of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at

me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me -- I've told

her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me -I shouldn't

have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione,

but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt

upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no oh

no -- I've just remembered -- Charlie's letter was in that book

Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

Harry and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey

came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed

sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione. "We

haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be

our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And

we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."

They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside with a bandaged

tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk

to them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage --

nothin' I can't handle."

When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with

tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten

him on the leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot -- jus' playin' --

he's only a baby, after all."

The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows

rattle. Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday

couldn't come quickly enough.

They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for

him to say good-bye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried

about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and

they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had

to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall,

where he'd been playing tennis against the wall. Hagrid had Norbert

packed and ready in a large crate.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said

Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case

he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry

as though the teddy was having his head torn off.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered

the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it

themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"

How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle,

they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert

up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark

corridors. UP another staircase, then another -- even one of Harry's

shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.

"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor

beneath the tallest tower.

Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the

crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into

the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling

with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.

Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net,

had Malfoy by the ear.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from

Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare

you --"

"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming --

he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on --

I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed

the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped

out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to

be able to breathe properly again. Hermione did a sort of jig.

"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"

"Don't," Harry advised her.

Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in

his crate. About ten minutes later, four br