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 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 round 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.
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. Hermione had now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts.
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.
Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
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. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
«It's nearly out.» He ushered them inside.
The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.
They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
«Isn't he beautiful?» Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.
«Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!» said Hagrid.
«Hagrid,» said Hermione, «how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?»
Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face—he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
«What's the matter?»
«Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains—it's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school.»
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.
Malfoy had seen the dragon.
Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous. They spent most of their 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.»
They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. 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. «He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?»
«He's lost his marbles,» Ron muttered in Harry's ear.
«Hagrid,» said Harry loudly, «give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment.»
Hagrid bit his lip.
«I—I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't.»
Harry suddenly turned to Ron. Charlie, he said.
«You're losing it, too,» said Ron. «I'm Ron, remember?»
«No—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!»
«Brilliant!» said Ron. «How about it, Hagrid?»
And in the end, Hagrid agreed that they could send -an owl to Charlie to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just
chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.
«It bit me!» he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. «I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby.»
There was a tap on the dark window.
«It's Hedwig!» said Harry, hurrying to let her in. «She'll have Charlie's answer!»
The three of them put their heads together to read the note.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter—I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
They looked at one another.
«We've got the invisibility cloak,» said Harry. «It shouldn't be too difficult—I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert.»