1,035AN: Okay, so you reviewers have finally worn me down. I haven't written anything in years, but I am going to finish this thing if it's the last thing I do. So, I started re-reading it and am so embarrassed by all of the errors. I have decided to re-do the whole thing. I'll be posting a chapter every day or so until I reach chapter 14. I am mainly correcting errors, but some chapters will have some new scenes or re-done scenes. When I reach chapter 14, I'll need a beta. Please let me know if you are interested.
And this is completly AU after 4th year. Remember, I started this before we were even sure that Blaise was a boy, much less what he looked like.
Title: The Dragon of Hogwarts
Author: Kassandra Ramsey
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer I'm typing on!
Pairings: Blaise Zabini/Hermione Granger
Summary: Seventh year fic- Blaise and Hermione are Head Boy and Girl. He saves her from Malfoy on the train, and proceeds to become her friend. However, he has a terrible secret, and Hermione wants to know what it is. And can he really keep her safe from the Death Eaters? What about from himself?
This story is dedicated to all of my wonderful reviewers who never gave up hope that I would keep my word and finish. And to those who are reading for the first time I hope that you find it worth your while…
The Dragon of Hogwarts
Chapter One: Seventh Year Begins
Hermione watched her dad and the cab driver heave her trunk into the waiting taxi as she cuddled close to the warm bundle in her arms. She would be leaving for her last year of Hogwarts soon and for the first time in seven years she did not want to go.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had been named Head Girl and was very excited about taking on her new responsibilities, but this summer had been wonderful. She was not ready for it to end. Originally she had planned to spend most of the summer holiday with Harry and Ron at Grimmauld Place. That idea had been dismissed the moment she met her new baby brother.
Born the last week of May, Jason Alan Granger had become Hermione's favorite person in the world. She loved being with him, and her mother had been grateful for the help, not to mention the free babysitting.
She kissed his forehead and he stirred but did not awaken.
Hermione reluctantly handed him to her mother, and kissed her cheek.
"I will be home for Christmas. Don't let him get too big while I'm gone. Oh, and don't forget to send me pictures with the wizarding camera I bought for you," she reminded her.
Mrs. Granger smiled indulgently at her daughter.
"Don't worry, Hermione. Everything will be fine. You just concentrate on school. You'll be back home again before you know it."
Her father hugged her tight.
"I'll send plenty of pictures," he promised.
She swallowed in an effort to fight back tears as she climbed into the waiting car.
"Bye! I love you!"
She turned around and waved at them through the back window until the car turned a corner and she could no longer see them.
Hermione settled back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest.
"They just had to wait 'till my last year of school to give me a brother," she muttered.
Hermione reached Kings Cross thirty minutes early, and had her pick of compartments on the Hogwarts Express.
After stowing her trunk, she settled in her seat and pulled out a photo album.
Crookshanks meowed pitifully from his carrier at her side.
"Sorry Crooks, I can't let you out until the train starts moving," she said absently as she smiled down at the pictures of herself and her brother playing with his blocks.
At two minutes 'till eleven, the compartment door slid open and Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna filed in.
Hermione stood and hugged Harry and Ron, suddenly realizing how much she had missed them.
"How was your summer?" Harry asked her.
Hermione beamed at him and brandished her photo album.
Her face was flushed with sisterly pride as Ginny and Luna oo-ed, and ahh-ed over the pictures.
The train started moving and the group settled down for the long ride to school. It would be the last ride to school for her, Harry, and Ron.
About twenty minutes later the door to their compartment slid opened. She looked up to see Blaise Zabini standing in the doorway.
"What do you want?" Ron snarled.
Blaise looked taken aback at the open hostility.
"Hermione," he answered.
Ginny giggled.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, blushing.
The tall Slytherin had really filled out over summer and had become quite handsome. His gleaming black hair was smoothed back from his face, and his midnight blue eyes held a mischievous sparkle.
He dramatically rolled those sparkling eyes at them, and pointed to the Head Boy badge pinned to his robes.
"As the Heads, we're supposed to lead the prefect meeting in the front compartment, remember?"
"Oh, right," Hermione said, getting to her feet and handing Crookshanks to Luna.
"I'll be back in a little while," she told the group and followed Blaise up the aisle.
They were almost there when someone snatched Hermione's arm and dragged her into a compartment.
Her wand was taken from her, and she was roughly shoved down onto the floor. She whimpered as she landed on her twisted arm, feeling the bone give.
"Well, what do we have here? Look here! That idiot Bumblemore, made the mudblood Head Girl," Draco drawled leering down at her.
"Malfoy, open the door!" She heard Blaise's muffled call from the other side of the door.
"Malfoy, I think you broke her arm," Goyle pointed out.
A flicker of fear crossed the blonde's face as he leaned down and pressed against her now swollen limb.
The pain intensified so much that Hermione blacked out.
When she came to Blaise was effortlessly carrying her to the front compartment. Now, Hermione wasn't overweight, but she knew she wasn't light.
Her head was tucked under his chin, and she cradled her injured arm to her chest.
"I smell smoke," Hermione murmured.
He glanced down at her sharply, but didn't say anything.
When they reached the compartment he gently sat her down in the seat, not even breathing hard.
"I'll be right back. Try not to move your arm," he said, and quickly headed back the way he had come.
Hermione assessed her arm. She'd never broken a bone before. She remembered when Ron had broken his leg in third year and had said it was very painful. She also remembered the time when Harry had broken his arm and how Professor Lockhart had made all of the bones in his arm disappear.
It was this memory that stopped her from trying to heal it herself. That and the fact that she didn't have her wand back.
When Blaise returned, the Witch who sold treats off of her trolley cart accompanied him.
She bent down and examined Hermione's arm.
"Oh, my dear. It looks broken. I don't dare try to heal it myself, but I can help with the pain."
She handed Hermione a small potion's vial.
"Drink it up; it should last long enough to get you to the nurse."
Blaise thanked the witch who went back to her duties.
Hermione struggled to remove the stopper from the vial, one-handed causing Blaise to chuckle.
She turned her pleading gaze to him, and he took pity on her.
"Does it hurt real badly?" He asked handing her the now opened vial.
"Yes," she muttered, and dutifully drank the potion down.
She sputtered and coughed as the liquid burned a fiery trail down the back of her throat.
It didn't take long for the potion to start taking effect. One minute she was biting back tears of pain, and the next she felt great.
Blaise was staring at her, expectantly. She started making silly faces at him, and then dissolved into giggles. He looked worried as the prefects began filing in.
"Oh, they're so cute!" She pointed at them giggling.
Blaise gently pulled her to her feet, and out into the hallway.
He started leading her toward the compartment where her friends were waiting, but she kept stumbling, and he was afraid she'd hurt her arm even more. So, he picked her up again, trying to ignore how good she felt in his arms. Her good arm slid up his chest to his neck, and her hand started ruffling his hair.
He let out an inhuman growl of pleasure at the feel of her fingers massaging his scalp.
He stopped walking and looked down at her, his cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment, but Hermione just giggled again.
They finally reached the compartment, and Blaise slid the door back with his knee.
All talking stopped as he carefully placed her in an empty seat.
Ron and Harry were on their feet instantly.
"What happened? What did you do to her?" Ron demanded.
Blaise gave him a look as he tried to smooth his hair back down.
"I didn't do anything to her. Malfoy got too rough, and broke her arm."
Ron and Harry started out the door, but Blaise pushed them back with surprising strength.
"I took care of it," he said.
The Gryffindor boys looked skeptical, but did not attempt to get by him again.
While they had been talking, Hermione had reached over and grabbed her photo album from her bag.
She started crying as she gazed at the pictures.
"Did the pain potion wear off already?" Blaise asked her, worried.
His concern did not go unnoticed by Ginny and Luna, who shared a knowing look.
Hermione raised her big, brown, tear-filled eyes to his.
"I miss him," she wailed.
"Who?" Blaise asked, leaning over to see the pictures.
"My brother, Jason. He's so cute! Do you think he's cute?" She asked him, anxiously.
"Um, sure I do," he said, hoping to appease her.
She sat back with her pictures, and he turned to look at the others.
"The pain potion has made her a little loopy. I trust you will see that she gets to the nurse as soon as we get there?"
Harry nodded.
"Good. I have to go. If Malfoy gives you any trouble let me know," he told them, and then left for the prefect meeting.
"C'mon, Harry, we're going ferret hunting," Ron said as soon as Blaise was out of earshot.
When Harry and Ron returned to the compartment a little while later, they looked a bit bewildered.
Hermione had been dozing, but the door opening had woken her up.
"What happened?" She asked, her mouth felt hot and thick.
"That's what we wanted to ask you. Zabini said that Malfoy broke your arm," Harry said.
"It hurts," she said, gingerly touching it.
"Try not to mess with it, we'll be at school soon," Ginny said.
"What do you remember?" Harry pressed.
"I was walking down the hall behind Blaise, when either Goyle or Crabbe pulled me into a compartment…"
"Zabini let them hurt you?" Ron demanded.
"No, they magically sealed the door. I could hear him trying to get in. Anyway, Malfoy pushed me to the floor, and I landed wrong on my arm. I don't really remember much after that, but I did get the impression that breaking my arm had been an accident," she commented thoughtfully.
Harry and Ron shared a skeptical look.
"The next thing I remember was Blaise carrying me to the front compartment, and then giving me the pain potion. I don't remember much after that."
"Did you guys get Malfoy?" Ginny asked Harry and Ron.
They exchanged an odd glance.
"Well, when we found him, he was… You see he had… on his arm…" Harry tried to explain.
"He'd been burnt by something. It's pretty bad, he'll have to go to the nurse too," Ron said.
Ginny gasped.
"Do you think Blaise Zabini did it?" She demanded.
"He did say that he'd taken care of it," Luna reminded them, and Ron jumped because he'd forgotten that she was there.
Everyone turned to look at Hermione, who just looked stunned.
"When he was carrying me, he smelt like smoke," she said.
"What should we do?"
"I'll talk to Professor McGonagall tonight," Hermione said, resolutely.
Hours later, Hermione was lying in her new bed. Her arm had been healed, but it was very weak and would have to be in a sling for the next two days.
She had watched from behind the curtain in the infirmary as Poppy tried to heal the burn on Draco's arm. The nurse hadn't been very successful, but apparently Draco would rather live with the burn than tell anybody how it had happened.
Before he'd left, Draco walked over to Hermione and muttered, "I'm sorry I broke your arm."
He'd fled before she could respond. Not that she would have had any idea what to say…
As Head Girl, Hermione had her own room. Unfortunately she had to share a common room with the Head Boy. Before retiring to her room for the night, Hermione had stopped by Professor McGonagall's office to tell her about Blaise.
"Yes Miss Granger, Mr. Zabini has already informed me of what transpired on the train. You needn't worry about a thing."
"But Professor, I have to share a dorm with him! Are you sure he won't try to hurt me?" She had asked, anxiously.
Professor McGonagall had given her a reassuring smile.
"No, he won't hurt you."
Changing for bed had been very difficult with the sling, but she'd managed.
Now, she was trying to fall asleep, but her stomach kept growling. She'd barely had a bite at dinner as she'd been so preoccupied with Head duties.
Just as she was trying to decide if she felt up to a trip to the kitchens, there was a knock at her door.
She opened her mouth to ask who it was, but Blaise opened the door and waved his wand to light the lamps.
Hermione bit back a giggle at the sight of his bright zebra striped pajama bottoms. He also wore a dark green t-shirt that stretched nicely over his broad chest.
"Nice," he commented, looking around.
"You're not allowed in here!" She cried, when she finally found her voice.
"Technically, but there's no spell to keep me out," he grinned at her, and it was then she noticed the tray of sandwiches in his hand.
He flopped down at the foot of her bed, and put the tray in between them.
He picked up a sandwich, and held it out to her, but she just glared at him.
"I know you're hungry, I could hear your stomach all the way in my room," he teased, waving the sandwich in front of her face.
In the end hunger won out, and Hermione was soon happily munching away.
By the time she'd finished one sandwich, he'd had four.
"Did you not eat either?" She asked him.
"I have a very high metabolism. I have to eat a lot," he said, and went to fetch them some water from her bathroom.
"I'm sorry about missing the prefect meeting," she said as he handed her a glass of water.
"That's okay, I'll just let you do the next one," he said, starting on a fifth sandwich.
She watched him quietly for a minute.
"What did you do to Malfoy?"
He stopped eating and looked at her seriously.
"That was an accident."
He sounded sincere, so she nodded at him.
"He, apologized to me in the hospital wing. It was strange," she confided.
Blaise looked pleased.
"You let me know if he tries anything again, but I don't think he will."
Hermione yawned, and Blaise took the hint.
"You need to rest. Classes start in the morning," he said, getting rid of the dinner mess with a flick of his wand.
He started for the door.
"Blaise?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for taking care of me today," she said, shyly.
He stunned her by walking back over to the bed. He leaned down and gave her a gentle hug, being careful of her arm.
She almost coughed at the smell of his breath.
"Smoking is a very bad habit," she said as he left.
He turned around in the doorway.
"I don't… right, I'll try to quit. Night."
End Chapter 1
A/N: I'll try to have the next chapter up tomorrow night. It starts out with a new scene that I had forgotten to put in last time. And remember, reviews are what keep me going.
Love,
Kassandra