21| FIRE FLOWERS IN THE SKY
The evening of the Hogsmeade visit was one filled with the euphoric laughter of rosy-faced students who were treading back from the hamlet. The sun dipped low on the horizon, letting out its final breath for the day as it burned the sky a gorgeous mix of pink, orange, and purple. Down and deeper, the exhale of the setting sun melted beneath the crystalline waters of the Black Lake, bathing the landscape in liquid gold.
Gemini admired this picturesque view from the shallows of the Dark Forest where she was sitting on the cool, mossy ground, accompanying the Abraxan horses again. She hummed a lost tune that was running somewhere in the back of her mind and stared unblinkingly at the sunset. Having had her supper early, she wasn't concerned about going back to the castle any time soon. Besides, would someone really want to leave such an exotic sight for a cluster of dull walls?
Henry nickered and raised his wings as if in agreement. Twig lay on his head, face in his thin green hands as he swayed to Gemini's music. The three sat in a bubble of silence that Gemini had created with a couple of charms. She really didn't want anyone to disturb her peace, nor did she want anyone to hear her singing.
The sun too seemed to dance to her gentle tune as its twilight glow retreated behind misty clouds. Curfew was approaching but Gemini's lack of sleep was another reason that held her back from going inside. Her humming started to become fainter and fainter until she stopped singing and found herself releasing a sigh, running a hand through her long hair. She took the ends of it between her fingers and played with them thoughtfully.
With a flick of her wand, the charms around her faded away and her ears were met with an ear-piercing roar. She shot up from the ground so suddenly that Henry got frightened and whinnied, stomping his front legs mightily.
Gemini got out of his range of attack quickly and then called softly to him to call him down. When her words didn't seem to make a difference, she reached out at an opportune moment and grabbed the back of his large neck. Henry stopped moving instantly, his chest heaving and eyes alert.
But Gemini couldn't concentrate on him for too long — she wanted to find out the source of that deafening sound. She listened closer, fruitlessly.
Twig's angry scream broke her concentration. Gemini's eyes darted around in the dark, trying to find him. She eventually spotted the bowtruckle on the ground — he had been thrown off Henry's head during the horse's little outburst. Gemini broke into laughter as he squealed indignantly. Twig glared at her and slumped onto the grass with his arms folded crossly but Gemini didn't stop.
Getting irritated, he launched after her, ready to stab her naked feet. Realising his intentions, Gemini started running away from him, still laughing her head off at the silly incident. She went deeper into the forest, not having a care about the fact that she could get killed there. After a couple of minutes of Twig chasing Gemini through endless trees, she stopped abruptly at the sight of a curious fire blooming above the canopy of the forest.
Twig stopped as well when he saw her cautiously edging out of there with her wand out. Another roar sounded — one that made Gemini cover her ears as a chorus of hoarse male voices joined the pandemonium. She scrunched her eyebrows and peeked out from behind the rough bark of a tree, not knowing what to expect. As her eyes, at last, rested upon the source of her curiosity, her breath caught in her throat.
"Oh my..." she uttered in a bare whisper. Her eyes lit up like the brilliant stars in the sky and a sigh of wonder passed her lips. She blinked a couple of times to make sure she wasn't dreaming, unable to believe that the one thing she had wanted more than anything since before she could even speak properly was right before her eyes in all its raw beauty.
A dragon.
Not just one, in fact. Four dragons.
"Don't freak out, don't freak out..." she muttered, "Ah, damn it!" She threw her head back to hold back shocked tears from escaping her eyes.
Gemini turned away from the scene and pressed her back against the tree, breathing deeply in order to calm down before she could take a second look and kill herself with the euphoric thrill blossoming in her chest. She even covered her mouth to stop any sounds that could potentially escape her and give her position away.
She had to think rationally. She wanted to get closer to the dragons — that was for sure, but she couldn't think of a way to execute this idea without getting herself expelled.
There was one though...
She was sure Dumbledore wouldn't mind giving her permission to study the dragons up close for "educational purposes" — only Dumbledore wasn't exactly around at the moment... but was he really needed?
"Accio!" said Gemini, whipping out her wand. Rubbing her naked feet on the soft, dewy soil of the forest, she waited for a split second before her notebook, ink, and quill came flying into her arms.
Casting the levitation charm on the objects so that her hands would be free to work, she flipped open the book and neatly tore a small rectangular piece from one of the pages. She then proceeded to dip her quill in her bottle of ink and wrote a note on the slip of paper in the best imitation of Dumbledore's handwriting which explicitly stated that he had given her permission to study the dragons and she was to be monitored by one of the dragon keepers from the sanctuary for the while she stayed there.
Not knowing how to sign off his name, she started becoming a bit tense. Was the note convincing enough?
It was coincidence, perhaps, or sheer luck that a note signed by Dumbledore just then fell out of her book. It had been a permission slip signed by him the previous year when she had wanted to visit the restricted section of the library to find out about darker magical creatures — Gemini liked having knowledge of every legitimate aspect of the subject she took interest in.
She bent down and picked up the slip with a sly, giddy look in her eyes and scrawled on her fake permission slip an almost identical signature. Holding it up then, her eyes scanned over the words, rechecking and comparing the style of language and handwriting to Dumbledore's very own. It was safe to say that she hardly found a fault in it.
Gemini twirled her wand for a meditative moment and then brought it down the length of her clothes, changing them into her uniform. With another wave, her feet were enclosed in the warm walls of her shoes. Yes, that was all.
She didn't shiver the slightest as she stepped out of the frigid, sombre shade of the forest, clutching her stationery in one arm. The confidence in her stride was evident — she knew what she was doing.
Gemini's head tilted back on its own as she was exposed before the four enormous, fully grown, vicious-looking dragons who were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting — torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks.
Gemini frowned at the way they were being treated. At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs.
"HEY!" a voice yelled in her direction.
The next few minutes went by in a blur for Gemini. The wizard who had called to her bounded over, and she twisted their conversation until she managed to persuade him to lead her to the person in charge of the place without any intrusive questions. He took her over to a large group of men struggling with the largest dragon of the lot — the Hungarian Horntail — and gave a shout to the apparent in charge. A tall, burly, bearded man with a stiff jaw answered — not looking back as he was preoccupied with clutching the chain binding the Horntail.
"Wait!" was all he had time to say back. "It's no good!" he yelled to the other wizards. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"
Gemini's focus drifted from him to the Horntail which was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream.... its eyes ablaze with anger, yet dull with fear... the sight would have easily made her fight past all the wizards to get to it and help it, but she was bound by chains of her own.
Each of the dragon keepers pulled out their wands. "Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the dragons' scaly hides — the Horntail teetered dangerously on its back legs; its jaws stretched wide in a silent howl; its nostrils suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking — then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly-black dragon hit the ground with a thud that made the trees behind them quake.
She looked away from the pitiful sight of the now unconscious dragon as the bearded man came over to them at last, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Fraser," he nodded to the wizard beside her and then turned his gaze upon Gemini herself. "And who is this?"
Gemini introduced herself with the same charm and shook his hand firmly. "Delmar. Gemini Delmar."
"Eder Andrei." he returned, huffing as he patted his chest lightly with his other hand. "You're not supposed to be here, so you better have a good reason, Miss." he continued.
"I certainly do," chirped Gemini as Fraser left them. She pulled out her fake permission slip from her book and handed it to him without another word.
"And what's this?" he muttered, taking the piece of paper. He quickly read it over and looked at her. "Study the dragons, eh? Along with an invigilator.... okay, first things first," he raised a finger, "you're not supposed to know about the first task — no one is. What guarantee do we have that you won't tell the champions about the dragons?"
For a split second, Gemini didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about, but then it clicked and she realised the flaw in her plan — she hadn't known the dragons were for the tournament. But any delay in answering would get her caught and thrown out of Hogwarts, so she opened her mouth and spit out the first few words that came into her mind.
"The Unbreakable Vow."
"Sorry — what?"
Gemini bit the inside of her cheek, she should have chosen something simpler. "Dumbledore and I made the Unbreakable Vow to ensure that I wouldn't tell any of the champions about the first task." she lied smoothly.
"Well, there's something you don't see every day," he said in surprise, "how old are you?"
"Fourteen."
If possible, he looked even more surprised than he already was. "That's some dedication... but wait — how does Dumbledore know about the dragons?"
"He is the headmaster of the school, isn't he?" Gemini answered with a look of sly intellect, "I think he'd know what's going on in his backyard."
"Good point. But how do you know that Dumbledore won't tell the Hogwarts champions?"
"Good question. Why don't you ask him?"
Andrei didn't seem to mind her cheek at all, instead, his lips pulled into a wide grin behind his beard as he handed the permission slip back to her. "Very well, come on, we'll find you an invigilator."
Gemini had never felt more relieved. She tucked the slip of paper back in her book and slipped her other hand inside her pocket as she started following him amongst the crowd of big, strong men, many of whom looked their way in passing. Andrei took Gemini to the fence where a red-haired wizard was talking to an uncannily familiar person.
"Weasley!" Andrei called.
The red-haired man spun around and Gemini recognised his heavily freckled face at once. "Charles!" she called, rushing ahead of Andrei on her way over to him as her entire demeanour brightened.
Charlie Weasley's expression turned to one of confusion, then faint recognition as he discerned Gemini's face under the pale glow of the moon.
But he wasn't the only familiar face there, for the tall figure behind him was none other than Hagrid. Gemini and Hagrid called each other's names simultaneously.
"What're yeh doin' here at this hour —" Hagrid began.
"What a brilliant question!" Gemini interjected, "Why don't we ponder on it while we admire the dragons a bit closer —" With those words, she started to step over the fence but a pair of strong, freckled arms caught her quickly around the waist and pulled her back. "No!" she protested and slumped back against Charlie. "What of my poor dragons! They need me! I need them! I'll die without my darlings, I can feel my breath leaving my collapsing lungs already —"
"Well, well, if it isn't Gemini Delmar," said Charlie as he finally came to terms with her unexpected presence.
Gemini could feel a rumbling in his chest as he let out a laugh. "Took you long enough..." she murmured, struggling against his hold. "Let me go, Charles!"
"Don't call me that, it makes me feel old. Charlie will do."
"That's so not the point," Gemini grunted. "Hagrid, help!"
But Hagrid put his hands on his hips. "Not until yeh tell us what yer doin' here."
Gemini stopped moving at once and became very solemn. "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you," she said very seriously and everyone erupted into laughter. As soon as Charlie's arms loosened around her, she ducked and then straightened up, free from his considerably firm grip. A few ways ahead of them, Madame Maxime's large figure strolling away around the edge of the enclosure caught her eye and she clamped her mouth shut, a flicker of embarrassment rising in her by the theatrics she had put on display before the woman. But Madame Maxime seemed too enraptured with the dragons to realise she was even there.
Andrei, who had been silent all this while, spoke up. "We seem to have gone off-topic here. I mainly came here to ask you, Weasley, whether you were comfortable with monitoring Miss Delmar here while she studies the dragons from afar, but you two seem to be familiar with each other already..."
Charlie grinned. "Won't be a problem, Andrei. We've only met once before, but I like her well enough."
"I suppose my job's done here, then... I'm going to go help the others with the eggs and all..." Andrei casually waved to them and went back as quickly as he had come.
Gemini gazed at the dragons until Charlie broke her out of her stupor with a snap of his fingers. "Don't go daydreaming just yet," he said with a knowing smile, "at least tell us what all this 'studying the dragons' thing is about."
"Technically, it's night," was what she started with, and then repeated her same old lie.
They believed it.
There was a collective sigh amongst the three at the end of her story.
"So four..." began Hagrid, "so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do — fight 'em?"
"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why.... but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."
Charlie pointed toward the Horntail's tail — long, bronze-colored spikes were protruding along it every few inches.
Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-gray eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.
"I've got them counted, Hagrid," said Charlie sternly (Gemini let out a silent laugh that she thought went unnoticed by anyone). Then he said, "How's Harry?"
Gemini, who had opened her book and was drawing a rough sketch of the Horntail's tail, asked vaguely, "Harry who?"
"Harry Potter. He's fine," said Hagrid offhandedly. He was still gazing at the eggs.
Gemini nodded absently and looked into her book again.
"Just hope he's still fine after he's faced this lot," said Charlie grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure. "I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about him...."
Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. " 'How could they let him enter that tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about him. 'He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!' "
Gemini laughed, "That article was the funniest thing I've ever read."
Charlie was a bit surprised at how unconcerned she was with Harry, who in turn seemed to fancy her. At least he thought so, judging by what he had observed that summer during the incident with her and Ron.
"On a more serious note, what is the purpose of the eggs, exactly?"
"Haven't a clue," he said, bouncing on his heel, "only hope it's nothing dangerous, the mothers will go on a killing spree if something happens to their eggs."
Gemini's hand paused in its movement. Something about Charlie's statement made her heart clench painfully. Before her mind could wander, however, she stuffed down all her thoughts and focused on the dragons.
"What are you doing?" Charlie leaned over her shoulder and peered into her notebook. "You don't have to make notes, you know. You can find all that —"
"In the library, I know." said Gemini, "But first-hand experience is always better. Don't worry though, I'm not going to waste much time writing when I have this magnificent view to gaze at."
True to her word, Gemini did gaze at the dragons, completely captivated by the detail of their hides and the look in their eyes that resonated so deeply with her.
Charlie laughed at her starry-eyed expression but didn't say anything until his curiosity got the best of him. "Can I have a look?" he said, pointing to her notebook.
"Sure," she said distractedly, handing it over, but not before she slyly pulled out both the permission slips and stuffed them in her pocket.
Charlie flipped through her notebook with great interest. His eyes went over all the facts and footnotes which had all been systematically written along with necessary diagrams. The accuracy of everything was incredibly indisputable. All the information brought back memories of his years at Hogwarts of how he used to be ever-so-eager to learn anything and everything about magical creatures — dragons in particular.
As it often happens, one thought led to another and he soon found himself immersed in fond memories of him and Nymphadora Tonks — his best friend — causing mischief around the castle. And though he had had to cut down on his shenanigans when he became prefect, it didn't stop Tonks (as she preferred people to call her) from using her metamorphmagus advantages to either amuse or annoy people.
It was because of these memories and the nostalgic book in his hand that a small smile appeared on his face. It was nice to lean back for a bit and reminisce about the good things every once in a while.
"Charlie?" then came Gemini's sweet voice. Her eyes, which still held the same amount of fascination as the first time she had heard of dragons, hadn't moved from the creatures.
Charlie responded with a quiet "Yeah?" to assure her she had his attention.
"Can I get closer to the dragons?"
"No."
Gemini's enthusiasm seemed to dampen a bit. "Okay..." she said, but it didn't take her long to speak again. "Can I touch them?"
"No."
"Alright... okay... can I at least fly on one —"
Charlie fully turned to face her with his hands on his hips sternly and eyebrows elevated in a way that clearly said 'Really?'. Gemini put her hands up in a surrendering motion and just then a snort sounded somewhere nearby — the type of snort one utters when trying to control one's laughter.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Charlie.
Gemini spun around and started ambling away from the fence, searching for the source of the sound. Was anyone else present?
"Gemini?" Charlie called, bewildered.
Gemini came near a tree and stopped right before it suspiciously. Maybe she was just imagining things: it wouldn't be the first time. With a little inquisitive pout, she reached out an arm toward the tree and it felt, just for a moment, as if she heard a sharp intake of breath. There was a little ruffling sound, as if of leaves, and then a split moment later, her hand touched the rough, dewy surface of the wood. Nothing.
Gemini drew away as Charlie called to her again and when he asked her what happened, she merely shook her head. But if only she had bothered to drag her hand a bit lower along the bark of the tree, she would have discovered that she wasn't the only student out of bed.