Poor Leo

The next day, everyone was talking about Cotton's feat over the Mountain Troll. He didn't care too much as his life was peaceful again. Cho and Hermione were in good spirits and his studies proceeded nicely.

The group of four were all sitting in the Great Hall as Leo, Cotton's thunderbird, perched himself on a stack of books watching them complete their assignments.

"Cotton, can you help me with my fire protection potion? It always comes out too thick." Cho asked without looking up from her paper.

"Mhmm" Cotton agreed.

"Cotton, I need help with my sleeping Drought." Hermione spoke next."

"Mhmm" Cotton agreed again.

"I also need help, but it with the History of magic paper," Padma Patil added.

"No problem... Wait, who are you?" Cotton asked though he knew who she was.

The girl chuckled. "Just someone who needs help on History of Magic."

"Try again." Cotton replied with a smirk, then went back to his assignment.

When he was finished, he stood up, gathered his things, and left the hall. With a loud whistle, Leo took to the air and flew after Cotton.

Sometime later Cotton sat under a tree as he closed the final book of languages. He sighed and admitted that parseltongue was a very difficult language, but not as hard as draconian. A language born from magic and with no room for interpretation. Cotton reached in his enchanted wallet for more books but realized that he read them all.

"Shit." he hissed "I guess I'll have to go back to the library. Magical languages are a motherfucker. And no one knows what the fuck they're talking about."

A week passed and Cotton had discovered multiple hidden pathways throughout the castle. He was taking one of them now. He had lost track of time and was racing to the Quidditch Pitch. The moment he stepped out of the tunnel he mounted his broom and met his team in the air.

When Madam Hooch saw Cotton arrive with seconds to spare, she started the game and Cotton took off after the golden snitch. To make up for his near tardiness, Cotton caught the golden snitch eight minutes and forty-five seconds into his first match, beating Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw went ballistic and Cotton used his broom as a surfboard to celebrate.

He then flew to the stands and gave the snitch to Hermione. She acted overdramatically as if she was going to faint by such a beautiful gesture. Cotton rolled his eyes then flew away. Every game after ended in a similar fashion. Sometimes Cotton had to fight other Seekers for the snitch but in the end, he still caught it.

As Dumbledore predicted, Cotton became just another Hogwarts student. He and the ladies still explored from time to time. But for the most part. They lived the average Hogwarts experience.

Peace lasted well through Christmas break. Of which, Cotton invited the Changs and Grangers over to celebrate. He figured that he and his parents would be friends with the Grangers for a long time. As for the Changs, Cotton invited them because he didn't plan to let Cho leave his side.

Christmas came and went, but as you expected, fate threw Cotton a spin when he returned to school. He had friends, he was a Quidditch stud, and the number one first year in terms of academics.

Months passed and he had finally caught Winky sober enough and she showed him where to find every hidden room she knew about. His most favorite was the room of requirements. Cotton made sure to give Winky a whole cask of mead that day and she thanked him nonstop.

Though, when April rolled around, Leo had gotten sick and the only one that possibly had what he needed was Hagrid.

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Cotton carried a sickly Leo in his arms. Through the familiar bond, Cotton could feel how much pain the little guy was in. When he arrived at Hagrid's, the big oaf tried to shoo him away until Cotton held up Leo and Hagrid quickly pulled him inside. Hagrid seemed to know exactly what was wrong with him.

Hagrid began to move around his hut and mixing herbs up. "Boy, what have you been doing lately. This poor thing is about to explode."

"Explode?!" Cotton exclaimed.

"Aye. Magical beasts are completely assimilated with magic. But a familiar bond allows you to share the magic. Your magic is stronger than what the little guy can handle right now. But he'll be just fine."

Cotton relaxed and was thankful for Hagrid. Then he noticed that Hagrid's pot was rattling, or more so that an egg was rattling in the pot that hung over a blazing fire.

"Uhh, Hagrid? Where did you get a Dragon Egg from?" Cotton asked as he removed the lid and looked inside.

Before Hagrid could answer a knock resounded on the door.

"Hagrid!" Harry Potter called out.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today," said Hagrid as he begins to close the door to his hut.

"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!" three voices spoke in tandem.

Hagrid opens the door again.

"Oh," he said.

Three students then filed into Hagrid's hut. The trio then froze, looking at Cotton with surprised expressions.

"Cotton? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Saving Leo's life. What are you doing here, with them?" Cotton asked.

"Uhh, well, you see. Cho was with her other friends and you were off somewhere so I was studying with Harry and Ron because they invited me. A few months back we found this three-headed dog protecting a trap door that now we know leads to the philosopher's stone. The only problem is Snape is trying to steal it"

Cotton smiled. "A bit long-winded. And honestly, I already know about the trap door. And honestly, it isn't your business and I know I am not your father, but I refuse to let you get any more involved."

"But--"

"No buts Hermione. Come here, I'll walk you to your dormitory when Hagrid is finished with Leo."

Hermione walked over to him downtrodden. She sat next to him on the large couch made for a giant and didn't say another word. Harry was about to say something, but Cotton glared and Ron stopped him with a worried expression.

'Those boys can barely transfigure a matchbox. You will not be going on any more adventures with them. If something happened to you because I did nothing. How could I face your parents? And I don't know what I would do, but I'll start by blowing them to pieces.'

Cotton spoke directly into her mind and Hermione's cheeks turned rosy. 'T-thank you, Cotton' she replied in thought.

'Silly girl. You're just like Renly. She also didn't have the best judgment when it came to choosing comrades for adventures.' Cotton thought only to himself this time. He thought of the woman from his past life and at times she and Hermione overlapped. He then reached out and patted Hermione's head.

"So what's this about the Philosopher's Stone?" asked Hagrid

" We think Snape's trying to steal it," Harry replied.

"Snape? Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you?" Hagrid asked.

"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We just don't know why," said Harry.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!"

"What?" Harry was shocked.

"You heard. Right. Come on now, I'm a bit preoccupied today."

"Wait a minute. One of the teachers?"

Hermione spoke out from the large chair, "Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments."

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me." Hagrid replies.

Hermione looks at Ron, who is still being sniffed in the face by Fang. Finally, Ron shuffles away. She was positive that Ron was an idiot.

"Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore... I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that." Hagrid then turned around as his pot began to rattle more intensely.

"Oh!" Hagrid hurries over and grabs the egg from the kettle, "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"

Hagrid finally places it on the table for all to see.

"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?" asked Harry.

"It's a dragon egg" Cotton replied, "But Hagrid hasn't told me where got it from."

"I won it. Off a stranger, I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact." Hagrid spoke and Cotton frowned.

'No one walks around with Dragon Eggs, you big Oaf.' Cotton thought to himself.

The egg burst open and the baby dragon stretch itself out as everyone looked on with great interest.

"So that's a dragon," said Hermione.

"That's not just a dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania." Ron added.

"Blimey…" Hermione looked shocked, "You actually do know something."

Ron frowned and Harry snickered. At the same time, Cotton sensed someone watching them and rose from his seat. He asked Hagrid if it was okay to leave Leo with him. Hagrid became excited and told Cotton that he would take perfect care of the little thunderbird. Cotton then gestured for Hermione and the duo left.

When Cotton stepped outside, the peeper was already scurrying off back to the castle. After walking Hermione to her room, Cotton began to walk back to his cottage but stopped mid-way. He then turned around and went to the room of requirements.

There he stood with his sword in hand across from a dozen dummies holding various weapons. Unlike his cottage, the Room of Requirments could be destroyed and repair itself. After fighting for so many years in his past life, Cotton wasn't worried about his sword skills, but the destructive output of his new power.

With the sword in hand and his bodhi necklace gone, the curse took hold causing Cotton to turn into a battle manic. His mind was barely together because of his low level of Occlumency. He took a deep breath then shot off against his enemy wielding the power of Blue Crest. Raw power is meant only for destruction.

The night raged on and Cotton slaughter dummies left and right, tearing the room to shreds until he refined and controlled the power that came with the cursed sword. When morning came, he skipped class to practice his dueling.

By lunch, he joined Cho at the Ravenclaw table. Cho was happy to see him as they hadn't been spending much time together. Cotton seemed to be so engrossed in magic, studying with Snape, and isolated in the Hollow Cottage that it felt like they were growing apart.

Cotton didn't brush off her feelings. He simply promised to spend more time with and not get so sidetracked with his own needs. To make it up to her, Cotton set aside time in the evenings and on the weekend with Cho and they did whatever she wanted to do.

A month soon passed, Hermione, Cho, and Cotton were all lounging about Bowtruckle island. Occasionally, Cotton would get a burst of inspiration. He would then transfigure his imagination around the island making themselves a small paradise. Cho and Hermione were also coming along as they were now able to keep pace with the little magic that Cotton displayed.

"Ahh, it's getting late. I need to go see Hagrid about Leo. I'll see you ladies around, ehh?"

"Bye, Cotton." they sang.

"You can stay in the Cottage, no need to cross the lake. I'll be back soon." Cotton shouted as he ran off.

On the way to Hagrid's, Cotton pulled out a book on Wizard anatomy. For the most part, the book that he read was exactly the same as muggle anatomy. It wasn't until the later chapters of books that he started learning about the effect magic had on the human.

Similar to Leo, the mass amount of magic flowing into his body from the cursed blade was also changing him. He was going through an early magic maturation. That magic also pushed Leo into early development.

Cotton closed the book and sighed. All of the clarity of mind that he enjoy for the past two years would soon be gone as teenage hormones flood his body. That was the side effect of magical maturation. Cotton aside, Leo would start to become a handful as well.

Cotton reopened the book and continued reading until he arrived at Hagrid's.

"Hey, Hagrid."

"Cotton, good to see ya! Come on in" he shouted.

Cotton entered the hut and saw a perky Leo who was now four feet tall. Cotton picked the big guy up and gave Hagrid ten galleons for his help. Just as Cotton was about to leave, Hagrid called out to him.

"Wait a minute. I have a favor," he said.

"What is Hagrid, anything." Cotton replied.

"Well, Professor McGonagall has sent Harry, Ron, and Malfoy to me for detention tonight. But the headmaster wants me to investigate the forest. Some weird happenings are goin' on. I was wondering if you could tag along? I hear you're decent with a wand."

Cotton sighed, he wanted to stay far away from the Potter boy and he was doing one hell of a job. But he figured he could survive one night with him and find out some goods on Dumbledore. Though, the old man had given Cotton hall passes as part of the deal, Dumbledore decided not to talk to his father. Cotton had no idea why.

This made Cotton fill unnerved for the longest. But now, the old man was sending Hagrid into the forbidden forest to investigate with a bunch of kids that he banned from said place at the beginning of the year.

With the chance to gather dirt on the old man to save his ass at a later date, Cotton agreed to tag along.