Chapter 21: The Bastion Conquered
Tufts of small, white puffy clouds floated under a clear blue sky, they generally obscuring the burning sun. A light, heated wind also stirred occasionally, though there was no coolness that it brought with it. Hermione, though, paid little attention to the surrounding weather temperatures for excitement had taken hold of her hours after she and Charlie had done their morning rounds of feeding the dragons their breakfasts'.
She found herself in between the full-grown dragon enclosures (it looking like a large circle which each dragon pen resembling that of a slice of pie) and the tree line leading back towards the Center of Directions and the hatching tent, as she was training the Antipodean Opaleye, with Charlie acting as her coach.
While there was no individual corral for the Antipodean Opaleye to be guided in, Charlie had placed enchantments over the small area where they were located, just in the off-chance the Antipodean Opaleye tried to scurry off or take flight.
"Let's try to get this little guy to fly," Charlie stated, looking over at Hermione as they were standing several yards apart, while the Antipodean Opaleye had wrapped itself in between Hermione's legs, rubbing its body against her skin. "I want you to levitate its food and see how he goes about getting it."
Hermione nodded in understanding while she inwardly smiled, seeing as how serious Charlie took his job in training the newborns. According to Director Mulligan, Charlie was an expert, with Terrance running at a close second, in preparing the baby dragons towards the eventuality of living in their own pens when they grew bigger.
Hermione directed her gaze to a mokeskin pouch some feet away from her, Charlie having put an odor charm upon it some minutes before as the Antipodean Opaleye kept creeping closer to it to start feasting away for itself.
Waving her wand, the pouch opened and out flew a small piece of red meat. At once, the baby dragon's attention turned at it, its eyes nearly salivating at it hovering in mid-air. Hermione moved the mutton nearby a rather large rock that was at the center of their makeshift training area.
"Great," Charlie exclaimed, his arms folded over his wide chest. "Now the point is to have him attempt to fly so try and place the meat in the air where he won't be able to get it from just standing on the rock there."
Hermione did as she was told before she looked over at Charlie, who nodded once. Taking this as her cue, Hermione looked down at the baby dragon swathed around her ankles, and whispered, "Go get it!"
The Antipodean Opaleye let out a high-pitched roar before it easily unwound itself from Hermione and charged towards the rock. The beast jumped easily upon it before it took a leap off of the stone's peak, taking a mighty spring towards the meat that was hanging mere inches away.
However, before the jaws of the dragon could grab hold of it, gravity set in, pulling the beast back towards the ground where it landed with a soft thump. Hermione started to rush over towards it, making sure it was uninjured, yet before she could so, the dragon righted itself straightaway and craned its neck, looking up at its food, the Antipodean Opaleye seeming to wonder how it was going to reach it.
Hermione looked over at Charlie who grinned at her in return, saying, "Well, I'd say it was a pretty good first effort."
They walked towards each other, the dragon paying them no attention, as Hermione questioned, "Charlie, how do we get it to spread its wings?"
He shrugged his shoulders and responded simply, "That's something that it has to learn on its own. In the wild, no one tells the dragons to spread its wings and fly…it happens naturally. The other handlers each have their own methods in coaching the newborns but I've found that having their food hanging in the air is a good way to go about it. All it takes is patience."
"What do some of the other workers do," Hermione asked, taking a quick look over at the Antipodean Opaleye, who had not moved from its position from looking up at its prize.
"They throw stinging hexes at them," Charlie answered, shaking his head in bafflement as Hermione gasped. "Why anyone would think that that would make a dragon fly is just so perplexing. More often than not, the baby dragons instead charge at their trainers, shooting them with fire – it's pretty comedic to watch actually."
Rolling her eyes, Hermione laughed softly, "I can't imagine why."
After a brief, peaceful moment, Charlie then said, "So shall we go for a second attempt?"
Hermione looked back at the dragon and inquired, "How are we going to get it to try again? It seems transfixed on the meat."
Charlie looked over at it for a beat and then looked back at Hermione, instructing gently, "Call it; it seems to listen to you."
"Call it," she repeated in a question-like format with an ounce of disbelief souring her ease.
Charlie nodded his head wordlessly.
Not entirely sure if this would work, Hermione turned towards the dragon and called out with an encouraging tone and waving her hand, "Come back, Antipodean Opaleye, come back here!"
The beast turned its head towards her for a quick second. Looking back at the juicy meat one final time, the dragon then prodded its way over the soft grass towards Hermione, where it once again resumed its position of folding itself against her legs, making Charlie grin at the sight.
"You find something amusing, Charles," Hermione asked, noticing his mirth.
He looked up at her, his bright-blue eyes breathing fire, answering, "I was just reminded of something."
Hermione quirked up a brow, and queried, "Care to elaborate?"
"No."
Hermione huffed in good spirits before she looked back down at the dragon and said lightly again, "Go get your food!"
Once again, the Antipodean Opaleye unwound itself from her legs and charged at the rock, the piece of meat never leaving its line of sight. Hopping onto the miniature boulder, the beast bounded towards the stone's crest. When it reached that point, it jumped, though it again fell short of its goal, as it fell back towards the earth.
Growling in frustration, the dragon righted itself and stared up at its seeming unreachable target. He shot a line of fire towards the meat out of aggravation though the flame was unable to singe it.
"Oh Charlie, can't we just give him a small piece? I feel like we're torturing him," Hermione nearly pleaded, not taking her eyes off of the small Antipodean Opaleye, which had since started snapping its jaws in the air, barring its sharp teeth at its food.
"We can't, Hermione," Charlie insisted, shaking his head from side to side. "We can't baby him even though he technically is one. He has to learn these things himself."
While she heard Charlie's words, Hermione continued to study the dragon, looking at it with precision. She had an idea that perhaps the Antipodean Opaleye didn't know about its wings and its ability to fly. Although she had no expertise on the grounds of dragons and their bodies, maybe it was possible to point out its wings.
"Charlie," Hermione said, making him look at her, "do you think I could try something?"
"What d'you have in mind?"
"Well, I want to try and make the dragon notice its wings," she stated simply. "If we could draw attention to it, it's possible that the Antipodean Opaleye could use them. Do you think that could work?"
"It might," Charlie responded, seesawing his head from one side to the other as he digested her idea. "Of course, your method has never been tested before, not to my knowledge at least, but I'm all for giving it a go."
Hermione nodded her head, determination coursing through her veins. She walked over and sat down on the rock before she called over the dragon. Setting its sights on her, the Antipodean Opaleye raced over, as it made an almighty hurdle into her lap. She gasped in surprise when she realized that the dragon, while still a baby, weighed quite a bit more than what she expected of it.
"Do you want me to hold it," Charlie asked, taking a seat next to her, letting their shoulders and arms brush one another's. "The newborns can be heavy."
"No, no, I'm fine," Hermione relayed, "I just didn't expect it."
"You sure?"
"I'm positive," she responded, sending him a small smile.
"Okay, dragon tamer, so what's the plan," he then posed, licking his lips in reeling anticipation to see what Hermione had churning on in her head.
"I first want to see it if reacts to me touching its wings," Hermione stated.
With Charlie watching on, Hermione reached out and gently stroked the pearly scales of one of its wings. The dragon's body wiggled in her lap, as if it had been tickled, as Hermione continued to run her fingers over it.
After several moments, Charlie asked quietly from beside her, "Do you think it's working?"
"I'm not sure but the Antipodean Opaleye doesn't seem responsive," Hermione regaled with interest. "Let me try the other wing."
Hermione then rubbed the dragon's other side as it again squirmed, making her smile.
"It keeps looking at the piece of meat," Charlie then noted. "It's probably hungry."
"And yet you won't let us tear off a small piece to feed it," Hermione remarked, giving him a pointed look.
He held up his hands as if he was surrendering to a whole host of aurors, responding, "I'm not trying to be mean but this is how I usually train the baby dragons. They get it after some time."
"Well how long is 'some time'?"
"Usually a couple of hours," he answered. "I've found that patience is the true key in working with these little buggers," he stated, rubbing the Antipodean Opaleye's head.
As Hermione nodded her head in understanding, she continued the practice of massaging her fingers over the wings of the dragon, wordlessly willing for them to open under her touch. While she was doing this, several thoughts, none having anything to do with the beast straddling her lap, ran through her head.
"Did you hear about Director Mulligan," she asked Charlie quietly.
Looking over at her, he asked, "About how he's staying for another couple of weeks?"
Hermione gave him a swift nod before he elaborated, "It probably has something to do with Sprought. The lunatic thinks he can just stop by whenever he wants. I mean, doesn't he have a job to do with the Ministry? I'm sure his duties require much more of him than to keep up with the reserve."
"Phillip told me yesterday that Sprought has been watching the Victorian Shalers repeatedly," Hermione added. "According to Phillip, it's almost as if he's waiting for something to happen; it's like he knows more about them than even we do."
"That's certainly a possibility," Charlie said back. "That species is shrouded in a bit of mystery. Maybe he does know more than he's letting on."
Hermione considered this as her eyes wandered over to the individual dragon pens before her. Her eyes looked over the snow-ridden landscape of the enclosure of a Norwegian Ridgeback before taking a glance at the rainforest pen next to it, where Hermione was told two Brazilian Bastions dwelled.
"Do you have any new theories about what Phillip told us several days ago, about Wormey knowing Sprought," Hermione then brought up.
"Well, we already ruled out that Wormey was the house-elf for Sprought since Wormey said that the family he served lives in Wales, and Sprought is from London. Also, didn't Wormey say that he was freed by his family too?"
"Yeah, he did," Hermione said.
"So we have a powerful but bad family from Wales," Charlie began, holding up one finger, "that said family freeing Wormey," holding up a second finger, "and Wormey knowing of Sprought," he finished, raising a third finger. "The only family I know from Wales is Terrance's but they have a house-elf named Berry. It's like we keep running into dead end after dead end," Charlie pointed out, laughing though there was no joviality in it.
"We could be missing something, something that's completely obvious," Hermione proposed.
"You think?"
"I do," she replied after a long minute. "I think the key is Phillip; the only problem is is that his memory is a little hazy. It's not his fault, it's just how it is."
"You know what I just realized," Charlie suddenly announced, looking directly at Hermione as she held his stare.
"What?"
"Things have never been this complicated on the reserve before. It's only since you started that everything has become a mess."
Unable to hold it in, Hermione shot him a small smile, sensing that the second-oldest Weasley son was trying to lighten the mood that had befallen them.
"Are you insinuating that I'm the cause?"
Charlie gave his shoulders a small shrug, "Your words, not mine."
This caused Hermione to laugh, carefree and innocent. Amused, Charlie's brows rose into his forehead as he continued to look over at Hermione, yet before long, he found her laugh to be infectious as a smile started to play over his own lips.
"Find something funny," he played.
"I just find you entertaining is all," she shot right back, without losing her own footing.
Charlie snorted before he said, "Then I think you'd be happy to know that I find you equally enjoyable. But I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed in you."
Hermione gave him an odd look as he furthered, "You never did try to, what did you say exactly, 'walk through me one way or another,' was it?"
"Are you talking about the morning we first arrived in Wales?"
As Charlie nodded his head, Hermione scoffed, "You actually think I forgot about that? What do you take me out to be?"
"Someone who doesn't follow through on their promises."
"Oh, so are we calling persuasion techniques 'promises' now? Because if I remember correctly, you were the one coercing me to walk through you one way or another."
"Fine, you call it how you see and I'll call it how I see it. Can we both agree though that we reached a stalemate?"
"Of course not," Hermione responded quickly. "I'm still going to follow through on my 'promise' as you put it. You just won't see it coming."
The smile that had started to emerge over Charlie's lips mere minutes before grew wider and wider, though Hermione could tell he was trying very hard to suppress it.
Leaning against her so that the tips of their noses touched, he whispered, "Game on, then, Granger."
As Hermione stared in Charlie's eyes, brown versus blue, she felt a strong urge to snog Charlie. The only thing that was keeping her back was that they were both strictly working. And kissing on the job was certainly not on her itinerary, not to mention how completely inappropriate it would be for them to partake in a sensual act that usually was reserved behind closed doors.
Hermione was about to push Charlie playfully away when the Antipodean Opaleye suddenly jumped between them, causing the couple to spring apart in surprise.
The dragon then turned towards Hermione and nuzzled against her shoulder, while Charlie shot off a small look of jealousy.
Noticing this, Hermione inquired, "Something on your mind, Charles?"
"Yeah, that this guy should get his own girl. He can chase after one of the Shalers if he likes."
Charlie's words, however, gave Hermione an idea.
"Hang on," she started to say, making Charlie look over at her. "Maybe we can try something else to get the Antipodean Opaleye to fly."
"What've you got in mind now?"
"What if I get the dragon to follow me? Do you think we could get it to fly then?"
"Follow you? What d'you mean?"
"If I run around the area with the piece of meat," Hermione explained.
"Well, it does seem to like you," Charlie mulled over, "a bit too much for my taste, if I'm to be honest with you. But it's worth a shot."
Hermione nodded her head, a new strength of mind set about her. After she gently placed the dragon on the ground, she walked over to the floating mutton, the Antipodean Opaleye's multicolored eyes following her every movement.
Flinging her wand at the slab of meat, Hermione slowly started to drag it behind her with her wand. She made a wide circle around the rock Charlie was still situated upon, as both he and the baby dragon watched her.
"Try lowering it, Hermione," Charlie requested, "it'll seem more feasible to him."
Hermione did as she was told, as she directed the meat to skirt over the soft grass. While the Antipodean Opaleye didn't move, its eyes were fixed upon the food that had avoided being ravished by its jaws thus far.
Finishing her second circle, Hermione ushered, "Come on, come and get it."
Answering her call, the dragon leapt up and darted after the block of meat. Hermione watched it with looks over her shoulder to see how closer the newborn was. After completing another rotation, Hermione directed the meat slightly higher than it was before.
The Antipodean Opaleye snapped at it and missed it by mere inches, yet it kept running after it. Each time Hermione circled around the rock, she directed the mutton to fly higher and higher, though the dragon still wouldn't spread its wings.
Lowering the meat a bit, Hermione finished another revolution with the Antipodean Opaleye hot on her heels. Snatching upon the air twice more, the dragon seemed to grow more steadfast, keeping pace with Hermione.
"Come on buddy," Hermione heard Charlie cajole, "just spread 'em."
"Almost there," Hermione then called back to the beast, "all you have to do is spread your wings."
Upon her words, the Antipodean Opaleye's wings suddenly burst open with incredible power, forcing small clumps of grass to be uprooted and litter the air. Hermione was so stunned that she stopped running while she faintly heard Charlie give a whoop! of accomplishment.
With its jaws open, the dragon flew directly at the chunk of meat, tackling it to the ground. As the beast started to devour it with a swift pace, a voice said behind her, "Nicely done."
She turned and saw Charlie giving her a bright smile, his arms folded over his chest once more.
"I'm so proud of it," Hermione exclaimed, looking back at the Antipodean Opaleye, small bouts of moisture pooling against her eyes.
"That was pretty incredible if I do say so myself. I'll make sure to try it with the next set of babies."
"It wasn't anything special," Hermione tried to shrug off, though she had a proud feeling encase her heart.
"I don't know…it seems like you and the little guy have made quite the bond. It's important, really. It'll be easier when he gets bigger. Humans have big impressions on baby dragons which they remember all the way into adulthood. You should stick with him, Hermione."
"I will, I like him too much to let anyone else train him."
"Have you thought up of a name for him yet?"
Hermione looked back at the newborn, it having consumed half of its meat already. Returning to face Charlie, she said, "Not yet, but something will come up sooner or later."
Hours following the Antipodean Opaleye's successful first flying session, Hermione was resting against her headboard, the piece of parchment all of her notes were gathered on bunched up in her hands, the newest edition being 'Wormey' and that of a single line of ink connecting 'Sprought' to 'Wormey' based upon what Phillip told her and Charlie several days prior.
Her face was scrunched up in concentration, trying to find a link that would make sense of the seemingly accidental words that were written down, attempting to create a common ground for which things would start making sense. Yet nothing came to her.
Tucking a stray curl behind her ear, Hermione initially thought that Wormey must have been Sprought's house-elf, but Charlie had informed her that Sprought lived in London, while Wormey told them back in Woan that he was released from his family that resided in Wales. This then left Terrance's name on the table, except Charlie again discredited this notion, informing her that the Wriley family already had a house-elf, one that went by the name of Berry.
Harboring this in mind though, Hermione and Charlie still agreed that Sprought had much more to do with the dragons, namely the Victorian Shalers, than he let on, Charlie going so far as to offer the idea that maybe Sprought ordered the poachers to infiltrate the Romanian Dragon Reserve, yet for what purpose was a question he didn't have an answer for.
Frustrated that she and Charlie were fishing out more questions than answers, Hermione huffed, closing her eyes to gain a peace of mind. She collected herself in the stillness of her room, soft snores of Charlie drifting through the bottom crack of her bedroom door, calming her against her senses and roaring state of mind. Before long, against her wishes, she fell asleep.
Smoke filled her nostrils, one that smelled like it drifted from a recently-extinguished fire; it had an odor that reminded her of the open woods. She opened her eyelids in which Hermione first spotted an entryway before her, pitch blackness being her path.
Looking around, Hermione concluded that she was in some sort of dungeon, stone walls surrounded her. Up above, moonlight crept in through a high-landing, yet Hermione stood far below it.
Seeing no other option for which to take, she stepped under the entrance into the darkness. Coldness engulfed her, filling her lungs to its absolute maximum while her breathing became ragged, feeling as if at any point in time something or someone was going to jump out at her. The passageway she was proceeding down was so dim that Hermione had to drag her hand upon the wall to guide her forward.
'Where am I,' she thought mentally, finding her capability of speech stolen, her vocal chords having since died after a prolonged life of torture.
Her head began to pound against the silence, as a spoonful of fear was spreading throughout her heart, her veins pumping this terror throughout the rest of her body. She had the idea to turn back, to perhaps find another way out of whatever structure she was a prisoner in, yet her feet had a mind of its own, carrying her forward.
Up ahead, an orange glow burned around a corner, Hermione not wanting to turn it. She tried with all of her might to stop in her tracks, to turn back, and pushing against the onslaught that would surely come once she made her way around it. However, it seemed like her will of mind was separated from her, an ancient, long-lost memory of a burning sun that had since sunk past a frozen horizon, its landscape barren with nothing but sharp icicles and frozen waters.
Drawing ever closer, Hermione tried to reach for her wand but to her horror, found that was stripped of all of her clothing. Naked was she, walking to her own end.
Once she turned the foreboding corner of the orange glow, she inwardly gasped, as she now faced a long hall, lit by the flickering flames that burned in metal brackets stuck over the rough stone walls, Death Eaters lining her path.
They all stared at her in a haunting manner, the followers of Lord Voldemort having been shed of their masks they wore to cover their features, all of them looking as if they had been dragged through a battlefield of glass shards, many of them having blood run down their pale faces.
Hermione then wanted nothing more but to turn around and run back along the darkened passageway, for at least there would be no Death Eaters there while the blackness could clothe her naked body. Nonetheless, just as before, her feet carried her forward, defenseless, between the flanking Death Eaters.
She tried to muster her courage and dignity she harbored yet found that they had since sunk like a heavy treasure chest, falling into the pits of a bottomless ocean. She glanced up at some of the faces she passed by, recognizing some but not others. She wondered if this path she was on would lead towards the one Lord Voldemort.
The flames of the fire cast long shadows over the walls, resembling faceless beasts that marveled at what was set to soon take place.
Passing the final two Death Eaters, none other than Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov, Hermione then entered an open space, not too large, yet not too small, with a stone table situated in its middle. Curiously though, she saw that the same Antipodean Opaleye she trained earlier that day was resting on top of it, it being no bigger than her forearm, its pearly scales reflecting the fire glow behind her.
She walked forward, her footsteps echoing around her, when a figure suddenly appeared out of the darkness: Sprought.
"You fight for what doesn't exist," he whispered, his voice sending an arctic chill curling up her spinal cord, making her shiver uncontrollably. "You know what you have to do."
Sprought held out both of his hands towards Hermione, as if he was asking her to dance, when a wand materialized in them. Unable to control her own actions, her hands reached for the wand and grasped it in her right hand.
Dread consuming her heart, she pointed it at the baby dragon, letting loose a jet of purple and orange sparks. As they connected with the dragon, the head of the Antipodean Opaleye was instantly disconnected from its body, it falling to the wayside as the body of the dragon staggered about, blood spurting from its open neck like a water feature.
In the next instant, to Hermione's complete shock, the dragon was righted, its head still intact with its body except that Hermione found her hand holding the wand Sprought gave her being raised again, shooting off another jet of purple and orange sparks, the head of the baby dragon being severed. More blood spurted out until the head was reattached to its body.
Like an endless cycle, Hermione again cut off the head of the dragon, against her own will, only for it to repair itself in order for Hermione to carry out the horrific act again.
'No,' she whispered in her head, 'no, no, no!'
She sensed Sprought watching on in glee, his eyes lit with the blood that gushed out of the dragon's headless body, his smile giving way to sharp teeth that looked as if it would have no trouble in piercing the thick hide of any dragon he set his sights on.
'No,' Hermione willed again, feeling her body shake. 'No! NO!'
She then felt her body convulse violently as a voice that sounded miles away yelled, "HERMIONE! HERMIONE, WAKE UP!"
Throwing open her eyes, she found Charlie bending over her, his face masking worry and fear.
"Hermione," he then said gently, seeing that she was now awake.
"Charlie," she breathed out, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his bare shoulders, pulling her close to him. She buried her head against the nape of his neck, stifling a sob, yet kept her eyes open in fear that she would transport back to the horror she just exited out of.
"It's okay," he soothed in a gentle manner, taking a seat on her bed and holding her against his body, "it's okay…it was just a dream."
Hermione sniffled, taking in the bearings of her bedroom, the lights still on, her parchment of notes a hand-reach away.
Cold beads of sweat tore down her cheeks, yet Charlie didn't seem to mind, as he kept her close, his hands locked behind her back, offering small words of comfort.
No matter how hard she tried, Hermione could not get rid of the image of the baby Antipodean Opaleye's head being dismembered and the rush of blood that followed. She remembered it in graphic detail, so much so that she was beginning to feel sick. Hermione began taking in deep breaths, her body still trembling from her nightmare she had just experienced, focusing on breathing in and breathing out, breathing in and breathing out.
Taking a few minutes to calm herself, Charlie holding her the entire time without question, she slowly pulled away from him, extracting her arms from his shoulders. They peered at each other for a long moment, neither of them saying a word to each other.
Charlie then punctured the silence, asking in a strained voice, "Hermione, what happened?"
She shook her head softly to her left and right in disbelief, casting her eyes down on her lap instead of looking him in the eyes.
"I had a dream…well more like a nightmare," she answered in a whisper.
After a slight pause, Charlie inquired, "Of what?"
She sniffled, looking back up into his face, replying, "It started off weird. I was at the bottom of some tower and I was naked. I walked down this dark passageway before I turned a corner and saw Death Eaters lining another walkway, but this one was lit. At the end of it, I entered into this chamber of sorts with a table in the center; Sprought was there and the baby Antipodean Opaleye was too."
"Death Eaters…and Sprought," Charlie questioned in a confused manner, his eyebrows pulling together like two magnets over his head.
"Yeah but that wasn't the worse part."
Hermione then stopped, finding herself unable to go on. Charlie took one of her hands in both of his, warming it against his touch.
"You don't have to tell me."
"No," Hermione arose firmly, "I do. I can't keep it inside."
Charlie sighed, though nodded his head and waited patiently for her to continue, enveloping her hand the entire time.
Hermione took a deep breath as the ghastly images of the Antipodean Opaleye's wriggling, headless body rushed back into her.
"The Antipodean Opaleye…I…cut off its head," Hermione murmured, looking up into Charlie's eyes, not once looking away from them. "I did it with a wand Sprought gave to me."
Charlie was quiet for a long time as he sat quite still as well. He, like Hermione, didn't look away from her, didn't push her hand out of his in revulsion like she thought he would over the death of a beloved baby dragon, but he just stared at her, with an expression that was most unreadable and hard to decipher.
For her part, Hermione was disgusted by herself and the actions she had taken up in her nightmare. Something about it was so haunting, bringing about the times when the past war would sneak their way into her sub consciousness, sometimes making her dread the night of what was to come.
"Hermione," Charlie began after some time, "it was just a night terror, nothing more."
"I haven't had one of those in a long time," she responded darkly, "not since back at the Burrow."
"D'you think…that this might maybe have been brought upon," he then requested.
Hermione gave him a confused look, not comprehending what he was trying to get at.
"I-I don't understand."
Giving a half shrug of his shoulders, the second-oldest Weasley reiterated, "Maybe with everything that's been going on with the poachers, Sprought, the auror that pleaded guilty into killing one of the poachers, maybe the stress of all of it brought this nightmare on. I mean, recently, this past summer was the calm between two storms: the first being the war with You-Know-Who and the second being what we're dealing with now."
"You think that's what it is?"
"I dunno for sure but it's possible. If I'm to be honest with you, Hermione, even though your night terror was horrible, I don't think it was like a premonition of sorts. It was just a compounding effect of all of your recent thoughts and feelings."
"I didn't like it though. I don't ever want to see what I did in my sleep again."
Charlie gave her a frown of a smile before he asked, "Do you need anything? A glass of water? Some tea?"
"I think a little tea sounds good," Hermione answered.
Charlie nodded his head in understanding before he stood up from her bed, her hand still wrapped in his, as they both departed from her bedroom, walked down the dark hall and into the kitchen.
"Take a seat, I'll make us some," he instructed gently.
Hermione did as she was told, sitting down in one of the kitchen chairs at the table, looking down at the latest edition of the Daily Prophet, which had more screaming headlines about the guilty auror being shipped off to Azkaban Prison.
It was at this time that Hermione remembered something else from her nightmare, words that she had heard before. Looking over at Charlie waving his wand to and fro, making objects swirl around him, Hermione called out, "Charlie?"
He turned at the sound of his name as she went on, "Sprought said something to me in my dream."
"What did he say?"
She retained his statement crystal clear as she repeated, "He said, 'You fight for what doesn't exist.'"
Charlie seemed to roll this over his head before he directed back, "Didn't the poacher back in Woan say something like that to you?"
"It was pretty much the same thing," Hermione relented, "word for word. That has to mean something, dream or not. I just wonder what though."
"Perhaps you shouldn't think of what it means," Charlie suddenly remarked, making Hermione look up at him in curiosity.
"But Charlie-," she started before he cut her off.
"Hermione, you just woke up from a night terror, a horrible one at that, and now you're trying to work out one mystery after another with no end in sight. You need to calm down and relax. You're working yourself up in the middle of the night for no reason."
She looked over at him as he leaned against one of the kitchen counters waiting for the water to boil, his arms folded over his bare chest.
Ignoring how little clothing he was wearing at that specific point in time, she retorted, "But this could all mean something, Charlie. Maybe elements of my dream fit in to what we're trying to figure out."
"And what exactly are we trying to find out? There isn't one question that we have that relates back to another. All we're doing is running in circles. We don't work in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, we're not even aurors. You heard what Director Mulligan told us before: they've opened up an investigation about what happened in Woan while the Romanian Unitary Magical Republic has done the same. We have to let them deal with it and that's all there is to it."
"But that's only one of our problems! There's everything else like the house in the woods, Sprought's overall objective of being on the reserve, which just happened to be when the Victorian Shalers are born, Wormey having some sort of connection to Sprought…,"
"Hermione, I agree that there are a lot of events going on that don't make a lot of sense but why do you insist on solving everything in one night? Did it ever cross your mind that maybe waiting for things to unfold would be the best action to take? I know you're one of the hero's of the war but that doesn't mean you have to be the hero of everything after."
While Charlie didn't scream at her, his words punctured her as if he had. She looked up at him and saw that he was tense: his shoulders were locked, his breathing was heavier than normal, while his usually bright-blue eyes had grown cold.
"Is that what this is about," she asked, standing to her feet, "you think that I'm trying to play the role of a hero?"
After a pause, Charlie started in a tart manner, "I dunno; if you are, I don't think it's intentional. I just don't understand why you have to make sense of everything in one night. Life doesn't work like that as I'm sure you know. Sometimes patience is the key…unfortunately for you, it just doesn't seem like you have that."
Hermione bit her bottom lip (an action usually reserved to keep from letting tears fall) as she looked away from Charlie, hurt by his words. She thought about recoiling back to her bedroom yet her maturity kept her from doing so.
Turning to face him again, she said in a damaged yet passionate tone, "I'm sorry you feel that way but that's just who I am. Maybe we should've waited a bit longer to find out more about each other to find out what qualities we have or don't have that suits the other's needs before we started dating."
Looking over at one another, the kitchen table with the Daily Prophet upon it standing between them, Charlie replied curtly, "Maybe you're right."
His statement cut her like the sharpest of swords making Hermione slowly turned on the spot, blinking rapidly as she felt her tear drops were poised to fall at any second, as she made her way back down the hall. Charlie didn't follow, nor did she want him to because at that moment, she felt so wounded and so alone, feeling her heart ice over in a glacier-like glass, a stone-throw away from disintegrating into tiny pieces.
She didn't hear the tea kettle squealing about seconds later, indicating that the water was now boiling, for she had shut her bedroom door, paired off with a silencing charm. She crawled back in her bed, long forgetting of the nightmare she had experienced a quarter of an hour ago. Drawing up her covers and extinguishing her room's light, she finally let her tears escape, wanting nothing more than to start her night over again.
The following morning, Hermione crept out of her and Charlie's house early, before the latter could wake, as she stepped out into the early morning sun, peeking over the tips of the tall surrounding trees, a cool chill hanging in the air.
Hermione cried herself to sleep the previous night, though night terrors remained at bay. And while Charlie's words to her resonated deeply within, she thought that diving into her work for the day would help her forget what was exchanged between the two.
She walked between the rows of homes, relishing in the peace and quiet that surrounded her; it was a welcome change to the night before.
Stepping into the Center of Directions several minutes later, she saw Terrance and Director Mulligan already there. They both were having a whispered conversation between themselves which abruptly settled when they saw her enter.
"You're here early, Miss Granger," Mulligan noted with a hint of surprise. "The dragons aren't scheduled to be fed for another hour yet."
"I got an early start," she shrugged, her voice feeling raw from its hours of non-usage.
"Charlie behind you or something," Terrance then asked, looking over at her inquiringly.
"No, he's, he's back at the house," she answered firmly.
Terrance regarded her carefully before he issued, "You two had a quarrel, didn't you? I guess the honeymoon stage is finally over then?"
"Mr. Wriley," Mulligan warned, leveling him with a cold glare.
"It's alright, director," Hermione began, "what's happened happened."
As a discomfited silence fell around them, Mulligan remarked, "Well then, I'm going to go check on the Victorian Shalers. Be back in a few."
With that, he exited the pavilion.
Hermione inwardly sighed as she made her way to the center of the tent, looking down upon the large table that hosted a map of the dragon enclosures, each one having small pictures of each dragon that dwelled in them. As she was doing so, she felt Terrance's eyes upon her, reminding her of the times he had done so before.
"Something on your mind," she suddenly called out, though her eyes were still glued onto the map before her.
"What," he laughed, as she then looked up at him.
"You keep staring at me at odd times," Hermione threw back.
Terrance crossed his arms over his chest, as if was gearing up for a challenge.
"I didn't know that that was a crime."
"It's not but none of the other workers have the need to stare," she retorted, feeling her blood start to simmer.
"Forgive me if I'm keeping an eye out for my best mate. I assume he told you what happened the last time he felt in 'love', didn't he," Terrance fired, stressing the word 'love.'
"As a matter of fact, he did tell me. It's terrible what happened and wasn't fair to Charlie but you don't need to worry about me acting like that to him." As she said this, Hermione recalled what they had said to each other the previous night, sounding off against the very confines of her core.
"Yeah, that's what they all say."
Before Hermione could respond, a thought chimed within Hermione, making her pause for a moment as she studied Terrance.
"Did you have a bad experience before?"
Terrance half-shrugged, answering, "Not a bad experience…many bad experiences. Every bird I meet offers the same: a kiss, a shag, but nothing worth settling down for – they're all the same."
"From what I've seen, you don't seem to be looking to settle down," Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself.
Terrance's face remained impassive as he took in her words. For a moment, Hermione had the distinct feeling he was going to whip out his wand and throw a hex at her, but to her immense surprise, he started laughing, carefree and cheerful, two dimples appearing on either side of his mouth.
Feeling out of place, Hermione continued to stare over at him, wondering what the source of his hilarity was.
"I guess I deserved that," he managed to choke out, rubbing both of his hands over his brown buzz-cut. "Okay, I'll admit, I do tend to flirt a bit here and there. But I don't see anything wrong with having random flings some nights."
Hermione decided it would be best if she didn't answer him as she didn't think his 'random flings' occurred some nights, but rather, they were of a nightly occurrence.
"I fell in love once, with some bird from around the village I'm from," he elaborated.
"From somewhere nearby then," Hermione asked, "since you're from Wales?"
"Some miles away, yeah."
"I guess things didn't work out."
Terrance held Hermione's eyes with his as he continued, "Things were revealed - secrets, and we just couldn't come together cohesively afterwards. It was no one's fault except life itself."
"I'm sorry."
Terrance shook his head from side to side, "You have no reason to be. These type of things happen all the time."
However, before any other matters could be traded between the two, Mulligan rushed back into the tent, his face a red flush, his chest heaving.
"Director Mulligan, are you okay," Hermione asked, making Terrance take in his appearance as well.
"One of the Victorian Shalers," he gasped in between long breaths, "has escaped."
Hermione looked over at Terrance who suddenly tensed at this news.
"Escaped," he questioned, "director, escaped where?"
"Where do you think Mr. Wriley? It ran into one of the dragon pens!"
"But how? Weren't Reyville and Cope training them," Terrance queried in a rushed manner.
"They were, but when I went to check on them, they both were incapacitated. I saw one of the newborns go towards the enclosures; the little devil is fast. I caged the other before it could get away. We need to gather and go after it or else one of the full-grown dragons will surely kill it," Mulligan ordered, running towards the map Hermione and Terrance were still near.
They all looked down at it, trying to find where the baby Victorian Shaler had gone off to. Hermione's eyes darted left and right, up and down, trying to locate it, however, she unable to do so.
"Director," Terrance said, "is the Shaler even on here? I can't see it."
Hermione looked up at Mulligan and saw his face was lined with worry. She knew that he couldn't find it either.
"This is a curious little feature, isn't it? The Victorian Shaler has to be somewhere here," Mulligan said though more to himself. Shaking his head roughly, he then stated, "We'll have to go look for it on our own then, we'll figure out what's wrong with this bloody thing later. Let me call everyone here, and then we can divide in pairs."
Mulligan pointed his wand at an angle above him and made a large loop with it. Instantly, a patronus in the form of a sparrow surged forth and flew out of the Center of Directions with haste.
Just a few seconds later, several workers of the reserve ran into the tent, joining Mulligan, Hermione, and Terrance, though Charlie wasn't one of them.
"Here already," Mulligan asked with sincere surprise.
"We were on our way," the worker in the front answered.
"Good, good, well you lot will have to start. One of the Victorian Shalers escaped into one of the dragon pens," Mulligan explained, "the only problem is, we don't know which one."
"Doesn't it show up on the map," one of the handlers inquired.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Wriley, and I all looked but couldn't spot it," Mulligan forwarded. "We have no choice and no time to waste to go after it. It's still a baby and the other dragons won't hesitate to go after it. Since it's near breakfast time, go in pairs, one per pen, and locate it."
"Director," one of the workers voiced, "if a pair does spot it, how will they let the others know?"
At this, Mulligan's eyes fell on Hermione.
"If my memory serves me correctly, Miss Granger had a fruitful idea when we went after the Romanian Longhorn back in the Castle of Stone that worked rather well. Leather cuffs, was it?"
"Yes, just a simple modification of the Protean charm with each cuff will make it act as its own master," Hermione supplied, "we can all then communicate with each other through them."
Without a second's hesitation, Mulligan waved his wand, making a handful of thick, brown leather cuffs appear, each one big enough for a full message to appear on.
"Miss Granger, if you please," Mulligan said, gesturing towards the cuffs.
Hermione nodded as she quickly got to work, placing the Protean charm upon each object.
"Since we are so little in time, take one per pair," Mulligan voiced out.
"But sir," another handler piped in, "there aren't enough of us to cover all of the enclosures."
"That is why we have these cuffs, so that we can communicate with each other," Mulligan answered impatiently. "Obviously, some pens will be nothing more than a quick sweep while others will require a long, in-depth search. As more handlers show up, I'll pair them off to go to another pen. The Victorian Shaler can only be in one of the enclosures and it can't move from one to the next. We need to start as soon as possible though. So divide up and quickly discuss which pair will go to each pen, and don't forget to grab a leather cuff!"
The workers already gathered started discussing who would be paired with whom, and which pair they would undertake. Hermione, however, stood back, preferring to wait for Charlie.
Terrance approached, two broomsticks in each hand, as he said, "You want to pair up?"
"Um, I-I think I'll wait for Charlie," she returned with a tight smile.
"Hermione, all of us are on one mission to rescue one of the Victorian Shalers. Charlie will understand. It's not like we're going off for a romatic hike in the mountains – this is strictly business."
"I'm not much of a flyer," Hermione then supplied.
"You can ride behind me then," Terrance offered, setting aside one broom.
Hermione, finding no other option for which to take as Terrance was the only worker without a partner, nodded her head, as she grabbed a leather cuff off and wrapped it around her wrist.
As the two left the Center of Directions and stepped outside with the other pairs, Hermione asked, "Which enclosure are we going to?"
"My favorite actually and the one I know the best," he responded, "the Brazilin Bastions. Their pen resembles their natural habitat, the Amazon Rainforest."
"There are dragons there," Hermione asked in wonder, as she had read about the different creatures that live in the Amazon Rainforest, yet have never come across that of a dragon.
"Yeah, there's not many left though because of the damn poachers," Terrance said back. "Anyway, are you ready?"
Just as she nodded and was about to mount the broomstick Terrance was on, a voice suddenly exclaimed, "Hermione!"
They both turned around and saw Charlie racing towards them, a broomstick in one hand, a look of betrayal caressing his features.
"Charlie," Terrance called out, as Hermione thought she detected a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Just in time. Hermione and I were about to head out to the enclosures."
"Yeah, I got the message," Charlie responded with slight bitterness. "But Hermione's riding with me."
"Well whoever she's riding with, let's go; we're wasting time sitting here talking!"
Charlie mounted his broom as Hermione climbed on behind him, as the two broomsticks then zoomed off towards the dragon pens to find the baby Victorian Shaler.
Even though Charlie seemed incredibly taut (Hermione having no doubt as to why), she still felt comfortable pressed against his back, with her hands locked around his middle. Yes, they had said words to each other the previous night, hurtful nuances that paraded within their minds yet Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that riding with Charlie, and him only, was the right thing to do, strained relationship or not.
If Charlie hadn't shown up, it was highly likely that Hermione would've ridden behind Terrance but the feeling wouldn't have been the same; to her, she was positive that it would feel strictly platonic and nothing more. With Charlie, it was different. Being so close against his body sent tingling sensations that stretched all the way down to her toes, even now going after the Victorian Shaler.
"Come on then," Terrance yelled out at them, as Hermione briefly got a glimpse of the individual enclosures that formed a large circle, before Charlie dived downward, making Hermione bite back a scream as her heart lunged upwards into her throat. She closed her eyes on the downfall before the feeling suddenly subsided.
Slowly opening her eyelids, Hermione saw that she, Charlie, and Terrance had entered into the pens of the Brazilian Bastions.
"Terrance, we have to search the ground. There's no way the Victorian Shaler will be able to fly yet," Charlie reasoned, as the two broomsticks hung in midair over a dense rainforest, lush with vibrant shades of green, noises of many different animals along with several nearby waterfalls ringing in Hermione's ears.
"We have to be careful down there," Terrance said back, looking first at Charlie then Hermione. "You know how dangerous the forest floor is."
Charlie half look over his shoulder at Hermione himself before he responded, "Don't worry about Hermione, she'll be with me. Let's just search the area and see if the Shaler is in here."
With that, Charlie maneuvered his broom downward and through the underbrush, Terrance following suit, as they soon entered mild darkness, the trees converging so close together above them that the sunlight was partially blocked out, the forest floor made nothing besides fallen, curled leaves.
"You think some wand-light might help," Terrance questioned in a low voice.
"Only one," Charlie directed, "some creatures here attack the light."
Before proceeding further, Hermione took out her wand and whispered, "Lumos," as her wand tip instantly ignited in a blue-white glow.
"Okay, let's continue and remember, keep your eyes open for the Shaler but beware of the Bastions," Charlie warned, issuing his broom forward, "and Hermione, try to stay on behind me. This rainforest is full of poisonous animals and plants, both magical and non-magical, and wouldn't hesitate to attack us. Just…just hold onto me."
Hermione nodded, becoming aware of how nervous Charlie was in her getting hurt. It was at this time that she knew Charlie hadn't meant what he said to her last night, agreeing that maybe they shouldn't have gotten together; for her part, Hermione didn't mean what she said either, it was just the rush of their argument that propelled the couple to throw dynamite at one another, but she mentally shook her head of these thoughts for now, as her main priority was to find the Shaler without any casualties.
The trio continued on, the awning above them becoming thicker and thicker, making Terrance take out his own wand to give them a second light, while the noises of the hidden animals became louder and louder.
Hermione sensed that dangerous animals, big, medium, and small were watching the group advance deeper into the forest behind the thick trees or somewhere in the heavy underbrush below, akin to what she experienced in her nightmare of the Death Eaters flanking both her sides as she walked down the long passageway.
Hermione then spotted a bright plant, it looking like a colossal mushroom being half the size of the tree next to it, only it was bright purple and had heavy, blue tendrils protruding from its cap that jutted out at random intervals, always bringing back a pocket of small bugs with it.
The broomsticks then flew over a wide creek in which a large stone situated beside it was covered in bright-colored blue and red frogs, hopping onto each other. Four frogs at once jumped onto Terrance's jeans yet he quickly brushed them off as they fell back towards the ground.
"How big is this place," Hermione asked in a quiet voice.
"Massive," Charlie replied seriously, "and it only gets more dangerous the farther we go on."
"Surely we haven't flown this far before when feeding the dragons their breakfasts', have we," Hermione questioned.
"No, we haven't. It's not a good sign that we haven't spotted them yet," Charlie answered.
"Charlie, watch out!"
Terrance's voice suddenly punctuated the air, piercing it of its stillness. Charlie and Hermione whipped their heads in the directions of their comrade's pointed finger only to see a large jaguar, its teeth barred, lunging at them.
"Hold on, Hermione," Charlie yelled out, as he skillfully spun their broomstick upside down as Terrance retracted away. The cat roared with aggressiveness before it pounced forward towards them again.
Charlie, not anticipating this second attack, propelled the broom forward, the jaguar falling into a heavy scrub, becoming entangled in its branches and vines, only to run into Terrance. The collision knocked Terrance off of his broom where he fell with a heavy ompf! onto the forest floor, his broomstick snapping in two under his weight.
The instant he did so, hissing noises filled the air as Hermione looked down in horror to see a great host of what looked like no less than a dozen green and brown snakes race towards him, their forked tongues slipping out of their mouths, waiting to feast upon his human flesh.
Hermione, thinking nothing except getting Terrance to safety, pointed her wand at his black t-shirt and jeans and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Terrance was then lifted into the air, he having somehow managed to hang onto his wand. However it was not soon enough, for one of the green snakes lurched upwards and sunk its fangs into his ankle.
He screamed out in pain while Hermione screamed with him. Charlie brandished his wand, pointed it at the snake and yelled "Confringo!" The serpent exploded, raining blood and pieces of its mangled body down upon its brothers.
Charlie flew over to the levitated Terrance and asked with haste, "Terrance, are you okay?"
"The bloody basilisk got my ankle," he replied, as Hermione helped him onto the broomstick behind her.
"Hermione, alert the others that we're going back. We have to get Terrance to the hospital."
"No! Charlie, we didn't come this far just to turn around! The Victorian Shaler is in here!"
"How do you know that," Charlie yelled, turning to look over his shoulder at him.
"You said so yourself! The Brazilian Bastions are never this far in the rainforest, especially when they're about to get fed! We have to continue on," Terrance reasoned, looking down at the vipers below them in hatred.
"Fine," Charlie nearly spat out, , clearly not happy about Terrance's predicament, yet he made the broomstick race forward again.
Hermione, squished between Charlie's back and Terrance's chest, felt rather uncomfortable in the physical position she was in but she was concerned about Terrance, who seemed to be having trouble breathing, while he grasped onto her right shoulder for support to stay upright.
"Terrance, I think we should get you looked at," Hermione remarked, looking over her shoulder.
"No…keep going," he breathed out, "I'll…be…fine."
With Charlie and Hermione's eyes peeled open coupled with Terrance's ragged and uneven breathing patterns, they passed over a small stream nestled among yellow bushes in which a low buzzing sound was emitting from before crossing below a spider's web, its owner being the size of a large dog.
Nearby, Hermione heard the sound of crashing water as she looked between two trees on her immediate right, only to spot what they were in here to find.
"Charlie, stop," she whispered feverishly, making him halt. "I see the Shaler."
At this, both Charlie and Terrance became alert, the former asking, "Where?"
Hermione pointed her finger as the trio set their sights on the baby Victorian Shaler, however, something about it wasn't right.
Careful not to draw attention to themselves, Charlie flew the broom closer to it yet kept them hidden under the trees.
Hermione looked over an open space and saw a scene before them in which its backdrop was made of a waterfall which then forged into a smooth river, its sides carved of stone. The Victorian Shaler was situated atop of a flat rock, its translucent periwinkle blue wings flapping away though it didn't take flight; instead, as its wings beat away, the circular pattern upon them was spinning in dizzying rotations while its body sparkled beautifully, as if thousands of jewels were swimming inside of it. It was a strange sight, one that harbored close to stunning, yet flirted with hazardous.
"Charlie, Hermione, look," Terrance whispered, his voice laced in pain, "one of the Brazilian Bastions is in the water!"
Both Charlie and Hermione looked to where he pointed as one of the fully-grown dragons was lying on its side in the waters of the river, motionless.
"Why's it doing that," Hermione asked.
"I dunno," Charlie responded, "but it shouldn't be like that. Terrance, something's wrong."
In response, Terrance issued out though with a strained effort, "Look at the other dragon."
Charlie and Hermione then directed their attention to the remaining Brazilian Bastion and saw that it seemed to be hypnotized, staring down at the tiny Victorian Shaler, engrossed in its beating wings and sparkling body.
"Is it hypnotized," Hermione questioned in awe.
"We have to stop this," Charlie instructed, as he pointed his wand at the Shaler and waved it. A second later, the beast was caged, its spell upon the Brazilian Bastion broken. However, once the fully-grown dragon noticed its unmoving mate in the waters below, it issued out a might roar, one that shook the surrounding trees.
Charlie pointed his wand at the cage hosting the Victorian Shaler as he said, "Accio!"
The cage then flew towards them, though to their misfortune, the Brazilian Bastion followed its trajectory.
Before Charlie could react, the dragon rapidly spun around, swinging its massive tail, cleanly snapping the trees around Charlie, Hermione, and Terrance in two separate pieces.
Hermione screamed as a mess of broken branches, leaves, twigs, and wood splinters fell around them. The dragon roared again as it had spotted the hovering broomstick and charged forward.
"Charlie," Terrance began in a low voice, "get us out of here!"
Charlie tried to make a clean break, however was thwarted by the Brazilian Bastion as it snatched the tail-end of the broomstick and swung it viciously from side to side, making Charlie, Hermione, Terrance, and the caged Victorian Shaler fall off of it and splash into the river below.
Hermione resurfaced and found she was able to stand within the shallow waters, as both Charlie and Terrance rushed over to her.
The dragon let loose a massive bout of flame, yet the trio screamed out in unison, "PROTEGO!"
Although a protective bubble shielded them from the oncoming flame, Hermione could still feel the heat of the fire, stopping mere inches away from her, Charlie, and Terrance.
The three then let loose a barrage of curses and hexes at the dragon before Hermione pointed her wand at the leather cuff she wore on her wrist and charmed over it, 'Shaler in Bastion pen; under attack. – H.G.'
In the next instant, Hermione felt herself flying through the air, her middle screaming in pain. Her body fell against the immobile second Brazilian Bastion prior to splashing into the river again. She came to, wiping the water from her eyes, as she saw the tail of the dragon swinging wildly around again.
However, unbeknownst to it, Terrance had managed to climb aboard the broom they had all been shaken off before, as he raced forward towards the savage Brazilian Bastion, stopping right before its eyes.
Charlie and Hermione could only look on as the great dragon seemed to ready itself to unfurl a ball of flame. Before it could do so, Terrance, with speed like lightning, waved his wand in a complicated pattern, as a bright pink light started to flash, Hermione remembering that this was the same technique used on the Romanian Longhorn back in the Castle of Stone to put it to sleep.
Seeing the dragon halt its attack, Charlie rushed over to Hermione some feet away from him, and asked hurriedly, "Hermione, Hermione, are you hurt? Are you okay? I'm sorry about before, I'm sorry about everything! I shouldn't have said the things I did and I don't want us to fight anymore! I don't know what came over me last night! I just hate to see you in pain and I thought you could use a night just to relax! I want you to be safe and I want to keep you safe! I'm sorry!"
As Hermione started to answer his barrage of questions, the couple didn't notice that Terrance had successfully put the Brazilian Bastion to sleep, nor did they notice that the body of the great dragon was falling over them.