Once again the trio of soon to be first year girls were gathered in Sally-Anne's room for a story. She figured that she was in for another night with them asleep in the soon to be second year Gryffindor's bed. She looked over their eager faces, knowing that she'd got them in the habit of a weekly tale. Sally-Anne hoped this time she'd chosen a good one. There had been some complaints about the last one.
"Our tale tonight begins not in the vaulted halls of Hogwarts, but in a dingy pub on the edge of Hogsmeade, an all wizarding village to which the students of Hogwarts may visit starting in their third year. The pub, known a Hog's Head Inn, was once the place to stay. In fact one of it's better rooms is still known as the Crowdy Chambers, after noted Minister for Magic Maximilian Crowdy. Everyone who was anyone stayed at the Hog's Head before the Welcoming Feast every year. It was only the creation of the Hogwarts Express that lead to its decline.
"It is of course currently run by Alberforth Dumbledore, brother of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and most unfortunately acquitted of using inappropriate charms on a goat. I've yet to find out what those charms were. In any case, Alberforth was know for hosting the best rounds of cards in the North of Britain. There were some, of course who derided the card games, dingy surroundings, and of course the over indulgences in intoxicating beverages. Rubeus Hagrid was not one of those people. In fact he was quite willing to publically defend Alberforth, to much the same extent as to the bartender's brother.
"Rubeus Hagrid was Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some believe that he's a half giant, based on his extraordinary height, and thus untrustworthy, a brute, and dumb. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no more loyal person in Hogwarts than Rubeus Hagrid. He truly believes in the good in most anyone, and one would be advised never to insult Albus Dumbledore in his presence.
"Hagrid is not without his issues, what person doesn't have them, after all. Even the aforementioned Albus Dumbledore will admit to failings. When it comes to Hagrid, some of them are just because he's so big. There are not many beasts that Hagrid can't handle, and he'll tell you that if a beast isn't behaving, it's because they're just not understood right. And Hagrid's other problem is that he can't keep a secret. Ask the right question, and he'll just blurt it right out, admonishing himself immediately for doing so.
"A case in point was the Philoshopher's Stone, which Hermione Granger would have never figured out was at Hogwarts, Hagrid hadn't blurted out that what Fluffy was guarding was between the Headmaster and Nicholas Flamel. A little light reading, well, light reading if you're Hermione Granger and have just been confined to the Hospital Wing for a few weeks, at least. That book had to weigh a good forty pounds, if not twice that much.
"But back to Hagrid, who was a regular at the card table in the back room of the Hog's Head Inn. There was no denying that Hagrid was quite the card shark. He'd usually go into the game with a couple Gallons to ante up with, and leave with most of the night's pot. In fact one month, he cleaned out the table so much that at least three men left the Hog's Head in barrels. To this day he's got a ten percent stake in Witch Weekly that he has no idea what he's going to do with, and Barnabas Cuff is still mum about what happened last December that caused him to have to get more funding for the Prophet.
"It was one cold last of February evening when Hagrid had nearly cleaned out the whole table once again that what appeared to be a newcomer to the game offered to add a dragon egg to the stakes, assuming that those bidding for it knew how to take care of the soon to hatch egg. Hagrid had no problem with that, after all if he could handle a cerberus like Fluffy, surely he could handle a dragonette, though of course it he wouldn't be playing music to get a dragon to sleep.
"Pride goeth before fall, ladies, pride goeth before fall. — and also, loose lips sink ships. The stranger, having obtained what he wanted, promptly loss the egg, as well as his boots, and slunk out into the night. If Hagrid had followed, instead of spending part of his winnings on a truly fine vintage of fire wine that Alberforth had set aside for him, he might have noticed the stranger heading not to the far side of town or disappriating, but heading up to Hogwarts while discarding his disguise. But that's another story ...
"It didn't take long for the first year Gryffindors to find out that Hagrid had an illegal dragon egg in the fire, about to hatch. It was not uncommon for the Gryffindors to stop at Hagrid's after a Quidditch practice, especially as Hermione's pregnancy progressed. It wasn't on a straight line back, but it was on a bit easier path, and halfway on that path too. True Hagrid didn't exactly have the best tea and cake, by any measure you might wish was actually quite deplorable, if not inedible, but Hagrid had known Harry and Neville's parents. Harry was an orphan, and Neville was one for all practical purposes until very recently, so both of them liked to hear Hagrid's tales of their parents.
"Hagrid couldn't hide the dragon egg, and Ron Weasley knew, mostly, that he shouldn't have it. The Gryffindors were not the only ones who soon knew. That's when we heard a clatter outside. It appeared that Draco Malfoy had just fallen off the bench below the window, and had somehow managed to crack his head on a rock in the process.
"Now at one time, Malfoy might have tattled, or attempted to set up something to get the Gryffindors in trouble, but Malfoyhad changed. I'm not entirely sure why or how. Some say it was due to the birth of his nephew, which I entirely disagree, as the changes were evident much before the Feast of Saint Patrick. Harry is of the opinion that it was due to what happened to his half sisters Victoria and Juliet, but has never quite explained why, saying that it was for Draco and his siblings to tell. I do know that Harry and Victoria had shared a compartment when they went home for Yule.
"In any case, Malfoy was brought in to Hagrid's hut, which was not only unsuitable for a dragonette, it really wasn't suited for caring for an injured Slytherin, but with a quick glance at us, Hagrid pulled on his umbrella, and the knot on Malfoy's head disappeared with a light blue glow. I'm not supposed to say anything about that, of course.
"Almost immediately after Draco opened his eyes, the umbrella already tossed into the corner, his eyes locked on the egg in the fireplace, saying, 'is that really a dragon egg?'
"Now we Gryffindors were silently hoping that Hagrid wouldn't respond, or deny it, as every single one of us thought Draco finding out was perhaps one of the worse possible outcomes of the situation, but Hagrid replied, 'Aye, a Norwegian Ridgeback, unless I miss my guess.'
"The excitement in his eyes was evident, as Draco stood up and moved closer to the egg. Now, if this had been the Draco that had first come to Hogwarts, I'm sure we would have already been on a course of events that would have resulted in someone getting bit, and massive loss of points to Gryffindor. Fortunately, Draco had changed, and being in the room next to the dragon's egg had brought out Draco's barely suppressed fascination with dragons. It turns out, as Draco said, being named dragon either results in you hating all the dragon references, or embracing them, and how can you not embrace it when you've lines like the Hogwarts motto to use. Though apparently Parkinson doesn't believe in the motto, at least as it applies to the Malfoy scion.
"The first sign that there might be trouble with Hagrid having a dragon egg was after Hagrid said that he'd always wanted to raise a dragon. Ron immediately gave the first problem, 'you live in a wooden house,' but it was when Hermione let out something from her vast reading, 'trading in dragon eggs and raising them outside of a reservation is illegal.'
"We take the words of Hermione Granger as gospel truth in Gryffindor, as she'd hardly ever wrong and seems to have read something of everything, especially since the increasing size of her pregnant belly had reduced her mobility. So when she said something was illegal, every one of us Gryffindors paled. Not so Draco.
"'Not for Hagrid,' Draco immediately replied. 'He's the Keeper of Keys and Grounds. Taking care of any magical creature found in and around Hogwarts is his job. When I asked father if there was anyone likely to have a dragon, Hagrid was the first name that popped to mind. He's supposed to take care of any creature, be ready to assist the Professor of Magical Creatures with any creatures brought to or found at Hogwarts for class, and arrange for the proper repatriation of any creatures who can no longer survive here.'
"I could see my fellow Gryffindors relax the moment Draco finished it. I could also tell that Draco was rather happy that he'd known something that Hermione hadn't. It was a rare thing, but it still left one thing to handle. After all, this was a Norwiegian Ridgeback, which would be bigger than Hagrid's house in just six months after he hatched. Still, we enjoyed being called down there when the egg hatched, and even laughed a bit when Norbert, as Hagrid named the dragon, coughed a bit of flame that caused a bit of Hagrid's beard to burn up.
"That's when Professor Kettleburn got involved. Every single Care of Magical Creatures class got to go and see Norbert, because who knew how long it would be before another hatchling dragon was on the grounds of Hogwarts. And it was Kettleburn that had Ron contact his brother Charlie who had left Hogwarts early for a job at the Romanian Dragon Reservation, because Norbert was quickly outgrowing the stone shed that the dragon had been moved to for classes.
"It was due to Ron that seven of us got to be there when Charlie came with some of his friends came to pick up Norbert. Somehow Draco ended up being the eighth student, joining Ron, Harry, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Neville, in carrying the case holding Norbert up to the Astronomy Tower. We had to make sure it was a quiet exit. Dragons do not do well when exposed to loud crowds, so Norbert left at night.
"We treated it like some sort of big adventure, whispering between each other about curfew and the trouble we might get into, as if we didn't have permission and were not being led by Professor McGonagall. Much to our surprise, our head of house even told us exactly how many points we might loose if we'd actually snuck out and did everything on the sly. We had to stop several time to avoid encountering someone, most of the time ghosts, but once McGonagall stopped Argus Filch who apparently thought we were up to no good, carrying nefarious goods through the corridors.
"When we got to the top of the Astronomy Tower there a dozen dragon trainers waiting with Charlie, along with an actual flying carpet to transport the boxed hatchling in. They may be banned in Britain, but the Dragon Reservations have an exception, either that or the aurors look the other way. Either way, we all watched as the dragon wranglers and Norbert disappeared into the distance.
"Then we all tip toed back to Gryffindor Tower, by way of the Slytherin Common Room entrance, pretending that we were all out after curfew without permission. Percy Weasley was waiting for us, and caught on to our pretend, with a stern face, but with twinkle in his eyes, informed us that 'all of Gryffindor would make us regret our actions,' then paused a bit before informing us that it was, 'because we're all insanely jealous of how much First Year got to do with Norbert.'
"Thus ends my tale ends in the red and gold tower of Gryffindor, in the great school of Hogwarts. I leave you with one last though, doomed to keep you up late at night, delivered by Draco when he was questioned about where he'd been. Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and good with ketchup.
"What, you thought I was going to quote the Hogwarts motto? That would have been too cliche. Off to bed now. You all snore."