The two of them reached the grounds outside the castle. In the distance, a dim yellow light glowed in Hagrid's Hut.
"Eli, you... Malfoy?"
Harry and the others had been about to take Eli to Hagrid's Hut when they spotted Draco Malfoy following behind him.
"What, Weasley? Are you the only one allowed to come?"
Draco and Ron got along especially badly. It was a feud between their families.
None of them had expected Eli to bring the Malfoy they hated. Their faces fell.
"Eli, why did you...?"
Harry looked baffled. Draco gave him a provocative look.
Eli jabbed Draco with an elbow, warning the brat not to stir up trouble here.
Eli leaned in close to the others and whispered, "He caught me coming out, so I brought him along. Now that he's involved, he won't tell on us."
Hermione shot Eli an impressed look. Harry and Ron relaxed a little, though Draco's smug face still made their blood boil.
"All right, we don't have much time. Let's go."
The five of them knocked on Hagrid's door.
Hagrid opened it and said, "Sorry, I'm not seeing visitors today." He immediately started to shut it again.
"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!"
Hermione had shouted before he could close the door.
Hagrid's hand stopped. He opened the door again and stared at the children as if he'd seen a ghost.
"How could you know about that? Get inside!"
They filed in.
Draco alone had no idea what was going on. "What Philosopher's Stone?"
No one answered him. Eli motioned for him to hold his questions.
"Snape wants to steal the Philosopher's Stone!"
Harry could barely contain himself.
Hagrid looked as though he'd heard something absurd. "You're still suspecting him? He's one of the professors protecting it!"
Hagrid realized what he'd let slip, and his expression changed.
Eli smiled helplessly. Hagrid had already said so much that one more slip hardly mattered.
"One of the professors? So other professors set up traps and spells too?"
Hermione caught his wording at once.
Hagrid was growing flustered after letting things slip again and again. "You shouldn't be meddling in this. He's a professor!"
Harry refused to back down. "That doesn't mean he couldn't steal something he's supposed to protect!"
Eli said nothing. The Philosopher's Stone wasn't the main event tonight anyway.
Hagrid kept a large black dog that looked imposing.
Its temperament, however, clearly had nothing to do with its size.
"I'm warning you. Don't come any closer!"
Eli eyed the goofy dog edging toward him with drool hanging from its mouth and grew a little nervous.
The dog seemed fascinated by Eli and kept trying to get close.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stay back!"
Slurp...
The dog licked Eli right across the face.
"That's it," Eli said. "I'll never feel clean again."
"Fang! Stop that!"
Hagrid scolded the dog sternly, and Fang finally settled down.
Eli kept wiping the slobber off his face.
A sudden noise came from the iron pot heating in the fireplace. Hagrid turned around in delight.
"Oh, that's wonderful."
Hagrid hurried to take out what was inside and nearly forgot to put on gloves.
"A dragon egg?!"
Draco, who had been completely lost during the others' conversation, lit up at the sight of what Hagrid was holding.
"A dragon egg?"
Hermione and the others glanced at Draco in surprise, then at the object in Hagrid's hands. It really was a huge egg.
Draco, Harry, and the others crowded around it at once. A dragon egg was a rare sight.
Dragons were extremely dangerous creatures, rated at least five stars, and strictly regulated by the Ministry of Magic. Most people never saw one.
Let alone an egg that was about to hatch.
Draco gazed at it like a treasure and nearly drooled. For a moment, Eli couldn't tell whether he wanted to look at it or eat it.
"It's a Norwegian Ridgeback!"
Draco blurted it out.
Ron looked at him skeptically. "How do you know?"
Draco glanced at him. "The shell, of course. Norwegian Ridgeback eggs have smoother, colorful shells. I suppose you've never seen one, Weasley!"
Ron's face flushed red.
Crack.
Something broke through the shell from within. A tiny dragon, like a lizard with wings, stumbled out and gave a few cries.
Hagrid's eyes filled with maternal affection. "Oh, little Norbert."
He teased the dragon with his fingers, making Norbert cry out at him.
Hagrid's heart nearly melted. "Oh, look! He thinks I'm his mum!"
The five children gave the doting Hagrid peculiar looks.
Whoosh...
The little dragon suddenly breathed a burst of flame at Hagrid, singeing a patch of his beard.
Hagrid quickly patted it out. "He's a bit nervous."
Draco hadn't taken his eyes off the dragon. "You'd better be careful. This kind can breathe fire, and it's highly venomous."
Hagrid looked at Draco in surprise. "You seem to know a lot about them?"
Draco looked proud. "Of course. My family owns a dragon ranch!"
Hagrid understood at once. Ron couldn't stand Draco showing off and kept muttering under his breath.
Draco and Hagrid actually struck up a conversation and seemed to get along splendidly.
Was that the power of a shared interest?
The young wizards were fascinated by the dragon too. They took turns asking questions, and the atmosphere in the hut grew warm and lively.
"But I read that dragons grow very quickly," Hermione said. "In a few days, he might not fit in your hut. What will you do with Norbert?"
The room fell silent.
Hagrid's face crumpled. He knew how quickly dragons grew, of course, but his love for them had made him ignore it.
"Well... the Forbidden Forest..."
Eli began to mourn for the creatures in the Forbidden Forest. Being bullied by Acromantulas was bad enough; now they might have a dragon to contend with too.
"Hagrid," he said, "the Forbidden Forest might not be able to hide a flying dragon that big. And people certainly wouldn't agree to it."
Everyone fell quiet. Hagrid looked ready to cry.
Even Draco looked reluctant to part with the little dragon.
An idea suddenly struck Ron. "Maybe we could send Norbert to a dragon ranch. My brother Charlie Weasley works at one in Romania!"
Hagrid stopped sniffling. He couldn't keep Norbert, but a dragon ranch would be a good home for him.
Draco's eyes brightened too. "My family happens to own a few dragon ranches there. We can send Norbert to one of them, and I'll make sure they treat him well!"
Hagrid felt much better. Between Ron's brother and Draco's family ranches, Norbert was sure to be well cared for.
Hagrid wiped his tears with a grubby handkerchief and looked gratefully at Draco and Ron. "Thank you, Draco. Thank you, Ron. I'll leave Norbert in your hands when the time comes. Boo-hoo..."
It felt as though Hagrid were entrusting them with his child.
They played with Norbert a while longer. Hagrid did most of it, though. Even Draco was too afraid to reach out and touch him.
"All right, children, it's getting very late. You should head back to the castle. Wandering around at night isn't a good habit!"
It really was late. They had meant to tell Hagrid about the Philosopher's Stone, but given his attitude, he wouldn't believe them. They had no choice but to leave.
On the way back, they kept talking about dragons. Even the grudges between Harry's group and Draco were set aside.
It wasn't all that strange. They were only eleven. Their prejudices came from their families, and in time, they'd learn to judge for themselves.
Eli was doing his best to change Draco's thinking. He didn't want Draco to become a Death Eater as he had in the original story. Even after becoming one, Draco hadn't been able to bring himself to commit evil without hesitation.
Deep down, Draco was kind. But his family had clouded his judgment, leaving him unable even to summon the resolve to be cruel.
Judging by how happily he was talking with Harry and the others, there was every chance he could change.
As they walked, a figure suddenly appeared ahead of them.
Oh, boy, Eli thought.
Professor McGonagall looked at the four children from the Troll incident. "Would one of you tell me why it's you again?"
They stammered, unable to answer.
She turned to Draco, who had lowered his head. "Mr. Malfoy, I don't think your father would like to hear that you were punished for breaking school rules."
Draco's face went pale.
Roaming the grounds at night was a serious offense, and Professor McGonagall never went easy on it. "All five of you will lose fifty points each!"
"What?"
Their faces fell. That was brutal.
Eli and Draco cost Slytherin a hundred points between them. Gryffindor had it even worse: the other three lost a hundred and fifty.
Professor McGonagall's reputation for strict fairness was well earned.
Overnight, Slytherin and Gryffindor had fallen behind Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
The other students would discover that surprise first thing in the morning.
Professor McGonagall's brow remained furrowed. She wasn't done with them. "To make sure you remember this, you'll accompany Hagrid on his patrol of the Forbidden Forest tonight!"
And so Hagrid stared at the five children who had returned to his hut. Children could be such a nuisance!
"When we enter the Forbidden Forest, we'll split into two groups," he said. "Hermione and Ron will come with me. Draco, Harry, and Eli will go together. If there's danger, send up red sparks with your wands. Understood?"
"So what are we doing in there?"
Draco asked.
Hagrid's expression turned grave. "Several Unicorns have been attacked in the Forbidden Forest lately. Another one was attacked today. We need to find the poor creature as soon as we can."
Once Hagrid had given his instructions, the two groups went their separate ways. Draco took Fang with them, without even noticing Eli's resentful look.
"If my father finds out I was caught wandering around at night, he'll yell at me!"
Draco sounded nervous.
Harry spoke like someone with plenty of experience. "What's so scary about getting yelled at? Just pretend you can't hear him."
"Sounds like you get yelled at a lot, Scarhead."
Draco gave Harry the nickname with a wicked grin.
"Don't call me Scarhead!"
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