172 The Buried Vault (II)

Fred, being slightly ahead reaches inside first, as his foot breaks past the area the door once rested the vault seems to come to life. Rows upon rows of torches ignite lining a long hallway that ends in a room barely lit by the torches. The vegetation from my charm seems to have lined it well with plants so it doesn't appear the door was magically locked.

Since Charlie never told me what he saw in this dungeon my curiosity is peaking. It seems to be far more like a dungeon than a stone vault. Not that I can say I'm some type of expert on stone vaults or anything. Considering that Charlie never finished this vault my guess is that the challenge is pretty tough, I'm hoping the twins need help so I can actually do something this time.

I follow close behind the twins who cautiously enter the dimly lit room. As all three of us enter I hear the vault door behind us slam shut and I quickly turn to see that I'm right. From the corners of my eyes, I see the torches around us set ablaze lighting the room. Looking back towards the room I see the twins turned towards me and a large creature behind them.

The creature is around 60 feet long with metallic silver scales, horns pulled back on its reptilian-like face, wide wings that look as though they could span this whole 100-foot room, two legs with two wings, and sharp claws larger than my arm adorning its feet… a dragon. Currently, it is curled into a massive ball sleeping nearly soundlessly slowly letting out warm breaths in our direction.

Putting my wand to my mouth I hush the twins who are still looking at me. "Turn around slowly and quietly, you don't want to startle it," I speak in a light whisper as I motion forward between them with my wand.

The boys turn around quietly as I said, George sucks in sharply through his teeth while Fred lets out an unsure groan. Without much hesitation Fred turns around, "We should leave," George nods in affirmation to which I smile.

"Why? This is the vaults challenge, it wouldn't be here if it wasn't doable."

Their eyes widen at my assertion, "Are you having a laugh?" George asks in the angriest whisper I've ever heard.

"Soren, that is the largest dragon I have ever seen, and I've been on a dragon farm before; also I don't feel like dying today," Fred says hushedly but obviously still angry.

"Awww, are the Weasley twins actually babies? Perhaps chickens? What will the girls think?" I am less quiet with my words this time and exaggerate the word 'chickens'. I like the twins but they are easily coaxed into doing things with a bit of pressure or mocking.

As expected the twins look annoyed as their eyes quickly meet and they exchange a nod. Turning around quickly they both point their wands toward the dragon.

"Fine." They say in unison causing my grin to widen.

As they speak the dragon seems to wake to their words, the dragons piercing red eyes open. Appearing unstartled by our appearance the dragon unfurls itself and my thoughts are proven correct. With a stretch of its wings, it spans nearly the entire length of the room. With a single flap the dusty stone floor ships up the fine sand-like dust nearly blocking my vision.

"BLOCK IT!" I yell through the sound of the whipping wind.

Both of the boys hear me as they cast protego along with me creating a massive shell covering the three of us. As the nearly invisible shell hardens the entire room is set alight as flames bath us completely consuming the shell.

As the flames fade, I take a quick glance around, the sandy stone floor has been completely glassed over and some of the stone is glowing red still from the heat. The twins are both staring ahead with serious and fearful gazes, I'm already impressed that they haven't turned tail yet. Having felt the flames so far I can confidently say I can block them myself so protecting the twins won't be an issue.

In a bit of a scramble, Fred quickly pulls a ball out of his robes, the ball is around the size of a baseball and bright yellow. They exchange a quick glance and Fred winds up to throw it.

George nods in understanding "Aguamenti!" he yells.

A small torrent of water slams into the face of the dragon, the dragon closes its deep red eyes and puts its snout down. With a hard throw, Fred chucks the ball toward the dragon's face.

*TINK*

The yellow ball bounces off the dragon's metal-like scales before popping a few inches from the impact area.

*BOOM*

The sound of cracking thunder rings in the small room as I'm nearly blinded by a yellow light; the room fills with strands of electricity reaching from the dragon around forty feet away all the way to the barrier Fred made.

The dragon roars as it the lightning rolls off its body and it stands tall flapping its wings creating another large gust in the room. After a few moments, the lightning fades, and the dragon lands back on its front legs causing the room to shake.

The breast scales and face are charred a dark grey with a few cracks running along them as if they'd fall off at the slightest touch. Incredibly impressed by the display by the boys I look at them to see grins going ear to ear. Before I can ask what the hell that was I can see a bubble blower in George's hand and Fred with his wand raised.

With a shake, the dragon rears back to breathe flames again but George has already blown his bubble. The bubble slowly expands filling with water until it is slightly larger than the dragon. With a retch flames that nearly seem liquid pour out of the dragon's mouth entirely hitting the bubble. Seemingly unphased the bubble begins consuming the dragon causing it to float a few feet off the ground.

"WICKED!" The twins shout as they high-five each other.

Enraged at its entrapment the dragon roars and bubbles into the water before letting out a jet of flames once again. This time the flames cannot break the bubble but cause the water to boil. All of us watch as the water slowly vanishes from the bubble and the dragon uses its claws to tear apart the thin membrane of the magical bubble.

Both of the twins turn back to me, "That's all we got." Fred says as they both put their hands up in defeat.

Their uncaring faces don't last long as the room trembles. The dragon is now charging at us quickly closing the, relatively speaking, small distance between us.

"Protego," Fred and George say at the same time I also cast it adding a softer layer behind their study layer to absorb the impact better.

From the left, I see a massive tail swing by narrowly missing me but hitting the twin's broadside in their shields. The defensive spells hold up well as they get flung back and to the side not too far away from me. Seeing both the twins laying on the floor I quickly unwrap Sin from my neck, tuck Gil and Enki into my robes, and toss Sin at the dragon.

"Please, keep him preoccupied Little Black."

As I kneel down to check the boys I hear the roars of a whining dragon off to my side. Seeing that both of them are perfectly fine only unconscious, I stand up to see Sin attempting to strangle the dragon. I smile as let Enki and Gil down and shift into my dementor form covering the room in shadows.