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With Charlie's help, they finally got all their gear on. This included a Foe-Glass that would spin if another dragon got too close; a pair of impossibly tight goggles; an incredibly complex set of straps and harnesses to secure themselves to the saddles; a gleaming silver knife for cutting the straps in an emergency; and a set of dragon-strength soporific spray canisters that looked alarmingly like fire extinguishers, meant more for psychological comfort than practical use.
"Might double as swimming goggles if we go down," Charlie said as he pulled his pair on.
Anthony asked without much hope, "In all this equipment, we wouldn't happen to have a parachute, would we?"
"All good, Hagrid, don't touch your straps anymore," Charlie said, giving them one last check. "A parachute? No. The backpack is for food and luggage. We're ready, Barbara!"
Barbara nodded and jumped down from the wooden dragon. The dragon had already shifted into a take-off posture, its hind legs bent, head thrown back, snout aimed at the sky. Its bluish-black wings were braced against the ground, slightly lifting its front half.
Barbara had already fixed all three saddles onto the dragon and had spent considerable effort adjusting Hagrid's extra-large saddle, trying to position it where it wouldn't interfere with the model's flight. It seemed Hagrid would be seated at the junction of the dragon's neck and wings, while Anthony and Charlie would be on the neck and back respectively.
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"Thanks, Barbara," Charlie said with a grin. "Watch closely, Hagrid. Henry."
He flexed his solid arms, took two running steps, leapt up, and grabbed a massive wooden scale, then the handle atop the saddle. In a swift movement, he swung himself onto the dragon's neck. With a sharp click, he'd secured the main waist strap to the saddle, then pushed himself up, clamping his legs around the saddle's sides and sliding his feet into the dangling stirrups. A moment later, his free hand had secured his feet against the dragon's neck as well.
"Come on up!" Charlie called out happily over Hagrid's loud cheer. "That's it. Once we're all settled, we're off." He leaned back, hanging upside down to look at them, his reddish hair swinging from behind his goggle strap.
Hagrid boomed an affirmative and strode to the dragon's neck. Even for him, it was a challenging height. After two attempts, he managed to haul himself up, then, following Charlie's instructions, began clipping the various tangled straps to their designated spots.
"Need help, Henry?" Charlie asked, watching Anthony abandon the neck and start his struggle from the hind leg.
"I must confess, I'm not great at climbing," Anthony gritted out, stepping on the bent joint of the hind leg, grabbing the edge of the wing, and wrestling with it for a moment.
Hagrid twisted with difficulty. "Here, try grabbing my hand, Henry."
Anthony gauged the distance, let out a breath, released his grip, and jumped back to the ground. Hagrid made a sympathetic noise, encouraging him to try again from a different angle. But Anthony had already drawn his wand. He lengthened all the straps on his person and, under Hagrid's puzzled gaze, directed them to fly over to the saddle and loop around the handle several times.
Then he pointed his wand at the enlarged straps. "Reducio."
Whoosh. The straps shrank back to their original size, yanking him up and onto the dragon's back. Anthony was lucky enough to grab the saddle handle, preventing his head from smashing into it. Hagrid sucked in a sharp breath.
"Close one, Henry!" Charlie shouted. "Brilliant, though!"
"Yes. Very close," Anthony said, a touch of regret in his voice.
He untied the knots and fastened everything to the correct places, warning himself to think more about consequences next time. He'd rather look a bit awkward than have to explain a functioning but damaged skull in front of everyone.
The pets in his backpack were unnervingly calm. But even with everything settled, the owl in the cage hanging from his suitcase strap was still hopping around, chittering scoldingly at him.
…
Once all three were secured, the dragon suddenly let out a series of loud, groaning creaks from all its joints. Then, without any warning, they were airborne.
The Longhorn model shot almost straight up into the sky.
If he hadn't been strapped to the saddle, Anthony was absolutely certain he would have fallen off already. Wind roared past his ears. It didn't even feel like wind; it felt like his face was slamming into the air, forcing it aside. Even with the goggles, he could barely keep his eyes open. His robes, though mostly pinned down by the harness, were still flapping and snapping wildly at the edges. He could see Hagrid's coat and trousers doing the same.
Anthony clung to the handle with one white-knuckled hand, letting the gale tear through his sleeves. With his other hand, he tightened the backpack straps, then pulled the owl cage against his chest. The Hogwarts owl was also tossed about, pressed flat against the cage bars by the wind, its feathers sticking out between them in disarray.
Anthony felt a twinge of worry because he couldn't hear the owl scolding him anymore. He quickly realized that with his ears full of roaring wind, even if the owl opened its beak, he wouldn't hear a thing.
"Whoo-hoo!" Charlie's exuberant shout reached his ears in broken fragments carried by the wind. "Relax, Hagrid! This is the best part of flying!"
Anthony glanced ahead. Hagrid was hugging the dragon's neck in a manner reminiscent of someone trying to strangle it, while Charlie had actually let go with both hands, hanging completely upside down from the dragon's neck.
"Charlie!" Anthony yelled. The wind snatched the words away before they could travel.
They flew upward, leaving the ground far behind. Up. Up. Higher and higher. Anthony squinted against the wind, saw clouds rushing toward them. Up. Up. Up. They burst into the cloud layer, into the misty vapor. Everything turned white on either side. Up! Before the moisture could cling to them, they shot out the top of the cloud.
Finally, the dragon model began to adjust its posture, slowly leveling out. The pull of gravity became familiar and comforting again. The wind eased a little.
Hagrid sat up straight. Anthony finally had a moment to check his belongings.
His suitcase hung stubbornly from the side of the saddle. The cat slept peacefully in the backpack. The Wraith Chicken and the rat in his mind remained deathly still. The owl's feathers were a mess, its talons locked onto the cage floor bars. Surprisingly and remarkably calm, it was carefully turning its head, studying its surroundings.
"Everyone alright?" Charlie called out cheerfully.
"Right as rain!" Hagrid bellowed, running a huge hand through his tangled hair.
"I'm fine!" Anthony shouted back, lifting his head. The owl took the opportunity to give a gentle, reprimanding nip to his hand resting on the cage.
Once the dragon flew more steadily, Charlie directed it to descend a little. After that, everything became genuinely enjoyable.
Compared to sitting on a thin broomstick, clutching the handle, riding an almost self-piloting dragon was infinitely more comfortable. The bleak, pale-brown winter fields and the occasional patches of snow-covered ground slid slowly beneath them. Slender, silver ribbon-like rivers snaked across the land. Distant, humped mountains rose in the same bluish-black as the dragon's wings beside them.
Occasionally, they'd see the ground divided into sections. Where the roads were densest, there were rows and rows of tiny, rice-grain houses, clustered together like mushrooms after rain beneath a tree.
That's when Charlie would hit the Invisibility button. Anthony quickly realized this wasn't a true Disillusionment Charm meant to make one unseen. It was more like whatever magic The Leaky Cauldron used. A magic that simply made people overlook their existence.
Charlie realized it too.
"I have to tell Barbara when we get back, she can't skimp on magic for this," Charlie yelled from his perch on the neck. "Her last dragon model used Demiguise hair, a Hidebehind's hide, and countless Disillusionment Charms!"
Anthony yelled back, "This works fine too! No one can notice us anyway."
"Yeah, because we're flying over human settlements, not dragon lairs!" Charlie retorted. "And we have to watch the Muggles' faces to see if it's failed! It's ridiculously inconvenient!"
After passing over another stretch of countryside, they arrived above a larger city. Anthony could barely make out cars on the thin roads, each looking like a mere speck. Countless houses streamed beneath them.
He was flying on a dragon over the heads of all these people. People who were probably at home enjoying a leisurely moment, just as he had done every New Year's holiday before: making a simple meal, tidying up, killing time on the sofa, maybe reading the same boring novel he had, debating whether to brave the crowds by the river or in the square to watch the fireworks at night.
He couldn't deny he missed those easy-going holidays a little.
"This is brilliant!" Hagrid roared, leaning over to look down. "Oh, that's a fine Christmas tree!"
"Too many people here," Charlie said. "Some wizard might think we're a real dragon…"
He muttered an incantation. The dragon lurched violently, stumbling its way back upward. Soon, they were back among the clouds.
"Better not risk being seen," Charlie said. "Besides, if the Invisibility button fails and Muggles spot us, the International Confederation of Wizards won't treat it like some minor incident of playing Quidditch in front of Muggles. I mean, that's not minor either, but…"
Hagrid stroked the imitation scales at his side. "But, Henry, it's a dragon!"
"I know. But," Anthony pointed out, "whether it's on a broomstick, a dragon, a wooden dragon model, or a goose, it's all equally strange and wondrous to Muggles."
"Really?" Hagrid asked skeptically.
"Really," Anthony said.
Hagrid shook his head, muttering, "Well, Muggles are a strange lot."
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