JadedKatrina: Glad you like the chapter. I'm very different, so different, I put Joey in the mix. It was almost a last mintue decsion, so that's kind of what happened with his enterance. And you have so many questions. Do not worry, I have answers to them all, but I can't tell you now.

seers-of-a-lost-paradise: I promise, everything will be explained in the end. I hate stories that don't do that, so I don't write them. But you are right about one thing, (at least) I'm gonna keep you guessing until the very end.

Ch. 6

Dragon Flight

If there was one thing Magic never understood, it was how humans got away with so much. If they lived in the wilderness, they would be killed for such acts as disrespecting an elder. He couldn't understand why the young humans that spouted off to their superiors weren't punished as he would've been, in the wild and in Eygpt. Magic wondered this when he went down to watch Joey's first lesson with the third yearers.

"So, does anyone know what this is?" Joey asked as a medium, grey dragon stood patiently behind him.

"A dragon," a snotty boy called.

"Yes, but does anyone know what kind?" Joey pressed.

Everyone fell silent. Even Renta didn't know what it was, and she thought she knew everything about magical creatures. Magic studied the dragon.

It was a sleek grey dragon who was barely big enough to carry someone. Its white wings glistened in the light that came through the tree and its tail swung around a little as it watched the nervous students shift. Its yellow eyes shifted from student to student, almost as if it were mocking their cowardice. He shifted his weight from one orange foot to the other, causing the leather rope around his neck to sway while its clawed arms stayed tucked close to its body.

"It's a Gray Wing, is it not Joey?" Magic called from the back of the class.

"Yeah, that's it," Joey nodded. "More specifically, a Grantadracmord."

"Dragons aren't allowed on school grounds!" a Slytherin boy cried out.

This was followed by a chorus of agreements as Magic walked up to the side of the crowd, watching with curious eyes. Grey Wing's yellow eyes followed Magic with curiousity.

"I have a dragon license and that allows me to handle them," Joey sighed, showing a card he kept in his wallet. "The Headmaster said that as long as I had a Dragon Handler's license, I could have dragons on school grounds. This year will be all about dragons because Hagrid doesn't have a license."

Silence fell upon the class. Joey returned his license to his wallet and the looked back at the class. He knew that they didn't want to learn of dragons, but they could do it the easy way, or the hard way. This was the easy way.

"Now, if you will allow me to continue, does anyone know anything about a Grantadracmord?" Joey asked as he stood infront of the class. "No one? Nothing?" he asked, mocking a shocked tone, when no one answered his question. "Well, a Grantadracmord is a very common breed of dragon, previlent in remote places. It has a fair tempermant, but is a very swift attacker and, consquently, a swift killer as well. Grantadracmords generally are not seen for they are good at hiding as well as camofloguing, making themselves imensely dangerous hunters, but they do not attack humans unless threatened. Proper respect should be shown to any dragon. Grantadracmords are mild mannered and will allow more slip-ups than other dragons, hence the reason this breed is first, but they do demand respect as well. They are good for riding because they have large muscles. Most of their weight is muscle and not fat, making them very cold intolerante. They are organic dragons. Does anyone know what an organic dragon is?"

Renta knew this, so she raised her hand, much to Joey's surprise.

"Yes, uh, what was your name?" Joey nodded.

"Renta," Renta supplied.

"Ah, Renta, that's a nice name," Joey smiled. "So, what is an organic dragon?"

"An organic dragon uses a breath type that can be explained in scientific terms," Renta answered.

"Very good," Joey nodded. "Now, tell me, a Grantadracmord is a fire-breather. How does it use its fire breath?"

"Its siliva acts as a lighter fluid," Renta explained while Joey and the rest of the class listened. "When it scraps its tongue against the roof of its mouth, it creates a spark, igniting the flame. Some dragons can produce endless amounts of siliva, allowing them to use long beams of fire. Others can only produce enough for one shot, creating fireballs."

"Very good, very good," Joey's grin grew. "So, do you know what a mystical dragon is?"

"Yes," Renta nodded. "A mystical dragon is one whose breath technique cannot be explained by any scientific reason. It defies all explanation."

"Wow, you are quite the genius, eh?" Joey complimented, making Renta reddened a little. "So, who would like to come up and meet him first?"

Everyone stepped back. No one wanted to get near that beast. What their professor had told them scared them. They wanted nothing to do with a beast that could torch them with just one shot. Joey raised his eyebrows and his expression fell with disgust.

"No one?" he challenged. "If there is no one brave enough to volunteer, I will pick."

Renta stepped forward. The crowd gasped in shock and horror. There were murmurs and cries for her not to, but she ignored them. She read enough about dragons to know what to do. Though, as she had found out many times, reading and doing are two different things.

"Good, good," Joey nodded approvingly. "Step forward slowly, Renta, make sure he can see you."

Renta nodded and slowly advanced, the Grey Wing watching her the whole time.

"Okay, now stop," Joey called when she had moved half of the distance between the crowd and the dragon. "Tell him your name. Your full name. For example, mine would be Joey Wheeler of Domino, California, U.S.A. You need to say yours like that."

"I," her voice cracked a little, but the dragon still watched her patiently. "I am Renta Weasley of London, England."

"Good, doing fine," Joey whipsered.

The dragon did nothing for a second, and then extended his front feet, causing Renta to tense, and then set them on the ground in front of him so he was standing on all fours. A smile creeped across Joey's face.

"Go on, you may touch him now," Joey told her.

Renta looked at the professor like he was nuts, but when she saw the certainty in his eyes, she moved forward and placed a timid hand on the dragon's smooth, scalely, nose. The dragon snorted and did no more. The snort was a good sign. With growing confidence, Renta stroked the smooth scales, much to the awe of the rest of the class.

"I believe he'd let you mount," Joey told her.

"What, you mean ride him?" Renta whipped around in shock.

"Yeah," Joey nodded.

"But I can't, I don't know how," Renta stammered.

"I didn't mean alone, dat'd be foolish," Joey shook his head with a light chuckle resounding in his voice. "But if you want, I'll take ya up."

The class burst out in to cries to take them too while Renta looked at the ground. Joey let them cry out, but ignored them. He simply looked at Renta, waiting for an answer. Renta looked back up into Joey's honey brown eyes. Seeing the confidence in his eyes dispersed her fears. She nodded and Joey smiled.

"Awright, then just hop on up dere," Joey helped Renta sit just in front of the shoulder blades.

Joey hoisted himself on the dragon just behind Renta. More protests came from the kids left behind. The hairs on the back of Magic's neck bristled in annoyment. These kids needed to learn their place and that life was not, and would not, always be fair. In fact, in his many years that he has exsisted, Magic learned quite well that life was hardly ever fair. Magic's patient was growing thinner by the second.

"Listen!" he snapped loudly at the whiny class. "Maybe if you had volunteered to be first, you would be going up instead of Renta."

"But that's not fair, we didn't know that he was going to do that," a Griffindor complained.

"Deal with it," Magic returned. "Life's not fair, never has been, never will be. The sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be."

That shut up the class. Joey shot Magic a glance that said thank you, and then looked down at Renta as he put his arms on either side of her and took hold of the reins that hung loosely around the dragon's neck. Lightly kicking the dragon's sides with his heals, Joey tightened his grip on the reins as the dragon lifted off in the fashion a helicopter would, flapping its wings and lifting straight up off the ground. Once they had cleared the trees, the dragon sped off into the blue sky.

Renta couldn't believe the sensation she was feeling as they three of them sped through the crisp fall air. The sweet breeze came up out of nowhere to greet their noses and the wind whipped through her hair, messing it up playfully as though it were some stylist trying to find the right look for her. She loved the feeling of freedom. She had never felt such a thing and would probably never feel the same sensation anywhere else.

The dragon swooped down to pass a claw through the water, playfully splashing cool droplets onto Joey and Renta, who giggled. Joey smiled.

This was no new experience for Joey. He had gone dragon riding many times before, and he enjoyed it everytime. But he enjoyed sharing it with someone else even more. He enjoyed sharing it with someone who would probably never have any other chance. The other dragons that he would present this year would not be well-suited for riding.

Pulling gently on the reins, he turned the dragon and steered it back to the clearing they had left. Renta was sad when they finally landed in front of the class. Joey was happy to see that Magic had been keeping the class under control.

With a chuckle, he told Magic, "You may let them go now."

With a sidelong glance at Joey, Magic released the magic hold he had on the class. Joey let out a good hearted laugh when the students hit the ground with a light thud.

Magic bristled. Something foul was near. But when he looked around, he saw no one.

Shadu: I get tired of saying and I think you get tired of hearing it, but here it is. Review please.

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