Tutoring A Dragon

Multiple Perspectives

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione called, but it was to late. They were gone.

She disentangled herself from Draco, who was glaring at the door.

She ran out of the common room, but they were gone. It wasn't the 'gone' part she was worrying about. She was worried that they would never come back.

~*~

Harry dropped into the Gryffindor common room, grimacing with emotional pain, a lone tear trailing down his face.

'How could she?' he thought. 'How could she do that to us? To me!'

He walked over to a couch and plopped down on it, still crying. He didn't notice when warm, comforting arms circled him.

"Shh... It'll be all right... shh," murmured the soft voice of Ginny Weasley. "What happened?"

"She...and... him! On the couch... I thought... that I loved her... not anymore." Harry turned and went further into Ginny's embrace.

She rubbed his back and smoothed his hair. Kissing the top of his head, she started to speak softly, as if to comfort him. "Shh... it's not the end of the world, love. There'll be different girls. Ones who love you back."

They fell asleep there, on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

At one point in the night, Harry slid his arms around Ginny's waist. She, in turn, buried her face in his shoulder.

~*~

Ron was about to follow Harry into the Tower, but turned to go to his quarters, which were two floors and a corridor away from the Great Hall.

Bursting through the door, Ron picked up a vase and threw it at the wall. It shattered, and woke the petite brunette who was asleep on the blue-and-silver couch.

"Honestly, Ron," said Padma Patil, sitting up and pushing her hair out of her eyes, "must you take your anger out physically?" Padma's parents were psychiatrists, so she was sensitive to this behavior. "Now," she said, patting the seat next to her, "come here and tell me what's wrong."

"Hermione'sdatingDracoMalfoy," said Ron, jumbling it up in a rush.

Padma laughed. "That's it? I thought it was something else."

"What d'you mean, 'That's it?' Hermione's dating bloody Malfoy!" yelled Ron, pitching a cushion into the fire.

Padma winced. She wasn't used to this, but she should if she... no, she wouldn't think about it. She wouldn't. "Ron, they're made for each other. He's a bad boy, so he brings her out of her shell; she doesn't have much excitement in her life, and he brings it to her. He lacks order and discipline, and her pragmatism brings it to him. He'll make her run in the rain or wind, and she'll help him study. He'll bring her breakfast in bed, and take her for impulsive picnics in varying places; she'll make sure his clothes fit, and keep his feet on the ground. Not to mention keep him alive.

"He's good for her and she's good for him. Have you noticed he hasn't teased you or Harry since they became friends? Being around her obviously changes his attitude. If he can bring himself to snog a Muggleborn, then he can try and be civil to you and Harry."

"It's not me I'm worried about," he grumbled. "It's Harry. He's in love with her. She couldn't tell, but he was." He threw his hands up in the air. "And then there's Ginny, who has had a crush on Harry since her first year. She said she didn't when we were in our fifth year, but she did."

Padma made him lean back so she could massage his broad shoulders. Kneading into the tense muscles, she thought for a few moments. "Well, maybe Harry will go on rebound and realize what a catch Ginny is," she mused.

"But," said Ron, frustrated, "then she'll be 'The-Boy-Who-Lived's Rebound Girl' and he'll end up breaking her heart, and she'll come crying to me and I'll be torn between my sister and my best friend. Now, I know that they say that 'blood it thicker than water' but Mum would never let us not speak to each other. So, if they broke up I'd have to side with Harry who's had so many people betray him, that if I did, he'd never forgive me.

"Maybe I should just ignore it. Help me, Padma, please. You're my only hope."

He felt a shiver go down Padma's body as he said that, and he grinned. 'So, I was right. She does like me. I'm glad, otherwise what I'm about to do would make things awkward.'

Ron then promptly pulled Padma's head down to his. "I've been waiting a long time to do this," he said. Then he kissed her.

~*~

Orion Malfoy hummed a tune as he leant against the wall outside of Albus Dumbledore's office. The griffin then jumped off its pedestal, and Narcissa Malfoy stepped through.

"Ah, Narcissa," he drawled. He didn't see her hand go into her pocket. "We should talk... about our son."

~*~

Hermione was pacing like a caged lion up and down the common room.

"Oh. My. God. OhmyGod!" exclaimed Hermione. She picked up a red vase that had silver leaf on it, and threw it at the mantel. "They are never going to forgive me," she said, her voice betraying a coming sob.

"Shh, Love. It'll be all right. Shh...." comforted Draco, kissing her head, cradling her head in his arms. "Shh...."

~*~

"I have nothing to say to you, Orion," stated an angry Narcissa.

~*~

While this was happening, Ron and Padma were kissing each other goodnight.

"I love you more than peanut butter," said Ron, rather sappily.

"I love you more than chocolate," returned Padma, nuzzling his nose with hers.

"Mmm....I love you...More than Quidditch!" he declared, wrapping his arms around her.

"And I love you more than Ancient Runes!" Padma said into Ron's chest.

"Well," Ron said gallantly, "good night, fair lady!"

"Good night, good sir," she called, heading to her bedroom door, blowing him a kiss.

~*~

"Oh, really?" queried Orion, a smirk on his face. "He is my son, you know. Maybe I'd like to be involved in his life."

Narcissa let out an un-ladylike snort. "As if, Orion. You are just the same as the old Orion: Just a spoiled rich boy. You haven't changed." She waved off his attempt to reply. "Oh, sure you may be able to take care of yourself, unlike ever before, but can you take care of a seventeen year old? Handle mood swings? Understand crushes? Be able to communicate? Protect him from Lucius?" She leaned over in his face, leering. "Would you die for him?"

He backed off, shocked at her words. "I just said 'involved' not 'father,' Narcissa."

Her eyebrows rose. "But that's what Draco needs. And if you want to be involved that's what you need to be ready to be. If you ever want to be involved, you know where to find us. Until then, stay away from us."

She turned, and strode away, not heeding his calls to her.

~*~

Draco looked at the clock. Swearing, he picked up Hermione's sleeping form. It was ten o'clock and they'd spent the last two hours on the couch in front of the fire. Picking Hermione up, he carried her up her staircase and into her room. Placing her on the large bed her pulled the covers up to her chin. She snuggled up to the comforter, and Draco heard a contented sigh rise from her lips.

Sighing himself, he walked through the bathroom and dressed for bed. Crawling under the sheets, he wondered about how he and Hermione's relationship would work. Were they Romeo and Juliet, or were they destined to break apart, torn by alliances and prejudice?

Shrugging it off, he rolled over and went to sleep, eagerly awaiting the Sunday that would come with dawn.

~*~

Waking groggily from a dream, Harry Potter rubbed the stomach of Ginny Weasley.

"How's the baby, love?" he asked, obviously still stuck in the dream.

Ginny, who was wide-awake, since she had woken up at seven realizing that she was sleeping on a couch with Harry Potter. "Baby?" she asked.

"We didn't hurt with all the activity last night, did we?" he mumbled.

"What?" Her eyes were wide with shock. Harry's eyes snapped open.

"Oh, God, Ginny... I'm sorry, it's just I was dreaming we were married and you were going to have a baby..." he trailed off, embarrassed.

She waved him off, more than a little embarrassed herself. "Ah, it's all right, Harry. Just as long as you don't tell Ron," she said, smiling and patting his hair.

"Tell Ron what?" asked Ron, dropping into the common room. As he stood up and surveyed the scene before him, he slowly turned purple. "What the bloody hell is going on? What the bloody hell went on?" he said, advancing on his sister and best friend, who were desperately trying to disentangle themselves from each other.

"Nothing, Ron," Ginny said, pulling on her Gryffindor socks. "Harry came into the common room last night upset, and I comforted him. We fell asleep on the couch. That's all, honestly."

Ron did not look satisfied. "I'm writing Mum anyway," he said threateningly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Your Mum has wanted us to get together for eons, Ron. I doubt she'd be mad. Since Ginny sent her that owl last night," he added on a stroke of brilliance.

Ron's face fell. They'd gotten to Mum before he could. Damn. "Well, we'd better go down to breakfast then," he said grudgingly.

"We've got to change," said Ginny, "and then we'll join you." She hurried up to the girls' dormitories, with Harry running up the stairs to the boys'.