At a press conference today in London, Percy Weasley, Minister for Magic announced a new programme-- to explain how the wizarding world works to Muggles who know the existence of magic.
'There exists a large number of Muggles-- non-magical people-- who know of magic, being the relatives of wizards or witches, but have no idea how it works-- how we work. And on other other side-- our side-- we have next to no idea how the Muggle world operates,' said the Minister. 'And this is why, we at the Ministry of Magic have come up with a plan, a programme, to remedy this. Muggles who know of magic and wizards who wish to may enrol, and random pairs chosen will switch places. Under the influence of the Polyjuice potion, the wizard will live the life of the Muggle for a month, with someone helping him to adjust, and to show him how it works. The Muggle will be selected to be shown around and work briefly at a randomly chosen location.'
Is this a hare-brained idea that is bound to fail? Or is it possible that this may help bridge the gap between the Muggle world and ours? There is only one possible way to find out-- to wait and watch.
For exclusive interviews with the Minister for Magic himself, and several other established members of the wizarding society regarding this sudden announcement, turn to pages seven, ten and sixteen.
'Read this,' said Luna, as she pushed the copy of the Daily Prophet towards Dudley. He picked it up, and scanned the article, sipping his coffee.
'Luna, what's this?' he asked cautiously.
'Diddly, you should give your name for it.'
Dudley tried to raise an eyebrow, failed, and raised both. 'Luna... Luna, are you being serious? I can't leave my work now, the restaurant is going on really fine and-'
He was cut off by Luna. 'Diddly, you know so much about magic already, I thought you might enjoy seeing more of the wizarding world! The animals-- you might even spot another Snorcack! The food... Diddly, it'll be fun!' Elsie, the not-a-baby-any more Snorcack purred in agreement, and rubbed herself against Dudley's leg. She looked like a cross between a dragon, a dinosaur and a cat-- she was small, furless, grey, and had a small horn in the middle of her head. Her small wings, which somehow managed to keep her afloat, were now folded at her sides, and her claws were withdrawn.
Dudley looked from Luna to Elsie, and back again. He had to admit, it did sound appealing... He scanned the article again. 'It says here that a wizard's supposed to take my place... How can I leave you with a stranger? And if 'Polyjuice Potion' means what I think it means, he'll look just like me? He might be some one like those Malfoy people who tried to.. kill my parents! He might screw up my work! Honey...'
Luna bent over and pecked him on his lips. 'It'll be okay, Dudley. I'm here to take care of things! We have our pendants; we can talk any time you like! Go on, Diddly, just do it!' The pendants were an enchanted pair, which were basically used as a method of instantaneous conversation.
Dudley looked uncertain for a few seconds, before splitting into a broad grin. 'All right,' he said.
Luna leapt up and hugged him tightly, and kissed him again. 'Yay, Dudley!'she exclaimed.
Luna and Dudley walked into the Ministry of Magic hall, where a large crowd had formed-- this had obviously perked the interest of the wizarding world. Five officials were sitting at a long table, while five more were trying to arrange the people into proper queues.
The two of them took their place in a queue, waiting. Eventually, they reached one of the officials, who asked in a droll voice, with the enunciation of a person who had mugged up every single word, 'Name? Are you a wizard or a Muggle?'
'Dudley Dursley,' he said. 'I'm a Muggle.'
'We shall communicate with you soon. Thank you,' he said. As Dudley and Luna turned to leave, he continued, talking to the next person in the line, 'Name? Are you a wizard or a Muggle?'
Dudley's eyes were wide with wonder as he looked around him. Approximately ten other people were there with him, and most of them were bearing the same expression that he was (while the others were looking as though they were wondering why in the world they had agreed to come there).
Their guide was a young, springy wizard, who seemed to be under the impression that he could remove and insert H's where ever he pleased. 'And 'ere we 'ave the staff quarters. It h'ain't look like much, but it's magically enlarged h'inside... Don't want to waste space, you know? Dragons take a lot orf h'space...' How he managed to add an H before an S and yet pronounce it as though it perfectly belonged there Dudley couldn't understand.
'You'll be seein' it later, now h'we'll be goin' and lookin' 'round. 'ere we 'ave the less dangerous dragons. It's like... a low-security prison, you h'know? And then 'ere is the dangerous ones...' Dudley could see no partitions, no walls, so how were they separated? Dudley hadn't seen any walls around the dragon reserve either, so why didn't they just escape? A little nervously, he asked the guide.
'H'ah, that's a question h'worth asking! See, each dragon has this little... h'tag attached to them, and instead orf walls, which would... make Muggles sit up and take notice-- which h'is something we don't h'want happening (no offence meant, 'course), we 'ave these dandy little spells that stop 'dem from whooshing away.' Several of the group were nodding in amazement, still looking around. There was only one woman in the group, a brunette Dudley had seen somewhere before... He let it pass, unable to remember.
The tour went on-- walking through the underground storage cellars, learning about and meeting the different groups of people who worked on the reserve, until they finally headed back to the quarters. As they passed through the doors, Dudley had to gasp-- from the outside, it looked like a small, dingy two-storeyed building, but inside it was more like a cavernous mansion. There was a large hall where people were lounging about and talking, all of them wearing khaki-coloured clothes. Dudley and the rest of the group looked out-of-place with their coloured shirts and pants.
'Now 'ere is the place where h'you'll be eatin'. The kichi-ins are that h'way, and your rooms are h'right up 'ere-- room four-naught-two, if h'I'm not mistaken. You're going to be h'left alone for the rest of the evening, do what h'you want, but tomorrow you should wake up at five h'o clock sharp to start duties-- ole' Bruce'll be up there and tell you what to do 'morrow. Now, run along, h'kiddies!'
Dudley saw that everyone shared his resentment at being called a “kiddie”, but he didn't bother to say anything-- instead, he walked up along with the others up to their rooms, talking. Dudley came to know that there was Thomas, who was a bank accountant with a magical sister, and then Smith-- a dentist whose son was a wizard, and then Victoria, who worked at... Grunnings. So that's how he knew her... He had probably seen her at one of her father's office parties.
Once they'd checked their rooms (where all their baggage had somehow appeared), they headed out, to look around the reserve. Most of them were definitely very curious, though they looked as though they'd rather eat their beards than admit it.
Before leaving the quarters, they were made to wear the same khakhi-coloured clothes as everyone else on the reserve-- Dudley was surprised to find that they consisted of pants and a shirt. Apparently, robes were too inconvenient for this field of work ('You dun want et getting' hot, or hurt in 'dose places, d'you now?') . These clothes were supposedly fire proof ('Aye, you could stand en front of the hottest thing on Earth--' One of the group muttered 'Jessica Alba,' which gained him a weird look from the wizard. 'Ah, where was I? Ye could stand en front orf the hottest thing on Earth, end nuttin' would happ'n ta you!'), though Dudley could see no point in being fire-proof while standing in front of a dragon when the darned thing had a million other little things it could use to murder you in the most unpleasant ways possible.
Thankfully, nothing of interest (or nothing disastrous) happened. The place had quite a few wizards walking about tending to their own work anyway, so if something happened there were always people near by. Dudley discovered that the reserve was huge-- and most of it was just empty earth, or forests, or rivers. Dragons weren't the only animals; Dudley saw plenty of other wildlife-- deer, rabbits, moles... They roamed the grounds, despite the fact that a dragon could swoop down any time and pluck it away.
They didn't manage to see any dragons, though. 'Excuse me,' he said, to one of the witches walking by. 'I'm with the Muggles who came here on that programme? And I was wondering how you know where the dragons are, to check on them, and things like that?' Dudley realised that this possibly had a very, very obvious answer from the point of view of the witch, but he supposed that it'd be better to ask anyway.
'Oh, it doesn't matter,' she said, chuckling. 'The reserve is much larger than you'd expect... And they can't escape, they have these tags--'
'I know, the guide told us,' said Dudley.
'Okay, then, we can figure out exactly where the dragons are through those tags, and they send out a message if the dragon is sick, or hungry, or pregnant... They're rather useful.'
Dudley nodded, and thanked the woman. As he looked around at the people around him, walking about casually, carrying large crates of meat, holding large green pieces of what looked like plastic ('Those are dragon scales. They're used in so many things-- potions, wand making, fashion...' Apparently, it wasn't just the Muggle world that had terribly weird ideas of how to dress), lugging crates around... Dudley was surprised. There were huge dragons who could breathe fire and were incredibly dangerous (and he had come to know that this was, in fact true), and yet they walked around, talking as if they were at a park! If you live near a dragon, it's important to keep him in your calculations! he thought sagely.
The wizard, accompanied by Luna, walked into the house. His name was apparently Simon, and he worked at Honeydukes.
'Nice little place you have uppa here,' said Simon, grinning. 'Now, what shouldda do?'
'You're Dudley Dursley-- here's your Polyjuice Potion,' said Luna. 'You're a chef, and-- is that ear ring silver?' She gasped. 'Remove it!'
'Why, missus?' asked Simon.
'The... the ackrats! You shouldn't be wearing just one ear ring, especially when it's silver! They draw ackrats!'
'There's no sucha thing as an ackrat!' said Simon. 'It's a myth! Are you madda? I'm not going to remove them! Now, I'm Dudley Dursley, eh? So you're Luna Dursley? My missus? Does that mean I getta bang you?'
Luna sank into a chair. He wasn't going to stop wearing that earring-- the ackrats were going to get them.
Their group had been divided, with each part going to do some work at the reserve. Dudley was supposed to go with Thomas, Victoria and another wizard to check for any dropped dragon scales in Area B.
But just as they started to leave, a tall, brunette witch came over to them. 'Dudley Dursley?' she asked.
'That'd be me,' said Dudley.
'You'll be coming with me, Mr Dursley,' she said, and gripped his hand.
'Erm... Why, exactly?' asked Dudley cautiously.
'You're Harry Potter's cousin, aren't you?' she asked.
'Yes... yes, I suppose I am,' he said rather uncertainly. What was going on? Paranoia started to creep up on him.
'We thought that seeing as you're a close relative of one of the heroes of the wizarding world, it'd be nice to give you an extra opportunity, to witness something most people don't normally see in their lifetimes.'
'Which is?' asked Dudley. Most people normally don't see a nuclear bomb detonate. Most people normally don't see a raging, rabid platypus. Most people don't normally see an assassin with deadly poison-tipped sporks. Witnessing something that most people didn't see in their lifetimes wasn't necessarily a good thing-- and when wizards were involved, even less so.
'There was this Romanian Longhorn who after laying her eggs, died of speckled scales. We've had to take those eggs and incubate them artificially. One of the eggs is reaching its hatching point-- the egg is shuddering slightly, and it's going to hatch any time now. We thought that you'd like to see it.'
They'd reached a large door. 'After you,' said the witch, and pushed the door open.
The first thing Dudley noticed was the heat. A wave of blazing heat crashed into him like a cement mixer as soon as the door was opened. 'Lord, what's going on here?' he asked.
'We need to maintain the right temperature for the eggs,' she said. 'Normally, the mother breathes on it, but seeing as these eggs don't have a mother, they're being hatched artificially here.' He could see large eggs of colours that eggs shouldn't be in glass cases on tables. People with clipboards walked about, making notes, observing eggs... Some ten people were huddled around a table.
'How's it going?' asked the woman, moving towards the people. They immediately perked up.
'Everything's under control, ma'am,' said one of them, and the gaggle cleared before her and Dudley. On the table, a large green egg was shuddering madly, and clicking noises were coming from it. Cracks started to run through the egg, like the veins of some old geezer.
'It's nearly done!' exclaimed the woman. The rest of them waited with bated breaths, their excitement palpable. The egg shuddered even more violently, the clicks grew louder and faster, and the cracks started to grow longer and longer, until there seemed to be more cracks than shell. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. It lay there, still.
'What's going on?' whispered one of them.
'Everyone, move away. Mr Dursley, please come here. Evans, heat us some water, quick. Mr Dursley, if you'd be so kind as to hold the egg for me?'
Dudley picked up the egg. He held it carefully-- he had plenty of experience holding fragile things, being a chef (not that asparagus was fragile, but eggs and dishes were). Slowly, with his free hand, he ran a finger all over the egg. He could make out a slight protuberance on a part of the egg-- the baby dragon was probably trying to push itself out there. He carefully broke off a piece of the egg in between two cracks, and the dragon poked its head out.
'Mr Dursley, I don't think you should have done that, the baby dragon becomes stronger by breaking out...' The woman kept going on and on, but Dudley didn't hear a word. He was looking in amazement at the little dragon that was looking around, blinking slowly. He placed the egg back on the table, and the dragon started to climb out.
It was by no leap of imagination pretty-- its dark green scales, and one long golden horn were all covered in some sticky greyish-black mucus, but it still held some sort of appeal. It shook itself, sending the goo flying everywhere, especially all over Dudley, who was standing right next to it. Dudley wiped it off his face and clothes, but his face felt incredibly weird, and his clothes were stained. Those weren't his clothes anyway, but he didn't want to go around wearing something that had a huge stain.
The dragon tried to stand up once or twice, slipped, and finally managed to do so. Squeezing its eyes shut, it sneezed and sparks flew out of its nose. Dudley exclaimed and pulled his hand away, looking for any burns.
'Look at him! Isn't he a dear?' asked the woman, smiling. Dudley secretly agreed, though he'd have rather chewed his shoes than admitted it.
The dragon stretched itself out, and suddenly jumped, right on to Dudley. He just managed to catch it in his hands. It made a noise from the deep of its throat, like a growl. Dudley stroked its back-- the scales were hard and rough, even when it was so young. By contrast, its horn was smooth and shining, and very sharp.
The woman had taken out her wand, and had said something. The dragon was now flying out of his hand, and into a small hatch. 'We're not going to allow it into the wild yet, because without its mother to protect it, it'd probably last all of a day. We're going to keep it in a separate part of the reserve, where it'll live with other infant dragons, and will slowly learn to hunt and take care of itself. Every dragon has an inborn instinct to fly, to hunt, to feed. The mother teaches the child to harness and use these instincts. If there isn't a mother, it'd take longer, but there's absolutely no way to suppress it forever , which is why it's impossible for a dragon to be domesticated.
'Now,' she continued. 'Moving on, we believe that your cousin, Harry Potter has himself seen a dragon hatch in his years at school. I hope you'll tell him about today, and maybe, possibly request him for a donation for the reserve? Funds are hard to come by, and it's difficult to keep such a large reserve running... Times are tough.'
So that's why she'd asked him to come... Now it made sense.
'There's something wrong with the baby dragon we hatched yesterday; it's a she, by the way, we call her Bellona. She refuses to move, she doesn't seem to be eating... She seemed to like you yesterday, maybe you should go meet her.'
Those fateful words had taken Dudley to the part of the reserve where the orphaned infants were kept. As soon as Bellona saw him, she unfolded her wings and flapped them. She jumped up, into his arms.
'I really think she likes you!' said the woman. 'Mr Dursley, I hope you'll help us by taking it for walks and being with it, to help it grow.'
Dudley hardly had a choice, and so he'd replied, saying 'Sure.' How he regretted that decision! Bellona followed him everywhere, and he didn't think it was because she liked him-- she was being increasingly violent. He had narrowly missed being gored by her when he was trying to give her food.
'Hmm...' said the woman, when he asked her about it. 'I think it may be because she doesn't have a mother, and the first person she saw once she was hatched is you...'
'So she thinks I'm her mother?' asked Dudley. He had read such things in stories...
'Goodness, no. You're a man, you don't have a horn, you're certainly not green... Mr Dursley, things like that happen only in stories. Dragons are clever enough to distinguish a fellow dragon from a human. No, Mr Dursley, I think that Bellona thinks that you have done something with her mother, and she... I think she wants revenge.'
Revenge she wanted, and revenge she got. Dudley had to take Bellona along with him, and she never missed a chance to poke him with his horn, or snort little flames on him. Dudley knew this was only the beginning-- as she grew, she'd become bigger, and more powerful, and then she'd really be dangerous to him. But try as he might, he couldn't bear to ask the woman to take Bellona away, he knew that she wouldn't eat or do anything otherwise, and for some reason he found himself liking the little brat.
However, the time soon came (in around two days, actually), when Bellona became too big and dangerous for him to take her with him everywhere. The woman decided to let Bellona into the wild parts of the reserve, now that she was old enough to take care of herself.
That had happened the day before, and now Dudley was walking through the reserve with Victoria, Thomas, and a wizard named Mark. They were apparently going to check if all the magical 'fences' which prevented the dragon from flying out were working properly. Mark had his wand out, and was checking the lines, and saying something. Thomas seemed to be the only one listening-- Victoria had a faraway expression on her face, and Dudley was thinking of only one thing-- would he see Bellona anywhere here? He was sure that if he saw her, he would immediately recognize her, but what were the chances?
Suddenly, Mark pulled all three of them back, behind a bush. 'Look there,' he said. Beyond the bushes, next to the river, a small Romanian Longhorn was walking, its magnificent scales glinting in the sun. It couldn't be... but she was! She was Bellona! Dudley stood up to walk towards her, but Mark held his hand and pulled him down.
Bellona was alone, she looked lonely. She walked desolately towards the river, looking around. What was she trying to do? It was incredibly quiet, and the silence just made it seem more eerie. All of a sudden, with an immense roar, a huge, grown Romanian Longhorn burst out of the water. It was longer, much longer, than Bellona, and much larger, too. Each of its scales was the size of Dudley's face, and was a shade of green he had never seen before. It seemed to be murky, and yet bright. It seemed to be swirling, like polluted water. Its horn was long, shiny gold, and ended in a sharp point-- one that seemed to be able to easily impale even a rock.
When it opened its mouth to roar, Dudley could see every one of its razor sharp teeth, and its forked tongue. 'What's Bellona-- the smaller one-- doing?' whispered Dudley to Mark.
'She's Bellona? That definitely explains a lot... Bellona is an orphan, yes? So what I think is that she's looking for an adoptive mother, someone to take care of her and help her grow up.' Dudley nodded, his eyes stuck firmly on Bellona and the larger dragon.
Bellona walked forward meekly, towards the other dragon. She stood in front of it, as if waiting for judgement, making soft, guttural noises. The dragon seemed to be examining her for a second before, without a warning, it swooped down at Bellona. Dudley instantly knew that something was wrong; he stood up and screamed, 'No!' The larger dragon's horn caught Bellona in the middle of her stomach, and carried her high into the air, green blood flowing freely, flying everywhere.
'Shit shit shit shit!' exclaimed Mark, before getting up, running towards the larger dragon, and raising his wand. Sparks flew into the sky, but nothing happened to the dragon. Dudley ran towards it, despite Mark exclaiming at him. Finding the largest stone that he could, he threw it at the dragon. It hit it, and bounced away, doing nothing. Picking up another stone, Dudley aimed and threw, realising that Bellona was going to die soon if he didn't do anything.
The stone found the dragon's eye. It howled in pain, and swung about madly. Bellona flew off its horn and fell on to the ground. Dudley ran towards her, and picked her up. It was not a pretty sight-- her stomach was torn open, and he could see her guts inside. It was a green mass; apparently, dragon blood was green.
'WATCH OUT!' screamed Mark. Dudley heard a roar, felt the temperature increase, and then the flames found him.
When Dudley awoke, he was in some sort of a hospital. He opened his eyes groggily, wondering why he was there, and then suddenly sat bolt upright. He regretted doing that, because he felt a sharp pain in his back, and he fell on the bed again.
Slowly propping himself up again, he asked, 'Bellona? What happened to Bellona? And what happened to me? Why am I here?' Someone who looked like a nurse came near him.
'Bellona is... She'll live. She's pretty hurt, but it's not fatal, thanks to what you did. However, by saving her, you were very nearly killed yourself!'
'What?'
'The dragon attempted to blow fire all over you... Thankfully, Mark could get you out of the way before you got seriously hurt.' That would explain his back.
'I need to see Bellona,' said Dudley, and stood up. He realised that he was wearing one of those hospital gowns where too much of your body was exposed, but everyone looked shiftily elsewhere to pretend to give you privacy.
'Where are my clothes?' he asked sharply.
'Mr Dursley, I really don't think--'
'Just give them to me, please,' said Dudley. Didn't they understand that he had to see Bellona and make sure she wasn't hurt? The nurse handed him his clothes.
He changed, and then headed for the door. 'Where's Bellona?' he asked the nurse.
'Down the corridor, to the right,' she said. Thanking her, Dudley walked out. He hardly even realised that he was practically running, until he reached the door. Pushing it open, he rushed inside.
'Where's Bellona?'
'I suppose you must be Mr Dursley? Bellona's... She's having some trouble. I'm sorry, she may not make it.' The man who had spoken was tall, and wore white robes-- he looked like another doctor. Several other people were in the room, milling over beds and tables.
'But... but the nurse there said that she'd be...'
'Nurse? Oh, the Healer. I suppose she didn't want to shock you... I'm sorry, Mr Dursley. I suppose you want to take a look at Bellona?'
'Yes!' he snapped. The man motioned him over.
'We have her here, in our intensive care unit,' he said. He held a door open for Dudley, who walked in. And gasped. Lying in something that looked like a cross between a basket and a bed was Bellona. Her chest was heaving heavily. Her scales were dull green now, and her horn had lost its sparkle.
However, the worst thing was her wound. It was like someone had tried to stretch the rest of her skin over the hole. The skin was mottled red, and Dudley could see green blood oozing out of the edges of the wound.
What could he do? She didn't look very good... 'What can you do to save her?'
'With the magic and expertise and funds that we have available? Very little, I'm afraid. I'm terribly sorry, Mr Dursley, but I doubt if she's going to live. We shall do our very best, but...'
Dudley shook his head, and walked out of the room, and towards the staff quarters. Bellona was going to die... But she couldn't! He had to do something to save her!
He couldn't think properly. Thoughts ran amok drunkenly in his head, bouncing off the sides of his mind and racing about with scant regard to anything. Dudley was aware of his body falling into bed and his back throbbing madly.
With the magic and expertise and funds that we have available? Very little, I'm afraid. With the magic and expertise and funds that we have available? With the magic and expertise and funds-- Your cousin, Harry Potter... A donation for the reserve... Harry Potter... Harry Potter... Harry Potter...
Dudley sat bolt upright for the second time that day, despite his back protesting. Harry Potter! That was it!
Dudley was still for a second, in deep thought, before he reached for the chain around his neck and hurriedly pulled it off, nearly snapping it. Holding the half-heart shaped pendant in his hands, he pressed it gingerly. A sound like wind rushing madly was heard for a second, before he spoke.
'Luna? Luna, are you there?' he asked.
'Diddly? Dudley, I can't believe it's you! I've been missing you so much, Mr Simon looks like you, but he's honestly nothing like you,' she said. She then went on, in a conspirational whisper, 'I think the ackrats have got him already, Diddly. He has no hope. But anyway, why did you want to speak to me? Is something wrong? Diddly, are you okay?'
'Luna!' He couldn't believe how much he missed her, her and here lovely, musical voice. 'Luna, I need to contact Harry, do you know how? Owl's too slow, and I don't think he got around to actually getting a phone, did he?'
'No, I don't think so, Diddly. Why do you want him? There's always Floo powder, you can ask someone there...'
'Flue powder? Thanks so much, Luna! Love you!' he said, and put the chain back around his neck.
He ran through the corridors, till he nearly crashed into a wizard. 'I need to know,' said Dudley between gasps, 'whether you have, erm, flue powder here?'
'Yes, we do, the fireplaces are that way, but why--'
'Fireplaces?' asked Dudley, confused.
'Oh, you're one of the Muggles, aren't you? Come, I'll show you how to use Floo powder.' Dudley followed the wizard into a large room, with five blazing fireplaces along the walls. Next to each of them was a tin of some green powder.
'That fire... it's turning green! Hell, that woman's putting her head into the fire!'
'That's how Floo powder works,' explained the wizard, chuckling. 'Here, now who do you want to call, and what's his name?'
'Harry Potter... Godric's Hollow, I think.'
'Harry Potter? You can't be serious!'
'I'm his cousin,' said Dudley. 'I need to speak to him.'
'All right, then...' said the wizard. He took a handful of the powder, and threw it into the fire. 'Harry Potter, Godric's Hollow!' he yelled. The fire blazed green.
'Go on, put your head in and talk,' said the wizard. Dudley uncertainly put his head into the fire, screwing up his eyes. However, the fire felt faintly ticklish, and did not burn him as he had expected.
'Harry?' he called out.
'Dudley? That you?' Thank God Harry was home... 'What happened, what's the problem?'
'Harry, there's this orphaned, infant dragon that was attacked by another dragon sometime today... And the doctors don't believe she's going to make it... at least, not with the expertise they have. Harry, can you do anything to save her, anything at all? I'd be indebted to you!'
Harry frowned. 'Whoa, Dudley, wait a minute. Tell me what's wrong, what's going on. I'll see what I can do. Which dragon reserve is this?'
'Everyone, this is Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, as well as their Care of Magical Creatures professor. This is Charlie Weasley, who works at the Romanian Dragon Reserve. This is Healer Clarke, Healer Stewart and Healer Davis. Now where's this dragon?' Harry and the others had arrived there soon after Dudley had spoken to him.
The witch who had been there while Dudley had hatched the egg accompanied them to the room where Bellona was kept. 'I'm Laura, I must say it's an honour to have you here-- Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, we've heard all about you!'
Dudley motioned to Bellona, who looked even worse than before. 'This is Bellona,' he said.
'Bellona is a Romanian Longhorn, who was orphaned as an egg. She approached an adult Romanian Longhorn, who attacked her.'
Weasley pulled back his sleeves and got to work immediately, barking out orders and working with all kinds of coloured potions and magic and things, which Dudley couldn't begin to comprehend. He dully tried to take in everything that was going on-- Charlie Weasley was a tall, sturdily built man, who had scorch marks and scars running over a lot of his body. Hagrid was... Hagrid was tall and huge and took up a lot of room (a lot of the room, in fact). Dudley recognised him-- it wasn't easy to forget a man who'd left him with a pig's tail.
Bellona's stomach was cut open again, and Weasley was doing all sorts of things. Dudley could hardly bear to look, he walked out of the room. Around an hour later, Charlie Weasley appeared at the door-- his clothes stained green, his hair dishevelled, but with a broad smile on his face.
'She's going to make it.'
Bellona slowly managed to get back to health. Once she did, there was no stopping her. She followed Dudley around-- and everyone allowed this, because she was still recovering, and couldn't be allowed into the wild. Dudley himself didn't mind it, because he enjoyed having her around. Lord, he was going to miss the little thing.
The days passed by so fast Dudley could hardly realise them, and soon Bellona was perfectly all right, and had grown rather large.
It was a few days before the end of the month when Laura dropped the bombshell. 'Mr Dursley, I think it's time we released Bellona back into the wild. She's old enough to take care of herself, and she needs to learn on her own now.'
Dudley had always known that this time would come, but he didn't feel that either he or Bellona were ready for it.
'But... What if something happens like last time?'
'Mr Dudley, I know this is hard for you-- Mr Weasley warned us of this, but you must understand. She is old enough now to be left in the wild, and that is what is best for her. I'm sure you don't want to stop us from doing what's best for her?' He could be incredibly jealous and stop them, but would she, or he, be happy then?
'Okay, but I want to watch her leave,' he said. Laura nodded.
They were on top of one of the towers that were used to view... something. Dudley didn't care. Bellona had been left at the clearing below, and she looked lost and confused. The poor thing.
She looked around desperately, searching for something. Then suddenly, her body tensed. Her scales were back to their magnificent green, and her horn was a gleaming gold once again.
Her huge wings opened up slowly, and she tested them out with a few flaps. Then, with a jump, she launched herself into the air, flapping her wings. She soared through the sky, a large green flying machine.
She flew right past the tower, but hardly gave a glance to Dudley. She swooped through the air, snorting smoke, and dived and pirouetted. She looked like she was having the time of her life.
She zoomed towards a bird, and gripped it in her talons. She'd probably kill it and eat it later-- her natural instincts were already kicking in. She looked beautiful, gliding in the air, her scales shimmering in the sunlight. How he was going to miss her...
Dudley stood there, watching till she was nothing more than a pin-prick on the horizon.
Dear Mr Dursley,
We hope you enjoyed your stay at our reserve, as we enjoyed working with you. As you requested (and as a means of thanking Mr Potter for his generosity), we are tracking Bellona's progress.
She's doing well, fending for herself, and acting like a true dragon. She seems to be enjoying herself, though during the nights she sits alone and pines. We're sure she'll be okay, though.
Enclosed is a picture that one of our staff had taken of you with Bellona. We think you'll enjoy it.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Hall
Dear Mr Dursley,
We're glad to hear that the wizard who took your place didn't get up to much trouble. Hope everything else is fine with you. We wanted to give you a quick update on Bellona-- she's doing very well. She's stopped pining during the nights, and she seems to have found a suitor. A male Romanian Longhorn has taken to following her around and courting her.
She's obstinately refusing to, playing hard to get-- she's a feisty female, that one. She's giving us all quite a few laughs.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Hall
Dear Mr Dursley,
Good to hear that your business is going on fine.
Bellona got into a bit of a... fight with another dragon yesterday. It was an old Romanian Longhorn (not her suitor, however-- we think she's starting to harbour feelings for him, finally), and though Bellona hardly got hurt at all, we weren't able to save the other dragon. We strongly believe that the other dragon was the one who hurt her when she had approached him.
Bellona has started to get around to her suitor, as I mentioned above. We can't decide whether to call him Mars or Macbeth, though... I'm personally leaning towards the former.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Hall
Dear Mr Dursley,
Macbeth it is, then. Bellona and Macbeth have finally settled down, we think that Bellona is going to lay any time soon.
Enclosed is a photograph of Bellona and Macbeth. Sorry about the bad quality, we couldn't get near enough for a good shot. Anna is talented though, so I'm sure you'll like the photograph.
Your sincerely,
Laura Hall
Dear Mr Dursley,
Bellona's first egg hatched! It seems to be a girl, and Bellona is taking on the duties of motherhood with incredibly eagerness. Macbeth is a wonderful father.
Yes, you could come to the reserve any time during the following months to meet us. We'd be extremely honoured, and you would be very welcome.
We've managed to take a few photographs of Bellona's child, you'll find them attached.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Hall
Dear Dudley,
First things first, I'm really incredibly sorry to hear about your wife's miscarriage. I realise how terrible it must be to be so near and then have it brutally taken away.
I'm afraid this will worsen matters, but here goes. Today, at approximately ten AM, a rogue dragon attempted to attack Bellona's children while Macbeth was hunting. Bellona put up an amazing fight, and none of her children suffered a scratch, but... I'm very sorry, Dudley, but we could not save Bellona.
I know that this news will not be easy for you to bear, especially after hearing your sad news, but I'd like to tell you that Bellona had a very gifted life, despite its length. She died having a wonderful family and happy, and I think that she was quite content.
As I look at Bellona's daughter, I can't help but remember a similar infant dragon who went from hating a remarkable man to loving him. You really had an immense impact on Bellona's life, and for that I must thank you. You proved everyone wrong-- there can exist a bond between dragon and man.
Unfortunately, just as snow quenches fire, all good things must come to an end-- even though we desperately do not want them to. We can only learn, and learn to move on, and continue on with our lives, despite the fact that they seem to have taken a little piece of us with them. They say that those we love never truly leave us, but that is so hard to remember.
I can only request you to stay strong, as I am trying to be too.
Yours lovingly,
Laura.