26: We descend the trap door tonight

(Beatris POV)

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Who's there ? oh its you three. Come on in" Hagrid opened the door for us and we went in.

I had just came from the hospital and we all decided to pay Hagrid a visit.

"Thanks Hagrid" Hermione said

"You kay there Beatris" Hagrid asked me. "You can't believe how worried I was when I found you in the forest wounded like that. Thought you were going to die. Glad that Firenze brought found you when he did."

"Firenze ?" I asked confused. "Who is that?"

"Well he was the centaur tha' saved yer' life Beatris. Oh righ' you were faint weren' ya." I nodded and Hagrid continued. "Well he brough' ya both to me. You were Out of ya senses and littlé Hermione was barely holding. What actually happened, that I don' know. I think Hermione can tell ya. Eh Hermione. I wanna know myself that wha' happened there ? " Hagrid asked looking towards Hermione. Before she could say something I blurted myself

"There was a creature. It was drinking the unicorn blood"

"Bloody hell. Wha' kind of creature would do that. Did ya see it" I was about to say yes when something poked me from my side. I looked and saw Hermione.

"No we did not Hagrid. It ran as soon as we reached it. We could not see the creature" Hermione said instead of me. I looked at her Awkwardly.

(whats on your mind now)

"I haven't seen any creature that kills an' drinks unicorn blood like that" Hagrid scratched his chin. "Glad you were safe. ya sure know how to scare the hell out a me"

We all smiled bitterly. Thinking something I asked again

"Hagrid, the creature drinking the unicorn blood never ran due to our presence. There was another creature there." I said kind of reluctantly. Hagrid seemed a bit more interested

"The one that gave ya the bad arm eh?"

"Yeah that's the one"

"Wha' did it look like"

"We never saw it. It was to dark. The only things visible were it's eyes."

"What did they look like"

I tried to remember the Eyes of that monstrosity. The image right before I fainted flashed across my eyes. Dark red eyes, shining like rubies, Slits, deep like an abyss. A shudder ran through me spine. The hair on the back oh my hands stood up.

"Red, with slits, like a .......... cat" I replied

"Hmm never seen a creature like this in the forest before."

"Hey Hagrid where is Norbert ?" Suddenly Ron asked him. We saw the whole demeanor of the giant changed instantly.

*SOB*

(IS HE CRYING)

Hagrid started to sob, tears forming in his eyes wetting his beard and all the facial hair. The situation got awkward quickly. Hagrid was acting like a bid baby now and we were trying to comfort him and failing miserably.

"Dumbledore sent em away" *SOB* "To Romania, to live in a colony. Norbert is gone." *SOB* and then he started to wail loudly

"BBBOOOOHOOOOOOO"

"Its okay there there Hagrid. He'll be happy there Hagrid. Among his own kind" Ron tried to cheer the Giant but this had the opposite effect.

"What if the other dragons are mean to him. BOOHHOOO. He is still just a baby. BBOOOHOOO" HE started to wail again.

Took us a whole 20 minutes to calm the big baby down.

"I was so happy when the chap gave me the dragon egg in the pub. *SOB* Now it's gone" He was finally calming down

"There is absolutely no need to worry about that Hagrid and there is Ron's brother there as well. Bet he'll take good care of your dragon. No one will be mean to him" I smiled patting the back of the giant. I didn't even knew if the giant was feeling my little pat on his back that was like a highway.

Ron nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, my brother is there. I'll send him an owl and he'll take good care of Norbert"

"Exactly" Hermione said.

(Man he is just like a overgrown baby)

Hagrid finally calmed down and we took the chance to get away from the hut.

"Thank God we are out of there" Said Ron. "I thought that he was never going to calm down. The hell is wrong with him. It was just a dragon. Who does that" Ron was stomping in fury."He is no giant but a big baby" I snicked a bit.

"Well to me you are acting like a big spoiled baby right now" I laughed

"What? No I am not a baby" He became even more furious

"Seee just a baby. Getting worked up over something like this" I teased him even more.

He opened his mouth but maybe he understood that what I was doing and closed it only gritting his teeth in response. I Giggled a bit Turning back to Hermione I saw her disappearing in her own world. She was totally oblivious to the world around her. My evil nerve gave a small prick and

"EARTH TO DICTIONARY GINGER" I shouted in her ear. She jumped like a scared bunny and both Ron and I started to laugh.

"Hey what was that for" She pouted rubbing her ear.

"Nothing ! Just wanted your attention"

"There are better ways to get ones attention you know"

"But I liked this one"

"MEANIE"

"TWERP"

And the both of us started to bicker leaving behind a startled Ron who did not knew what to do.

"Oh please stop will you guys" He tried to separate us but we were no where ready to stop. So we named each other until we reached the castle

"Thank GOD you guys stopped. I thought that I will have to listen to you guys through out the after noon" Ron exhaled

"Hey now don't over react you" Hermione pointed at him

"I am not over reacting. You should have seen yourselves."

"Now now don't you guys start to fight now." I said to the both of them.

"SAYS THE ONE WHO BEGUN ALL THIS" They both shouted at me at the same time.

"Hey now. Easy easy" I raised my hands at them.

"Like hell. You always do that." Hermione scolded me and I smiled back at her.

"Hey Hermione, why did you stop Beatris in Hagrid's hut. She was about to say something but you poked her " Ron asked wondering

I put both my hands on my face "AAAAAAHHHHH. WHO ARE YOU" I pointed at Ron. "AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH RON"

"What are you saying?"

"NO WAY THAT RON IS THIS INTELLIGENT AND OBSERVING. YOU MUST BE AN IMPOSTER. I AM WARNING YOU, I KNOW HOW TO FIGHT" Hermione let out a laugh on my remark and Ron could only scowl.

"Go to hell Beatris"

"HEHEHEHEHE" I stick out my tongue but then I too become serious. "Yeah, what was that about Hermione."

She looked at me and then said "It was what Firenze told me after you and Ron fainted"

"What Ron also fainted !!!! how?" I was shocked because if my memory served correct he ran away

"Well"Ron fidgeted a bit. "I Was running when I heard a rustle. I was already scared and then in the darkness a centaur appeared before me. I got so scared that I fainted" He dodged our gazes and looked away towards the sky.

*WHISTLE*

We were both speech less

(If he was with us he might have actually died of fear)

"Any way, when you fainted Firenze came closer to me and he had Ron with him. He immediately recognized you. [Take the Potter girl out of this place now. It's not safe especially for her] he said. [What was that creature that attacked us] I asked him. [I do not know. None have seen such a creature in a long time. Black as the night and fast as lightning. I believe that it came from some where else] He replied to me" Hermione told us

"but wait Hermione, that means that creature is something undiscovered right? Even the centaurs do not know of it. It could be a huge discovery right. We could make a lot of money with this." Ron was getting excited and I eyed him awkwardly.

(It almost killed me and you want to go after it again so you can make money?)

"No Ron. He said that no one have seen this creature in a long time. this means that it was seen before."

"But Hermione what does that have to do with the other figure" I asked

"I am coming there. Hold your horses. So as I was saying that he carried me. I asked him about the other creature and he said[do you know what unicorn blood is used for?] I replied in a negative and then he told me [it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.]" Hermione finished

"That's awful but who would be that desperate" Ron asked her

My wheel was running like a race car.

"Think about it Ron !!!! what if you had to drink the blood until you can drink something else to gain a stronger and longer life? " Hermione said

My head was spinning like a blender

"You mean the elixir of life. The sorcerer's stone. Snape was the one drinking it ?." Ron's skull was barely holding his eye balls

"Think about it Ron." I cut them "can't you think of someone who is trying to come back in power and do anything for it. Some one who they say is not even human enough to die." I Talked gloomily

"What are you trying to say Bea ......." Ron understood something and his mouth opened

"Yes you are both right" Hermione said "It was you know who"

"Voldemort" I gritted my teeth

"Wait wait wait then why is Snape trying to steal it. Is he working for ........"

"I don't know about that. That is what disturbs me." Said Hermione "He could not have fallen that far"

"I don't know about how far Snape has fallen but I can say that You will need some hell strong defenses if you need to protect it from the dark lord. Hell I even think that Hagrid should asked that guy to bring him some more dragon eggs in order to protect the stone." Ron said in a single breath. A shock passed through my mind

"Wait Ron" I grabbed him by both his shoulders "What did you say"

"I said that we will need some strong defences ...."

"No no after that !!!"

"that Hagrid should ask the guy to give him some more dragon eggs"

"we need to get back to Hagrid." and I started to run not looking back to see even if I was being followed.

"Tell us something. What happened?" Hermione asked running

""Think about it. Hagrid always wanted a dragon. There aren't much people who know about that and then someone just shows and gives him a dragon egg. I mean how many people do you encounter in a day who just happen to carry a dragon egg ? " I poured my mind on em all while running. Seeing there reactions I could say they got my point. We Ran as fast as we our limbs could transport us and we reached his hut. We stopped and took a peak inside. He was stable

*KNOCK KNOCK*

He opened the door.

"Ya guys back pretty quick. What s goin' on" He asked us

"Umm Hagrid. The guy who gave you Norbert did you two talk ?"

"Yeah we did. He wanted to know that wha my job was at Hogwarts. So I tol' him that I took care of the magical creatures."

"did he Ask you something specific? "

"Yeah, he seemed pretty interested in Fluffy. So I told him that the key was to calm the creature down. Take fluffy for example play him a bit o music an' he'll fall straight to sleep." Immediately Hagrid stopped and then he looked Furious with himself. "forget what I said. Where ya all goin' " He shouted after us but we were already running away from him.

We ran straight to Dumbledore but were told that he is out. McGonagall refused to believe us.

"Now what guys ?" Ron asked miserably

"Beats me ?" Hermione was also out of options but I was not.

"Tonight ............ " I whispered.

"What ya say Beatris ? "Ron asked. I looked at him and my next words left the both of them flabbergasted. I said in a firm tone

"We steal the stone before Snape or Voldemort. We will descend the trap door tonight"