Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon

Title: Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon (3/?)
Author: CPoe
Author email: [email protected]
Category: Romance, Adventure
Keywords: Harry, Emily, Hermione, Draco, Ron
Spoilers: All four books
Rating: R
Summary: It's Harry's sixth year, and he meets a new girl that comes along with a lot of baggage. Romances are budding, confusion is all around, and the threesome's life is going to become a little hectic.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon

Chapter 3: The Flying Lesson


Ginny got up at six thirty like she always did, got dressed in her running suit, and tiptoed out of her dorm. When she got down to the common room, she was surprised to see that Hermione was already there, sitting on the arm to one of the larger couches, dressed in the same unitard and sweatshirt she had worn the day before. As soon as she saw Ginny, she got up and walked towards her.

"Morning Ginny," she said, pulling down one of the stretchy legs of her unitard. "This thing rides up like crazy!"

"Mornin'," Ginny said, walking towards the portrait hole and pushing it open. "Wasn't expecting to see you down here already."

"Why? I said I wanted to run with you."

"Yeah, but I wasn't sure if you really meant it," Ginny answered. While she had really enjoyed having Hermione run with her the other morning, she couldn't help but wonder why Hermione had asked to come along. She was the last person that needed to run. She had a lean frame that quite naturally looked like she was someone who ran everyday.

The two of them walked through the deserted halls of the school, and out into the cold morning air. The sun had just come up, and was slowly defrosting the dew that had gathered on the grass the night before. Ginny could see her breath blow out in front of her like pillows of white mist, and was suddenly eager to get to the Quidditch pitch and start warming up.

As they approached the pitch, they walked over to the building that housed the team locker rooms.

"I never did ask you why you wanted to run with me?" Ginny asked Hermione as she sat down on the cold ground and started doing her stretches.

"Er....I don't know," she answered, leaning up against the wall of the building, her left foot behind her right, stretching out her calves.

"Oh, ok, I was just thinking that you don't seem to be doing it to..." and Ginny paused here, not quite sure how to say what she wanted to say. "Well, you just don't really look like someone who needs to be running. That's all."

"Well, to be honest.." Hermione began, changing positions to stretch out her back now, "I did it because it was something we could do together."

"Oh," Ginny responded, bending forward to touch her toes.

"I mean, I realized that we rarely do anything as just the two of us. It's always with Ron or Harry. And, I don't know....I'm getting sick of the all boy atmosphere."

"It never seemed to bother you before."

"ER....Ginny, have you noticed that they've been acting rather strange lately?"

"Not really, why?"

"Well, they can hardly talk to each other anymore without getting into a row over something incredibly stupid. And the other night..." Hermione paused here, and Ginny realized that she had stopped stretching and was just staring into space. "Let's just say that when you came down that morning and found me asleep in the common room, I realized it was time for a change."

"Well," Ginny said, propping herself back up to her feet, "Welcome to my life. Youngest sister to six older brothers! But....I'm sure it's nothing big. I bet they'll be back to normal before you know it."

"I don't know about that. I've never seen them act like this before. Well...Ron has always been touchy about stuff and easy to rile up, you know that. But Harry, he never loses his temper the way he did the other night."

"Did you say anything to them about it?"

"Of course I have. Harry just shrugs it off as 'guy stuff', and Ron.....Ron blows up at me, saying that if I just opened my eyes I'd see what's going on."

"Maybe they like you?"

"What? Who? Harry and Ron?" Hermione asked, a look of utter astonishment on her face. Ginny reached out her hand to help Hermione to her feet.

"That's what it sounds like to me. It was bound to happen sometime."

"No, we're just friends," she said, brushing pieces of grass off her knees. "Ron doesn't like me like that."

"Ron doesn't like you like that," Ginny said with smirk "and Harry does?"

"No, that's not what I mean."

"But that's what you said."

"What I meant to say is that I think I'd notice if Ron liked me."

"And why would you notice if Ron liked you?"

"I just would."

"Why?"

"I don't know why! I just would!" Hermione cried, walking past Ginny and then starting to jog. Turning around, Ginny ran up so that she was jogging right next to her.

"You like him don't you?"

"I most certainly did not say that," Hermione said, running a little faster, but Ginny caught up quickly.

"You didn't have to say it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said, turning her face towards Ginny as she kept up her running pace.

"Oh nothing..." Ginny responded, running up ahead of Hermione.

"Ginny, wait up. You're running too fast," Hermione panted, trying her best to catch up with her. Ginny turned around and began to jog backwards, facing Hermione.

"Do you want me to find out?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in a devious manner.

"Find out what?"

"If he likes you."

"What...no...Ginny...don't you dare!"

"Oh don't worry, I won't walk up to him and ask. I'll hint at it, fish around as only a younger sister can."

"Do you think..." Hermione began, before shaking her head as if it could clear her thoughts, "Ginny, don't you dare say a word to your brother about this."

"About what?"

"About me liking him."

"So, you admit it then?"

"What?," she asked, and then understanding dawned on Hermione's face. "NO!"

"Oh well, too late.

"Ginny, I'm serious."

"Don't worry. I won't say anything," Ginny replied, though, she intended to do just the opposite.

* * * * *

Harry woke up the next morning and pulled back the curtains around his four-poster. The room was empty. Looking at the clock that was up on the wall, the hands for all four of his roommates were on "Great Hall". Not wanting to get out of his warm bed, Harry reluctantly put his bare feet on the cold floor, and walked into the bathroom. After taking a shower and washing up, Harry stood in front of the mirror with just his towel tied around his waste. He stood there for a few moments, looking at himself from all directions. He noticed that his arm muscles had finally started to define themselves, and that if he tensed up his stomach muscles just so, it almost looked like he had a six pack. Almost. He then thought of the look someone would give him if they walked in on him staring at himself like this, and quickly hurried back into the dorm room to get changed for breakfast.

As he walked into the Great Hall, he noticed two things right away. One was that Ron was sitting alone at the end of the Gryffindor table, and the other was that Emily was sitting at the Slytherin table, surrounded by 5 or 6 Slytherin guys, all of whom were laughing at something she was saying. Yeah right, not a Veela. As he looked over at her, she caught his eye and gave him a little nod and a smile. He then noticed that all the Slytherins that had been surrounding her turned around to look at who she was addressing, so he quickly turned around and headed over to Ron.

"You didn't wait for me before coming down to breakfast," Harry said, pulling up a seat across from Ron. From this spot, he had a perfect view of the Slytherin table.

"Oh, sorry," Ron said while playing with his food, making little mounds of scrambled eggs.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked.

"No, it's nothing," Ron replied, finally taking his eyes off his plate and looking up at Harry. "Have you seen Hermione this morning?"

"Oh," Harry said, looking up and down the table. She was nowhere to be seen. Hoping to avoid a discussion about Hermione with Ron, Harry simply shrugged and mumbled "no" through a forkful of eggs.

"It's just that, she hasn't come down to breakfast yet, and it's not like her to sleep in," Ron said, returning to playing with his food. He had obviously finished a while ago, and was most likely just waiting around for her to come down to breakfast. "Are you sure you didn't run in to her on your way down here?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Positive?"

"Yes, I am completely positive that I did not run into Hermione Granger on the way down to breakfast this morning!" Harry said, starting to get annoyed.

"And why should I believe you?"

"I don't know!" Harry began, but then caught sight of Hermione coming into the dining hall, with Ginny at her side, "Why don't you ask her yourself. She just walked in."

"Maybe I will."

"Maybe you should. I bet she'd really enjoy being accused of things she didn't do."

"I didn't accuse you of anything."

"Oh yes you did, in not so many words," Harry said under his breath, just as Ginny and Hermione came over and sat down next to them.

"Morning," Hermione said, as she reached across the table and heaped several spoonfuls of eggs onto her plate.

"Morning," both Ron and Harry said at the same time, Ron returning to playing with his food, and Harry helping himself to seconds. Ginny just sat there, waiting for Harry to finish serving himself so that she could use the serving spoon.

"Where have you guys been?" Harry asked, shooting a quick look in Ron's direction. He was going to show Ron he was being a prick if it was the last thing he did.

"Oh...we...ER..." Ginny began, fumbling a little with the serving spoon as Harry passed it to her.

"We decided to sleep in," Hermione said as she swallowed a mouth full of eggs and almost choked.

"Are you OK?" Ginny asked, handing Hermione a glass of pumpkin juice. Hermione simply nodded as she took the glass from Ginny and started drinking it down. Before long, she was refilling it. This was not the response Harry had hoped for. Are they hiding something?

"Slept in?" Ron asked accusingly, his eyebrow raised. Damn, he had noticed it too.

"Yeah, slept in. We get up way too early in the morning. Right Ginny?" Hermione said, looking in Ginny's direction. Ginny nodded, as her mouth was full. Harry looked over at Ron, who was beginning to turn bright red. Harry braced himself for the worst, and got it. Turning towards Harry, Ron slammed his fork down on the table, and got up, knocking over his pumpkin juice in the process.

"You can all go to hell!" he barked, turned around and walked away, leaving his mess on the table. They all sat there for a few seconds, dumfounded.

"I'll be back," Ginny said, hurrying up and out of her seat after Ron. Harry turned to look at the only person left at their end of the table. She was looking at him, worry in her eyes.

"I don't know how much more of you two I can take!" she snapped, putting her own fork down and crossing her hands over her chest.

"Neither do I." Harry responded, looking over at the doors to the great hall. "Neither do I!".

* * * * *

"Ron!" Ginny's voice came from behind him. He ignored her, continuing to walk across the entrance hall. "Ron, wait!"

He spun around and stood in his tracks, glaring at Ginny. He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, even if it was his little sister.

"What!" he croaked, surprised at the hatred he heard in his voice.

"Don't bark at me like that Ron, that's no way to talk to your sister!"

"Well, in case you didn't notice, I'm not exactly in the mood to talk!"

"What is wrong with you? You're acting like a real jerk!" she said, crossing her hands over her chest. Ron didn't say anything to this, partly because he didn't have a good retort, and partly because he knew she was right. "Ron, I'm serious, what is going on?"

"Nothing!" he barked as he spun around on his heels and started walking back to Gryffindor tower.

"Ron, don't tell me nothing. I've lived with you for 15 years. I know when something is wrong!"

"Look, Gin," he responded, turning to look at his sister who was running along next to him, trying to keep up with his long strides. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"Did I give you a choice, because, I don't think I did!"

"Ginny...GO AWAY!"

"Does this have something to do with Hermione?" she asked. And this stopped Ron dead in his tracks. Did his sister know?

"Hermione? What makes you think this has something to do with Hermione."

"Oh, I don't know..." she said sarcastically. "Maybe because Hermione told me about how you blew up at her the other day!"

"I didn't blowup at her. She had it coming."

"Ron! What are you talking about?"

"Nothing Gin', just leave me alone."

"Ron, come on, you can tell me," she said, softening her voice and putting her hand on his shoulder. He stood there for a moment, thinking about if he really could tell Ginny. Of all his siblings, she was the one he felt closest to. Fred and George were always off in their own world, Percy...well....Percy was just a prat...and Bill and Charlie were too old to relate to. Ginny had always been the one he went to about things. But then, he realized, she was a girl, and the last person he wanted to talk about this with. With that last thought, he shoved her arm off his shoulder and glared at her.

"Just leave me alone!" he snapped, turning again and storming off. He didn't hear her trying to follow him. Good!

* * * *

It was nearly time for dinner, and Harry wished more then anything that Prof. Binns would bore himself to sleep so everyone could sneak off early. History of Magic; on the last period of the day. Someone was obviously trying to punish him and the other Gryffindors. Even double potions would be better then this.

Harry glanced around the room. Neville was sitting just in front of him, his head propped up on his arm, every so often it would drop and he would shake himself back awake again. Hermione was a few seats over from Neville, hastily trying to copy down every word the professor said. Dean and Seamus both had their heads down on their desk, not even attempting to hide the fact that they were fast asleep. Harry turned his head and looked behind him to see Lavender and Parvati, talking to each other in hushed tones, obviously not paying attention to class. Then, Harry looked over at Ron, who was staring off in to the front of the classroom, his quill down on the desk, and his arms crossed on his notebook in front of him. He looked like he was in a far off place, History of Magic the last thing on his mind.

Harry turned back around and glanced at his watch. Only ten more minutes, he thought to himself Just then, Neville turned around and handed Harry a piece of folded parchment about an inch in diameter. Harry took the parchment, and nodded at Neville, who turned back around and resumed his position of leaning his head on his arm.

Harry opened the parchment, and began to read:

Dear Harry,

I was serious about what I said this morning. The both of you are getting out of control and I can't stand it anymore. I have no idea what is going on, but just talk to him Harry. You have to be the bigger person and just end this because Ron is too stubborn to come forward himself. You guys are my best friends and it's killing me to see you both acting like this. I know you guys don't really hate each other, and whatever it is that is driving this hole between you two, it isn't worth it.

Your friend,

Hermione

Harry finished the letter and looked over in Hermione's direction. She had returned to hastily writing in her notebook. Great, now she wants me to patch things up with Ron. If only she knew. How was he going to do this? He had tried numerous times to talk sense into Ron, but every time, Ron had just gone mental on him and accused him of something or another. It was how this whole thing had started in the first place.

Harry folded up the paper, and put it in his bag. As he did so, he turned around and noticed that Ron was glaring at him. Great. Now he'd have to explain this to Ron too. It just kept getting worse.

As soon as class was over, Harry grabbed his books and practically ran from the classroom. The last thing he wanted was to bump into Ron on his way out, because he was almost certain that whatever conflict would have come from it, it would quickly go from verbal to physical.

Harry went down to the great hall and sat down with his fellow Quidditch players, all of which were scarfing down food so that they could hurry off to practice. Five minutes went by before everyone started to get up and head out of the dining hall. As Harry walked through the great doors, he saw Emily approaching, Crabbe and Goyle on each side of her. She proceeded to walk toward Harry, as if completely ignoring him, but then, just as she passed him by, he heard her say, in just above a whisper:

"See you in a few."

Harry could feel himself blush as he hurried to catch up with his other team mates, not even turning back to look at her.

Practice went great that day. Every time Alicia released the snitch, Harry caught it within a few moments, flying around the stadium, his hand raised over his head, clutching the struggling golden ball. Alicia and Angelina were beginning to work on new moves, since they would have to make some changes now that Katie had decided that she needed to spend more time on her school work instead of at Quidditch practice. It wouldn't be until Friday that they knew who her replacement would be. Besides Ron, Seamus and Dennis Creevey were also trying out.

The last drill of the day was what Alicia called "Rotation". It meant that each player had to play another players position, just in case any sudden changes needed to be made during a game. Fred and George would both be chasers, and would be playing against Harry as keeper. Alicia would be the Seeker and Dean would be the offending beater, while Angelina would be the defending beater. It was a half-pitch game, so everything moved a little faster then usual. Fred and George proved to be equally as in sync as chasers as they were as beaters, and Harry had a hard time keeping the two twins from scoring. Angelina turned out to be quite good with a beater club, prompting many crude comments from Fred as he flew by her with the Quaffle. They played for about ten minutes before, giving a triumphant squeal, Alicia went flying around the stadium, grinning from ear to ear, her hand firmly grasped around the little snitch. All six players flew to the ground, and dismounted their brooms.

"Great practice you guys," Alicia said, trying to catch her breath. Apparently, being a seeker was harder then she had thought it would be. "We should be ready to kick those Ravenclaws to the moon and back when we play them next week. With or without Katie's replacement!". And with that, the other six team members started heading off the pitch and back towards the castle. Harry, on the other hand, hopped back onto his broom, and began making little figure eights over the grass.

"You coming Harry?" he heard one of the twins call back to him from over near the locker rooms.

"Nah. I think I'll stay behind and work on my Wronski Feint," Harry yelled back, doing an arial so low to the ground that his robes scrapped the tops of the grass.

"Suite yourself," he called back, and disappeared into the crowd of Gryffindors heading up to the castle.

Harry flew high up into the air, twisting this way and that, spiraling back down again, and then pulling up just before crashing into the earth. The wind felt like it was penetrating his scull, and when it exited, it seemed to take his problems with Ron with it. As he looped around again, he saw movement from out of the corner of his eye. There were two people approaching the Quidditch pitch. Wanting to get a better look, Harry quickly landed his broom and crept along the side of the locker room building. As he approached the corner, he could just barely make out two voices.

"You really didn't have to walk me all the way out here," said a female voice with an American accent.

"I didn't want you to get lost," answered a low, rumbling voice in response. Harry poked his head around the corner, and could see Emily standing there with....Vincent Crabbe! "Do you want me to stay?"

"Oh no, Vinny. You've been such a gentleman already," she began, turning Crabbe around and practically pushing him towards the castle. "Now, hurry back to our common room, and maybe I'll see you later. OK?"

"OK," he said, before hurrying off. As soon as he was a few feet away, Harry jumped out from behind the building.

"Oh Vinny, you were such a gentleman..." Harry mocked in his best female voice. Emily turned around, and smiled.

"I thought he'd never leave me alone. He practically begged me to let him walk me out here. As if I'd get lost walking in a straight line from the castle," she said, walking over to Harry. She was wearing an old pair of sweatpants with a white line that ran down the sides of them along with a hooded sweatshirt with Columbia written across the front of it. Harry also noticed she was carrying a broom. And a nice broom at that. He couldn't quite see the name on it, but it was definitely not one of the school brooms.

"Nice broom," Harry commented, taking the broom from her grasp and turning it around so he could see the name plate, which read in neat etching: Nimbus 2001.

"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it from Draco," she said, running her hand through her hair.

"You borrowed the broom from Malfoy?" he asked with obvious astonishment.

"Well, he doesn't know I borrowed it," she said with a smile.

"You stole a broom from Malfoy," he said, his mouth dropping open. She definitely had nerve.

"I didn't steal it, I just nicked it for the afternoon. I'm gonna give it back," she said whimsically before reaching out her hand. A second passed, and the broom suddenly went flying out of Harry's grip and into hers. "Eventually."

Harry just stood there, staring at his now empty hands. How does she keep doing wandless magic? And why couldn't he ever do wandless magic?

Emily, broom in hand, walked past him and out into the middle of the Quidditch pitch. Harry watched her as she walked, her head up high and her footing sure. There was something about her that he had never noticed with any other witches before. She exuded an aura that was more then just confidence. Or was it? Maybe she was just so sure of herself that she was able to make things happen. Wand or no wand. But then, why hadn't he heard of this happening before? All his professors were confident in their skills.

"Harry?" came Emily's voice from the middle of the Quidditch pitch. Harry fell out of his thoughts and looked up. Emily was standing there, leaning against Draco's broomstick with her right hand on her hip. Oh, right, have to teach her how to fly.

Harry hopped onto his broom, and zoomed over to where Emily was standing. Just before he crashed into her, he pulled up and stopped, hovering in mid air, just a few feet off the ground, such that he was practically eye level with her.

"Show off," she said, mounting her broom and then looking around, as if for some sort of on or off switch. "How do I get this thing started?"

"You just kick off the ground," Harry said. "But be careful, it can be hard to...." But she had already taken off. "Control..." Harry finished. He looked up and saw her sour into the sky. Up and up and up she went. Once she was about 40 feet off the ground, she banked to the right and did a lap around the pitch. And then another lap around the pitch. And then another. Harry watched her from his hoverpoint in the middle of the field, and could tell she was having the time of her life.

After she had done at least ten laps, Harry decided to fly up and join her. As soon as he got next to her, she turned to him.

"This is awesome!" she screamed over the rushing wind. Harry was instantly reminded of the first time he had flown, and how exhilarating it had felt. "How do I make it do stuff?!?" she asked, as if she were a child who had just gotten her first toy. Harry thought about this for a second. How do I make the broom do stuff? He had never really thought about how he did all the dives and turns and cuts, he just did them.

"I don't know, you just do!" he screamed back to her. "Try it, I'll cover you."

"You'll what?"

"I'll COVER you," he repeated. She looked over at him, and it was the first time he had ever seen what looked like trepidation on Emily's face. Good, he thought to himself. At least she's afraid of something! She flew another lap around the pitch, gaining some altitude, and then, quite suddenly, she went into a steep dive. Harry hadn't even noticed it at first, and by the time he did she was a good 10 feet below him, hurdling towards the ground. Harry quickly turned down the nose of his broom and barreled down after her. He was flying as fast as he could, and yet, she was getting farther and farther away from him. Fifteen feet away, twenty feet away, twenty-five feet away. Harry tried to fly faster, frantically trying to will his Firebolt to catch up. He took his eyes off her for a second, and saw that she was only about 15 feet off the ground. Shear panic spread through his body as he realized he would never be able to get to her in time. She was going to crash, and she was going to crash hard. Come on Emily. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up.

And then, she did just that. As if she was a star Quidditch player, she gracefully pulled the broom out of its dive, and spiraled off to the side, flying no more then a foot off the ground. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, as he too pulled out of his dive, and flew around next to her.

"You'll cover me?" she said, a bit of a bite to her tone.

"Emily, that was amazing!! You're a natural. I....I don't even think I could have done that, and they say I'm the best flyer they've had here in a hundred years!" Harry said, beaming at her. He then noticed she was not beaming back.

"Where were you? I could have crashed!"

"But you didn't!" Harry said, doing a little swirl in the air and looping around to face her. "I was trying to catch up to you, but I couldn't. You were flying too fast. Emily, I've never flown against anyone who could fly faster then me. In fact, I didn't think there was anyone at this school who could fly faster then me!" He hovered there, just in front of her. Her face was expressionless.

"It must have been the broom," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"It couldn't have been the broom. Malfoy uses that same one, and he doesn't fly half as fast as you do. Besides, my broom's a hundred times better then that one."

"Then it was beginners luck."

"Could be...." he began, a smile creeping across his face, "but I bet you could do it again." And now, for the first time since her death dive, she smiled. And it wasn't just an upturning of her lips, it was a full blown, Patronus inducing, show all your teeth kind of smile. She then took off at top speed into the air again. He watched her soar about, doing dips and dives and curls and spirals. Within a few seconds, there wasn't a doubt in his mind: she was better then he was!

Harry and Emily flew around the Quidditch pitch for almost an hour. He taught her how to control her speed, and how not to get dizzy after doing several successive spirals. It was starting to get dark, so they both landed their brooms and started heading back to the castle.

"Thank you so much!" Emily said, still wearing her brilliant smile.

"Any time," Harry responded. It was the most fun he had ever had flying before.

"Uhg, I just wish I didn't have to give Draco his broom back," she said, looking down at the broom in her hand.

"You should order one right away. I'll ask Ron for one of his Quidditch mail order catalogues." But then he realized that that was easier said then done.

"Oh, but it will take forever for it to get here! I wish I could just magic up my own stick."

"You can ride my stick whenever you want," Harry offered.

"Oh really," she answered, raising her eyebrows and looking at Harry with a devious smile. Harry could feel his cheeks burn red, and tried his best to hide the smile that slinked across his face. "Sorry, couldn't resist," she added, giggling to herself. She then reached into her bag, and took out her little silver box.

"Again?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes in mock disgust, finally feeling the redness seep out of his cheeks.

"I haven't had one since last night," she said, lighting it again without her wand. Damn, that bothered him. They walked back to the castle in silence. Emily smoking away at her cigarette, Harry aimlessly twirling his broom around, switching it from hand to hand. As they approached the front door, Harry suddenly felt a knot form in his stomach. He instantly knew why it was there, and desperately wished it would go away. Without thought, he looked over at Emily. He'd only known her for two days, and yet, he felt like he had known her for years. She was the easiest person to get along with, and was wicked fun to be around. And, she was beautiful. As much as Hermione seemed to hate the ends of her hair being died pink, he thought it was a nice touch that seemed to go well with her personality. She was the most beautiful witch he had ever seen. Well, there were the Veela, so, the most beautiful human he had ever seen. As he walked next to her, staring at her, he had to suppress the desire to whisk her off into the bushes, to touch her soft skin, to feel her close to him. "Harry?" Her voice suddenly cut through his fantasy. He looked down and realized that he had grabbed her arm. "What is it?"

"ER..." he stuttered, trying to think of some reason, any reason, for why he had just grabbed her arm. He came up empty. He looked up at her face, and their eyes met. Harry instantly felt a wave of warmth come over him, starting at his feet, traveling up his legs, through his chest and down his arms. Her eyes were beautiful, like emeralds, and all he wanted to do was stand there and stare into them for the rest of his life. He felt himself leaning towards her, slowly bridging the gap between them. Loosening his grip, he ran his hand down her arm, the rest of his body still moving towards her. His came to the end of her arm, and went to lace his fingers through hers, but then...

"Owe!" Harry gasped, pulling back and clutching his hand into the side of his body.

"Oh no! Harry, are you OK?" she asked, throwing her cigarette onto the ground and reaching out for his hand. "I totally forgot, I'm so sorry!"

Trying to pull himself together, Harry allowed her to examine his hand, which now had a little purple circle burned into the back of it, just between his thumb and forefinger. She poked and prodded at it, and then looked up at him again.

"Do you want me to fix it?" she asked, a bit of guilt in her voice. Harry instantly thought back to second year when Lockhart had attempted to fix his broken arm, but had instead succeeded in removing his bones. After that incident, he had vowed never to let an untrained wizard or witch try to 'fix' him again. He was about to tell her to forget about it, but before he could even respond, Emily had taken her right hand and passed it over his burnt skin. When she removed it, the burn was gone.

"Thanks," he whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"No prob," she responded, letting go of his hand, which fell limply to his side. He was looking down at his feet, wanting more then anything to just disappear. Here he was, standing across from a beautiful and amazingly talented witch who was being chased by the entire male student body at Hogwarts, and what does he do? He goes and burns himself on her cigarette. In his mind, there was absolutely no way that what just happened could have gone any worse. It was official, Harry Potter had gone from the Boy Who Lived to the Dork Who Lived, and in record time. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow in potions then," she added, stepping a few steps away from him.

"Yeah...I guess," he said, still refusing to allow himself to look up at her again. She then turned around and Harry could hear her footsteps walk up the stairs that led to the entrance hall.

"Harry," she called, forcing him to look up at her. She was leaning against the open door, looking back at him with a smile on her face. "Don't worry about what just happened. You'll have other chances."

Harry then watched her slip through the doors and disappear into the entrance hall, having a hard time fighting back the smile that was sweeping across his face.

* * * * *