Summary:Hermione takes it upon herself to rescue the dragon's before they are able to be slaughtered.
Notes:Let me know what you liked about this, and any things that you think I could do better on. Also, I changed a few things in chapters 1 and 2 as of 2/14/24s o if you read the first 2 before now you may want to go and reread those chapters as I added quite a lot to them.
Chapter TextHogwarts Grounds: November 5th, 1994
Knock Knock Knock
"Hagrid, it's Hermione. Open up. It's important" she demanded as she knocked loudly on the large wooden door to Hagrid's small wooden hut.
She knew Hagrid would know if dragons were being kept at Hogwarts, and that he was also the most likely to help her. After all she was just a first year when she'd met Hagrid after visiting his hut to ask a question on dragons, and discovered that he'd been illegally keeping a Norwegian Ridgeback that he'd hatched inside of his hut. The baby dragon had been adorable at first, though it had quickly outgrown its cuteness. Hermione had honestly worried that it was going to kill her overly large friend at one point.
The ministry had found out a week later after Draco Malfoy had sent a letter to his father after spying on her at Hagrid's,, and the dragon had been shipped off to a dragon reserve. Hagrid had nearly been sent to Azkaban over the incident, with only Dumbledore's assurances to the Wizengamot keeping him from being sent to the dementors. It was ironic, considering that just 8 months later Dumbledore had found himself residing in that very same prison.
"Blimey Hermione. What are you doin out this late?" Hagrid called as the large oak door swung open with a creak, allowing her to step inside the small hut, which had a large fire in the fireplace.
"Hagrid, it's only 6pm. Curfew isn't until 9," she said, exasperated, "Besides, I needed to talk about something with you."
The large man just chuckled. "Straight to the point as always, eh Hermione? Sit down and I'll get us some tea. I'd ask how your studies are going, but if I know you, you're still top of the class, right?"
She blushed. "Of course I am," she admitted. Then she frowned. "Hagrid, is the ministry really keeping dragons in the forbidden forest for the triwizard tournament?"
"How'd you find out about that?" he said, shocked as no one was supposed to have been told yet. "Oops, I shouldn't have said that but yes, they are" he admitted reluctantly, confirming her worst fears.
She dreaded the answer to her next question, but she had to be sure.
"Hagrid, please tell me they aren't actually going to make students fight dragons to the death for entertainment," she cried.
"Don't worry Hermione. I'm sure there are safety precautions in place to make sure the students aren't killed" he said reassuringly.
"I don't give a flying fuck about the students safety" she yelled, her eyes beginning to tear up as she thought about the innocent lives that would be slaughtered for the amusement of wizards, "They can all hang as far I'm concerned. The champions chose to enter this tournament, but the dragons didn't. We have to help them" she pleaded.
Hagrid was shocked to say the least, Hermione's curse showing just how serious and angry she was.
"I'm sorry Hermione. I'm just as upset about this as you are. I tried to reason with the dragon wranglers, they have to know it's wrong, but all they care about is the money they'll get for the hide and potion ingredients once the dragons are killed, and they are also receiving part of the ticket sales. There's nothing I can do. They told me that if I brought it up again that they'd contact the headmistress with a restraining order. I'm sorry." he said, beginning to tear up.
"It's okay Hagrid, at least you tried" she said, dismayed at his lack of success.
She knew she couldn't mention her plan to free the dragons to anyone, and especially not to Hagrid. He's terrible at keeping secrets, and it's best that he know nothing about what she's planning, in case someone thinks to question him, she decides. They sat for another hour, talking about trivial things such as classes and other magical creatures before Hermione yawned and stood up.
"I'd better be getting back up to the castle so that I can get back to the common room before curfew. Goodnight Hagrid, and thanks for the tea." she said as she prepared to make her way back to the castle.
"You're welcome Hermione anytime Hermione" he replied with a wave.
As she headed back up to the castle, she decided that before she risked being expelled and possibly even Azkaban, she had to at least try to convince Professor McGonagall to change the first task.
She knew it wasn't likely, as the stern professor wasn't nearly as influential as Dumbledore had been, and she knew the ministry had a lot riding on the success of the tournament and wouldn't appreciate a last minute change.
The ministry was obviously hoping that a revived triwizard tournament would increase citizen's faith in the ministry, which had been at an all time low since the arrest of chief warlock Albus Dumbledore, but she still felt she had to at least try.
As she reached Gryffindor tower, she immediately climbed into bed. She had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Hogwarts, Headmistress Office: November 6th, 1994 Early Morning
Hermione anxiously waited as she knocked on the door to the headmistress's office.
"Come in and take a seat Ms. Granger. I've been expecting you, though to be honest I'm a little surprised it took you so long to come see me" she called through the door.
"You have?" Hermione asked, confused as she walked in and sat down.
"Of course Ms. Granger. You are one of the brightest witches I've had the honor of teaching, and you have courage, and quite frankly, a stubbornness that I haven't seen since Lily Potter graduated. I knew that as soon as you heard that there will be dragons forced to fight students and will then be slaughtered on Hogwarts grounds for entertainment, you'd be paying me a visit to see what could be done to stop it." she said with a hint of a smile.
Hermione blushed with embarrassment at her intentions being read so easily, but she frowned as she noticed the tense look upon the professor's face.
"There's nothing you can do, is there?" she asked sadly, her eyes beginning to tear up at the realization that even the headmistress had been unable to halt the ministry's plans.
"As much as I wish I could stop it Ms. Granger, the minister won't allow the tournament to be stopped. It's an extremely high profile event, and the minister believes it would make the ministry look weak if they decided to change the task after all the preparation that has gone into it this far. I tried to protest this, as in my opinion the danger to the students is much too great, but the minister has contacts with the school board. I'd likely be replaced as headmistress by some ministry official if I attempted to go against the minister's wishes on this, and who knows what would happen here with the school under ministry control." she explained.
She leaned back in her chair and stared at Hermione over the tops of her spectacles.
"Now, since I am unable to help stop this atrocity, I assume you've thought up a plan on how to rescue them?"
Hermione, startled by the unexpected question, blushed slightly even as she primly replied, "I've no idea what you mean professor."
"Honestly Ms. Granger, you're an abysmal liar, and even if you weren't, you seem to forget that I've taught you for the past four years. I know you'd never be able to live with yourself if you let those innocent dragons be killed without even attempting to save them, and honestly I'd feel the same way if any of the champions died during the first task. So, I ask you again, what are you going to do about it?"
Hermione was dumbstruck. Was the headmistress encouraging her to break the law and attempt to rescue the dragons?
"You're not going to try and stop me professor?"
The elderly professor just narrowed her eyes playfully and smiled at her favorite student, "I would if I thought there was any chance at all you'd listen." She reached down into a small drawer on the headmaster's desk and pulled out a package.
"Take this with you Ms.Granger" she said as handed it to her.
Hermione hesitantly opened it up and found a long silver cloak that shimmered in the light of the headmistress's office.
"A cloak professor?" she asked, confused, but at the same time not wanting to sound ungrateful for the gift.
The headmistress chuckled at her confusion ,"Yes, but that's not just any old cloak. That is an invisibility cloak. It used to belong to the Potters, but it ended up in Albus's, and now my, possession.
"Professor, if this is a Potter family heirloom, then I shouldn't have it. It feels like stealing." Hermione replied, attempting to hand the cloak back to her.
"I'm sure if the Potter family survived, then this cloak would no doubt have been given to young Harry at the beginning of his first year, and he'd be spending his days causing mischief with it just like his father did as a child, but alas, they are no longer with us. Lily Potter was one of my favorite students, and I took her under my wing much like I have done for you. I have no doubt that she would have no objection to you being given that cloak, and nor would James. Besides, you'll be able to accomplish a lot more with it than you will without it, and it's no good to anyone collecting dust in a drawer."
"Thank you professor. I'll take good care of it. I promise I won't let you down." she said, shaken at the trust she was being shown here.
"By the way, the tournament committee, dragons wranglers, and myself will be meeting with tournament officials in Hogsmeade to discuss the procedure for the upcoming task around 10, and they will be there for most of the night. It would be such a shame if they were to come back to find their dragons gone. Be careful, and know that whether you succeed or not, you must not be caught." the professor said sternly.
"The dragons are being kept in the northeastern part of the Forbidden forest, around 3 miles in. Now, I believe it is time for you to head down to breakfast. Have a good day Ms. Granger, and good luck."
Hermione stood up, feeling much more confident in her ability to rescue the dragons than she had before, and thanked the professor profusely for her assistance before heading down to breakfast.
Hermione spent the entire day anxiously watching the clock, for once unable to focus on the runes assignment she'd decided to work on to try to take her mind off the rescue she was going to be attempting. The later it got, the more nervous she became.
By dinner time, Hermione was a wreck, barely bothering to eat dinner.
About halfway through, she enacted the first part of her plan. She slipped a puking pastil she'd acquired from the twins into her mouth, stood up, and very publicly vomited on the floor of the great hall. She'd hated the idea of drawing attention to herself, especially in such a disgusting and embarrassing way, but she'd needed an alibi, and this was the easiest way to get one.
Clutching her stomach in feigned pain, she ran out of the great hall, claiming she was heading to her dorm room as she was feeling quite sick, which to be fair, wasn't a complete lie.
She was feeling a little queasy due to her nerves, and she actually did head to her dorm room, though only to spell her curtains shut, casting a notice-me-not charm on her bed so no one would notice she wasn't in it, and to retrieve the marauders map and invisibility cloak.
After quickly brushing her teeth to rid herself of the acidic taste of the vomit left from her earlier performance, she had then quickly left her form to begin slowly making her way out of the castle and into the forbidden forest.
It was only around 7:30 in the afternoon currently, and the dragon handlers didn't have to be in Hogsmeade until 10, but she wanted to leave early in case she was held up or had any unexpected problems.
She also wasn't completely sure where the dragons were located, only having the direction professor McGonagall had given her earlier, and wanted to give herself plenty of time to find them in case she got lost.
She also had to account for the fact that moving under the invisibility cloak wasn't as fast as it would have been without it, as you had to move slowly and be careful not to run into anyone or make noise. She couldn't be seen however, as her entire alibi depended on everyone thinking she was locked in her dorm.
Luckily, she met very few people as she made her way through the corridors, occasionally checking the marauders map, only meeting a few students who were still making their way back to their common rooms from the great hall. She breathed a sigh of relief once she had finally exited the castle, as there weren't usually many people out this time of night.
She slowly but surely made her way across the Hogwarts grounds and into the forbidden forest under the cover of the invisibility cloak. She didn't dare take off the invisibility cloak until she was at least a mile into the forest, at which point she relaxed slightly, and whispered "Point me Dragons," using a spell she had originally found in the library after Ronald Weasley had begun hiding her books to get a reaction from her and she'd needed a way to find them. Her wand slowly spun in a circle, before settling with her wand's tip pointing slightly left of the path she had been following.
So, now having a clear idea of where she was headed, she veered off the path and began trudging through the thick forest.
It was after midnight when she finally found the clearing where the dragons were being kept, and she was glad she had insisted on leaving early. Her clothes and basilisk boots were caked in mud, and her arms and legs were covered in scratches from forcing her way through thickets and thorn bushes, but she didn't let it slow her down.
After making sure there was no one else around, she forced her exhausted body to step into the clearing and received her first look at the camp.The camp was rather spartan, she thought, with only a few wizarding tents and some equipment that she assumed had something to do with the tournament.
That's when she noticed the cages, and had what was only her second look at a live dragon. As she walked past the smaller cage on the left side of the clearing she noticed it held what could only be the body of a juvenile Hebridean Black.
The nameplate on the cage read "Bolt", and as the dragon raised its large muzzled head to look at her, her jaw dropped in shock. The black dragon looked to be around 6 meters long and had emerald green eyes with a lightning bolt scar just above his eyes, which she assumed was where his name came from.
She wasn't sure how, but she realized instantly that this was the dragon. The one she'd been dreaming about for the past eight years. She briefly wondered if she was possibly a seer, but quickly put it out of her mind as she knew divination was rubbish.
She met the dragon's eyes, noticing that the dragon seemed at ease with her and seemed to look at her curiously, if a little wary.
She was mesmerized by the dragon's gorgeous green eyes. She felt something stir deep within her, and it took her a few minutes to name the feeling. Bloody hell. Was she attracted to this dragon?
As soon as she had the thought she knew it was true. Her mind knew it was wrong but there was just something about this dragon that made her knickers wet and a warm feeling blossom inside her chest. She couldn't understand it, as even though she had loved dragons, she had never felt like this about one before. They weren't even the same species.
She nearly reached through the bars to touch its snout before she realized what she was doing and jerked her hand back. She had no desire to lose her good writing hand, even if this dragon was one of the most handsome she'd ever seen. She silently reprimanded herself for being so stupid, reminding herself that dragons are extremely dangerous.
She shook off her stupor and moved to the other side of the clearing, momentarily putting aside her unnatural attraction to the dragon to examine later.
The larger 2 of the 3 cages held what she instantly recognized as an adult Common Welsh Green and Chinese Fireball that was clearly also fully matured. One could tell just by a glance that both dragons were extremely agitated, but the Chinese Fireball seemed to radiate hostility.
It made Hermione nervous as she wondered just how she was going to free them without becoming dragon food.
Maybe she hadn't thought this through.
Well, it's too late to back out now she thought.
Hermione slowly began to approach, keeping her hands out to clearly show that she meant them no harm and that she was unarmed, but was stopped by a deep, rumbling growl, a clear warning that she was too close for the dragon's comfort. She stepped back, knowing she was going to have to come up with another plan.
After spending some time thinking about her options, she decided that her best shot at not becoming dragon food would be to put on the invisibility cloak and use it to get close enough to the dragons to remove their chains and muzzles with her wand, and then unlock the dragon cages using the unlocking charm, allowing the dragons to flee.
She put on the invisibility cloak, and with a deep breath, began removing the muzzles and chains holding each dragon to the bottoms of the cages. She suspected that the chains must have been enchanted, as she was a powerful witch, yet it took a lot more of her power than usual for her to vanish them. By the time she had vanished all the restraints, she was not only physically exhausted, but now she was close to being magically exhausted as well.
After taking a short break to catch her breath, she decided that since Bolt was the calmest, she should free him first. She unlocked the door with a wave of her wand, and quickly hid behind a large rock at the edge of the clearing.
Bolt quickly stood up and made his way out of the cage before almost lazily stretching out, arching his back similar to the way a cat would, and with one final look in Hermione's direction, unnerving her as she was supposed to be invisible, he sprinted into the forest. Great, she thought to herself, relieved that it had gone smoothly, two more to go.
The second time went much the same as the first, with the large Welsh Green not even noticing her as it rushed out of the cage, taking flight as soon as it crossed the threshold of the cage, clearly eager to put as much distance between himself and captivity as possible.
Then it was time for the chinese fireball, which seemed to be by far the most aggressive of the 3, and was at least 10 meters long.
Hermione hesitated, wondering if she should even release it, but, deciding that it wouldn't be fair to leave this one to die after freeing the other two, cast the spell to unlock the cage door, retreating to her hiding place as the large dragon made its way out of the cramped cage.
Unfortunately for her, she failed to realize that none of the dragons had been fed in the days since they'd arrived, and the Chinese Fireball had an excellent sense of smell.
Hermione felt fear begin to take hold of her body as she watched the large dragon sniff the air, and her heart nearly stopped as the dragon turned and looked right at her before stepping in her direction.
She hoped that as long as she stayed quiet, the dragon would be unable to find her location as she was still wearing the cloak, but that hope seemed to fade faster and faster as the dragon came closer, sniffing the air as it went.
The Fireball knew there was a human nearby, and though he couldn't see it, he wasn't about to give up on what he saw as an easy meal.
Hermione began to quickly but quietly back away as the dragon got closer to her hiding place, and in her haste, she tripped, failing to notice the large root that lay behind her, landing on the ground with a thud, the invisibility cloak falling off her shoulders when she hit the ground.
Looking back, Hermione would have liked to have said she remained calm in the face of imminent death, but she didn't.
She screamed, the way only a teenage girl who is about to die can, and grabbed the cloak, not bothering to put it back on. She ran as fast as she could with the dragon, finally able to see his prey, quickly giving chase. Hermione ran through the forest as fast as humanly possible, stumbling over logs and ducking behind trees. She was lucky the forest was so dense, because otherwise she'd already be dead.
The large dragon was being slowed as it was having to maneuver its large body through the tightly packed trees, but it was quickly gaining on her as she ran through the forest when for the second time tonight she fell, twisting her ankle.
The Chinese Fireball was just yards away from her, and she was certain she was going to die.
She could see the dragon pooling its fire in its gut, preparing to release it on her. She scrambled backwards, trying to put some distance between herself and the beast she knew was going to kill her.
Just as the dragon was about to release a large ball of fire onto her, Bolt was suddenly between them, taking the ball of fire onto himself and protecting her from the flames by wrapping his batlike wings around her injured form.
She instantly recognized Bolt from before and while grateful the dragon had saved her life, she was momentarily confused as to why, before coming to the conclusion that it didn't really matter right now as she watched in amazement as Bolt put himself between her and the Chinese dragon.
Bolt launched himself forward, ramming his horns into the larger dragon's chest, knocking it onto its back. The other dragon was much larger though and quickly recovered, using its size to swing its tail around hard, knocking Bolt back-first into a large tree with a crash and a crack. It was clear to Hermione that Bolt's wing was broken, but Bolt still managed to get up and set himself between the larger dragon and the young girl that lay trembling on the ground.
The larger dragon snarled at the younger black dragon in what was clearly a challenge, and Hermione could only stare in awe as the black dragon let out a loud roar of defiance.
The larger dragon stared him down, but Bolt refused to back down. The older dragon was angered at having his prey stolen from him, but even though he was sure he could beat this youngling in a fight, he wasn't willing to further risk being injured for such small prey. He roared at the young dragon, before turning and flying off to the west.
Hermione watched the entire confrontation in shock, but was helpless to do anything as she was frozen in a combination of shock and fear.
Bolt turned to look at her one last time before running off into the forest, one wing dragging behind him as he went.
She was certain that this dragon had just risked his life to save hers, but knew she couldn't dwell on it. At least not until she'd made it back to Hogwarts. She picked up the invisibility cloak, and swung it over her shoulders.
It wasn't until she had limped her way back to Hogwarts and found herself sitting on her bed applying a healing salve to the scratches on her arms and legs that Hermione realized that by protecting her, the beautiful black dragon who just saved her life had basically been given a death sentence.
There was no way a dragon could survive with a broken wing especially not when the dragon handlers were sure to be tracking him.