A/N: Not my sandbox, just my sand castle. I don't own anything from Harry Potter. Additionally, no one has permission to bind and sell my works, fandom or otherwise. Shame on you for exploiting other people's works!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another fic :) No words, empty thoughts. Have fun reading! (especially since this was indirectly inspired by my watching Game of Thrones for the first time lol.

This one is for Round 6 of The Houses Competition, where I'm in Gryffindor House and writing for Potions. This competition, we have to write a drabble (500-1000 words) as well as a standard (1000-3000 words). This fic is the Standard of the two. Prompts are listed below.

Thank you kindly to Dora, and Ace Gal for the beta!

Word Count: 1567

Disclaimers/Warnings: implied animal abuse, if you consider a dragon an animal

Summary: In the escape from Gringotts, Hermione's bleeding heart breaks them off more than they can chew. Canon divergent

Prompts:

The Houses Competition Y11 R6

[Speech] "One dragon was bad enough… now we have four?"

[Location] Gringotts

"Bleeding Heart"

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" Hermione called out, panic filling her voice as Harry and Ron weren't stumbling away from the Lestrange vault fast enough. The shadows of the incoming Goblin guards grew larger, forcing Hermione to look around for a possible escape plan.

A roar from around the corner gave her pause, and when the boys finally caught up to her, she turned, her face resolute.

"Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of here!" Ron exclaimed, looking over his shoulder as he tried to cling to Helga Hufflepuff's tainted chalice. The Horcrux thrummed with malevolent energy in his arms, and all three shuddered at the feeling.

"I do, but you won't like it," she replied, her gaze shooting around the corner where the blinded guard dragon was chained up.

"Hermione, no," Harry said, horrified at the thought. He absently rubbed his shoulder where the spike of the Hungarian Horntail from the Triwizard Tournament's First Task had stabbed him.

"Hermione, yes!" Ron breathed out in wonder, connecting the dots as well. Hermione dragged the two around the corner, explaining her plan as they went.

"We need to blast the chain off of it. We'll treat it like a horse, ride it out of here, and we all escape!" She grinned widely, crouching when they reached the edge of the dragon's reach. It roared again, clearly sensing someone there, angrily stomping to feel them through the floor.

"It'll just be like flying your Firebolt, won't it?" Ron asked cheerfully, grabbing Hermione's beaded bag from her to stuff the chalice inside. It would be one less thing to worry about during their escape.

"You and your bleeding heart," Harry muttered.

Hermione looked at the poor dragon, locking eyes with it, and saw how desperate it was to survive. Its milky irises blinked once, and something seemed to click inside Hermione. They had to set this creature free after they escaped, to take it somewhere where the goblins couldn't reach it.

"Here," Ron said, breaking the moment between her and the dragon, holding out her bag. "What do we do?"

"Bombarda on the chain, on the count of three." Hermione raised her wand once she took her bag back from Ron, the boys following suit. "One…two…THREE!"

As one, the trio aimed for the chain holding the dragon down. The explosion rocked them on their heels, a cracking sound filling the cavern. The dragon was suddenly docile, all signs of aggression melting away.

"Get on!" Hermione called out as she ran to grab the chain. Harry and Ron clambered up the dragon's side to settle on its back.

The sound of the Goblin guards–clinking armor and hurried shouts–drew ever closer.

"Hermione, let's go!" Harry called out as she paused at the back end of the dragon.

"Just a moment!" she called back. Hermione disappeared for barely a breath before she popped back up, stuffing something into her bag, cinching it tightly, and double knotting the cord, just in case.

Taking Harry's offered hand, she settled before him on the dragon, adjusting the slack in the chains to form reins.

"Alright, hold on tight!" Hermione called out before snapping the chains, giving a little kick with her heels. "Let's gooOOOOOOOO!" Her command turned into a scream as the dragon took flight, just as the Goblin guards turned the corner. Angry shouts and thrown weapons followed their ascent.

Hermione aimed the dragon upwards, but it turned its massive head to spew raging fire at the guards, causing them to scatter. Massive wings beat weakly as screams filled the air, but the dragon managed to get off the ground and out of their reach.

Hermione barely had to steer the dragon through the catacombs and caverns that made up Gringotts' vault system. When it finally burst through the cavern wall into the fresh air, it roared in joy and bolted higher into the air, the sun warm on all of their backs. Hermione clung to Harry's arm around her waist, Ron's arm pressed against her back as he clung to Harry.

They flew over London, heading North.

Hours later, when they were sure they couldn't be traced any longer, Hermione nudged Harry, who got Ron's attention. "There's a lake up ahead. I say we jump and–"

A rumble from the dragon pulsed from under them, and the three looked to find the dragon eyeing them.

"We might have to jump sooner," Ron said, eyeing the dragon back warily. The dragon shifted its head forward once more, but the sense of unease wouldn't leave the three. Agreeing with the plan silently with a few head nods, Hermione waited until they flew over the lake before shifting her position on the dragon's back.

"Now!" Hermione called out, leaning to fling herself off the dragon's back.

The dragon leaned in the same direction Hermione did, preventing her from unseating herself.

"What's going on?!" Harry exclaimed as his hold tightened on Hermione.

"Maybe it wants to eat us!" Ron replied.

"It could want us to get the collar and chain off of it!" Hermione pointed out. Before they could say another word, the dragon beat its wings and its speed increased.

"We're running out of time here!"

And then suddenly, they weren't over water anymore, and grassy fields lay before them, stretching out for what seemed like kilometers.

"We can still jump!" Harry called out, tense behind her.

"We'll get hurt," Hermione protested.

"Hey, is the dragon slowing down?" Ron asked over the wind in their ears. The trio looked ahead to find their surroundings indeed slowing down. There was no sudden jerking or stop but a gentle descent gradually bringing them closer and closer to land. With a final beat of the dragon's wings, they landed, and it was only then that the three were able to clamber down.

As Ron and Harry gained their bearings, Hermione stumbled the last bit and fell to her knees next to the dragon. Its head dipped down and nuzzled against her, much to the shock of all three. It then nudged Hermione's bag lightly.

"Wow, it really is intelligent," Ron mumbled. "Charlie wasn't exaggerating."

"The dragon is a she," Hermione corrected softly as she dug through her bag.

"Wait, how do you know it's a she?" Harry asked. The boys looked at her as she placed three scaled rocks at the dragon's feet. The blinded dragon sniffed around, huffing first at Hermione's hair as she slowly backed away, then at the ground at her feet where the three stones were laid. They were a pale green, almost a teal color. Ron caught on much quicker than Harry.

"Hermione, that isn't…" he trailed off when she rejoined them.

"I think it is," she replied slowly. "They were cold to the touch, so I don't know if they're old eggs or if they were being abused to get obedience from the dragon."

"What kind is it?" Harry asked curiously, trying to remember the section on dragons in his Care textbook from previous years.

"Ukrainian Ironbelly," Ron replied, taking a moment to just admire the dragon now that she was inspecting the eggs by her feet. A sudden glow in her throat had Ron immediately backpedaling, pulling Harry and Hermione back with him.

"Hey!" "What?" came their exclamations, but only a moment later saw the Ironbelly breathing fire on the three eggs. A steady stream of flames spewed from her toothy maw, licks of fire splashing into the air and setting the grass around them to smoldering. It had to have only been a few seconds, but it felt like minutes as the steady stream of fire cooked the eggs. Once the torrent of flames abated, the eggs pulsed with a glowing warmth, almost like a heartbeat, the pale green deepening into a more vibrant iridescent color.

The first cracking sound echoed around them like a cannon, making the trio jump. One egg rocked violently, parts of the shell breaking off.

"Just like Norberta," Ron breathed in wonder. The Ironbelly curled around the eggs, nudging them with her snout to encourage the eggs hatching.

Within seconds, three hatchlings stared up at them curiously, making noises they'd heard only once before by the Norwegian Ridgeback Hagrid had hatched in their first year.

"She knew the eggs were in your bag. That's why she wouldn't let us jump earlier," Ron said. One of the dragon hatchlings cautiously approached Hermione, who crouched to offer her hand for them to sniff. The other two hatchlings followed their nestmate, the first one allowing Hermione to scratch the top of its head lightly. The second hatchling backed away, but the third tried to bite her. Hermione drew her hand back quickly, thankfully avoiding the bite. A grumpy snort from the mother dragon had the tiny ones back at Hermione's feet, offering a cuddle.

"This is really abnormal behavior for a dragon," Ron said. "Charlie never wrote home about something like this."

"One dragon was bad enough…now we have four?" Harry asked quietly. Hermione couldn't help the bubble of laughter that spilled out of her at his tone.

"Well, I suppose we'll have one thing Tom doesn't," Harry then added with a grin.

"Dragons!" Hermione replied, smiling back. Ron gazed at the four reptiles in awe as they clambered back to their mother, play-fighting the whole way.

"Dragons," he whispered reverently.