"You take good care of yourselves, now. And don't do anything foolish!" Mrs. Weasley was going through her usual speech as Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione waited on Platform 9 ¾ for the train to come take them back to Hogwarts. Christmas and New Years had flown by, leaving only wonderful memories as the group readied themselves for more schoolwork.

"We will, mum, don't worry so much," Ron said, swatting away Mrs. Weasley's hand as she tried to straighten his collar.

"I'm a mother, Ronald Weasley. We don't ever stop worrying, so you might as well give up telling me to do so." Mrs. Weasley succeeded in fixing Ron's shirt, despite his muttering about him being fully capable of doing it himself.

Mr. Weasley stepped forward and gave them all a serious look, "I expect you all to use care when you're not on school grounds. Those Death Eaters are still out there and they won't hesitate to go after any of you. Am I understood?" They all nodded their heads, giving quick hugs and more waves as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station and they piled on. Finding a car towards the back of the train, they stacked their trunks in the luggage racks and sat down.

Ginny couldn't help but look at her ring. It was beautiful, a shining gold band that was made up of flowers with their leaves and stems all intertwined to create the intricate pattern. She smiled when she remembered how red Harry had gone when he explained that it was a promise ring. This train ride was vastly different from their ride at the beginning of the year.

"What's so funny?"

Ginny looked up to find Harry watching her, "I was just thinking about how different this train ride is from the one at the beginning of last term."

"What do you mean?" Harry scrunched his forehead.

"Remember when I fell asleep on your shoulder? I woke up and I was completely horrified!" Ginny laughed at the memory.

"I wasn't," Harry smirked at her, making her blush.

"Oi, you two want us to get a separate car?" Ron scrunched up his nose like he'd smelled something rotten. Ginny and Harry turned pink but laughed, and Hermione hid a smile behind her hand.

They were still laughing when Dean poked his head around the door and Hermione saw Harry wrap an arm around Ginny's shoulders, jealousy flitting across his face, "Hey guys! Seamus and I want to throw a party tonight to celebrate being back at Hogwarts. Do you guys want to help?"

"That sounds like fun! What can we do to help?" Ginny smiled.

"Well, I can go over what we need to do and, Hermione, would you go talk to Seamus? He needed some help with his side of things."

Hermione started to nod, but Ron interrupted, "I'll go help him."

Dean casually waved at him to stay, "That's okay, Seamus asked for Hermione, anyway."

Hermione left the compartment and Ron sat back in his seat, arms crossed with a permanent scowl etched on his face. He didn't speak much as Dean went through the list of things to do, offering an occasional grunt or nod in acknowledgment. Ginny sighed inwardly, knowing that Ron was just jealous, but also knowing that he probably wouldn't do anything about it. After ten more minutes, Dean scribbled their names down on the list he'd brought with him and left.

Ginny leaned against Harry and shot a frustrated glare at Ron, "Are you ever going to tell her?"

Ron's head whipped around to stare at her, "I don't have anything to tell her."

At least he's making progress, Ginny thought. He's not pretending he 'has no idea what I'm talking about'. "Don't be so thick, Ron! If you don't talk to her soon someone else is going to ask her out. I've told you before that you aren't the only guy who sees how smart and pretty she is."

Ron looked to Harry for reassurance, but he had none to give him, "Sorry, mate, but she's right. Once I finally told Ginny how I felt—"

"More like yelled it at me," Ginny snorted.

"Fine. Once I finally yelled at Ginny about how I felt, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Of course, there was the paralyzing fear of rejection once I'd told her...but," Harry quickly added on when he saw Ron's panicked expression, "I didn't have to hide how I felt anymore. Mainly, it was worth it because she felt the same."

"Granted, I was a little startled after he just started shouting at me, so I can't be held responsible for whatever I said," Ginny shrugged.

"Ha ha, very funny."

Ginny laughed and turned back to Ron, "Seriously, though, you should really tell her."

"Tell who what?" Three sets of eyes swiveled to stare at Hermione as she entered the compartment and slid the door shut.

Ron paled and began stuttering, "T-tell you that w-we all got j-jobs for the p-party tonight." Ginny shook her head as Hermione looked at him strangely and Harry's jaw was twitching with the effort to keep from laughing. Ginny rolled her eyes, I guess this train ride is pretty similar to the beginning of last term after all.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oi, watch what you're doing!" Ron had just gotten tangled in another of the colorful banners that Ginny was hanging on the walls of the Gryffindor common room, nearly making him drop the large box he was carrying. Seamus and Dean, who had been moving tables for the food up against the walls, stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfolding before them. They took several steps back, spoke quietly for a second, then returned their attention to the two red-heads glaring at each other in the center of the room.

"Maybe if you had been watching where you were going, you wouldn't have gotten caught!" Ginny shouted.

"Maybe if you knew what you were doing, I wouldn't have almost fallen on my face!"

"Oh, come off it! Have you noticed that there are tons of people walking around and you're the only one to get tangled up? Maybe you're just a clumsy buffoon!"

Ron opened his mouth to retort, but one look at the fire in Ginny's eyes convinced him to let it go. He narrowed his eyes at her, picked up the box he'd been carrying, and went to the other side of the room, grumbling under his breath. Ginny quickly went back to decorating and those who had been witness to the stand-off came out from their hiding places.

"Alright, mate, hand it over," Seamus grinned happily at Dean, who frowned and put some coins into his friend's hand.

"If he had just had the last word, you wouldn't have that stupid smirk on your face," Dean scrunched his nose.

"What did you two do?" Hermione came to stand next to them, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, Hermione, didn't see you there…" Seamus avoided her eyes, scratching his neck.

"Obviously. What did you do?" Hermione sighed.

"We made a bet," Dean spoke up. "I said that Ron would win the fight and Seamus said that Ginny would."

Hermione snorted, "I could've told you that, Dean. Not many people can face Ginny and come out the victor." Both boys' eyes widened, they had been expecting a lecture on making bets, but Hermione had surprised them.

"Are we ever going to understand how a girl's mind works?" Seamus looked at Dean for an answer.

"No, so don't bother trying," The group turned to Lavender who walking by carrying more decorations. Hermione laughed, not missing the way Seamus' eyes had stayed with Lavender as she moved across the room.

"Done!" Ginny proclaimed with a big smile. "Lavender just has to hang those decorations and Oliver and Fay should be back soon with the food."

"Nice job, Gin," Harry came and threw an arm over Ginny's shoulders.

"Thanks, but I feel like something's still missing."

"Like what?" Harry looked down at her.

"I don't know. It's our first night back, so I want it to be fun. I want something different, and interesting, and…" Ginny trailed off as her eyes lit up and a smile blossomed across her face. Grabbing Hermione's hand, she pulled her towards the dormitory stairs, "We'll meet you in your room in five minutes," Ginny threw over her shoulder, pulling an apprehensive Hermione behind her, and leaving Ron and Harry with confused looks on their faces. Once they reached the girls' dormitory, Ginny began rifling through her trunk.

"Care to tell me what we're looking for?" Hermione spoke from behind her.

"This," Ginny smiled triumphantly and held her hand out to display the small stone dragon statue that Charlie had given her for Christmas. "I think we should wake them up and let them hang around during the party."

"I don't know, Ginny, what if they get out of hand?"

"Then we use magic to calm them down and we bring them back up to our rooms," Ginny nodded like the idea was perfect.

"Okay, we can try it. I'm actually pretty curious to see what type of dragon mine is!" Hermione ran to her dormitory, found her dragon, and went to the boys' room with Ginny, who shared her idea with Harry and Ron. They loved the idea and quickly found their statues in their trunks. The four of them sat perched on the edge of Harry's bed with their statues in front of them.

"Who wants to go first?" Ron looked at them.

"I'll go," Ginny turned her statue to face her and lightly tapped it with her wand.

Everything was still for a second, then the statue began to shake. It stopped and a small crack appeared in the stone. This went on for a few more minutes, the statue would shake and the stone would crack. Eventually, the cracks joined together and gave one final shudder before the stone fell away. The dragon carefully uncurled itself, stretching its wings out and turning in circles before its head turned and it locked eyes with Ginny. She lowered her hand to the bed and the dragon crawled up without hesitation, taking up the entirety of her hand. She raised her hand to eye-level to examine the little dragon. It was pitch black, so dark you could barely see its scales, with little bright white teeth, striking blue eyes, and a wide, slightly flat head. Ginny raised her other hand and gently rubbed the top of its head, making it curl up into a ball and fall asleep. Ginny hugged it to her chest and beamed at the others.

"Awww," Hermione sighed.

"I think I'll name him Aslan," Ginny smiled at the little ball of scales.

"I want to go next!" Hermione turned her statue to face her, tapped it with her wand, and waited out the process of the stone shaking and cracking. The dragon that emerged was a pure, matte gold with a line of small horns going from its forehead to the back of its neck. It looked at Hermione with blue-green eyes, crawled up her arm, and settled on her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek. Hermione beamed.

"He's so pretty, what are you going to name him?" Ginny asked.

Hermione thought for a moment before speaking, "Hathor."

"Hathor?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Hermione glared at him. "I read a book about Egypt over the Summer and Hathor was the name of a goddess. In this case, it's going to be a boy's name." She looked at Ron, defying him to make fun of her choice of name.

"It's your turn, Ron," Harry said quickly before the two could start arguing.

Ron followed the same steps as Hermione and Ginny and watched as the last pieces of stone fell away. This dragon was a pure white with small spikes running the length of its spine and stone grey eyes that looked almost silver. It proceeded to plop itself down in Ron's hand and quickly fell asleep.

Ron grinned, looking around at his friends, "Well, what should I name him?"

"Her," Ginny said.

Ron gave her a confused look, "Huh?"

"Your dragon, it's a girl," Ginny smiled as Ron looked down at the sleeping dragon and turned crimson.

"Oh, uh, okay, then. What should I name her?" They took turns suggesting names, but Ron shook his head at all of them. "How did you choose Hedwig's name, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "I was reading through one of our school books and I saw the name." Ron got up and went to kneel beside his bed, pulling out his book for Care of Magical Creatures. He flipped to the back of the book where there was a long list of names of different famous creatures and the witch or wizard who discovered them.

"Okay, I'm going to close my eyes and whichever name my finger lands on is going to be her name." Ron covered his eyes with one hand and with the other he drew circles in the air above the page of the book. He brought his hand down and uncovered his eyes when he felt the paper. His finger pointed to a single word, "Narith. Alright, Narith it is!"

The group smiled at him and shook their heads, but focused their attention on Harry, "You're up, mate," Ron told him.

Harry followed in the others' footsteps, waiting patiently for the last of the stone to fall away. When it did, a charcoal-colored dragon unfurled itself and stretched, looking around with hazel eyes. It settled its gaze on Harry and stationed itself by his knee.

"Hey, Gin?" Harry said with all seriousness.

"Yeah?"

"Is this a boy or a girl?"

Ginny snorted with laughter, "It's a boy, Harry."

Harry nodded and thought for a minute, "You have any more Egyptian names, Hermione?"

"Anubis, Horus, Thoth, Osiris…" Hermione rattled off several names, but Harry scrunched his nose up at all of them. "Well, think of something that means a lot to you, then."

Harry went through dozens of memories, pulling out things that had meant something to him, like Hermione had said. After landing on one memory in particular, Harry smiled, "Droxal." Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together for a moment, but then her eyes widened and flicked quickly to Ginny and back to Harry, a happy smile stretching across her face. Harry blushed and gave a barely noticeable shake of his head.

"So, are we ready to start the party now?" Hermione threw one more knowing look Harry's way before standing up.

"Yep!" Ginny hopped up, waking Aslan from his nap. He stretched in Ginny's hands and then twisted up his face before sneezing, making a small jet of fire shoot out of his mouth. Harry's eyes widened and Hermione's jaw dropped.

"Wicked," Ron said.

Excitement bubbled up in Ginny, who was loving her dragon more and more, "I guess we'll have to keep a closer eye on them than we thought."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ron smiled as he watched the four little dragons play with each other. Not long after bringing them down to the party, the group had discovered that along with being able to breathe fire, the little creatures could fly as well. They had attracted the attention of all the Gryffindors, providing the missing thing of interest that Ginny had been trying to find. For his part, Ron was spending his time observing Hermione, who was talking with her roommates and laughing.

Ron was startled when a hand clapped down on his shoulder, "You have got to ask your brother to get me one of those!" Dean nodded up at the dragons that were now perched on the wall sconces scattered around the common room.

"Good luck with that, I'm not sure Charlie will be able to get his hands on anymore for a while. He had to go back to Romania to help with a dragon problem or something."

Dean began musing about the possibility of working with dragons when he was older, but Ron wasn't paying attention. He was scanning the room for a certain friend of his who had vanished from his line of sight. "Dean, have you seen Hermione?"

Dean looked around, shrugging, "Not for a few minutes. She was talking to Seamus over that way, though," he pointed to the other side of the room. Ron turned, just barely catching a glimpse of curly brown hair disappearing around the entryway to the staircase. Pushing his way through the crowd, Ron made his way to the stairs and began climbing them, slowing down and pausing outside the door when he heard muffled voices coming from his room.

"Well, you see, I've liked you for a really long time," Ron recognized Seamus' voice and pressed his ear to the door, praying that Seamus wasn't talking to who he thought he was.

"You have?" Ron closed his eyes and clenched his jaw when Hermione answered.

"Yeah, and I, um, uh, wanted to know if, um…" No, no, no, he can't be asking her out, Ron thought.

"Yes, Seamus?"

"Would you like to go out with me?" Ron held his breath as he waited for Hermione's answer. Don't say yes, don't say yes.

"I'd love to go out with you Seamus!"

No! Before Ron could think things through, he shoved the door open and stepped into the room. Seamus' eyebrows rose in surprise and Hermione's eyes grew wide. Hermione's next words made Ron see red, "Seamus, would you mind giving us a minute? We'll finish this later." Seamus nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Ronald Weasley, what do you think you are doing!"

Ron snapped, "What am I doing!? What are you doing! Coming up here with Seamus for a private date, are you!" he bellowed.

"What!"

"You heard me! Don't think I haven't noticed how you're always going off to help Seamus with homework!"

"Since when do you care about who I help with homework!"

"I don't!"

"Oh, really? Then why did you come barging in here and start shouting at me!"

Ron ignored her question, posing one of his own questions instead, "What, did I interrupt your date!"

Hermione let out a scream of frustration, "I wasn't on a date, Ron! I was helping him practice asking out a girl!"

All of the breath left Ron's body is a gust, taking all the anger with it. "What?" he asked in a more normal tone of voice.

Hermione let out a huff, "Seamus likes a girl, but he was too nervous to ask her out, so he asked me to help him rehearse what he would say."

"Why did he ask you?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Gee, Ron, I don't know. Could it maybe be because I'm a girl? He knew I wouldn't go blabbing to other people and blowing everything for him."

"Why didn't he ask Ginny, then?"

"Ginny was helping us. When he worked up the confidence to pretend to ask me on a date, we brought Ginny in so that he wouldn't get used to asking me. He got up the nerve to ask her on a pretend date and he wanted to try once more before he went and asked out the girl he really likes. That's when you came storming in acting like a complete prat!"

Ron had never been so relieved. Here he stood, getting yelled at by Hermione, getting called a prat, and all he could think was how happy he was that she wasn't dating Seamus. He was so lost in his own thoughts, he almost missed what Hermione said next.

"Why do you care, anyway?"

Ron's heart picked up speed, beating so hard he was surprised it didn't burst. Hermione was watching him, waiting for an answer, so he did the only thing he could think of. Moving swiftly to stand in front of Hermione, he grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her.