Chapter 13: CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Norbert the Dragon
The four friends spent their next week worrying about Hagrid and visiting him as much as possible. His hut was a mess all the time, and he looked relieved every time the kids came. Probably because Attuoria was the only person the dragon would listen to.
The visits usually went like this: Harry, Ron and Hermione would try to persuade him to give the dragon away before it grows too big, or before Malfoy spills the secret. Hagrid would sit on his large armchair, drinking a cup of dark tea while sighing. Attuoria sat at the other end of the table with the dragon, feeding it and playing with it. The dragon was already half the length of the table, having tripled in size since when it was born.
Sometimes when Harry, Ron and Hermione left early, Attuoria took the opportunity to ask Hagrid more about Tom Riddle. She asked if there was anyone she could talk to that would know about him, and Hagrid said that some of the really old professors might know. He did also say, however, that Dumbledore wasn't very fond of him, so it would be best not to mention it to him. Attuoria agreed. She didn't want to collect biased information, anyways.
At the same time, she wasn't too sure how she was going to approach a teacher and ask them about an old student without raising suspicion. Like Hagrid, they were most likely going to question her motives, but unlike Hagrid, they were probably not going to let her pass without saying anything.
A few days later, Hagrid finally caved into Harry, Ron and Hermione's suggestion, and they decided to give the dragon away to Ron's brother Charlie, the one who was working at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary.
In the following few weeks before Charlie's friends were going to come pick the dragon up, the four of them decided to take turns helping Hagrid out with the dragon. Attuoria said she would be fine doing it everyday by herself, but her friends insisted they take turns. She reluctantly agreed, hoping that Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback wasn't going to get angry at her for not visiting as often.
But her fears came true when Ron came back one night with a bloodied, swollen hand.
"It bit me!" he cried, clutching his hand as he ran into the common room. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."
Attuoria winced slightly at the sight of his bandage. "You're in luck, Ron. Norwegian Ridgebacks have venomous fangs."
Ron let out a cry of despair and flopped onto a chair. "I'm dead. I'm so dead. I can't go to Madam Pomfrey for this, she'll know!"
But by the next day, his hand had turned puffy and green, so he had no choice but to go to the hospital wing. And as if Ron's situation wasn't bad enough, Malfoy had also found out about their plan with Charlie. Everything was turning into a great big mess.
Attuoria became the only one that went to help Hagrid with Norbert at night. Harry and Hermione no longer dared to approach the dragon.
Everytime she entered the hut, she would witness the toddler-sized dragon trying to bite Hagrid's limbs off, and Hagrid would just be chuckling and cooing at it. And everytime, she'd rush over and pull Norbert away from Hagrid, quickly setting up a telepathic link so that she could communicate with it and calm it down.
Attuoria knew that Hagrid was extremely thankful that she was there. He looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks, which was probably true considering the dragon could kill him if he took his eyes off of it for even just a second. Her visits were breaktime for him.
Soon, Saturday came. Attuoria, Harry and Hermione discussed how they were going to get the dragon to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Harry only had one invisibility cloak, which was definitely not big enough to cover all three of them and the dragon.
"You guys could just go. I'll stay here." Attuoria suggested.
"NO!" Harry and Hermione yelled immediately.
"Just kidding," Attuoria said with a smile. "You guys take the dragon under the cloak. I'll use a charm to turn myself invisible."
"You know how to perform a Disillusionment Charm?" Hermione gasped.
"No. But it's worth a try."
"How will you make sure you don't bump into us?" Harry asked.
"I can see a glow through your cloak, remember?" Attuoria reminded him, and Harry nodded.
"Okay, sounds like a plan."
That night, the three of them gathered together in the common room, Harry with his cloak and Attuoria with her wand.
Harry and Hermione got under the cloak, and Attuoria performed the charm on herself. Her body immediately blended in with her surroundings, and changed as she moved so she was unrecognisable.
Hagrid had Norbert ready for them in a large crate. Attuoria, still invisible, peaked through a crack in the crate and spotted the dragon ripping up what seemed to be a teddy bear.
"Dragon!" She hissed, and it's bright orange eyes immediately jerked up. She managed to meet eye contact with him despite being invisible, and entered his thoughts.
"Where's the girl? I can't see her. But I heard her."
"I'm here. I'm invisible. We're gonna bring you to Romania now. There are a lot of dragons there. You'll have fun."
"Really? Thank goodness. I've been getting pretty antsy lately. My instincts have been telling me to fly, but that hairy human didn't let me go anywhere outside his little cave."
"You better stay nice and quiet, alright? We can't have you moving around and making loud noises. You'll get caught and they'll actually kill you." Attuoria lied. If anyone found out, they wouldn't kill the dragon, they'd kill Hagrid and her friends. And that's even worse.
"Alright, I'll be nice. I'm really getting sick of these dead rats the giant man is feeding me."
"Thanks. You'll get to stretch your wings and eat live animals by tomorrow." Attuoria sent one last telepathic message over to the dragon before she straightened up.
"Bye-bye, Norbert! Mummy will never forget you!" Hagrid sobbed as Harry and Hermione covered themselves up with the invisibility cloak, and picked up the crate from underneath it. Attuoria carefully watched the green glow that was Harry and the faint red glow that was Hermione.
"I'll hold it from the back," she whispered to them, placing her hands under the back of the crate, heaving it upwards as they walked forwards as a group. At first the crate wasn't too heavy. But as they climbed up one staircase after another, all three of them got tired and the crate felt like a gigantic boulder.
The three of them were approaching the last corridor before the Astronomy Tower when they spotted movement ahead. They quickly edged closer to the walls, holding in their breathes as two dark figures appeared against the light of an oil lamp.
"Detention!" A female voice shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you -"
"You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming - he's got a dragon!" It was Malfoy's voice talking to McGonagall.
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on - I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
They watched Professor McGonagall drag Malfoy away by the ear.
After climbing up the last flight of a steep, spiral staircase, they arrived at the top of the Tower. Harry and Hermione threw off the Invisibility Cloak and breathed in the crisp, night air.
"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!" Hermione chortled, doing a little dance.
"Don't." said Harry in a stern voice. "Attuoria, you here?"
"Yup," Attuoria replied. The charm hadn't worn off yet, so she was still invisible. She bent down next to the crate, and Norbert immediately clambered up and pressed his snout to the crack.
"Can I make noise now?" The little dragon asked.
"Sure. Just don't be too loud, and don't set your crate on fire. Same goes to when the people come to pick you up. Stay cool, stay nice. They're the ones helping you, after all."
"Gotcha. Thanks, human girl."
"No problem. Don't forget me after you grow up and become ginormous."
"I'll forget you in a minute when I get to Romania. When I sink my teeth into -"
"Hey look, your carriers are here."
Attuoria watched as four broomsticks soared through the night sky and swooped down to the tower, landing in front of them. Four cheerful young men introduced themselves to Harry and Hermione. They were especially excited to meet Harry.
"This is Hermione," Harry said, pointing at his brown-haired friend. "And that's Attuoria… Whoops." Harry realised that because she was still invisible, he had no idea where she was, and was pointing at nothing.
"Who? Where?" The friends glanced around, not seeing a third person.
"Uh, hi," Attuoria said, startling everyone. "I'm Attuoria. I used a disillusionment charm on myself, so you can't see me."
"Disillusionment charm?" One of the guys said while the rest of them began hooking Norbert's crate to a harness between their brooms. "You're supposed to learn that during year five at Hogwarts. Your friends look no older than twelve. What year are you in, the invisible one?"
"Year one."
The guy looked a little taken aback, but then nodded. "Impressive."
In less than a minute, Norbert was secured safely to their harness. The four young men shook hands with Harry, Hermione and an invisible Attuoria, thanked them, then took off.
Norbert really was gone now.
All three of them felt like a heavy weight was lifted off of their chest.
"It feels nice to be free, doesn't it?" Attuoria sighed, walking over to the edge of the Tower and staring up at the cloudy, navy sky.
"Yeah. No more dragon, and Malfoy has detention." Harry said with content. "I'm gonna have a good sleep tonight."
"You mean morning. It's probably already Sunday." said Attuoria quietly.
"It is really late," said Hermione. "We'd better go back to our dorms. Attuoria, let's go."
Attuoria shook her head before realising her friends couldn't see her. "You guys head back first. I like it here. My disillusionment charm won't wear off until later. I might as well make good use of it."
"Alright, suit yourself."
Her two friends headed back down the spiral staircase, their footsteps echoing around the vertical chamber.
There was no moon visible. It was dark, windy, and cloudy. Attuoria sat down on the ground and closed her eyes. She felt one with the night.
It had been six months in the mortal realm so far, living a human witch's life at a magic school. This journey was nothing like she'd expected it to be. She thought she was going to find T.M.R. within a few days, then discuss with him whatever he was hoping to discuss. She thought she was going to ask him some questions about humans, and he would answer. Something like an interview. She'd collect her information, and return to the dream dimension within the same day.
Yet here she was, having spent so much time as a human that she was almost forgetting her origins as a Nightmare demon.
Attuoria sighed and leaned back, feeling the cold hard surface of the floor underneath her palms. A soft material nudged at her fingertips. Instinctively, she grabbed onto it and pulled it in front of her face.
The Invisibility Cloak.
Oh my god, Attuoria thought, scrambling to her feet. Those two idiots left without their cloak.
She rushed down the spiral staircase as fast as she could, the Cloak clutched in her hand. She now had a double layer of invisibility - the disillusionment charm and the Invisibility Cloak.
Once she reached the corridor, she didn't dare call out for her friends, in fear that someone was going to hear her. She rushed down the halls and down many flights of stairs, until finally she saw a spot of light in the distance. It definitely wasn't her friends.
Her pace slowed as she crept towards the light.
It was the caretaker, Filch. A guilty-looking Harry and Hermione walked alongside him, their heads bowed down. Attuoria stayed close behind them, walking as lightly as possible. She wanted to do something, to help them get out of the situation, but she didn't want to make it worse. It wasn't fair that her two friends were in trouble and she wasn't. They did everything together.
They were heading downstairs, and Attuoria guessed that Filch was bringing them to McGonagall's study on the first floor. After remembering what McGonagall had said to Malfoy when she caught him wandering the halls at night, she knew that Harry and Hermione were in for an earful, and possibly losing a large amount of house points.
She had to do something.
Attuoria took a few quick steps forward so that she was walking less than a meter behind her friends. She held out the Invisibility Cloak in front of her, ready to toss it over their heads.
She watched as they approached the next turn on the corridor. McGonagall's study was not far ahead. It was now or never. Attuoria stuck her head next to the ear of her two friends, and whispered, "Run!" before pulling the cloak over them.
Harry and Hermione reacted immediately. Attuoria watched as the green and red glow dashed in front of Filch, who let out a low yelp and swerved around with the lamp in his hand, nearly wacking Attuoria in the face. She dodged it and began running too, following behind her two friends.
"Reveal yourselves!" Filch yelled out, facing the opposite direction from where they ran. "You're not getting away! Come back!" He ran off the wrong way, his loud thumping footsteps getting quieter and quieter.
"That was amazing!" Harry panted as they ran down the hall, past McGonagall's study and towards the main staircases. "You really saved us there!"
"Shh!" Attuoria hushed him, her voice a slight whisper. "It's not over yet, we still need to get back to the dorm. Be careful where you're going-"
Harry and Hermione, under the Invisibility Cloak, slammed straight into a dressing-gown McGonagall at the next turn. The force of the collision caused the Cloak to fly off their heads and land on Attuoria, who caught it and shrunk to the side, sticking her back against the wall of the hallway.
Neville, who was behind McGonagall, let out a gasp.
"Harry!" he burst out, trying to rush forwards, but McGonagall grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Harry, I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag-"
Attuoria watched Harry shake his head violently at Neville to try and shut him up, but this angered McGonagall even more. She thrusted Neville forwards so that he stood next to Harry and Hermione, who were still sitting on the floor where they fell. The look on McGonagall's face was clearly scaring them.
"I would never have believed it of any of you. Wandering around the halls so late at night, I could only begin to imagine what you guys were doing. Explain yourselves, now!"
Harry and Hermione stared down at the ground, too afraid to answer. Attuoria was starting to feel guilty about this situation. It was her fault, wasn't it?
"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on. It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"
Oddly, Attuoria felt relieved. At least McGonagall thought the whole dragon-situation was a sham. She stood to the side, still watching them silently.
"I'm disgusted, four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All-"
"Professor," said Attuoria, the feeling of guilt overwhelming her. If her friends had to go through this, then she was going to own up to it and stand by them.
"No!" said Harry as all eyes swerved to the general direction of her voice, but none of them could see her.
"Ms Knight?" Professor McGonagall said, her eyebrows raised. Attuoria was surprised that McGonagall recognised her voice just from one word.
"I'm here, Professor. My disillusionment charm hasn't worn off, yet."
"Disillusionment charm?" McGonagall's eyes grew wide. "That's a very advanced spell."
"Yes, Professor. I thought I'd try it out on myself and my friends," Attuoria half-lied. "We wanted to see how well it worked, so we came out to see how long we'd be able to go before the charm wore off."
McGonagall blinked a few times, not saying a word. For a moment, she looked as if she was about to say something nice, but then her gaze grew hard.
"Nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, no matter what protection charm you have on. It's very dangerous. All four of you will receive detentions - yes, you too, Mr Longbottom. Fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?"
"Fifty points each." McGonagall's eyes flicked towards the empty side of the corridor where she knew Attuoria was standing. Harry immediately began protesting but she hushed him up.
"All four of you will have detention. Now get back to bed. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students. Ms Knight, please come with me to my office."
Harry and Hermione inhaled sharply, and walked away with Neville, their eyes on the ground.
"Ms Knight, follow me." Professor McGonagall said, the two of them heading over to her office. "Please sit down," she beckoned towards an armchair in front of her desk.
Attuoria sat down onto the chair, watching her body blend in with the design of the chair. But the charm was wearing off, and she could see the peachy-tone of her arm.
"I see the charm's wearing off now." said Professor McGonagall, settling down in her own chair. "How did you learn to perform the disillusionment charm?"
"It was mentioned briefly in the Tales of Beedle the Bard, so I found it in The Standard Book of Spells and taught myself." Attuoria answered honestly.
McGonagall nodded to herself slowly. "You show talent, Ms Knight. You're the only first-year I've seen that managed to transfigure an object perfectly on the first lesson. And here you are again, teaching yourself fifth-year charms without any teacher's guidance. Would you like to join Professor Flitwick's third-year charms class? I believe it would benefit you."
Attuoria stared at her. Was she serious?
"How is that going to work for my schedule?" she asked.
"You have double potions on Friday morning, yes?"
Attuoria nodded.
"Third years have double charms during that time.You have double charms on Tuesday afternoon, while third years have double potions. You can attend third year charms and potions on those two days. I'm sure Professor Snape wouldn't mind, either. I heard you are very skilled in potions, too."
"I suppose that would work… but wouldn't I miss out on first-year work?"
"I trust you'll have no problem catching up by yourself. If you can teach yourself the disillusionment charm, first-year charms and potions would be no problem for you." said Professor McGonagall, giving her a flat smile.
"Okay. Thank you, Professor."
"No problem. You should head back to your dorm now."
Atturioa stood up to leave.
"Oh, and thirty points to Gryffindor for you, Ms Knight. I am rather impressed with both your magical abilities as well as your honesty."
"Thank you. I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Attuoria apologised.
"It's quite alright. But this doesn't mean I'm allowing you to bend the rules in the future. If I catch you wandering the halls with a disillusionment charm again, I definitely won't be awarding you points."
Attuoria cracked a slight smile. "If you catch me next time."
Professor McGonagall gave her a pointed look.
"Sorry. Goodnight, Professor." Attuoria hurried off. She rushed back to her dorm and found Harry and Hermione sitting in the common room waiting for her.
The moment he saw her enter, Harry stood up from the couch. "Why on earth did you -"
"I got thirty points back." Attuoria quickly said before they could start yelling.
"What?"
"Yeah, but you also lost fifty, so in total you still made us lose an extra twenty, when we could've just lost a hundred and fifty, but now we lost a hundred and seventy. We are in last place for the House Cup right now!" Harry said angrily.
"I'm sorry. I felt bad that I got you guys in trouble and it would be unfair if I escaped and you guys didn't."
"What kind of thinking is that?" said Harry, his fists clenched.
"It's not Attuoria's fault," Hermione said. "We were the ones that forgot the cloak. We're to blame. If anything, she tried to help us and we could've gotten back safely if we hadn't been careless and ran straight into Professor McGonagall. So if anything, we'll keep Attuoria out of it." Hermione gave Attuoria a smile. "Honestly, thank you."
Attuoria felt so warm when she heard Hermione's words. "Thanks, Hermione." She turned her gaze to Harry, who still looked angry.
Finally, Harry sighed. "You're right. Thanks, Attuoria. Sorry we messed up."
"It's okay. I'm sorry it didn't work out as planned. I should've thought over it better."
Hermione stood up and gave Attuoria a hug. "Come on, let's go to bed. Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight." he mumbled, dragging his feet as he walked back up to his dorm.
They headed off back to sleep. Lying in bed, Attuoria wondered how this new schedule-change was going to work out for her. She was going to be taking classes with third-years.
All of them were dreading the next day.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
sayhellotohanna
sayhellotohanna ~
published 12/9/2020
A/N: I'll most likely be updating on weekends until my term break, so now you guys will know when to expect updates. I'll notify you guys if there are any change again in the future. Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment or something, it makes me feel less lonely :)
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