"No problem now," Hagrid said from a safer distance down Diagon Alley. He spotted Dumbledore's tall figure near the ruined entrance of Gringotts, and his voice filled with immediate confidence. "Professor Dumbledore's here. That evil Dark wizard won't get away now. Dumbledore's the greatest wizard in the world."
"Is that Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked, following Hagrid's gaze.
He saw an old man with long white hair and a matching beard, dressed in a purple robe patterned with stars. Even from a distance, Dumbledore looked calm and imposing, as if all the panic in Diagon Alley had bent around him without touching him.
"Of course," Hagrid said proudly. "He's the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school you'll be going to soon."
Far below them, deep under Gringotts, Tyler stood beside the goblin supervisor as the final vault opened. The deepest tunnels were cold, dark, and heavy with old magic, but the treasures of several pure-blood families had already vanished into his expanded pouch.
"Sir, this is the last vault," the goblin supervisor said respectfully, bowing at his side.
"Good," Tyler replied with satisfaction.
The thought amused him. If the goblins ever learned that one of their own supervisors had personally opened these vaults for him, they would probably be angry enough to spit blood. Their pride in Gringotts was almost as strong as their greed, and today he had trampled on both.
"Obliviate."
"Stupefy."
Tyler first cast a Memory Charm on the goblin supervisor, then knocked him unconscious with a Stunning Spell. The goblin collapsed to the stone floor without a sound.
Tyler did not kill him. If Voldemort had been in his place, the goblin would almost certainly have received an Avada Kedavra and been left dead in the tunnel. Tyler was not merciful by any ordinary standard, but he saw no need to waste killing intent on a tool that had already served its purpose.
After dealing with the goblin supervisor, Tyler walked toward the chained dragon and jumped onto its back. Its pale scales were rough beneath his boots, and the enormous creature trembled faintly, whether from pain, rage, fear, or the long strain of captivity.
"Reducto."
Tyler raised his wand and fired several spells at the heavy shackles binding the dragon's legs.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
With a string of sharp explosions, the iron restraints snapped apart one after another. Broken chain links crashed against the stone floor, and the dragon dragged its freed legs back with a low, rumbling growl.
"Let's go, you poor big fellow," Tyler said.
The dragon seemed to understand him. It raised its head, released a fierce roar, and pushed itself upright. Its massive wings unfolded with difficulty, cramped from years underground, but the moment they spread, they filled the cavern with a storm of stale air and dust.
"Confringo!"
Tyler fired a powerful Blasting Curse toward the ceiling of the tunnel. The passage was far too narrow for the dragon to escape through the normal route, so there was only one direction left.
Up.
"Roar!"
The dragon bellowed as if answering him. It opened its mouth and blasted fire toward the roof of the cavern, cracking stone and sending chunks of earth raining down around them.
The dragon launched itself upward toward the hole. Its claws tore into stone with brute force, digging and climbing while its wings beat against the narrow walls. Tyler remained balanced on its back, casting Blasting Curses from time to time to widen the path ahead.
At the same time, outside Gringotts, the Ministry Aurors had finished clearing enough rubble to enter. They moved carefully through the broken doorway, wands raised and faces grim.
"Everyone stay alert," Scrimgeour shouted, his voice sharp with command. "There is a strong chance the Dark wizard is hiding inside. He must not be allowed to escape."
The Aurors entered the marble hall one after another. The once-grand room was a disaster of shattered counters, scattered coins, fallen goblins, broken stone, and overturned desks.
"Oh, Merlin," one frightened wizard cried as soon as he saw the Aurors. He rushed out from behind a ruined counter as if he had just seen his closest family. "Someone has finally come to rescue us!"
Several other customers who had hidden during the attack scrambled out as well. They looked pale, dusty, and terrified, clutching money bags, hats, or each other as they hurried toward the entrance.
It had been a miserable morning for them. They had only come to Gringotts to deposit or withdraw money, and instead they had been trapped in the middle of a bank robbery carried out by a Dark wizard.
"That Dark wizard went into the vaults!" one surviving goblin shouted, rushing toward the Aurors with frantic eyes. Its pride had been stripped away by fear and fury. "He went below!"
"Calm down," Kingsley said, trying to steady the frightened crowd. "We will not allow the Dark wizard to escape. For now, all civilians need to leave the bank immediately."
"Wait," another Auror said suddenly. He raised a hand, and his eyes moved toward the floor. "Do you hear that?"
A low rumble rose from beneath them. It was distant at first, like thunder trapped under stone, but it quickly grew louder. Then came the unmistakable sound of an explosion.
"It's coming from underground," the Auror said. "Something's blasting upward!"
The entire bank began to shake. Dust spilled from the ceiling, marble cracked underfoot, and several goblins screamed as the noise surged closer and closer.
"Danger!" Kingsley roared. "Get out of the way!"
This time, the Aurors reacted quickly. After Dawlish's earlier mistake, no one waited to see what would happen. They threw themselves aside, diving behind columns, counters, and broken desks.
Boom!
The marble floor exploded.
A bottomless hole opened in the center of Gringotts' hall, and a huge dragon burst up through it in a storm of stone, fire, and dust. Its wings tore through the air, and its roar shook the bank like a living earthquake.
Outside Gringotts, Fudge, Scrimgeour, Dumbledore, and the others had been preparing to enter when the entire building suddenly trembled.
"Careful, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, reaching out to steady Fudge before the Minister could stumble.
"Oh, thank you, Albus," Fudge said weakly. He wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, his voice already trembling. "What in Merlin's name is happening now?"
"A dragon!" shouted one of the grey-faced Aurors rushing out of the bank. "A dragon came up from underground!"
"And the Dark wizard is on its back!" another added, coughing through dust as he staggered into the street.
Boom!
Another violent explosion tore through Gringotts. The upper structure burst open, and the enormous dragon erupted into the sky above Diagon Alley, scattering stone fragments and smoke as it rose.
For a moment, it hovered over the ruined bank, pale and monstrous, its chains broken and its cloudy eyes burning with wild fury. Then it roared down at the street below.
Panic swept through Diagon Alley like wildfire. Wizards screamed and ran, flooding away from Gringotts in every direction. Even Knockturn Alley began to riot as people saw the dragon overhead and fled before they could find out whether it intended to breathe fire.
"Harry, don't be nervous," Hagrid said, tightening his hold on the boy. "Stay right by me."
He wrapped one massive arm around Harry and held him firmly against the crush of the crowd. People shoved, stumbled, and shouted around them, but no one could move Hagrid unless he chose to be moved.
"Thank you, Hagrid," Harry said, his voice muffled against the half-giant's coat.
He was skinny enough that the crowd might have swept him away in seconds if Hagrid had not been there. After the Dursleys, being protected like this still felt strange, but Harry clung to it anyway.
"Evil Dark wizard!" Scrimgeour shouted from outside Gringotts, raising his wand toward the sky. The Aurors had gathered in the street below, forming a loose line beneath the dragon. "You are surrounded. Put down your wand and surrender!"
"Oh?" Tyler stood on the dragon's back, looking down at the crowd from above. His black robes whipped in the wind, and his hood cast his disguised face in shadow. "Let me see who it is."
His hoarse, indifferent voice carried clearly over the chaos. "So it's the useless Aurors of the Ministry of Magic. Who gave you the courage to speak to me like that?"
He raised his wand toward Scrimgeour. Green light gathered at the tip, cold and deadly. "Avada Kedavra!"
.....
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