His Weakness

Chapter 12

The next few days dragged by agonizingly slow, and you were overjoyed when you finally got to go back to London to go the train station! While you waited for the train to arrive, you ran to a nearby tape store and picked up Draco's gift, then ran to Diagon Alley and bought Cedric's model snitch after picking up some more money from Gringotts. After you bought Cedric's gift, you ran back to the station as fast as you could, your family waiting with your things with peeved looks on their faces.
"What? You all wouldn't have let me do this beforehand," you said, putting the gifts in your bag and pushing the cart that held your trunks inside the station. You heard your father grumble behind you, but you said nothing.
Through the crowd of people, you spotted a bushy haired girl and grinned. "Hermione!" you shouted, and she turned around. You waved at her and she ran over to you.
"(Y/n)! Oh it's great to see you!" she said, hugging you.
"You too!" You hugged her back, and Vernon cleared his throat behind you. "Right," you sighed, and plastered a fake smile on your face, "Hermione, this is my family!"
"Hello!" she smiled and waved at them, and received a series of grumbled hellos. Her smile faded a bit, and you whispered, "They don't like wizards and witches."
Hermione nodded and pursed her lips. "I can take it from here," you said, turning your attention back to your family, "The gate isn't that far."
They nodded and made their way out of the station, and you breathed out a sigh of relief. "This break has been torturous," you grumbled as you and Hermione weaved in between people.
"I'm sure! They don't seem like the friendly type."
"They aren't. At least, not if you're a magic user."
There weren't many people by the gate when you arrived at gate 9 ¾, so that made getting through so much easier. The gate was just as crowded as last time, and you and Hermione were relieved when your luggage was loaded and you no longer had to steer the carts through large crowds of people! A shock of white hair caught your eye as you weaved through students and their families, and you grinned as you recognized Draco making his way to the train.
"I'll see you later Hermione!" you said, waving goodbye to your friend and hopping on the cart Draco had.
"Bye (y/n)!"
The door slid shut behind you and you made your way down the aisle. "(Y/n)!" you heard Draco call as he peeked out from one of the cabins. You beamed at him and ran over, happy to see that Crabbe and Goyle hadn't boarded yet.
"Hey Draco!" you said, sitting next to him.
"How was the rest of your break? You didn't write after Christmas."
"Yes, my family tried to steal the necklace you gave me and forbade me from writing to you."
"Oh no! That's why I jinxed it, I knew they'd try to do something like that. What about the badger?"
"About that," you said sadly, and pulled the unmoving toy out of your bag. "It tried to bite my mother and in order to keep her from doing anything rash, I had to turn it back into a toy."
"Oh, well that's alright! At least it wasn't destroyed!"
"That's true. Oh! And before I forget..."
You rummaged through your bag before pulling out his gift and handing it to him excitedly. "It's an audio book and a tape recorder. I know you enjoy it when I read to you, and since I can't always do that, I decided to buy you one of these!"
"How do you use it? I've never used any muggle devices before."
"Here, I'll show you!"
You were about to teach him how to use it, when you heard two pairs of heavy footsteps making their way down to your cabin. Draco quickly took the gift and stowed it in his luggage before they came in.
"Crabbe, Goyle," you greeted as the two boys lumbered in. They grunted in response and Draco glowered.
"That is not how you greet her you dolts," he snapped, and you stared at him, appalled. The large boys rolled their eyes and said, "Dursley."
Content enough with their correction, Draco settled back in the seat as if nothing happened. The rest of the trip was quiet, and after insisting relentlessly, you let Draco buy you a few treats from the snack cart. He bought you a few chocolate frogs, and while he wasn't looking, you bought him a few treats as well and snuck them into his pockets while he was asleep later. You managed to stay awake for the rest of the trip, although you were tempted to fall asleep with Draco. The gentle rocking of the train and the warmth of your car made it nearly impossible to stay awake.
Harry and Ron were waiting at the platform for you and Hermione when the train stopped, and Draco ran off to join the rest of the Slytherins after bidding you farewell until later. Cedric eventually found you as well, and the five of you walked to the road where self-driving carriages awaited you. You and Cedric chatted the entire way, and he was thrilled when you gave him his present.
"A model of the snitch! Thank you so much (y/n)!"
"Your welcome! It works almost the same way the actual Snitch does, just not as fast and this one's bigger."
"This will be great for practices!" He pulled you into a tight hug and thanked you again.
Back in the Great Hall, Dumbledore welcomed everyone back from their vacations, and reminded the fifth years to study hard for their upcoming O.W.L.s, then allowed the feast to commence! You and Cedric ate heartily, and had trouble keeping your eyes open when the feast was over.
Soren was happy to be back in your room at Hogwarts when you got to your dorms. She was already out of her cage and hooting happily when you entered, and you wondered briefly how she got out on her own, until you noticed the hook that normally latched the cage closed was laying on your trunk. All of her distressed flapping back on Pivet Drive must have slowly worked it lose!
"I'll fix it tomorrow," you said to yourself sleepily, and changed into your sleep clothes after feeding Soren.
The rest of the winter dragged by agonizingly slow, and you were so happy when spring finally came! Despite the allergies constantly making you sneeze every time you walked outside, the warmer weather was something to look forward to. One warm spring day, you, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were spending your free time in the library after school looking for something (Hermione wouldn't exactly say what), when Hermione walked up and dropped a large book on the table where you all were sitting.
"I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid? I checked this out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading," she huffed.
"This is light?" Ron commented, earning a glare from Hermione.
"Of course! Here it is! 'Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone'!"
"The what?" you, Ron, and Harry asked in unison.
"Honestly, don't you three read?" Hermione asked, shrilly, "'The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.'"
"Immortal?" Ron repeated in disbelief.
"It means you'll never die."
"I know what it means!"
You shushed Ron and Hermione continued. "'The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday!' That's what Fluffy's guarding on the 3rd floor. That's what's under the trapdoor...the Philosopher's Stone!"
"I'm sorry, what who's guarding on the 3rd floor?" you asked in confusion.
"Er," Harry began, "We may have accidentally gone up the third floor one time."
"The 3rd floor? As in the one Filch told us not to go to unless we had a death wish?!"
"Yes, that one," Ron said meekly, "It was an accident though!"
"In answer to your original question, Fluffy is a large, three headed dog that's guarding this stone on the 3rd floor," Hermione said, unfazed by your distress.
"A three headed what?!"
"A three headed dog! Don't you lot ever listen?"
Before you could respond, however, Hermione moved on and said that you all should go see Hagrid later that night and tell him that Professor Snape was after the stone. After your expressing your confusion, Harry explained that while you all were gone on break, he had seen Snape interrogating Quirrell about something that was likely the stone.
"I have missed so much," you grumbled, slouching in your chair. "Yes, well, now that you know all of this, care to come with us tonight?"
"I suppose I should since have nothing else to do!"
Then it was settled, you, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be meeting up later that night to go down to Hagrid's to ask him about the stone. You'd likely be out past curfew though, so getting back in would be difficult. As darkness fell later that night, you and the others made your way to Hagrid's hut, and the dew on the grass was causing you to slip and slide occasionally.
Harry knocked on the door when you arrived, and moments later, Hagrid's large form filled the door. "Hagrid!" your cousin greeted.
Hagrid, lad in an apron and oven mitts, looked down at you all, "Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." He went to close door, but you all stopped him.
"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!" you and your friends said in unison.
The door slowly reopened and Hagrid said, "Oh."
He welcomed you all inside and Harry immediately launched into his theory about the stone, and how he believed Snape was going to steal it. "Snape? Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you?" Hagrid laughed.
"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We just don't know why," Harry defended.
"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!"
"What?"
"You heard. Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today."
"Wait a minute," Harry stopped him, clearly confused, "One of the teachers?"
"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed, "There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments."
"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me."
You glanced over to Ron, who hadn't said a thing the entire time. A huge boarhound stood near your friend, sniffing him curiously, and he shuffled away. "Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy," Hagrid continued, "Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that."
You remembered the others telling you about the huge, three headed dog and shivered. A cauldron on the other side of the hut began rattling, and Hagrid rushed over to it to pull something out. He gently placed it on a table, and you and the others crowed around it to see what it was.
"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?" you asked, looking at the large egg on the table.
"That? It's a ... its um..."
"I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?" Ron spoke up.
"I won it. Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact."
Just then, the egg began to rattle and crack, and the five of you crowded around more to see what would hatch. A piece of the egg flew off, and a small dragon emerged. It squeaked and slipped on a piece of shell, and you giggled! "Is that...a dragon?" You asked, hardly able to believe your eyes.
"That's not just a dragon!" Ron said, amazed, "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."
"Isn't he beautiful? Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert," Hagrid cooed.
"Norbert?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?" your large friend reasoned, and Ron laughed. Hagrid scratched the underside of his dragon's chin, and Norbert burped. A small flame flew out of his mouth and caught on Hagrid's beard, who quickly patted it out and said, "Well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course."
Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted movement in one of Hagrid's windows. Hagrid must have as well, because he looked over and asked who was outside. You turned to look, and were surprised to see Draco staring back at you! Draco's eyes widened and he disappeared.
"Malfoy," Harry answered Hagrid, loathing filling his voice.
"I'll take care of him," you said, and rushed out of the hut to catch up with your Slytherin friend. "Draco wait!" you called out. Even in the dim light, his hair nearly glowed.
"What are you doing out here?" you asked as you caught up to him.
"I-I saw you sneaking out and I wanted to make sure you weren't getting in trouble!"
"You were spying on us weren't you?"
"What? No! How dare you think that!"
You crossed your arms and Draco's face fell. "I may have been."
"Why?"
"I overheard you talking about the stone, and I didn't like the sound of it, so I spied on you to see what you all were doing. I swear I was only doing it because I was worried about you!"
"You don't need to worry about me!" you said, your face softening, "I can handle myself."
"Yeah, I know. I just can't help it sometimes, with you being a muggle-born and whatnot."
You smiled to yourself at that. "Come on, let's go back inside," you said, and the two of you walked back to your dorms. You knew the others would get back just fine! However, you didn't notice that as you and Draco parted ways, instead of going to his dorm, he went to McGonagall's office instead.