Dursley's In Hogwarts

Chapt. 14

Chapter 14: Through the Trapdoor
No One Pov

Never let it be said Ronald Weasley bore even the slightest ounce of intelligence. The group didn't think he could've gotten dumber than when he announced to the Great Hall that Draco Malfoy had an illegal dragon on school grounds. Every eye had turned to Draco, who stood and announced he gained his familiar, a young female Norwegian Ridgeback named Onyx, currently be cared for by Onyx due to her youth.

Draco received many congratulations from those who knew about familiars. Ronald Weasley was promptly given detention for trying to get Draco in trouble.

Dumbledore certainly provoked more dislike from the group when he tried getting Harry to reveal where they got Onyx. Since Draco and Neville were with him, all three received detention for refusing and Draco snapped at Dumbledore for attempting to enter his mind.

In the forbidden forest Harry and a frightened Neville saw a creature drinking the blood of a unicorn and were rescued by a centaur. The group couldn't figure out what it was, but they knew they owed two of their owns lives to a centaur. It was scary how close they'd been to losing both boys.

In the ten weeks to currently, the afternoon after the final exams of the school year, Onyx grew a startling amount. She was as large as a carriage now, and according to both Hagrid - who's studied up - and Charlie Weasley she would now slow her growing. Dragons grew to around this size young to protect themselves, but now that she could hunt for and protect herself she no longer needed to grow exceptionally fast.

In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. The days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive, and well behind the locked door. Quirrell had been twitchy, more so than usual, even a bit agitated.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where students did their written papers. They had been given special new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-cheating spell.

Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest. The others did their best, but nothing seemed to help the pains. Percy thought Harry had a bad case of exam nerves because Harry couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Harry kept being woken by his old nightmares, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but everyone seemed as worried about the Stone as Harry. It was a relief to him. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Quirrell or anyone else might be up to now.

Their very last exam for the first years was History of Magic, for the third years it was DADA and for Percy it was Transfiguration. When the Professors told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, even Percy couldn't help cheering with the rest. He was so sure he'd pass his OWLs anyways.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be" Percy said as they met up amongst the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the-"

"No more studying" Greg and Vince sighed happily, stretching out on the grass.

"You could look more cheerful, guys" Blaise teased.

"We've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet!" Theo added humorously. Chuckles escaped the twins. Harry wasn't paying attention though, rubbing his forehead.