Harry was exhausted. The exams were coming up and Hermione was nagging everyone to study. As perfect students, she and Annabeth were helping the other five study, which became annoying very quickly.

They spent their breaks in the library researching and doing all the homework the teachers piled up. Poor Percy, Nico, and Thalia were having trouble reading and sitting still. Even brilliant Annabeth was going through each book at a turtle's pace.

"Hagrid?" Ron asked, distracting the others. "What are you doing here?"

"Jus' lookin'," He said vaguely. "What're you lot up to? Not still lookin' fer Flamel are yeh?"

"Nope," Ron said happily. "We figured out who he is, and what that dog's guarding. It's the Sor—"

"Shhhhh!" The others hushed him sharply.

"You can't just go around shouting that! What's wrong with you?" Hagrid scolded. "Come an' see me later. I'm not sayin' I'll tell yeh anythin', but—"

"See you later then," Harry said.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" Nico wondered.

"I'll go check," Percy volunteered, jumping up.

He returned with a stack of books. "Dragons! Hagrid was in a section about dragons! I didn't know they had dragons in England."

"Of course they do" Thalia rolled her eyes. "Do you think monsters are limited to America? There were these—" she stopped.

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so," Harry said.

"Yeah, but it's against our laws. We can't just keep dragons in our backyard— the muggles will notice" said Ron. "They're really dangerous— you should see the burns my brother Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"So what's Hagrid up to?" Hermione wondered.

>>>•O•<<<

All the curtains and doors were closed to the gamekeeper's hut. Hagrid peeked through the door and let them in quickly.

Inside was overly hot, but the Americans seemed not bothered. Hagrid offered them tea and sandwiches, which they refused politely.

"So, yeh wanted to know something?"

"Yeah. We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Stone besides Fluffy," Harry said blatantly.

Hagrid almost laughed, but he stopped and frowned when he saw their dead serious faces. "O' course I can't," he said. "Yeh already know too much and besides, I don't know much myself."

"Wish Piper were here," Percy mumbled to Annabeth who nodded. Harry vaguely wondered who Piper was, but he was more concerned on the fact that Hagrid did know and he wasn't spilling it.

"Oh come on, Hagrid, you might not tell us, but you do know everything that goes around here." Hermione turned on her charm. Harry could tell Hagrid was smiling. "We just wondered who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid beamed. "Well, I don' suppose it would hurt to tell yeh that. . . so he borrowed Fluffy—" (Nico growled at the name) "—from me. . . some teachers did some spells, Professor Sprout— Professor Flitwick— Professor McGonagall—Professor Quirrell— Professor Snape— and Professor Dumbledore did something o' course."

Harry saw Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia look at each other.

"Snape?" Ron asked, dumbfounded.

Hagrid frowned. "Yeh not still on abou' that, are yeh? Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

"So no one else knows how to get past— Fluffy?" Nico grimaced again.

"No one but me an' Dumbledore."

"That's a relief," Percy said. "Hagrid, can we open a window? It's a bit hot here."

"Sorry, can' do that," Hagrid said, glancing at the fire.

"A dragon egg," Thalia whispered. And indeed it was, huge and black in the fireplace. "How'd you get that? Norwegian Ridgebacks are extremely rare."

"Ah, yeh know what it is!" Hagrid said happily. "I been doin' some readin', and—" he went on about how to take care of it.

No one shared his enthusiasm.

"Hagrid— you live in a wooden hut." Hermione emphasized.

Hagrid just whistled as he stoked the fire.

>>>•Annabeth•<<<

Annabeth was beginning to worry about Hagrid's sanity. Hagrid invited them to see the dragon hatch, which was pretty exciting, despite the fact that he could get caught and possibly expelled.

Deep cracks lined the egg as a crumpled black umbrella popped out.

"He's beautiful," Hagrid murmured. He tried to pet it but it blew a column of fire at his hand.

"She," Thalia muttered to Annabeth.

Just then, the curtains rippled. Annabeth's head shot towards the window and spotted Malfoy whipping his head away and running back to the castle.

They were in trouble.

>>>•O•<<<

"Just set him free," Thalia pressed. The Ridgeback, which Hagrid named Norbert, had tripled in length and kept Hagrid from doing his gamekeeping duties for nearly a week now.

"He'll die," Hagrid responded miserably over and over.

Suddenly Harry turned to Ron. "Charlie," he said.

Ron frowned. "You're losing it too," he said. "I'm Ron, remember?"

Harry waved him off. "No, your brother. Charlie. He takes care of dragons, let's just send Norbert there!"

"That's a great idea!" Hermione said excitedly.

Reluctantly, Hagrid agreed.

>>>•O•<<<

They sat in the common room waiting for Ron and Nico, who were doing their shifts of helping Hagrid with Norbert. Suddenly the boys appeared out of nowhere, yanking the invisibility cloak off them.

"He bit me!" Ron exclaimed, showing his hand wrapped in a cloth Annabeth recognized as Nico's Gryffindor scarf.

Thalia unwrapped and examined it. "Poisoned," she said, looking at the swollen, green, splotchy hand. "We need to go to the hospital wing right now," she instructed.

Ron and Thalia left when they heard a sharp tap-tap-tap on the window.

"Hedwig! She'll have Charlie's response!" Harry jumped up and let in his owl.

    Dear Ron,
    How are you? Thanks for the letter— I'd be glad to take the Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they can't be seen carrying an illegal dragon. Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
    Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love, Charlie

They looked at one another.

"We have the Invisibility cloak and you have your hats, It shouldn't be too hard to get him up. We should be able to get Norbert up," Harry suggested.

"Key words: shouldn't be," Percy warned.

>>>•O•<<<

They visited Ron in the hospital wing and gave him the note. His poisoned hand was wrapped in gauze and was extremely swollen.

"Malfoy came and borrowed my books. Said he wanted to get a good laugh at me," Ron muttered hoarsely. He seemed to have developed a sore throat with his poisoned hand.

"It'll be all over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione said in attempt to calm him down.

On the contrary, Ron shot up and broke into a sweat. "Oh no. I just remembered, Charlie's letter was in the book Malfoy borrowed! He'll know we're getting rid of Norbert!"

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey came over and made them all leave.

"We just have to go with the plan," Harry told the others. "Malfoy doesn't know about the Invisibility Cloak, we just have to hope he doesn't bump into one of us."

>>>•O•<<<

Hagrid sniffed as he said his goodbyes to Norbert. They draped the cloak over the crate and Nico wove the shadows over them, almost making them invisible. Percy and Annabeth slipped on their hats, and they six lugged the enormous crate to the astronomy tower.

Staircase after staircase, they heaved the crate up to the tallest tower. Suddenly a light shone through a door. They shrank against a wall as Professor McGonagall came, dragging Malfoy by the ear.

"Detention!" McGonagall barked. "And twenty points from Slytherin! How dare you wander around here in the middle of the night!"

"No, Professor, Potter's coming with a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! Be glad I'm not taking fifty points! We shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

They stalked off to the dungeons.

Hermione silently cheered. "Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!" She whispered.

They hiked up the remaining staircases and the shadows wore off. Pulling the cloak off Norbert, Harry stuffed it in his pocket. Four broomsticks swooped down and hovered in front of the balcony on which they stood. Harnessing Norbert to a sling they rigged up, they bid farewell and flew into the darkness.

Just like that, Norbert was gone.

Filled with happiness, the six plodded down the stairs again when suddenly Filch stood in front of the doorway out.

"Well, well" he hissed. "We are in trouble."

They'd forgotten to hide in the darkness.

>>>•O•<<<

Harry, Hermione, Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia stood in front of Professor McGonagall. She looked ready to explode.

"Seven students out of bed and wandering around in out-of-bounds corridors! Never had I heard of such a thing!"

"Detentions for all of you!" McGonagall stopped her pacing to glare at them all. "And twenty five points each!"

"Twenty five?" Percy gasped. That was 150 points! They would be last in the House championship!

"Yes, Mr. Jackson. Twenty five points from my own house! Now off to bed, before I take more!" McGonagall pushed them to the door. They dejectedly shuffled to bed, dreading the morning. Dreading the reactions of everyone else.