Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon

Title: Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon (8/?)
Author: CPoe
Author email: [email protected]
Category: Romance, Adventure
Keywords: Harry, Emily, Hermione, Draco, Ron
Spoilers: All four books
Rating: R (to be on the safe side)
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 8: Spy Games

"You haven't said a word."

"I don't have anything I particularly want to say," she responded, puffing a stream of smoke out of her mouth.

"You were great in the game."

"I know. I'm always great. At everything I do. I'm always the best." The words flowed out of her mouth without any thought behind them. It was the truth, though. She excelled at everything she did. Everything. Everything except....

"Emily, sit down," she suddenly heard Draco instruct her. She stopped walking, and stared at him.

"What, right here?" she asked, looking around. "On the ground?"

"Yes," he responded looking right at her.

"You're joking, right?" she replied, looking right back at him. After a few subsequent moments of staring at each other, he unexpectedly threw his arms up and shoved her backwards, causing her to fall onto the ground. "What the hell," she muttered, pushing herself into a sitting position, being careful not to burn herself on her now bent in half cigarette. She leaned back against her arms, and looked up at him in amazement. Did he just shove me? she thought to herself. He simply leaned down in front of her, bending his knees and balancing on the balls of his feet.

"Make up your mind right now," he said, still looking directly at her. His steady gaze unnerved her a bit. "Are you his friend, or his enemy?"

"What the - "

"Right now!" he bellowed. She took her eyes off him, and looked back towards the Quidditch pitch, resisting the urge to send him flying backwards. "You don't think I notice how hard that was for you. How you're eating yourself up about that stupid little confrontation." He paused here, and she could hear him taking deep breaths. "That was easy Em. What will happen when you actually have to go up against him?" She closed her eyes now. He was voicing the thoughts that had been floating through her head for the past few days. This whole agreement was turning out to be harder than she thought it would. She hated the person she had become, and wished that there was something, anything that she could do about it. There were so many times she had wanted to go up to Harry, to tell him the truth, to tell him that she didn't have a choice. But every time she saw him, he seemed so angry with her, so hurt, that she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Then, there was Draco. As much as she hated to admit it, he had been very supportive over the past few days. She knew he was only doing it because they told him to, but he couldn't fake everything. She was beginning to learn quite a bit about him, both his weaknesses and his strengths. He was perhaps the only person she had ever allowed to tell her what to do. She knew they both had fundamental differences in thought, but they somehow got along quite well, considering the consequences.

Realizing that her silence would be viewed as a weakness, she opened her eyes and looked directly at him again.

"I'm sorry if a one-eighty reversal is taking some time here, Draco, but as you can plainly see from my actions, I am sticking to the agreement."

"For now," he muttered in a patronizing tone. Rising to his feet, he reached down to help her up. "I need to know where your loyalties are." She looked at his hand, and then looked back at his face.

"No thank you," she said, using her hands that were behind her to propel her up and onto her feet. It was a trick she had learned when she was younger, no magic involved. "And what about you, Draco. Where do your loyalties fall in all of this?"

"What do you mean?" he inquired, though she could tell he knew exactly what she was talking about. He often asked people to rephrase themselves, and she felt it was his way of manipulating the situation, to force clarification so that he would reveal no more than was required.

"Why do you want to be a Death Eater?" she asked, brushing the grass from the back of her legs. "You don't seem like the type to take orders."

"I'm not," he responded.

"So, what's your reason? Why are you playing the role of dutiful servant?"

"I am watching you because, at this juncture, it is what I must do."

"Well," she said with a laugh, "if that wasn't the most bullshit-filled answer to a question I've ever heard, than I don't know what is." He cracked a smile.

"You see through me, Em. But, you never answered my original question, and so I won't answer yours." She thought for a moment, debating whether the answer she would give would be an appropriate one. The truth was that she didn't know where her loyalties stood.

"My loyalties are with you," she finally answered, unsure why she chose to say 'you' instead of 'the Death Eaters'. He considered her for a moment, and then nodded.

"As are mine."

"Your loyalties are with yourself?" she asked feeling puzzled. Is that even possible?

"Yes, my loyalties are with myself."

* * * * * * *

The following week dragged on in its usual fashion. Draco had received word from his father on Monday that he was to prepare Emily for her initiation, which would take place the following Saturday evening at midnight in the Forbidden Forest. Draco hated the Forbidden Forest, but had little choice in the matter. He suspected that the Dark Lord, himself, would attend the meeting, and he didn't dare go against the orders of Voldemort.

Friday quickly approached, and Draco still hadn't found an opportunity to tell Emily about the impending initiation. He had fought with himself over how exactly to tell her since he received the note, and had yet to come up with a viable solution to his problem. He knew her initial reaction would be one of denial, then she'd probably throw a fit and start screaming at him. Yes, she will definitely start screaming, he thought to himself as he walked down the hallway to the dungeons late Friday evening. He was just returning from a prefects' meeting, and was mentally reviewing. She was so difficult to deal with that he was considering not telling her at all. He would just go and collect her, making up some ridiculous lie about why they had to go into the forest, and then let the Dark Lord deal with her once they got there. This was all supposed to be Wormtail's job, after all.

He rounded the last bend before the entrance to the common room, his mind still a blur with what he was going to do. He muttered the password, pushing back the heavy, stone door that blocked the passage to their common room, and then stepped in.

As his eyes adjusted to the blazing green torches that hung around the Slytherin common room, he became aware of two people having what appeared to be a heated conversation in front of the fireplace. One of them was Emily, as he could tell from her voice. The other was someone who was familiar, but he couldn't quite place exactly who it was. He quietly approached the two figures, and was soon able to hear the context of their fight.

"What else are we supposed to think," exclaimed the person who was arguing with Emily, who Draco now recognized to be Pansy Parkinson.

"Definitely not that!" Emily yelled back.

"Oh, come on Emily. We have eyes you know. I don't see why you'd deny it."

"Because it isn't true!" Emily said. Draco could hear her frustration mounting.

"Right, and I'm not a pure blood," Pansy retorted, slapping her hands onto her hips and glaring at Emily, "You just cling to power don't you? First you go for the most popular wizard in, well, probably all of Britain if not all of Europe." She then paused, "why did you ever cast him aside?"

"He got boring," Emily said in a flat tone, narrowing her eyes. She's getting pretty convincing at denying how she feels about Potter, Draco thought to himself, maybe she really is finally over him.

"I'm sure," Pansy responded with a disgusted look on her face. "Is that what you're planning on doing to Draco, too?" At that, Draco had to catch himself from bursting into a fit of laughter. Instead, he cleared his throat to announce his presence, and both girls swung around towards him. "Draco," Pansy gasped, her mouth dropping open with astonishment to see him standing there. "How nice to see you," she said, finally recovering from her initial surprise. Draco looked over at Emily, who was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Can't quite say the same for you," Draco said, turning back towards Pansy. He found her utterly repulsive, and the thought of her having this conversation concerning him made his dislike for her even greater. She was always sticking her nose into other people's business, and he hated that.

He was vaguely aware of her muffled yelp in response to his reply, before she strode from the room, still muttering to herself as she descended the stairs to her dormitory.

"Can you believe that?" Emily asked, nodding her head in the direction that Pansy had stalked off in.

"What can I say, I'm a heartbreaker." Emily rolled her eyes again, and took a seat in the chair that was directly behind her. Draco did the same.

"Just finished with one of your prefects meetings?" Emily asked.

Draco nodded, wondering if now would be a good time to bring up the topic of the initiation. Maybe she wouldn't get so upset because she had just exhausted her frustration out on Pansy. But, what if adding this onto her frustration about Pansy increased her anger?

"I got a letter from my father asking if I was ready for tomorrow night," Emily suddenly interrupted his thoughts. He looked up at her immediately, trying to read what she was thinking. She was, of course, keeping an unreadable expression on her face.

"Well, are you?" Draco asked, hoping that maybe her father had told her about it in his letter.

"Well, seeing as that it sounds as if you were supposed to tell me what it is that I'm expected to be prepared for," she said, casually looking at her fingernails, and now finally looking up at him in a way he felt was quite clearly not friendly. "NO, Draco, I'm not fucking ready!" she screamed.

"Calm down Emily. It's not a big deal," Draco said in his most soothing voice, trying to calm her down a little bit before he actually told her. This was going to be bad. Very bad.

"Oh, really. Not a big deal? Then why haven't you told me yet?" she asked, her voice still raised well above that of a normal conversation.

"I forgot," Draco said with what he hoped was a convincing shrug. "It's just a little meeting, and they asked me to bring you along." He stared at her, hoping she was buying his lie. She wasn't.

"Do you take me for a sack of shit, Draco?" she said, spitting the words out, crossing her arms over her chest and looking off into the fire.

"Well..."

"Draco, I'm warning you," she growled, casting her glare away from the fire and back at him.

"It's your initiation," he said, she still stared at him. "Tomorrow." She continued to stare at him. "At midnight."

"And..."

"And there's a slim, almost nonexistent chance that the Dark Lord will be there." At this, she jumped up from her seat and started to walk over towards the exit. Draco did the same, following after her.

"Emily!" he called, but she didn't acknowledge him. In fact, she completely ignored him. She swung the heavy stone door open, and proceeded to stalk down the hallway. "Emily, where are you going?" he called, hurrying up to her such that he was now walking beside her. She continued to ignore him. Realizing he wasn't going to get her attention this way, he jumped in front of her, and tried to grab her shoulders. But, with a simple wave of her hand, she sent him flying hard against the stone wall, and the last thing he remembered was his head slamming hard against the cold stones.

* * * *

"Draco!" she screamed for what she felt was the hundredth time. She shook him again, and still, he lay there not moving. She could tell that he was still alive because he was breathing, shallow as it was, at a steady rate. "Draco, please, wake up!" she screamed again, shaking him a little bit more. Finally grasping the fact that shaking him wasn't going to do any good, she stood up and levitated his body from the ground. Where his head had been, she saw blood staining the hallway floor. Trying not to think about that, she started to move his body down the hallway and into the entrance hall.

She was grateful that no one was milling about, and proceeded to steer him up the stairs towards the third floor where the hospital wing was. She had never actually been there before, but was vaguely aware of its location as being near their defense against the dark arts class. As she approached the classroom, she started to look around and noticed a small hallway that lead off the main one. She approached it, and looked up it to find a large wooden door with the words "Hospital Wing" written on them. Thank God! She thought to herself as she walked down the hallway and opened the door, steering Draco's body into the main room. As soon as she entered, she saw a short woman come running up to them.

"What happened?" she gasped, looking at Draco and motioning to Emily to place him down on the bed to her left. Emily also noticed that she gave her a rather strange look when she saw that she wasn't using a wand to lift Draco, but the lady didn't mention anything about it.

"He, uh..." Emily started, trying to think of a reason to tell this lady for why he had hurt himself. She didn't think I threw him up against a stone wall would play well. "He...tripped," she finally stammered.

"Where?" The lady asked as she began to examine Draco. She turned him onto his side and placed her wand onto the wound in the back of his head.

"In the dungeons," she said. The lady looked up at Emily. "He was running...really fast, because, uh, because he forgot something in the room they had their prefect meeting in! Yeah! And, anyway, he came running around the corner and, uh, and I was there and he tried to dart out of the way, but he tripped, and hit his head against the wall." The lady seemed to consider her story for a second before responding.

"Well, he's lucky you were there to, er, help him," the lady said, turning back to Draco. "I don't believe we've met face to face before Ms. Waters," the lady added as she began moving her wand in little circles around Draco's head. Its tip kept changing from yellow, to blue, to red, to green and back to yellow again.

"You know who I am?" Emily asked.

"Yes, well," the lady said, still moving her wand in circles, "I've heard quite a lot about you."

"Y-you have?" Emily faltered.

"The headmaster came in to see me just after you arrived here," she said, turning now and walking over to a cabinet that stood on the wall.

"He did?"

"Yes," she answered, opening the cabinet and peering into the top shelves. She stood up on her toes, reaching for what looked to Emily like a large, purple jug that was about four inches out of her reach. "Oh, dear," the lady said, lowing herself off her toes and turning back towards Emily. "I don't suppose you could give me a hand here?" she asked in a sweet voice.

"Sure," Emily responded raising her hand, about to summon the jar off the shelf without using her wand, but then paused, realizing that perhaps that wasn't the best idea.

"Oh, don't worry dear," the lady responded as she saw Emily lower her hand. "It's quite alright, go ahead." Emily looked at the lady for a moment, and then raised her hand and summoned the jar down and landed it gently on the table next to the short witch. "Thank you," she replied, picking up the jar and walking back towards Draco. Emily stood there for a moment, before she managed to ask the question that kept bellowing through her head.

"How did you know?"

"I told you. I've heard quite a lot about you," she answered, removing a measuring cup from a drawer next to Draco's bed and measuring out a quarter cup of slimy purple liquid, for Emily quickly realized that it wasn't the jar that was purple, but the contents inside. "The Headmaster left strict instructions that should you ever be brought to the hospital wing for any sort of....injury...that he should be informed immediately before I began to treat you."

"But, what if I were seriously hurt?" Emily asked, greatly insulted that any sort of treatment would be halted because the doddering headmaster wanted to be informed first.

"Oh, I seriously doubt that would ever happen," she responded, opening Draco's mouth and pouring the purple goo into it. After she had emptied the measuring cup, she clamped his mouth closed with her hand. "Can you hold this for me while I go and grab something?" she asked, motioning to Draco's mouth. Emily hesitated for a moment, and then stepped forward, placing her hand under his jaw and pushing it up so his mouth would stay shut. The lady walked away and into a back room.

A few moments later, she returned with a large roll of orange gauze.

"Thank you," she said, "That should be enough." Emily stepped away from Draco and watched as the lady wrapped the orange gauze around his head several times, effectively bandaging the wound.

"Can't you just mend it?" Emily asked.

"Yes, well, head wounds are rather tricky, I prefer to allow them to heal on their own with a little help from the Laceratius potion," she said, turning her attention towards Emily since she had finished wrapping Draco's head. "Though, I'm sure you would have done a nice job healing it yourself." She smiled at Emily, and then walked towards the back room to reshelve the orange gauze. Intrigued by this woman who seemed to know so much about her, Emily followed her.

"Why do you think I'd do a good job healing his wound? I couldn't, that's why I brought him here to you," Emily said, entering the back room which she instantly recognized as an office of sorts. On one side was a large closet, which probably held supplies, and on the far side was a large window that overlooked the lake, and opposite that was a very large, very cluttered desk. The lady was sitting behind it, and was leafing through a stack of files to her left.

"You didn't think you could," the lady said, after which she stopped looking thought the files and looked up at Emily. "That's why you brought him here."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, aware that her voice sounded frustrated and tried. She didn't mean it, but she couldn't help it. Why the hell does this lady seem to know so much about me?

"There are still a lot of things that I'm sure you don't understand," the lady answered as if they were talking about something mundane and ordinary. "Yet."

"Yet?"

"Yes, well, you're learning every day aren't you?" the lady asked. "When you came here you didn't know you could summon things like you can, now did you?"

"Well, no," Emily admitted, still completely confused about this entire conversation.

"With time, you'll slowly discover all your talents," she said. "In the meantime, I suggest you choose when and where to use them with caution," she warned. She then returned to her filing and added, "Cheating in a Quidditch game shouldn't be one of those times."

"Oh," Emily answered, feeling a little embarrassed. "Does the headmaster know about that?"

"I suspect he does," the lady answered. "But I'm sure he has more important things to see to than reprimanding you."

"Do other professors know?"

"No, I believe it is just the headmaster and myself," she said, "Oh, and perhaps Professor Snape, though he may still be in denial about that Luminas potion."

"I still don't understand why the Headmaster told you," the lady looked up in alarm, "I mean, no disrespect, of course, but I don't understand why."

"Well, he had to warn me," she responded as if the question was ridiculous. She then softened her voice and continued, "I must admit that I didn't believe him at first. It wasn't until I heard about your incident with the Luminas potion, and then saw you in that Quidditch game, and then finally saw you bring in Lucius' boy without your wand that I realized for sure why he had done so."

"Why did he warn you?"

"Because, if I treated you as I would any other young witch or wizard that came in here, it would have disastrous effects."

"Disastrous?"

"Yes, disastrous. When you magically heal someone, you feed off of their own powers to do so. You sort of borrow some of their magic, which is why even the most well trained mediwitches can't heal themselves. You need a lot of power to magically heal someone, and borrowing it from the wounded individual is the easiest way of gaining enough strength to perform the spells. This it is also why I didn't want to heal young Mr. Malfoy's head injury. I would have to drain some of his own strength to do so, and to do so when your patient has a wound in such a region can sometimes cause ill effects." She paused and looked up at Emily. "You, however, could have easily healed Mr. Malfoy without using any of his strength, since you have so much of your own. I suspect you've healed others, not exactly knowing how you did it?"

"Well, yes," she admitted, remembering back to when she was younger and used to heal all her friends cuts and bruises. And then remembering when she healed Harry's burn. She quickly pushed that memory out of her mind.

"Most witches have to be trained to learn how to aptly use someone else's magic, it isn't easy to do. But, since you don't have to use the other person's magic, I'm sure it's quite easy for you to will it to happen, am I correct?" Emily nodded. "I'm sure you can even heal a non-magical being, which is something I can't do." Emily remembered when she had healed her Muggle neighbor (and had frightened the boy's parents), and nodded again. "Now, if I attempted to borrow your magic to heal you, as I would normally do with any other patient that came in here, I would probably end up killing myself and everyone else in the room, including you. Your power is so strong, that my unlocking it would, as I said before, be disastrous." Emily thought about this for a moment, before another question popped into her head.

"So, what would happen if anything did happen to me?"

"Well, I seriously doubt anything could happen that would require my help, or anyone else's help for that matter. You'd naturally heal yourself in most cases. I suppose someone could stab you straight through the heart with a sword, and you'd live to speak of it."

"How do you know this? How did the headmaster know to warn you?"

"The headmaster doesn't need Luminas potion to accurately gauge a witch or wizard's magical ability. He could tell by seeing you the power you possessed."

"Oh," Emily said. So he could see that I'm powerful, but not necessarily that I'm...I'm... "Does he know how I got these powers?" Emily asked, trying to see if what she suspected was in fact the case.

"Well, you were born with them of course!" the lady responded, eyeing Emily suspiciously, "Your parents are very lucky to have been blessed with such a powerful child," she then added with a smile. Emily took in a deep breath, glad that this lady didn't know she was the Emerald Dragon. But, does the Headmaster?

"Will Draco be all right?" Emily asked, changing the subject a bit.

"Ah, yes. He will probably be up and about in a few days."

"Days?" Emily practically yelled.

"Calm down," the lady said, raising her hands a bit. "He took a nasty bump to the head. He has a slight concussion and some tissue damage. But he will be fine after ample rest."

"Will he be conscious soon?" she asked, trying not to sound like she desperately needed to speak with him, though that was exactly what she needed to do.

"He should be awake in a few hours, I'd try back tomorrow morning. He should be up and about by then, but he can't leave the hospital wing until I feel he is functioning at one hundred percent." Emily considered this for a moment, and decided that at least if she could talk to him, ask him about the initiation, she would feel more at ease. She also thought that, perhaps, if he couldn't talk to her, she could technically just skip out on the initiation. No, I can't do that, she quickly told herself, He said that the Dark Lord might be there, and I can't just skip out on that.

"Okay," she said, turning to leave.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Waters," the lady responded. Emily turned around.

"It was nice meeting you, too, Ms..." it was then that she realized that she had never bothered to ask the lady's name.

"Madame Pomfrey," the lady said with a smile. "Do be careful now, and, remember what I said about those Quidditch matches." Emily smiled back, and left the hospital wing, glancing back at Draco as she did so. He was sound asleep, the large orange bandage wrapped around his entire head.

* * * * *

Hermione woke early the next morning and dressed in her running outfit as she had every morning for the past few weeks. She had to admit that the running was beginning to define her body nicely, and she had definitely noticed a difference in Ginny. And, she wasn't the only one. Ginny had been spending a lot of time hanging around with Oliver Wood ever since that dreadful game against the Slytherins, much to Ron's annoyance. As much as Hermione had tried to change his mind, Ron kept saying that Ginny was his little sister and 'letting her traipse around with a grown wizard would bring disgrace to her and her entire family.' Hermione saw no problem with Ginny dating Wood. He was older, but he had been a respected Gryffindor. Ron, of course, could not be convinced of this.

Pulling her hair up into a high ponytail, Hermione left her room and met Ginny in the hallway.

"Morning!" Ginny chirped in her usual, happy, morning voice.

"Morning," Hermione croaked back, secretly cursing herself for always sounding like an old man when she woke up. They both walked down the stairs and started towards the portrait hole. Just as they were about to exit, she noticed Ginny pause for a second. "What's wrong?" Hermione whispered, but Ginny just put her hand up, signaling Hermione to be quiet. She was listening, and after a few moments she put her hand down and then proceeded to walk though the hole and out into the hallway.

"I thought I heard something," she responded after a moment. "Can't be too careful, you know."

"So, how far do you want to run today?" Hermione asked, starting to stretch out her arms as they walked.

"I was thinking ten kilos."

"Ten?" Hermione gasped, dropping her arms at her sides. "I don't think I can do ten."

"Sure you can," Ginny said in her I could be an athletic trainer if I wanted to voice. "We did six yesterday."

"Six is four less then ten," Hermione pointed out.

"I may not be as smart as you are, but I can do simple math," Ginny responded with the slightest trace of a scowl.

"I just don't think I can handle ten," Hermione said, eyeing Ginny suspiciously. "Taking another walk with Wood tonight?" she asked.

"Ah...erm..."

"Oh, come on. I can tell," Hermione said, watching Ginny turn a rather bright shade of red. "Do you honestly think he'll notice if you run an extra four kilos this morning?"

"Well -"

"No, he won't. Truthfully, I doubt he'd even notice if you ran an extra four kilos every morning for the next six months!" Hermione said with a scowl of her own. "Ron certainly hasn't noticed anything." Just then, Hermione thought she heard a noise from behind her, but when she turned to look, nothing was there. "Did you hear that?" Hermione asked. Ginny shook her head.

"He really hasn't noticed?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, hasn't said a word."

"Just because he hasn't said anything doesn't mean he hasn't noticed."

"We're talking about Ron here. If he noticed anything different about me, he'd probably be suspicious and question me about it every second of the day," Hermione responded, and saw that Ginny instantly agreed.

"I don't know how you put up with him," Ginny replied, shaking her head a little, "He's my brother, so I don't have a choice in the matter, but you..." Just then they both swung around. Hermione knew she had heard something behind them. "You heard that, right?" Ginny asked.

"Who's there?" Hermione yelled down the hallways. Only her echoes responded. They stood there peering down the hall, but saw nothing. "Probably just Peeves," Hermione said with a shrug. She turned towards Ginny who seemed to have a distressed look on her face.

"You don't...don't think he'd...he'd tell, do you?" Ginny stammered out.

"Even if he did, who'd believe him?" Hermione said, turning around and resuming their trek to the pitch.

"I suppose," Ginny said, hurrying a bit to catch up to her. "You never did answer why you put up with Ron."

"I thought it was your idea to put us together in the first place. Now, you're going to ask me why I put up with him?"

"Well, I never really thought about that at the time. I mean, I put up with him because I love him, but..." Hermione chose not to respond to that, and instead just kept walking, keeping her focus on the hallway in front of her. "Unless..."Ginny said, slowing down her strides such that soon Hermione was a good two meters in front of her. "Unless..." she said again, and Hermione could hear that her footsteps had stopped. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?" Hermione responded, swinging around and taking a few footsteps back towards Ginny. She tried to make her voice as even and non-inflected as possible. "What?"

"You do don't you!" Ginny said with a smile.

"I what?" Hermione asked as if she had no clue what Ginny was talking about.

"Oh, come on Hermione. It's so obvious. I can see it written all over you face," Ginny said, now laughing a bit.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked, honestly not knowing why Ginny would find this so comical.

"He's my brother!" Ginny responded, now laughing even harder. "You're in love with my brother!"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to!" Ginny said, now practically doubling over with laughter. Hermione couldn't resist herself anymore and she too began to laugh. "I just can't believe it." Realizing there was very little she could keep from Ginny, Hermione decided to give in.

"If you told me this would happen last year I would have thought it absurd."

"Have you told him yet?" Ginny asked, sobering up a little, but still giggling a bit.

"Oh, definitely not!" Hermione responded. "You're the first person I've told actually."

"Even Harry?"

"Ginny, you know I would never talk to Harry about something like this," Hermione responded, and then added, "Especially now." She thought of how upset he still was over the whole Emily Incident, as they had all become accustomed to referring to it as.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Ginny responded, quieting her laughs and calming herself completely. "He seems to be handling it a little better now, don't you think?"

"If you can call voluntarily, occasionally talking to us better!" Hermione responded. Every time she thought of how sad Harry always looked, she couldn't help but feel sad, too. And angry. And frustrated.

"I don't think it's any better that she left him for Malfoy of all people," Ginny added.

"Yeah, I don't suppose it is," Hermione responded as they walked into the entrance hall, "I wish there was something I could do to make him just forget he ever met that horrible bitch," she added, but then instantly regretted it. For, standing there in the center of the entrance hall, was Emily.

"Speak of the devil," Ginny said, raising herself up to her full height. Hermione, however, was lost for words (for what she felt was the first time in her life!). Emily, also, seemed a little startled by them. Her face was expressionless, and she just seemed to be staring at them, or even through them. "Come on, Hermione," Ginny finally said, taking Hermione's arm and guiding her off to the left towards the great doors.

"You guys just don't understand," Hermione heard Emily mutter softly from behind them. They both swung around, and Hermione finally found words.

"We don't understand? Oh, we understand perfectly," she said, taking a few steps forward. She paused for a second, thinking of what had happened the last time she allowed herself to get out of control with rage against this girl.

"Do you? Do you really think you understand?" she asked with a tone that surprised Hermione a little. It wasn't anger, or hatred. It was more like grief, or sadness. She's just bluffing, Hermione thought to herself as she finally found her courage and continued to walk towards Emily, not quite sure what she was going to do once she got to her.

Suddenly, they were standing face to face. Hermione took a deep breath, and said the words that she had wanted to say for weeks.

"You broke his heart, and don't even give a damn," Hermione said in the most hateful voice she could muster, Emily turned her face away from her in response. Even Malfoy doesn't deserve you, she then thought to herself, as she looked at the pathetic excuse for a witch that stood before her.

"Why does everyone think I dumped Harry for Draco?" Emily responded, turning her attention back towards Hermione and flinging her arms in the air in disgust.

"What?" Hermione heard Ginny respond from just behind her. Until that point, Hermione had practically forgotten that Ginny was there, and had certainly not realized she was only about a foot behind her.

"Draco! Why does everyone assume I'm going out with him?"

"You..." Hermione started, but then stopped. You can hear me, can't you? She thought to herself, staring straight at Emily. And she got the response she wanted, because just then, Emily stepped back, placing her hand over her mouth.

"What's going on?" Ginny said, looking between Hermione and Emily. "Why are you guys staring at each other like that?" Hermione didn't respond, and neither did Emily.

Can you hear me? Hermione suddenly heard Emily's voice echo through her head. She didn't move, and tried more than anything to clear her own thoughts.

"Well, can you?" Emily asked out loud.

"Can she what?" Ginny asked. Emily ignored her, and kept staring at Hermione.

"Well, can you?" Emily repeated out loud. Finally unable to keep her mind blank, Hermione decided to respond.

Yes.

"What the hell is going on?" Ginny suddenly screamed, drawing out her wand and pointing it at Emily.

Tell her to back off, before she gets hurt, Hermione heard Emily's voice again.

You wouldn't dare hurt her.

I would if I had to. Now tell her to back off. Hermione considered her for a moment, and then turned towards Ginny.

"Ginny, it's okay. Just calm down," Hermione said in a soothing tone.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," Ginny responded, poking her wand at Emily in a threatening manner.

"Ginny, I'll explain to you later," Hermione said under her breath to Ginny.

Please don't tell everyone about this, Hermione heard Emily again.

"What, and help you?" Hermione asked aloud, aware that this might upset Ginny even more, but she didn't care, the NERVE of this girl.

I don't want certain people to find out. Just, for once, trust me.

"Honestly! You must take me for a fool if you think I'd trust you after all you've done," Hermione responded, aware that her voice had gone up a few decibels. Just then, she heard a loud noise behind her, and she swung around, aware that Ginny had done the same. And, as before, she saw no one.

If I didn't know better, I'd think you two are being followed.

Shut up Emily! I don't need your in-head commentary at the moment.

Fine. I'm leaving anyway. Just please don't tell everyone.

I don't see why I should do you any favors.

Because you don't really know me Hermione, and I'm not who you think I am.

So you're not the emerald dragon, and you're not going to try to kill Harry? Hermione asked, still staring at the spot where she had originally heard the noise. But there was no response. "Well, are you?" she asked aloud, spinning around towards Emily. Except she wasn't there. She looked up, and saw her climbing the staircase and then disappeared onto the third floor. "Damn it!" she said, stomping her foot onto the ground. She then turned to look at Ginny, and almost gasped at the look she was giving her.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ginny demanded.

"Not here, come outside and I'll explain."

* * * *

Ginny followed Hermione through the heavy doors, but as soon as they were outside and the door shut behind them, Hermione grabbed her and pulled her down and into the rose bushes off to the side. Ginny just barely caught herself from falling over.

"Ok, if you don't..." Ginny began, just about ready to attack Hermione if she didn't start explaining soon. First she was just standing there, staring at Emily and having this nonsense conversation with her, now she's shoving her off into the bushes.

"Shhh..."Hermione said, pointing towards the door and lowering her voice to a whisper. "I want to see who's following us."

"Oh," Ginny said, "but then you'll tell me what's going on, right?"

"Right."

They both sat there in the bushes for a few moments before they finally saw the heavy door squeak open. The bushes were thick, and Ginny could hardly see a thing through their branches. She could barely hear whispering, but couldn't make out who it was. After a few more moments, the door opened wider, and two figures stepped through the opening.

"Damn, I think we lost them!"

"They couldn't have gone far."

"Yeah, well, I don't see them, do you?"

Just then, Ginny felt Hermione jump up from her hiding spot next to her. Reluctant to follow, Ginny slowly raised herself from out of the bushes.

"I don't even believe this!" Hermione growled, stepping around the bushes and walking up the stairs that lead to the entrance. Ginny followed, not quite sure she really wanted to be here right now. She was amazed that she wasn't outraged at the moment, as she thought she would be whenever she played a similar situation over in her head. Instead, all she could think was that this was definitely not going to be pretty. She looked past Hermione, and at the two boys that stood opposite them. Harry looked as though he was having the same thoughts as she was. "You were spying on us!" Hermione bellowed.

"We, ER, uh, ER..." Ron faltered. "Well, what were we supposed to do? You refused to tell us-"

"Because we didn't want you to know!" Hermione responded even louder then before. "Did that thought ever cross your thick skull?" she added, dropping her fisted hands to her sides.

"I just - "

"You just didn't think. You never think. You draw crazy conclusions and theories out of thin air that have no basis in reality. You're like a little child!"

"I am not a little child!"

"No Ronald, you're not. So why don't you stop acting like one!" she screamed. She then looked past Ron and over at Harry. Ginny noticed that he seemed to shrink back as her gaze met his. "And you!" she continued, "I can't believe he convinced you to tag along with him. Of all people I'd think you would understand the concept of privacy!"

"Hermione," Ron pleaded, placing a hand on her arm. She quickly shrugged it off.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she hissed, taking a few steps away from him. She glared at him for a few moments, and then stormed up to the doors, and disappeared behind them.

The three of them stood there for what seemed to be ages, until finally Ginny couldn't take it anymore.

"You couldn't just leave it alone, could you?" she said, eyeing Ron.

"Shut up, Gin," he responded.

"Don't take this out on me," she warned, walking up the stairs so that she was on the same landing as they were. "This is in no way even close to being my fault."

"You guys go running every morning?" Harry suddenly asked. Ginny turned to him and nodded. "That's what you've been doing?" She nodded again. "But, why is that such a big secret?"

Ginny was about to yell at him, but then realized he was brought up by Muggles and probably had no idea that running was taboo in the wizarding community.

"Witches aren't supposed to run," Ron responded. "It's stupid and a complete waste of time."

"Thanks, Ron, for being so understanding!" Ginny said sarcastically.

"Well, it is. If Mum and Dad ever found out-"

"You can't tell them!" Ginny suddenly said, rushing forward and grabbing Ron by the shoulders. "I would kill you!"

"I'd like to see you try," Ron responded, and Ginny was suddenly well aware of how tall Ron really was. Damn older brothers! "But I won't tell them."

"You won't?"

"I don't agree with all this, but I'm not going to go flying off to Mum and Dad and tell on you," he said, and then added, "That would be the childish thing to do."

Ginny looked up at her brother, and could see the pain in his eyes.

"She didn't really mean what she said," Ginny responded, relaxing her grip on his shoulders and looking over at Harry. "She was just upset," she added, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head towards Ron. "The only reason she didn't tell you was because I made her promise not to."

"Yeah, Ron," Harry said, catching Ginny's hint. "I mean, you heard what she said back there, about, you know." Ginny noticed Harry looked a little uneasy, but he pushed on. "You guys fight all the time, if you didn't, then I'd worry. Hey, if it weren't for her being pissed at you....I doubt you'd ever have gotten up the nerve to..."

"Okay, okay. I get it," Ron said. "Enough with the cheering-up gig," he added with his usual hint of sarcasm. "Does anyone know what time it is?"

Ginny looked down at her watch. "Almost time for breakfast," she answered.

"Good, that gives me some time to find her before the school is swarming with students," Ron said, making his way up the stairs.

"I doubt she'd be in the dorm," Ginny yelled after him, remembering that all her dormmates would still be in the room and that Hermione would probably want to avoid them.

"Yeah," Ron began, swinging the door open. "I think I have a pretty good idea where she is," he said, before disappearing behind it.

"So," Harry said, shifting his weight from the balls of his feet to his heels and then back to his balls. "What was that whole thing in the entrance hall about?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean between Hermione and, and," Ginny paused, looking down at the ground. "The new girl?" Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny could see him nod. "I haven't the faintest idea. It was weird, whatever it was. They were just staring at each other, and talking nonsense."

"Yeah, we heard that. It was almost like fragments of a conversation. Similar to listening to someone talk on the telephone when you can't hear the person on the other end."

"The tele-what?" Ginny asked.

"You know, telephones. Ron used one once to call me over the summer."

"Oh, the thing you yell into and the other person can hear you and yell back?"

"Yeah, I guess, except you don't have to yell," Harry said before adding, "In fact, you shouldn't yell."

"Oh."

"Yeah, well, it was just weird listening to them talk like that."

"She said she'd tell me later. I'll have her include you in the conversation. And maybe even Ron, you know, if they're talking."

"Oh, they'll be talking," Harry said. "I'm sure he's declaring his love for her right now and she's melting in his arms."

"Yech," Ginny respond.

"Tell me about it." * * * * * *

End Note: Thanks to everyone who has commented on/reviewed my chapters either by E-mail or on Schnoogle's Review Board. I can't tell you how much your comments help me along with the story. Keep reviewing (or e-mailing me directly), I love it! And all you silent readers out there, make some noise!

OK, next chapter (coming soon!) - We meet Voldie and the Death Eaters!