The next day at breakfast, when the owl post came, Harry got an unexpected letter!
He opened it up to find Hagrid's scrawled handwriting.
"Guys! Hagrid wants us to come to his hut later tonight." Harry told Hermione and Ron.
"What for?" Hermione asked.
"He didn't say." Harry frowned.
"It's probably for tea and rocks again." Ron frowned, really not wanting to have to pretend to eat Hagrid's horrid cooking.
"It makes him happy though." Harry said, but couldn't help but agree with Ron.
"I know, I know. Just for tonight, right?" Ron smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey! Malfoy! Malfoy!" Richard raced down the hall to catch up to Draco.
"What do you want, Grayson?" Malfoy asked, but not a lot of bite was to it.
"I just wanted to apologize. We got off on the wrong foot." Richard said.
"What?" Draco asked, completely taken by surprise.
"I'm sorry. About everything. I shouldn't have lost my temper at all. And as a sign of good will, I got this for you." Dick held out a medium-sized case.
Draco cautiously took it and opened it.
Inside, there was a full set of Wizard's Chess. It looked to be made of several different materials; the black set made of a glassy onyx with the eyes of every person and animal were the clearest diamonds, the white made of white quartz with the eyes of every person and animal were the greenest emeralds, and the board itself was made out of expensive looking marble.
"It's one of a kind because it was hand-crafted." Richard said, holding up one of his hands, which had two Band-Aids on it, "I figure for someone who could get whatever you wanted, a one-of-a-kind thing would be a nice token."
"You did this?" Draco looked at the beautiful set for a long while.
"Yeah, it took a while." Dick laughed.
Draco looked at him in consideration for a bit, "This doesn't make up for the pranks and all. But perhaps a game after classes would be nice." Draco said.
"Then it's settled, I shall see you in the common room." Richard nodded and started to walk off.
"Grayson!" Draco called suddenly.
Dick stopped and looked back, "Yeah?"
"Thank you. It's very pretty." Draco said.
Richard smiled, "Thank you. I'm sure it's better in action though." And he walked off.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Classes couldn't come to an end for that day as quickly as Malfoy wanted them to.
Finally he was done with his last class!
He flew from the classroom to run down the stairs to get to the Slytherin common room before Grayson could!
Draco got into the common room, saying the password 'Gillyweed'.
He quickly ran to his dorms to carefully pick up the wizard's chess set and bring it to his favorite chair and table in the common room. It was right next to the fireplace so that he could curl up on the big velvet green chair comfortably and stay warm. Even if the common rooms and dorms had a bunch of heating charms on them so that they didn't freeze under the Dark Lake, it still felt nice to be by the fireplace. Plus in this chair, he could see everyone who came into the common room.
Finally after ten minutes of impatiently waiting, Grayson came into the common room!
Draco had already finished setting the wizard's chess up and it looked SO MUCH more beautiful in the light and it reflected the flames of the fireplace in such a beautiful way, it almost sparkled.
"Sorry, I got stuck in the one stair. They really should fix that." Richard said.
"Well, while I normally do not like tardiness, it is fine this time. It gave me time to set up the chess set." Draco said, proudly showing Dick the set.
Richard smiled, "I told you it was prettier in action. Just wait until you actually see it working though."
Draco wanted to play the game NOW!
"Well, get comfortable. And what color do you want?" Draco asked.
"Can I have the black ones?" Dick asked.
Draco nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hagrid! You wanted to see us?" Harry asked, with Ron and Hermione with him.
"'Arry! Yes! Sit down! I've made some tea, did you three want some cookies?" Hagrid pulled out some fresh baked rocks.
"No thank you." Ron said, almost looking green.
"I'll take some tea." Hermione smiled gently.
"Tea sound nice!" Harry nodded.
Hagrid started pouring them all tea when the kettle in his fireplace started to move.
"Hagrid, what's that?" Hermione looked a bit scared.
"'Er, It's nothin'." Hagrid opened the kettle and took out an egg.
An egg that was rapidly cracking.
Soon, out popped a head and then a body that Hagrid let jump onto the table.
It was a small dragon!
"Hagrid! Is that a dragon?" Hermione asked, worried.
The dragon coughed a pouf of smoke before going to Hagrid.
"It's not just any dragon. It's a Norwegian Ridgeback!" Hagrid said proudly.
"Hagrid, you can't keep that here! You live in a wood hut! He's going to accidently burn it down!" Hermione said.
"It will be okay. He's just a baby. How much harm can he do?" Hagrid asked just as the dragon caught his beard on fire.
Hagrid quickly put it out and smiled at the trio.
"I have a brother in Romania, Charlie. He works and trains dragons. We could get yours there and I'm sure you could visit anytime too." Ron said.
"But I don't want to let the little guy go." Hagrid said, holding the dragon closely.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden hut. He's going to burn it down!" Harry said.
Hagrid frowned, knowing Harry was right.
"Just let me have some more time with him." Hagrid said.
"Okay, we can wait until the weekend to send him." Harry said, wanting to make sure Hagrid was safe yet also said a proper goodbye.
So, Richard and Malfoy might be becoming friends? :o
