I do not own nor possess any right over Harry Potter, all rights belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 6

The sun was already high when Harry woke up and he quickly disappeared in the sky, flying high to avoid being seen and going to hunt his daily meal over the forests and fields. His accurate eyes quickly sighted a little mouse near a tree, close to a burrow that was too small for him to fit in. Patient, he waited for the mouse to walk away from the burrow before closing his wings and diving at high speed toward his unsuspecting prey.

He slowed down only a few meters above the mouse that looked up at the sound of his wings and make a run for the burrow. But it was already too late for his sharp claws grabbed the animal in a swift move before Harry rose into the hair. He kept the mouse in his claws, letting the mouse struggle for nothing before it was too exhausted to fight the small dragon who moved in the air to bit the mouse and ending its life.

Not really satisfied with such a small meal, Harry continued his hunt for an hour but either no other prey showed up or the ones he was looking at hid from him before he could strike.

So it's a bit hungry that he flew back to his hoard and like usual, checked that nothing had even moved. He was a dragon, he would know if a single coin would have been moved during his absence, he learned the shape and details of each one to make sure to know if a thief thought he could take away his treasure without him noticing.

Leaving his hoard again, he flew around the tower for a while before flying toward the massive tower with the indestructible window where many precious and shiny trinkets made out of gold where displayed. Even if he couldn't access it, Harry couldn't help himself to go gaze upon the beautiful pieces of gold that he wished to add to his hoard. He landed on the window to see that the old human who kept the gold away was here, sitting at his desk with a quill in one hand and the other holding a parchment on the table, sometimes dipping the tip of the feather into a ink bottle.

Harry's arrival didn't went unnoticed and Albus looked up to see the golden dragon. He didn't managed to see him often but he knew that the dragon was coming regularly at his window, with the only difference was that now he wasn't trying anymore to break the window, apparently content to stay and look at the various tools and jewels displayed in his office.

"Good morning." Greeted the old man with a small smile adorning his face.

Harry stopped looking at the treasures to stare at the man for no more than a few seconds before his gaze returned on what really interested him.

"I'm sure you would like to look at me if I was made out of gold." Chuckled the old headmaster.

Albus was not quite sure of what to do with the dragon since he wasn't really bothering anyone except stealing from everyone around the castle. But the issue still had to be addressed and Minerva was pressing him to do something and now even Snape was also getting annoyed at him from the moment the dragon had took a single Knut from the stiff man.

Looking at his little visitor, Albus grabbed a Galleon and moved closer to the window, instantly attracting the attention of the golden dragon. In a swift move, he unlocked the window and couldn't help but smile as the little creature seemed puzzle to see the unbreakable glass give way that easily.

"Here you go, my little friend. Please do keep this between us, I'm not sure dear Minerva appreciates my liking to you."

Cautious, Harry who couldn't believe that he was finally able to have a golden coin, looked at the old man before stretching his neck and was about to take the coin when he remembered the lesson of the human girl named Hermione and the proper way to get coins from humans. So he looked at Albus, barely controlling his envy to simply take the coin right now.

"Yes my little friend, it is for you." Encouraged him Albus, surprised to see the dragon seemingly waiting for his approval.

Not wasting another second, Harry took the coin with his teeth and extended his wings to jump in the air and fly away from the old headmaster who couldn't erase the small smile on his face. Harry quickly went to his hoard and entered the window to directly go to his pile of treasures and with the utmost carefulness placed the golden coin on top of his pile, a stark difference of the many Knuts and few Sickles he already managed to get.

Today was Saturday and Hermione was enjoying her day, patiently waiting for the little dragon to come as she knew not a day passed without his visit. He probably didn't even know about the concept of weekend and the fact that Hermione would be waiting for him the whole day.

But her behaviour was starting to attract questions from Ron, Neville and also Parvati who she shared her room with. All had noticed how much she remained in the dormitory and at first the two boys thoughts she was there studying but they could only wonder what she was really doing once Parvati told them that she wasn't studying anything. A strange fact in itself knowing how much the girl loved to study.

Even if she heard much and was grateful for her friends worries, she wouldn't tell them the truth no matter how much they asked. Ask they did and every time they got the same answer as she felt that the little dragon was her secret and she knew the reactions wouldn't be very positive should it be revealed. Just seeing how Professor McGonagall was asking her about the dragon and her obvious view on how the dragon should be dealt with didn't helped Hermione to decide.

And right now she was thinking about the little coin collector. He was coming everyday and she felt like she couldn't keep calling him dragon, he was already starting to appear as a pet, no a friend to her. Even if the dragon was only coming for the coins, she did managed to teach him to accept being refused his desire and even petted him, a most unusual feet according to the many books on dragons she read.

Hermione was about to start thinking about a name when something got her out of her thoughts.

TUNK

She instantly stood up from her bed to see the dragon at the window, obviously the one who made the noise, and she quickly walked to the window to let the dragon in, just after giving one last glance behind her to make sure no one else was coming.

Opening the window, she smiled as the dragon entered without even a doubt and she moved back to her bed, sitting down on it as the dragon remained in front of her, his emerald eyes staring right at her.

Harry didn't thought the human girl would be here already as he came earlier than usual, but he was happy to see her nonetheless. He had to get her attention by attacking the window and she did let him in, and now he was waiting for his daily collect.

"Hello, how are you?" Asked Hermione putting on the gloves of Professor Sprout, a simple safety even if she didn't felt threatened in any way.

Harry didn't replied as he barely understood what she said, merely observing her. He did frown when she got her hand closer and thought about moving away but stood still until the protected hand landed on his head and started to stroke him nicely as he remembered the same feeling a few days ago.

With a wide smile on her face, Hermione saw the dragon lean in her stroke and she continued for a little minute, the two sharing a perfect silence until she thought to hear a growl only to understand that it was something close to a purr yet slightly different.

"You know, I've been thinking about a few names for you. Do you mind if I give you one?" She asked gently turning the dragon's head toward her.

'Name?' Harry wondered. He knew what names were as he saw all humans share different ones but he didn't know he could have one, it never really seemed very important to him as he never really got into any sort of conversation before.

"Since your obviously a male based on your spikes,"she said thinking about the books she read, "we need a suitable name and luckily for you, I've already got a few."

"First, I was thinking of Goldy seeing how much you like coins and how your scales looks like."

'Goldy? It doesn't seem good. Humans have such weird names.' He thought giving her a small hiss.

"Okay so not Goldy. Hmm... what about Precious? No, no, too cliché and it doesn't suit a dragon." She interrupted herself.

'Do I need a name?... I am unique. A unique name.' He hissed in agreement even if she couldn't understand.

"I know you wouldn't like it. What about Emerald? That's what your eyes remind me of."

'I don't understand.' He hissed, having heard too many words too quickly.

"Tough to decide huh. Then what do you think about Shimmer? I know it's not a scary name or very impressive, but you are really beautiful with your golden scales so it would be a shame to not give you a name based on them."

'Shimmer?' Thought Harry, stopped as he examined the name. He couldn't understand the meaning but the sound of it pleased his ego and he knew he would enjoy that name. Moving his head, he leaned into Hermione's hand to purr lightly.

"I'm glad you like it, Shimmer." Widely smiled Hermione, stroking the newly named dragon affectionately. Happy to have named him, they remained like this with her stroking his head and him purring softly.

Suddenly Hermione got an idea. Since the dragon understood the concept of yes and no, it might be possible to teach him his name and hers.

"Shimmer." She called and he turned to her for her greatest joy, and quite a deal of shock at how fast Shimmer understood that this was his name. But now came the hard part and she pointed a finger toward her.

"Hermione. My name is Hermione."

'What does she want me to do? Say it?' He pondered, understanding her name but not the whole intention behind. He never spoke before, not seeing the point of even learning about it.

"Your name is Shimmer. My name is Hermione." She repeated pointing at him then at herself.

"Ion." He managed to said, frowning at how difficult it was, in a voice that seemed to be between a real slightly squeaky voice and a feral growl.

Hermione's eyes opened wide and her mouth fell agape, not capable to process that the dragon was trying to speak. It took her a few seconds before she recovered and even then she still had a hard time to accept what she just saw and heard.

"You... speak. Say it again! Hermione." She repeated slowly.

"Ion." He said.

" .On.E." She repeated again and giving great care to separate the syllables.

"Her. " He attempted, dissatisfied with himself for not being capable to do something that these humans could achieve with ease.

"We're getting there. .On.E." She approuved.

"Herione."

"Almost! Hermione."

"Hermione." The now named Shimmer managed to say, looking at Hermione who instantly grew a wider smile.

"Yes! You did it. One more time, Hermione!" She cheered, bringing a hand to pet his head.

Of course he succeeded, what kind of dragon would he be if he could hunt a mouse but be incapable to speak with humans. It wasn't as hard since the mouse could ran away but speaking was just moving his mouth and tongue and make noises to form words. But, he had to concede that it was harder than he expected.

"Hermione."

"Perfect, still a bit hoarse but I suppose dragons don't have the same vocal cords. Now let's try yours: Shimmer."

"Sheemer." Shimmer said.

"Almost on your first try! Come on, Shimmer." Hermione encouraged him.

"Shimmer."

"Perfect! You're a very smart dragon Shimmer!" She said before handing him two Sickles, not forgetting to reward him for his efforts and to use his name as much as possible to get him used to it.

Shimmer's eyes glinted for a second before he moved forward to grab the coins but stopped right before, looking at Hermione for her approval.

"Go on, you deserve them". She said with a smile.

He didn't understood the word 'deserve', but the intent was clear both in her eyes and in her voice, so he grabbed the two coins before walking away toward the window. Using the small claws on his wings, he climbed the little wall beneath the window and used his small but strong legs to push himself on the window sill. He looked behind him and saw Hermione looking at him from her bed with her usual smile. He wanted to thank her, a first for him but he had no idea on either how to do that or to how he could say it.

"Have a good day." She said.

"Hermione." He replied before leaving her.

Hermione kept a small smile for the next few minutes before she stood up and closed the window, still thinking about what she had just done before it finally sunk in. She made a dragon talk! Sure it was only two words but the dragon understood the meaning of the words, that it was their names, and managed to speak them, something that wasn't even said in books as dragons were never thought to be able to speak at all. It was supposed to be impossible and yet she succeeded. The more she reflected on this the more she believed that this dragon was either unique or from a species that was completely new.

This dragon was a mystery that only grew bigger and she would be the one to uncover it.