28 Chapter-28: Gryffindor's Loss

For the following week, Draco has been the happiest boy in the world. He always had a smile on his face, especially when he was around Neville and his gang. With Ronan's warning, they knew why Malfoy was so happy, they hastened their plan to convince Hagrid to get rid of the damn thing, which according to Hermione was not going well.

Hermione and Ronan were in the Library that day, both doing the transfiguration essay that McGonagall gave them the other day, "Hey, did you manage to get Hedwig away from that other owl?" he asked nonchalantly. Hermione understood what he was saying, he was talking in code words to ask about Hagrid and the dragon situation.

"No. The other owl isn't letting Hedwig go." She said while writing.

"I hope that they get separated soon." And they went back to their work. They were talking like this because Ronan wanted to, he didnt want Slytherins to get the idea that he was very close to Gryffindors. Especially he could not let anything compromise his friendship with Malfoy that he had built. If somehow it gets leaked that he had already given the Gryffindors the warning, all his work would be ruined. That is why he told Hermione to talk about this topic in code words.

Ronan truly wondered what was going on in Hagrid's mind when he decided to keep a dragon in his small wooden hut. Dragons grow up to a height of 30 feet, and here he is talking about the smallest species of the Dragon. There was no way in hell Hagrid could have just hidden this secret from all the world his whole life, so why he hatched the egg in the first place was beyond him…

The next day, when he was having breakfast, an owl that he did not recognize came rushing to him. He was sitting by Pancy, who was very curious about who sent him the letter, given he never received the mail. He took the role of parchment and opened it…

_____________________

The dog is going to be adopted by a Romanian couple next door. I thought you should know.

Martha.

____________________

"Who is Martha?" Pancy asked. He turned towards her, his eyes were enough to say lengths that he wanted to say, so she went back to breakfast.

Draco then asked, "What is the letter about?"

He simply said, "I had a pet dog. As I would not be able to take care of it now, the matron of my orphanage is giving it away." Ronan then whipped out his wand incinerated the letter and went back to having breakfast.

The truth was, the letter was from Hermione. He recognized her writing, if he were to guess, then the dog meant the Dragon. He didnt understand the Romanian couple part, but he had read that there is a Dragon Sanctuary in Romania. But it was then, that he remembered that on the train, Ron told him and Harry that he had a brother who was studying Dragons in Romania.

'Maybe Ron asked his brother to pick up the dragon. That makes sense,' he thought.

"Ronan," he looked up, Draco had a very bright smile on his face. "It is a very fine morning, isn't it?"

He shrugged, "Yeah…" Unsure what Draco meant.

"I just notice very peculiar." Draco said, "Weasley's arm has bandages on it." Ronan bloomed a big smile on his face, Draco did as well…

By the afternoon, everyone in the first year knew that there was something wrong with Ron. That redhead's arm had swollen to twice its usual size. Some people urged Ron to go to Madame Promfrey, but he didnt want to go. But a time came when the arm turned into a nasty shade of green. And then finally Ron went to Promfrey, and Draco followed behind him.

Draco returned during tea time in the evening clutching a book and letter with him. Crabbe and Goyle went to Draco, and he went as well, trying to see what transpired.

"That git didnt confess to what bit him," Draco said venomously "But I did manage to snatch Ron's book in the process and found this," He passed the letter to Crabbe and Goyle, who then passed it to him.

________________________

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter… I will 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. The 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

____________________________

"Norwegian Ridgeback?" Ronan said, "That is the species of a Dragon. That oaf is taking care of Dragon?"

"Seems like it," Draco said,

"But he lives in a small wooden hut,"

Draco then smiled "That big oaf got the brain of a troll, of course, he didnt think it through. I bet his mother would have been a troll." Everyone chuckled at the remark.

Goyle then asked, "What will we do now?"

Draco then smirked, "I will see to it that these guys get caught."

He didnt ask Draco about his plan, he didnt care enough to know, he just went back to his friends.

By the night of Friday, he finally completed his Wand Theory book and came to learn a lot of things that nowadays many wizards overlook. Looking at the shape, size, wood from which the wand is made, and last but not least the core of the wand, one could tell a lot of things about a wizard or witch.

Everyone knows that wands choose their master, but not everyone is aware that a wand's allegiance could be swayed by defeating its original master or by disarming the opponent. Also, if a wizard or a witch uses the wand whose allegiance they dont have, the wand could misbehave. After reading Ronan made a mental note to himself that he should probably kill or disarm Dumbledore if he wants to steal the Elder Wand from him.

The most surprising thing that he found in the book was about Elder wood, the wood used in the Elder Wand and his personal wand is a very special wood. Elder was the rarest wand wood of all and reputed to be deeply unlucky, elder wands were trickier to master than any other. They contained powerful magic but scorned to remain with an owner who was not the superior of their company. It takes a remarkable wizard to keep an elder wand for any length of time. Only a highly unusual person would find their perfect match in the elder, and on the rare occasion when such a pairing occurred, it might be taken as certain that the witch or wizard in question was marked out for a special destiny.

While Ronan's core, Zowu's hair also told a story on its own. Wands with core with Zowu are very rare, only wizards or witches who are fierce and flamboyant could master the core. Combined with Elder Wood, it was no wonder to him that Ollivander said that this wand was not sold for decades. Only a few selective wizards could have handled such a temperamental wand, and he was one such wizard…

On Saturday morning, when they were having breakfast, Malfoy came to him and told him that he made a plan. He gave the man a thumbs-up and continued eating his breakfast. He didnt care about that boy or its scheme.

"What you and Malfoy are talking about?" Pancy asked, who was sitting beside him.

"Nothing," he simply replied.

"Why are you secretive?" Daphne, who was sitting on his other side asked.

"Because I am surrounded by butterflies, who instead of spreading the pollen, spread the news." He simply replied. Daphne's reaction was immediate, she started glaring at him.

"Aww… Thank you," he heard from behind, then both Daphne stared at Pancy with disbelief. The poor girl couldnt understand the meaning behind his words for the duration of the breakfast, but then Daphne proceeded to fill her in. Needless to say, both of them stopped talking to him. But he didnt care, as today he had some free time on his hands he decided to use it wisely and start planning the third-year course.

The third year was an important year for students, as they had to start elective courses. Every student had to select at least two elective courses to pursue, along with the core classes they also had to take. Ronan wanted to look into the four electives first, and then decide which one he should start reading up on.

One of the electives was Divination, which taught methods of divining the future or gathering insights into future events, through various rituals and tools. From what he had read so far, divination was just a bunch of hogwash, only a small amount of wizards or witches possess the sight, to see into the great beyond and possess the true divination skill. So he thought he should probably skip it, he already knew the future.

Arithmancy was a more accurate way of predicting the future, similar to an obscure but existing hobby of numerology. It is based on the belief that number patterns existing in real life could be calculated to give information regarding the future. He does like playing with numbers, but he figured that he was better off without it. He would surely read books related to arithmancy if he had free time in the future, but, it didnt make sense for him to choose such an obscure elective.

There was also a Study of Ancient Runes, it was a theoretical subject in which students ancient Runic Scripts of Magic. This subject sounded interesting to him, so he would be definitely studying this one. With that he also decided to take on Care of Magical Creatures, ever since he had studied Wand Lore and learned about Zowu, he had been interested in knowing more about magical creatures. There was also another elective called Muggle Studies, which he will never take that subject.

That whole day he researched more about the electives, and he left the Library when it was time to shut it down. After having some dinner with Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle, he went to sleep off his fatigue. The next day when he woke up, the school was in uproar. In one night Gryffindors had managed to somehow lose 150 points. Slytherins had also lost 30 points, but it was nothing compared to what Gryffindors had gone through. Soon it became very clear what actually transpired when Crabbe and Goyle marched into the common room with loud praises of Malfoy.

That boy's plans worked, but he did manage to catch Harry, Neville, and Hermione in the act. He also got caught in the process, but Professor Snape went easy on him and the results were before everyone. Everyone cheered for the git, although he lost them 30 points, but he did manage to throw Slytherin's mortal enemies out of the race of the House Cup. And that is what mattered. Everyone celebrated this occasion, now no one could stand in the way of Slytherin winning the House Cup.