Together (A Harry Potter love story) 1

41

MILLIES POV

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than we 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 I passed the third corridor, I would press my ear to the door to check Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the stone was safe. Whenever I passed Quirrel these days I gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and even started telling people off for laughing at his stutter.

I had more on my mind than the philosophers stone, however, along with Mione. I had started studying for the exams, but Mione had gone as far as to draw up revision timetables. I think Harry and Ron were getting a bit annoyed by it, as she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away," Harry complained.

"Ten weeks," Mione snapped. "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 both revising for, you already know it all."

Mione spoke before I could say anything.

"What are we revising for? Are you mad? You realise 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 got into me..."

The teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Mione. They piled so much homework on us that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Mione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragons blood, or practicing wand movements. It just made me work harder. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with us, trying to get through all the 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 we'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming. "And can they sod off," He added, glaring at a group of boys from Ravenclaw who had been standing over by the nearest shelf, talking loudly.

"What're they even doing anyway?" I said, whilst opening a new book.

"Goggling at you, Millie, like every other guy in the school." She giggled. Harry and Ron stared at me.

"Not you two as well!" Hermione laughed louder, pointing at them.

"Nah, I was just trying to copy her answers," Harry said, purposely leaning directly over me.

I pushed him away and turned back to my book, as Harry and Ron began complaining again, but glanced up when I heard them say, "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 my 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," I said proudly.

"And we know what that's dogs guarding," Ron continued. "It's a philosophers st-"

"Shhh!" 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," Harry said casually, "About what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy-"

"SHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don't go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' supposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh-"

"See you later, then." I said, turning back to the book.

Hagrid shook his head and shuffled away.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it has anything to do with the philosophers stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who had clearly 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 excitedly. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons!"

"You don't think that's what's guarding the stone too, do you?" I asked, my hazel eyes widening.

"No," Harry said instantly. "Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him."

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the warlocks convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - 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?" I asked.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common welsh green and hebridean blacks. The ministry of magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"Wow! Ronald actually knows something!" I said, throwing my hand over my mouth. He threw his Quill at me, splattering ink on my cheek. "Ron!"

"But what an earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione, completely oblivious to the fact that I had just got up and slapped Ron round the face.