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There was no means of steering; the dragon could not see where it was going, and Mia knew that if it turned sharply or rolled in midair they would find it impossible to cling onto its broad back.
Nevertheless, as they climbed higher and higher, London unfurling below them like a grey-and-green map, Mia's overwhelming feeling was of gratitude for an escape that had seemed impossible. Crouching low over the beast's neck, she clung tight to the metallic scales, the dragon's wings beating the air like the sails of a windmill. Behind her, whether from delight or fear, she could not tell. Harry was yelling, Ron kept swearing at the top of his voice, and Hermione seemed to be sobbing.
After five minutes or so, Mia lost some of her immediate dread that the dragon was going to throw them off, for it seemed intent on nothing but getting as far away from its underground prison as possible. However, the question of how and when they were to dismount remained rather frightening. He had no idea how long dragons could fly without landing, nor how this particular dragon, which could barely see, would locate a good place to put down.
She glanced around constantly, her eyes flickering red. How long would it be before Voldemort knew that they had broken into the Lestranges' vault? How soon would the goblins ofGringotts notify Bellatrix? How quickly would they realise what had been taken? And then, when they discovered that the golden cup was missing? Voldemort would know, at last, that they were hunting Horcruxes. But her thought kept going to Draco. Was Voldemort going to hurt him? No matter how long they kept flying, Mia kept picturing his face in her head and in that moment, she longed for nothing more than to see him again.
The dragon seemed to crave cooler and fresher air. It climbed steadily until they were flying through wisps of chilly cloud, andMia could no longer make out the little coloured dots which were cars pouring in and out of the capital. On and on they flew, over countryside parcelled out in patches of green and brown, over roads and rivers winding through the landscape like strips of matte and glossy ribbon.
The sun slipped lower in the sky, which was turning indigo; andstill the dragon flew, cities and towns gliding out of sight beneaththem, its enormous shadow sliding over the earth like a giant darkcloud. Every part of Mia ached with the effort of holding on to the dragon's back.
"We're dropping!" Ron yelled. Mia looked down and saw deep green mountains and lakes,coppery in the sunset. The landscape seemed to grow larger andmore detailed as he squinted over the side of the dragon, and shewondered whether it had divined the presence of fresh water bythe flashes of reflected sunlight.Lower and lower the dragon flew, in great spiraling circles, honing in, it seemed, upon one of the smaller lakes.
"I say we jump!" Mia yelled to her friends.
"When?" Ron yelled as Mia looked down.
"Now!" she screamed.
She slithered over the side of the dragon and plummeted feet firsttoward the surface of the lake; the drop was greater than he hadestimated and she hit the water hard, plunging like a stone intoa freezing, green, reed-filled world.
Before Mia had time to kick towards the surface, her eyes flashes red as sparks left her fingers. She was looking into Voldemort's mind.
Mia felt horrified to see the floor of Malfoy Manor was covered in bloody, dead bodies. Lucius, Narcissa and Draco were looking at thecarnage in stunned silence, while Bellatrix, lipsparted, eyes narrowed, watched as Voldemort walked around the room. The next thing she knew, there were a rapid flash of memories going through her head.
Dumbledore's desk drawer slid open, revealing Tom Riddle's diary and aring with a black stone; the underground lake; an old woman in a parlour, her teeth black withage, opening a box to reveal Helga Hufflepuff's cup;Hogwarts castle; the face of a beautiful, sad-eyed woman standing with her equally beautiful mother; the Lestrange's vault atGringotts; a tarnished tiara, a filagreed Ravenclaw Eagle among the crown's detail.
Mia's eyes went back to blue as she kicked toward the surfaceand emerged, panting, to see Harry, Ron and Hermione were at the shore, looking around desperatly for Mia.
"There!" Ron yelled, pointing as he saw Mia. Spluttering and gasping,Mia saw for the shore and was pulled onto the slipperygrass by her brother. The twins looked at each other and knew they saw the same thing.
"H-He knows," Mia gasped as she sat up and winced as she looked at her wound. The stitched magically put in by Fleur had come out and blood was dripping down her stomach.
"What?" Hermione asked shocked.
"He knows we broke into Gringotts," Harry said as Ron got out his wand and pointed it at Mia's stomach and stitched it back up. She yelled in pain as Ron sent her an apologetic look.
"He knows what we took," Mia said, her voice shaking in pain, "and he knows we're hunting Horcruxes."
"How did he know?" Hermione asked as she helped Mia up.
"I saw him," Mia said as she stood up.
"You let him in?" Hermione asked horrified as Mia looked at her. "Mia, you can't do that!"
"Hermione, I can't always help it!" Mia said as she coughed. Hermione pulled out four bottles of pumpkinjuice she had brought from Shell Cottage and clean, dry robes forall of them. They changes and then gulped down the juice.
"What happened?" Ron asked as Mia put on her dry, warm jacket.
"Well, he's angry, and scared too," Harry said.
"He knows, if we find and destroy all the Horcruxes, we'll be able to kill him," Mia said as she put her hair into two plaits.
"I reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest," Harry said.
"And one of them is at Hogwarts," Mia said, "a Horcrux."
"What?" Hermione asked shocked. "You saw it?"
"We saw the castle," Harry said as Mia nodded.
"And Rowena Ravenclaw," Mia said, "it must have something to do with her. We have to go there."
"Well, we can't do that!" Hermione said horrified at the idea of it. "We've got to plan, we've got to figure it out!"
"Hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked?" Mia asked, "we plan, we get there, it goes to shit!"
"She's right!" Ron said. "One problem. Snape's Headmaster now, we can't just move freely from the front door!"
"Well, we'll go to Hogsmeade, to Honeydukes," Harry said as Mia nodded.
"Take the secret passage in the cellar," Mia said as she sighed. "There's something wrong with him," she added. "And now everything just feels disconnected."
"Maybe it's the Horcruxes, maybe he's getting weaker," Ron said as Mia shook her head, "maybe he's dying!"
"No," Harry said, shaking his head, "no, it's, it's more like he's wounded."
