Chapter 12 – The Dragon
Michael was silent. He did not say anything at all the next day, the last day of May. Liz and Rachel wished to break the silence, but they didn't want to seem rude or insensitive. Professor Weasley was equally, if not more, distressed about Jessica's disappearance. Liz had never imagined the culprit would take someone she knew. She thought about telling McGonagall about the man. It weighed so heavy on her heart that, finally, she decided to do it. Liz waited outside the Great Hall for the headmistress.
"Professor McGonagall?"
Professor McGonagall looked taken aback. "Yes, Elizabeth? Is there something wrong?"
Liz drew a deep breath. She couldn't do it. "I—I was just wondering where Jessica disappeared."
"In her dormitory. Why?"
"Just—just wondering. Thank you."
Right after dinner, Liz rushed to the common room before anyone else. She ascended the stairs to the third-year girls' dormitory. Thrusting back the hangings on Jessica's bed, she stopped, sighed, and lay across the bed. What was she doing? What did she expect to find? Clues?
She pulled the pillow under her head. Something met her hand. Liz picked it up.
Seiks eht ot ekat lleh mih sah nogard ecno. Seil dlot neeb seh mih fo swonk yob eno. Esirprus yb strawgoh ekat lliw nogard eht. Seid htnom htxis eht sa noom lluf eht no.
Liz stared at it. Maybe it was in some kind of code. Or maybe in a different language. If so, Liz would never be able to read it. In any case, she was sure it had something to do with Jessica. She perused it again, trying to find some kind of pattern. Nothing.
She sighed and pocketed it. Maybe she'd figure it out later. Now wasn't the time.
She edged past the third-year girls going tearfully up to their dorm and went down to Rachel and Michael, who were sitting in the quiet that seemed to engulf the room in its noiselessness. Rachel jerked her head up when Liz entered the room, but Michael continued to stare at his lap.
"I found something. It was on Jessica's bed," Liz announced.
In a flash, Michael leapt out of his seat and snatched the note out of her hand. After staring at it for a few minutes, he said in a hollow tone, "This is just a bunch of rubbish."
Rachel took it and nodded. "Maybe someone just wrote down random letters."
Liz took it back and folded it up. "Somehow I don't think so," she murmured.
Exams were upon them.
"Okay, the council of 1542 decided to ban, um, wands?"
Liz gave Rachel an exasperated look over the History of Magic notes she was quizzing her from. "Wands?"
"All right, er, then—turtles, or something?"
"Experimental breeding of magical creatures."
"Oh. That."
"Why?"
"I didn't know what they banned. How am I supposed to know why?"
"Because this exam is in ten minutes."
"Um—because it was, er, bad?"
Liz sighed deeply. "Try again."
"Did somebody do something?"
"Yes. Who were they and what did they do?"
"Did it have anything to do with—turtles?"
"Rachel! It was because Albert Hankins bred a dog with a billywig and the results were devastating. People floated around from the billywig stings for days. They thought it was a normal dog."
"Right. I was about to say that."
"We've got to go," Michael told them.
"Wait! But I'm not done!" Rachel cried frantically.
"The exams aren't going to wait!" Liz said. "Now let's go!"
The exam went all right, Liz thought. There might have been one question she doubted her answer on, but other than that, everything was fine.
"I did horrible," Rachel moaned as they left.
"You should've studied more," Liz said.
"Of course you're going to say that. You probably got top marks," Michael said.
Their last exam was Defense Against the Dark Arts. They walked into the classroom, but Professor Garb was not there. Instead, a dumpy sort of woman stood behind his desk.
"My name is Professor Pryatt. I am substituting for Professor Garb."
"Where is he?" asked Robert Sorenson.
"He's gone. Disappeared. Now, you must take your exam."
"He's gone?" Liz asked in disbelief.
"But he was supposed to be solving this!" Michael said much too loudly.
"Please be silent. You have an exam to take."
Liz thought it went well. Of course, she was the only one. Rachel and many of the others left the classroom amid groaning.
"The exam wasn't the important thing," Liz said. Rachel stopped dead, looking surprised that Liz would think anything more important than an exam. "Didn't you hear Professor Pryatt? Professor Garb is gone."
"No one cares. He's a git."
"I know no one cares, but it's a piece to this mystery. He might have found out something that the kidnapper didn't want him to know.
"What could he have found out? He wasn't trying; everyone knows he wasn't."
"It's got to be by accident, then. I wonder what it was."
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, catching up to them.
"Nothing," Liz said. "Well, exams are finished."
"Yeah, and summer's almost here," Rachel said joyously.
Michael looked down. Then he spoke up. "I don't want to leave if Jessica isn't found yet." It was the first time he had spoken of his sister's disappearance. "Have you figured out what that note meant yet?"
"I thought you said it was rubbish."
"Well, maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. This whole thing is making my mind go backwards!"
Liz blinked. "Backwards?" She blinked again. "Backwards!" She fished the slip of paper out of her pocket. "Maybe it's something backwards!" They crowded around her to read it backwards.
"'On the full moon as the sixth month dies, the Dragon will take Hogwarts by surprise. One boy knows of him, he's been told lies. Once Dragon has him, he'll take to the skies.'"
"So...what does that mean?" Michael asked.
"Well, there's someone called Dragon involved," Rachel said. "And someone knows about him."
"'On the full moon as the sixth month dies,'" Liz read. "That's June."
"When's the full moon?" asked Rachel.
"Tonight," Liz replied.
There was a fearful pause. "What are we going to do?" Michael said.
"What can we do?" Rachel asked.
"Wait," Liz said. "Just wait."
They agreed not to sleep that night. Michael left Rachel and Liz, telling them to come get him if anything was to happen. The two girls trudged up the stairs, worried about what the night might bring.
At midnight, Liz was getting sleepy. Her eyelids were weights, bringing themselves down. She'd just rest her eyes for a minute...it would be all right...
She was standing outside of Hagrid's cabin, looking through a window. Chris was inside, talking to a hooded figure. Suddenly, the figure transformed into a dragon, grabbed Chris around the waist with its foot-long claws, and took off through the window, over Liz's head, and toward the moon.
Liz woke up covered in cold sweat. Her pillow was damp with perspiration. But none of that mattered. She knew what the note meant.
"Rachel!" she hissed, jumping out of bed. Rachel had fallen asleep, too. "Rachel! Get up! I know what it means!"
"What?" Rachel moaned groggily.
"The strange figure! Chris knows about him! He's going to get him tonight!"
Rachel hopped out of bed and pulled on her robes. The two of them rushed down the stairs and then up to Michael's dorm. "Michael!" Liz cried.
"What's happened?" he answered, following them. He already had his robes on. Liz explained to him what the matter was as they rushed out of the portrait hole and out of the castle toward Hagrid's cabin.
"Hagrid! Chris!" Liz screamed, pounding at the door. Hagrid answered, sleep in his eyes.
"What is it? Do you three have any idea what time it is?"
"Hagrid, where's Chris?" Liz demanded.
"He's in his bed, sleepin'. Chris!" Hagrid called. "Chris! Come here!"
There was no answer. Hagrid went to the back to get him and returned, pale. "He's not there."
A piercing scream echoed through the night and a burst of light erupted from the windows. Liz, Rachel, and Michael ran like lightning. Inside, people were panicking.
"Where? What happened? What happened?" Liz yelled to the frantic students. Not one person paid any attention. There was a stampede to escape through the front doors of the castle. "Where is he?" Liz screamed.
"McGonagall's office," said a boy Liz recognized as Francis, Cynthia Moyler's boyfriend. He ran past her with the rest.
"Let's go," Liz said.
"Where?" Rachel asked.
"McGonagall's office. That's where he is."
They charged through the stream of people racing down the stairs. When they reached the headmistress's office, Liz shushed them. "Listen."
"Go. Now!" McGonagall's voice commanded.
"You are not the master. I think it's been switched," replied a cold, drawling voice.
"Release those children this instant," said McGonagall.
"Why should I? You're obviously not going to stop me. On the contrary, I'm going to stop you. Crucio!"
McGonagall shrieked. Michael cringed beside Liz. "We've got to do something," Rachel whispered.
All noise ceased, except for McGonagall panting. "I believe you have visitors, Headmistress." Loud footsteps pounded on the floor, and the door they were leaning on was flung open. They found themselves sprawled out on the floor at a man's, the Dragon's, feet. They looked up.
"You," the man said, staring at Liz. He had a pale, pointed face and blonde hair so striking it was almost white. He had hatred etched in every line of his face. "You...I had word you weren't to be found. I thought you were dead."
Liz blanched. McGonagall tried to stand up, but the Dragon turned on her and said, "Crucio!" again. She writhed under the fierce red light. Liz set her face, concentrated, and yelled, "Disapparatus!" McGonagall was gone.
"How does someone like you know the Disappearing Charm?" the Dragon roared. "Disapparatus!" he yelled, pointing his wand at Michael and holding up a glass orb. Michael was gone. Liz looked closely at the orb and saw that there were people in there. All the students who had disappeared and some he had caught on the way up were trapped. Michael appeared in there.
"Help!" his miniscule voice cried.
"Disapparatus!" the Dragon yelled. Rachel disappeared, too.
"Rachel! Michael! Chris! Can you hear me?" Liz cried. Tiny squeaky voices answered, none too distinctly.
"I need them," the Dragon bellowed, so that everything in the room trembled. "I shall be immortal like my master, the Dark Lord. But I shall be a new Dark Lord, greater and more terrible than he, and all shall fear," (his voice dropped to a deadly hiss) "the Dragon. The great and immortal Dragon."
Liz reacted in his moment of boastful pride with a spell she had only read about. "Accio!" she yelled, catching the orb in her outstretched palm. He looked at her, bewildered. She looked wildly around, finally seeing a small box on McGonagall's desk. She seized it, yelled, "Disapparatus!" and pointed at the Dragon. He was in the box.
For a moment, Liz stood still. She gingerly lifted the lid and peeked inside. There was the Dragon. He was tiny. He was trapped. She had done it. She had caught the culprit!
She took up the orb in her hand, weighing it and considering. Would smashing it break spell? "Well, it's worth a try," she muttered to herself. Liz dropped it. Instantly the room was filled with dazed but free and normal-sized students.
"You did it!" Michael said, running up and hugging Liz. Rachel and Chris joined in. Slowly the students began to stand and mutter amongst themselves. Liz cleared her throat.
"Everybody, please go to the hospital wing," she announced. "Just to be safe." Everyone made his or her way out.
"Do you have the box he's in?" Chris asked.
Liz picked it up. "Come on, McGonagall is in Hagrid's cabin. Let's go show her."
They left the office and then the castle, and began the long trek across the grounds. Liz's palms were sweaty with excitement. So sweaty, in fact, that she dropped the Dragon's prison and the lid popped open. She quickly picked it back up.
"Hagrid!" Chris called, opening the door. "Hagrid, we're back! We caught the one who did it!"
Hagrid came up to them. "What's goin' on? First, Chris is gone, then you three rush off ter the castle of lights, and then McGonagall appears in my cabin."
"It's all better," Liz said. "Where's McGonagall?"
Hagrid led them to where McGonagall lay on the couch. "McGonagall, I've got him," Liz said, opening the box.
McGonagall looked inside, and then back up at Liz. "Elizabeth, this box is empty."
"What? No, it can't be—oh, no!" Liz cried. A shout came from the direction of the window, and the four children and Hagrid ran outside to see what was the matter. The dragon, on a silver broomstick, was flying away.
"Fool, stupid child! Never drop your foe or leave him with a wand!" he yelled down at Liz. "You may have foiled this plan, but I'll be back!"
With a burst of courage Liz never knew she had, she yelled, "And I'll be waiting!" as he flew off toward the moon, out of sight. He was gone.
The courageous energy left Liz and she hung her head. "He got away," she murmured. "I had him and I let him get away."
"You tried as hard as you possibly could, Liz," Michael said, coming up behind her. "It isn't your fault."
"How is it not my fault? I dropped the box!"
"It was an accident," Rachel agreed. "It slipped. In fact, I bet the Dragon used magic to make the box slip out of your hands."
"Yeh did the best yeh could, Liz," Hagrid said. Chris nodded.
"I believe it is time to go back up to the castle and take care of the havoc that has been wreaked," Professor McGonagall said, standing up and wincing.
Liz said, "Are you sure you'll be all right, Professor?"
"Yes," McGonagall said determinedly. "Hagrid, Chris, if you would please join us."
Michael was silent. He did not say anything at all the next day, the last day of May. Liz and Rachel wished to break the silence, but they didn't want to seem rude or insensitive. Professor Weasley was equally, if not more, distressed about Jessica's disappearance. Liz had never imagined the culprit would take someone she knew. She thought about telling McGonagall about the man. It weighed so heavy on her heart that, finally, she decided to do it. Liz waited outside the Great Hall for the headmistress.
"Professor McGonagall?"
Professor McGonagall looked taken aback. "Yes, Elizabeth? Is there something wrong?"
Liz drew a deep breath. She couldn't do it. "I—I was just wondering where Jessica disappeared."
"In her dormitory. Why?"
"Just—just wondering. Thank you."
Right after dinner, Liz rushed to the common room before anyone else. She ascended the stairs to the third-year girls' dormitory. Thrusting back the hangings on Jessica's bed, she stopped, sighed, and lay across the bed. What was she doing? What did she expect to find? Clues?
She pulled the pillow under her head. Something met her hand. Liz picked it up.
Seiks eht ot ekat lleh mih sah nogard ecno. Seil dlot neeb seh mih fo swonk yob eno. Esirprus yb strawgoh ekat lliw nogard eht. Seid htnom htxis eht sa noom lluf eht no.
Liz stared at it. Maybe it was in some kind of code. Or maybe in a different language. If so, Liz would never be able to read it. In any case, she was sure it had something to do with Jessica. She perused it again, trying to find some kind of pattern. Nothing.
She sighed and pocketed it. Maybe she'd figure it out later. Now wasn't the time.
She edged past the third-year girls going tearfully up to their dorm and went down to Rachel and Michael, who were sitting in the quiet that seemed to engulf the room in its noiselessness. Rachel jerked her head up when Liz entered the room, but Michael continued to stare at his lap.
"I found something. It was on Jessica's bed," Liz announced.
In a flash, Michael leapt out of his seat and snatched the note out of her hand. After staring at it for a few minutes, he said in a hollow tone, "This is just a bunch of rubbish."
Rachel took it and nodded. "Maybe someone just wrote down random letters."
Liz took it back and folded it up. "Somehow I don't think so," she murmured.
Exams were upon them.
"Okay, the council of 1542 decided to ban, um, wands?"
Liz gave Rachel an exasperated look over the History of Magic notes she was quizzing her from. "Wands?"
"All right, er, then—turtles, or something?"
"Experimental breeding of magical creatures."
"Oh. That."
"Why?"
"I didn't know what they banned. How am I supposed to know why?"
"Because this exam is in ten minutes."
"Um—because it was, er, bad?"
Liz sighed deeply. "Try again."
"Did somebody do something?"
"Yes. Who were they and what did they do?"
"Did it have anything to do with—turtles?"
"Rachel! It was because Albert Hankins bred a dog with a billywig and the results were devastating. People floated around from the billywig stings for days. They thought it was a normal dog."
"Right. I was about to say that."
"We've got to go," Michael told them.
"Wait! But I'm not done!" Rachel cried frantically.
"The exams aren't going to wait!" Liz said. "Now let's go!"
The exam went all right, Liz thought. There might have been one question she doubted her answer on, but other than that, everything was fine.
"I did horrible," Rachel moaned as they left.
"You should've studied more," Liz said.
"Of course you're going to say that. You probably got top marks," Michael said.
Their last exam was Defense Against the Dark Arts. They walked into the classroom, but Professor Garb was not there. Instead, a dumpy sort of woman stood behind his desk.
"My name is Professor Pryatt. I am substituting for Professor Garb."
"Where is he?" asked Robert Sorenson.
"He's gone. Disappeared. Now, you must take your exam."
"He's gone?" Liz asked in disbelief.
"But he was supposed to be solving this!" Michael said much too loudly.
"Please be silent. You have an exam to take."
Liz thought it went well. Of course, she was the only one. Rachel and many of the others left the classroom amid groaning.
"The exam wasn't the important thing," Liz said. Rachel stopped dead, looking surprised that Liz would think anything more important than an exam. "Didn't you hear Professor Pryatt? Professor Garb is gone."
"No one cares. He's a git."
"I know no one cares, but it's a piece to this mystery. He might have found out something that the kidnapper didn't want him to know.
"What could he have found out? He wasn't trying; everyone knows he wasn't."
"It's got to be by accident, then. I wonder what it was."
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, catching up to them.
"Nothing," Liz said. "Well, exams are finished."
"Yeah, and summer's almost here," Rachel said joyously.
Michael looked down. Then he spoke up. "I don't want to leave if Jessica isn't found yet." It was the first time he had spoken of his sister's disappearance. "Have you figured out what that note meant yet?"
"I thought you said it was rubbish."
"Well, maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. This whole thing is making my mind go backwards!"
Liz blinked. "Backwards?" She blinked again. "Backwards!" She fished the slip of paper out of her pocket. "Maybe it's something backwards!" They crowded around her to read it backwards.
"'On the full moon as the sixth month dies, the Dragon will take Hogwarts by surprise. One boy knows of him, he's been told lies. Once Dragon has him, he'll take to the skies.'"
"So...what does that mean?" Michael asked.
"Well, there's someone called Dragon involved," Rachel said. "And someone knows about him."
"'On the full moon as the sixth month dies,'" Liz read. "That's June."
"When's the full moon?" asked Rachel.
"Tonight," Liz replied.
There was a fearful pause. "What are we going to do?" Michael said.
"What can we do?" Rachel asked.
"Wait," Liz said. "Just wait."
They agreed not to sleep that night. Michael left Rachel and Liz, telling them to come get him if anything was to happen. The two girls trudged up the stairs, worried about what the night might bring.
At midnight, Liz was getting sleepy. Her eyelids were weights, bringing themselves down. She'd just rest her eyes for a minute...it would be all right...
She was standing outside of Hagrid's cabin, looking through a window. Chris was inside, talking to a hooded figure. Suddenly, the figure transformed into a dragon, grabbed Chris around the waist with its foot-long claws, and took off through the window, over Liz's head, and toward the moon.
Liz woke up covered in cold sweat. Her pillow was damp with perspiration. But none of that mattered. She knew what the note meant.
"Rachel!" she hissed, jumping out of bed. Rachel had fallen asleep, too. "Rachel! Get up! I know what it means!"
"What?" Rachel moaned groggily.
"The strange figure! Chris knows about him! He's going to get him tonight!"
Rachel hopped out of bed and pulled on her robes. The two of them rushed down the stairs and then up to Michael's dorm. "Michael!" Liz cried.
"What's happened?" he answered, following them. He already had his robes on. Liz explained to him what the matter was as they rushed out of the portrait hole and out of the castle toward Hagrid's cabin.
"Hagrid! Chris!" Liz screamed, pounding at the door. Hagrid answered, sleep in his eyes.
"What is it? Do you three have any idea what time it is?"
"Hagrid, where's Chris?" Liz demanded.
"He's in his bed, sleepin'. Chris!" Hagrid called. "Chris! Come here!"
There was no answer. Hagrid went to the back to get him and returned, pale. "He's not there."
A piercing scream echoed through the night and a burst of light erupted from the windows. Liz, Rachel, and Michael ran like lightning. Inside, people were panicking.
"Where? What happened? What happened?" Liz yelled to the frantic students. Not one person paid any attention. There was a stampede to escape through the front doors of the castle. "Where is he?" Liz screamed.
"McGonagall's office," said a boy Liz recognized as Francis, Cynthia Moyler's boyfriend. He ran past her with the rest.
"Let's go," Liz said.
"Where?" Rachel asked.
"McGonagall's office. That's where he is."
They charged through the stream of people racing down the stairs. When they reached the headmistress's office, Liz shushed them. "Listen."
"Go. Now!" McGonagall's voice commanded.
"You are not the master. I think it's been switched," replied a cold, drawling voice.
"Release those children this instant," said McGonagall.
"Why should I? You're obviously not going to stop me. On the contrary, I'm going to stop you. Crucio!"
McGonagall shrieked. Michael cringed beside Liz. "We've got to do something," Rachel whispered.
All noise ceased, except for McGonagall panting. "I believe you have visitors, Headmistress." Loud footsteps pounded on the floor, and the door they were leaning on was flung open. They found themselves sprawled out on the floor at a man's, the Dragon's, feet. They looked up.
"You," the man said, staring at Liz. He had a pale, pointed face and blonde hair so striking it was almost white. He had hatred etched in every line of his face. "You...I had word you weren't to be found. I thought you were dead."
Liz blanched. McGonagall tried to stand up, but the Dragon turned on her and said, "Crucio!" again. She writhed under the fierce red light. Liz set her face, concentrated, and yelled, "Disapparatus!" McGonagall was gone.
"How does someone like you know the Disappearing Charm?" the Dragon roared. "Disapparatus!" he yelled, pointing his wand at Michael and holding up a glass orb. Michael was gone. Liz looked closely at the orb and saw that there were people in there. All the students who had disappeared and some he had caught on the way up were trapped. Michael appeared in there.
"Help!" his miniscule voice cried.
"Disapparatus!" the Dragon yelled. Rachel disappeared, too.
"Rachel! Michael! Chris! Can you hear me?" Liz cried. Tiny squeaky voices answered, none too distinctly.
"I need them," the Dragon bellowed, so that everything in the room trembled. "I shall be immortal like my master, the Dark Lord. But I shall be a new Dark Lord, greater and more terrible than he, and all shall fear," (his voice dropped to a deadly hiss) "the Dragon. The great and immortal Dragon."
Liz reacted in his moment of boastful pride with a spell she had only read about. "Accio!" she yelled, catching the orb in her outstretched palm. He looked at her, bewildered. She looked wildly around, finally seeing a small box on McGonagall's desk. She seized it, yelled, "Disapparatus!" and pointed at the Dragon. He was in the box.
For a moment, Liz stood still. She gingerly lifted the lid and peeked inside. There was the Dragon. He was tiny. He was trapped. She had done it. She had caught the culprit!
She took up the orb in her hand, weighing it and considering. Would smashing it break spell? "Well, it's worth a try," she muttered to herself. Liz dropped it. Instantly the room was filled with dazed but free and normal-sized students.
"You did it!" Michael said, running up and hugging Liz. Rachel and Chris joined in. Slowly the students began to stand and mutter amongst themselves. Liz cleared her throat.
"Everybody, please go to the hospital wing," she announced. "Just to be safe." Everyone made his or her way out.
"Do you have the box he's in?" Chris asked.
Liz picked it up. "Come on, McGonagall is in Hagrid's cabin. Let's go show her."
They left the office and then the castle, and began the long trek across the grounds. Liz's palms were sweaty with excitement. So sweaty, in fact, that she dropped the Dragon's prison and the lid popped open. She quickly picked it back up.
"Hagrid!" Chris called, opening the door. "Hagrid, we're back! We caught the one who did it!"
Hagrid came up to them. "What's goin' on? First, Chris is gone, then you three rush off ter the castle of lights, and then McGonagall appears in my cabin."
"It's all better," Liz said. "Where's McGonagall?"
Hagrid led them to where McGonagall lay on the couch. "McGonagall, I've got him," Liz said, opening the box.
McGonagall looked inside, and then back up at Liz. "Elizabeth, this box is empty."
"What? No, it can't be—oh, no!" Liz cried. A shout came from the direction of the window, and the four children and Hagrid ran outside to see what was the matter. The dragon, on a silver broomstick, was flying away.
"Fool, stupid child! Never drop your foe or leave him with a wand!" he yelled down at Liz. "You may have foiled this plan, but I'll be back!"
With a burst of courage Liz never knew she had, she yelled, "And I'll be waiting!" as he flew off toward the moon, out of sight. He was gone.
The courageous energy left Liz and she hung her head. "He got away," she murmured. "I had him and I let him get away."
"You tried as hard as you possibly could, Liz," Michael said, coming up behind her. "It isn't your fault."
"How is it not my fault? I dropped the box!"
"It was an accident," Rachel agreed. "It slipped. In fact, I bet the Dragon used magic to make the box slip out of your hands."
"Yeh did the best yeh could, Liz," Hagrid said. Chris nodded.
"I believe it is time to go back up to the castle and take care of the havoc that has been wreaked," Professor McGonagall said, standing up and wincing.
Liz said, "Are you sure you'll be all right, Professor?"
"Yes," McGonagall said determinedly. "Hagrid, Chris, if you would please join us."