Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 128: Danger Looming Over Hogwarts
Morgan had been watching the maze for what felt like hours.
In truth, only minutes had passed since the champions entered. But time moved differently when you were tense.
Seconds stretched endlessly as her amber eyes tracked every flicker of light from within the hedges, every distant sound.
Then the sky cracked open.
She saw it before anyone else...a dark shape falling from the clouds, trailing smoke and fire. It crashed into the maze with a deafening impact, shaking the ground even where Morgan stood. The hedges exploded outward in a shower of splintered green.
The first scream followed. Fleur's voice.
Morgan's hand tightened around her staff. She took a step forward, ready to enter the maze herself...and stopped.
Because more shapes were descending from the sky. Not falling this time. Flying.
"Dragons…" she muttered under her breath. "They sent dragons…those bastards."
Four of them, massive and red-scaled, their wings blocking out the setting sun. Each dragon carried a rider, a figure donning a black uniform and a featureless helmet.
The elite riders of the Argent Flame...the ones reserved for the worst situations.
Morgan recalled the conversation she had with Harry when one of those had come to attack him near the school on a previous visit. Now she had to deal with four of them.
Her eyes moved to the sky. It was darkening and devoid of clouds. Calling for lightning would take a heavy toll on her.
The first dragon opened its maw and breathed.
Fire erupted across the Quidditch pitch. Not at the maze, but at the stands.
The crowd screamed.
Students, professors, and foreign dignitaries scrambled in every direction. The enchanted stands, designed to hold thousands, became a death trap.
People pushed and fell and were trampled.
A young witch from Beauxbatons tripped on her robes and vanished beneath the stampede.
"Protego Maxima!" Professor Flitwick's voice rang out, high and clear. A shimmering blue dome began to form over the stands, but the dragonfire hit it before it could fully solidify. The shield cracked, then shattered.
Flitwick fell backward, unconscious.
Morgan watched it all with cold calculation. Her heart, or what remained of it, did not race. She was calm…she had seen many wars…this was just another one.
Dumbledore appeared at her side, his purple robes billowing, his wand raised. His face was pale but composed. "Lady Morgan. I take it that I can count on your assistance in this matter?"
Morgan did not look away from the dragons. "You should get everyone as far away from here as possible. I will not be able to keep all four under control."
"Are they here for Harry?" Dumbledore's voice sounded grim.
Morgan's lips pressed into a thin line. "Harry and I may be the priority targets, but they will not hesitate to kill anyone they come across. The Argent Flame does not discriminate. Their goal is the eradication of all magic users. Hogwarts is simply the most concentrated target."
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Then we must work together. I have fought dragons before. I can be of help."
Morgan finally looked at him. There was no warmth in her gaze, but there was at least a hint of respect. "Fine. Do whatever you can."
She reached beneath her cloak and pulled out her staff.
It was a beautiful one, made of black wood, polished to a mirror shine, carved with ancient runes that predated even Hogwarts.
At its head, a large moonstone pulsed with pale silver light. This was the Sceptrum Noctis, the Sceptre of Night, and Morgan's personal focus, crafted by her own hands over a thousand years ago.
The staff hummed as her magic flowed into it. The moonstone blazed like a second moon. Morgan felt power surge through her veins.
"I will take the two on the left," she said, her voice still calm. "You take the ones on the right. Keep them away from the students."
Dumbledore looked at her.
She did not wait for his response. She leaped into the air, and her body began to levitate.
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The first dragon saw her approaching.
It was a massive beast, easily fifty feet from snout to tail, its red scales gleaming like lava. The rider on its back raised a hand, and the dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire.
Morgan twisted in midair, her staff cutting an arc of silver light. "Ventus Noctis!"
A hurricane wind erupted from the moonstone, but it was far from ordinary wind. It was cold, freezing, carrying shards of ice that glowed with dark magic. The dragonfire met the wind and died, extinguished like a candle in a storm.
The dragon shrieked in pain as the ice shards embedded themselves in its wings.
Morgan landed on its back.
The rider turned, drawing an enchanted rifle. His green goggles were fixed on her. He aimed and immediately shot.
Morgan twisted her body to avoid the first projectile and rushed at the shooter.
She was mere feet away when a second magical bullet was fired, but Morgan was too fast for the soldier. She merely shifted the position of her head a couple of inches...just enough to avoid being touched by the projectile.
The rider had a moment to stare at her before Morgan drove her staff through his chest as if it were a spear.
The moonstone pulsed once. The rider's reinforced uniform began to break apart. Black smoke poured from the wound, and the body crumbled to dust.
Morgan pulled her staff free and turned to the dragon.
The beast was trying to shake her off, thrashing its massive head, its wings beating wildly. Morgan planted her feet on its spine and raised her staff high.
"Subsisto Cor." (Stop Heart.)
The spell was old, much older than Hogwarts and its four founders. It was a killing curse in its purest form...not meant for humans, but for beasts.
One that could bypass the innate natural resistance of the creature, as long as the caster was close enough to touch its scales.
The dragon froze, its eyes went wide, and then… it simply stopped moving. The great heart within its chest had ceased to beat.
Morgan leaped off as the dragon fell, its corpse crashing into the Black Lake with a splash that sent waves lapping at the shore.
She landed on the grass, breathing evenly. One down. Three to go.
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The second dragon was smarter than the first.
It did not try to breathe fire at her. Instead, it twisted in the air, its tail whipping toward her like a living battering ram.
Morgan raised her staff to block and was sent flying backward, crashing through the outer wall of the castle.
Stone crumbled around her, and dust filled the air. Morgan lay among the rubble, her vision swimming.
She pushed herself to her feet. Her left arm hung at a strange angle...dislocated. She grabbed it, pulled, and snapped it back into place with a wet crunch. She could barely feel the pain at this point.
Morgan stepped out of the hole in the wall.
The dragon was circling lower now, its rider scanning the ground for her.
When he found her, the rider raised a hand. The dragon opened its mouth.
Morgan smiled and ran. She moved quickly enough for her body to become a blur.
But she was not running toward the dragon...she moved toward the castle.
Morgan leaped from the courtyard to a balcony, from the balcony to a battlement, and from the battlement onto a tower.
The dragon followed her movements, chasing after her, melting stone and turning wood to ash.
Morgan reached the highest tower, the Astronomy Tower. Then she turned to face the dragon.
It was close now. Close enough that she could see the individual scales on its chest, the rage in its yellow eyes. The rider was grinning behind his glasses, confident in his victory.
Morgan raised her staff.
"Lux Aeterna."
The spell was a simple light spell. The same one Harry had used against Gawain.
But Morgan's light was different because her intent and magic were different from Harry's.
Its light was neither golden nor warm. It was cold and silver. It was the light of the moon at midnight. But its intensity was just as strong, if not more.
The dragon let out a pained cry. Its eyes, adapted to living in shadow, could not bear the light. It veered wildly, crashing into the tower. Stone shattered, and as the dragon fell, its rider was thrown from his seat.
Morgan leaped after them.
She landed on the rider before he hit the ground. Her staff drove through his chest, pinning him to the earth. The soldier had barely any time to scream before his body was reduced to dust and smoke.
She pulled her staff free and looked for the dragon.
The beast was still alive, thrashing in the ruins of the courtyard, its wings broken, its eyes blind. Morgan walked toward it. The dragon sensed her approach and tried to rear up, but its body would not obey.
Morgan placed her hand on its snout.
"It's not your fault, mighty beast… you were just used by the wrong people. I'm sorry." She closed her eyes. "Subsisto Cor."
The dragon went still.
She looked toward the maze, just in time to see something flying out.