Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Visitors, New and Old

11:20am

Wednesday, 2 August 1995

Romanian Dragon Reserve, Romania

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The buildings rapidly grew in size as they approached. Harry found that, even squinting, it wasn't easy to focus on them, not on exactly where they thought that they'd land. But then, that wasn't unexpected. Firstly, he wasn't the one in control of the flying. And secondly, as fast as a Nimbus Two Thousand was, a dragon was faster still. And Ramaranth in particular, especially when she was trying to show off was exceptionally fast. Which he suspected that she was.

Her wings flared and he was forced to grab on to the ridge spike in front of him quickly so that he wasn't tipped off backwards as she slowed and her back went almost perpendicular to the ground, her tail towards the ground.

Having regained his balance, Harry leant out slightly, looking past her wing and down at the ground.

There were quite a number of people down there, more than he would have expected. And some of them looked to be wearing dresses? Or more likely, robes. Unless there was something official happening, none of the female dragon keepers wore robes. No, it was strictly pants for everyone regardless of gender. They were simply much more practical.

A waving arm directed up at him focussed his attention and Harry recognised Sirius. Grinning, he waved back.

And then Ramaranth dropped, adjusting her wings so that they could land. Harry waited and made sure to lean back. He'd learnt that trick after the first couple of times riding her. She tended to land on her back legs first and then come down heavily on her front legs and, if he wasn't careful, then he was in danger of being flung head over heels off of her. It'd been a very close thing that first time.

Finally, she was down and Harry was able to relax his grip.

§Thanks for the lift home, Ramarath§, he said, giving her a pat on her neck

§It was my pleasure, Speaker§, she replied.

Then, after making sure that he had a firm grip on her ridge spike, Harry swung his leg over and allowed his body to slide down her side. Once he was fully extended, he felt around, finally found the front leg that Ramarath had cocked for him and let go. A short jump later and he was back on the ground.

"That never gets old, seeing you do that, Pup," Sirius said.

"I'm sure that I could get one of the dragons to take you for a flight if you want," Harry said, turning to face him.

"You know, one day, I might even take you up on that," Sirius half-laughed.

"I'd go for a ride on the back of a dragon, that is if I could hold on to you," a voice that Harry instantly recognised said.

Quickly, his eyes wide, Harry stepped out and around his godfather.

"Daphne?" he asked.

"Hi, Harry," she said, a huge smile on her face. "Surprise!"

"What are you doing here?" he asked before quickly continuing. "Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you're here but I had no idea that you were coming. You never said anything in your letters to even hint that you were coming."

A cuff over the back of his head stopped him with his mouth half-open.

"You're babbling," Sirius admonished. "Just hug the girl."

Harry didn't need any more prompting than that and instantly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. His face buried into her hair and he breathed in that oh-so-familiar smell that he hadn't smelt in what felt far too long. Feeling her arms around him brought a large smile to his face.