When the door opened, Albus immediately wished that it had not. He stared into a square room with a single door directly in the middle of the opposite wall. It would have been very simple to just stride across and open it, had there not been lava flowing all over the floor, and had the door not been guarded by an enormous black lizard-like dragon. It glared menacingly at them, as if they were a threat to its young.
Albus’ grip tightened on his wand. Terrified as he was, he was not about to let the dragon destroy him without putting up a fight. The dragon began advancing.
“Stupefy!” shouted Albus, pointing his wand. A jet of orange shot out of his wand, bounced off of the dragon’s scales, and left a burn mark on the side wall.
“Potter! Don’t you realize what you’re up against? This is the great dragon Acheron. Or did you think that your simple little spell could defeat an entire dragon?” Snape shot Albus a superior look. “No, not even the son of the great Harry Potter could do that. A beast of this size would require at least three people performing a spell like that in order for it to have any effect at all.” Snape turned to face the dragon. “By Merlin’s beard, you will let us pass, for I am under divine orders to take this boy all the way through wizarding Hell.” The dragon snarled at them, and at first Albus thought that the dragon would pay no heed. But then he heard a distant sound: a single note, but by far the most beautiful note he had ever heard. Suddenly, the door opened, and Albus saw that the note came from the mouth of a crimson and gold bird.
“Wait--is that--?”
“Fawkes. The old phoenix of Professor Albus Dumbledore,” answered Snape.
Fawkes swooped down and Snape grabbed onto his tail feathers. Albus hesitated, questioning the weight ratios of both him and Professor Snape against the bird. At a glare from Snape, however, he grabbed on, hoping against hope that the bird would actually be able to move. With ease, Fawkes lifted them up off of the ground, swooped around the dragon, and sped through the door, landing gracefully on the other side. Snape quickly slammed the door, and he and Albus continued their journey down the first floor hallway.
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