An American at Hogwarts

Yet More Questions

Unfortunately for us, we had class that day, and Hermione would under no circumstances let us ditch it. Ron was rather upset at that.

"Hermione, can't we just skip Herbology? It's not every day you get to see a dragon hatch."

Hermione glared at him like he had just asked if we could murder an infant. "No Ron, what are you thinking? We'd get in so much trouble!"

Harry groaned. "Not that I don't want to hear you two argue again, but... actually no, I really don't want to hear you two argue again. We can go right down after class, that ok with everyone?"

We looked around at each other and nodded, Ron grumbling slightly as he did so, but ultimately agreeing. As you might expect, Hermione was the only person who really paid much attention in Herbology that day. Even I was quite distracted, thinking about what the dragon would be like. We were only learning about some weird plant anyways, demon's trap or something. I could afford to miss this one. After what felt like forever, Professor Sprout dismissed us, and we immediately bolted down to Hagrid's hut. He opened the door quickly and rushed us in.

"Come on! It's about to come out!"

We rushed in and eagerly sat down. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, the egg cracked open. Out popped, well, a baby dragon. It looked pretty much exactly like the drawings of an adult Norwegian Ridgeback, just, as you'd expect, much smaller.

Hagrid beamed and scooped it up in his arms. "It's a boy! He's beautiful! I think I'll name you Norbert!"

Norbert looked up at Hagrid curiously.

"He already know's his mamma! See, I told you all it would be fine!"

I frowned. "Hagrid, he's still a dragon. I doubt you can raise him properly or safely in your hut."

Norbert suddenly let out a burp, sending a small plume of fire out, which set Hagrid's scraggly beard aflame.

Marie laughed as he frantically put it out. "See?"

Hermione nodded. "They're right, Hagrid. You really ought to get rid of it."

Hagrid sighed, his eyes still a bit panicked from the fire. "I... maybe you're right. But I cant just let him out into the forest! He'd die!"

I pursed my lips. "Maybe my mom knows someone? She's probably been involved in illegal dragon imports at some point, knowing her."

All of a sudden Harry shouted. "RON!"

Ron jumped, spinning to face Harry. "I'm right here, you don't have to scream..."

Harry lightly punched his shoulder. "You said your brother is studying dragons in Romania right? What if we sent Norbert over to him?"

Ron's eyes lit up. "Of course! Charlie would love that! And he'd know exactly how to take care of him!"

We all turned to Hagrid, expectantly. He thought for a minute or two, staring down at Norbert, who was now utterly fascinated with a spare glove on the floor. "I... I suppose that would be best. I... OI! IT'S THAT BLOODY KID AGAIN!"

Once again, we spun around to see a familiar mane of platinum blonde hair sprinting up the hill. Again, we chased him, and again, he got away.

As we sat catching our breath atop the hill once again, I decided I'd had enough.

"I am going to find that bastard right now. I'll see you all in the common room later."

The others shared a concerned glance, but they knew I wouldn't change my mind on chasing after him, so they let me go. I spent the next twenty minutes or so speed-walking through the castle, asking anyone I saw if they'd seen Malfoy. Eventually, I tracked him down near the Slytherin dorms.

"Hey, blondie!"

Malfoy spun around, glaring at me with a smirk on his face. "What do you want, L/N?"

I drew my wand. "You know damn well what this is about, Malfoy. If you say anything, and I mean anything, about what just happened, you will regret it."

Malfoy began to back away, the smirk still on his face. That was odd.

"Oh yeah? And what will you do about it?"

"I..."

I stopped before I said anything as I heard a footstep behind me. I spun around and saw the last person I wanted to see. Snape.

"Now, Mr. L/N, I will have none of that. Threatening another student, and one in my own house no less, tsk tsk... twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor, and you will have detention Friday and Saturday. Be thankful it isn't any more."

I heard Malfoy snicker and walk off.

"Meet me in my office at seven pm Friday. Filch will collect you on Saturday. Off with you, now, before I decide I am being too lenient."

As I walked off, I probably looked a bit silly with my confused expression. I had just threatened Snape's favorite student right in front of him, and that's all I got? He was really starting to confuse and worry me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was being... nice? Is nice a word that I could use to describe a man that I thought tried to kill my friend and was trying to steal a powerful magical artifact for unspecified nefarious purposes? But he was undeniably being lenient with my punishment...

As I told my friends what had happened between me, Malfoy, and Snape, they all seemed just as confused.

Ron was seemingly even a bit angry at me. "So now he's ok even though he tried to bloody murder Harry? Just because he let you off easy?"

I shook my head. "No, but I'm a bit confused. It's like he's two separate people when it comes to dealing with Harry and me. And I certainly haven't done anything to warrant him liking me. At least I don't think so." I stared at the ground for a second in annoyance. "Ugh. I'm sorry, I'm just usually fairly good at reading people, but with him I feel lost. It's frustrating. I can never predict what he will do next, and I don't like that."

Marie pulled me into a hug. "You're not all knowing, Y/N. You can hardly expect to perfectly predict everyone."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just hate when I don't have the answer to something like this. It does my head in."

She chuckled. "Oh, my love... come on, lets go eat. Maybe that will clear your mind a bit."

I smiled lightly at her and followed her out of the common room down towards the great hall. A dinner with her would certainly be a good distraction.