Dragonis

The door gently closed behind her as she entered the room sighing; she was finally able to be at rest. She regarded the clock on the night table beside her bed: it read six o'clock. Meryn opened her trunk hastily in order to begin her Dreamless Sleep Potion. She set up a portable cauldron fire on the wooden floor and placed the cauldron upon it. She laid the herbs she required on the table and began grinding the Flox as the Bundimun infusion in the cauldron began to simmer the smell of herbs quickly filled the room, placing a rare smile upon Meryn's face. As she poured the final amount of Hemite into the cauldron she sat back in her chair and sighed. The potion had to simmer for an hour and a half before she could turn off the fire and yet another hour to cool before she could bottle it. Meryn made the decision to head down for supper while she waited. Quickly yet meticulously she cleaned her supplies and placed them intricately tenderly in their place in her trunk.

Her thoughts traveled to the events that had happened at Flourish and Blotts. Professor Snape had instilled in her the knowledge she desired, the passion they had for the subject she only shared with him. Meryn remembered the day her grandfather had come to the realization he hadn't the skill to teach her all she wished to know. That day he had written Professor Dumbledore and requested that Meryn receive her lessons from the Hogwarts Potions Master, and Dumbledore had agreed, stating that the lessons could only take place through the fireplace. Meryn had begun her lessons with Professor Snape as soon as she received the news and shortly after that she also began receiving the lesson from Professor Polakov from Durmstrang. Professor Snape. He was the reason she had chosen Hogwarts, and Meryn hoped she could still be the pupil that he trusted with the utmost knowledge, that he would teach her as he had before. She hoped that he would continue in her advanced training in the art of Potions.

As she silently left her room and closed the door behind her, her mind traveled back to her last summer at the encampment. She had been happy--at least as happy as she'd ever been. Her grandfather had been finally starting to give her more duties with the dragons. Charlie had been making her life difficult as always by pulling pranks. Like the time when she had been in charge of the incubation of abandoned Horntail eggs. Charlie had replaced them with chocolate eggs while her back was turned, so that when she placed them in the fire, they melted. Until she had caught Charlie rolling on the floor in fits of laughter she had been all in a thither. Meryn had just ended up hexing him until he could barely walk. She wished things could still be that simple, but it would never be like that again. She sighed as she sat down at one of the tables in the centre of the Leaky Cauldron.

Her eyes roamed about the room as she leaned over her soup. This was one of Meryn's habits: sizing up the situation, she called it. It encompassed all the important information she received from a quick glance at her surroundings. It would tell her if she was in any danger at that moment in time. Although she never thought she was in danger while slowly eating her soup it was now just a way for her to set her bearings. Meryn lifted her head as a sound come from outside the entrance to the alley but soon brushed off the thought, thinking perhaps it was simply two drunken wizards. Just as she bent her head down over her soup once again, two figures came bursting into the dining room. She jumped up from her table in time to see her soup go flying through the air as the table toppled under the weight of the two men. Meryn, as well as many others, pushed themselves up against the wall as to avoid the curses and hexes the two men were sending at each other.

One wizard dressed in rather fine robes held himself in an elegant duelling position while the other seemed rather ragged in appearance. Both men were expelling and dodging rather complicated curses as Meryn watched intensely. The poised man succeeded in stunning his opponent and, realising his surroundings, gazed around the room and made eye contact with Meryn. His eyes were the same colour as the silver that streaked through his black hair. As they bore into her, the slightest jolt of disbelief reverberated in them. It quickly subsided as the dishevelled man composed himself and attempted to cast a body bind on the other that was idly deflected. When the ragged wizard spoke, his tone was strong, reminiscent of past authority, "Ahriman, you have to stop this when will you realise your efforts are futile."

The elegant man replied, his voice emanating from his lips like silk, "Futile, my friend?" He scoffed, "It is sad how little you really comprehend."

"You will be surprised how much I do comprehend," the ragged man countered, "Your time here is nearly at its end."

Ahriman laughed, and it erupted like liquid fire. "No, it is your time that has reached its end," with that, Ahriman raised his wand, pointed it at his opponent and began to utter the most unforgivable of the Unforgivable curses. Just as he was about to complete the incantation, Ahriman turned quickly and fixed his eyes upon Meryn once again, then quickly turned his attention strewn on the floor, "Perhaps, my friend, when the battle is not so terribly facile we shall meet again."

With that he Apparated, leaving the ragged man cowering on his side of the battlefield.

Meryn wondered what had been to cause of such a brawl. Who was this Ahriman? Was he in league with You-Know-Who? Bystanders quickly rushed to the side of the fallen man, as he lay crumpled on the floor. Meryn stood to the side carefully watching for the rise and fall of his chest, "No more death," she thought. Her anxiety won over her curiosity upon questioning the man, the crowd was steadily becoming larger and Meryn could feel the panic rising. Swiftly she swept from the room and traveled back up the stairs to turn off the fire beneath her cauldron.

***

She was taking in the warm sweet smell of the potion as she began to draw herself a hot bath. Sinking into the luxurious water, she cracked open a book she had purchased earlier called Fantastical Creatures: Then and Now. The lovely sandalwood sent of the candles she had lit mingled beautifully with the musky vanilla fragrance of the bath water. Strangely Meryn was far more relaxed than she had been in months. The day after tomorrow she would be on her way to Hogwarts, and she knew that then she could finally feel a little more at rest. Charlie was a great help to her, but that man could only do so much. She knew he intended well, but he didn't seem to realize that being so close to him brought back so many horrible memories. Although she couldn't imagine her life without him, it was just so hard to try and put things back to the way they were before the attack.

Meryn turned the page of her book and sighed as the picture of the dragon that was shown on the page came to life. Its beautiful eyes shimmered oily black, and its rusty brown scales caught the illuminating firelight from the torches of the dragon keepers. "Dragons," she thought, "I should probably hate them, but I just can't. My whole life they were present, always fascinating me. I made one mistake, one huge mistake, but I still can't hate them," Meryn closed the book and set it down on the floor as she sunk beneath the steamy water.

Her thoughts were dangerously close to the painful memories that haunted her. She began to stroke the dragon fang that lay around her throat. She had found it when she had been rather young, but she remembered that day well. Sitting by her grandfather's side as he was overseeing the transport of a Horntail to another encampment, Meryn had begun to get restless. While trying to occupy herself, Meryn had begun to dig in the soil at her grandfather's feet, and she had quite suddenly yelped out in pain. As she went to raise her dirty bleeding finger to her mouth, her grandfather had gently grabbed her hand and knelt down beside her.

"What'd you find love?" he had asked as he pulled the tooth from the ground, "Oh, an adolescent Reaver's tooth. Meryn, it's your lucky day." He had held the tooth in the air for everyone to see. "These are good luck if you wear them around your neck." He had pulled a leather chord from his pocked and fed it through the tooth where he magically drilled a hole and tied it around her neck. To this day she had never removed it. She smiled, knowing that finding a Reaver's tooth was far from being lucky. Although, when you're seven years old, how are you to know any different? The Reaver: that dragon had been the one, which had attacked the camp that day. Despite the hot bath water Meryn was soaking in, she had goose shivers appear on her skin.

There was a knock at the door.

Meryn sat up quickly, the sudden noise surprising her. "Who's there?" she called.

"I'm from the Ministry. I need to ask you a few questions about what you witnessed tonight," she stood from the bath, quickly wrapped her robe around herself and headed towards the door. Meryn was annoyed at the intrusion, and she scowled as she flung open the door. The man stood in astonishment at her furious expression, "Maybe I should come back?"

"Why?" Meryn fumed, her voice icy, "So you can annoy me later? If you need to ask me any questions do so now."

"I-I need to know what you saw uh, downstairs," the man stuttered.

Meryn looked at him, "Probably the same thing everyone else saw," now it was the man's turn to look annoyed. Meryn sighed and continued, "First I heard some sort of disturbance from outside followed by two men bursting into the room and landing on my supper," the tone in her voice was very bored; Meryn was trying to quickly dispose of the man and return to her thoughts.

The man looked puzzled. "A disturbance?" he asked, "Nobody else said anything about a disturbance."

"Well I'm not making it up," she said, "Is they're anything else you need?"

"Where did this disturbance come from?"

"Well, not so much as a disturbance as a noise that was out of place, just outside the entrance to the Alley," she said.

"Describe for me this disturbance."

It was once again Meryn's turn to be irritated, "Like two men fighting outside. A hex, a curse...I can't see through walls."

The man from the Ministry frowned, "That will be all. Thank you for you cooperation."

Meryn closed the door abruptly in the face of the Ministry official and walked into the bedroom to get dressed. She leaned over her open trunk and retrieved her sleepwear. As she felt the soft fabric envelop her body she began to anticipate the full night's rest she was going to receive. The events of the evening were the last thing that she needed to have on her mind. But that man's silver eyes were just behind her eyelids every time she closed them.

"Ahriman," she thought out loud, "Where have I heard that before?"

The cauldron was now cool enough to touch, and as she moved it to the tabletop she frowned to herself. This potion was her only refuge from reality, and she was finally glad to be away from those who would not allow her to brew it. Meryn wished that she hadn't needed to wait to brew this elixir, but it was Charlie who had advised her against it. She knew that potions such as these should not be abused, but this was her last hope, on relieving herself of her nightmares.

The last of the potion was bottled as Meryn brought one vial with her to her bed and placed the rest carefully into her trunk. Once settled between the comforters Meryn drank the potion and laid her head upon her pillow as sleep overcame her.

***

Meryn awoke in the morning to a tapping on her window; the sun was shining brightly through the window as she opened the curtains. There, as she suspected, was an owl. Meryn opened the window for the animal to enter, and the owl proceeded to wait patiently for her to retrieve the letter from it. It was written in the familiar scrawl that she knew as Charlie's.

Meryn,

I heard about the duel that took place at the Leaky Cauldron last night. It was all over the Daily Prophet this morning. They said no one was injured, but I just need to know that you're okay. I knew I shouldn't have left you alone, but I can't leave now. Mum is in a tither over Ron, and she wants all of us home for a couple of weeks. Meryn, I just want you to know that you're always welcome at the Burrow. Mum said she would love to have you; the more the merrier these days I suppose. I know you will be leaving in a few days for Hogwarts, and then I can finally stop worrying. Until then just owl me back to let me know everything is all right.

Yours,

Charlie

P.S. How did you sleep?

Meryn pulled a parchment from her trunk and wrote Charlie his reply.

Charlie,

No need to worry. I'm all right. I will be leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow, and as I promised I will owl you when I get there. I slept fine.

-Meryn

The owl was waiting patiently for Meryn's reply, and when she completed binding the letter to the owl, it flew from its perch on the windowsill.

***

It was a sunny day, and Meryn was actually enjoying herself. She had slept without her nightmares and felt renewed. Diagon Alley was now filled with people, unlike the day before. Meryn leaned on the windowsill and peered out onto the road below. She observed many different witches and wizards, all of whom had happy smiles playing on their lips. Meryn had not even appeared from her room and she was already full of dread, she had to go out in that crowd and pretend as though it didn't bother her, at least yesterday Charlie had been with her.

The dragon hide of her trousers was a soft black today, and she once again opted for the black strap shirt. Sighing, she pulled on her boots, grabbed her bag from its place and headed out the door. Gringotts was her destination this morning; she needed to refill her coin pouch.

Meryn exited the Leaky Cauldron and entered the busy street. It was the first official day of summer holidays for the students, and the Alley was filled with many. She pushed her way along the street and headed towards the large edifice at the other end of Diagon Alley. The large doors that were the entrance into Gringotts pushed open quite easily despite their size, her heavy boots echoing throughout the large entryway. Meryn walked towards the Goblin at the mahogany desk in front of her, and she pulled the key from her coin pouch. As she was about to place her key on the desk in front of her, a tall man pushed past her and slammed his hand down in front of the Goblin's nose.

"Excuse me!" the man's voice was loud and filled with defamation, "What is the meaning of this?" he pushed an envelope into the Goblin's face.

"Mr. Malfoy," Meryn raised her eyebrow at this. She had heard of the Malfoy's from her grandfather; they were an old wizarding family like hers but not quite as honourable. The Goblin continued. "This letter was given to me many years ago by your father, as it was given to him by his father, and was to be delivered today," the Goblin looked up at Mr. Malfoy, "and it was."

Meryn moved a little closer to get a better view of the blond man's face. Lucius Malfoy raised his eyebrow at the goblin, "I see..." his icy voice hung in the warm air, "here is my key. I wish to see my vault."

The Goblin accepted the key from Mr. Malfoy as he walked towards the entrance to the vaults.

Meryn slowly approached the Goblin and handed him her key. Their eyes met as she spoke, "I need to retrieve money from my account," The Goblin eyed her suspiciously before her agreed to let her pass.

She followed a smaller Goblin down into the shafts to retrieve her gold. Upon the arrival at their destination, she handed the Goblin her key and proceeded to enter the vault. A faint blue line divided the vault in two; the majority of the gold in the vault was behind the barrier. The Galleons beyond were her family's fortune from generations past, but Meryn would not be in full possession of her fortune until her education was completed. The money on the side of the vault that she could reach was her allowance; this was what she was here for today. Meryn quickly filled her pouch and left the vault, sighing as she looked behind her. With so much money came such responsibility, a responsibility Meryn wasn't sure she even wanted. Somehow she was to carry on her family name and honour. She needed to make it up to her grandfather, there needed to be a reprimand for his death.

Sitting very still as the cart moved rapidly up to the main entrance to Gringotts, Meryn wondered about Lucius Malfoy. What was written in the pages of the letter? It seemed rather serious. The cart slowly pulled to a stop, and Meryn pulled herself out as the flash of white blond hair and a black robes flew past her.

Lucius Malfoy paused as he stepped from his cart as though he was confirming something that he had seen, but was not to sure if it was possible to be standing before him. He turned back steel grey met with fiery hazel; his demeanour was rigid, and his gaze was icy as he looked down upon her. He took the gap between them in two strong strides. His face inches from hers. "Who are you? What is your business here?"

"You speak as though it is your business," Meryn stated coldly, knowing perhaps she should hold her tongue.

"Listen carefully. I will only ask nicely one last time: who are you?" Lucius' voice was careful and precise. He had a sense of who this girl was and if she was whom he thought she was beginning to be more problems than she was worth.

Meryn's voice was filled with venom as she spoke. She hated how quickly she was giving into this man, but, as much as she loathed admitting it, he was intimidating, "Meryn Kingsley."

Lucius' face spread into a cold smile as he took her hand from her side and brushed his lips upon the back of it, his eyes remaining in contact with hers as he did so. "Charmed." He dropped her hand. "I am Lucius Malfoy. I trust you are Leopold Kingsley's granddaughter." He paused, cocking his eyebrow. "I suppose I should say were his granddaughter."

The arrogant smile that played on the man's lips gave Meryn chills up and down her spine. There was something here that she wasn't seeing. What was it that he wanted? Why was she intriguing him so?

Meryn became rigid. She could still feel his touch on her skin, and the anger began to rise inside. Lucius began to speak once more. "I am more than willing to take you under my wing should you need anything." he paused, gauging her reaction, "you will meet my son Draco at the beginning of the new term. If you wish to contact me do so through him. Until then," he pulled a black card from inside his robes, "you will be able to reach me here." Meryn looked down at the card, it was the floor and office number of Lucius Malfoy's office at the Ministry of Magic. Meryn looked up from the card to find that Lucius was gone, black robes billowing behind him as he strode from the entrance of Gringotts.