Chương 87: Chapter 84

"Hagrid let slip to me in our first meeting that whatever was in there was a business between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

"Nicholas Fla- wait!" Hermione half-squealed before her voice dropped to an urgent whisper. "There's a Philosopher's Stone in the third floor corridor!"

Harry nodded.

"Of course," Hermione muttered. "The headmaster's office is on the third floor corridor. And it is the one closest to the third floor corridor. If he had to guard something that important, he would put it there."

"Exactly! And that's not all," Harry whispered back, "Professor Snape suspects Quirrell is after it."

Hermione looked at him doubtfully. "Harry…he's Quirrell. I sincerely doubt he could even hurt a fly."

Harry sighed. "It's an act Hermione. A good one at that. Snape warned me about him in my detention. Told me not to go after him. He was pretty serious about it."

Hermione's eyes widened. "If that's true…I believe you Harry, I do. But if he's told you to not look into it, have you considered doing as he said?"

There was a moment's silence.

"What was Hagrid hiding behind his back?" said Hermione finally, dropping the subject of the stone. They both got up and walked over to the section where Hagrid had stood.

"Dragons." Hermione whispered, looking at the bindings. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons. What on earth is he up to?"

On their way down to Hagrid's hut, Harry and Hermione were discussing what they'd found out in the few hours they had spent before the meeting with the half giant.

They'd asked their friends for what they knew about dragons, and Ron & Terry had known all there was to know. Ron's brother Charlie was a dragon tamer in Romania and talk of dragons was table talk when the second Weasley son was home, and Terry just thought dragons were cool.

When asked about whether there were dragons near Hogwarts, they had replied in negative.

"It's against our laws," Ron had said, "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709 and anyway, you can't tame dragons enough to keep them near a school, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry had asked.

"Of course there are," Terry had replied "Common Welsh Green in southern Wales and Hebridean Blacks in the Hebrides archipelago. I sure hope Professor Kettleburn takes us there in the third year to see them. I heard he took the third years last year."

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them. Harry's Gamer's Mind instantly noted his paranoia.

There was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid had made tea and offered them rock cakes, which they refused, Hermione doing so after Harry stamped on her foot.

"Yeh told her eh?"

Harry nodded to that. He then introduced them both properly.

"So . . . yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid finally asked, after all the pleasantries were done.

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. Harry needed to know what else was to stop Quirrell apart from a mutated dog on steroids. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him.

"O' course I can't," he 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."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, teachers might not want to tell us, but you do know what telling a school full of children that something is prohibited does." said Hermione asked. Hagrid's beard twitched. They could tell he was smiling.

"We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "It's a dangerous artefact after all. We're just trying to make sure there's no chink in the armor, so as to speak. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry looked at Hermione, impressed. As far as hidden talents went, she could easily match him in persuading people. Her Politics skill level would be very decent if she had the Gamer ability.

"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…all o' the Heads o' Houses" he ticked them off on his fingers, "…an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Quirrell."

Harry's blood chilled. "Quirrell?"

"Yea'. Good man Professor Quirrell. Bin teachin' Muggle studies here fer ten years now. Used to come aroun' ter help me take car' of the thestrals back when he wa' muggle studies Professor. Lov'd hippogriffs as well. Then e' wen' off ter Albania for a couple o' months and came back scared and differen' this year. Reckon the vampires got ter him there."

Something wasn't making sense. Dumbledore and Hagrid were describing someone very different from who Harry saw in class. Something had happened in those months in Albania…what, Harry did not know.

Putting that out of his mind, Harry followed the same train of thought he knew Hermione was following. If Quirrell had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything. Except, it seemed, for Snape's spell, since he was the only one who actually distrusted Quirrell.

Harry suddenly noticed Hermione staring blankly at the fire.

"Hagrid…is that what I think it is?" Hermione asked, and much to Harry's horror, it was.

In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg. A dragon egg. Harry observed it.

Dragon's Egg

This is an egg containing a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon. Its adult form resembles the Hungarian Horntail, except for the black ridges on its back, the browner texture in its scales, and its less hostile attitude. It has venomous fangs, and its food of choice is large mammals. The eggs are black, and young Ridgebacks develop the ability to shoot flame earlier than any other breeds.

Ping!

Skill has leveled up!

Observe Lv-6 (50%)

By Observing a target one will get information about said object

-Max HP,MP, stats, info, their emotions and will give their opinion of you.

"Er…could be."

"Where did you get it Hagrid?" Hermione asked, bending down to examine the egg.

"Won it," said Hagrid tentatively, "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest. An' I've always wanted one. Win-win."

Something didn't click in Harry's head. It was a bit too odd that what Hagrid wanted more than anything else was a dragon, and a stranger turned up who just so happened to have an egg in his pocket.