Chapter 33-Demolition
Frieda was walking diligently, glancing over her shoulder from time to time to make sure that the crowd of Ministry employees was able to follow her. That is, she had been. When she heard the scream and the ground rumbled beneath them, she froze in her tracks.
"The dragon," she whispered. And then she bolted. She ran through the hallways without taking care to see if the rest followed her. She knew the entire place well enough, from all the secret exits and passageways she'd been shown by her half-brother over the years, to get to the bottom floor in minutes. If she went fast enough. It wasn't until she opened a cell door one floor beneath that she realized several aurers were keeping up quite well. They tried to stop her before she hushed them and said to follow her or it would take a good hour to reach the lower levels.
As she ran, the dragon screeched again and the building shook enough so she fell into a wall and crashed into…a human.
"George!" she said. "I don't believe it! Never did I think I'd be so glad to see you and Nathan! C'mon!" All of this escaped her lips before George could even open her mouth and the quick-footed aurers passed by before she could mutter a syllable of protest.
"I say we follow," Nathan suggested as they'd been stalking the place for a good chunk of time without encountering a soul. He bolted after the group, George's fingers in hand, and she hadn't much of a choice as to whether she would follow or not for he tugged her along so forcefully, she had but to sprint.
"Say," she started, "I don't suppose you know what—"
The building shuddered about them and banged. Cracks opened in the walls. A scream filled the building.
"Yes, that," George huffed as they stopped a moment. "What is that, exactly?"
"An illegally bred dragon. A Chinese Fireball was grown in a decaying cat's carcass in the center of a lagoon, then spelled." She ran on and the rest of them had no choice but to follow her down further and further into the prison, turning corners, running down hallways and stepladders and into doorways that had no business being in their respective locations. She ran as the screams became louder. She ran until she opened a door and stood face-to-face with Jagobin.
His face. How to describe his face? Her only family. He'd taken her in and here she'd betrayed him. A part of her heart felt regret. Her secret. All of this was rising like wisps of burnt paper from a fire. She smelled smoke as the threshold she stood beneath shook and rumbled.
"Hello, brother," she said at last.
The aurers were visible behind her, as were George and Nathan. She felt like a traitor. Merlin, what a traitor she was. Jagobin was her family. Family that is trying to take the only people you care about, she told herself. Family that hates the very sight of you, the very person you are. What did it matter? Abandon her own selfish wants of having secrets and being important and what was there? Hate. Jagobin was a murderer. He treated her like dirt. He treated all like dirt and tore lives apart for power. He wanted to kill her cousin and take something rightfully belonged to the Sun Slave. He deserved to see everything about him crumble.
"You are no sister of mine," his vile voice intoned.
"May I have that in writing?" she asked. "Before you go to Azkaban, that is."
He snatched her throat, but the aurors' had their wands out in seconds. He released her and she dropped to the ground before him, already breathless. How goblins had such strength, she could not know. She could still feel his claws pressed into her skin, though they'd been there for no longer than a second.
The aurors came out and surrounded him in the hallway. He was alone. Why was he alone? He would do nothing so stupid when there was a break-in.
"Where are the goblins?" she asked him, standing. "Where are they?!"
He said nothing.
"They're about," she warned the aurors. "It must be to do with the dragon and I imagine that's connected to my friends."
The building rumbled and they all lost balance for a moment, bracing themselves against the wall.
"I don't understand," she said. "How did the dragon get free? He was in a secured room. The only way to break the charm was through entering the room and all the air vents were sealed…" A picture of her smashing the window in Carina's room with a spell came to mind. No, no, no. It was all her fault. She'd broken the charm. It wasn't like she'd had a choice, but she should've been more careful. This was a dragon, after all. "Listen, everyone," she shouted over the screaming of the giant creature. "The cavern should be able to hold the dragon for a few more hours. We have time to get everyone before it cracks the walls. It's very far down. It shouldn't be able to escape the prison."
The passageway around them shook and a crack jolted into the ground between her and the rest of them. One of the aurors reached out and yanked her back to their side of the crack before the other half of the passage fell away and a giant hole was battered into the prison. The dragon swept the stone floors away with its tail like a broom and roared before them. The prison had been hollowed out. Three stories' worth of building sank far below them. It was as if the prison was a bash cake and a fist had gone through the center of it, cracking the layers.
The dragon flew about within the giant hole, spraying fire and crashing its tail against the inner walls of the prison. Other winged animals soared about it as sure-footed creatures scampered up the walls. Far below, Frieda saw several bodies, scrambling about the ground. Albus, Patricia, Leo, Scorpius, Carina! What on Earth were they doing? It was as if they'd all simultaneously lost their glasses and were patting about the ground to look for them. The tricky thing there is none of them wore glasses.
That's when she noticed. The goblins were all about, running to a fro, desperately trying to capture the animals flying about.
Frieda spun to face Jagobin. "So that's it. You've left them to collect all of your beasts. You coward! You'd leave your own kind?"
"MY KIND?!" he shouted. "I AM OF NO KIND! I AM MY OWN KIND! I NEED NONE OF THEM!"
Frieda turned back as more and more aurors ran into the hallway. It was no use, though. They couldn't go forward. All of the passages and many of the regular stairwells were destroyed. She could just watch her friends below dodge falling debris as they scrambled about the ground. Suddenly, Albus stood in triumph, his hand glowing bright white light past the red of the dragon's fire. Then, a bird swooped down over his hand and the bright light left him. They ran after it frantically before Leo jumped for the giant avifauna and grabbed its talons. The giant bird soared up two levels before it dropped him a level below. He hung from the edge of a floor before the ceiling there crumbled and he dropped to the ground, unmoving.
Carina screamed and ran to him, pulling at piles of stone frantically to uncover him. The rest of them ran and levitated rocks off of the boy.
Frieda looked up at the bird that had taken what Albus had been holding. Its claw glimmered with power.
"The Pearl," she said. "It has to be the Living Pearl."
She looked down at Carina staring helplessly at the others removing the rocks from Leo. Jagobin had taken her wand. She sighed and lifted her wand. "Merlin, I hope this makes up for my transgressions." She pointed her wand directly at Carina. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Her Hufflepuff friend, always diving towards the ground off of the roof rather than ever seeming to go away from it, lifted her feet off of the ground and began to float upwards.
"What are you doing?!" an auror shouted. "You could kill her! What if the dragon smacks her?!" And, indeed, the dragon in that moment threw itself into the side of the prison, exponentially widening the hole in the building. Dust flew all around them and clogged the air. Frieda could barely see what she pointed at. Still, she carried on with her spell. It was far too late to go back.
Carina didn't even look at Frieda. She didn't need to register a thing. She embraced the spell like she was born to fly and chased after the bird in flight. Frieda did her best to stare through the dust and smoke at the shadows soaring about the hollowed-out prison. She suddenly came near and into view. Carina's hands were tightened down around the talons of the bird as she squirmed about. She was forced to let go, but Frieda held her aloft and ran her friend into the giant thing. It screeched and tore at her face and the arms she used to shield it. Finally, she grabbed its closed claw and crushed it in her hand. Frieda saw the shimmering light drop and one of the shadows dive to grab it. And she did.
Carina hung in mid-air within a ball of light emanating from the Pearl. She emptied the glowing pearl down her throat. For a split second, darkness surrounded her. It surrounded them all as the thing providing so much light in the darkness of the enormous cavern vanished. Then, the light came back on in a glow that echoed out in oscillations of white florescence that undulated around her body. The Sun Slave glowed like a crystal.
The dragon then smashed with all its might into the ceiling and the prison crumbled under the watchful eye of daylight.