XXIII

Cho screamed and ran back down the stairs with Draco and Blaise in tow. Hether stayed behind. She stayed because they hadn't fallen, but instead were dangling from the bottom of the railing by Grega's right hand, with her left one looped under Veja's arm.

Grega ground her teeth as she struggled to keep her fingers latched onto the railing and Veja. Tears of effort slipped from her eyes as the weight of the girl pulled her towards the ground. She looked down. A crowd of students had now gathered at the other end of the chasm that separated them from the scene at the tower. No one had appeared yet with a broom. She could picture them, whispering and pointing.

"I'm sorry." It come out as a mere breath. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She could only repeat the two words over and over again. Her clever brain failed her.

Veja remained quiet, as if she had already resigned within herself and given up.

"I…" she opened her mouth to speak again. What even was she going to say? She could go on and on and apologise profusely to her for contributing to the hell that was her life, but there was nothing she could say that would excuse or justify the constant bullying. The constant teasing, name calling, threats, fake accidents; everything. She let out a forced laugh. "I'm so dumb. I know you're never going to forgive me. I know there is nothing I can say that will make you believe me."

"Sectumsempra." Veja whispered and made a star shaped pattern with her wand over her body. Grega screamed as a searing pain burned itself into her arm. With the last bit of strength that she had, she gasped in pain and looked down to see that a long red gash had cut itself deep into her arm from her elbow down.

But it wasn't the gash that made her let go of the railing. It wasn't because all her strength and resolve had left her. It wasn't because she was tired of holding on for someone who had let go. It was the because the curse that Veja had done on herself had turned her into a red union jack, with her blood dropping into the space beneath like rain on a summer day.

As they fell, she wrapped her arms around Veja as if that would protect them from meeting their swift end on the rocks.

Hether was very and immensely pissed for three reasons. Firstly, because Grega had swooped in to play hero in a matter that wasn't her concern. Secondly because she cared about Grega and didn't want her to suffer an untimely death. And lastly because when Grega had decided to play hero, he had changed the girl's future. They would both die.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and looked over the edge. They were both still falling. Time slowed down for her. She would do it; it didn't matter. After all, she could obliviate them all after, so what was the concern?

Hether swung her body over the railing without a second thought and plunged into the chasm after them. This was three point seven seconds after they fell. She lowered her head to her chest to hide her face, and whispered into her beating heart.

"Awaken."

There was a loud bellow, and then a roar that shook the ground like an earthquake. Draco's head snapped up at the sound. His eyes widened.

"What's going on?" Blaise shook his shoulder. It seemed the boy had momentarily forgotten to mask his fear.

"How am I supposed to know?" He swatted the intruding hands away. He always wondered what made people think they could touch him whenever they wished. But as soon as he saw the dark cloud that rose from the chasm and pushed unsuspecting students back with a powerful gust of wind, he knew.

The beast rose, majestic and elegant, sleek and black like the depth it emerged from, and shot into the air like an arrow, leaving the students speechless. Then, it spread its wings, and the sky was blotted out.

Draco's breath caught in his throat and he laughed a laugh of relief. He laughed so hard that he fell to his knees, wheezing for breath, red in the face. He laughed so hard that his chest to ache from the very action. He laughed so hard that people around him began to yell at him to shut up; didn't he understand the situation or was he too apathetic?

Draco folded his arms across his chest as he watched her circle; a black comet marking her place in the sky. She spread her wings again and dove to the ground, causing student and staff alike to scatter as the night-black wings flapped gracefully as she landed on the grassy hillside.

She opened her eyes, and Draco found one silver eye and one gold eye fixed only on him. She craned her neck, long and layered with sleek black scales, to her back, and he noticed that she had another set of wings which were curled up around something hidden inside. She let the second set of wings fall to the grass, and two bloody bodies rolled gently down.

Cho's eyes widened and somehow, she snapped free of Blaise's grasp. She didn't even know why he had suddenly taken a hold of her like that, but she put it at the back of her mind as she ran towards the huge, black dragon that towered over her.

"CHO, STOP!" Blaise called out, and she froze, realising that she didn't know if this creature would open its great mouth and burn her to ashes. To her surprise, it lowered its head to her eye level and looked her square out of its eyes; one a fierce silver and the other a bright gold, both glowing with power.

When the creature seemed to realise she was afraid, it gave a short snort that sounded scornful and turned to the two unmoving bodies on the ground. As Cho watched, it reached out with a claw and touched Grega's forehead. A white light began to spread through the tip of its nail, and to Cho's immense disbelief, the wound began to close up as blood returned to her body. She had heard of dragons alright, but she had never heard of them helping or healing people. They hated them, wizard and muggle alike.

The dragon moved unto Veja in the same manner, and as the whole school watched, their breaths and feet frozen, touched a claw to her forehead. This time, the dragon tilted its head to the sky and let out not fire, but a great cloud of wind, and collapsed within its black body with a thud.

Two things happened at the same time, and Cho was right in the middle of them. The first thing was that Veja's wounds sealed up and healed in same manner as Grega, even though she remained unmoving; although when Cho held her to her chest, she could feel her faint breath.

The second thing was that as Veja's wounds began to heal, the beast's form became a black cloud which soon cleared up to reveal a screaming student writhing in a pool of thick, red blood, cut severely all over their body. Before she could blink, Draco was at the side of the student, his face paralysed in white shock. He held the shaking body to his chest, not minding that the blood had begun to dye his hair red, and he was crying.

She could not recognise who the student was; the body was far too mangled; and she did not why Draco was sobbing as if he had lost everything.