The Dragon's Lament
Samantha continued firing spells and she shoved the memory into her pocket. She identified a few faces in the room. There was her old friend Lee Jordan dueling near the door, he was almost laughing as she saw him.
Harry was dueling two of the big goons at once and Ron was dueling another well. It looked like Ron had something round and covered in paper in his hand. Ginny, Kai and Jack were all winning their own duels and edging towards the door. Kai was taking on Freya and they were locked in an intense yelling match.
"Still up to your old tricks Kai!" Freya cackled.
Kai sneered, "You miss my tricks and you know it!"
"Please Kai, don't make me hurt you. I don't want to." Freya insisted and as Samantha glanced at her, she had hesitation in her eyes.
Samantha focused back to her own duel and enacted a shield charm.
"Come on you lot!" Lee yelled into the room before motioning for everyone to get out of the room. She finally fired a good stun before she and Jack both ran towards the door.
Lee winked as she passed into the hallway, "Hey beautiful."
"You Git!" Samantha yelled at him as they ran through the hallway firing spells. "How'd you know to come here?"
Lee chuckled answering her question following closely, "Well your Goddaughter was born Monday morning. Genevieve was keeping it quiet and I wanted to tell you over our lunch."
"She was born already?" Samantha's mind ceased her racing and she hugged him around the neck before pulling him down to help him avoid a spell above his head. She nonverbally stunned the man who had sent the spell.
Lee chuckled as they stood up, "Yes, little Rebel Genevieve Jordan. Your beautiful Goddaughter. She looks like her mum thankfully."
"You have a Goddaughter?" Jack asked following closely behind them as they reached a set of stairs and began running down them. For all the spells whizzing past his head, a smile was plastered across his mouth.
"Yeah and a Godson!" Lee yelled happily before quickly shaking Jack's hand. "Good to see you mate."
"Her name is Rebel?" She felt her heart leap.
"Told you she'd love the name Lee." Ginny yelled firing a few more spells and running behind them. She had beads of sweat down her forehead and her ponytail was flying as she ran.
"I told him you would hate it. Come on you lot! Ron's supposed to test my newest product, so if I were you, I'd get out of here quicker than that." George, Ginny's brother and one of Samantha's old Potterwatch buddies yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Duke the dragon, was perched on his shoulder. He flew up to Samantha and nudged on her shoulder. George pointed at the dragon, "He led us here."
"Good job Duke!" Samantha whispered and the little dragon began dancing on her shoulder.
Lee chuckled as they reached the bottom, "I saw that imposter, his name is Fritz right?"
Samantha nodded trying to catch her breath and not trip over her own feet.
"I knew it wasn't you. You didn't give that Fritz character nearly enough information about you and I. That git told me everything about you being here, looking for your brother. I went to George, who told me to go to Harry. Harry told us where he was sure you'd be and Ginny tore the mickey out of him till he'd agree to take us all. We got to the ranch and the lady there, sent us here, then we saw the Dragon."
"Recognized him from when Charlie used to bring Kai around." George laughed at the little black dragon.
Samantha noticed there were a few stunned people around the front desk of the INN. She also noticed that Harry, Ron and Kai still hadn't retreated from the upstairs. Everyone exited the INN into the streets. No one dared to run any further until the rest of their company arrived. The thunder and lightning was raging now, and the wind had picked up fervently, it was whipping around everyone. Samantha's hair and hat were soaked.
Boom! It sounded and felt like a canon went off. This was clearly not thunder, but it made the earth shake beneath them.
"Earthquake Explosions!" George laughed as he grabbed onto Ginny to keep her from falling. "New, for our Christmas collection coming in a month!"
An intense crack of lightning flashed. As the thunder followed, there was a flash of red light and someone crashed through an upstairs window. The glass fell around the body and Samantha covered her face.
In the same moment that the person landed on their back with an unforgettable thud, Harry and Ron exited into the streets.
Samantha and Jack ran to the body, who was unmistakable as his hat lay beside him. He was twitching and Samantha put her head to his chest. She could still hear a heartbeat, but she could see the blood pooling beneath him and flowing down a drain that was near them. She picked up his head and put her hat beneath his head to catch the blood. His eyes were semi opened, but he looked knocked out.
"He's still alive." She yelled back to them through another crack of lightning.
"He was supposed to be behind us!" Harry yelled as he ran to Ginny.
Ron also ran to the body and began examining it.
"We have to get out before they get down here!" Ron yelled.
Samantha grabbed Kai and Apparated back to the Dragon ranch.
The morning sunlight felt like it was boiling against her soaked skin and clothing. Mud was forming from the water dripping from her body. She put her head against Kai's chest again and listened for a beat.
Ron was on his knees across from her, checking his pulse, covered in a good amount of mud himself. There were muddy handprints all over Kai's shirt and face from them checking his body. Her hair had left streaks and drops of mud and water.
"Samantha," Ron yelled to her shaking his head aggressively. "I don't feel a pulse."
No, he couldn't die. He wasn't supposed to die. No one was supposed to get hurt or risk their lives for this.
"Please, don't be dead." She yelled as she heard nothing from his heart. She sat up and began smacking his face. His squared off glasses had broken and his eyes were slightly open towards the sunlight.
Duke jumped down beside Kai's body. Duke was pulling on his shirt and trying to get him to stand up. He was crying out in little whaling noises, like a baby crying. There was a roar from all of the dragons around him, as if in response to Duke's cries that their master had breathed his last. It made the earth shake around everyone. There was a ringing in her ears after the roar had temporarily sent her into deafness.
"Duke," Samantha addressed the little dragon, still pulling at Kai's shirt. Kai's eyes were fully open now, beautiful and blue. They were beginning to glaze over. Behind his head, a small pool of blood had soaked through her hat. There wasn't much she could do now. There wasn't much anyone could do.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see her brother standing above her. He had Kai's soaking hat in his other hand. Her friends were standing behind her in a semi circle of sorts.
Samantha turned back to look at Kai's body.
"He's gone little one." Samantha remorsefully whispered to the little dragon.
Duke stopped pulling on Kai's jacket and instead went onto his chest. He climbed beneath his old master's shirt and pulled at a necklace around his neck. The charm on the necklace glittered in the sunlight. The string broke apart and Duke held it in his mouth.
Samantha reached up and closed Kai's eyes before reaching her hand out for Duke. Duke hesitated, looking between her hand and Kai's body. He jumped into her hands before climbing up to her shoulder. He curled up there, tighter than before, still holding the necklace in his mouth and whimpering quietly.
"I'm sorry Duke." She said softly. "I'm so sorry."
She felt her hands really begin shaking now, looking at his body reminded her of that day, at the battle of Hogwarts when his blue eyes were the ones that had greeted her. His were the eyes that knew what she had truly gone through. He had known her grief and the extent of it. It was as if that moment lived, even when he was not breathing anymore.
She felt her chest heave as she heard the screams of Queenie as her eyes rested upon the body of her dead grandson. Samantha and Ron both stood back as Queenie took his head into her chest and filled the air with her cries. The dragons again followed suit, crying out for the dragon trainer who cared for them so deeply. Jack wrapped his sister in his arms as she silently sobbed.
Queenie whimpered out before she kissed his forehead, "My beautiful grandson."
Samantha found herself sitting on the front steps with Duke still clinging to her shoulder an hour or two later. She hadn't found the strength to clean herself quite yet. She was covered in mud and Kai's blood from her head to her toes. It had all dried now.
She couldn't even run her hands through her hair they were shaking so much. The black onyx couldn't even pierce the sorrow and remorse she felt. She had pulled out a pen and a notebook. The pen magically began writing on its' own, taking down every thought she had about what had transpired was being recorded. She wasn't sure why, but it was all she knew to do in moments of crisis. The sounds of the scribbles were almost louder than the dragons.
Everyone else, except Harry, George and Lee had cleaned themselves up and were sitting inside. Ron was preparing a letter to inform Charlie and see if he could get a team to help the dragons left behind. They were digging a grave for Kai, out behind the shack between the creatures he loved the most. Queenie requested it be done properly, with no magic. Kai's body was now covered with a white cloth.
"You should get a shower hon." Queenie said sitting down on the step beside her.
Samantha nodded, she felt so remorseful that Kai had died. He wasn't supposed to die.
"It's not your fault." Queenie whispered hoarse from screaming.
Samantha wished that were true, it was her fault going in with guns blazing, to a fight she wasn't ready for.
"I've seen the minds of the two men who were there." Queenie shook her head, "Freya Jade killed my grandson. Not you."
Samantha nodded, not wanting to ask them how it had happened. The guilt she felt for bringing this tragedy on him and his family seeped through her body. She already felt guilty for everything she'd done to get her brother home.
Queenie interrupted her thoughts. "Do not feel guilt for wanting your family reunited."
"I've torn your family apart in the process." Samantha shook her head.
"Was it in vain?" She asked and Samantha remembered what she held in her pocket.
She pulled out the necklace and looked over the vial. The silver liquid memory glowed in the hot sun. The little vial in her hand was her brother's ticket to freedom. It just needed to be destroyed.
"Then please, destroy it, clean up and go home." Queenie had a large tear escape her deep green eyes. "Your mother must miss you both something terrible."
"Can I ask you a favor before I do?" Samantha asked.
Queenie nodded as she stood up.
"If I were to write to you, would you be willing to write back?" Samantha requested, "I'd like to honor Kai's memory in some way."
Queenie nodded despondently, "I'd like that."
Samantha stood up and tried to pull Duke off of her shoulder, "You need to go to Queenie now."
Duke wouldn't be moved. He gripped his claws tightly at her cloak.
"No." Queenie shook her head looking at little Duke who had now crawled beneath Samantha's cloak, "He's chosen his family now."
"I can't." Samantha shook her head faster.
"Yes, you can." Queenie looked to the little dragon. "Please, I beg you, take care of him. He needs you."
Samantha didn't know the first thing about caring for a small genetically modified dragon, but if he had chosen her, she was willing to try.