Chapter 93: Resourceful Draco
After finishing the letter, Ethan shook out the parchment. "Have you replied to him?"
"Not yet. There are still a few complications to sort out."
"Harry said he has an Invisibility Cloak big enough for Norbert, but then I couldn't see him off in person."
"Also, I can't do what Charlie asked; it would give everything away." Hagrid looked distressed.
Ethan thought that Charlie's request could easily be handled with Dumbledore's help, but since Dumbledore hadn't intervened for his own reasons, the situation was tricky.
Ethan figured that since he was already involved, he might as well see it through, earning the favor of the twins and Dumbledore, who was surely watching from the shadows.
So he said, "I can handle Charlie's request. I can cast the Disillusionment Charm now to make the three of them invisible."
"As for you, I'm not sure." Ethan looked up at Hagrid's massive frame, uncertain.
Hagrid knew his size was unusual, so he asked hopefully, "Why don't you try it first?"
"Okay."
Ethan wasn't confident he could successfully cast the Disillusionment Charm on Hagrid, since giants had fairly high magical resistance, not quite at the level of dragons but not much lower either.
However, whether because half-giants had lower resistance to this kind of non-damaging magic, or because Hagrid consciously suppressed his magical resistance, the Disillusionment Charm worked without a hitch, and his huge figure vanished inside the wooden hut.
"Okay, very good. I can't see myself right now." Hagrid paced around the wooden hut, his heavy footsteps thudding against the floor.
Ethan reminded him, "You need to muffle your steps. The sound is too loud, and you'll get caught easily on a quiet night like this."
To see Norbert off in person, Hagrid was willing to do anything. He started with small, slow steps so Ethan could gauge the noise level, eventually tying thick blankets around his shoes to muffle his footsteps.
Finally, after several attempts, Hagrid decided to wrap his feet in two huge shoe covers made from the same blankets used for transporting Norbert, so he wouldn't make noise or alert Filch or any professors on duty.
Hagrid's voice drifted over from the sofa. "Ethan, help me undo the invisibility. I need to sew those shoe covers together quickly."
"Okay," Ethan said, casting Finite Incantatem to dispel Hagrid's invisibility.
For the next week, Ethan's life settled into a routine.
Outside of class, he spent his time doing homework in the library, practicing spells, and occasionally visiting Hagrid's hut to help look after Norbert.
The week passed quickly, and soon it was Saturday night. After meeting with Cyril, Ethan left the Headmaster's office, hurried back to the dormitory to drop off the gifts Cyril had brought him, then headed for Hagrid's hut outside the castle.
Around nine-thirty, Ethan arrived as planned. By then, besides Ethan and Hagrid, Fred and George, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gathered in the hut.
He wasn't surprised that Percy wasn't there, since the Gryffindor prefect hated breaking rules more than anyone, but seeing Hermione there too, Ethan was a bit surprised. "Don't you hate breaking rules, like wandering around at night? Then why are you here?"
Ethan had known Harry would come. Hagrid had told him earlier that Harry wanted to meet Ron's brother, and once Harry learned that Ethan could cast a Disillusionment Charm to make them invisible, he insisted on coming along.
Hermione, however, had clearly not been part of the plan. Ethan had never told her he was coming to help Hagrid send Norbert away.
She had been kept in the dark the entire time, only finding out earlier that day while doing homework with Harry and the others in the library.
She bit her lip. "I want to meet Ron's older brother too. Besides, if you all get to come, why can't I?"
"Come if you want," Ethan said. "One more won't hurt." He didn't elaborate, since adding another person wouldn't make any difference. It was just a matter of casting another Disillusionment Charm.
By now, Norbert was four or five times bigger than he was at birth. Before Ethan entered the room, the dragon had been banging against the wall with his tail, making the windows rattle.
But once Ethan stepped inside, the little dragon crawled over and rubbed its head affectionately against Ethan's leg.
"Good boy," Ethan said, crouching down and patting its head.
Hagrid's eyes brimmed with tears as he packed dead rats and brandy into a crate large enough for Norbert.
"These should last him through the trip. I even packed his teddy bear so he won't get lonely."
"It's actually a dragon! Our first time seeing one up close!" Fred and George were fascinated by Norbert, but the dragon clearly didn't feel the same way.
When Fred teased him, Norbert snapped at his fingers.
"Feisty, isn't he?" Fred jerked his hand back, watching with envy as Ethan easily handled Norbert.
Soon everything was ready. Only Norbert protested, thrashing around in his crate and making noise.
"Let's go. The map's ready. Don't worry, we'll get to the Astronomy Tower without any problems."
Noticing the nervous expressions on Harry and the others, Fred quickly reassured them.
They shouldn't have been nervous. With Dumbledore's approval, the whole plan should have gone off without a hitch. But Draco might have already discovered the scheme, and he'd been watching them closely for some time. After Hagrid replied, Charlie sent Ron another letter on Friday saying he would be coming to Hogwarts.
In the letter, though he didn't say it outright, Charlie told Ron he wanted to meet him and the twins, asking them to come to Hagrid's hut at nine-thirty on Saturday to help with the move.
Ron opened the letter at the Gryffindor table and showed it to Harry. They must have spoken too loudly, because Draco slipped over to the Gryffindor table and caught a glimpse of its contents.
This happened on Friday morning. It was far too late to change their plans, so they had no choice but to go through with it, hoping Draco didn't know exactly what they were up to.
As curfew approached, Harry said, "Let's go."
He cast the Disillusionment Charm on all seven of them, sprayed a deodorizer, covered the crate with an Invisibility Cloak, had Hagrid carry it, and headed toward the top of the Astronomy Tower.
However, for safety's sake, he opened the Marauder's Map before they set off, checking everyone's location in the castle.
"How's it look? Everything normal?" As they walked through the castle, Fred whispered to Ethan, who was holding the map.
"Nothing so far," Ethan whispered back.
After learning that Draco had discovered their plan on Friday, Ethan told Draco that Dumbledore had tacitly approved it and asked him to stay out of it.
Ethan didn't know if Draco would take his advice. After all, Draco knew Hagrid was raising a dragon illegally. His past behavior made it obvious he was waiting for a chance to make trouble.
But the journey went smoothly. Ethan didn't spot Draco on their way to the Astronomy Tower.
He checked the Slytherin dormitory on the map but didn't see Draco's name there either.
Snape's office? And Professor McGonagall is there, too. So Draco was caught after all? Ethan stared in disbelief.
The group opened the door at the top of the tower and moved the crate outside.
Ethan removed the Disillusionment Charm from all seven of them with "Finite Incantatem!"
Fred leaned close to Ethan, looking at the names on the map.
Following Ethan's gaze, he read aloud, "Draco Malfoy? Who is this? Why is he in Snape's office in the middle of the night, and why is Professor McGonagall there, too?"
"What?" Harry and Ron exclaimed.
They leaned forward, looking at the map.
"What is it? What do these names mean?" Harry asked.
"It's a map that shows people in the castle. Look here: this is us," Fred explained to the two of them.
Hermione leaned forward as well, studying the names on the map one by one.
"What an incredible alchemical artifact."
She spotted familiar names on the map and noticed Dumbledore near the Astronomy Tower.
"The Headmaster's here too. We were worried for nothing," she assured everyone.
"Really?" Now everyone could see Dumbledore's name too.
"The Headmaster doesn't know we've already spotted him," she whispered excitedly. The others exchanged gleeful glances.
After staring at Dumbledore's name for a moment, the three turned their attention back to the name that had drawn them there in the first place.
"Do you think he wanted to sabotage our plan? He didn't know exactly what we were doing, but Professor McGonagall still caught him wandering the castle at night."
The three whispered excitedly among themselves.
Ethan folded the map and stayed out of their conversation.
He watched Hagrid let Norbert out of the crate for a final moment with the little dragon before several figures descended from the sky on broomsticks.
"Hagrid! Long time no see!" Charlie greeted them, his red hair unmistakable even in the darkness, with several friends at his side.
Hagrid watched reluctantly as Charlie's friends cast calming spells on Norbert, placed him back in the crate, and secured it with ropes.
After briefly greeting Charlie and the others, Ethan and Hermione watched them work.
"Did you use Stupefy, the Stunning Spell? Why didn't it work when we used it before?" Hermione couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, dragons have high magic resistance, so we dragon keepers specifically study spells like Stupefy to calm agitated dragons. It didn't work when you cast it, probably because you're not skilled enough with it."
A young man with dark brown hair and blue eyes replied.
"Understood. Thanks for the answer."
Finally, Charlie, having finished reminiscing with his three brothers, hugged them, mounted his broom, and, together with several others, dragged the crate containing Norbert away from the tower.
Hagrid waved reluctantly, watching them go.
"All right, Hagrid, stop crying. Norbert will be safe in Romania. When you have time this summer, you can go see it."
Ethan comforted Hagrid, whose eyes were full of tears.
Once Hagrid had calmed down, Ethan said, "Let's go. We should leave too."
"Cast the Disillusionment Charm on them. Ron and I will chat here for a while. We'll leave with the Invisibility Cloak later."
Harry and Ron refused to let Ethan cast the Disillusionment Charm on them.
Hermione told them, "Don't be late. We have to go to Hagrid's to practice spells tomorrow morning!"
The two nodded in understanding.
Ethan cast a Disillusionment Charm on Hermione, Hagrid, and the twins.
To keep anyone from getting caught wandering the castle after hours, Ethan consulted the Marauder's Map, sent the three back to Gryffindor Tower, escorted Hagrid out of the castle, and finally returned to the dungeons.
When he quietly entered the dormitory, Draco's curtains were already drawn. The area behind them was silent, and Ethan couldn't tell whether he was sleeping.
The next morning, at Hagrid's hut, Ethan heard that Harry, Ron, and Neville had been caught and would be serving detention.
Ethan looked confused.
Harry and Ron had missed practice that day, so Ethan asked Hermione, "What happened? Didn't they leave with the Invisibility Cloak? How could they have been caught by Filch?"
Hermione was speechless. "Those two chatted on the Astronomy Tower, growing increasingly excited, thinking Malfoy would finally get into serious trouble this time. So, caught up in their celebration, they forgot to wear the Invisibility Cloak as they went downstairs, and Filch caught them red-handed."
After a pause, she added guiltily, "Neville had heard that Malfoy was planning to cause trouble for us and wanted to warn us, but he ran into Professor McGonagall."
"We got him dragged into this."
Ethan had nothing to say.
The next day, the story that Draco had used himself as bait in a simple scheme to cost Gryffindor one hundred and fifty points began circulating between the two houses.
Although Slytherin lost twenty points because of the nighttime excursion, Gryffindor had been docked a full one hundred and fifty.
So, even though they'd lost points themselves, all the Slytherins felt Draco had done well.
"Even though we lost points, our strongest rival for the House Cup just lost any chance of winning it!"
The Slytherins who weren't in the know praised Draco's strategy, thinking he was clever for planting false information and using himself as bait to trick Gryffindor out of so many points.
This eased Draco's worry about the detention. Only he knew that what he'd said was true. If the Gryffindors hadn't made a fool of themselves, he would have been the only one looking foolish.
Though it had been a fluke, the outcome was good, so Draco put on an expression as if he'd planned it all along, walking with his head held high.
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