The dragon joyously flapped its wings, rising higher and higher, letting out excited breaths.
"Do you want to fly?" Felix muttered to himself atop the dragon. "Then let's fly. I'll guide you."
His words somehow reached the dragon beneath him, prompting it to roar delightfully high in the sky. Then, with a powerful stroke of its wings and bathed in the golden light above the clouds, it headed towards Hogwarts Castle.
Meanwhile, the wizards in Diagon Alley were still trying to figure out what had happened.
Just minutes earlier, a large hole had suddenly exploded in the roof of Gringotts, drawing the attention of half the street with a massive roar. Everyone turned to witness an old, scarred dragon emerging from the opening—first its head, then its bloodied wings and iron-chained claws. The dragon perched on the rooftop, pausing for a few seconds as if it were a bizarre, gigantic ornament.
Fred and George stood on the second floor of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, expressing their amazement.
"Is that the dragon guarding the vaults? I've always wanted to see it with my own eyes."
"Oh, come off it, our vault isn't prestigious enough to be guarded by a dragon—wow! It does look cool though. How about we rent a fire dragon magic lamp from Lupin?" one of them suggested.
"I like that idea," the other voice agreed. "It has to be over twenty feet tall. I remember Professor Harp using one for a demonstration at the Quidditch World Cup, and we haven't seen it since. What a waste."
Over thirty Aurors appeared on the scene, having been nearby but hesitant to act rashly. The dragon, lifting its head, spewed a burst of flame, causing people on the street to scream and scramble away in fear. But with a powerful leap, the dragon spread its bloody wings and soared upwards, quickly becoming a speck in the sky.
Soon after, Madame Bones emerged from the building, unscathed and calmly directing the Aurors to take over the scene.
The gaping hole in the roof of Gringotts was quickly repaired, and Madame Bones turned to leave as if nothing had happened, except for two additional Aurors now standing at the entrance of the bank.
Fred and George withdrew their satisfied gazes and descended the stairs. The shop was filled with a wide array of noisy, animated products, but it was empty—every customer had run off to watch the commotion. They looked out the window through the posters on the glass, silent for a moment, then simultaneously began speaking.
"The joint announcement from the Ministry of Magic and Future World—"
"Do you think that notice—"
They blinked, then laughed together.
That morning, Ministry workers had delivered a notice to every shop in Diagon Alley, inviting all shopkeepers to a meeting at Sword Castle over the weekend. But the twins had already heard through the grapevine, now affectionately referring to Penelope as "Percy's little investigator," revealing that Percy had been busy polishing a lengthy report on a trade plan between the magical world and Muggles, covering potions, books, magical items, clothing, food, and more.
It was a massive plan involving numerous details and intricacies enough to overwhelm anyone reading it for the first time.
"We can't do this without Future World Company. I've applied with Lupin to take charge of this part," Penelope had said irritably. "Otherwise, I might not see your brother for years... Oh, what am I doing now? Picking apart his report, of course!"
"Clearly, she's enjoying herself," Fred concluded.
Since the wizard-Muggle negotiations hadn't officially started, this was just the first step of the entire plan.
Outside Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Tonks, Ron, and Collins followed some customers into the shop, laughing and joking.
"The guard duty's been called off," Tonks said warmly, her hair pink, indicating her good mood. "Everyone was so worried before, Scrimgeour tried to convince Madame Bones not to take the risk, but she insisted... thankfully, it turned out well." She then looked around with interest.
"What's with the dragon?" Fred asked.
"They're saying it was an accident, due to neglect or something," Ron replied.
"That doesn't sound very convincing," George remarked.
"It's not like they had a brawl in there, right?" Ron shrugged, flipping a wizard chess piece in his pocket.
Fred raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not going to find a knight missing from our set of dancing wizard chess, am I?"
"Feel free to check," Ron replied. "Oh, I was just saying, I've managed to become an Animagus... Did Ginny snitch on me to you guys?"
"You became an Animagus?" Collins exclaimed in surprise.
Tonks, a bit slow on the uptake, reluctantly shifted her gaze from
a boxing doll to confirm, "An Animagus?" Her hair started to transition to a dazzling violet.
"It was pretty easy," Ron said nonchalantly.
"That's actually fair," George nodded. "Just among those I know, there's..." He turned to Fred, "How many again? Harry, Hermione, Neville, the youngest from the Abbott family, I can't even count."
"I don't know, but Cedric's been clinging to 'Modern Transfiguration' lately," Fred replied with a straight face.
Ron's hair drooped.
"Can't you guys not sabotage your own brother?" Ron complained quietly after Tonks and Collins excitedly picked through the store's merchandise.
Fred and George looked at each other and said in unison, "Sorry—no can do."
Ron held up the wizard chess piece, muttering, "See these two? Remember their despicable faces. I'll get my revenge someday, and it's all up to you."
...
The dragon flew north, reveling in its hard-earned freedom. Felix stood on its broad back, simply using magic to heal the dragon's bloody wounds and shave off the chains, then gazed into the distance through the clouds.
He ran a hand along the dragon's long spines, looking like a captain holding onto the mast.
"Keep it steady," he commanded.
They passed over towns and fields of gray and green, the scenery soon becoming monotonous and repetitive. Felix called Valen out from a silver pocket watch to play cards. Having experienced riding on a magic carpet over the Arctic, Valen quickly adapted, excitedly running around the dragon's back, treating the huge spines as pillars.
"You've lost again, Valen," Felix said smugly.
Valen's black eyes stared at the air in front of him, watching as the apparition of a Niffler created from the wizard cards was blown away by a simple spell, tumbling through the air before dissipating into a wisp of smoke behind them. It smacked its lips, feeling something was amiss, and suspiciously eyed Felix.
"I didn't cheat," Felix swore.
Valen shuffled the cards, looking for a flaw. This was a new deck, with some additional cards added to the original set to increase playability. Indeed, Valen found several cards with sparkling effects upon activation, which it particularly liked.
But since then, its winning streak had plummeted.
"Squeak!"
Unable to figure it out on its own, Valen decided to consult Hermione at the next opportunity. As the sun dipped lower, the golden light on the clouds dimmed, and the dragon began to descend. Valen ran to the dragon's head, its weight like a feather, causing no disturbance to the dragon.
Valen recognized a cluster of majestic castle buildings among the mountains.
You can access more chapters from HERE by joining my Patreon community. You'll gain exclusive early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
As a member of my Patreon community, here is what you'll get:
- Early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
- You also get access to all the novels I'm translating, you can find them here HERE.
- You Get Ad-free Chapters.
- Plus, you can Cancel your membership at any time.
