Betsy the Diplodocus

Hermione wrapped herself up in her warmest robe before stepping out of the castle. She'd grown accustomed to the cold when she'd lived in Scotland, but five years had passed since she'd graduated, and the evening air was fresh, the chill biting at her nose.

Hagrid's hut glowed golden in the distance. She hurried down the path toward it.

He'd sent her an owl the day before, complete with a fairly mysterious message asking her to come visit him at her next opportunity. She hoped he hadn't gotten himself into some sort of trouble – hoped that he hadn't somehow managed to breed those awful Blast-Ended Skrewts with something even worse, like a Manticore or, god forbid, an Acromantula.

Hermione shivered, imagining Ron's horror, and blamed it on the cold.

She knocked on the door to his cabin. Hagrid immediately yanked it open, beaming widely. His beard was wild, matching his mane of hair, and there were all sorts of twigs and leaves caught in it. Still, his eyes were as kind as ever, and he drew her in for a rib-crushing hug.

"'Ermione! So nice ter see yeh," he said, sounding delighted.

Hermione grinned up at him upon her release. "Nice to see you too, Hagrid. How've you been?"

She was ushered into the hut, shutting out the cold autumn night. The fire was crackling in the hearth and she stepped forward to warm her hands above it.

"Oh, yeh know me. I'm good, just up to me usual gardening an' all that. The Headmistress says I ken give up the gamekeeping if I wan' – no thank you, ma'am, I told her. I'm still as spritely as ever."

Hermione smiled faintly to herself. Hagrid's beard may have been liberally streaked with silver, but the giant blood in his veins afforded him a longevity greater even than that of a wizard. Still, she wouldn't exactly call him 'spritely'.

"That's good to hear," she said, turning back to the room. It hadn't changed a bit, onions hanging from the ceiling next to unicorn tail hair, an axe leaning against the wall, the furniture obviously homemade with love.

"Tea?" Hagrid offered. A pot was steaming away upon the stove.

"Yes, please," Hermione said, accepting a mug that was so large she had to use both hands to hold it.

There was a clatter to the side of the room and a wicker basket rolled off a pile of logs and landed with a thud on the floor. Hermione stared at it for moment, utterly unsurprised to find what she supposed was a creature on the loose.

Hagrid huffed. "Now there, Betsy, what are yeh up to?" He stomped over and picked the basket up.

"Betsy," Hermione mouthed. She carefully set down her mug of tea and waited, ready to grab her wand should she need it, for she was undoubtedly about to be introduced to Hagrid's new pet.

"She's a new 'un, only three weeks old!" Hagrid announced proudly. "Traded her egg for five of me biggest exploding pumpkins."

Hermione winced and put all thought of the highly illegal pumpkins out of her mind. She sincerely hoped Hagrid hadn't found another dragon.

"Tada!" Hagrid said, introducing 'Betsy', who'd curled up in his arms.

Hermione's jaw dropped. Betsy wasn't a dragon.

She was something even worse.

"I was wonderin' what kind of creature she is," Hagrid said, and scratched his head with his spare hand. "Firs', I thought a dragon, but she's got no wings to speak of and it doesn't look like she'll be growin' them in. Thought you might be able to help, you see."

"Hagrid," Hermione said slowly, testing the words out in her mouth before she spoke them, so unbelievable she found them to be, "that's a dinosaur!"

Hagrid looked nonplussed. "A dinosaur? What's tha', then?"

Hermione wondered for a moment if wizards were taught any sort of history other than their own. Then she remembered how appallingly they were taught their own history (Professor Binns was possibly the worst professor in the world, second only to Umbridge). She sighed.

"A giant lizard that used to roam the Earth millions of years ago," she answered succinctly. "I don't know how on earth you got a hold of one. They're extinct."

That was a word that Hagrid recognised, at least. His face lit up with glee, and he snuggled the dinosaur close to his face.

"Did yeh hear that, Betsy? Yeh're one of a kind," he murmured. The dinosaur squirmed in his arms.

It was approximately the size of a large dog, with a long tail and even longer neck extending from a very solid body. Its scales were a pale forest green and it had deep, baleful brown eyes. She thought it might be a Diplodocus, from her very limited knowledge of dinosaurs.

"Hagrid," she began, remembering some facts from a documentary she'd watched many years ago, "that creature – Betsy – she's going to grow to be over thirty meters long." She did the mental calculation. "That's a hundred feet."

Hagrid was absorbed in tickling Betsy's long, long neck, and cooing to her. He hadn't heard her, or perhaps he didn't want to.

Hermine glanced about the cabin. The front room looked to be about ten by fifteen feet at best, and she knew his bedroom at the back wasn't any bigger.

"Oh, Hagrid," Hermione said, mostly to herself.

Betsy – and there was no other word for it – mooed. She tumbled free from Hagrid's arms and onto the table. Immediately, she began munching upon the leaves of the flowerpot in the centre.

"Aw, isn't she adorable?" Hagrid said.

Hermione imagined Betsy full size, biting off the foliage of the Whomping Willow, flicking away the offending branches with her tail.

"I'm so sorry, Headmistress, she wouldn't 'arm a fly; she's just a bit hungry!"

Hagrid would wrap his arms around one of Betsy's legs, and it would be so large he'd barely fit them halfway. "Come on now, Betsy, mummy's got you – back to the forest!"

Hermione snorted to herself, shaking her head. She stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Hagrid's arm.

"Hagrid, I'm sorry, but you can't keep her."

He looked up, and his gaze was morose. "I know that," he mumbled. "After last time…"

Last time, it had been a dragon. Hermione was hit with a moment of nostalgia. She, Harry, and Ron had gotten up to so much mischief during their years at the castle. It truly was a miracle that they hadn't been killed… or worse, expelled.

"That's why I called yeh, 'Ermione. Knew you'd be able to help me out."

Hermione had no idea how to help Hagrid out. Where in Merlin's name was she going to put a dinosaur?

She sat down suddenly on the closest flat surface seat, a stool placed at the end of the table. Right in front of her was a creature that hadn't existed for millions of years, a creature that many people didn't even believe in. And yet one had survived, only to hatch after coming into Hagrid's loving care. She burst into hysterical laughter.

Hagrid stared at her, obviously bemused by her behaviour. "You alright there, 'Ermione?"

She hiccuped, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself. "Peachy," she squeaked.

Even Betsy had stopped eating, and was eyeing Hermine with a placid curiosity. Hermione carefully extended a hand, her moment of hysteria passed, and stroked Betsy's neck.

"You're magnificent," she whispered. "And you're going to change the world."

It didn't matter where she put Betsy – she would be a wonder whether she was surrounded by Muggles or wizards. The knowledge they would discover from her would lead a revolution.

Hermione was determined that she would be at the forefront of it, keeping Betsy safe, a hundred-foot long dinosaur or not.

Word Count: 1311

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