Chapter 31
In the days that followed, Gray settled in comfortably at Hagrid's hut. He even stopped going to the Room of Requirement, his usual haunt.
Every day, aside from attending classes, he returned straight to Hagrid's little house to check on the dragon egg.
Hermione kept trying to drag him along to review for the end-of-year exams, but he always slipped away.
Revising first-year textbooks was nowhere near as interesting as observing the dragon egg. Besides, the first-year material was mostly basic stuff. What other students found difficult—History of Magic—was one of Gray's strong points.
The only subject that gave him any real trouble was Charms, because he still hadn't mastered the *Incendio* spell.
But that was exactly why he was studying the egg—so he felt no pressure at all.
Time rolled on until the Easter holidays. Easter fell on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox, and Hogwarts gave four days off. Most students, however, weren't particularly thrilled: the teachers had piled on mountains of holiday homework.
Gray, fortunately, had his own unique approach to assignments.
This was a magical world—why not use magic to deal with homework?
Thanks to all the practice he'd put in at the Room of Requirement, his control over the Levitation Charm had reached a level most students couldn't even imagine.
For example, he could guide a quill to write precise letters, just as he could arrange points of light from *Lumos* to form words.
He could also multitask, levitating several objects at once without them interfering with each other—just as he had done with porcelain pieces during training.
The vases, teacups, teapots, and jars he practiced with were scattered haphazardly across the floor, yet he could lift and move any single type without disturbing the rest.
And since first-year homework wasn't overly complicated, and Gray already remembered the material solidly without needing to look anything up, he finished in a single hour what would take most people four days.
The rest of his time, naturally, went to the dragon egg.
To keep it incubating, the fireplace in Hagrid's hut burned day and night, and the life inside continued to change.
The crown-like magical circuit Gray had observed earlier had turned into green life circuits. Tiny, branch-like pathways began to sprout and gradually take on the shape of a crawling creature.
More and more delicate circuits appeared, forcing Gray to spend extra time recording them all.
He still didn't fully understand what they meant, but writing them down brought the same quiet satisfaction he used to feel taking lecture notes at university.
Today Hagrid wasn't in the hut—Gray didn't know where he'd gone and didn't particularly care.
He followed his usual routine: nibbling rock cakes, sipping coffee, reading one of the library books he'd brought along, and glancing over at the egg every so often to note any new developments.
Whenever something changed, he wrote it down. Once the dragon began breathing fire, he planned to compare all the circuits he'd recorded and experiment to see which ones might let him cast *Incendio*.
It was around midday, and Gray had just reached the halfway point in his book, when heavy footsteps sounded outside.
Only Hagrid could make the ground shake like that.
Gray looked up.
The door swung open, and he saw that Hagrid wasn't alone. Three other people followed him inside.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron.
Why were they here?
Gray glanced questioningly at Hagrid.
Hagrid scratched the back of his head, looking a little sheepish. "I thought I'd pop down to the library and borrow a few more dragon books to bring back for you to look at… but they caught me. They wanted to see the egg too."
Hagrid's massive hands were cradling several volumes: *From Egg to Inferno*, *Dragons of Britain and Ireland*, and *The Death of Dragons*.
The last one was actually a novel about a dragon teaming up with a knight to swindle human treasure. Hagrid had probably just seen the title and grabbed it without checking the contents.
The first two books overlapped quite a bit with *Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit*. Once you'd read the guide, the others weren't really necessary—but Hagrid clearly didn't know that. Unlike Gray, he didn't read widely.
Gray shook his head helplessly. Hagrid was so worried about the egg that his already slow wits had turned to mush, and now he'd led Harry and the others straight here.
Harry and Ron greeted Gray briefly before rushing over to the fireplace to get a proper look at the dragon egg.
Hermione, however, marched straight to Gray's side and stared at him with a very serious expression.
"You've been impossible to find lately. So this is where you've been hiding. Why didn't you tell me?"
She sounded upset—whether because he hadn't joined her for revision or for some other reason, Gray wasn't sure.
He met her gaze. Glowing words appeared in the air between them.
"This is illegal, you know."
"Hmph. You know it's against the law, yet you're still hiding a dragon egg with Hagrid. Do you have any idea that in the Wizengamot Convention of 1709—"
Hermione planted her hands on her hips and launched into a lecture, reciting passages from books she'd memorised.
"But Hagrid loves dragons too much. I couldn't stop him," Gray cut in, refusing to argue with the stubborn little witch and simply throwing Hagrid under the carriage as a shield.
Hagrid set the books down and blinked at Hermione with big, sad eyes.
"Hermione… you know my greatest dream is to raise a dragon of me own." His voice cracked as he thought of losing the egg if she told the teachers.
Hermione turned her head away awkwardly.
"It's still illegal. But… if you're absolutely determined to keep it, I can't stop you. Just be extremely careful. If the school finds out, your dragon will definitely be taken away." She warned sternly.
Gray smiled to himself. He'd known Hermione's bark was worse than her bite. She might argue endlessly, but her heart was kind—especially toward friends.
He couldn't bring himself to play the soft-hearted role, but Hagrid was perfect for it.
"Thank you—really, thank you, Hermione. And thank you too, Gray. Without you, I wouldn't have had the faintest idea how to look after the little fella." Hagrid's mournful look vanished, replaced by a beaming grin.
Hermione shot Gray a glare at Hagrid's words, but Gray pretended not to notice.
"We've got something we need your help with too," Ron said, walking over from the fireplace.
"Ron?" Hermione looked puzzled. What could they possibly need from Hagrid? He couldn't help them cheat on exams or do their homework.
"What is it? If I can do it, I'll help, no question," Hagrid declared, thumping his chest.
"We want to know what else is guarding the Philosopher's Stone besides Fluffy," Ron said.
Harry stepped forward from the fireplace. "Yeah, Hagrid. We're trying to figure out whether the Stone is really safe here at school."
"'Course it's safe! With Dumbledore at Hogwarts, this is the safest place in the world," Hagrid replied, his voice full of reverence for the headmaster.
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