Dragons and Dunderheads

Main Hall, Durmstrang, May 24 th

"You look horrible," Calypso commented as Harry collapsed into the seat next to her.

"I just presented my Dark Arts project."

"And?" Calypso asked curiously.

"It went alright until Grausam demanded that I demonstrate my spell chain in an actual duel. He pulled some random fifth year out of the hall and told him he would get bonus points on his exam if he beat me," Harry grumbled..

"At least you're still conscious, and you apparently don't think you're hurt enough to need Lady Shluga," Calypso said, looking him over. "Obviously, the fifth year must not have been that good of a duelist."

"I think I took him by surprise with the spell chain," Harry said honestly. "I managed to get halfway through the chain before he just Summoned a desk from behind me. I didn't see it and it smashed into my back. He Stunned me, and that was it."

"I'm sure Professor Grausam was disappointed that you weren't more badly cursed," Calypso commented as a brown Hogwarts owl landed next to Harry and offered its leg, showing that it had a letter.

Harry sighed. He hadn't heard from his brother in a while. Since he had told Nathan to leave the Philosopher's Stone alone, his brother had only written to him once to say he managed to pull off Viktor's Quidditch move and that he led a Bludger right into Oliver Wood during practice. The Gryffindor Quidditch captain had been so impressed by the move that he didn't realize he had a broken nose until one of the team's Chasers pointed it out.

Harry,

First, let me say what happened wasn't my fault. You see, Hagrid had a dragon egg and was planning on raising it in his wooden hut. Ron wrote to his older brother, who works on a dragon preserve in Romania, and Hermione and I had to sneak the dragon out of Hogwarts. We managed to get it out, but we were caught by Professor McGonagall leaving the North Tower.

Ron had been bitten by the dragon and was in the hospital wing when Draco Malfoy, of all people, borrowed his Potions book. Ron had the note from Charlie in the book, and it said when and where we were going to hand over the dragon. We were able to get the dragon out of the North Tower, but Draco went to McGonagall and managed to get us all in trouble.

Mum was furious about what happened because Professor Snape told her what Malfoy had claimed we had been doing. She and Mrs. Granger have apparently become friends, and Hermione and I both got letters, thankfully not Howlers, saying how dumb it was to try to get rid of the dragon. Hermione was seriously freaked out that her mother had found out. Did you know that the professors aren't required to send the parents of Muggle-borns notifications about when their children get detentions? Apparently it's a risk to the Statute of Secrecy for Hogwarts to constantly send owls into Muggle neighborhoods. They only send out notices if a Muggle-born student is seriously injured.

Now Hermione, Neville Longbottom, who was apparently trying to warn us about what Malfoy was going to do, Malfoy, and I all have detention for being up and out of bounds. Not to mention Professor McGonagall took 40 points EACH from all of us. Most of Gryffindor is treating us like we have the plague because we went from first to last in the race for the House Cup.

By the way, Hermione says it's impossible for Durmstrang to be in Siberia because there is no way an owl would be able to deliver mail there. Owls need to hunt for their meals on longer deliveries and there wouldn't be enough food for an owl to survive a trip to Siberia. Funny, Harry. We'll see how much you like pranks over the summer.

Nathan

"Typical," Harry muttered, putting down the letter.

"What?" Calypso asked.

Harry just handed her the letter and let her read it.

"So your brother actually took it upon himself to get rid of a dragon for this Hagrid person? That's just asking for trouble. Had they been caught, they could have been arrested for the illegal transportation of a dragon." Calypso paused and re-read the last few lines of the letter. "And did he seriously believe Durmstrang was in Siberia?"

Harry sighed. "Just say it."

Calypso handed Harry back his letter. "Your brother is an idiot."

"I know. Believe me, I know," Harry said, shaking his head tiredly.