An: The last moments of peace are now behind us, gone far away.
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Dragons, why did it always have to be dragons.
First Norbert, then that Hungarian Horntail, and now this!
If Harry lived the rest of his life without seeing another dragon, then he would live a happy man.
While breaking into Gringotts hadn't been smooth sailing, breaking out was by comparison the equivalent of blasting through a building's worth of debris followed by the stomach churning sensation of riding a mostly blind dragon; which coincidentally was how they had escaped.
Personally Harry couldn't see the attraction; give him a broom any day, he was happy to leave the dragons to Hagrid and Charlie thank you very much.
To make his day even more perfect the ride had ended when the dragon unceremoniously dropped them in the middle of a large lake, and they'd had to swim a quarter mile to shore.
From there it was a frantic apparition filled dash to reach the castle before Voldermort did.
They made it with little time to spare, but not before a run in with the younger Dumbledore brother and a rather close call with some Death Eaters in Hogsmeade.
An hour later as marble warriors and suits of armour marched to protect the ancient castle a sibilant hissing voice filled the air, echoing unnaturally through the grounds.
The battle of Hogwarts had begun.
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Someone asked me to explain how magic and ghouls interact a chapter or two back so I'm putting it here. For the purposes of this story the following is how things work: More or less Ghouls are as impervious to magic as they are anything else – the exception being of course their own kagune. Of course spells that don't affect them directly like say a conjured fog to hinder sight would of course still work. Basically anything short of fiendfyre isn't going to affect them unless you maybe drown one with a ridiculously overpowered water charm.