Chapter 8: The parting.
"Mr. Potter, are you feeling better?" asked Minerva once she had seated herself in the newly vacated chair. She saw him nod his head yes, so she felt that it was safe to continue. "Do you want to know your scores from the task or would you like to rest for a while?"
Harry whispered something to Hermione before sitting up to face his Head of House. "Not really, but you may as well tell me how everyone did. However, can you tell me what will happen to the dragon's body first?"
"I believe that Charlie Weasley is taking care of the arrangements and he mentioned needing to ask you something about that before he leaves. You are currently in second place in the tournament just behind Mr. Diggory. Even though you completed the task first, some of the judges felt that you didn't deserve full marks because you were injured." Professor McGonagall spoke softly with a hint of displeasure towards the judges in her voice.
"Thank you, professor. Is that all?" Harry said to her while nodding towards the door where Dumbledore had just exited through.
Professor McGonagall understood both of his meanings. Feeling that her business was finished here, she rose from her chair to head back to the Gryffindor Tower to let everyone know that Harry would be all right. "You're welcome, Harry. Remus, Hermione; take all the time you need in here. I'll inform Poppy that you are allowed to be here, Hermione."
"Thank you, professor." Hermione replied from her spot on Harry's bed.
Remus got up and patted Harry's foot before following his former co-worker to the nurse's office for a chat.
Hermione turned to face Harry on the bed and looked into his eyes. She could see how tired he was but she also noticed the sadness in his eyes. The first task had required much more than just bravery and quick thinking for him. It had cost Harry more of his innocence as well.
She reached a hand up and cupped his cheek while looking into his eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Harry. You did the right thing. No animal deserves to suffer like that." She leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his mouth.
Misty eyed, Harry smiled at her and said, "Thank you."
They looked up at the sound of the doors to the hospital wing opening and they noticed a young, stocky but muscular, man with a shock of red hair striding towards them with a somber look on his face.
Charlie Weasley had heard about Harry Potter from his family. He knew that the young witch holding his hand must be Hermione Granger. Reaching out his hand to them, he said, "I'm Charlie Weasley. It's a pleasure to finally meet you both."
The first thing that came to Harry's mind when he shook Charlie's hand was that he took after Mr. Weasley in his temperament. Charlie's voice was a bit softer than he would have thought, but it was flush with the assurances of a man at peace with his life. Harry wondered if he would ever sound like that.
"Hello, Charlie. This is my girlfriend, Hermione Granger. Thank you for coming to visit."
Hermione smiled at Charlie, and at Harry's introduction. "I'm pleased to meet you too, Charlie. What can we do for you?"
Charlie hid his surprise at finding out about Harry and Hermione's relationship. He had thought that Ron and Hermione liked each other. `Oh, well', he thought, he would figure that out later. "I came to talk with you about what you would like to do with the dragon's remains and to apologize for not being better prepared when the Horntail got loose and attacked you."
Harry was not expecting this turn of events. `What were you supposed to do with a dead dragon?' he thought. Turning to Hermione, he said, "Could you ask Remus to join us please?"
With a nod yes, she got up from her perch on Harry's bed and went to fetch Remus. Her mind was trying to figure out why Charlie would be asking Harry about the Dragon's remains. Knocking on Madam Pomfrey's door, she asked "Mr. Lupin, Harry has a question that he needs your help with."
A flicker of comprehension appeared on Lupin's face before he excused himself and followed Hermione back to where Harry and Charlie were talking. "What can I help you with, Harry?"
"Well, Charlie says that the Dragon Preserve is offering me the Horntail's remains as an apology for not being better prepared to help me."
Charlie nodded in the affirmative to Harry's statement while Remus' face had a look of deep thought. "Charlie, can your crew process the remains for anything useful?" Remus asked.
"We have already started doing that." Charlie replied.
Remus thought for a moment before formulating his next question. "Is there any part of the dragon that you need at the reservation?" He knew how valuable a dead dragon could be and how large of a gift that Harry was really being given, even if Harry did not fully grasp the situation.
"We could use some of the meat and blood. We already have plenty of hide in storage so that is all Harry's." Charlie said earnestly.
Remus turned to Harry and smiled as he spoke "Harry, dragon remains are very valuable. Almost every part of the dragon has some use in the magical world. Everything from potions ingredients, clothing, wand cores, and food, are worth harvesting from a dragon. Letting Charlie have most of the meat and about a third of the blood would more than cover the costs of processing everything for you."
"Okay. I can accept that. Is that alright with you Charlie?" Harry asked.
"Of course. That is more than enough. Thank you very much." Charlie said as his insides were dancing a jig as he thought `My portion of the extra money from selling the blood and meat would really help. I may even have enough afterwards to finally be able to buy a home off of the preserve.'
"Do you mind handling everything else, Remus? I don't think that I can really store any of those items here at school." Harry asked his pseudo uncle.
"Absolutely. I will make sure that everything is stored appropriately for you, Harry. Charlie, I'll meet you down there in a bit." Remus said as he got up to hug Harry before heading out to prepare to move the dragon's remains. Whispering into Harry's ear he said, "Sirius and I are very proud of you. You did the right thing so don't let others tell you different. We'll store all of your proceeds at Padfoots for you."
Harry was a little misty eyed, so he just nodded to Remus in thanks. Turning to face Charlie, he was surprised to see the redhead pulling out his potions knife.
"I thought that you might want this back." Charlie said simply while extending the blade to Harry hilt first.
"Thanks." Harry said after taking the knife and placing it on the nightstand next to his wand.
"That was a really good bit of transfiguration Harry. I'm glad that Ron told you about the dragons and that you were able to prepare yourself." Charlie said earnestly.
Unfortunately, Ron chose that exact moment to enter the hospital wing to apologize to Harry. "Hi Mate!" Ron said jovially as he walked up to Harry's hospital bed.
Before Ron could get another word out of his mouth Hermione exploded, "You knew about the dragons and you didn't say anything to Harry? How could you?"
Charlie was shocked and his confusion was evident on his face. When Ron made no move to deny the accusation, his expression turned grim. `This is not going to end well.' Charlie thought.
"Well, it's not like Harry needed any help. He did just fine on his own. Right, Mate?" Ron said simply, proving just how thick he really was.
Faster than anyone realized she could move, Hermione stood up and slapped Ron as hard as she could while crying, "He could have died!" Tears were flowing silently down her cheeks in her rage.
Ron staggered backwards into Charlie from the force of the blow. His cheek already had a handprint that was turning an angry shade of red.
Charlie grabbed Ron, steadied him with a grip on his upper arms, and gently pulled him away from Hermione. He could see the tell tale signs of a Weasley meltdown by the red on the tips of Ron's ears.
Harry was furious. He realized that Ron had wanted him to fail so he could feel better about himself. In his anger, he did not notice the glass vials on the nightstand exploding. Harry looked at Ron and in a voice absolutely devoid of warmth he said, "Get out."
Madam Pomfrey had just stepped out of her office as Hermione slapped Ron. She was moving quickly to intervene when the glass vials near Harry exploded, stopping her in her tracks. The cold tone of his voice shocked her as she heard Mr. Potter order Ron Weasley out of the hospital wing.
Ron angrily pulled his arms out of his older brother's grasp and took a menacing step towards Hermione. He was so angry that he didn't even register what Harry had said to him.
Hermione recognized the look in Ron's eyes and she hastily stepped back while trying to pull her wand from her robes. Before she could bring her wand to bear, Ron's arm was already swinging towards her face. She steeled herself for the blow that she knew she could not avoid.
When Ron raised his arm towards Hermione, something in Harry snapped. His wand was suddenly in his hand and with a quick jab towards Ron; he banished him the length of the hospital wing. He only stopped flying through the air because he collided with the closed doors.
With another flick of his wrist, Harry had Ron immobilized and summoned his wand into his open hand. Without pausing in his stride, he snapped Ron's wand and threw it contemptuously over his shoulder. Power was radiating from Harry and everyone in the hospital wing could feel it washing over them like waves crashing into the shore.
The power rolling off Harry surprised Madam Pomfrey too much for her to intervene on Ron's behalf. Her own wand hung limply from her fingers, as she stood transfixed to the spectacle unfolding in front of her.
Charlie was scrambling out of the chair that Ron had knocked him into when he felt the power of Harry's silent banishing charm fly past. He had never felt a spell with that much power before. In his daze, Charlie missed his chance to grab Harry as he swept by.
He knew that Harry was a powerful wizard, killing a dragon was no easy feat, but when he felt the wave of Harry's magic wash over him he wondered `Just how powerful was the Boy-Who-Lived.' His musings were cut short when he saw Harry lazily summon Ron's wand, and then snap it without a second thought. His earlier prediction that this would not end well was quickly coming true.
Hermione was in shock when she realized that Ron was going to hit her. Caught unprepared, she could not get her wand out of its holder in her defense. As she prepared herself for the blow, she was surprised when it didn't come.
Then she felt it, Harry's emotions exploded through their bond. His anger was so great that it was almost suffocating. She never heard an incantation but she knew that Harry had stopped Ron from hitting her.
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