While Drad Hagrid were engrossed in an animated discussion about dragons, Harry and Ron remained distressed over Draco's surveilheir ay had gotten so bad that they'd lost their appetite and even failed to meet their usual quota of losing house points in css.

  Little did they know that Hagrid, despite his ho fad trustworthy demeanor, had already switched allegiances.

  But that's a tale for aime.

  , who had been dozing oable, stirred at the surrounding voices. He opened his mouth in a tiny yawn, actally shooting out a streak of red fme that nearly singed Draeticulously gel-slicked hair. The young Malfoy yelped and ducked behind Hagrid, hands protectively c his precious hairstyle.

  Shaking off his drowsiness, rose to his feet, determio see who had dared disturb his beauty sleep.

  Then his eyes fell on Glenn and Hermione.

  Something stirred in the newly-hatched dragon's primitive instincts - a ixture of fear and reverence. He shivered ohen straightened his previously sloug posture, sitting properly oable like a well-trained pet. The usual pt in his eyes toward other creatures vanished without a trace.

  Glenn and Hermione exged puzzled looks: ?

  The two couldn't help but notiorbert's dramatic transformation. Just yesterday, he'd been the very picture ance. What had turned him into su obedient little creature ht?

  They shared a knowing look, both reag the same clusion - it must have been their wands' unusual rea yesterday.

  Apparently, held them in high regard?

  Well, well, this was turning out splendidly.

  After Gleively reached out to pet and the dragon docilely lowered his head in acceptance, Hermione could no longer tain her excitement. She practically shoved Glenn aside, scooped up , and began sh him with affe.

  Draco, watg from the side, turo Hagrid with an accusatory look. "Hang on a minute! Didn't you say dragons were nearly impossible to approach? That even you, their caretaker, couldn't touch them? So why is letting them handle him like some on house pet?!" The young Malfoy's newfound revolutionary friendship with Hagrid teetered on the brink of colpse.

  "Well... I'm as baffled as you are," Hagrid admitted, his eyes fixed longingly on , who was tentedly curled up in Hermione's arms. "Though I must say, I'd give anything to cuddle him like that myself!"

  "But I was the first... the hatg, the shell breaking... everything was me first..." Hagrid's voice trailed off into unintelligible mumbling, his eyes growing distant with a hint of jealousy.

  Hermione, growing increasingly unfortable uheir envious stares, finally cracked. "Look, ," she addressed the dragon hastily, "these two here are your friends too. You should be o them." Without waiting for any sign of prehension, she promptly deposited the small dragon into Hagrid's arms.

  Surprisingly, instead of his usual tantrum of biting and fire-breathing, merely adopted a distinctly feliitude of elegant disdain in Hagrid's embrace. He settled in with an air olerance, occasionally emitting small, disgruntled huffs.

  Hagrid's eyes welled up with joyful tears as he cradled his uedly calm dragon. "Blimey! I... I 't thank you enough, Hermione! You've worked a proper miracle with !"

  "My tur me hold him!" Draco bounced impatiently, too short to properly see in Hagrid's arms. The groundskeeper relutly passed the dragon over, and for once, both little dragons - one human, oual - seemed perfectly tent with the arra.

  Under Glenn and Hermione's influenorbert had indeed bee remarkably well-behaved, though his preference for Hermione's embrace was obvious. After all, what dragon wouldn't prefer the warm, soft cuddles of a sweet young witch to the awkward handling of two wizards?

  The moment this thought crossed 's mind, Gle a twinge of annoyance. When the dragon attempted to leap bato Hermione's arms, Glenn smoothly intercepted him, grasping him by the scruff and depositing him firmly ba the table.

  's expression clearly said: I'm offended, but I shall maintain my dignity in silence.

  While Glereated to the sofa for some meditation, Hermione, Hagrid, and Dratertaihemselves with . During a lull in their py, Hermione, who had settled down with a cup of hot tea from Glenn's ented waist pack, suddenly remembered something ing.

  "Hagrid," she began thoughtfully, "acc to what I've read, young dragons grow at an astronomical rate. From hatg, they quickly reach adult size. Your hut..." she gnced around the modest dwelling, "well, it woly aodate a full-grown dragon. Have you thought about what you'll do then?"

  Hagrid, who had been cheerfully pying with , froze mid-motion. It was clear he'd been deliberately avoiding this particur reality, but now that Hermione had voiced it, worry crept across his features.

  Draco opened his mouth, about to suggest the spacious grounds of Malfoy Manor, but quickly thought better of it. With the Ministry's current crackdown on illegal activities, and the extra scrutiny his family was under due to his father's past associations, harb an illegal dragon would be a one-way ticket to Azkaban. He closed his mouth with an audible click, relutly abandoning his dragon-adoption scheme.

  Hagrid's attat to ainfully obvious - the st thing he wanted was to give up or release his beloved Nian Ridgeback.

  Glenn, sensing both Hagrid's distress and Hermione's attat to the little dragon, decided to offer a solution.

  "There's a cavern in the Forbidden Forest," he said carefully, "spacious enough for even a full-grown dragon to live fortably. If yreeable, Hagrid, we could relocate here once he outgrows the hut."

  He turned his attention to the dragon, reasoning that if could uand Hermione, he'd uand this too. ", if we arrange for you to live in this cave, you promise to trol your fire-breathing? No random forest fires?"

  The dragon, clearly following the versation, nodded his small head eagerly. The prospect of tinued care and attention arently worth the proposed restraint.

  Hagrid's face lit up - if could promise not to set the forest abze, this might actually work!

  Hermione, however, fixed Glenn with a suspicious look. "Glenn, how exactly do you know about this ve dragon-sized cave in the Forbidden Forest?"

  ......

  Uh-oh.

  But Glenn maintained his posure, responding smoothly, "Professor Dumbledore mentio to me."

  Hermione made a small sound of acceptance - if it came from Dumbledore, it must be legitimate.

  Meanwhile, in another part of the castle...

  "Ah-CHOO!" Dumbledore's peaceful snack time in his office was interrupted by a massive sneeze, sending his carefully selected Bertie Bott's Every Fvor Bean flying. The bean hung suspended in mid-air for a moment before zooming bato his waiting hand.

  "My, that was close," he mused, popping the bean bato his mouth. "Now, who could be talking about... BLEUGH! Bogey fvor! Perhaps I should have let that one fall after all."

  The only wito the Headmaster's misfortune were Fawkes, the S Hat, and the thhly amused portraits of former headmasters lining the walls.

  Uerred, Dumbledore tinued his dy adventure. "URGH! Dirty sock fvor! I do wonder who gets all the pleasant fvors ihings!"

  The iable frontation finally occurred when Harry and Ron burst into Hagrid's hut, only to find Draco already there.

  "What are YOU doing here?" Ron demahrowing the door open. "Finally showing your true colors, are you?"

  Draco turned around with his signature smirk, deliberately showing off the tent dragon in his arms. "Please, Weasley, I couldn't care less about you. I'm here for ."

  Harry and Ron's jaws dropped in perfect synization. During their previous visits, they'd barely mao catch glimpses of , the dragon's mere presence sending them scrambling behind Hagrid for prote whe threateo breathe fire.

  Talk about looking but not toug.

  Yet here was their sworn enemy, cradling like some precious pet. Both boys felt as if they'd stepped into some bizarre alternate reality.

  The young Gryffindors clutched their chests dramatically, stumbling backward until they hit the wall, their expressions a perfect picture of betrayal.

  "Hagrid," Harry mao choke out, spotting their rge friend with his bucket, "what's going on here?"

  "Oh, that?" Hagrid beamed proudly. "Draco's bee quite close to now - right after Hermione, Glenn, and myself, of course."

  Draco?! Since when had Hagrid started using Malfoy's first name?!

  And why did that Slytherin Gleurning up ihing?!

  Harry and Roheir mission to protect the Philosopher's Stone growing more plicated by the mi seemed they couldn't turn around without finding Glenn's influenewhere. First, he'd mao wheedle information about the three-headed dog from Hagrid, and now this. What would be - the Stone's exact location?

  The Stone could wait, but this betrayal? Hadn't Hagrid always despised Slytherins?

  Ron, never oo hold his tongue, fronted Hagrid directly. The gamekeeper shuffled awkwardly, expining Hermione's earlier persuasion before adding, "She's got a point, you know. Not all Slytherins are bad sorts - look at Glenn and Draco, for instance."

  Harry and Ron exged dark looks. Hermione's defe to the Slytherin side hadn't surprised them - she'd been following Glenn around like a shadow fes. But Hagrid? Their straight-forward, ho Hagrid turning coat? Unthinkable!

  Oblivious to their internal crisis, Hagrid tinued cheerfully, "Besides, 's wonderful behavior around Drad me is all thanks to Glenn and Hermione. Perhaps if you two made an effort to be friendlier with them, might warm up to you as well?" He suggested with characteristic simplicity.

  After a moment's hesitatiathered his Gryffindor ce and approached . "Look here," he said early, "I'm actually good friends with... with Hermione, you know? The witch with the bushy hair? I..."

  Seeing 's apparent i, Ron's hopes soared.

  gazed at him with peared to be affe, and then...

  P!

  "YEOWCH!" Ron's yelp of pain echoed through the hut.

  Et tu, Hagrid?!