Harry Potter And The Lord Of Darkness - Chapter 23

“Er-”

“Place the egg directly in the fire.”

“Great. Do yer want me to cover the egg with a kettle?”

Arth raised an eyebrow. “Why would we do that?”

“Getting caught raising a dragon isn’t the best record yer wanna have. Especially with someone like me.”

“What wrong with raising a dragon with you? We’re only breaking a few laws. The worst that could happen is they would send me to Azkaban.”

“Yer don’t wanna go to Azkaban. It’s a terrible place,” Hagrid said while shuddering.

“Is it? I always wanted to visit it once in my lifetime. Seems like an interesting place.”

Hagrid gave Arth a horrified look. “Something is missing in yer head if yer want to go to a place like that.”

“Why do you thing I wanna raise a dragon? Normal people don’t wish to raise dragons. Or break the law.”

“Yer got a point there.”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Hagrid froze while Arth stared into the fireplace. “Go hide somewhere Arthur, yer shouldn’t be here. Especially if with me while there is a dragon egg in my hut.”

Arth shrugged before lying down to the floor. “Just leave me, I’ll be quiet. No one will notice me anyway.”

“?”

Hagrid stared at Arth in confusion when the knocks became louder. “Who is it?”

Arth continued to face the fireplace and didn’t see who what it was but heard them come in.

“So yeh wanted to ask me somethin’?” Said Hagrid.

“Yes, we were wondering if you could tell us what’s guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone

apart from Fluffy.”

Arth recognized the voice as Harry’s but decided to remain still.

“O’ course I cant,” Hagrid said. “Number one, I don’ know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn’ tell yeh if I could. That Stone’s here fer a good reason. It Was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s’ppose yeh’ve worked that out an’ all? Beats me how yeh even know abou’ Fluffy.”

Ah, the three headed dog on the forbidden corridor. Arth wanted to see it sometime.

“Oh, come on-”

Arth saw the egg twitch in the fire and immediately focused his attention to it. There were thirteen signs that an egg was about to hatch and six had to do with how the egg twitched in a certain way.

“-Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here,” said a voice that was probably Hermione’s.

“We only wondered who had done the guarding, really.” Hermione went on. “We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.”

Arth noticed that the egg was visibly shaking now. “Hagrid, I think the egg is close to hatching-”

“Well, I don’ s’pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let’s see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o’ the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, an’ Dumbledore himself did somethin’, o’ course. Hang on, I’ve forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape.”

“Hagrid-”

“Snape?”

“Yeah – yer not still on abou’ that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he’s not about ter steal it.”

“Hagrid don’t you wanna-”

“You’re the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren’t you, Hagrid? And you wouldn’t tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?”

“Not a soul knows except me an’ Dumbledore.”

“I’m just gonna watch the dragon hatch by myself then.”

“Well, that’s something,” Harry muttered to the others. “Hagrid, can we have a window open? I’m boiling.”

“Can’t, Harry, sorry,” said Hagrid.

There was a pause and Arth felt a sharp pain on his back.

“Hagrid! What’s that- WHAT THE HELL I’M I STEPPING ON!”

“Could you please remove your foot from my back? I don’t have a particular inclination towards getting stepped on.”

Harry did a double take before realizing it was Arth. “O-oh, it’s you Arthur. Sorry about that- Wait, why the heck are you here-”

“I’m breaking the law with Hagrid.”

Surprisingly, it was Hermione who spoke up. “You what! Why would you do something so reckless-”

“Hagrid, the egg is hatching. I tried to tell you but you ignored me.”

“What egg?” Asked Ron.

“Let me see too,” said Harry.

“You know you could be sent to Azkaban or worse get expelled if you are caught-”

Arth gestured to Harry and Ron. “It’s a dragon egg that Hagrid won off of some guy in a pub. I reckon it’s a Norwegian Ridgeback based on the patterns on its shell and it’s unique color. But then again I could be wrong.”

“You shouldn’t be this reckless, think of your parents and your future if you get expelled. You would be ruined! And please listen to me when I’m talking.”

“Oh come one Hermione,” said Ron exasperatedly, “how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?”

“Not many times most likely, it is an illegal trade after all. Unless you become a dragon breeder. Then you will most likely see it many times- oh. The egg is hatching.”

Arth, Hagrid, and the golden trio watched the egg in the fireplace with hushed voices as tiny cracking sounds began to fill the room.

“Hagrid, it seems my first time breaking the law was a success-”

“Shut up Arthur.”