Chapter Eight: The Smoking Dragon

The doors flew open with a resounding bang. Every head in the front hall turned to look at the spectral sight of Hestia Hesperus standing in the doorway.

To Irene, it was nothing short of amazing that her sister was capable of commanding such attention without even noticing she had done it. And in this single moment alone, Hestia did indeed attract spellbound stares with her presence.

She came marching down the hall, dripping wet, in her tight-fitting Muggle attire, her eyes burning, face white, and long curls almost black with water. Evan clung tightly to her, face still buried in her neck, sniffling and shivering, every bit as wet as his beloved aunt.

With the storm behind her, visible through the open doors that banged against the wall, and flashes of lightning silhouetting her figure, Hestia Hesperus looked more regal and demanding than ever before. As she strode across the entrance hall towards the front room, though, Hestia had eyes only for one person among the many gathered there.

"Albus, he's here!" she said urgently.

The Headmaster's eyes became sharp at the look of alarm on his former pupil's face. "Whom do you mean, Hestia?"

"John! I met him in the woods and----"

Irene gasped. Albus made a gesture in her direction, though his eyes never left Hestia's. His were gazing at hers with an intensity that mystified Hestia. "What do you mean, you met him in the woods?"

"Evan and I took the shortcut coming home because we saw the storm coming. We were just walking and John stepped out. But…he looked different. He had these scars on his face and he acted rather odd. Evander threw a fit when John tried to hold him---"

Irene clamped a hand to her mouth to stifle the noise that nearly escaped. Her eyes flew back and forth from Albus to Hestia.

John? He's back? But where is he? I want to see him! Is he all right? But why was he in the woods? Why didn't come here? How did he look different? And…what was that she said? He had scars on his face? But…I don't understand…why wouldn't Evan let him hold him? Evan loves his father! What's going on

She furiously wrenched her mind away from its reckless thoughts so as not to miss anything that was being said.

"Impossible…" Dumbledore said as if to himself. He gazed at the wall opposite in concentration. After a full minute's staring at the intricate Armenian Goblin design, he seemed to come up with a solution. Moving to where Hestia stood in the entranceway, he looked down into her eyes and asked her one question.

"May I?"

Hestia stared at him. Then she drew up her head, matching his gaze, and nodded.

Irene, Balfour, Marmie, Biddy, Dingy, and the children all watched in amazement as Professor Dumbledore performed Legilimency on Hestia, with his hands extended towards her head. They stood with their eyes locked, barely blinking. Hestia's hold on Evander tightened as she relived the event. He seemed to have fallen asleep in all the excitement, regardless of what was now happening.

When Albus Dumbledore finally lowered his arms and looked away, he seemed even more puzzled than before. "It is simply not possible…" he said again, more slowly this time, and with much more meaning. He walked away, massaging his temples, wishing fervently that he had his Pensieve at hand.

Hestia and the others watched him tentatively. He looked as if he was concentrating very hard on whatever was happening in his mind. No one dared to disturb him until Hestia finally asked, "And why is that impossible?"

Albus Dumbledore straightened up and looked around at the Rosier children and the Hesperus household, all situated in different parts of the room and all staring at him.

"It is not possible," he answered quietly, "because I have just come from St. Mungo's, where John Rosier has been a patient for over three hours now."

"But what happened?" Irene blurted out. She sat down at one of the long velvet sofas covering the length of the room. "Did something go wrong again? Is he all right now? Is he?"

"There's no need to worry, Irene, everything's just fine now. You can even go see him, if you'd like, but I'd rather it wait until I've had the chance to talk with you," Dumbledore said, walking over to the leather armchair by the window. He must still have been befuddled by what he'd seen in Hestia's mind, for no sooner had he lowered himself into his seat than he jumped up again as Gypsy hissed, kneazle for "I was here first!"

The children giggled. Dumbledore merely smiled, picked the creature up, and sat down again. Gypsy purred contentedly, batting at tendrils of the Headmaster's long, silver beard.

Irene suddenly rounded on her sister. "I told you! I knew it had something to do with John!"

Hestia walked over and laid the sleeping Evander on the couch beside his mother, conjuring a blanket to cover him. Normally she would have argued, but she was too weary at the moment. "Yes, Irene. You were right…I'm sorry. But he's alright, Irene…he's going to be alright…"

Irene gave a sad smile. "I know," she whispered back, hugging her sister.

A fire suddenly burst into being in the hearth, crackling merrily, followed by exclamations from the kids and a guffaw by Balfour as Old William's head popped into the fire. "Just to let you know, Marjoribanks," he said gruffly, scowling, "I've got your ol' dog in with me." He vanished as suddenly as he had popped in, and the flames died out again.

"Why thank you, Sir William! It is quite a relief to know that my dog will be taken care of by you," Balfour said, quite bitterly, into the empty hearth.

Tobias stared at him. "I'm not sure he heard you," he said after a moment.

Balfour turned on him. "Why thank you for that brilliant assessment, Sherlock! I'll keep that in mind next time I try talking to a wall."

Alexandra shared a look with Tobias that clearly meant 'What side of the bed did he wake up on this morning?' Balfour ignored them and just stared moodily out of the darkened window. An uncomfortable silence followed until Morgan broke it by sneezing.

"Gesundheit!" Albus Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"Bless you," Marmie told Morgan.

"Bless you," Toby said to the Headmaster.

Balfour pointedly ignored all four of them.

"Why, Morgan!" Hestia exclaimed. "What in Merlin's name is that stuff?"

She had only just noticed the condition of the youngest girl in the room, not surprising since Morgan was mostly hidden underneath a thick blanket. Most of the Dragonwort goop had slid off her when Balfour had carried her into the Mansion in the rain, but some still remained. Alexandra leaned over to pick off a particularly large glob stuck in one of Morgan's curls.

Hestia stared at Morgan in surprise, whereas everyone else was staring at her in surprise…except for Albus Dumbledore, who seemed to be as puzzled as Hestia as to Morgan's current state. "How in the world did you acquire that…that…slime on your hair?"

Morgan brightened. "Ooh! You'll never guess what happened, Aunt Hestia! Go on! Try and guess! See if you'll get it right!"

Thus, Albus Dumbledore and Hestia Hesperus learned all about the Greenhouse incident, laughing appreciatively when Irene explained in great detail about Virgilia soaring over head to save her daughter.

Apparently, Balfour and Irene were still sore at each other, for when Irene asked him to contribute his part into the story, he just glared at her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Irene's voice rose. She rounded on Hestia. "It was his bloody fault the whole thing happened, mind you. If he'd been keeping a better eye on her, it never would have happ----"

"I told you, I did everything I could!" Lord Balfour shouted. His 'just ignore them' attitude was abandoned, as he rose to his feet with full conviction.

Alexandra, Tobias, and Morgan rolled their eyes. Adults could be such babies sometimes.

Albus turned to Hestia, as Irene and Balfour started to argue again. "Hestia," he said quietly to her, so no one else would hear. "Would you care to tell me where your wand was, in accordance with your body in your memory?"

Hestia blinked at him. She'd forgotten about that, and judging by Albus's stern look, it wasn't a good thing to have forgotten.

Alexandra and Tobias, who were both trying hard to look as though they weren't listening in, lest they were caught, suddenly coughed in surprise.

Alexandra's eyes grew big as Hestia rounded on them.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Hestia exclaimed.

Tobias immediately put on a very convincing doubtful look on his face. "Come now, Aunt Hestia, do you really think we would possibly be that stupid?"

Hestia smirked at him. "Yes!"

Tobias gulped, then smiled winningly. "Well, in that case…no."

Albus Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with merriment as Hestia shifted her focus onto the boy's twin sister, realizing that she wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

"Alexandra…" she said warningly.

Alexandra couldn't help it. "Alright! Alright! I did it! Satisfied?" she cried, cringing at the look on her aunt's face.

"And where---may I ask---did you take---it?" said Hestia dangerously.

Alexandra composed herself, trying to keep the smirk from her own voice. "In the kitchen. After you berated me for stealing wands underneath the owners' noses so obviously."

Albus Dumbledore concealed his snort very well, pretending to have meant to cough all along. Hestia looked appalled.

"I knew it! I knew it! I vow to never trust you again, my dear! And I also vow to never hug you or ever show affection again!" she cried haughtily.

It hurt her ego to have had her wand stolen right out from under her nose, as Alexandra had said. She wasn't going to let her niece get away with it.

"Ahem," Albus said oh-so-quietly beside her. "I believe right now wouldn't be the best time to condemn her…she has just recently been told a startling piece of information that I'm sure you ought to be aware of. Perhaps a talk is in order…?"

Hestia looked at him, confused, then made her decision. "Alexandra," she told the girl sternly. "What do you say about this?"

Alexandra, for once, looked meek as she answered. "That I'm guilty as charged. What's my sentence?"

Hestia studied her for a moment. "Go help Marmie finish making your dinner. You and I can have a talk after. And I will be telling your mother about this! Now hop to it, you little toad!"

She reached out and swatted Alexa's bottom as she walked past.

"And you, Tobias----" Hestia turned to the other twin, who was just about to sneak away, but froze in tracks. "Yes, you! Don't think I was going to let you off so easily! I knew that there was no way Alexa would have swiped my wand with your say in the matter, so spill it!"

Tobias looked affronted. "Oy! Now that's an unjust system! What did I ever do to deserve that, I beg of you?"

Albus chuckled. Hestia glared at him before answering Tobias, "Plenty! Now talk!"

The boy squared his shoulders, as though preparing for the guillotine.

"For you information," he stated primly. "I did not have a say in the matter about Lex stealing your wand. She performed that all by herself, thank you very much, without my help. So all credits, compliments, and punishments go to her."

He smiled cheekily at them before continuing.

"Also, just in case you were wondering, your wand is lying in your room at this very moment. Unharmed, unhurt, unsinged…you get the idea----"

There was a blast in the kitchens that made Irene and Balfour finally stop their bickering. Hestia looked down the hall and saw that smoke was trailing out of the kitchens. Tobias hurried on, now saying the words so fast, it took Hestia a while to digest them.

"----and thanks to Lex, who practically blackmailed me into this one, I now have to inform you that it was I, not Dingy, who set off the fireworks (metaphorically speaking), and I, not Dingy, who should get in trouble. But as it seems I'm needed in the kitchen, we'll leave the punishments for later. Agreed? Agreed!"

And with that, he tore off down the hall, away from his aunt.

Hestia stared after him, confused, as Albus chuckled. "Yes, very well, laugh all you want," she said, smiling herself, "but I don't envy you when they're old enough to go to Hogwarts!"

"Yes…that will be interesting. Hopefully, they will behave better than the Weasley twins."

"Albus…what exactly did you mean by 'startling piece of information'?" Hestia asked.

Albus turned to look at her, his blue eyes grave. "She knows about your parents' death, Hestia."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What…do you mean?"

"I mean that I overheard her talking to a portrait on the wall. She was being told about the fact that you witnessed their deaths. By the time I came in, she was in tears. I think it is time that you really need to talk to her…as I was trying to comfort her, she asked questions to which even I do not know the answers."

Hestia put her head in her hands. "No! Oh, that poor girl…"

"I have already told her that it is relevant for her to keep what she has been told a secret. She understands and promised that she won't tell anyone unless she has your approval."

Hestia looked up at him. "I understand…oh, thank you, Albus!"

Albus Dumbledore took her hand gently in his own. "You are quite welcome, my dear."

Meanwhile, Morgan was holding her own whispered conversation with Dingy underneath a huddle of blankets. Finally she emerged and asked her mother if she could get the slime off now. It was as Irene was performing the charm that Evander woke up. He looked around sleepily for a few moments before climbing onto his Aunt Hestia's lap.

"Hey there, sleepy head!" Hestia said softly, hugging him.

"Aun' Hestia, I had a dream!" Evander announced.

Hestia drew in her breath. "Oh no…are you okay, Vanny? Did anything bad happen? Tell me all about it…"

Albus Dumbledore watched, confused.

"He has nightmares all the time," Hestia told him. "He often wakes up crying."

"But---but I didn't! It wasn' very scary, Aun' Hestia…it…was abou' a dragon…a smokin' dragon…and he looked funny!" Evander giggled, remembering.

He looked around him as Hestia sighed in relief. "Where's mister William, Aun' Hestia? Where's he?"

Hestia drew back, surprised. "Why, I---I don't know, Evan…in his gatehouse, I suppose."

Evander bobbed his head up and down. "Good! Because, guess what?"

He leaned in and whispered in her ear so no one could hear them. Albus Dumbledore fiddled his thumbs and hummed merrily.

"He---he---he was the smokin' dragon!" he whispered, giggling delightfully.

Then he scrambled off her lap and scuttled off, crawling underneath Mory's blanket with her.

Hestia chuckled, then sighed. "Wait till Old William hears that one!"

With the twins in the kitchen 'helping' Marmie, and the younger ones holding their own whispered Parliament beneath the covers, the talk turned to the W.I.B.S.

At Dumbledore's invitation, Balfour begrudgingly joined them. Within no time at all, he and the Professor were holding a rather in-depth talk about the new choice for the society's Head.

To Irene's astonishment, Hestia knew quite a lot about the new wizard asked to join, having worked with him when she herself was Head of Department. And much to Hestia's surprise, Irene talked with and about Lord Balfour as though they had never had the argument in the first place. She kept smiling serenely at him and urging him to talk more about the new changes the W.I.B.S was going through.

All too soon, Alexandra and Tobias had raced into the room to inform everyone that dinner was ready and that they would be eating in the dining room.

The adults followed the twins down the hall, while Evander ran as fast as his little chubby legs could carry him to tell his brother and sister all about Old William, the Smoking Dragon. Albus and Balfour were carrying on about things that Hestia didn't bother to keep up with, so she looked at Alexandra and Tobias, who had started laughing hysterically, gasping out between breaths, "Evan…you are…so…weird! Old William…the Smoking Dragon!" They giggled some more, and Evan jumped up and down excitedly.

It's good to see that he's forgotten about what happened in the woods, already, Hestia thought.

But she couldn't understand for the life of her what the twins were so excited about, now. All she could catch from their conversation was that it had something to do with a "high ceiling" and that it would "be perfect for when they…you know!"

No, Hestia didn't know. But she got the feeling that shortly thereafter, she would. And it was starting to make her worry.

Dinner was an enjoyable affair.

The dining room did indeed have a high ceiling, from which hung a gleaming chandelier. The chairs were comfortable and high-backed, the oak table nearly as long as the room. At the moment, it was covered with silverware, food, and reaching hands. Marmie had levitated the bowls and pans in from the kitchen, and the table was such a pleasant sight that the children couldn't wait to start making the food disappear.

Chatting amiably, they all started serving themselves. The children kept looking at each other and giggling as they passed around a bowl of fruit salad that none of them took. Irene hardly had time to notice this, though, as Alexandra suddenly complained loudly to her mother about Tobias always elbowing her when he ate. Then, just as she was about to berate Tobias for refusing the pickled soup, Evander clamored for her to cut his meat for him.

Family solidarity was very important to the Rosier children.

Albus Dumbledore, seated in the middle of one side of the table, couldn't help but notice the way the little house-elf named Dingy skirted around him, eyes wide and body plastered against the wall in hopes of blending in with their soft red color. He seemed to be absolutely terrified.

Alexandra saw the Professor looking at the small house-elf and leaned in to talk to him, gesturing him to do the same. When Albus obliged, she whispered, "He's scared of you, you know!"

Professor Dumbledore looked taken aback. "Of me? Why might that be?"

Alexandra stifled a giggle at the look on his face. "Well, I don't know. You do look a bit frightening…I-I mean to someone who doesn't know you, I suppose."

Albus Dumbledore didn't like the idea of a small child (house-elf or human) being afraid of him, so he resolved that by the time the night was over, they'd set aside their differences.

He watched, smiling to himself, as Dingy scrambled up onto his own chair, where large textbooks were piled high in order for him to reach his food and see above the table. His mother, Biddy, tucked a napkin around his neck so he wouldn't spill anything on his little clothes.

Once he was past the threat of 'Prossefor Dummydoor', Dingy was rather animated. He was showing his mother the size of the 'roachies' he encountered just the other day. As he spread his arms as far apart as they would go, he toppled right off the stack of books and out of sight. Concerned, Albus peered over to see if he was all right.

Unfortunately, as soon as Dingy shimmied back up the books again, the first thing he saw was Albus Dumbledore's white hair and beard and tall hat. He gave a frightened squeak and toppled out of sight again, this time bringing the books down with him.

Setting aside their differences, Albus decided, would have to wait for later.

Outside, Old William battled the storm to join them for dinner, with Virgilia at his side. Marmie hadn't found it easy to persuade him. She had firecalled him at his gatehouse where he was lounging about with poor Virgilia, but he'd been adamant about refusing her offer to join them for dinner. It wasn't until she'd resorted to threatening him and calling him names that he finally gave in.

Now that he had, however, he wanted everyone to know that he had resisted every step of the way. There were more important things that could be done on a stormy July night in the Hesperus Mansion. Albus Dumbledore or no.

Thus, he tramped in while everyone was eating, looking very wet, muddy, and very grumpy. Virgilia trailed after him, drenched and whining pitifully.

Lord Balfour immediately tended to his pet. "Poor Virgilia," he murmured as he performed a warming charm on her fur, stopping her from shaking all over the room. "Did your bad master forget you while he was taking care of the little girl. He's very sorry. After all, you saved that little girl, and he went and let you be taken care of by the nasty old grumpy man."

Old William humphed.

"Marmie, do we have a piece of meat left over for her?" Balfour asked the cook. "I think she deserves a special treat for saving Mory."

A plate was brought in for Virgilia and she sat in the corner, devouring the meat contentedly. The diners took turns going to pat her, raining praises on her for her good deed. The children surreptitiously brought her handfuls of their own food that they didn't want, such as Tobias' carrots. Virgilia wagged her tail and ate every bite.

Meanwhile, at the table, Hestia was telling everyone all about the new Chaser the Holy-Head Harpies hired. The sisters' cousin, Gwenog Jones, had told Hestia that she was very excited to start training with their new recruit. The last one had received a very nasty curse to her head during a pick-up game and had been told to 'wait it out' for the next few months.

Old William was scowling and growling at his food, stirring it around his plate resentfully. He had sat down at the only place left at the table: the foot. It suited him just fine, because it was the farthest seat from Balfour. The only downside was that with Balfour sitting at the head of the table, every time they looked up, they stared right into each other's eyes.

Albus Dumbledore, who was two seats down from Old William, tried not to hear what the grumpy wizard was saying to himself, but it was rather hard. So, instead, he turned his attention onto the conversation being held on the other end of the table.

"Balfour?"

"Yes, Toby?"

"How come Virgilia doesn't have any magical powers?"

"How come you don't have any magical powers?"

"Shut up, Lex!"

"Tobias! What have I told you about using that word?"

"Actually, Mum, it's two words----"

"Tobias, I'm warning you----!"

"Sorry! I take it back! Both of them! Well, Uncle Balfour?"

Lord Balfour laughed. "You know, I really don't know. I've tried to see what could make her belong in the magical world, but so far, her powers have remained dormant…if she has any."

"Well, I think she's very smart and pretty. She does tons of stuff other dogs don't do. Like Chrissy's pet Chihuahua can twirl in a circle, but he can't stop peeing on her bed---"

"No one asked you, Mory! Eat your vegetables. They're good for you."

"Hypocrite," Alexandra muttered under her breath as Mother rounded on her twin.

"Tobias! Stop being so rude! Now apologize to your sister!"

"Sorry, Mory," Tobias said resentfully.

"Like you mean it!" Irene told him.

Tobias threw himself onto the floor in front of his younger sister.

"Oh, dear, dear sister Morgan! Do you think you could ever find it in your heart to forgive me of my awful sins? Condemn me if you must, but please, I beg of you----!"

Irene put her head in her hands. "Honestly!"

Evander tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Mummy?"

"Yes, Vanny? And how come you're not eating?"

"What does that mean?"

"What does what mean?"

"What Alexa called Toby?"

Irene looked up. "What did Alexandra call Toby?"

"Yeah! What did Alexandra call Toby?" Tobias turned on his twin.

"I called him a hypocrite," she said, off-handedly.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"What? It's true!"

Balfour let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! She's right, he is a hypocrite if ever I saw one!"

"I take that into offence!" Tobias complained.

"Well, then, don't act like one!" Alexandra replied reasonably.

Albus Dumbledore chuckled and, shaking his head, turned to listen to the other end of the table. They weren't doing much better, if only for the fact that Old William kept grunting after everything that was said. Replying sarcastically to other people's comments was a specialty of his.

"----So we went down to the Atrium together and got on the same lift, and someone called her name. Guess who she was!" Hestia was telling Marmie.

"A smarmy bint, most likely," Old William muttered, stabbing at his meat.

"It was Rita! I couldn't believe my eyes! After what she did the last time we met, I should have cursed her for coming to me like that in disguise. The woman's a nutcase! I swear---!"

"Skeeter may be a nutcase, but it's my belief that you top the basket!" Old William whispered savagely, shoveling his pickled soup into his mouth.

"But why would anyone do something like that? It's outrageous!" Marmie complained.

"No…it's actually legal, I looked it up. It said that as long as they don't make any changes to it and say that it's mine, then technically…" Hestia sighed.

"Why? What did Rita Skeeter do, Hestia?" Albus asked pleasantly over Old William, who said, rather rudely, "Och! Legal my arse, you Ministry nitwits!"

Marmie snorted into her pudding. Biddy looked up from her own food to glare at him. Albus was on the verge of blushing behind his beard, but when Hestia---who hadn't heard a word of what her gatekeeper had said---told him what had happened, his expression clouded.

"That isn't right," he said quietly, agreeing with Old William. "That woman gets away with far too much. She was a thorn in our side three years ago after the whole incident with the unicorns. It was all over the papers that the Hogwarts staff was experimenting with the different types of unicorn blood…it will stain Severus' record permanently, I know, and for something he didn't even do…Minerva, Severus, and Rubeus urged me to press charges against her, but, sadly, I refused. How did Ted Tonks take it?"

"He was furious…said it painted me in the worst light imaginable. He even tried to have them take it off, but after all those millions of copies already printed…I figured it wasn't even worth it, you know?"

"Now hold on a minute! Unicorn blood?" Marmie asked Dumbledore, confused.

"Oh, that's right! You were vacationing that year with your sister in Sweden, weren't you? It had all blown over by the time you got back…I had forgotten…" Hestia murmured.

As Albus was telling Marmie the true story, which was all about the misunderstanding between Hogwarts and the Daily Prophet, formed by none other than Rita Skeeter, Alexandra and Tobias were watching everyone apprehensively.

"How come it's not happening yet?" Alexandra whispered to her brother.

"I…dunno…I put in the right amount, switching them between two bowls…but, maybe it's just waiting to be digested correctly. Maybe then it'll start working…" Tobias whispered back, puzzled.

"If it starts working at all, you mean!" Alexandra said.

Tobias glared at her, until he caught sight of Old William, who was doing the same thing to his soup. He burst into laughter again, gasping out, "Smoking Dragon!"

His sister stared at him, confused. What brought that on?

Balfour looked at them both suspiciously, but a rise at the other end of the table distracted all three of them. Old William, who had heard the story about the unicorn blood too many times before (not to mention being interviewed by Skeeter herself on the subject), was quite put up with everyone ignoring him. At the moment, he was complaining rather loudly about Virgilia.

"Back off, ye lousy mutt!" he snapped, snatching his plate away from her. She was too quick for him, though, and retreated happily into her corner with another piece of meat. "Och! Now lookee there, why don't ye! Stealin' my food and trackin' through my hoose! I've a mind ta go doin' the same ta her, ye know…if it tweren't for that fact that her food's remarkably despicable---!"

The twins watched him turn purple as everyone started laughing at him, Evander the hardest of all. A purple Old William did look remarkably like a dragon, really.

"And how'd you know that, Old William?" Balfour roared good-naturally.

Old William just glared at him. Meanwhile Virgilia, who had finished her chunk of meat already, crept up behind him and started licking the spot the meat had occupied. Old William's face contorted in disgust as he shoved her away, cursing under his breath.

The children shrieked with laughter. "Virgilia!"

If steam could come out of a gatekeeper's ears, they would have done so to Old William at this point. He was positively livid, and everyone laughing at him and Virgilia didn't improve things much.

"It's alright, Old William!" Hestia managed to choke out. "Virgilia ought to be kept out of here when we're eating anyway. We can even get you some more meat, as long as you promise me that you're not on a strictly canine diet from now on!"

Marmie sprayed water across the table at this, which evoked more laughter from the children and a chorus of "Eeewww!"

"Look! He's got smoke coming out of his ears!" Alexandra cried in astonishment.

Everyone turned to look. At first they all thought it was their imagination, but as they looked closer, Alexandra's statement proved correct. Old William sat before them, his face red and smoke rising above his head.

"He is the smokin' dragon!" Evander squealed in surprise, which made his brother and sisters shout out with laughter some more.

For he was, indeed.

Author's Note: I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't give it to you any sooner. I hope this answers some of your questions...the ones that I couldn't anyway. The next chapter WILL be called 'Floating Bodies', I promise!I hope I can post it before the end of the week, but it may not be as long as you like. This chapter was fourteen pages inMicrosoft...which is a major contrast to 'A Story and a Dream' (the first chapter) whichwas only seven. The way I'm going this story will be about another five chapters long. I've got all the chapter summaries finished already and know where it's going to end up. I just can't wait to start 'The Tempest'!

Oh, and pat Whydoyouneedtoknow on the computer when you hear from her next. She's the best.

Cheers! Please Read and Review! You know that keeps me going! Love to everyone.

Hestia Hesperus