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

Chapter 18

The next day, Shimmer came earlier than usual to Hermione's window.

"Good morning Shimmer." She welcomed him, putting on her robes.

"Hello. Shimmer. Hagrid. Dragon." He told her.

"I know, I know. But you can't talk about that, okay?" She whispered, quickly looking at the door where Patil just left.

"Why?"

"It's a secret." She said as if it solved everything.

"What secret?"

"A secret means that you can't say it to anyone. Only me, Ron, Neville and Hagrid. It's something that can't be shared with everyone." She answered.

Oh! That was something new! Words only for some people! He found the idea incredibly fun.

"Shimmer understand." He affirmed. "Shimmer bye-bye. Shimmer Hagrid."

"Alright, see you later." She said, pushing him gently in the air, closing the window behind him.

Letting out a squeak of indignation, he flew down toward Hagrid's hut, thinking about the little hatchling.

He had quite a lot to think about, and was still quite divided about it.

First, it was good that it was a female. Another male and he would have had to defend his territory. It didn't meant that females didn't had territories of their own, but he preferred not to have to share it with a male.

Second, Hagrid being the one to take care of the hatchling. While Shimmer didn't know much about hatchlings, he thought the idea of Hagrid trying to take care of it quite ridiculous. He himself survived on his own for quite literally forever, so he couldn't see any upside to this. Even worse, the hatchling wouldn't learn much with Hagrid feeding her and coddling her. She needed to learn how to catch her own prey, how to survive, how to be a dragon. How could she become any of this with a giant human? He simply couldn't see it.

Third, what would this leave him? Having another dragon around meant sharing the food, the territory, the humans, but worse, the coins. If Norberta remained, then he would not get as many coins as before. This he knew, and he couldn't accept it. If she wanted coins, she would have to do it on her own. He wouldn't teach her how to get any and would... dissuade the humans from giving her any.

Landing near one of the large house's windows, he knocked a few times with his head until he saw movement inside.

"Shimmer! Come in." Welcomed him Hagrid, opening the window for him.

"Hello. Shimmer. Dragon. Norberta." He replied.

"Ay, ay. She's resting right here." Pointed the giant.

Indeed, Norberta was currently resting between a few rocks disposed like a bed, right next to the fire that kept her warm. She was awake, looking at Shimmer with a slightly wary look. That was good, thought Shimmer, happy to see that she wasn't too coddled yet and still mindful of her surroundings.

Walking closer, he stopped right in front of Norberta, who shrank slightly in submission, all under the supervision of Hagrid. The giant was indeed careful of Shimmer, the books he read were quite clear that adult dragons often attacked hatchlings that weren't their. Even if it went rather well yesterday, he was still cautious.

"I'll get you something to eat." He said, turning around and getting one of the bags of meat, starting to cut some small slices with his knife.

Bending down, Shimmer gave a few curious sniffs at Norberta, who did the same, both getting used to the smell of the other. It was quite surprising for Shimmer, because he recognised her smell as one of a dragon, like his, but at the same time it was different of a few levels. First was the fact that she was female, then that she was a hatchling, and lastly that her smell of being a dragon wasn't like his. He was quite curious, since she was the first other dragon that he met.

Norberta was a bit better than last night, cleaned of the eggshells and the flew fluids that covered her back then. But he still found her appearance slightly unsettling, so different that his own. He wasn't quite sure what to think about that.

"Come here." Called Hagrid.

Turning around, Shimmer used his wing to jump on the table, ready to have his meat. Norberta stood up, following him before trying to jump too, only to barely leave the ground for a few centimeters. Shimmer knew she was young, but it was truly pitiful to see this hatchling fail. He doubted she would survive on her own.

He was interrupted by the slice of meat placed before him and he dug in with gusto, while keeping an eye on Norberta. She was still trying, but clearly wouldn't succeed anytime soon.

Hagrid had just cut another slice for Norberta, and was about to pick her up, that Shimmer jumped between them, growling at Hagrid.

"Now, now Shimmer. I don't want to hurt her." Tried to reassure Hagrid.

"No. Norberta. Learn." He refused.

"Learn? She's too young to do anything. That's why I'm here to take care of her." Happily replied Hagrid, trying to go around Shimmer.

"No! Norberta learn! Norberta not learn, Norberta bad dragon." He countered, still growling, placing himself before Hagrid again.

"She's too young. And you're quite special yourself." Sighed the half-giant.

"Special?" Stopped Shimmer, not knowing that word.

"Different? Unique? Other dragons are not like you. For one, they don't talk." Explained Hagrid.

Was it true? Was he so much better than the rest of dragons? He was divided between preening before the praise, and being ashamed of the idiocy of the rest of his kind. But the biggest thing, was that he was apparently the only one to talk. He didn't understand why, talking wasn't easy, but he managed to learn it quite quickly. This also brought another question.

"Why?"

"Don't know. You're different Shimmer, that's all I know. But Norberta needs someone to take care of her. Do you think she could catch a rabbit like that?" Asked Hagrid, pointing at Norberta who was trying to go around Shimmer too, only to be pushed back by his tail.

"No." He conceded, seeing that the size difference wouldn't let her catch a prey as small as a rabbit easily. But there were others. "Bird?"

"She can't fly yet. Give her a few days, she'll get there. Now, please move aside." Waved Hagrid.

Reluctantly, Shimmer jumped back on the table as Hagrid finally gave his slice of meat to Norberta, who caught it between her sharp teeth and quickly getting started on her meal. Shimmer really had a hard time understanding why Norberta was so different. Why couldn't she fly now? Why was she so weak? Was she a bad hatchling, unfit to survive?

Why was he so different?

He didn't know, and he had no idea what to do to find out the answer.

"Hagrid. Shimmer good. Kill, eat good. Norberta not kill, Norberta bad?" He asked.

"No. She's too young. Doesn't mean she's bad. You know all the students who eat in the castle?" Replied Hagrid, sitting in his large chair.

"Yes." He understood even if he had to process all the words for a few seconds to figure it out.

"They don't kill. Hermione don't kill and she's not bad." Tried to explain Hagrid, aware of the dragon's difficulties in language.

"Hermione not bad." Agreed Shimmer. But he always wondered where the food came from. "Where meat?" He asked.

"This one?" Asked Hagrid, pointing at the bags near the table.

"No. Who kill meat humans?"

"Ah. Other humans, far away. They take care of fields, orchards, herds of cows. Human can kill, but not all of them do. Young humans don't."

Huh. So the meat was still coming from preys killed by humans. Weird how he never thought much about it before. Hermione always said that the food came by magic, so he believed her. After all, he thought that the meat was coming out of nowhere.

Norberta walked around a little bit before biting down on Hagrid's shoes, which were thankfully not of the feet of their owner.

"Hey! Norberta, come here." Called Hagrid, not harshly at all. If anything, he sounded a bit proud of her even if he was trying to reprimand her.

He obviously got no reaction, and Shimmer had anticipated that. If the other dragons were really as stupid as he thought, then there was only one way that Norberta would understand.

Quickly descending from the table, he rushed at the little hatchling who tried to get away but Norberta wasn't even fast enough to try. He opened his jaw and bit down on her neck, not hard enough to seriously hurt her, but enough to make her understand that she wasn't allowed to do that. He growled at her hard as she started to squeal and trash around, and applied slightly more pressure until she stopped.

"Shimmer! Let her go!" Commanded Hagrid who had jumped after them, standing right next to Shimmer with a very concerned frown on his head, hands reaching toward them but getting any closer. He didn't want to risk Norberta's life.

Not listening to Hagrid, even though he clearly understood him, Shimmer kept his position a few more seconds before releasing Norberta. She slowly turned around and gave him a few licks on the chest and shoulders, attempting to appease him and submitting to the stronger dragon.

Letting out a very, very loud sigh, Hagrid bent down, which was apparently a bit hard for him to do, and gave a look at Shimmer just as Norberta turned toward him.

"That wasn't nice, Shimmer. Norberta is just a baby, she's just discovering the world. It's okay if she wants to gnaw on my shoes." Tried to explain Hagrid, checking over Norberta and relieved to find no wounds on her neck.

"Not good. Bad learn." Started Shimmer, obviously more knowledgeable on dragons than the big human before him. "Shimmer good dragon. Good learn. Shimmer learn Norberta."

"I get it, Shimmer. But, as much as I appreciate you helping, I'm not sure if that's the right way to do this. And you teaching Norberta is good, but attacking her is not."

Shimmer frowned, not really liking Hagrid's way to handle the hatchling. But who was he to judge? He didn't really care for Norberta. He had been curious about learning about other dragons, but found himself disappointed. And if Hagrid wanted to teach Norberta how to be a dragon himself, no matter how much Shimmer thought it was a terrible idea that would result in a weak, unfit for survival Norberta, he would let the half-giant have his ways.

He flew to the window, wanting to go eat on his own and find coins. This appeared to sadden Hagrid, even if Shimmer didn't know why.

"I didn't mean to insult you, Shimmer. Sorry if I made you angry." Said Hagrid, opening the window.

"Shimmer not angry." He replied, even if it didn't convinced Hagrid.

Free to go, he went high in the sky, flying over Hogwarts and going toward the greener forest where he knew easy preys were hiding.

Hermione had lectured him once she heard what he did to Norberta, but he adamantly refused to apologised. After all, he knew better than humans how to take care of a hatchling. Hermione, noticing how he wasn't bulging on that, gave up and instead tried to explain how human children were raised.

It was quite interesting. He learned that Humans aged slowly, that most would never kill anything in their life even if they ate meat, that humans spent years learning about how to be adult, like Hermione was doing right now, and that once they were adult, they would find a job for the rest of their life. Until they were too old to work.

Shimmer was very happy to complete his knowledge of humans, and delighted that he could understand his friend a bit more, but was still confused by a few of the things she said. For exemple, he simply couldn't understand the concept of jobs. In his mind, he just had to go find food, eat, find coins, sleep and then start again. But humans? They apparently found or created these things called 'jobs', working for themselves or other humans. The reason why made sense, since they got coins for working. He vaguely compared them to bees and ants, doing something together, with each specialised for some jobs, to earn something at the end while perpetuating their race.

Another thing he couldn't really get his head around the fact that humans needed to learn how to be adults. And that it took years. He thought that showing a hatchling how to survive was enough, since he himself managed to survive on his own with no one showing him how to do anything, and couldn't comprehend that humans needed so long to become adults.

On the contrary, he was completely amazed by how humans managed to capture preys, gather them in once place, teach them to be docile and used to their presence, to better eat them later. How cunning! He knew he couldn't do that, and despite being reluctant to admit it, humans were far better than him at keeping food for them.

Back to Norberta's education, if Hagrid and Hermione said his methods and ideas were wrong, then he wouldn't interfere.

Not much.

He was still quite curious about the hatchling.

So he went to see her, visiting Norberta the next three days, before he noticed something. Norberta was growing.

Since it took so long for him to reach his actual size, he hadn't expected her to start growing so soon. It wasn't an impressive growth, but enough to be noticeable. He asked Hagrid, who answered that Norberta would grow very quickly for the first few weeks of her life, before stabilising for a few months. And then she would grow again.

"Big?" He repeated what Hagrid had said when he confronted the half-giant about Norberta's growth.

"Very big. Once adult, she should grow to ten meters long." Jovially replied Hagrid.

To reach around ten meters long.

TEN! METERS!

Once Shimmer understood how long she would be, because he didn't know what a meter was and Hagrid had to explain, mainly by measuring with his hands, it shocked him so much that he froze for a little while, and then flew straight to see Hermione in panic. He didn't know exactly where to find her, so he barged in a couple of classes, angering a few human teachers, especially the tall one covered in black who threatened to turn him into a coat if he didn't leave, before finally finding Hermione and the other two humans males in the room all the young humans wearing red gathered. He barged in by a window, breaking it, making everyone jump in fright.

"What the-!"

"Ahh!"

"Bloody hell!"

"Shimmer!" Screamed Hermione amongst all the shouts, sitting on one of the sofas.

"Hermione! Why Shimmer not big?!" He nearly screeched in her face, landing right before her.

"Shimmer! Not so loud!" She complained, bringing her hands to cover her ears.

"Why Shimmer not big?!" He repeated at a slightly lower volume.

"Some dragons are small, some are big." She sort of shrugged, not understanding why he was so unnerved. "What's going on?"

"Norberta small. Shimmer not small, Big. Hagrid... Hagrid speak, Norberta later, big! Shimmer not big! Why?!" He continued, much to the confusion of Hermione, and every other student in the room that was trying to understand.

A small mix of shock and worry washed over Hermione's face, right before she lowered herself to his level, whispering.

"It's a secret Shimmer! You can't speak of Norberta." She reminded him.

"Shimmer not big! Why?!"

"You understand something?" Asked Ron, standing next to Hermione.

"Not at all." She replied. "Shimmer, you were with Hagrid, right?"

"Hagrid speak! Norberta later big. Shimmer not later. Not big!" Replied the dragon, not helping her much.

"Should we go see Hagrid?" Suggested Neville, as confused as everyone else.

"I don't think we have a choice." Sighed Hermione, standing up.

Almost pushed by Shimmer, the three students were led outside by a frantic dragon, much to the surprise of the other students, before they reached Hagrid's hut.

"Hagrid? Are you there?" Asked Ron as he knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Came the gruff reply.

They entered to see Norberta, maybe two centimeters taller than when she hatched, happily munching on a bone with some meat left on it. Shimmer flew right next to them, landing on the table and frantically moving his head between Hagrid and Norberta.

"Hagrid speak. Norberta big later. Shimmer not big. Why? Not understand?" He said quickly.

"Hmm, Hagrid? Do you know what he's talking about?" Asked Hermione.

"I sure do. He came earlier this morning, noticed how Norberta was bigger than before. I explained that she was growing, and he ran away right after that." He explained.

"How big will she get?" Asked Neville.

"Should be around ten meters long." He shrugged, giving a look of parental love to Norberta.

"Ten meters?!" Shrieked Neville.

"Hagrid, how are you going to hide a ten meter long dragon?" Calmly asked Hermione, even as she was trying to figure out if Hagrid wasn't a little bit insane.

"She won't be that long before a year. She may be two or three meters long in a week, maybe two." Hagrid tried to reassure them.

That did nothing to comfort the three students, and Shimmer still had no answer to his question.

"Hermione! Why Shimmer not big?"

"I- well, dragons can grow up to different sizes, depending on the species. Do you know how old you are?" She asked, suddenly realising that she didn't know how old he was.

"Shimmer... one... two... three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten... Shimmer is ten long sleep." He answered after taking a long time to recall the numbers.

"Ten years old? My, you should be grown up already." Said Hagrid surprised.

"Should be?" Asked Ron.

"Aye. Shimmer's growth isn't over yet. See his horns? If he was an adult, they would be twice as long. And his body would probably be a bit bulkier too." Explained the half-giant, pointing at the nervous dragon.

"Right." Considered Hermione as she started to piece together Shimmer's worries. "Shimmer, you... are worried that Norberta will be bigger than you?"

"Yes! Shimmer not big. Not good." He stated as a fact, a little big angry and frustrated.

"Oh, Shimmer." She cooed with a small smile, petting his head gently. "It's not important. It doesn't matter if you're big or not."

"Shimmer want big!" He sternly replied, even if he was starting to be mollified by the movements of her hand.

"You're not an adult. You still-"

"Shimmer not small Norberta!" He spat.

"Let me finish. I'm not saying you're an hatchling, but you can still grow up." She said patiently, knowing how hard it was to teach him some things.

He mulled over what she just said for a few seconds, before coming up with a comforting conclusion.

"Shimmer big later?" He asked.

"Yes. I don't know how much, but I'm sure you will grow up a bit more." She smiled at him.

"So all of this was because he didn't wanted to be small?" Said Ron a bit incredulous.

"Looks like." Mumbled Neville.

Pointing her little head from where she was, Norberta reached Hagrid's feet, and she was just about to pounce on them that a loud, dangerous growl echoed in the hut. Everyone froze, especially Hermione who was next to Shimmer as he snarled toward the hatchling, not expecting that.

"Calm down, Shimmer. What's wrong with you today?" Asked Hermione, retreating her hand away from Shimmer. She knew he didn't wanted to hurt her, but she was still prudent.

"He did that a few days ago." Grumbled Hagrid, not happy to see how Shimmer was intimidating Norberta, before sternly addressing the golden dragon. "Stop that Shimmer."

Looking at the big man for a second, barely acknowledging him, Shimmer growled a little more to make his point clear, waiting until Norberta walked away from Hagrid's shoes before relenting.

"That's scary." Noted Neville, cowed by the intensity of the growl. Even if it hadn't be directed toward him.

"Awesome you mean!" Instantly replied Ron in a whisper of awe.

"You shouldn't do that Shimmer. Norberta needs to learn, but there is no need for violence. We already talked about that." Reminded Hermione to her draconic friend, a little scowl on her forehead.

"Shimmer dragon. Understand dragon. Know dragon. Hermione not dragon. Not know dragon." He simply replied, still keeping an eye on Norberta who went around the table and intrigued by the warmth of the fireplace.

"Use 'is', Shimmer. Hermione is not a dragon. And yes, we are not dragons, that much is true-" Agreed Hermione.

"That would be awesome though." Cut her Ron.

"-but we know a lot about dragons." She finished with a small glare at Ron who completely missed it.

"No. Hermione is human. Know human. Shimmer is dragon. Know dragon." He persisted.

"It's endless." Sighed Hermione. "No matter what I say, he isn't listening."

"He has a point." Said Neville, blushing as everyone looked at him. "I mean, he is a dragon, so, it makes sense that he knows how to raise a dragon. No?"

"We have many books about dragons. We know them better than they know themselves." Pushed Hermione, feeling slightly insulted that her knowledge was being disregarded so easily.

"Now, I wouldn't say that, Hermione." Said Hagrid. "Even today, dragons remain quite mysterious creatures. I know that they're still studied a lot, despite many wizards saying that we already know enough to control them."

"Hermione know dragon good. Shimmer know dragon good good." Said Shimmer, starting to get a bit confused by all the humans were saying.

"Listen, Shimmer. I understand that you want to do good. But please, let us do this." Asked Hagrid.

Just as he always thought, Shimmer had no problems with that. He could already see that the cuddling Hagrid gave the hatchling would make her unbearable very soon. She was growing and didn't show any sign of starvation, so he knew that she would survive as long as Hagrid fed her, but without the strict watch and intransigent attitude of an adult dragon, it was clear that Norberta wouldn't listen to the humans soon. Maybe even him, if she kept growing until the day where she would challenge him.

They wanted to raise a weak and turbulent hatchling? Then it was their problem.

Snorting a bit in frustration, he turned to his friend.

"Hermione, coin." He demanded.

"I- sure." Hermione replied, reaching for a Knut in her pockets, a bit surprised by the sudden change of attitude of her friend.

Taking his due, he went to the door and waited for Hermione to open it. She did so with a worried expression on her face, sharing a glance with her friends and Hagrid beforehand. Hermione was slightly concerned that she may have offended him, even if she truly thought that his method of being agressive with Norberta was wrong. She wanted to listen to him, but when she thought about what the books about dragon said, she knew that Shimmer couldn't know that much about dragons.

Not waiting any longer for the nightmare that would become that hatchling, he flew up to his hoard, slightly happy to at least have a coin for his troubles, leaving behind a small group of four humans and a little dark green dragon who found it interesting to tear through one of the bags of meat.

AN:

Hi! Valexto at the Keyboard!

That was a tough chapter to write, mainly because I spent so much time reading other stories, and because I have to think about the next chapters.

Just a little clarification, Shimmer thinks he's ten years old, when he's actually eleven, because he doesn't remember that he was already one year old when he became a dragon.

I have three ideas for the next chapter.

It can follows the canon story, with Ron being bitten by Norberta and having to send Norberta to the dragon reserve.

Or, Norberta is revealed to the teachers, who come to the conclusion to send Norberta to the reserve too, but with this there is no reason to have Hermione, Ron, Neville, Shimmer and Draco go into the forbidden forest.

Or, Norberta gets to stay, most likely in the forbidden forest.

Realistically, it would be very hard for Norberta to stay in Hogwarts, as Norwegian Ridgebacks are very agressive even against their own kind, so Humans would be easy preys.

Still thinking about how I'm going to do this, I'll take more time than I thought to make the next chapter.

What do you think? Which idea sounds best? Or do you have your own ideas?

I need to check the last reviews, I think someone said something interesting about Norberta.

See you soon!