Bride of the HP Dragon

It wasn't that Ginny lacked the confidence to be sneaky, after all she had grown up with Fred and George Weasley.

Even though Molly Weasley did her best to make her youngest and only daughter a dutiful and sensible child, certain skills trickled down.

Or maybe it's just genetics?

She can sullenly invent a lie (although she rarely has to), and she won't be heartbroken after the affair.

But the situation wasn't that the Weasley twins' shenanigans required a third accomplice, nor was it any mission she'd been on before, not even for Harry.

It was illegal, pure and simple, and if she were found out, the results would be disastrous.

When Ginny stepped out of the elevator on the fourth floor of Azkaban, she had a tentative and sincere smile on her face.She approached the young female guard who had put her in Snape's cell the last time she and Hermione had come to Azkaban.

"Hello, miss," the guard greeted her, and she stood up from behind the desk and stood at attention: "Come back to see Snape so soon?"

"There's a damn case," Ginny sighed, her tone filled with realistic anger, and she threw her heavy little backpack on the table and emptied the contents: "You can imagine."

The guard nodded sympathetically, and Ginny congratulated her luck, since the girl was a novice.New, young, inexperienced, and a little in awe of Harry.Now, that awe has shifted to Ginny.

"What a tragedy, he deserved it," the girl said in a smug voice, "my dad was at Hogwarts the year Snape was teaching, and he told me a lot about how the greasy bastard used to punish being late Student Stories…”

Ginny interrupted, wishing she could remember the guard's name.

"Is Laura right? I'm really in a hurry tonight."

The girl blushed, and Ginny felt a strong regret: "I am Constance." She took out a customary metal box and put it on the small table: "You already knew about this object last time, miss. All magic Items are to be kept here during your visits. Are you going to see him in his cell?"

"Please arrange it in the interrogation room. I need him to sign some documents." Ginny had already taken off her coat, and without unbuttoning the top button of the cardigan, she took down the weather forecast raindrop pendant Bill had given her.

As she had done on each of her previous visits, she dropped the pendant and chain into the metal box.This was followed by a spellcheck quill, a stack of eternity parchment and a true heart ring (which she belatedly realized was glowing bright scarlet).All of these are low-end magic items, really cheap or sentimental trinkets.But rules are rules, whether you're the Minister's daughter or not.

"Is that all, miss?" Constance asked, more like looking for something to say.

Not exactly, you should really use a detection spell to look for hidden objects on me, but you won't, because you didn't do it last time, and it would be too embarrassing for you to bring it up now.

Ginny's smile was unwavering: "Yes, that's all. I hope I have enough plain paper, I ran out last time."

She waited in anguish for twenty-ten minutes while the girl summoned the other guards to accompany Snape into an empty interrogation room.When this was done, Ginny was shown to the room and told that two guards were left outside the door in case she needed help.

Her visit to Snape was nothing new, so everyone, including her client, was just going through the motions.

The object was that Snape was making things difficult, which he always downplayed.In short, he let it be that he was going to be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

This time, Dumbledore's assistance was still not enough.Ginny was used to it, and whenever Snape insisted on reading during their meetings, she'd learned long ago not to take it seriously.He had a vast library of books, and was at his best reticent when he was not reading.

He wasn't reading today when they left his cell.Ginny often wondered how he had managed to look so impeccably clean in his prison clothes.They still had the creases from the last laundry day, and a slovenly Potions Master wasn't a good Potions Master, she convinced herself.

And Snape was the best of the bunch.

"It's a bit late to work at this hour today, isn't it?" He asked with raised eyebrows, and he was forced to sit opposite her with his elbows resting on the metal table top and his hands were handcuffed.

He wanted a black leather cord to tie up his hair, which was still as black as ebony.

"I suppose you've obtained enough material on your last visit to start an appeal farce?"

Ginny sighed, this would be her first unsupervised appeal, Snape was her first big case, and she hoped it wouldn't be the last.

"The appeal will not be initiated."

"Oh? You've finally taken my advice about your futility, and indeed you are." His elegant addition was still razor-cold.

She wanted to cut to the chase: "Last week in the lingerie department of Harrods, some elusive friend of yours thought it would be a good idea to ask me for an errand."

The look on Snape's face was priceless, the first time Ginny had seen real emotion in Snape's face in a long time: "You mean, a friend? Are you sure that's... him?"

Ginny crossed her arms: "Professor, I don't know how many people have tried to kill you in your long and troubled life, but I'm very sure not to forget that someone once tried to get me into danger, whether indirectly or directly .”

Snape's eyes widened slightly: "You're right." Then he glared at her: "Stupid girl, this is dangerous, I guess you didn't report it?"

"Your guess is correct."

"why?"

"Because I can't give this to you." Ginny glanced at the door to make sure it was really shut, and quickly reached into her cardigan to pull out a golden key with a long thin chain. .

Snape's reaction to the key was not what she had expected.

At first he just stares at the keys, then he throws his head back and laughs, it's not the frantic shrill laugh you sometimes get tired of hearing from long-lost prisoners of Azkaban, it's a low-pitched pleasure Yes, a perfectly sane chuckle.

Ginny frowned. "I hope that means you know how to use it, because I don't think it can open any of the locks here."

Snape stopped laughing. "I know how to use it because I made this key. It's what I used to help Lucius escape five years ago."

Ginny regretted that she hadn't looked at the key properly, and Hermione would be eager to study it for the Department of Mysteries: "This is the mysterious device you told them about? What the hell is this?"

No one, after hearing this story, believes that there is a magical device that allows its user to open any door, including Ginny.But for better or worse, she pretended that what Snape was going to tell was simply a story.

His eyes were as provocative as his answer: "Gold, bronze, blood and heartbreak, forged the shape you see here." He played with the key and held it nimbly: "It will open any barrier the door of your loved one."

There was so much sarcasm in his tone that Ginny didn't know what to say.

"So you're saying it will only work if your loved one is on the other side of the door? No matter how far apart they are?"

"Yes."

"It's amazing," Ginny said in a daze. "I don't remember you being able to collect heartbreak."

Snape's expression meant that if she could think about it, she could ask and answer for herself.Well...there's blood in the ingredients, so what about the composition of "Heartbreak"?Ginny looked up.

"You mean tears?" The image of Snape weeping in front of a large, steaming cauldron was too absurd and fleeting.

Snape said nothing.

"So you and Lucius..." Ginny knew he wouldn't reveal any details.

"You know you're the only one who still calls me Professor."

Ginny was not happy about the change of topic: "And you still call me a child."

"You are," he replied, "Why did you do that?"

"In fact, I did it to prove my thoughts on the sentence imposed on you. You did what you should do for the benefit of everyone."

"The law doesn't look at it that way, boy, it doesn't get rid of my past, especially since we're still at war, and that's the way we've come down."

"Then we must do what we can to make our own just decisions." She went to the door and peeked through the small square window at the top. The two guards were not watching them.

"You've got to knock me out," Ginny said, turning to Snape.

Snape was all about the gods: "I have to carry out your idiot plan."

Ginny scolded him: "It's not my idiot plan, it's Lucius Malfoy's."

Snape backed down, stood up, and Ginny flinched at the quick movement.The key now hangs around his neck, flashing against the bland prison attire: "How the hell is this thing going to work?"

"It will let me slip through any door in front of me silently, which in my current condition means I can walk out of Azkaban and go undetected to the furthest guardhouse."

"That's good enough," Ginny admired. "If you choose to steal a wand, please don't hurt any of the guards."

Snape gave Ginny a cold look, and Ginny realized it meant "don't insult me".

Ginny took a deep breath and closed her eyes: "Okay, let's do it, I'm ready."

Nothing happened, no one hit her, Ginny opened her eyes: "Professor, you have to knock me unconscious. I can't do it myself, they will find out."

She expected him to say something like, "No, no way! This is ridiculous!" and then he wouldn't attack her.But this was Snape, and he knew it had to be done.He didn't look particularly guilty before doing it, and he didn't say any verbal apologies.

"I gave you time to regret it," he said.

"I won't regret it, hurry up!"

Later they'd ask her about the last thing she remembered, because obviously an investigation was going to start, a report file was going to be produced on a major safety incident.

They won't have a clue as to how Snape got through each level, even using the elevator without being seen, and he got a wand.

Horace, the guard at the registry office on the ground floor, didn't even notice that his wand was missing until everyone was asked to check.

The last thing Ginny remembered was Snape telling her that he had intentionally rewarded her with a foul in the final moments of extra time in the sixth year Quidditch match he was refereeing.This particular foul cost Gryffindor the game and the championship.

It was one of the rare things she and Harry hated.

"You didn't foul, Draco was at fault," Snape told her.

This was calculated by Snape, and when Ginny was awakened, she was still in vivid agitation.

If Muggles use biosensors as a means of security, then some wizards will invent intrusion alarms implanted in their brains.

Hermione had previously had access to this new and playful spell, as she worked in the Department of Mysteries.Everyone knew that the Department of Mysteries could run the coolest novelty spells before Oro even noticed.

This is just one case in point.

On this cold Saturday night, a small "beep" sounded in Hermione's head.And it has nothing to do with the timer on the oven, she just gave up on that hopeless lasagna dinner.

She was about to go to the fridge to see if something fresh had magically appeared between two hours ago and now.

Dressed in half-worn flannel pajamas and bunny house slippers, Hermione stopped in the kitchen, blinking her eyes to concentrate.

Uninvited guests set off the visible cordons she guards her lackluster possessions as they enter her territory.Whether Voldemort was doing it for information or simply to cause Harry pain, she would be naive to think that Voldemort would not target her.

Anyone who knew Harry well would walk around the same distance, and maybe some bad guy was lurking around the next street corner.It was only natural to care for each other with Harry, and it was fair.

It was really cold, and there was an extraordinary fire in the fireplace.Since Hermione cut off the Floo network that night, there was no possibility of a quick exit from the house, just in case Nick contacted her.

Isn't that what it's normal to do when you've broken up with someone and want to escape for a few days?She was inexperienced and this was the first time she had to break up with someone.Or the second time, if you count Klum, which really doesn't have to be, because that's just a hot unrequited love.

Nick, always low-key and crisp, had said he would understand, but Hermione didn't think he could.

Maybe it's because she broke up because they weren't compatible, and if she tells him she's still in love with a boy who's suffering... correct, a guy she's only been with for fourteen days and hasn't seen in five years, Nick's reaction would have been different.

His calm look at the breakup was yet another proof that they weren't right for each other.Hermione is very proud of her ability to act, but she also knows that when facing a breakup, a man who doesn't even argue is not the right person.

Hermione's head was clear, but her heart was not.It wants Nick, crazily and dangerously, to throw chairs, stalk her, rage at her, fight for her, give her a menacing look and drive her out of her mind.

But he wouldn't do that because he wasn't Draco.

The end of a successful relationship should not be pouring more tea and talking meaningfully about the yearning for all kinds of life.That's what Nick had done before, and Hermione had been incredibly beaming when she left his apartment, but it was equally confusing and frightening for her to find herself wanting to isolate herself.

When Hermione came home, she could say she planned a night where no one would be disturbed.That plan was broken now, and it was now impossible to quickly reconnect to the Floo to call for help.

She can Apparate to safety if necessary.

But things didn't get to that point until she set up some defenses.Are those bastards really capable of raiding her house?She will teach them a lesson.

The L-shaped kitchen was full of windows, so Hermione scuttled into the more sheltered lounge.She hid behind the sofa and climbed to the front window to peek through the heavy curtains.

There was frost outside the windows, and she could make out nothing but darkness and the faint sound of the wind passing through the trees.But it was clear that someone was in the yard.

Hermione sprawled back on the floor, and Hermione grabbed Crookshanks who was asleep, the basket, the rug, etc., and lifted a piece of loose floorboard that had been designed for such an event.

She tossed the basket into the cubicle under the house, and the old cat didn't care about being temporarily squeezed because it was too comfortable.As she reset the floor, there was a low grunting sound.

"Be quiet, Crookshanks," Hermione whispered. "It's for your own good." She pressed her wand tightly against the door and counted to five.

Two months of normal hot meals, a warm bed and a roof over his head hadn't succeeded in dulling Draco's instincts.

It might be years before he wants to dull himself, unfortunately the marks are indelible.

It was snowing so hard that the cabin and porch in front of him were a frosty white mass.

Fortunately, he could still see the front door being opened roughly, and before he could figure it out, he was on his stomach, his gloved hands spread flat on the snow.Less than a meter above his head, a magical force spread out in an arc from the porch.

He heard more than he saw the effects of the spell, the sound of twigs being struck with menacing violence, the sound of burning, the sound of the white fence crumbling to pieces in front of the house.

After all this precision and destructive force, Draco braced himself discreetly on his elbows, facing a pair of well-worn rabbit slippers.The slippers quickly sank into the snow and turned into a puddle of muddy water.All he could see were a pair of bunny ears and ankles covered in flannel.

The aftermath of the spell was still swirling in the courtyard in the scorching heat.

"Jesus Christ, Malfoy!" Hermione Granger stood before him in disbelief, and...he couldn't help noticing that her quivering wand was still glowing red in his face.

He grabbed his wand and aimed it elsewhere before she unconsciously burned off his eyebrows.

"It's just Draco, I'm fine," he sat up, noticing that his clothes were soaked, "although I'm glad you thought I was the Son of God."

It was an impossibly bad joke, and nothing beats the tension like a well-timed bad joke.But Hermione was not in the mood to look at the bright side of the situation. Her hand holding the wand trembled visibly, and her face was pale from the reflection of the snow.

"You idiot! I'm going to kill you!" All lightheartedness vanished, and Draco realized how disturbed she really was.

"Then you're lucky you didn't kill me," he said softly.

He felt it would be perfectly natural to go up to hug her and comfort her, but Draco didn't because he didn't allow that feeling to blossom.

Hermione was still looking at him, as if not convinced yet that he was really standing in her ruined yard.She stomped on a soggy house slipper and crossed her arms.Two patches of crimson appeared on her cheeks, and her shrewdness returned.

The cuffs of her oversized pajamas were rolled up, the snow was melting in her dark curls, her eyes were burning brown at him, and Draco thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

There was that familiar bloody tension in his chest, it was so stupid to be here, what did he think was going to happen?

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" she asked with snow seeds on her face.

Draco decided that honesty was the best thing to do at the moment, and he pulled his hood back: "I'm not sure, I wish you could tell me."

He suddenly had a thought, maybe she has a partner now?Now, he felt even worse because of his stupid expectations.He didn't want to wait for her to tell him herself, or worse, ask him to leave immediately.

"I apologize, I shouldn't have come here to make a fool of myself." He unloaded his broom and started back toward the unkempt fence, wet snow crunching under his boots.

"Being ugly has to be witnessed by someone other than me."

Hermione's rueful admission that she was alone made Draco stop and turn back, she was holding the door for him.

"You'd better come in."

The author has something to say:

Professor, your scheming is too good

This is not a golden key, this is a golden finger...I want to...

This chapter is broken at a crucial point...