Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Won't You Please Stay With Me? ❯ The Silvery Dragon ( Chapter 21 )

Won't You Please Stay With Me?

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own anything HP related. It all belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Inc., Warner Bros., and any other entities involved.

 

Chapter 21:

 

“The Silvery Dragon”

 

“No, Mr. Longbottom!” McGonagall gently reached out and tried to guide her Gryffindor towards the left, “You enter this way and exit that way.”

 

Neville looked at her, looking completely puzzled. He pointed to the stage and then to the stairs. “But they exited this way….”

 

“Mr. Longbottom, please try to pay attention. Every other student exits through this gate.”

 

“Oh…,” Neville then casually walked towards the other gate with his head hanging low.

 

McGonagall sighed and nervously tapped her foot on the ground. Who would've thought that graduation rehearsals would be so stressful? Now the professor wondered if Sprout, Flitwick, and Snape were having the same trouble. “Mr. Finnigan, you come before Mr. Fitch!”

 

After an hour of tedious rehearsals, McGonagall happily announced, “That's all for today's practice. Tomorrow you will all show up here by eight o'clock sharp after having breakfast. Any questions?”

 

No one raised their hand. Everyone wanted to get out and go to Hogsmeade.

 

“Very well. You are all dismissed.”

 

The Gryffindors quickly fled from the spot, and as they did, Severus Snape was waiting by the entrance to the back with his own house of Slytherins. As McGonagall passed by, she stopped momentarily and looked over at Snape, “Good luck, Severus. You'll be needing it,” she glanced over at his bunch of rowdy, undisciplined students. “'Tis a shame that we don't have any other teachers to assist us.”

 

“Thank you for the concern, Minerva.”

 

McGonagall passed Snape a sympathetic smile as she quickly left herself. Thank Merlin she wasn't the head of Slytherin.

 

As she walked inside the castle, she quickly caught Harry looking over at the Slytherin house. “Mr. Potter, what are you doing?”

 

“I…. I was….”

 

McGonagall shook her head. “Not now, Potter. Professor Snape has to prepare his house for graduation. It's a demanding task, if you haven't notice. He will not have time for you until later.”

 

“Mr. Mac, if you don't fall in line now, I will drag you by the ear to ensure that you do!” Harry and McGonagall winced. Two minutes into the hour and already Snape was yelling at his Slytherins.

 

“This is the worse time of the year. I never look forwards to preparing anyone for graduation.”

 

“Do you think all the houses are like this?” asked Harry.

 

“Ravenclaw, yes, because after awhile, they begin to get frustrated and start act like a bunch of smart alecks.”

 

“What about Hufflepuff?”

 

McGonagall shrugged. “Why don't you ask Professor Spout? She's scheduled to do rehearsals with her house in another three hours.”

 

Harry wanted to imagine that the Hufflepuffs were perfectly good students, but even well mannered teens like themselves were bound to get out of line.

 

McGonagall nodded, then walked off towards her office. Harry remained where he was and once McGonagall was completely out of sight, he walked towards the gates and peeked out at Snape. The wizard was now dragging one of his students by the ear across the lawn. Harry wanted to point and laugh at the bloke who was giving his fiancé a hard time, but settled with just watching and getting amusement out of the show. Then Harry caught sight of Hagrid standing just outside his hut laughing as he chopped up some wood. Harry smiled and made a mental note to ask Hagrid about all the wondrous pain Snape was inflicting upon his students.

 

Then another thought struck at Harry:

 

I stilll have to find the perfect ring for him.

 

Smiling happily to himself, Harry ran off towards the main entrance to the castle. While Snape was busy getting frustrated over his students, Harry was off to find the perfect wedding ring for Snape. Harry was determined to find him the very best… with more protective charms than any other out there.

 

HARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTER

 

Once Harry got down to Hogsmeade, he quickly spotted Hermione and Ron standing by a bench talking to each other. Harry approached them and then asked, “So, where is this ring store?”

 

“Just around the block, I suspect,” said Ron.

 

Ron led the way and once they found the ring store, named Fairy Tales do Come True, Harry was ready to charge in and he would have succeeded if Hermione didn't grab him by the arm, “Stop, Harry!”

 

“What?”

 

“Use your brain for once. What would happen if someone saw you purchasing a ring?”

 

Harry dropped his gaze to the ground, “Damn….”

 

“It's alright, Harry. Ron will go in and pretend like he is the one shopping and you are his best mate. I'll just be there to give approvals and what not.”

 

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” said Ron.

 

“Alright then. Let's go.”

 

Ron charged into the store first followed by Hermione and then Harry. The owner of the store, Mr. Bradley, eagerly came forwards to greet his visitors. “Good morning.”

 

The trio smiled and greeted the man. “Feel free to look around. If anything interests you, don't hesitate to ask.”

 

The man's deep, cerulean eyes settled on Harry for a moment longer than the others. He then went back to what he was doing.

 

The three of them split up, Hermione and Ron pretended to look at rings while Harry actually looked upon each and everyone one. The store wasn't as massive as Harry had hoped and after nearly ten minutes, Harry had seen all there was to see. “Did you find anything?” Hermione asked as she passed Harry.

 

Completely crestfallen that he hadn't in fact found the ring of his dreams, slowly shook his head. Mr. Bradley had over heard Hermione. He smiled contently. So, the ring was for the boy-who-lived. Setting aside the rings he was charming, he walked over to Harry and asked quietly, “Perhaps, is it you who is searching out a ring?”

 

Harry wanted to say `no', but as soon as the idea cross his mind, his tongue tied. “What's going on?” Ron asked.

 

“There are charms in my store,” said Mr. Bradley. “You can't lie here.”

 

Hermione and Ron seemed suddenly very uneasy. “Don't be alarmed. I would never tell the Daily Prophet or any other news publisher about Mr. Potter's intentions. Now, I understand you are looking for the perfect ring, right?”

 

Harry nodded. “For my fiancé.”

 

“Obviously,” Mr. Bradley said as he walked towards the back of the room. “I have one ring I've been working on for two years straight. As incredible as it might be, it is the bane of my sleep, and the bane of my life.” Mr. Bradley reached out through the marble black wall and withdrew a golden box that had cold fire burning around it. “Here.”

 

Mr. Bradley passed the box to Harry and watched curiously as Harry took the box in his hand, not feeling the flames that guarded the treasures inside. Mr. Bradley then smiled and nodded approvingly. “Well done, Mr. Potter.”

 

Hermione raised his brow and Ron reached out to touch the box. “Neat flames…,” but, as soon as his finger came within centimeters of the box, he could feel the flaming heat and withdrew quickly. He then looked over to Bradley. “Wicked!” Ron was amazed.

 

“I didn't labor over that box and ring for nothing. I do not believe in marriage without love. How can a marriage sustain itself without love? Besides me, only someone who truly loves their partner can hold that box in their hands.”

 

Hermione and Ron gaped and Harry felt his cheeks burning up. “… You're brilliant!” screamed Ron.

 

Hermione clapped for Bradley and Harry smiled at the man. Then, Harry slowly opened the box. Inside was something he had never seen before. A silver, Chinese snake dragon laid in the center of a velvet cushion, its eyes closed and its limbs tucked beneath it. Harry gasped and so did Ron and Hermione. “… I don't know what to say…,” Harry's eye remained glued to the dragon as it slept.

 

“You don't need to say anything. Just pay the fitting price,” said Bradley.

 

“Bloody hell… that ring's got to cost a fortune…” Ron choked.

 

“Yeah… but… my fiancé's worth all that and more,” Harry nodded and then Bradley handed Harry the tag.

 

“I'll be upfront. Stroke the dragon and she'll wake. Don't worry about sizes either. She'll adjust herself to fit the finger of your beloved.”

 

As Bradley walked away, Harry gently touched the dragon and she instantly looked up, her emerald eyes crossing and gazing into Harry's and her whiskers swaying in the air. “She's a beauty,” said Harry.

 

“A ring that lives,” said Bradley. “She's one of a kind. She's even been enchanted with about all the charms you can think of. She'll protect your partner unlike any other ring. Her strength lies in your love.”

 

Harry closed the box then brought it up to the front. He then pulled out a bag of Galleons and dropped it on the counter. Bradley opened it and counted it all. “Congratulations, Mr. Potter. You've just purchased the finest ring there is.”

 

Harry thanked the man then left, feeling like the luckiest fiancé there was. “I can't wait to show Severus this ring.”

 

Hermione and Ron nodded. They too felt excited even though they had nothing to do with the ring.

 

HARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTER

 

Later that night, when most of the students were either in the library studying or down in the common room doing their homework, Harry had taken the box out to have a better look at it before he went to bed. He opened it and the dragon stood on its four legs. It looked at Harry just as intently as Snape had done when performing Legilimency. Then suddenly, it jumped! Harry reached for grab it, but the dragon was quickly moving into the box that sat at the foot of his bed. It dove in and Harry fell off the bed trying to catch it in time. “Bloody… hell,” Harry then set up a silencing ward and then searched through his box. Moments later and the dragon had emerged from the box and around its neck was the ring that Snape had given to Harry months ago. The ring that Harry had hidden. He didn't know why, but Harry suddenly felt like crying. He reached for the dragon and his ring, “Thank you,” Harry held the dragon in the palm of his hands and then watched as the dragon coiled around and formed a ring herself. Harry his took the ring and placed it in his pocket. He then took the dragon and placed it back in the box. Snape was going to be most pleased.

 

 

A/N: Sorry this was such a short chapter. I wanted to take a break from the12 to 15 page chapter for once. The next one will be longer. I hoped you enjoyed it though. What do you think about the ring? Please review.