Chapter Text
Deep down Ashton knew that he shouldn't be out here. The moonlight shone through the trees above him. He moved quickly, unsure as to where his feet were taking him. He knew the risks, but still he couldn't resist. Students weren't supposed to come down to the forbidden forest on their own, especially at night and after hours. However, something was dragging him out here and he was determined to find out what.
He held his wand tightly as it shone out at the tip, powered by his magic. It illuminated the path of leaves before him; unflickering. His spells weren't always the greatest so he hoped that the spell would hold out long enough. He always feared them failing or going wrong. The problems of being a muggle born, he supposed.
'Ash...' The voice called again as it had many times today. At first Ashton had thought it to be one of the school's ghosts playing tricks on him, but as the voice had continued during the day all throughout his classes, he started to wonder whether there was more to it than that. Surely a ghost would've become bored by that point.
He crept further and further between the trees, his feet seeming to move on their own. Suddenly a loud whine broke through the air, Ashton froze in place as he looked around him for the source of the noise. He spotted a light further down the path. He could see a large animal like shape up ahead. It looked to be walking backwards, a long tail flicking behind it. He could see the faint glimmer of scales. What was it?
Should he approach it? He frowned, hesitating in place.
He heard a noise, a loud crash that pierced through the night. There was a loud uproar through the trees around him, as a group of bats took off into the sky. Their black silhouettes quickly fading. Ashton shivered pulling his cloak closer to his chest.
He saw the creature ahead of him's head rear up in alarm. It looked almost reptilian. Though with magical creatures sometimes it could be difficult tell what they were compared to those from his own world. It let out a shriek and he saw bursts of light flinging through the air towards it. Ashton wanted to yell, but it came out as a frightened strangled noise as the creature seemed to fall.
Suddenly a bright blue light appeared, and a bird like creature emerged from the trees to his left. He let out a yell and raised his arms as it dived forward, narrowly stopping in front of him.
He could hear the beating of wings and lowered his arms. It flapped its wings right in front of him. It was light blue, almost crystal like. It shone as bright as a star and its wings were almost see through.
He frowned, as he thought back to his classes on magical creatures. This one didn't register to him. A thunderbird perhaps? No, it was the wrong colour and they were usually found in America, not England.
It seemed to be weighing him up though, as it tilted its head from side to side as it flapped its wings back and forth.
'Follow.' An unspoken voice commanded.
Only a moment later it took off, it's wings all in a flutter and blindly Ashton chased after it. The creature didn't stop until they had come to a blank patch of grass. A single speckled egg lied there. Ashton looked around noticing the broken shards of shell scattered around it, a strange goo lined each of the pieces. He felt sick to his stomach in realisation.
What had happened here? Ashton backed away slowly, but the bird-like creature began to screech, flapping its wings and flying around the egg as if to remind Ashton why it had led him here. It nudged at the egg, as if trying to push it towards him.
He hesitated. What did it expect him to do? Did it want him to take it? He frowned, it sure seemed that way.
Slowly, he reached forwards, taking the small egg in the palm of his hand. It was slightly warm still. Ashton looked back up at where the creature had been, just in time to see it turn to a mist. Ashton blinked, unsure of what kind of creature it was. He made a mental note to do some research later.
Now Ashton was left with the egg, and no idea what he was supposed to be doing with it. Ashton knew he couldn't leave it here. That bird had clearly led him here for a reason. He'd been part of the wizarding world long enough now to know that it wasn't a coincidence that he had been led here. Uncertainly he put the egg in the pocket of his jacket.
He frowned. Deciding that it was probably best to take it back up to the castle. It would be warmer up there and then he'd be able to decide what to do with it.
Ashton made careful steps out of the forest, the spiring towers of Hogwarts soon coming into view. He walked up the stony path, until he came to the stone rockface. He tapped his wand on the wall, muttered the word dissendium and the stone slid open, revealing the secret track up the stairs into Gryffindor tower.
He grinned. It still delighted him every time he did it. As far as he knew only two people in all of Hogwarts knew about this secret passage and he was proud to be one of them. It was perfect for sneaking in and out the castle with. He was so glad he'd discovered it during first year.
First year at Hogwarts. Ashton let out a sigh as he the memories resurfaced.
Ashton's first year at Hogwarts had been nothing magical.
It was the first time he'd heard the word 'muggle' a term used to describe non magical folk. As it turned out Ashton was a rarity in this world, he'd had no magical parents and had not grown up in the magical world like most of his peers. He was a muggle born and even though he was just as magical as anyone else in the room it was considered by many to be the lowest kind of wizard anyone could be.
He'd been so excited when he'd first received his letter. There had been a knock on the door and a pretty woman dressed all in black with a witch's hat had turned up at their apartment. She'd pulled his mother aside and told her everything and that her son was in fact a wizard and would have a spot at Hogwarts the coming year. Honestly, they'd been shocked but on the 1st of September Ashton had joined all the other first years on the Hogwarts Express. (After they'd worked out how to get onto the platform of course!)
He'd been sorted in Gryffindor house, that had a proud golden lion looking creature as its mascot. He had his wand, his robes and everything felt truly magical. He'd been looking forward to making new friends and learning to use his magic.
Yet all the problems had started when he'd first told his new roommates that first night that he knew nothing of the wizarding world until his letter had arrived. The conversation had stopped and there were all weird questions about muggles. A term back then, he didn't even understand.
From there the first few weeks had been awful, when he hadn't known basic terms and spells the others would call him squib and mudblood unrelentingly. He'd been at the receiving end of so many jokes and pranks as the students utilized his lack of magic and defensive spells.
So, one particularly bad night he'd found his escape through this very tunnel. Ashton had discovered it one evening during first year when he'd been feeling anxious and frightened. A group of Gryffindors he didn't like had entered the common room and he'd hid behind one of the sofas. He'd been so afraid; they'd cast at least a dozen hexes and spells on him already. There wasn't much more he could take; he was tired of being their literal magical punching bag. His foot had pressed against the wall and he'd noticed the way it shimmered slightly. He didn't know much about magic then, but he knew enough about magic to know it was glamour. He'd snuck in right through it finding a passage that led out into the castle's grounds. It was perfect and he'd been making use of it ever since.
Though thankfully, not all the Gryffindors were bad. There had been one Gryffindor who had stuck up for him when everything had fallen apart. He still did to this very day.
As he reached the end of the secret corridor, he lifted the latch and slipped into the secret compartment. You had a few seconds to get out of there so nobody would see you leave through it. He took a few steps away, as the doorway dissipated behind him.
Ashton looked around the Gryffindor common room, relieved to find it empty. The warmth from the fireplace hit him instantly. He grinned removing his cloak.
Gryffindor banners were hung proudly on the wall listing the years that the house had won the Quidditch cup. The plush red lounges that filled the room were empty. Even the fire that usually burned had already been extinguished for the night. Not lingering any further, he climbed up the stone staircase to the boy's dorms. He took the first door, once he reached the next level, he pulled it open and walked into his room.
The first thing Ashton noticed, was the shape sitting at the window. Calum, his best friend and roommate was sitting at the window with an open textbook in front of him. He'd been the only Gryffindor to stick up for him when all the problems had been going on in first year. They had shared a room with a few of the other guys in their year, but when the problems had gotten worse, they'd asked to be moved out of the room and ended up in this smaller, more pokey one. They'd gotten used to it though, as this was now their fourth year in it.
Unlike him, Calum was a pureblood, his entire family had been wizards. So, he'd taught Ashton everything he knew about the wizarding world. He would eternally be grateful to him for that. He still messed up sometimes, but he was a lot better than when he had started.
Calum's head instantly turned to Ashton as he entered, his face changing to a frown as he looked him over. His eyes paused at the evident lump in Ashton's jacket.
"Geez, Ash, what did you bring back this time?" He asked. Ashton was well known to bring weird and wonderful things back from his trips outside and around the castle. Magical things fascinated him, and Calum could usually tell him what it was.
"You'll see." Ashton grinned, taking a seat on his bed.
"You didn't go into the forest without me, did you?" Calum frowned, before Ashton could even get the item from his pocket. His eyes were gazing over the remnants of grass and mud on Ashton's boots.
"You weren't here." Ashton shrugged, "Besides, I'm fine. I don't know why everyone worries about it so much."
"It practically has the word forbidden in it, Ash. You could get yourself in a lot of trouble." Calum rolled his eyes, "Anyway, you're stalling, what's in your pocket?"
Ashton smiled as he pulled the egg from his pocket and brought it into the light so that Calum could see it. Calum raised his eyebrows as he scanned over the item.
"A dragon's egg? How the hell are we going to take care of that?"
"Is that what it is?" Ashton asked, holding up to the light. It was a lot easier to see it now. The bluish pink speckled surface was rough beneath his fingers.
Calum let out a loud sigh, "You're such a muggle sometimes." He looked at Ashton. "We can't keep that one Ash. It'll get too big." He pointed to the table in the middle of our room, between their two beds where a bright green lizard lie, a cat and an illuminated green frog like creature sat, "We already have a pair of Moke's, a Clabbert and a half Kneazle, none of which we're supposed to have. I mean remember that time that we had that Niffler last year and it kept trying to take all our things. We can't look after anymore. I'm sorry but you're going to have to put it back where you found it."
Ashton looked at them, he was right they already did have a lot of extra creatures to take care of. He wanted to help the bird, but Calum did have a point.
"But I was given it." Ashton says, before he tried to explain to Calum just what had happened with the lights and the bird-like creature. As he spoke Calum didn't look any more convinced.
"I get it, but we'll have like a billion detentions if you keep it or worse get us both expelled. You don't even know the first thing about taking care of a dragon Ash and neither do I. Is it really worth the risk?" Calum spoke when he was done.
Ashton bit his lip, maybe Calum was right. He looked at the egg.
"Fine." Ashton sighed, admitting defeat, "We'll take it back, but you're going to have to help me."
"Alright." Calum said as he put the textbook, he was reading on the window seat.
The two of them left the room and headed towards the secret passageway. They looked around the common room, being sure that they were the only two people in there.
"Dissendium" Ashton spoke as he tapped his wand against the brick and the door revealed itself. That was usually the easiest way to get it to appear, trying to get it to open like he'd found it was difficult. Calum was the only other Gryffindor that seemed to know about the passage to the outside. They used it all the time whenever they wanted to sneak out the castle particularly after hours, there were a couple of different routes, some leading to other places around the castle. Tonight, they took the passageway outside, letting the lights of their wands lead the way.
As they reached the end of the corridor Ashton pulled out the stone which moved open and allowed them to walk outside, they both shivered a little at the slight drop in temperature. Calum waved his wand muttering a warming charm strong enough for the both.
The forest was dark and empty now. Devoid of life. Ashton's heart plummeted at the thought of having to leave the egg out here. A strong gust of wind blew up, Ashton pulled his jacket closer to his body. He felt in his pocket for the egg and held it out into the cold. He knew he was sending it to its likely doom.
"Now just leave the egg right there, and then we'll -" Calum froze as an air of mist formed in front of them. The two of them took a step backwards. Ashton heard a loud screech as the bird like creature from earlier, appeared out of the mist flapping its wings wildly in a panic. He stepped backwards, reaching to cover his ears from the noise. He looked back at Calum who was doing the same.
"It's the creature from before." Ashton said, trying to yell over it.
That was when Ashton spotted a dark mist growing from just behind the tree. A shadowy creature emerged. Calum raised his wand, before yelling out a spell to stun it. Ashton bit his lip, as the shape kept moving.
"It's not working." He panicked, shaking the wand wildly. "We have to get out of here."
The two broke into a run, he could hear the footsteps of the creature behind them. His feet were sliding on the icy ground, as he slid the egg back into his pocket. He turned back to look for a moment at the dark hulk of a creature, it seemed to stop at the edge of the forest as if stopped by an invisible barrier.
Ashton thought about it for a moment, Hogwarts did have a barrier around it to stop evil creatures from making it in the castle. He shivered at the thought of what could've become of them if they'd stuck around too long. Calum's warnings about the forest being forbidden weren't for nothing.
As they came to a line of trees, they noticed that the shadowy creature was no longer following them, and the two boys pulled to a stop. They both watched as the creature, realising it had hit the school's barrier and it disappeared back into the forest.
Ashton frowned. There was no way that he could leave the egg back there with that thing. Yet, he knew Calum had a point. They had so many magical creatures already they couldn't possibly take care of another one when it hatched. Especially one that was illegal to be kept without a license. Ashton was so conflicted there didn't seem to be a good option to any of this.
"Fine, you can keep the egg." Calum panted, holding himself up against the nearby tree.
Ashton looked down at the speckled egg in his hand. If Calum said they could keep it then they had no other choice. Ashton, it seemed was now the proud owner of his very own dragon egg.