Because Harry and the others were sure that Snape was trying to steal the stone and that Quirrell was the guardian. So Harry gave Quirrell an encouraging smile every time he passed him on the road, and Ron began to persuade people to stop laughing at Quirrell's stutter, to which Bunce was utterly speechless except to say,"You'll regret it."
Hermione, on the other hand, had more to worry about than the Stone. She had already started to make revision plans and colored all her notes. Harry and Ron, with the exception of Bunce, had not cared much, but she kept nagging at them to do so.
"Hermione, the exams are centuries away.”
"Ten weeks," retorted Hermione."Not centuries. For Nicolas Flamel, it's the blink of an eye.”
"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her."Besides, why do you need to study anyway, you know everything.”
"Why should I revise? Are you crazy? Do you know that we have to pass these exams to get into the second year? I should have started studying a month ago. I don't know what happened to me."
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to think the same as Hermione. They had a lot of homework to do, and the Easter holiday was far less fun than Christmas. Unless you were Bunce, it was hard to relax while Hermione was reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood, or practicing wand movements. Harry and Ron had to spend most of their free time with her in the library, sighing and yawning as they struggled to finish their work.
"I'll never remember this." One afternoon, when Ron could take it no more, he threw down his quill and watched helplessly as Bunce closed his eyes.
Harry was buried in searching for "dittany" in A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi when he heard Ron say,"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid came stomping over, hiding something behind him. He looked out of place in his moleskin coat.
"Just looking around," said Hagrid, his voice evasive, which caught their interest at once. "What are you doing here?" He suddenly looked suspicious. "Still looking for Nicolas Flamel, are you?”
"Well, we figured out who he was hundreds of years ago," said Ron triumphantly."And we know what the dog's guarding, the Sorcerer's Stone-"
"Shhh-" said Hagrid again."Listen-come find me later, remember, I didn't promise to tell you anything, but don't make a racket here, there's stuff students aren't supposed to know. They'll think I told you-"
"See you later, then." said Harry.
Hagrid stomped away.
"What is he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Do you think it has anything to do with the Sorcerer's Stone?”
"I'm going to see what book he was looking for.”said Ron, who had grown tired of reading. He returned a minute later, carrying a large pile of books in his arms, and slammed them onto the table.
"Dragon!" he whispered."Hagrid's looking up information about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species in Great Britain and Iceland, From Egg Hatching to Nirvana, A Guide to Raising Dragons.”
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me that the first time I met him.”said Harry.
" But it's illegal," said Ron." The Wizarding Convention of 1709 passed a bill to ban dragons, and everyone knows that. If we keep dragons in our back garden, it'll be hard to keep them unnoticed by Muggles-besides, they'll be hard to tame, and dangerous. You should have seen the burns on Charlie's body, they were all left by the wild dragons in Romania.”
"But are there no wild dragons in Britain?”said Harry.
" Of course there are," Ron continued." There are ordinary Welsh-green dragons and Hebridin-black dragons. I can tell you that the Ministry of Magic has a job to hide the existence of these wild dragons. Our wizards often have to jinx Muggles who see wild dragons to make them forget all about it.”
"So what's Hagrid up to?”said Hermione.
"Raising dragons." Bangs said as he stretched.
An hour later, they knocked on the door of the hunting ground guard's cabin. They were surprised to find that all the curtains were tightly drawn. Hagrid's first shout was,"Who's there?”After letting them in, she quickly turned around and closed the door.
It was suffocating in the small room. Even though it was such a warm sunny day, the fireplace was still burning brightly. Hagrid poured them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they politely declined.
"So-you have something to ask me?”said Hagrid, pulling his beard.
"Yes." said Harry, there was no need to beat around the bush. "We don't know if you can tell us what other traps guard the Stone besides Fluffy?”
Hagrid frowned at them.
"Of course I can't say." He said," First, I don't know myself. Second, you already know too much, so even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. The stone was here for a reason. It was almost stolen from Gringotts-I suppose you know all about that? I don't understand how you know about Fluffy.”
"Oh, Hagrid, you probably don't want to tell us, you must know. Nothing that happened here could escape your eyes.”said Hermione in a sweet, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard quivered; they could tell he was smiling. "Actually, we just want to know who designed those traps.”Hermione went on."We wanted to know who else Dumbledore trusted to help him, besides you.”
Hagrid puffed out his chest at the last words.
"Well, it doesn't hurt to tell you-let's see-he borrowed Fluffy from me-and had several other teachers do magic-Professor Sprout-Professor Flitwick-Professor McGonagall-" he counted on his fingers."Professor Quirrell-and of course, Dumbledore did magic himself. Wait a minute, I forgot someone. Oh yes, Professor Snape.”
"Snape?"
"Yeah-are you still suspicious of him? Look, Snape's helping to protect the Stone, he's not going to steal it.”
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?”said Harry eagerly."You won't tell anyone, will you? Not even the teacher, right?”
"No one but Dumbledore and I will know.”said Hagrid proudly.
"That's good, that's good." Harry muttered. "Hagrid, can't we open a window? I'm so hot."
"No, Harry, I'm sorry," said Hagrid.
"Hagrid-what's that?" asked Bunce, feigning interest.
Actually, he already knew. In the middle of the fire, under the kettle, lay a large black egg.
"Well," said Hagrid, twirling his beard uneasily,"that's-oh"
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?”said Ron, crouching by the fire and examining the large egg more closely. "It must have cost you a lot of money!"
"I won it." said Hagrid."I was drinking in the village last night and playing cards with a stranger. In fact, the man was probably just dying to get rid of it.”
"But what are you going to do when it hatches, Hagrid?”asked Hermione.
"Oh, I've been reading." said Hagrid, pulling a large book out from under his pillow."Borrowed it from the library-Raising Dragons for Pleasure and Profits-a bit out of date, of course, but it's very comprehensive. Put the eggs in the fire because their mother is breathing on them. You see, it says here, after it hatches, feed it a barrel of Brandy and chicken blood every half an hour. And look here--how to tell the different eggs apart--I got a Norway Ridgeback, which is very rare.”
He looked pleased with himself, but Bangs didn't.
"Don't forget you live in a wooden house, Hagrid.”he said wisely.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming happily as he fiddled with the fire.
"I really want to know what a peaceful life is like.”sighed Ron. Night after night, they struggled to finish the pile of homework their teacher had given them. Hermione had already started making revision plans for Harry and Ron (Bunce had been included, but had been refused).）This was simply driving these two clowns crazy.
Then, one morning at breakfast, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. There were only four words written on it,"Almost out of the shell."
Ron didn't want Herbalism and wanted to go straight to Hagrid's cabin, but Hermione was adamant.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives do we get to see a baby dragon hatch?”
"We have classes, or we'll get into trouble. If anyone finds out what Hagrid's been doing, he'll be worse off than us-"
"Don't say anymore." Harry whispered warningly.
Malfoy was only a few steps away, stopping to listen.
Ron had been arguing with Hermione in Herbalism. Finally, Hermione agreed to go with them to Hagrid's cabin during the morning break. The bell in the castle rang at the end of the lesson, and they dropped their shovels quickly and hurried across the grounds toward the edge of the forbidden forest. Hagrid greeted them, his face flushed and excited.
"It's about to come out." He let them into the cottage. "Why don't you come in, Bunce?"
"No, it's too hot inside. I won't look.”Bangs said from outside the room.
"Then forget it. Wait for them to finish watching. It'll be quick.”said Hagrid, closing the door.
After a while.
"What happened?"
"Bunce looks like he's beating someone up,"
Harry darted to the door and looked out. Even if there was a distance between them, he would never mistake them.
It was Malfoy.
They spent most of their spare time in Hagrid's dark cabin over the next week, trying to reason with him.
"Just let it go," Harry urged."Let it go."”
"I can't," said Hagrid."He's too small, he'll die.”
They looked at the little dragon. In just a week, it had grown three times its original length. Puffs of smoke came out of its nostrils. Hagrid had long since put his job of keeping watch over the hunting grounds to one side because the dragon was making him very busy. The floor was littered with empty Brandy bottles and chicken feathers.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon through his teary eyes."He really knows me now, you see. Norbert! Norbert! Where is Mommy?"
"He doesn't know you at all, Hagrid.”Bangs said as he watched the little dragon spit out a small ball of flame.
"Hagrid," said Harry, raising his voice,"Norbert will be as long as your house in two weeks.”
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't just throw him away, I can't.”
"Ron, ask your brother Charlie.”Bangs reminded.
"You're confused too, Hagrid, I'm Ron, remember?”said Ron.
At last Hagrid agreed to send an owl to ask Charlie first.
On Wednesday night, after everyone else had gone to bed, Bunce and the others were still sitting in the common room. The clock on the wall had just struck twelve when the portrait hole suddenly opened. Ron pulled off the Cloak and said,"It bit me!”said Ron, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloodstained handkerchief. "I haven't been able to hold a pen for a week. I'll tell you, dragons are the scariest creatures I've ever seen, but the way Hagrid treats them makes you think they're little fluffy bunnies. Hagrid wouldn't let me scare him after he bit me. When I left, I heard him singing a lullaby to it.”
There was a tapping sound on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying over to let it in. "It must have brought Charlie's reply!”
The three of them fell silent after reading the letter.
"Give me the letter, Harry," Bance said.
"What do you want the letter for, Bunce?" Harry asked.
"Don't ask so many questions. I'm doing this for your own good.”said Bunce, snatching the letter. "And, Ron, remember to go to Madam Pomfrey's tomorrow, I'm going to bed.”
It was a dark, overcast night, and they arrived at Hagrid's cabin a little late because Peeves was playing tennis against the wall in the entrance hall, so they had to wait until he left.
Hagrid had Norbert packed into a large crate and was ready.
"We've got a lot of rats for him, and some Brandy, enough for the journey.”said Hagrid in a muffled voice."I put his teddy bear in there too, so he doesn't get lonely.”
There was a tearing sound inside the crate, and Bangs thought the teddy bear had been ripped to shreds.
"Goodbye, Norbert!" sobbed Hagrid."Mum won't forget you!”Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak, then dived under it themselves.
"Mark my words, Harry, and don't forget the Invisibility Cloak no matter what. Good luck." Bangs said as he returned to his dormitory.
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