Chapter 97
"I need to talk to you," Harry whispered to Hermione urgently the next morning, coming up to her where she sat with Lee and the twins.
Hermione blinked and looked at her friends and then back to Harry.
"Now?" Hermione asked, who had just barely started eating.
"Fred, George, Lee," Harry said in greeting with a nod to each that they returned. "Morning."
"Morning," the twins said in unison.
"Good morning, Harry," Lee replied with a nod.
"Yes, now," Harry said looking at her before turning to Lee and the twins. "Sorry, guys, I wouldn't do this if it weren't important."
"No problem," the twins said.
"It's okay, Harry," Lee said. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh, okay," Hermione said. "Meet me on the second floor, by Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
Harry shook his head.
"No," he replied. "Not there."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
"Can't take a chance of upsetting her, or her eavesdropping," Harry replied. "I'm not supposed to know."
Hermione looked at him in confusion.
"Meet me on the grounds, by the lake," Harry replied. "Where Neville and I were."
"Oh, okay," Hermione said, wondering what was going on.
"Thanks," he replied. "Oh, and you have your charms book in there, right?" Harry asked, nodding toward her ever present book bag.
"Of course," Hermione replied. "I'm still working on that essay for Professor Flitwick."
"Good," Harry replied. "Charms is the only thing I can think of that might be of use. Meet me out there in ten minutes."
"Sure," Hermione replied.
"Hey Harry," Fred called when Harry turned to leave, and caused the boy to stop and turn back to them.
"Don't let the prat get you down," George added.
"I'll try," Harry said, and then chuckled slightly. "Had a chat with Padfoot last night," he continued with a grin smirk. "He interrupted it, and accused me of practising for my next interview again, and I sort of lost it."
"Oh?" Lee asked. "What happened?"
"I saw someone left one of those stupid pins lying around the common room last night," Harry revealed. "I grabbed it and chucked it at him and hit him on the forehead. Told him if he was lucky it would leave a scar and asked him if that was what he wanted."
"Nice," George said with a grin.
"What did he say to that?" Fred asked.
"Nothing," Harry answered with a shrug.
"Well, at least you got some peace," Lee said.
Hermione looked up from her spot by the lake when she heard a laugh followed by a sigh and saw Harry coming down to meet her with a nostalgic grin on his face.
"What?" she asked. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, you missed it, Hermione," Harry said, sitting down with her. "It was great!"
"What?" Hermione said again.
"Well, when I was on my way here, it started out bad, but ended rather nicely," Harry replied.
"Will you just tell me?" Hermione asked in exasperation.
"Well, I was on my way here to tell you about the dragons and I stopped by to warn Cedric about them when I came across Ron and told him he was a right foul git and -" Harry said in a rush.
"Wait," Hermione said, looking at him incredulously. "Dragons?"
"Yeah, I'll talk about them in a minute," Harry said. "Anyway, I told Ron to stay away from me, but -"
"Harry, are you serious?" Hermione asked. "You mention dragons and I'm just supposed to ignore it while you prattle on?"
Harry sighed.
"You're really trying to spoil this for me, aren't you?" Harry asked and sighed.
"No," Hermione said. "I'm not, I just...prioritise, that's all."
"Well, you asked what I thought was funny, and I'm telling you," Harry said. "Trust me, the dragons are the main reason I came to talk to you this morning and I - I just want to enjoy the fun for a moment, that's all."
"Okay," Hermione relented and waved her hand at him. "Continue."
"Well, I was headed through courtyard by the Owlery -"
"Why were you going there?" Hermione interrupted again. "You could have just taken the exit from the other courtyard near the clock tower - that's where you found Cedric, wasn't it? Hufflepuff students tend to congregate there. It might have been shorter."
"I um, I was probably still lost in the thoughts of the dragons," Harry said and flushed slightly. "I wasn't really thinking about anything else just then, so I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Can I finish?"
"Yes," Hermione said and rolled her eyes, waving at him to continue.
"So I'm going to tell Cedric about the dragons, and run into Ron and Seamus in the courtyard, and tell him what I think after I learned from Hagrid about the dragons and he didn't tell me because of this stupid fight, and going through the other courtyard and I'm about to leave when I run into Malfoy and his goons," Harry continued. "He tried to start a fight with me telling me about some dumb bet he has going on with his father about how long I'll last in the tournament..."
"Sounds like Malfoy," Hermione agreed and rolled her eyes again.
"Anyway, apparently he was going to attack me, because next thing I know, Professor Moody's there and yelling at him about cursing someone when their back is turned, and when I turn around the next thing I know, he's turned Malfoy into a ferret and is bouncing was waving him up and down in the air before he shoved him down Goyle's trousers. Of course it was Professor McGonagall who used Reparifarge to change him back, and yelled at Professor Moody about using Transfiguration as a punishment -"
"As she should," Hermione replied.
"But it was great because everyone saw it, and when Professor McGonagall changed him back, you could see that he was scared. He started shouting that he was going to tell his father, and Moody chased him around the tree - he moves pretty well for being injured," Harry said.
"Anyway, I'm sorry it's so late that I'm here, but Professor Moody asked me to go with him to his office and I think I have a plan for getting through this task, I just need to brush up on my charms to fine tune it a bit."
Hermione felt horrible as she watched Harry finish telling the story of what had happened to delay his arrival and he deflated as the seriousness of the situation took hold once more. She regretted interrupting him so much after seeing him take such a drastic turn.
"So," she said after a moment that she'd used to calm down when she realised what Harry had told her meant. "You said you have a plan?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "At least the start of one. You think you could help me?"
Hermione reached for her bag and pulled out her charms book holding it up. "Tell me about these dragons and this plan of yours."
"Well," Harry said. "I went to find Hagrid after you delivered Ron's message from - yeah, I'm not going into that - anyway, he asked me to meet him at midnight at his hut and to take the cloak."
"That's strange," Hermione said.
"I thought so too," Harry agreed.
"So, you went..." Hermione said and Harry nodded.
"Yeah, that was the whole reason I told Ron he was such a git," Harry answered.
"I don't understand," Hermione said, confused.
"Hagrid talked to Charlie," Harry said.
Hermione blinked before the memory came rushing back. Ron had told them that his brother Charlie worked with dragons in Romania and that was why he had stayed behind during Christmas holidays in their first year, because his parents had gone for a visit.
"You mean," Hermione said and trailed off.
"Charlie's here," Harry explained. "Hagrid said that he helped bring the dragons over."
"You mean Ron knew?!" Hermione cried in alarm.
"Yeah, he knew," Harry answered. "Hagrid asked me if he'd told me. He was quite surprised to find out that he hadn't."
"Well..." Hermione said slowly and then looked at him questioningly. "If Ron knew... then... Ginny would have to, and what about Fred and George?"
"I don't know," Harry replied with a shrug. "Neither seem overly excited, maybe they don't know - of course Ron didn't either, but I think we both know why...Anyway, Hagrid said that he'd been there to see the dragons."
"What a git!" she seethed, clenching her fists. She stood, ready to track down Ron and give him a piece of her mind, but Harry reached out and pulled her to a stop. "What?"
Harry sighed.
"Dragons, remember?"
"Oh," Hermione murmured, calming down a little. "Right. You said that you'd come up with a plan?"
"Sort of," Harry said. "I said I still need to work the kinks out."
"Well," Hermione promptly said. "What is it?"
"Can I ask you something first?" Harry asked.
"Yes, of course," Hermione replied.
"You haven't seen Viktor Krum around lately, have you?" Harry inquired.
"Well... no," Hermione answered with uncertainty. "I mean, I'm not sure why, if it was the article or not, but no, he's not been coming to the library."
"I think I may know why," Harry said.
"What?" Hermione asked anxiously. "Why?"
"Dragons," Harry said and shrugged.
"You mean..." Hermione began and trailed off.
"All the new teachers know," Harry said. "Hagrid asked me to use the cloak because he was..."
"He was what?" Hermione asked.
"On a... date," Harry replied. "With Madame Maxime."
"What?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"Yeah," Harry replied. "It was weird for me, too."
"Well, I guess that explains the suit and his hair," Hermione replied, still laughing.
"Anyway, he took her to see the dragons," Harry said. "No doubt she told Fleur. And then when I was headed back into the castle, I ran into Karkaroff - literally. He was creeping around the forest-"
"Like you," Hermione said.
"The point is," Harry said in exasperation, "that I think he saw Hagrid taking Madame Maxime into the forest. Who knows what he could have heard Hagrid say, you know he's no good at keeping secrets; and by now -"
"He'd have told Viktor," Hermione finished and Harry nodded.
"So, it seems that Triwizard Tragedies was correct and that cheating is a tradition," she said after a moment, continuing her thoughts. "What kind of dragons are we looking for?"
"I heard Charlie tell Hagrid that there was a Hungarian Horntail, Chinese Fireball, Swedish Shortsnout and a common Welsh Green," Harry said. "Why?"
"Because we'll need to research these breeds," Hermione said. "Which means I'll have to stop by the library. I can't check them out, but if you use your cloak..."
"I can smuggle them out," Harry finished with a nod.
"No!" Hermione scolded. "We can't take them, we're not even supposed to know what the first task is, and we don't even know if the others have thought about it and removed them already. I meant that we could read them and you could sit next to me to follow along."
"Oh," Harry said. "Well, that makes sense, until someone tries to sit on me."
"So," Hermione said. "Where should we start?"
"Professor Moody said that everyone will have a plan," Harry said. "And that they will play to their strengths. He also said that we're allowed our wands."
"So, what did you say your strengths were?" Hermione asked.
"I told him I was a fair flyer," Harry replied.
"So, you need to practise a Summoning Charm," Hermione said. "That's easy enough, we can meet tomorrow during breaks to practise. It might be best to start researching the dragons first, see if they have any weaknesses you can take advantage of - to survive, but not to hurt it," she clarified. "I'm not sure flying will be your only weapon, we don't know what to expect, really." Harry sighed.
"Well, that's comforting," he deadpanned.
"Come on," Hermione said. "Let's head back to the common room."
"For what?" Harry asked.
"So you can get your cloak," Hermione answered, rolling her eyes.
"You mean, we're doing this now?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Well, when did you expect to do this?" Hermione asked. "You want to be prepared, don't you?"
"I just want to make it to my next birthday," Harry replied.
"Well, then, come on," Hermione said and led the way back to the castle.
Shaking his head, Harry sighed and ran after her.
"So what do you know about them?" Hermione asked as she followed Harry into the thankfully empty boys' dorm, and was relieved when he pulled his cloak from his trunk. With the way Ron was behaving, and the fact that he knew just where Harry kept the cloak, she wouldn't have put it past him to take it. "Do you know anything at all, or are we starting from basic information?"
She watched, still amazed as he put it on and disappeared, before turning and heading back down to the empty common room, thankful that everyone was busy with other activities, and they were alone.
"Charlie said that the three dragons can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, and the Horntail forty. It took three stunning spells in unison to knock it out," Harry whispered, walking close to her as she led the way to the library.
"Well, that's something," Hermione murmured.
Entering the library, she headed to the back of the room and shifted some of the chairs, moving one for Harry to sit upon, and hanging her bag on the other. "Wait here," she murmured. "It's a good thing we saw where the dragon books are located in our first year when Hagrid was looking at them; I won't have to ask Madam Pince."
Hermione headed to the row she recalled seeing Hagrid come out of with his book on dragon breeding, and disappeared. Skimming the row, she sighed in relief when she found the books hadn't been removed. Going down the row, she pulled out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, A Practical Guide to Dragons by Sindri Suncatcher, The Book of the Dragon by Ciruelo, and Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, that she remembered Hagrid having in his hut when they visited in their first year when Norbert had hatched.
She skimmed the rest of the shelf but didn't think she'd find anything useful in them, then went down the charms section and pulled out Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed before heading back to the table.
Starting with Fantastic Beasts, Hermione slid the book to the centre of the table where she knew Harry was sitting beside her and turned to the part on dragons, then finding the specific breeds he mentioned. The book was quickly discarded however as most of the information was on their description and breeding habits rather than how to deal with them, but some offered information on how far they could shoot fire.
She moved on to A Practical Guide to Dragons by Sindri Suncatcher and found that this book was also of little help as most species were compiled into various types based on their colouring above anything else, and talked at one point that dragons had the ability of speech. However the book was not without its use as with combining the information from Newt Scamander's book with Suncatcher's, she was able to determine that they were dealing with Red, Black, Green, Silver and Blue dragons as listed in Suncatcher's book. Using this information, she flipped to the sections on each and learned about their styles of combat and types of attacks — aside from fire — that they used.
She flipped the pages slowly, allowing Harry time to read and digest the information, turning the pages when she felt him tap her on the leg. Next was Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, but it wasn't very helpful as it only discussed one of the dragons being used in the tournament.
Finally, she turned to The Book of the Dragon by Ciruelo. In it, she learned that it was similar to Suncatcher's book in that it described dragons as being highly intelligent, having language and a social structure. She also learned that they were linked to elements based on their colour, but there was little help otherwise.
Sighing, she returned the books back to the shelf, keeping Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed to check out. Once they left the library, they headed for Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor after not finding him in the staff room on the first floor.
"I'm sorry," Hermione murmured as she made her way up the stairs toward the seventh floor. "I should have asked you to bring the map so we didn't waste time looking for him."
"It's okay," Harry whispered when the stairs were cleared. "I should have thought about it, myself."
"Ah, Ms Granger," Professor Flitwick greeted when he opened the door at her knock. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Hello, Professor," Hermione returned. "I was wondering if I could have use of the Charms classroom during breaks."
"What for?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"I would really like to work on my Summoning Charm skills," Hermione replied.
Professor Flitwick blinked.
"While I appreciate your dedication, you are already quite good at the Summoning Charm, the best in the class in fact," he answered.
"I appreciate that, Profesor," Hermione said. "But I think I could do so much better, I'd really like to work on my distance summoning, if that's alright."
Professor Flitwick scratched his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment.
"I see no harm in allowing you the use of the classroom during your breaks," he said at last. "So long as you return the classroom to its proper order before you depart."
"Thank you!" Hermione said with a smile and shook his hand.
"Oh, you're most welcome, Ms Granger," he called as she turned and started down the hall.
"Goodbye," she called with a wave.
"Good day, Ms Granger!" he called back and Harry shook his invisible head when he heard Professor Flitwick laugh as he closed the door, and Harry sighed before hurrying to catch up with Hermione.
Harry caught up with her on the stairs and when they reached the landing for the charms corridor in the east tower, Harry removed the cloak and stuck it in his bag.
"Hermione," Harry said. "Are we doing this now? I mean, it's almost time for lunch."
"Oh," Hermione said, slowing down. "Do you want to meet me this afternoon instead? I guess I could find out if Ginny or Fred and George know anything about their brother being here..."
"Can you do it tomorrow?" Harry asked. "I'm still really tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, remember?"
"Oh, um...sure," Hermione said. "It would probably be better to be fresh. Why don't we stay after Charms tomorrow then?"
"Alright," Harry said. "I think I'm going to head to the kitchens and see if I can get something to eat, but I feel like I'm probably going to pass out afterward. I'm zonked."
"Okay, Harry," Hermione said. "I'll see you later then."
"Good luck with finding out about Charlie," Harry called and waved as he headed off toward the kitchens.
"Thanks," Hermione called back. "I'll let you know what I find out!"