Hey Guys, so the next chapter is here already. And I swear, I wrote it with pure adrenaline.
Kuro: I really think you should see the HP movies once if you want to enjoy this story to its full extent. It's up to you in the end, of course. (P.D. think of it like this; Andrew's Peter couldn't save Gwen, and he's full of guilt for it. So if he saves MJ, he gains some level of redemption from the guilt.)
DGJabberwocky: We're talking of an interdimensional crossover between a magical and a mythical world here. All I will say is don't rule anything out just yet.
Blazehero717: I'm not sure about the OCs, but you can PM me. (Maybe we can arrange a cameo? Maybe.) I'll see what I can do about the FBAWTFT thing.
Thanks for all the reviews, I love hearing from you guys!
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Dragons: Race to the Burrow
Chapter 4: Dragons Blazing
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"For Merlin's sake, come on!" Ron Weasley exclaimed as Fred and George continued to ignore his questions. "You guys were in the meeting, you must know something!"
Hermione and Harry exchanged looks and sighed in unison.
Ever since the meeting at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place had ended, Ron had been constantly pestering the Weasley twins for information on what was going on. Because it was clear, even to them, that something was going on. As soon as the kitchen door had opened, almost all the Order members had filed out in a group and had left without a word, much to the surprise of Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron. Fred, George, Fleur and Mrs Weasley had stayed, along with Hagrid, and the teens had been ushered to the Burrow without any explanation.
They had tried questioning Hagrid, but for once, the man had kept his mouth shut. The twins had refused to give up any information, either, and had been ignoring Ron and Ginny's attempts to get them to talk.
Now, a few hours later, as darkness was slowly creeping upon the Burrow, no one had returned and the teens were confused as ever, anxiously waiting for any sort of news.
"Is it about the dragon attack?" Ginny tried from the armchair she was slumped on. The twins each raised a brow, looked at each other, and continued their silent treatment. Ginny sighed and finally gave up.
"This is no good," said Ron, stuffing a handful of chips in his mouth.
"Ron, you've been eating non-stop for the past two hours!" Hermione said disapprovingly.
"Ugh, you sound like mum," Ron replied, taking another handful. "Besides, I'm stressed! Most of the Order just up and left without any clue to what's up, and now these idiots are refusing to tell us anything. I mean, what in Merlin's name is going on?"
"Why don't you ask mom, then, Ickle Ronniekins?" Fred quipped.
"Or Fleur?" George suggested.
"Are you kidding?" Ginny interrupted. "He can't even form words around Phlegm, let alone full sentences."
"Nothing new there," Hermione commented dryly. Harry was inclined to agree, but after years of keeping Ron and Hermione from ripping each other's throats off, he could sense an argument between the two before he saw one.
But just as Harry opened his mouth to speak, there was a loud crack followed by a crash outside the door and everyone shot out of their seats at once.
"What was that?" asked Ron, padding his clothes for his wand.
Before anyone could move towards the sound, though, Molly had hurried down the stairs, with Fleur close behind. Just as she motioned them to remain where they were and took out her wand, Hagrid, who'd been outside, called, "Molly, it's Mundungus! An' he ain't lookin' too good!"
Molly quickly opened the door and stepped outside, followed by the twins, Fleur, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione. Their eyes widened as soon as they saw him. With the huge shape of Hagrid kneeling beside him, Mundungus was lying facedown on the ground, covered in blood and dirt. He wasn't moving.
"He just Apparated 'ere and passed out," Hagrid tried to explain to Molly, who shook herself out of the shock and pointed her wand at the prone shape lying on the ground. She muttered some spells and levitated Mundungus off of the ground and into the house and everyone followed, mouths hanging open.
Molly set him down on the rug on the floor and began chanting healing spells in quick succession. It didn't seem to be doing much good.
"H-how-" Hermione stuttered as everyone continued to stare.
Molly muttered something under her breath which sounded suspiciously like swearing, and at a last ditch attempt pointed her wand at Mundungus' head and said, "Rennervate."
Miraculously, his eyes cracked open, though he wasn't any better for it. He groaned in pain as Fred and George crouched down beside him.
"What happened?" George asked urgently.
"Did you pick a fight in Knockturn Alley again?" Fred questioned.
"They're- they're coming…" he coughed out with great difficulty. Molly paled.
"Who's coming?" she asked, panic clear in her voice.
"D-death Eaters," he wheezed. "Tortured m-me, they did… said I didn' know nothin', they used the Cruciatus Curse… I-I may 'ave mentioned the meeting at Burrow tonight…"
Just as there was a collective gasp, an ear-splitting roar shook the very foundations of the house. Everyone ran to the window as the terrifying sound was followed by another. Silhouetted in the distance against the faint dusk light, heading directly towards the Burrow, were three huge airborne shapes which could only be…
"Dragons…" Harry breathed.
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As the darkness had enveloped the forest clearing, Minerva had conjured some magical balls of light while they waited for Dumbledore and the others to get back. It had been almost two hours since they had all disappeared into the fabled Passage of the Realms with the Norwegian Ridgeback, and everyone was starting to get anxious. If they lost Dumbledore in such dangerous times… Minerva shuddered at the thought. This whole plan hadn't sat well with her since the beginning, but there had been nothing she could do about it as she had been clearly outvoted. And even she had to admit that they couldn't face the Dark Lord in their current situation.
As the minutes passed by and there was still no sign of Dumbledore, the uneasiness in the group began to increase exponentially.
"Do you think," began Arthur Weasley, but Minerva cut him off.
"No, I do not," she said. "Have faith in Dumbledore. We will wait."
"Not like we have much else that we could do," commented Snape dryly.
Moody's eyes narrowed. Before he could reply, however, they heard a faint rumbling sound coming from the distance.
"What was that?" Hestia asked, looking around. Once more, a deep rumble echoed through the forest.
"It seems to be coming from the east," Kingsley noted, as the sound reached them a third time.
"But east from here there's nothing but the.." Emmilene trailed off as everyone's eyes widened.
"... the Burrow," finished Arthur, his voice shaking.
Just then there was a loud crack in the centre of the clearing and everyone raised their wands, only to lower them when they saw it was Fleur. She was breathless with wide eyes.
"The Burrow!" she said with a voice full of panic. "There are dragons heading straight towards eet!"
Hearing those words, every single one of them was filled with dread and horror.
"Ar-are you-"
"Yes!" Fleur insisted. "At least three of them!"
For a moment, no one said anything.
"What are we standing here for?!" Arthur suddenly shouted. "There are dragons attacking the Burrow!"
"We cannot afford to wait for Dumbledore and the others anymore," Minerva agreed quickly.
"Come on then," Kingsley urged.
"You stay here, tell Dumbledore what's happening if he gets back," Moody barked at Snape who, for once, didn't argue and just nodded. "Okay, then. Let's go."
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There was a series of loud cracks as Moody, Kingsley, Minerva, Emmeline, Elphias, Arthur, Hestia and Fleur all Apparated on the grounds of the Burrow. The first thing anyone registered were the impossibly loud roars in the dark night. As everyone looked up towards the source, they saw that the dragons were almost there, and that there were indeed three of them.
The magical wards placed around the property came to life as the dragons reached the periphery of the Burrow. The closest one reared its head and fired a huge blast of flames. The flames, however, were intercepted by the translucent dome that had just materialized over the grounds, spreading about half a mile in all directions. It glowed brightly around the area that the flames had hit for a moment before returning to its original state.
The first dragon collided with the dome with extreme force and again, it glowed shortly before receding. The other dragons slowed their fight until they were hovering just outside the magical structure and began firing at it. The first one joined them in doing the same. The dome absorbed the blasts but after each one, it became slightly more opaque than before.
There was the sound of running footsteps and the Order members turned around to see that Molly, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George had joined them, all gripping their wands, followed by Hagrid's huge shape. There was wild panic in everyone's eyes.
"Arthur!" Molly panted, clutching his arm.
"What happened- how did-" Arthur struggled to speak amongst all the panic.
"They caught Mundungus, dad," Fred explained quickly.
"Tortured him until he told them about the plans for tonight's meeting here," George added.
"He just came here, bloody and all," Ginny said.
"Where's Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione demanded.
"And where are Bill and Charlie?" Ron suddenly asked, noticing they weren't there.
"They're… not back yet," Kingsley told them.
"Back from where?" Harry asked, but just then, the dome, which had been getting brighter with every hit it took, flickered dangerously.
"It won't hold much longer," Moody growled.
"Dumbledore isn't coming, we're on our own," Elphias said.
"Why can't we just Apparate or Portkey out of here?" Hermione asked.
"The Death-Eaters would have placed one-way-apparition charms around it," Hestia answered, pointing to the previously unnoticed hooded figures flying around the dome on broomsticks, shooting curses at it. The structure was crackling with energy now.
"Merlin's stuffed arsehol-"
"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!"
"Molly! Now is not the time!" Minerva snapped.
"Whatever we're going to do, we're gonna have to do it soon because the wards are almost down," Kingsley pointed out, seeing that the dome had turned almost opaque.
"We have no choice, we have to fight," Emmeline said.
"You four!" Molly turned to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "Get inside the house!"
Just as they were about to argue back, a deafening cracking sound came from the dome before it glowed impossibly bright, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. When the glow receded, they looked up and to their horror, the magical dome was no more.
Now that the dome was gone, there was nothing holding the dragons back. They swooped down and rained fire on the grounds, setting the vegetation ablaze. Soon enough, they were surrounded by walls of flames on all sides. The dragons landed inside the huge ring of fire and began prowling towards the house, snarling dangerously. Even filled with terror, the witches and wizards all raised their wand as they spread out, ready to try and defend themselves from the beasts.
Now that the dragons were so close, they could see that they were covered with rough, dark scales and had bright purple eyes with pupils narrowed to slits. They had long, pointed teeth and multiple horns on their heads. Their wings were huge and bat-like, and they were sporting razor-sharp ridges along their spine with arrow-shaped tails. In the light of the burning flames, they looked positively terrifying.
"Hebridean Blacks…" Hermione breathed, almost trembling.
"Not now, Hermione!" Ron hissed, not faring much better himself. Harry shook his head. After escaping from Voldemort's grasp so many times, it was looking like his time was finally up.
The first dragon was almost upon them now and ,even though they knew it won't do much good, everyone prepared to fire at it. The dragon opened its jaw and reared its head back, about to burn them all to a crisp.
Suddenly, the air was filled with an unearthly piercing, shrieking whistle, which seemed to be coming from somewhere behind them. It sounded as if something very sharp was heading straight for them at an insane speed.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Ron shouted, looking around.
"NIGHT FURY!" Charlie's voice suddenly came from somewhere on the grounds.
"GET DOWN!" Bill yelled.
Just as the piercing sound got impossibly loud and everyone ducked their heads down, there was a bright purple flash and a massive explosion. Several people were thrown off their feet and could barely look up in time to see a dark, bat-like blur passing them at an incredibly high speed. The dragon in front of them roared in agony as it was tossed back by the force of the blast that it had been hit with.
Once the huge beast collapsed, it didn't move again.
The other two dragons roared deafeningly, eyes murderous and nostrils flaring. But before either of them could charge, there was another roar from behind the gaping witches and wizards.
"FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS OF FLAMING MUSCLE COMING THROUGH!"
As everyone looked up at the shout, another dragon passed over their heads.
It was on fire.
And it had someone on it.
The flaming dragon flew straight towards one of the roaring Hebridean Blacks, landing directly in front of it and roaring back in challenge.
"What…" Fred began, gawking.
"...the…" George gaped.
"...devil…" finished Ginny, eyes resembling dinner plates.
As everyone stood frozen in shock, the last Hebridean Black charged, only to fall back when it was hit directly in the face by the club-like tail of a very, very pudgy dragon that had appeared out of nowhere. It, too, had someone on it - someone whose own pudginess rivaled the dragon's.
As the scene unfolded, the Death-Eaters hovering on broomsticks, who'd been watching in shock, jumped into action and swooped down to fire curses and jinxes.
Before they could do much, however, there was a series of swishing sounds and, one by one, the Death-Eaters fell out of the sky as their brooms were shredded to firewood. Looking around in confusion for the source of the attack, the shocked people on the ground saw a beautiful bird-like dragon covered in shiny blue and gold scales, with someone holding on to the saddle on its back as the dragon flew in graceful arcs around the burning grounds. Staring awestruck, they saw the dragon swish its tail and shoot a sharp spike towards the last airborne Death-Eater. The blue and gold spike ripped the broomsticks into splinters as if in slow motion, and the Death-Eater fell to the ground.
Meanwhile on the ground, the red flaming dragon and the brown pudgy one herded the Hebridean blacks towards the unconscious dragon. Soon enough, the downed Death-Eaters got up and started firing hexes and curses at the still-gaping wizards and witches, prompting them to spring into action and return fire.
The Order members and the teens began to cast shield charms and protective enchantments while firing back at the Death-Eaters. During all the commotion, no one had paid much attention as Bill, Charlie and Tonks had joined them. The Death-Eaters weren't fooling around, though, they soon found out as a hex hit Emmeline and instantly shattered the bones of her left forearm. Everyone turned as she screamed in agony, and for some reason the Death-Eaters stopped firing.
Looking back to where the curses had been coming from, they could see that the Death-Eaters were now immersed in a thick green gas. A sparking sound echoed around the grounds, barely a fraction of a second before the gas exploded and the Death-Eaters flew in all directions like rag dolls.
"LOKI!" two voices yelled from behind the smoke and everyone's moths fell open once again as a green two-headed dragon emerged, with two identical shapes on the necks, whooping and high-fiving. The hideous two-headed dragon then moved towards the Hebrideans, and the bird-like dragon landed nearby. Together, the four dragons with riders surrounded the three dark-scaled dragons as the third was just coming to its senses. The huge dragons were still enraged, and kept roaring despite being clearly outnumbered.
And then the mysterious bat-like dragon landed directly in front of the group of wizards and witches, facing away from them. There was a leather-clad figure sitting atop the sleek black dragon, a helmet covering their face.
The black dragon then opened its mouth and let out a long, ungodly roar that sent a chill down everyone's spine and managed to silence every single dragon and human present. After it stopped, there was absolute silence for a moment. The Hebrideans looked at the smaller dragon, seeming intimidated. The bat-like dragon let out a snarl and the Hebridean Blacks suddenly scrambled to take flight. One by one, they all took to the air, beating their wings furiously, heading back towards the direction they had come from.
"Bloody hell…" Ron broke the silence, awestruck.
And it was a testament to her own shock and amazement at the situation that Molly didn't admonish him.
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Mrs Weasley: RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY! How dare you use such language in front of me?!
Ron (aloud): I won't say it again!
Ron (mentally adds): … in front of you…
So they're finally at the Burrow, but the Race has just begun! And that was some entry!
Do review and tell me whose entry you liked the best; Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Astrid, or the Twins? Did the 'Night Fury! Get down!' give anyone goosebumps?
If you have any specific questions or theories, feel free to PM me.
- DragonsAndBroomsticks