Finding The Light

Norbert The Dragon (edited)

One morning, Hedwig landed in front of us with a note from Hagrid telling us the egg was about to hatch. Ron wanted to skip Herbology, Hermione wanted to kill him with her glares.

"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.

I glanced up, spotting Malfoy only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard?

"Well I don't care, I still say having a period with blood flowing out of you is perfectly natural, I mean just because me and Hermione started before everyone else doesn't mean anything," I said and watched Malfoy turn green and hurry off.

Ron high-fived me, Hermione and Harry laughing, it was decided we'd go to Hagrid's at morning break, Hagrid looked excited when we got there.

 "It's nearly out," he said, hurrying us inside.

So many jokes, so little time,  i thought.

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. We all drew chairs up to the table and watched. All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table.

"Aw!" Hermione and I cooed, looking at the little thing. It wasn't cute to look at but . . . maternal instinct maybe?

"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," Hermione said shakily, "How fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid had gone pale though, and dashed to the window. The four of us looked at each other.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains - it's a kid - he's runnin' back up ter the school," Hagrid said and Harry and I bolted to the door and looked out.

"Sh*t," I said, staring at the back of Malfoy's head. "We're f*cked."

Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made me and the others very nervous. They were just lucky they didn't have to deal with him in their common room, i got so annoyed one night i nearly barbecued him. We spent a lot of time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him after that.

"Just let him go," I urged. "Set him free."

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

The bloody dragon had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his game keeping 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.

"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."

"I - I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

"Charlie," Harry said, turning to Ron.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No – 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 exclaimed, slapping Harry's arm repeatedly in excitement.

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

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found me, Hermione and Harry were sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. Pansy and i had gotten into yet another argument so i was sleeping with the Gryffindors for the night.

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 us 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."

"Ron, I think it's poisonous," I told him, but we were distracted when Harry let Hedwig in with Charlie's reply.

"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," Harry read. "We've got the invisibility cloak. It shouldn't be too difficult - I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."

"And I can cast the disillusionment charm," I grinned, "That's what Dumbledore used to hide himself, when he was watching you at the mirror Harry."

But like I'd said, by the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey - would she recognize a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. We rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me - I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me -I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione.

Ron sat up so quick he slammed his head against mine, nearly knocking me out. Harry helped me off the ground as Ron groaned.

"Oh no oh no - I've just remembered - Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told us after Madam Pomfrey had kicked us out. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."

We found Fang sitting outside with a bandaged tail when we went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage - nothin' I can't handle."

We told him about Charlie's response and he almost started crying although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot - jus' playin' - he's only a baby, after all."

The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. I raised an eyebrow at Hagrid who chuckled nervously. 

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