CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Oh, we found out who he is ages ago,” said Ron impressively.
“And we know what that dog’s guarding, it’s a Sorcerer’s St —”
“Shhhh!” Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was lis-
tening. “Don’ go shoutin’ about it, what’s the matter with yeh?”
“There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of
fact,” said Harry, “about what’s guarding the Stone apart from
Fluffy —”
“SHHHH!” said Hagrid again. “Listen — come an’ see me later,
I’m not promisin’ I’ll tell yeh anythin’, mind, but don’ go rabbitin’
about it in here, students aren’ s’pposed ter know. They’ll think I’ve
told yeh —”
“See you later, then,” said Harry.
Hagrid shuffled off.
“What was he hiding behind his back?” said Hermione thought-
fully.
“Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?”
“I’m going to see what section he was in,” said Ron, who’d had
enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of
books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
“Dragons!” he whispered. “Hagrid was looking up stuff about
dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland;
From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper’s Guide.”
“Hagrid’s always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I
ever met him,” said Harry.
“But it’s against our laws,” said Ron. “Dragon breeding was out-
lawed by the Warlocks’ Convention of 1709, everyone knows that.
Its hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we’re keeping dragons
in the back garden — anyway, you can’t tame dragons, it’s dan-
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