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Harry's excited words earned him a sharp glare from Hermione. She looked at him as though he had lost his mind.
"Harry, think for a second," she sighed. "If Snape really got the Philosopher's Stone, he wouldn't just disappear. He'd hide it, use it, and pretend nothing happened. Professor Dumbledore isn't soone he can openly challenge."
Hermione's explanation instantly crushed Harry's fantasy. The three of them fell silent, forced to admit a painful truth:
They had no real power to protect the Stone.
Everything they knew ca from sheer luck — coaxing information out of Hagrid, and overhearing Snape threatening Professor Quirrell. Nothing they could act on officially.
"I knew sothing like this would happen. Fred and George said the Stone might be moved next sester," Ron added.
At least it was a sliver of good news. All they could do now was hope Professor Quirrell held out until then… though none of them had much confidence in Quirrell's sturdiness.
But surprisingly, Quirrell proved more resilient than expected.
Over the next weeks he grew paler, shakier, and sweatier — but he didn't collapse. Whenever Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Darren saw him, they offered sympathetic smiles, trying to encourage him.
The first ti they took Darren along, Quirrell let out a terrified yelp.
They honestly thought he might faint on the spot. Ron, horrified by the reaction, imdiately began discouraging people from teasing Quirrell's stutter. And as always, Darren radiated that gentle "Holy Father" kindness the system rewarded so generously.
Recently, he had opened a Dumbledore-thed blind box from the system and received a piece of silver jewelry supposedly belonging to the headmaster. A "legendary" item, according to the system… though Darren had no idea what it actually did.
He suspected the system was ssing with him again.
And lately, the system kept giving him talent points instead of useful items — including, alarmingly, increases to his Dark Magic talent.
Darren sotis worried that if Dumbledore ever scanned his magical traits, the headmaster might haul him away on the spot.
But at least his Holy Father Value kept climbing steadily, letting him spend more ti in the library without causing suspicion.
This afternoon, Darren lounged comfortably on a padded sofa in the library, reading a book he had enchanted. On the outside, the cover read Improving Your Spellcasting. In reality, it was a Muggle comic book Topaz had given him. Perfect for killing ti.
anwhile, Hermione supervised Harry and Ron's howork with militaristic intensity. She claid finals were "just around the corner."
In truth, they were still ten weeks away.
But Hermione had banned both herself and Darren from helping Harry or Ron. The two boys now sat at their desks, looking as though writing their howork was slowly draining their souls.
"Oh? Isn't that Hagrid?" Ron suddenly pointed. "What's he doing in the library?"
Harry, Hermione, and Darren all turned in surprise.
Hagrid was not a library person.
"Hagrid, what are you doing in here?" Ron asked eagerly, dashing over.
"Didn' see anythin', didn' see anythin'," Hagrid muttered, clutching sothing behind his back and trying to leave.
Then he froze, eyes widening.
"Oh — er — yeh lot still pokin' about Nicholas Flal?"
Too suspicious.
"No, we're past that," Ron said boldly. "We already know he created the Philosopher's Stone—"
"SHH! Are yeh mad? Don't say tha' here!"
"If you don't want to tell us," Ron threatened, "we'll start telling other people what we know."
"Alright, alright — jus' co by hut after classes," Hagrid grunted. "An' not a word to anyone."
He stomped away, looking both nervous and flustered, leaving the four of them staring after him.
"What is he hiding now?" Harry muttered.
Ron didn't answer. He ran to a nearby shelf, grabbed several large books, and dumped them in front of Darren.
Darren glanced at the titles.
Guide to Raising Fire Dragons.
Habits of Hungarian Horntails.
Dragon Rearing: The Things They Don't Tell You.
Dragon.
Hagrid was raising a dragon.
"He can't be serious," Hermione gasped. "The Ministry of Magic absolutely forbids private dragon keeping!"
"When I first t Hagrid, he said he'd always wanted a dragon…" Harry muttered.
"Then he's done for," Ron said grimly.
Four hours later, they hurried to Hagrid's hut.
Hagrid cracked the door open, saw it was them, and quickly ushered them inside before slamming the door shut again. The curtains were drawn tight. A blazing fire roared in the fireplace.
Darren imdiately spotted the massive, round egg perched over the flas.
A real dragon egg.
He felt a spark of excitent. He had never seen a dragon from the wizarding world before — not even a normal giant lizard.
Carol didn't count. Darren was still convinced that little phoenix had embarrassed its entire species before finally growing more normal.
"ow—"
The heat was too much. Lezi wriggled out of Darren's arms and scampered away.
"Oh my goodness, Darren, do you bring it everywhere?" Hermione asked in shock.
She had never seen such a quiet cat. It barely made a sound.
"Yeah… I don't want Lezi to be alone in the dorm. It's still so small…" Darren said, lowering his head with a guilty expression.
Truthfully, he usually forgot the little creature existed until it wriggled awake in his arms. Lezi went out hunting at night and slept on him all day.
"Darren, you're too kind," Hermione whispered.
[Ding! Holy Father Value 50]
Only Hermione was moved — Harry and Ron had already rushed toward the dragon egg.
"Wow! Dragon eggs cost a fortune!" Ron exclaid. "You can't even buy one most of the ti!"
"No need for money," Hagrid bead. "Won it in a card ga!"
Hermione inhaled sharply. "And you're raising a dragon… in a wooden hut?"
Hagrid ignored her. He was too busy admiring the egg.
"Alright, then the dragons can wait," Harry said quickly. "Hagrid — can you tell us what other protections there are besides Fluffy guarding the Philosopher's Stone?"
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