Chapter Twenty-five

Mr MacDonald, their solicitor, blew his cheeks. ‘Well, this is a strange case! I’ve not had to deal with anything like it before.’ He’d come to the shop to escort them to the magistrate’s court.

‘The media and the TV are going to love this story,’ he warned them, ‘so be prepared for a bit of a scrum. Don’t say a word. Don’t answer any questions — not to anyone. We are going to have to play our cards very close to our chest.’

He was right. The re-enactment battle had been filmed by hundreds of people. Videos of people screaming and running away from the swooping dragons were online and had gone viral. Millions of people had watched them all around the world.

Satellite vans were parked on both sides of the street. Reporters talked to their cameras in a host of different languages as Harri, his mum, Imelda and Mr MacDonald tried to squeeze through the doors of the magistrate’s court.

‘Harri! Tell us how you feel about having your dragon locked up?’

‘Harri! Where did you get your dragon?’

‘Harri! Did you mean to threaten the lives of so many people yesterday?’

‘Harri! Have you got a girlfriend?’

The questions echoed all around him. Reporters thrust microphones at him, barging each other out of the way, all of them eager to get a snippet of news for this, their latest and greatest story.

‘No comment!’ Mr MacDonald kept shouting in a firm, authoritative voice, as he shielded Harri and guided him into the comparative peace of the magistrate’s court.

His case was called quite quickly.

The room was lined in pale wood. Three magistrates sat above them all. Mum and Imelda sat at the back, while reporters and onlookers strained to get a good look at the boy — the boy with the dragon!

The court clerk asked him to confirm his name and address.

‘You are charged under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976,’ the clerk announced. ‘In that you did recklessly allow a wild animal, namely a dragon…’ A murmur went round the court. It was true!

The clerk coughed loudly and continued,
‘…namely a dragon — to roam free and unleashed and that you did put people’s lives in danger. How do you plead?’

Harri wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He never meant to hurt anyone, neither had Tân. It was all Ryan’s dad’s fault!

He heard a voice making a speech. It was his voice! He’d spoken before he knew what he was going to say.

‘Dragons have a right to live at St Gertrude’s Tower. There’s a royal charter that says so!’

Harri felt his cheeks burning red with embarrassment and defiance. A gasp spread around the courtroom.

Mr MacDonald stood up and coughed loudly. ‘Err-hum! I beg the court to excuse my client. This is a very stressful occasion for him. He does not wish to plead at this moment.’

The magistrates discussed the case with the crown solicitor, whose job it was to persuade them to find Tân and Harri guilty.

I haven’t done anything wrong! Harri thought. He was close to tears. This was all some terrible mistake. Maybe he would wake up soon and it would all turn out to be a bad dream?

‘This case will resume in two weeks time,’ the chief magistrate announced. He looked over the top of his glasses and studied Harri. ‘We feel it is unlikely that you will go on the run, young man, so you are free to go home on bail. In the meantime, for the protection of the public, the dragons, Tân and Draca, must be kept under lock and key at the police dog pound, while their fate is decided.’

* * *

Home was like a prison. The reporters hovered outside the shop, interviewing anyone who went in. The shop had never had so many customers before! Most of them were just being nosey, asking questions and buying souvenirs.

Harri was all over the internet and the TV and the newspapers. Groups of giggling girls came in the shop asking for his autograph!

Once a day, Harri was allowed to visit Tân and take him treats. But each time he went to the police station, it meant facing the cameras and more questions.

When Tân saw him, he would run up and down his cage, snuffing and snorting with pleasure to see his master again. But he would slump to the floor and plead with his big, sad eyes when it was time for Harri to go.

Draca paced restlessly in a cage across the pound, snarling at Harri as he was escorted back out to the street and the waiting reporters.

Harri couldn’t bear to watch the news. Some angry people said terrible things about Tân and Draca. They wanted them destroyed immediately — they said dragons were unnatural. Some people suspected that the dragons had escaped from a laboratory where they had been created by mad scientists!

After a few days, things quietened down a bit. Then the red ribbons began appearing on the lamp posts, followed by the stickers and the posters:

Free St Gertrude’s Dragons!

The mayor was on their side, leading his own campaign. This story was good for business and the tourist trade in St Gertrude’s.