I do not own nor possess any right over Harry Potter, all rights belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 24
The infirmary was buzzing with activity, even if the patient was not one usually seen in that sort of place, as Snape, Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore discussed what the best course of action would be. Their initial diagnosis was rather simple, both concerning and reassuring.
Shimmer appeared to be fine, despite being unconscious, but eating the Philosopher's Stone was still having unknown effects on him.
Both Snape and Dumbledore were unanimous: an evil tried or managed to possess Shimmer, before being banished and destroyed by the overcharge of magic from the Stone. They would have to wait for the dragon to wake up to see if that possession had any effects on him. Yet, what was most concerning at the moment was the amount of magic they could feel in Shimmer's body. It was slowly going down, either dissipating or being absorbed by Shimmer, but they simply couldn't guess what the consequences would be in the future.
Madam Pomfrey used some of Snape's potions to force Shimmer's body to expel the surplus of magic, and a small bucket filled with red goo, itself overcharged with magic, was vomited by Shimmer.
Should he awake, they expected him to be either lethargic or completely out of control, so for everyone's safety they tied his wings, feet, and neck to the bed. Not too tightly, of course, but enough to hold him down.
They didn't say it, but they didn't even know if Shimmer would survive and wake up. He was fine now, but absorbing so much magic, and one so unique and unknown, left them wondering what it would do.
"I suppose there's nothing else we can do now." Dumbledore shighed, putting his wand down, looking at the unconscious dragon resting on the bed.
"Is he going to be alright?" Hermione asked, who had remained at the dragon's side at all times, with tears rolling down her cheeks from her red eyes.
She, Ron and Neville remained in the infirmary, both because they were worried about Shimmer and also because Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep an eye on Hermione and Neville for one more night.
"I cannot say, Miss Granger. Eating the Philosopher's Stone is a first in history, and we can only wait for his condition to stabilise." The Headmaster regretfully answered.
"Alright." Hermione accepted, even if that was very hard to hear.
"I will send a message to the Flamels, both to tell them about the regrettable loss of the Stone and to ask if they could give us some insight about this delicate situation. For now, I want all of you to rest and be patient." He told the students.
"Yes, Professor." All three replied.
"Good. Severus, can I count on you to help Poppy take care of our guest?"
"I will ensure the stupid animal lives." Coldly said the potion master, glaring at the dragon. The idea of what just happened was so ridiculous that it seemed impossible, yet the golden menace managed to do it.
"He's not stupid." Hermione couldn't help but mutter.
"While I don't doubt his mental capabilities, what he did was careless and far too dangerous. We will have to be more mindful of such problems in the future." Dumbledore replied, a small smile on his face. "Now, please go rest."
Having much to do, Dumbledore left, alongside Minerva who remained silent during the whole debacle, and Snape, who had a few potions in mind he wanted to prepare. The potion teacher also took two vials of red goo with him, most curious about its particularities and effects, as well as wanting to compare them with the blue goo he got from Shimmer a little while ago.
"You heard the Headmaster. I know all of you are worried about Shimmer, but I believe he will be fine. If you're hungry, I can ask for a late lunch to be delivered here, since we're still in the early afternoon." Madam Pomfrey said, looking sternly at the students and the dragon, though her voice showed that she was somewhat concerned about them.
"That would be very nice, thank you." Replied Hermione while Neville nodded.
"Oh, and Mister Weasley? You're more than capable of going back to class." Glared the matron.
The boy sighed, knowing there was no arguing with the matron, and turned toward his friends.
"Guess I have to go. I'll try to take some notes for you two." He said, which was most unusual for him.
So unusual, that Hermione looked at him with wide eyes, not believing her ears. Even Neville was looking at him in surprise.
"Really?" She asked, flabbergasted.
"Yeah. I just- yeah." Ron replied a bit awkwardly.
The two watched him leave, still barely believing what they just witnessed.
"Why do so many strange things happen today?" Neville asked, sitting on his bed.
"I don't know." Hermione slowly replied, looking at the infirmary's door and then at Shimmer.
She remained silent, feeling tired and worried, thinking about what would happen to Shimmer. The effects of the Calming Draught she drank had disappeared, and she was once more in control of her emotions, but she was so tired that she couldn't express most of them. There was a single question in her mind: why would Shimmer do that? She knew he liked precious things and magic, but she could never have imagined that he would go steal something like the Stone in front of everyone.
Of course, he was a creature that, while sapient and intelligent, wasn't thinking like a human. Depending on the moment, Hermione could either know what he would do before he knew him himself, or he would take her completely by surprise. That's what happened this time, and she was trying to find an explanation. What worried her as well was how Shimmer refused to give back the Stone, saying that he liked it and its magic. He normally would obey their orders.
Was the Stone so magical and precious that her friend couldn't help but take it? That's the conclusion she was reaching, and she didn't know what to think about it.
But most of all, she was worried about him. His body wasn't burning hot anymore, even it was warmer than usual, maybe akin to a fever, but the fact that the teachers found traces of dark magic and possession on him was the worst news so far. Did Voldemort tried to take over Shimmer? Did it work? Would her friend still be himself when he'll wake up? She didn't know.
And that was without mentioning the fact that he was still unconscious and that the Stone's magic was still affecting him with unknown effects. They didn't know how long it would take for him to wake up, if it would impact him in a positive or negative way. The teachers remained hopeful, so Hermione managed to hold on to that thought to remain confident as well.
With her exhaustion catching up, Hermione laid back down in her bed. Even as she fell asleep for a restful nap, her thoughts remained focused on her friend.
And Ron. A small part of her was almost concerned with the strange behaviour of the boy with ginger hair.
To Hermione's worry, Shimmer didn't wake up that day. She and Neville were allowed to return to class the next day, still having to remain silent about that part with Professor Quirrell. There was no news from the teachers on that side, which may have been a good thing, but that wasn't what preoccupied Hermione most.
And, just like he said, much to Hermione and Neville utter shock, Ron brought back some notes from their classes. It wasn't much, nowhere near the level of detailed notes that Hermione used to take, but the fact that he willingly took some was concerning. It's not to say that he never took notes, but his assiduity in class wasn't exceptional, and he mostly listened to the teachers without writing down much. What he brought to his two friends summed up what happened in class, which was the minimum needed for them to follow what happened in the courses.
They asked Ron what prompted this most unusual behaviour of his, but he replied that he would tell them later. That he required some time.
Ron's return to class also gave them some insight about their fellow students. Dumbledore announced that Quirrell left most suddenly, citing a panic attack as the reason, and most students brought it. Some rumours came, though, that Hermione, Ron, and Neville did a prank on the teacher with Shimmer as their weapon. This was why the three had been missing, and also the reason Gryffindor lost some points since last night.
So when all three of them arrived in the Great Hall the next morning, they were promptly asked by the members of their house what truly happened.
"Is it true that you scared Quirrell so much that he left?" Asked George.
"What? No!" Hermione replied, scandalised.
"Or did you scare him so much that he died?" Fred asked next.
"Come on, I already told you we didn't do anything like this." Ron groaned, taking his head between his hands.
"Well, was what Dumbledore said true?" Asked Parvati.
"Yeah. We haven't seen Shimmer since Quirrell left. Was he taken by the ministry?" Dean continued.
"Shimmer ate something bad and the teachers are keeping him in the infirmary." Hermione replied, hoping that giving them some truth would get the other students from their back.
"It's not a surprise, really." A haughty voice came from behind them.
Nearly the whole of the first year's Gryffindor table groaned as they looked behind them, finding without surprise Malfoy and his two bodyguards. The boy with blond hair was looking down at them, a smirk on his face.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked in a tone of exasperation, as if he really didn't want to deal with the Slytherin boy.
"You will speak to me with manners, Weasley." Sneered Malfoy for a second, stopping when he noticed that it had no effect on his rival. "And about your lizard, well, eating poison is exactly what a stupid creature like him would do."
"He didn't eat poison. Just something bad." Countered Hermione.
"You do not speak back to me, Granger." Malfoy spat at her, before smirking once more. "And now that I think about it, your pet isn't here to take care of you anymore. You should be careful of what you say."
"Is that a threat? God, you're boring. Only a Slytherin could make threats without actual meaning." Ron retorted.
"What happened to you, Weasley? Lost your courage with Professor Quirrell? Did you get special classes with him?" Draco taunted while his goons snickered.
"Now, now, dear little boy of bad faith." Smiled Fred as he walked up next to Draco, instantly putting him and the two other boys on their guards. "You don't want to go down that road, now, would you?"
"That would be dangerous, dear brother. Insulting and teasing Ickle Ronnie is for us only, and there's no sharing." George continued, joining up his brother. "Unless, you would like to enjoy the same treatment?"
Draco looked like he wanted to retort, but he bit his tongue and backed off, returning to his table with a frown and a glare as only rewards from his taunting. Hermione let out a sigh of relief, really not wanting to listen anymore to the arrogant Slytherin.
"Back to you!" Fred cheered. "What happened to Shimmer?"
"We already told you. He ate something bad and has been sick ever since." Ron said.
"He can't even wake up." Neville added.
"My, my! That must be something really, really awful, to put down a dragon." Noted George.
"And we know a lot about bad ingredients. Perhaps you could share what put this poor Shimmer in the infirmary?" Fred followed.
"Sorry, but Madam Pomfrey was adamant that we don't say what it was." Hermione politely refused.
"Ah! And here we thought to get the final ingredient to put Snape in a century long coma!" George complained.
"A most noble plan, put down for such a simple reason!" Fred added.
"I have a plan for you, Weasleys." Professor Snape said, almost coming out of nowhere and appearing behind the twins.
The two looked at each other with worry for a second, before sharing a smile and turning toward the potion teacher, who wasn't fooled and glaring at them.
"Professor Snape, you just happen to hear about a most fascinating tale." Fred started.
"About a ridiculous yet amusing idea." George added.
"Then you won't mind joining me to write down a tale about how you shouldn't put your nose where it doesn't belong." Sneered the professor.
"Of course not! We love spending time with you."
"Only if our relationship remains of students and teacher, of course." Fred added.
"Saturday morning, in my office." Snape said, not amused at all by their antics.
"Of course!" The twins replied.
With a last glare at them, the potion teacher turned around, flicking his cape as he did so, and returned to the teacher's table.
The Gryffindor students let out a sigh of relief as the tension broke, and only the twins kept smiling all along.
"How can you two even say something like that?" Hermione asked, horrified.
"It's a skill." Fred revealed.
"A talent." George divulged.
"You have to admit, Snape has one hell of a patience for these two. To not snap at them after that…" Dean trailed off.
"Yeah, but he knows that they can actually be serious with their pranks. He won't back down, but so will they." Ron explained.
"Right you are, dear brother." Both twins confirmed at the same time, creeping out most of the table. Except Ron, who was used to it.
"Can we actually take our breakfast now?! I don't want to go to class hungry." Hermione complained, shutting down most of the questions that the others wanted to ask them.
Their talks had to be stopped shortly after, though, as classes were about to start for the day. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to go see Shimmer until their classes were over, Hermione resolved to be patient and try to think only about the good outcomes. Like Shimmer waking up.
It was the middle of the afternoon, in the Hospital Wing, and Shimmer was still lying unconscious in his bed. Madam Pomfrey was in her office, and regularly checked upon the dragon, noting that his temperature was almost completely back to normal. At least, while her skills in dark arts weren't the best, the effects of the possession looked to have been quite lessened.
But, at that moment, when she wasn't looking, she didn't watch as Shimmer's body changed, finally stabilising the effects of the Philosopher's Stone. His golden scales, pristine and beautiful, took on an even better aspect, almost shining under the light and taking the look of real gold. Slowly, so slowly that it was unnoticeable unless you were to keep watching for several minutes straight, he grew a little. He got about five centimetres taller and maybe a bit more than double in length and width, which didn't make him into an impressive dragon, but still bigger than he previously was.
That was it for the apparent physical changes, but a few more happened, especially on his magic. While Shimmer had magic before, it had been one slightly better than a regular dragon. Now, though, his magic rose up, not tremendously, but enough to make a change.
And then, very suddenly, his eyes opened.
Shimmer didn't know what happened to him, but he felt tied down to something, and his panic exploded as he thought himself in danger.
Snarling and growling furiously, he twisted around in an attempt to free himself. The noise instantly got the attention of the matron, who saw from her office the dragon awake and in a very, very dangerous mood. Not taking any risk, she acted quickly.
"Fidi!" She called.
A house elf appeared next to her.
"Yes Ma'am?" Asked the female house elf.
"Go tell Dumbledore that the dragon woke up and that I need help to contain him. Quickly!"
"Yes Ma'am!" Fidi squeaked, vanishing.
Stepping out of her office, Madam Pomfrey saw that Shimmer already managed to free his neck, a piece of rope still around it, and was currently in the process of removing the ropes on his wings.
"Shimmer!" She called out strongly, keeping her wand in hand.
Recognising his name, he turned toward her and calmed down a little, right before the feeling of the ropes on his body got his attention again, and he attacked them once more. He was thrashing around so quickly and furiously that getting closer would have been far too dangerous.
"Not like! Human let Shimmer go!" He warned her, glaring at her and at the ropes.
"Shimmer, listen to me! You need to calm down!" Madam Pomfrey continued, walking around Shimmer while keeping a good distance between them.
Shimmer's sudden moves made his stomach turn, and a feeling of sickness washed over him. He suddenly spat a few globs of red goo, coughing dryly as he was forced to stop thrashing around for a couple of seconds.
"Shimmer not like!" He growled, smoke coming out of his nostrils and the light of a powerful fire shining through his chest.
"Stop that!" Madam Pomfrey shouted, panicking and raising her wand. She had experience with annoying children putting themselves in dangerous situations, but taking care of a dragon was something she was never taught.
Opening his jaws wide, Shimmer unleashed his fire on the ropes. Aiming at his right wing first, the fire didn't hurt him as usual, but the flame seemed stronger and warmer than before. It burned the rope all the same, though, so he attacked all the others ropes.
Madam Pomfrey, who had taken a step back, didn't know what to do and was expecting the dragon to attack her next.
Shimmer finished burning away the last rope holding his leg, that the door of the Hospital Wing was busted open by Dumbledore, instantly pointing his wand at Shimmer. He noticed how brighter and shinier the dragon was, but didn't focus on it right now.
"Shimmer!" He called out, walking up to the distraught matron and stepping in front of her. "Calm down, Shimmer!
"Dumb Door. Shimmer not like." Acknowledged Shimmer for a moment, trying to remove the rope around his neck with his hind legs' claws, unsuccessfully.
"Let me take care of this." With a flick of the headmaster's wand, the hanging piece of rope was untied and removed.
"Good! Shimmer not like. Want fly." Shimmer snarled, wanting to get out of here. He needed to check if his coins didn't move, as he couldn't remember very well what happened after he brought the last ones to his hoard.
"A moment, Shimmer. We need to check a few things with you." Dumbledore stopped him. "How do you feel, Shimmer? Are you tired? Anything with your head?"
"Shimmer is okay. Not bad. Why head?" He asked angrily.
"A little problem that we had. Can I use my magic to check on you?" Dumbledore asked, knowing Shimmer might eat any of his spells.
"Yes. Quick. Shimmer want bye-bye. Want go see coin." Shimmer replied, tail whipping in the air as a sign of his annoyance.
"I'm sure Miss Granger would like to see you. Perhaps you could wait for her?" Dumbledore tempted him.
"No! Shimmer want go coin!" Shimmer adamantly refused.
Knowing he didn't have much time against the dragon's patience, Dumbledore began casting the appropriate spells, and he went from the most concerning issues they had to the smaller ones. First, and to his greatest relief, there was no more sign of possession. If Voldemort really tried to possess Shimmer, he was purged out of him by the incredible magic stored in the Philosopher's Stone. Secondly, the magic inside Shimmer was stabilised, and it seemed far less chaotic than Dumbledore thought it would be. The Flamels were due to arrive soon, as they were aware of the urgency of the situation, and he was really counting on their expertise. What the magic in Shimmer was, however, surprised him. It felt similar to the Stone, but also different.
Were the effects of the Stone transferred to Shimmer? Or did his body alter them? They would have to test this, but it would have to wait. Shimmer was clearly in no mood to listen to them, and Dumbledore didn't want to antagonise him even more.
"You appear to be fine, young Shimmer. You're free to go, but please come back to see us soon, for we have a lot to discuss. I'm certain Miss Granger and your other friends would be delighted to see you." Dumbledore asked, flicking his wand and opening a window for the dragon to fly in.
Without waiting, Shimmer took to the air and went straight to the window. Focused on securing his hoard, not knowing if something or if another dragon found his precious pile of coins, he went straight up to the window of the little attic where he lived. And, surprisingly, he had to break a bit of glass to fit in. Not that he couldn't have entered without doing it, but his body was slightly bigger.
Thankfully, as soon as he came in, his sharp eyes and mind caught the sight of his hoard, apparently left untouched. But even then, he still went right in it and started to inspect every coin he had, counting them and checking if they were at the right places. It took a couple of minutes, but he quickly managed to determine that all of his precious possessions were here.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he now addressed a new problem. One that wasn't exactly one, but that messed up with his nose, tongue, and brain. There was more gold around him, and he couldn't find it. He went to every corner of the room, checked everywhere, but no matter where he went, the scent of gold was just as strong. It wasn't a perfect smell either, as there was definitely the scent of gold, but it was lessened and somewhat diluted with something he couldn't identify.
It only frustrated him more, and he kept searching. The whole day.
Meanwhile.
"I don't want to ever see that blasted animal here ever again!" Madam Pomfrey screamed at Albus, still on her high of panic.
"I understand, Poppy, and you don't have to worry about this. I will work with Hagrid so that we may have a spare room allocated to taking care of Shimmer, should something like this happen again." Dumbledore assured, wanting to reassure their dear matron, who remained quite shaken by this most frightening moment. It took him quite a few minutes to reassure his best nurse, and even now she remained adamant in her wish to never see Shimmer again.
"And- and don't ever ask me again to take care of a dragon!" She added quickly.
"I won't, Poppy. Take a break and relax, alright? I'm sorry I have to leave you, but there's much I need to prepare for."
"Get out!"
Not waiting to be told twice, Hogwarts' headmaster quickly fled the hospital wing, closing the doors behind him.
Alone, he sighed in relief. Shimmer was safe and looked to be fine, even though there were some apparent changes that happened to him, like his slight increase in size and the scales that looked different. He would have to perform some more precise spells later to establish a proper diagnosis, but the most important was that the dragon wasn't possessed and appeared to be fine, if only very moody for now.
Now he would have to find Miss Granger to give her the good news, as well as warning her and her friends that Shimmer may be a bit hard to approach for now. And perhaps that they would have to keep the young dragon calm so they could cast their spells on him. They would also have to explain to him that what he did was wrong, incredibly dangerous, and that there would be a punishment for this.
He would have to convince Miss Granger first, but knew he wouldn't have any issue, as the young witch was more than eager to teach Shimmer how to behave properly and wasn't afraid to punish him if necessary. Forbidding him to have new coins for a week or two should be enough.
A little vibration in Hogwarts' magic wards told him that visitors were at the gates, and he smiled knowing reinforcements just arrived.
Since he was at the hospital wing, he didn't have to walk down the stairs from his tower, and made his way toward the entrance while authorising the access to the newcomers. Letting the castle guide him, he quickly reached his objective and saw two figures walking on the long bridge leading to the castle's grounds.
The first was a man of old age, with clean white hair and wearing white robes beneath a white coat. His face was sunken, and his eyes held a powerful weight that silently spoke of a life filled with experience.
The second, a woman just as old, wearing a darker outfit yet just as clean as her partner. Her hair reached her shoulders in a ponytail, just as white as the man's hair, and she had a kind air to her that was contrasted by her eyes as well.
"Nicolas. Pernelle. It's a pleasure to see you again, despite the circumstances." Albus greeted them warmly.
"Albus Dumbledore. It hasn't been long since our last meeting." Nicolas Flamel replied in kind, raising his hand toward the headmaster who shook it.
"A moment, one could say." Pernelle added.
"For people like you, perhaps. But, I'm afraid time is running out. There has been some new development since my last letter, good ones as far as I could tell." Albus replied.
"Really? This is truly fascinating. The dragon is still here, correct?" Nicolas mused aloud, a feeling of excitement in his voice that didn't quite match his old age.
"He is, but I'm afraid he woke up quite moody and should be back later. If you would like to follow me, we can get you settled." Albus offered, starting to walk toward Hogwarts.
"That would be most appreciated." Pernelle nodded.
"Good. Excuse my curiosity, but have you managed to put your affairs in order, as you said?"
"We were taken by surprise by your news, but we were aware of the risks. A few more owls to send, and we should be ready." Nicolas smiled.
Albus didn't reply, and simply led them toward some rooms left for the occasional guests that the castle had.
"What happened to that trace of possession you found?"
"Cleansed by the Stone, it appears. The traces of dark magic are almost gone, and I couldn't find anything wrong when I checked this morning. Your help would be most appreciated on his body and magic, since there seems to have been some changes." Albus replied.
"Of course. By the way, did your potion master find anything interesting about your dragon's magical rejects?" Nicolas continued.
"He confirmed that it was indeed magic in a somewhat solidified state. While we haven't found any uses for them yet, tests showed that we could either solidify the goo which doesn't really affect its nature, or we could try to burn it and then the effects are rather… explosive, to say the least." Albus said, recalling Severus' report about the goo. He witnessed one use of the goo placed on a plate above a fire, and the drop seized sample was enough to blew up the entire plate as well as knocking out several objects in the room.
"Is it now? Fascinating. And that was before he ate the Stone, correct?"
"Indeed. This new goo he spat out, we don't know if he'll ever be able to create it again. The original one was created, for lack of a better term, by the use of regular magic spells. Since there is almost nothing left of the Stone, I'm afraid we don't know if Shimmer will be able to produce this goo at will or if it's going to be completely unique." Albus went into detail. "As for the first vials of goo, we can use them as powerful explosives for now, but we're hoping that further experimentation will reveal other properties. One theory could be to manage to use the magic stored in the goo to power spells, runes, and wards. This may strengthen the effects of the basic spells, drawing the magic from the goo rather than the surroundings. Or maybe, in addition to the surroundings."
"I cannot wait to experiment with this. A brand-new form of magic, after so long spent working on a magical system that barely changed in ten centuries, sounds exhilarating." Nicolas replied with an excited smile. "I almost want to stay alive a little longer to work on this."
"May I ask how much time you have left?" Albus asked with a slightly pained look.
"About a week. It may be short, but I believe we can do great work in so little time." Nicolas assured.
Reaching the guest rooms, Albus let them in and gave them the keys.
"Would you like to join us for dinner? I'm sure our young dragon will show up then. He likes to spend time with Miss Granger." The headmaster invited them.
"Certainly. It will be nice to be around the sound of dozens of children once more. I find this a particularly pleasing way to go, leaving the world for the younger generations to take care of." Pernelle happily agreed.
"Do you remember the way to the Great Hall?"
"We are old, Albus. Not senile." Nicolas grinned. "We will see you there."
"Then I bid you good afternoon. Dinner is between 6 PM and 8 PM." Albus said, closing the door behind him.
Taking a pocket watch out of his coat, he looked at the time. The hands of the watch showed three thirty-seven pm, meaning that students were still in class until four. As he started walking, Albus thought about how he could approach the situation with Miss Granger and the need to teach Shimmer to never steal again. He would prefer to speak of all of this privately, so he would wait for her and her friend's class with Flitwick to be over and take them to his office to devise a plan of action. Something else that he would prefer to do privately was to admonish the dragon, but he was quite sure that Shimmer wouldn't show up until dinner, which would take place in the Great Hall as usual.
This would require planning and a very, very careful wording to the young dragon. As smart as Shimmer was, some words and especially expressions and meanings could go over his head, which would defeat the purpose of the scolding.
That evening, Shimmer was both tired and frustrated. He spent the whole afternoon looking for the scent of new gold, only to never find it. He looked in his room, checked his entire hoard twice, and even went outside to hunt. At all times the scent of gold remained, and he never managed to find it. Even in the forest, he could smell gold!
He recalled half-way in the afternoon that he ate the shiny rock, and was very, very disappointed that he could barely remember its taste. He recalled eating it, but the taste and magic had been so much that he just couldn't remember what happened next.
So it's a frustrated dragon that gave up after hours of searching, and who went to see Hermione at dinner. He was still hungry, a bit more than usual actually, and he wanted to know how his friends were doing.
His usual window was opened, and he went right in. Stopping briefly on the rafters, looking at the room with more attention than usual, he noticed that there were two new humans at the old humans table, and somehow these two looked even older than the rest. But it didn't really matter, and he looked down toward the Gryffindor table, quickly finding Hermione and her friends already seated.
A bit strange, though, was that the surrounding seats had been left mostly empty, leaving plenty of space for him to land on the table with Hermione and Neville on one side and Ron on the other.
Just as he was about to jump, Shimmer noticed how Dumb Door pointed at him and old humans all looked at him, some with curiosity and others with wariness. Not caring, Shimmer jumped in the air and glided down toward Hermione's table, landing almost right in front of her. A few students shouted in surprise, but quickly calmed down once they realised it was their neighbouring dragon.
"Shimmer!" Hermione exclaimed at his landing, brightening up instantly and reaching for a hug, only to stop at the last second. "Wow, you grew up."
"Hello." Shimmer greeted rather casually.
"Come here!" She said, opening her arms for a hug.
"No. Shimmer not like hug. Is prison." He replied, staying slightly out of reach and eyeing her arms warily.
"Please? I was so scared, I thought you were dying." Hermione pleaded.
"Shimmer strong. Not dead." He countered.
"Please?"
Looking at her, and then at Neville who ducked a little under his gaze, before looking at Ron who wasn't eating his plate like a savage.
"Ron not hungry?" He asked, a bit surprised by this change of behaviour.
"No. Not really. You better let her hug you, though, because she will catch you one day." Ron advised him, lightly poking his piece of ham with his fork.
Turning back toward Hermione, he saw that she had small tears in her eyes, despite her smile and her still open arms. A bit annoyed, Shimmer choose to accept it and reluctantly got close to her. Humans and their high maintenance cost.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." Hermione let out a breath of relief, catching him in a tight hug.
"Shimmer happy not happy." He replied, annoyed.
A bit to his surprise, and Hermione's, the hug didn't feel the same as usual. Shimmer's scales had always been rather tough, but they were also somewhat soft underneath. Now, though, Hermione could feel that his scales seemed tougher and harder. Poking at them with her finger, she marvelled at the change that took place over most of his body. Some places, like beneath his jaw and neck, were still quite soft and flexible.
"What happened to you, Shimmer? Was it the Stone?" She asked, petting his head calmly.
"Shimmer not know. Shimmer like. Shiny like gold." He replied, using his teeth to bite on his tail's scales and indeed finding them tougher. And also something far, far more interesting. He tasted gold.
Seeing how he stopped, still biting his tail, Hermione nudged him.
"Shimmer? Are you alright?" She asked, a bit concerned.
"What's going on?" Neville also asked, looking at the golden dragon.
"Shimmer is gold." Shimmer replied, letting go of his tail, confused.
He was gold. He liked gold and it was precious and shiny. Now he too was precious and shiny. And Shimmer liked to collect gold. Should he collect this gold too? Could he collect himself?
Taking everyone by surprise, Shimmer attacked his own tail once more, though this time with far more strength and ferocity.
"Shimmer?! What are you doing?" Hermione screamed, almost daring to reach him.
"Shimmer want gold." Shimmer said through gritted teeth.
He was trying, but his teeth were barely managing to pierce his own hide. He didn't remember it to be so tough. A few people were starting to watch the strange show taking place, and that included some teachers as well.
"My, my. You keep surprising us every day, Shimmer." Dumbledore said, chuckling as he watched the dragon attempting to remove his own scales. "Though, removing your own scales does seem like a strange idea."
"Professor Dumbledore." Hermione, Ron, and Neville greeted the headmaster.
"Dumb Door. Shimmer not know. Want gold. Can't get gold. Shimmer is gold." Shimmer said, letting go of his tail in frustration.
"Indeed. A most fascinating development. I don't think I asked before, but do you shed scales, Shimmer?" Dumbledore asked.
"Shed? Not know word." Shimmer said.
"Ah, do you sometimes lose some of your scales?" Dumbledore reformulated.
"Scale is strong. Scale… is dead, fall. More scale, is long." Shimmer tried to reply, not certain he had the right words to answer.
"I don't think he sheds, professor. He just regrows the broken ones." Hermione translated.
"Right. Then perhaps one day, we will be able to examine these new scales of his." Dumbledore said, quite amused but not losing sight of his objective. "But I'm afraid this is a problem for another day. Miss Granger, could you please remind Shimmer of what he should and shouldn't do?"
"Oh, right, of course, professor." Hermione quickly said, turning back toward Shimmer. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself for the upcoming storm that she was about to unleash. "Shimmer, you've been a very, very bad dragon."
Shimmer's reaction was instant, growling lightly at her works. Even if he didn't move, that was enough to scare most students, a few shuffling away as far as possible.
"Shimmer is good dragon. Is not bad. Bad is Quirrell. Shimmer not bad like Quirrell." He growled, glaring a little at Hermione.
"Now, now Shimmer, that's not what I said. You are not an evil dragon, but your latest act of defiance was definitely bad." Dumbledore tripped to tamper the young dragon.
"Professor Dumbledore is right, Shimmer. You shouldn't have stolen the Stone. We told you to give it back, and you didn't, which makes you a bad dragon." Hermione sternly said, frowning a little at the dragon.
"Shimmer want nice stone. Smell very good. Smell gold. Smell magic. Shimmer like, like more." Shimmer replied angrily, justifying his actions.
"And it wasn't your stone, Shimmer. It belonged to my good friends, Nicolas and Pernelle." Dumbledore said, pointing a hand toward the two very old humans that followed behind him. "You stole their stone, Shimmer. That was very, very bad."
Shimmer observed the two old humans, and found himself growing curious at their smell. Letting go of his anger a little, he got close to them and started to identify different smells, but two were far different from the rest.
"Shimmer sorry stone. Shimmer want smell." He told the two old humans.
"It was time for it to disappear anyway. And, well, who am I to refuse?" Nicolas smiled, very amused, and reached toward Shimmer with his right hand.
Taking in more of the smells, Shimmer could only open his jaw and salivate a little. These two humans smelled like the stone, shared its specific scent of magic, but fainter and more diluted. Yet, they were filled with it and the scent was both young and old. Lastly, they had the scent of death, not like Quirrell but like something that should be dead for a long time but isn't. He was confused by that last one.
"Smell like stone. Shimmer like. Smell small gold. Smell lot magic. Alive magic. Smell old dead." Shimmer told them, wanting to eat the hand before him to see if the taste was good but refraining himself because he knew Hermione said he shouldn't do something like that. He already had enough problems as it was.
"What a good nose. I indeed have many reason to smell like the stone. And look at what it did to you." Nicolas admired Shimmer's body, gently brushing his gold scales with his hand.
"He is quite pretty like this. I believe this is the first time I'm seeing a creature that is quite literally made out of gold and that isn't a golem." Pernelle added, also petting Shimmer with a hand.
"Right. Shimmer, there are a few spells that we would like to cast on you, as well as a few tests that we have in mind. Would you mind coming to see me tomorrow?" Dumbledore asked the young dragon.
"Coin?" Shimmer eagerly asked.
"No, Shimmer." Hermione intervened, instantly getting his attention and a small frown. "Since you stole the stone and destroyed it, you won't be getting any coins for two weeks."
It took a few seconds for Shimmer to calculate how long it was, mainly counting the days one by one twice, before his eyes widened a little, and he glared at Hermione with horror.
"No! Shimmer good dragon. Shimmer sorry stone. Really want stone, stone is good smell good." He countered, not wanting to go so long without new coins.
"You still destroyed it. If you can't stop when we tell you to stop, just like with the stone, you will never get any new coins." Hermione remained strong.
Whining in despair, Shimmer quickly did a few turns around himself, trying to find words to change Hermione's mind. His movements forced everyone to move back a little, but only Hermione stood motionless, and he didn't have any idea of how he could get out of this.
"One week?" He offered.
"I suppose that if Shimmer can help us with our tests, one week will be enough." Dumbledore mused aloud, amusing the Flamels and Hermione who watched Shimmer fall in the trap head first.
"One week! Shimmer no coin one week, Shimmer help magic. Help test." Shimmer eagerly agreed, happy to see his loss of coins being cut in half.
"Very good! Then we will see you tomorrow. Before we leave you in Miss Granger's care, can you tell us if you felt anything wrong this afternoon?"
"Shimmer okay. Like new fire. Shimmer big, shimmer strong." The golden dragon boasted, standing proudly and spreading his wings/arms a little to display his new size.
"Good. We will see about this new fire tomorrow. Have a good evening, Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, Mister Longbottom." Dumbledore said as he and the Flamels returned to the teacher's table.
Many of the whispers that took place during the exchange blew out in loud conversations, everyone wondering what happened and trying to guess what changed the appearance of the dragon. Only a few knew the truth, though, and they planned for it to stay that way.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Hermione looked at Shimmer who was now more interested in Ron's plate, still half full. Frowning a little, she watched as her friend gave up his plate to Shimmer, who happily started to tear into it with gusto.
"What's wrong, Ron? You usually never stop eating." She asked, pointing at his abandoned plate.
"She is right, you know." Neville added, a bit shy but not cowed by Shimmer's presence like some other Gryffindors. "You don't even speak as much as before."
Ron looked up from his plate that was almost completely cleaned by now, with Shimmer licking it until not a crumb remained. He still had a lot on his heart and on his mind, and between what happened with the stone and what they learned about the Flamels, his thoughts were growing more concerning.
"It's- do you recall what happened with Quirrell?" Ron asked quietly, his eyes appearing to look at something out of reach.
"Yes." Hermione said, not seeing his point.
"Did you see him die?" Ron continued.
"I- no. I don't think so." She conceded.
"I know I didn't." Neville admitted.
"It was horrible. I can't help it, I still see him die. How Shimmer burned them alive, how they screamed and then how he- how You-Know-Who escaped." Ron quickly whispered, looking far more shaken in only a few seconds. The worst were the screams of absolute pain, terrible and still echoing in his head. It had been a few days and the nightmares he had hadn't abated.
Processing his words, Hermione realised that she didn't know what to answer. What Ron saw, she never saw it and hoped to never have to see it. She could barely imagine what it must have been like, and she didn't want to try.
"Did you tell anyone?" Neville asked, concerned.
"No. I mean, I can't speak about this to my family yet." Ron replied, slumping down on the bench.
"Well, maybe you could talk about this to Madam Pomfrey? I know that she can contact Saint Mungo, and they have some doctors who you can talk to who help to heal with… problems like this." Neville suggested.
"I'm not crazy." Ron protested with a bit more energy.
"I'm not saying you are crazy. What you have, I think a lot of people from the last war have it too. If you tell professor Dumbledore, he will know what it is."
"I- I'm sorry, Ron, but I don't know how to help you." Hermione conceded, a bit defeated.
"Why sad? Bad?" Shimmer asked, noticing how sadder and gloomy it got. He didn't understand how words could make them feel like that.
"I don't think you'll ever understand, Shimmer." Hermione tried to reassure him.
"Shimmer smart! Not dumb!" He growled.
"I didn't say that! I said that it wasn't something you could understand." She replied, offended.
"It's okay, Shimmer. It's not about you. Here." Ron said, taking his empty plate and filling it again with more cooked ham.
With that offer, Shimmer hungrily abandoned the subject and went back to devour more meat. Sighing, Hermione gave Ron a thankful look.
"He can be a bit much sometimes." She said with a small smile, looking at the dragon, right before looking back at Ron. "But don't think we'll forget about you."
"Yeah, yeah. I suppose I can tell McGonagall." He relented.
The three went back to their meals, listening to some of the whispers and talks going on around them. Most were about what just happened, some still focused on Shimmer's new appearance, and a few more still stuck on Quirrell's disappearance and how it must be tied to Shimmer.
Hermione was mulling over the conversation that took place a couple of minutes ago. She was slightly unsatisfied, and would work harder with Shimmer to teach him a few more things and remind him how important it was to follow the rules and to not steal things. Seeing him comforted her tremendously, but she couldn't forget seeing Shimmer lying down unconscious and uncertain of his survival. She would have to work twice harder with him to make sure he understood the lesson.
Ron's words, though, gave her a lot to think about. She was worried about him and noticed how he had become a bit recluse, silent, and overall less active the past few days, and it somehow didn't occur to her that he could be stuck thinking about You-Know-Who. In a way, she was thankful to have been knocked out that day, as it spared her that sight that traumatised Ron.
Neville was still silent and shy, and while he only asked to turn around and kept saying it was a bad idea to go after Quirrell, he wasn't shocked. Hermione could only guess why, and wondered if it had anything to do with his parents being in a hospital. He didn't speak a lot about them, so Hermione didn't know a lot, but something terrible happened during the last war and his parents were now taken care of in a magic hospital.
Looking at Shimmer who was licking his plate clean with his tongue, which wasn't forked by the way, Hermione could only be glad that everything turned out to be fine in the end. Sure, Shimmer would still have to go through a few tests to see if he was really fine, but it wasn't as scary anymore.
"Hermione. Shimmer bye-bye. Want go sleep." Shimmer told her, licking his lips clean.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow. Be careful, okay?" She replied, using a hand to pet his head.
"Okay." He purred in reply.
Retracting his head, Shimmer opened his wings and jumped in the air, surprising some students who weren't paying attention. His departure took place under the eyes of everyone in the hall, and he quickly flew to the window before making his way toward his hoard. There was some wind tonight, and he could feel that a storm would arrive soon.
Reaching the ledge of the broken window giving access to his lair, he wished that he would have the time to fix it before the storm, but it was too late. And then, before his confused eyes, the broken window shifted and transformed. The shape remained roughly the same, but instead of a full glass window, it became a protected hole, aimed slightly outward and toward the ground to stop the rain from coming in. Amazed, Shimmer wondered how this happened, if it was really that simple, and if all human houses were like that.
Using the new window, he got it without problem and went straight to his hoard, happily lying down on it. Knowing he was himself a precious part of his hoard pleased him immensely, and it also meant that he would be transporting a part of his hoard with him at all times. A bit risky, but he could defend his golden scales very easily. Easier than a piece of gold stuck in his mouth or claws.
Suddenly, he looked at the window, and wondered if this change could apply to other things. Imagining the biggest pile of gold ever, his disappointment was great when no golden coins appeared. He would have to try something else, since he was persuaded there was a way to convince the human home to give him gold or precious things.
Closing his eyes, sleep came to him easily, ignoring the conflict that took place in some wizards and witches' minds as they wondered what could be done about the dragon and what the future had in store for them.
Hi! Valexto at the keyboard!
Almost two weeks to write that chapter, but it's done.
A wild shiny Shimmer appeared!
Looks like Shimmer's going to be fine, even if he's partially made out of gold now, but there's more to find out about the changes that affected him.
Also, Ron may have been slightly traumatised by Quirrell's death. Who could have imagined that an eleven year old seeing someone burn alive to ash could be traumatised? Not me.
I really appreciate all the positive comments, so thanks a lot and keep them coming!
Thanks for all the support and see you soon!