Seisms
Hermione raced past shocked viewers toward the arena. She jumped higher than she ever thought she would have been able to and hurdled the now magically inactive gate. She wasn't to be denied, made easier by the shock going around the gathered audience. No one was going to keep her from Harry. If anyone got in her way and got trampled into the dirt, well, that was their problem. Not hers!
Up ahead, he was a short distance from the tunnel opening and wide open for her tackle hug. She heard a whuuumphf from him when they hit the ground. From somewhere in the area of the arena, she heard what had to be hissing laughter and a thumping noise, repeated a few times. There was a plume of flame toward the judges' table after a few minutes, and it didn't take much for Hermione to figure out that the dragon wasn't pleased with the ones seated there specifically.
Considering that the dragon sounded much more annoyed than when she was supporting Harry, it was a fair assumption. Hermione was still wondering about that look in the dragon's eyes and why it had looked so familiar to her. It was something to think about later, since her target was within reach now. As far as Hermione was concerned Harry was worth more of her focus. She was going to make sure he was all right, then she was going to give him a piece of her mind. What for, she didn't know yet but she'd think of something.
"Harry! Are you hurt? Are you okay, are you…"
Harry could tell that she was rapidly descending into babble mode and acted. He pulled her into the tightest hug that he could manage without thinking, and their bodies squished together. He'd forgotten about the dragon saliva. Hermione's nose wrinkled.
"Ugh, Harry. What are you covered in? It's warm and sticky."
She didn't let him go however, he noticed.
"It's dragon spit. She has taken a shine to me, apparently."
"You stink, too."
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. Harry knew that to mention that she was now covered in dragon spit now too was probably more than his life was worth. Considering his entry into this blasted Tournament, that was saying something. Instead, he tried to make sure that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. It was something that he'd always had problems with, but Hermione was so worked up due to events that she didn't notice for once.
"She said that, too."
He hoped that the daughter of dentists wouldn't ask about a dragon's oral hygiene. Thankfully, she didn't. Hermione just clung to him and trembled. Harry decided that he didn't particularly feel like moving at the moment or mentioning that Tessaies was sitting on the other side of the arena grinning at them in between sending jets of flame at the judges' table.
He wondered where his broom was, too. It was nowhere to be found.
Normally, he thought having a dragon grin at him would indicate that he was about to be eaten, but considering the previous events Harry wasn't worried. He nodded to the mother dragon and tried to get up to take a step toward the tunnel, but Hermione resisted. She was resolute, and Harry was starting to wonder how such a relatively tiny person could be so hard to move. While in other circumstances he would be enjoying this, he wanted out of that arena.
"Hermione."
She didn't answer, just held him tighter. She was already close to the point where he could hardly get enough air to talk, much less breathe. Every tremble of her body told him what shape she was in.
"Hermione," he gasped. "I need to breathe!"
There was a fractional loosening, and he figured that he'd take what he could get. Harry looked over her other shoulder away from Tessaies to see Charlie motioning to him. It was getting more and more frenetic, and from the brightness of the red hair it was easy to see that his face was getting more and more pale as well. Harry felt some heavy vibrations and looked over.
~~ She seems a bit clingy, doesn't she? ~~
It was the highly amused question that was the only thing that gave him enough warning not to jump. Much anyway, and it was enough to get Hermione to look up. They saw that the mother Horntail had strolled over to where they were. The golden eyes had locked onto them and while somehow Harry could tell that the mother dragon was just being curious, he could also remember his first reaction to see her eyes that close. Any self-respecting prey would understand.
The screams from the audience had increased too. Hermione gulped at the up-close-and-personal sight of the Horntail, and squeezed her eyes closed. The pair felt several puffs of smoke waft over them before a talon dug underneath where they lay on the ground to pick them up. They found themselves deposited on their feet as gentle as a feather. Hermione sagged as her knees went weak and Harry secured his grasp on her. He didn't want her to fall.
~~ Youngling, tell her I'm not going to hurt her. She would be embarrassed if she faints in front of all these idiots. However, if lángoló haj doesn't calm down, he's going to hurt himself. He uses that arm too much anyway. Maybe I should find him a mate, then hopefully he'll calm down before his arm falls off. He's already looking a bit lopsided over there. ~~
There was a slight pause as the dragon evaluated Charlie and his semaphoring arm.
~~ I'm surprised he can still walk straight, to be honest. He almost reminds me of those delicious morsels from the sea I've found occasionally. What are they called… oh, yes. Fiddler crabs. I really should find myself some more of those. Very tasty and a nice crunch. ~~
The dragon continued musing to herself as she pushed the two of them out to the tunnel. Harry was trying not to laugh, and Hermione cracked an eye open to see what was happening when she heard the hissing that was so much louder than anything Harry produced. She squeaked again when she felt the rather hot muzzle of the dragon up against her body. Only the grip she had on Harry along with his own kept her from falling down.
"Hermione! She's said she's not going to hurt you! Relax! And, um…"
From the blush on Harry's face, there had to be more. She resolved to ask later, if there was a later. His mutter of matchmaking dragons just confused her. The bit about not wanting to know what dragons did in their private time didn't help either.
The arena was quiet as they took in the sight of a dragon herding a young wizard and witch like wayward puppies toward the tunnel leading out. A few people snorted in muffled laughter at the sheer ludicrousness of it all and most wondered if they had drank some tea that morning that had been very off. It was about the only explanation that they could come up with.
The judges had been thinking pretty much the same. Dumbledore was not twinkling at all, everyone noticed. They tried to think of the last time he looked so nonplussed at anything, and got a headache from it. The Headmaster was wondering the same thing and for his part, he already had a headache. He wasn't looking forward to hearing Minerva's opinion on this particular subject.
Soon however, they had been herded to the entrance where Charlie was able to snatch them up. She snickered at him and snorted more smoke at him, then bumped him as well for good measure before strolling back to her nest. When she got there, she curled up over her eggs after heating them all up a bit before nodding at the three in the tunnel. A wing wiggled in their direction before spreading out over herself.
Charlie overbalanced from the impetus of her bump and fell on his rump, where he stared at her. After a long moment where he could see that she had clearly curled up around her nest and went to sleep, the dragon wrangler looked up at Harry.
"Harry, did you understand her?"
"Yes. I didn't know before this morning that dragons understood Parseltongue enough to speak it. Understood English, too. Read it, too, somehow. She quoted something at me and apparently understood Hermione when she spoke. It's very confusing and I would welcome any knowledge you have on this. You're the dragon handler, after all."
Charlie's face screwed up in confusion.
"Quotes? Reading English? Hermione? She understood Hermione?"
"Among things. It's very odd."
"You're telling me," the dragon wrangler muttered. "What was that temper tantrum about? I thought a time or two that if it hadn't been for the wards, the judges would have been roasted down into pebbles a time or two. She was right cheesed off."
Harry paled a bit and shook his head. Charlie noticed.
"Harry, I have to know. If it's something I can change where she's concerned, it'll make things safer for all of us while the dragons are in the Forest. I've suspected that the group of them are all gossip queens for a long time and if something upsets one, it'll upset the others. Between you and me, I don't want to have to deal with that. You've already confirmed that dragons are a lot smarter than we previously thought."
Hermione looked at Harry. She still held him in her arms although a bit looser. The trembles had subsided a bit but she was still going to be a bit shaky for a while after being so close to the dragon.
"Charlie's got a good point, Harry. He really needs to know."
Harry was quiet.
"Some of it… well, since I'm an unofficial Weasley, can I call a Weasley family meeting for later?"
Charlie's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected that. He just nodded.
"The start of it, she asked why I was smaller than the rest and I told her that it was the Tournament and what was going on with my entry. She didn't take that well."
"I'll say. The ground was shaking. I was worried that the wards were about to fall from the strength of her fire."
"And somehow, she was able to discern my general state of health and that made her mad, too. She said I needed 'some meat on my bones and someone wasn't feeding me right.' It didn't sound like she was about to eat me."
Charlie's eyebrows had already met his hairline by now.
"That sounds like something my mum would say and probably has said." Charlie didn't mention what Fred and George had told him about the bars on Harry's window. "Harry, this is going to sound stupid…"
"Stupid? With the things that happen in my life?"
Hermione hadn't said anything, but she rolled her eyes. Charlie sighed.
"Okay, granted, but still. Hear me out. It sounded like she adopted you."
"What? That's possible?"
"I don't mean legally, like you're now Harry Horntail Dragon. But she's a mother, and mother cats, dogs, wolves, whatever sometimes take in scrawny, weak, and needy young across species. A mother Horntail just sounds scary, but it seems to have happened. This is going to shake up the Magical world like nothing else so far, and I include Dark Lords in that."
Harry wasn't too pleased with the 'scrawny, weak, and needy' bit, but when compared to Charlie's rugged appearance he was just that. He huffed at the dragon handler anyway who was still feeling all kinds of messed up from the earlier events to notice. Hermione snorted and he gave her a fish eye for her troubles. She patted his chest and rubbed his belly but didn't say anything else. This distracted Harry away from the comments.
"Charlie, she asked me to come back tomorrow and bring Hagrid. Her names is Tessaies, by the way."
"Really? Maybe I better come along and restrain Hagrid's more… enthusiastic nature. I get along with her fairly well. Well, for any dragon that is. She can be a handful sometimes."
Harry grinned at him and Charlie narrowed his eyes.
"I noticed she bumped you too. She said something about being five and a half centuries old and finding you a mate, too. Said you needed it before your arm fell off."
Charlie's eyes went wide, but it was Hermione that suddenly spoke up.
"Mate? Too?"
Harry went as red as anyone had seen him.
"Er… Um...Well, she called you my mate, Hermione. I was going to tell you later tonight."
She stared at him with her mouth wide open, shocked. Harry was focused on her, waiting to see how she would react and didn't hear Charlie mutter to himself.
"I'm going to have to get with the Twins and up my bet," the Weasley man mumbled to himself. "Soon as I can, too. That dragon knows something we don't. I'm not stupid enough to ignore a dragon."
Harry was getting nervous at the silence coming from her and the intent regard she was giving him, until Charlie rescued him by giving him something else to think about.
"Look, Harry, matchmaking dragons aside," he said, not knowing that he was mirroring Harry's earlier thoughts, "I wouldn't be surprised if Madam Pomfrey is charging this way to find you. She'll have your bed ready by now. It could well be in that tent, for all I know."
"It's always ready," Harry grumbled.
Charlie smirked. The Twins had told him about the brass plate denoting it as his reserved bed and Madam Pomfrey's complete refusal to get rid of it. She had even gotten Professor Flitwick to award them House points for their Charms work for the quite simplistic sticking charm. Professor McGonagall, not to be left out did the same thing, quoting the detailed work that went into the engraving of the Transfiguration of the old nail they'd found from somewhere. Professor Dumbledore hadn't awarded any points, but everyone knew he would have on general principle and since he appreciated a good prank.
The real surprise was Professor Snape awarding points, claiming that he observed the obvious effect of an Anti-Rust potion on the original nail that would carry over to the transfiguration – which they had actually used – but everyone wondered if it was for other reasons. No one wanted to ask for specifics since he was predictably grouchier than usual the last few days in January and it was about that time when they had made it.
Hermione didn't say anything the whole way to the medical tent, but she didn't let go of Harry, either.
|:-:|
Sure enough, Madam Pomfrey had been leading the charge toward the trio. Had anyone (Fred and George) thought about it, it could have been set to music. Something epic and inspiring that quickened the blood and demanded action through rousing Highland airs – it was Scotland, after all – and would have revealed to all and sundry that the mediwitch was on the march.
Luckily for the Twins' general disposition, they knew not to tick off their source of healing. After all, she could decide when they got their pain potions or what size magical needle was used. Poppy Pomfrey didn't survive decades at Hogwarts and generations of would-be and obvious pranksters without having a few hundred tricks up her sleeve.
They still didn't talk about the first time, not even to each other. Madam Pomfrey had made her point early on.
So, the melodic accompaniment idea wasn't even entertained. Instead, there was the quite serviceable drumbeat of rushing feet. The mediwitch had brought a few interns that the Ministry had asked her to start evaluating before training rotations at St. Mungos.
The administration figured that nobody crossed Poppy Pomfrey since she had decades of medical blackmail on a huge percentage of Britain. That included themselves, of course. If she could teach them how to interact with recalcitrant patients, then that would help in their upcoming careers.
Unfortunately for the interns, they were about to meet up with Patient Zero in the ongoing Recalcitrancy Pandemic.
Fortunately for them and unfortunately for Patient Zero, Madam Pomfrey came prepared.
"Mister Potter!"
He jumped. Hermione did, too, which had the untoward effect of sawing her rather sharp shin into his groin. His whimper of pain did not go unnoticed by the mediwitch, who was well-versed in the detection of what both Muggle medical professional and Magical healers called 'signs and symptoms.'
As it was a 'sign' when Harry heard himself groan, and a 'symptom' when Madam Pomfrey heard the groan, it was both of those at the same time. Unfortunately for Harry, Madam Pomfrey decided that since Harry had just been in close contact with a dragon, it was enough probable cause to pack him away to the Hospital Wing. She had some teaching to do of a pair of bright young talents. It would never do to slack off when the future of Healing was in her hands, of course.
"Oh, that looks painful. Mister Howser, Mister Pierce, let's get that gurney set up and back to the Hospital Wing before Mister House and Mister McCoy kill each other. We have enough work to do thanks to this stupid Tournament and Mister Potter's profound proclivities for pesky problems plaguing us!"
Harry wondered why she sounded so cheerful even in the solemnity involving his still aching parts, and cracked an eye open to see one of the interns looking at him with his head shaking sadly.
Hermione started to help him up, but the interns waved her back to levitate him into the gurney and took off. The sound of Harry protesting faded off into the distance, and she looked at Charlie. Both decided not to mention the rather menacing-looking straps on the gurney.
"Don't ask me what's going on, Hermione. I don't fancy finding out what she's going to do first hand. Do you?"
When Hermione was rather dubious in her head-shaking, Charlie sighed.
"Harry wouldn't be the first Seeker she's had to treat over and over. She had her hooks in me more than once, thanks to Quidditch," he shuddered. "We won't be the last, most likely."
They didn't know, but Madam Pomfrey's hearing was sharp enough to hear that too. Maybe it was time for a prank of her own. She had a few official-looking documents that she could give him that said he was required to undergo physicals due to his extended stay in Romania. She'd have to make up something and then have one of the more inventive Slytherins make up some of the most terrifying tools to pretend to use in return for minor tuition in Healing. Then when he yelped, she'd remind him of that prank he played on her on his last day at Hogwarts involving a fake laceration and a lot of realistic looking fake blood.
As for Harry, well, she actually had school-related things that needed to be done and she was going to take advantage of it. With all the things that he had to deal with in his time at Hogwarts, Harry had gotten proficient at ducking her requests to come in and get them squared away. If he really wanted to be an Auror when he left Hogwarts, then he needed to have them done now instead of during the grind of DMLE training.
She would wait until later when Harry was under the effects of a sleep potion and away from the sharp hearing of Miss Granger, to tell the interns that she was well aware what caused the groan in the first place. Madam Pomfrey would then initiate them into the betting club.
Anyone in the Healing disciplines sometimes had to make their own teaching moments while taking care of business, after all.
