Chapter Six
All Harry knew was heat and the scorching red flames that surrounded him, cutting him off from the crowds, his friends, his partner, and most of all, Tai. His hand gripped the smooth wooden handle of his fire bolt, but he didn’t know which way to go, knowing that despite the enchantments on his broom, it was not fireproof. He had minutes-maybe- before it began to splinter. Looking up, he could see the spiral of flames beginning to close on him, the gray cast sky growing darker and darker and he had no choice-it would've been better to survive with burns and hear both Madam Promfrey and Tai berate him than to simply die here from suffocation. Sterling his nerves, he gripped the handle tightly and kicked off towards the ever growing darkness.
The Hungarian Horntail watched closely, almost as if she could see the small child flying upwards and she grinned-this one was at least, knowledgeable. Shaking the shackles off, the great Horntail took two steps forwards and unfurled her wings, taking off in two great swipes-gleefully watching as several strangers fell backwards.
Harry could hear the beating of large leathery wings, smelt the noxious gas and knew without a doubt that soon that gas would be ignited and he would be burned to a crisp. All for a goddamn golden egg.
Gripping the broom handle tightly, Harry coaxed the broom upwards, into the clouds’ coverage-hopefully he would be able to surprise the beast.
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Down below, Tai was pacing back and forth; the other digidestined and Madam Promfrey had long since abandoned attempting to tie him down. ‘’Mister Kamiya, I assure you, Mister Potter is fine-’’
Tai shot her an incredulous look; Madam Promfrey took a breath, amending her statement, ‘’Mister Potter will be fine, you’ll see,’’
Tai crumpled on the ground, uncaring of the stains he would get-if the house elves could get his soccer stains out, these would be no problem. Outside of the tent, the crowd screamed, until a frantic Hermoine burst into the Medic Tent, hair askew.
‘’Harry’s in the air with the dragon!’’
‘’Oh Merlin,’’
No one stopped Tai or Agumon as they raced past Hermoine towards the cage which had held the Hungarian Horntail.
Matt sighed, turning towards Kari and TK, “You two take Gatomon and Patamon and make sure the crowds stay safe. Keep everyone away from the cage!”
“You got it!”
The two young teens raced out the back, their digimon in tow. Gabumon turned to look at his partner, “What should we do?”
“Help Tai and Harry as best we-“
A thunderous roar echoed throughout the stadium, followed by an equally thunderous cry of INCARCEROUS!
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Harry had flown as high as he dared, when the flames finally caught his broom bristles, rapidly igniting the straw and the wood. He knew now that rather than minutes, he had seconds. Swallowing his fear, the young Gryffindor carefully stood on the end, waiting for the dragon to fly near enough and leapt.
Leap of faith, right?
At first there was nothing but the rush of air, there were no sounds save for the wind whipping around him, the rustle of his clothing and the erratic beating of his heart. He kept falling, and fear gripped his body-
What if he miscalculated? What if the dragon had changed course? He was going to call to his death and he’d never told Tai anything…..
Taking a chance, he opened his eyes, his vision filling with the dark browns and greens scales of the Hungarian Horntail. He hit the giant creature’s back almost immediately, a pained gasp escaping before he groaned, hands scrambling for some sort of grip on her massive body. He managed to find purchase on one of her large protruding horns, hoisting himself up.
It was as if the dragon sensed him and suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed from deep within. Harry could feel the dragon’s roar in his very chest. He could feel the way it empowered him and briefly he wondered if this was how Elecmon felt when he digivolved. Tightening his grip and securing his hold on the beast, he drew his wand and pointed it at the dragon’s head, roaring out his own spell.
INCARCEROUS!
His magic had never felt so damn strong and he knew that he would survive.
‘’Let’s go!’’
As if guided by trained hands, both Hungarian Horntail and Wizard carefully made their way back towards the arena, both of them strangely calm and quiet.
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Harry isn’t surprised to see Angemon nor Angewomon on crowd control; nor Matt and Tai with their own digivolved partners, ready to leap in. He is, however, surprised to see Charlie-Ron’s Dragon Tamer Brother, standing in front, his mouth hanging open. He sees several students, other tamers, adults and Viktor and his friends all clamoring towards him and the Horntail.
It’s Charlie who reaches them first, waving his arms and calling for him.
‘’Harry! Harry! How the hell?! She’s listening-Mate!’’
The Horntail and Harry look at each other and shrug, her long tail reaching back and depositing the golden egg into his open arms.
Thanks for the ride, little one. You are welcome to visit anytime.
Harry faced the Horntail, the golden egg nestled tightly in his arms. To everyone’s surprise, Harry smiled at the dragon, hissing back, “No, thank you, it was an honor,”
Charlie fell back, “You’re a…parselmouth?”
Harry nodded slowly, “why?”
It was Viktor who interjected, “Parseltongue, Harry, iz the mother tongue of all reptiles, dragons included,”
Before Harry could reply, Tai had managed to get through the crowd, nearly barreling into Charlie, before spinning around him and skidding to a stop. Pulling Harry to him, the Digidestined Leader looked him over, eyes widening when he caught the stray bruises and scratches.
“Are you crazy?! You could’ve died! I-“
“I know. I’m okay,”
Tai smiled, breaking out into a small nervous laugh, “Why is no one else-Ohh. The dragon is still loose, right?”
“Yep,”
“I, ahh, don’t suppose you could..?”
Tai waved his hand, reminiscent of a wand. Harry smirked, shaking his head before threading his hand through Tai’s, leading him towards the dragon. Slowly, both boys nestled themselves against the dragon and her clutch of eggs. To say he was nervous was an understatement, but Tai would do whatever Harry asked of him.
He froze for a moment, suddenly wondering if this was what his own parents had been talking about when they’d spoken to him about true love. He went home heart broken, so sure that it was him that was meant to be with Sora, not Matt. He had even assumed that maybe it could’ve been Matt that was meant for him! His mother had explained that Sora was her own person-as was Matt and they were free to choose each other if they wanted. His dad had said that Tai’s young heart would heal and wasn’t that something? Young hearts heal easier, even if it didn’t seem like they did. He said that his True Love would scare him and make him feel as though he was drunk.
Looking down at the smaller male curled against him and the dragon around them, Tai could safely say that Harry scared him.
…..worthy mate…..
Tai, careful of Harry’s resting form, stared at the dragon. There was no way he’d heard her. He was a…muggle.
“You….?”
You…..more…than you think
Before Tai could say anything else, the dragon shook her great head and Tai knew the conversation was more than over.
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It had taken nearly the entire day for Charlie and the others to get the Horntail separated from her two vastly human charges, despite their promises of going to Romania and visiting her over the summer. She had begrudgingly nodded before allowing any of the handlers to move her.
After she was loaded up and comfortable, the two champions made their way back towards the school-everything ached and nothing sounded better than a long shower. Harry agreed but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand a minute longer.
“No worries, I’d help yo-“ Tai paused, face flushing, almost stammering through an apology, before Matt came over to them, riding on Garurumon.
“Hey! You guys want a ride?”
Relief flooded their systems as both boys nodded eagerly.
“Don’t worry about Elecmon and Agumon, they’re already eating-Kari bought them back before the crowds.”
“Ohh man thank goodness,”
“Yea I was worried about those two,”
Once Garurumon came to a stop, lowering himself so they could climb up, Tai’s brain short circuited. Taking a glance at Matt, he knew that this had been planned.
Fuck me.
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I hate it here, I’m gonna kill Matt, why does he fit so perfectly-NO! Stop! Abort mission! Ohhhh god think of anything else…..ahhhh naked Piedmon, Myotismon in a bikini….Grandma in a bikini!
Despite Garurumon’s large size, Tai knew that Matt knew it would be a tight squeeze-he’d almost opted to walk back, but Harry had offered to and Tai wouldn’t let him. Garurumon chuckled, “A bit of squeezing for a short time is nothing-Hop on!”
Matt had taken his usual position, which left Harry behind him and Tai, pressed as closely as he could.
“Maybe it’s better if you put your arms around me? I’d rather you didn’t fall off,” Harry suggested.
Matt quickly swallowed the ball of laughter, covering it with a cough. Tai groaned but obliged, his arms coming around Harry’s hips, settling against his stomach. Once secured, the quartet took off.
Unaware of the crisis Tai was having behind him, Harry had been reclaiming his flight with the Horntail in perfect detail.
“….:unfortunately, my broom didn’t make it, so I’ll have to put an order in for another one….”
“Damn, what about quidditch?”
As the two continued on their conversation, Tai had simply let their voice lull his mind. There were too many thoughts circling and he would have to ask Izzy when he could.
There was something odd going on. He felt as if he would need all the Digidestined sooner rather than later.