Harry Potter and the Reluctant Rebirth

Chapter 11

With finals only ten weeks away, Hermione and I organized different study groups with the others to help us all prep for the final exams. Ron tagged along, with him and I being fairly neutral with each other ever since Christmas rolled around but he preferred to sit by Neville and far, far away from the Slytherins. The other snakes seemed to share his feelings as Hermione and I functioned as human barriers, all of us swapping notes and quizzing each other. Neville was kicking Draco's butt in remembering potion ingredients, while Pansy was desperately trying to remember who won what goblin war.

I was failing at casting non-transformation type charms as per usual.

After one of my Herbology classes, I had this strong gut feeling. It was only when I looked at the bottom of the hill to see Hagrid happily waving at me. Oh... no . No no no no, please no.

"Harry! I wan' ter show yer somethin'!" Hagrid was beaming, grinning with excitement. "Not right now of course, how 'bout Sunday?"

Nopenopenopenope- "Sure!"

I couldn't help but feel anxious for Sunday for the rest of the week. While I wanted to see Hagrid, I was nervous because somehow, I would need to convince him to not keep the dragon egg. I really should have brought Hermione with me. She's really good at convincing people to do stuff.

Just in case, I had taken my invisibility cloak with me, stuffed in my schoolbag. Hagrid opened the door after I knocked a couple of times and a wave of heat smacked into my face like I had just opened an oven mid-cooking.

"Righ' on time, Harry! Come on in!" Hagrid moved his bulky figure to the side and allowed me in like so many times before, though I'm slightly boiling from the humidity in his hut.

"Hagrid, why is it so hot in here? Did you buy pet anacondas?" I asked though I'm pretty sure his house was more hot and humid than the Amazon at this point.

Hagrid didn't say anything but instead had the grin a proud dad would have and went to a pot that was boiling over a roaring fire. I followed and looked into the pot to see a large, shiny, black egg. Large was an understatement, this egg was huge, made my head look like a tennis ball compared to it. Under the water I could make out markings that look similar to keeled snake scales and giving off a "warning, the baby in here is dangerous" vibe that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Hagrid... why do you have a giant egg?"

"I won it from some fellow at a pub, it's a dragon egg," Hagrid says about as casually as if he just bought chicken eggs. "Did some research and 'his is a rare Norwegian Ridgeback, I go' everythin' set up for 'im when he hatches. Feed him a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken's blood every hour and keep 'im warm."

"... Um... Hagrid, I can be honest with you, right?"

"O' course you can!" He sounded insulted I would even ask that kind of question.

"You're my friend, and I care about my friends... Muggles have died from less dangerous, non-magical creatures that they bought as pets. You also live in a wooden hut, dragons breathe fire, and you live by a school full of children."

I didn't look at Hagrid while I kept talking. I could feel his shoulders slumping in disappointment but I could almost hear the cogs whirring in his head.

"I know you wanted a dragon," I continue. "But isn't it a little suspicious that someone happened to be carrying a rare dragon egg in their pocket at a pub?"

"Wha' do you mean, Harry?"

"I mean, what did you talk about with him?"

"Oh no' much. Really whispery fellow and kep' his hood up." Sweet lord Hagrid didn't have a skeptical bone in his body, huh? "He asked if I looked after any other creatures and I tol' him 'bout Fluffy. He was interested in Fluffy, o' course, and I tol' him the way to big creatures is knowin' how to calm 'hem."