Darkness and Light - Snape's Daughter

Chapter 44

Lucy's POV

Crouch walked down into the tent where Harry was staying and explained the rules to me again. Harry was in the back looking defeated, I could tell he wanted to say something to me but probably couldn't think of the right words. Before I went into the arena to face the dragon I mouthed 'It's okay' to him.

As I stepped into the arena, everyone was silent. I looked at the Dragon who hadn't spotted me just yet, he was huge, much larger than Shadow. He had horns all over his body, right below his feet I spotted the egg I was supposed to get.

Suddenly his yellow eyes were fixated on me. I gulped. I was praying that this reckless plan of mine would somehow work.

I regulated my breathing while taking slow steps towards the Dragon. He began growling, showing his razor sharp teeth.

I took one step closer, this time a bit quicker. Big mistake.

The Dragon sent a huge breath of fire my way and I quickly jumped behind a rock to take cover. I could hear the Dragon roar once more and I stayed behind this rock for a few seconds to regulate my breathing and shake off my nerves.

I walked out from behind the rock again, immediately to be faced by those piercing yellow eyes once more. I could tell the Dragon was very hostile towards me, I needed to do something to gain his trust. So what I was about to do next was either really stupid and would get me killer or it would be the only way for me to stop the Dragon from attacking me.

I took a look at my right hand where my wand was. I made sure the dragon was looking at me when I did this. I dropped my wand on the floor and kicked it away. The crowd gasped and the dragons eyes moved from my wand to me multiple times until they were fully focused on me again.

I heard the dragon taking an inhale the same way he did before he sent a flame my way. I closed my eyes and stayed completely still. Next thing I heard was a massive roar from the dragon, but I didn't feel any heat. I opened my eyes again, he was still in the same position.

I took one slow step, the dragon didn't move. I continued to do this for about 5 minutes until I was only inches away from the dragon. While crouching and looking the dragon in the eye the whole time, I walked to the area where he was chained up to on the ground. With my light magic I hit the area and the chain came undone from the ground.

The dragon must have noticed this, because the first thing he did was take flight upwards. He flew a couple meters higher than the chain would have allowed him too, roaring into the sky.

This was my chance. I sprinted to the golden egg and picked it up. Everyone in the crowd began to cheer, but in that moment I saw the dragon diving down to my direction. I wasn't fast enough to react, the dragon flew only millimetres away from my body but in the process of doing that he took a hold of the back of my shirt with his claws and pulled me into the air with him.

Everyone in the crowd gasped again. The dragon began flying far away from the arena at this point and I heard some people shouting my name in the distance as we flew further and further away.

I actually wasn't really scared in that moment. The dragon hadn't even really pierced my skin when he picked me up, I was just hanging there high above the ground while still holding the egg. I knew in that moment that he also didn't want to hurt me, the same way I didn't want to hurt him. He just wanted to be free.

As we were flying over the lake, I heard the sound of my shirt ripping and soon enough I was falling down and towards the water. I wasn't sure if the dragon noticed or not, but he just kept flying.

Right as I hit the water my whole body was shivering, the water was freezing. Lucky for me land wasn't too far away, so with the egg in one hand I swam towards the shore. It was the place where I had left off Shadow a few years ago. I was wringing my shirt out over the ground but to no avail, I was completely drenched.

I also didn't have my wand, so I guess I would have to walk all the way back now.

While shivering and walking through the dark forest, I examined the golden egg. What must they have done to train the dragons to make them want to protect it?

Just then I heard a growling sound, followed by a purring sound. I knew immediately who it was.

"Shadow!" I smiled at the dragon. It was such a delight to see him.

He stood in front of me and in that moment I noticed just how much smaller he was compared to the Hungarian Horntail.

I saw him lay down while purring again and motioning with his head towards his back.

"Are you sure?" I asked him. I mean, I didn't know all too much about Dragons but I wasn't sure if they actually liked to carry humans or not.

Shadow gave me a slow blink and I think that means yes, so I carefully climbed onto his back. It was a lot softer and warmer than I had expected.

I held on tightly to one of the spikes coming out of his back with one hand and kept the egg under my arm. Shadow took off like a lightning bolt. We shot into the sky and he was definitely much faster than the other dragon was. It felt amazing though, and I felt safe.

We flew in the direction of the arena, cold wind blowing against my body. The air up here felt so much clearer, but also a lot cooler. I was looking forward to taking a hot shower once all of this was over.

In the distance I began to see the outlines of the stadium and I could hear talking the more we began approaching it.

Someone must have spotted me because I heard "Look she is over there!"

Once I was fully above the arena and held up the golden egg I heard cheers from all around. Even Severus was cheering which he usually doesn't do. I'm sure he is as relieved as I am that I survived this mess.

I saw Shadow becoming weary of the crowd, so I flew to the back area of the champions tent with him. I climbed off of him, saying thank you. He gave me a slow blink again and then took off in the direction of the forest.

Before I could even walk into the tent to give Harry his egg, I was pulled into a tight hug. It was Jennie.

"I'm going to kill Harry for making you do this, I was so scared."