Two days after the dream, my left eye finally stopped looking as though I had tried to gouge it out with a spoon.
It was still slightly bloodshot, but light no longer hurt, and for the past two days I had not tried to press anything with it.
That was not fear.
Rest.
There was a difference.
I was just finishing breakfast when I noticed Ron Weasley on the other side of the Great Hall. It was difficult not to notice him, or more specifically, difficult not to notice his right arm.
The bandage started at his hand and ended almost at his elbow. Ron held it stiffly against his side as though someone had turned his forearm into a plank.
I stared for perhaps a second.
"What are you staring at?" Blaise asked.
"Weasley."
Draco looked up almost immediately.
"Why?"
"I'm admiring his arm."
Blaise looked across the hall.
"Impressive."
Draco narrowed his eyes.
"What happened to him?"
"An accident."
"What kind?"
I shrugged.
"Probably a very bitey one."
Draco looked at me.
I took the last sip of my tea.
I did not add anything else.
I caught up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione by the doors to the Great Hall.
Ron noticed me looking at the bandage before I had the chance to say anything.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"Your arm is the size of a loaf of bread."
He immediately tried to hide it behind his back.
It did not work particularly well.
Harry looked at him.
Hermione looked at me.
Ron cleared his throat.
"A dog bit me."
I looked at him.
Then at Hermione.
Hermione looked at me.
"A dog," I repeated.
"Yes."
"Big?"
Ron opened his mouth.
"Very," Hermione said.
"Right."
I started walking.
After two steps, I heard behind me:
"That's it?"
I turned my head.
Hermione was still standing by the doors.
"What?"
"You're not going to ask?"
"I already did."
Ron looked offended.
"And you don't believe me."
"No."
"Then why are you leaving?"
I looked at his arm, then at Harry, and finally at Hermione.
"Some dogs are very private."
Harry covered his mouth with one hand.
Hermione did not look amused.
"Oliver."
"Granger."
For a moment, we stared at each other.
She knew I had noticed something.
She did not know how much.
That was fine.
"Don't interfere," she said at last.
"I wasn't going to."
That stopped her.
"Really?"
"Really."
Ron looked at Hermione.
"That was suspicious."
"Yes," she replied.
I sighed.
"Sorry for respecting your privacy."
"Even more suspicious," Harry said.
This time, even Hermione smiled.
I walked away.
Dragon.
Of course.
Norbert must already have hatched. Ron had been bitten, which meant he would soon end up in the hospital wing, Charlie would get a letter, and a very small group of first-years would attempt to smuggle a dragon through the castle in the middle of the night.
It was not my problem.
That thought was surprisingly pleasant.
It stopped being pleasant a few hours later.
Draco burst into the common room looking like a man who had personally uncovered a conspiracy against the Crown.
Blaise was sitting on the sofa with a book.
I was writing an essay for Snape and had already reached the stage of wondering whether being half an inch short on parchment really justified inventing another sentence.
Draco stopped in front of us.
"Potter has a dragon."
My quill stopped above the parchment.
Blaise slowly lowered his book.
"What?"
"A dragon."
"Potter."
"Not Potter. Hagrid."
Blaise stared at him for a moment.
"Hagrid has a dragon."
"Yes."
"In a wooden hut."
"Yes."
"A dragon."
Draco clenched his jaw.
"If you say that one more time..."
Blaise looked at me.
"Sound believable?"
"It's Hagrid."
Draco pointed at me.
"See?"
"I didn't say it was sensible."
"That doesn't matter."
"Actually, with a dragon living in a wooden house, it seems fairly important."
Blaise nodded.
"I agree."
Draco ignored both of us.
"I saw it."
"The dragon?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Big?"
"Still small."
"Disappointing."
"Oliver."
"What?"
"It's a dragon."
"I noticed your excitement."
Draco started pacing in front of the fireplace.
"Potter, Granger, and Weasley keep going to Hagrid's. Weasley got bitten by it."
Blaise glanced at me.
"Your bitey accident."
"Apparently."
Draco stopped.
"You knew?"
"That something bit Weasley? The bandage was a clue."
"That it was a dragon."
"No."
Close enough to the truth.
Draco started pacing again.
"I'm telling Professor McGonagall."
"Go ahead," Blaise said.
He stopped.
"She won't believe me."
"That also sounds believable."
"Then I have to catch them."
Blaise closed his book.
"You don't."
"I do."
"No."
"Yes."
"Wanting very badly to do something doesn't mean you have to."
Draco looked at him with contempt.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I can live with that."
I went back to my essay.
Draco continued talking about Potter, the dragon, Hagrid, and the glaring injustice of the world.
I stopped listening.
I knew this part.
Malfoy discovers the dragon.
The Golden Trio tries to get rid of it.
Malfoy tries to catch them.
Then...
My quill stopped.
Detention.
I frowned.
For a moment, I saw silver blood on dark grass.
Then the stone between the roots.
I put the quill down.
Blaise looked at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"That looked like something."
"That was a very difficult comma."
He looked at the parchment.
"There isn't a comma there."
"I already defeated it."
He shook his head and returned to his book.
So did I.
This time I read the same sentence four times.
Over the next few days, Draco conducted a private war against a dragon that had no idea he existed.
Ron ending up in the hospital wing did not help.
For Draco, it was practically confirmation of his investigation.
For Blaise, another source of entertainment.
For me, mostly a reminder that canon did not stop simply because I had started having problems of my own.
I did not interfere.
Really.
I did not go to Hagrid's.
I did not ask Harry.
I did not try to see Norbert.
When Hermione caught me looking in the library one day and instinctively covered part of the parchment she was reading with Harry, I simply went back to my book.
Five minutes later, she sat opposite me.
"You're not going to ask?"
"No."
Hermione studied me suspiciously.
"That's strange."
"I'm beginning to regret teaching you to expect the worst."
"You didn't."
"Wonderful."
"You taught us to expect you to be curious."
Ah.
"I am."
"So?"
I turned a page.
"Not every curiosity requires action."
I almost believed I had said something sensible.
Hermione seemed to as well.
"Good."
She went back to Harry.
I looked at my book.
Not every curiosity required action.
A very good rule.
I should try it sometime.
Draco found me a few days later, not long after dinner.
I was standing beside one of the tall windows, trying to decide whether I still had enough energy to go to the library, when he appeared beside me.
"Tonight."
I looked at him.
"What tonight?"
"The dragon."
Ah.
Draco glanced around the corridor as though someone might be listening.
"They're getting rid of it tonight."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Do you want congratulations?"
He frowned.
"I'm going to catch them."
"Even better."
"You're not coming?"
"No."
He looked genuinely surprised.
"You were asking about it before."
"I was curious."
"Then come."
I looked at him.
"Draco. You intend to sneak around the castle in the middle of the night after Potter so you can prove to the teachers that Hagrid is raising an illegal dragon."
"Yes."
"Say that again, only slower."
"I don't understand what's strange about it."
"That's also part of the problem."
He scoffed.
"Suit yourself."
He walked down the corridor.
I watched until he disappeared around the corner.
Then I turned toward the library.
Took several steps.
Stopped.
Dragon.
Tower.
Malfoy.
McGonagall.
Detention.
Forest.
I closed my eyes.
"Damn it."
I did not have to go.
I knew what would happen.
In fact, that was exactly why I did not have to go.
I followed Draco.
I gave him several minutes' head start.
Not because I was trying to hide.
I simply had no desire whatsoever to look like an accomplice to his brilliant plan.
The castle sounded different at night.
Every footstep carried farther, suits of armor creaked for no reason, and portraits had a habit of waking up at exactly the moment you least needed them to.
I found Draco one floor up.
He did not notice me.
He slipped across the corridor and disappeared around a corner.
I continued more slowly.
A moment later, I heard a voice.
"Mr. Malfoy."
I stopped.
McGonagall.
I leaned my back against the wall before stepping around the corner.
Draco spoke immediately.
"Professor! Potter has a dragon!"
I closed my eyes.
Yes.
This was going exactly that well.
"Mr. Potter has... what?"
"Not Potter. Hagrid. Potter and Granger are helping him take it out. That's why I'm here."
Silence.
I could not see McGonagall's face, but I could imagine it.
"So I understand that you left your dormitory after curfew because you believe Mr. Potter is smuggling a dragon through the school."
"Because he is!"
"Enough."
Draco tried again.
He really tried.
It did not help.
A few moments later, I heard their footsteps fading away.
I waited.
One second.
Two.
Then a quiet rustle came from around the corner.
Fabric.
A shoe sliding over stone.
I could not see anything.
I smiled faintly.
The cloak.
Harry and Hermione passed within a few meters of me without having any idea I was standing there.
I could go back.
Draco had already been caught.
I had seen enough to laugh at him over breakfast the next morning.
All I had to do was go down the stairs.
Instead, I waited until the invisible footsteps faded and continued onward.
Just to see how it ended.
Nothing more.
I did not go all the way up the Astronomy Tower.
That would have been harder to explain.
I stopped one floor below and sat on a windowsill in the dark corridor.
I waited.
That was definitely the most suspicious thing I had done all evening.
After a while, I heard footsteps above me, then quiet voices, and then silence again.
The dragon had just left Hogwarts.
Good for him.
I stood.
Now I really could go back.
I headed downstairs.
On the next floor, I saw Harry and Hermione.
Without the cloak.
Both were clearly far too pleased with themselves to notice me immediately.
Harry did first.
He stopped.
"Oliver?"
Hermione almost walked into him.
Her expression changed immediately.
"What are you doing here?"
"Good question."
"Oliver."
"I went to see what Malfoy was doing."
Harry looked behind me.
"Where is he?"
"McGonagall."
For a second, they were both silent.
Then Harry smiled.
Hermione covered her mouth with one hand.
"She caught him?"
"Quite spectacularly."
Harry snorted.
"Did he tell her about the dragon?"
"First sentence."
This time, Hermione laughed too.
Quietly.
Briefly.
Then she became serious.
"We need to get back."
"That is definitely a good idea."
We started walking.
They did not ask why I was still there if Draco had been caught much earlier.
Yet.
We went downstairs quickly.
Too quickly.
At one turn, I heard footsteps.
Heavy.
Uneven.
And a familiar voice.
"Ha!"
Filch.
Hermione froze.
Harry swore under his breath.
I looked toward the side corridor.
It was close enough.
I could disappear around the corner before Filch saw us.
I did not.
Filch came around the corner with his lamp held high.
His smile appeared almost immediately.
"What have we here?"
Hermione looked at me.
I looked at her.
"Problem," I said.
McGonagall looked even less pleased the second time that night.
Draco was already there.
When he saw me standing beside Harry and Hermione, his face went through several emotions at once.
First surprise.
Then suspicion.
Finally, pure offense.
"You."
"Me."
"What are you doing with them?"
"Currently standing."
"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said.
He shut his mouth.
Filch explained where he had found us.
Hermione tried to say something, but McGonagall was not interested.
At some point Neville appeared too, looking just as miserable as the rest of us.
He had left the dormitory trying to warn Harry and Hermione that Draco knew their plan.
As a result, our little group looked worse and worse.
McGonagall looked over all of us.
"I don't know which is more disappointing. Breaking the rules, or inventing absurd stories about dragons in order to lure other students out of bed."
Draco turned red.
"But the dragon really..."
"No."
He fell silent.
McGonagall looked at me.
"And you, Mr. Peverell? Were you also chasing a dragon through the castle tonight?"
"No."
At least that was easy.
"Then what were you doing?"
"I went to see what Malfoy had come up with this time."
Draco turned his head.
"Stop saying it like that."
"You weren't helping."
McGonagall sighed.
"And when he was caught, it did not occur to you to return to your dormitory?"
Pause.
"It did."
Her eyebrows rose slightly.
"And?"
I looked at Harry and Hermione.
Then back at her.
"Apparently I made several poor decisions along the way."
Hermione suddenly became very interested in the floor.
McGonagall did not look amused.
"Apparently."
The points hurt.
Not me particularly.
Draco looked as though he were watching the fall of an ancient house.
Then we heard the word I had been waiting for.
"Detention."
I did not move.
Harry sighed.
Hermione closed her eyes.
Neville looked as though he was about to die.
Draco started protesting.
I stayed silent.
"You didn't see Filch?"
Draco caught up with me before we reached the dungeons.
I looked at him.
"I saw him."
He stopped.
Damn.
"Well... near the end."
He narrowed his eyes.
"You're hopeless."
"Very possible."
"First you follow me, then you abandon me, then they find you with Potter."
"It sounds worse when you put it like that."
"Because it is worse."
Blaise was still awake when we entered the common room.
He looked at Draco.
Then at me.
He closed his book.
"Both of you?"
"Don't ask," Draco said.
"Now I'm definitely asking."
I took off my robe.
"Draco tried to catch Potter."
"I got caught by McGonagall," he growled.
Blaise winced.
"Ow."
Then he looked at me.
"And you?"
"Filch."
Silence.
Blaise closed his book.
"How?"
"Talent."
"I don't want to know either of you."
"Too late."
Draco threw himself into an armchair.
"We lost points. We have detention. And Potter still hasn't been expelled."
Blaise thought about it.
"That really is a tragic night."
"Shut up."
I went to the dormitory before they started again.
I did not have to do anything else.
Now I only had to wait.
The next day, Hermione caught up with me after Transfiguration.
"You got detention too."
"News travels fast."
"Were you with Malfoy?"
"No."
She frowned.
"He says you were."
"I followed him."
"That sounds very similar."
"Not if you know Draco."
Hermione crossed her arms.
"Why?"
"I wanted to see what he was doing."
"Why?"
"Are all your questions going to be the same today?"
"Oliver."
I sighed.
"Because for several days he talked about nothing except you, Potter, and the dragon, and then announced that he was going out to catch you. I was curious how quickly something would go wrong."
Hermione was silent.
It was a very good excuse.
Mostly because it was true.
"Did it go wrong?" she asked.
"Immediately."
The corner of her mouth twitched.
"It's your own fault."
"McGonagall said something similar."
I started walking.
Hermione fell into step beside me.
"You weren't trying to turn us in?"
I looked at her.
"No."
Simple.
True.
She nodded.
"Good."
And that was it.
She did not interrogate me any further.
I appreciated that.
We received the information about where detention would take place that evening.
Draco read the note first.
His face went pale.
"No."
Blaise looked up from his book.
"What?"
Draco handed me the parchment.
I took it.
Time.
Meeting place.
Hagrid.
And at the bottom:
Forbidden Forest.
We were told to report for detention late that evening at the main entrance.
Filch was already waiting there with a lamp and the expression of a man who would have been considerably happier if the school still allowed students to be hung by their ankles.
Draco appeared a moment after me.
"This is humiliating," he muttered.
"We haven't even done anything yet."
"Exactly."
Harry, Hermione, and Neville arrived together.
Hermione looked at me.
I looked at her.
Neither of us said anything.
Filch led us across the grounds.
The night was cold, and with every step, the castle behind us seemed brighter.
Only when I saw the light in the window of Hagrid's hut did I begin to truly remember.
Not generally.
Specifically.
Fang.
Lanterns.
Silver blood.
Draco complaining that his father would hear about everything.
Harry standing between the trees.
A figure in black bent over a dead body.
My left eye stung.
I ignored it.
Hagrid came out of the hut with a crossbow slung over one shoulder.
Fang ran out behind him, wagging his tail.
Draco looked at the crossbow.
"What do you need that for?"
Hagrid did not answer immediately.
He raised the lantern and looked at all of us.
"Something's wrong in the forest."
Neville went pale.
Draco stopped complaining.
Hagrid pointed toward the dark line of trees.
"We've been finding blood for the past few days. A unicorn's been hurt. Might still be alive. We're going to look for it."
Silence.
Draco looked at the forest.
"You mean..."
"We're going inside."
The Forbidden Forest.
Draco swore under his breath.
I did not.