Together (A Harry Potter love story) 1

42

MILLIES POV

When we knocked on the doors the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, I was surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let us in and shut the door quickly behind us.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made us tea and offered us stoat sandwiches, which we refused.

"Its boiling in here!" I whispered to myself, as Ron's cheeks burnt and Harry's floppy hair stuck to his head.

"So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid said.

"Yes," said Harry immediately. I guess there was no point beating about the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the philosophers 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 did. That stones 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."

"Of course we've worked it out," I grumbled, annoyed that he couldn't tell us anything.

"Yer know, yer take after yer mum like tha' Millie," Hagrid smiled, as though remembering something. "She was always sassy too."

"Thanks?" I said. "Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here." I continued in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and I could tell he was smiling.

Mione must have worked out what I was doing, because she continued in an equally innocent voice, "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough apart from you."

I could tell Hagrid's heart was swelling. Harry and Ron beamed at us. Honestly - boys.

"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 still not on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the stone, he's not about ter steal it."

I knew Harry, Ron and Mione were thinking the same thing as I 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, Quirrel'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," I heard Harry mutter.

My shirt was beginning to stick to my skin now.

"Hagrid, can we open a window? I'm boiling," I asked, fanning myself.

"Can't, Millie, sorry," said Hagrid. I noticed him glance at the fire. I looked, too.
"Hagrid - what's that?"

But I 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 close 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 Mione.

"Well, I've been doin' some reading," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mother's breathe on '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 recognise diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're very rare, them."

He looked very please with himself, but I wasn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house!"

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.