Serpent in the Lion's Den

41. Conversus ad statuas

The two Gryffindors and Slytherin ran down a maze of tunnels, sending hexes down the pathway behind them. They turned down another two corridors and began to slow down when the jets of light and shouting voices died down to silence.

"Where'd they go?" Ron asked, backtracking slightly to look round the last corner to find an empty passageway with no trace of activity or life.

"I don't know but I'm not waiting for them to come back, let's go, there's light down this tunnel here." Harry said, motioning to a small, dark passage to their left and waiting until the two wizards were in tow before jogging towards the light. As Harry got into the clearing, he pulled up his arm to block the two following wizards, the clearing opened way to a large circular room with stone pillars and a large, albino dragon with red-rimmed eyes and deep gashes across its chest and back.

"Wow... that's a Ukrainian Ironbelly, I've seen a picture of Charlie with one of these." Ron gasped, "it's asleep, I reckon we can get past it and then find a way out of here"

"Weasel, I'm more interested in what's behind those pillars than I am a sleeping Dragon." Draco muttered, nodding in direction to the farthest pillar. On the right side a blue cap and white shirt was just visible behind the stone and less than a second later the seven guards came from behind the pillar. The three wizards dived to cover on either side of the gate that lined the balcony overlooking the room.

"Does anyone have a plan?!" Harry shouted, curling into himself as the stone shielding him and Ron slowly crumbled with each curse thrown.

"Weasel, you know this species of dragon, right?" Draco asked, hurling a hex towards the gate, blating it off the wall and leaving a clear entranceway to the floor below.

"I mean yeah, most dragons are the same anatomy wise. This one's pretty beat up. Why?"

"So, you know how to fly it." Draco said as he ran forward towards the balcony and jumped, landing on the now-awake dragon. Harry and Ron looked at one another with utter disbelief on their faces before smirking like school children and following suit, launching themselves from the balcony onto the dragon. Draco had made his way to the base of the dragon's neck and shouted,

"You two get rid of those chains and I'll get rid of the guards" he ordered and nodded towards the chains that binded the creature.

"Seven against one? I'll help you Malfoy." Harry shouted, turning to climb further up.

"Conversus ad statuas!" the wizard shouted and the seven guards froze, their bodies covered in a grey slop that set and turned them all to statues. He turned back to the Gryffindor and smirked, "I liked my chances" he said whilst Ron used 'Reducto' to break the chains. The wizard then sent a stinging jinx to the dragon's tail to send it up into the air. The dragon took a few tries to get off the ground but once it had it soared up through the caverns and burst through the floor and ceiling of Gringotts's main hall and sent tiles and the main chandelier across the room.

"Ron, get us to the cottage, you reckon you know the way?"

"Oh, I know the way don't worry but what I don't know is what the hell that spell Malfoy used back there!" Ron shouted, he looked like a child at Christmas as he used low-power jinxes to guide the dragon above the chimneys and buildings of Diagon Alley.

"Conversus ad statuas? I created it at the start of the year, took a while to perfect but basically means 'I turn you to stone' it's a non-lethal. For now." The wizard explained smugly and turned to watch the scenery in silence, leaving the Gryffindor's to wonder whether a spell such as that would be necessary in this war.

XXX

"Get ready to drop" Ron called as they flew over endless waves of grey sea that bordered the shore of the cottage. They were a large distance from the shore to the point where the grasses and bay muddled into a consistent strip of beige and green and grey. Ron tapped the dragon's neck three times with his wand before leaping from its back, plunging into the water below. The two Gryffindor's broke the surface, gasping for breath as the cold air and water gripped their bodies and lungs, on the other hand, Draco sat, dry and smug, on a muggle inflatable boat.

"Even you two are smart enough to figure out that we can't swim back" he smirked, leaning back against its side and propping his feet on top. On one foot was a black soled shoe and on the other was a black sock with white detailing. Draco shrugged at the wizard's quizzical looks,

"Had to use something to transfigure a boat, didn't I? I know I'm better at magic then both of you combined, but I can't conjure a muggle boat out of thin air. Now you getting in or not? Weasel you can row."

"Only because I'm stronger than you" Ron huffed as he pulled both himself and Harry into the boat, took the oars and began to glide the boat across the water towards the shore.

"What did you do to the dragon Ron?" Harry asked as he transfigured a second set of oars from one of his own shoes to help his friend.

"A type of charm Hagrid taught me when I was helping him with Buckbeak's case in third year. What do muggles call it? Auto-Pot? Basically, allows the animal to travel to where they need to without knowing where to go. I sent Dig under a disillusionment charm to Charlie in Romania." Ron explained, ignoring Draco's muttering of 'bloody chicken' under his breath but noticing how the Slytherin didn't take his eyes of the cottage.

"Auto-Pilot Ron" Harry laughed, "that's really smart though, I'm sure... Dig... will get there soon."

"Don't laugh Harry you know I'm rubbish with muggle sayings and yeah, I named him Dig to match with Pig, thought he deserved a name after being trapped down there for who knows how long." Ron huffed, and rowed in silence until soft scrapes of gravel brushed beneath the boats bottom and six masses of red hair came into focus.