"I'm sure the Department of Mysteries has some way to detect temporal anomalies," Susan pointed out. "And like Hannah said, Time Turners only give you a little extra time per day to do things. Which means you're also aging a little bit faster every time you use one. They're highly regulated and illegal to use outside of their proscribed methods."
"Okay, that makes me feel a little bit better," Hermione replied, heaving a heavy sigh. "Still, to not react at breaking one of the fundamental laws of the universe… you wizards are all crazy!"
Harry bobbed his head rapidly. 'Maybe Edward was on to something with how the Wizarding World lacks common sense,' he thought.
"You know, Hagrid did bring up something," Harry commented. "We still don't know what the deal is with Nicholas Flamel."
"Right, yeah, him," Ron muttered. "Kinda forgot about it in all the hubbub."
"Yeah. Remember back in February, when Draco challenged me to a duel, but it was obviously a trick to get me in trouble with Filch? That was a mess," Harry sighed.
"And yet despite knowing it was a trick, you still went," Neville said, Hermione and Susan both pouting in disapproval.
"Well, yeah. I have my dad's Invisibility Cloak, so I wasn't in any danger of being caught. And I kinda wanted to be able to rub it in Malfoy's face. Did you see how angry he was when I called him out on it?"
"I've never seen anybody turn that shade of purple before. At least, not without magic," Ron commented with a chuckle.
"But yeah, we've been distracted. What do you say? Give the library another spin?" Harry suggested.
"Why not?" Susan agreed with a shrug. "But let's wait till tomorrow, instead. We'll have more time that way, and we can work on our homework assignments at the same. Perfect cover!"
"That's a brilliant idea, Susan," Harry said, flashing her a smile, and she blushed and looked away, muttering it was no big deal.
Confused by the leering grin Hannah shot him, Harry decided to change the topic. "So, since we're not having tea at Hagrid's, should we visit the House Elves, see if we can't get something to go with these scones?"
A round of nods greeted him, and so they headed off in the hopes that the House Elves of Hogwarts could find a way to make even Hagrid's cooking palatable.
Long story short? The answer was 'no,' and the whole adventure ended with many elves weeping at the desecration of the art of cooking, as well as their failure to understand just how Hagrid had made his scones so inedible.
Afterwards, Harry and friends vowed to never introduce any more of Hagrid's cooking to the poor staff ever again.
The next day, the six friends were in the library bright and early, carefully pouring over the books they'd acquired from across the shelves.
A few hours into their research, a familiar large man lumbered into the library.
"Hullo, boys and girls! Doing well?" Hagrid said in greeting on his way out. He then winced when Madam Pince shushed him.
"Oh, hey, Hagrid," Harry replied, rubbing his eyes. "Just researching some history, is all."
"Yer still not looking into Nicholas Flamel, are ye?" Hagrid asked as he looked over the study group.
"What? No! This is… something completely different," Hermione said, lying badly. Ron facepalmed and Hannah held back a snicker at the barefaced and obvious lie.
Thankfully, Hagrid was too much of a kind and trusting soul, and also someone who wouldn't know a lie (or sarcasm) if it slapped them in the face. As such, he just nodded happily, a grin peeking out from his bushy beard.
"Tha's good!" he chortled in a booming voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've some books t'check out."
Hagrid walked away, leaving the First Years alone. All the while, he was trying – and failing – to keep the titles of the books he'd taken from the shelves unseen.
"'How to Train Your Dragon?' 'The Draconic Encyclopedia?' 'My Life as a Dragon Tamer?' Seems like Hagrid is really into dragons," Harry noted. "I mean, I would be too, knowing they're real. Think he'd let me borrow 'em when he's done?"
"Just wait for him to return the books. Or see if the library has any other books on the subject," Hermione suggested as she buried her nose into a dense tome about historical figures. "Besides, we still have to find out what we can about Nicholas Flamel."
"Good point," Harry replied, before glancing over at the pile of books they were going through. "I guess I'll start with this one."
"So, uh, are we just going to ignore the fact that Hagrid was looking up info on dragons?" Neville asked, looking around at his friends in bewilderment as they just returned to looking up information about the mysterious Nicholas Flamel person.
"Huh, do you think that's why his hut was so bleeding warm when we visited it the other day?" Harry wondered.
"I'm sure it's fine. He was probably just curious," Ron said, waving it off while Hannah nodded along. Hermione's nose was already in another book.
"I think Neville's right, we should be more worried about this," Susan spoke up. "Raising a dragon without the appropriate breeder's license is illegal, and I don't think Hagrid has one."
"He could be arrested for it?" Harry asked, concern for the kindly Groundskeeper coloring his voice.
"Absolutely!" Susan said. "Pretty sure it's illegal to even own a dragon's egg, let alone hatch it away from one of the dragon preserves. Doesn't stop some people from trying, though."
"Yeah, Charlie says half the job at the Romanian Preserve is keeping the poachers out. The other half is cleaning up after the dragons are done with them," Ron joked.
"Could that be why there's so much firewood in his house? To keep it warm for the hatching?" Neville mused. "I mean, I'm just assuming here, but wouldn't a fire-breathing lizard need a lot of heat in order to hatch properly?"
"It would be like Hagrid to do something like this," Harry said slowly. "I mean, he thinks manticores are just 'misunderstood.'"
"Yes, but would he really risk going to Azkaban over an egg?" Susan demanded.
Everyone looked at each other, and an uneasy silence fell upon the group. Even Hermione looked up from her reading, an expression of worry on her face.
"HAGRID! WAIT UP!" the First Years screamed as they got up and ran out of the library after the Groundskeeper.
They did not catch up to him in the hallway, unfortunately. No, all they got when they hastily asked a talking painting about it was that Hagrid had already left through the gates. The six of them immediately headed out there in a hurry.
"Curse his longer stride! And curse these stubby legs of ours!" Hannah grimaced as they jogged towards his hut.
"Hagrid! Hold up!" Harry called out, but he was too far ahead – or too distracted – to hear them, and he slipped inside his hut.
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