▬▬▬▬
"SO HOW'D I DO?" Albany asked cheerily, raising an eyebrow at Merlin where he leaned against the entrance to the first aid tent.
The wizard shook his head in amusement, a small smile playing on his lips. "Aside from giving me heart failure - better than I expected, to be honest," he admitted.
Albany narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "What were you expecting?"
She winced in pain as Madam Pomfrey dabbed a thick purple liquid on her shoulder; Oneira had injured her more seriously than she'd thought when she had pinned her to the ground, alongside the burns from her fire. It had been painful taking off her shirt when it was glued to her wounds with drying blood. The school nurse was muttering under her breath about the ridiculousness of students facing grown dragons; Fleur had only just left as Albany entered, accompanied by a silent Professor Snape, who returned to the stands as soon as he had dropped off his student to Pomfrey. Krum must have gotten his egg unscathed.
"Well, you're only seventeen," Merlin explained with a sheepish grin. "I didn't want to have my standards too high, so I would've been happy if all you'd managed to do was subdue her for a while."
Albany glanced up at him in bemusement. "Is that not all I did?"
Merlin squinted his eyes at her in disbelief. "Albany, Oneira pledged her allegiance to you! That's a good deal more than subdual."
"Oh," Albany said, a little surprised by this information. Her head was hurting too much to fully consider the concept. "Well. That's kinda cool."
A soft pop sounded to her right, and she glanced up with a pleasant smile to greet Arthur. The furious expression in his features caught her off guard, and her face fell rapidly.
"Arthur...?"
"Albany," Arthur said, tone scarily calm considering he was speaking through clenched teeth, "if you ever - and I mean ever - come that close to death again, I will kill you."
Albany stared at him nervously. "Sorry...?"
"I mean it," Arthur said, pointing a finger firmly in her direction. He took a sharp inhale, and then sighed, lowering his head to rub at his face with his hands. "Good god, I think I died again watching you."
"Hey, it's not like I nearly got killed by a dragon on purpose," Albany argued, folding her arms. The movement pulled at the sore muscles on her back, and she groaned, but shut up very quickly upon noticing three figures rushing through the tent flaps.
"Albany!"
Albany perked up at the sight of her friends, but then her eyes widened upon realising she still wasn't wearing a shirt. "Woah-" she began, but Madam Pomfrey handed her a clean towel to cover herself with before she could say another word. She relaxed, grinning up at the twins, and Carly, who had accompanied them; their faces were priceless.
"What the hell was that?!" Fred all but shouted at her, jaw hanging open in shock. "Were you talking to the dragon?!"
Albany bit her cheek. "I-"
"Parseltongue!" Carly interrupted, the word having come to her after a brief moment of contemplation. The metaphorical lightbulb went out no sooner than it had lit, however. "Wait, non - that is snakes-"
"I thought you were a goner," George admitted, voice a little softer than the other two as he met her gaze with worried eyes. The amusement that laced his tone was light and playful, though the concern weighed heavy on his words, and his face was paler than usual. "Sweet Merlin, don't do that to us again."
Albany smiled at him, shrugging her shoulders. "No promises, unfortunately," she said. "Still two tasks left."
"The egg!" Carly gasped gleefully as she spotted it on the bench next to Albany, making a dive for the golden trophy. She weighed it up in her small hands, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "What does it do?"
"No, hold on!" Fred interrupted her, still staring at Albany. "You've got some explaining to do."
Albany smiled at him sheepishly, biting her cheek. "Do I...?"
Fred stared as though the answer were obvious. "Uh... yes?! What happened in there?! The dragon nearly had you, and then you started shouting at it - what language were you even speaking?"
"Language...?" Albany echoed, confused. She'd understood herself and the dragon perfectly well; how could it have been anything but English?
"Yes, language!" Fred confirmed, nodding his head vigorously. "That wasn't English, Allie! And I-" he glanced momentarily to Carly, "-I don't think it was French? But then the dragon just got off of you and, like, bowed?! You must have been talking to it! How-?!"
George stepped in, laying a hand in front of his twin's chest with an amused grin. "Hey, Freddie, relax," he said light-heartedly, and glanced to Albany, who smiled at him appreciatively. "Give her some time to breathe, she just fought a dragon, for Merlin's sake."
Albany sighed in relief, though tensed as Madam Pomfrey began treating her back; it was pretty scratched up after being thrown to the ground several times.
George's eyebrows furrowed in concern; his gaze fell to Albany's shoulder, where most of the blood had been cleaned up, but was still slowly stitching itself together as Pomfrey's magic worked away at the deep wound.
"How are you?" he asked.
It was Pomfrey who answered before Albany could offer him any reassurances.
"She's quite banged up, but she'll be alright once these finish healing," the nurse explained, and waved her wand at Albany's back, sealing the scratches she had dabbed down already with the purple substance from before. "Take it easy on her, though, she's concussed. Was talking away to herself before you lot came in."
Albany's eyes widened a fraction and her face flushed bright red; somehow, in her moments of triumph, she'd forgotten that nobody else could see or hear Merlin and Arthur. Thankfully, it had only been Pomfrey in the tent with them.
Fred raised an eyebrow in amusement at her obviously embarrassed reaction, while Madam Pomfrey handed her a small glass of a heavy yellow liquid.
Albany made a face. "That looks like pus," she complained, and sniffed reluctantly at it, wincing even more. "Smells like it, too."
"I advise you get over it if you want that headache to go away," the nurse said simply, and began wrapping Albany's shoulder in bandage. "I'll bet your ears are ringing, too. Must have hit your head pretty hard."
Albany couldn't deny that, and while the pounding in her head had softened considerably since leaving the enclosure, it had yet to go away completely. She frowned, and downed the glass as quickly as possible, scrunching her nose with distaste.
"Yummy?" Fred joked.
"Wonderful," Albany deadpanned, wiping at her mouth with the edge of the towel. She figured the taste in her mouth was probably going to linger for a while; magical remedies were rarely pleasant. "Like goblin piss."
The twins chuckled and Carly grinned, and even Albany had to smile. Despite the aching all over her body, she hadn't felt so good in ages; she couldn't bring herself to worry about what else the tournament had to offer with her spirits so high. A massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She'd actually survived the first task - who was to say she couldn't handle the next two?
She didn't need to win, no; and she was sure that Krum and Fleur were too strong a competition to be in with a chance, anyway. And Harry-
Oh fuck, Harry.
"Wait!" she said, so suddenly that some of the others jumped. She stood up quickly, though Madam Pomfrey was quick to pull her back down onto the bench, not yet finished bandaging her.
"Whatever is the hurry?" the witch asked, and sounded lightly irritated. "Students never sit still, I swear...."
"Harry," Albany said seriously, meeting George's concerned gaze. "He's still fighting his dragon-" I can help him. "-we need to go back, er, I want to watch him-"
"Easy, Allie," Fred assured her with a grin. "Lee and Angelina stayed back to get your scores, and they're watching Harry too, so they'll be able to tell you all about his round-"
Harry entered the tent. Fred raised his eyebrows as he glanced over at the boy, who was followed by McGonagall, Moody and Hagrid. Albany straightened up immediately, meeting the younger's cheery gaze; he seemed a little battered and bruised, but he was beaming. His egg was secure in his arms, as were his two wands - two?
"I picked up your wand for you," Harry said, beaming at her. He was still panting lightly for breath as he approached, and winced as the Weasley twins gave him celebratory thumps on the back. "You left it in the arena."
Albany blinked; she'd completely forgotten about. "Thanks," she said with a growing smile, taking it gratefully. "You good?"
"Yeah," Harry breathed, and sat down on the bench next to her. Pomfrey snipped the end of her bandage, and eased Harry out of his own shirt as Albany put back on hers. "Just got a bit burnt."
"How are you, Miss Bronwen?" McGonagall inquired, after sending the Weasley twins a warning glare for being too rough with Harry. "You gave us quite a scare back there."
"I agree," Moody said ominously, staggering forward with a grim expression. His magical eye darted around the tent wildly, but Merlin and Arthur had left a while ago. "Put that dragon in its place, you did."
Albany bit her cheek hard. "I'm all patched up now, thanks to Madam Pomfrey," she assured McGonagall, making a point to ignore Moody. He still gave her the creeps.
"Good to hear," McGonagall responded with a tight smile.
The group inside the tent glanced up as two more students came running in the entrance; Harry's Muggleborn friend, and the twins' younger brother. It was getting notably crowded now, and as the younger Gryffindor's friends began to interrogate Harry, Albany nodded to Fred, George and Carly to leave.
The air outside was cool, wintery and refreshing, and Albany took a deep, happy breath as she stepped out of the tent. There was a sea of chattering students passing by on their way back to the castle, and Lee Jordan jumped out of its flow with an eager grin upon spotting them.
"Where's Angelina?" Fred asked.
"With Alicia and the others," Lee replied, waving his hand. He had the hugest grin on his face as he turned to Albany, and she swallowed, expecting another interrogation. "I don't know how you did it, but you're the talk of the school right now! People won't shut up about you, not even while Harry was still flying around the place!"
Albany bit her cheek. Brilliant, even more attention. Exactly what I need, she thought, though was still too thrilled to feel entirely bitter.
"So what are you, some kind of dragon whisperer or something?" Lee asked, eyes gleaming with intrigue. "I've never heard that language before, and you timed it so dramatically, it was amazing!"
"Er...."
"I think she really nearly died," Carly informed the boy seriously.
Lee's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Are you for real?! That's insane! What was it like?!"
Albany shook her head in amusement while George attempted to calm their excitable friend. "Not something I would plan on doing again," she laughed.
"Well, you had one job, Lee, so spill," Fred said eagerly. "What are her scores?"
"Oh, they took forever to decide," Lee reported, with dramatic hand gestures to convey exactly how long forever had taken. "Like, they had Harry's dragon in there ages before they let Harry in because they were still deciding."
"Brilliant, wanna tell us what they did decide?" George prompted him with a smile.
"Oh, right!" Lee grinned apologetically. "Dumbledore gave you an eight out of ten, I think Crouch gave you a seven... oh! Bagman gave you a ten—"
"A ten?!" Albany choked, eyebrows skyrocketing. "What for?!"
"Uh, because it was amazing, duh," Lee said, grinning, and continued. "The French one gave you a seven.... Who else was there? Oh! Karkaroff, well... he gave you a three."
"Three?!" Fred repeated, jaw wide open. "Only a three?! After she as good as tamed a dragon—"
"YOU!"
Albany jumped at the roar, as did her company; though Fred and George were wearing the broadest grins on their faces, and she soon realised why. The source of the voice was charging up the hill towards them. It was a broad-shouldered, muscular redhead whose skin was scarred or blistering everywhere the leather gear he donned failed to protect him — the dragon keeper Albany had noticed earlier. As he drew closer, she noticed that his face was littered with freckles, and his eyes were a familiar warm hazel; so that was why she thought she'd recognised him, because she'd seen him at Hogwarts before in her younger years.
Another Weasley, of course.
Charlie had a finger pointed right at Albany as he strode towards her, eyes wide and grin as eager as his brothers'.
"You're Albany Bronwen, right?" he asked, and Albany barely had time to nod before he was speaking again, deep voice high and fast with excitement. "Holy Horntails, I know I've only been working at the sanctuary a few years, but I've never seen or heard of anything like what you did out there — that was absolutely incredible, you know? I don't have a clue what the hell you were saying, but I'll be damned, I've never seen a dragon bow to a human before! Some of them in Romania will tolerate us at best, because they know we bring 'em food and take care of them when they're sick, but Great Scott, Misty went from nearly burning you to ash to just—"
"Misty?" Albany echoed in confusion, taking advantage of Charlie's overexcited loss for words.
He nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, that's her name, we've had her around the sanctuary nearly as long as me, now, feisty little thing—"
"Her name's Oneira," Albany corrected him before she could stop herself, and then winced. She could feel Merlin's warning stare even without his presence. Whoops.
"Oneira?" Charlie repeated, eyes bulging. "That's a gorgeous name, wow — suits her a lot better than Misty, anyway — wait! So you did speak to her? Holy shit, are you kidding me?! Is that something you can learn? Could you teach me?! Merlin's fifth wrinkled toenail, I've never heard of anything of the sort!"
Fred and George were struggling to stifle their laughter, as Charlie was jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning. He noticed his own overenthusiastic movement, and his expression froze for a moment. He turned urgently to Albany, taking her hand and shaking it so vigorously she thought she might lose her arm.
"Listen, I don't have much time — I'm Charlie, by the way, Charlie Weasley — Mum wants me to write to her straight away about Harry, she's worried sick, and I have to go check on him too — but you have to visit the sanctuary soon, maybe Christmas? I have so many questions, can I owl you? Would that be weird? Look, I'll be in touch and you can ignore me if you want but please don't — I really have to go now, but it's been an absolute honour to meet you!"
Albany grinned in amusement as he finally released her hand and began jogging on the spot, slowly moving backwards.
"I really have to go now, wish I could stay longer — oh! Fred, George, hi, didn't see you there! Hey — stop sending me those fake sweets in the post. Bye!"
And then he was gone.
The twins were grinning broadly as they watched him rush off.
"Well, that was Charlie," Fred laughed. "Merlin, I haven't seen him so excited since he got accepted to the sanctuary."
"What is the sanctuary?" Albany asked, curious.
"Charlie works at a dragon sanctuary in Romania," George explained. "Probably where they got the dragons for the task, if he's here."
"That does sound pretty cool," Albany admitted, raising her eyebrows.
Carly grinned. "If you like having so many scars," she joked. "I don't think dragons are very friendly."
Albany shrugged with a knowing smile.
"They're not so bad if you know how to talk to them."
▬▬▬▬
❃ a/n:
ALDJLAKDLAKDL YOUR SUPPORT HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMING THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH ♡♡♡
the last chapter has definitely been one of my favourites to date, and judging by the response it got, i think a lot of you agree ♡ to everyone who has been commenting, voting, even just reading, i cannot express how thankful i am for every single one of you ♡
the story is really getting started now, so buckle up and stay tuned ;)
- A x