Chapter 11: Draconic Ritual
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter and am in no way associated with J K Rowling or Warner Brothers.
As the flames dissipated Minerva, Daphne, and Tracey looked around at their surroundings. They were at the peak of a mountain and all they could see was the night sky and the stars filling the sky.
"Where are we, and how did we get here?" Daphne asked.
"We are on a mountain that is impossible to get to unless you use apparition. There are not many humans that have seen this part of the world." Erfolg explained.
"Wait a moment not that this has any bearing on my decision but will this remove my ability to use my animagus form?" Minerva asked.
"Unfortunately it will as your human form will essentially become your animagus form." Amber said.
"Do you still want to continue with the ritual?" Erfolg asked.
The three nodded.
"Then follow us." Erfolg said heading into a nearby cave.
"Where does this lead?" Daphne asked.
"One of the few places on the planet where it is possible to do the ritual." Amber replied.
They started descending down stairs and arrived at a platform hovering over a deep hole.
"This lift will take us down to the ritual site." Amber said pushing a large button with claw marks resembling a \ /.
Rocky walls rose out of the sides of the platform with gaps for windows. A roof then started being melded by connecting the rock at the top of the frame together seamlessly. The lift then started moving down at an extremely fast rate. There was then a sudden boom as the frame vibrated as the lift reached its peak speed.
"What was that sound?" Minerva shouted above the thundering wind rushing past the lift.
"We just reached our peak speed. That was merely the passing of the sound barrier." Erfolg shouted, "We are now going at over one and a half times the speed of sound."
"How far down does this hole go?" Tracey shouted.
"248 miles below the surface." Erfolg shouted, "Now, even though there is extensive heat shielding around here and the chamber it will still be getting extremely hot."
Already the rocks were starting to glow a faint orange as they went deeper and deeper below the surface of the planet. For the next fifteen minutes nothing was heard above the howling wind outside the lift. Then the lift started slowing down just as fast as it had accelerated.
With the noise dying down Tracey asked "Will we be able to fly that fast?"
"Just under the speed of sound if you are heading straight down, but other than that no." Erfolg said, "Still you'll be a damn sight faster than any witches or wizards."
Daphne's and Tracey's eyes seemed to light up, they had always enjoyed the thrill of flying fast and to even go that fast while descending would be a much better adrenaline rush than the slow broomstick they had at their homes.
As the lift finally came to a halt the frame retreated back into the platform. As the group disembarked the air was extremely hot. The three humans followed the two dragons down a long twisting corridor filled with carvings of the ancient dragons of times long forgotten by humans.
"Our first records began a little over 300 million years ago." Erfolg said as they walked down the twisting corridors, "In the past there have been massive invasions from another realm, that ancient dragons have had to fight off to protect this planet and its life. There were several demonic invasions that were they to succeed would have culminated in the complete and total destruction of this planet. As dragons we are the guardians of the planet. It falls to us when all else fails to stop threats towards the species of this planet. In each case we have driven off the invaders and they have not returned for hundreds of millennia."
"Anyway, to put it simple we disappeared shortly after the demonic invasion that was repelled shortly before the extinction event of the dinosaurs." Erfolg continued, "This was something they could not control. They had no way of stopping a rock hurtling into the earth from space. The ancient dragons that had survived the invasion went to a similar temple to this one that was built for hibernating during times of extreme hardship, even for dragons. The ecosystem would go on to be all but obliterated. It wouldn't be until the end of the last ice age that dragons woke up from their slumber and rose to a world suffering from massive cold. They were the ones that cleared the glaciers and allowed life to flourish once more."
"Our species came into existence around this time, and we started interacting secretly with the humans that lived during that time. We had evolved the unique ability to transform our bodies into that of the mortal human while retaining our control over fire and magic." Amber continued. "This continued up until the last hundred thousand years ago. When goblins started popping up. They decided that they would force our kind into servitude and many of our kind perished in the wars that were waged. Magical humans remember the wars as the goblin rebellions. In truth the old witches and wizards aided the dragons of that time period. Millions died, humans, goblins, and dragons. Eventually most countries decided that they would introduce laws forbidding the goblins from enslaving our kind. This is one of the few countries that remains that does not bar that from happening."
"Is that why your parents and Erfolg's parents joined the battle against Voldemort?" Minerva asked, "There were several rumours that the goblins were secretly waging war alongside Voldemort."
"Yes." Erfolg said, "Many dragons in this country had perished before this point in time. There were but four left, James Potter, Lily Potter, Emma Granger, and Dan Granger. They discovered the secret alliance that had been struck between Voldemort and the leader of the goblins, Ragnok. This lead to the four of them joining the Order of the Phoenix and entrusting their secret to Minerva McGonagall, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. The four dragons then found out about Voldemort's horcruxes. It was that year in December that a curse was placed upon the Grangers and their child, who you know as Amber. This subsequently lead to the murder of James and Lily Potter on the Halloween of the next year. The human records state that only Voldemort himself was there. However, there was one other. The only one who could tell him where they were hidden, Peter Pettigrew."
"But, he was killed by Sirius Black." Minerva butted in.
"Sirius was accused of betraying the secrets to Voldemort, but he was arrested by death eater spies working in the auror department. He never even received a trial, he was immediately shipped off to Azkaban. The dragon godfather oath would never let that happen." Erfolg explained, "Anyway Voldemort didn't realise that family he was going after was in fact a draconic family. Pettigrew escaped and Voldemort faced up against two fully grown dragons protecting their child. My parents knew that they couldn't defeat him out right so they gave their lives to banish him to the spirit world to buy me time to end the war once and for all. This task now falls upon the eight of us."
"So when are we going to liberate Sirius Black from Azkaban?" Tracey asked.
"We are going to start after this ritual is finished."
They had arrived at a large doorway. Beyond that the only light was from a translucent floor showing the magma from the mantle deep below them. In the centre of the enormous room there were claw markings on the floor filled with oil going round each rune in a circle. There were massive pillars near the edges of the room holding the wall up.
Erfolg and Amber lead each of the three humans onto one of three identical runes. They then started chanting, with their hands raised in front of them pointing at the circle of oil connecting the rest of the oil together, in a very low voice that couldn't be heard by the humans. Suddenly fire burst from their hands and lit the oil.
The three humans expected it to be painful but it merely felt like their bodies were being rejuvenated. Three columns of magma then shot up at enormous speed from below them, far faster than that employed by the lift. When it connected with the runes the three were standing on the runes started being moved outwards. When they were at a decent distance apart, the pillars of magma erupted through the runes transforming the humans bodies into those of draconic beings exactly like Erfolg's and Amber's draconic forms but for the colors.
When it was all finished three new dragons stood admiring their new forms. Tracey was an dark red dragon with bright blue eyes. Daphne had become a sandy brown dragon with piercing grey eyes similar to Amber's. Minerva had become a grey dragon with bright blue eyes matching Tracey's.
"Now attempt to transform back to your human form." Erfolg instructed.
Minerva easily achieved her human form, but Daphne and Tracey were still struggling.
"Imagine yourself transforming back into a human and you will transform." Erfolg said.
"That was amazing!" Daphne gushed.
"Are Remus Lupin and Sirius Black going to be given this option?" Minerva asked.
"We will give it to them, but the final decision will be theirs, and theirs alone." Erfolg said.
"We need to get back to Hogwarts before we are missed." Amber said in a tone that allowed no argument.
Everyone else agreed with this so they hurried back up the winding tunnel and back into the lift. When it reached the surface Amber apparated them back Hogwarts.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Some of that history that was in this chapter will come into play sooner rather than later. Other bits will come into play later. My apologies to those who read the version that I uploaded just before this version. I accidentally forgot to finish the history bit with what happened the night Erfolg's parents died. Thanks for reading.