𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                  CHAPTER TWELVE
                      ─── DRAGONS & HAGRID'S DETENTION

By the time the three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins had snuck out of the castle, the sun had already set and curfew would soon be upon them. Harry, Hermione, Charlus, Alistair and Ron had made it as far as Hagrid's front door before Charlus knocked hurriedly so that he and the other four wouldn't be seen.

The half-giant opened the door in amazement, and as he saw the five friends, he sighed. "'Ello yeh lot. 'Orry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain yeh today." he said, and with these words Hagrid quickly closed the door.  "We know about The Philosopher's Stone!" all five of them shouted at the same time, which caused the half-giant to open the door again. "Oh. Come in, then."

Gracefully, the five of them entered Hagrid's hut behind him, while Ron had closed the door after they had entered. It wasn't long before Harry began to tell Hagrid their conclusion about their long-haired professor, "We think Snape's trying to steal it." "Snape?" Hagrid asked them. "Blimey. You're not still on about him, are yeh?" 

"Hagrid." Charlus pleaded while the five of them took off their robes before they sat down in front of the fireplace. "We know Snape is after the stone, we just want to know why." Hagrid sighed and shook his head. "Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone. He's not 'bout to steal it." 

Hermione shared a confused glance with the four young boys. "Wait, what?" Alistair asked in disbelief and looked at the giant man with narrowed eyebrows. "You heard," Hagrid retaliated, "Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied like I said."

The oldest Potter watched as  Ronald Weasley was distracted from the conversation when Hagrid's large dog   began to snuffle the boy and tried to lick him. He suppressed the urge to laugh, fearing that now might not be the best time.

"Wait a minute, one of the teachers?" Harry asked, confused, which caused Hermione to think. "Of course!" she began to say after a moment. "There are other things guarding the stone, aren't there? Spells and enchantments." 

"Exactly." Hagrid affirmed. "Seems like a bloody waste of time if yeh ask me, ain't no one getting passed Fluffy. Ain't a soul who knows how, except me and Dumbledore."

As the half-giant realized that he had told the three Gryffindors and two Slytherins too much again, panic gathered in his eyes. "Oh goodness me. Shouldn't have said that. Should not have said that."

Suddenly there was a clanking noise from Hagrid's fireplace. The boys and the girl quickly snapped their heads up at the sound. Charlus wanted to see what it was. Hagrid, on the other hand, looked rather pleased. He quickly reached into the cauldron that was sitting above his fireplace and pulled out a  huge, black egg. A dragon's egg. 

Hagrid carried the egg carefully to the large wooden table. With each step, he made 'oh' noises, as if he was complaining about the heat of the egg. The children quickly jumped up from their chairs and followed closely behind him.

"Uh." Harry began before  he looked up at Hagrid, who was now sitting down, "What exactly is that?" "Well, that's - uh, that's - that's -" Hagrid began to stutter at the question while he tried to find the words, but Ron interrupted him. "I know what it is!" he said enthusiastically, but then he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked up at the half-giant. "But, Hagrid, how did you get one?"  "I won it." Hagrid replied, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "From a stranger down at the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact."

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. 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.

 "Is that..." Hermione trailed off for a moment before continuing, "A dragon?" "That's not just a dragon." Ron explained with fascination while he stared at the little creature with wide eyes. "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback. My brother, Charlie, works with them in Romania!"

"Wicked!" Charlus said before he cautiously held out a hand. He didn't want to scare the dragon, but he couldn't hold back his curiosity. But the little dragon waddled over to the boy and gently rubbed its head against Charlus' hand, which caused him to smile. He began to gently nuzzle the dragon's head, and the little creature seemed visibly pleased.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured and looked as if he were about to cry as the dragon moved from Charlus to him.  "Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy. Hello Norbert." "Norbert?" Alistair asked with a hysterical smile before he looked at his friends to see if they found the name as strange as he did.

"Yeah, well, he's gotta have a name, don't he?" Hagrid answered quickly. Then he started playing with the dragon with his big hands. The dragon sneezed suddenly and a couple of sparks flew out of its snout, which caused Hagrid's beard to burst into flames. However, the man didn't seem concerned at all. He shook it off and tapped his beard to stop the fire. "Well, he'll have to be trained up a bit of course."

As Hagrid turned to the window, the color drained from his face.  "Who's that?" he asked, which caused the five of them turned quickly and looked out of the window to see what he saw. There he was. Draco Malfoy was watching them so intently. As soon as the Slytherin boy realized that the six people in the hut were now watching him, he ran back to Hogwarts.

Charlus narrowed his eyes and his expression darkened. "Malfoy." he said with a hint of disgust in his voice.  "That can't be good. " Harry said with a worried tone.  "We should head back." Alistair told the group and they all nodded in agreement.

After a quick farewell to Hagrid, Charlus ran out of the hut and towards the castle with his brother and  three best friends. Once they were back in the castle, they walked slowly down the corridors to return to the Gryffindor common room and the Slytherin common room.

"Hagrid always did want a dragon." Harry told the other two. " He told us so the first day we met him."  Charlus nodded in agreement beside him. "Yes, and he also told us that dragons are also very dangerous.."

"It's crazy." Ron said and shook his head, still in disbelief. "And worse, Malfoy knows." "I don't understand." Hermione said and looked at the other four. "Will it be bad?"

 "Oh, that's bad. Very very bad." Alistair said as he saw Professor McGonagall, who was standing nearby with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face, "Good evening."

The three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins were startled as they knew they were sure to be reprimanded. They were out past curfew and now they would have to face the consequences. And of course, beside her was Draco Malfoy, who looked at them with an evil smirk.

Charlus gave the blond-haired boy a sharp look. "You little slick ..." he began to say, but before he could continue, McGonagall interrupted him. "Enough, Potter!" she said sharply, and her gaze brooked no argument. " You five, follow me."

When she turned around, Draco followed behind her. Alistair, Hermione and Ron also followed her hesitantly. When Charlus didn't move, however, it was his brother who tugged on  his sleeve and pulled him along with him to McGonagall's classroom, where they were to receive their punishment.

Charlus stood in front of McGonagall's desk with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Alistair by his side. Draco stood to the side with a proud smirk on his face and it took everything Charlus had not to pull out his wand and curse him.

 McGonagall stood behind her desk and  looked down at the group. "Nothing." she said with  a clear disappointment on her face. "I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk around the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, fifty points will be taken."

The three Gryffindors and two of the Slytherins gasped in shock. "Fifty?" Charlus exclaimed━━ they would lose the lead, the lead he'd won in the Quidditch match.

 "You can't-" Alistair began to say,but McGonagall interrupted him. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Black. " she said. "You haven't even let me finish. It'll be fifty points for each of you."

The faces of the three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins fell even more. They heard Draco chuckle, and Charlus gave him a glare, which Malfoy returned with a mischievous grin.

"And to ensure it doesn't happen again." McGonagall continued on. "All six of you will receive detention."

Before Charlus could complain to her again, he realized that McGonagall had said 'all six of you'. Harry, Ron, Alistair, Hermione and him were five, which meant Draco had detention with them.

Draco frowned, afraid he had misheard her. He walked over to the professor. "Excuse me, Professor." he said in a polite tone that Charlus thought would probably be the only time he would ever hear it like that. "Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said.. 'the six of us'. "

McGonagal turned to the blonde haired Slytherin, "No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy." she said with a straight face. "You see, as honourable as your intentions were, you too, were out of bed after hours. You will be joining your fellow classmates in detention."

Harry, Alistair and Charlus grinned at each other before they turned to Malfoy and smirked mischievously at him, who glared at them. While they weren't happy about losing so many points and about the detention, they were satisfied that Malfoy suffered as well.

                                   ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

The following night, as Charlus, Harry, Hermione, Ron,Alistair and Draco made their way towards Hagrid's hut for their detention, Filch accompanied them. None of them knew what they were to be doing yet.

 "A pity they let the old punishments die." Filch began to complain as they marched off across the dark grounds. The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. "There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming." he finished and smiled darkly, as if he actually enjoyed the thought.

Harry, Ron and Malfoy gulped in fear, Alistair was disgusted, and Hermione was absolutely scared and horrified at the punishments. She hadn't noticed she had gripped Charlus' wrist as tight as she could.

Charlus, while had also gulped in fear, stopped when he felt Hermione's grip, and he took her hand from his wrist and intertwined his with her, squeezing it to try and calm her. "It's gonna be okay, Hermione. I promise you." he said comfortingly.

"You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the Dark Forest." Filch said as they got close to Hagrid's hut, who also got outside, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

"A sorry lot this is, Hagrid." Filch said with a slight sneer in his voice. The half-giant didn't seem to react, however. Instead, he began to sniffle as if he was upset. Filch grimaced as he noticed this. "Oh, good God, man." he said with a hint of impatience in his voice. "You're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

"Norbert's gone."  Hagrid said with a deep sadness in his voice while he sniffled again. "Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in Charlie Weasley's colony." "Well that's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked him with compassion in her voice, hoping to make him feel better. "He's with his own kind." "But what if he don't like Romania?" he asked desperately and continued to sob. "What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby after all."

Filch couldn't help but roll his eyes at all this. "Oh, for God's sake pull yourself together, man." he said, visibly disgusted by Hagrid's behavior. "You're going into the forest after all. Got to have your wits about you."

Draco frowned and seemed to go a little pale. "The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "I thought that was a joke. We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are... werewolves!"

Charlus couldn't help but chuckle at Draco's fear. "Aw, what's the matter, Malfoy? Scared?" he asked him mockingly. "I'm not scared, Potter!" the Slytherin squeaked, causing Charlus to let out a loud cackle. But Hermione, who was standing next to him, immediately scolded him, "Be nice!"

"Ah, there's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that." Filch said with a smirk, his voice cracking with glee. "Nighty-night." he sang and with that, he walked away. "Alright, let's go!" Hagrid called out and the six of them reluctantly followed him into The Dark Forest.

As they walked, Charlus could hear the howling of werewolves in the distance. The forest seemed extremely dark and eerie. The snap of a twig that Hagrid walked on caused Hermione to jump up and immediately grab Charlus' arm as tightly as she could.

It was then that Hagrid bent down and noticed a patch of a shiny, silver liquid on the ground. He took a bit into his fingers to confirm his suspicions as to what it was.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Alistair asked. "What we're here for. " Hagrid answered and held his fingers up to the group of students. "See that? That's unicorn blood, that is. Found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this ones been hurt bad by something. So, it's our job to go and find the poor beast. Ron and Alistair, you'll come with me."

Ron swallowed hard and mumbled a quiet 'Okay'  in a tone that indicated he was scared. Alistair, on the other hand, nodded eagerly. The half-giant then turned to two other students. "Charlus you'll go with Hermione." he  said with a little smile.

The young girl and boy just simply look at one another and smiled before they turned back to Hagrid. Charlus was secretly happy that he had been paired off with Hermione. He had hoped that he would go with her.

"And, Harry, you'll go with Malfoy." Hagrid finally said and looked over at the two boys.

It was quite an awful idea to put Harry with the one he hated the most, but he didn't tell Hagrid about it, since he probably had no choice.

"Okay, then I get Fang." Draco demanded with a hint of superiority.  "Fine." Hagrid said and laughed. "Just so you know, he's a bloody coward."

The six kids looked at the dog, who was whimpering in fear, and Charlus chuckled while Harry smiled down at him, gave him a few rubs on the head and reassured the dog that it was going to be okay.

They followed Hagrid deeper into the forest until they reached a fork in the earth path. Ron, Alistair and Hagrid walked straight out, Harry and Draco walked to the right, which meant Charlus and Hermione had to go left.

The two walked carefully through the dense forest, with Charlus slightly ahead while he held the lantern in front of him and carefully lighted the way. "So, what's our plan if we really do find  this damn unicorn?" he  asked without turning around.

Hermione, who walked behind him, snorted softly and shook her head, "Well, I think we should inform Hagrid immediately and then go straight back to the castle. That would be the most sensible course of action, wouldn't it?"

"That's all? We  just tell him we found this damn unicorn and then leave? Sounds kind of boring. Where's the fun in that?" the boy asked, and his lips curled into a mischievous grin as he looked at the girl.

Hermione turned to him, her eyebrow slightly raised, and shook her head again. "You know you can really be a idiot, right?" she asked him in a slightly annoyed, yet amused tone.

 Charlus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, maybe I'm an idiot." he admitted with a wink and shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal. "But at least I'm your best friend. That's something, isn't it?"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at his nonchalant manner,"You're such a prat, Potter." Then she punched him playfully on the arm, "Now shut the bloody hell up before I make you."

Charlus laughed, rubbed his arm and pretended that the blow had seriously injured him as they walked on, "Ow! Careful, Granger! I still need that arm if I'm going to catch the Snitch at Quidditch! Do you really want to risk Slytherin losing?"

The girl was just about to say something as suddenly the scar on the boy's forehead began to hurt. Charlus raised his hand to grab his forehead in pain. That was always one of the worst problems when you had a scar connection: if one scar hurt, then the other hurt too. You got a general sharp stab of pain that told you something was clearly wrong with your sibling.

"Charlus, what's wrong?" Hermione asked now, worried and placed a hand on his shoulder. At that moment, they heard a scream of panic in the distance that clearly belonged to Draco Malfoy, followed by Fang's loud bark. Charlus pressed his lips together and fought against the pain. "We have to go back." he said firmly. "Harry's in trouble."

Without another word, the boy took her hand in his and ran back the way they had come. The two met up with Hagrid, Draco, Alistair and Ron again and soon found their way to Harry, who had been left alone in the middle of the forest with the dead unicorn. Hermione, Draco, Ron and Alistair were astonished when they saw the centaur standing in front of them.

"Harry!" Charlus shouted, however, and when his brother turned to face them, Charlus ran towards him to pull him into a tight hug. He squeezed him as if he never wanted to let him go. Harry returned the hug and closed his eyes, as if he needed the warmth and comfort that only his brother could give.

"Are you all right?" Charlus asked after he had taken a step back. His eyes were full of concern and he searched Harry's face for signs of pain or fear. Harry smiled reassuringly at him. "I'm fine." he told him.

"Hello, Firenze." Hagrid greeted the centaur with a small smile. "I see you've already met the youngest Potter. " he remarked before he looked at Harry. "Are you alright?" he asked again and Harry looked to him and nodded at this.

"Harry Potter." the centaur, Firenze, then said, and Harry , along with Charlus, turned toward him. "This is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck." And with that, Firenze turned and took off into the forest. With the unicorn now found, the six kids and Hagrid returned to the castle. Detention was now over.

Back in the safety of the Gryffindor common room, Harry told his twin brother and three friends about his encounter with Firenze. He told them about how You-Know-Who was out in the forest, surviving off of the blood of the unicorns.

"Don't you see?" Harry asked them. "Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself, he wants it for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, he can be strong again. He'll come back."

"But, if he does come back, you don't think he'll...kill you and Charlus, do you?" Alistair asked in a worried tone. "I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight." Harry answered quickly.

Ron swallowed hard and seemed speechless for a moment. "And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final..." he finally muttered, more to himself than to the others. Charlus couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Seriously, Ron? That's your biggest problem now?" he asked and shook his head slightly.

"Hang on a minute." Hermione began to say, which attracted the attention of the others.  "We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"

The boys looked at each other, unsure how to answer. Ron shrugged his shoulders and Alistair shook his head helplessly, both looking at a loss. Harry thought hard, but he couldn't think of anyone.

Charlus also thought for a moment, and then his eyes widened as he realized the answer. "Dumbledore." he said and looked at Hermione, who nodded her head in agreement. "Exactly." she confirmed. "As long as Dumbledore is around, you two, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore is around, you two can't be touched."

                                    ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

They had just finished their various end of year exams, and much to Charlus relief, they weren't as bad as he thought they would be. He was very confident in all his answers.

"You know," Hermione said with a satisfied smile as they walked out of the castle to visit Hagrid. "I had always heard Hogwarts end-of-year exams were frightful, but I found them rather enjoyable."

Ron snorted and rolled his eyes. "Speak for yourself." he said with an agonized sigh before he looked over at Harry and Charlus, who rubbed their foreheads and hissed in pain. Alistair, who was walking beside them, frowned and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Are you all right, Harry, Charlus?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"It's my scar." Charlus blurted out angrily  while he rubbed the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and the others, except Harry, flinched in surprise. "It hasn't stopped burning."

Harry nodded while he also rubbed over his own scar. "Mine too." he added. Hermione looked at him and Charlus curiously, a hint of concern in her eyes. "This has happened before, hasn't it?" she asked them. "Yeah, but never as often as this." Harry said and narrowed his eyes in pain.

Ron gave the Potter twins a pat on the shoulders as if to reassure them. "Perhaps you should see the nurse?" he suggested to them. It was well-intentioned advice, but Charlus shook his head. "We're not ill. " he said firmly. "I think it's a warning... It means danger is coming."

The five of them walked some more before coming up to Hagrid's hut. There, the giant sat on the doorsteps of his hut, playing a small tune on his flute. It was in that moment that everything seemed to click in Charlus' head. About the dragon, about Fluffy, about everything.

"Oh. Of course." he mumbled. "What is it?" Hermione asked, but before she could get an answer, Charlus began to walk faster to Hagrid. Harry sprinted after him, and Ron,Alistair and Hermione looked at him curiously, but followed him as he started to explain, "Don't you think it's a bit odd that the one thing that Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to offer him one?"

Harry's eyes widened as he realized the significance of this. "You're absolutely right!" he exclaimed. "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before?"

The five of them ran as fast as they could to Hagrid. "Hagrid!" Charlus yelled out of breath as soon as they reached Hagrid. "The man who gave you the dragon egg at the pub that night! What did he look like?"

Hagrid looked up from his flute and scrutinized the three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins in front of him. His face showed surprise, maybe even a little confusion. "Well, I don't know..." he admitted. "I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

"But, you and this stranger must have talked?" Harry questioned. "Well, he, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after." Hagrid replied. "I told him. I said 'after Fluffy a dragon's gonna be no problem.'"

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Alistair asked eagerly. "Well of course he was interested in Fluffy! How often d'ya come across a three headed dog, even if you're in the trait? But I told him, 'the trick with any beast is to know how to calm it'. Take Fluffy, for example, just play 'im some music and he goes right to sleep." Hagrid told them casually.

As Hagrid said this, the three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins looked at each other. Then they turned to the half-giant, who sat there with an expression of regret when he realized that he had once again said more than he would have liked. "I shouldn't have told you that." he murmured quietly.

"Thanks, Hagrid!" Charlus exclaimed before he and the others ran back to the castle, faster than they had ever run before. Ron and Hermione were quick to catch on to what Harry,Alistair and Charlus were insinuating.

They kept running until they finally reached McGonagall's classroom, where she sat at her desk and corrected exams with her quill. "Professor!" Charlus said loudly as he approached her desk. "We have to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately! Tell him it's important!"

McGonagall was taken aback. "I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here. " he informed them. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."

Harry let out a groan. "He's gone?" he asked, visibly distressed. "Now?! But this is important! This is about the Philosopher's Stone!"

McGonagall's serious and strict expression disappeared momentarily, exposing confusion when she heard what the youngest Potter said. "How do you five know-" she began to say, but was quickly cut off by Alistair. "Someone's going to try and steal it!"

"I don't know how you five know about the stone but I assure you, it is perfectly well protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly." she ordered and gave each of them a stern look before she returned to her work.

The five sighed before they turned to walk out of McGonagall's classroom.  As soon as they were out of her sight, Alistair came to a halt and turned to the others.  "So, it wasn't a stranger that Hagrid met in the pub?" he asked them. "It was Snape?"

" Exactly." Harry said with a determined nod. "And that means he knows how to get passed Fluffy." "And with Dumbledore gone—" began Charlus to say, but was cut off by a low calm voice behind them, "Good afternoon. "

The kids turned around slowly and nervously and saw Snape staring down at them. "Now what would three young Gryffindors and two young Slytherins such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?"   "Uh — we w-were just—" Hermione started to stutter. 

Snape seemed to enjoy her hesitation. "You might be careful. " he warned them. "People may think you're..." He made a long pause and gave Harry and Charlus a look before he finished the sentence,"Up to something." And with that, the long haired professor turned and walked back the way which he came.

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked the others as soon as she was sure Snape was far enough away. "We go down the trapdoor that the giant three headed dog is guarding and get the Philosopher's Stone before Snape does." Charlus decided quickly, which earned a gulp from Ron. "We'll do it tonight."

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

Hope you enjoyed! Only two more chapters left of the Philosopher's Stone! Thank God, lol!

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Until next time, much love to you all!