Chapter 95: Hagrid, Dragon Egg and Training

Harry, my brother, Hermione and I are in the library at the moment. As promised, I would help them study during this last period, although my participation was minimal.

Not only was I here studying with them, but I also had others me helping the girls in the Lair, as well as the real me giving Gemma some anatomy lessons.

Anyway, right now I was 'reading a book' like the others, but actually, in my mind, I was drawing up my plans for the rest of the year. I was mainly thinking about the philosopher's stone, that stone that can turn metals into gold and that could help me a lot with my finances.

In my mind I was trying to find a way to get it without causing too much trouble or ways to justify my possession of it... or I was until we saw how Hagrid, who is not very stealthy, was sneaking something.

It wasn't just me who was surprised, and I don't mean all the students looking at the half-giant in the library, but the trio that stared at him. These three asked Hagrid what he was doing and he, with his lack of acting ability, tried to lie and then look at them suspiciously about what they were doing and if they were still looking for things about the philosopher's stone.

I was pretty much ignored, mostly because that was my intention, using most of my techniques to remove my presence and be less noticeable, albeit short of invisibility. It partly worked, but I was still noticed by the giant in the middle of the conversation.

Hagrid ended up begging the trio to shut up because they were talking so loud about things they weren't supposed to know about, and he knew damn well it was his fault they found out. The half-giant told them if they wanted to talk, to come to his house later but to stop talking about these things in public places, and then he quickly left.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in" Ron said, trying to use that excuse to not go back to the intensive study Hermione was forcing them to. He came back a minute later, with many books in his arms, and spread them out on the table.

"Dragons! Hagrid was looking up things about dragons! Check out these two: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide…" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"Hagrid always wanted a dragon, he told me the day I met him" said Harry.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Breeding dragons was banned by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we had dragons in our gardens. You can't tame a dragon anyway, it's dangerous. You should see the burns that Charlie got with those wild dragons from Romania" My brother explained to which I nodded, I had seen my older brother's scars, and they weren't very nice.

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry asked

"Of course there are. Greens in Wales and blacks in Scotland. The Minister for Magic has had a hard time hushing that up, I can tell you. Wizards have to put charms on Muggles who have seen them to make forget them."

"So what is Hagrid up to?" asked Hermione.

While they argued, I have locked in my mind again, trying to remember what happened to the dragon. I had missed this event, possibly due to all the things I was busy with. A dragon...

"I'd like to ride a dragon" I said smiling drawing the attention of the trio, of which, Harry and Ron agreed that the idea would be great, but my brother commented on how impossible that idea would be, reminding me of some of Charlie's anecdotes. On the other hand, Hermione glared at me.

"Why do I feel that you are not referring to that and are thinking of something bad?" Her judging gaze couldn't be hidden.

"Hermione, you're becoming very perceptive" I smiled at her. Certainly, after thinking a bit about the dragons in this world, I thought about some dragon girls from some anime, and my comment above may have actually made more than one sense. Leaving that aside, I approached Hermione from the side and ran my hand behind her back to finish caressing her earlobe, being very close to her to the point of making her uncomfortable "By the way, I don't see you wearing your ruby earrings"

"Stay away" She pushed me somewhat annoyed "I'm not going to use them every day" she clarified somewhat embarrassed.

After I had given them to her, she used them for a long time, in part, without her realizing it, to show them off and compete against the other girls, which she did not do before because she did not have friends, being the study the only thing what he focused on and what she believed was what she could compete in.

"Well, I thought you lost them"

"I'm not that careless" She got a little angry that I thought that of her, she really appreciated them. They were the first jewelry that she could say is beautiful, unique and hers alone.

"That's why I love you, see you at Hagrid's later" I said walking away, leaving two children a little confused and Hermione a little flustered by my words 'ahhh... how I enjoy teasing her... I think I've become a bit sadist, Gemma should be happy'

...

I did a few things before leading one of my clones to Hagrid's house. At this time, his house had the curtains closed, as well as any other type of opening. Soon after, the trio of lions came and knocked on the door.

Hagrid opened it a crack to see who was coming to visit him, with a very suspicious attitude; and once he saw that it was us he let us in. Once inside, I sat to one side, away from the children who came to ask questions, and took out my guitar, which was very different from Tenebrius's, to play Gustavo Cerati's "Cactus" at a low volume.

Those present were a little surprised at my attitude, but Hagrid enjoyed the melody. Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't understand why I was doing it, they came looking for answers, but I didn't, I just came to see the show... and the dragon.

Ignoring me and my lack of interest in the Philosopher's Stone, Harry asked what wards there are for the Stone, thus eliciting Hagrid's complaints that they shouldn't get into such matters.

They wouldn't have gotten anything if it wasn't for Hermione starting to act a bit flirtatious and flattering, thus manipulating the innocent half-giant. Harry and Ron gave her approving looks when they saw that it worked, but Hermione's face grew paler as she watched a wicked smile appear on my face, knowing that she dug her own grave by acting that way in front of me and that I would surely do something.

The two boys took no notice of our interaction and were more focused on what Hagrid was saying. They asked at the end if he was the only one who knew the way to pass for Fluffy, getting the statement that only he and Dumbledore know the method, easing the children's concerns.

Once more relaxed, Ron complained about the heat asking if a window could be opened, but was rebuffed. It was true that in this place we were already perspiring due to the high temperature, but being able to see how the drops of sweat ran down Hermione's body fed a strange flame inside me... I think it's time to visit Tonks or Gemma tonight.

The moment Hagrid refused my brother's request, he unconsciously glanced at the fireplace, where we could see a large black object. I already had my eye on the dragon egg from the start, also using my [Life Sense] to see if I could get more information about the dragon inside.

Hagrid became nervous when questioned about the illegal dragon egg in his house, he was very bad at disguising or lying.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron asked, bending down in front of the fireplace to get a closer look at the egg. "It must have cost you a fortune," he said excitedly.

"I won it," Hagrid explained. "I was out in the village the other night having drinks and playing cards with a stranger. I think he was really glad to be rid of him, if I'm being honest."

"But what are you going to do when it hatches?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I've been reading a bit," said Hagrid, pulling a large book out from under his pillow as he explained everything he found there very excited, pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't have the same excitement.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said, but Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming happily as he fed the fire.

Hagrid could not be convinced that it was a bad idea to have a dragon in his house and the children gave up, making the trip back a talk about how awful it would be if someone found out that Hagrid had such a dragon.

Resuming daily lives, Harry and my brother suffered from the extra work given by the teachers, while Hermione and the other girls suffered from my intensive training.

I had helped them a lot with my [Teaching] skill, so the first year study was very easy for them, and for some people like Hannah in their strong subjects, in this case herbology, they had more than outstanding results.

Because their normal school work was made much easier for them, I put more demands on their combat skills. I wouldn't let them go this year until they can all cast "Expeliarmus" with some ease and at a moving target.

In the end they all ended up exhausted, but with my recovery skills I forced them to keep going. We had good results for some and others would have to practice more, but I think they will do it.

With my reinforcement in combat classes, my dance classes were reduced to nothing more than stretching exercises, which left me so 'excited' that Gemma 'suffered' more at night.

With Penelope, she was the only one with whom I didn't have so much combat training and I did continue with our dance classes, in part, teaching my movements of my combat dance. She improved very quickly, and some of our practices turned into shows for those present.

Pansy has accomplished a lot since she pushed Draco out of her mind. With me, she receives constant congratulations and incentives, so her learning has improved a lot to the point of surprising the teachers and other students. The other girls also drew attention for her good performance, causing a wave of requests from the girls in the Lair to participate in the classes I gave, but they only won a one-hour lecture every Friday, given by one of my clones.

Other girls who improved a lot were Ginny and Luna, whom I tried hard to teach. With one of my clones, whenever Ginny could get an excuse to go to the Lovegoods', I taught classes that lasted all day. It's not that I wanted to overexploit them, but I wanted them to be at a good level for the future, plus we had a lot of fun training because it wasn't strict in some ways.

Xenophilus helped me, even though he didn't agree with girls practicing as much, as he believed they should enjoy more. He gave them a few more classes while I was gone. I don't deny that this put some stress on the girls, but it would just be these days before the end of my school year.