章 1550: 12
Chapter 12: A baby dragon, the forest and the Dark Lord - or: Ronald Weasley being a cowardly idiotNotes:
Hello everyone,
there you go, have fun reading.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Towards the end of February the next quidditch match was scheduled, this time Gryffindor against the Puffs. Severus had insisted on being the referee himself after the debacle of the last time Harry played seeker in a match. And again, this game was both spectacular and absolutely unspectacular.
While Malfoy still started a fight with Weasley, this time neither Mione nor Neville took part in it. Another thing was that old Dumbles himself was in attendance, but aside from that nothing happened. Severus did his job as referee not as bad as last time, especially not as biassed. Not that Harry even gave him a chance for that, he once again caught the snitch damn fast, even quicker this time. Setting the record once again had been Harry's goal, and in that he succeeded.
Afterwards even the headmaster came up to him, mumbling something about not dwelling on dreams and forgetting the mirror. The old fool really wanted him to think about the mirror, didn't he? What a manipulative bastard.
After that, they all had some peace and quiet, just some simple studying. Both Harry and Hermione were still easily top of the class, surely going to score all outstandings at the end of the year. Unofficially both Minnie and Severus gave them some harder assignments, mainly things from seventh year and masteries. Those were challenging but manageable.
Other than last time around they ignored Ronald's birthday completely, and so did the twins. They were still mad about the stealing of Harry's heirloom, something Ron apparently got heavily scolded for by Arthur while Molly sent a howler to the twins. Harry and Hermione hadn't heard it but she somehow hadn't seen any issues with stealing. Not surprising since she had planned to dose Harry with love potion to get a hold of his fortune by marrying her daughter off to him.
Shortly before the Easter holidays Mione again started to prepare for the exams, not that she'd need it but they helped Nev and Daphne. Both were doing very well in class, but obviously not remotely as well as Harry and Mione.
Towards the end of the holidays Harry began to wonder about Hagrid and Norbert(a). He hadn't received a message and they hadn't seen him in the library grabbing the dragon book. But he would surely have the egg yet. Maybe he should walk down to him at some point and check for himself. But shortly after he no longer had a need for that as Ronald suddenly appeared in class with a huge bite in his hand. They took that as an indication that Norbert had already hatched and right around now there was a baby dragon running around the Hogwarts ground - or to be more precise in Hagrid's wooden hut.
And because of that Harry decided to take a walk down to Hagrid's to check in, the encounter basically going like he had expected.
Hagrid had only opened the door partly to make sure no one could look inside, then getting noticeably relieved once he saw it was Harry. Despite that he didn't let him in but asked what he was here for. The boy replied with a very direct approach that he wasn't stupid and knew that Weasley had caught a dragon bite here and that he was utterly insane it keeping the beast here. The half-giant, now letting Harry inside, was surprisingly understanding in regards to the young wizard's anger and told him that said issue was dealt with and on this very evening Ronald's brother Charlie, the dragon handler, would send some people to get the dragon. Ronald and Seamus would sneak up to the Astronomy tower at midnight to deliver Norbert, but he had no idea how they'd do that.
Harry was somehow surprised, because Ronald managed to make a more or less valid plan, but he had no idea how they'd get there unnoticed. Ron couldn't count on the cloak, though Harry considered the possibility that he might try to steal it from him. That wouldn't be happening thanks to his father's trunk, that one was very heavily protected. Either way, if it would go completely south, old Dumbles would probably redeem his little minion Ronald. So, no need to worry, though he might keep an eye out for himself. Something he'd have to discuss with Minnie and Mione first though.
Minerva McGonagall was absolutely furious. Once Harry had told her that Hagrid had hatched a dragon in his hut, she totally lost it. After nearly ten minutes of ranting about Dumbledore and his half-giant, she finally calmed down and promised Harry to look the other way that night with Ronald and Seamus if he would follow them underneath his cloak. This way they could all avoid the damn forest detention.
Draco Malfoy was not sure what else he could do now. After having seen the weasel and that other lion idiot who tended to blow things up with the baby dragon, he ran straight to his head of house, just to have him laugh about that tale. Maybe it had something to do with disturbing him during a complicated brew, but Draco had to admit, his tale did sound like something made-up. And because of that Snape said he wouldn't keep watch that night, he already had had enough midnight patrols that week.
Now Draco was thinking to whom he could go now. Quirrell was an idiot, that much was clear. And as a son of a Death Eater, DADA professors would probably not really like him. Sprout was too nice and harmless to give real detentions and the goblin wouldn't believe him either way. But…
He knocked on an office door, waiting to be called in. Once that happened, he approached the professor.
"Professor Sinistra, I came to tell you something that might interest you…"
Ronald Weasley was pacing in the dorms. Why had he agreed - no, suggested - to do that? Hagrid sometimes was a bit crazy, that he already knew from his brothers, but hatching a dragon? Truly insane. And now he would have to bring the creature on top of the astronomy tower at midnight to get rid of it. Maybe he could "borrow" Potter's cloak for that. Since no one else was here currently he took the opportunity and sneaked to the boy's trunk. It was one of the finest quality, with the initials JFP in golden letters on the side. Probably Harry's father. Not that it mattered.
Once he touched the leather and attempted to open it up, he heard the magic resonating under his touch. But since he was absolutely unfamiliar with something like that he ignored the warning and continued, with that provoking the defense mechanisms to kick in.
Usually trunks like that one shocked the attempting thief and copied his magical signature for identification but this was after all a marauder's trunk and James Potter had been fantastic in transfiguration. And because of that Ronald Weasley found himself now with a set of donkey ears and a gigantic foxtail. And as if that wouldn't be bad enough, he now had a red glowing nose. Damn Potter.
Even though he had hoped that, he wasn't able to hurry through the common room unnoticed. And out of all people, it had to be the twins. Laughing, they decided to escort him to the hospital wing while trying to find out what had happened. Him not saying that though made the twins very eager to find out who was able to do such great prank transfigurations. In the end it was Madame Pomfrey, who gave them a hint.
"Mr. Weasley? What happened to you? Haven't seen something like that since the marauders were at Hogwarts. The glowing nose was basically a signature of James Potter, while the animal transfiguration was repeatedly archived by him and Black together. Oh, I remember that time that little Severus…"
Now she realised that she was telling tales of one of her fellow staff members and decided to focus on reversing the spells while being quiet.
Nearly half an hour later Ronald Weasley was again able to leave the hospital wing, returned to his normal state, and thanks to one of the older snakes coming in after a brawl with that McLaggen bloke, half the school knew about the incident. Nearly everyone now started wondering what had transpired and which brilliant wizard or witch had done that. Even though he didn't show it, Potter had sure as hell realised it and decided to keep the whole thing quiet since he hadn't managed to steal anything.
Since the theft of the invisibility cloak hadn't worked, both Ronald and Seamus had decided to continue with their plan either way. Once it was close to midnight, both boys got up, sneaking silently out of the dorm. All their roommates had their curtains closed and were sleeping, so they were good to go. The common room itself was dark and empty too, just the fireplace glowing softly. Yes, the fat lady did complain about them leaving but she was magically bound - since Godric's times - to not tell anyone else. Now they made their way down to one of the exits, where Hagrid had promised to meet them and hand over his dragon.
"Hey Hagrid! Are you ready to hand over the beas…uhm…Norbert?"
Seamus didn't really know why he agreed to do that, but he had to admit that he liked the friendly giant. And to be honest, fire was kind of his thing, so the possibility of seeing a real baby dragon… The plan was reckless, but absolutely worth it.
Hagrid then handed Norbert over, caged in a wooden crate. Ronald tried to grab it and then the fun really began - if you could call it fun. The damn thing was heavy but Seamus managed to lift it up with a wingardium leviosa, how he didn't know. Ronald helped to carry it and then off then went. They had to sneak through several floors with each having professors or prefects making their rounds, but somehow they managed it. Once there was a pretty close call when Percy appeared out of nowhere and they abruptly stopped, hiding behind a corner and fearing the worst, but then one of the Ravenclaw prefects - Ronald was sure her name was Patricia…no, Penelope - appeared. Her and Percy then started snogging while trying to find a secluded corner themselves. As soon as they were out of sight again, their trip up to the Astronomy tower continued.
Professor Aurora Sinistra hurried up to her tower. One of her first years, the little blonde Slytherin and Lord Malfoy's son, had told her that two fellow firsties were planning on sneaking up to the Astronomy tower to get some sort of a delivery done, he hadn't been able to tell her precisely. Yes, she knew that some of the higher years used the tower to snog or make out, but that was something entirely different.
Once she had reached the top of the tower, she ran into two Gryffindor students, one of them being a Weasley, the other one being that boy who had a tendency to blow things up. That couldn't be a good combination.
"Weasley, Finnegan! Out of bed and on my tower. That's detention and fifty points from Gryffindor for both of you. I'm sure Hagrid won't mind some help for his duties, he recently mentioned that to the professors. Seems like a good idea for you."
Now she was able to hear a laugh behind her, rather quiet but definitely there. It took her only very few seconds and a silently cast homenum revelio to find Draco Malfoy hiding behind a corner. He had apparently followed her to have a laugh at Weasley's and Finnegan's situation, but he had not expected that simply because of that he would get the same punishment as them.
What neither of them had known was that Harry was hidden up here too, but under his cloak and by that not noticeable with a mere homenum revelio. He had been the one to lift up the crate because Seamus had been too weak. Now that Charlie's friends had arrived, taken the dragon and left he had hoped it was all over.
But no. He had to admit, that was not something he had expected. Malfoy had tried to rat the other lions out, but somehow he did pick Sinistra this time while getting punished himself too. So now all three of them, Seamus, Ron and Malfoy would have detention with Hagrid, probably in the forest too. Thank god that last time said detention was about two weeks later so if things followed the timeline they would have enough time to prepare themselves for said night and keep the other kids safe from the Dark Lord in the forest.
"The forest? The stupid giant is actually taking three students into the forest during nighttime and old Dumbles allowes that. What the hell is going wrong in this castle?"
To say that Severus Snape was livid would have been an enormous understatement, just like calling Hermione smart. Once Harry told him that they'd probably run into old Voldy drinking unicorn blood he nearly ran off to Avada the headmaster, just being held back by Minnie's full body bind spell. After over half an hour of screaming and shouting about old Dumbles' idiocy they started devising a plan, meaning the two professors would try to excuse themselves in the evening and trail the detention group while Harry and Mione would follow under the cloak. As much as they hated Ronald Weasley, a dead redhead would probably tear the timeline apart.
And just like they had planned, it happened. Yes, Snape had tried to veto the whole detention, arguing as Draco's godfather, but the headmaster had assured him that Hagrid had his complete trust and there was no need to worry at all. They had decided that Minnie wouldn't assist him in arguing because that those two were in agreement was a rare occurrence and a bit too obvious. Still, she at least told Dumbledore later on that she was unhappy too but trusted his judgement (not really, but he didn't have to know that).
After dinner on the day of the detention Snape stormed off saying something about having to supervise a potion while Minne excused herself twenty minutes later to correct some essays. No one paid any special attention to that, neither teacher nor student. The latter were all focussed on Weasley, Finnegan and Malfoy complaining about their detention. The little ferret continuously spouted his " my father will hear about that" and his other usual nonsense. Harry didn't know how they found out about the nature of the detention, they only found out much later, once they'd met with Hagrid.
Later that evening it was time for the detention and the three met with Hagrid and Fang, then walking down to the Forbidden Forest. Severus was already waiting in the area where Harry said that the dead unicorn should appear but that he under no circumstances should face the Dark Lord. It's not like he liked the idea but accepted it. Minnie on the other hand followed the students disillusioned and Harry and Mione were under the cloak.
It was like the universe was purposefully messing with Ronald Weasley. Not only did they only have this detention because of Hagrid, no, he was partnered with Malfoy and Hagrid's stupid dog. Well, but maybe something would attack them and kill the blonde, he wouldn't really mind that. He'd even like that. Something that could kill unicorns could certainly kill stupid blondes too.
It wasn't that long after splitting up that the odd duo saw something in the distance. It was a light.
"Look, Weasel, that's gonna be the fat giant. Maybe he has found something and we can end that whole thing here."
They started walking towards the light, but then they suddenly realised that they were wrong. It was not Hagrid at all, but rather someone, a dark, hooded figure standing over the white shining body of a unicorn. The being, because "person" was certainly not the right word, appeared to drink the beautiful animal's blood.
Harry saw him too, standing not far away from the clearing with the unicorn. He felt the disillusionment charm by Snape not far away, knowing that he was watching as well. Minnie had decided that the three of them would be enough and she kept an eye out on Seamus, not really trusting Hagrid with one of her lions.
All three of them had their wands out, ready to intervene, but then Ronald started screaming in panic. Draco had at least some brains and sent out the red sparks for Hagrid before running away like the little Gryffindor. The startled creature - Lord Voldemort's wraith - took off just as quickly as the two students, rendering any intervention by the two students and the former Death Eater redundant. But what was now happening was very different from last time.
Harry had expected that one of the centaurs, probably Firenze, would show up again to save the students though deep down he still believed that he had only done it the last time to influence the faith of him and Voldemort. Centaurs and their eternal stargazing. He'd probably never understand it. But no, none of the centaurs did so.
Firenze showed up either way though, walked towards the unicorn, looked at it and then spoke loudly.
"I know that you're there, Mr Potter. The stars are reversed once again, but this time more differently. You know it, you know everything. Your fate is a very interesting one. I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends this time."
And then he just walked away.
"Crazy fellow, but somehow I think he knows way more than anyone else. But come on, now let's have a look at Ronald and Malfoy and see if they found their way back to Hagrid."
After a while of walking through the forest the three of them found all the students and Hagrid again, seemingly rather well. They officially ended the detention and walked up to the castle, accompanied by the half-giant. And once they were gone, both Minne and Severus dropped their disillusionment chams, while Harry pulled the cloak down from both him and his friend. The first thing the young boy realised was that the transfiguration professor was absolutely furious. Hagrid had used most of the detention to chat with Seamus and his overall careless attitude towards student safety didn't really make Minnie like and trust him. Visiting the forest with three first years at night and looking for a beast that kills unicorns was not really what the usual detention was all about. She would certainly voice a complaint to the headmaster.
And exactly that was what she did the next day. Minnie walked up to Albus' office and demanded an audience. He had no idea what that was all about and so he let her in, asking her what the issue might be.
"Oh, come on Albus. We both know what that's all about. Yesterday's detention with Hagrid was a disaster and extremely dangerous. They encountered something in the forest that could have killed them and Hagrid had even left Mr Malfoy and Mr Weasley alone with his dog, hunting something that kills unicorns. First of all, the forest is a no-go, even for detentions, second of all Hagrid is obviously not qualified for detentions and lastly if something is killing unicorns then inform the department for magical creatures."
Albus shook his head and argued that he didn't even know if there was actually something killing unicorns or if Hagrid was imagining that and that he trusted the giant to keep his students safe. Lastly he told her that he had heard the story about the detention from Mr Weasley and that he had painted a very different picture of the detention.
"Well, if Mr Weasley says that…Mr Malfoy tells a very different story. Severus assures me that they've been attacked by some kind of creature that had killed a unicorn. Doesn't matter if that's true or not, I'm sure that Lucius Malfoy is going to complain about you."
And once again, Dumbledore gave her his usual grandfatherly smile which basically meant that he had now ended the meeting with not wanting to give her an answer to her last statement. Nothing new.
Harry and Hermione had expected a great aftermath, but that didn't really happen at all. Ronald continued to brag about his bravery (yes, he truly did that despite him cowardly running away) and Malfoy was more upset and mad then ever, always threatening with his father's retribution. In addition to that everyone (well, not really, but those who wanted to achieve good grades at school at least) were slowly starting to panic. The detention had taken place on Tuesday evening and from Monday on they were going to have exams the whole week, finishing with the History of Magic exam on Thursday, the day Quirrell was going to attempt stealing the stone. Or at least that's what he had done last time. That basically meant they now had to finish their studies (yes, they were both skilled and had already done those exams last time, but Hermione was Hermione after all) and in addition to that come up with a plan to defeat the Dark Lord on Quirrell's head without destroying the timeline.
That would be fun.
Notes:
That's it, a bit shorter than usual, but the whole Norbert incident was the last thing I had to write about before we can go on with the stone.
Hope you liked it and that we'll see each other again next week when the end of first year is coming closer and closer.
Looking forward to your comments and see ya next week
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