Dragon Heartstring

Dragon Heartstring, Chapter Three

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way down to dinner in the Great Hall after spending half an hour talking excitedly about what was in store for them that evening, of course Hermione spent the majority of the conversation with her nose in 'Demon Dragons', looking up only to comment,

"You can both speculate all you want, but you won't find out what's going on until this evening, so perhaps you should get your homework done whilst you've got the time."

Ron and Harry of course did nothing of the sort, and continued to talk, gaining only an all too familiar disapproving glare from Hermione.

As the three of them had made their way out of the portrait hole that was the entrance to Gryffindor common room, they had run into Ginny Weasley, rushing in the other direction.

Ginny looked flushed and was breathing heavily. To top off the image, she had a scowl on her face that would do Draco Malfoy proud.

"Gin? What's wrong?" Ron asked his little sister. She was only a year younger than her older brother, and deeply resented being treated like the baby of the family, just because she was the only girl.

"Snape!" Ginny snapped, obviously enraged, and speaking at an advanced speed continued. "He just made me clean out all those disgusting fungus jars in his office because I helped Colin with his potion. I mean what was I meant to do! The stupid git needs to go and..."

Ginny continued ranting in this way, occasionally forcing a shocked Ron to say "Ginny!! Language!" until finally she took a much-needed breath, and Harry stepped in to say that Snape hates all Gryffindors, and that she shouldn't take any notice of him. Had this come from anyone but Harry, Ginny would have snapped at him or her, but seeing as it was Harry, she softened considerably.

"Go and put your books inside Gin, and then you can come down to dinner with us, we've got to ask you something anyway" Ron said putting an arm around his sister, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.

Harry's heart skipped a beat. It was rare for Ron to show any kind of obvious emotion, so when he did you knew he really meant it. Harry knew why he felt this way. He felt like it every time he saw the closeness between his best friends' family. Harry was jealous, and he accepted that. He would never have that kind of sibling relationship, but watching Ron and Ginny did give Harry a warm pleasurable feeling in his heart. There was something else though; another reason why he got butterflies in his stomach, and it was a reason he would never, ever tell anyone, especially Ron. It was Ginny.

Ever since he had seen her last summer he had been looking at her differently. It was during the third week of the summer holidays, the third week that Harry had spent at the Dursley's house at No. 4 Privet Drive that she had turned up on the doorstep.

It was a Saturday morning. Uncle Vernon and Dudley had gone down to some warehouse in Sussex to look at a new computer that Dudley wanted for his birthday, and Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen listening to Radio 2 and making cookies whilst Dudley was out of the house. Dudley amazingly had lost a little weight over the year, due mainly to a diet of nothing but fruit, vegetables and various low fat products, not to mention the forced hour a day cross country run! Due to this miracle, Aunt Petunia had taken to cooking special 'little' treats for her Duddy-kins, (which really did defeat the object of him loosing weight in the first place, but Harry wasn't going to say anything!)

Harry was keeping out of the way as usual, enjoying one of the rare moments he got to himself in the family living room. He had been reading a book that Hermione had sent him all about counter-curses. She had cleverly bewitched it to look like a copy of 'Mary Shelly's Frankenstein' to anyone not wearing Harry's glasses, that way he could study in peace without the Dursley's running into a panic at the sight of a spell book.

Over the years, Hermione had performed so many charms and spells on Harry's glasses, that Harry was sure that they were now his most magical possession. They were shatterproof, water resistant, self-cleaning and could see through Hermione's signature spells, such as the one on this book. Secretly, Harry took great pleasure in constantly wearing his glasses around the Dursley's, who were completely unaware of their magical properties. Had Harry's Muggle, magical fearing relatives known about the glasses, they would no doubt have snatched the magical visual aids, and locked them in the cupboard under the stairs with Harry's Firebolt, wand and potions ingredients, never mind that their nephew wouldn't be able to see where he was going.

The doorbell had rung with its usual monotonous, very normal, ring, quickly followed by Aunt Petunia's sharp voice shouting from the kitchen,

"Get the door Potter!"

Harry had obliged, used to being spoken to in this manner due to 10 years of living with his Mothers sisters' family. Not all that pleased with having to leave his book, which he had to admit, was rather interesting, Harry had gone to open the door, and to his delight, there stood Ginny Weasley.

She had looked different that day, so different that Harry had to do a double take before he recognised her. She was dressed in a fitted white shirt with ¾ length sleeves, a pair of worn, bootleg jeans and an old pair of clean white sneakers. Harry rarely saw her out of her school robes, and this very well put together image changed his whole perception of her.

Another major difference in the girl standing before him was her hair. Still flame red in colour, she had abandoned her usual straight, over the shoulders style for curls, tied back in a tight ponytail. Harry also recognised the necklace she wore as the one that Charlie and Ron had given her for her last birthday. It was silver with a dragon pendant that Charlie had brought in Romania. Ron had had it magically inscribed to say, 'Ginny Weasley', which then faded away to say 'Happy Birthday', which faded once more to reveal, 'Lots of Love from' and finally 'Charlie and Ron. XxX.' She loved that necklace.

"Ginny! What are you doing here," Harry had said, shocked, but obviously thrilled.

Ginny grinned. "Come to see you of course."

"Ginny, my Aunt's in the kitchen, if she sees you here..." Harry had started to say, panic clear in his voice, before Ginny interrupted.

"Your Aunt will have no idea who I am, don't worry! Everything's under control," she finished with a wink.

Harry looked at her intrigued, and was about to say something else, when Aunt Petunia's voice echoed from the kitchen doorway,

"Harry? Who is it?"

Before Harry even had a chance to reply, Petuni was in the hallway, standing inside the doorframe looking disapprovingly of Ginny.

"Can I help you?" she said, looking down her nose at the younger girl.

Ginny put on a dazzling smile, and spoke to Petunia in a voice that sounded remarkably similar to that of Mrs Weasley.

"I'm so sorry to bother you Mrs Dursley. My name is Ginny, I'm staying with my Aunt Arabella for a few weeks, Mrs Figg?" Ginny said, waiting for a nod of recognition from Petunia, before she continued to speak. "My Aunt and I have been moving some furniture around upstairs, and I'm afraid she's strained her back. She asked me if I could come across the street and see if your son was home. She said he was a big, strong lad, and would have no trouble helping move a few things about. I'm doing my best, but I really could use a hand. Is he at home by any chance?"

Petunia's expression softened as this well constructed speech went on; finally breaking into a smile at the compliments she received about her son. Harry just stared dumbfounded at the pack of lies Ginny had just told so convincingly to his Aunt.

"I'm afraid he's gone out with his Father, dear. I'm not sure when they'll be back." Petunia said kindly.

Ginny had hit Petunia right on target. She was well spoken, very pretty, without being overly attractive, polite and showered the older women with compliments - not to mention she completely ignored Harry throughout this charade.

"Oh, that is a shame. My aunt will be so disappointed, she really did want to get the move finished today." Ginny paused, just long enough to look like she was having a new thought. "I don't suppose you could lend a hand?" she said to Harry.

"Umm..." Harry said, taken slightly aback.

"Well, I suppose he could," Petunia said, answering for Harry, "He's not as strong as my Dudley of course, but he's probably be more use to you over there than he is over here, sitting around getting in the way."

Harry bit his tongue at this comment. Petunia knew quite well that Harry did his best to stay out of the way of his so-called family.

"Would you mind?" Ginny said to Harry.

"No, not at all. I'd be glad to help," Harry said, forcing the grin he felt to stay off his face.

"Do you need him back at a certain time Mrs Dursley," Ginny said, turning her attention to Petunia once more, still continuing to be sickeningly polite.

"No, no, keep him as long as you need. In fact, if he could stay over there till about 10 tonight. We're having a little "do" this evening, and he'd only be bored and get in the way."

"No problem," Ginny said smiling sweetly.

"Excellent," Petunia said, obviously glad to have Harry out of the house. "Don't make a nuisance of yourself," she added to Harry as he walked out the door.

"I won't," Harry said, and with that, the door closed behind him, and he was free for the whole day. Free from the Dursley's.

Ginny and Harry crossed the street, and when they were firmly out of the sight of No. 4, Harry, no longer able to contain the elated feeling in his heart, threw his arms around Ginny, picking her up and spinning on the spot. When he finally put her down they were both grinning from ear to ear.

"That was amazing! Thank you so much; you have no idea how happy I am Ginny! You're the best!" Harry said, barely pausing between sentences. Ginny blushed slightly, obviously pleased.

They continued walking until they were a couple of streets away from the Dursley's home, when Ginny moved to open the gate to Mrs Figg's drive. Harry stopped her.

"Hang on," he said, confused, "We really are going to Mrs Figgs?"

"Uh huh," she said in confirmation, "but don't worry, we're not really moving furniture around," she finished, a teasing grin playing on the corner of her mouth.

Harry followed her inside the gate, down the gravel drive between perfect rows of flowers and into the back door. Harry had been to this house many times in his pre-Hogwarts days. Mrs Figg used to look after Harry whenever the Dursley's wanted him out of the way. She forced him to look at pictures of her many cats and eat her chocolate cake. You'd think chocolate cake would be a plus, but Mrs Figg's cooking left much to be desired.

Harry got a surprise when he entered the kitchen. He hadn't been in this house for over four years, and it had certainly changed. No longer were there numerous images of cats around the place. There was no smell of boiled cabbage, and no funny looking mixtures boiling on the hob. It seemed cleaner, lighter and overall, much more inviting.

"Arabella?" Ginny called as if shouting out to an old friend, "I'm back, Harry's here."

"Give me a minute Ginny, take Harry into the living room, I'll be down soon" called a voice from upstairs. The voice sounding oddly familiar, but Harry didn't recognise it as that of Mrs Figg, the old women he knew to occupy the house.

Harry followed Ginny into the living room, which had also changed considerably. Not one cat in sight. The bay window was open letting in a cool summer breeze and the furniture was all new. The pair sat down, and Harry pulled his thoughts away from the strange situation he was in to ask Ginny a question that had been plaguing his mind for a while now.

"Ginny?" he started slowly, "Not that I'm not glad to see you anything, but where's Ron? I thought if anyone were going to break me out for the day it would be him."

Ginny smiled, clearly not offended, much to Harry's relief. "Believe me he tried!" she said. "Mum caught him sneaking out with his broom last week, he was coming to see if you were ok. She had a right go at him, and he's grounded for two weeks."

"I wouldn't have thought that would stop Ron," Harry said with a grin.

"It wouldn't if he'd been grounded the Muggle way," Ginny laughed, "He's been magically bound inside the house. Mum didn't tell him she'd cast the spell, and he tried to creep out the front door! Oh god, Harry it was so funny!" Ginny said in utter hysterics at the memory. "He put one foot outside and suddenly he was thrown back into the kitchen, over the table and landed with this huge crash in the pantry. A bag of flour fell on his head, and he just started coughing, blowing flour everywhere.

He was actually planning to fly right up to your bedroom window and break you out! But anyway, you know mum, she was just as worried about you as he was, we all were, so she sort suggested that I go and stay with her old school friend Arabella, who just happens to live in Privet Drive," Ginny finished with a grin.

"Hang on," Harry said, as he processed this information, "Old school friend? Do you mean that Mrs Figg is a..."

"Harry!" a new voice in the room said in delight before Harry could finish his sentence. The speaker was a young woman, about 35 years old judging by her appearance. She had sleek black hair that hung silkily over her shoulders and deep, dark blue eyes. She wasn't very tall, only a couple of inches above Harry, who had neglected to grow yet that summer, and she wore a pair of opal shaped, black rimmed glasses. She looked so familiar, but no, it couldn't be...could it?

"How wonderful to see you again dear," the woman continued, "I see Ginny got you away from those awful relatives of yours. No offence" she quickly added.

"Umm...yeah. I'm sorry, do I know you?" Harry asked. He couldn't think of a better way to phrase the question. The woman smiled.

"What, don't you recognise me?" she said teasingly, "It's Mrs Figg dear, you remember, the crazy old cat lady."

Harry stared at her for a few moments. The woman certainly did resemble old Mrs Figg.

"You look different" Harry said, feeling stupid as he heard the words come out of his mouth.

"I should hope so! That anti-aging potion took me weeks to concoct, I'd be rather miffed it hadn't worked!"

"Anti-aging potion?" Harry said, not quite believing his ears.

"You didn't really think I was 75 years old did you?" she asked.

"Well..." Harry said slowly, really not sure at what the best answer to this question would be, but to his relief Ginny leapt in and saved him.

"Stop winding him up 'Bella. Harry, Arabella is a witch, she just pretends to be a Muggle, because, well...actually, I don't know why" Ginny trailed off, flashing a quizzical look at the older witch.

Arabella smiled, "I guess I have some explaining to do."

Ginny stepped back into the hallway and the four Gryffindors walked down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Ginny asked Ron inquisitively.

"Well, you were in the Great Hall earlier right, after the explosion?" Ron started.

Ginny nodded in confirmation, "Charlie and Kari were there."

"That's right. Well, umm, Kari thought you might want to come with us later. They won't tell us what we're doing, but we have to go to the DATDA room at seven this evening. You up for it?"

"Sure," Ginny said excitedly, "I haven't spoken to them yet, I was going to go and look for them later anyway."

Harry watched Ginny as they ate their way through plate loads of food throughout the meal. She was speaking animatedly to Hermione about Ron's journey across the kitchen and into the pantry over the summer, Hermione laughing at the image, and Ron's ears going slightly pink at the memory. It was at that moment that Harry remembered Hermione's idea about looking for the missing person, the one wounded party from the explosion.

He scanned the Ravenclaw table, not seeing anyone amiss, then much less enthusiastically, looked up and down the Slytherin table. Better a Slytherin get hurt than a Ravenclaw, Harry found himself thinking. Harry didn't expect to spot the single person missing from the mass in the Great Hall, but to his surprise, the answer was obvious. There was one prominent person missing, someone Harry would have thought he would have noticed missing earlier.

Malfoy.

The blonde haired Slytherin boy was nowhere to be seen.

Harry was surprised to find himself concerned for his rival's well being. If Malfoy had been hurt, and wasn't present to exploit the sympathy of others, and throw around accusations, it must be serious.