HULLO!

So, I've been practising some Harry Potter songs on my clarinet, like Hedwig's Theme, Hogwarts Hymn, and Professor Umbridge. I LOVE playing them. So, after I'm like, pro at them, I'll upload them. :] Sound good? Okie dokie.

As you can see, when Draco is talking to Jinx, he isn't his usual swagger-moves-like-Jagger self. It's this brother/sister thing that I have going on. Siblings act different when it's just them then when others are around. Like when my brother's girlfriend is over, he doesn't bother me as much. 

Listening to an orchestra play Hogwarts Hymn. Freaken amazing.



 When we knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.

Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let us in, and then shut the door quickly behind us. It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate.

Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which we refused.

"So -- yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid asked us.

"Yes." said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's 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, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here." said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling.

"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."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione. I sent her a mental high five.

"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 -- " he ticked them off on his fingers. "Professor Quirrell -- an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?" I echoed.

"Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

If Snape 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, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. Aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore." Hargrid said proudly.

"Well, that's something." Harry muttered to us. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry." said Hagrid. I noticed him glance at the fire.

"Hagrid -- what's that?" Harry asked. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, blackegg.

"Ah." said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard. "That's er... "

"That's a dragon egg." I said in amazement. "I've always wanted to see one of these!"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it." said Hagrid. "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."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library -- Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit -- it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here -- how ter recognize different eggs --what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them." He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't. I thought it was amazing that Hagird had gotten his hands on such a fascinating creature.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house." Hermione said. But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

So now we had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life." Ron sighed, as evening after evening we struggled through all the extra homework we were getting.

"Trust me, it's very boring." I said. "Living at Malfoy Manor, the world could be ending and you could go on without a care in the world."

Hermione had now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts. I told them to just do it, and then they wouldn't have a problem. Go with the flow.

Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching. Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut, as did I. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing -- "

"Shut up!" Harry whispered. Draco was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all. Ron, Hermione, and I argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with us during morning break.

When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the four of us dropped their our at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted us, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out. " He ushered us inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. We all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. I gasped. It wasn't exactly pretty, of course. It looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured.

"It's definately something." I said, studying it.

Hagrid reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face -- he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains -- it's a kid -- he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry and I bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking the blonde hair that was identical to mine.

My bother of a brother had seen the dragon.

Something about the smile lurking on Draco's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous, so I decided it was time for another talk with my brother. 

I confronted him after Potions one day. He had been laughing about something with Crabbe (Or as I call him, Goon #1) and Goyle. (Goon #2)

"Draco." I said curtly. "May I have a word?"

"Go on." Draco said to the Goons. I led him to a corner of the dungeons that were deserted.

"What did you see?" I asked him.

"What do you mean? I see lots of things." He relpied.

"You have no idea how dirty that sounds." I said, shuddering. "I mean, that day.... At Hagrid's..."

"Oh. I saw a dragon, Hagrid, the Mudblood, the Weasley, and Potter." He replied.

"Please don't call Hermione that." I begged him. "Call her Granger. And don't tell anyone about the dragon!"

"Why not?"

"Because! Hagrid has no where else to go! What'd you think if you were a muggle and he moved in next door?"

"I'd move."

"Exactly! So it'd be better to let him be!"

"What does he want that thing for, anyway?"

I sighed. "He loves dragons. We've been trying to convince him to give him up, but no dice so far."

"I'll give you one month. If the dragon isn't gone by then, I'm telling and that oaf will be scaring muggles out of a neighborhood."

I sighed once more. "Deal."

We shook hands. Draco smiled at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"Just happy to be talking to you again." He said casually.

"You... missed me?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah..." He said awkwardly.

"Oh! Draco!" I threw my arms around him. "I missed you too."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Don't tell my friends. I just won them over."

Draco smiled at me. "I won't."

i checked my watch. "We're going to be late if we don't get moving. See you around." I said.

"See you around." I took one last look at him before we split ways down in the darkness of the dungeon.