A/N: I didn't want to split this chapter in half but it was so long I really had no choice :-(
A lot of stuff happens in this part, but a scene I've been dying to write for a while will be in part 2! Hope you enjoy!
Also, I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling.
The next morning the four of them woke up extra early to head for the mountains. They all met at Draco's tent since Hermione and Phillip had brought the potion there the day before. They decided that the best way to carry it would be for two people to hold it between their brooms while they flew.
Before they left Hermione found the rope they had used on their very first mission and used her wand to stretch it. Then she cut it into four even pieces, bewitched it with a lasso charm and handed one to each of them.
"Now, I know you weren't there, Sophie and Phillip, but when Charlie and his group saved us from the dragon this is the method they used. Granted, there were five of them, but this one is significantly smaller than the Desert Destructor."
"Egyptian Inferno," corrected Draco.
"Wait, I zought we all decided on ze Sand Doom?"
"You know, all three names really are horrible." They all turned and glared at Phillip, but none as fiercely as Sophie. "You know, Sand Doom is growing on me," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Sophie smiled proudly. "Two against one and one. I ween."
Letting Sophie have her victory, they all grabbed their supplies and headed on their way. Each held onto their own rope and a dagger, since they decided to only bring one backpack. It had everything they needed - like the golden ladle, 101 Uses for Undead Root, and phials - as well as anything they might need - Hermione's best books on dragons, food, water, extra daggers, Hermione's camera, etc.
It took them a few hours to fly to the peak. They landed a pretty good distance away from it, and Hermione and Sophie stayed with the potion while Draco and Phillip continued on foot to try and scout the dragon. If it wasn't around they were going to try and make a break for the phoenix's nest but, if it was, they were going to have to capture it first. The fact that the potion needed to have the phoenix tear literally shed into it made this task exceedingly more difficult.
"So what did you and Draco talk about last night?" asked Hermione the moment the two witches were alone.
Sophie smiled. "Zat ees confeedential eenformation, 'Ermione. I cannot just tell you. Zat would be violating 'is trust."
"So what can you tell me?"
Sophie thought about this. "Draco ees 'urt, 'Ermione. Your leettle outburst yesterday was not exactly pointed een 'is favor."
"I know, and I feel awful about it. I don't know what I was thinking. I just kind of snapped, you know?"
"I do," she said, putting a comforting hand on her friends shoulder.
"Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"Just zat Draco ees as obleevious as you are," Sophie said, smirking.
"What does that mean?"
"Nozing."
Hermione sighed. "I just don't know if I can get over this, Sophie. I've never felt so betrayed in all my life. How am I supposed to move past this when I can't stop thinking abou -"
"'Ermione, stop for a meenute, weell you?"
Hermione shut her mouth and waited for Sophie to continue.
"Now, before I say zis, I want you to remember zat I 'ave ze utmost respect for you. You are beauteeful and breelliant and per'aps ze most eentimidating person I 'ave ever met, but you are being extremely zick right now and you need to get over eet."
Hermione blinked. "Uhh … what?"
"You are being zick and need to get over eet!" Sophie repeated.
"I'm being sick? How am I being sick?"
"Not seeck! Zick! Zick! You know, like stupeed!"
"Ooooh! Ooh, you mean thick! Wait … I'm not being thick!"
"Yes you are! You are mad about somezing so senseless. Why do you care so much about some stupeed lie 'e told you two monzs ago? Zere ees no reason eet should change ze way you feel now. Draco ees sorry. Zat ees all zat matters."
"But he lied."
"So? Everybody lies."
"I don't."
Sophie laughed loudly. "Oh, I am sure you 'ave. But I weell bet you do not see eet as lying, you see eet as a means to protect people. 'Ave you told any 'feebs' to protect anyone zis summer?"
Hermione was about to say no when she remembered something. Buckbeak. She had lied to Draco about Buckbeak. The hippogriff was supposed to be executed because of him, and she feared if Draco knew where he was he might try to do it again. But Draco would never do that. She knew that now.
And then she remembered another. Rita Skeeter. When she thought she saw a beetle in their tent she lied to Draco about why she didn't want the bug snooping around. Why she felt any need to protect that woman was beyond her.
"Okay, point proven. Maybe I do lie every now and then, but my little 'fibs' are nothing compared to what he did. I feel like such an idiot, Sophie. I should have known better. Why did I ever take his word on that?'
"'Ermione! Who cares?"
"Unfortunately, I do."
"Would eet make you feel any better eef I said eet was not zat good?"
"No."
Sophie smiled mischievously. "Good. Because zat would be a lie on your behalf."
Hermione chuckled awkwardly before throwing her head in the air and screaming, "This bloody sucks!"
"Language, 'Ermione!"
Hermione and Sophie looked at each other and laughed, their giggles only being broken by the sound of rocks tumbling. The laughter immediately ended.
"Stay 'ere and watch ze potion," said Sophie, standing up and running in the direction of the sound.
Hermione walked over to the cauldron and used a binding spell to attach it to her, just in case. The moment she was finished, heavy breathing sounded behind her. She swung around and came face to face with a pair of large, golden eyes. The dragon stared at her for a moment, sniffing the air around her before letting out a thunderous roar. Hermione screamed with it, shot several sparks into its nose and took off running, the cauldron holding their potion trailing after her.
"'Ermione!" she heard Sophie scream, but she had no time to look and see where she was. The dragon was right behind her. It would have gotten her too if they had not been so close to a cluster of caves.
Hermione did a baseball slide into a small opening barely big enough to fit her or the cauldron. There was no way for the dragon to follow her. It banged and clawed against the hole for a while before figuring out there was no way for it to get through. Hermione was just glad it was not a fire breather or else it might have found a more effective way to harm her. But, while the dragon may have been slow on the uptake, it was not dumb. Before disappearing it somehow managed to move a rock in front of the opening, blocking Hermione's only known escape route.
"Great," she sighed. "Lumos!"
The first thing Hermione did with the light was check on the cauldron, which was still bobbing beside her. Not one drop had spilt. She smiled to herself, proud that she had done such a successful binding charm.
Once she confirmed the potion was safe, Hermione took a good look at her surroundings. She was currently standing in the center of a narrow but tall cave with two exits. She peeked through each, not noticing any distinct differences into the rooms they led into. She chose the one on the left for no reason in particular, just a gut feeling. She shot sparks of light out in front of her, sending them off into the depths of the caves to either find an exit or warn her of the dragons arrival. Whichever came first.
Hermione walked through those caves for a good ten minutes without so much as a squeak from a bat. The silence was a bit unnerving. But then she heard something. She stood still and perked her ears up to listen. It was running water. It wasn't an exit, but it was a start.
She followed the sounds until she came upon a large room with cliffs that stretched all the way up to an open sky. If only she had her broom with her.
Several waterfalls trickled down these cliffs into a steaming pool of clear water. Hermione went over and ran her hand through it. The water was warm and perfect, other than feeling incredibly heavy. She frowned. What an unfortunate time to stumble upon a hot springs.
Just then, one of her sparks flew back into the room ringing like a bell. A warning bell. The dragon was close. A roar sounded from a room to her left. She quickly ran in the other direction. She had only gone through two more small caves when she heard some rocks crumbling in the room she had been about to run into.
Hermione slammed herself against the wall, followed by the cauldron, and tried to control her heavy breathing. She could hear the dragon growling as it walked by, sticking its nose in and sniffing right around where she was. She quickly used her wand to cast a non-verbal, odorless spell on herself. The moment she did the dragon moved on. Once it was gone she let out a sigh of relief.
Without looking, Hermione headed through a different exit, only to run right into something. She was about to scream when a calloused hand threw itself over her mouth. She looked up and was relieved to see a pair of familiar gray eyes.
"Draco," she said the moment he removed his hand. She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. He took a moment to hug her back, breathing in what should have been the familiar scent he had come to love.
"Why don't you smell like anything?" he asked curiously.
"I cast an odorless charm on myself so the dragon wouldn't smell me. Here." She took out her wand and did the same to him.
Once it was done he said, "Come on," and grabbed her hand. "Sophie and Phillip are waiting outside of the entrance for us to trap the thing. We need to get it to chase us out." He looked back at her and was glad to see she still had her rope tied around her in the same fashion you would tie a toga. Realizing her brilliance, he did the same with his. This way it would stop slipping off of his waist.
Together they ran back the way Draco had come. Every now and then he would look back and laugh at the way the cauldron bobbed after her.
"Clever thinking."
"I'm just glad the dragon never got the chance to spill it. Imagine having to do everything over again?"
"There is no way I would go back to the Acromantula nest freely."
"Or to see Fluffy."
They both laughed, but were quick to shut their mouths when they heard a low growl. They backed against a wall and waited for the dragon to walk by. When they couldn't hear anything anymore, Draco peeked his head into the next room and looked around. All was clear.
He pulled Hermione into the larger cave with him and darted for the exit across the way. When they were about halfway to it a loud roar sounded above them. They looked up just in time to see the dragon detach itself from the wall and jump in front of them.
Draco and Hermione fell back. The dragon swiped at them but Hermione used a freezing charm on its arm. While it tried to figure out what exactly happened, Draco pulled Hermione to her feet and the two of them tried to make a break for the exit. But the dragon kept blocking them. Eventually, they had no choice but to retreat back into the caves.
While they attempted to circle back around to the main room with the exit, the dragon seemed wise to their plan and kept getting in their way. The only thing protecting them from its wrath were the smaller caves it could not fit into.
Before long they were back at the hot springs Hermione had stumbled upon earlier. It appeared that this is where it had been leading them all along.
As soon as they entered the dragon came barreling out of an adjacent room and lunged for them, knocking them both into the hot springs. Hermione unbound herself with the cauldron just in time. It landed safely on the ground.
The water felt heavy on impact. It was as if hundreds of hands were pulling them deeper and deeper into the depths. Hermione shot some light into the pool, causing several tiny, liquid women to recoil. Water nymphs. One of them kept a firm grip on Draco, so Hermione shot a spark of light into its face. It screeched out in agony before releasing him. He reached out and grabbed her hand, and the two of them swam towards the surface.
Draco and Hermione climbed onto the shore, but barely had time to catch their breath before the dragon was upon them. Draco shoved Hermione out of the way so the dragon only got a hold of him with its sharp talons.
"Draco!" Hermione screamed before instinctually grabbing onto the dragons tail.
It went straight up and out of the opening at the top of the caves, flying high into the sky. Hermione took this time to climb up its scales like a ladder, so she was now hanging onto its back. When it flew back down she had a much firmer grip on the thing so she didn't fall right off, but holding on still wasn't easy.
"Why does it always whip around like this?" shouted Draco from below. "If it has a destination it needs to just go there already!"
"I think it likes to play with its food first!" Hermione shouted back.
"'Ermione, what are you doing?"
Hermione looked over to see Sophie flying on her broom beside her. "Holding on for dear life!" she answered.
"Geeve me your 'and."
Sophie held out her hand for Hermione, who tried to grab it, but the dragon flew sideways and knocked Sophie back. Phillip appeared and stabled her before she could fall off her broom.
"We need to have all of the ropes if we're going to capture this thing!" Phillip shouted over the wind. The dragon turned around and nipped at him. He quickly maneuvered himself out of the way. "Somehow we need to get the two of you off of this thing and onto your brooms! Any suggestions?"
"'Ermione ees ze brains! Seence I am ze stealth I weell go and get ze brooms!" Sophie darted for the ground. She shouted over her shoulder, "Keep zem safe, Phillipe!" before disappearing.
"Make sure to hold on tight, Hermione! I'm going to keep this thing chasing me until she gets back!"
Hermione nodded before readjusting her grip on the dragons back.
"What about me?" Draco shouted from below.
"You don't have to hold on, the dragons the one holding you!" laughed Phillip before flying in front of them and leading the dragon in a fairly tame chase. He tried to keep them on a steady pathway, but he occasionally had to shoot downwards or upwards to get away from the thing.
Tired of playing these silly games, the dragon decided to step it up a notch. It picked up its speed and used both of its front talons, even the one holding Draco, to swipe at Phillip. Draco proceeded to scream as the dragon whipped him around. It eventually hit the back of Phillip's broom, causing the wizard to swerve a little before scraping his side against a cliff.
Phillip tried to get back on course but the dragon kept cutting him off. He dodged this way and that, but eventually had to do a full loop in the air to avoid the rampaging creature.
Hermione tried to hold on while the dragon followed Phillip in his upside-down circle, but her hands weren't strong enough and before she knew it she was falling. Phillip flew back around and caught her.
"Well, that's one way to get a person off a dragon's back!" He laughed.
"I'm glad you find humor in this, because I certainly don't!" she shouted, glancing back at the steadily approaching dragon and the blonde wizard attached to its feet. "So how do you plan to get him free?"
"You're the brains, remember? I'm just winging it!"
"Great," sighed Hermione. "When Sophie gets back we need to try and make it drop him! It's really our only option!"
"Sounds like a plan!"
Sophie returned a minute later carrying only one broom. "I could not find Draco's! I zink 'e put eet somewhere before going eento ze caves! Draco, where deed you put your broom?" she shouted back at him.
"Can we please worry about that later? I'd really like to get off of this thing, if you don't mind!"
"'Ermione, 'ow deed you get over 'ere?" Sophie asked, completely ignoring him.
"Not important, Sophie! Could I have my broom, please?"
Sophie handed her the broom and Hermione climbed onto it as best she could, considering she was currently riding sidesaddle on another broom. She stumbled a little, but still made it on successfully.
"So what ees ze plan?" asked Sophie once Hermione was secure.
"We need all four of us to capture it, so, somehow, we need to get it to drop Draco!"
"Someone is going to catch me, right?" they heard Draco call faintly from behind them. He had really good ears.
"YES!" they all shouted back at him.
Their plan was easier said than done. Phillip kept the chase going while Hermione and Sophie shot sparks at its feet but the bloody thing did not want to let Draco go. The dragon started ravaging around, swaying side to side so it was bumping both witches, eventually knocking Hermione off of her broom.
Phillip was unaware of what was going on behind him and Sophie was too busy trying to steady herself to dive for her. By the time she did Hermione was too far for her to catch. But just before she went flat on the ground a red and gold bird flew off of the cliffs, letting Hermione reach out and grab its tail. She looked up and recognized the smile on its beak immediately. It had been much smaller a few weeks ago, but this was definitely the baby phoenix who had healed her leg.
"Thank you again!" she shouted at the bird. It squawked back at her.
The phoenix put Hermione on the ground beside her broom. She was just about to pick it up again when she noticed the dragon flying a mere thirty feet above her. "Oh hell with this!" she said, taking off her rope. She began swinging it like a lasso, the rope growing with each turn. Once it was a good length she released it and caught the dragon clear around the neck.
"Nozing but net!" shouted an overjoyed Sophie.
Unaware of the rope, the dragon tried to fly higher into the sky, only to be whiplashed backwards. It was so surprised by this that it completely dropped Draco. Sophie flew after him and grabbed his hand long enough to slow his fall before dropping him again, but he still fell about twenty feet, rolling as he hit the ground. He used the momentum to his advantage and jumped to his feet, running over to Hermione and grabbing the broom beside her.
"Thanks, Hermione! Make sure to hold on tight!" He winked at the struggling witch before taking off into the air.
Phillip was currently trying to lasso the dragons back feet while Sophie baited it by sitting on her broom just out of its reach. She laughed as it growled and clawed at her with absolutely no success.
It took him two tries, but once Phillip had its back feet Sophie went for its front ones. Since it was still trying to get her they were in a good enough place for her to get them in one shot. Then Draco flew above the dragon to lasso its wings. This was the hardest part to capture since he had to time his shot perfectly. Right when the wings were coming back together. It took a few tries but eventually he got it. The moment he did they all let out shouts of glee, triumph and relief, none louder than Hermione, who had to keep the strongest hold on the dragon. This was real work, even with the magical rope.
Draco, Sophie, and Phillip lowered the dragon to the ground slowly. When it had landed they all jumped off their brooms and used their wands to magically bind the ropes to the ground. Trees and rocks seemed too unstable. Even with magic the dragon might be able to pull them out of place.
Once it was secure Draco and Phillip stayed with it while Hermione and Sophie went back for their supplies. Sophie got their backpack while Hermione went into the caves for the potion, making sure to steer clear of the water as she did so.
After she got the potion Hermione flew to the front of the cave to look for Draco's broom. He claimed to have left it inside of a tree near the entrance. It was easy enough to find, since there was only one tree with a hole in it around there. A squirrel was nibbling at it when she found it. She shooed it away and took the broom out of the hole, frowning as she did so. Draco would not be happy.
When she got back to the others Sophie was already holding the book and the golden ladle like trophies while Phillip was laying out the phials. Draco was busy trying to get the phoenix to fly off of the cliff, but it wouldn't come until it saw Hermione again. It flew over to her and started pecking at her cheek.
"Friend of yours?" asked Draco, walking over to her.
"Yes. This is the phoenix who healed my leg. Here's your broom," she said, handing it to him. Draco took it from her, his face dropping immediately. "Sorry. A squirrel got to it before I could."
"It's alright," he said in a strained voice.
"You should be able to polish those nips right out," said Hermione, trying to sound optimistic.
Draco nodded, but you could tell he knew better. Those 'nips' were pretty deep. The broom would definitely need more than polishing. It would be fine for the rest of the summer, but come fall it would need replacing.
Hermione, Draco, Sophie, Phillip and the phoenix all sat around the potion while Hermione opened 101 Uses for Undead Root and found their page. "So once the phoenix sheds its tear we need to stir the potion clockwise twenty times. Sophie, are you ready with the ladle?"
"Yes!" she said, holding it up proudly. Hermione had promised her yesterday that she could do this part. Sophie just really wanted to be involved.
"Good. Once that's done we will need to pour it into the phials immediately." She handed them out evenly to her, Draco and Phillip. They were going to take turns holding them for Sophie. "Could you give us a tear, please, Phoenix?" Hermione asked, turning towards the bird.
It gladly stepped forward and put its head on the edge of the cauldron, shedding one single tear into their potion. A golden cloud emerged, smelling like honey. The moment it was done the phoenix moved its head back and Sophie started stirring. After twenty turns they all held out phials for her to pour into. In the end they filled exactly fifteen of them.
"So 'ow are we supposed to get ze dragon to drink eet?" asked Sophie, glancing over at the angry beast. It did not like being tied up. They all looked to Hermione.
"I don't always have to be the brains, do I?"
They all nodded.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh fine." She picked up one of the phials, opened it and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Once it was floating she carefully moved it forward, shooting it into the dragon's mouth as soon as it opened it to roar. "Done!"
While she picked up the book and started casting the extraction spell the others grabbed every storage device imaginable for the heartstring. No one knew what it looked like, so it was impossible to say whether it would need a phial, a pouch, a jar, or something else entirely.
Near the end of her spell, Hermione could feel something tugging on her wand. She began to pull and before long a glowing blue string no wider than a hair emerged from the dragon's skin just over its heart. Sophie grabbed a small jar and brought it over to the string. Hermione carefully dropped it into it and Sophie snapped the lid on.
"We deed eet?" Sophie asked, looking hopefully at Hermione.
She smiled. "Yes. I believe we did."
"Yay! We deed eet!"
Sophie jumped up and down, pulling Draco and Phillip up from the ground so they could celebrate with her. Hermione took the jar from her and put it safely away in her backpack before joining the others in celebration. They had done the impossible! Captured the heartstring of a dragon! And with more than three weeks to spare! Wait … Hermione stopped jumping. Did this mean Mr. Ollivander expected them to do this again?
Sophie grabbed her hands and pulled her into a jump again. Oh well. She would worry about that later. Right now all she wanted to do was celebrate.
Despite their current situation, Draco still grabbed Hermione in a hug and swung her around, having to fight back the urge to kiss her.
But that didn't stop her from kissing his cheek. "The white knight strikes again," she whispered into his ear.
Hermione pulled back and stared into Draco's sparkling gray eyes. The two of them stayed like that for a long while, only looking away when they heard Sophie say, "So 'ow are we supposed to let ze dragon go?"
All joy left their group as they looked questioningly at the dragon. It was thrashing about, either trying to get loose or eat them. Probably both.
Huh. They hadn't thought about that.