As Seamus turned around the corner, he found himself looking at a long red dragon plopped onto the stone floor, blocking most of the corridor. He blinked repeatedly and then realized that the creature was letting out a series of odd sounds. Deep breaths, sometimes a pitiful whine, intermixed with the occasional angry growl. Good thing they all knew this dragon didn't intend to harm them, otherwise Seamus would've been scared witless right now.
"Sorry mate, didn't see you there." Oh that was so lame, Seamus, good job. A low grumbling whine came in response. He seemed… sad. "You alright?" the boy couldn't help but ask in concern.
"Go away." The dragon responded in a muffled, despairing voice. "Just leave me here to die." Alarm rose at that and Seamus looked at him more closely. He noticed that his paws (hands? claws?) were covering his snout, his eyes squeezed shut - when they opened having the saddest lost puppy expression the boy had ever seen.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Everything. The whole world is against me." The dragon responded in a whine. Seamus had never thought he'd ever hear a dragon sound and act like that, but there you go.
"Um, look, if there's anything I can do to…?"
"What's going on here?" Hermione came from around the corner, Prefect badge pinned to her robe. "Seamus? Class already started, what are you…?" she then saw the creature next to the boy and she quickly reached them both. "What happened?"
"I don't know, I just… I was going to class and I just found him like this."
A louder, more frustrated whine came from the dragon and they both jumped at the aggressive, growling undercurrent. "I. Am. Done. With everything!" the dragon growled, eyes screwed shut, deadly claws curling against the stone floor.
"Oh dear. I…" Hermione looked around worriedly. "I'd better get some help, I… Ron!" the ginger-haired boy came around the corner as well, pale and wary from hearing the dragon's angry sounds even from a distance. "Go get professor Dumbledore!"
The boy swallowed as he looked at the big red scaly lump in the middle of the corridor. He nodded and turned back around towards the direction he came from. He rushed down the corridors for the next few minutes, looking around for the right entrance.
"You seem awfully in a hurry." A feminine voice echoed across the stone walls, making him jump. Huntsgirl popped up from the ceiling's shadows and jumped down right in front of him, looking at the boy curiously. "What's the rush?" Ron blanched at the sight of her. Her blue eyes narrowed and he quickly opened his mouth as words came out without thinking.
"The-the dragon." The girl froze at that and Ron suddenly realized that talking to her of all people about this was a Bad Idea. Even he wasn't stupid enough to make that kind of mistake. Huntsgirl looked at him, pretty blue eyes glaring, her voice low as she asked. "What about the dragon?"
"Nothing." Ron squeaked, wide-eyed, scrambling for a way out. Blimey, this girl was bloody scary.
The tip of her staff was suddenly in his face, pressing against his chin."Tell me. Now."
He swallowed apprehensively. "You wouldn't know what to do either way, you crazy…" the staff was pressed more insistently against his skin and he flinched. "Then tell me."
She lowered the weapon back down. Her voice sounded less aggressive but not any less serious. "I'm not tactless, you know. I don't simply jump every single time to fight him; if I did, at least one of us would've been dead by now, as well as a few side casualties. So believe me when I tell you that I won't do anything. Not this time."
Ron gulped, all too willing to get away as soon as possible. "Don't make me regret trusting you this once." She straightened up in acknowledgement and Ron thought of a way to explain. "The dragon's… acting weird. He's in a corridor, just… sitting there; sounds like he's really upset but he won't tell exactly what's wrong…" Ron jumped as the girl grabbed him, eyes narrowed.
"Take me to him." She didn't look murderous, but determined nonetheless, and just as scary.
He nodded, went back towards the place where Hermione and Seamus were along with the dragon, feeling a small hand firmly holding onto the sleeve of his robe. "C'mon mate, you gotta get up!" they heard Seamus' coaxing voice as they approached their destination, the sound bouncing off the stone walls.
"No, everything's dumb!" the dragon whined in response and Ron felt Huntsgirl's steps falter for a second.
"You can't stay like this forever!" Hermione tried.
"I might as well do just that, since you magical jerks apparently love to kick me around in the stupidest way possible." He quickly retorted, growling and suddenly angry."Seriously, don't clean up your dumb inventions. No really, who ever said that was a thing you had to do? Just leave the Amortentia in plain sight so the poltergeist can grab some right away and torture me with it!"
"Peeves? What did he do?" Hermione asked. Huntsgirl didn't let either of them go around the corner, listening intently to the conversation.
"C'mon, it can't be that bad. You don't look like you're hurt anywhere at all!" Seamus tried to sound encouraging and cheerful. Another low whine came in response. "Shut up shut upshutup! You don't know anything!"
Ron wondered what sort of problems a dragon could have to make one act like that. The masked girl behind him took a step in front, but what the dragon said next made her stop in her tracks once more.
"I miss my Rose…"
Confused, Hermione tried to ask "Your….?"
"What… are you talking about?" Seamus asked, and Ron felt Huntsgirl's steely grip of his sleeve squeezing the fabric even harder, pulling it taut against his arm. "You mean like the flower?"
"Yeah, that flower." His response was filled by a sigh, close to wistful." It smelled just like…" Fervent scratching sounds could then be heard as the dragon whined and growled. "It's torture of the cruelest caliber, yo… It's just not fair!"
"What's not fair?" Hermione asked quietly as a slight silence settled once more. Then her voice changed as she came to a realization. "You're not just talking about a flower, right? You mean a person."
"He is?" Seamus exclaimed. He then presumably turned towards the dragon as he asked. "You are? Who are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about my girlfriend, you tool."
What.
What?
Ron was too caught up in trying to make sense of that sentence to notice that Huntsgirl had let go of his sleeve, going a few steps back behind him.
"And I'll tell you now, making a love-struck Dragon smell a love potion is a good enough reason for me to hate all you wizards on principle. I thought my heart was going to give up on me."
Hermione let out a soft "…Oh." Professor Slughorn had shown the students a while back the strongest type of Love Potion during class. They could all remember the way it had affected them, being able to sense in it their personal favorite, most appealing scents. And that meant… "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Is it that bad?"
"Her scent is stuck in my nose." The dragon whined, voice still muffled as his clawed hands were kept pressed against his snout. A rush of air whistled behind Ron and he turned around on time only to see the tip of Huntsgirl's golden braid quickly fleeing around the corner.
Minutes afterwards, somehow there was no ghost that happened to walk nearby and hear the sounds that came from within the Huntsgirl's private chambers. Nobody heard anything, windowless as her rooms were, with no paintings on the walls to see what had transpired.
Or at least, none in any shape left to tell the tale.