The accidental trip to Fiji had taken up my whole weekend.

While my newly assembled Herbologists Best Friend Broom had proven spectacular flying over the South China Sea, it was dreadfully uncomfortable, but the nasty run-in with the Antipodean Opaleye was more Australia than I had ever wanted to encounter ever again in my life!

My landing on Aussie shores quickly found me in narrow valleys searching for signs of civilization, or at least a friendly Wizarding home with Floo Network access when a flash of light detached itself from a cliff wall and launched itself at me with a bellowing hawk-like roar! This was a particularly rare breed of dragon! Its homeland had almost no surviving food sources, and muggles have overtaken their natural habitats for favor of tourism, and farming. Getting one of these hurt would get me in more trouble than the two Fire Crabs in my side satchel would.

'I SHOULD be fine,' I thought, 'Opaleyes only kill when-' a blaze of bright red fire erupted from the dragons mouth throwing me hard to port '-when they're hungry!'

If they're this feisty in the wild, capturing them for their blood, scales, and hides must be absolute murder! 'No wonder the stuff is so expensive,' I thought as I drove under a cliff ledge, barrel rolling to throw off my pursuer. Another crimson burst of fire chased my tail-end, which I mentally noted is mere inches from my flesh on a broom, caught the bristles, luckily the Strengthening Potion I'd used to reinforce them kept them from burning. I couldn't afford a backward glance, I know the Antipodean was very close behind, but I saw a win up ahead.

The tingling on the back of my peaked. Another luckily placed outcropping, but the crumbling of stone at the riverbank below told me to act. Adjusting my weight backward pulled me upward without slowing up as if I was going over the outcropping. The dragon followed close, and in the second-to-last moment I dove sharply downward, under, leaned back hard, shot upward, loop-the-looped down, stomping my landing onto the outcropping. Just as the Opaleye passed under in pursuit dropping me, dragon, and the cliffside into the river below!

'If it takes this much to capture a live dragon,' I thought, 'its blood must be worth a thousand times its weight in gold.'

Picking up my poor broom, its hedge vines barely had the strength to grip my hand back. I approached the trapped beast. It was weary from the hunt, and too exhausted to fight the heavy rock pinning it down.

'I can't leave it here to die. No way.'

I could hear its pleas in the back of my head. Not words, just colors, and emotion. 'Is this normal?' I wondered.

I glanced around, the gift of my broom allowed me to see Herbs even in the belly's of herbavores it would seem. Pulling my wand out, "Accio hare!" I repeated the summoning spell until a large pile of unconscious rabbits lay near the leathery creature. I focused on the colors dancing in my mind and sent it back soothing greens of reassurance and a ribboning river meaning peace.

The Opaleye blinked in surprise, the lights in my mind shuddered along with it. I saw a curious golden thread spiral around its mindscape for a moment, then suddenly burst in red, as did its lower jaw in blood!

It was my turn to blink in surprised understanding. Reaching deep into my Undetectable Extension Charmed satchel I retrieved a box of empty vials and filled them with blood. We had both reached an understanding.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" the cliff-side may look heavy, but like Yoda used to say, 'only in your mind!' and the rock hefted aside into the water as if it were a feather. My new friend shook herself off, kneeled down and happily started munching on her hares.

Time for me to GO! "Up!" I shouted with my arm extended, and my Herbologists Best Friend snapped back up into my hand, refreshed and ready to get me home. 'Maybe the Thunderers can get me back to Hogwarts.'