Serepha flew in sweeping, powerful arcs over the moonlit sky, her emerald wings scattering frost from the clouds as Cassius leaned into the wind atop her back.
His heart felt lighter now—soaring with her again after so long felt like breathing properly for the first time in months.
But the world below them suddenly shifted.
The trees stilled.
The air tightened.
Serepha's head snapped up.
Cassius felt it too.
A presence.
Ancient.
Regal.
Inevitably commanding.
And then—
The sky rippled.
A soft shimmer of pale gold unfurled over the treetops.
From within the glow, a figure rose.
White hair like moon-silk.
Robes that fluttered without wind.
Eyes burning with the depth of forgotten centuries.
Lady Draconis.
The true founder of Hogwarts.
Mother of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff.
The first dragon-knight of the Isles.
Head of House Draconis.
Ghost, yet something far beyond the definition.
One who had haunted Hogwarts castle for more than a thousand years, never once leaving it behind and yet now.
Now she had done just that, leaving the castle and ultimately the castle grounds itself flying to meet with him, her Heir.
Cassius felt his breath catch.
He had seen her many times.
But never like this.
Serepha rumbled in awe.
Lady Draconis's eyes locked onto Cassius with a heat that could have melted old stone.
She did not speak.
Not at first.
Even ethereal as she was, the pressure she gave off was greater than even Serepha.
Then she addressed Cassius:
"It seems your True Dragon has hatched young hatchling."
Her voice carried across the air like a royal command from a throne long vanished.
Cassius straightened instinctively.
"My Lady. Serepha here hatched almost a full year ago now... im almost certain i told you of this and you mentioned waiting until she had matured before you would impart more secrets."
She tilted her head.
"I do not recall that, though it sounds right. From what i can see your dragon has matured greatly already, perhaps once she was a hatchlings but through the imbibment of magical materials and goods her growth must have accelerated. But even still to think it has been this long since you managed to achieve your first true bonded flight."
Cassius winced.
"I— had obligations. School. Quidditch. The dueling tourna—"
"Excuses," she cut sharply.
The word hit like a lash.
"Your dragon has grown magnificent without you. Imagine what she would be with you."
Serepha hummed smugly.
Lady Draconis ignored that.
Instead, the ghost raised one hand.
"Follow."
Then she turned—
And shot off across the sky at blistering speed.
Her spectral dragon blurred into a streak of gold.
Cassius stared.
"…Follow? Where?!"
Serepha's voice rang in his mind:
And with a thunderous beat of wings—Serepha launched after her.
Hours passed.
They flew north-west over the Highlands, where the mountains shone like glass under winter stars.
They flew across valleys, slicing through fog so thick it swallowed the moon.
They flew past Inverness, then the Lochbroom, then the last lights of Scotland faded entirely.
Still Lady Draconis did not slow.
Cassius's eyes watered from the wind.
"If she is a ghost," he muttered through chattering teeth, "why is she FASTER than my dragon—"
Serepha's tone held both pride and strain.
Cassius tightened his hold.
Lady Draconis shot over the final cliffs of Great Britain—
—and the sea opened below them.
A vast spread of cold indigo, waves churning like restless beasts.
Yet still she flew.
Hours passed.
The moon sank.
The stars drifted.
And then—
Cassius felt it.
A wall.
A barrier of ancient magic, invisible but immense, woven with draconic authority so old it predated wands.
The closer they flew, the heavier it pressed.
His chest tightened.
His magic recoiled.
"I— can't—"
The barrier rejected him.
He felt it push—like a giant hand shoving against his very existence.
Human.
Unworthy.
Uninvited.
However in the next moment as more of Serepha passed through the barrier the pressure building on Cassius disappeared altogether as if the feeling he'd had was all just a nightmare to begin with.
But once through the sight before his eyes was certainly eye opening.
There lay an island not massive by and stretch of one imagination perhaps the same size as the Isle of Man.
But seeing the pair successfully passed through the barrier Lady Draconis ceased her flight hovering in the night sky, as her glowing blue form was further illuminated by the full moons light.
"Welcome my heir. To the Isle of Dragons." Her tone was calm and inviting with a smile showing on her face, a smile he'd never seen before from her.
"This island was the final home of true dragons before their departure from this world. But more than that this island is my inheritance to you as well beyond the contents of the vaults you've already accessed from gringotts."
Cassius simply sat there astride his mount, eyes looking over the island before him.
The expanse of land had just been declared as his personal property.
But from the center of the island was a shocking site.
A castle rising up as if it was the model upon which Hogwarts itself was based upon.
But even though he didnt know the name of the castle that was before his eyes, Cassius almost instinctively wanted to apply a name to the fortress.
One that came from Muggle mythology, and one that even if it had existed should not exist here in this place far off the coast of the british isles.
The name his mind assigned to the place... was Camelot.
Home to the Pendragon line.
A line of Draconic muggles... though seeing this place as it is now... perhpas Pendragon was the simple muggle translation provided through history for Lady Draconis herself.
Afterall when she first introduced herself to me she was 'Lady Guinevere Draconis' and Guinevere per lore was the wife to King arthur.
Arthur Pendragon.