Rose narrowed her eyes, moving to budge onto the chair next to her mother, who shifted to allow room. “So, how do you know, then?” she asked, looking cagily around the table. “And, er, what do you know?”
Her father spoke up then, raising a hand to tick off points on his fingers. “We know about the plan to steal off to London to facilitate transport of a certain unregistered Norwegian Ridgeback whose living arrangement with the giants had become tenuous, at best. We know that the plan, such as it was, went terribly awry, leading to said dragon’s escape into the city proper, causing hundreds of poor Muggle Londoners to soil their britches in mortal terror.”
“Ronald,” Hermione clucked her tongue in disdain.
“And,” Ron went on, not missing a beat, “we know that, fortunately for everyone involved, said dragon—a certain female named, through no fault of her own, Norberta—quickly went to ground, hiding herself away somewhere within the confines of the city proper, and is apparently still there, scared and waiting until such time as she is discovered, or becomes hungry enough to have to go hunting for food.”
James sagged into the last empty seat at the table, weak with a mixture of relief and embarrassment. To his father, he asked, “How did you work all of this out?”
“Simple,” Harry said, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sleeve. “It’s my job to work things out.”
“We looked up the records of every registered dragon in a hundred mile radius,” Hermione explained. “It’s not exactly a long list.
We checked out each one and determined they’d all been accounted for on the night in question. And since native Welsh Greens all stay far away from the cities by nature, that left only one option.”
Ron nodded. “A certain Norwegian Ridgeback that only a few people know about, and that we three are nominally responsible for.”
“We four,” Harry corrected, tossing a sidelong glance at Hagrid.
“Not to mention,” Ron added, “That several of the Muggle witnesses that night reported seeing a ship broken through the ice of the Thames. Some said it was a long old ship with masts and a great paddlewheel. Others said it was a regular old tugboat. Same place, same time.”
Hermione went on, “So we made some quick deductions, and then came straight here to ask Hagrid what, precisely, he was up to, and who else had come along for the ride.” At this, she turned to her daughter with a pointed look.
“What were we supposed to do?” Rose said shrilly. “Let poor old Hagrid go off and try to rescue Norberta by himself in that floating bucket of his? He would have, you know! We had an obligation to help, all three of us. It wasn’t my fault that Zane Walker ended up coming along for the ride! I wanted to send him back to Alma Aleron the moment Ralph Ducked him here!”
James saw what was happening an instant before his Aunt Hermione raised her eyebrows and turned to look back at her husband, a sly, knowing expression on her face.
“Nary a word,” Hagrid repeated emphatically. “It wasn’t me this time.”
Ralph smacked a hand to his forehead.
Rose looked from her mother to her father, then across the table to her uncle, who dipped his eyes to the tabletop and fingered his empty teacup.
Rose said, “You didn’t know any of that… did you?”
“It’s the oldest trick in the Auror book,” James sighed, flopping back in his chair. “Convince them you already know everything, and then just sit back and listen. He’s been doing it to Albus, Lil, and I for years.”
“But…!” Rose fumed, her cheeks going deep crimson. “But you said…!” She glared at her uncle accusingly.
Harry said, “It’s like I told you: it’s my job to work things out.
You were very helpful, Rose. Thank you.”
Hermione turned to Hagrid. “How could you let them come?” she asked reproachfully. “That was extremely dangerous.”
“No more than anything we did in our day,” Ron said softly, “and for the exact same dragon.”
“That’s what I told them!” Rose spluttered. “We were just finishing what you started!”
Hermione gave her daughter a stern look. “Except that we succeeded. You lot set a dragon loose in London.”
“Oh, don’t blame them,” Hagrid moaned, shaking his great head mournfully. “It’s all my fault. I never should o’ let ‘em come along.
Never should ‘ave involved ‘em at all. I was just so worried about Norberta. I wasn’t thinkin’ straight.”
Harry reached around James’ shoulders and touched Hagrid’s arm. “There’s no blame to be had. I know how persistent these three can be. Mainly because I remember how persistent us three used to be.
There’s nothing to be gained by pointing fingers now.”
Ralph, still standing behind Hagrid’s chair, piped up, “Especially since I tried to warn them over and over that the whole plan was a nightmare from the start!”
Hermione nodded with feeling. “Just like I tried to warn these two back when we were still students and Norberta was just a hatchling.
Some body needs to be the voice of reason.”
“Thank you!” Ralph nodded, holding out his hands in a helpless gesture. “It’s a thankless job, innit?”
“Prudence and discretion are rarely popular,” Hermione agreed wisely, now glancing aside at James, who sank lower in his seat.
“The point is,” Harry spoke up, “This is a serious dilemma that needs to be resolved. We all have a hand in causing it. So it’s up to us to try to mend it before any more Muggle Londoners are terrorized by a dragon in their streets.”
Hagrid nodded. “Or Norberta has to go one more day starvin’ and terrified in th’ city somewheres.”
Hermione gave him an impatient look. “Or any poor old gamekeeper gets sent away to Azkaban for the rest of his life. Let’s try to keep this in perspective, shall we?”
Harry sat up in his chair and put his spectacles back on. “We’ve been fortunate so far that Norberta went into hiding somehow. But it won’t last forever. The first task is to find her and get her out of the city without anyone else seeing her, Muggle or otherwise. The second task…?” He glanced across the table to Ron, who perked up.
“I spoke to Charlie this afternoon by floo. He says they’re pretty crowded now, what with the Romanian government rounding up and interring all registered dragons in his preserve. But according to him, there’s always a space for Norberta, even if it means letting her bunk with the twins in their apartment in Bra?ov.”
“But!” Hagrid said, sitting up in his seat and putting both hands flat onto the table. “I already made arrangements here! The barn’s all emptied out an’ awaitin’!”
Ron suddenly arched his eyebrows and made a point of arranging the cups and saucers on the table before him.