Harry Potter: Instant Kill

"I am enjoying it. The lessons are fun, and I have made some friends," Grace replied to the gentle giant as she gestured to Daphne and me. Their names are Daphne and Erik. What book are you looking for? We will help you look for it." After nodding towards us, he looked towards Grace before saying, "Oh, nothing specific. I was hoping to do some reading about dragons and their young, but I haven't found anything."

"That would be because you are looking in the wrong section. The section you are looking at is all the books and extracurricular texts for the core subjects. If I am not mistaken books about dragons will be in the Care of Magical Creatures section which is over there." I said to the guy before I stood and pointed to the section he needed which happened to be across the room from where we were seated.

"You have been interested in dragons for a while now haven't you Hagrid? I remember you carving Harry and me a wooden dragon when we were younger." Grace stated while having a nostalgic look in her eyes which was similarly mimicked in Hagrids eyes before he replied, "Yes ever since I was a young lad. My father, bless his soul, took me to see a dragon reserve and I couldn't get how beautiful the dragons looked."

"It's too bad that raising a dragon is illegal and dangerous otherwise I could see a lot of people having them around which would stop the problem of them being almost extinct except for the dragon reserves. The reserves are in place to protect them as much as they are there to stop the muggles from finding them." Daphne added to the conversation while a whistful look found its way onto her face.

"It's a ruddy shame to see them almost wiped out. Welp, I will not eat up any more of your time, I will find the book and head home. That reminds me, you are always welcome to visit, Grace should you wanna talk more." Hagrid said while waving goodbye with his large hands and walking to the section I had pointed him towards.

After our unexpected chat with Hagrid, another 3 weeks passed during which nothing happened but boring classes. While walking to the next class Grace turned towards Daphne and me before speaking, "I want to go visit Hagrid after class if you both want to go with me." Before we could refuse Grace spoke again after seeing the reluctance in our eyes, "I promise you will enjoy it or I will do your homework for a month."

Receiving a nod from Daphne who thought that I would be a good deal, Grace turned to me. "Is there any seer blood in your family Grace?" I asked while also nodding my agreement. Grace took a moment to think before answering my question, "No, not that I know of. Seer blood seems to have avoided the potter line while my mother is a muggle-born so..." 

The rest of the classes that day passed quickly and the three of us walked along the sodden ground towards the hut on the edge of the forbidden forest. As we walked, I looked at the hut and saw a lot of smoke pouring from the chimney indicating that the fire inside was roaring but the temperature outside was not cold enough for it to be. This told me that he had already received the dragon egg and started to attempt to hatch it, "It might be a little warm inside judging by how the fire is going."

My comment caused the girls to look towards the smokestack sticking out the top of the thatch roof before they started to loosen the scarves they were wearing. When we reached the door the heat could be felt from the cracks in the door, I reached and knocked on the hard wooden door eliciting barks from Hagrid's dog and the man's voice trying to calm it.

"Who is it?" He asked after calming the dog, "It is me and my friends, we have come to visit." Grace said while removing the outer fleece she was wearing on top of her robes. "Just a moment," was the reply she received before Hagrid started to shuffle about inside and finally after a moment or so opened the door to let us in.

"Dear me, it's very hot in here Hagrid are you alright?" Grace asked as soon as she took a step inside since a wave of heat had hit her. "Oh I am perfectly fine, I am just cooking so it's a bit hot," Hagrid lied in a voice which told us he was lying. Daphne took a step towards the cauldron before gasping and exclaiming, "That's a dragon egg, where could you have possibly gotten it? It's illegal to sell or even trade for them not to mention even more illegal to raise a dragon."

Seeing that he had been caught and with Grace giving him a glare which reminded him of her mother, Hagrid decided to come clean. "Well, I won it. I was playing cards with a gentleman at the Hogshead and I won the egg from him." The silence that followed his statement was deafening and was only broken by Grace drawing a deep breath before starting to shout at the large man, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you would be in for having that egg? Even worse you were planning on hatching and raising it. Hagrid it wouldn't be just a fine or a warning it would be straight to Azkaban. Not to mention how much trouble the school would be in for letting a member of staff raise an XXXXX dangerous creature on school grounds. Or even how much trouble Dumbledore would get into since he was the headmaster who hired you and vouched for you."

The fact that she had said that in one breath was impressive but not as impressive as the guilty look on Hagrid's face which looked like a child getting chastised by their mother. After scolding him thoroughly Grace took a breath before continuing, "You cannot raise it Hagrid, it would be too sad to see you go to prison. I know that Charlie Weasley works in a dragon reserve so I will ask my brother and Ron for help. I don't want to hear any complaints Hagrid, or else I will go tell my mother who will not be as kind as I am currently being."