“Ellie!” one of the wizards scolded.
“You shouldn’t have taken off your dragon-hide cloak yet.
It’s there to save your life, and our job isn’t finished!”
“Uncle Fergus,” the girl said as she shrugged the heavy cloak back on, sounding completely unbothered.
“Skye’s down, isn’t she?
She was already hurt bad, then she took seven Stunning Spells.
She can’t even twitch her tail right now.”
“Six,” Fergus corrected.
“Your Stupefy was off.
You didn’t hit the ‘fy’ sound right.
I’m sure it didn’t land.”
While they talked, the rest of the wizards pulled back their hoods.
Sweaty brown hair, rough sun-baked skin—clearly the result of years living out in the wild.
Most of them had green eyes.
Only Ellie had the same bright violet eyes as the black dragon.
Hamish MacFusty had already given Professor Sprout the short version of events.
Lucas listened in.
Hebridean Blacks were naturally aggressive.
Every adult needed more than a hundred square miles of territory.
This one—Skye—had once been famous and powerful, claiming one of the best patches of land.
But she was old now.
Two days ago a younger male called Obsidian beat her and drove her out.
The MacFustys had a standard rescue plan to help dragons like her recover peacefully.
This time, though, Skye was badly injured and so worked up that she completely lost it.
She flew straight out of the Hebrides and ended up here in the Scottish Highlands, right by the McGregor farm.
The MacFusty team had tracked her the whole way and finally caught up on this hillside.
“Thank you, Professor Sprout,” Hamish said.
“If you hadn’t slowed her down we might have lost her again.
She’s in rough shape—not just the injury.
We think she’s sick too.
Her behavior is completely off.
She’s not thinking straight anymore, so it’s hard to predict what she’ll do next.”
He glanced at the dead sheep scattered across the slope.
“Attacking a flock like this?
That should never happen.”
He let out a long sigh, then raised his wand and suddenly pointed it at Lucas and Finlay.
“Anyway, it’s over.
Time to wipe the memories of these two Muggles who got dragged into this.”
“Stop right there, Mr.
MacFusty!” Professor Sprout stepped in front of them.
“This boy is a new Hogwarts student!
And this gentleman is his grandfather.
They’ve already stepped into the wizarding world.
You can’t do that!”
Hamish raised an eyebrow.
“Well… technically, Ministry rules still call them limited-knowledge persons, especially when it involves a black dragon—information that absolutely cannot reach any Muggle—”
Finlay McGregor’s face flushed red.
He snatched the shotgun back from Lucas, but Hamish suddenly changed his tone and lowered his wand.
“Ah, screw the Ministry and screw their rules!
Honestly, we’ve always thought the MacFustys could take better care of the dragons without those bureaucrats sticking their noses in.”
He grumbled a little more about the Ministry, then grinned at Lucas.
“Hogwarts first-year?
How’d it feel getting the letter?
Must’ve been exciting as hell.
I’m actually jealous you get to go to that school.
We’ve stuck with family teaching forever, but I think it might be time for a change…”
“Hamish!” Fergus snapped.
“You’re talking too much.
Get over here and help.
We need to chain Skye up and take her back.”
Hamish apologized to Professor Sprout and jogged back.
The group pulled long, heavy black chains out of a small leather pouch.
Lucas stepped closer to watch.
No way that tiny bag could hold all those chains—it was obviously magic.
Each of the seven wizards took a chain.
At a tap of their wands the chains came alive like snakes, slithering toward the huge black dragon—some wrapping around her head, others around her ankles, a few winding across her back…
Ellie’s chain shot forward ahead of everyone else.
With just a light flick of her wand it wrapped tight around the base of the dragon’s wing.
Fergus frowned.
“Fail, Ellie.
You didn’t control it at all.”
“Come on, Fergus,” another wizard complained.
“Ellie’s only eleven—”
A deafening roar split the air!
The massive wings snapped open like walls slamming down, knocking several chains aside.
The long spiked tail cracked like a whip and sent one wizard flying sideways.
The dragon that was supposed to be unconscious flipped over in a heartbeat.
Her enormous strength yanked on the chains already wrapped around her, hurling two wizards into the air before smashing them back to the ground.
The chains flew from their hands.
“Damn it!
She was faking!
She was awake the whole time!” Hamish shouted, waving his wand.
“Stupefy!
Stupefy!”
Fergus slammed into him, body glowing with an Ironclad Charm, tackling Hamish clear just as a blast of dragonfire roared through the spot where he’d been standing.
Flames surged outward like a tidal wave.
The wizards blocked the fire with their own spells, but with a powerful whoosh the black dragon launched into the sky.
From under Fergus, Hamish spotted something and screamed, “Ellie!
Ellie!”
Ellie had risen with the dragon!
The other chains had been knocked away or shaken loose, but Ellie’s held fast.
She gripped it tight and was being dragged upward into the sky.
And another figure was hanging right below her!
Professor Sprout and Finlay shouted at the same time: “Lucas!”
Just seconds earlier, when Ellie was yanked into the air she had flown straight past Lucas.
Without thinking he reached out and grabbed her leg, trying to pull her back down to safety.
His strength was nothing against a dragon’s.
He felt a huge upward yank and, before he could even react, he was already dozens of feet in the air—and still climbing fast!
By the time the wizards dealt with the spreading flames and could react, Ellie and Lucas were already hundreds of feet up and rapidly disappearing into the distance.
“Too far!” Fergus’s face was grim.
“Spells won’t reach them.
We have to go after them!”