Alex Weasley: Book 3

37

The hidden door led to an earthy tunnel that wasn't actually very long. Within minutes, the four girls had reached the mouth of what seemed to be a cave.
"Wow." Hermione said.

"We're in the forest." Laila looked around in awe. Alex was just as amazed by what she saw. It looked nothing like any part of the forest she'd seen before. The grass was much greener. There were magical and vibrant flowers growing all over the grove. Alex took the first step out of the cave.

"It's beautiful." She said, spinning around, trying to take in everything she could see. She moved to the side of the cave, climbing up onto its roof.

"If you fall you'll break your neck!" Hermione called. "Please get down."

"I'm hardly high enough to break my neck. And the view is breathtaking up here. I can see a lo-" she stopped, her breath hitching in her throat. "Heh, I think a broken neck might be a lot less painful than dragon fire."

"Where would you get dragon fire?" Hermione asked before realising what Alex meant. She ran out of the cave and followed Alex's gaze. "Oh no." Laila and Luna followed Hermione out.

"She's dead." Laila shrugged. "We should go before we end up dragon chow too."

"Laila!" Hermione hissed and the Slytherins sighed.

"Fine, let's all maybe die."

"Starting to think the founders had something for extremely dangerous reptiles." The large dragon beat its wings before soaring over to Alex and stopping right before her.

"Alex, please get down slowly." Hermione said, her voice only trembling the slightest.

"You guys should head back into the caves." Alex answered. "I'll be fine. Probably."

"I know you're like a magical-creatures-whisperer-person but it's a freaking dragon."

"Is that the official title? Magical-creatures-whisperer-person."

"This is nothing like Fluffy or Kichiro." Hermione hissed. The dragon faced the sky and snorted out a large pillar of fire.

"Did you know some magical creatures are compatible?" Luna called.

"Right." Alex answered. "Like wizards and owls. Mermaids and kelpies."

"And one of the more unlikely matches-" Luna continued.

"-unicorns and dragons." Alex finished. She took a bold step forward.

"Pretty sure the unicorns are in a different part of the forest." Hermione looked ready to rip out her hair.

"But I've been blessed by one. And this dragon can clearly sense it. Or I'd have been killed a long time ago."

"You're not an actual unicorn."

"I know. I think it's- she's confused by me. I look nothing like a unicorn."

"Great, you're already assigning genders." Alex didn't answer. "If you die, I'm going to throttle you." Hermione said.

"I won't die then. Besides, dragon fire is magical. It might not kill me, even if I get roasted." She took another step forward.

"If a unicorn can knock you out, I'm pretty sure dragon fire can kill you." Hermione retorted and Alex paused.

"You have a point there."

"Maybe it's me, but I really think I'm missing a lot." Laila remarked. "What've unicorns got to do with anything?"

"We'll introduce you to Venus and Kichiro later." Alex said. "It's an initiation."

"Wait, I was initiated after Cedric?" Hermione asked, sounding offended.

"No. Your initiation was first year with Snuffles. Can we get back to this after we know I'm not going to die?" Alex continued to tread carefully towards the dragon. She reached out to touch the dragon's scales. The dragon flinched and roared before flying away, something shiny on her leg glinting as she soared into the sky. "Oh god." Alex looked pale and disgusted.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a chain on her leg. She's been chained up for a thousand years." Alex ran down the side of the cave, moving to stand next to Hermione. "Someone trapped her."

"What happens if we free her? What if she flies to Hogwarts and hurts someone. Like you said, she's been trapped for a millennium. She probably doesn't trust humans." Alex glared at Laila's logic.

"We can't just let her stay trapped!" She said. Hermione looked sympathetically at her.

"We'll find a way to help her."

"We can't keep her trapped." Alex repeated, looking back to where the dragon disappeared.

"We won't." Luna said.

"Yeah. We need to find a way to get her to trust us first. A thousand years out here- food has to have been scarce. What do dragons eat?"

"She probably needs meat. We can get some from the kitchens." Hermione said. "Like you used to with Fluffy-Snuffles."

"I can write to Charlie. All hypotheticals don't worry, but he works with dragons. He'll know. And he'll help."

"Are you sure we shouldn't involve a teacher?" Laila asked.

"They'd lock this place away. Say it's too unsafe for students."

"What about Snape?" Hermione asked. "We can trust him, can't we? If you ask."

"He'd make us stay away if we told him we wanted to free a dragon that had been trapped for centuries. He'd be more concerned with our welfare than the dragon's."

"Have to say, I wouldn't blame him."

"Laila!" Alex scolded and the girl huffed.

"Why don't we go back and figure out a way to help the dragon before she decides to come back and kill us all?"

"Fine, but we're coming back." Alex said firmly.