Chaos, Dragons, and One Very Suspicious Smile
Harry woke up that morning with a strange feeling.
Something felt… off.
He blinked a few times and turned his head toward the usual corner where Red used to sleep—only to find the little dragon sitting perfectly still, staring out the window with an expression that was suspiciously calm.
Too calm.
Harry narrowed his eyes. He slowly sat up, not taking his gaze off Red, who—almost as if he had felt it—turned his head with a look of innocence so fake it might as well have been rehearsed.
"Are you two having some kind of staring contest?" mumbled Terry in a raspy voice as he stretched and got out of bed.
"Something like that," Harry replied, still watching the dragon. Then he stood up and began to get dressed for breakfast.
Before leaving, however, he made a quick detour toward Draco's bed, where the blond boy was still sleeping peacefully.
Without a second thought, Harry picked up a pillow and slammed it into Draco's face.
Draco jolted awake, mumbling incoherently, then hurled the pillow back. Harry easily dodged it while buttoning up his robes.
"By the way, when are we having the official golem battles?" Terry suddenly asked, now fully awake and visibly excited.
"This week," Harry answered while adjusting his shoes.
"Finally! I've been waiting for that since day one!" Terry said enthusiastically and dashed out of the room.
"I'm going to tell the others!"
"Why does it always seem like he eats a bag of sugar for breakfast?" Draco muttered, still half-asleep.
Harry just shrugged, barely holding back a laugh.
…
A short while later, the four friends were sitting at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall, sharing toast… and potentially illegal plans.
"So, what exactly are you planning to do to drive Dumbledore mad?" Daphne asked casually, like someone asking about the weather.
Harry chewed quietly for a second before answering with absolute calm:
"Well, I've got a few ideas. Release a dragon in the corridors, make it seem like a dangerous creature is loose in the castle, steal the Philosopher's Stone… or set the Astronomy Tower on fire."
Hermione slowly lowered her toast and stared at him.
"Repeat the last two," she said seriously.
"Steal the Philosopher's Stone… and not set the Astronomy Tower on fire," Harry replied, changing one word with the most suspiciously innocent expression imaginable.
Hermione ignored the tower part.
"You want to steal the Philosopher's Stone?! Are you insane?!" she shrieked, before both Daphne and Harry quickly covered her mouth.
They glanced around. A few early risers were watching them with mild curiosity, but thankfully, it seemed they had contained the outburst just in time.
"You do realize Dumbledore is protecting that stone," Hermione whispered tensely. "It's probably surrounded by incredibly powerful and dangerous magical defenses. And you want to steal it? Why?"
Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "Do you really think Dumbledore would put deadly protections around a stone he's using as bait? He wants someone to try and take it."
"And if someone does—supposedly some 'mysterious figure'—then he'll be paranoid for months. Maybe years," he added with a sly smile.
"In the meantime, we give the stone back to Mr. Flamel, explain the situation, and ask him to play along. Watching the great Dumbledore fall into a constant state of anxious overthinking… all because he trusted his own silly strategy? That would be a gift."
As he spoke, Harry discreetly scanned the Great Hall, making sure no portraits or ghosts were listening in.
Hermione frowned. "Do you seriously believe Dumbledore is planning to manipulate your life? That's not a light accusation… he's supposed to be the most powerful wizard since Merlin."
"I don't know for sure," Harry admitted, his tone serious.
"But I do know he's a meddlesome old man who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong.
And if he plans to steer my life down a path I didn't choose, then I'm at least going to make it difficult for him."
He paused for a second, then lowered his voice even more.
"Especially because I suspect… he knew what was going to happen the night Voldemort attacked my family.
And yet, he let my father's invisibility cloak…"
His words lingered in the air.
Daphne, Draco, and Hermione stared at him in silence for a moment.
"Well," Daphne said finally, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, "driving the Headmaster crazy does sound fun. I'm in."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Draco added with a shrug. "If we get expelled, we can always transfer to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons."
"I don't want to be expelled!" protested Hermione—but then she glanced at her friends and sighed. "...I just hope Beauxbatons is pretty."
Harry looked at all of them with a genuinely happy smile, just as an owl swooped down and dropped a letter in front of him.
He opened it quickly, scanned it, and grinned.
"The egg is hatching," he announced, his grin growing wider. "Let's go."
…
"Why did you bring Red?" Hermione asked, eyeing the small red dragon walking calmly beside Harry, as if this was all part of the plan.
"I didn't bring him. He was already here when I noticed," Harry replied, just before knocking on Hagrid's cabin door.
The others turned to look at Red, who was sitting perfectly still in front of the door, wearing an expression of such exaggerated innocence that it immediately raised suspicion… again.
The door swung open suddenly, snapping them out of their thoughts.
"Oh, it's you lot! Come in, come in," Hagrid said cheerfully. "And you brought little Red!" he added, stepping forward to pet him.
Red, however, pulled back slightly at the approaching hand, clearly about to bite it—until Harry gave him a stern look. The dragon lowered his head and allowed the petting, though with a forced sense of dignity.
"One of your kind is being born today. Want to see it, mate?" Hagrid said with a warm smile. Then added, "Well, maybe not technically your kind. You're… different. But still a dragon, like you."
"Come on in," he said, remembering they were still standing outside.
Inside the hut, the heat was overwhelming. The fireplace blazed as if it were trying to roast winter itself.
Fang, Hagrid's dog, took one look at Red entering the room and bolted straight under the bed in a panic.
Red watched him flee… with a smug sense of pride.
They all gathered around the table as Hagrid carefully placed a large egg on it. The shell already had a few cracks and was shifting slightly.
"It's hatching! Look, a crack! There it is—it's coming!" Hagrid exclaimed, visibly excited.
A tiny claw broke through the shell. Through the small opening, a vertical eye peeked out at them… then quickly retreated.
"He's shy," Hagrid murmured with affection.
Red, having seen the eye for a moment, narrowed his own and approached with curiosity.
Just then, a faint noise outside drew everyone's attention.
They turned their heads at the same time.
And in that moment, Red leapt onto the table, snatched the egg in his mouth, and bolted through the window without warning.
"Red, wait!" Harry shouted, reacting too late.
They all stared at each other for a second—then sprinted after him.
"He was way too calm. Way too calm," Hermione muttered, frowning.
"Do you think he's going to eat it?" Daphne asked, clearly worried.
"Red doesn't eat," Harry replied. "Maybe he thinks it's his brother… or something."
Before continuing, Harry paused and glanced toward the source of the earlier noise. He spotted Carrow running in the opposite direction and sighed.
"Red, get back here!" he shouted, resuming the chase.
But Red didn't just ignore him—he crashed straight into Professor Sprout's greenhouse, shattering a window and stomping over her rare plants like a force of nature.
"Yep. We're definitely getting expelled," Hermione muttered, holding back tears at the sight of Sprout's precious herbs being crushed to pieces.
They followed Red through the corridors. He slammed into a couple of suits of armor, sending them flying. The portraits on the walls watched in horror, muttering in shock.
Harry came to a sudden stop and raised both hands.
A surge of red aura erupted from him, tearing nearby tapestries from the walls and hurling them toward Red. The enchanted cloths wrapped tightly around the dragon, binding him and forcing him to drop the egg, which fell to the ground.
The shell shattered, and from it emerged a small green-scaled dragon. It shook its head slowly, confused, and looked up at Red—who stared back with a mix of interest… and humiliation.
"It's a Hungarian Horntail," Draco said, eyes gleaming with excitement.
The baby dragon didn't hesitate: it bit Red's tail with surprising strength.
Red writhed, still bound by the tapestries, his pride deeply wounded by the newborn's boldness.
Harry walked toward them, glancing around at the destruction: broken windows, burning tapestries, disassembled armor… and now two dragons.
He sighed. Time to clean up. Fast.
But before he could move, the little dragon released Red's tail… and sneezed.
A burst of fire shot from its mouth, setting the tapestry aflame.
The flames quickly consumed it, and Red, now free, shook himself furiously.
The very first thing he did was swipe a claw lightly at the baby dragon.
The hatchling immediately bit Red's claw—but his teeth didn't even scratch the red scales.
Red gave him another gentle nudge, a proud display of dominance that clearly meant: "I'm the boss here."
"What is going on here?" came a cold, stern voice.
The group froze.
They turned slowly… and there stood Professor McGonagall, right in the middle of the corridor, arms crossed, brow furrowed. Her eyes swept over the scene: destroyed armor, a flaming tapestry, a shattered window… and two dragons. One known troublemaker technically allowed at Hogwarts, and the other clearly illegal.
Finally, her gaze landed on the four students—first years, top of their class…
and yet here they were.
Daphne swallowed hard.
"What if we say we found a dragon in the castle and tried to catch it? Would she believe us?" she asked awkwardly.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow—slowly.
"If you hadn't just asked that, maybe I would have, Miss Greengrass," she replied with an icy tone.
"…Oops," Daphne murmured, lowering her head.