Chapter 23: Another One Bites the Dust

Words: 4,569

Recap: This is why I can't trust when things right. Things always go wrong. That's just how my life works. So we've got stolen sword on the left, and a looming giant dragon made of gold on the right. Yeah, typical Tuesday then.

Words cannot describe how screwed we are.

When the gold dragon roared, all of screeched in fright before running from its snapping maw. The hallways turned bared again from any treasures so we had only pillars to hide from out of it sight. However, there is no telling how realistic this Wizard-made dragon is, even without its sense of smell, I doubt we could hide from the creature for so long.

I still couldn't help but curse inwardly because dragons! Again! Really?! What are the odds of that? Well… considering what my life is, I guess it would have come to that sooner or later.

I glanced to the side, Sev and Lily were hiding together behind a pillar and I sunk a panic breath when the dragon's snout crept closer at their spot. I was halfway from opening Riptide when a flash of spell hit its eye. My jaw dropped at James standing alone for the dragon to see, wand in hand with his arms wide open, his frame openly challenging the dragon to take him on.

Its enormous head of the size of a car beetle shifted grimly at the lone kid only to be met by another stray spell hitting its nostrils. The dragon shook its head and harrumphed (or maybe it's its version of a sneeze) before swiveled and glaring at Sirius, giving the monstrous being a cocky yet wavered smile.

Those morons!

Okay, granted, I was going to do the same thing.

But those morons!

"Oi, Lizard Head," Sirius called out, "mind your own business! I'll take you on"

"Don't listen to him, I hit you first. Take me on instead!"

"No, me!"

The dragon's gaze switched between the two, its lips curled in annoyance before it started hacking and threw his head back as his lungs expand in a familiar gesture that caused me to shout in warning, "Everybody, get back!"

Thankfully, the boys were quick to follow my words and avoided being barbequed by the constant stream of fire. The scorching fire was palpable to the skin, even as we duck behind our respective pillars. Yet, we avoid the worst of the blow thanks to Sev's quick thinking by conjuring a shielding spell.

When the heat doubled down, I risked peeking and watched the dragon as it scanned for the body it had roasted but find none. It blew out a ring of smoke with an ominous purr from its throat. There was a shift of presence on my side, and I jolted, wand out to find Lily and Sev had put themselves beside me. "What are you doing?"

"Where's Heckler?" Sev ignored my question, much too concern in hiding out of sight from the fire-breathing monster. I searched around but the gangly professor was nowhere to be found, including the sword he had on hand.

I cursed, "That sack of potatoes left us!"

"We need to go get him, the sword is the key–" Really? Another key? Sev seemed to catch his own words because he groaned deeply then, "What I meant was the sword might be the only way to defeat that thing. You saw what it could do, the spells we know are barely effective against that dragon."

"Then I've got to go after him."

"Don't you mean, we?" Lily interjected, frowning.

"No," I sternly told them, before either of them could protest I continued, "I'm going to bait the dragon to follow me, while I do that I want you to keep those marauders safe while I do that."

"Percy, are you mad?! How are you going to manage that?"

In lieu of answering, I burst out from behind the pillar and into the open, burning hallway. The dragon didn't waste time before trying to turn me into mush. I tried my luck in dodging the hell out rather than just trying to poke the dragon under its feet and making it madder. Each step was followed by a loud jiggle of coins clashed against another.

"Ivan!"

A small light jumped out of my watch, and a bronze fairy appeared, "My Boss, My man, what do you need from yours tru– di immortales there's a dragon here!"

"Yeah, I can see that."

"What are you doing with a dragon? It wasn't long ago you had a basilisk chasing you!" The underlying 'what's wrong with your life?' wasn't misheard.

"Again, thank you for pointing out the obvious."

"I'm not getting into that thing's snot just so you know, one death wish is enough for me."

"Ivan," I tried and failed in keeping the temper off my voice, "Shut up and make sure you keep its eyes on me or you."

"This is not what I was programmed for. I'm a sophisticated being who exists to aid in pranks and information. This is the exact opposite of what I'm programmed for." Ivan grumbled but its mosquito-like movement was swift in getting the job done quickly and unseen. Poking the dragon pearly eye (No, really, it was made of pearl) in annoyance, its head swiveling left and right to eat the little rascal. Ivan flew back to my watch as I rushed ahead with a dragon our tail with a bit too much eagerness if you ask me. For once, I was lucky that the dragon hadn't decided to torch me yet, but it's possible the dragon just wants the satisfaction to swallow me raw rather than medium-rare.

It took a lot more effort with a pair of shorter legs, but it wasn't long before I spotted the nutty Professor, running full speed, dragging the sword with him. I paused midway turn around and taunted the dragon.

"Is that all you got you no brain gold-leathered bag?"

So… not my best insult, and I wasn't sure whether it'll listen or understand, but from the way it was getting ready to shoot fire, I say that answers my question.

"Hey, Heckler!" He turned, shock painted all over his face, either from meeting me so soon or from the dragon about to torch us, "You forgot something!" I ducked as a ball of fire stream shot over my back and aimed straight at the psycho professor. To my dismay, he raised the silver weapon and somehow managed to cleave it in half. Dang, that sword is not a joke I guess it's called 'Legendary' for a reason.

Be as it may, Heckler isn't a swordsman. Him waving a fancy sword isn't going to help him much. So I jumped from my place and swung Riptide at him. Heckler's face imitated the holes of a bowling ball before meeting me, sword to sword. Silver against bronze clashed with a high pitch sparks. The rest of the fight went on with me giving everything my 6 years experience worth of fighting in the fight but Heckler was no slouch, his knowledge of the sword's ability gave him the edge needed to push me back.

Oh, and the dragon. Can't forget about the dragon.

Overall, the fight was a three-way mess. While Heckler was on the defensive from my onslaught of attacks; Heckler would try set the sword on fire, only to cancel it when he had to block one of the dragon's claws trying to swipe him down (apparently strength enhancement is one of the boons from the sword otherwise how would a 12-year-old managed to have strength to stab through a basilisk? Wait–how would I even know that?), he looks like he was having trouble hanging on so I thought knocking his breath out with a kick to his butt would help him loosen up.

He fell on his front but managed to roll away from getting clawed. I swung my sword aimed at his hand, hoping to make him drop it. But then he managed to light up the sword to rival Apollo's chariot, making me blind from the huff of the dragon's breath enough to blow me away and hit the nearest wall. I was quick to get back on my feet and found the dragon was ready to blow both of us to kingdom come, but Gryffindor's Sword managed to glow rainbow-like glimmer and stabbed its foot, managing to burn away its pinky foot into nothing, leaving a heated red wound to its gold form. The dragon misfired its fire, and only managed to blow Heckler away toward me, which I took that chance to make a grab for the sword, but Heckler's grip didn't loosen one bit. I tried wrestling it off but he took advantage of his weight and pushed me down, we rolled to the side trying to push the other away while pulling the silver weapon to our side. He managed to one-up me and was about to swing the sword down on my head, but then there was a rumbling sound and the heat spiked.

Both of us realized we were about to get directly barbequed, so without a word of agreement. We rolled ourselves below the dragon, avoiding the shot of fire at us. We untangle from each other and began to clash once more, this time right under the belly of the beast.

At some point, I was thrusting Riptide forward when it was countered by a blast of explosion Heckler made, and when I managed to draw close enough that he wouldn't risk blowing himself along. Compared to the dragon, it barely tickled. I shrugged it off and went back to continue hitting him from every side, giving no chance for him to rest.

The dragon joined the fray again when it realized we were having 'fun' below him, and stretching out its long neck that would make even giraffes jealous with wide snapping teeth and made Jaws look like a kids movie in comparison.

The rest was a bit of a blur, almost like an out-of-body experience as my body worked overtime. All I remember were me trying to get the sword and dodging from becoming dragon-food. Gryffindor had to make it huge, had he? As if he was overcompensating something, honestly.

I can't keep my attacks though since the dragon would often interrupt us by either trying to barbeque or squash us a hundred times over. Our saving grace was that dragon was too big to have much room to maneuver around and kept bashing itself on the walls, ceilings, and pillars (which we had to avoid the falling debris as if flaming halls and dragon tantrum wasn't bad enough.)

As this exchanged continued back and forth. The halls gradually turned into a sauna. I was dripping in sweat, the kind of wetness that doesn't help me in combat, and losing breath as the air thinned around me. I could tell, Heckler was suffering worse than me; his movement slugged further and his panting was audible as the gangly Professor couldn't keep the strength of Gryffindor's sword.

It's time to show him ultimate power isn't all what it cracks out to be.

Seeing an opening, I hit the base of the sword with my own, twisted it with my weight into a downward thrust, and it slid easily out of Heckler's hand, and forcing him to drop the sword. Usually, I would use this chance for him to surrender as I pointed my blade at his undefended chest.

I was done giving chances.

I can feel my face scowling as I gritted my teeth, my sword swung hard and true as I aimed it. Devoid of both of his weapons, Heckler could only watch, horrified realization as he was about to be cleaved. The celestial bronze blade swept across his torso, expecting to draw blood but instead went through him without the slightest pause like slicing a ghost.

Heckler looked up from looking down at his intact body. Round eyes turned crescent in mock as he suddenly remembered his invulnerability, "Ha! It's useless. Your sword can't touch me!" The man continued his victorious cackling that could make a witch fly for its money, showing that crooked teeth of his as if daring me to fix that set of teeth of his. Which I happily took care of by giving him a hard punch and Heckler was down for the count.

I examined his prone body laid harmlessly on the floor before thinking, Whoa, if I knew it was that easy, I would have punched his face sooner.

I had no time to breathe relief when I needed to shove the dead weight aside from getting us to turn into pancakes. My brain tried frivolously to come up with a plan, but past experience doesn't give much in terms of fighting off dragons. I mean… I know how to run from one, bullfighting one without an army on my back is a bit much even for me. At least the Giants were stupid enough to get tricked.

I picked up Gryffindor's sword but was thwarted by the sheer force of its roar that managed to knock my feet off. The sword clattered, twirling around and fast on the floor, away from me. I failed to do much the moment the Gold Dragon had its eyes trained on me, jaw opened with red sparks of fire lighting within its maw.

Looking at the fiery light, growing, growing until it filled its whole maw and leaving no time or space for me to avoid it. I don't remember much all the blessings the gods gave me, but I was betting for being fire-proof at this point.

Imagine my surprise when the dragon stopped short in blasting me to ashes and whirled around suddenly. I followed its gaze and was met with the unbelievable sight of a group of children trying to confront a freaking dragon.

I must have been a bad influence on them because James and Sirius I can understand, but Lily and Severus don't have the same death wish just so they can be cool.

There were so many things I'd like to point out that I was a second too late to notice the dragon had changed its course for his fire. I got up to stop it, but what can I do? Riptide could barely lick the thing and Gryffindor's sword is too far for me to reach and stopped it. I can't win this out with a sword.

A sudden idea struck me.

Maybe not with a sword.

But I'm not just a swordsman anymore.

I'm a wizard.

I think it's time I fight like one.

I tucked Riptide back into pen form and pulled out my wand at the Gold Dragon. "Immobulus," I cried a spell from the top of my head. The dragon stopped its movement, but it didn't last for long but was enough for my friends to run for cover as a slew of fire breathed out from the dragon. I took that chance to run and grabbed the magic sword again.

I think Ares said something about me able to use any weapon without a problem.

Well, there's just one problem.

I don't know shit about using a magic sword. The only magic Riptide can do is go back to my pocket like a lost puppy knowing its way home.

The dragon whirled its head back at me, and it says something about my self-preservation that my first instinct is to smile and waved. The narrowed pearl eyes showed it had not been amused.

It turned its body, and I had the slightest hope it was starting to get bored of me and go back to its eternal sleep. After all, who doesn't want to sleep all day their lives so they wouldn't need to face their problems? Unfortunately, that hope was dashed when I find the tail whipping right at my face, much to my dismay.

Yet, what I expected was a hard metal slap to my face was instead a hard knock in my gut as I pushed to my back and the tail swished dangerously pass over me. I arched my neck back, and Severus looked back with a hand outstretched to me. "Thanks for the save," I said, grabbing his hand and let him pulled me on my feet.

"Not as if I was going to let you die," he countered with his usual sarcastic tone.

"Couldn't you have done the spell a bit more gently?" I rubbed the sore on my stomach.

"Oh, then I'll be sure next time I let my spell tickle just before meeting a painful demise," the unspoken 'you utter moron' was clear between the words he practically spat out.

I decided to ignore that, "Where are the others?"

"Lupin, Mouse Boy, and Lily decided to go back and get some help, and honestly, I can't see this through without a bit extra help."

Huh, they must be good that even I couldn't sense them sneaking past me, but then I realize something was off on what he said, "Lily? Really?! That girl would rather go down fighting a dragon than leaving us behind."

"I might have said something about only trusting her to get us the help we need. At least, she's out of the danger zone this way."

"Yeah, good point. What about James and Sirius?"

As if to answer my question, those two came out of their hiding place, pointed their wands and together shouted, "Reducio!" The tips of their wand glowed and their spells combine into one great light shooting at the beast. The dragon roared as it shrunk further and further down from the effect of the spell.

Severus clicked his tongue at the sight, "I suppose those buffoons know how to use their brains once in a blue moon when you need it."

"...Severus, did I hear you right and you just complimented them?"

There was a long stretched pause between the two of us, "Speak this to anyone and no one will find your body."

However, the spell barely does so much when just as quick as it shrunk, the beast remedied his condition with a lungful of air it breathed in, and the couple duck behind a pillar, preparing for another round of heatwave. Instead of blowing out its usual flame, it arched its big head upward and shoot out a burst of gold coins and I can't help but imagine how helpful it would be to have a dragon fountain giving out free gold every now and then. But the pile of gold only seemed to return his lost weight and it wasn't long before it returned to its normal size.

I heard Severus clicked my tongue, "Damn, it has tolerance for magic and as if programmed to counter any spell we have."

"What do we do then?"

"Better question is what can we do?"

It was a loaded question, one I honestly can't find the answer to. But I thought back to the many times I was met with that same question in my head, and there had only been one answer in mind, "Stay calm and fight on."

Okay, so it's not exactly those words, but you can say it's the British version of it.

The dragon was about to stomp James and Sirius, and I brandished my wand and with a quick flick, managed to summon them to our sides and making it missed. The gold dragon blew out a harsh heated breath, and I steeled my nerves for another round of rodeo, but finger cross it won't lead to steering a wild dragon in the end.

But just like any other fight, something unexpected happened. Although it's not atypical, having lived almost a decade as a demigod, you learn to roll, somersault, and belly-flopped your way through whatever life decides to throw. Yet for the dragon to suddenly stood rigid in place, like statues, and then turning around, ignoring us as it stomped away. The four of us were reasonably struck by its 180 change of attitude that we could only stand gaping at its back.

"Did we… won?" Sirius voiced out, sounding not at all victorious or hopeful.

"If so, then why does my stomach still feel queasy?"

James wasn't alone with his feelings, what's with the unease of the abrupt stop of the dragon's attack. That unease only cranked up further as I watched it continue ambling up toward- "The exit," I whispered in horror, "The exit! It's heading for Hogwarts!"

There was barely a pause between us before we began running off, the irony doesn't escape me that we were the ones chasing down the dragon this time. But the stakes were higher now that we're risking a lot of kids if it got loose. The sweep of the dragon's tail was hard enough to let us get close without making us a deranged version of group skipping.

Then, as if things can't get any more horrific, I spotted the shadow of a bright red-headed girl that couldn't be anyone but my best friend, standing right on the course of a rushing dragon.

"No!"

"Evans, get out of the way!"

Instead of moving away, Lily hadn't moved an inch even as her wand raised in challenge. The others' cries were ignored as she stood with trembling knees until the dragon suddenly sunk deep down a quicksand formed beneath its feet. The more it tried to pull itself up, the harsher the pull of the sandy ground. As if preparing the final trick up her sleeve, Lily shouted "Incarcerous," and a long strand of rope shot out and tied up the dragon's mouth, sealing its breath. Once that's done, Lily locked eyes with us and gave a nervous grin, not knowing whether to reassure us or herself.

"That's our girl!" I couldn't help but bark out an exuberant laugh while the other three guys were too stunned at the display of a 12-year-old girl single-handedly handle a dragon.

"Since when does Evans know a fifth-year spell?"

Sev puffed his chest smugly, "Since I taught her."

"Wow, and she can understand you? She must be a real genius."

Before they could dissolve into their petty dog fights, the dragon managed to growl hard enough that the air shook, and there was a very ominous sound of rope stretching and breaking. The unused wings at its back began to unfurl, ready to flap to escape the death trap it got stuck from below.

"It's going to fly up!"

"Not if I can help it, Incarcerous!"

Another lengthy rope shot out and tied half of the pair of wings, I followed Sev's example and tied the other half, even Sirius joining in and tied the two hind legs together, and there was a shot of silver-light hitting, and the dragon began to convulse and shake like it had a seizure, and we were on guard until I realized that the rough, uneven rumbling was it… Laughing?

It took a second or two before realizing the out-of-place tickling spell that was charmed. We gave James one eyebrow raised and a simultaneous tilt of the head, making him blush. "What? So I'm not an overachiever like you guys, can you blame me?" he said, defensively.

There was nothing I could say to that when the dragon still wouldn't go down. The quicksand was too slow to swallow it whole, and the rope already breaking from the sheer force of its might.

"Oh for the love of— does anything actually work on that beast?!"

Sev pursed his lips, his brows scrunched like an old man as he brainstormed for a way out, "As I thought, the sword may be the only thing to beat it."

"Er… some offense Snivellus, but what can a single sword do against that." James waved at the menacing giant creature which said enough, "Even that stupid professor couldn't go up against it and he's the only one who knows how to use it."

"You have a better idea instead of mouth of useless complaints, Potter?"

"Oh my gods, this is so not the time for you guys snapping at each other, we have a killer dragon here!"

As if summoned by my voice, the dragon took that moment to take revenge from being buried in sand by burying us in gold. Its tail swung above us before raining down gold coins, pelting us from the hard drops of the magnitude amount of it. I'm pretty sure my face will look like a na'vi by tomorrow. Any other day, I'd be happy having raining money, but this is certainly not one of them.

I noticed in horror as the dragon finally took the first step out of the sand, and Lily still hadn't moved away. My face should have conveyed faster than my words ever could, which was for her to run, run, run!

There was nothing she could say to me other than giving me her own determined look, one that showed me that no force on her earth would move her that gingered friend of mine from turning her back on us.

The Gold Dragon drew closer and closer while the boys were still digging themselves out. Lily faced the beast, "You will not take a single step on Hogwarts!" Her arm outstretched to the sides like a barrier that would hope to hold it back, despite looking so futile.

The dragon eyed her like she was a little bug for it to squish, but decided chowing her down was a better option. There were shouts of her name being called, to run, to get away, but Severus was the only one who turned to me and demanded to "Do something!"

Lily stood firm, and a dawning realization hit me like a stray brick knocking Jason out when I knew there was no chance for me to reach her in time.

I can't save her.

So I threw the sword to her.

In my defense, it might have been mostly impulse because of my bad habit of throwing her wooden sword during our sword lesson, but the moment I watched as the sword left my hand and twirled its way… to… a pillar– oshitoshitoshitImissedshitshitshit! Of all times for my stinking aim to crop up!

Severus remedied that quickly once his wand arm freed, and with a flick, he recited, "Lily movoto Gryffindor's Sword!"

The sword swerved itself no sword could do on its own, and placed rightly at her hand. There was still the problem of an 18-foot tall dragon coming at her, but the most unbelievable scene happened right after.

Lily didn't flinch as she swung the sword with a mighty shout of her own. Her stance was confident and firm from the three months drilling I put her in. Silver blade that suddenly shown unnaturally in her hand met with gold bared teeth. Lily was just a mortal though, so she shouldn't even be able to push it back.

But she did.

With one stroke of her swing, the dragon burst into a cloud of glittering golden dust, its form diminishing like a fountain, breaking apart into nothing. There was a moment of silence as we struggle to comprehend what we've witnessed. The Gold Beast that we've struggled to death suddenly turns to glitter and dust from just the swipe of Lily's sword.

Hence, James had said the one appropriate thing that we all had in mind:

"What the bloody hell just happened?!"

AN: *slumps to the ground and let God take me now* that...was...exhausting!

It's weird how I manage to write out the overall chapter in a week, but it was still too short so I added the details, only that managed to stump me, and now the chapter is, quite frankly, longer than I expected. Damn, you details!

I mean… it took me only two days for me to write out a very detailed narrative of Percy fighting with the wielder of Gryffindor's sword and Gold Dragon. But took me two weeks to decide how a 12-year-old would insult a dragon. Heck, I almost spend a whole day deciding how the dragon would hold back my Boys. I could as easily just have the dragon swipe its giant tail and knocked most of them unconscious. That would be easy, right? But I've done that a lot already, and it's boring, so instead I say "fuck it" and shower them with gold until they're buried deep in it. Because why the hell not?

I'm going to be honest with you guys, when I initially wrote this I planned to have Percy chase Heckler in anger, followed by Severus while the rest tried to deal (read: survive) with the dragon. However, when I got to that scene, I was suddenly possessed by the spirit of Percy yelling, "Do I look like someone who leaves a bunch of 12-year-old untrained kids with a freaking dragon? I rather bait the dragon to fight me while chasing behind Heckler."

Me: "Percy, that is a dumb and dangerous plan! Oh my God, that is something you absolutely would do."

And that isn't the end of it! I swear I already had planned on how the plot and action are going to be since I don't know how Percy is going to steal the sword and fought off the dragon at the same time! But I don't know how it's possible but Percy can't even follow my script right but still get the job done.

This is more or less what happens in my head:

1.

Me: Okay, so it's highly likely Heckler would abandon his wand to play with his shiny new toy since he's obsessive like that. We need to get him to let it go so the plan is–

Percy: *Go have a sword fight him while still having a gold dragon looming over them*

Me: PERCY, IT'S NOT YOUR CUE YET!

2.

Percy: "I'm done giving chances"

Me: Dark Percy what are you doing?! Back! Shoo! Go back! If you're here, someone will die and that'll ruin the whole story!

3.

Percy: *Sword passed through Heckler*

Me: See… this is why plans are made. Now how are you supposed to defeat him you dumb fu–

Percy: *Punch Heckler in the face*

Me: ...I don't know why I even try.

Yeah, I know it's not normal. I was trying to keep it simple, but to avoid OOC I manage to create a more and more ridiculous situation. Which I can't change because I love it this way. The hard part is finding out of your own situation that you make in the story but Percy seemed to be doing just fine.

Okay, enough rant. Time for the review response. Woohoo!

Folkluz21: Do you know how surprised I was when I got your enthusiastic comment after I posted? Keep up the comments, I especially love long comments. I'm happy that you're happy. I thought about giving you a PM that badass!Percy would come up in this chapter, but I thought the chapter itself is a good response as ever, but finishing the chapter ended way longer than I scheduled. Dark Percy is currently only peeking out, but I have a surprise in store in the next chapter. Muahahahaha.

raymond49090rc: Voldermore's real name was Tom Riddle, which in hindsight, isn't a very Dark Lordy name for people to rever and fear.

Bunearybunny: Thank you :)

Patolemus: Percy Jackson will and have always been a badass, no matter how babyish or dorky he is. Yes, the sword doesn't work on the mortal wizard but Percy shares your sentiment in sicking Riptide on him. Hope punching him in the face is a good consolation. No sassy Percy this time, but I hope you like sassy Severus. And if you were scared with crucio, you won't like what I had in mind next chapter. Muahahaha.

FireandIce4664: Thank you, hope you like this chapter too.

Zargham: Don't worry, I'm just going off to rewrite Rune Master. Not abandon it.

coki13566: Good point, I honestly forgot that part but I do have a quick remedy. (Let's be real, this is a fantasy story, anything can be reasoned) and because earning the sword resulted in a different outcome as it's shown in this chapter and explained in the next. Jeff may have used it, but he was certainly not the true owner of it.

Right, that's all. Please Review. Thanks for reading, and hope you had enjoyed.