cradling his baby dragon but looked slightly less sure he could handle it all on his own.
Later
It had taken three weeks to finally get Hagrid to decide parting with his dragon was for the best; Harry had taken the baby dragon tonight and after the giant tearfully bidding Norbert goodbye and giving him his favourite teddy bear Harry was off. Charlie Weasley was supposed to meet him at the top of the astronomy tower but Harry still had to get past prefects; teachers and Filch. This was why he had chosen not to bring anyone else along; he could remain hidden with more expertise on his own and good fly, manipulate minds of use his invisibility cloak to sneak past anyone around. However deep down he thought something was off; but he was more focused on getting a now two foot dragon out of the school. He had put it to sleep after a while; it was squirming and hissing so Harry decided to save himself the trouble of calming it down. There was no time, so here he was, the tower was inches away when he heard something. The cloak was already around him but he moved himself to the side as a McGonagall appeared; she was pulling someone else along by the arm as well
"But miss! Harry Potter is here and he has a dragon," Ron was saying; Harry should have known he'd try something like this. He must have found out somehow or more likely he had been watching the dragon and saw Hagrid was getting ready for it to leave. How Ron knew was not his problem and he waited until the two were far enough away before continuing
"In all my years I have never heard a story as ridiculous as this, you should be ashamed of yourself Mr Weasley; now fifty points from Gryffindor and if you get out of bed again on any night then you will have a months detention as well," McGonagall fumed; her voice echoing around the empty corridors, Harry snickered slightly, it was slightly funny watching someone trying to outsmart him.
Meanwhile
Draco was sat in the common room; he had given up trying to sleep, he was worried about Harry, the dragon and also was in deep thought. Something was nagging at him but he couldn't place what; Harry was smart but Draco had a feeling only he could work this out, something someone had said. What was it?
"Draco!" Goyle greeted looking slightly confused as to why one of his friends was up so late in the night. He knew about the whole dragon business and had been part of the team trying to convince Hagrid to give it up over the last three weeks.
"Hey Goyle," Draco greeted; he wasn't really in the mood to talk but there was no point in turning down company,
"What's wrong?" Goyle wondered after a while.
"No idea," Draco responded truthfully, he had no idea after all "I just can't help feeling like I've missed something, something someone said." Goyle looked thoughtful for a few moments
"I can't think of anything," he announced. Draco was about to make a comment but he decided against it; he was tired and Goyle was only trying to help; then his mind began to flicker. He remembered something else he had said over the day; oh yeah that harp on the sixth floor was gone. "Now who in their right mind would steal that old thing? it only plays one tune,"
"Hang on," Draco murmured, the harp was gone. That must have something to do with it; so had anyone said something about music to him; oh yeah three weeks ago.
" I mentioned fluffy and how music puts him right to sleep," Draco repeated wondering why that was relevant,
"Fluffy? Isn't that a dog's name?" Goyle murmured not really knowing what Draco was talking about,
"Yes it is..." Draco began but trailed off... music... dog...harp...sleep.
"He's going after the stone tonight," Draco announced suddenly jumping to his feet
"What?" Goyle exclaimed
"Quirrel! he's going after it tonight, get Crabbe we need to get ready before he sets the ward off," Draco announced finally working out what had been bothering him. Fluffy was the name of a dog and Hagrid already had one dog; the only other dog in the school that would appeal to Hagrid would be the Cerberus. So if a large instrument that would be hard to hide vanished it could only mean one thing; Quirrel was on the move.