The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found {{user}} and Harry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed.

The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open.

Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry’s invisibility cloak. He had been down at Hagrid’s hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

“it bit me!” he said, showing his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. “i’m not going to be able to hold a quill for a week, i tell you, that dragons the most horrible thing i’ve ever met, but the way Hagrid talks about it, you’d think it was a fluffy bunny rabbit. When it bit be he told me off for frightening it. And when i left, he was singing it a lullaby.”