Genesis Gryffindor and the Fight to Survive - Book 4

The Dragon

I stood beside Fred, staring down the dragon who was sniffing the air. Suddenly it let out a roar, its head inclinded towards the sky, before it spit out a ball of fire. I grabbed Fred's hand and pulled him to the ground just as the ball of fire whizzed over us. I felt some of my hair get singed and could feel the material of my dress falling apart.

"My dress." I gasped as I rose to my feet. Fred moved to take a peek and I heard him gasp. "How bad is it?" I asked him, all the while keeping my eyes on the Dragon.

"Well, lets just say I know what color knickers you are wearing, but its okay I can fix this." He said. "Reparo." He chanted.

Almost immeadiately I felt the dress reparing itself. I let out a breath of relief as I knew it was fixed and had to quickly knock Fred to the side as another ball of flame whizzed in our direction.

"This is comfy." Fred wheezed as I landed ontop of him.

I rolled us three paces to the side in order to avoid another fireball.

"This is insane, how do we distract it?" I shouted.

I rose to my feet and stepped on my dress, tearing it. I threw my hands into the air and swore angrily before I used a severing charm to cut the remaining of my dress away.

"What are you doing?" Fred asked as I stood before him in my undergarmets.

I murmered a spell and turned my white undergarmets to a black color and multiplied the fabric to make it thicker. I then looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. I looked at the egg across the way and then back to the dragon, distractions.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted as I aimed at a large rock.

I sent it soaring across the arena to the dragons head. When it hit, the creature let out a roar of pain.

"Thats it, lets attack it. You throw the boulders at it and I will go for the egg." Fred said.

I nodded my head and began sending rock after rock at the dragon, hitting it continuously in the head. I did my best to keep both the dragon and Fred in my sight while I continued sending rocks at the dragons head.

"Hurry Fred!" I shouted as I could see I was running out of rocks to use as projectiles.

I froze as I watched Fred covering the remainder of the 20 yards between him and the egg. The moment he touched it I felt the ground and air around my vibrate fiercely. What was happening. A loud roar grabbed my attention and I looked up just as the dragon was rearing it heads.

"Oh shit." I whispered as I could see the flames building in its mouth.

Just as the fireball slipped from its mouth I was knocked to my feet by Fred. The air was knocked out of me and I was coughing.

"What now?" Fred asked.

I rose slowly to my feet, trying to steady myself as the ground beneath us continued shaking.

"Well what did the egg say?" I asked him.

"It said, 'Only death gives light to new life'." He replied.

I turned my head quickly in his direction as if I had heard his words wrong. But I knew that wasn't the case. If I was correct with the way I had comprehended this riddle, we had to die in order to continue. But for some reason I knew we had to die the right way.

"Only death gives light to new life." I repeated to myself. "The only thing that can die and be born again is a phoenix and phoenixs die by flame and are reborn by their ashes." My eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"You aren't telling me that in order to continue we have to be burned alive are you?" Fred asked, his voice wavering in uncertainty.

"That is exactly what I'm saying Fred." I responded as I took his hand. "Trust me." I said as I looked him in the eyes.

"I trust you." He repeated, the corner of his mouth turning up into a half smile. He turned to face me and brushed my hair behind my ear before pulling out a few strands of dead hair. "I love you." He said before brushed his lips against my jaw.

I heard the dragon roar and knew what would come next. I wrapped my arms around Fred and pulled him against me before I kissed him. Just as our lips connected I heard Fred's moan as the flames cascaded over us. Suddenly the two of us began screaming as I felt the fire burning us.

Another jolt of the ground was felt and then it was like I was in apparating. When my feet slammed down on the ground, I shivered. It was cold, freezing cold. Every breath I took sounded like the hiss of a snake. Where was I?

I looked around and saw I was standing on a platform in the middle of what seemed to be the Black Lake. The only difference was that the lake wasn't water, it was fire.

"Congradulations" A voice hissed. "You have survived the first level, now welcome to the next. You see I have taken something of yours, something with very much sentimental value. In order to advance you must find it. Get back before the hour is up or your treasure will be lost forever and you my dear shall perish." I stared at the water, listening as the voice rang out. "Good luck."

"Fred, what do you think the item is?" I asked as I looked to my side.

I blinked once, trying to clear my vision as if something obstructed Fred from my view. Nothing changed and I knew that Fred was gone. Then I realized the item that was taken from me was Fred. In order to save him and myself I had to find him and I knew that he was somewhere in this pool of fire.

Without hesitating to waste anytime I dove into the flames. Instantly I began flailing my limbs as I could feel myself burning. I opened my eyes and saw that I wasn't in normal fire but liquid fire. The texture was like that of water but it burned and seared at my skin. I looked down at my arms and didn't see any change in my physique. So that was on curiostiy answered, it only let me feel the feeling of being burned alive but it didn't really burn me, atleast yet.

Then I remembered I was running out of oxygen. I quickly used the bubble head charm so I could breath and continued to survey my surroundings. It looked like death all around me. There were skeletons and bones laying all around me, stacked and connected to create shapes and objects. In order to find Fred I would have to use my brain. Where was I, are there any clues and where would Voldemort place Fred?

I continued to look around. After a few minutes I realized that the shapes created by the bones weren't shapes at all but turretts and the foundation of a building. Not just any building though but Hogwarts. I took a step forward, wincing as the flames continued licking at my skin. As I took a second step something caught my ankle.

I bent down to survey it and saw it was a scarf. I lifted it with my wand and eyed it from every angle. Beneath the crispness of the burnt scarf I was able to make out the name Fred on the tag and better yet a lion, the Gryffindor crest.

I looked up at the bone castle to the spot where I knew the Gryffindor towers were and could see easily as flames engulfed it. He had to be there, or else somewhere Voldemort would value more, the Slytherin Common room. Still if I was to make it I had to start now. The only thing that kept me rooted was the fact that with every movement came pain. In order to save Fred and myself I had to get past that because now I had 50 minutes until the two of us would be dead.