After Hermione came back from the holidays, Hari recounted the strange mirror to Hermione. She was in a similar mind to Draco, both believing he should stay away from the mirror. Hari ignored their comments, forgetting all his curiosity about Nicholas Flamel in favour of visiting the mirror almost every night. He didn't bring any of his friends back with him again, prefering to sit on the floor by himself, surrounded by his family all smiling and waving down at him from inside the mirror.

He didn't stop until his run in with Dumbledore, who told him exactly what the Mirror of Erised showed. He listened with only a bit of reluctance when Dumbledore told him not to go searching for the mirror again as it would be moving to a different place soon. Disappointed about no longer getting to see his family but understanding Dumbledore's request, Hari resigned to go back to studying up on Nicholas Flamel with the others once again.

However, they didn't find out about Nicholas Flamel from any of the books they had been pouring over for the last couple of months.

It happened late one evening in the common room. Hari and Ron were sitting on the carpet by the fire, shoulder to shoulder as they read through one of the large tomes about famous wizards together and Draco had his head in Hermione's lap while he read one book and Hermione skimmed through another one, book hovering above his face.

Draco yawned loudly and dropped his book face down on his chest, dropping one of his arms to fall onto the floor. "Hari, can I have your last Chocolate Frog?" he asked, turning his head to peer hopefully at Hari from under Hermione's book. Hari had nodded vaguely, still trying to get through the rather wordy and dull book. Draco disappeared up the stairs and returned a moment later, carrying a Chocolate Frog

He dropped back down on the couch, forgetting his book and leaning his back against Hermione's side, tucking his knees up on the couch as he opened up his box. He was in the middle of taking a bite of the frog's head when Neville, sitting at a table nearby with Seamus fast asleep with his face on the desk, got his attention. "What card have you got, Draco?" he asked.

"Check if it's Agrippa or Ptolemy," Ron said over his shoulder, eyes still glued to the page.

Draco finished eating the head and carefully plucked the card out of the packaging. "Oh, just Dumbledore," he mumbled, flipping over the back to half-heartedly read the description on the back. "Merlin's beard I've found him!" Draco yelped, jumping up so fast he knocked Hermione's book to the floor along with his frog.

"Found who?" Hari asked in surprise, just barely managing to catch the chocolate frog attempting to escape to freedom despite its loss of half its head. He took a bit of the frog as well, glancing curiously at Draco.

Draco lowered his voice so that only Ron, Hari and Hermione could hear him. "Nicholas Flamel! He's mentioned here in Dumbledore's bloody Chocolate Frog card." The other three's eyes widened in shock and Draco quietly read out the description.

"He's on a bloody Chocolate Frog card?" Ron blabbed, shaking his head disbelievingly. "What did it say he did? Alchemy?"

Hermione slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and sprinting away up the stairs towards her own dormitory.

"D'you think she'll be back any time soon or just come update us later?" Ron gestured towards the stairs she had just disappeared up in a hurry.

As it turned out, Hermione had come down only a couple minutes later, lugging a massive book in her arms. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for and read out a passage from the book. Once she had finished, the other three sat back in awe.

"It can turn any metal into gold?" Ron gaped, looking as though his birthday had come early.

"I was more focused on the fact that it basically gives you immortality, to be honest," Draco commented meaningfully.

Hari knitted his eyebrows together. "Why would Dumbledore be hiding that in the school? And with Fluffy guarding it?" he wondered aloud.

"I was wondering the same. It's certainly odd," Hermione replied.

"Someone's obviously after the Stone and Flamel must have asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him…" Hari closed his eyes, trying to process his thoughts coherently to the others as he went. "What if… what if Voldemort is after the Stone?" The other three all flinched at the name.

Draco scoffed. "Hari, don't be ridiculous. You-Know-Who's dead. You made sure of that," said Draco, tilting his chin up and narrowing his eyes.

"I mean, it could make sense, couldn't it? Minnie doesn't think he's dead, just really weak, so surely having the Stone would…" Hari trailed off as a feeling of dread flooded his insides.

Ron finished his sentence for him however, eyebrows furrowed. "If You-Know-Who got the Stone then he could come back." Ron bit his lip and looked around at the others.

Draco pressed his lips together and sighed loudly. "For the last time, You-Know-Who is dead. He's not coming back," he said through gritted teeth. He shot the other three a sharp sneer and turned on his heel, half stomping up to their dormitory with his robes swishing behind him. Hari winced as the sound of a door slamming echoed all the way into the common room.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes.

Hari shook his head, running his hands through his hair and looking up the staircase still as though Draco might come back. "I don't know…"

Hari hoped Draco would have calmed down a bit by the time he and Ron finally made their way up to bed a little while later, but when they got there, Draco's curtains were firmly shut. Hari might have thought he was asleep but for the light peeking out from between the blinds which suggested Draco had no interest in going to sleep.

He just wanted to avoid them.

¤¤¤

By the next few days, Draco was still a bit distant with Hari and the others. He thankfully was talking to them again by next morning, but all of their conversations felt stilted and tense, as though they were discussing the best way to go about stopping a bomb going off. Draco even went as far as sitting with a pair of Slytherins Hari recognised as Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini in their next potions lesson, instead of with Hari as usual.

Hari ended up overboiling his potion so that it nearly exploded, costing him 10 house points from Professor Snape.

Even with the new knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone, Draco still avoided the others as much as possible. He no longer seemed as interested as he had been in finding out more about the Stone and never joined in on their conversations discussing who or why someone might be trying to steal it.

Hari was so distracted about Draco's distance that he didn't pay attention to where he was heading one evening until he overheard a pair of voices in an unused classroom nearby. He froze, shuffling closer to the door and pressing his ear against it, trying to listen to the conversation inside. He was startled when he recognised Snape’s sharp voice coupled with the stammering Quirrell.

"You do not want me as your enemy, Quirrell. I know what you're up to," Snape's drawling voice said.

Quirrell whimpered as though he had been hit and stammered weakly, "I d-don't know w-what you're t-t-talking about S-Severus."

"On the contrary. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," Snape said. There was a scuffling sound as though someone ran into something and knocked something small over, followed by a small splashing sound. "I know exactly what you're up to, Quirrell and I plan to put a stop to it."

"S-Severus, please. I don't know w-what you're—"

There was another thudding sound followed by a whimper and Hari had to slap his hand over his own mouth to keep his gasp of surprise from being overheard. "Get out of my sight and think very carefully about where your loyalties lie, Quirrell." Hari had barely enough time to jump away from the door and hide around a nearby corner before Severus came out of the classroom, his footsteps dying away down the opposite direction.

Hari didn't move until he heard Quirrell exiting the classroom as well, muttering under his breath and fixing his turban as he disappeared up a set of stairs ahead of them. Hari crept into the classroom where both teachers had just left and found a spilled bottle of ink on a table, black liquid oozing across the table and dripping onto the stone floor. There was a black handprint on a spare bit of parchment as well and an overturned chair. Most of the rest of the classroom was untouched, rows of dusty desks and chairs filling the classroom.

Hari returned to the Gryffindor common room immediately, heart racing with adrenaline. He found Hermione and Ron sitting talking at their usual table while Draco was curled up with a book nearby. Hari marched across the room, dragging Draco over to Hermione and Ron by his shirt collar and made him sit down at the table. Hari had had enough of Draco's melodrama and avoidance and said as much, pointing a stern finger at him.

"You'll never guess what I just overheard on my way here," Hari whispered before beginning to tell the others about the conversation he overheard between the two professors.

"You don't think Quirrel is trying to steal it, do you?" Ron asked when Hari finished his story, narrowing his eyes and twisting his lips. "The poor bloke can't even finish a sentence without stammering, never mind trying to steal something like that."

"But the Stone would give him fortune and immortality, Ron. I bet with that behind him, he'd feel far more confident and less fearful, don't you think?" Hermione suggested.

Hari bobbed his head. "It was a bit strange of Professor Snape though, wasn't it? Confronting him like that about his 'loyalties?'"

"He was a Death Eater during the war, wasn't he?" Ron asked.

"But Dumbledore forgave him, obviously. So clearly he can be trusted now, can't he?" Hermione remarked. Ron tilted his head back and forth, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed in though.

Draco scoffed and the other three turned abruptly at the reaction. He was sitting back in his chair, crossing his arms and jaw clenched tightly. "Oh, because Dumbledore trusts him, that means he's so perfect. Former Death Eater and still friends with my father as far as I'm aware," Draco derided, sneering and spitting out his words. Bitterness was clear in his cold grey eyes and Hari felt far worse now.

"He's your Godfather, Draco," Hermione said. Her eyes were wide and searching, darting over Draco's face.

"So? I used to look up to the bloke, but he's hardly done anything since I came and got sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin," Draco snapped bitterly. Hermione flinched. "He knows perfectly well what my dad thinks of me now and has he done anything about it? No. He's siding with my father in this, so I wouldn't put it past him to still be siding with You-Know-Who."

Hari, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances. Hari leaned forward, lowering his voice further. Slowly, cautiously he whispered, "Draco, just because he's siding with your father doesn't mean—"

Draco shot up, knocking his chair over. "Of course it does! Anyone that sides with him is an asshole regardless, clearly!" he snarled. Everyone else in the common room stared over at his outburst, whispering and muttering to each other. "You guys just don't get it at all, do you? You-Know-Who might be dead, but that doesn't mean his former followers won't still want that same power again." His lips curled, eyes locking onto Hari's for a moment. Hari opened his mouth but Draco stormed up the stairs again.

Hari stood up on shaking legs and turned to the other two. "I… I'll go check on him…" he muttered, glancing at the staircase. He left his stuff at the table and made his way slowly up the stairs, knocking gently on the door to the dormitory to announce himself before stepping inside.

Draco was sitting at the side of his bed, knees curled up to his chest and head turned towards the window. His face was wet with tears and he didn't turn when Hari entered. Silently, he made his way over to Draco, stopping a foot away and staring at the hunched shoulders and the clenched fists and the red eyes brimmed with tears. Hari felt his heart snap in half.

He shuffled a step toward his friend. "Draco?" he breathed, holding his breath. Draco still didn't look at him, adamantly staring out the window at the sunset casting the room in a faint red glow.

He buried his face in his knees, shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry," Draco blurted into his knees, broken and muffled by his skin. Hari sat down beside Draco and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He stayed silent, letting Draco say what he needed to say. "It's just–I didn't get any presents from my parents or Severus and I just feel so guilty being a Gryffindor. I—" His voice cracked and he rested his chin on top of his knees. "I don't really think he's trying to steal the Stone. It's probably Quirrell or someone else.”

Hari squeezed his arm tighter around Draco, frowning. “I’m not sure what I believe…”

“I might be angry with Snape for essentially abandoning me like my parents, but I don’t see him as the type to want the kinds of things the Stone gives you.” He sighed, tilting his head so that it leaned against Hari’s, pale blond hair tickling Hari’s cheek. “I just wish he would have taken my side of things. I always thought-I always thought he cared about me, but I guess not.”

Hari reached up and did what he remembered Minerva always did when she comforted him, running his hand through Draco’s hair and smoothing it away from his face. Draco sniffled and leaned into the touch and Hari continued to silently comb his fingers through his silky blond hair until Draco calmed down fully. Even after Draco had stopped, tears dried on his cheeks and half asleep from emotional exhaustion, Hari continued to run his hands through Draco’s hair.

When Ron and the other boys returned to go to bed, Ron carrying Hari’s bag as well as his own, Hari ignored them and continued to sit with Draco. He caught Ron’s eye as he put Hari’s stuff on his bed and twitched his head slightly at the question in Ron’s eyes. “It’s fine,” Hari mouthed. Ron shrugged and moved away, getting ready.

When the others went to sleep, Hari and Draco climbed into Draco’s bed without speaking, Draco falling asleep with Hari fiddling with his hair until he fell asleep as well.

¤¤¤

A few days later, the foursome were sitting together at dinner, discussing their latest Charms class in which Seamus accidentally set Dean on fire and was off at the hospital wing. Neville joined their conversation as well, telling them about how his own sleeve nearly caught fire by being next to Dean.

"Hey, where's Hagrid? He's not at the staff table,” Ron wondered, jerking his chin in the direction of the staff table. Hagrid was, in fact, missing from his usual enlarged seat at the end of the staff table.

“Should we go and see what’s happened?” Hari asked the group, still looking over at the empty seat next to Pomona Sprout.

“I suppose it can’t hurt to check. What if something’s happened?” Hermione said anxiously, biting on her bottom lip.

Draco’s cheeks flushed and his eyes widened suddenly. The other three looked at him curiously, Hari’s eyebrows almost disappearing behind his fringe. “I forgot to tell you guys earlier… When I was in the library before dinner, I ran into Hagrid in the dragon section and all the books he was checking out were about the care and breeding of dragons,” he said at a whisper, leaning in close so that no one else could hear.

Ron gasped. “But dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlock’s Convention of 1709,” Ron stage whispered, looking horrified. “If Hagrid’s doing what you think he’s doing, we better go make sure he doesn’t.”

After dinner, the foursome said goodbye to Neville and the rest of the Gryffindors and made their way out through the front doors and down the hill toward Hagrid’s hut at the edge of the forest. Ron led the way with Draco, both frowning very seriously and muttering to each other about ‘idiots’. When they reached his hut, Draco banged his fist angrily on the door and shouted, “Hagrid! Let us in! NOW!”

Hagrid’s door opened just enough for them to see Hagrid’s shaggy beard and one of his eyes. Immediately, Hari felt the immense heat flooding out of the hut as though he turned it into a sauna. “Sorry, you lot. Can’ let you in today. Awfully busy, I am,” Hagrid said dismissively, beginning to shut the door. Draco, however, jammed his foot in it at the last second.

“Let us in, Hagrid. We need to talk to you.” Draco had never looked quite so determined in all the years Hari knew him. His eyes were flashing almost venomously, his jaw set and his shoulders back, looking quite as demanding and fearsome as any 11 year old possibly could. Hari was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of this fierce look.

“I already told yeh. I can’. I’m-”

“Hagrid, if you’re breeding a bloody dragon in there, you have more than that dragon’s fire to deal with,” Draco seethed, pressing all his weight against the door. Hagrid sighed and finally stepped back, letting them inside.

Past the threshold, it was even more sweltering hot. As Hagrid shut the door behind him, Hari felt distinctly as though he had been shut inside an oven, ready to bake for hours. Already, he could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead and fanned himself in futility. Beside him, Hermione’s frizzy hair was beginning to get even frizzier in the immense heat and Ron and Draco’s faces were both tinged with pink. On the floor, poor Fang was panting heavily.

Hari glanced into the roaring fireplace and saw a strange pot sitting on the fire, which Hagrid went over to tend to.

“Er, Hagrid? What’s inside that pot there?” Hari asked, hoping against all odds that he was wrong.

“Hagrid, that better not be a dragon’s egg. You know that dragon breeding has been illegal since 1709, right?” Ron said, watching fearfully as Hagrid grabbed a pair of massive tongs and lifted the pot off the fire and placed it onto a small mat on the table.

“Arr, I know tha’, Ron. Everybody knows that.”

Hari could not keep the gasp that fell out his mouth as Hagrid lifted the lid off the pot to reveal a large egg about the size of an ostrich egg. He exchanged fearful looks with the other three as Hagrid coaxed the egg inside the pot with a terrifying fondness in his eyes.

Draco cleared his throat loudly and Hagrid glanced towards the sound for a split second before returning to his egg. “Hagrid, you live in a wooden house! You cannot possibly expect to raise a dragon in here without risking setting the entire thing on fire, including you and Fang!” Draco exclaimed, folding his arms.

“I know what I’m doin’, Draco,” Hagrid said, lifting the egg out of its pot and placing it on the table. The egg twitched on the table. “I think it’s about ter hatch,” he said, mostly to himself. Hari’s eyes bulged.

“Hagrid, please. You can’t raise a dragon in here! You’ll get yourself sent to Askaban and have a hefty fine waiting for you when you get out after several years,” Draco insisted, half pleading now. His hands were on his hips and his jaw was clenched, eyes focused entirely on the twitching egg.

At the mention of Askaban, Hagrid faltered slightly where he was still cooing over the dragon egg and placing it back in the pot to put in the fireplace. He glanced at Draco, beady eyes narrowed. “Threatening me, are you? Threatenin’ to get me sent to that place!” Hagrid scowled at Draco, who still refused to back down.

“If it gets you to get rid of that egg, yeah. Maybe I am!” Draco’s frown tightened, eyes narrowing. Hagrid straightened up to his full height, towering over the four eleven year olds. Hari swallowed hard, looking up at the massive man staring down at Draco like he’d been hit in the face. Still, Draco continued to stare right back at him. Ron, who agreed wholeheartedly with Draco, looked wary at the look on Hagrid’s face.

Hermione tugged on Draco’s sleeve. “Draco, please. It’s not helping,” she pleaded, voice high and fearful. He shrugged her off.

“No. Not until Hagrid agrees to get rid of that egg!”

“But Draco. You can’t just-”

Draco turned on Hermione. “I can and I will!” he snapped, making her flinch away, eyes wide and glassy. He ignored her and turned back to Hagrid. “Hagrid, do you even care about any of us? About Fang? About yourself? You’re endangering anyone who goes near this hut if you do this!”

“Get out!” Hagrid snapped, shoving past them to throw open his front door, letting in a cold breeze. “How dare yeh speak to me like tha’! Get out of my house!” Hermione was the first out, squeaking as she grabbed Ron’s arm and tugged him out behind her, still frowning over his shoulder. Draco, who was still standing his ground, had to be forcibly dragged out by Hari, nearly tearing the sleeve of his robe as Hari yanked him as hard as he could. As soon as all four of them were outside, the door slammed in their faces, making Hari and Hermione both flinch.

“I think you went about that the wrong way, mate,” Ron commented as they stood staring at the shut door still.

Draco sneered and began marching up to the castle, practically steaming at the ears. The other three hurried to jog after him. “He’ll see reason. He’s got to. I don’t care if he never speaks to me again as long as I make sure nobody gets hurt because the idiot decided to raise a bloody dragon in his hut!” Draco slammed the front doors to the castle open and the other three followed in his wake silently.