Chapter 12: - Joey and Kaiba Agree on Something!
Quirrell, however, must have been braver then Yami had thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.
Every time the group passed the third floor corridor Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check Fluffy was still growling inside, and give the thumbs up to the others. Snape was in his usual bad temper, which, Joey had said, probably meant the stone was still safe. When ever Harry passed, he gave Professor Quirrell an encouraging smile, and the others started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.
Hermione and Kari, however, had more on their mind then the Philosopher's Stone. They had drawn up revision time-tables and Hermione had colour coded all her notes. The group wouldn't have minded, but Hermione had started nagging them to do the same. "Hermione, the exams are ages away!" Joey groaned one evening, when she'd started trying to nag them during a duel.
"Ten weeks! That's not ages!" Hermione snapped, while Kari looked up from her notes, from where she was curled up by the fire, "It's like a blink of an eye to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old!" Ron reminded her, "Why are you two revising anyway? You both know it all!"
"No we're not six hundred years old, but two of us are five THOUSAND years old." Hermione snapped back, Yami and Ombre looked up at her, suddenly remembering they hadn't done any revision, and Kari had told Ombre she wasn't going to help her yami cheat by letting Ombre use Kari's memories. "You two should know better at least!" Hermione growled at the two yamis, "We need to pass these exams to get into the second year! They're very important, I should have been studying over a month ago, I don't know what's got into me…"
Unfortunately, the teachers had the same idea as Hermione. They gave the first years so much homework that the Easter Holidays weren't half as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Kari next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragons blood or Hermione practising wand movements while you were trying to concentrate on your next duel saving move. Moaning and yawning the group spent most of their free time in the library with the two girls, trying to get through most of their extra work.
"I'll never remember this!" Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing his quill down and looking longingly out the window, Joey had given up about ten minutes ago and was leant back in his chair. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The day was a clear forget-me-not blue and there was the scent of summer in the air. Yami prodded Yugi, who'd fallen asleep over his books, making him jump and sit bolt upright. "I'm awake!" The boy gasped, making Joey laugh and get scolded by the librarian.
"Come on hikari, just a ten minute break…?" Harry heard Ombre moan, he didn't look up until he heard her say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
"Just looking," He said, in a shifty voice that got everyone's attention at once, "An' what're you lot up to? Yeh not still looking for Nicolas Flamel are yeh?"
"Oh we found out who his is ages ago," Said Joey impressively, "And we know what that dog is guarding, it's a Philosopher's Sto…"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening, "Don' go shouting it about! What's wrong with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you as a matter of fact," Said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy…"
"Shhhh!" Said Hagrid again, "Listen…come an' see me alter, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed to know. They'll think I've told yeh."
"See you later then." Said Ombre. Hagrid shuffled off.
"What do you think he was hiding behind his back?" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Do you think it has anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see which section he was in." Yugi said, bored of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table. "Dragons!" He whispered, "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide…"
Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." Said Harry.
"But it's against our laws," Said Ron, "Dragon breeding has been outlawed since 1709, everyone knows that. Anyway you can't tame dragons, it's too dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie has from the wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't any wild ones in Britain, are there?" Kari asked.
"Of course there are," Said Ron, "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job keeping them hush hush, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?"
When they knocked on the door of the Gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see the curtains all drawn. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" Before he'd let them in and shut the door quickly behind them. It was stiflingly 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 with they, refused.
"So…Yeh wanted to ask me something?"
"Yes." Harry said, no point beating around the bush, "We were wonderin' if you could tell us what is guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."
"O' course I can't," He said, "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know to much already, so I won't 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 must know you might not want to tell us, but you do know everything that goes on around here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. Kari smirked, Hermione was most defiantly smart, "We only wondered who had done the guarding really."
Hermione smiled, "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words, the group beamed at Hermione.
"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 something o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah… yer not still on abou' that, are yer? Look Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Harry knew the others were thinking the same thing 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?" Yugi asked anxiously, "And you wouldn't tell anyone would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except for me and Dumbledore." Said Hagrid proudly.
"Well that's something." Yami muttered to the others, "Hagrid, can we open a window? It's too hot in here."
"Can't, sorry Yami." Said Hagrid. Joey noticed him glance at the fire. Joey looked at it too.
"Hagrid, what's that?" But he already knew what it was, or what he hoped it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah…" Said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's… er…"
"Where did you get it?" Said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "A dragon's egg must have cost you a fortune." That did it, Joey joined Ron at the fireplace, staring intently at the egg.
"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 glad ter be rid of it , ter be honest."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Kari asked, less then thrilled with the idea.
"Well, I've been doin' some readin'." Said Hagrid, pulling out 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 there." Hagrid ran through a list of things a dragon would need. "What I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback, they're rare, them."
Hagrid looked pleased with himself, Joey looked fascinated, Hermione however, looked less then pleased. "But Hagrid, you live in a wooden house."
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Ever wondered what it would be like to lead a peaceful life?" Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making revision timetables for everyone in the group too. It was driving them mad.
"Peaceful life?" Yugi asked, "What's that?" He asked, half in jest. Joey laughed.
"I don't we've had a 'peaceful life' since before you got the Puzzle, what is it? Three, four years ago now?" Joey asked, Kari smiled. She had to admit her life hadn't been exactly peaceful since she'd met them.
"Even before that." Yugi admitted. Which caused the three who hadn't heard everything to pounce on them and make them tell them everything that had happened to make it an 'un-peaceful life'. It took hours.
The following breakfast time, Hedwig gave Harry a note from Hagrid, it had only three words, "It is hatching."
Joey and Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione and Kari, however, wouldn't hear of it.
"Come on guys, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Joey asked, trying to convince them. Kaiba overheard, and came over.
"A dragon hatching?" He asked, trying not to sound interested and failing badly. Joey immediately shut up, not wanting to share with Kaiba.
"Shush, keep it down Kaiba." Kari growled.
"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…" Hermione was cut of rudely.
"Shut Up!" Harry whispered, Mouthboy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Yugi didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
Joey, Ron, Hermione and Kari argued all the way down to Herdology, and in the end the two girls agreed to run down to Hagrid's during the break, Kaiba was going to go anyway and Joey was NOT going to miss it if Rich-boy was going to see it, even if he'd had to go down on his own. When the bell sounded the group dumped their trowels and raced down to Hagrid's, he met them, looking flushed and excited. Kaiba joined them, much to Joey's disgust.
"It's nearly out!" He ushered them inside, Kaiba and Joey both looked excited, Kaiba trying but failing to hide it, and Joey bouncing around like Yugi on both coffee and sugar.
The egg was led on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. They all pulled chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath, though if Joey and Kaiba got any closer they'd be sat on it. Kaiba looked like he was on Cloud 9 while Joey had moved up to Cloud 29.
Kari had a random thought, If Joey paid this much attention in class he'd be getting more A+'s then he could count.
'Be nice hikari.' Ombre sent her though the mind link, Kari grimaced; she hadn't meant to be so loud that Ombre could hear her.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumple black umbrella. It's spiny wings were huge compared to it's skinny jet body and it had a long snout with huge nostrils, stubs of horns and bulging yellow eyes. Joey and Kaiba crooned but the dragon walked over to Yami took one look and tried to bite him.
Kaiba laughed his head off as it sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of it's snout. "Good boy!" Kaiba said, calming down, with affection in his voice, almost at the same time as Joey and Hagrid said, "Bad boy!"
"Isn't he beautiful? I'm gunna call him Norbert." Hagrid murmured. Joey and Kaiba had to agree. Kaiba reached out and stroked the dragon's head with a finger and the dragon leaned into the touch, though if anyone else but he or Joey tried it the dragon just snapped at them, though not it wasn't as vicious when it snapped at Hagrid.
"Hagrid?" Ombre asked thoughtfully, "Just how fast do dragons grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained out of his face and he leapt up and ran to the window.
"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, moving further away from the dragon that seemed to want to take his hand off.
"Someone was looking through a gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's running back up ter the school."
Yami bolted to the door and looked out. Even at this distance he couldn't mistake him, it was Malfoy and he'd seen the dragon.
Every time the group passed the third floor corridor Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check Fluffy was still growling inside, and give the thumbs up to the others. Snape was in his usual bad temper, which, Joey had said, probably meant the stone was still safe. When ever Harry passed, he gave Professor Quirrell an encouraging smile, and the others started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.
Hermione and Kari, however, had more on their mind then the Philosopher's Stone. They had drawn up revision time-tables and Hermione had colour coded all her notes. The group wouldn't have minded, but Hermione had started nagging them to do the same. "Hermione, the exams are ages away!" Joey groaned one evening, when she'd started trying to nag them during a duel.
"Ten weeks! That's not ages!" Hermione snapped, while Kari looked up from her notes, from where she was curled up by the fire, "It's like a blink of an eye to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old!" Ron reminded her, "Why are you two revising anyway? You both know it all!"
"No we're not six hundred years old, but two of us are five THOUSAND years old." Hermione snapped back, Yami and Ombre looked up at her, suddenly remembering they hadn't done any revision, and Kari had told Ombre she wasn't going to help her yami cheat by letting Ombre use Kari's memories. "You two should know better at least!" Hermione growled at the two yamis, "We need to pass these exams to get into the second year! They're very important, I should have been studying over a month ago, I don't know what's got into me…"
Unfortunately, the teachers had the same idea as Hermione. They gave the first years so much homework that the Easter Holidays weren't half as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Kari next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragons blood or Hermione practising wand movements while you were trying to concentrate on your next duel saving move. Moaning and yawning the group spent most of their free time in the library with the two girls, trying to get through most of their extra work.
"I'll never remember this!" Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing his quill down and looking longingly out the window, Joey had given up about ten minutes ago and was leant back in his chair. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The day was a clear forget-me-not blue and there was the scent of summer in the air. Yami prodded Yugi, who'd fallen asleep over his books, making him jump and sit bolt upright. "I'm awake!" The boy gasped, making Joey laugh and get scolded by the librarian.
"Come on hikari, just a ten minute break…?" Harry heard Ombre moan, he didn't look up until he heard her say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
"Just looking," He said, in a shifty voice that got everyone's attention at once, "An' what're you lot up to? Yeh not still looking for Nicolas Flamel are yeh?"
"Oh we found out who his is ages ago," Said Joey impressively, "And we know what that dog is guarding, it's a Philosopher's Sto…"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening, "Don' go shouting it about! What's wrong with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you as a matter of fact," Said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy…"
"Shhhh!" Said Hagrid again, "Listen…come an' see me alter, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed to know. They'll think I've told yeh."
"See you later then." Said Ombre. Hagrid shuffled off.
"What do you think he was hiding behind his back?" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Do you think it has anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see which section he was in." Yugi said, bored of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table. "Dragons!" He whispered, "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide…"
Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." Said Harry.
"But it's against our laws," Said Ron, "Dragon breeding has been outlawed since 1709, everyone knows that. Anyway you can't tame dragons, it's too dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie has from the wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't any wild ones in Britain, are there?" Kari asked.
"Of course there are," Said Ron, "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job keeping them hush hush, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?"
When they knocked on the door of the Gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see the curtains all drawn. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" Before he'd let them in and shut the door quickly behind them. It was stiflingly 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 with they, refused.
"So…Yeh wanted to ask me something?"
"Yes." Harry said, no point beating around the bush, "We were wonderin' if you could tell us what is guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."
"O' course I can't," He said, "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know to much already, so I won't 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 must know you might not want to tell us, but you do know everything that goes on around here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. Kari smirked, Hermione was most defiantly smart, "We only wondered who had done the guarding really."
Hermione smiled, "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words, the group beamed at Hermione.
"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 something o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah… yer not still on abou' that, are yer? Look Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Harry knew the others were thinking the same thing 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?" Yugi asked anxiously, "And you wouldn't tell anyone would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except for me and Dumbledore." Said Hagrid proudly.
"Well that's something." Yami muttered to the others, "Hagrid, can we open a window? It's too hot in here."
"Can't, sorry Yami." Said Hagrid. Joey noticed him glance at the fire. Joey looked at it too.
"Hagrid, what's that?" But he already knew what it was, or what he hoped it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah…" Said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's… er…"
"Where did you get it?" Said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "A dragon's egg must have cost you a fortune." That did it, Joey joined Ron at the fireplace, staring intently at the egg.
"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 glad ter be rid of it , ter be honest."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Kari asked, less then thrilled with the idea.
"Well, I've been doin' some readin'." Said Hagrid, pulling out 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 there." Hagrid ran through a list of things a dragon would need. "What I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback, they're rare, them."
Hagrid looked pleased with himself, Joey looked fascinated, Hermione however, looked less then pleased. "But Hagrid, you live in a wooden house."
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Ever wondered what it would be like to lead a peaceful life?" Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making revision timetables for everyone in the group too. It was driving them mad.
"Peaceful life?" Yugi asked, "What's that?" He asked, half in jest. Joey laughed.
"I don't we've had a 'peaceful life' since before you got the Puzzle, what is it? Three, four years ago now?" Joey asked, Kari smiled. She had to admit her life hadn't been exactly peaceful since she'd met them.
"Even before that." Yugi admitted. Which caused the three who hadn't heard everything to pounce on them and make them tell them everything that had happened to make it an 'un-peaceful life'. It took hours.
The following breakfast time, Hedwig gave Harry a note from Hagrid, it had only three words, "It is hatching."
Joey and Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione and Kari, however, wouldn't hear of it.
"Come on guys, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Joey asked, trying to convince them. Kaiba overheard, and came over.
"A dragon hatching?" He asked, trying not to sound interested and failing badly. Joey immediately shut up, not wanting to share with Kaiba.
"Shush, keep it down Kaiba." Kari growled.
"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…" Hermione was cut of rudely.
"Shut Up!" Harry whispered, Mouthboy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Yugi didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
Joey, Ron, Hermione and Kari argued all the way down to Herdology, and in the end the two girls agreed to run down to Hagrid's during the break, Kaiba was going to go anyway and Joey was NOT going to miss it if Rich-boy was going to see it, even if he'd had to go down on his own. When the bell sounded the group dumped their trowels and raced down to Hagrid's, he met them, looking flushed and excited. Kaiba joined them, much to Joey's disgust.
"It's nearly out!" He ushered them inside, Kaiba and Joey both looked excited, Kaiba trying but failing to hide it, and Joey bouncing around like Yugi on both coffee and sugar.
The egg was led on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. They all pulled chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath, though if Joey and Kaiba got any closer they'd be sat on it. Kaiba looked like he was on Cloud 9 while Joey had moved up to Cloud 29.
Kari had a random thought, If Joey paid this much attention in class he'd be getting more A+'s then he could count.
'Be nice hikari.' Ombre sent her though the mind link, Kari grimaced; she hadn't meant to be so loud that Ombre could hear her.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumple black umbrella. It's spiny wings were huge compared to it's skinny jet body and it had a long snout with huge nostrils, stubs of horns and bulging yellow eyes. Joey and Kaiba crooned but the dragon walked over to Yami took one look and tried to bite him.
Kaiba laughed his head off as it sneezed and a couple of sparks flew out of it's snout. "Good boy!" Kaiba said, calming down, with affection in his voice, almost at the same time as Joey and Hagrid said, "Bad boy!"
"Isn't he beautiful? I'm gunna call him Norbert." Hagrid murmured. Joey and Kaiba had to agree. Kaiba reached out and stroked the dragon's head with a finger and the dragon leaned into the touch, though if anyone else but he or Joey tried it the dragon just snapped at them, though not it wasn't as vicious when it snapped at Hagrid.
"Hagrid?" Ombre asked thoughtfully, "Just how fast do dragons grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained out of his face and he leapt up and ran to the window.
"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, moving further away from the dragon that seemed to want to take his hand off.
"Someone was looking through a gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's running back up ter the school."
Yami bolted to the door and looked out. Even at this distance he couldn't mistake him, it was Malfoy and he'd seen the dragon.