The sky stretched endlessly above them, streaked in lavender and fading moonlight, as Serepha cut through the upper winds with long, measured wingbeats.
The Isle of Dragons shrank behind them—hidden once more, sealed behind its barrier.
A myth no one else even knew to look for.
Cassius sat low against Serepha's back, pulling his cloak tight as the cold bit into him.
But his mind was so full, so crowded with everything Lady Draconis had revealed, that he barely felt it.
He had questions—thousands of them.
He had trauma—fresh and vivid.
And he had a very immediate problem.
"I have been gone," he muttered under his breath, "for more than a day. Not a few hours. Not an afternoon. An entire bloody day."
Serepha rumbled.
"Recover?" Cassius barked a laugh. "Serepha, they're going to skin me and then hang the remains as a warning. I vanished! No note! No cover story! No alibi!"
"Do you think they are going to ACCEPT that explanation?"
<…No.>
"Exactly!"
Serepha glided downward for a moment before rising sharply, letting the wind ripple across her scales.
She sounded almost… lighter.
Cassius blinked, startled out of his panic spiral.
"You are?"
Her words held a softness Cassius rarely heard.
He smiled despite himself.
"Well, I'm glad. If nothing else, at least one of us isn't emotionally broken after what she said."
Serepha flinched mid-flight.
"Agreed." He shuddered. "Not even if tortured."
A few minutes passed in silence as the Scottish Highlands reappeared below them, dawn breaking in warm gold across their peaks.
Cassius leaned against her neck, letting the wind ease his mind.
"Hey… Serepha?"
"When you return to the forest, do you intend to practice your dragonflame as Lady Draconis showed?"
Serepha perked up.
"That's good at least with that we can solve one of your current issues…you can finally stop eating raw acromantulas."
Serepha groaned so dramatically the wind stuttered around her wings.
Cassius snorted.
"That's a vivid description."
"You sure eat like one."
Cassius held up both hands defensively.
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
She huffed, scales shimmering in a morning beam.
"…You want to turn acromantulas into barbecue."
Cassius laughed before he could stop himself.
"Well sounds like the Lady will be visiting you from time to time to assist you in your training so the time when you can achieve that goal is likely not far off.
Serepha's tail flicked happily.
"Pretty sure they already quake because they think you're going to eat them raw."
Cassius shook his head, but he couldn't stop smiling.
After the shock of the Chamber of New Fire, after the emotional overload, the embarrassment, the history lessons, the revelations…
This.
This banter.
This comfort.
It felt good.
As they crossed the final ridge before the Forbidden Forest came into view, Cassius stiffened.
"Oh no."
Serepha hummed in confusion.
"The girls. My friends. My housemates." Cassius groaned. "They probably think I fell off a cliff. Or got eaten. Or got kidnapped. Or—God—they probably think I ditched them!"
"Serepha…"
<…Yes?>
"I cannot tell them 'I spent a day on a mythical island with an immortal ghost queen learning about dragon fertility.'"
Serepha considered.
"No! Then they'll panic even worse!"
"Not for 30 hours straight without saying a word!"
<…Ah.>
Cassius buried his face in his hands.
"This is going to be hell."
Serepha lowered her head sympathetically.
"No, Serepha! You will not bite my girls!"
"Yes!"
Cassius could only groan again.
They are not mates... sigh your just as bad as Lady Draconis herself they are girls, women, not concubines, mistresses or whatever the hell else you seem to be labelling them as in your mind.
The Forbidden Forest canopy appeared beneath them—dark, ancient, familiar. Serepha angled her wings and descended toward her hidden den.
Home.
Or one of them, for Serepha at least.
Cassius exhaled slowly.
Time to face the music.
But at least he wasn't alone.
Even if they drove him into exile at least he would not go into the darkness alone, he would always have at least one companion by his side.
Serepha landing inside the forest did so without much of a rumble as she landed stealthily so as to not alert the village or even the castle to her presence.
Cassius alighted from her back, giving his personal dragon mount a pat on her snout before setting off returning to the Hogs head, planning to use the fireplace once more only to return to grimmauld place rather than escaping from it as he'd done before.