บท 68: Dragon-napping 101

It isn't all that difficult to track down my brother and Hermione due to the… unique scent the two are giving off. Fred and George made Harry smell like a rotting pumpkin, and I made Hermione smell like a cat.

Suffice to say that it's a surprise that one of the teachers hasn't already caught them. Though given just how many of the Gryffindors got pranked with strange smells, they probably assumed that it's just something that's lingering in the air from a group of them having gotten together during the day. Magic knows there are enough spots scattered around the castle for it to make sense. Which is an interesting occurrence given that they don't leave a trail of their smells just walking around. It only happens in areas where they'd gathered.

Draco and I are just lucky that Harry and Hermione are together, or else their smells might have gotten lost in one of those when they passed through. Though their complaints when they do are loud enough that I suppose it wouldn't have been much of a concern.

"Where should we jump them?"

I shrug at Draco's question. "Dunno. It will have to be a place where we can take them by surprise and out of the corridors."

"I'm fairly certain that attacking two people who are invisible, while being invisible, is enough of a surprise on its own." He deadpans at me.

Shrugging it off, we continue to follow them as they make their way through the corridors, secret passageways, and possibly duck into a room to dodge Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall patrolling together.

After they pass, the two of us have a whispered conversation that's covered up by our targets' own, less quiet, conversation.

"Why would the two of them be together? Everyone knows that the two can't stand each other!"

"Maybe they're trying to catch Quirrell doing something he's not supposed to?"

Draco gives me an incredulous look. "That stuttering mess of an idiot? What could he possibly be doing that would warrant even one teacher looking for him? Let alone two!"

"Pretty sure he's trying to rob the school and kill my brother. Oh, and that he released the troll back during Halloween."

The more I talk the more incredulous Draco seems to get. Though I prevent him from trying to object when I notice that the two of them are on the move again, apparently done with their own talk.

The stalking continues until we get to the base of the tallest tower where they plan to pass off the dragon. It's getting to the point where I'm considering just risking an attack in the corridor when they stop. I hear a thud, presumably them putting down whatever they're carrying the dragon in. I exchange glances with Draco and smile.

This is the perfect chance! And if all goes well, they won't even know that the dragon is gone until they get to the top of the tower. Hell, if we're really lucky, they'll pass off the empty box or whatever to the people they're meeting and they'll just think the dragon is asleep or something! It would be the perfect theft!

The two of us quickly dash forward, foregoing the extra stealth we'd keep if we moved slower in order to not let this opportunity pass us by. Once we get to the spot where I'm pretty sure the two are hidden, I run into the problem of how exactly we're going to get under their Invisibility Cloak without them noticing. Given that we can still see most of ours while we're under it, it's safe to assume that theirs is the same.

Eventually I decide that it's time to go bold or go back to bed. Instead of trying something subtle, overly complicated, or experimenting with some random magic; I decide to just reach out from under my own cloak and grab a hold of theirs. Luckily it only takes a small amount of fumbling before I manage to grab it, and with a quick yoink the two Gryffindors and their cargo are revealed.

The two of them look around with wide eyes, shocked at the unexpected development. Eventually their eyes land on the discarded Cloak and they scramble to get it back on, but I've already started moving.

The thing they're carrying the dragon in is nothing more than a sturdy crate, though I'm assuming that it's stronger than it looks given that it's meant to survive a long trip. Which makes it all the more difficult for me to get in without anyone noticing. Especially since there aren't any holes or gaps that I can simply stick my hand through to just grab and shrink it.

But no openings… and I don't want it to be obvious that it's been tampered with…

Eventually, I decide to just channel my magic into my hand and hope what I'm envisioning will work out. To Draco's obvious shock my hand simply goes through the wood without any resistance, as though I were simply waving it through the air. Of course, It's far more complicated than that, but it's not like I'm going to try and explain that to him.

My arm becomes buried in the wood up to my forearm when I stop and focus. After a second of concentration, I begin to feel my hand again, greatly relieving me that I didn't cripple myself by trying this. And inside the box, I can feel scales!

'I'm touching a dragon!!!'

I'm screaming in my mind about how awesome this is, and I nearly do it out loud too! But I manage to hold back the urge. Instead, I focus the magic in my hand to shrink the apparently sleeping dragon into being palm-sized. Honestly, if it wasn't asleep I probably would have had my hand bitten off. I did not think this through all the way.

Anyways, it's harder to shrink it than that time I shrunk Arianna, which confuses me. Now that I'm more familiar with magic, shouldn't it be easier? There are only a few possibilities that come to mind for this not being the case.

1) A dragon, being an inherently magical being, has a lot more magic resistance than an ordinary tiger. This plays into my encounter with the troll as well, with me being unable to simply blow up its head.

2) The fact that my hand is technically sort of not connected to the rest of my body means that it's working with less magic than I have. Honestly the thing I'm doing to reach into the crate is freaking me out, so I'm not going to put any more thought into this one.

3) Living things naturally resist magic that they haven't accepted to be cast on them. This can also fall in line with both the troll, and Arianna. Arianna accepted being shrunk (even if she didn't know what me freeing her would entail) while the troll didn't accept having its head explode.

But I do manage to get it to shrink and pull it out by the time Harry and Hermione get the Cloak back over themselves and the now empty crate. Sliding the shrunken sleeping dragon into my pocket, I nod in satisfaction.

Mission accomplished.

But now we have a different problem…

We're stuck under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and can't get out without alerting both him and Hermione that we're here. And I know that he'll be instantly suspicious of me and try to check on the dragon for any shenanigans, rendering my efforts mute.

So for now, I guess Draco and I are along for the ride.