This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
Justin's family hosts another dinner where the parents share information. Sowsbreath begins working with Lovett on the pensieve memories. The children visit the dragons for English lessons and then after Christmas, Ironstream arranges a surprize for Harry and Neville.
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Chapter 32 Parent Association*(+++++)*
SCENE: Parents Begin TalkingDan and Elaine Granger were suspicious about 'dragons' at Gringotts, especially when their daughter returned to them that evening smelling of sulphur. Their discussion on the way home covered many topics about her friends, the goblins, and wizards but the Grangers kept returning to the danger of the dragons.
"The dragons don't breathe fire all time," Hermione replied as if that explained everything.
When Harry and Neville came to go to the movies with Hermione and Sally, the two boys were accompanied by the 'healer' and the 'werewolf', Felicity and Remus, who assured the parents that the children were safe around the dragons at the bank. Once again, Felicity expressed her opinion that the children were safer around the dragons than around the headmaster of their school.
Now three days later, the Grangers travelled to a larger gathering at the London home of Justin Finch-Fletchley. Others invited tonight included the Patil, McMillian, Abbot, Bone, Corner, and Perks families.
In the opulent muggle home, the magical parents appeared just as lost as the muggle parents had at Gringotts but it was soon apparent that Gwendolyn Finch-Fletchley was a thoughtful hostess as she greeted everyone personally, paired mothers together and directed all the fathers toward the bar. Cyrus drafted Lovett, Hewitt, Pennington and Lupin to mix with the muggle and magical fathers, and foster conversations without anyone insulting another person.
Then Cyrus directed conversations toward working together to protect the children as Lovett mentioned efforts to help all the students with muggle studies; McMillian and Abbot were interested in the maths and English classes for their children. Perks talked about engine repair with Corner – the wizard had three antique cars a half-blood grandfather bought in the 1930s.
The mothers quickly covered fashion; Gwendolyn wore something new from Paris tonight and all the ladies were interested in the cut, material and style.
"It looks so comfortable!" Mrs Abbot said as her traditional robes weighed her down.
"And the colours are perfect for your complexion," Mrs Granger complimented their hostess.
Mrs Patil was particularly interested in undergarments – her girls shared their stories about Hermione's 'silk small clothes'. The ladies planned a shopping excursion after the mad rush for Christmas to purchase the soft garments for their daughters and themselves.
Then the mothers turned toward the subject of protecting their children at Hogwarts and began sharing ideas.
The butler – the magicals had been astonished to see a person as a servant but kept their opinions to themselves – appeared and announced, "Ms Felicity Grossman, Mr Harry Potter, Mr Neville Longbottom, and Mr Douglas Marshall."
Cyrus and Gwendolyn approached the new arrivals to greet them as Justin hurried over.
Neville said, "I hope it's not a problem, but my uncle from America arrived this morning, and he's interested in meeting my friends."
"Your uncle is certainly welcome, Mr Longbottom," Gwendolyn replied as she smiled at the boy. After the dinner in Gringotts, Justin spent the next morning talking about his friends with both of his parents, and Gwendolyn finally agreed to be polite to the owl, all other magical creatures, and people.
"Miss Hedwig appears to be absent tonight, Mr Potter. Is she well?" asked Cyrus.
Harry grinned and explained, "She decided to remain with the dragons and give them a quiz on spells that wizards use to subdue dragons at the preserves."
Remus asked, "Why would she do that?"
"The babies are in Gringotts to protect the vaults from thieves. If the dragons recognize the spell before it is cast, they can take…" he looked at Neville and asked, "What was the word that Hedwig used?"
"Countermeasures… Whatcha and the others were going to figure out what countermeasures to use."
Harry grinned, "They want some wizards to come down and practice with them. I can't wait to see that battle."
_)**(_
Douglas Marshall, an architect in America, was pleased to meet some normal people in Britain. The last 24 hours had been interesting and stressful. His wife and children remained at home and he didn't want to be separated from them for long during the holidays but his sister's only child was suddenly accessible and the goblins had made him Neville's magical guardian.
"So, Marshall, what do you do for a living?" asked Cyrus.
"I'm an architect."
"Muggle or magical?" asked Mr Abbot.
"Both," the newcomer replied. "In America, magical folks live along side mundane folks. We have our own shopping areas and government offices, but many of our homes are next to mundane families."
"Doesn't that create problems for both types of folks?"
"We work very hard to protect the statue of secrecy," Marshall explained. "Generally, the Aurors deal with unruly teenagers sternly and we're tough on anyone who repeats an offense."
"Do you have a prison like Azkaban?"
"No," the American wizard responded immediately.
"And you graduated from Hogwarts I understand, but left Britain just a couple years later. Why did you immigrate across the pond?" asked Cyrus to diffuse the previous question.
"I fell in love with a muggleborn witch. My parents and my sister's husband were very unpleasant about it. So, we left. The Americans hold more with achievement for the individual than the bloodline. My wife and I are very happy, we both have good jobs, and our children are happy."
"And now?" asked Abbot again. "Why are you back?"
"Gringotts sent a representative to meet with us and told us about Neville's situation. I came to visit because my nephew needs me."
"Are you taking Neville back to America?" Lovett asked.
Marshall hesitated for a moment but then said, "I thought about it at first but he's got a good support system now with Gringotts and his friends. He'll come visit us next summer but he can continue with Hogwarts for now."
Abbot asked, "So what happened with the grandmother?"
The wizards paid close attention when Marshall replied, "I viewed the healer's report and the account manager's memories. That woman abused him and allowed others to abuse Neville. The account manager decided that she was a threat to the vaults in Gringotts and removed her as family guardian."
"Removed?" asked Cyrus. "That sound ominous."
Mr McMillian snorted and explained, "If she threatened the vaults, and the goblins judged her, she's imprisoned in their tunnels to dig for the next ten years. Some wizards survive but not all."
"And the magical government can't help her?" asked Mr Perks.
Abbot and Marshall both shook their heads while McMillian explained, "Gringotts is a separate nation; you fall under their laws while you're inside their walls."
"The boy doesn't seem upset about losing his grandmother," observed Mr Abbot.
"There was persistent abuse," Marshall replied. "I would have challenged her to a duel and killed her if the goblins didn't already have her locked away. For ten years she denied me any visits with my sister's son and the ministry refused to help me. I'm thankful the goblins did – even if it was just to protect their profits."
Abbot and McMillian exchanged glances and moved away to whisper about the loss of Augusta Longbottom in the Wizengamot.
"Dumbledore will lose a vote with her gone…"
"Who will take her place?"
"Marshall?"
"No, he'll go back to America. Let's steer him toward someone neutral…"
"Greengrass could hold the seat and vote neutral."
While the men discussed politics and potential candidates to take the Longbottom seat, and the women discussed the safety of their children, the children talked about their classes, plans to visit Gringotts and play with the dragons, and items to bring back to Hogwarts for the new year.
_)**(_
SCENE: Working with MemoriesIn his office as head of the curse-breakers, Sowsbreath sat back in his chair and watched as Mr Lovett processed the news that the pensieve on the desk held thousands of memories from Dumbledore and many other persons from Magical Britain.
"This pensieve gives Gringotts the opportunity to build a comprehensive portrait of the wizard we judge to be a great threat to Magical Britain and the Statue of Secrecy," the goblin explained as the wizard from MI-5 sat still, his own thoughts racing. "We know you have better tools – these 'computers' – to process the information once we complete gathering it…"
"And we can make the notes neater, copied…" Lovett began to say before he stopped.
The wizard took a deep breath and asked, "What do you want for this information?"
Sowsbreath smiled with all of his teeth showing, a goblin's threat display. "We only ask for your help in identifying and collating the information. I don't have enough wizards to spend weeks or months viewing each memory, writing up the details, and storing the memories in an organized fashion."
"It will take a team," Remus Lupin said. "One or two wizards would be overcome with the personality of the headmaster… And they'd overlook important details."
"Yes," Lovett agreed. "We need to rotate a few teams. Set standards of always two people viewing each memory…"
"And there will be secrecy requirements," the goblin added while both wizards nodded. "Any and all memories of the bank's ward, Harry Potter, are to be separated and not viewed."
"That in itself is an important clue," Remus said. "Is there…"
"Nothing to be discussed, speculated, or written about! Without exception!" warned Sowsbreath. "This is a requirement from the boy's guardians."
"I thought the healer is Harry's only guardian," Remus mentioned thinking of the healer. She'd impressed him with her knowledge about Gringotts, and her care of the boy.
"Ragnock, the director of Gringotts, made Heir Potter a ward of the bank. We'd go to war to protect the boy."
Lovett smiled and agreed. "My wizards and I will cooperate fully. Since all work is to occur here at Gringotts, may I provide some manual typewriters to create labels for the memory vials."
"Yes," Sowsbreath agreed. "Healer Grossman mentioned this muggle devices as helpful. We use memory trees but each memory is labelled by hand."
With a wave of his hand, Sowsbreath revealed a previously glamoured storage cabinet. He rose from his seat to cross the office to the table and open the doors, revealing a crystal structure that resembled a bare tree with multiple memory vials hanging from different 'branches'.
"This goblin magic sorts the memories by time," he explained and motioned toward the bottom of the 'tree'. "The oldest memories are here at the bottom while the newer memories are at the top. They are colour coded by people."
The goblin lifted a vial that lay on the table and approached the cabinet, placing the vial on a branch where it turned bright red and moved toward the bottom of the tree.
"That shade of red represents Dumbledore's memories of Grindelwald." Sowsbreath snarled before he added, "There must be the strongest oaths for your wizards before they view these memories."
"Why?" asked Lovett and Sowsbreath frowned before both wizards quickly made unbreakable oaths to protect the secrets.
Sowsbreath took a deep breath and explained slowly, "Gellert Grindelwald is still alive! Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to kill his lover after the wizard laid waste to the whole of Europe both magical and mundane."
Both wizards were caught off guard by the statement – it was as if the BBC announced that Adolph Hitler was alive and living in a Salzburg, Austria.
"The madman is imprisoned in a castle that Dumbledore visits once a year to gloat and reminisce about their adventures as teenagers a hundred years ago."
Lovett and Lupin remained silent for a time.
Eventually, Lupin asked, "Will one tree hold all the memories?"
"Of Dumbledore, yes," the goblin replied. "It will grow to be as large as needed and it will also allow us to duplicate the memories. With magic, a copy of the tree is updated in another branch of the bank each day."
"Where?" Remus asked.
Sowsbreath frowned again and replied, "That's part of our security – none of the wizards working with the memories will know where the 'backup' is located."
Lovett nodded. "Good planning."
"Why aren't any goblins viewing and cataloguing the memories?" asked Remus and Lovett remained silent. It was an interesting question.
"I have viewed many of the memories as I am head of the curse-breakers but the average goblin would be driven into a blood rage by what we've already seen in Dumbledore's memories," Sowsbreath replied.
"The survival of Grindelwald alone would bring war back to the whole of Europe – five goblin banks and their inhabitants died in the conflagrations the war brought to many cities and our population has not recovered."
"I didn't know the war touched goblins," Remus admitted. "The history class at Hogwarts and the books are lacking it appears."
Sowsbreath nodded, "The muggles destroyed Gringotts Coventry, Gringotts Hamburg, Gringotts Berlin, and Gringotts Leningrad with bombing and shelling. Grindelwald and his wizards destroyed Gringotts Vienna themselves just for spite when they realized they were going to lose the war."
Lovett nodded and said, "If Gringotts London needs anything from Her Majesty's government, such as updated maps with locations of secret castles, Ragnock need merely ask…"
_)**(_
SCENE: English LessonsEarly in the morning, Harry brought his friends to the 'nursery' as soon as they arrived. Susan immediately ran forward and she was followed by Sally-Anne, Hermione, Neville, and Justin. Harry remained with Ernie, Padma, and Michael to make introductions with each dragon.
Hermione and Neville talked about maths as Whatcha listened and nodded, while Sally and Susan talked about fashions with Swampy. The math students were talking about algebra and the others were talking applying cosmetics around Swampbreath's eyes to highlight them. Justin spoke of the spells the children had learned with Flat and Death.
Padma gravitated toward the maths conversation, while Ernie and Michael joined Harry and Justin in the discussion about spells. From the doorway, Douglas Marshall stood and watched the crowd of children crawling over the dragons – four dragons underneath London. Felicity came to stand beside the American wizard as Hedwig flew overhead into the cavern.
Motioning toward the dragons, the wizard asked the healer, "The dragons are part of security for Gringotts?"
"Each dragon breathes fire, and we believe they have some magic but they're keeping their spell secrets," Felicity replied. "There've been no intrusions in the months since they hatched."
"The picture of a bunch of kids climbing over them would make a thief thinking about trying his luck," Marshall said.
Death overheard the conversation, took one step forward, and blew a smoke ring that settled on the wizard's form and surrounded him, leaving him blind for a long minute. When the smoke cleared, Marshall found himself next to the heads of three dragons, each one grinning with sharp teeth.
"Death, my uncle hasn't met you before," Neville said. "Please don't hurt him."
"Won't hurt wizard belongs to friend Neville," Flat said in broken English. "Whatcha likes maths and Neville too much."
"Gringotts is very safe with our four dragons," Harry affirmed as everyone celebrated the first sentence in English by the young dragons.
_)**(_
SCENE: Flying with New BroomsOn Boxing Day, Harry and Neville woke up late, dressed and ate breakfast with happy elves, and then walked to Ironstream's office with they found Sharpknife, Felicity and Doug Marshall. The two goblins grinned without showing teeth this morning and the two boys bowed respectfully.
"Young wizards, Gringotts has a request of your time today," Ironstream announced. "Heir Potter and Heir Longbottom, with the consent of your guardians, we have entered an agreement with Cleansweep, a broom manufacturer here in Britain. In return for the opportunity to make photographs of two young heirs riding their brooms, the company will provide a dozen new brooms to the school for your flying lessons the rest of the year."
"Flying? Brooms?" asked the excited boys. "Hedwig'll love it!"
"We're going to Lord Greengrass's home to meet your friends. The story of the flying formations at Hogwarts have reached the press and with the sponsorship of the broom manufacturer, Gringotts will get good press, Hogwarts gets new brooms, and you get to spend the afternoon flying."
"Yes! Yes!" both boys declared as they laughed. Apollo popped into the room with the cloaks and gloves for the boys and Felicity. Ironstream and Sharpknife led the group to the floo where everyone took turns stepping through the flames to a large room at the Greengrass home.
Once out of the house, Ironstream and Sharpknife were joined by Cleanhook, the goblin account manager for the Greengrass family as introductions were made. When introduced to Clarence Nott, the grandfather of Hogwarts firstie Theo Nott who was learning maths with Neville and Hermione, Felicity drew her wand.
"Healer, there is a peace bond on this house," Ironstream announced. "Mr Nott knows to draw his wand today will end his magic in the most painful manner possible but leave him alive as muggle."
Felicity hissed, "You should have warned me! This man's son was among the Deatheaters that murdered my family."
Harry left his friends to stand beside his guardian, his wand sliding into his hand. The wizards noticed as Neville and his uncle moved to stand beside Harry; both Nott and Ogden made certain everyone saw their hands were away from their sides without wands in them.
"Peace!" repeated Ironstream. "Mr Nott is just one representative of Cleansweep. Lord Ogden is the other."
Sharpknife looked at Ogden and asked, "Lord Ogden, why did you bring Nott today?"
"His grandson is friends with Heir Longbottom and with the muggleborn, Miss Granger. The boy begged to be included in the group to fly with the 'Great Speaker' today," Lord Ogden explained. "His grandfather granted the request with the proviso of witnessing the spectacle himself."
Clarence Nott was an elderly wizard and life had beaten him down but he humbly bowed before Felicity and said, "Healer, my son's mistakes are my burden to bear, but I will not pass them along to his son. Theo is much taken with 'maths' and speaks highly of your ward, and his friends including the muggleborn. I am willing to watch and learn."
"Very well," Felicity said as her wand was put away. Harry's green eyes flashing brightly as more children arrived through the floo with their parents.
"Harry! Neville!" greeted their regular crew. The parents, muggle and magical, were once again thrown into an unfamiliar environment as Lord Ogden, Mr Nott and Theodore handed out a dozen brooms to the children.
The photographer from the Daily Planet made many photographs of the children with the brooms, the goblins and the representatives of the broom manufacturer. The host, Lord Andrew Greengrass, toasted the adults with hot drinks under a covered porch with heating charms.
While the children were flying, the parents would continue the process of building a network to communicate news from Hogwarts and bring pressure to bear on the Wizengamot to force change in the school.
"I believe we have enough photographs," Ironstream said after fifteen minutes and a hundred photos. "The children came to fly."
The parents continued talking while Felicity caught the attention of the children and announced, "Now, you may fly for twenty minutes but then you have to land for new warming charms and to allow Ogden and Nott to check each of the brooms. No arguments."
"Yes, Felicity. Yes Healer. Yes, Ms Grossman," the children agreed.
Running toward the open field behind the house, Harry and the others lifted off, one after the other, to begin slow sweeps around the edge of the field. From the house, Daphne and Astoria walked out with their personal brooms. Their father gave them the same instructions for twenty minutes flying, and then landing for new heating charms before the two girls rose into the air and joined the other children flying in every direction at once.
"How do they keep from colliding?" Cyrus asked watching the small crowd of children flying on brooms above the wintertime gardens and field.
Clarence Nott watched his grandson sweep by with the muggleborn girl in close pursuit; Theo laughing with joy as he explained, "The brooms have avoidance charms and the natural magic in a wizard lets them know when anyone flies close."
"Look!" announced Mr Granger as the children began to follow Harry.
_)**(_
SCENE: Flying with DragonsWithout warning, Hedwig appeared in the middle of the air, hooting to Harry; once he located her, the boy-who-lived grinned, flew his broom next to his familiar and hovered.
"Can the brooms just hover like that?" asked Elaine Granger.
"Yes, but not that still… not for someone without years of flying experience," Ogden said.
Suddenly, four shapes appeared in the centre of the field directly below Harry and Hedwig; at the manor house, various adults fainted, drew their wands, or shouted. The four dragons from the depths of Gringotts had popped into the backyard of Lord Greengrass.
Before anyone could act, Rubeus Hagrid popped into the space just off the porch and shouted at his children, "I'm taking away yer math time tonight! I told ye Harry was perfectly safe flying with his friends!"
The half-giant turned toward Ironstream and said, "It's those Potter elves sir. Miss Hedwig gave them the idea to bring the babies here to see Harry fly."
"The elves? Harry's elves?" asked Felicity before she hurried into the centre of the field followed by Hagrid, the parents, broom company representatives, and goblins.
"Well, it might have been all the elves at Gringotts… They all like Harry and the babies ye know," Hagrid explained with a shrug.
Sharpknife shook his head and turned on Ironstream, shouting, "You were so certain this would be perfect! Now, Ragnock will chop off our heads!"
"No," Ogden interrupted them. "When the children land, we make more photos of the children with the dragons and the brooms… The new 'Dragon Wing' broom… We'll sell a thousand brooms before spring returns; even more overseas…"
The photographer grinned and added, "We'll make posters of the flight and of the kids with the dragons. Everyone will buy them."
"With Gringotts' name on each poster along with Cleansweep Brooms," Ironstream announced.
As Ironstream schemed to turn the appearance of the dragons into a marketing coup, Cleanhook growled and said, "Now, Ragnock will chop off your heads because you didn't invite him to attend."
The children landed around the dragons and though Theo, Daphne and Astoria held back, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff firsties ran up to the four dragons, hugging their necks and telling them about flying with the owls and birds.
Miss Hedwig landed on Flat's back and began hooting and waving her wings about, giving everyone directions. Sent back at the house, the parents, Hagrid and goblins watched the children spread out and take positions in front of each dragon.
Realizing what was about to happen, Felicity prayed, "Oh, Harry, be careful."
Slowly, Harry Potter and Hedwig rose from the ground, followed by their friends from Hogwarts. From the surrounding woods, birds flew to join the formation. Then magical post owls began popping into the air and joining the flight of brooms in gentle turns, first rising and then falling back toward the earth. As the owls and other birds joined the children, the green dragon rose from the ground, followed by the red, silver and golden dragons.
"How… They'll be thrown about in the air! Stop!" shouted parents who were ignored. Harry, Hedwig, the children, and birds lead the four dragons around the field, their speed in the air was slow at first.
"What are they doing?" asked Mr Perks watching his daughter fly with her friends, a hundred owls and other birds, and four dragons.
"Harry, Hedwig and their friends are teaching the babies to fly," announced Hagrid proudly. "Just like any big brother should do!"
The flight of brooms, wings and dragons grew faster and began to climb, bank away, and finally to roll through the cold winter afternoon. The magical people could feel the wave of magic first but as it grew stronger, even the muggles felt the joy shared by the flyers as they followed Harry Potter through the air.
"It's magic!" declared Sharpknife. "They're conjuring wards or something…"
The magicals looked at Lord Greengrass, the wizard had tears streaming down his face. Andrew explained, "Our wards are soaking up the magic. It's beautiful!"
"Look at them!" Elaine Granger said, stepping into her husband's embrace as the flight passed overhead, leaving sparklers to fall from the air around them.
_)**(_
When twenty minutes passed, Felicity sent Hagrid out into the field to wave the flyers down to the ground. Without hesitation, dragons fell out of formation to land on the field and wrap their necks around their 'father'.
"Fang'll be proud of ye," Hagrid told his dragon children. "Ye're beautiful and ye' magic is strong."
"Great Speaker makes us strong," Whatcha explained.
When the children landed with grins stretching from ear to ear, they ran to their parents or guardians to tell about flying with dragons. The photographer and goblins remained out of the way for a time before beginning to cast warming charms on everyone – muggle and magical – and then requesting time for a new set of photographs with the dragons in the pictures.
Ironstream, Sharpknife, Harry, Neville, Hagrid and the four dragons posed for a photo as Cleanhook repeated his claim, "The director will chop you into little bits for not inviting him here today…"
More photos were made for each family with the dragons and with the brooms prominently displayed. Finally, Lord Greengrass called for his elves to bring refreshments and the children drank hot chocolate while their parents drank something a little stronger.
"Who would have thought Sally would get to fly with dragons," Perks said and noticed Ernie's magical father nod in agreement.
"I never thought I'd see the day Ernie would fly with dragons, let alone speak with them."
As the children prepared to fly once again, Hedwig made a request. Harry listened for a moment and then nodded, "Of course! Apollo! Potter elves to me!"
The little elves popped into the field and Harry quickly asked his classmates, "Guys, can one of my elves ride with you on your broom?"
"Sure," Susan said as the other children nodded. Then each Potter elf popped to sit behind a child. Finally, Hedwig hooted one more time and every elf in Gringotts appeared in place on the back of a dragon. Each child had a single elf on their broom while each of the dragons had ten or more elves.
Now Sowsbreath agreed with Sharpknife, "Yes, Ragnock will take your heads…"
"Shut up both of you," Ironstream growled. "Cleanhook, I'll send you a bill for a thousand galleons for improving the wards at Greengrass manor and make a full million galleons more selling warding services this summer. Sowsbreath, think of the heart attacks you can cause in the ministry when these pictures are published – Fudge, the Unspeakables, the Wizengamot – how many will drop dead from shock?"
Then Ironstream silently watched the wizards present; Ogden and Nott were dark wizards, while McMillian, Corner and Greengrass were staunchly neutral in all matters of dark versus light magic. The five wizards were dealing with the power of the boy-who-lived rather well and might be allies as Gringotts attempted to force some modernization on the wizards. He had a carrot – four fire breathing carrots and a 'Great Speaker' in fact – to dangle before them.
_)**(_
In the air, Harry 'felt' the others behind him and he let his magic flow into the air as it mixed with magic from his friends, the elves, the owls and the dragons. The flock began to blend together and Justin led them for a few minutes, then Death, then Susan, and finally Hedwig through contortions, rolls, and sweeps. In each minute, Harry's grin remained and his eyes glowed as his magic spread across the sky with his friends flying through the air of the cold December afternoon.
_)**(_
After an additional twenty-minutes in the air with children, elves and dragons, Hedwig directed the flight back to the ground. The children told the dragons and elves 'good-bye' just before the elves popped the dragons and Hagrid back to the nursery underneath Gringotts. The children walked across the grass with their brooms to return them to Mr Nott and Lord Ogden.
The two wizards felt the magic that had been absorbed by each broom – the devices were practically indestructible now. Hogwarts would have safe brooms for the children for a least twenty years!
"Thank you, Mr Nott," Hermione said with a small curtsy as she returned the broom she'd been riding. "We had a wonderful time flying on the brooms."
The dark wizard smiled and gave the young muggleborn witch a bow, "You're most welcome, Miss…"
"Granger, Grandfather," Theo said. "This is my friend, Hermione Granger."
"Yes, Miss Granger," the grandfather respectfully repeated as he bowed to the young muggleborn.
Ironstream continued to ignore Sharpknife and Cleanhook as Lord Greengrass led everyone back into the house where they could use the floo to return to Gringotts.
Daphne, Astoria and Theo thanked the other firsties for allowing them to fly with them and for the introduction to the dragons. Harry and his friends hoped this meant they had more friends at Hogwarts.
_)**(_
In the next chapter the Daily Prophet coverage of the dragons flying with Harry Potter and other children shakes up Magical Britain. Dumbledore attempts to move against the bank but gets into trouble in the Wizengamot.
Harry and Hedwig return to Hogwarts with their friends and everyone exchanges letters with the dragons.