Adventures in Curse Breaking: Dragon Treasure

The Plan

"I still think showing up at Gringotts and yelling at Bill in front of his boss will work," Charlie whispered. 

They had joined Rowan and Barnaby in the library. Seated around one of the round study tables in the corner, Sarah and Charlie pretended to study while scheming. 

"I don't think getting on Bill's bad side is good way to get him to take us," said Sarah again. 

"Why don't we just shrink ourselves and stow away in his bag?" asked Barnaby. 

"Focus, Barnaby," said Rowan, tapping his still hand with her quill. "This essay is due tomorrow." To Sarah and Charlie she added with a huff, "If you two aren't going to study, I wish you would leave. You're distracting him."

Sarah frowned at her. "What's up with you?"

"What's up with me," she said sharply, "is that Bill Weasley returned to Hogwarts, and my best friend didn't even tell me."

"I'm sorry," said Sarah. "But, I've got good news. Bill will be coming to Hogwarts every week to tutor DADA, so you can see him then."

Rowan's face brightened. "Oh, good. But, I still think you should drop this Romania business. You get into enough trouble as it is dealing with the vaults. Why go asking for more?"

"Dragons, Rowan. Dragons," said Charlie. 

"Yes, dragons. Like the dragon that nearly killed the both of you a few months ago." Rowan looked to Barnaby for help. Barnaby quickly resumed work on his essay. "We were worried sick when you lot went missing. We didn't know if you'd been hurt or killed. We don't deserve to be put through all that again, do we Barnaby?"

Barnaby's head popped up. "I know the answer to that," he said brightly. "I'm going with them."

"Um, you are?" asked Charlie. 

"Yeah." Barnaby looked at Sarah. "This counts as risking your life, right? Didn't we agree that from now on, whenever you risk your life I get to come?"

"Well, not in those exact words..."

"So, I'm going," he said. "Plus, I want to see the dragons too."

"We're gonna have a hard enough time getting Bill to let us go," said Charlie. "Let alone anyone else."

"I might have an idea," said Sarah slowly, a plan formulating as she spoke. "It's a stupid idea, but it might work. You're right, Charlie. We should go talk to Bill at Gringotts."

"Excellent. Tomorrow after lessons?"

Rowan threw her quill down. "You're just going to sneak out of Hogwarts and waltz into Gringotts? You'll get caught."

Sarah smiled. Rowan was so innocent. "Don't worry. We're not the first people to leave Hogwarts without permission. We just have to be smart about it."

Rowan gave one last attempt. "Isn't this the kind of recklessness you're always trying to talk Ben out of? You said yourself all his trips to Knockturn Alley were mad. What kind of example are you setting for him?"

Sarah did feel a pang of guilt at this, but Charlie said, "Yes Rowan, but we're not cursing random dark wizards on the street for kicks and giggles. We're doing it for a very noble cause."

"What noble cause?"

"Dragons," they said together.