Adventures in Curse Breaking: Dragon Treasure

Field Trip

Sarah found the others at dinner and pulled them aside, in Merula's case quite reluctantly. 

"What do you want, Spellman?" she grumbled as she met the others in front of the fireplace. "I've got better things to do than listen to you."

"I've got great new for all of you," said Sarah. 

"You're leaving Hogwarts?"

"No," she said, glaring, though she had to hold back a smile. The plan was already working. Merula was still insulting Sarah, but she wasn't talking about murder or revenge on Rakepick.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans is finally coming out with a ghost flavor?" asked Barnaby. 

They all looked at him curiously. "Not that I'm aware of. Are they supposed to?"

"No, I've just always wondered what they would taste like." Sarah chuckled. 

"I imagine it would be something like marshmallow," said Penny. "Or maybe candy floss..."

Charlie couldn't contain himself any longer. "We're going to go see the dragons!" he blurted, so fast they hardly understood it.

"Come again?" said Merula. 

"Remember how Bill mentioned that his next assignment would be at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary?" said Sarah.

"I do seem to recall that, along with the epic tantrum you and Charlie threw when he wouldn't let you tag along," said Merula with her characteristic eye-roll.

"Well, Bill changed his mind. He's going to let all of us go!" 

She and Charlie filled the others in on everything that had happened since Bill visited Hogwarts. 

"I don't know. This sounds really dangerous," said Penny. 

"It sounds brilliant!" said Barnaby. "All those wild dragons up close. Norwedgian Ridebacks--"

"Hungarian Horntails," said Charlie. 

"Welsh Greens!"

"Romanian Longhorns!"

"Give it a rest, will you?" said Merula. "We get it, dragons are cool."

"And dangerous," said Penny again. "You might have fought one before Sarah, but the rest of us haven't!"

"Please," said Merula. "Spellman was lucky. No way she could have bested that Horntail without my help."

"Come off it, Merula," said Charlie. "You know Sarah fought the Horntail alone."

"None of this is making me feel any better!" Penny squeaked. 

"Don't worry," said Sarah. "We're going to be smart about this. Dragons rarely attack humans unless they're provoked."

"Unless they're Peruvian Viper Tooths," interjected Charlie. "Humans are their favorite prey."

Penny paled. 

Sarah shot him a dirty look. "But there are no Peruvian Viper Tooths in Romania. And besides, even if a dragon did attack one of us, the rest of us would be there to help. Trust me, this isn't the most dangerous thing any of us have gone through."

Penny didn't seem entirely convinced, and Merula claimed that nobody accept her was powerful enough to tame a dragon, but they all agreed to go on the trip. After stopping at Hagrid's to borrow camping supplies, a lecture by Kettleburn on how to interact with dragons, and multiple attempts to convince Barnaby that he wouldn't be able to ride a dragon, they met Bill in the courtyard.