Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Elements At Play

4:40pm

Friday, 12 August 1995

Australasian Dragon Preserve, Australia

.

"Here, here and ... here!" Andy stated.

After pulling his wand back, he looked at Harry and cocked an eyebrow. Harry carefully examined the map of the Preserve and, in particular, the three glowing red dots positioned just in the ocean. They looked about right, exactly where they'd found the entrances to the three tunnels that led to the three weyrs.

"That looks right to me," Harry nodded.

"It's gotta be an animal, then," Charlie stated. "Too small for a human and a person couldn't tunnel in the sand like that for that distance without it collapsing."

"But what animal, though?" Sharon asked. "None that I know of, magical or mundane."

Silence was her only response and with good reason – none of them had come up with any answer, no matter how much research had been done. At this point, Harry doubted even Newt could answer the question.

"The only good news we have is that that last weyr is a lot further from the ocean," Bruce stated.

"True, but does that mean that it's safe?" Mick asked. "Could just take a while longer for whatever's doing this to tunnel that far."

"We need to keep those eggs safe," Andy stated. "This is the first clutch of eggs we've had here for quite a few years, and you all know that these are the only Opaleye dragons in the world. As dragon keepers, it's our responsibility to keep them safe and to help them prosper."

"Harry, can the dragons help us find what's doing this?" Charlie asked.

Harry shook his head in frustration. "I don't think so. Yes, they've got a flight of half a dozen dragons watching over the weyr and the eggs twenty-four seven but if whatever's taking the eggs is coming up from underground and the dragons can't sense whatever it is either – which they are most annoyed about – then I doubt that there's a lot that they can do to safeguard them."

"Even if we were there watching as well – which there's no guarantee the dragons would allow – I don't overly like the idea of simply reacting to the eggs getting taken," Andy frowned. "Even if we got there as soon as it happened and used young Harry's wind ability to flush the animal out, the chances of the eggs getting damaged is too high."

"Andy's right, we need to find this thing and catch it before it reaches the eggs," Bruce said.

"How though? The thing tunnels! Even assuming that it's starting from the ocean like the other three tunnels, it could be coming from anywhere! And there's no guarantee that it's coming in a straight line either. It could be circling for all we know!" Sharon stated, clearly frustrated.

"Then what do we do?" Jess, the lone apprentice attached to the Preserve asked. "We can't let those eggs be taken!"

"What we really need is to come up with a way to trap it before it can take the eggs, I just can't see how at the moment," Andy stated. "I'm open to ideas."

"Did someone say something about wanting to set a trap?"

Harry spun at the extremely interested-sounding voice to find an eager-looking Sirius standing just inside the door, Remus right along-side him.

"I think we've just found our answer!" Charlie laughed. "Gentlemen, ladies, let me introduce you to two of the Marauders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The pranks these guys pulled during their school years are still legendary after all this time."