Harry was not having a good day. It was July 30th of the year he was to turn six and his mother had just informed him that he would not be receiving a real dragon for his birthday. The audacity, really.

"But I want a dragon!" He whined, staring up into her green eyes with the most innocent expression he could muster.

"Harry, honestly…" She sighed, turning away from him to finish stirring whatever she was cooking.

Harry balked, he had lost to his mother and he never lost when he weaponized his cuteness. He ran to the living room to come up with a new plan. He wanted that dragon and he would get that dragon, no matter what it took. He sat on the couch and crossed his legs and arms, closing his eyes to hatch his brilliant plan. As he plotted, he heard the front door open and chanced a look in that direction. It was Nick, he came in and kissed his mom on the cheek, something they always did. Any other day might have wondered why, but now he had just come up with his brilliant plan.

"Nick!" He called, racing over to him.

"Hey buddy, how are you?" Nick crouched down and extended his arms to him.

"Bad!" He practically jumped on him, clutching onto his shoulders to look him in the eye. "Mommy won't buy me a dragon!"

Nick gasped dramatically, putting a hand to his mouth. "No…"

"Uhuh!"

"She wouldn't!"

"She did!"

"How could she?!"

"I don't know!"

Nick chuckled and picked him up. Looking over to Elise with a smile. Harry pouted in his arms, glaring at his mother. She stood there with her arms crossed, unamused.

"Eli, it's his birthday." Nick sighed theatrically. "The boy wants a dragon!"

Elise rolled her eyes and walked back to the kitchen. "You buy him one then!" She called as she went.

Nick looked at Harry and shrugged. "Shall we?"

Harry's eyes went wide and his face broke out into a huge, toothy grin. Nick mirrored his smile and rushed outside, hurrying to his truck. After buckling him in, he climbed into his own seat and turned to face him.

"Alright Harry, we're gonna go get you that dragon." He said.

"Yay!" Harry threw his arms up excitedly.

"But!" He held up a finger. "Only because it's for your birthday. Don't want mummy thinking I'm gonna let you break the rules all the time now…"

Harry nodded enthusiastically while Nick started the car, a sly grin forming on the man's face as he did so. They had been driving for only a few minutes when Nick pulled the truck into a parking lot. Harry looked around excitedly, scanning the area.

He had no idea where one went to buy a dragon, but he was excited nonetheless. The large building before him was made of brown stone and had huge glass windows. As Nick helped him out of the car and walked him through the massive doors he could feel his heart pounding with anticipation. Bright lights flashed as they stepped over the threshold, he could practically feel the magic radiating from this place, his eyes widened and focused on the scene before him.

Books. All he saw were books.

"Uhh…Nick?" He started. "Where are the dragons?"

"What do you mean? They're right here!" Nick led him to a shelf with books of varying sizes and on all the covers were dragons of crazy shapes and wild colors.

Harry's response died in his throat as he tried to process this misunderstanding. Nick was happily flipping through one of the books while Harry couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. How was he going to break the news to him? That Nick, a grown up no less, didn't know what a dragon looked like was just sad to Harry. He watched as the older man happily thumbed through one of the books and just sighed, he would have to show Nick what a real dragon was.

"Nick, these are fake dragons!" He called up to the man, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Hm, some of them, yes." Nick agreed, glancing at the shelf. "Some are dragons of legend, see?"

He took a book off the shelf titled "The tale of Rouren" and handed it to the almost-six-year-old. Harry took the book and opened it, glancing at the pictures and a few lines of text. It seemed to be a story about a dragon who saved a kingdom from another, evil dragon. Rouren was the good dragon and he worked with a young boy to successfully fend off his dark twin, Dauron.

"Okay, this is a story about a real dragon, but I want an actual real dragon." Harry huffed.

"Oh! Well you should've mentioned that." Nick smiled and went back to his reading, sitting down on the floor happily.

That was it, Harry could feel the annoyance building up, he walked several paces away, clutching the book in his arms tightly. How does one confuse asking for a dragon for asking about a book? He seriously needed to tell his mum to make sure Nick wasn't secretly an idiot.

The library Nick had brought him to was quite large, the largest one nearby anyway. Harry walked up and down shelves looking at whatever he found interesting. He decided he would just read the book Nick gave him to pass the time, settling down on the ground as Nick had done moments before. Harry was in the "History" section of the library, but he didn't know that.

As his eyes flitted across the pages, a strange noise distracted him. He glanced up and saw nothing, so he went back to reading. Seconds later he heard it again. This time he listened closer, training his ear to the noise.

A girl's voice, a very distressed girl's voice, rang out from a few shelves down. Harry peeked through the books to see two older boys in school uniforms push the girl on the ground, dropping her book onto her foot by accident. She yet out a yelp of pain. Harry figured that was because the book she had been holding was the biggest one he'd ever seen, thick and leather bound, it looked ancient and advanced.

Without thinking, he rushed over. One of the boys had shoved his hand over the girl's mouth, trying to silence her cries for help. Although they were much bigger, Harry decided then and there that he didn't couldn't stand bullies, and therefore the logistics didn't matter.

He hurled his smaller body into one of the boys, knocking him backward. The boy, a burly blonde kid, yelled as he fell on his rear. His friend, the one holding the girl, turned to look at the commotion right as Harry's foot connected with his shin. He let out a high pitched squeal and stumbled backward, staring at Harry in utter confusion.

"Leave her alone!" Harry demanded, putting himself between the girl and the two bullies.

"What's it to you, twerp? She deserves it!" One of them said.

"What do you mean 'she deserves it'? She's just a kid!" Harry was seething by now, what right did these two older boys have to pick on someone so small.

"She's a weirdo! She's six and she's trying to go to the third grade!" The blonde boy Harry shoved pointed at her as he spoke like she was some crazed villain.

Harry blinked. "Are you serious…?" He lowered his guard, staring at the two of them.

"Yes! You agree then, she needs to be brought down a peg, she thinks she's a genius that's better than everybody!" The blonde boy took a step closer.

"What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, who cares if she's a genius or if she isn't, why are two big kids bullying a little one? It's not fair and it's not right either!" Harry turned his back on them, holding his hand out to the girl behind him.

The girl, with her bushy brown hair and big, sad eyes, was already on her feet though. She dusted herself off and picked up her book.

"I'm going to tell Miss Wilkins about this, you two. And don't think she'll let you off easy!" She glared at them, hard.

Whoever "Miss Wilkins" was, that seemed to do the trick. The two boys got significantly paler, backing up slightly.

"Don't tell Miss Wilkins, we're already in trouble…" One of them said, his voice becoming notably worried.

"Then what made you think causing more trouble was a bright idea?" She rolled her eyes. "Go away!"

The boys scampered off, leaving Harry and the girl alone in the aisle. He looked toward her, wondering why she hadn't defended herself like that the first time, she looked pretty scary to him. Her eyes were closed as she took a few deep breaths, setting the book down lightly. Harry noticed her hands were shaking a little.

"Why did you let them talk to you like that?" Harry asked.

"Mother said I had to try and make friends, I was only trying to have a conversation with them…" She shifted uncomfortably. "They wanted to find a book about weapons and war, so I tried to point them in the right direction. I know this library quite well you see, and I love showing people around and-"

Harry listened diligently as she rambled on. Her mouth moved a mile a minute, and Harry was sure she was still trying her best to keep it brief. She was visibly distressed and Harry was at a loss on how to help her. Whenever he was upset, his mum always listened to him and said nice things when he finished ranting, so he did the same.

"I'm sorry they treated you in such a way, they shouldn't have. I'd love for a tour around the library, if you want?" He approached her as she finished her explanation, resting a kind hand on her shoulder.

He watched as her eyes brightened, sparkling in the overhead lights. He mirrored her wide smile with his own, motioning for her to begin her tour.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him off, enthusiastically remarking on anything and everything she knew about the place. Harry was dragged along, taking in her word as law, he was so focused on listening to her that he failed to notice Nick trying to get his attention. Ten minutes passed and the girl had just finished up the last section of books, her favorite subject as well, history.

Now back where they started, Harry was laughing and chatting about anything that came to mind with her. She told him about how she was supposed to be going into the first grade, but was trying to get herself in a grade level where she would actually learn. He was amazed by her, to say the least.

"Why are you so smart?" He asked, curious as to how she knew all of the things she did.

"I love to read, so I read about things I want to learn about and I remember them. I've already learned about all the subjects they teach you in your first years of school, I would be bored!" She explained.

Harry considered this. Sure, she could probably skip a few years in school, but that would probably take out any chances of making friends for her, after all, none of the big kids wanted to play with the littler ones.

"So, you don't want to go to first grade?" He asked.

"Correct. Mum put me in this summer camp to get an idea of how I would do in the third grade." She shifted uncomfortably. "It's not going well…"

"Well, what primary school are you going to?" Harry asked.

"Apple Orchard Primary, why?" She responded quizzically.

Harry smiled widely. "That's where I'm going to first grade!"

The girl considered this, sharing a similar smile. Harry thought for a moment, before coming up with a brilliant idea.

"I know you don't really need to learn anything in the first grade, but maybe you should go anyway, there could be something you missed. Also, if we're both in first grade then we can go to school together, maybe even be in the same class!" He told her, gesturing enthusiastically as he spoke.

Unbeknownst to the children, Nick was standing nearby, watching them closely. If he was right, this little girl wasn't a muggle. He could feel a magical signature other than Harry's faintly, even with his distance. He leaned against a wall and crossed his arms, a small smile forming on his face. He needed to take Harry home, but he was having such a good time with his new friend it seemed.

Harry was indeed having a good time. His brand new friend had just agreed to see about first grade, now she wouldn't be lonely! He talked with her for a few more minutes before noticing Nick watching them.

"Oh…" He said.

"What's wrong?" She turned to look in the direction he faced.

"Nothing's wrong, I just am probably supposed to go home." He sighed, looking at the book Nick had handed him in his hand.

"That's a good book, you should check it out and read it later." She pointed at it and smiled. "I'll see you when school starts?"

Harry grinned. "Yep! I hope we have the same teachers, that way we can always hang out."

She giggled, nodding in agreement. "My name is Hermione by the way, Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry, Harry Clarke." Harry walked off then, waving to her as he did.

"Well hello there, did you finally remember I exist?" Nick chuckled as he approached.

"What?" Harry looked confused.

"Nevermind," Nick shook his head. "Look, Harry, the truth is I can't get you a dragon. I took you here to distract you for a little while, I'm sorry I lied."

"That's okay, I guess we don't have room for a pet dragon in the house anyway…" Harry sighed.

"That's true," Nick nodded, glancing down at the book in his hands. "Are you ready to go?"

"Can I take this book with me?" Harry asked, a smile on his face.

"Oh? So you liked the book I picked out? Sure, let's go do that." Nick agreed, taking him to the counter.

It was a very content Harry that was loaded into the truck with his book. He hugged it close to him the whole way home, excited to read it that night.