a thunder of dragons | jack

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

EVER SINCE ANA HAD HELPED GUIDE HIM IN HIS selection of sweets, she'd kept a careful eye out for Southern Jack Howard. Be it while practising on her broom, an eye on the stands. Or at the library, handing out leaflets and forms for current events. He'd crept up on her, just as she'd given up hope on her enjoyment of the transfers. And while she'd assumed she'd have to be the one to break the ice, she'd been wrong. Jack Howard had invited her for a butterbeer in Hogsmeade.

With her best football scarf wrapped around her neck, Ana bumped Jack's shoulder as she sidled up beside him. He'd beaten her to the Three Broomsticks, but she'd spent a little bit of extra time on her face than usual. Irina had called it a 'dew-y look' or something equally embarrassing, but she thought it looked good when she'd applied it so she'd kept it in place

"Hey, sorry I'm late," She greeted him with a toothy grin, her breath misting in front of her face. Winter had truly descended over Hogsmeade. She thought it must be colder than home was, at that moment. "You haven't changed your mind, have you?" Her smile turned in to a smirk, but she wondered if she'd perhaps kept him waiting a shade too long. She didn't have time to think on it for very long.

A sudden commotion broke out behind Ana, and she strained to look over her shoulder when the ground shook with an almighty roar. Ana knew that sound, it echoed in her childhood, a far off memory. A fairytale told to keep the Krum's safe in their beds at night and not out hanging from tree branches. "Dragons..." She blurted, her eyes wide as she turned to look at Jack as if to confirm what she already knew. They were somewhat shrouded by the Three Broomsticks' awning, but Ana wasted no time dashing out in to the fray, people scrambling all around her, knocking her this way and that in an attempt to escape.

Above her, the milky winter sky was broken by a hulking shape. It had crashed on to the sloped roof of one of the buildings and Ana stood transfixed as movement cascaded all around her. It was like a calling from home - not England, but further out. She hadn't seen a dragon in years, but their imposing shape still took her breath away. It wasn't a colour, or appearance she recognised straight away but it was hard to tell against the pale, bright sky. It's head bent back as it roared thunderously and the locals screamed in terror.

Somehow, in her fascination, Ana was knocked so roughly she lost her footing - in her shock and awe, she'd gotten distracted - and she went tumbling to the ground, skidding on the slippery cobblestones, her hands catching herself, but quickly shielding her head as she was jostled roughly by passers-by, nobody willing to stop as the sky was blotted out by a great thunder of dragons. "Jack!" She yelled, because it was the only name she could call with the hopes of an answer. 

JOHN ELLIOT CLARK

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

There were many things about Scotland that captivated Jack Hatfield, however, Iliana was the brightest. He had accidentally found himself in her presence several times over the term, and several more times that hadn’t been an accident. She intrigued him, and she wasn’t hard to look at. Jack was going to make the most of his year spent abroad before he went back to finish his education at his own school in America and had to readjust to American culture. Hogwarts was different, and it was almost startling at first, but now, he almost preferred it to what he was used to. Jack never thought that he liked change until a huge change was thrust upon him.

It had taken a little bit of guts to ask Iliana out, not that it was a real date. Per Say, but he had asked her to go to the Village festival with him. Apparently, this was an annual event that students and adults alike flocked to and enjoyed the cuteness of. Jack wasn’t going to miss out. It seemed like the perfect place to get to know someone. And he did want to her to know Iliana. She had suggested that they go to the three broomsticks, he had figured he'd walk around the market and enjoy some of the winter novelties, but he knew that the students all loved this place, so much so that they wanted to come here even with all of the excitement outside. But he didn’t mind. She slid next to him in the booth and bumped his shoulders, saying that she was sorry that she was late. “You know I was just about to get up and leave…” she said with a smirk, very obviously just being sarcastic when she asked if he had changed his mind about taking her out.

Jack was cut off by a suddenly ruckus from the town. The sound of large creatures landing on roofs and breathing fire, echoed throughout. Jack jumped up and Ana exclaimed what they were dragons, a conclusion he had also arrived at. Anna leapt forward, out of the booth and into the center to town where people were running about, he lost sight of her and turned his eyes to the sky, seeing several more swoop down. He was brought back to the situation in front of him when he heard his name being shouted. Ana! He dashed over into the crowd and spotted her sitting on the ground, having probably be pushed down. He knelt beside her and offered his hands to pull her up. Once they were both up, he continued to hold her, fairly close to him as he pulled out his wand.

@iliana

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

ANA'S HEART WAS BEATING WILDLY, HER HEAD spinning as the icy cold seeped in through her trousers and put a chill through her. She'd been so spelled by the unnatural appearance of dragons that it had stolen her attention. She'd been vulnerable among the panicked locals and it had ended with her on the ground. She hadn't been able to see past a dozen angry knees and flailing arms, the calls of villagers screaming at the sight. It was probably the first dragon they'd ever seen.

Hands gripping her arms, Ana was swept up from the ground just as she'd begun to panic herself. It was such a relief to see a familiar face that she hugged him to her, squeezing him tight as she breathed the cologne he wore and let go with a great sigh. "I-" She didn't know what to say as the stood among the madness. "Dragons!" She said again, as if it might convey her great mixture of emotions. "In Hogsmeade..." She turned to look as an avalanche of roof slates cascaded to the ground a little ways down the street. Her shoulders jerked.

"What do we do?!" She asked, hoping against hope that he wouldn't suggest they flee like the rest of them. People could be hurt, and Ana knew a little about dragons already. They didn't terrorise villagers, this wasn't a story book. The entire event felt oddly orchestrated. "I'm not leaving." She quickly interjected, grabbing his arm through his jacket. "We have to do something," She told him, feeling bold. "We have to help."

JOHN ELLIOT CLARK

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

She grabbed onto him as the dragons fell to the Earth and crunched roof tops nearby. He wanted as dozens of people began to flee into buildings as staff members immediately began to throw up shield charms. A handful of people stayed outside with their wands pointed at the sky and at the beasts now below. She insisted that they do something, saying that she wasn’t going to flee like the rest of them, he nodded, he surely wasn’t going to run. This could be the only time in his life that he saw a dragon in person, let alone got to fight one. While he was terrified and unprepared, he was excited and ready. “I’m staying out here. I've got to help these people.” he agreed and pulled his own wand out as well, his mind going quickly though any spells that could he handy. There were people who needed help, people stuck out here who couldn’t get inside without crossing and coming into sight of a dragon, he needed to help them. “Are you sure you want to fight?” it wasn’t that he didn’t think she could. He just didn’t know her well enough to know her skills. She knew her own abilities, he thought, it was her call overall.

@iliana

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

A SPIKE OF ADMIRATION SHOT THROUGH ANA AS she looked at Jack. He appeared just as eager to help, not trying to convince her to run or hide. She'd never been a coward, and she'd never ran with fear, but it helped when she was in similar company. Already unsheathing her wand from inside of her coat, she grinned at him wildly, "I'm glad you said that." Before she turned her head to watch as another flew from one roof to another, spewing fire from its mouth.

"Fight?!" Ana exclaimed, her head whipping around as she tied her hair up away from her face. "We won't win a fight with a dragon!" She told him, shaking her head as she scoffed, nostrils flaring. Though she couldn't look at him for long, her eyes instinctively drawn to the chaos around them. "All we can do is..." Ana shrugged her shoulders, a knot in her stomach. "Get people out," Clicking her tongue, she thought some more. "Put out a few fires..." Ana didn't know everything, but she'd been taught about dragons and how to avoid an unprovoked attack since she was a child. They loved the Bulgarian mountains. "And hold them off until an expert gets here."

And then, Ana reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling him in to the throngs of people as she headed towards an inferno which was quickly eating up a row of abandoned stalls. The fancy tinsel and scarfs went up like kindling and Ana let go of Jack's hand to brace her wand as she pointed it at the blaze. "Aguamenti!" She said clearly, a spout of water blasting from the end of her wand, but it wasn't enough. She looked at Jack for help, her jaw squared and teeth grinding. 

JOHN ELLIOT CLARK

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Jack hadn’t really thought about fighting as in going head to head with a dragon, or at least not doing so to try to win. However, maybe casting a few charms at one with the help of some others could buy a little time for everyone else to get to safety. Jack was sure that there were very few people here who actually had decent chances when it came to a fight with a dragon, but that was what everyone was trying to do, just buy time until the professionals finally got here, he was sure that no one could have predicted this attack and thus no one was waiting for it to happen to help put it out. Before he could say anything about it, she grabbed him and pulled him off towards a few merchant stalls which were already ablaze. He followed her lead, thinking that putting out these fires was doing more good than most other things. The last thing they needed was for fires to spread through the village and everyone to die by burning. He cast the same charm, the incantation spilling from his mouth several times as he moved his wand in gentle streams among the flames until they simmered into ash. “Guess playing firefighter is as noble as anything else.” he teased a little, but he meant it. It didn’t seem like something anyone else had thought of yet.

@iliana

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

WATCHING THE SPOUTS OF WATER SPEW FROM their wands, Ana didn't break concentration until it sizzled to a smoking pyre. She turned with a manic smile, nodding her head at Jack as she agreed. There wasn't an awful lot they could do with success, but something as simple as containing a fire could do so much good in the long run. "As noble as it gets, I say!" She declared, patting his arm encouragingly before turning to scan the area for further action.

There was too much chaos, and though the streets had cleared considerably, there were still masses of people trying to gather their things before they fled. And above, the sky was dark with screeching creatures. Ana's eyes lingered on them instinctively, their rigid backs and speared tails lashing and tearing at the surrounding buildings as if they were made from wet paper mache. In seconds whole roofs were torn and crumbling. Ana turned her attention to the festival stalls instead, where an old woman appeared determined to gather up her wares before she left.

Marching across the street, her face was stern as she instructed the woman. "You need to leave..." She said in concern, her eyes wide and urging. "The dragons could start moving through the streets at any minute!" The woman wasn't listening, simply grunting as she jammed item after item in to her bottomless sack. Ana turned her head to appeal to Jack, her mouth opening in outrage. "You're going to get hurt!" Her frustration was mounting, but she hadn't earned any more acknowledgement. But, as she turned to move behind the stall something crashed above her and she looked up to see the low hanging tail of a dragon as it dragged against the fabric tops of stall after stall, tearing and toppling as it went.

Ana crouched immediately, throwing her hands up to protect her head. In seconds, the stall in front of her was aflame, forcing the woman out of it, screeching as she ran for the streets, her stuffed satchel dragging behind her. Ana felt the heat of the flames in front of her, her wand hand shaking as she pointed it forwards and whispered the incantation for water to dampen the flames, fearing that she'd be noticed all the while. But the dragon screamed again from the rooftop above, and down came another lashing of fire that swallowed the stall completely and billowed out towards Ana. 

JOHN ELLIOT CLARK

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Jack continued to quench the flames as Ana moved on to another task. There was a woman, he saw out of the corner of his eye, who wasn’t fleeing from the scene and instead trying to pack up her cart before any more damage was caused to the area. Ana ran over, probably in an attempt to try and reason with her and get her to apparate away or go into one of the shops. There didn’t seem to be any progress being made. Jack finished with the fire he was putting out just in time to see the dragon swoop down and land on the nearby roof where he sent flames from his mouth and caught the stall Ana and the woman were at on fire. He wanted for a moment as the woman fled finally and as Ana’s wand turned towards the situation at hand. He started to job over to help when the second breath of flames fell upon the stall, locking the girl on the other side of him. Breaking into a sprint, how, Jack used his wand and the charm to douse himself in water as he ran through the flames, unable to get around another way. His face covered in soot and his entire body burning up, but thankfully not having actually been burned, he emerged on the other side with her, just in time to throw himself on her, rolling under the overhang of a nearby building as yet another breath of flames totaled the stall. “You okay?” he asked her while leaning over her on the ground.

@iliana

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

THE FORCE OF THE FLAMES THREW ANA BACK and she landed on the cold cobbles, wand still gripped in one hand. The breath knocked clean out of her. But, a body wrapped itself around her in moments and they were rolling, skidding under the protective overhang over another building. Ana's eyes were wide, the tips of her hair and wand singed. If Jack hadn't pulled her away from the flames, she would have been burning just as the stall had.

Hands gripping Jack tight, she drew in her first breath, a wheezing thing. Her face black with soot, apart from a pink mark above her eyebrow, the beginnings of a burn. And her arms, which had been thrown out towards the fire. Ana tested them both and hissed a breath through her teeth. Her wand arm, the right, felt sticky and wet. Her coat adhered to the skin where the heat from the flames had melted the fabric. "I think my arm is burned," She said tentatively, finally finding Jack's eyes and offering him a reassuring smile.

It was shaky, and he would surely see this close. Ana hadn't let him go yet, still reeling from the explosion of fire. "You saved my life," She added, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Remind me to ask you out on another date after this." She let her arm go limp at her side, transferring her wand from right to left. "Let's get out of here." Ana nodded her head firmly. They could put out as many fires as possible as they went, but there was little to be done. Ana could hear the echoing call of voices carried by wands, urging all students to evacuate. The aurors had arrived. 

JOHN ELLIOT CLARK

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

The cowboy watched Ana as she explained that she thought her arm was burned, he looked down and it looked like it was. He wished that he was better versed in healing magic. It came in handy of the farm, but it was mostly his mother who practiced it well. She was amazing at that kind of magic, at potions and herbology and healing charms. His father and him were more into the manual, physical labor, than they were into charms like that. So the only thing he could think to do at the moment was cast aguamenti and run the water on her arm to cool the burn and stop the stinging.

He smirked when she started to insist that he had saved her life and brought that he she should ask him on another date after this was all over. He gave a little bit a laugh and said, his southern accent ever present, as it always was, “I’ll hold you to that.” Of course he hadn’t ran into the fire to save her because he wanted to take her out, but it was a good perk now that it was a possibility, he mused. “Yeah, let’s.” he agreed. As if all at once, things started to calm down. The aurors had finally got word of the attack and had arrived, taking the matter into professional hands. He helped Ana to her feet and lead her away from the center of town where they currently were. The worst part was over, hopefully.

@iliana