Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters are property of J.K.
Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 9: Norbert
The next day, Harry and Hermione went to visit Charlie with the Weasleys as planned. As soon as Harry and Ron got up, they packed their brooms in some blankets so that the muggles wouldn't suspect anything, and went out to the foyer where they saw everyone already waiting.
"It's about time you two showed up," Hermione said. "We almost left you behind."
"I wish I was left behind, then I could go see the castle," Ron muttered a bit too loudly.
"Ron! You promised you wouldn't go there," Hermione said crossly.
"I didn't say anything," he said, with a guilty look.
"Really now, it's written all over your face," she said as Harry stepped in between them.
"Common, both of you. Let's go before we leave you two behind," he said looking at both of them.
"Yes, you're right Harry, I wouldn't want to get left behind, unlike someone here," Hermione said, glaring at Ron.
"Well, I wouldn't want to get stuck with you either," Ron retorted, glaring back at her.
"Hey you 3, get moving, we have a long drive ahead of us," they heard Arthur Weasley say from the entrance to the street.
They immediately stopped their bickering and went outside.
When they got outside, they saw two horse-driven carts waiting. Percy was driving the first one, with Molly Weasley sitting next to him while Ginny, Fred and George were sitting in the back. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be going with Arthur in the second cart.
Once everyone was situated, they started off in the same direction of the castle that Harry and Hermione had spent the night in two days ago.
"Why are we going in the direction of the castle Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.
"Oh, the dragon roosts are on a mountain on the other side of the castle. This is the only road leading there," Arthur explained. "The Count who owns the castle is a member of the International Ministry of Magic. He's there to prevent the muggles from finding the dragon roosts and seeing the dragons. We would have a problem if they did because they'll probably get scared and everyone would think they'd gone mad or we'd have another dragon hunting period."
"Too bad we can't go see the castle," Ron said with a disappointed look on his face.
"Don't start that again," said Hermione, agitated.
"Well, I don't mind going near it, as long as we don't get attacked and get to the dragon roosts in one piece," Harry finally said, sensing another argument coming between his two friends.
"Ron, why don't we play a card game or something to pass the time," Harry suggested quickly to change the subject.
"What did you have in mind? Exploding snap?" he asked.
"How about something quieter. I don't want to scare away the wildlife," he replied.
"Why so caring about the wildlife all of a sudden?" Ron said, confused.
"Ron, obviously you haven't come to appreciate the beauty of nature," Hermione defended.
"Hey, at least I don't have my nose buried in books all day, so I have the time to appreciate nature," Ron said cuttingly.
" (sigh) Here we go again..," Harry said, giving up.
"What do you mean Harry?" Ron said, overhearing Harry's comment.
"Nothing," he replied with an innocent smile. "Just go to sleep or something Ron, I'll wake you up when we get there."
"Fine, have fun nature gazing you two," Ron said before he lay down and stared at the sky.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was late into the evening by the time they reached the dragon roosts and they could see some of the dragons' fires from a distance. The dragon roosts happened to be high up on a mountain located near the castle.
Charlie greeted them enthusiastically when they arrived and showed Harry and Hermione around while Ron sat in the cart looking rather bored. The tour took all of an hour and when they were done with that, Harry and Ron decided to go flying around on their brooms. Hermione stayed on the ground with Ginny, who didn't have a broom to fly around on, and they both watched the boys as they flew around trying to race each other from one side of the mountain to the other. Harry won naturally since his firebolt was faster and could outmaneuver Ron's Cleansweep 10 that Fred and George had bought for him with their money.
After about two hours of flying, Charlie finally took Harry, Ron, and Hermione to see Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback. He led them to a cave where Norbert was staying. The cave tunnels were fairly dark even though there were lit torches lining the walls at intervals, however, the chamber that Norbert was in was brightly lit.
They stood in at the entrance to the chamber and they could see that Norbert had grown since the last time they saw him. He was almost as large as the chamber, despite its high ceiling and large ground area.
"All right, you may approach him, but don't show any fear. Dragons can sense if a person is afraid or has evil intentions. So don't enter unless you're absolutely sure you're not going to panic," Charlie warned before he entered.
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed him, a bit nervous, but they managed to summon up enough courage to go forward.
"Hello Norbert, remember us?" Harry said, all his fears vanishing once he saw that Norbert wasn't about to attack them.
Norbert growled softly and lowered his head in front of Harry who then petted him on the nose. Norbert responded by grunting in appreciation as Harry continued to pet him.
"He remembers me," Harry said, smiling at Ron and Hermione. "Common, don't stand there, he's not going to bite us."
Ron and Hermione approached, trying not to become afraid, and petted Norbert on the nose as Harry did. They also grinned happily as Norbert responded in the same way as he did with Harry.
"Good job. It looks like he trusts you," Charlie said from behind them.
They smiled at him and Hermione moved to pet Norbert again on the nose, however, Norbert's eyes suddenly flashed red and he let out a loud screech that echoed through the cavern. The sound startled everyone and Hermione barely dodged out of the way as Norbert snapped at her.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled as he ran towards her.
"Common you 3, MOVE!" Charlie shouted at them from the entrance.
Ron helped Hermione up and they ran towards the entrance, but then Norbert blew a stream of fire at Harry. Harry managed to roll out of the way, but he didn't do so quickly enough and his pants caught on fire.
"HARRY!" screamed Hermione when she saw him fall and catch on fire.
"Enough! Ron - Hermione, go get some help!" exclaimed Charlie.
"But -," Hermione was about to say.
"GO! I'll try to keep him busy," Charlie yelled as he ran back into the cavern to get Harry while they ran down the tunnel to get some help.
Meanwhile, Harry had managed to put himself out by rolling in the dirt and he noticed that Charlie was running towards him while firing stunning spells at Norbert. He made an attempt to get up, but Norbert's large tail came crashing down nearby causing him to fall to the ground again.
*I hate to use my new abilities when Charlie's watching, but I can't help that now, * Harry thought as he drew out his wand.
Harry rolled over onto his back and saw that Norbert's jaws were wide open and heading towards him. He quickly pointed his wand in front of him and said the spell for creating the force field. A swirling magical barrier appeared in front of him and Norbert's head smashed right into it.
Norbert growled in pain after his head hit the barrier, but quickly recovered. He then swung his tail, which clipped Charlie in the head as he ran towards Harry, knocking him out.
Harry, still lying on the ground under the shield, quickly pointed his wand at the ground and said "Orbis Terrarum," to summon the Earth Guardian. The water guardian would have been better against a fire- breathing dragon, but as there wasn't any water, the Earth Guardian was the next best thing.
The earth where Harry was pointing his wand gathered up and a pair of legs took shape. Eventually the legs led to a torso with arms and finally a head formed, completing the guardian.
*Your commands my master? * he heard the guardian say.
"Keep the dragon busy, but don't kill him," he ordered the earth guardian and the Earth Guardian moved towards Norbert with its arms open. However, Norbert, seeing the new target, swung his tail at it hitting the Earth Guardian fully in the chest causing it to break apart.
*Oh great, that didn't go too well. What I need is a distraction, * thought Harry as he summoned the Earth Guardian again.
The guardian formed once again out of the dirt, but this time Harry pointed his wand at it and used the cloning spell to make several copies of the Earth Guardian. Now with several Guardians, Harry was able to get up off the ground and make his way to Charlie who was lying in the dirt out cold.
In the mean time, the Earth Guardians had taken hold of Norbert's tail and held it in place. Norbert apparently realized that his tail was now paralyzed due to the Earth Guardians because he started blowing fire at them to no avail. Soon Norbert was exhausted from breathing fire at creatures that weren't affected by it and he started snapping at them with his powerful jaws.
Harry afraid that the Guardians would be destroyed again lifted Charlie under the arm and limped towards the cavern entrance as quickly as possible.
By now, two of the cloned guardians were destroyed after being crushed by Norbert and four of the guardians continued to hold his tail in place while three others attacked Norbert forcefully whenever his head came within range of their fists. Eventually Norbert became disoriented enough that the Earth Guardians could let go of his tail and they quickly overpowered him, knocking him out cold.
Norbert's head came crashing down on two guardians, crushing them before hitting the floor as Harry exited the cavern with Charlie.
Hearing the sound of Norbert hitting the ground behind him, Harry turned around to see that he was no longer a threat to anyone and that only half of his guardians remained.
*The task has been completed master, you are safe, * the guardians said at the same time.
"Thank you, please return until I call for you again," Harry replied, exhausted from having cast so many high level spells at on time, not to mention that his burns were not helping with his current state of weariness.
The guardians disappeared and Harry collapsed against the wall of the entrance with Charlie beside him as Ron and Hermione returned with Percy and Arthur.
Hermione screamed and immediately ran up to Harry when she saw him collapse while Percy and Arthur conjured up a stretcher and placed Charlie on it. They then went over to him and looked him over.
"Harry, are you alright?" he heard Hermione ask.
He nodded his head painfully as he was drained of all his energy.
"Harry, what happened? How did you -" said a voice that Harry thought sounded like Arthur's.
"Norbert - Hermione - " Harry said as his vision started to blur and he soon passed out from fatigue.
A/N: All right, here's the chapter for this 24-hour period. Hope you like it since it actually has some action.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 9: Norbert
The next day, Harry and Hermione went to visit Charlie with the Weasleys as planned. As soon as Harry and Ron got up, they packed their brooms in some blankets so that the muggles wouldn't suspect anything, and went out to the foyer where they saw everyone already waiting.
"It's about time you two showed up," Hermione said. "We almost left you behind."
"I wish I was left behind, then I could go see the castle," Ron muttered a bit too loudly.
"Ron! You promised you wouldn't go there," Hermione said crossly.
"I didn't say anything," he said, with a guilty look.
"Really now, it's written all over your face," she said as Harry stepped in between them.
"Common, both of you. Let's go before we leave you two behind," he said looking at both of them.
"Yes, you're right Harry, I wouldn't want to get left behind, unlike someone here," Hermione said, glaring at Ron.
"Well, I wouldn't want to get stuck with you either," Ron retorted, glaring back at her.
"Hey you 3, get moving, we have a long drive ahead of us," they heard Arthur Weasley say from the entrance to the street.
They immediately stopped their bickering and went outside.
When they got outside, they saw two horse-driven carts waiting. Percy was driving the first one, with Molly Weasley sitting next to him while Ginny, Fred and George were sitting in the back. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be going with Arthur in the second cart.
Once everyone was situated, they started off in the same direction of the castle that Harry and Hermione had spent the night in two days ago.
"Why are we going in the direction of the castle Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.
"Oh, the dragon roosts are on a mountain on the other side of the castle. This is the only road leading there," Arthur explained. "The Count who owns the castle is a member of the International Ministry of Magic. He's there to prevent the muggles from finding the dragon roosts and seeing the dragons. We would have a problem if they did because they'll probably get scared and everyone would think they'd gone mad or we'd have another dragon hunting period."
"Too bad we can't go see the castle," Ron said with a disappointed look on his face.
"Don't start that again," said Hermione, agitated.
"Well, I don't mind going near it, as long as we don't get attacked and get to the dragon roosts in one piece," Harry finally said, sensing another argument coming between his two friends.
"Ron, why don't we play a card game or something to pass the time," Harry suggested quickly to change the subject.
"What did you have in mind? Exploding snap?" he asked.
"How about something quieter. I don't want to scare away the wildlife," he replied.
"Why so caring about the wildlife all of a sudden?" Ron said, confused.
"Ron, obviously you haven't come to appreciate the beauty of nature," Hermione defended.
"Hey, at least I don't have my nose buried in books all day, so I have the time to appreciate nature," Ron said cuttingly.
" (sigh) Here we go again..," Harry said, giving up.
"What do you mean Harry?" Ron said, overhearing Harry's comment.
"Nothing," he replied with an innocent smile. "Just go to sleep or something Ron, I'll wake you up when we get there."
"Fine, have fun nature gazing you two," Ron said before he lay down and stared at the sky.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was late into the evening by the time they reached the dragon roosts and they could see some of the dragons' fires from a distance. The dragon roosts happened to be high up on a mountain located near the castle.
Charlie greeted them enthusiastically when they arrived and showed Harry and Hermione around while Ron sat in the cart looking rather bored. The tour took all of an hour and when they were done with that, Harry and Ron decided to go flying around on their brooms. Hermione stayed on the ground with Ginny, who didn't have a broom to fly around on, and they both watched the boys as they flew around trying to race each other from one side of the mountain to the other. Harry won naturally since his firebolt was faster and could outmaneuver Ron's Cleansweep 10 that Fred and George had bought for him with their money.
After about two hours of flying, Charlie finally took Harry, Ron, and Hermione to see Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback. He led them to a cave where Norbert was staying. The cave tunnels were fairly dark even though there were lit torches lining the walls at intervals, however, the chamber that Norbert was in was brightly lit.
They stood in at the entrance to the chamber and they could see that Norbert had grown since the last time they saw him. He was almost as large as the chamber, despite its high ceiling and large ground area.
"All right, you may approach him, but don't show any fear. Dragons can sense if a person is afraid or has evil intentions. So don't enter unless you're absolutely sure you're not going to panic," Charlie warned before he entered.
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed him, a bit nervous, but they managed to summon up enough courage to go forward.
"Hello Norbert, remember us?" Harry said, all his fears vanishing once he saw that Norbert wasn't about to attack them.
Norbert growled softly and lowered his head in front of Harry who then petted him on the nose. Norbert responded by grunting in appreciation as Harry continued to pet him.
"He remembers me," Harry said, smiling at Ron and Hermione. "Common, don't stand there, he's not going to bite us."
Ron and Hermione approached, trying not to become afraid, and petted Norbert on the nose as Harry did. They also grinned happily as Norbert responded in the same way as he did with Harry.
"Good job. It looks like he trusts you," Charlie said from behind them.
They smiled at him and Hermione moved to pet Norbert again on the nose, however, Norbert's eyes suddenly flashed red and he let out a loud screech that echoed through the cavern. The sound startled everyone and Hermione barely dodged out of the way as Norbert snapped at her.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled as he ran towards her.
"Common you 3, MOVE!" Charlie shouted at them from the entrance.
Ron helped Hermione up and they ran towards the entrance, but then Norbert blew a stream of fire at Harry. Harry managed to roll out of the way, but he didn't do so quickly enough and his pants caught on fire.
"HARRY!" screamed Hermione when she saw him fall and catch on fire.
"Enough! Ron - Hermione, go get some help!" exclaimed Charlie.
"But -," Hermione was about to say.
"GO! I'll try to keep him busy," Charlie yelled as he ran back into the cavern to get Harry while they ran down the tunnel to get some help.
Meanwhile, Harry had managed to put himself out by rolling in the dirt and he noticed that Charlie was running towards him while firing stunning spells at Norbert. He made an attempt to get up, but Norbert's large tail came crashing down nearby causing him to fall to the ground again.
*I hate to use my new abilities when Charlie's watching, but I can't help that now, * Harry thought as he drew out his wand.
Harry rolled over onto his back and saw that Norbert's jaws were wide open and heading towards him. He quickly pointed his wand in front of him and said the spell for creating the force field. A swirling magical barrier appeared in front of him and Norbert's head smashed right into it.
Norbert growled in pain after his head hit the barrier, but quickly recovered. He then swung his tail, which clipped Charlie in the head as he ran towards Harry, knocking him out.
Harry, still lying on the ground under the shield, quickly pointed his wand at the ground and said "Orbis Terrarum," to summon the Earth Guardian. The water guardian would have been better against a fire- breathing dragon, but as there wasn't any water, the Earth Guardian was the next best thing.
The earth where Harry was pointing his wand gathered up and a pair of legs took shape. Eventually the legs led to a torso with arms and finally a head formed, completing the guardian.
*Your commands my master? * he heard the guardian say.
"Keep the dragon busy, but don't kill him," he ordered the earth guardian and the Earth Guardian moved towards Norbert with its arms open. However, Norbert, seeing the new target, swung his tail at it hitting the Earth Guardian fully in the chest causing it to break apart.
*Oh great, that didn't go too well. What I need is a distraction, * thought Harry as he summoned the Earth Guardian again.
The guardian formed once again out of the dirt, but this time Harry pointed his wand at it and used the cloning spell to make several copies of the Earth Guardian. Now with several Guardians, Harry was able to get up off the ground and make his way to Charlie who was lying in the dirt out cold.
In the mean time, the Earth Guardians had taken hold of Norbert's tail and held it in place. Norbert apparently realized that his tail was now paralyzed due to the Earth Guardians because he started blowing fire at them to no avail. Soon Norbert was exhausted from breathing fire at creatures that weren't affected by it and he started snapping at them with his powerful jaws.
Harry afraid that the Guardians would be destroyed again lifted Charlie under the arm and limped towards the cavern entrance as quickly as possible.
By now, two of the cloned guardians were destroyed after being crushed by Norbert and four of the guardians continued to hold his tail in place while three others attacked Norbert forcefully whenever his head came within range of their fists. Eventually Norbert became disoriented enough that the Earth Guardians could let go of his tail and they quickly overpowered him, knocking him out cold.
Norbert's head came crashing down on two guardians, crushing them before hitting the floor as Harry exited the cavern with Charlie.
Hearing the sound of Norbert hitting the ground behind him, Harry turned around to see that he was no longer a threat to anyone and that only half of his guardians remained.
*The task has been completed master, you are safe, * the guardians said at the same time.
"Thank you, please return until I call for you again," Harry replied, exhausted from having cast so many high level spells at on time, not to mention that his burns were not helping with his current state of weariness.
The guardians disappeared and Harry collapsed against the wall of the entrance with Charlie beside him as Ron and Hermione returned with Percy and Arthur.
Hermione screamed and immediately ran up to Harry when she saw him collapse while Percy and Arthur conjured up a stretcher and placed Charlie on it. They then went over to him and looked him over.
"Harry, are you alright?" he heard Hermione ask.
He nodded his head painfully as he was drained of all his energy.
"Harry, what happened? How did you -" said a voice that Harry thought sounded like Arthur's.
"Norbert - Hermione - " Harry said as his vision started to blur and he soon passed out from fatigue.
A/N: All right, here's the chapter for this 24-hour period. Hope you like it since it actually has some action.