Harry Potter and the Dragon of Virtue
By Michael Sebring
As Harry Potter awoke from a short afternoon nap on a couch in the Dursley's residence of 4 Privet Drive, he received a small chill and a tingling on his spine. Such had become common following the occurrences of the previous spring. It is not coincidental that Harry should be thinking of that night, for he has been dwelling on it nonstop. Sirius, the only father figure Harry had been able to come to know and love was stolen from him. Like the snuffing of a candle by the wind, it was both instantaneous and dynamic.
Comforting, consoling, reassuring. Harry had come to expect these reactions as well as his grief, anger and despair. It was just that he didn't think he could take being on the receiving end of the ladder. He was receiving on average five letters a day from members of the Order of the Phoenix, each one not containing a hint of what he really wanted to hear, to read and to feel.
His first letter arrived a mere ten minutes after walking in the average, ordinary front door of the Dursley's house. Fortunately, the owl that did the delivering had picked, instead of gliding through the kitchen window, to cleverly slip it into the back pocket of Harry's jeans while he was traveling from the car to the front porch of the Dursley's. When Harry sat upon his bed, he felt the stiffness of parchment in his rear.
"Already?" Harry asked Hedwig. The last thing Harry felt like doing at that moment was to read how great Sirius was and how he would be happy to see James and Lily again. What about Harry? Wouldn't Sirius be happier to see Harry than be dead? Harry knew these questions weren't fair and was genuinely glad that Sirius and James would be reunited. It was just that he wanted to know the answer to the question asked in every corny story he had ever read: 'why?' Why him? Why the only person he had developed a strong father son relationship with? These questions were unanswerable, so he did what everybody does: stuff them into a corner to deal with later. He threw the letter into the top drawer of his desk and went back downstairs. Harry knew the only lettering he would do would be to mention that the Dursley's were not treating him horribly. Unless they were, of course.
Getting up from the couch, Harry decided to take a short walk over to Mrs. Figg's house and maybe have a cup of tea or eat some crumpets. The sun was burning down with great vigor, as it usually does during the last fortnight of July and there was a multitude of children playing in the sprinklers.
Halfway through the street however, an incident occurred that was unforeseeable to Harry. The Knightbus came rolling through the street stopping right in front of Harry. Stan Shunpike leaped out of the bus along with Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Lupin.
"What is going on?" asked Harry, shocked.
"Hey, Harry. How's it goin'?" asked Fred.
"Yeah, mate. What's up?" followed George.
"Are you kidding me? You just nearly ran me over by the bus and then again when you all jumped out straight at me. Isn't there something important to tell me or are you going to take me away again? Perhaps?" added Harry at the end, hopefully.
"Whoa, calm down. Nothing is wrong. Didn't you get our letters? They told you what would be happening," said Lupin with a worried, inquisitive look. Harry shook his head. He had hoped he would have been able to come up with a reason later for not reading their letters, but their appearance had been so instantaneous that he would just have to tell them the truth. He opened his mouth to begin but Lupin interjected.
"Its okay, Harry. I understand. We've got big news to tell you, so go pack up and shake a leg, will you?" said Lupin, with a sort of shamed tone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out only a galleon and two sickles. Apparently, making the bus wait would not be cheap.
Ron, Hermione and Ginny began to follow Harry back to the Dursley's but Harry stopped them. "Uh, well, you know Dursleys."
"Say no more," said Ron.
Harry went to his room and retrieved his already packed trunk, Hedwig's cage and the books on his dresser. He had been waiting for this day to come since getting off of the Hogwarts Express in June. He scribbled a quick note to the Dursleys.
Gone out. Won't be back till next summer.
-Harry
That should be enough for that lot, thought Harry.
He met everyone back out in the street and watched Mark Evans walk right in front of the triple-decker purple bus without looking at it at all. Instead, he stared at the crowd around Harry nosily and went back to the sprinklers.
"Right. Where are we going?" asked Harry.
"Where else, but to –" began Ron, but was kicked in the shin by Fred.
"Dolt! Not here. Man, don't you get tired of always being the one to let your tongue slip or do you like being just stupid? I'm sorry, Harry, but we'll tell you everything on the bus. Lupin set up a Secrecy Charm to stop any eavesdroppers," said George. They boarded the bus and went up to the third level of the bus, all the way to the back, where a small ring of chairs was set up.
"Give it to me," said Harry.
"Well," began Ron, "you'll never guess at all of stuff we've been doing lately, namely nothing. They still won't let us do anything and by us, I don't mean Fred and George. After they left school and set up Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Dumbledore let them join the Order of the Phoenix and they've shut up tighter than a clam. I mean, you'd never have expected them to have been the ones to create Extendable Ears!"
"On sale this week only," Fred put in.
"Yeah, okay. Whatever. Anyway, Voldemort can't really do anything without half of his Death Eaters, can he? So –"
"Whoa! You're saying Voldemort now, Ron?"
"Of course! What? Do you think I'm not brave enough to say Voldemort?"
"Ha! You didn't eat for two days after the first time you said it," laughed George, who feigned bending over to throw up. Ron began to turn red. "So, there have been no huge attacks, yet. That is, of course, not counting the attacks on the Ministry of Magic by angry protesters on your behalf, Harry. Those attacks were pretty ruthless." Harry smiled.
"Ruthless," said Fred slowly. "You know what? That word doesn't make sense. Ruthless. Have you ever heard of someone actually having ruth? What does ruth mean? I mean, if you can't have ruth, why add the suffix –less to it? English is an odd language."
"You're quite wrong, Fred. In fact, Ruth was a woman from the Bible who had great compassion towards other individuals. So to be ruthless is to not have compassion," responded Hermione in her usual knowing tone.
"Way to just ruin my musing, Hermione. How about this one? Why when you want to add the suffix –tion to the word present, you instead have to add –tation? Why don't people present presentions? Because we surely don't presentate presentations."
"All right, back to bringing Harry up to speed, please," guided Lupin. Hermione gave Fred that one last threatening look that women seem to have perfected to keep men quite and then began her turn with the makeshift spotlight.
"The Order's ranks have swelled lately. Dumbledore picks people who he trusts and they all have joined. Mr. Weasley believes that we have more than twice the amount of Order members compared to the last time Voldemort came to power. That's really all they'll tell us. I'm just leaving out one small thing." Hermione looked very unsteady and looked around for help. They all looked a little shaky, but about what, Harry couldn't fathom.
Lupin explained. "Charlie Weasley has… trained a dragon. Believes he has, is more like it, but Dumbledore has already investigated and says that it is a huge breakthrough. I believe you know the dragon that Charlie trained: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. Yes?" Harry couldn't believe what he heard. Trained a dragon? That was supposed to be impossible. Yet Harry supposed that Hagrid must have some unknown effect upon the creatures he loved so much. Maybe Harry had been underestimating the prowess of Hagrid's abilities. Hagrid must have been the influential factor in Norbert's development. What else could do what thousands of years couldn't? Hagrid had supposedly trained Fluffy the three-headed dog, Aragog the Acromantula and he has even begun to civilize, if you can call it that, Grog, his Giant half-brother.
"I don't think I can believe you," said Harry incredulously.
"We don't even believe it Harry. Of course, none of us are going to go to Romania to check it out. Not in a million years," said Ron.
"Well anyways, The Order is still at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and that's where you're all going," said Hermione, in a not so subtle attempt to change the topic.
"You're not coming?" asked Harry.
"Harry, if I don't spend some time with my parents, I'm not going to get any Christmas presents. Plus, I'll see you when term starts. Don't you ever get sick of me?"
"Now that you say it … Yeah, I guess I do," joked Harry.
"I second that," added Ron.
"Here, here," said both Fred and George simultaneously. The sound of laughter went unheard both by the members of the Knightbus and the pedestrians of the street as they hurtled past the Leaky Cauldron into the heart of London to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
As the others entered the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry stopped and stared at the front of the house. Now that he thought about it, he didn't think he would be able to enter the house that had so recently been his Godfather's. This seemed to be too big a step for Harry to make so quickly after Sirius's death. Unfortunately for Harry, the decision was not up to him. Mad-eye Moody walked up behind him and whispered into his ear.
"I wouldn't dawdle out here, if I were you. In fact, I forbid you to leave the household beginning now. Voldemort has become obsessed with you lately," whispered Moody "and I wouldn't have been surprised if you had gotten attacked on your way here. Inside, inside. Let's go." Harry let himself be led inside the house, but he closed his eyes as he entered the abode.
An insane screaming came blaring to Harry's ears, the moment he entered the anteroom to the house. Mrs. Black. Harry had forgotten how horrible and annoying that blaring scream could be. As he opened his eyes, he looked for the old painting of Mrs. Black and the rag-like old curtain that usually surrounded it, but just found a large, light square where it should have been, as if someone had removed an object that hadn't been nudged one way or another in centuries.
Harry suddenly saw the large umbrella stand crash to the ground as Moody went racing by into a room that Harry had never been allowed in. That room was used only during the most confidential and important of Order occurrences. Harry had never seen anyone enter or exit that room, for he had always been forced to go to the room that he and Ron had shared for the duration of the night. Harry spared a bewildered look toward Ron and Ginny who were already halfway up the stairs before racing to the entrance of the door.
The room's walls were dark blue with a patterned Fleur de Lis design that seemed to sparkle as you looked at each symbol. The lighting was very odd in this room, for there were no lamps or candles present at all, yet there seemed to be a spotlight that pointed to one area. Inside, a collection of people were arranged in a semicircular pattern all facing toward a man who was sitting in a chair with shackles in the center of the light. Harry couldn't recognize anybody in the room because of the way the light was positioned. His head was tilted downward as if he had just been subjected to great strain. His breathing was disjointed and each gave the impression of coming at great cost. His clothes were disheveled and a shadow of stubbly black hair was present on his cheeks and chin. Harry spared a look towards two stout shapes as they sat in chairs near the back. That must be Fred and George. As Harry slowly entered the room, this man looked up and stared at him. A malevolent grin crept onto his face. The other occupants of the room turned to see what the man was looking at and saw Harry, Ron and Ginny in the entrance to the room.
A tall and spindly man rose swiftly to his feet and glided over to the three, all the while blocking their view of the man. Harry didn't mind not looking at the man, he got a distinct pain in his scar as the man's smile formed. As the man neared them, the light from the hall outlined the inimitable shape of Albus Dumbledore.
"Harry, Ron, Ginny, would you please step outside with me?" Harry knew not to argue.
As they entered the hall, Dumbledore placed his right hand on Harry's left shoulder and his left hand on Ginny's right shoulder and squeezed Ron in between. "I realize I am going to be very blunt right now, but I must return to my duties. I know that you have been informed that Charlie has trained Norbert the Dragon. He has been instructed to move Norbert up here from Romania and will bring along one other wizard with him. He will continue the training of Norbert in the UK. What I need you three to do is go to Charlie and help him with the training of this integral element in the fight against Voldemort. You three, and Hermione also if her parents allow her to go, are the strongest young wizards and witches in your years. Can I count on you?"
Silence. Ron and Ginny both looked at Dumbledore with awe. Harry on the other hand, took the news of travel much better. He was glad to get away from his Godfather's home. There would not have been any way for Harry to spend even a night inside this house. Everything reminded him of Sirius. Harry had enough trust in Dumbledore to know that Dumbledore would not put Harry into any trouble. It was always Harry who was the one who got into trouble because he failed to listen to Dumbledore. From what Harry could tell Dumbledore had never steered Harry wrongly.
"We'll do it. Anything and everything for the Order," voiced Harry. The looks that Ron and Ginny gave Harry were of incredulousness and fright. They apparently had no intentions to ever meet a dragon themselves. It seemed Harry had become somewhat bold and brazen and found that the only way not to dwell on the past was to charge forward. It made sense to Harry, if it might not to Ron or Ginny.
"Now listen to me. Do everything Charlie says. Do not, now this is very important, do not attempt to go near Norbert without supervision by Charlie. He is a professional Dragon Keeper and knows how to handle every situation that might come up," implored Dumbledore. Harry nodded, while Ron was looking around at all of the doors and windows in view, apparently contemplating which would be best for a quick escape, but Harry put his arm around Ron's shoulder, smiled and replied.
"We will not let you down Dumbledore."
"I would never expect you to, Harry." Ron let out a small whimper and Ginny a small squeak. Use of onomatopoeia, it seemed, was a fundamental component of the Weasley's grammatical vocabulary. Dumbledore pulled out of his amber cloak a rusty hammer. "Here is a portkey. It will send you to Charlie at exactly 6:30, so I suggest all go get your things ready. When you are done, everyone will be ready to say good-bye to you. You will know within the week whether Ms. Granger will be accompanying you." Dumbledore rushed back into the room with the grubby man and left Harry, Ron and Ginny alone in the hall with an unnatural stillness.
"I said that I wouldn't go in a million years, Harry, and I won't," said Ron. The sound of his voice broke the silence harshly.
"No," Harry quipped, "you said that you wouldn't go to Romania in a million years. Norbert's somewhere in Britain now."
Ron put his face in his hands and let out a distressed wail.
After saying their farewells, which took much longer that Harry had expected and entailed many hugs and conciliatory smiles, the three newest Dragon Trainers all touched the handle of the diseased hammer.
Whoosh.
All three landed on their feet, though Ron had to wobble a little. No one saw him do this, however. Immediately after arriving in this deserted town that was attached to a field and what looked like a very old forest, a shadow descended upon Harry, Ron and Ginny. Not ten feet above their heads, flew a forty foot long Norwegian Ridgeback. Ginny and Ron both dove to the ground, but Harry stood standing and gaped at the effortless glide of the magnificent beast. As the dragon landed on the field in front of Harry, its tail hit a piece of wood sticking out of the ground. Harry, with an inquisitive look upon his face, slowly edged up to the overturned sign. Upon it read a simple phrase, only two words long, but it held great importance to Harry:
Godric's Hollow