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

Chapter 9

It had been a few days already since Shimmer got to fly with the two human boys. He had made a good use of his time and managed to collect 23 coins, including 2 more precious and shinier than the rest but sadly no golden ones, even with all his attempts against the old man living in his tower. Every time he arrived to his window the man smiled and kept writing but he didn't gave him any coins, merely giving him a glance every now and then. But since there was a chance to maybe have a coin he kept coming every day.

Something that surprised him a bit was how Hermione reacted when they saw each other for the first time after the flight with the two boys. She had been a bit too clingy to his taste and kept berating him about putting himself in danger or something like that, personally he didn't saw any danger other than crash to the ground and he knew very well how to fly and avoid such silly accidents. But apparently he had to be careful about a type of human called teachers, some of the older humans were apparently called like that and could apparently harm him. Even if he didn't believed it.

But worries weren't the only thing that Hermione had for him. She had spent quite a lot of time trying to teach him how to speak human, it was labouring and annoying but the perspective to have access to more coins wasn't something he would reject, plus every session with the girl ended with him getting at least one or two coins so he had to keep coming. He had rarely felt this happy: his hoard was the biggest he ever had and it kept growing everyday even when he couldn't see Hermione, there was always an opened window or a hole in the wall that gave him access to the interior of the castle.

And all of this led him to now stand in Hermione's room for his collect of coins. And the coincidental lesson of human language. At least today's subject was interesting as he was learning more about coins. They were both sitting on her bed, her with a bag next to her and him listening more or less attentively.

"Its 'This is my coin.'" Said Hermione for the second time today, showing him the Knut hold between her fingers.

"Me coin." Shimmer said starring at the coin.

"No, no. Hmm... maybe it's still too hard so let's try something easier: 'My coin'."

"My coin." He said applying the necessary changes.

"Much better. Now on to the next step. There isn't a single type of coin you know?" She said rummaging through her bag.

Shimmer intently looked at her, expectantly waiting for what she would put out of the bag and he was not disappointed when she took out not only one of the shiny coin but also a golden one that immediately attracted his gaze as he stood fixed on this specific coin. He was so focused on it that he almost drooled on the cover.

Of course, none of this escaped Hermione who smiled and let out a small sigh at the dragon's obvious desire for coins and gold. She had already guessed beforehand what would be his reaction to seeing a Galleon and she was not disappointed, Shimmer's eyes following the golden coin as she moved it in the air.

"Alright I know it's a pretty coin but I'm not giving you this one, my parents would scold me hard if they learn that I lost a Galleon." She said clutching her hand, hiding the coin and thus taking Shimmer out of his trance.

Shaking his head, he kept looking at her hand for a few seconds before focusing on her face again.

"So here you have a Knut. Knut." Hermione repeated holding out the brown coin.

'Isn't it a coin?' He wondered slightly confused, looking at her and the piece of metal.

"Coin?" He asked.

"Yes, but not only." She replied putting the Knut on the cover and then the Sickle right next to it, starring at Shimmer to make sure that he wouldn't take any of the coins.

"Knut." She said putting her finger on the bronze coin and then on the silver one. "Sickle."

He simply stared at each one, not really getting what she was trying to say, and then stared at her.

"Coin Knut. Coin Sickle." Hermione said repeating the motion.

'Do coins have different names? Different coins like different birds?' Shimmer pondered before placing the small claws of his right wing on the bronze coin.

"Knut?" He asked not sure if he got the correct idea.

The big smile on Hermione's face was all he needed to see to understand that he got it right.

"Very good Shimmer!" She praised him by petting him slowly on his head, not giving him the coin yet as she moved her finger on the second coin. "Now the other one."

He looked at the silvery coin and placed his little claws on top of it.

"Sickle."

"Perfect! One more time. Knut. Sickle."

"Knut. Sickle." He repeated.

"Very good! Now, I want to stay calm and focused. What am I saying, you can't understand that yet." Hermione said to herself as she removed the Knut and the Sickle out of Shimmer's sight only to get his full attention as she showed him the golden Galleon in her hand.

The effects were instantaneous, his eyes widened slightly and remained perfectly fixed upon the coin as his body unconsciously started to go toward the golden piece of metal that represented everything in the world for him at the moment. Hermione watched him carefully and moved back her hand as he got closer, taking him out of his trance as he stared at both her and the coin.

"Now that I have your attention we can talk about the Galleon. Coin Galleon." She explained as she played with the coin in her hand.

'So that's the name of the most beautiful one...' Shimmer pondered in slight shock and excitement, happy to have a name for the most beautiful coin that only had a place in his hoard. He simply couldn't look away from it and it took him a few seconds to come back to the reality as Hermione moved the coin in front of her face to truly get his attention.

"Shimmer are you even listening to me?" She asked him a bit annoyed to see him so distracted by the coin.

This did get a reaction as he stared directly at her, trying to forget the coin for a few seconds. He knew that if he did what she asked from him there was a chance for him to get the precious one.

"This is better. Shimmer this is a Galleon. Galleon." Hermione explained quickly, wanting to use the short span of attention he had to its maximum.

"Galleon." He said almost hypnotized by the beauty of the word that whispered beauty and richness in his ears, the name of the most beautiful thing in existence. And the best part was that there were lots of them, his mind wandered for a few seconds as he imagined himself in a cave filled to the top with Galleons, where only he could admire their true beauty and give them the rightful place they deserved, under his scales as the best bed a dragon could ever ask.

"Very good Shimmer, I knew you could do it...and I lost you again." Hermione praised him again before sighing as it was clear that Shimmer was not here for the moment.

It took him a few more second for him to leave the dream-like trance he was in and he looked intently, looking to and fro between the human girl and the object of his desire, making his intention very obvious that he only wanted to have the coin.

"Hermione. Coin. Galleon." Shimmer said eagerly, surprising Hermione that didn't really got to see the dragon express many emotions.

"Sorry Shimmer but no, this is too much money for me to just give it up to you." She said even if she would have liked to give it to him.

'What? But...but...Coin!' He thought dumbstruck as he really expected her to give him the coin, for there was no other reason for her to bring it. He moved forward glaring at the coin when Hermione retraced her hand and put it behind her back, efficiently placing the coin outside of his reach.

"No Shimmer!" She stopped him with a stern and authoritative voice, glaring down at him to make him understand that it was wrong, despite being afraid of what Shimmer would do if he turned violent in an attempt to get the coin. There wasn't much that she could do against him if it would come down to this.

A sudden rush of anger ran through him and he screeched loudly, flaring his wings to appear bigger and more threatening. This worked far better than he thought as Hermione screamed, crawling backward on her bed until she reached the wall, eyes wide and filled with terror at both the sound of him snarling at her and at the sight of him displaying his sharp fangs. The poor girl was so afraid that she didn't realized that she was still keeping the Galleon clutched tight in her hand as she put her arms in front of her as a last line of defence, breathing heavily.

However, she wasn't the one that stopped the angry little dragon. Shimmer had stopped himself and was looking at her strangely, almost frozen in a fighting stance but all traces of aggressiveness on his face and body had vanished, leaving him just starring at her.

'It... doesn't feel good.' Shimmer realized as he looked at Hermione still terrified albeit slightly relaxed at seeing him not attacking her. He couldn't comprehend why but attacking her just didn't felt like the right thing to do and he couldn't understand why, he always took whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, but not with Hermione. She had taught him to restrain himself and be patient and now that he tried to go back to his old ways, where he would have simply taken the coin and left, he understood that he couldn't do that. He didn't really understood why but it simply felt wrong to see her afraid of him, because he was starting to see her as more than just a human girl.

Shimmer wouldn't learn the word before a long time, but Hermione became her friend.

Slowly, he lowered himself and quit appearing threatening and took a hesitant step toward Hermione that was still scared. He kept his head low and stopped only two dozens of centimetres in front of her legs, looking at her with what was clearly concern.

"Shimmer?" Hermione called him with clear uncertainty in her voice with a tinge of fear left.

"Hermione." He simply said not knowing what else he could say, he felt bad but had no way to say it. But he could show it.

He pressed his head against her legs and purred softly as an apology, keeping his eyes on her and acting submissive to show that he meant no harm.

It took some time but Hermione finally relaxed and carefully moved her hand that was empty to stroke his head very lightly, afraid that he would bite her or something. She wouldn't talk but she was truly scared of how Shimmer reacted to being denied the Galleon, showing that he was more than just a little dragon that she had actually barely started to tame. A couple of minutes passed like this, her petting his head and neck with a bit more confidence at each stroke.

"That was very... very scary Shimmer. Please never do that again." She pleaded almost whispering.

He kept nuzzling her leg and her hand whenever it was above his head, feeling bad for what he did while trying to control himself as he could still smell the distinct scent of the coin in her other hand that remained far from him.

Hermione was still a bit scared and, as the tension started to disappear, her usual train of thought came back and she couldn't stop herself to speak.

"You need to say that you are sorry. It means that you apologize for what you did and that you feel bad for it. 'Sorry'." Hermione said.

Shimmer would probably have never understood what she meant had he not heard the word before. Maybe once from Hermione but his many flights above London gave him plenty of opportunities to hear this specific word and he remembered that it was for when one was feeling bad for something that this same person had done.

"Shimmer sorry." He said before licking her hand with his forked tong as an apology and Hermione realized that it was very much like dogs when they wanted to show empathy.

"I- I was about to say that it's okay but not really. I think I forgot that you were a dragon, it's partially my fault for not being careful enough so I'm sorry too." She apologized.

He didn't really understood why she was sorry since he was the one who got too aggressive but didn't lingered on it, continuing to purr instead. He would have continued were it not for Hermione gently moving him aside as she reached for the little bag that stood at the other side of the bed and he got a glimpse of the Galleon being put back in the bag as she looked for something in particular and he could hear the distinct sound of coins being shaken together before she pulled out her hand. The bag remained there as she came back next to him and handed him a Sickle. He stared at it and at her for a few seconds, not understanding why she would give him a coin after what just happened. Was she rewarding him for being sorry?

"It's for you, I planned to give it to you anyway but it will also be my apology gift." She said with a small smile on her face, the first since he scared her.

Very gently, not to scare her again, he grabbed the Sickle between his teeth and moved back to the end of the bed, jumped on the floor and made his way to the window that he reached with a flap of his wings before stopping on the window sill. He turned around to look at her, still a bit uncertain about this whole situation.

"Bye-bye Shimmer." Encouraged him Hermione waving with a smile.

Happy to see her like that instead of being scared, he jumped in the air and opened his wings at their maximum wingspan before flapping them hard to carry himself around the tower and toward his hoard, eager to add this new addiction to his pile of treasure.

Hermione let out a loud sigh right after Shimmer left her room, falling on her back and relaxing on the comfortable cover of her bed. The whole... conversation replayed again and again in her mind as she remembered how Shimmer reacted and mainly why he did it, understanding that she had been too trusting in the little dragon. Not that she should be more strict or severe with him but she had clearly expected too much from him and she forgot that he was a wild dragon that had never been tamed, that while he was friendly, he could still be aggressive and unpredictable.

As she kept thinking she also thought about how he reacted after, how he expressed a very human-like feeling of empathy and apology. None of the books specialized in dragons that she had read had any dragon that behaved the same way as Shimmer and today's meeting proved again that he was unique, not only by being capable to learn speech, but by displaying a larger array of emotions that regular animals and other dragons.

Shimmer was starting to take a bigger place in her life, not only by visiting her regularly but also by helping her to get her mind away from her everyday life. Not that it was bad, but quite a few other students had been giving her a hard time recently, laughing about her long hairs but mainly by insulting her eagerness to be a good student, shunning her at every opportunity. Especially Ron Weasley after she tried to help him in class.

At least Shimmer seemed to love listening to her and he apologized quicker than any other student that insulted her.

AN:

Hi, Valexto at the keyboard!

I forgot to put an AN in the previous chapter so I shall do so here.

I wanted to apologize for the long delay between chapter 7 and 8, nearly 3 months without updates. I forgot a bit about the story even if it remained in a part of my mind, I focused on my work and some other projects but now I'm back into the story.

Some of you asked me by PMs about the updates and the future of the story. While I can't promise you to release as often as you would like, it should be more frequent than before.

When I started this story I planned to do only the first year as it has been nearly 10 years since I read the books and didn't felt very confident to go further than that. I wasn't sure of what Harry/Shimmer's future could be. But now I think it is possible to go at least at the second year, I can already try to imagine the fight against the basilisk.

I'm not promising that we will go this far but if the story pleases you then I shall carry you there.

Thanks a lot for the many messages of appreciation and support as well as those of you who reminded me that this story couldn't be left like this.

See you soon!