Previously…
Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is destroyed and the only survivor, a young wizard named Matthew Santini awakens from a yearlong coma. Hermione Granger returns to Hogwarts alongside Ginevra Weasley and Luna Lovegood. The three witches rehabilitate Matt, and they begin classes for their seventh and final year. Harry Potter returns to the school as well as a teacher and Auror for the Ministry of Magic, investigating the attack on Ilvermorny by Voldemort's forces. Hermione and Harry alongside Ron Weasley are awarded Order of Merlin First Class. Matt and Ginny are kidnapped at the Ministry as they arrive to present Hermione and Harry their awards. Harry and Hermione are brought into a trap at the Ministry as a massive three-headed dragon attacks them and the captured Matt and Ginny all as we begin the next exciting chapter of The 7th Year Student.
"What is that?" Ginny asked aloud, confused. The golden mass shifted slowly and unfurled itself. Two great wings stretched almost to the ceiling, as four stout legs the size of tree trunks pushed a thick scaled body upwards. Twin tails whipped out and a dragon's head arose, accompanied by two others, attached by long necks to the body of the beast.
"Oh my god. It's an abomination. It's a three headed dragon…" Matt looked sickened. "King Ghidorah in the flesh…"
The dragon gave an undulating cry. Although it was golden, it was obvious that one head belonged to a Chinese Fireball, another head was a Ukrainian Ironbelly, and the final head belonged to a Hungarian Horntail. The beast gave an unnatural undulating cry before turning its three heads towards the stage. Harry and Hermione had no place to turn as the middle head opened its mouth and a gout of flame erupted, launching towards the stage.
"NO!" Matt screamed as the far-left head turned towards the disturbance and fired its own lethal flame at the cage…
Harry and Hermione dived to either side of the platform, barely dodging the lethal flames as the curtains that were concealing them from the view of the audience caught fire. Ginny had barely had time to throw her hands up and cast Protego wandlessly before the flames reached the cage.
"Harry! What do we do?!" Hermione yelled as the far-left head turned back to face the two heroes.
"I've got a few ideas but none of them are good!" Harry said. The last time he fought a dragon the stakes were much lower, and he was not attempting to kill the beast. This was a different situation entirely. Harry was almost certain there was only one way out of that situation. Either he and Hermione would kill the dragon, or it would kill them alongside Matt and Ginny.
"Not good, not good. They can't kill something that big and dangerous…" Matt worried as panic was rising in his chest. He could feel his lungs squeezing together.
"It'll be ok, just wait." Ginny said, rubbing his back and doing her best to comfort him. She frowned. She knew she was no Hermione Granger, but she would do her best.
"Can't wait, gotta help 'em." Matt said and leaned forward, grasping the bars. He jumped backwards and screamed in pain.
"Don't touch the cage Matt. It's cursed remember." Ginny said. She knew firsthand the flagrante curse hurt but Matt was reacting way more than she was, almost like it bothered him more.
Up in the seats Neville Longbottom moved his way across the ring to the row where Headmistress McGonagall sat. He was scared for his friends far below. Harry and Hermione were firing curses and spells to keep the dragon from using its breath but all they seemed to be doing was upsetting it further.
"Professor, we've got to do something!" Neville said.
"I wish I knew what to do Mr. Longbottom. I've never seen such a thing as that before." McGonagall said pointing at the golden abomination before them.
"Dragons migh' be seriously misunderstood creatures, bu' tha' one's no ordinary dragon. I reckon someone done sommat ter it." Hagrid said from his seat beside McGonagall. "No dragon's tha' aggressive unless it's protectin' sommat. And there ain't nothin' down there ter protect. 'Cept Harry and Hermione o'course."
"What do we do Hagrid?" Neville asked.
"Tha's no right creature there. It's unnatural's wha' it is. Look at its heads. Hungarian Horntail, Ukrainian Ironbelly, Chinese Fireball. Them's all natural enemies o' one another. Ain't no way someone bred tha'. Nope. Tha's been made, tha' has. Dark magic, real dark and real pow'rful, I reckon, it'd take ter make sommat like tha'." Hagrid replied darkly. "I can' rightly tell, yeh Neville, wha' ter do abou' it. Killin' it's abou' the on'y thing yeh can do, I s'pose."
"Well, surely, then Hagrid, we should all be able to take it down, together?" McGonagall said and drew her wand. As she attempted to fire a stunning spell at it, the spell ricocheted off a barrier around the crowd and shot off into the ceiling.
"The doors, they've been sealed!" squeaked Professor Flitwick as he came waddling up to retake his seat on the other side of McGonagall. "There's purple flame blocking all the exits."
"Then we're trapped, forced to watch this macabre display of brutality." The Headmistress said darkly. Hagrid frowned deeply under his beard. Even Neville could tell the half giant was upset.
Hermione was thankful she had chosen an outfit that had allowed her to move around while still looking good. She had blasted the floor around the dragon, herself, and Harry, into chunks and transfigured them into boulders for cover. It was working to provide them with protection from the flames, but all three heads were posing a major challenge for them.
"Have you had any luck at all summoning a broomstick?" Hermione asked Harry as he ducked behind the largest chunk of floor that had been transfigured into cover.
"No, there doesn't seem to be any in the entire ministry. Or at least that can get in here." Harry said and used the Oppugno curse to send a flock of canaries flying at the monster. They managed to agitate the far-right head before being burned to crisp by the middle one.
"I just saw McGonagall attempt to help us. She fired a spell, and it rebounded. Whoever did this knew what they were doing." Hermione said. "I'd wager they've got the place warded so we can't leave, no one who's not already in here can get in and so no one can help us. In short, we're on our own."
"Great. So, we can't count on the Minister or Ron for backup." Harry muttered darkly. Hermione shook her head no.
"Look, it's still a dragon. Remember what Sirius told us in fourth year? The eyes are the weak point. We just have to hit it simultaneously. If we can take out one head, it'll help a lot." Hermione reminded Harry of their conversation with his godfather after the first task in the Triwizard Tournament.
"Alright, which one?" Harry asked as he looked over the boulder to see the dragon snarling at him and breathed fire.
"Closest one to us." Hermione said. Harry nodded. "On three…one…two…three!" Hermione leapt out of cover to one side of the boulder, Harry the other. At the same time, the pair cast the conjunctivitis curse on the dragon's far-right head. It screeched as its eyes clouded over. The abomination rose up, the blinded head whipped around furiously. They followed it up with Confringo. The two blasting spells hit it on either side of the head, destroying its eyes.
Fire erupted from the injured head's jaws but found no target, blasting harmlessly into the spell protecting the crowd.
"Yes!" Matt yelled from the cage. Ginny cheered and suddenly the cage swayed on its chain. Matt stopped his movement and braced himself against the floor, screwing his eyes shut tight.
"That's one down." Ginny said reassuringly. Matt grunted a reply and a nod of agreement. "You're doing fantastic, see? We're ok…" the far-left head of the dragon swung around towards them and launched a fireball at the cage. Ginny was ready for it this time and the fireball dissipated.
"At least you're good with wandless magic." Matt said with relief.
"One of us has to be." Ginny quipped with a smirk, hoping to relieve some of the stress and tension with a laugh. It did not work though. Matt simply smiled and acknowledged her skill with another nod. He looked pale and stricken and Ginny was getting worried about him the longer this went on.
The three-headed beast was panting from its injuries to its far-right head and was now whipping its tails back and forth as Harry and Hermione ducked around the debris forming on the floor from their battle. Hermione stopped transfiguring the crushed hunks of floor as they were now large enough to hide behind and still provide adequate cover.
"Can we do that again with the next head?" Harry asked as Hermione barely jumped over the piece of stone that he was hiding behind.
"I don't think so. It's caught on to what we did and it's not giving us time to pull it off again. It's twisting around too much, using its tails to compensate for the head being blind." Hermione replied.
"If only we had our wands!" Matt moaned to Ginny as he watched Hermione duck into cover.
"We still couldn't get out of here." Ginny reminded him.
"Not for us." Matt muttered. "For them. My wand…"
"What about it?" Ginny asked, slightly annoyed at this sudden fixation and change of topic.
"It's transfigurable." Matt said.
"Yes, I know, completely unfair, by the way." Ginny said, almost wishing her wand had a function like that.
"No, you don't understand. It can turn into a broom." Matt said. Ginny looked at him and turned to Harry and Hermione. She looked down and saw her two best friends not only fighting for their own lives but hers and Matt's as well. She leaned in as close to the bars as she dared.
"Hermione!" Ginny shouted as loud as she could, hoping her friend would hear her.
Hermione peeked her head out from behind cover and shouted a reply.
"What is it?!" she screamed over the cries of the dragon as its tail swept dangerously over her head.
"Matt's wand! It can turn into broom!" Ginny shouted.
"What?!" came Hermione's reply as the dragon smashed the piece of floor she was hiding behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. Hermione quickly got to her feet and dashed behind another boulder, slightly closer to the hanging cage.
"His wand can turn into a broom, if you can get it, it might help!" Ginny yelled. Hermione called to Harry, who had to duck and weave around the dragon's heads snapping at him, its feet trying to squash him, and its twin tails trying to swat him out of existence. He was able to dodge a tail whip and duck behind the cover Hermione had been behind.
"What is it?" he asked breathlessly.
"Matt's wand, I forgot, it turns into a broom." Hermione said and pulled out her boyfriend's wand.
"That's brilliant. It's just what we need." Hartry said. Hermione slowly stood. She drew the wand in her left hand over to her right shoulder then snapped her elbow straight and the wand transfigured into a broom.
"It's not going to be as fast or agile as your Firebolt, but it should do the trick." Hermione said and handed the broomstick to Harry.
"You're sure it'll work for me?" he asked as he took the wand.
"I believe so, yes. You better hurry though." Hermione responded. Harry nodded and mounted the broomstick wand and kicked off. He flew out from under the cover and around the dragon's backside. It could not fully turn both of its good heads to follow him, and it allowed him to come around on the creature's blindside. He fired a couple of stunning spells to grab its attention while Hermione slipped from under her cover and fired a conjunctivitis curse into the far-left head's eye. It roared its displeasure, that head turning towards her, and she fired again, her spell just hitting it as its fiery breath erupted from its toothy maw.
Hermione was able to dodge the flame just in time as Harry circled the middle head. The serpentine neck coiled and uncoiled as it snapped at Harry, forcing him to fly higher and higher and ultimately out of range of spells. The far-right head was whipping wildly, disoriented by the curse. Hermione decided to try a different approach rather than just blinding it as they did the first head.
She levitated a large boulder into the air and used the knockback jinx to send it flying into the dragon's head. It roared but the stone fell away. Hermione was able to cast another spell to grab it and repeat the process, this time a gash formed on the side of the monster's head, oozing green blood. Once more she tried the spell, but this time the dragon turned, and the piece of jagged stone flooring jammed itself halfway down the dragon's throat.
The creature screamed in agony and its head flailed wildly around, slamming itself into the ground and the walls of what had been the basement holding cells of a courtroom. Blood flowed from wounds where the stone slab stuck through its neck, having penetrated the tough scales from within. In a final, desperate attempt to dislodge the stone from its throat and mouth, the dragon attempted to breathe fire to destroy the rock. Unfortunately for the beast, the injuries in its neck only cause the flames to erupt out of the openings created by the stone slab. With its neck wreathed in fire the dragon's far-right head gave an undulating cry that was choked off as the head fell from the neck and the neck became limp, gushing green blood from its severed skull.
Up in the seats Neville grimaced and turned away from the gruesome sight. Applause and cheers erupted from the crowd though. Hagrid gave a pained sigh.
"Tha' wasn' easy ter watch. But it was the righ' thing ter do." Hagrid was pained at seeing one third of the creature die.
"They only need to do it once more." Neville said hopefully.
"Nice one Hermione!" Ginny called, as Hermione was able to move a little more freely around the battlefield. She turned to look at Matt as he was still looking ill. He gave a smile and a very weak thumbs up to Ginny who did not look reassured. "Hurry up…" Ginny said quietly, hoping Matt did not hear her. She grew more worried about him the longer this was drawn out.
Harry continued to divebomb and launch spells toward the middle head. He cheered briefly at Hermione's takedown of the far-right head but had to quickly dodge out of the way as the remaining head nearly snapped him into its jaws. The far-left head was still alive but completely blind, it simply thrashed back and forth but was no longer spitting fire and unable to pose the threat it once had.
Harry flew out of the dragon's line of sight before landing and Hermione was quick to duck and weave through the debris and the dragon's tails to meet up with him.
"How are you fairing?" she asked.
"Not as well as you, you got one down." Harry said as he was catching his breath.
"Yes, well, that was lucky I suppose." Hermione responded.
"That was brilliant Hermione, really. We just take that middle head down and then we're good, right?"
"Well, yes. But it's possible we may still need to kill the other head. It's hard to say how it will react to the loss of the middle head, isn't it?" she said peeking above the debris to see where the dragon was facing. The creature was sniffing for them, slowly turning its lumbering bulk in their direction.
"I've got an idea, but it's really risky…" Harry said.
"When has that ever stopped us before?" Hermione replied.
"Draw it's attention for me and I might be able to get us an advantage." Harry said as Hermione nodded and slipped out of their cover. She fired a couple of stunning spells at the monster, and it caught sight of her. As she ducked under a smaller bit of smashed floor Harry shot out from behind his cover. As soon as the formerly three-headed creature saw him it gave an angry roar as Harry flew over Hermione's head. Just as the middle head lurched forward to shut its jaws around him, he dipped low.
The head followed him as he flew between its four legs and out from underneath it. The dragon's head whipped around as Harry glided along beside its tails. The dragon turned on itself and Harry pulled up just as the angry maw clamped down on one of its own tails. The pain was intense enough for it to whip its head again, shearing the end of the tail off. Harry then bolted around the dragon's blind head.
The middle head turned and let go of its severed tail, the member smacking into the blinded head. The other head roared and turned in the direction of its assault. It roared and coiled back on its long serpentine neck and shot forward, snapping at the neck of the middle head. The middle head turned on its far-left brother snapped back.
"Oi, look! Harry's done it! He's turned it against itself!" Hagrid cried out and pointed at the two heads fighting each other. McGonagall sighed and Flitwick cheered, clapping wildly. Even Neville breathed a sigh of relief. Neville saw Draco, who was sitting next to Luna, and both had been on the edge of their seats, sit back and relax with heavy sighs.
The crowd let out an audible gasp, however, as the middle head had enough, and a gout of flame erupted from it. The blinded head was bathed in fire, and it opened its own jaw to retaliate, only to have the fire from the middle head go down its throat. The blinded head drooped to the floor, charred from the inside and dead.
Harry's elation over seeing his initial plan work was short lived. He had expected the surprise attack on the blinded head to work better. He had hoped the blinded head, unable to see, would retaliate more viciously than it did. He underestimated the middle head's strength. However, he still had taken down one of the two remaining heads and tail. They were now left with a much more cumbersome regular dragon to face.
Harry landed again near Hermione, who was looking increasingly tired as the battle dragged on. Her dress was torn and blackened in several places and her hair was disheveled. Harry was not looking much better, his jacket was singed, his pants torn, and his purple tie was ripped in two, the other half lying near the stage.
"We're a right sight, aren't we?" Harry said looking himself and Hermione over.
"I would think so." She said with a laugh. "We're still not done yet. But that was some brilliant flying, Harry."
"Thanks, but I was hoping for the middle one to get offed, not the one we already took care of." Harry replied.
"Hermione! Watch out!" Matt bellowed from the cage. He could see where the pair had taken shelter, and the dragon had decided to bring its tail down right where they were crouched. Hermione heard her boyfriend's voice and screamed as she and Harry dived out of cover. Hermione looked up and saw the gleaming, angry head of the dragon looking down at her. She was entirely exposed and had no way of getting to cover before the dragon would launch a lethal attack.
Harry rolled out of the cover as Hermione ran in the opposite direction. She was completely exposed, and the dragon was about to unleash its fiery breath on her. Harry had little time to react, however, as the tail that had smashed their previous chunk of debris was coming down on him again and he had nowhere to run, Matt's wand broom had skittered just out of his reach. Harry tried to grab it as the tail came crashing down…
To Be Concluded