Fifteen Years

Part Fourteen

The Autumn sun glowered down at him threateningly. But the heat barely penetrated through the thick layering of clouds.

 A lot of time had passed without anything too eventful happening. The Scottish Sharptail had begun to snore, and was blowing fierce tendrils of flame from its snout. But at least the Aurors hadn't been able to follow him. For now, he was safe.

So long as the dragon didn't roll over and snore in his direction.

The rock he was stretched out on was not that comfortable. And the only source of warmth came from the dragons erratic snoring. There was a crisp feel to the air, almost brutal. George had twisted, turned, rolled, and grunted -all to no avail. He could not sleep. How long had it been since they had landed? Minutes?

Or hours?

George wondered if the dragon was well-rested enough to continue. His own legs were aching, the skin rubbed raw from the scales of the dragon. But surely they couldn't be too far from Hogwarts. He scrambled to his feet, examining his surroundings. Swaying slightly on the spot, he realised he had to move fast. The drug that the dragonologists had used on the Scottish Sharptail would soon wear off, leaving the dragon in a position of power over him. His magic would not be strong enough to control it, which would result in him either having to walk to Hogwarts or being eaten alive.

Once the pins and needles had faded from his legs, George jumped down from his rock and approached the dragon carefully. "Imperio," he said, surprised that his wand-hand was shaking as he held it out. The dragon snorted as the spell hit it, and George leapt aside to avoid the flames.

Take me to Hogwarts. Opening its eyelids, the dragon cast a wary eye in his direction. It grunted, and George took that as an invitation to crawl onto its back. Fingers tight around its beefy neck, George felt his stomach churn as the great beast rose to its feet. With a laborious sweep of wings, they were soaring upwards, the ground falling away beneath them.

---

Flying was another class that the first year Gryffindors shared with the Slytherins. It was their last lesson before dinner. Freddie had been trying to make eye contact with Kyle Maddock ever since potions that morning, but to no avail. Kyle was ignoring him. Not that Freddie blamed him, after-all, it was because of him and Kieran that Kyle had been forced to sit with a group of grumpy Slytherins.

Looking around at the gaggle of excited first years, Freddie noticed that the smiles of Gryffindors and Slytherins alike turned to frowns as they made eye contact with him. He leaned to the right, and his broomstick moved in a gentle semi-circle until he was facing Kieran. "Your revolution is working brilliantly."

Kieran beamed. "I know! It is so exciting! Look at them all, Gryffindors and Slytherins as equals, coming together in groups, talking amongst themselves... it's so lovely."

Freddie took a daring look around the class. It was true, they were all talking together... whispering. Sending irate glances in his direction. Oh brilliant, he thought, this is just what I need. They think I'm a traitor or something. He turned back to Kieran. "You do know why they're talking, right?! They aren't friends at all, but they can all agree on one thing."

Kieran looked him in the eye.

"They hate us Kieran. They're probably planning to throw rocks at us or something."

Kieran narrowed his eyes and looked around. A Gryffindor frowned and a Slytherin made a low hissing noise. “I see,” Kieran muttered, whirling back around to face him. “I must admit, this was not part of my plan…”

“Look, it’s over -you have to forget about it. This revolution is never going to work. Can’t you just leave me alone? Please? Let Hogwarts go back to the way it normally is. I wanted to come here and make some friends. Not have the whole school turn against me because a Slytherin is following me around.”

Kieran paused, almost as if he were considering it. Then he tilted his head back and said, “I still have the video of that portable swamp, you know. You swore that you would be my friend and help me with the revolution. You can’t back out, and I’m not just going to forget about it.”

Freddie rolled his eyes. “Kieran! You must be barm-” but his torrent of words were interrupted by a piercing scream.

Freddie and Kieran turned their gazes upwards. A Slytherin girl was hovering on her broomstick, screeching. Freddie quickly ascended towards the girl, and pulled up beside her. “What is it?” he asked, looking at her carefully. She was pale, and her fingers were clutching her broomstick tightly. The rest of the class was pulling up around them, staring and whispering.

“I just saw,” she began, “I mean, I think I saw a…” she fell silent.

“A what?” Freddie urged, leaning forwards as the teacher hurtled towards them. The girl was silent.

As the teacher took her hand and guided her downwards, the girl turned to Freddie. She had a strange look in her eyes. “I thought I saw a dragon,” she said in an undertone.

“Oh,” he said, disbelieving.

“But I thought you were the person riding it.”

The whole class touched down and grouped together in an excited mob.

“Miss Truland, what was that cacophony about?”

“I’m sorry professor,” the girl had regained some colour in her cheeks, “I thought I saw something, but I think it must have been my imagination,” she looked down at her feet. “A cloud or something, y’know?”

The professor pursed her lips. “Well, I would appreciate it if your imagination was a little less piercing next time,” she drew herself to her full height, looking indignant. “It’s nearly time for dinner, so go and get washed up -the lot of you. Class dismissed!”

The group of students began the climb back up to the castle. Someone pushed past Freddie, nearly knocking him over. “Watch it!” he shouted. Frowning down at his feet, he trudged forwards. As he wandered towards the castle he felt his heart sink. Everything had gone wrong. With a heavy sigh, he readjusted his backpack. Then he felt someone watching him. Turning around, he realised it was the dragon girl.

“What?” he asked.

“It wasn’t my imagination,” she declared. “I saw a dragon, and I saw someone riding it. They looked like you.”

“Well, it wasn’t me,” Freddie couldn’t be bothered to hide his bad mood.

The girls eyes were sparkling. She had long black hair that fell in cursive rivulets around her shoulders. She smiled at him, flashing a set of brilliant white teeth. Her emerald eyes reflected the green of her Slytherin uniform. Her Slytherin uniform. He reprimanded himself and looked away.

“I’m Tally,” she said, stepping towards him. They stopped walking and stared at each other.

“I’m Freddie,” he said, trying to keep his tone cool. Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin, he kept reminding himself.

“You wouldn’t happen to know why a guy who looks like you would be flying around the school on a dragon, would you?”

Freddie noticed that Kieran, who had been walking ahead of him, had paused and was staring at them. Mulling his thoughts over, he suddenly realised that he did know -exactly- what was going on. “Well,” he began, “I may just have a theory…” he beckoned Kieran over. “I have great news,” he said, his pulse beginning to race. “I have an idea. We are going to make instant friends.”

“And my revolution?”

Tally looked at them both, raising her eyebrows. “Revolution?”

Freddie nodded, and grinned. “It’s on.”