Dauntless

by Lwa

"One last chance. Beware to the gods. In seventeen years time the race shall begin. The child of Death becomes the one who is two, and calls forth three, of venom, bark, and bone." The prophecy begins as the child snaps, destroying a mental facility where they were subjected to torturous procedures. Now the one who is two must drink the elixir of life, or be split forever.

42. The Dragon Heist

Alright, Dragon Smuggling!

Thank you for all of the reviews, as always. Again, Happy holidays to everyone.

This chapter will have some setup for the next book as well. We get developments from Ron, some good, some bad.

Without further ado, let's continue.

—0—

Merlot rubbed her hands together as she led her compatriots to Hagrid's hut.

"Can't believe Fred and George had us do this… We could get into some serious trouble!" Draco hissed from behind Ron Weasley.

"I don't like it either, but Scortwit said she'd pay us, and the twins got me my new wand, so I won't argue."

"Keep it down you two, we're almost there." Merlot spoke, adjusting the large canvas sack that was hung over her shoulder.

"Where exactly is there?" Draco Malfoy asked.

"The groundskeepers hut. He's the one with the egg, he's agreed to let it go." Merlot nodded.

"It's a dragon egg, right? Those are dangerous creatures. Class five rated magical beasts, even as hatchlings!" Draco brought his hands up to his mouth and breathed warmth into his fingers. "You know, The other Slytherins stealing my gloves doesn't make this any better."

Merlot rolled her eyes and turned around, drawing her wand.

"What are you doing?"

"Give me your hands Malfoy."

The blonde boy held up his hands, which were growing pink from the cold. Merlot rolled her eyes. "Wish you would've told me before. Now, Focillo locus manus."

Draco sighed in relief as warmth washed over his hands. "That was a variation of the hot air charm, wasn't it?"

Merlot nodded. "Points to Slytherin. Check the library for Nolzurs Nifty Spells."

"I'll keep that in mind…" Draco mumbled as Merlot resumed the walk to Hagrid's hut.

"This egg, once we have it, how will we move it?" Ron asked. "Without anyone seeing us, that is."

Merlot shook her head and stayed silent.

"Guess it's a secret?" Draco shrugged.

"Well if we get caught, we'd better be paid more." Ron huffed, continuing behind the girl. "Speaking of, should we be ready to duel if we do get caught?"

"Attacking a teacher is grounds for expulsion. Attacking Filch? That's a different story." Merlot smirked. "Although try not to give the man too hard a time. He gets dealt a lot of stink from Peeves."

The three eventually made it to Hagrid's hut, where Merlot quickly knocked three times.

"Hagrid? It's Scortwit."

The massive door to the hut swung open, revealing the giant man dressed in a frilly pink apron. "Come in! Jus' got done wit' some bread."

Draco and Ron looked at each other, before looking at Hagrid and following merlot into the hut.

"Good thing yeh got here when yeh did, the castle will close fer curfew in a few minutes." Hagrid nodded.

"We plan to wait until patrols start before leaving with the egg." Merlot nodded.

Hagrid smiled sadly. "Ah… the egg… Is over in me fireplace, been keepin' it warm."

Merlot nodded. "Could I take a look?"

Hagrid gestured to his fireplace. Merlot walked forward and stooped down to look at the egg.

It was that of a Norwegian Ridgeback, that much was certain. The glimmering marbled surface seemed to glow as it bathed in the fires embers. Hagrid sat down behind Merlot on his armchair.

"I'll be sad to see 'im go… Was gonna name 'im Norbert."

Merlot smiled. "I'll pass the name on to Charlie and Scortwit, they'll take good care of it, I'm sure."

Hagrid nodded and blew his nose, loudly.

Draco and Ron just looked at each others in confusion, before looking back at Merlot and Hagrid.

"So, how are we doing this?" Ron asked.

"We're smuggling a dragon out of the school, obviously we're going to do it carefully." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Smugglin'… ruddy business it is. Can' believe you'd risk this much fer me…" Hagrid blew his nose again.

Merlot stood up from her place beside the fire and reached into her canvas bag.

"I brought these for you. I've done a bit of enchanting, but not enough to make them fool proof. You'll still need to be careful."

Merlot pulled out two folded lumps of cloth, tossing them to Ron and Draco.

"These are for-"

"Come on, do you really think that I actually needed a guide? Fred and George helped me map out the routes, but they let me take you two because I really needed a diversion." Merlot shook her head. "Did you get the other things I needed, Mr Hagrid?"

The man nodded and stood up from his chair, walking over to a large dilapidated armoire. While he began rifling through the items inside, Merlot pulled out a roll of paper and beckoned for Ron and Draco to join her.

"What's this?" Draco blinked.

"A map of the castle. Fred and George nicked it from the library. I have two more copies in my bag, each with a different route to the astronomy tower."

"Here yeh go Scortwit! Aren' they jus' beautiful…" Hagrid handed Merlot two small bundles of white fluff.

Ron blinked. "What are those?"

Draco leaned forward. "Silk?"

"Acromantula eggs. Singular ones, they're pretty big." Hagrid smiled.

Ron's face turned green while Draco's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Are you mad?"

"Acromantula eggs? Like, giant spiders?" Ron squeaked.

Merlot huffed. "Look, they're easier to get a hand on and to explain. They're also more likely to take some time to process if you two get caught. Now,"

The girl drew her wand and traced a line through the map before them. "This is going to be my route through the castle. It's the fastest way there, and I'll be able to make it no problem. For the two of you…"

Merlot pulled out the copies of the map and handed them to the two boys.

"Your routes are drawn there. They'll wind around and intersect with mine, and they use a few secret passageways. Don't worry, the passwords are written down."

Ron and Draco took the maps and began looking them over.

"You want me to go through the Gryffindor wing?" Draco pinched up his nose.

"Oi! We aren't all bad!" Ron huffed.

"Fred and George decided that if you were caught, you could put it off as a prank from them. Tell the patrol that you found it in some place like your common room, they'll take the fall."

"And I'm supposed to go to… the kitchens?" Ron blinked. "Why go down a floor?"

"There's a statue in the kitchens that will take you up to the fifth floor." Merlot pointed. "From there you would meet me and Draco, and then go down to the fourth floor and head to the corridor outside of Ravenclaw tower."

"Oh, I know that passage, everyone has been talking about it lately." Draco blinked. "It'll take you to a crawl space just under the roof of the school. That leads directly to the astronomy tower."

"And where did you hear about this? I haven't heard anything." Ron frowned.

"Your brothers have me check up on other pranksters in different houses. They are the top dogs for a reason." Draco smirked.

"Wish they'd give me cool jobs like that." Ron huffed. "But no. I'm sent to get them tea tree oil and ashwinder eggs."

"Tea Tree oil?" Draco blinked.

"Are they making soap?" Merlot blinked.

"Heck if I know." Ron shrugged. "Just put in a good word for me after this, okay?"

Merlot nodded. "I give you my word. Now, take these, they're for the eggs, and they have a few escape tricks from Fred and George."

Ron took the pouch that Merlot handed him and began looking through it. "Hm, Peruvian instant darkness powder. Nice. They haven't shown me these though…"

Draco pointed to the marble in Ron's hand. "Pop and poofs. They give off a bang and a bright flash. Good to distract someone."

Ron frowned at Malfoy before taking out another item. "Oooh! Extendable ears!"

"Extendable ears?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"So you don't know everything! These are a new creation." Ron smiled. "You can unroll them and listen around corners, down staircases, through floors and walls."

"Nifty." Draco looked at his own extendable ear. "A bit creepy, but nifty as hell. Alright, anything else?"

"That looks to be about it…"

Merlot nodded and took out a lump of silvery fabric from her bag, before turning to Hagrid. "I'll write to you soon. Okay?"

Hagrid nodded. "Thank you, Scortwit. You do yer name proud."

Merlot smiled and nodded, before gingerly picking up the dragon egg and placing it in her bag. "Come on, grab your things. Put those cloaks on."

Draco and Ron did as they were told, putting the Acromantula eggs in their bags. Merlot nodded and stuffed the silvery cloth under one arm, before pulling up her hood and stepping out into the night.

The three made their way back to the castle as quickly as they could, before slipping into the side of one of the corridors through a secret entrance beneath Madame Hooches outdoor office.

"How did you know that was there?" Ron blinked, gaining a stare from both Merlot and Draco. "Right, Fred and George. Continue."

The three crept into the center hall of Hogwarts. Merlot turned.

"This is where we part ways. I'll see you both on the fifth floor. Good luck." Merlot quickly ducked down and vanished.

"Did you just- Did she just-" Ron stared at where Merlot had been, before turning and finding that Draco had also vanished.

"Well isn't that bloody brilliant."

—0—

Merlot held her breath as she watched Percy Weasly walk down the corridor. She had successfully made it through the first step, not that it was all that hard. Going up a staircase doesn't exactly seem like an "End objective."

Still, here she was, watching the Gryffindor prefect walk down the staircase she had just climbed, waiting for him to pass so that she could continue on her mission.

The dragon egg felt blazing hot through the robe on her back, even through the canvas bag she had it contained in. It was close to hatching, that much was certain, and she had to get it out of Hogwarts before it did so.

Merlot Watched as the fiery red hair of Percy Weasley disappeared, and quickly moved to the end of the hallway. Her route was indeed the most direct, but that also meant it was the most dangerous. She had hoped that having Malfoy and Weasley would draw attention away from the main halls, and therefore, away from her.

Still, the paths that they were on were much more lengthy, and she had a feeling that she'd be waiting for a bit on the fifth floor before they got there.

The sound of footsteps caught Merlot's attention, and she ducked down behind a suit of armor. Snape's reaction had shown her that even while under the cloak, she wasn't entirely safe from experienced wizards.

Luckily, it was only Filch. The hobbling hall monitor muttered to himself as he limped down the corridor, looking at each of the sleeping paintings with a sneer.

Merlot blinked as the man slowed to a stop and turned to the suit of armor that she was hiding next to. She held her breath as he slowly approached, before he hopped back holding the stick that had been in the armor's gauntlet.

"Look Miss Norris! I'm Albus Dumbledore!"

Merlot watched wide eyed as the man danced around, waving the stick happily for his cat, before he cleared his throat and put the stick back.

"Come on Miss Norris, playtime is done for now. We have work to do."

Merlot gasped as the man disappeared from view. With a quiet chuckle and a shake of her head, she continued down the corridor.

—0—

Draco panted as he hid behind a pillar, quickly tossing out a pop and poof towards a staircase. His efforts were rewarded moments later when the bang caused the prefect chasing him to run right past his location and down the stairs.

With a sigh, Draco grabbed a pinch of instant darkness powder and scattered it on the staircase.

"That should keep you busy for a while."

With his diversion done, Draco continued on his path.

While he didn't despise the Gryffindors, he also didn't have the patience for them. There were many many lions who wandered out in the night, meaning that the patrols in this area of the school would be much more alert. He had already run into the first prefect, and he had no doubt that a teacher was far behind.

Quickly making his way to the place marked on his map, Draco stopped in front of a painting of a slumbering lady in a pink dress.

"Caput Draconis."

The painting swung open, revealing a cheery fireplace and a set of couches, where Fred and George sat smiling.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

—0—

Ron crept slowly towards the painting of food hind upon the end of the corridor. He had known about the kitchen's for a while, and their various entrances. It was definitely a good way to travel through the castle unnoticed.

Still, he knew of at least two Prefects that would be patrolling this corridor, and he had the sneaking suspicion that Marcus Flint knew how to enter the kitchens to stuff his ugly face.

That meant he had to work quickly.

Ron reached into his pouch of supplies and withdrew an extendable ear. He left the receiver in front of the painting and unraveled the other end. With a quick gesture, he tickled the pear in the painting, causing it to swing open.

A single elf stood in the center of the kitchens, snoring softly as they balanced their head on a broom handle. Ron tiptoed around the slumbering elf as the painting closed behind him.

He was looking for a statue of an elf that was missing an ear. Apparently, the password 'jiggery pokerey' would reveal a staircase to the fifth floor behind said statue.

A muffled sound caught his attention. The extendable ear had picked up something outside. Voices.

"Come on Flint, you always stop here to rest."

"It's a good spot for a break! Come on Conners, just do a lap of the corridor and I'll be ready again."

"Fine. But next time, I get to stop here and see what the fuss is about."

Ron's eyes widened and he scrambled to the corner of the kitchen. He could see the statue he needed to go to and doubled his pace as the door to the kitchen's began to swing open.

"Jiggery Pokerey!"

The elf melted away, revealing a staircase which Ron began running up as the statue reappeared.

Marcus flint blinked as he heard the sound of stone scraping. "Peeves." He shrugged before grabbing an apple from one of the cupboards and taking a bite out of it.

Meanwhile, Ron Weasley sighed in relief as he made it to the fifth floor.

—0—

"Why am I here? With the two of you of all people?" Draco huffed as Fred and George set him in a chair.

"What, can we not check in on our friendly serpent?" George smiled.

"Sometimes I wonder why I said I'd do errands for the two of you." Draco huffed.

"Sharp, glad to see you're fangs are still intact after that run in with Flint." Fred smiled.

"How did the two of you know about that?" Draco blinked.

"The bruise on his knuckles and the new bruises on your shoulder, and your wrist." George nodded. "But we also saw the two of you in the corner of one of the corridors."

"We see and know everything that goes on in the castle, except anything remotely related to a particular Hufflepuff student." Fred leaned back in his chair.

"You mean Scortwit." Draco blinked. "But then how-"

"She required our assistance." Fred answered."And we answered. But we are… quite curious about her you see."

"What's there to be curious about?" Draco leaned back. "She's your average hard working Hufflepuff."

"Merlot Scortwit is in no way average." George said quickly. "For starters, her skill on a broom is beyond anything we've ever heard of."

Draco nodded. "She is a quidditch prodigy…"

"More than that, she's like a bloody savant." Fred shook his head. "She can out-fly Charlie, and he was spotted by the national team of England! She can outfly him at the age of eleven!"

"Now that you say it, that is a bit nuts." Draco nodded. "But so what? So she's good at quidditch-"

"She also practices advanced magic. Up until Christmas Eve, we saw her working on Runes, enchantments, and blood magic. There's even rumors about her learning alchemy."

"Alchemy?" Draco straightened up. "Interesting… If rumors were to be believed, then that would mean she could eventually turn lead into gold!"

Fred nodded while George cleared his throat. "The point is, Merlot Scortwit is much more than everyone sees. It's getting to the point where we don't prank her simply because we are afraid nodded what magic she may know."

"So… why tell me all of this?"

"Because you my dear little serpent, are our eyes and ears on the little honey badger." Fred smiled. "You and Ron are in her year, and will most likely become friends after this night. We want you to keep an eye on her and tell us if she needs any assistance."

"So I'm the messenger boy."

George stood up and stretched. "Yup! It's getting late, you should probably go meet up with your comrades on the fifth floor."

"Right, the egg… how do I-"

George spun a globe near the fireplace, causing a panel in the back to slide open as the flames were extinguished.

"Godspeed to you, Malfoy. And remember, Merlot is more than she seems. Keep an eye on her, but remain cautious."

Draco nodded and stepped through the panel, making his way to the fifth floor as the fireplace slid shut.

—0—

Merlot sighed as Ronald Weasley appeared from a painting down the corridor. With a quick motion, she unclasped her invisibility cloak and let the hood fall to her shoulders.

"Psssst. Weasley!"

The redhead spun around, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Don't worry, it's me. Scortwit."

"Oh thank goodness. Scortwit, what are you doing?" Ron asked.

"This is the floor where we rendezvous. Draco should be here soon."

"Greetings."

The two turned to see Draco, climbing up from a slightly larger than normal vent in the floor, which seemed to double as a trap door. "All is well in the castle so far?"

Merlot nodded. "I passed three prefect patrols and two teachers. I was close to being caught at one point, but a prefect came by and told Professor McGonagall that there was a student roaming the Gryffindor tower."

"Guilty." Draco raised a hand. "I had to use some instant darkness powder, as well as a pop and poof."

"The extendable ear saved me!" Ron spoke quickly. "Marcus Flint was patrolling with a Hufflepuff Prefect, and he skipped out to raid the kitchens while I was in them!"

"You weren't spotted?"

"No. I heard him coming and rushed to the exit." Ron shook his head. "But my chest is pounding!"

Merlot nodded, before wincing and adjusting the sack on her back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. We have to move. The egg is close to hatching."

Draco nodded and turned to Ron. "Come on, our routes are this way. We'll see you at the astronomy tower, Scortwit."

Merlot nodded and watched for a few moments as the two walked down the corridor. With a fluid movement, she pulled her cloak up again and vanished into thin air.

—0—

Charles Fontaine Scortwit held his foot on the brake as he shifted his truck into park, a little ways from the nearest highway on an obscure back road.

The location was perfect. Merlot had certainly done her homework, that much was certain. It was roughly three leagues from the valley of Hogwarts, where they needed to be. With Charlie's flying skills, and his new broom, (Not that it was much faster, persay, just quick enough to keep up, without getting airsick).

"Charlie-boy! How you doing back there?"

A series of dings and bangs came from the back of the Truck as Scortwit hopped out. Charlie Weasley cursed as he fell out of the trailer, the front of his robes smoking.

"Having trouble with them ashwinders boy?"

"Not at all." Charlie huffed. "Everything is just dandy. They're ready to fly."

"Good, they'll follow you I assume, since you have the queen." Scortwit gestured to a small cage that was dangling from Charlie's hand. Inside was a glowing orange snake, roughly a meter in length, but coiled up. Two small wings were folded down along its back, and it's silver tongue darted out every so often to smell the air.

"How do you think I got so smokey?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Once we pass through the wards, the swarm will follow me, and it won't alert Dumbledore or the other professors. We'll be in. You have to bring up the rear."

"I know, I know. I read the plans too, you know." Scortwit nodded, opening a lower compartment on the side of the trailer and drawing out two brooms.

"You have the portkey?" Charlie raised an eyebrow, catching the broom as Scortwit tossed it to him.

"Coppy worked his magic on this one." Scortwit smiled, holding up a cube made of smaller cubes. It looked almost like a muggle puzzle toy, except for the fact that it was all one color and solid bronze. "Designed to take everything within a five foot radius to the bank. They'll send us back to the lodge and retrieve the truck for us later."

Charlie nodded, mounting his broom. "Well then, all that's left to do is to get this ridgeback egg!"

Scortwit walked to the back of the trailer and mounted his broom, letting Charlie float up to the treetops. "Ready?"

"Let 'em fly!"

Scortwit threw open the doors and kicked off, rising up as a colony of five hundred ashwinders leapt from the trailer and began pursuing Charlie. Scortwit leaned forward and accelerated as the redheaded boy took off towards the valley of Hogwarts, a swarm of tiny glowing serpents flying after him.

"Go boy, go!"

—0—

Ron ducked down behind a suit of armor as another prefect patrol passed by. They were getting more frequent as the night continued, no doubt thanks to Draco's diversion in Gryffindor tower.

As he went to move, he froze, hearing a familiar loopy voice from behind him.

"Half 'til twelve, the castle i delve, finding firsties to put up on shelves!"

'Peeves'

Ron began to run down the hall towards ravenclaw tower.

"OOOhoooHOOO! I smell a firstie!"

Ron ran faster, he didn't care, he couldn't be caught now.

"A weasel a weasel, I found a weasel!"

Ron made it to the archway into Ravenclaw tower and stopped, turning to greet the annoying poultergiest.

"Peeves."

"Weasel! A weasel a weasel. How is the weasel today?"

"Perfect, thank you peeves. How are you?"

"FIne fine, once some mischief I find, why do you run around so blind?"

Ron grunted as his head was wrapped in a blindfold.

"Up to something, it smells. Who shall I tell?"

Ron pulled the blindfold from his face and quickly raised a hand. "Wait! Peeves, do you want to play a game?"

"A game?"

Ron nodded, sneaking his open hand into his pack of supplies and grabbing a bit of peruvian instant darkness powder. "A game. I know you like games. Here's the deal, I'm going to teach you a dance, and if you can remember it, you can make me dance in place until the next patrol comes."

Peeves face split open into a glee filled grin. "Dance? A dance? Soon you'll prance! Show me your dance weasel."

"Well it goes something like this." Ron nodded. "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands~"

Ron clapped his hands together and the corridor went pitch black. The redhead stilled as he heart peeves let out a cry of surprise, before growling curses and floating off, trying to give chase to a firstie who had escaped him.

Ron sighed and took out his wand, focusing on the painting that covered the next passage. "Point me."

The wand spun around in his hand, and he followed it to a painting of three ladies near a well. "Okay then. Titallandus."

The three women looked down at him and smiled, before shaking their heads and returning to normal. Nothing else happened. Ron's eyes widened as he tried the password again and again to no avail.

Eventually he slumped. The password had been changed. He had no way to get to the tower and now he was stuck with a dangerous creature egg. What to do…

In his state of worry and shock, Ron had not noticed the dispelling of the cloud of darkness surrounding him, nor the approach of a certain witch in green robes.

"Well well well Mr. Weasley…"

Ron spun around to find Minerva McGonagall looking down on him, quite disappointed.

"I wonder what your mother would say?"

—0—

Draco sighed as he slipped under a bench in the central corridor. He had vied against going on his planned path and instead was following Scortwit, not that he could really see her.

Nevertheless, he had seen which route she would be taking when she gave them the maps of the castle, and he knew she could only move so fast, no matter what she was using to hide.

Still, she was good at hiding. Every so often he caught a ripple of movement. But when he looked, really looked. He saw that it was only a diversion made by a spell. Some type of magic that merlot was using to distort the air.

Seeing such magic made Draco understand that Fred and George were right. Merlot Scortwit was more than she appeared. Spawning illusions silently, leaving breadcrumbs to dead end paths.

If one did not know where Merlot was heading, they would definitely get drawn to one of the false paths. Draco, however, did know. He knew exactly where Merlot was going, and so he knew where she was.

Draco was about halfway up the tower when he heard voices talking sternly.

"Professor, why would he be out alone?"

"I suspect he is not alone, Mr Weasley. Ronald was heading towards the astronomy tower through the passage in Ravenclaw tower."

Draco's eyes widened as he watched Minerva McGonagall storm through the corridor with Percy Weasley nipping at her heels. His mind immediately shifted to the task at hand.

If Merlot was caught, they would all go down for much worse than acromantula eggs. A hatching dragon egg would see all of them expelled! Looking on towards the illusory spells that Merlot had casted, Draco shook his head, before hopping out from his hiding place.

"Caught Weasley did you?"

The two whirled around to spot him standing there, he had given himself up.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Malfoy, why was my brother going to the astronomy tower?" Percy Weasley asked.

Draco swallowed down the bile that was rising in his throat. "Because he's not weak. He knows how great he can be if he believes in the old magic."

"You mean dark magic." Percy's face grew dark.

"He told me all about you, you know. Your family. I think he's the strongest of all of you to be frank, perfect for bringing honor back to the Weasley name."

"Mr. Malfoy-!" McGonagall began, but was cut off by Percy.

"Why did you want him in the astronomy tower?"

"To bring me an egg of course. My family is in need of a wild Acromantula, so I was bringing an egg to him in exchange for one he could find in the forbidden forest."

"Y-You, the forbidden-" McGonagall sputtered.

"Professor, let me handle the two of them." Percy glared.

"A HUNDRED POINTS FROM BOTH GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN!" McGonagall finally shouted. "Back to your common room at once! You'll be lucky if the two of you aren't expelled!"

Draco nodded and smirked at Percy, hiding the fact that he would throw up as soon as he escaped their gaze. "Until next time, Weasley. Oh, and don't take it out on Ronald, he can hold his own, you know."

Percy's nostrils flared and he stormed down the corridor to Gryffindor tower.

"I assume you can find your own way back, Mr. Malfoy?" Minerva sniffed.

"Yes, I can. Good night professor."

Draco walked away calmly from the professor, before running down the hall to the nearest lavatory and letting loose the contents of his stomach.

—0—

Merlot sighed in relief as she saw Charlie and Scortwit landing at the top of the tower.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"How did you get through the night without getting spotted?" Charlie blinked.

"Christmas gift." Merlot smiled, showing off the invisibility cloak. "And a bit of help from your youngest brothers, and Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"He's actually Ron's best friend, secretly of course." Merlot nodded. "Apparently your mother has been neglecting him, because his wand is made with acromantula venom."

Charlie's nostrils flared. "I will take care of that at a later date. How is the egg?"

Merlot slipped the sack from her back and held it up to him. Charlie took the sack and held it away from his body.

"Whew, it's close to hatching alright. Hot little bugger."

"You're telling me. I think I might have an egg-shaped burn on my back." Merlot rolled her shoulders.

Scortwit chuckled and held up a bronze cube. "We'll get this little one to Gringotts. You get back to bed."

Merlot nodded. "Thank you."

"No my girl, thank you. Come on Charlie-boy."

Merlot watched the two kick off and rise up, before they sped away through the air, away from the castle. With a quick movement, she was concealed by her cloak.

Merlot wouldn't encounter any more patrols that night.

—0—

"All good, Charlie-boy?"

The two dragon keepers flew at a steady pace, towards the edge of the Hogwarts valley.

"I'm fine."

"Come on now, she'll be fine."

Charlie shook his head. "It's not Merlot I'm worried about. It's Ron. If mum has been mad at him for having a wand core made of acromantula venom, what'll she do when she finds he's hanging with Malfoy?"

"We can worry about that after we take care of this egg."

Charlie nodded, smoothing back his hair. "Right. You've got the portkey?"

Scortwit nodded. "Pass me the egg, you're better at flying with no hands."

Charlie hefted the sack containing the ridgeback egg over to Scortwit, who tossed him the portkey.

"Stay close." Charlie said. "This like the normal long distance ones?"

Scortwit smiled as he flew into the area around Charlie. "Three twists on top, a twist on the left, a counterclockwise twist on the right, pull both sides open, and say the password."

Charlie nodded, twisting the faces of the cube as instructed, before pulling the cube open.

-Password-?

"Coppy." Scortwit smiled.

The cube glowed, before flipping over, a mechanical voice emanating from it.

"SCORTWIT IF YOU DON'T STOP IT WITH THAT DAMN NAME-"

"I love you two Coppergash." Scortwit chuckled. "We have the egg."

"Truly? Good then. Your signal is coming from about half a mile south of the ward line. Give me thirty seconds and you'll be here in a clink."

Scortwit grinned and nudged Charlie on the shoulder as they soared closer to the edge of the valley. The Portkey glowed brighter as Coppergashes voice came from within it.

"Lord Coppergash, granting entry to the esteemed nation of Gringotts. Portkey initiating in three, two…"

—0—

And there's the dragon heist. I hope it was enjoyable. I know that it's been a bit since I posted, so I went five pages over my norm.

Christmas begins in the next two days, I hope everybody is ready. As always, leave a review by the open fire. I'll hand out some hot chocolate, and a few answers.

And as always, Adios.