Title: Of Dragons and Gold
Author: Tiny Q
E-Mail: one legged lesbian seagull hotmail com (Please add 3 underscores, one "at" sign, and a period)
A/N: Well, I began this when school ended in April, and I finally got around to editing it. Go me eh? Oh well. This story is the result of my current obsession with dragons. I loves them. So I decided to write a story with one in it. I'm not quite sure how the idea came about but I know Lallie had a hand in it. As usual. I hope you enjoy this story, because it was certainly fun to write. Yay for dragons!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, with the exception of Walter. He's mine. My precious...
Of Dragons and Gold
--o--
"Could you be a dear, Walter and toast this for me?" Ginny asked, holding out a marshmallow in the palm of her hand. She didn't even look up from her book as she heard a whoosh of flame and felt her hand become slightly warmer than the rest of her appendages. She glanced up to inspect the handy work. "Wonderfully golden, as usual," she cooed, and Walter let out a tuft of steam through his nostrils. Ginny smiled at him.
She didn't know how she had ever become so fortunate. She had found her very bestest friend in the entire world, and it hadn't even taken all that much effort. Really, he had done all the work, following her around everywhere she went. All Ginny really had to do was smuggle him home with her, which would have been a daunting task for an ordinary witch. But then Ginny was a little above ordinary, seeing as she had always been very good with charms. An expansion charm for the inside of her trunk had been no issue, and neither had the silencing charm.
The patter of rain on the widow beside her distracted her attention away from her friend and she turned her smile to the weather. "Will you look at that?" she asked softly as though she was scared that if her voice was too loud she would scare the weather movement away. "It's raining."
Ginny had always loved the rain; it seemed to have some sort of calming effect on her that soothing charms and warm milk never had. It had been no wonder that she had realized that her bestest friend was trully her bestest friend when he had first followed her through a thunder storm. She knew that there was no way there couldn't be a connection between them. None of her friends had ever followed her out in such weather, and certainly none of her boyfriends had either.
The door across from her opened and Ginny's head spun in that direction, just as Walter let out another puff of smoke. Ginny's eyes widened as Hermione stepped into the room, the room Ginny had claimed as her own over four years ago. Unfortunately the Head Girl seemed to have remembered exactly which room this was and had decided to pay Ginny a visit. The gasp the girl let out was sharper than she had expected it to be.
"Ginny," the girl began, staring at Walter as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Ginny, is that what I think it is?"
"Depends on what you think it is," Ginny replied, her eyes going back to their usual size and her voice taking on the permanent sarcastic lilt she seemed to host these days. "If you are thinking it is a dragon then you would be right. But, if you think it is an African swallow then you are sadly mistaken. And colour blind, because I don't think that swallows are quite that shade of magenta."
"Ginny!" Hermione then gasped, looking from Walter the girl in question. "You're- you're not allowed to have a dragon! It's illegal!" The bushy haired girl then looked around, and Ginny could tell that the Head Girl was already thinking of who she should tell. "You can't keep him Ginny!"
"Dumbledore said it was ok," Ginny assured her, nodding her head and putting her book down. Apparently this was going to take a bit more work than she thought. Not that she had ever really thought Hermione would find out about her Walter, but now that she thought about it she realized she had been daft. Of course Hermione would have found out eventually, and if not her than it would have been one of the other two members of the Dream Team. Yet at least with Hermione standing there instead of her brother she wouldn't have to listen to his stupid voice crack when he screamed at her.
"He did?" the older girl gasped, the shocked look returning.
Ginny simply nodded in agreement, knowing she was at least saying half the truth. Dumbledore had told her, in a way, that it was ok if she kept her pet dragon. Actually, he had rather said that he knew of her "little friend" and that she had to "take care that no one else knew of him too". In retrospect, Ginny was beginning to realize that she probably should have taken the empty room two levels down instead of her usual one. Apparently too many people knew about this room. But that couldn't be helped now anymore.
"But Ginny," Hermione said, her voice getting high pitched as it had a bad habit of doing when she got nervous. "Where did you get him? Or is it a her? Certainly you didn't hatch it?"
"Nope," Ginny replied, watching as Walter sauntered over to the Head Girl on his chubby little legs. He bumped his snout into the girl's hand, searching for food, looking up at her with his huge round eyes. Ginny never wondered why her bestest friend was so round in the mid section. Never. The little sneak was always hording food, or eating it for that matter. "Do you remember where I went for the Christmas Holidays?"
"How could I forget?" Hermione asked, her voice returning to normal, slowly mind, as she looked bemusedly down on Walter and his sniffing nose. "Ron wouldn't shut up about how unfair it was."
"Yes well," Ginny replied, stifling a grin, "when I was on the dragon reserve there were dragons there of all sorts. And when Charlie took me around to show them all to me, I couldn't help but be in awe of their hugeness. There had been a nest of eggs that had hatched a few months before I had arrived and they were all already half grown. All of them were already flying around, doing loops and swoops that would have put Harry and his Firebolt to shame. All of them were doing that except for Walter."
Ginny looked at her bestest friend and smiled softly at the memory. His wings were too small to carry the normally lithe frame of a dragon, but they certainly couldn't support the weight of his rather bulky frame. All those little wings were good for was fanning off an over heating body or blowing away dust. Actually, Ginny had discovered that he was a very good duster, if she aimed him in the right direction and didn't get him too excited.
"Hermione, they said that something went wrong when he was in his egg, that something caused him to not develop properly," Ginny told the girl honestly, trying to use her eyes to show that she was being truthful. "He's not going to get any bigger Hermione. They said they were surprised that he's even alive. And just look at that cute little face! How could you want to get rid of that cute little face?!"
Hermione did look down on that cute little face, and Ginny could see her friend's eyes soften. "That still doesn't explain why he's here, Ginny," she said, but her voice was lacking the determination that it had held before.
"Well," Ginny began slowly. She knew it was a stupid explanation herself, but it was what had happened nonetheless. If Hermione didn't believe her then so be it. "None of his siblings would pay attention to him. They acted as though he was already dead. So Charlie and the others were letting him wander around the establishment on his own. He likes to be around people, Hermione. But even all of them didn't pay him any attention. I don't even think they really cared if he was there or not. And he kept following me around, looking at me with those huge black eyes, and how could I ignore him like they were?" Ginny paused, smiling at her magenta friend. "So I took him."
"So you took him," Hermione repeated, sounding rather deadpanned. Ginny let out the tinniest sigh of relief. When Hermione got like that she was very unlikely to go into hysterics. Very unlikely indeed. It seemed as though Walter had won over yet another heart in Hogwarts.
It wasn't until a few hours later, when Ginny was making her way back towards the Gryffindor Tower on her own (Hermione had begun to do her rounds) that she realized just how odd it had been to not have Hermione blow up about Walter. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected Hermione to do after she had discovered her pet dragon, but she certainly hadn't been expecting the offer she had received. Hermione wanted to help her take care of Walter. Her excuse was that if he didn't have very long to live, as was quite possible due to his size, he should at least live out his last few days in comfort and with company. And really, who was Ginny to deny her bestest friend such things
Still, it was rather odd to have Hermione volunteer to help take care of her festively plump creature. Ginny had known Hermione had a side of her that rebelled against the rules, though it was small and very tightly held down. Ginny simply hadn't expected it to extend out to help anyone other than Ron or Harry. It made Ginny feel kind of fuzzy to think that she could receive the bad side of Hermione, in a very sadistic way of course. It almost made her want to skip back towards the common room at the thought...
"Watch where you're going, Weasel Face!" someone snarled to her right, causing Ginny to stop and look towards the source of the voice. When she saw the pointed faced someone standing on the other side of the deserted hall she rolled her eyes, all the fuzzy feelings automatically being stowed back into whatever place she kept them, her snarky side rising to the surface, as it did so conveniently when she dealt with individuals such as this one.
And this one had a nasty little habit of forcing her to deal with him. It seemed that Draco Malfoy simply could not leave well enough alone. He was always trying to annoy her or egg her into doing something that usually required bodily harm on his part and detention on hers. If she didn't know better she would think the boy was a masochist and enjoyed what she dished out to him. But then, what was she thinking about? The boy probably was a masochist. He was a Malfoy after all, and if his father was any indication...
"Weasel face?" she asked with a slight laugh. "Did you have one of your minions think that one up for you? It sounds a little too advanced for you, Malfoy. Perhaps you should stop saying it before you embarrass yourself."
"Why should I?" he shot back, crossing his arms over his chest and stalking towards her. Ginny stared at him, noting his perfectly crisp robes and the Head Boy badge gleaming on his chest. It still baffled her how Dumbledore could put a prick like him into a position of authority. "It sums you up so well. Rodent like features, hair in all the wrong places, bad teeth. It's a wonder no one's killed you out of pity yet, Weasley." He stopped a foot away from her.
"Have you ever seen an actual weasel, Malfoy?" Ginny sneered, ignoring his shots at her appearance. She knew that the things he said were all lies. Or at least, she had convinced herself that they were. She was no Fleur Delacour, but she was no Millicent Bulstorde either. She could see in the mirror that she really didn't have hair in any wrong place, and that her teeth were as straight as could be, amazingly enough. And personally she thought she looked more impish than anything else.
She glared at the blond before her. Now, if anyone had rodent like features it was him, with his pointed face and overly long and pointy nose. Sometimes she wondered why he didn't just hire someone to charm the bloody thing to be a normal size. She knew he had enough money to do so. She really had no idea why everyone thought he was so bloody attractive. His oversized ego and horrible personality always got in the way.
"Horrible creatures, just like you and the rest of your family," he hissed, narrowing his eyes. She always hated when he did that for it made him look the most repulsive. She glanced behind him, realizing that he was all alone.
"What? No fan club today? Did they realize what you really are and made haste?" she sneered, crossing her arms as well.
"If they knew what I really was they would be too scared to leave," he growled, glaring down on her. Ginny glared right back up at him.
A first year probably would have been running for cover at that point, but Ginny was no measly first year anymore. No, she was a sixth year, and Draco Malfoy's scowl was not going to have her scurrying away. She wasn't scared of the boy, despite how much he told people otherwise. How could she be scared of someone whose idea of a good prank was to runaway and tell Professor Snape or Daddy? Ginny knew that Daddy dearest was in no position to do anything to her, and Snape owed her. So what did Malfoy have on her? Nothing.
"Ah," she said wisely, raising her finger to her head and tapping her temple. "If I had a slug for a friend as well I think I would be afraid to leave it alone too. I wouldn't want the poor dear to get squished." She paused for a moment, envisioning Slug-Malfoy looking up at her large boot as she brought it down to crush him. She stifled a giggle.
"You will regret you said that, Weasley," he snarled, waving a pointed finger at her. She noticed a ghastly gold ring on his middle finger, glinting in the light, as he moved his hand. She curled her lip in distaste. He was far too light of complexion to wear gold like that.
"You say that almost every time we speak, and I am still not regretting a thing," Ginny replied cheerfully, cracking a grin up at him. Malfoy scowled once more. "But I have to get going. Things to do you know, people to see, places to go and such. Not that I expect you to understand, seeing as no one likes you or wants you around or will have you near anything they own." She had to turn away from his furious face before she burst out laughing, making her way down the hall. "Toodles," she called over her shoulder before rounding a corner. It wasn't until then that she allowed herself a giggle or two.
--o--
"Toodles my ass," Draco grumbled as he continued to walk the halls and continue his patrol. He didn't know why he had said anything; he could have just let the blasted red head continue walking about with that stupid smile plastered on her face. She had probably been thinking about Potter or something stupid like that, which was probably why he tried to get rid of it. No one should be thinking happy thoughts about Potter.
Draco shook his head in frustration, and stormed down the hall. He had no words to describe the irritation that was raging through him, and just as he couldn't describe it, he couldn't explain it either. How could the stupid red head get him even more railed up than Potter and his marry band of idiots? He couldn't fathom what it could be, and he wasn't too keen on finding out either. Not if the answer meant that the little witch had sent a hex at him or something when he wasn't looking. But he was sure that if that was the case he would figure it out soon enough and get his just desserts.
Something moved out of the corner of his eye and Draco stopped, peering towards the other side of the large corridor he was in. It was one of the main ones that the Ravenclaws often went down. He had a feeling that their common room was somewhere around in this area, but he couldn't be bothered to figure out where it was. He could, however, be bothered to find out what the movement had been.
Pulling out his wand he moved quietly towards the tapestry that he had seen move. It had almost been as though someone had moved behind it. Now was his chance to catch some stupid first year and prove that he was still on top of his game. He hadn't been catching as many rule breakers as of late as he had the year, or even month, before. It was either that less people were sneaking out because they had better things to do, or he was just losing his touch. His ego would not let him consider the latter.
"Alright," he said, coming to a stop in front of the tapestry. "Whoever's back there has three seconds to come out willingly or I am going to start throwing hexes." He paused for a second. There was no response. Either they hadn't heard him or they were very stupid. He placed his money on the last option. "One... two... three!" On three he pulled back the tapestry with a flourish, wand ready to hex whoever was stupid enough to try and hide from him.
Only, there was no one behind the tapestry.
Draco pulled it back further, looking at the back of it, then looking around. He couldn't have imagined the movement. He had seen something. But there was nothing there to prove that he had. With one last glower around he threw the tapestry back against the wall and stalked off.
"I need sleep," he muttered, making his way back to his dorm room. He was quitting his rounds five minutes early, but he didn't think Snape would care all that much if he got caught. Snape did have a lot on his hands playing both sides.
When Draco woke up the next morning he felt much better, much more awake. He felt that he would not be seeing things that were not there this morning. And he felt like this all the way through getting out of bed, studiously brushing his teeth, having a long and relaxing shower, and getting dressed in a pair of his sinfully comfortable designer pants and his favourite shirt. He felt this way all the way up until the point where he had to put on the golden ring his father had given him for his birthday a few months prior. He was all ready to put it on, but it wasn't there to be put on.
Draco stared at his bedside table daftly. He knew he had put it there beside his book when he went to bed for he always put it there. He continued to stare at the empty table daftly, his mind whirling. Who would want to take his ring? No one in his house would be stupid enough to try, for if anyone but a Malfoy, or a betrothed of a Malfoy, tried to take it they would be attacked by several painful curses all at once. Potter wouldn't be clever enough to sneak in here to take it. And why would he want to anyway? But then his eyes began to widen. The stupid Weasley girl had been looking at it the night before. He had seen the desire in her eyes.
Draco turned and flew out of the Slytherin common room, intent on barging into the Great Hall, screaming for the bloody bitch to give back his ring. He didn't know how she had managed to get her dirty hands on it, but he had this feeling that somehow she had. And he was going to get it back if it was the last thing he did.
He bounded up the last flight of stairs and skidded into the Entrance Hall. He saw a person with a mop of overly red hair making their way down the staircase across from him and he charged towards it. The person, who just so happened to be the kleptomaniac Draco wanted to yell at, stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for him to make his way over to her, eyebrows raised.
"Good morning, Malfoy," she said pleasantly enough, but Draco could have sworn he saw a triumphant I-have-something-that-you-don't look in her eyes. And he would not stand for it.
"Give me back my ring!" he demanded of her, thrusting out his right hand as if expecting her to drop the ring into it. He knew it wouldn't be that easy. Weasleys were tricky, with the exception of the one who had befriended Pothead who was stupid like a stick, and this Weasley seemed to take after her twin brothers rather than the stupid like a stick one.
"You're what?" she asked calmly, a look of confusion and amusement on her face. He could see right through her act though, she was just pretending to be confused but she couldn't quite manage, thus why she was looking amused as well.
"My ring!" he bellowed. "I saw you looking at it last night! And now it's missing and I know that you took it!"
"You're ring?" she asked again, looking more and more confused.
"Yes you dolt! My ring!" Draco declared, dropping his hand and clenching it into a fist. He was beginning to think that perhaps he was willing to abort the gentlemanly training that was ingrained into him and simply whack her one. That would get her to give the ring back. And really, now that he thought about it, did a Weasley woman really count as a woman? "The gold one that you were drooling over last night!"
"Oh," she said, her lips curling in sudden disgust. Draco was slightly taken aback by that response, but there was too much adrenaline pumping through his veins now for it to make him think about what he was doing in a rational matter. "That ring. Why would I want that ring, Malfoy? It was tacky as hell, not to mention that I hate gold. Silver is a much more elegant metal."
"Lies!" he screamed at her, then began to go for his wand. Her eyes narrowed at him, but then shifted to something behind him.
"Mr. Malfoy," someone said sternly behind him, and Draco froze. It was Snape's voice, he would know it anywhere. But it sounded far too angry to be addressing him with it. Now feeling even more taken aback than before, Draco turned and looked at his Head of House, who was scowling down on him. "What is this all about?"
"Weasley stole my ring!" Draco declared, holding up his hand that usually had the ring slipped on his middle finger. Snape looked at his bare finger, then, instead of sneering at Weasley like Draco expected him to, he kept his scowl on Draco.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape began slowly, his voice slimy and irritated. Draco felt his pulse begin to race with both anger and, not that he would ever admit it to anyone else, fear. "You and I both know that any human could not possibly have taken that ring because your father placed so many anti-theft hexes on it that we would have known that this Weasley took it." His narrowed eyes turned to the girl in question and his sneer began to curl further. "Besides, if she really needed the money, I am sure her looks would get if for her faster than trying to pawn your accursed ring."
Draco heard the Weasley make an exclamation of disbelief and would have begun snickering if Snape had not shot him a very nasty warning look.
"Now, you will both shut your over large mouths and stop making pointless noise or else I will give you both a month's worth of detention." With this said the greasy haired professor turned on his heel and stalked away, his robes billowing ominously behind him. Draco just stood there and stared at him, his mouth hanging open slightly. He knew Snape was having issues lately, but so many issues that he would yell at him? Draco Malfoy? It was preposterous. But apparently it wasn't as preposterous as it should have been.
"What crawled up his ass and died?" Weasley asked quietly. Draco turned to look at her to see that the expression that was presently on her face, looked very much like the one on his. He shrugged in response, then stopped himself, and glared at her.
"This isn't over," he hissed, and to his annoyance she grinned at him.
"What? Our discussion over what died in Snape's ass?" Her face was innocent when she said that, but Draco could tell she was gloating. She had his ring; he just had to prove it. And he was going to prove it...
--o--
"I can't believe that git!" Ginny snarled as she stormed into her usual room, slamming the door behind her. She heard a crash as she did so, though it wasn't from the door but from Hermione falling off the window seat. "Oh, sorry," Ginny muttered, going slightly red in the face.
"Bad day I take it," Hermione grumbled as she pulled herself up off the ground and gingerly arranged herself on the seat once more.
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," Ginny sighed, slumping down along the closed door, until he butt hit the ground. "And you shouldn't let him sit up there, he's too big." She was of course referring to the fat little dragon that was contentedly sitting on the window seat, looking down on her with his beady black eyes. Her bestest friend was looking as though he was having the time of his life though, so Ginny didn't move to get him off, neither did Hermione for that matter.
"It was Malfoy, wasn't it?" Hermione asked, tucking a textbook away which had been resting open at Walter's feet.
"You heard?" Ginny asked dully, pulling at the frayed end of her left sleeve. She could never leave anything alone once it began to fall apart. She always made things like that worse.
"How could I not?" Hermione chuckled. "I think the whole school heard from inside the Great Hall."
"Oh," was all Ginny could think to say. Well, what could she say to finding out that everyone had heard her be accused of theft? She certainly couldn't think of anything, thus why her response had simply been "oh".
"You really didn't take it, did you?" the older girl asked, looking suddenly very serious. Ginny gapped at her in disbelief.
"Hermione!" she cried, holding her hands out in an exclamation of "what the hell". "How could you even think that?! Of course I didn't take it! What would I want with Malfoy's stupid ugly ring?"
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Hermione amended, having the grace to look embarrassed. "But it's just that your brother and Harry think it's one of your new schemes."
"Ron thinks I took Malfoy's ring?" Ginny asked with surprise.
"Ron thinks that you are capable of doing just about anything," the Head Girl said tritely, rolling her eyes. "He actually thought you had been the one who charmed Snape's hair clean, though as to why he would think you of all people would do such a thing..." Hermione trailed off, and Ginny knew that her red face was giving her away. Her face always gave everything away. Sometimes she wished she could charm it so it would always stay one colour.
"Ginny!" Hermione cried. "Why would you do such a thing?! If he ever finds out it was you... If he ever catches you..." She then let out a mighty sigh. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though, should I? You did smuggle this little devil in here, didn't you?" As the older girl said this she fondly patted the dragon on the head.
Ginny just shrugged. "Any idea who really took Malfoy's ring though?" she asked, slumping further along the wall. Every time Malfoy had seen her during the day he had glared at her, making obscene gestures, most of which indicated that she was in for a painful death. She had rolled her eyes at the time, and was still rolling her eyes at the memories, but if he was going to be acting this way until he found his ring, then she was bloody well going to find it for him so he would leave her alone.
"None whatsoever," the Head girl responded, then glanced down on her watch. "Regardless though, I have to be getting on patrol." She gathered her things into her bag then moved towards the door, giving Walter one final pat. Ginny moved out of her way and took the other girl's vacated seat.
"Have fun," she called as the door slid gently shut.
Ginny sighed again and looked at her bestest friend. "What do you think, Walter?" she asked. "Do you think I stole the ring?" In response the small beast blew a puff of smoke. "Well, I would hope not," Ginny replied with a laugh and gave her bestest friend a hug.
Ginny sat in that room for quite awhile, actually, it was well past her curfew. She wasn't too worried about that though for she was quite confident in her sneaking abilities. She had snuck a dragon into the castle after all.
After packing away her homework and saying goodnight to Walter, she silently made her way down to the kitchens. She figured that all of her hard studying deserved a good snack as a reward. She knew that was how she would get fat, but her stomach really didn't care at the moment.
She made it to the kitchens without incident, and she ate her snack without incident as well. It was when she was silently making her way back to her common room that an incident did occur.
"Well, well, well," a voice drawled from behind her, and Ginny froze mid silent step, her face drooping in annoyance and resignation. "Out to steal someone else's belongings, Weasley? I hear that Lovegood has a fairly large collection of silver pendants. Perhaps you would like to add a few of those to your collection as well?"
"Listen Malfoy," Ginny said slowly as she turned around, rolling her eyes. "I didn't take your bloody-" She froze, seeing something move down the hall behind Malfoy. She felt her eyes widen. It was a very large and fat something that should not have been prowling about the school at night. No, it should not be prowling about the school at all.
"What, cat got your tongue?" Malfoy continued to drawl, but seemed to realize that there was something going on behind him. Slowly he began to turn, and Ginny's eyes widened in panic. She began to wave her arms in a desperate attempt to make Walter move out of sight. Only thing was that the dragon seemed to think that she wanted to play for it began to wag his tail, like he usually did, and lumbered his way towards her. Ginny's eyes grew wider. Malfoy was going to see her bestest friend.
"Ring!" she shouted, causing Malfoy's head to snap back towards her. He looked at her suspiciously, as if she had gone insane. Well, she did have her hands raised up in the air, still motioning them around to make Walter go away. She froze then dropped her arms. "I don't have your bloody ring," she repeated, slowly emphasising the final word. She knew she sounded like an idiot, and the look Malfoy was giving her confirmed it. However, all her motions had made Walter move out of sight as he lumbered into another hall.
"Riiiight," he said slowly, glancing behind himself. Ginny's shoulders dropped down in relief, and she let out a small sigh. The blond before her turned to face her again and he narrowed his eyes. "What's going on here?" he demanded, reaching for his wand.
"Nothing really," Ginny replied lazily, not quite knowing what she was saying or why. "It's just that me and a few of my imaginary friends are planning on taking over the school. That's why we needed your ring you see. It's just that you're in the way at the moment and they want to kill you, but I was just trying to tell them, discreetly of course because imaginary friends are easily startled, that you could still come in handy."
The look on his face almost made Ginny burst out laughing, but she tried to hold it in, tried very very hard. She would have managed it to, if it hadn't been for him lowering one of his eyebrows very slowly. Her lip began to twitch and before she knew it she was giggling like mad.
"Would you shut up?" he snarled, looking around. "Someone might hear you."
"Don't tell me that the Head Boy is scared of Filch," she giggled, ignoring his request. "Because that would just be too priceless!"
"No," he sneered. "The Head Boy is not scared of Filch. He is worried that Snape will come along and perhaps use you for some kinky fantasy of his, seeing as he has obviously considered it before with the comment he made this morning."
This made Ginny stop. She didn't even want to consider the possibility that what the boy had said was true. It was just wrong. And gross. And did I mention wrong? Well it was. But she couldn't let a Malfoy know that he had grossed her out. No, that simply wouldn't do.
"Aww, Malfoy. I didn't know you cared," she said in a childishly sweet voice, smiling at him.
"I don't," he spat as if the mere thought disgusted him. Well, it should have disgusted her as well but it didn't for some reason. She mentally hit herself. "I just do not want to be the witness of it."
"Whatever," Ginny replied, with a shrug of her shoulders. She then began to walk past him, intent on finding her bestest friend.
"Where do you think you are going, Weasley?" he demanded, his hand reaching out and catching her arm. She turned and looked down on it.
"My common room," she lied, still looking down on his offending appendage.
"But your common room is in the opposite direction," he said suspiciously. She looked at him then. He really did think that she was going to steal something again, didn't he. Well, she was going to get him back for that one of these days...
"I'm taking a short cut," she replied. "Now if you will excuse me." She raised her eyebrows and yanked her arm free of his grasp. With that she purposely walked down the hall and rounded the corner into the same passage her dragon had wandered down. She knew Malfoy was going to follow her for a little while, but she had the feeling Walter had wandered quite a ways in the time since she had last seen him. The creature might have short legs, and be far too overweight, but he could waddle his fat little ass very far in a short period of time.
She was going to kill that bloody thing when she found him, bestest friend or not.
--o--
Draco had been watching her for over a week, and all he could think was that the girl was insane. She was easily distracted by things that were not there, sharply changed direction at odd times, hid behind tapestries by herself yet came out looking frazzled and handled. The oddest part was that she talked to herself. And she seemed to refer to herself as "Walter", which was beyond strange to say the least. He was beginning to suspect that the girl was a schizophrenic, which would explain a lot as far as he was concerned.
He had been following her with the intent of getting his ring back. He figured that if he followed her long enough he would eventually figure out where she had hidden it. That was his plan until other people's gold objects began to go missing as well. It was at that point that he knew he had a duty to find out how she was stealing all these people's possessions.
It was beginning to worry him though; he was following around a schizophrenic kleptomaniac who referred to herself as Walter. And things were beginning to get mixed up. Not only was he beginning to have trouble keeping his eyes off of her curves, which he was beginning to truly appreciate, or the way her lips move as she talked, or her hair moved when she walked, or how her chest moved when she breathed. But things were going missing across the school when he knew that the Weasley was on the other side, completely incapable of stealing the object.
Draco was beginning to suspect that perhaps the Weasley was not behind all the thefts, that there was something else was going on. He was also beginning to suspect that she knew what was going on. Perhaps she wasn't a schizophrenic kleptomaniac after all. Perhaps she was just trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Either way, Draco was going to keep an eye on her, and it wasn't simply to watch her perfectly rounded hips sway. He did, after all, need his ring back. It was precious to him.
--o--
"I don't know what to do, Hermione," Ginny said desperately. "He keeps sneaking out, and no matter how many times I scold him and lock him back up in here he keeps doing it! And it doesn't matter how many locking charms I put on the door either, he still gets out!"
"This could be bad," Hermione said seriously, looking down on the dragon who was occupying himself by chasing after his tail.
"And it gets worse," Ginny moaned, burying her face into her hands. "I have a feeling that he's the one that is stealing everyone's gold at night. He probably snatches it when he sneaks out at night."
"Well, dragons do like gold," Hermione said slowly, "which would explain why all the missing objects have been gold. Well, with the exception of Neville's toad, but you know how Trevor is, always escaping when Neville turns his head. But you have to find out where he is taking all the gold, Ginny, and get it back to the rightful owners. Things are getting rather tense, as you know. Accusations are flying." Hermione shook her head then. "Ron even accused Harry of taking his gold chain. Imagine that. What a load of rubbish."
Ginny simply buried her face deeper into her hands. Her bestest friend was a klepto and she didn't know where he was hiding his loot. Or how he was getting out for that matter. All she really did know was that there were over seventy golden items that had been reported missing. And those were just the reported ones. Her little friend was a fast little devil, faster than she had given him credit for.
It was getting more and more difficult to catch up with him when he broke out now. It was as if he was memorizing the castle and knew how to get around it through the passages with more ease than her and the twins combined could have managed. And she could have sworn that he was moving faster too. Yet he was still the fat little dragon that she had fallen in love. She didn't understand how he was able to move that fast. But he was, and now the shit was starting to hit the fan.
"And I have this horrible feeling that Malfoy is catching on," Ginny sighed miserably.
"He's still following you?" Hermione asked, her voice filled with worry.
"Like a shadow," the red head replied, head still buried in her hands.
Ever since the first night Ginny had caught Walter sneaking around Malfoy had been following her. At first she had been highly annoyed and tried everything in her power to make him stop. Direct confrontation hadn't done much to make him leave her alone because he just turned it into an opportunity for a verbal sparring match. Neither had ignoring him, because then he seemed to think that she thought he wasn't there. That was impossible though, because Malfoy was really bad at spying on people. But the worst part of it was that she was beginning to become accustomed to his near constant presence. She was almost, dare she think it, comforted by it.
"What am I going to do, Hermione?" Ginny whined, looking up at the Head Girl with pleading eyes. "You said you would help me take care of him."
"Well, I didn't know that he was going to turn into a little dragon burglar," Hermione responded, glaring down on the dragon, who had caught his tail and was now munching on it with contentment.
"You're not going to help me then?" Ginny asked, feeling suddenly like she was going to cry. How had things gotten so out of control that now even her accomplice wouldn't help her? The next thing she needed to make things even worse was to have Malfoy burst through the door, or Snape, or Dumbledore. She supposed that would end her problems pretty quickly, but it would still make her cry.
"What?" the bushy haired girl asked, looking down on Ginny as though she had grown a second head. "Why would you think I wouldn't?" Ginny looked up at her with wide eyes, suddenly feeling she had a right to be pouty. "We are going to have to work together though, and it is going to have to be tonight for this to work."
"You have a plan?" Ginny asked, her poutyness and tearyness disappearing as quickly as they had arrived.
"Of course I do," Hermione snapped. The Head Girl seemed to be a touch more stressed out than Ginny thought. Apparently people complaining about lost items all day was getting to her. "You are going to stay here with him tonight, feign sleep and watch how he gets out." Ginny opened her mouth. "And I have a potion to make sure you really don't fall asleep so don't say anything." The bushy haired girl began to pace before Ginny, ticking things off on her fingers. "So, once he sneaks out you will follow him and see what he does and where he goes. I am on patrol until two this morning, so I will make sure that no on disturbs either of you. We should be able to figure out where he is going with all this gold."
Ginny stared at Hermione with a slack jaw. "Hermione, you are more brilliant than I give you credit for."
"Of course I am," she replied haughtily then looked back down on the textbook sitting on her lap. "Now, I have a test next week to study for." With that the Head Girl began to study as though she was not planning on breaking over a dozen school rules in less than four hours.
--o--
Once again Draco was wandering the halls of Hogwarts, on patrol once more. And, as seemed to be the trend lately, he was catching no one breaking any rules. It was really beginning to irritate him. How was he supposed to meet his personal quota if there was no one to catch? Had everyone in the school suddenly become a goody two shoes? It was a horrid thought.
He rounded a corner, deep in thought about his rotten luck, when something odd caught his eye. The Head Girl, Granger in all her bushy haired glory, was pacing. This wasn't an unheard of event for Draco had seen her many times in the library doing exactly the same thing, but she was pacing in front of the room Weasley always ran away to. He had never been inside of the room because she always seemed to make sure it was locked tight. Now that he thought about it though, he should have already figured out a way to get in there and look around. Maybe that was where she was hiding her loot. But then he shook his head, Weasley couldn't possibly be stealing everything; he had told himself this before. But blaming a Weasley for everything wrong in the world was a hard habit to break.
He dodged back behind the corner and watched as the girl wandered down the hall, away from him. He was about to head off after her, though he wasn't quite sure why he should. Perhaps it was because he was so bored from having no wrongdoers to catch, or perhaps he was going insane. Regardless though, he was about to follow her when he saw McGonagall step out of another hall and call out to Granger.
Draco watched as the girl glanced worriedly at the Weasley's door a few times, but nodded her head in agreement to what her Head of House was saying. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as she made one final glance before allowing herself to be led away.
After he was sure that they had left the hallway, Draco made towards the Weasley's door, intent on finding out what was inside the room. There had to be something good if even the Head Girl was in on it. However, he was barely a foot in his trek when he saw a tapestry move directly across from him.
He knew he saw it this time, he knew that he wasn't seeing things. So he rushed towards it, all thoughts of Weasley's room flying from his mind, and pulled the hanging cloth back as quickly as he could. He knew he had to be quick, whatever he saw moving through the tapestries time and time again had to be fast if he never saw what was moving them, well, except for the times Weasley came out from behind them, looking enticing with tousled hair, but that was a different story.
"Phhhfuuum!"
Draco stumbled back in surprise, landing on his rear end with a painful thump. He watched with wide eyes as a creature, something that should not have been in the school at all, looked down on him with laughing beady black eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he knew it was there nonetheless. There was a miniature dragon in the school. And it was purple.
"You little beast," Draco scowled, crawling back onto his feet and slowly approaching the fat little creature. "You have been wandering around the school all this time, haven't you? You're the one who has been trying to drive me insane!"
On the dragon's part, he only seemed to grin back at Draco, his little tail wagging furiously in the air. Draco would have thought it was cute, in a dragonish way, had a door to his left not suddenly opened.
Draco straightened up instantly, turning his head to see who he was going to have to deal with. Only, the professor or stupid first year he thought he would see never came. It was Weasley who entered the hall, closing the door to her room soundly. Draco glanced back down at the dragon only to discover that it was no longer there. With a mental curse he turned his attentions to the red headed girl who was cautiously making her way towards him.
"Out and about after curfew again, Weasley?" Draco sneered, waiting for her to get a little closer. He glanced behind him but there was no sign of the dragon.
"Yes, and as usual you won't report me," she replied, coming to a stop a few feet away from him. "Why is that Malfoy? Is it because you don't want to be caught patrolling outside of your area?"
It was a valid question, now that he thought about it. Every time he had encountered her after curfew lately he had not even considered reporting to the professors about it. It was almost as if he didn't want to discourage her from continuing to stumble across him. It was almost as if he was subconsciously enjoying every spat that the two to them had. Then he mentally stopped, no, he knew it wasn't subconscious. If he turned her into a professor, he wouldn't get ample time to look at her anymore, or have spats with her.
"We do not have to stick to our area," he spat at her instead, not wanting her to know about the thoughts running through his head. It wouldn't do for the girl to know that Draco was developing a thing for her. He could just imagine the revenge she would take on him. "They are more just guidelines."
"Well, that's good to hear," she said in response then moved forward and walked past him. Draco turned and watched her walk away, silently appreciating the way her hips swung back and forth. As soon as the red head had disappeared around the corner, Draco slapped himself on the forehead.
"Pull your self together boy," he muttered, shaking his head vigorously as though he could shake his previous thoughts from his head. "First you see dragons and now you are lusting for a Weasley. What's next? Granger?" At that he glanced around, but his counterpart was obviously still tangled up with McGonagall. So he headed in the same direction that the red head had gone, intent on finding the little dragon once more. Perhaps it was involved somehow in all the oddness that had been going on. And perhaps he could catch another glance at Weasley's rear end.
Half an hour later, Draco was still wandering around, not having seen even a hint of either purple dragon or Weasley rear-end. He was beginning to get the feeling that both had holed themselves away wherever it was that dragons and Weasleys did such a thing.
With a sigh he looked down on his watch and realized that he had been on duty for an extra twenty minutes. He shook his head at this. First he was lusting after a Wealsey and now he was working later than he had to. Now he knew there was something wrong with him. He didn't even let himself consider the dragon sighting.
He set about heading back to his common room, intending on getting at least some sleep that wasn't littered with attractive red heads with long legs. The halls were empty and silent, with the exception of himself and his footsteps as he travelled across them. He idly looked around as he entered the dungeons, and froze as he saw a tapestry move ahead of him. Apparently the little dragon had decided to make a repeat appearance.
He felt his eyes grow wide as he saw another tapestry move further down the hall, then another at the end of it. He blinked. The bugger was much faster then he ever though possible for such a fat little thing. He heard the clatter of armour further down the hall. Much faster.
Draco found himself running towards the place where the armour had moved, wand at the read. He hadn't even realized that he had started running, but now that he had begun, he wasn't about to slow down. He had a very large inkling that the dragon had some connection to the disappearing gold.
Tapestries, armour and paintings were all being shifted about further down the hall, but Draco was slightly smug about the fact that the distance between such occurrences was getting smaller and smaller each time his feet hit the ground. The hall ended, opening into the odd Y-shapped junction that always got jammed up with bodies moving to their next class. For a moment Draco thought that perhaps the little beast would go down another hall, but it kept going straight, and as such, Draco did the same. Though he was stopped suddenly by someone's body crashing into his own.
The body crashed to the ground with a pitiful yelp, which Draco didn't entirely hear for he was grunting in pain and surprise as well. The ground came rushing up to meet him, and he felt his left knee and elbow connect painfully with the ground, while the opposite limbs collided with something soft. He felt sharp joints dig into his side, but he didn't have the chance to do anything about it until after they had hit the ground.
He didn't move for a moment, scared that he had broken something. He wasn't particularly worried if he had broken the person he had half landed on either, for really, it was all their fault for running into him. Whoever was tangled into him, though, began to squirm about in an attempt to break free. It was only then that Draco decided to figure out who it was.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you to not run in the halls Weasley?" he sneered, glaring at the red head, whose face, he noticed, was an attractive shade of pink. He also noticed that her body was touching his in way that didn't usually happen unless he was alone with a girl. Which, he realised belatedly, he was.
"Me?" she demanded, glaring at him as she yanked her arm out from under his back and her leg from between his. "You were the bloody idiot who ran into me!" She wiggled slightly, pulling back and getting unsteadily to her feet. Draco simply stayed as he was, watching as articles of her clothing no longer covered what they were designed to cover. He felt himself smirk.
"And stop looking at me you prev," she hissed, yanking her skirt back into place.
A crash down the hall caused both teen's heads to snap in that direction.
"Whatever you say, Weasley," he replied distractedly, hurrying himself to his own feet, and straightening his robes without really caring if they looked properly anymore or not. The dragon was getting away. Suddenly his ability to see the schizophrenic Weasley's knickers no longer mattered as much as it had.
Without a further glance at the red head he began to run once more, trying to once again catch up with the creature.
"I thought you weren't supposed to run in the halls," a breathy voice said to his right. Draco started slightly and turned to see that the red head was running along beside him. He frowned at her, but didn't get the chance to comment as a suit of armour crashed down in front of him and he had to doge to the left to avoid running into it.
"Why the hell are you running with me then?" he demanded, once she had reclaimed the spot at his side.
A tapestry moved, then another, then a door flew open and slammed shut. Draco skidded to a stop, the red head skidding along with him.
"That's why," she wheezed, looking warily at the door that had opened and closed so violently. Draco looked at her, her face glistening with perspiration, hair hanging in her face. He had the sudden urge to push his hands through the mass of red and get it away from her lovely face. "He must have gone in there."
"He who?" Draco asked, thoughts once again returning to the matter at hand, rather than how he wanted to run his hands through her hair. He unfortunately didn't get a response as she pushed open the door revealing a pitch black room. Without hesitation she walked in, leaving Draco only to follow her.
He pulled out his wand as he crossed over the threshold, shuddering slightly as his skin realized the room was about ten degrees warmer than it had been in the hallway. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving him in total darkness. He could hear something shuffling around and he had a feeling it wasn't Weasley.
He only took a few steps before he felt his body collide with the red head's, sending an electric shock to run through his body. He took a hasty step back lest he did something he knew would get him hexed.
"Watch it," she hissed irritably, and he sneered at her, though he knew that she couldn't see it.
"Lumos," he said in response, casting the black room that they were in into light.
His eyes widened at the same time the girl in front of him gasped in surprise. He took a final step forward, stopping beside her, and looked at the pile of objects that did not belong in the room.
"Gold," she muttered, and all Draco found he could do was nod his head. There was a giant pile of gold sitting in the center of the room, glittering in his wand light. This was where all the stolen objects of the students and staff had gone. Yet there seemed to be much more here than there should have been. Who ever had put all this here had plundered more gold from sources that had yet to be discovered.
Something shifted in the light on the top of the pile and Draco narrowed his eyes. "Is that Longbottom's toad?" he asked in wonder, watching as a small creature moved further into the light, glittering as well as it was adorned in bracelets and rings. There was also a crooked crown set upon its head. It stared down on them as though it was the king and they were merely peasants from his village. Draco instantly disliked the amphibian. Well, more than he did already anyway.
"It couldn't have taken all of this, could it?" he asked the red head beside him.
"No," she said in a depressed little voice, which caused Draco to turn and look at her. She was staring at something in the corner of the room, ignoring the pile of gold altogether. He frowned, what could possibly be so important that she had to ignore the huge pile of gold in the center of the room. Certainly it was more wealth than she would ever see in her lifetime.
His eyes followed hers and came to rest on the fat little dragon that he had been chasing. It was once again grinning, a crown placed jauntily atop his head. It moved slowly towards them, tail wagging furiously.
"Oh Walter," the girl sighed, moving forward towards the creature. Draco almost shot his hand out to stop her, afraid of what he beast might do to her, but thought better of himself. She wasn't his to protect, after all. "What have you done?"
"It has a name?" he asked instead of intervening, watching as the girl crouched down before the creature, who began to lick her face. She removed the crown from its head and wrapped her arms around its neck. Draco felt a sudden pang of envy.
"Of course he has a name," the girl snapped, as she pulled away from her hug. "Everyone needs a name, Malfoy."
"But why would you know it?" he asked suspiciously, though he felt that he knew the answer before she even opened her mouth. She turned and looked up at him, the gold reflecting prettily in her hair.
"Because my brother named him," she said evenly. Draco stared down at her, watching as tears began to well up in her eyes. "And now I'm going to have to send him back to him because I obviously can't take care of him on my own."
"Your brother gave you a dragon?" Draco asked incredulously, trying to ignore the tears that were starting to make their way down the girl's face. He didn't like the feeling that was running through him, urging him to brush them away.
"Not exactly," she sniffled, casting her eyes down on the creature whose tail had stopped wagging. "I sort of took him." Draco stared. Apparently he had been right about the kleptomaniac part. It disappointed him in a way he hadn't expected. "And it seems to have been a bigger mistake than I ever thought it could be." With this said the tears began to flow freely and she began to cry softly, once again wrapping her arms around the fat creature, who sat down, burying her face in its neck.
Draco couldn't do anything but watch. He couldn't let himself go over and comfort her, because he knew that she wouldn't appreciate comfort from a Malfoy. Which was an odd thought since he had never had any experience in comforting people in the way that he wanted to comfort her in that moment. When Pansy had cried he had used completely different tactics to make her stop, tactics he knew would certainly get him hexed if he tried them on the red head. So he just stood there, turning his attention from the girl, to the toad, to the pile of gold, and back again.
Eventually her tears subsided, and she slowly released the creature in her arms and got wobbly back to her feet. The dragon stood up with her, wagging his tail as though it was trying to make everything ok again. The girl looked down on him, smiling faintly, until she moved forward quickly, taking the tail into her hands. She let out a bark of laughter.
Draco watched her, deciding that she had finally lost her marbles, when she turned to face him, hands still holding onto the creature's tail, a triumphant look on her face. He kept his face impassive.
"You owe me an apology, Malfoy," she said, looking up at him.
"And why do you say that?" he asked, watching her carefully.
"Because you said I stole your ring and I didn't'," she replied, then moved her hands to reveal his ring, glinting on the tip of the dragon's tail.
Draco felt his eyes widen. "Why you little sneak," he hissed, taking a step towards the dragon, who was suddenly looking rather sly. "You knew it was mine all along, didn't you?" he demanded then, taking another step forward. "How did he do it, Weasley?"
She frowned at him slightly, then glanced down at the purple beast once more. "I think he can make his skin act like a chameleon's," she replied after a moment, her eyes lightening up with realization. "It is the only way I can think of that he could move about without being seen, but not without moving things." She held his tail out to him then. "And I think I have figured out a way for me to keep him after all."
"Oh?" he asked, reaching out and taking the ring from the tip of the dragon's tail. The creature let out a puff of smoke, but did nothing else in response to losing its jewellery. He replaced the ring back onto his finger, where it belonged. He stared at it for a moment, then turned and looked at her, admiring how the gold complimented her face and her curves.
"All I have to do-" her voice stopped as Draco reached out and placed a hand on her hip. "What do you think you are doing?" she demanded, trying to pull away. But Draco's other hand shot out, grasping her other hip, then pulled her towards him.
"You said I had to apologise," he said simply, tugging her hips a bit closer to his own.
"And you consider this an apology?" she asked, her voice hard, but she didn't try to escape his grasp. Her cheeks were also going a lovely shade of red.
He smirked slightly in response and closed the distance between their lips, finally tasting the girl he had been dreaming of tasting for the past couple weeks. He smirked slightly at the thought.
His kiss was gentle and he slowly increased the pressure of it, smirking even further as the girl sighed and slid her arms up around his neck. He suddenly realized that he would have absolutely no qualms if he could kiss this girl when ever he wanted, regardless of who she was or what other people had to say about it.
Several minutes later he pulled back, grinning now instead of smirking. "There you go, Weasley," he said breathlessly, resting his forehead against hers. "Sorry."
"I think I am going to have you accuse me of doing more bad things so that you can apologise to me more often, Malfoy," she said in an equally breathless voice, grinning as well.
--o--
Later that night both Draco and Ginny levitated all of the gold Walter had taken and put it in the center of the Entrance Hall. When everyone woke up the next morning they were greeted with the sight of a huge pile of gold and were able to reclaim their lost items, and pets as was Neville's case, with the help of a few professors. The items that were left over in the end had apparently been missing for centuries, which led to some celebration.
Ginny's plan turned out to be quite simple. All it really involved was for Ginny and Walter to have a "discussion" that would persuade the dragon to never again steal from people. She promised him that if he would remain good then she would give him gifts, transfigured gold, a spell courtesy of the Twins, or she would send him back to the camp. Though she knew that she would never be able to do such a thing.
As for Draco, within a week of finding Walter the wrongdoers seemed to reappear in the halls and he was finally able to meet his quota once more. Which made him rather content. What made him really content though was his newfound relationship with Ginny. She was his now and she was far more precious to him than any bloody ring could ever be. And to make sure that he never lost that it again he kept the golden ring on her right hand for safekeeping, until such a time that they needed it moved to her other hand.
Unfortunately, for you that is, it is all another story since this one is at an end and will tell you no more. Though I suppose I should tell you what the moral of this story is, lest you do not learn from it. Never bother a sleeping dragon, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
The End
--o--
A/N: Well, there you go. And it really is the end. I think that if I tried to do a sequel I would just ruin this one. But yes, the quote at the end was from a bottle of Jones Soda I had once. Yummy stuff. And as for what Walter looks like, I have made a figure of him out of clay. Well, it's not him really, seeing as I began to make him before I started to write this story, but they do look alike. If you would like to see him, then here's the link: www . deviantar t .com / deviation / 9686878 / (You need to take out the spaces)
But yes, I am curious to find out what you thought. Yay! Dragons!