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

Chapter 14

Tonight was the 20th of December, and it was the last day of class before the holidays.

Hermione, like most of the students at Hogwarts, would be going home in the Hogwarts Express, the train that brought them all here.

Yet, despite being happy at the thought of seeing her parents again after so long, she couldn't find it in herself to be happy.

Nearly two weeks had passed since Shimmer disappeared, and wasn't seen again. Hermione had felt terrible during those two weeks, blaming herself for her harsh words to her little friend, and how they parted ways with Shimmer clearly being angry. It took her a couple of hours of crying, an unrestful night of sleep, and a barely touched breakfast the next day, to realise that Shimmer had been trying to tell her something.

She had been so focused on being afraid of not seeing him again, that she didn't thought about his reaction to professor Quirrell and how he tried to stop her from going back to his class. Her rational mind quickly got back to work, and she started to wonder why Shimmer reacted like that, when he had never been openly hostile to anyone. Even stranger, why did he saw the stuttering, easy to afraid professor Quirrell as a threat?

Hermione didn't had the answers to this, but, after an excruciatingly long day of class, which was definitely normal for her, she rushed outside the class of Transfiguration and made her way to the library, the only place that she could feel slightly more relaxed at the time.

There, she read for the second time everything she could on dragons. It took her three days, and being chased out by the librarian after staying too long, but she finally could put an answer on Shimmer's behaviour.

Dragons were quite mysterious creatures and a lot was still unknown about them, but it had been observed several times in the past, that their instincts might be slightly stronger than for other animals. Some dragons escaped wizards' traps when they shouldn't have been able to see, hear and smell said wizards. It was still subject to debate in the wizard community, but it was the best explanation Hermione could find for Shimmer's wariness against professor Quirrell.

She was still putting the blame of his disparition on herself, and even Ron's attempts of recomfort didn't do much to alleviate the guilt. Hermione might have been the reason why Shimmer left, even if she kept the hope that he went to hibernate, but she would be ready for the next time they meet. She would do her best to know why Shimmer reacted like he did, so that she could both apologise and try to understand what he was trying to say.

Hermione spent the return trip to her parents in a cabin shared with Neville Longbottom. Said trip was mostly done in silence, even if Neville and her did got to discuss their Christmas plans and even talk a bit about Shimmer. Neville may have been a very shy boy, but he was surprisingly forward when asking about the little dragon, quite curious himself and not particularly liking how depressed Hermione had been in the last couple of days.

But finally, the train entered the terminus in London. Picking up her trunk, she said her farewells and good wishes to Neville and his grandmother, before heading out of the magical station to join the normal one, where her parents were waiting on the other side.

"Hermione! How's our little girl?" Greeted her father, Edward Granger, as he gave her a tight hug.

"Good. I'm happy to see you again." She returned the hug, but even then, her parents could feel the lack of happiness that was usually around their daughter. Even if she was truly happy to see her mom and dad again.

"Come on, let's go home." Nudged her Susan Granger, her mother.

With her dad carrying her trunk, Hermione followed them to the car before they headed to their home.

"So sweet tooth, how was your first term at Hogwarts?" Asked her mother.

"Very surprising. Wizards are very different from muggles, even the children are. There are so many strange objects, so many spells and creatures, its amazing." Replied Hermione, her happiness finally starting to cut through her melancholy. "Its only been four months and it feels like I've learned more there than in the rest of my life."

"Well, it was expected. I mean, wizards." Laughed Edward a bit as he took a turn toward the middle class neighbourhoods.

"And did you make any friends?" Asked Susan, finally going to the point that was worrying both parents the most.

The lack of response prompted her to turn around in her seat, looking at her daughter who was looking down at her hands, smile gone. Susan instantly reached out, placing a hand on her daughter's knee.

"Oh sweety, I'm so sorry that it didn't worked out." She said, assuming that it was the same as in her previous school.

Even Edward, as busy as he was with driving, was looking in the rear-view mirror with a concerned look, worried that his daughter might be ostracised even in that apparently wonderful magical school.

"No, it's not like that." She replied weakly, not really knowing how to explain that she became friend with a dragon. "I had a friend but... I'm not sure if he wants to see me again."

"What happened? I can't see what you could have done wrong." Tried to comfort her mother.

"Wait a little, we'll be home in five minutes. We'll talk then." Cut off Edward.

These five minutes went by quickly, and the three of them soon found themselves in the living room of the Granger home, with both parents slightly worried and facing their daughter who was coming up with a way to explain everything.

"When I took the train to Hogwarts, I ended up in a cabin with two boys named Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. We were talking about our future classes and in which House we wanted to go, when a little dragon came in by the window." She started.

"A dragon?! You saw a dragon before you even arrived at Hogwarts?" Gasped Susan in horror.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Asked Edward, thinking about all the letters they exchanged.

"I'm sorry, it was a secret at first and by the time it got out, I forgot to tell you." Explained Hermione ashamed.

"Never mind that, what happened with that dragon?" Pressed her mother.

"He was small, around a meter long, and not aggressive against us. We gave him coins to leave him alone and then..."

It took half-an-hour for Hermione to tell all her story and encounter with Shimmer, and she was nearing the end, the part that she was worried to tell her parents. Thankfully, they had calmed down after she went into more detail about how she started taming and teaching the dragon, not without a few apprehensions when Hermione mentioned the part where Shimmer brought down a troll.

"But three weeks ago, we got into an argument. He was trying to stop me from going in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and I called him a bad dragon before slapping him on the head. He got angry and then he left. I haven't seen him since." Concluded Hermione, small tears coming out of her eyes as her parents were staying next to her, her mom massaging her back to appease her.

"Oh, Hermione. You couldn't know he'd react like that." Said Susan.

"I should have." Sobbed Hermione, brushing a sleeve against her eyes to get rid of the moisture. "I'm a horrible friend."

"You're not sweetheart. You may have been a bit harsh, but friends are not friends all the time. Sometime they fight, and then they get back together." Tried Edward.

"But how can I try if he never comes back?"

"Don't think like that. You told us he was going to hibernate, right? Then he's probably sleeping right now, he he would be sleeping no matter if you fought or not."

Hermione mulled over his words, having already told herself similar things, but it felt good to hear it from someone else. Especially her parents.

"I just, I want to see him again." She dried her tears again, starting to calm down from her emotional roller-coaster.

"You will sweety, I know it." Assured Susan before giving her a short kiss on her forehead.

"What should I do?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I am no expert on dragons, but an apology would be a good start. After that... you said that he wasn't very smart so-" Started Edward.

"He is smart!" Interrupted him Hermione. "All the books said that dragons aren't even supposed to understand humans."

"My bad, sorry. As I was about to say, he probably don't understand humans very well yet. I was thinking of a gift, but I'm sure he wouldn't understand the concept."

"I would have to teach him first. It's not too hard, Shimmer is smart enough to draw conclusions himself. But I'm not sure if a gift is a good idea, he only likes precious things and meat." Said Hermione, starting to think about how she could make Shimmer understand what a gift was. She already gave him coins and meat before, but these were either rewards or to feed him, not as proper gifts.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, you're our smart baby girl after all." Susan tightened her hug a little, smiling at her daughter's resourcefulness.

"As your mother say, you'll have something for him by the time he wakes up. Maybe it won't be a gift, but you know we're here for you if you need." Added Edward.

"I know dad. Thank you." She sighed in release, hugging them both tightly back.

Christmas was unusually long for Hermione.

She was very happy with her Christmas, the feast shared with her parents and her maternal grandparents went very well, she got a few gifts that truly made her day. These gifts were mostly books, which were very welcome, but another one that was given to her in private, was a Galleon. She tried to tell her parents that she didn't need more money at school, but they replied that if she wanted to, she could use this one as an apology gift for Shimmer. Her dad even said, in extreme seriousness, that 'if you can't get your friend back with an apology, then buy him.' to which she proceeded to give him a small push before hugging both her parents, thanking them profusely for their generosity.

And once Christmas was over, she had to be patient and wait until the return to school, where she was hoping to find a waiting Shimmer expecting her. She wouldn't know before going back though, so waiting for school was both a pleasure to be alongside her parents, and a torture of having to wait to see her friend again.

Among her talks with her parents, she also came to realise, that while he hadn't been nice on several occasions, Ron was becoming someone that she could start to think of as a friend. Not like Shimmer, but close.

So when her parents dropped her at the 9 3/4 station on the 12th of January, she was a bit sad to leave her parents again, but overjoyed at the idea of seeing Shimmer again.

He wasn't here.

Hermione arrived in Hogwarts in the early night, so she didn't expected to see Shimmer that day. It damaged her confidence and hope a bit, but didn't let it fall.

The next day though, she had waited for him at breakfast, only for him to not show up. She went to the see professor Dumbledore, who sadly replied that he had not seen the little dragon of the holidays, but that it was still early for hibernating creatures to wake up and that she should wait a little bit more.

Much to her regret and guilt, she found it very hard to keep hoping for Shimmer. Hermione waited the whole day, hoping to see Shimmer fly in a classroom or appear at the window of her bedroom, but there were no signs of the dragon.

And none the next day.

And the next.

And again.

AN:

Hi! Valexto at the Keyboard!

Little chapter about Hermione's holidays. I thought at first to jump straight to Shimmer waking up and meeting with Hermione again, but thought it'd be better and more interesting to see how Hermione deals with Shimmer's absence and her guilt over their last meeting.

So you can probably guess what's going to happen in the next chapter. Told you I wouldn't take 2 years to update again!

The only problem I have right now, is how Harry/Shimmer is going to have to face Quirrell and Voldemort at the end of the year. I have a beginning of a plan to get there, but it needs a lot more work and thoughts on how to pull it right. And I somehow need to have Hermione do most of the work, since our beloved Shimmer isn't capable of understanding much of what's going to happen.

I wrote all of this today, thanks to a more opened schedule, but I'll be busy this weekend, so maybe the next chapter will come next week.

See you soon!