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SIYE Time:5:18 on 29th March 2024
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Gods Bless Accidental Magic!
By Dopeydo

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Humor, Romance
Warnings: Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 306
Summary: Everybody has their limits. As Harry finds his reason to live, he will break many of them… and not all intentionally. As Harry finds his reason to live, he will learn what it means to be broken in turn. There is a great power in friendship, but there is just as great a power in fear. (Crossover occurs late in the story.)

Note: Picks up from halfway through chapter six of PS. Abuse warnings are limited to pre-Hogwarts experiences. Rating is mainly for language.
Hitcount: Story Total: 200332; Chapter Total: 4988
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Well, thought I'd mention that my results came back and I'm going to medical school :)
Thank you to the beta team (Arnel, BobVosh and Ginny Guerra) for keeping me in line. I'm stubborn as a mule, I know, but I am grateful.




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StoryPrinter


Back in the air at last. Half an hour on his broom had him in such a good mood that he felt he could fly without it.


He grinned over his shoulder at Ginny, who was sitting behind him with her arms stretched out in the wind. He went into a moderate dive, driving through a central hoop at cruising speed; she squealed but stubbornly refused to grab him or the broom. Beginning with a wide, lazy barrel roll, Harry put her through a rollercoaster of aerial tricks, finally ending on a vertical dive he pulled out of backwards, brushing his hair on the grass on the way out. As he flipped over, he looked back and saw that she was glowing slightly. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.


“You cheated!” he accused.


“I wasn’t aware of any rules,” she replied serenely.


“Perhaps I’ll have to make you aware of them,” said Harry, pulling up to a vertical climb.


There were a few others in the air, mainly those who were on Quidditch teams. The two Ravenclaw reserve chasers were throwing a Quaffle between them, and there was an aerial tag game going on around the hoops at one end.


“And how will you do that, Harry?” He smiled victoriously upon hearing a little strain in her voice.


He finally reached the altitude he desired, and pointed the broom to the earth, holding his speed so that Ginny slid forwards to rest on his back. Instead of answering, he dived. Ginny gasped, and he could feel her emotions leaking through - delirious excitement with just a hint of fear. Her fingertips grazed the sides of his robes, and he kicked his broom into a higher acceleration. She slid backwards, and instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist.


“Like that,” he grinned.


Harry relished her little growl of annoyance, and brought down the Nimbus in a gentle sideways drift that sent stones skidding out before them.


“Want to meet up with the others?” he asked.


“What?” Ginny asked incredulously. “Put down your Nimbus and go to the library? Did someone put something in your pumpkin juice this morning?”


Harry rolled his eyes. “Hey, I’m not that bad!” he protested.


“Harry, I’m surprised you haven’t given it a name yet.”


“I’m gonna get you for that one,” Harry threatened as they dismounted.


“When I least expect it?” Ginny asked casually.


He squinted at her for a couple of seconds. “Yeah.”


They threw jibes at one another as they walked back to the castle, with Harry categorically refusing to ride back since he was apparently ‘too attached to it already’. He appreciated for the first time just how expansive the grounds were at Hogwarts, and made that known when they reached the Entrance Hall.


“Out of shape, Harry?” Ginny laughed. “All that television not doing you any good? Maybe Neville ought to take your place on the team. He has lost a lot of weight after all.”


Harry pinned her to the wall of the castle. “Really, now?” She wiggled her eyebrows cheekily, and Harry found his attention drawn to her glowing hand.


“Ten points from Gryffindor for inappropriate behaviour, and a further five for practising magic outside class, Miss Weasley,” Snape snarled as he swooped past.


“Bloody greasy git!” Ginny fumed. She smacked her palm against the masonry, and sparks flew everywhere.


“Let’s just go,” Harry said before Ginny could start raving. Snape had, as always, left him with a very sour taste in his mouth.


When they reached the library, the first person they noticed was not Hermione, but Hagrid. Rather conspicuous in his moleskin overcoat, everyone was giving him a pretty wide berth.


“Hagrid!” Ginny exclaimed.


“Oh, ah, ‘ello there you two,” he replied uneasily.


Ginny’s eyebrow rose in suspicion. “So, what brings you here? You aren’t taking exams this year too, are you?”


Hagrid laughed nervously, sliding his hands slowly behind his back. “No, no, nothin’ like tha’. Jus, yeh know...” Hagrid’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Say, yeh aren’ ‘ere lookin up Flamel again, are yeh?”


Harry smiled, “Oh no, don’t worry about it. We found out who he was long ago. Made us feel a bit stupid, really, finding out that he was on the back of the most common Chocolate Frog Card.”


Ginny sighed dramatically. “I guess it wouldn’t be a good idea to discuss such a big secret in such a public place...” she let the thought hang in the air.


It was certainly weighing on Hagrid, who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. “I... Listen — come an’ see me later. I’m not promisin’ I’ll tell yeh anythin’, mind, but don’ go rabbitin’ about it in here, students aren’ s’posed ter know. They’ll think I’ve told yeh...”


“See you later, Hagrid,” Ginny called. Hagrid, however, was already shuffling away down the Charms corridor. She drifted over to the shelves where he’d been looking, and got a curious look on her face. “Dragons, huh?” she muttered. “Now isn’t that funny? Didn’t you say that he wanted one?”


“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Can’t say I blame him, really, now that I’ve seen them. Still, I don’t think it’d be appreciated on the grounds, and he does live in a wooden house.”


Ginny snorted. “Hey, Su,” she called as the Ravenclaw walked past.


“Oh, hey Ginny,” she replied brightly. “You know, the latest in the Destiny Ascension series came in yesterday evening. I just took it out, but you can have it after me if you like.”


“Thanks, that’d be great,” Ginny beamed. “Promise not to spoil anything?”


“Would I?” Su Li asked, a mischievous smile pulling at her lips.


Ginny rolled her eyes. “By the way, have you seen Hermione?”


“Sure, she’s down by the Restricted Section with Neville and your brother.”


“The Restricted Section...?” Ginny asked, bewildered.


“I don’t have a clue,” Su replied, adjusting the strap of her bag and raising her eyes to the ceiling. “I just saw them on the way down from Fiction.”


“Well, thanks Su. See you around,” said Ginny.


“Yeah. Bye, Ginny... Harry.”


“Bye,” replied a mystified Harry. He looked curiously at Ginny. “Are you friends with everyone in the year?”


“Slytherins don’t count, so near enough,” she grinned.


“And why is it she barely spoke to me? She barely even looked at me!” he said exasperatedly.


“Yeah, there’s a few girls like that aren’t there?” she smirked. Harry could feel the pride rolling off of her in waves, and began to wish he hadn’t asked.


They did indeed find the others by the Restricted Section. Hermione and Neville were each glued to their books, but Ron was distracted enough to notice them coming.


“Hey, guys,” he called.


“Hey,” said Harry. “What are you on now?”


“Uh, Devil’s Snare?” Ron offered.


“Oh, Ron, you were meant to move onto Transfiguration ten minutes ago,” Hermione sighed.


“Well, I’m sorry that I’m not quite as sharp as you, Hermione,” Ron fumed. “Maybe I need to work at a slightly slower pace? Did you think about that?”


“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did,” Hermione hissed.


Ron’s ears turned purple as he glared across the table. “Fine.” He slammed his book shut, and slid it back into his bag.


“Ron...” Ginny tried to stop him, but he stormed off regardless.


“Ron, for crying out loud, she’s just trying to help!” Harry called after him. He received a glare from Madam Pince for his efforts, but barely a hesitation from Ron.


“Leave it,” Ginny suggested. “He just needs to let off some steam. He’s got a bit of a short fuse.”


Looking back to Hermione, he saw her biting her lip, but it wasn’t out of any kind of mirth. “Don’t worry about it, Hermione,” he said gently.


“I’m not,” she said, but the slight quiver in her voice betrayed her.


Harry bit his tongue and watched Ron shove his way through the double doors, to Madam Pince’s further annoyance. ‘Maybe I ought to talk to him.’


“You know, Hermione, Ron just isn’t so keen to study all the time, or even most of the time,” Ginny said slowly.


“But... the exams!” Hermione protested.


“I know, I know,” Ginny replied, “but I don’t think he particularly cares to get an Outstanding in everything, or even an Exceeds Expectations.”


“Surely, your mum and dad...?” Hermione inquired.


“Well, yeah, Mum certainly encourages us to do well,” she grinned. Harry would have to ask what particular occasion she was thinking of.


“So why doesn’t he want to do well in his exams?” Hermione asked, looking completely baffled.


“I don’t know, Hermione,” Ginny replied. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to work so hard?”


“Let’s be honest,” Neville interjected, “you two did just spend quite a bit of time over yonder doing what Ron probably dreams about nine out of ten nights.”


Harry and Ginny looked incredulously at each other. He gave Neville a disturbed look. “You don’t mean...?”


Neville turned red as a tomato. “I meant Quidditch,” he whispered, burying his nose back into A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration. Hermione sniggered ‘subtly’ behind her hand.


“Well, anyway,” Harry muttered, clearing his throat. “What are you guys reading about?”


After an hour or so reading about and attempting to memorise the finer points of inanimate transfigurations, they finally called it a day, and decided to go and find Hagrid. They dropped by at the common room to see if Ron wanted to come, but he wasn’t there, so they went along to see Hagrid without him.


“So he was looking at books on dragons?” Hermione mused.


“Maybe he has a friend who works with them?” Neville suggested nervously. They all knew what he was afraid of. He’d already told them that it was illegal to keep or breed dragons without a proper license, which was only given to specialist reserves, of which there were six in the world.


“Charlie asked after him while we were in Romania...” Harry offered. As they neared his hut, Harry noticed that all the curtains were drawn, and there was smoke curling up from the chimney despite the surprising warmness of the Spring afternoon. So it was with a sense of trepidation that he knocked on the door. ‘It’s probably going to rain tomorrow as well,’ he thought sorrowfully. He’d had just about enough wet and muddy Quidditch practices. He wore glasses after all!


“Who is it?” Hagrid called from inside.


“Um, it’s us, Hagrid,” Harry called back, feeling the dread pooling in his gut. Hagrid shut the door quickly behind them.


“Where’s Ron?” he asked suddenly.


“No idea,” Harry replied.


“He’s a bit stressed,” Ginny explained. Hermione’s cheeks pinked slightly, but she didn’t say anything.


“Got some stoat sandwiches I been makin’,” Hagrid offered.


They politely declined, and he shuffled about a bit, stoking the blazing fire. Even Hagrid’s own face was ruddy and sweaty from the heat.


“So...” Hagrid said at last. “Yeh wan’ed ter ask me summin’?”


“Yeah,” said Harry. He didn’t see any point in beating about the bush. “We were wondering if you could tell us what’s guarding the Philosopher’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. Tha’ Stone’s here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s’pose yeh’ve worked that ou’ an’ all? Beats me how yeh even know abou’ Fluffy.”


Ginny nudged Harry, and subtly indicated the fire. More specifically, he guessed, she meant the pot sitting above it.


‘Egg?’


‘Must be,’ she replied. ‘Charlie said dragons breathe on their eggs a lot, right?’


“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. They beamed at Hermione.


“Well, I don’ s’pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let’s see... ‘e 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?” Harry asked, shocked.


“Yeah – yer not still on abou’ that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he’s not about ter steal it.”


Harry knew that the others were thinking the same as he was. 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,” said Hagrid proudly.


“Well, that’s something,” Harry muttered. “Hagrid, can we have a window open? I’m boiling.”


“Can’t, ‘Arry, sorry,” Hagrid replied.


“Well, can we see the egg at least, then?” Ginny asked with a shifty smile.


“What egg?” Hagrid asked. He fooled no-one. Disregarding his protests, they gathered around the fire, and stared at the large black egg in the pot.


Ginny scrunched up her face in concentration, and Harry smiled involuntarily. “That’s a... Ridgeback, right?” Ginny asked.


“Er, yeah, yeah it is...” Hagrid replied gruffly.


“How’d you get that, Hagrid?” Harry asked, his curiosity getting the better of him, as usual.


“Won i’, as a ma’er o’ fact,” he said. “Jus’ las’ night, I was down in the village havin’ a few drinks an’ got inter a game o’ cards with a stranger. Think ‘e was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest.”


“But what’ll you do with the dragon once it’s hatched?” Hermione asked, wide-eyed with astonishment.


“Well, I 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 ‘ere. Keep the egg in the fire, ‘cause their mothers breathe on ‘em, see, an’ when it ‘atches, feed i’ on a bucket o’ brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour.” He looked rather pleased with himself, and completely oblivious to the despair on their faces.


“Hagrid, you live in a wooden house!” Hermione cried.


“You know, I think that’s the least of your worries,” Ginny remarked. “You can enchant all this wood to resist fire. But you’d need a big operation to expand it enough to properly contain a fully grown Norwegian Ridgeback. I mean, the moment Hagrid lets the thing out of the hut to fly, it’d be noticed by someone. So either he needs to ask Dumbledore to do the most extensive Undetectable Extension Charms since Lucy’s wardrobe, or someone’s going to file a report with the Ministry of Magic.”


Only Hermione got the reference, it seemed, because she burst out laughing. Harry smirked. “I told you you’re too fond of your books,” he whispered in Ginny’s ear. “Even I didn’t get that one.”


Even you?” she asked, smirking. “Not getting cocky at all? That was a Muggle book for your information.” Harry frowned, trying to recall all the novels that Dudley had never been bothered with. He’d only spent a little while in that bedroom, after all, and hadn’t had enough time to read more than part of The Animals of Farthing Wood.


They left half an hour later, having sufficiently troubled Hagrid to be sure that they’d be able to convince him to give the dragon up. Eventually.


Returning to the common room, they found Ron talking to Dean and Seamus. They seemed to have revived the football vs Quidditch argument. Harry threw himself over the back of the couch and landed heavily next to Ron, who jumped in surprise.


“Oh, hi Harry,” he said guardedly.


Harry grinned. “You’ll want to hear this one.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hermione move off elsewhere to sit with Neville.


Ron let Seamus continue without him, and turned to face Harry. “This isn’t about Hermione, is it?”


“No,” he frowned. “It’s about Hagrid.”


“But if you keep being a prat to Hermione, I might take issue,” Ginny said as she dropped down on Harry’s other side.


“What’s happened with Hagrid?” Ron pressed, taking little notice of his sister.


Harry leaned in a bit. “If you’d stuck around, you’d have just seen a Norwegian Ridgeback.”


“A Nowegian Ridgeback?!” Ron hissed. “Are you serious?”


“Be quiet, Ron,” Harry whispered. “Yeah. It’s still in the egg, but that’s why Hagrid was in the library earlier.”


“Hagrid was in the library?” Ron asked incredulously.


“Yeah, it did look kinda strange,” Harry sniggered. “But he was looking up on how to raise a dragon. He won the egg last night, and, well, he always wanted a dragon, so...”


“But Harry, that’s illegal!” Ron groaned. “This won’t end well.”


“Not to mention he lives in a small wooden hut, and those things grow to, what, thirty or so feet long?”


“Those numbers don’t count the tail, Harry,” Ginny interjected.


Harry snapped his fingers. “That’s why they all looked big!” He noticed the odd look Ginny was giving him. “Yeah, that’s not really a good thing here, is it?” She shook her head slowly, still looking at him as if he’d just proclaimed his undying love for Neville’s toad Trevor.


“Wonder what it’s like to have a peaceful life?” Ron muttered.


Harry sighed. “Well, I’m going out exploring.”


Ginny grinned. “There’s only an hour till dinner!”


“Yes,” he agreed, “but you can do a lot in an hour, as you very well know.”


She gave him a shifty smile, then got up by propelling herself over the armrest. “So where do you want to go, Harry?”


“Hmm,” he considered it briefly, “how about somewhere high?”




Morning break on the following Tuesday found Harry climbing a drainpipe in one of Hogwarts’ several courtyards. He grinned at Ginny’s attempt to keep up with him, and fairly hurled himself up and, finally, onto the roof of this part of the building. He leapt over a pile of debris, and rounded a corner to find himself in front of a gargoyle. Just then, Hedwig flew overhead, and Harry grabbed the dropped letter from the air.


“Sweet moves, kid,” a croaky voice said.


Harry looked up. There was nobody there. He heard a quiet panting behind him and grinned.


“Oi, did no-one ever teach you any manners?” the same voice asked. “I just paid you a compliment. It’s only common courtesy for you to thank me.”


He stared incredulously at the gargoyle. “Ginny, are the gargoyles supposed to be able to t-” He swallowed his last word. There was something about Ginny all flushed that got a reaction out of him. He purposefully ignored it, biting his tongue.


“To what, Harry?”


Hedwig landed softly on his shoulder and nuzzled behind his ear. He grinned and stroked her wing with his free hand.


“To talk? Well, I can’t speak on behalf of gargoyles in general... in fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone...”


“Oh, you poor thing,” Ginny crooned, crouching next to the fiendish-looking sculpture and stroking the side of it’s head.


“Kind of wish I was on the other side of this roof, too. From what I’ve heard, I’d have a great view from there...”


“Yeah, you would,” Ginny agreed. “We’ll see what we can do about having you moved, okay?”


The bell rang out over the school to signify the end of break, and they had to say their farewells to the gargoyle.


“Come back and see me anytime; I’ll be waiting,” it called after them.


Hedwig flew off as they walked back to the pipes, and glided down to where Hermione, Neville and Ron were waiting before flying off back to the owlery.


“Well, I wasn’t expecting that one,” Harry said as he slid down.


“Percy told me that a lot of the gargoyles here are sort of alive,” Ginny called back. “It’s only the ones that were put here soon after the castle was built though.” They landed with a bump, and ran to get to their bags. To their surprise, everyone was still waiting for them.


“Well, just don’t expect us to hang around too long if it’s Potions,” Ron jested. To the mild surprise of a couple of second year Gryffindors, Harry and company just casually walked up to a wall, stroked it in a particular place, and walked right through it.


Ginny turned to Harry to finish the history lesson, for they had come out right outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and only half the class had yet arrived. “The energy of the castle was so great then that bits of the personalities of the people who made the gargoyles were permanently embedded in them.”


“You mean that Hogwarts is... fading in magical terms?” Hermione asked.


“No, it only faded for a while, because nothing could have sustained that kind of energy level,” Ginny answered. “But the Founders gave of themselves to keep the castle alive.”


“You mean like how the Sorting Hat was once Gryffindor’s?” Hermione pressed.


Neville shook his head. “No. Well, you could say that was part of it, but... What Ginny is referring to is the legend that the Founders gave a part of their souls to Hogwarts when they died, and that their bodies were buried under the castle to keep that connection going strong.”


Hermione stared at Neville, then Ginny, then at the floor. Harry covered his mouth to hide his grin.


“I reckon you pay too much attention to that stuff,” Ron interrupted.


Hermione frowned. “The history of Hogwarts is important, Ron.”


“Yeah, but you’re talking about legends. You might get an idea, but you could easily be way off,” he reasoned. Harry raised an eyebrow slightly. Ron wasn’t an idiot, but he didn’t usually engage in debate with Hermione. Well, unless their weekly bickering counted. “If you’re gonna guess like that, you might as well say that the castle has a magical field because of all the students practising magic every day, and it might have once been stronger because the Founders were just really powerful.”


“That’s... a good point,” Hermione stuttered.


“Did you think I couldn’t make one, Hermione?” Ron asked curiously, but there was a smirk on his face.


Hermione blushed and muttered something unintelligible.


“W-w-well c-c-c-come in then, ch-chaps,” Professor Quirrell called.


“So, Potter, have you moved them out of the pigsty yet?” someone hissed. There were a few chuckles, but they ignored them.


“Hey, Harry, are you going to read that note or not?” Ginny asked as they went in. She had a free period. His eyes widened as he remembered it, and he scrambled to get it out of his pocket.


It’s hatching.


His eyes now wide for an entirely different reason, he whispered back, “Get to Hagrid’s, Ginny!”


She squinted at him for a second, then nodded and sprinted off.


When he told the others, Ron wanted to skip Herbology and just head straight down to Hagrid’s hut, but Hermione wouldn’t hear of it, and, unsurprisingly, Neville was on her side.


“Hermione, think about it!" Ron protested. "How many times in our lives are we going to see a real live 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 and Neville both whispered.


Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. His slightly raised brow told Harry all he needed to know.


“Jeez, can the two of you not stop arguing for ten seconds?!” Harry hissed once Draco had returned to his books.


Hermione glared at him. “I’d have thought you would appreciate-”


“I would’ve thought someone as smart as you would know when is and when isn’t a good time to talk about these things!” Harry retorted.


She flushed, but acquiesced.


When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Ginny materialised in front of them out of a mirror.


“It isn’t quite ready to come out yet,” she informed them. “But you can definitely hear it inside.”


“This is so unfair,” Harry groaned. There was unanimous agreement on that part.


“Well, see you at lunch then, Ginny,” said Neville.


They parted ways, Ginny heading for the Headmaster’s office entrance on the floor below, and they for the grounds.


Herbology was a tense affair. Harry and Ron stared almost continuously at the clock, and even Hermione and Neville had a bit of trouble maintaining their concentration. This being the one subject Neville had a real natural affinity for, he put as much effort into it as possible.


As soon as the bell went, they were grabbing their bags and sprinting across the grounds. They skidded to a halt at the front door, and Hagrid welcomed them in, Ginny arriving only a few seconds later. Hagrid was flushed with excitement, although the scorching heat in his hut might have had something to do with it too.


“It’s nearly out.” He ushered them inside. Harry, to Hagrid’s surprise, ran to all the windows, shutting the curtains tightly and doing his best to secure them in place.


They huddled around the table. The egg was lying on its side in the middle of it, with deep cracks in it, the dragon clearly audible within. There was a little scorched patch on the table under it, and the wood was still smoking a little.


Suddenly, the clicking noises stopped, and they shielded their faces instinctively. There was a loud scraping noise, and the egg burst open. The baby dragon flopped out onto the table. It couldn’t seem to stand, for its four legs kept scrabbling at the tabletop and it would just collapse back down again. Harry thought it lacked a lot of the grace and grandeur that the older dragons in Romania had displayed. In fact, it looked rather like a crumpled black umbrella. It appeared that flight was more important to a dragon’s survival than fire, for its wings were already properly proportioned to its body, but that meant that its chest was small enough that Harry doubted it would produce much more than sparks. It encouraged that theory by sneezing, and throwing a few sparks out of its wide nostrils.


Hagrid sighed. “Isn’t he beautiful?” he murmured. He extended a hand to stroke the dragon’s head, and the Ridgeback responded by snapping at his fingers and baring his fangs.


“Bless ‘im! Look, ‘e knows ‘is mummy!” Hagrid grinned.


They all looked at each other, faintly disturbed.


“Uh, Hagrid, have you mentioned the dragon to Professor Dumbledore?” Neville asked hesitantly.


“Yeah, if Dumbledore gave his blessing...” Ron enthused.


“No, ‘e...” Hagrid trailed off, paling.


“What, Hagrid, what is it?” Harry asked, scared of what the answer might be. He looked around at all the windows, and noticed one which had been disturbed. “Dammit!” he cried, running to the window. There was no mistaking that head of bleach-blond hair as Malfoy ran back to the castle. “Malfoy!”


Hagrid’s expression became still more troubled. “Oh dear.”




April turned into May, and Hagrid was still adamant that he would keep the dragon. Those seven days were rather detrimental to all of their moods, since Malfoy had something on them for once. Harry supposed it was kind of funny that the one time Malfoy genuinely had one over on them, he wasn’t saying a word. It didn’t cheer him up one jot.


“Just let him go,” Harry urged. “Set him free.”


“I can’t,” said Hagrid. “He’s too little. He’d die.”


They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn’t been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.


“I’ve decided to call ‘im Norbert,” said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. “He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where’s Mummy?”


“He’s lost his marbles,” Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.


“Hagrid,” said Harry loudly, “give it two weeks and Norbert’s going to be as long as your house. You know, in one week his wings are going to be smashing out your windows every time he decides to stretch. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment.”


“And he won’t even need to,” Ginny continued, “because in a few days your hut is going to start bursting into flame, and the professors will all get suspicious regardless of whether or not he snitches.”


Hagrid bit his lip.


“I… I know I can’ keep ‘im forever, bu’ I can’ jus’ dump him, I can’t.”


Harry suddenly turned to Ron. “Charlie,” he said.


“You’re losing it too,” Ron laughed. “I’m Ron, remember?”


“No, he’s right,” Ginny exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”


“Because clearly I’m the smart one,” Harry answered facetiously.


She mock-glared at him, but her smile ruined it. “We can send Norbert to Charlie! He’ll be pretty well looked after at the world’s biggest dragon reserve!”


“That’s brilliant!” Ron agreed. “So how about it, Hagrid?”


Hagrid, it turned out, had been quite fond of Charlie while he’d been at Hogwarts. It still took a bit more prodding, but he eventually agreed that they could send Charlie an owl to see if it could be done.


In the meantime, they decided to take turns helping Hagrid to look after Norbert, since they didn’t want it to become too obvious that Hagrid was neglecting his duties in order to take care of an illegal dragon. That day, it was Harry and Ginny. The next day would be Ron and Neville, and Thursday would be Ginny and Hermione. Ginny had volunteered for double shift since she was probably best equipped to handle a dragon, what with her extraordinary powers and whatnot. In fact, Dumbledore had just begun coaching her in the practical use of her talents. Since McGonagall and Flitwick already had Transfiguration and Charms covered, Dumbledore was going to be tutoring her in Defence. Therefore, Harry was pretty confident in their safety as they stuck around to help feed and entertain Norbert.


However, in spite of his concerns, Harry ended up having rather a good time. Apart from having to dodge the wings whenever Norbert unfurled them, there wasn’t really any trouble. Whenever Norbert snorted sparks or tried to bite, Ginny would just stretch her hands out and produce a silvery-white light shield, which deflected anything thrown at it. It became a bit of a game between the two of them, which only stopped when Norbert took one of his own reflected sparks in the eye and gave up.


The next day, he waited with Ginny and Hermione in the common room for Neville and Ron to return. They got back just before the eight o’clock curfew, and Ron groaned as he collapsed in an armchair, clutching his hand.


Hermione laid into him right away. “Why on earth didn’t you wear your dragonhide gloves?”


Ron glared at her.


“He, er, did, Hermione,” Neville answered for him. He held out a pair of heavily worn, dark green gloves, and Hermione gasped. One of them had a deep gash in it, with a couple of scales having been ripped right out, whereas the other had a hole stabbed right through it.


“Bloody hell!” Ginny cried.


“How old were they?” Hermione asked. “I heard that dragon scales lose their integrity after some time separated from the dragon.”


“Old enough,” Ron mumbled.


Harry stepped forwards and offered Ron his hand. “Ron, let’s get you to the hospital wing.” Ron didn’t take it.


“What, has our-”


“Little brother hurt himself?” Fred and George asked curiously, popping up behind the sofa they were sitting on.


“None of your beeswax,” Ron replied harshly.


“Hey, hey...” Fred put up his hands in surrender.


“Why all the hostility, Ronniekins?” George teased.


“Because the bloody thing bit me, that’s why!” he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. “I’m not going to be able to hold a quill for a week! I tell you, that beast is the most horrible animal I’ve ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you’d think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me, he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby.”


Neville finally broke, and began crying with mirth. Hermione snorted in a most un-Hermione-like way, and Harry and Ginny looked at each other, biting their lips to try and hold back the laughter.


“What bit you?” George asked.


“Is nobody gonna tell us anything?” said Fred.


“Oi, I’m in pain here!” Ron exclaimed indignantly.


Just then, there was a tapping on the window. Harry glanced up. “Hedwig!”


“What?” Ginny stared disbelievingly at the owl. “Romania and back in a day?”


“That bird is beastly,” Fred agreed.


“But will someone just fill in the gaps for us?” George pleaded.


“We’re not usually this slow...” Fred began.


“...but I think we’re missing a key bit of info here,” George finished.


Hermione looked at Harry, who nodded, and returned to the twins, seeming to take pity on them. “I guess that maybe you two could help...”


“Yup, you know what we’re good at,” Fred grinned.


She rolled her eyes, and beckoned them closer. They leaned in dramatically, and Hermione seemed to have second thoughts before whispering, “Hagrid is keeping a baby Norwegian Ridgeback in his hut.”


They stared at her, gobsmacked. “How did we miss this?” George asked Fred.


“We need to hang around this lot a bit more, bro,” Fred replied sincerely.


“Too true,” said George.


“Saturday night at the Astronomy Tower,” Harry whispered. “Charlie’s got a few friends who’ll come and pick him up.”


Ginny turned to the twins. “Perfect. We can scout for hiding places and secret passageways tonight seeing as we have Astronomy, and you two can keep Filch busy on Saturday.”


“Would the dungeons be far enough for you?” George inquired.


At her nod, they grinned identically. “Sweet.” They were about to turn and leave, presumably to find their partner-in-crime Lee Jordan, but then they remembered that Ron was supposed to be injured and decided to spend some quality time with their brother instead. Harry handed the letter to Ron, who snatched it away, and ran upstairs so that he wouldn’t hear them laughing.




By the time they got to Astronomy, they’d found a grand total of two passages, only one of which would be big enough to allow Norbert through. Everyone else from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were waiting. Since they were assigned partners for Astronomy at the start of each term, it was the one subject that Harry and Ginny had together in which they didn’t work together. Harry sat down next to Wayne Hopkins, his Hufflepuff partner, and flashed a grin.


Wayne looked at him curiously. “The last thing my mum said about you when she dropped me off at the station was to watch out, because if he’s anything like his dad, he’ll cause so much trouble that Filch’ll start following him around by habit.” Harry smirked and pulled his books from his bag. “That’s three times since Christmas you lot have come in late. You’re up to something.”


Harry looked at Wayne. The guy was eyeing him curiously, a small smile playing at his lips. He took a leaf out of Ginny’s book, and decided to forge a new friendship. “Well, let’s just say that you’d be smart to not give Fred and George Weasley as much credit as they take,” he grinned.


Wayne snorted. “Yeah, I’ll do that,” he said. “I’m guessing it helps when your girlfriend can make anything she wants just happen.”


“Well, it doesn’t work quite like that,” Harry replied. “I mean, if she wanted Hogwarts to collapse, it wouldn’t just happen. But if she wanted, say, someone’s clothes to snag on a chair, she could just click her fingers.”


“I heard about that one,” Wayne chuckled.


“Yeah,” Harry grinned. Ginny had used it on Parkinson on the way into Defence class. Pansy had given Gryffindor a glorious thirty second panic attack before Millicent Bulstrode wrestled her smock and robes free of the chair by force. “So it’s become common knowledge then, has it?”


“Yeah, pretty much. Well, at Hogwarts it has,” Wayne amended. “I don’t know how, but it still hasn’t made the papers. I mean, the adoption thing was pretty much instant.”


“I guess that’s the difference between Hogwarts and the Ministry. In Hogwarts, everyone knows but no-one tells, and in the Ministry, everyone tells but nobody knows,” Harry joked.


Wayne snorted and laughed, earning him a look from Professor Sinistra. She was a bit like McGonagall in that regard — she could silence anyone with the briefest glance. However, she was usually more lenient.


“You know, that thing’s come up on the front page of the Daily Prophet three times?” Wayne asked. “My dad got so pissed he wrote a letter asking when they would print news and stop being your personal PR machine.”


Harry held his nose to stop himself laughing. Professor Sinistra was alright, but he still didn’t particularly want to risk her wrath. “Oh boy,” he whispered. “Did he get a reply?”


“Nope,” Wayne grinned. “They never even published it.”


Harry rolled his eyes.


“But you know what was interesting?” he asked. “Dad showed me a little bit at the end of the article. Gringotts made a statement saying that in your parents’ Last Will and Testament, your mum and dad asked that you be looked after by Sirius Black or Arthur and Molly Weasley.”


Harry blinked. “Really? Who’s Sirius Black?”


He looked at Harry strangely, but then stopped himself. “Well, Sirius Black was your dad’s best friend,” Wayne replied apologetically, “but get this, he betrayed your location to You-Know-Who.”


Harry stared at him. “What?”


“The Ministry found him a couple of days later. One of your parents’ other friends, Peter Pettigrew, found him first, though. The guy tried to duel Black, but Black used some sort of Blasting Curse to rip open the entire street. He killed Pettigrew and twelve Muggles with that curse,” Wayne grimaced. “I don’t know how you hadn’t heard this story before. This, the Longbottoms, the Prewetts, the Boneses... Everyone knows these stories.”


Harry’s expression had gone ominously dark. “Yeah, well, I haven’t been around wizards too long. He’s in prison now, right?”


“Yeah, Azkaban. He’s got life, obviously. Although he probably doesn’t have his mind anymore by now.”


“What do you mean?”


“Well, Azkaban’s guarded by dementors, innit?” Wayne shrugged. “Soul-sucking, nightmare-making ghoul things? Nobody stays sane after ten years with them for company.”


“Pity,” Harry growled. Wayne raised an eyebrow. “I’ll want him to know it when I crush the life out of him.”


Wayne coughed. “Well, anyway, let’s try and find Mars, eh?”


Harry ground his teeth, and stared out at the starry sky. He’d never thought himself capable of murder before. He’d never even considered doing in any of the Dursleys; he’d only thought of escaping. Perhaps it was something to do with this puberty crap. All his emotions seemed more powerful, and more ready to jump to the fore than they had before. His parents’ only surviving murderer was spending the rest of his days in a prison guarded by dementors. ‘Good. Let him rot there.’




On Thursday morning, Harry woke up to the sound of Ron moaning. This time, however, it was different. He was moaning in pain. He got up and knocked on the frame of Ron’s bed.


“Are you okay in there, Ron?”


If he was honest, he wasn’t completely sure if he was okay. For the first time he could remember, he had dreamed last night. Not just the replaying vision of the flash of green light that he knew to be his parents’ demise, either. He dreamed of a faceless man, taunting him over the death of his mum and dad. Every so often, the dream would flicker to more pleasant things, but the emotions behind the nightmare were too powerful to be overridden. He would pull his wand on the man, but the other would be too fast, hitting him with a curse of immense power. And then Ginny would be there, producing her amazing shield to reflect the curse back at the man. And the man would be blown to bits, disintegrating in the face of the blast. And Harry would laugh over the ashes. But then he would turn back to Ginny, and there was only pain and betrayal in her eyes. The shield was still up, and it reflected his image. His nose had melted down till he had only slits for nostrils, and his lips were almost non-existent in his pale, waxy skin. But worst of all were his eyes. They were just as they had been in the Mirror of Erised: a glowing, angry red.


“My hand,” Ron groaned groggily. “I can barely move it. And it’s full of pins and needles.”


“Right, let’s get you to the hospital wing. Right now,” Harry stated. They hadn’t wanted to before because of the possibility of Madam Pomfrey recognising a dragon bite, but if Ron lost his hand to some poison in Norbert’s fangs then it would be out of their hands anyway. He got Neville up too, and they helped Ron to dress with his dead, swollen hand. Ron didn’t seem capable of being more than half-awake, and whether that was because of the earliness of the hour or the poison evidently coursing through him, Harry didn’t know.


The three of them trudged down to the common room, out through the portrait hole, through the portrait on the opposite wall of the seventh floor corridor, and into the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey thankfully didn’t ask any questions about how Ron had received his injury, and Harry and Neville soon left, telling Ron they’d be back to see him at break.


They didn’t visit at lunchtime, and were mildly alarmed by the change in Ron between morning break and the end of lessons.


“It’s not just my hand,” he whispered, “although that feels like it’s about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me. I shouldn’t have hit him at the Quidditch match, that’s why he’s doing this.”


They tried to calm Ron down, with limited success.


“It’ll all be over at midnight on Saturday,” said Hermione, but this didn’t soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.


“Midnight on Saturday!” he said in a hoarse voice. “Oh no, oh no — I’ve just remembered — Charlie’s letter was in that book Malfoy took, he’s going to know we’re getting rid of Norbert.”


They didn’t get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.


“We haven’t got time to change the plan,” Harry stated. Neville groaned, as if saying it had made it real somehow.


“We’ve just got to go on ahead with it,” Ginny agreed.


“Next time, we burn any letters, right?” Harry said.


Hermione laughed. “What are we, secret agents?”


“Something like that,” Ginny smirked.


“We’ve got the invisibility cloak,” Harry grinned. “No one knows about that.”


“And we’ve got me,” Ginny pointed out.


“Not that you would be at all conceited, hmm, Ginny?” Hermione murmured.


Ginny, as usual, switched gears without a clutch, glaring daggers at Hermione. “You lot are the ones who keep trying to persuade me I’m so bloody special!”


Hermione’s lips twitched. “Yeah, I know.”


Harry sighed and shook his head at Neville, who grinned back. “And we have Fred and George. We can’t underestimate them either. All in all, I think we could pull this off if Dumbledore himself knew what we were doing.”


“What about McGonagall? Or Snape?” Neville asked.


“Let’s cross those bridges if and when we have to,” Ginny suggested.




Saturday evening found them all seated by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Nearly Headless Nick had drifted through to say goodnight a few minutes before, and most of the stragglers had left after that. Harry noticed how slowly time passed when he stared at the grandfather clock.


Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.


He let his fingers brush Ginny’s cheek softly, and felt her smile in response. They couldn’t get caught. They were too good at sneaking around. Fred and George had started running an inventory to pass the time. He recognised stink pellets and dungbombs, two of the most common prank products at Hogwarts. The dungbombs were, as their name might suggest, the less subtle of the two. One dungbomb would release a thick, brown, foul gas that would spread to fill a room the size of their common room in a matter of seconds.


Soon, however, the twins were revealing new items that he didn’t recognise.


“Hey guys, what’re those?” Harry asked.


“These?” Fred said innocently.


“Just a few little tricks, brother,” George smiled.


“Here, take a look,” Fred grinned, flinging a small, discus-like object at Harry. He snatched it out of the air instinctively.


“One of our creations,” George said proudly.


“Haven’t given it a name yet,” Fred added.


“Only finished it a few days ago,” said George.


“You put it in a doorway.”


“Activate it.”


“Someone steps through...”


“Filibuster Fireworks!” they said in perfect stereo.


“Sweet,” said Harry admiringly. It wasn’t exactly subtle, but it made for an unmissable alarm or a powerful distraction. He made to toss it back, but Fred shook his head.


“Nope, that one’s yours mate,” he said.


“You might need it,” George added.


“Cheers guys,” Harry grinned, tucking it securely into an inner pocket of his robes. “How do you activate it?”


“Tap it with your wand.”


“Say ‘stand guard’.”


“Cool,” said Harry.


The clock struck eleven.


“Good luck guys,” Neville said, heading upstairs.


“Try not to cause too much damage,” Hermione told the twins.


“Aww Hermione, we wouldn’t dream of it.”


“Yeah, if we wreck everything today...”


“What’ll we spend the rest of term doing?”


She huffed at them, but added, “Thanks for helping, anyway.”


“Anything for the pretty lady,” George grinned.


Hermione blushed and ran upstairs.


“Well, let’s do this,” Ginny said.


“Five dungbombs, fifty stink pellets, five Filibuster Fireworks, ten slime sacks, five slap sticks and four... whatever these things are,” George recounted.


“Plus a Norwegian Ridgeback,” Fred grinned. “What could go wrong?”


Fifteen minutes later, Harry and Ginny were knocking on the door to Hagrid’s hut. They had worried for a moment because Peeves had been messing around in the clock tower. He did eventually run out of cogs and gears to smash, though, and just floated away, cackling madly to himself.


When they got down to the hut, they found that Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.

“He’s got lots o’ rats an’ some brandy fer the journey,” said Hagrid in a muffled voice. “An’ I’ve packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely.”


From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though the teddy was having his head torn off.


“You’re doing the right thing, Hagrid,” Ginny said softly, running up to the big man and giving him a hug. What with the size difference she was basically just leaning against his leg, but it seemed to comfort him a little.


“Thanks, Ginny,” Hagrid said. “Get goin’ then.”


They pulled the invisibility cloak over themselves and Norbert, and cast levitation charms on the crate. As they did, there was a distant bang.


“That’s our cue,” Ginny whispered.


“Bye-bye, Norbert!” Hagrid called, sobbing. “Mummy will never forget you!”


They hurried up through secret passage after secret passage. Norbert seemed to appreciate the need for stealth, and was keeping quiet for once, which Harry was very grateful for since it was taking all of his concentration to keep his footing at the breakneck pace Ginny was setting.


The third time they emerged into a corridor, they froze upon seeing a sudden movement ahead of them. Harry’s Levitation Charm went haywire for a second, and Ginny grunted with the effort of keeping the crate stable. They shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.


Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.


“Detention!” she shouted. “And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you...”


“You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming — he’s got a dragon!”


“What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on — I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!”


Norbert growled in his crate. Harry and Ginny stared at each other, and Harry hastily rubbed the wall behind them, opening up the secret passage for them to retreat into. However, as they sat in the dark passageway, waiting for McGonagall to come searching for them, they heard their Head of House storming off in the other direction with her charge. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. It appeared that the cloak had muffled Norbert just enough for them to go unnoticed.


The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. At the top of the tower they threw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Ginny’s arms lit on fire instantly, and she did her little dance again, leaving glowing trails in the cold night air.


“Malfoy’s got detention, Malfoy’s got detention!” she grinned. “I wonder what Fred and George are up to?”


“Running for their lives from Snape in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net?” Harry suggested.


Ginny shuddered. “I’d sure as hell be running.”


“Hey, it’s cold, bring that fire closer,” Harry smiled.


“This?” Ginny teased, making the flames dance across her body. Norbert thrashed harder in his crate, and there was an ominous cracking sound that killed the mood slightly. “Shit.”


“Language,” Harry laughed.


Ginny looked at him sideways. “If you’re happy with Norbert breaking free and setting fire to the school...”


“Ginny, you’re more likely to set fire to the school right now,” Harry chuckled.


“Fair enough.” She put out her arms with a jerk.


“Hey, why’d you do that?” Harry complained.


“Too visible,” she smirked. “Don’t want Snape running up here in a bathrobe and hair net.”


A few minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping out of the darkness.


Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry and Ginny the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them.


“You might want to use some kind of Unbreakable Charm on the crate,” Ginny advised. “We think he’s trying to break out.”


“Ehh, I’ll handle that,” a tall, dark man said. “Integrum Talius Rem Vinculus. Ought to hold it for the journey.”


“Thanks for doing this, guys,” Harry said.


“Yeah, thank you,” Ginny smiled.


“Not a problem, kids.”


“It’s something to tell the grandchildren about.”


“Be good, kids.”


They all shook hands and then the four men took off. At long last, Norbert was going... going... gone.


“Well,” Ginny smirked. “Looks like it’s just us now.”


“Yeah,” Harry said. “I wonder what Fred and George will think when we’re not in the common room.”


“I don’t,” Ginny replied. “Let’s poke around.”

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