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J. K. Rowling «Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone» / Chapter XIV. Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback
J. K. Rowling «Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone»
Chapter XIV. Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback
Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd
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 they passed the
third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would press their ears to the door
to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his
usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Harry
passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Ron had
started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.
Hermione,
however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing
up study schedules and colorcoding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have
minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.
"Hermione, the exams
are ages away."
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's
not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're
not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you
studying for, you already know it A."
"What am I studying for?
Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second
year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't
know what's gotten into me...."
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed
to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on
them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones.
It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's
blood or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most
of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra
work.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon,
throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was
the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not
blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Harry, who was
looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't
look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out
of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'," he said, in
a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?"
He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel,
are yeh?" "Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively.
"And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St --"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening.
"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter 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 later, I'm not promisin' I'll
tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren'
s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh --"
"See you later,
then," said Harry.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding
behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Do you think it
had anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see what section
he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough 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 was outlawed by the
Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from
noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame
dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones
in Romania."
"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?"
said Harry.
"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh
Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I
can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them,
to make them forget."
"So what on earths Hagrid up to?"
said Hermione.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an
hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid
called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly
behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm
day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them
stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So -- yeh wanted to ask me
somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating
around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding
the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him.
"0' course I cant, he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number
two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's
here fer a good reason. It Was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've
worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you
know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering
voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only
wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered
who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's
chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione.
"Well,
I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy
from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout -- Professor
Flitwick -- Professor McGonagall --" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor
Quirrell -- an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten
someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah
-- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone,
he's not about ter steal it."
Harry knew Ron and Hermione 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
to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."
"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance at the
fire. Harry looked at it, too.
"Hagrid -- what's that?"
But he already knew what 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, Hagrid?"
said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've
cost you a fortune."
"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night.
I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with
a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin' , said Hagrid, pulling a large book from
under his pillow. "Got this outta the library -- Dragon Breeding for Pleasure
and Profit -- it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the
egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches,
feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see
here -- how ter recognize diff'rent eggs -- what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback.
They're rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione
didn't.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
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. "Wonder what
it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening
they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had
now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them
nuts.
Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from
Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.
Ron wanted to skip
Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"
"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's
going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing --"
"Shut
up!" Harry whispered.
Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped
dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's
face at all.
Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology and in the
end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning
break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three
of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge
of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's
nearly out." He ushered them inside.
The egg was lying on the table.
There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise
was coming from it.
They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched
with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split
open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry
thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared
to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns
and bulging, orange eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its
snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out
a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed
fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow,
exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained
from his face -- he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's
the matter?"
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains
-- it's a kid -- he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Harry bolted
to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.
Malfoy had seen the dragon.
Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's
face during the next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous. They spent
most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.
"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 him Norbert," said
Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch.
Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"
"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. Malfoy could go
to Dumbledore at any moment."
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I --
I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."
Harry suddenly turned to Ron. Charlie, he said.
"You're losing it,
too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"
"No -- Charlie
-- your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert
to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"
And
in the end, Hagrid agreed that they could send -an owl to Charlie to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting
alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock
on the wall had just
chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open.
Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had
been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats
by the crate.
"It bit me!" 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 dragon's 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."
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have
Charlie's answer!"
The three of them put their heads together to read
the note.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter -- I'd be
glad to take the Norwegian 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 mustn'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've got the invisibility cloak," said
Harry. "It shouldn't be too difficult -- I think the cloaks big enough to
cover two of us and Norbert."
It was a mark of how bad the last week
had been that the other two agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert --
and Malfoy.
There was a hitch. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had
swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam
Pomfrey -- would she recognize a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he had
no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's
fangs were poisonous.
Harry and Hermione rushed up to the hospital wing
at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.
"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've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me
-I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."
Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down.
"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."
Harry and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that
moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.
"It's too late
to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione. "We haven't got time to
send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert.
We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't
know about that."
They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside
with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk
to them.
"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at
a tricky stage -- nothin' I can't handle."
When they told him about
Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because
Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.
"Aargh! It's all right, he
only got my boot -- jus' playin' -- he's only a baby, after all."
The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. Harry and Hermione
walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.
They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye
to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a
very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because
they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where
he'd been playing tennis against the wall. 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.
"Bye-bye,
Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the
invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mommy will never
forget you!"
How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle,
they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase
in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. UP another staircase, then
another -- even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the
tallest tower.
Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop
the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, 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!"
The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing
in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air
did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione
did a sort of jig.
"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"
"Don't," Harry advised her.
Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited,
Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks
came swooping down out of the darkness.
Charlie's friends were a cheery
lot. They showed Harry and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could
suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and
then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
At last, Norbert was going... going... gone.
They slipped back down the
spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off
them. No more dragon -- Malfoy in detention -- what could spoil their happiness?
The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into
the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well,
well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left
the invisibility cloak on top of the tower.
Contents:
Chapter I. The Boy Who Lived
Chapter II. The Vanishing Glass
Chapter III. The Letters From No One
Chapter IV. The Keeper Of The Keys
Chapter V. Diagon Alley
Chapter VI. The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters
Chapter VII. The Sorting Hat
Chapter VIII. The Potions Master
Chapter IX. The Midnight Duel
Chapter X. Halloween
Chapter XI. Quidditch
Chapter XII. The Mirror Of Erised
Chapter XIII. Nicolas Flamel
Chapter XIV. Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback
Chapter XV. The Forbidden Forest
Chapter XVI. Through The Trapdoor
Chapter XVII. The Man With Two Faces
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