Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 8—Round 4: We're Going On An Adventure!
Team: Falmouth Falcons
Position: Chaser 1—high fantasy
Prompts: (setting) dawn, (quote) "You know, for a magical being, you have a terrible sense of adventure"—Kingdom of Copper, by S. A. Chakraborty, (character) Ron Weasley
Word Count: 2166
The dragon reared its head and smashed the ceiling of the cave. Hermione sent blasting spells to help it break through as the goblins continued to close in around them. Harry and Ron held on tightly to the scales as the dragon breathed fire all around them one last time, then pushed off the ground and onto the next floor. It forced its way through the grand doors of Gringotts and into Diagon Alley, where it flapped its wings and launched itself into the sky.
They flew over the buildings as the dragon climbed higher and higher. "What d'you think it's looking for?" Ron shouted over the sound of the wind.
"No idea!" Harry yelled back.
They kept flying farther and farther as the sun started to dip in the sky. Eventually, the dragon turned downwards and began to circle around a large lake. "Let's jump when it gets low enough!" Harry called. Ron and Hermione agreed. He looked down into the water, seeing the dragon's reflection rippling on the surface. "Now!"
They all pushed off the dragon's back and plummeted into the water. The iciness of the lake was shocking, and Harry froze for a second before pushing off the bottom and swimming to the surface. Ron and Hermione appeared beside him. They watched the dragon dip under the water and come up on the far side of the lake before they swam to the shore.
"We got the cup! But where are we?" Hermione asked, when they were all safely on land.
"I dunno," Ron said, "but can you dry us off?"
Hermione sighed. "We learned this charm in fourth year, Ron, you should be able to do it yourself." Nevertheless, she cast a Drying Charm on all three of them.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Hermione already asked that, mate. We don't know."
Harry shook his head. "No. Look."
All around them, the world was strange and unnatural. The bright blue grass grew tall and swayed as if it was underwater. Pinkish sand dunes faded in the distance. The trees had no leaves, and the nearest one appeared to be made of metal.
"What happened?" Ron asked. Even the ground under their feet looked different. The normal grass was gone, and instead they were standing on waving grass. Even crushed to the ground, it kept moving under their shoes.
Hermione reached into her small beaded bag. "There must be something about this in a book."
"What if we're in an alternate dimension?" Harry speculated. "If this is where the dragon is from, maybe it came back and brought us with it."
"That seems unlikely. Why would there be another dimension that dragons come from? Don't they just exist in ours?" Hermione argued.
"Actually," Ron began. "Dragons are different from all other creatures. Something about their magical properties. Some magizoologists say they might have come from another place that we don't know."
Hermione stopped digging in her bag. "How did you know that?"
Ron shrugged. "You learn some stuff after living with Charlie."
"So the dragon got us here," Harry said. "How do we get out?"
There was a pause. "On the dragon," Hermione answered.
"Are you sure?"
"No, but it's our best hope."
"Okay, so let's make a plan," Ron said. "It'll probably attack if we try to get on it again, so our best hope is to distract it and get it to fly back."
"We can go from different sides," Harry suggested. "Levitate something in front of it to make it move."
"It's probably hungry. What's stopping it from just eating us?" Hermione asked.
"Can we give it some food?" Harry said. "Conjure something?"
"You can't conjure food," Ron said. Hermione smiled.
"Let's find something, then. Some animal here that it can eat."
"There are so many problems with that idea," Hermione said. "What if we can't find one? What if it's bigger and more powerful than us? What if something else attacks us?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
Hermione sighed. "No."
"So let's do it."
They turned to look out at the pink sand dunes. Harry was the first to move. He stepped off the grass and onto a patch of sand. Immediately, it opened up into a deep hole. Ron grabbed his arm just in time and hauled him back up. "Stick to the grass, then."
They followed the grass out into the distance, hopping over the sand. Hermione cast spells that left glowing lines floating in the air every so often, to mark their path. Soon, the lake was too far behind them to see and there was nothing but sand dunes and grass all around them. They walked for hours, though the sun never seemed to rise.
"What time is it?" Harry asked. "Maybe we should go back."
"Looks like it's dawn," Ron said. "But it was dawn when we left. I don't think time passes the same way here."
Hermione shook her head. "When we left, the sun was behind us. I think it circled around, because now it's in front."
"Are you sure we didn't just get turned around?" Harry pointed to something on their right. "That looks like one of the marks you left." He started towards it, jumping recklessly over the sand. Hermione and Ron followed more cautiously.
As they approached, it became clear that it was not one of Hermione's marks. There was a space where the sand was cleared away, leaving black stone behind. Bursts of flame shot up from a hole in the ground every so often.
"What is that?" Ron asked.
"I should write this down! It could be important." Hermione pulled out a notebook from her bag and fumbled for a quill. Meanwhile, Harry went closer. He leaned over the hole, jumping back as another flame shot up.
"What's down there?" he asked. He pulled out his wand and pointed it down the hole. "Homenum Revelio!"
"It's unlikely that a human would be down there," Hermione told him. She aimed her wand and said, "Cretura Revelio!" A puff of smoke appeared. "There's some sort of creature in there."
"Hey!" A face popped out of the hole. "I resent being called a creature."
The three of them jumped back, barely avoiding falling into the sand. Once she recovered from the shock, Hermione stepped forward."You don't look like a creature. What are you?"
The person—if it was a person—looked confused. "What am I? I am what I am, isn't that enough? Must you have a name for everything?"
"But what is your species called, if you're not human? The others like you?"
"I'm the only one like me. The only name I have is Basil."
"Well..." Hermione shook her head. "Hello, Basil. My name is Hermione, and this is Harry and Ron."
Basil shifted around until he popped out of the hole. To their shock, the rest of his body was made out of mismatched parts of other animals. He had six furry legs with hooves, a turtle shell, and a long, bushy tail. "What're you all doing out here? Don't you know it's rude to invade someone's home like that?"
"We're sorry," Hermione said. "We didn't know it was your home. The thing is, we're lost and we need help getting out of here. We came in by accident."
"Accident? You're from the other side? The Earthland?"
They looked at each other. "I guess so," Ron answered.
"Then we have to get you back. We can't have outsiders wandering around the Dawnlands." Basil turned in a circle. "It's getting late. We should go now if we don't want to get into trouble."
"Late? How can you tell?" Harry asked. "It looks like it's always dawn."
"Sun starts behind you, goes around for the day. When it's behind you again, it'll be night."
"But what's the difference?"
"You'll know when you see it." Basil shook his head. "If you see it."
"What do you mean, behind you?" Hermione asked. "It depends which way you're facing."
"No, it doesn't. Turn around. The sun'll still be in the same place. Now are we going, or not?"
"We're going," Ron said immediately. He followed Basil, pulling Hermione with him, who was turning around and looking for the sun.
Basil was faster than the rest of them had anticipated. They lagged behind him, out of breath. "Wait!" Ron called.
"Come on, come on, can't you go any faster?" Basil said impatiently.
"Not really," Harry answered. "We've been walking all day. We're tired."
Basil sighed. "If we want to get to the lake before night, you have to hurry."
"What happens at night?" Hermione asked.
Basil shook his head. "Just stay away from the trees."
"Where are we going? Can you tell us anything?"
"You'll see soon enough. Now run, if you can. I want to get this over with and get back home as soon as possible."
"You know, for a magical being, you have a terrible sense of adventure," Harry commented.
"Adventure gets you nowhere. All I need is food and a warm place to sleep."
"He's right, though," Hermione agreed. "You look for adventure way too much."
"I don't look for adventure, adventure finds me," Harry argued.
"You do have a bit of a saving-people thing, mate," Ron said.
"I'm supposed to save people! It's why we're out here, on a hunt for the bloody Horcruxes."
"Horcruxes?" Basil froze. "Oh, that's bad. I don't want anything to do with Horcruxes." He turned around and dashed in the direction they came from.
"Wait!" Hermione called. But he was already gone. "Great. Now we're on our own."
"Bloody hell," Ron said. "He just abandoned us! He didn't even tell us what we're supposed to do! And after saying so much about how dangerous it is at night."
"Which is in a few minutes." Harry pointed at the sun, which resulted in the three of them turning around to try to look at it.
"I haven't seen any of my marks," Hermione began. "I think we're going the wrong way. What if there's something else he didn't tell us?"
Harry shrugged. "Our best bet is to keep going." They continued slowly on the path that Basil had started, looking out for the mysterious dangers.
In a few minutes, it was night. They all knew the instant that it changed, because the sun abruptly disappeared. There was no moon, no light anywhere.
"Lumos," Hermione said. "Look."
The grass all around and under them was growing taller and thicker. Each of them clung to a blade of grass as they were pushed up higher.
"I don't like this!" Ron yelled. The ground already looked so far away.
Harry grabbed the tip of his blade, only to yank his hand away. It was razor sharp. "We need to get down!"
"Let go!" Hermione called.
"What? No!"
"Trust me!"
Harry and Ron let go of the grass and fell down to the ground. Their falls were suddenly slowed, and they looked up to see Hermione casting a spell. When they were on the ground, she cast a Cushioning Charm below her and jumped off. "What now?"
"I saw the lake from up there. It's that way." Ron pointed through an opening in the grass. "The dragon's still there."
"Let's keep going and figure out what to do once we get there," Hermione decided. She pushed through the grass, Harry and Ron following close behind her.
Although the lake was fairly close by, the grass was clustered close together and impossible to push through in some places. They sat down against the grass and decided to wait until morning.
Ron and Harry fell asleep, but Hermione kept watch throughout the night. There was no way of telling how much time had passed. As strange creatures flew overhead, she cancelled her Lumos and sat in the darkness. Their cries made her curl up in fear, where she stayed for the rest of the night.
When the sun came out, it was just as sudden. Everything was lit up, and the grass was back to its normal size. Surprisingly, the dragon was still lying at the edge of the water.
"Let's go," Ron said. "We can probably get on its back while it sleeps."
The trio crept up to the sleeping dragon. As Ron approached its back, one of its huge eyes opened.
"What do you want from me?" it asked. Ron tripped backwards.
"You can talk?"
"Everything can talk here. The grass can talk, if you know how to listen. Now, I'll ask you again. What is it you want?"
"We accidentally came here with you, and we need you to take us back," Hermione explained.
The dragon stretched, causing them to back up more. "You don't need me. It's the lake that goes Between."
"Between?" Harry asked.
"Between worlds. Between the Dawnlands and the Earthland."
"What do we do?"
"Fully submerge yourself in the lake, then get out. When you are dry, you'll be on the other side."
"Thank you!" Hermione said, following the boys. They jumped into the water and swam to the other side. The dragon watched lazily as Hermione performed Drying Charms and they faded from the Dawnlands.