Author's Note: Helloooo everyone, and thank you for reading my cooleh Harry Potter fanfic! This is the first official chapter to my story. Read on and review:3
DISCLAIMER I don't own any rights to the Harry Potter novels or settings, but the main characters are my originals.
"I THINK YOU MISUNDERSTOOD ME!" A voice bellowed far off in the distance of the twilight. Someone obviously failing to control their temper.
The girl's head quickly looked up from watching her footing through the thicket. She could see the moonlight through dense clusters of giant trees and into the clearing ahead.
"YOU EXPECT TO GET THEM DAMNED CREATURES UNDER CONTROL WITH JUST FIVE WANDS? BLOODY HELL, WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FOR, WEASLEY?" The gruff voice yelled again.
Cassidy quickened her pace to see what all the commotion was about. A rush through the forest was her undoing, as she tripped over a hooked uproot and took a vicious dive into a large tree. She winced as the rough bark scathed her skin and shot pain from her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, sir! By tomorrow I'll be able to get around thirty, but right now this was all the help I could get!" a different voice protested, though not close to as loud as the first.
"You damned well better, Charlie." The first gruff voice hissed loudly, "I thought better from you. Not even a single one of these beasts can be taken down with only five wizards."
Despite the droplets of blood now festering at the surface of her shoulder's skin, Cassidy pushed herself onto her feet. She continued through the trees, a clearing now visible up ahead.
"Of course sir, I know." The voice --whom belonged to a 'Charlie'--, replied solemnly. Loud, earsplitting roars where heard soon after.
Cassidy hid behind the last tree before the clearing. The gruff man stared down the screeching bawl, waiting for it to be silent.
"Well, there's nothing else we can do here tonight." He huffed in conclusion once the racket faded. He turned away, briskly walking towards a cluster of outsized tents in a far-away eastern expanse. Charlie and the other four wizards assumed to following.
As the clearing was deserted, Cassidy's emerald eyes fell onto the colossal enclosure which rested front of her.
Dragons.
Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons stared curiously down at her. Each seemed to be in the age range of teens to fully mature. About thirty feet in height each, each one suddenly stood uncharacteristically silent.
Feline-demonic-like eyes looked down from the twilight sky at the girl. Their different colours of scales gleamed in the moonlight. Each one looked very different from the other.
Farthest away was a smooth scaled green dragon with an array of horns protruding all over it's body, and beside that one was a smaller odd-looking red one with gold fringe around it's face. In front of those two was a gigantic black one, obviously more aggressive and serpent-like than the others. And finally, closest to Cassidy, was a majestic steel-blue one who's narrow head with large pointed horns stared down fixatedly.
Mesmerized, Cassidy looked up at the closest dragon and met his engrossed gaze. Unlike the rest, his black eyes were softer and showed little sign of aggression—just keen interest. The blood which was trickling down her arm now seemed non-existent. As she looked up at the majestic creature, she sensed something very strange… yet very familiar.
His wings, at least 40 feet in length each, hung loosely half open at his sides, a sign of fatigue. His entire body reflected like metal, his narrow, lizard-like face spotless and luminous. His powerful legs were crouched slightly and his broad chest was rapidly breathing. He was obviously exhausted from fighting those five wizards.
The other dragons—now completely wiped from fending off the dragon tamers, began to lose interest in Cassidy and lay down to sleep. The steel-blue dragon, however, was obviously very curious as to what Cassidy was doing there. He decided to take initiative and shuffled closer towards the side of the enclosure, straining at the heavy chains which were tied around his legs and neck by thick leather straps. He lowered his head to be at level with Cassidy, whom stood five feet in height at most.
The dragon's curiosity took Cassidy by surprise, and she giggled slightly at his nose -–now within arms reach-- as it sniffed puffs of air at her and ruffled her robes.
Cassidy reached her slender arm through the wooden planks and, very cautiously, stroked the end of his large snout. She felt such sorrow for the unfairly caged creatures, and wished there was something she could do, when she knew she could not. Despite Cassidy's great academic achievement, she realized no magic in a student's arsenal could possibly break those chains. Plus she knew more than well what chaos the freed dragons could cause. Even more so, the dragons were on the school grounds for a legendary tradition. It was essential that they stayed were their chains bond them.
The dragon flinched slightly, and Cassidy withdrew her arm in an instant. She glared at him wearily.
"Don't you go biting me." she whispered warningly, mostly joking. Almost all Dragons couldn't understand English, and in turn humans who could understand their dragon language (similar but different to Parceltongue) were almost non-existent.
The dragon pulled harder against his chains, leaning so close to the planks that the tip of his narrow nose was within inches. Through the bars, Cassidy saw his solemn black eyes staring straight at her with unwavering intent.
They were filled with sorrow… with misunderstanding…
"faleas toure ayescas."
The dragon spoke in a deep voice, which hissed slightly at vowels and slurs. He continued to stare.
Cassidy blinked rapidly in slight shock for a moment, then her revelation turned to a pleasant grin.
"Why, thank you." she said tenderly, beginning to laugh under her breath.
At first, Cori swore he misunderstood.
Then it finally sunk in. His large black eyes opened so wide in shock, Cori looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. Making an incredulous sneezing sound, he reared his head back and jumped away from the side of the enclosure, flapping his enormous wings in panic as the ground thudded from his landing.
The other dragons, whom had now began to fall asleep, were provoked by his rapid movement and began to roar in protest. Dragons become very agitated when tired.
Cori gazed down at the insignificant girl in disbelief.
'That girl… she understood...?'
He looked at her with such intent that it was as if nothing else mattered-- the cage was gone, the restless dragons around him weren't there, and the chains were not fastened to him. It was just this little witch, looking up at him and giggling.
'Laughing at me. She's laughing at me!'
The girl bent her head down, trying to hide her embarrassed laugh. Her thick wavy hair fell in front of her face. Even in the dull light of dawn, it shone a vivid crimson.
'Why's she laughing? STOP THAT!'
Still giggling, the girl looked back up at him with large green eyes that glimmered like the morning dew upon the grass. She grinned widely --as if to say goodbye-- before turning her back away.
'Where's she going? Where's she going?' Cori's mind alarmed; suddenly leaning so far forward that his leather strap around his neck began to choke him and the ones on his ankles felt as if they would pull the ground right out from under him.
The girl's navy robes now blended in with the shadows of the forest as it enveloped around her. As she faded into the darkness, all that could be seen was her curtain of vivid crimson hair. Cori did nothing but watch as the stars began to fade from sky and the red in the shadows slowly discolored, vanishing to the black of the forbidden forest.
Cori was left confused, lost, and misunderstood.
'I have to find her again… I have to know how she understood…' he insisted to himself.
---------------------
When sunrise came, Charlie Weasley got a good lecture into the case of a missing Swedish Short-Snout.