Disclaimer: most of the characters don't belong me; they belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, and various other people. I'm merely borrowing them for my and other people's enjoyment, and am making NO profit off of it.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry this is late! My family was in town this weekend for a big football game (all right, I'm going to advertise! Vote Darren McFadden for the Heisman trophy at www.theheismanvote.com ! Yeah, I go to school at Arkansas and am obsessed with Razorback football). Anyway, so here it is: the third chapter. I promise I'll have the fourth up this weekend. I see that I have over 600 hits! That amazes me! Thank you to all of you who have reviewed - please keep it up!
Chapter Three
My first thought was that this was not my bed. My second thought was interrupted by Goldenwing's greeting.
Good morning, she said. I grinned, remembering that I was in Romania with Charlie and that I was going to become a member of the Dragon Council.
Good morning Goldenwing, I thought back to her and sat up in bed, stretching my arms far over my head.
"Miss…. Mistress has asked Doppa to help you," said a squeaky little voice. I jumped slightly, and turned to the doorway where a house elf was standing in a tea towel.
"Help me with what?" I asked, unsure of how to treat a house elf. Since we were very poor, we had never had a house elf, and although there were hundreds at Hogwarts, I had never seen any. The only house elf that I had been in contact with was Kreacher, and he was foul beyond belief.
"Dressing, miss," Doppa said and creeped towards the wardrobe. She snapped her fingers and the doors flew open, revealing many pairs of different shades of dragonhide pants and green tunics.
"Um, okay. Anything in particular that I'm suppose to wear?" I asked, then, when she shook her head, I continued, "All right, will you bring me one of the tunics and one pair of pants?" She did as she was told and brought me a green tunic and tan dragonhide pants. I thanked her, and then quickly changed out of my pajamas into the new clothes. "Anything else?" I asked her, my stomach rumbling and my want for breakfast growing stronger.
"Mistress asked Doppa to braids your hair, miss," she said.
"Um, okay," I said, wondering who this "mistress" was. Was she Eloise, or did one of the rich Council members bring a house elf for added comfort? I moved from where I was standing to sit in the chair that was in front of the dressing table. Doppa snapped again and a stool appeared behind my chair for the house elf to stand and on and she set to work. Soon my long red hair was braided like Eloise's had been.
"Thank you," I said. The house elf nodded and was gone. I stood up from the chair and, after grabbing my wand, headed down to breakfast.
The first thing I immediately noticed was the dark haired girl that looked to be about my age that was sitting at the
table. She hadn't been here the night before, so I assumed her to be Lacey, the girl from Beauxbatons. She was
telling Charlie about her trip to Mexico with her parents. Charlie looked up when I walked into the room and smiled at
me. Lacey turned around and smiled when she saw me.
"You must be Ginny. I'm Lacey," she said and stuck out her hand for me to shake. "Sit down and let's eat. I was just telling Charlie about Mexico. Have you ever been there?" I told her that I hadn't and sat down. She turned out to be very cheerful and lively, and I could see why Draco didn't seem to like her. As this thought crossed my mind, the door opened and none other than Draco himself walked into the room.
"Nolen," he drawled, nodding in greeting to her.
"Hello, Draco," she said, cheerfully. "Made anyone cry today?" He rolled his eyes and sat down near us.
"Not yet, but the day is still young," he turned and I got the feeling that this was routine for them.
"Ah, yes, Malfoy Code number 557: The day is wasted if one doesn't make someone cry," Lacey said brightly and spooned more eggs onto her plate.
"No, that's number 558. Number 557 is 'One must always treat those who are cheerful in the morning to a very painful death.'" he said as he started to spoon food onto his plate.
"What kind of death is it going to be this morning?" she asked, grinning wickedly. "You've already threatened me with disembowelment and quartering." Draco rolled his eyes and finished chewing and swallowing the bite he had in his mouth.
"I'm thinking water torture," he said, and, when she looked confused, he continued. "I tie you under a pipe that drips water constantly onto your forehead and you slowly go insane or die or something." He spooned another bite of oatmeal into his mouth. Lacey laughed.
"Disembowelment and quartering was much better, Draco dearest. Are you losing your touch?" She grinned. He scowled and she laughed again, and then turned to me "Let's head out to the fields and I'll introduce you to Noah. I'm dying to see him again. Madame Maxime wouldn't let me keep him at the school," she frowned.
"Sounds good. I'll introduce you to Goldenwing," I said and followed her out of the dining room and out onto the grounds.
"Is Draco always so surly in school? You're the only other one I've meet from Hogwarts, besides him. I was too young to come and watch the Triwizard Tournament, you know," she said, pulling on her long dark hair. "Oh drat. I forgot to braid my hair."
"Actually, he's usually worse. I think coming here and meeting his dragon has tamed him a little," I said, reveling in the warm air with just the hint of a breeze.
"Probably. I know Zandra was like that. I had met her a few times before- we've both had relatives that have helped out the Council in one way or another- and she was always so awful, but now she's all right. She's closer to Draco than either Tait or me, but I suppose those rich aristocrats always stick together," she said, shrugging. "I suppose that's why we get to stick together," she said, grinning, "We're both poor. Of course, I don't have any siblings, and you have, what, six?" I laughed.
"Yes, six brothers to make matters worse. Ron's friends Harry and Hermione come over during the summer, so it's kind of like I have an extra brother and sister. Mum's convinced that Harry and Hermione will be in the family someday. She thinks that Harry is going to fall madly in love with me, and that Hermione and Ron will fall madly in love with each other. What she doesn't know is that Ron is dating Padama Patil, and I think Hermione fancies Harry." Lacey laughed.
"Sounds like my mum. She wants me to marry Zandra's brother, but he's worse than she's ever been. He doesn't have the Gift," she added. Before I could ask any questions, we had arrived at the fields, and she screamed "NOAH!" and ran towards her Hebridean Black.
Hello Lacey, he said in his gentle voice, opening one eye to look at her as she flung her arms around his neck.
"I've missed you so! Eloise said she kept asking Madame Maxime to let me keep you, but she refused! Seemed to think that I wouldn't be able to keep you from ravishing the castle and eating all of the students," Lacey laughed. I turned my attention to my own dragon.
Hello Goldenwing, I said and patted her on the neck. She closed her eyes in appreciation.
Hello young one. I see you've made a friend? She said. I told her that I had and turned to face Lacey who was still hugging her dragon.
"Lacey, this is Goldenwing," I called out to the older girl. She turned and grinned.
"She's pretty! I always wanted an Antipodean Opaleye until I got Noah, here. Now I wouldn't take any other dragon except for him," she said, smiling lovingly at her dragon. Soon Draco and Charlie joined us.
"Okay, Gin. You have a lot of stuff you learn, so we'll get started," Charlie said, carrying a bucket and a sponge.
"What's that for?" I asked, noticing that Draco was carrying two similar ones.
"Oh, dragon's dung! It's been so long since I've gotten to be around dragons that I completely forgot the morning processes!" Lacey laughed, taking the bucket that Draco handed her. "Thanks Draco, darling."
"The first thing that we do every morning is give our dragons a good scrub to get rid of any dead skin or dirt that has gotten on their scales. Here, I'll do a little bit and I'll show you how do to it. Will you tell her to spread her wings?" Charlie asked, setting the bucket on the ground next to Goldenwing.
Can you spread your wings for us? She did as I asked and soon Charlie had dipped the sponge into the liquid in the bucket.
"What's in there?" I asked.
"Scrubbing potion. Thomas created it, and it helps this task to go a lot faster. Now, the trick is to do the scrubbing in a gentle, circular motion," Charlie said, demonstrating on an area behind her ear. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Draco and Lacey had already started working and were bantering. I watched silently for a few moments as Charlie dipped the sponge back into the red potion and continued the scrubbing, giving a slightly red tint to her scales. When he had repeated the process three times, he stopped and handed me the sponge. "You try." I dipped the sponge in the potion and found it to be ice cold. I gasped slightly and plunged my hand deeper into the potion, determined not to make a fool of myself in front of the more experienced Greens. I pulled my hand out and put it against Goldenwing's scales and gently pressed down into her and moved the sponge in a clockwise manner, just as Charlie had done.
"Is this okay?" I asked as I plunged my hand back into the potion. He nodded.
"You're doing very well. I'm going to go take care of Tedros; I'll be back when I'm finished washing him. Draco and Lacey can show you how to wash the potion off." We all called out our goodbyes to my brother and he left. We continued working, and Lacey continued to talk. I began to wonder if she ever stopped.
"When will Zandra and Tait be here?" Lacey asked Draco. He dipped his sponge into the bucket.
"In a week, I suppose. Zandra owled yesterday and requested that Eloise bring their dragons back." Lacey opened her mouth as if to ask another question, but I spoke first.
"Do we get to take our dragons with us?" Hope was building inside that I would get to bring my beautiful dragon back and wouldn't have to be separated from her again.
"I don't," Lacey said irritably.
"We do. Dumbledore is mad, and therefore allows us to bring them," Draco said, with a hint of amusement in his voice. "We can't tell anyone that they're there and we can't let them interfere with studies, or prefect duties. Also, we have to care for them. As much as that oaf Hagrid would love to take care of them, he wouldn't know the proper way. No one except Council members really knows how." I rolled my eyes at his jab at Hagrid, but said nothing. As much as I liked Hagrid, I wasn't sure that he would know how to properly take care of the dragons, and I wasn't going to leave Goldenwing in the care of someone that didn't know how to take care of her.
"I wish I could go to Hogwarts, but noooo. Mum said that I would get a more rounded education at Beauxbatons. The worst part was having to learn French fluently. They speak some English, yes, but they prefer to speak their native language and most get offended if I try to start a conversation in English. A few of my friends will talk to me in a combination of both, but there are some that won't," she shrugged. We worked in silence until we had all finished. I threw my sponge back into the bucket, my arm aching with all the work I had done. Goldenwing's eyes were closed and she looked as if she was sleeping.
"I'll show you how you wash your potion off," Draco said, stepping forward. He pulled out his wand. "I turned seventeen in April, so this is perfectly legal for me, but you'll be allowed to use a little magic, too. What Fudge doesn't know won't hurt him." He pointed his wand at Goldenwing and a jet of water shot out of the tip of it. He moved his wand in small counterclockwise circles. "The key is to go in the opposite direction that you scrub in. Here, you try." He lowed his wand and the water stopped. I did just as he had done. "Good" was all he said before turning back to his own dragon to wash the potion off. We worked in silence until the entire potion was cleaned off of our dragons. By that time, we saw Charlie walking up.
"He's done already?" I asked incredulously. Lacey laughed.
"The older you get, the quicker it becomes," she said simply. Charlie reached us and inspected my dragon.
"You did a good job. Now, the next thing we do is feed them. Accio goats!" Charlie said, waving his wand. Soon three goats could be seen flying towards us. "There really isn't a trick to feeding them," Charlie said. "Your first time seeing it will probably gross you out a lot, but after the first time it's not so bad."
"I couldn't eat for a week straight," Lacey said as she led one of the goats towards Noah. Draco and I headed forward and led the goats towards our own dragons. Immediately Goldenwing's eyes snapped open and she leaned forward. Before I knew it her teeth were wrapped around the goat's neck and there was a sickening cracking noise as the neck broke completely in two. The bloody head fell to the ground, and Goldenwing dug her teeth into the stomach of the goat and started to eat, blood staining her beautiful scaly mouth. My stomach lurched, and before I knew what was going to happen, I threw up my breakfast on the ground beside me. Charlie conjured up a glass of water and handed it to me. Turning from where Goldenwing was eating, I gulped down the water.
"She's finished," Draco called out to me. I took a deep breath then turned to the dragon and she was finished. There was no trace that there had been a live goat there moments before except for the spots of blood on the grass.
"Scorgify," Lacey murmured, waving her wand and the blood spots, which immediately disappeared.
I'm sorry for freaking out like that, Goldenwing, I said gently to my dragon. She turned her opal eyes to me.
I understand, young one. All must go through it, Goldenwing replied calmly. I patted her neck, careful to stay away from her mouth.
"What do we do next?" I asked, turning to Charlie.
"Council meeting, which Greens don't attend. Greens usually spend Council meetings in the Library, either catching up on homework, talking to their family through Floo, or reading. When I was a Green, Gwyn even slept in there," Charlie said, smiling slightly. I thought back and remembered who Gwyn (or Gwyneth, as she'd been introduced to me as) was. I remembered her having honey colored hair and being very loud. The four of us headed back to the manor. Draco talked to Charlie about Quidditch while I chatted with Lacey about Zandra again.
"Zandra is very pretty. I think those rich, Pureblood families like the Malfoys are unable to have an ugly child," Lacey giggled. Draco, who had apparently overheard her drawled, "So you admit you fancy me, then?" Lacey laughed and called out, "You wish, Malfoy!"
"Back to the topic at hand. What does she look like and what is she like? What should I not do around her?" I asked, not wanting to make a bad impression in front of the other two Greens.
"Well, she has auburn hair- like yours- but hers is long and straight where yours is long and wavy, I'm assuming from the curls that frame your face. I like wavy better, and I'm sure she will, too, so don't really expect to find a friend in her. She is very musical, and any time there is a harp or piano around, she'll play it for you, whether you want her to or not. There's a piano here, but not a harp. She might have brought hers- she's always talking about how high quality it is- but she might not have. She hates Quidditch, which is a pity. I think she hates it because she's no good at it. Usually in the evenings some of us will get together and play Quidditch. You do play, right?" she asked, speaking very fast and in one breath. I laughed.
"Charlie was one of the greatest Seekers that the Gryffindor team has seen, except for Harry- sorry Charlie, he really is better than you- and Fred and George were superb Beaters before Umbridge kicked them off the team and they left school, and Ron is an okay Keeper. Quidditch runs through the blood in my family. Of course I play! I'm Chaser on the Gryffindor team, and for three fourths of a season I was Seeker," I said, grinning.
"Good. We never have enough good Chasers. Malfoy and Charlie always play Seeker, of course, and I'm a Keeper. Payton is the other Keeper, and various others play Chasers, but not many are good at it. Beaters are just down right hard to find. Gloria usually plays, and Anthony will, too, and once in a while we can get Eloise to play with us. She went to Beauxbatons, like me, and was one of the first women to be on the Quidditch team in the history of the school. When she was in her last year, however, she had this huge accident and doesn't like to play it much anymore," Lacey said as they reached the manor.
"Let's go to the Library. I want to get started on my N.E.W.T. Potions homework," Draco said. Lacey and I agreed that it would be a good place to go and we all went. I thought vaguely on starting my N.E.W.T Charms work (Describe the Fidelius Charm and it's advantages and disadvantages), but the thought of speaking to Hermione through Floo won over my responsibilities.
Mum had invited Hermione to stay at the Burrow since Mr. and Mrs. Granger were going on a dentist convention. I knew that Mum secretly hoped that Ron and Hermione would fall head over heels for each other. I giggled, knowing it wouldn't happen. Lacey yawned and stretched.
"I think I'll take a nap," she said as Draco opened the door to the Library for us.
It was a huge two-story room with a glass dome at the top where sunlight filtered through. A spiral staircase was at one end, leading up to the second story. Every inch of the first floor walls that didn't have a window or door had a bookcase. A huge Persian rug was in the middle of the room, and on top of it sat many armchairs, chaise lounges, and tables. The second story was not quite as full of books as the first; one wall was devoted to fireplaces where you could talk through Floo. Lacey flopped onto one of the chaise lounges, and closed her eyes. Draco headed off to one of the bookcases and started searching for a book. I made my way across the room and up the stairs. There was a vase on the mantel that I found to have Floo powder in it. I took a pinch and threw it into the fire, which immediately turned green. Kneeling down on the floor in front of the fireplace, I stuck my head in the flames and called out "The Burrow!"
The kitchen swam in front of my face. Mum was in there, cooking lunch, no doubt. The thought of food made my stomach lurch again, but since it was empty there was nothing to come up.
"Hello mum!" I called out. She dropped her spoon into the soup she had been stirring and whirled around. Her shocked expression softened when she saw me.
"Hello, Ginny," she said, smiling at me. "Are you enjoying Romania?"
"Oh, yes, it's lovely here. Everyone is so nice and the dragons are amazing. I was wondering if I could have a little chat with Hermione?" I asked. Her face had lost some of its happiness when I had told her how much I liked Romania, but she didn't say anything about it.
"Of course. I'll go get her right now," she said, and went up to the stairs to find Hermione. They came back down a few minutes later. Hermione was looking very surprised to see me.
"Is everything okay Ginny?" she asked me, dropping to her knees in front of the fireplace. I laughed.
"Yeah. I just had some free time and I didn't feel like doing my Charms homework, so I thought I'd floo you. Did you get the owl I sent?"
"Yes, I got it this morning. Romania sounds fascinating. I bet you'll be able to learn loads. I'm really jealous of you," she said, laughing slightly. I grinned.
"I have learned lots, and there's still a lot to learn. How is everything there?" I asked. She launched into a long explanation of how she'd had spent all day yesterday nagging Ron to start his homework, but he didn't want to. I felt a hand on my shoulder. "I need to go, Hermione. I'll owl you or something," I said. When she had said good-bye to me, I pulled myself out of the fire and looked up. Lacey was standing over me.
"Lunch is ready," she said, holding out a hand to help me up. My stomach gave another unpleasant lurch at the thought of food, and we headed down to the dining room together.