The Other Side Of The Story

When I woke up that morning to my surprise Hermione was still in bed which was really really weird considering she never slept in even on Sundays, I thought about waking her up but she seemed really tired, when did she even get back yesterday?

probably late … a voice in my head replied, so I decided to just let her be and headed to Breakfast myself and as I guessed the three of them did get back late yesterday as Harry and Ron too were nowhere in sight even when I got to the Great hall, so I sat down enjoying a peaceful breakfast for once

Well at least till I was interrupted "ALEXANDERA MILLER", my head snapped in the direction of the shouting only to come face to face with a furious looking Hermione making her way towards me , as some people were staring at her probably surprised by the shouting

"what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked when she was finally in front of me , causing me to look around me then answer "having breakfast"

"I don't mean that" she said shaking her head at my sarcasm "I mean yesterday we waited for you but you never showed up" this time she whispered, even so people weren't looking at us anymore

"Well I was hanging out with Cedric and I lost track of time, by the time I realized that, it was already too late" I explained as she sat down across from me

"Don't ever do that again, I was really worried about you I thought that something might have happened to you" she explained looking at me with a serious expression

"Don't be, I can take care of myself" I told her but she didn't seem convinced so I just changed the subject "anyway what did you guys find out?"

"Why are you so sure we found out something?" she asked but I just gave her an 'are you serious look' and she shrugged it off

"well ,it's a long story" she started explaining , it appeared that there are other things guarding the stone along with Fluffy , but we still have no idea what except that they were made by different professors around the school including Sprout, Flitwick , McGonagall , Quirrell, Dumbledore himself and Snape , who they still believe is after the stone despite mine and Hagrid's disagreement ,they think that If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have Been easy for him to find out how the other teachers had guarded it and that He probably knew everything except, Quirrell’s spell and how to get past Fluffy

But that wasn't all they also found out that Hagrid has got a dragon egg and he is working on hatching it, so now we had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragonin his hut

Great everything just keeps getting better doesn't it? , I wonder how it's like having a peaceful life?!

*******************

Anyway a couple more days passed as we struggled through all the extra homework we were getting. Hermione had now started making revision Timetables for me, Harry and Ron, too. It was driving us mad but we had to live with it I mean literally, then one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry a note From Hagrid. He had written only two words:

Its hatching

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut, Hermione wouldn’t hear of it and to tell the truth I agreed with her on that one we couldn't just head there and leave everything behind it would be dangerous not only on us but on Hagrid too

If anyone found out who knows what might happen to him?!

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching? Alex tells her something" he said the last part while looking at me

"Sorry Ron despite how exciting it would be, but she has a point" I said raising my hands in defense

"Like I said 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 it was only then that I noticed how Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to Listen. Damn it, how much had he heard? Harry didn’t seem to like the look on Malfoy’s face at all and I couldn't disagree with him on that

Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology, and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid’s with us during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of our lesson, the four of us dropped our trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the Forest, where Hagrid greeted us looking flushed and excited

"It’s nearly out" He ushered us inside

Where I saw that the egg was lying on the table, it was one hell of an egg in other words, bloody brilliant and the I noticed, there were deep cracks in it

Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it, wow this is amazing

I notice everyone taking seats around the table so I followed their action my eyes never leaving the egg in front of me

Then suddenly there was a scraping noise and the egg split open and out came the baby dragon , it was beautiful I couldn't help but smile and let a laugh at the beautiful creature , I didn't know if anyone noticed or not , but I didn't care as I was too busy with the dragon

Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny body and it had a long snout with wide nostrils, stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes

It sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of its snout, I laughed at that

"Isn’t he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured and I couldn't help but nod, and then saw him reach out a hand to stroke the dragon’s head, it snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" Hagrid exclaimed happily and I patted him on the back with a smile that he returned

"Hagrid" said Hermione "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks Grow, exactly?" she asked causing me to roll my eyes at her

But Hagrid was about to answer anyway, when the color suddenly drained from his face and he jumped from his seat and ran to the window

"What’s the matter?" both Harry and I asked at the same time

"Someone was looking through the gap in the curtains , it’s a kid … he’s running back up to the school" Hagrid explained ,so Harry hurried to the door and looked out only to turn around and when our eyes met the look in his eyes only meant one thing

Malfoy had seen the dragon

***************

A week had passed and Malfoy still hadn't made a move indicating that he told Dumbledore or anyone, which only worried me more, what was he planning , something about the smile lurking on Malfoy’s face whenever he saw us told me that no matter what it was, it wasn't good

I wasn't the only one who thought so as Harry, Ron and Hermione were very nervous about this too

So despite how much it hurt me we spent the most of our free time in Hagrid’s darkened hut, trying to reason with him

"Just let him go " Harry urged "Set him free"

"I can’t" said Hagrid "He’s too little. He’d die"

We all looked at the dragon, he had grown three times in length in just a week and Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils

Hagrid hadn’t been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor

"I’ve decided to call him Norbert" said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes and it hurt me even more, knowing that Hagrid would have to give him up; even so he was getting more and more attached to him by the second

"He really knows me now, watch. Norbert, Norbert! Where’s Mummy"

"He’s lost his marbles" I heard Ron mutter so I slapped him on the top of the head

"Ouch!! What was that for?!"He asked holding his head where I slapped him

"For being a git" I spat at him and he mumbled something under his breath that i didn't get

"Hagrid" said Harry loudly catching all our attention "give it a fortnight and Norbert’s going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment"

Even so Harry was being mean but he had a point, we had to protect Hagrid

Hagrid bit his lip

"I – I know I can’t keep him forever, but I can’t just dump him "

"I can’t"

That when I remembered something and a thought popped up in my mind , so I turned to Ron only to find him and Harry staring at one another and as if Harry read my mind he whispered "Charlie"

"You’re losing it, too" said Ron "I’m Ron, remember"

"No, you idiot, he means Charlie, your brother Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild" I said and Harry nodded

"Brilliant!" said Ron "How about it, Hagrid?!"

In the end, even so he wasn't happy with it but Hagrid agreed that we could send an owl to Charlie to ask him...