Chapter 41
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world obviously belongs to JK Rowling and not me. Obviously.
… … … …
Draco led the group along the narrow pathway which he knew led to the chamber with the dragon. He could tell Leila was terrified based on how tightly she was clutching his hand. But despite the pain throbbing from being held too hard, he continued on. For a moment he looked back. Leila was beside him; followed by Hermione, Ron, Harry, and the goblins. They all walked with their backs pressed up against the rocks. Hermione took another step forward and the heel of a boot stepped on a pebble. She began to wobble and nearly lost her balance, but Ron yanked her by the arm and pulled her back, closer to him. Ron's arm was wrapped around Hermione, which caused her to blush furiously.
"Thanks," Hermione said with her face beating red.
"Yeah," Ron said.
Ron and Hermione stood there for a few moments looking at each other as Leila and Draco continued to move forward, but Harry was trapped behind them. He tried to poke his head around them to see how far his sister and Draco had gone.
"I don't mean to interrupt…" Harry began.
Hermione and Ron both jumped a little before Ron removed his hand from Hermione. Hermione's face still continued to beat red, even more so if that was possible; but she didn't speak a word about it. Instead she carefully maneuvered her way to catch up with Draco and Leila. Ron, Harry, and Griphook quickly and carefully followed behind. Draco continued to lead the way until an obstacle came across their path. The path before them had crumbled leaving a wide gap in the path, a path too wide to jump. Draco quickly tried to magic the crumbled pieces back into place, but as soon as he released them from his magic they fell again into the depths of the earth.
"Must be another, defense," Draco said.
"What's going on? Why have we stopped?" Harry called.
Since Harry was in the back of the line and they had just gone around a curve, he had no line of sight to what was going on.
"The path's gone," Draco called back.
"Who in their bloody minds would destroy a path?" Ron disgruntled.
"Not many clients take this path," Griphook sneered.
"Did you try…" Harry began.
"The rocks fall again as soon as you release them from your magic," Draco called.
"Now what?" Ron asked.
"When we get across, the path widens," Leila said.
"But we can't get across now can we, that's our problem," Ron stated.
"Griphook, what do we do?" Hermione asked.
"You're the witches and wizards, you tell me," Griphook sneered.
"Okay, let's just think about this…" Hermione said. "Just don't panic."
While Hermione, Ron, and Harry were trying to come up with a plan, Leila had already come up with one. It was a simple first year spell, which sort of surprised her that Hermione hadn't already mentioned it. But Leila, not normally being one just to take action, pulled out her wand and commanded Draco to stand still. She performed a nonverbal Wingardium Leviosa on Draco and levitated him across the break in their path. She made sure that he was a little ways beyond the edge just in case the path tried to crumble around him. When she finally set him down, Draco stood there for a moment making sure that the path was solid before he turned around and nodded his head. Leila beamed with pride as she turned around to find Harry, Hermione, and Ron still discussing how to get across. They were too busy to notice that she had figured it out, which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Hem. Hem," Leila imitated Professor Delores Umbridge.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione turned to face Leila. Hermione gasped when she noticed that Draco was no longer in front of Leila. Hermione's immediate response was to look down into the deep, dark chasm. She had her wand drawn and a Lumos going, intently looking for Draco.
"Where's Draco?" Hermione questioned.
"Over here, Granger," Draco called.
Hermione shuddered a bit before she stood up straight. Draco stood on the other side and waved to them, to which Ron responded with a slight wave with a confused look on his face. Hermione breathed a slight sigh of relief as lowered her wand, while Harry still couldn't see what was going on.
"How'd he get over there?" Ron asked.
"Swish and flick," Leila grinned.
Hermione's hands flew to her face as she shook her head. She began to mutter to herself as Leila slightly chuckled.
"Of course! How could I have been so stupid so overlook that," Hermione groaned.
"Just because we learned it first year, doesn't mean it's not important," Leila grinned.
With that, Leila began to levitate in midair. They looked over to find Draco's wand pointed as he directed Leila to a safe spot on the other side.
"All right, Hermione, I'll levitate you now," Leila shouted.
Hermione nodded her head and stood still as Leila cast another nonverbal Wingardium Leviosa on her friend. One by one they were levitated to the other side of the break in the path. After a slight scuffle with Griphook demanding that the goblins go before Harry, they were all safely to the other side. Harry walked to his sister and hugged her tightly. Leila hugged him back briefly but then stood there awkwardly.
"What's this for?" Leila asked.
"Nice job, sis," Harry whispered.
"Thanks?" Leila responded unsurely.
Harry then released his sister and looked ahead to the wider path which was surrounded by walls of rock on both sides. It certainly looked safer than the path they had just traveled. At least no one could fall into the depths of the earth.
"How much farther, Griphook?" Harry asked.
"Not far, Harry Potter, not far," Griphook answered.
"All right, let's keep going," Harry suggested.
Draco turned around and nodded at Harry as he continued to lead the way with Leila at his side. Draco kept his wand drawn just in case anymore of the Gringotts defenses appeared before them. Leila looked to Draco who had never appeared braver to her. Funny how the choice of whom you associate yourself with can change a person. And the change wasn't even just with Draco, Harry had even relinquished his given role as leader of the small group temporarily to Draco. At least something good was coming out of this mess; but something began to bother Leila. What else was down here? Surely Griphook knew more than he was letting on.
"Griphook what else could we run into down here?" Leila asked.
"I already told you Leila Potter, we won't know until we run into it," Griphook responded.
"You can't at least start listing off some of the defenses in place?" Leila questioned.
"I'm afraid that list would be rather exhausting," Griphook smirked.
A slight chuckle escaped Griphook's lips. Ron turned back to glance at Griphook before he took a few extra big steps forward to catch up with Leila and Draco.
"Why is that I get the feeling he hopes we don't even make it to the vault," Ron whispered.
"Probably because he doesn't," Draco said.
"What's the point of bringing the bleeder if he won't even warn us what we could run into?" Ron asked.
"Because we actually need him to get into the vault," Draco said.
"We should just come up with a plan to be rid…" Ron began.
Suddenly, Draco, Ron, and Leila stopped suddenly in their tracks. Ron and Draco tightly clenched their eyes, while Leila clenched her eyes and covered her ears with her hands; but it was no use. All Leila could hear was Bellatrix's cackle echoing through air. Leila slightly opened one eye, but quickly shut it as soon as she saw Bellatrix's insane face surrounding her. What was going on? But she couldn't think rationally for long because the cackle continued to grow louder and louder, becoming more distracting to the rational mind. Leila tried to raise her wand but her hands flew back to her ears to try and block out the sound.
"Spiders…spiders…spiders…" Ron muttered.
"Leila, no, come back," Draco sniffled.
Hermione and Harry stood with the goblins back a distance as they watched Ron, Draco, and Leila cowering. Whatever was going on wasn't affecting them.
"Griphook, what's wrong with them?" Harry questioned.
"Boggart chamber," Griphook shrugged.
Griphook pointed to the entrance of the area Ron, Leila, and Draco had entered.
"Why didn't you say something?" Harry hissed.
"Must've slipped my mind," Griphook responded.
Hermione rolled her eyes and aimed her wand at the chamber.
"Riddikulus!" Hermione shouted.
The charm entered the chamber, but in only continued to rebound off the walls. She looked in the chamber confusedly until her charm rebounded so much that it flew back at her. Harry and Hermione had to duck for the charm to miss them, but then they quickly stood back up.
"Your magic is useless. It's all an optical illusion using mirrors," Griphook chuckled.
"Then how are they being affected if the Boggarts are behind mirrors?" Hermione asked.
"Magic of course," Griphook sneered.
Hermione rubbed her temples in frustration as Harry took a few steps closer to look inside the chamber. You couldn't really tell where the mirrors were, wherever they were, it just looked like the normal rock wall. So unless they went in smashing at every bit of the walls, they weren't going to be able to get a clear shot at the Boggarts. But then an idea came to him.
"How many Boggarts are behind those mirrors?" Harry asked.
"Four I believe, why?" Griphook asked.
Harry smirked for a slight second before he turned to Hermione.
"During my first lesson with Lupin third year, he told me that Boggarts have disastrous results when they try to scare more than one person at a time," Harry said. "Like, it gets confused or something."
"So you're saying…" Hermione began.
"If we all go in there at once, they're going to be confused and try to transform to scare more than one person," Harry said.
"And while it's trying to figure out what to transform into…" Hermione continued.
"We'll get out of there," Harry finished.
"Do you really think it will work?" Hermione asked.
"There's only one way to find out," Harry stated.
Harry motioned for Hermione and the goblins to follow behind as they slowly stepped into the chamber. Harry entered first and the fourth Boggart began to swirl into a dementor but all too quickly, it tried to hand him a paper graded Troll. Hermione must be in the chamber now. Funny how after everything they'd been through, the thing that scared her the most was still receiving a poor grade. If Harry had more time, he would've laughed at the sight of a dementor handing out grades, but he kept his gaze on the ground and pushed forward. Soon he ran into Ron and Draco. Momentarily, they were released from the fright from their Boggarts and Harry pushed them forward. Taking the lead from Harry, Hermione also moved forward. She found Leila cowering on the floor. As Leila too was momentarily released, Hermione yanked her friend to her feet. Hermione grasped Leila's hand and practically dragged her out of the chamber. The Boggarts continued to swirl: a giant spider trying to give a Troll grade, a dementor with Bellatrix's face, Leila's dead body with a dementor's hood…But the intensity of the Boggarts weren't as strong because they couldn't shift into one person's entire fear. When they were finally out of the chamber Leila collapsed once more to the floor breathing heavily. Both Draco and Ron sat down for a moment to try and collect their thoughts. Harry moved to where Leila lay on the ground.
"I thought you were scared of water," Harry commented.
"I'm not particularly fond of it, but as you saw it's not my biggest fear anymore," Leila said gasping for air.
"How long has it been Bellatrix?" Harry asked.
"Since that night at Malfoy Manor. I just don't know what'll happen if I actually do see her again," Leila whispered.
"Does Malfoy know?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, makes me feel pathetic that my biggest fear is his aunt and his is me dying. What kind of person does that make me?" Leila said.
"Human," Harry shrugged.
"That's what Hermione said," Leila responded.
"Then I've got to be right if Hermione said it too," Harry chuckled.
"This feels like the Triwizard Tournament all over again," Leila groaned.
"And it's about to get more like it," Draco called.
Leila hadn't even that Draco had stood up and wandered a bit to see what was before them. Harry, Leila, Ron, and Hermione all walked to meet Draco where he stood. They looked past the rock wall and found a giant blood-thirsty dragon tethered by chains to the ground. He was blocking access to several vaults. As far as dragons go, he looked hideous and pale. His wings were spiked, but were folded close to his body. Surely those things were capable of doing some damage. The dragon opened his mouth and what somewhat resembled a sneeze, he breathed fire into another passageway.
"Bloody hell," Ron gasped. "That's a Ukrainian Ironbelly."
"That kind was definitely not in the Triwizard Tournament," Leila whispered.
"I don't think Harry's Invisibility Cloak will help you this time," Ron said.
Leila nodded hesitantly as she knew exactly what Ron was referring to. For the First Task of the Triwizard tournament, she had gotten a glimpse at the golden egg she needed before transfiguring a rock into a replica of it. Then like Harry, she used an Accio charm, only she didn't ask for her broom. She Accio'd Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Then while the dragon was trying to retrieve her replica egg, she had snuck off under the cover of the Cloak and grabbed the egg she was supposed to fetch. Then she got as far away as she could before she removed the Cloak so that they could get her the hell out of there. But Leila was driven out of her reverie when Griphook handed metal objects to Ron and Draco.
"It's partially blind, but that makes him even more savage," Griphook explained.
"Great, that's bloody great," Ron groaned.
"But these Clankers will help us control the beast," Griphook continued.
Griphook began to shake his Clanker as he dragged Bogrod along behind him. Draco followed after the goblins clanking his Clanker as Leila and Hermione walked side by side behind him. Harry and Ron followed after as Ron too began to shake his Clanker. The dragon began to howl as if he was expecting to be hurt as he cowered in the corner farthest from the noise.
"It's been trained to expect pain when it hears the noise," Griphook said as he continued to walk.
"That's barbaric," Hermione stated.
"And he thinks witches and wizards are the brutal ones," Leila muttered shaking her head.
But they continued to follow Griphook. Ron and Draco continued to shake their Clankers as they walked, but Hermione stopped momentarily to look with compassion on the beast. Not one of them missed the scars of vicious slashes across the dragon. Leila's heart lurched but she grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her along as Harry and Ron followed behind. Griphook led them down another passageway.
"Make him press his hand to the door," Griphook said turning to Draco.
Draco stopped shaking the Clanker before he turned his wand to Bogrod. The older goblin obeyed Draco's command as he pressed his palm against the door. The vault's door melted away to reveal
An opening crammed from floor to ceiling with gold, silver, bronze, and anything that could be made from them along with other strange objects: potions, skulls, jewels, and skins. Despite the vast variety of objects, nothing really surprised them considering it was Bellatrix's vault.
"Blimey," Ron said staring at all the treasures.
"This place gives me the creeps," Leila shivered.
"The place always bored me," Draco chuckled.
Draco squinted his eyes so that they could better adjust to the lack of light before he took out his wand to light it. He looked up a few shelves until he noticed the object his mother had taken away. With a slight smile, he took a few steps forward before turning around.
"Its right where Mother put it," Draco stated.
He pointed his wand with the lighted tip at one of the shelves before them. The golden cup glittered in the light. The teenagers breathed sighs of relief when suddenly there was a muffled clank from behind them. Draco turned back around with a bewildered look on his face. He looked back at the door to find that it had reappeared and that the only light in the room was from his wand. The light revealed a disgusted look on Draco's face as he marched over to Griphook.
"You bloody double-crossing creature!" Draco shouted.
"What's going on?" Harry hissed.
"He's triggered the bloody door to close. That means the Gemino and Flagrante Curses are now in effect," Draco hissed.
"What are those?" Ron asked.
"It means that if we physically touch anything belonging to the vault it will burn us and multiply," Draco groaned.
"Bogrod will be able to get us out," Griphook shrugged.
"Draco, just command him to open the door," Leila suggested.
Draco pointed his wand once more at Bogrod, but he did nothing. Draco shouted some obscenity at the goblin.
"Of course there's a bloody ward against that type of magic in here," Draco shouted.
"But he's still Imperiused," Hermione stated.
"Yeah, but I can't make him do anything else. The Curse hasn't been released, but I can't do anything," Draco groaned.
"How ironic," Leila commented. "Can't use Dark Magic in Bellatrix's vault."
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" Draco hissed.
"Mate, settle down. We'll get the cup and deal with the traitor later," Ron said.
"Just keep your eyes on him. We don't want him double-crossing us again," Draco responded. "First, we need more light. That spell seems to work in here."
Everyone lighted their wands so that they could see better, but as Ron cast his spell, he accidentally nudged a fallen goblet which caused about twenty more to explode from it and scatter across the ground. Ron jumped up and down on one foot, where his body had made contact with the goblet. Part of his shoe had been burned away from the contact.
"Bloody hell," Ron groaned.
"Don't move!" Draco commanded.
They tried to remain still, but with treasures scattered over the place, Leila's elbow knocked some Galleons over which caused over a hundred more to scatter on the floor as Leila shrieked in pain from the burn on her elbow. Draco clasped Leila's arm to keep her still from falling on any more treasures and causing more things to scatter their path.
"Accio Cup!" Hermione cried.
Nothing happened.
"You're not seriously trying that one again, are you?" Ron commented.
"That kind of magic won't work in here," Griphook stated.
"Draco, you said that we can't physically touch the stuff?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Draco groaned.
"What do we do, Griphook?" Harry hissed. "If you want that sword you'll have to do more than just watch us struggle."
"Like Draco Malfoy said, no physical contact," Griphook repeated.
"Bloody cryptic creature," Draco muttered.
"Can we touch objects with objects of our own?" Harry questioned.
Griphook didn't say anything, so Harry turned to Draco who shrugged his shoulders.
"Dunno, never actually had to deal with these bloody wards. I only knew that they were in here and what would happen if they were in effect," Draco stated.
"Hermione, knock your bag against something," Ron commanded.
"Ron…" Hermione began to protest.
"Just do it," Ron furthered. "Just make sure if it does cause replicas to scatter it will be away from us."
Hermione looked between Harry and Ron until Harry nodded his head. Then she swung her beaded bag at a stack of Galleons. The Galleons the bag hit scattered onto the floor, but they made no replicas. Hermione exhaled aloud.
"Thank Merlin," Leila breathed.
"Now we need to reach that shelf and keep a hold of the cup," Harry said. "If you want the Sword…"
"Mate, that's it! The Sword!" Ron shouted.
"Brilliant, Ron, brilliant!" Harry said.
"One problem, how do we get up there?" Draco said pointing up to a shelf none of them could possibly reach on their own.
Harry looked to Hermione who nodded. She pointed her wand at Harry and whispered "Levicorpus." But nothing happened. Harry threw his arm in frustration causing several helmets to fall to the floor and replicate. Harry quickly hopped away from the replicating items.
"Damn, I hoped that would work," Harry hissed.
"I have an idea…" Draco said.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"I think if I stand on Weasley's shoulders with the Sword I can reach it," Draco said.
Harry, Leila, and Hermione looked to Ron and Draco. Ron looked at Draco uncertainly before he released a low groan.
"Let's just get this over with," Ron muttered.
Hermione handed Draco the Sword of Gryffindor because he was going to be the one to climb up since he was the lighter of the two boys. Harry and Leila lighted the area for the boys as Draco climbed up.
"Now steady," Draco commanded.
"I'm trying, but your shoes are digging into my shoulders," Ron grunted.
"Well, if…" Draco began.
Ron shifted his weight and Draco wasn't ready for that, so he slammed into a shelf which was full of jewels. More jewels exploded and fell to the ground, raining upon them as Draco hissed in pain. But he continued to reach with the Sword for the Cup. Despite both Ron and Draco trying their best not to knock anything, they couldn't help it. By the time Draco fished the Cup with the Sword, he knocked something else and could hear the screams from behind him. Draco turned around to find Leila, Harry, and Hermione waist-deep in treasure. It seemed that everything they touched, whether real treasure or not now replicated and burned. Ron quickly turned around to see the scene behind them, which caused Draco to go tumbling from Ron's shoulders and onto a pile of treasure. Draco screamed at the burning sensation, but as he fell the Sword fell from his hands. Harry lunged for the Sword, but the Cup tumbled off and rolled right in front of Griphook. The goblin reached for the cup. Harry waded through the treasure for Griphook.
"We had a deal, Griphook," Harry hissed.
"The cup for the Sword," Griphook stated.
"No deal," Hermione shouted.
But with a look of reluctance on his face, Harry handed the Sword to Griphook who smirked before tossing the Cup. Leila caught the cup which immediately began to burn her hands as replicas began shooting in every direction. Ron and Draco were both struggling to swim through the treasure which was almost above their heads, while the treasure continued to rise higher near Hermione and Leila. Griphook then chuckled.
"I said I'd get you in. I didn't say anything about getting you out," Griphook hissed.
Griphook then thrust Bogrod's hand against the vault's door causing it to open. The two goblins were gone with one Clanker, while the other Clankers were lost in the treasure which was now spilling out of the vault into the corridor. The teenagers attempted to break through the treasure, but there was just so much of it. Harry was the first one out of the vault, so he ran after Griphook while the others still struggled to get out.
"Griphook!" Harry called.
Harry ran until he was at the balcony where he could see Griphook and Bogrod down below with the dragon. While Griphook was shaking his Clanker with one hand and clutching the Sword of Gryffindor with the other he shouted.
"Thieves! Thieves! Help! Thieves!"
Leila, who was holding onto the Cup; Ron, Draco, and Hermione finally escaped and appeared at Harry's side. They were all breathing heavily and burn marks covered their bodies.
"Foul little git. Least we've still got Bogrod," Ron hissed.
They stood there looking down face when Griphook disappeared from sight. But as Ron said, Bogrod still stood there with the dragon. No one noticed that no more sound was coming from the Clankers. The dragon was no longer cowering in the corner. Instead he spread his wings with spikes. He reared his head back and flames shot from his mouth right at Bogrod. Leila looked away and buried her face in Draco's chest. Draco wrapped his arm around Leila's shoulder as he placed a gentle kiss against her hair.
"Not anymore," Draco said.
"That's unfortunate," Ron commented.
Leila wiped away some grime and tears from her face before she turned to look again.
"Move!" Leila shouted.
The guard of wizards and goblins had finally caught up to them. They shot multiple spells and stunners at them, but thankfully, they all took cover out of the way. Small walls protected them from the fire of spells. Not wanting to lose the Cup, Leila shoved it in her bag before backing up more against the wall.
"We can't just stand here!" Leila shouted
"Who's got an idea?" Hermione asked.
"You two are the brilliant ones," Ron shouted.
The spells still continued to stream at them as they tried to take cover from them. Hermione looked between the members of her group before she spoke again.
"I've got something. But it's mad," Hermione shouted.
"It's got to be better than what we've got so far!" Leila shouted back.
Hermione nodded her head before taking a step out of her hiding place.
"Reducto!" Hermione shouted.
The railing of the balcony exploded from its position and flew to the ground. Hermione then took a running start and jumped on the dragon's back. Ron, Draco, Leila, and Harry all looked to each other in shock.
"I guess we jump, gentlemen," Leila said.
Leila then got a running start before she too flung herself onto the dragon. Like Hermione, she situated herself by clinging to one of the spines on its back. The dragon bellowed fire at those across from him. Harry, Ron, and Draco still stood there staring at the girls on the dragon.
"Well, come on then," Hermione shouted.
The boys looked to each other once more before all three took running starts and flung themselves at the dragon. The boys clung to the dragon's back as Hermione turned to Leila. The dragon continued to breathe fire against the guards and goblins headed straight for them.
"Follow my lead," Hermione shouted to Leila.
Leila nodded her head in agreement as Hermione aimed her wand behind them.
"Relashio!" Hermione shouted.
One of the chains holding the dragon down snapped. Leila repeated the same spell as Hermione to another set of chain. Hermione snapped another set of chains. The dragon was free, yet it was still laying there on its belly breathing fire.
"C'mon, go. Climb," Hermione urged.
The boys began to pound their feet against the dragon, but the scales were hard. The dragon hadn't even noticed the pounding from his back. Leila began to wonder if this was going to work, when the dragon noticed that he was untethered. The dragon threw his head back and roared causing his passengers to cling tighter to his spines. Then just as Hermione had urged him, he began to climb. He literally began to scale the chamber, using the balconies leading to the bank's vaults for traction. As the dragon slowly scaled the wall, reinforcement guards were coming down the track aiming their spells at the dragon. This only made the dragon madder, which was exactly what they needed right now: a pissed off dragon.
The angry dragon climbed until he was level with the guards hurtling toward him. He roared once more and broke the railway in half which aimed the tracks right into the middle of the chasm, where they were likely to fall into the heart of the earth. The guards tried to pull the brakes on the cart, but they were only seconds too late as their cart was hurdled into midair. Leila heard a thud of something crashing against a wall, which caused her to cringe. The dragon began breathing fire upwards, causing chunks of rock to come flying toward them.
"What's he doing? Is he trying to get us killed?" Ron asked.
Leila ducked as a chunk of rock missed her by a few feet, then it clicked.
"No! He's trying to get us out of here!" Leila shouted.
Leila then raised her wand and yelled "Defodio!" The other's quickly caught on and between the spell to gouge out of the earth and Bombarda, they were helping the dragon to decimate the only barrier between them and the freedom. They passed by the underground lake as they continued to climb high and higher through the passageway. Leila wondered what the goblin's in the bank above must be thinking about what is going on below. They more than likely could feel the vibrations of their spells through the floor.
"Down!" Harry shouted.
The teenagers all tucked their wands close to them before clinging tightly to the dragon's spines with their heads down. The dragon thrust the top of his head once on the stone above and large boulders fell from the ceiling. Once more his head clashed with the ceiling as more debris tumbled down. Leila looked up briefly to see that there was light shining down on them. One more time…and then with a great crash they broke through the floor of the bank. The dragon climbed into the bank and roared loudly. The goblins began to scatter as the dragon began to walk into the bank as if he were going to meet the teller at the podium. Shrieks were heard as the dragon breathed fire into the bank. The place that had once sparkled only hours before was now burnt to a crisp. The dragon stood up on his hind legs knocking the ornate chandelier from the ceiling. Draco hadn't been prepared for this jolt and his grip on the dragon's spine loosened as he fell.
"Draco!" Leila shouted.
Leila moved to climb down, but Harry grabbed her arm as the dragon burst his head through the glass dome.
"Hold on!" Harry hissed.
"Draco's down there!" Leila shouted. "We can't just leave him!"
"I'm not letting you leave me," Harry stated.
Shards of glass soon began to fly over them as tears stained Leila's face. For a moment the dragon stopped as if he was stopping to take in his new found sense of freedom. Leila looked down, tears staining her vision but she swear she saw a blonde blur below. Wiping her eyes against her sleeve, she looked to see Draco many spines below clinging for dear life. He attempted to give Leila as smile, but then the dragon took flight into the air. He must not have been used to flying because several times it would feel as if they were losing air and he would crash into one of the buildings. However, flying for a dragon must be like riding a broom or bike, because after a few blunders he took to the air and stayed there. The dragon evened himself out, so now Draco wasn't in such peril so far down the dragon's back, for which Leila breathed a sigh of relief. They were free, but more importantly, they were all safe.