Together (A Harry Potter love story) 1

44

MILLIES POV

Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made me very nervous. The four of us spent most of our 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."

"For goodness sake, Hagrid," I said fiercely. "It's a dragon. They are supposed to live in the wild."

"Not Norbert," Hagrid said, staring fondly at the dragon through misty eyes.

"Norbert?"

"I've called him Norbert," said Hagrid. I shook my head in disbelief. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's mummy?"

"He's lost his marbles," I heard Ron mumble.

"Hagrid," I said loudly. "Give it a fortnight 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."

"Charlie," Harry said suddenly, turning to Ron.

"You're losing it too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No - Charlie - your brother Charlie. In Romania. studying dragons!"

"Of course!" I said excitedly. "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 we could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found me, Harry and Mione 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 no-where 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 us his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week-"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Ron." I said, pushing myself off the sofa and walking over to him. "Here."

I took his hand, pulled out my wand and muttered, "turgeo."

All the dried blood on his hand immediately vanished. He looked up at me in shock.

"How did you do that?"

"Magic."

"No - how did you know that spell?"

I shrugged, sitting back down. "Dunno. Just comes naturally, I guess. The spells only to clear the dry blood anyway, it won't stop any swelling or further bleeding."

Ron thanked me, whilst Mione's eyes flicked between me and my wand.

"But - we haven't learnt how to do that spell, yet," she said. "That's a really high-level spell, Millie."

"Yeah ... I read about it, but that's the first time I've ever tried it," I replied. I have to admit, even I was impressed with myself. "What did Hagrid do when Norbert but you?" I asked Ron, trying to change the subject. It worked.

"You'll never guess what he did!" Ron said, shaking his head angrily. "He only went and told me off for frightening it! I tell you, that dragons 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. And when I left it, he was singing it a lullaby..."

I listened to Ron's story in amusement, until I heard a tap coming from the window.

"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, running to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer."

The four of us put our 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

We looked at each other.

"We've got the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It shouldn't be too hard - 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 I agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert - and Malfoy.