The days melted together. Time became a misunderstood thing as it became harder and harder to tell how much of it had passed since the girls got to the mansion. Every morning, Arleen and Raven would wake up together, they would eat and after, as Raven went to her various lessons, Arleen would spend the day scouting the palace to figure out its secret passages or she would study spells out of books. Raven was doing her best to learn how to repel dementors, because she knew it was the most important part of their escape, however, the monstrous creatures always triumphed over her.

Even though it was very preoccupying matter, Raven had a lot of things to think of atop of everything. It seems that all her teachers were desperately try to wear her out so she wouldn't have the strength to escape. . . but her exhaustion did not prevent her from noticing that Lord Voldemort was barely talking to her nowadays and a sort of tension had crawled heavily into the mansion. Her teachers had a funny way of dealing with this new unspoken stress: they all doubled the danger and toughness of the things they taught her.

Like Macnair so evilly decided to introduce the dumbfounded girl to a very violent Hungarian Horntail. This brings us to our present day.

"What the high Hell is that??" Raven screamed as the giant dragon hatefully spit fire her way. It was chained to the ground, held down by magic and stood high up into the sky, black scales shining. This was the first time and a long time that Raven went outside and she was very disappointed to see it was to face. . . this thing. . .

"That, dear miss Riddle is a Hungarian Horntail. A very dangerous dragon, armed with the longest flame spitting abilities amongst its kind; deadly claws; fangs that can crush steal and a spiked tail that makes it nearly impossible to approach from any angle." Macnair answered softly, smirking a good long way from the snarling beast.

Raven looked terrified. The wand in her hand was shaking. "And what am I supposed to do?" She whimpered.

Macnair actually laughed. The girl turned around furiously to look at him, rage boiling inside of her. She was facing death and all the man could find was to laugh? God, how she hated him!

"But I thought you figured it out already. . . they say you're smart. . ." His eyes shone. She waited for him to continue, jaw clenched. All the time she was listening attentively to the dragon's movements behind her, her eyes darting to see if there were any signs of dementors around. . . maybe they didn't come out at day. . . this trip outdoors could teach her much and she could perfect her escape. "You're going to fight it."

"WHAT?" Raven stopped looking around and fixed her gaze on the man.

"You heard me. The Dark Lord has spoken with me ( he seemed alarmed at the memory) and he has decided that it is time to test your magic skills. He knew that you are capable of incredible outbursts of power and has ordered me to trial them. The dragon is your opponent and you may recall to any magic to defeat him. Go."

Raven turned to face the monster. He rose a good thirty feet into the air, nostrils smoking and red eyes glaring. She had read about dragons; their skin was protected from most magic and it usually took some sic or more wizards attacking at the same time to damage it. She basically had no chance.

The Horntail reared and spit out flames. Raven dodged around them. The game was on.

Thankfully he was chained, so his movements were limited. Indeed, his tail could reach around in any way with its killer spikes, but his neck was attached and immobile, making it impossible for him to look behind. That's where the girl figured she'd find an advantage.

She aimed her wand and screamed her first spell. A jet of light blasted from it and hit the dragon in the left eye, enraging him. He trashed spiting out fire balls in every direction, scorching the grass in the mansion's yard. The forest nearby caught fire and Macnair was forced to conjure spells to extinguish it.

It's tail was hitting the earth, throwing dirt everywhere and Raven had to navigate her way behind the wild dragon. She figured that by going between its legs, it would have less chance to hit her, but it proved to be tricky. She had to be careful not to touch so he wouldn't know where she was.

The Horntail suddenly stopped moving. The girl heard a loud sniffing sound and froze, right under the beast's behind. Could he smell her? Or could he hear her? She moved on the tips of her toes, barely breathing; she glided by his swishing tail, turning around to face his exposed back. . . if only exposed was the right word for it: the hide was as thick as up front with a line of spikes going down from his head to the tip of his tail. Wordless and amazed by the power this monster exhumed, Raven raised her wand nonetheless and was about to call forth the every spell she knew, when a horrifying dread filled her.

She didn't understand what was going on, but as soon as a cold wave hit her and all her joy slipped away, she placed her finger on the feeling. . .

Looking in alarm to her left, she saw a dementor gliding towards her, arms open as if to hug her. Not thinking twice, Raven screamed. . . which was the dumbest thing she could do.

The dragon bellowed, having figured out where she was and began hitting the ground with its tail. He caught her in the arm, one of his spikes piercing her flesh and catching her bone. Raven let out a pained shriek and the dragon answered violently by swinging her over his tail up, pulling her with him by her wounded arm.

The dementor followed her up into the air. The spike dislodged itself from her arm and she flew over the monster's snapping head, landing very heavily near Macnair. The dementor swooped down onto her hungrily, hands groping, as the poor girl screamed insanely, clutching her demolished arm.

She heard people yelling. She heard them running out of the mansion. Just then the dementor's lips pressed to hers.

And everything went black. . . just as something silver and enormous enveloped Raven. . . if this was death than it was better than she had thought. . .

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Cliffy cuz I'm evil. Review or I will write a chapter soon :P