Harry laughed silently as he started walking forward. Ron sighed as he moved with him under the safety of the Cloak, trying desperately to be as quiet as Harry amidst the crackling leaves and dry branches.
A small clearing and the mouth of a cave became visible after a few moments; there were nine men, after a quick count, outside the cave. Three were sleeping in bedrolls, two were sitting by a fire, and four were walking the perimeter of the clearing. Ron nudged Harry and pointed to the men sleeping; no one should know they had been stunned if they could do it properly. Harry nodded.
On the count of three they silently stunned two of the men sleeping; no one seemed to notice. Ron congratulated himself, and waited for Harry to stun the last man. They turned their attentions to the men on watch. Harry pointed to two of the men; Ron nodded again, and took a deep breath. Now the real fun would begin.
Harry held up three fingers; as the third one fell, they both yelled out "Petrificus Totalus!" twice in quick succession. Both of Harry's men fell, but Ron's second use of the spell missed, and the man quickly threw a shield charm up. Harry swore under his breath. "He got lucky, he's blocking us. Now everyone's on alert."
"Yeah, but they're stupid. Everyone's coming out of the cave." Ron counted ten additional men quickly pour out of the cave, wands raised. He knew they couldn't be seen under the cloak, and the centaurs wouldn't be seen until they wanted to be. All of a sudden a volley of arrows rained through the air; screams rang out as men fell. Harry and Ron began casting more curses at anyone they could until all twenty-one in the clearing were down; two more had run out during the short fight.
"Let's go flush out the other two," Harry said, and keeping their wands in front of them, they moved to the mouth of the cave.
Charlie was exhausted. The stupid Greens were still fighting each other, though it finally looked like one was winning, and it looked as though they were going to have to either get their attention with only thirteen people on brooms - two more had suffered serious enough burns to go down--to try to get them to land or subdue one of them over the water.
"Where the hell are the rest of the keepers?" he muttered to no one in particular. His heart leapt. At that particular moment, a group of three people came strolling over the hill. His heart fell. They were from the Ministry. Great. At least they've got broomsticks.
"Hello!" One of them called cheerfully. "We're from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. What seems to be the problem?"
Charlie almost fell off the broomstick as he stared down at the woman. "Ummm…there are rogue dragons on the loose?" he said, pointing up behind him at the two still fighting Greens.
"Well, not a problem. Thanks for handling it, we'll take it from here," another man stated, almost cheerfully. The three mounted their broomsticks and came to rest in front of Charlie, who continued to stare. He closed his mouth when he was afraid that drool would come out.
George came up to a stop behind him. "Can we help you?"
Charlie whipped his head around. "This Ministry buf-"
George interrupted him smoothly. "Ah, yes. It's about time you showed up. Thank goodness, we were getting worried. We thought it best to subdue them over the land for the dragon's sake, but we weren't sure of how best to do so. Now that you're here, I'm sure you'll figure out what we couldn't. Let's get out of their way, shall we, brother?"
Charlie thought his jaw would come unhinged, but at the look George gave him, quickly snapped it shut. "Oh, yes, of course, brother." As George yelled for everyone to come down to the ground and dragged him down with him, he hissed, "What are you doing?"
"Letting them do our dirty work. It's obvious they have no idea what they're doing, considering they think they only need three people, and no use for a team of dragon keepers besides. We'll interfere if anyone looks to be seriously in trouble, but otherwise, they'll just be in for a rude awakening."
Charlie sighed, thinking that this was probably highly unethical. Yet after the morning they'd already had, it was sounding like a pretty good plan.
He watched the three Ministry officials randomly fire spells at one of the Greens. "Well, at least they're all aiming for the same one."
George laughed. "Yea, but not at the same time. Don't know if it'll be effective…oh!"
Everyone groaned collectively as one of the women barely missed being scorched by a narrow jet.
"This is so wrong," Charlie muttered.
"But it's working!" George shouted gleefully. One of the Greens had noticed the three officials casting spells, and was attempting to move towards them; they were now fleeing back over the grass. The second Green was still trying to fight it, but the fight was progressively moving from over the lake.
"Alright, let's go rescue them," Charlie declared.
"Need any help?" someone called. Charlie almost cried with delight; a group of twelve dragon keepers - sweet Merlin, flying on broomsticks - was headed towards them.
"Do we ever!" Charlie cried back. And everyone launched themselves into the air to mount an assault against the unusually aggressive Greens.
Minutes later, Charlie let out a shout of triumph as one of the Greens was successfully stunned and the trio of shopkeepers on the ground lowered it gently towards them. He yelled again a few seconds later as he dipped out of the way of a flame from the remaining Welsh, which they were able to surround and subdue with almost two dozen still on broomsticks.
Charlie descended to the ground as the keepers from Wales performed the necessary functions to keep it contained. As he sat down in the shade of one of the pumpkins near Hagrid's hut, Kingsley came walking towards him from the side of building. Charlie groaned and his muscles protested as he stood up again to meet him.
"Charlie, George," Kingsley said, nodding in way of greeting. Charlie turned to see his brother jogging up behind him; he came to a stop in time to nod back. Charlie turned back.
"Thank you for sending the Aurors, Kingsley, they were a big help in the fight against these dragons. Have you been able to find out where they came from?" Charlie asked.
Kingsley nodded again. "I've sent Harry and Ron to round up the remaining men involved in what we've come to learn is a dragon smuggling ring. There are only six men involved, five now that we've captured the man pretending to be Hagrid, so they should be able to handle the task quite adequately. However, I thought you'd like to be the ones to come with me back to the Ministry to question the man captured this morning, considering your friendship with Hagrid."
George answered first. "We appreciate you allowing us to come with you, Kingsley. I, for one, would love to be there when we find out where Hagrid's been all this time." Charlie echoed these sentiments, and the men headed off to Hogsmeade where they could Apparate to the Ministry.
He should get a vacation, Charlie mused as he ran. At least a week, perhaps down off the coast in Greece.
After running through Hogsmeade and then Apparating to the Ministry, Kingsley, Charlie, and George made their down two levels to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where the man was being held temporarily until some solution was to be had. Then he told them without any use of coercion or force that his name was Don Myterial, that Hagrid was being kept in a cellar Myterial had created in Hagrid's own hut, and that Harry and Ron were running off to face twenty-three men in a cave deep within the Forest surrounding Hogwarts.
After Kingsley got the precise location of the cave, Charlie, George, and Kingsley turned around and ran back for Hogwarts.
His present musings were taking place as he was hurtling through dense underbrush, snagging his shirt and trousers; all three had abandoned robes in their flight to help rescue their friends and family. As the dragon situation at the lake had been taken care of, they left a small group behind for emergencies and to check on Hagrid, and had taken the keepers and all of the Aurors into the Forest with them. Charlie only hoped that they weren't too late.
The cave was absolutely silent. Harry had the tip of his wand lit, but they couldn't see more than a few feet in front of them. The centaurs didn't need light to see, and were staying back about ten feet.
All of a sudden the floor gave out beneath them; Ron let out an involuntary yell, but managed to keep hold of his wand. He fell what was probably twenty feet before landing heavily, and he felt his right ankle give out beneath him. Muttering several choice curses, he lit his own wand. He couldn't see anything in front of him.
He lifted the wand above his head, but didn't see anything but blackness. He lowered the light to illuminate the path in front of him.
He found the Invisibility Cloak several feet away, undamaged, and threw it over himself and kept on walking, still favoring his right side slightly. After several more minutes of searching, he found no sign of Harry, and debated calling his name. Something wasn't right; what was going on? Panic was starting to grip his chest; he would have made a terrible Auror if he panicked this quickly.
As quietly as he could manage, he called out, "Harry? Can you hear me?"
Nothing. No sounds came back to him in the darkness.
So Ron grimly started walking with no idea of the direction he had chosen, keeping the light pointed downward. He called out Harry's name every few moments, stopping to listen for a response.
He was becoming more and more afraid. How could they have gotten separated like this? What if Harry was seriously injured and he was walking right past him and Harry couldn't answer because…Ron's brain refused to think the impossible. He'd lost Hermione, he couldn't lose them both.
His hand became sweaty; the light started to flicker as panic gripped him. His hand was trembling uncontrollably. He was starting losing control of the spell. His mind was flying in all directions as it latched on to the worst case scenario; even as he refused to accept it, he couldn't help thinking, "What if?"
Eventually it became too much to handle, and he collapsed onto the ground, allowing the spell to extinguish. He dropped his head onto his hands, and finally let the tears he'd only shed once for her finally come. There, in the darkness of the cave where he had no idea how to get out, no idea where his best friend was, no idea if his brother was okay battling three dragons, no idea if Hagrid was even still alive, he allowed the memories he tried to suppress and the truth he'd never come to terms with wash over him.
He remembered her last day; they had decided to honeymoon in a secluded hut in the mountains in Wales. Their wedding was a whirlwind of images and incredulity, for Ron at least. They had taken a series of Portkeys to throw off his brothers, and laughingly arrived at the hut as the sun was setting. While Hermione was watching the sun, he watched her. And they spent a glorious four days before she was taken from him.
A dragon had escaped from the nearby reservation. No one lived up in those parts, really. He was still asleep when he heard the roars of the Ridgeback. The keepers had been chasing it for half a day, and it was angry and hungry. It happened upon Hermione, who screamed once and then was accidently stepped on as the dragon turned around to investigate the scream.
By the time Ron had arrived, wandless and shirtless and panicky, the Ridgeback had been subdued by the team of keepers, who had been alerted to its presence by Hermione's scream. Ron had been the one to find Hermione; she was still holding her book in one hand.
He hadn't even known she had gotten up to read; she had gotten up that morning to watch the sunrise and take a walk. He found her note later that day.
The team of keepers was horrified, but Ron couldn't even speak or acknowledge their presence. At the funeral, one of them came up to him to offer their condolences, and quoted the dragon keepers' motto to him: "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him*."
Ron thought it a horrible thing to say, especially as they were holidaying and didn't even know about the reservation. But for the next few weeks, as he sat alone in his room, he wondered if he would have done anything differently if he would have heard those words earlier. If he could do something about it now, in her memory. If he could honor it by those words, to prevent someone else from thinking that dragons weren't dangerous.
The quote began to fester in his mind, and over a year after her death, he entered into the training to be a keeper.
Ron began to shake as sobs racked his body; images of Hermione were pouring through his brain, things he had not let himself think about in his waking moments for almost two years. Hermione, smiling at him across the table in the common room as she took his homework from him, rolling her eyes. Hermione as she kissed him on the cheek before his Quidditch match. Hermione, sending a flock of birds after him, eyes flashing and hair standing on end. Hermione, throwing down a handful of Basilik fangs and kissing him for the first time. Hermione, tearfully crying that she would indeed marry him. Hermione, a vision in white as she walking down to be his bride. Hermione, lying next to him, smiling…
Hermione's face abruptly disappeared as he was kicked from behind. "Ron?"
"Harry?"
Harry was holding the wall next to him; he had tripped over Ron, who still wearing the Invisibility Cloak. He quickly wiped his face and removed it. "I thought I'd lost you, I'd been walking around, calling your name…"
If Harry noticed Ron had been crying, he chose not to say anything. "Me, too. Glad you've got the Cloak, thought I'd lost it. Let's both get underneath it again."
As they shuffled underneath it, Harry continued talking quietly. "Which direction were you going?"
Ron pointed, and then realized Harry probably couldn't see. "The direction you were going when you ran into me."
"Okay," Harry said as they started moving. "Er…why were you stopped anyway? If you want to talk-"
"Not now, Harry," Ron said, but not as harsh as before. They stopped moving, and Harry looked over at him. "But soon, I promise."
Harry just nodded, or at least, Ron thought he did in the darkness, and they continued onward.
For several minutes, neither said a word, and the landscape didn't change. It was a pitch-black, narrow corridor that gently sloped downwards, and no other sounds came except for their own faint footsteps.
Without warning, the path took a sharp right turn. Harry extinguished his light, and once he did so, they could see pale yellow light coming from around the corner. They hunched over as much as they could and quietly turned the corner. Ron had to place a hand over his mouth to stop the gasp threatened to come out.
A small adolescent Common Welsh Green was chained up in the back corner of a large cavern where two men sat talking in low voices at a small wooden table next to a spring that ran through the center. Several dozen dragon eggs from several different species lay roasting on top of a fire pit.
Harry and Ron turned to look at each other, and then nodded. Both raised their wands and shot a Stunning spell towards the two men--and the spell seemed to be absorbed into the air several feet before reaching them.
Harry swore under his breath. Ron just sighed. Harry started to pace in a tight circle in the opening, and Ron began slipping out of the Invisibility Cloak. He grabbed the back of Harry's shirt as his calf slipped out, and hoped they were still too far away for the men inside the cavern to notice. Harry swore again but stopped moving.
After a few more moments, he turned to Ron and began whispering in a low voice. "Okay, I think the shield around them is location based, so if we can flush them out, we should be able to take them down."
"Okay," Ron said, slowly dragging out the word. But before he could get anything else out, Harry had nodded and turned back towards the cavern. Ron shook his head. I guess we'll come up with a plan as we go along.
George gave a low whistle as the group came upon the clearing that was to house the entrance of the cave. A quick count by one of the Aurors gave the number of stunned or pierced men, all bound, to be twenty-one.
"How did they do this by themselves?" Charlie asked Kingsley in amazement. "I know Harry's good, but…"
"They weren't alone," Kingsley said, kneeling next to a man that was bleeding through his robes, an arrow protruding from his thigh. "Neither Harry nor Ron uses a bow and arrow. And judging by this man's wound, I think this battle took place less than twenty minutes ago."
"There are only two men left…where are Harry and Ron?" Charlie scanned the bushes surrounding the clearing but didn't see any evidence that his brother or friend might be laying there, unconscious or unable to yell for help. "If it's been almost that long, why haven't they come back out of the cave?"
Charlie, George, and Kingsley looked at each other for a few more moments, and then, shouting "Lumos!" to ignite their wands, started into the blackness. The rest of the Aurors and keepers, still roaming throughout the clearing, quickly followed.
Kingsley led the way, keeping his wand tip lowered to the ground. After several moments, he came to such an abrupt halt that Charlie nearly stabbed him in the back with his wand. He glanced up at Kingsley, who pointed in front of him.
A very narrow canyon spanned the path in front of them. Its depth could not be determined due to the lack of light; it could have been ten feet or ten thousand feet for all Charlie could guess. Before Charlie could open his mouth, he heard a large crack behind him that made him flinch with its suddenness, and George appeared in a whirl of loose dirt on the other side of the gap, wand tip still lit.
He flicked his hair lazily out of his eyes and shifted his stance as he brandished his wand. "Well? Are you gentlemen going to join me, or am I going to save the Savior of the Wizarding World and our little brother myself?"
Charlie rolled his eyes as he eyed the spot next to George, and then turned on the spot. The sound of almost two dozen wizards Apparating within a few seconds of each other filled the passageway like the sound of popcorn popping, and within a few minutes they were continuing along.
After several more minutes, it began to start sloping downward. As the passage suddenly took a sharp left, Kingsley threw out a hand as he extinguished his wand, and did not withdraw it until everyone had done the same. Then they all crept forward as silently as they could as the darkness began to turn into light. Charlie cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and heard others doing the same.
Charlie could see two men sitting at a low wooden table; there was a slow running stream next to them, providing a melodious background noise that echoed through the cavern. It was offset periodically by the bellows of the Common Welsh tied up in the corner to their left. He saw four species of dragon egg roasting off to their right. And he felt George elbow him sharply in his side and had to stifle the groan it threatened to release.
"What?" he hissed out of the side of his mouth.
"Look in front of you," George whispered back. Charlie looked straight across the cavern and didn't see anything…and then he noticed that just slightly off to the right, there was an identical opening.
"Where do you think that comes from?" George whispered. "We came straight here, and there weren't any branches or detours."
"Harry's still got the Cloak?" Charlie whispered back. After a few seconds, George affirmed. "He's got to be there, then. How do we get his attention?"
If Charlie had been able to see George's face, he would have known by the grin that spread across it what George had planned. As it was, knowing George as well as he did, he wasn't at all surprised when a series of fireworks exploded in the cavern. The noise was deafening, and Charlie pressed his hands over his ears to try to keep out some of the noise.
"Well, now they know someone's here!" Charlie yelled to George.
"Yes, sir!" one of the keepers yelled back.
The dragon was furious at the noise the fireworks were making; she was contributing her own high-pitched bellows that were making Ron's ears actually twitch. He winced at a particularly loud one.
"So, I assume that they came in a different way, so hopefully they'll know how to get us out of here," he yelled to Harry.
Harry nodded. "Well, let's assume that they can see us, as well, if they're galloping around setting off fireworks, and that they'll back us up when we need it."
Ron snorted. "When we need it? We took out twenty-one guys out in the clearing in less than a minute! Why do we need back-up for two--assuming we can figure out a way to get them to move, of course?"
Harry was already eyeing the rock wall below the opening they were standing in. "Because I think they've figured out a way to control the dragons. And even though that one over there isn't full grown, we'll need back-up if it decides to start attacking us."
Ron stared at Harry for a minute, and then swore. Harry didn't notice; he was still looking for a way to get down the twenty-five feet or so to the cavern floor. Ron shook his head; for someone who was supposed to be an outstanding Auror, he didn't think sometimes. Ron gripped his wand and turned on the spot, appearing exactly in the spot as Harry's eyes.
"See?" he said, looking up at Harry. "I could have been an Auror. Look at me, thinking smart in dangerous situa--"
An alarm started sounding. Harry sighed and then appeared next to him. "We can Apparate in this cavern, but they have alarms."
"So?" Ron said. "They already knew someone was here because of the fireworks."
Harry pointed. "Now they know where." The Common Welsh, no longer bound, was bearing towards them.
Charlie had no idea what spell the men had used to free the dragon as they were too far away, but he saw the movement of the wand, and then the dragon move towards the passageway where Ron and Harry were. Kingsley began barking orders to the Aurors concerning the dragon; Charlie turned to George.
"Let's go find those men." George smiled grimly and then Apparated without waiting for Charlie. Once on the ground, the two began moving stealthily through the large cavern. Besides the small stream, there were several large rock formations, spires that reached to the ceiling in places, and areas of the floor that sloped upwards for up to ten feet before dropping sharply on the other side. The men were no where to be seen. Neither were Ron and Harry.
After checking behind boulders and around stone structures, Charlie leaned back against the sheer face of a wall that rose perhaps a dozen feet in the air. George slumped next to him. "That dragon's putting up a tougher fight, just like those Green's out by the lake," he said softy. "Whatever spell they're using, we've got to find them to put a stop to it."
Charlie didn't say anything, for he heard movement around the corner. He brought his own wand up--only to come face to face with his brother. "Ron!" he said with relief. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine. We threw the Cloak over us when the dragon came near and it got confused," Ron said as Harry seemed to come out of thin air behind him.
"Have you seen the two men who were in here?" George asked.
Harry shook his head, and then spoke quickly. "Let's Disillusion and split up. Shoot up red sparks if you find them. We're close to a corner now, we'll work our way out in an even pattern until we reach the opposite side. I'll take this wall, with Ron covering the middle next to me. George and Charlie, do the same for the opposite side."
Everyone nodded and then began to move their respective directions. Before splitting up with Harry, Ron called out to him. "Be careful, mate."
Harry grinned. "You, too. See you on the other side."
Ron quickly cast the charm on himself and began jogging from structure to structure. After a couple of minutes, he had to bite back a curse as he almost ran into one of the men. They were huddled behind one of the large formations towards the center of the cavern; if George were moving at the same pace, he'd be the closest…Ron wondered if he could stun one of them first before shooting up sparks.
Ron paused for a second to wonder why they had moved. Their previously location was out in the open, but no spells could penetrate the shield surrounding it. Ron assumed that people could, if they were now hiding. He hoped Harry was right about it being location based…
They were hiding in the middle of the formation, so Ron's disadvantage at not being able to stun them from where he stood gave him a communicative advantage. He sent his Patronus out as quietly as he could to the rest of the party, strengthened his Disillusionment Charm, and tried to figure out the best vantage point to stun the men from.
When Harry and George arrived, he quietly whispered what he decided, and Harry laughed quietly. He also suggested it would be nice to wait for Charlie. After a few minutes, a limping, cursing Charlie arrived; he'd tripped over some loose gravel. George wasn't as polite in stifling his laughter as Ron and Harry, although he did it silently, as the two men were still hiding in the next formation over.
"Are you ready?" Ron asked Harry. Harry just grinned again, and then put the Invisibility Cloak on. After a few more minutes of silence, Ron saw Harry's foot appear briefly at the top of the rock formation above the two men's head. Trying to picture where the rest of Harry's body was, and hoping he was holding tightly onto the Cloak, he raised his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry remained invisible, and Ron breathed a sigh of relief as he held his wand aloft. But the two men remained unbound and unstunned.
"What is he waiting for?" George hissed.
Suddenly one of the men began laughing loudly. The second man looked terrified at the volume of his laughter, and frantically tried to quiet him. While he was looking panicked and gesturing with his hands, his legs started a frenzied dance, kicking and flailing about without regards to the small confines of their hideout. Ron winced when he heard one foot connect with the rock. The three moved in to bind the men while Harry's charms had them distracted.
It was over within minutes; Harry had removed his spells as soon as the ropes were in place and then men had been moved out into the open. Charlie, Ron, Harry, and George all pointed their wands simultaneously, and Harry simply said, "Stop the dragon."
With the fight over before it had begun, though the man who had been hit by the Tickling Charm glared at his partner, they were told the counter spell to release the amplification of the dragon. George stayed to watch the men as the other three hurried off to help out their companions.
Kingsley yelled, "One more time, everyone! On three!" All sixteen wizards and witches raised their wands and shouted the stunning spell at the same time--and to their tremendous surprise, the dragon went down heavily. It slammed into a rock arrangement with spires and barbs.
For several stunned seconds, no one spoke or moved. It took Kingsley that long to notice that Harry, Ron, and Charlie were standing off to the side, Harry with his wand still aloft, with the same stunned look on their faces. Harry broke the moment by lowering his wand and moving toward Kingsley.
"The two men are bound somewhere out in the middle; George is watching them. They have some sort of spell to amplify the dragon's power, sort of like giving them an adrenaline rush. We had just removed the spell when…" he trailed off, looking over at the dead dragon. Blood was oozing down the rocks. He glanced back at Kingsley. "We need to get these men back to Headquarters and see if they know of any more groups like this, and where they learned this spell."
Kingsley nodded, and turned towards his team to start issuing orders. Harry walked back over to Ron and Charlie, the latter still staring sadly. "I'm sorry, Charlie," he said. "I should have waited, or at least warned them--"
Charlie held up a hand. "No, it's not your fault. Let's just get it out of here and go home. It's been a long day." Ron snorted, and Charlie laughed as he slapped him on the back. "Not a bad first day, huh?"
Much later that evening, as they stood outside the forest watching the fire burn the body of the young, dead dragon, Ron moved closer to Charlie. "It really affected you, didn't it? Seeing it die, I mean."
Charlie didn't turn to look at Ron, but continued staring into the flames. He didn't speak for several minutes. They had levitated the dragon out of the cavern Charlie had come through after Vanishing as much of the blood as possible, and been happily reunited with an undernourished but safe Hagrid. As the sun had set, per dragon keeper tradition, they were honoring this deadly, powerful creature in the manner in which it was most familiar: fire.
"So comes snow after fire," Charlie finally said quietly, "and even dragons have their ending.*" He finally removed his eyes from the fire to look at Ron. "You joined us because you finally learned to respect and fear their power. They are magnificent creatures, greatly misunderstood, but never to be taken lightly. But they are also not villains--anything they do is just in their nature. And that nature is beautiful and deadly. So yes, it is something that affects me, seeing a dragon die."
Ron turned his eyes back to the fire. So comes snow after fire. After the past few years of his life, maybe, just maybe, he could have peace after all.