Red dragon

67

"Guys, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked, the door to the boy's dormitory.

Dean and Seamus were somewhere else. There was a story that they were out hunting Ginny Weasley; she had recently become very popular with the male population of the school. Of course this was kept from Ron and the twins as much as possible. No one really wanted to upset a Weasley; Any Weasley.

"You just did."

"Don't be an arse, Ronald." Hermione responded, coming in. "You're all boys, right?"

"Well I am but I'm not sure about those three." Harry grinned at the rest of the room.

"Now you're the one being an ass Sparks." Draco cut in pushing Harry so he almost fell of the edge of the bed.

Hermione rolled her eyes but perched on the edge of Ron's bed. "Viktor asked me to visit him in the summer."

"Okay?"

"Well." Hermione looked across at the room of boys. "You all know how boys think. Was he suggesting anything from it, do you think? Adult things, I mean?"

"Woah." Ron moved back not wanting part of this particular conversation.

"Ron grow up." Harry laughed. He then took a breath. "Maybe. But." Harry continued, quickly. "Maybe not. You're a powerful witch and a strong woman. You're also scarily smart." He wasn't actually sure what he was supposed to say to her.

"What should I do?"

"What did you say to him?" Draco asked.

"I said I'm not old enough to go without asking my parents first. Then he said he'll pay for them to come too."

"That's nice of him." Neville commented.

"Yeah, maybe he wants to get to know you better." Harry agreed. "But, anyway, it's your choice."

She looked down. "I just don't know if I should go or not."

"Hermione." Ron cut in. "Don't go."

"You can't make the decision for me what if I want to go?"

"Do you want to go?"

"Of course I want to go!" She glared at him.

"See? You want to go so go. You don't need our permission." Ron told her, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You didn't even need to come here for that."

"Oh…" She looked up at Ron with a little anger. "You just reverse engineered me, didn't you?"

"I don't know what it's called." Ron admitted. "But dad does it to mum and the twins all the time."

Hermione broke into a laugh. "Thanks Ron."

"No problem, Kinny." Ron nudged her shoulder. "Now that's sorted who's up for a game of chess." In that second any tension left in the room was gone.

"I was heading down to see Myrtle. Need to thank her for yesterday."

"Want us to come with you?"

"No, I'll be fine on my own. Seriously." Harry gave a smile and pulled on his robes so that he could trek through the castle.

He made his way to Myrtles bathroom without trouble. He looked around, but found the whole room free of her ghostly presence.

"Myrtle!" He called out into the room. "Myrtle! Are you here?"

"Harry?" A head popped up out of the sink. "It is you?" She floated up to him. "You came to visit!"

"Hey. How are you? I couldn't exactly ask last time I saw you."