Fifteen Years

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.”