Chapter 7: Bonds Formed, Friendships Renewed, and Curses Broken
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter and am in no way associated with J K Rowling or Warner Brothers.
A/N: I apologize for the update being a bit slow. In my defense I have been hard at work with my university work as it was my first and second week now. I was also having a bit of trouble writing one bit of this but I wanted to get this chapter out in one rather than broken up as this chapter will add a lot to the story.
"Do you know her?" Hermione asked.
"I've only heard her be mentioned a few times by my parents and seen her once, though I still remember what she looks like." Erfolg said. "But that ink is so faint that only a dragon's eyes could see it."
"That is the whole point of that ink." Dan said. "Only a dragon can see it, but if it has been gifted to a human then it will write down what is needed to be said in secret. It can't be used to tell lies and can only be used to communicate with a dragon."
"Can we trust her?" Hermione asked skeptically, "We have already been attacked by this Dumbledore guy."
"She is trustworthy and is part of the reason why we let you decide to go to that school." Emma said. "She gave an oath on her life never to betray us or reveal our secrets unless we have given her permission. This includes the four of us being dragons."
"Okay." Erfolg started but was halted by frantic knocking coming from the front of the house. "Wait here." Erfolg said. If there is trouble outside, I have the best chance out of the four of us at stopping it and surviving it." Hermione went to argue but a stern look from her mother told her that this would only serve to make things worse.
Erfolg started walking silently towards the door and looked through the spy hole to get an idea of what was going on. What he saw was not something he expected. A fully grown mountain troll was fighting Minerva McGonagall. Erfolg immediately opened the door and began shooting flames from both his hands at the troll. McGonagall immediately started running towards Erfolg only to be stopped by an unseen force holding her in place and lifting her above the battle. Erfolg meanwhile was fighting the troll with everything he had. His hands had transformed into razor sharp claws to which he was using to devastating effect. The troll was bleeding out heavily and starting to slow. Seeing this Erfolg went for the kill. Using his draconic muscles, he jumped onto the troll and snapped its neck. He then used his fire to erase any evidence of the fight. It was only then that he lowered McGonagall down from where she had been floating.
"Erfolg?" McGonagall asked.
"Correct, but we should talk inside." Erfolg replied changing his form back to his human form.
"You don't trust me do you?" McGonagall asked.
"No." Erfolg said, "At least not completely, but we will see tonight when the clock strikes twelve, whether you are still trustworthy. Now come inside."
Together they entered the house, As soon as they entered the living room Erfolg was tackled by Hermione hugging him. "It's alright, for now at least." Erfolg said.
"You're going to be bonded tonight aren't you?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes we are." Hermione said.
"I thought so, judging from what Erfolg said about seeing whether I am trustworthy at midnight." McGonagall said. "I look forward to seeing this take place."
"There is one thing that we forgot to mention to the two of you." Emma said.
"What is it?" Erfolg and Hermione asked.
"Well, the energy required to complete the bond comes from your own draconic essences." Dan said. "In the process of the bonding you will be freed from any and all curses that could have been placed on you."
"So, you're saying that I might transform into my draconic form tonight?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Yes, this will also mean that it would probably be a good idea for Erfolg to be in his draconic form as well." Emma said, "The last thing is that you are now at the age where you pick your draconic form's name which Erfolg will have done on his last birthday, as you should have done, but, well, we have already said why this didn't happen."
Hermione was practically bouncing off the walls with her excitement which amused the adults to no end. Erfolg was eventually able to calm her down by telling her that she would need her energy for the bonding tonight.
"Why don't the two of you get some rest." Dan suggested.
"Are you sure you will be alright?" Erfolg asked.
"Yes." Dan said gently, "Don't worry we will be careful."
"Ok." Hermione said, "Come on Erfolg we can sleep in my room and share the bed if we lie on our sides."
This immediately caused Erfolg to glance nervously at Dan and Emma.
"Remember Erfolg we are dragons not humans." Emma chuckled, "Just please wait to do any of that sort of thing until Dan and I have regained our forms please. Abortion is not a possibility for dragons, and we couldn't even begin to look after the eggs in this form."
Erfolg and Hermione nodded their acceptance of Emma's logic and headed off to bed.
Emma woke them up ten minutes before the ritual was to happen. "Come on wake up sleepyheads." she said gently, "You need to go into the garden since Hermione will most likely be regaining her form tonight."
Emma shook her head in silent laughter. She almost needn't have bothered waking them up so early, with the way Hermione was dragging a still yawning Erfolg towards the garden.
Out in the garden Dan, McGonagall, Erfolg, and Hermione were quickly joined by Emma. Soon it was time for the bonding process. Erfolg and Hermione were waiting for the bond to happen in the middle of the garden. It started with a glow that gently surrounded them, then all of a sudden flames started seeping out of their bodies and flowing into the other's body. As this was occurring they could both feel the true intentions of McGonagall was to help them as much as she was able. Then they felt the barriers between their minds breaking down and extremely powerful barriers to protect their minds against intrusion rising. The bonding was soon over and a shockwave came off of Hermione as she transformed for the first time in years into an amber colored dragon with gray eyes. She was essentially a living copy of Erfolg with different coloring.
The biggest surprise of all though was when they transformed back into their human forms. Hermione's hair and eye color had changed. Where there had been brown hair and eyes, there was now amber colored hair with the same gray eyes.
"Well, I think I've decided my draconic form's name." Hermione said.
"Please remember that the sorting hat will call out your draconic name." McGonagall called out.
"I will." Hermione said, "I've chosen a very literal name for myself, Amber."
"I love it." Erfolg said. "I would also like to say that we both now fully trust you Minerva."
"Thank you." McGonagall said, "And I would like to say that I fully understand your reasons for not automatically trusting me."
"Can we go for a flight together Erfolg?" Amber asked.
"Of course." Erfolg said affectionately, "Will you three be fine while we are gone?"
"Yes, I think so." Emma said, "Go and have some fun tonight."
"Just remember that you leave for Hogwarts in a couple of days." McGonagall said.
Together Erfolg and Amber transformed into their draconic forms and started chasing and took off chasing each other in a series of complex maneuvers to try and best each other. After an hour of flying around, Amber and Erfolg landed back in the garden feeling quite pleased with what they had done, and transforming back to their human form.
"I need to go to bed." Erfolg said before practically falling asleep along with Amber.
Dan and Emma caught them and carried them into the living room and put them down on the sofas for some much needed rest. They to remembered how taxing the bonding process was on the body.
A/N: Hope you like Hermione's new name and her form as well. As always please if you have the time please review as this helps me out immensely. Next chapter will see the Grangers and Potters going to Diagon Alley. Thanks for reading.