Without wasting a single second, Griphook grabbed the sword and the clanker, and crossed the room. His colleague, still under the influence of Hermione's Impero, stopped in front of the Dragon, and ended up burnt at stake. Edmund looked away. The wizards soon started casting spells against them.

"What now?" Ron shouted to cover the explosions.

"I have an idea." Hermione replied. "But you're not gonna like it."

"What?"

"Jump! On the dragon's back!"

"What !? Hermione, have you lost your mind?"

"Do you have a better plan, Ronald?"

Edmund didn't wait for them to end their fight, and jumped on the dragon's back. He heard Ron swear, and then, lifting his dress, the young wizard jumped. Not far enough. Edmund caught him by the hand, and helped him on the back of the majestic creature. They were soon joined by Hermione.

"Relaschio !" She shouted, pointing at the chain attached to the dragon's ankle."

The dragon reared up, and she repeated the operation on the chain around his neck. This time, the dragon spat fire on the wizards who kept harassing him, and then took his flight, and gained his long dreamt freedom when he broke through the glass canopy. The three humans on his back were not bothering him. He could barely feel them. He almost immediately took the way to his homeland, thus flying to the south-east.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked.

"We wait for him to go down. Then, we'll see."

"We're gonna freeze to death if we do that."

"I don't think so." Edmund replied. "His body heat should suffice for us to be warm."

"How do you know that?"

"My cousin was a dragon, once."

And the dragon kept on flying, for hours and hours. They crossed the sea, flew over mountains, kept flying for a long time, and questioned themselves. How long would they keep travelling? Where would the dragon take them? At the beginning, they tried to maintain a conversation, but they rapidly ran out of subjects, and the journey ended up being silent. In fact, Edmund thought, it was pretty relaxing. He was quite serene. He didn't have control on any event, so there was no point in worrying.

"We're going down." Hermione suddenly said.

The dragon had indeed started his descent, and was getting closer to the ground. Edmund craned forward to try to see what was beyond the majestic creature's head.

"There's a lake, nearby!" He said. "I think that's where he's going."

"Then that's where we leave him. Get ready to jump."