62: Chapter 62 Draco's Wavering and Obedience

At night, only the dim embers of the fireplace remained in the Slytherin dormitory.

Draco threw on his robe and, carrying his boots, walked toward the door.

Crabbe poked his head out from under the covers.

"What are you doing?"

Draco stopped.

"Go back to sleep."

Goyle turned over.

"Are you going to Hagrid's hut?"

Draco glared at him.

"I'm just going to take a look. I won't go in, I won't call out to anyone, and I won't write any letters."

Crabbe rubbed his face.

"Allen said we aren't allowed to go."

"Allen also said your job is to shut up."

The door was pushed open and then closed.

The dormitory fell silent.

A voice came from behind Allen's curtains.

"Let him go."

Crabbe sat up.

"You're awake?"

Allen did not lift the curtain.

"Don't follow him."

Goyle asked.

"Will he get caught?"

"No."

Crabbe just breathed a sigh of relief when Allen added,

"He'll be scared back."

Draco hugged the walls of the corridor, passed the portraits and stairs, and exited the Castle through the side door.

A cold wind swept across the grass. The gamekeeper's hut was lit, and grey smoke rose from the chimney.

Hagrid's booming voice came from inside.

"Don't get too close, Ron. It's just been fed."

Ron shouted.

"It just ate and it's still breathing fire?"

Harry said.

"Hagrid, it's growing too fast."

Hermione immediately chimed in.

"This isn't a matter of it growing too fast, Hagrid—this is a legal issue. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures won't let you off just because it's cute."

Hagrid panicked.

"Norbert isn't dangerous. He's just a baby."

Ron yelled.

"Small? His teeth are bigger than Scabbers'!"

Draco crouched beneath the window and peered in through a gap in the curtain.

Beside the hearth, a black baby Dragon stood on a crate, its wings flapping, sending wood chips flying.

Harry backed away holding some meat, Hermione clutched her books, and Ron stood blocking the door.

Draco whispered.

"It really is a Dragon."

Hagrid reached out.

"There's a good boy, Norbert. Come on, let Daddy have a look."

Hermione immediately said,

"Don't call yourself 'Daddy,' Hagrid. This Dragon cannot stay here."

Harry also urged.

"Hermione's right. It'll be discovered."

Hagrid snorted.

"No one will discover it."

Ron pointed at the window.

"Then why is that curtain moving?"

Draco immediately pulled back.

The hut fell silent for a beat.

Hagrid asked,

"Who's out there?"

Harry walked to the window.

Draco turned to leave, but his boot snapped a dry twig.

Ron shouted,

"Someone's there!"

The door of the hut was pulled open, and Harry rushed to the threshold.

"Who's there?"

Draco skirted around the woodpile and retreated toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Ron called out,

"I saw blond hair! It's Malfoy!"

Hagrid came out too.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?"

Draco hid behind a tree and didn't answer.

The sound of the baby Dragon flapping its wings came from inside the hut.

Hermione warned urgently,

"Close the door, Hagrid! It's open!"

Hagrid turned and went back inside.

Harry looked around outside.

"Malfoy, come out."

Ron called out too,

"He must have hidden himself. He'll go and report us tomorrow."

Hermione stood in the doorway.

"He wouldn't dare."

Ron disagreed,

"He'll make his father write a letter."

Hermione said,

"A letter wouldn't help. The school would first ask him why he was out of bed at night, why he was spying on Hagrid's hut, and why he returned from the grounds smelling of smoke."

Harry paused.

"He should be able to hear that."

Draco gripped the edge of his cloak, his expression shifting.

Ron shouted again,

"Did you hear that, Malfoy? Go ahead and report us if you want—let's see who Professor McGonagall takes points from first!"

Draco backed away from the tree.

A shout of alarm came from inside the hut,

"Norbert, no!"

Firelight flared through the curtains, and a wave of heat rushed out through the half-open door.

As Draco turned, a spark licked his sleeve, leaving a charred edge on the fabric.

He patted out the spark and turned to run.

Harry heard the noise and gave chase.

"There!"

Draco scrambled back up the grassy slope toward the Castle.

Hermione held Ron back.

"Don't chase him. If he gets caught, we won't be able to escape either."

The words reached Draco, making him run even faster.

The side door of the Castle was ajar.

When Draco slipped inside, his sleeve still smelled of smoke.

Filch's voice echoed from the end of the corridor.

"Who's there?"

Draco pressed himself behind a pillar and held his breath.

Madam Norris emerged from around the corner, her nose sniffing the floor.

Peeves hung upside down from a chandelier.

"Filch! There are students stealing pies in the kitchen!"

Filch roared and ran off.

Madam Norris followed him.

Draco took the opportunity to head downstairs, not stopping until he reached the entrance to the Dungeon.

In the Common Room, Nott was sitting by the fireplace, reading.

Draco frowned.

"You're not asleep?"

Nott turned a page.

"Waiting for you to come back."

Draco took off his cloak.

"You knew I went out?"

Nott looked at his sleeve.

"I do now."

Draco hid the charred edge behind his back.

"It just got a little singed."

Nott closed his book.

"Allen said you'd be scared back."

Draco's expression darkened.

"What else did he say?"

"He told us not to follow you."

Draco pushed open the door to the dormitory.

Crabbe and Goyle sat up simultaneously.

Crabbe asked first,

"Did you see it?"

Goyle asked next,

"Is there really a Dragon?"

Draco threw his cloak over the back of a chair.

"Yes."

Crabbe's eyes lit up.

"Is it big?"

"Bigger than your brain."

Goyle thought for a moment.

"That's not very big then."

Draco turned his head.

"Shut up."

Crabbe pointed at his sleeve.

"You got burned."

Goyle leaned in to look.

"Allen said not to go."

Draco raised his voice.

"I know he said that!"

The curtains were swept aside. Allen was sitting on his bed with a book in his hand.

Draco spoke first,

"You were awake the whole time?"

Allen closed the book.

"I woke up when you left."

Draco pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Then why didn't you stop me?"

"If I stopped you once, you'd just want to go a second time."

Crabbe nodded.

"That's true."

Draco glared at him.

"Don't you start."

Allen looked at the charred edge.

"Dragon fire?"

Draco spread out his sleeve.

"The door opened, and it breathed fire."

Crabbe asked,

"Is Hagrid really raising a Dragon?"

Draco looked at Allen.

"Black, its wings haven't fully grown yet. Hagrid calls it Norbert."

Allen nodded.

"A Norwegian Ridgeback."

Draco paused.

"You even know the breed?"

"Hagrid likes Dragons."

Nott walked in from the doorway.

"Granger has been borrowing books on Dragons. Charlie Weasley is in Romania."

Draco rubbed his temples.

"So you all knew? And I was the only one who ran out to see?"

Allen said,

"It's not too late to know now."

Draco stiffened his face.

"I could tell Snape tomorrow."

Allen asked,

"And then what?"

"Then Hagrid is finished, and so is Harry."

Nott reminded him,

"You'd also be asked why you were at the grounds at night."

Draco gritted his teeth.

"I could say I was taking a walk."

Crabbe whispered,

"Taking a walk by the Forbidden Forest at night?"

Goyle added,

"And getting your sleeve burned by a Dragon."

Draco slammed his singed sleeve onto the table.

"You two are talking too much today."

Allen looked at him.

"What did Hermione say?"

Draco's expression darkened further.

"She said I wouldn't dare report it because the Professor would first ask me why I was wandering at night, why I was spying on the hut, and why I was there in the first place."

Allen said,

"She was right."

Draco didn't argue.

Nott sat on the edge of the bed.

"Granger doesn't just research books; she calculates liability."

Draco sneered.

"A Muggle-born, yet she's quite good at exploiting school rules."

Allen looked up.

"So don't mistake her for Ron."

Crabbe asked,

"So what do we do now?"

Goyle said,

"Do we pretend we don't know?"

Allen looked at Draco.

"You tell me."

Draco looked up.

"Me?"

"You went there, you were nearly burned, and you heard how they planned to silence you."

Draco tore off the singed edge of his sleeve and threw it into the fireplace.

"I can't report it."

Crabbe looked disappointed.

"So we watched the Dragon for nothing?"

Draco gritted out,

"I can't say anything right now."

Nott asked,

"Why?"

Draco glanced at Allen.

"Harry and his friends would latch onto the fact that I was out of bed. Hagrid would claim I was spying. McGonagall would take points from Gryffindor, but she'd take them from Slytherin too."

Allen asked,

"Anything else?"

Draco was silent for a moment.

"My father would find out that I ran to the grounds in the middle of the night to watch a Dragon."

Crabbe asked,

"Would Mr. Lucius be angry?"

Draco looked at him.

"He'd make me recite the Malfoy name ten times, then ask me why I handed evidence over to someone else."

Goyle nodded.

"Then we can't write a letter."

Draco sat back in his chair.

"We can't."

Allen said,

"And it can't be mentioned in the Common Room."

Draco continued quickly,

"It can't be mentioned in the corridors, I can't show off to Pansy, and I can't use it to corner Harry."

Nott said,

"Looks like your trip wasn't entirely in vain."

Draco's expression remained grim.

"If you'd told me it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have gone."

Allen looked at him.

"I told you last night."

Draco was stumped.

Crabbe whispered,

"You said he turned a good opportunity into a liability."

Goyle added,

"And that he was bossing you around."

Draco threw his pillow at them.

"Go to sleep!"

Nott stood up.

"I'm heading back."

Draco called out to him.

"If anyone asks where I was tonight..."

Nott stopped at the door.

"You were in the dormitory."

Crabbe reached a hand out from under his covers.

"I was asleep."

Goyle added,

"I was asleep too."

Allen added,

"You were asleep the whole time."

Draco leaned back in his chair and exhaled.

"Potter."

Allen looked at him.

"Go on."

Draco touched his singed sleeve.

"You said there was no victory in that hut, only detention slips."

"Mm."

"I believe you now."

Allen placed his book back on the bedside table.

"As long as you remember."

Draco looked at him.

"Did you calculate that I would go from the very beginning?"

"You wanted to beat Harry too much."

Draco didn't deny it.

The embers in the fireplace collapsed, and the only sound in the dormitory was the rustling of blankets.

Draco whispered,

"I don't like being led by the nose."

Allen said,

"Then don't hand over the rope."

Draco looked up.

"In the future, I'll ask you first about things like this."

Crabbe poked half his face out from under the covers.

"Is that being obedient?"

Goyle said,

"It's compliance."

Draco grabbed another pillow.

"One more word, and you're both sleeping in the Common Room."

Nott glanced at Allen before leaving.

"Granger will probably look up how to get rid of a Dragon tomorrow."

Allen said,

"Keep an eye on the library borrowing records."

Nott nodded and left.

Draco folded his singed robe.

"What about me?"

Allen laid back down.

"Go to class, eat, and shut up."

Draco snorted.

"Are you putting me in the same category as Crabbe and Goyle?"

Goyle said, muffled by his blankets,

"We're also responsible for eating."

Draco gritted his teeth.

"Sleep!"

Allen pulled his curtains shut.

"Draco."

"What now?"

"Don't go to the window tomorrow night."

Draco paused for two seconds.

"I know."

"Don't write any letters."

"I know."

"Don't provoke Harry."

Draco extinguished the light.

"I said I know."

In the darkness, Crabbe muttered,

"Allen was right again."

Goyle added,

"We should listen to him from now on."

Draco rolled over and stared at the top of his bed.

"Shut up."

After a moment, he added,

"But this time, he really was right."