Keeping a Promise

Chapter 19

Slipping on the hot metal, we all prepared to fight because we knew that the only way out was through the horde of goblins. I started hurling stunning spells into them, causing some to topple over. Kam laughed and hurled more into the crowd. I looked back around and saw wizard guards making their way inside the vault. I let out a few more stunning spells, and one of them hit the dragon outside the door. 

The tethered dragon let out a roar, and a gush of flame flew over the goblins: the wizards fled, doubled-up, back the way they had come. I smirked at myself; my mistake had turned genius. I then saw Harry pointing his wand at the thick cuffs chaining the beast to the floor he yelled, 'Relashio!'The cuffs broke open with loud bangs. 

"This way!" Harry yelled, and still shooting Stunning Spells at the advancing goblins he sprinted towards the blind dragon. 

"Harry – Harry – what are you doing?" cried Hermione. 

"Get up, climb up, come on –" Astoria said, getting what Harry was up to.

"Oh fuck yeah," Kamrynn exclaimed and followed Harry onto the back of the dragon. 

The dragon had not realized that it was free: Harry's foot found the crook of its hind leg and he pulled himself up on to its back. The scales were hard as steel: it did not even seem to feel him. He stretched out an arm; Hermione hoisted herself up; I helped Astoria; Ron helped me up before climbing on behind me, and a second later the dragon became aware that it was untethered.

With a roar it reared: I dug in my knees, clutching as tightly as he could to the jagged scales as the wings opened, knocking the shrieking goblins aside like skittles, and it soared into the air. Harry, Ron and Hermione, flat on its back, scraped against the ceiling as it dived towards the passage opening, while the pursuing goblins hurled daggers that glanced off its flanks.

 "We'll never get out, it's too big!" Hermione screamed, but the dragon opened its mouth and belched flame again, blasting the tunnel, whose floors and ceiling cracked and crumbled.

 By sheer force thed ragon clawed and fought its way through. Harry's eyes were tight shut against the heat and dust:deafened by the crashing of rock and the dragon's roars, he could only cling to its back, expecting to beshaken off at any moment; then he heard Hermione yelling, "Defodio!"

She was helping the dragon enlarge the passageway, carving out the ceiling as it struggled upwards,towards the fresher air, away from the shrieking and clanking goblins: We all started coping her, blasting the ceiling apart with more gouging spells. We passed the underground lake, and the great crawling, snarling beast seemed to sense freedom and space ahead of it, and behind them the passage wasfull of the dragon's thrashing, spiked tail, of great lumps of rock, gigantic, fractured stalactites, and the clanking of the goblins seemed to be growing more muffled, while ahead, the dragon's fire kept their progress clear. 

 And then at last, by the combined force of their spells and the dragon's brute strength, we had blasted their way out of the passage into the marble hallway. Goblins and wizards shrieked and ran for cover, and finally the dragon had room to stretch its wings: turning its horned head towards the cool outside air it could smell beyond the entrance, it took off, and with all five of us still clinging to its back, it forced its way through the metal doors, leaving them buckled and hanging from their hinges as it staggered into Diagon Alley and launched itself into the sky. 

There was no means of steering; the dragon could not see where it was going, and I realized that if itturned sharply or rolled in mid-air we would find it impossible to cling on to its broad back. Nevertheless, as we climbed higher and higher, London unfurling below us like a grey and green map. Ron kept swearing at the top of his voice, and Hermione seemed to be sobbing. Kam was enjoying every second of riding on the dragon. She was sitting on the spine of it's back both arms in the air yelling that she was the queen of the world. Astoria held onto Kam's waist for dear life, screaming at the top of her lungs.  I laughed at my friends, but I was glad that we had a successful mission. 

I looked up the dragon and saw Harry holding his forehead. Something must've been off. I had no idea why he would be holding his head where his scar would be, but I knew it couldn't have been good. I knew that was a mark given to him by You-Know-Who, so it could've been a link to him. That would be awful if so. 

"Is it my imagination or are we loosing height?" Ron yelled. 

I looked around and noticed that he was right. We could see for miles. The dragon was flying over hills and lakes. Harry looked straight down, causing me to as well. I saw that we were right over one of the lakes. Harry and I exchanged looks and nodded at each other. 

"I say we jump when it gets low enough!" Harry called back to the others. "Straight into the water before it realizes we're here!"

 They agreed, Hermione a little faintly. I looked back down and could see the dragon's wide, yellow underbelly rippling in the surface of the water. 

"Now!" I yelled, lifting my leg over the side and sliding down off the dragon and into the water. 

We all popped up out of the water to see the dragon landing on the shore. We all turned around and high-tailed it for the opposite shore. Once we were on the shore, Hermione reached into her beaded bag and pulled out dry clothes for everyone. After we were done changing, I made a fire for us so we could get warm. Hermione passed out vials of pumpkin juice to each one of us. Ron gave me a slight smirk from across the fire. I looked away quickly and caught Hermione's eye. She looked a little sad as she looked from Ron to me. I was passed the dittany to pour onto my burns. 

"Well, on the top side," Ron said, watching the skin on his hands regrow. "We got the horcrux. On the down side -" 

"We lost the sword," Harry said, defeated. 

I gritted my teeth as the dittany started to do it's work. My burned skin faded away and new skin started growing. I passed the bottle to Kam, who seemed to use a little too much. 

"No sword. That double-crossing little scab," Ron seethed as he looked into the fire. 

Harry took the cup out of his pocket and set it on the grass in front of them. 

"At least we don't have to wear it this time," Ron commented. 

"Why is that? Did something happen before?" I asked, curious at what had happened while we were each on our separate missions. 

"Let's just say, I hurt all of us before leaving the group," Ron said, looking apologetically over at Hermione. "I was a complete ass because I couldn't see what was actually happening and won't believe what I had in front of me." 

Hermione blushed slightly. "But he's back now and that's the important thing." She then looked over the fire and out towards the lake. "What will happen to the dragon, you suppose?" 

"You sound like Hagrid," Ron smiled. "It's a dragon. It can look after itself." 

"Yeah," Kam spoke up. "You dumb bitch," she laughed. "I'm just kidding, Herms." 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What are we going to do though? He'll know, won't he? You-Know-Who will know that we are collecting the horcuxes now." 

"Maybe they'll be too scared to tell 'em," Ron suggested. "Maybe they'll cover it up." 

Astoria shook her head. "I highly doubt it. He'll definitely know that it was you. I mean, they know who took Bellatrix's wand, unfortunately." 

Harry then zoned out. Ron started playing with the grass that was at his feet. Hermione was still looking out over the lake, and Kam was yawning. Astoria and Kam exchanged glances. I sighed and looked down into the fire before I noticed that Harry had fell over. 

"Harry!" I yelled and ran over to him. 

"He knows," Harry said as he came to. "He knows and he's going to check on the other ones." 

"Oh, fuck," Kam said knowing we were in deep shit.