Draco grabbed the Stunned Goyle and dragged him along; Crabbe outstripped all of them, now looking terrified. As they turned a corner, the flames chased them as though they were alive, sentient, intent upon killing them. Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts: Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again, and the detritus of centuries on which they were feeding was thrown up in the air into their fanged mouths, tossed high on clawed feet, before being consumed by the inferno. Draco clung to Goyle as his mind worked frantically. He could hear the panicked yells of the Gryffindors close by.