Chapter 34. Dragon 1/?
Time flew by, and as we were absorbed in our daily and rather monotonous routine, we didn't even notice how spring arrived. We'd love to say that during this time we had already managed to learn all the spells from the book the Headmaster had given us and had come close to becoming Metamorphmagi, but alas. Even for us that's simply impossible in such a short time. Still, we do remember the spells from the book by heart, even if there are some we don't yet dare to use. We really wouldn't want to end up frozen to death because of a mistake, and that's not even just about the ice of their last circle of hell, but about an almost ordinary frost that, in the form of a whirlwind, instantly freezes everything through and through. And if we tried to use something like that on Malfoy… Well, we'd be picking him up in pieces, like a shattered statue.
Although in some things we actually have made rather decent progress. Under Hermione's influence — she was very displeased with our refusal to use the owl — we more or less mastered the rune chains needed for specific paired mirrors. In fact, this was what took up most of our time over these months, but what can you do — it's hard to say no to such a sweet girl, especially when she puffs up like a hamster.
We were sitting relaxed in the library, reading books on Ancient Runes, when suddenly…
"BOOM!"
A stack of notes landed right in front of Regulus.
After letting our gaze linger on the notebooks for a moment, we looked at Hermione in a way that made it clear even to an idiot that we very much wanted to know what the hell had gotten into her.
"Exams are coming up. We need to review everything," the girl announced seriously.
"Mmm," we hummed in understanding, accepting her answer before adding, "We're out."
And under Hermione's stunned stare, we lazily went back to reading, resting our head on our arms, which we were using as a makeshift pillow — which probably looked a bit strange to those around us.
"I don't think you understand…" the girl tried again. "These are exams — the results of the whole year depend on them."
"We remember everything anyway," we answered simply. Besides, there were still more than two months left until the said exams, and we were already a bit annoyed that even the teachers had started pestering us, assigning enormous amounts of homework just to review the material.
"What if during the actual exam you forget something? Or it turns out there was something important you never read?" the girl said anxiously, clearly voicing her own fears.
"Well, then our grade will go down, and you'll be number one this year," Andromeda replied lazily, not the least bit worried about grades. For us, even if we got the lowest mark in every subject, it wouldn't really matter. After all, we don't plan to work after Hogwarts anyway. Magic is more than enough to arrange a comfortable life, and if we feel like it, with the right magical knowledge starting a business isn't a problem either, especially considering our inheritance.
"You… you're seriously not worried about the exams?"
"Nope," we answered in unison.
"But how can you…" our friend began to lament, upset that her worries weren't being understood, when suddenly Ron's very familiar voice rang out.
"Hagrid? What are you doing here?" The boy was so surprised to see the giant in the library that he blurted out the first question that came to his mind.
"I… er… need to… and anyway I'm busy, yeah," came the clumsy reply from the big man, who hurried straight for the exit.
"Weird, why was he in such a rush?" Harry asked, bewildered. He had come in with Ron.
"I don't know. Actually… I'll just go see which section he was in."
After those words, both boys headed deeper into the library, not even noticing us.
"Shall we go to them?" Regulus suggested, looking at the girl who had involuntarily started listening in.
"Let's," Hermione agreed at once and, leaving the books on the table, walked in the direction where they could hear the boys' footsteps, and soon we followed after her.
"By the way, if you think about it, haven't we completely ruined the plot of the first book? Because of us, Harry never even thought about Fluffy or investigating what he was guarding, and they never suspected Snape either, since thanks to Malfoy becoming a Seeker no one saw Snape reciting the counter-curse when Harry's broom went berserk. I wonder what will happen to the Philosopher's Stone in the end?" we wondered involuntarily as we walked.
"Dragons? What does he need dragons for?" Ron's utterly bewildered question reached us.
"'A Beginner's Guide to Dragon Breeding: From Egg to Hellish Monster' and 'Dragon Breeds of Great Britain and Ireland'?" Ron read the titles of the hastily shelved books.
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon. He told me so himself the day I met him," Harry remarked.
"But that's illegal," Ron said in surprise. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everybody knows that. If we start breeding dragons, Muggles will find out about us! Besides, dragons can't be tamed anyway, and they're very dangerous. You should've seen the burns Charlie got in Romania studying wild dragons."
"But there aren't any dragons in Britain, right?" Harry asked hopefully.
"'Course there are," Ron looked at him as if Harry had said something really stupid. "Common Welsh Greens and Hebridean Blacks. Truth is, the Ministry of Magic has to put in a ton of effort to hide them from Muggles. Our lot have to cast spells on Muggles who run into dragons so they'll forget about it forever."
"Why not just ask him directly instead of guessing?" we suddenly suggested through Andromeda, making the thoroughly engrossed boys practically jump out of their skin from surprise.
"Bloody hell, when did you even get here?" Ron demanded indignantly once he'd caught his breath.
"Well, you were so wrapped up in your little investigation that you walked right past us without even noticing," Hermione replied with a hint of annoyance.
"Ehe-he. Sorry?" Harry apologized awkwardly at once, realizing that he and Ron had indeed gotten carried away.
"By the way, I was serious when I said we should just ask him outright," we reminded them.
"Um…"
"Well, it's his secret," the boys suddenly hesitated for some reason.
"You just want to play detective, don't you?" Regulus asked, rolling his eyes, and judging by Harry's and Ron's faces, we'd hit the mark exactly.
"In the future we'll have other chances for that, but for now, since this concerns an important matter that might be undesirable for a friend, it's better to ask directly, instead of risking his secret getting out because of some blunder."
"Alright," Harry gave in. "Then let's go to Hagrid's?"
"Of course," we agreed easily.