This story written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments):
April Monthly Challenge - HOUSE CHALLENGE - Going, Going, Gone!
Hufflepuff House Prompt #5 - AU or Trait: Dragon Whisperer
2018 Yearly Event - The Insane House Challenge
Genre: Fantasy
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of it's characters.
Beta Love to Alana, Lo, and Hannah. You guys are the best, thank you so much for looking over this and helping me fix all my mistakes!
Dragons. The ultimate magical being, rulers of the wizarding world. While they can understand all, only a selected few can actually hear them speak. These select few are known as the Dragon Speakers. Anyone can learn to wield magic, but only the Dragon Speakers can wield the powers of the elements; they are so very rare, but also so very cherished.
There is a legend that there is only ever one Speaker for every Dragon, that the human's life force becomes bound to the Dragon. So long as the Dragon lives, so too does the Speaker. There are myths told of how some dark wizards took advantage of this bond back when the world was young, and killed off most the Dragon Speakers of old - which in turn killed the Dragons as their life forces were bound. This is why there are only ever 28 Dragons in the public's eye now, and why they guard their Speakers with a viciousness unmatched.
Only one dragon hatches every few decades - sometimes as few as two per century; it's thought that the Speaker is chosen in the moment the Dragon emerges from its shell or the Dragon will wither and die. Some say that the Baby Dragon senses the hearts of those around him and unconsciously binds itself to the one that most matches its personality. Others say that the Dragon chooses the soul it will bind to before it formed in its egg, and it was a witch or wizard's destiny to be their Speaker. And still others believed that the unbonded dying baby Dragon travelled the world, searching for the one who was to be its Speaker, and the bond was made mutually.
This is the story of one boy, who wasn't destined to be a Speaker or even particularly close to the location of a Dragon's hatching, but in the heat of the moment was chosen unexpectedly.
It is a beautiful day; the sun is shining and the grass is green beneath his feet. Severus Snape, a 5th year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has just completed his final OWL of the year. He feels accomplished, sure in the belief that he has done well on the tests and will have his pick of NEWT classes come next year. He had removed his shoes when he gets closer to the forest's edge, allowing his feet to feel the grass and earth beneath him. He has always loved to feel the grass under his toes, ever since he'd been a little boy when he and Lily would sit beneath the old willow tree in the only grassy area left in Cokeworth. He allows himself to relax, for the first time in years not worried about the Marauders or school work or if he'd be able to see Lily very much over the summer. He smiles as he hears the small sounds of animals in the forest to his right, then turns as he hears splashing in the lake - the Giant Squid is slapping its tentacles on the lakes surface, causing droplets of water to land as close as a yard from him. He smiles and gives a silent laugh, feeling the playfulness of the animals in the air.
"Expelliarmus!" The spell came from behind him, and his wand flew from its holster, strapped on his wrist. Severus turns to see the Marauders behind him, sly grins on their faces. "Look everyone, we caught Snivellus here sneaking off to the forest. What, where you off to cry about your OWLs?" Potter - it's always Potter - calls loudly, drawing a crowd toward them.
Black eggs him on, laughing and pointing at Severus, taunting him while laughing. "Snivellus here is such a baby: look, he's gonna cry!"
Severus isn't about to cry. In fact he is getting very angry. As his anger builds up stronger and stronger, he balls his hands into fists. Right as he begins to take a step forward, ready to punch Potter, or Black, or even Lupin or Pettigrew standing just behind and to the side of them, just watching and laughing - a rustle comes from behind him and a small stream of fire races past him, hitting the ground just before the other boys' feet. The small crowd behind the Marauders gasp, and start to back away. Potter looks at Severus with hate-filled eyes. "What the hell, are you trying to kill us, you freak?"
Another stream of fire shoots past Severus, landing closer to Potter and Black. A small creature follows the fire, flapping its wings and landing in front of Severus. It hisses and makes an odd crackling sound as it opens its mouth again, seemingly ready to defend Severus from these boys' teasing and taunting. Severus nods to the small Dragon, and says in a cold voice to the Marauders, "Go on, leave us alone!" As the other boys run back up toward Hogwarts, Severus kneels and looks at the Dragon standing there.
It's small; however with the ridges along its back and spiked tail there is no doubt that it's a real Dragon - it's probably still a baby. When the Dragon looks at Severus, he notices that its eyes, a deep purple color, seem to be glowing faintly. "Thank you, little one. Are you lost? Do you need help?" Severus asks, holding his hand out as if to touch the Dragon, before thinking better of it and slowly pulling his hand back.
He hears a chuckling, seeming to come from all around him, and he lifts his head up to look around for the source. "Please, no. No harm you. Bond?" the voice is hoarse, and low. Severus looks around again, moving closer to the Dragon, thinking to protect it from whoever - or whatever - is out there. The Dragon uses its head to bump into Severus' shoulder, and Severus again hears the voice: "Down here. Is me." Severus' eyes widen, and he looks down at the small Dragon that just moments before had come between his tormentors for the past five years and himself. Was this real, or just a dream? He pinched his hand, wincing at the sharp sting. Definitely real then.
"I...I can hear you?" Severus whispers, thinking he might just be going round the bend this time.
A soft sigh seems to float around him. "Yes. You, choose. Bond?" The voice is getting softer, and the Dragon itself seems to be wilting toward the ground, its body losing strength.
"Bond? Ummm, sure. What do you need me to do?" Severus asks, not realizing exactly what the Dragon is asking.
The Dragon looks him in the eyes, and Severus loses focus on the rest of the world. Pure magic seems to rush up from the Earth, traveling up his legs and settling into his heart. A gust of wind seems to come from nowhere, swirling around him. His skin begins to heat up, getting hotter and hotter and he starts to worry that he's going to explode. Suddenly, water splashes downward, its source unknown, but as droplets land on his skin, Severus feels a soothing coolness. Something in his brain shifts, and everything that he once knew for a fact is twisted and turned, the world as he knew it turned upside down. Then everything snaps back into focus again, and Severus knows something fundamental has changed within himself.
The Dragon before him seemed to perk up, its scales no longer dull and its eyes beginning to glow brighter than they had before. It seems to grow as he watches, and whereas before it had been small enough to hold in his arms, it was now as tall as his chest. He reached out and touches her neck - he just knows it is a female Dragon now, and that she will welcome his touch. He feels a purr of satisfaction in his head, and looks in wonder at the Dragon before him.
"My...my name is Mia." The voice he had heard before is stronger, and seems to resonate inside his head this time. Severus looks down to her, and smiles again.
"Hello, Mia. I am Severus." He is still whispering, unsure if he wants the world to know about this new development just yet. "Where did you come from?" He's finding it very difficult to hide his awe as he listens to Mia tell him of her journey to find him. "I saw you, and those others were going to hurt you. The humiliation you felt called to me, and then when I felt your perseverance to stand up to those boys, no matter what… I knew that you were meant for me." She pauses, and he could feel her pain as she continued. "We are the same - I refused to choose among those selected to be near my hatching, and was cast out because of it. You, well, you are cast aside by your peers. Neither of us are willing to let that define us. This allowed me to speak, asking for the bond. You accepted - and now you are my Speaker." She rubbed her head along his shoulder, huffing out warm air into his hair. "Here, I will show you."
Then she spoke of her hatching and it was like he could see it in his head from her perspective. Darkness, surrounding him. A crack in the darkness, light seems to seep from the crack, and there is an overwhelming desire to move closer to that light. He tries to move, but there is a constricting force holding his body together. He must fight this; he needs to see what that light is! Need, churning through his body, desire to overcome this darkness, flowing through his muscles, giving him strength. His wings burst away from his body, his tail lashing out at the darkness behind him. The light now surrounds him: he is free!
There is confusion. He can feel the hearts of those around him - some are light, carefree. One is darker - he can almost feel the darkness that fills their heart grasping at him, its only desire to hurt and kill others. And there are still others, whose hearts are filled with greed and lust. None of them feel right. There is nobody here for him.
He turns, and sees an older Dragon behind him. "You must choose amongst those we selected for you," he hears in his head, the voice is strong, commanding. He shakes his head, none of them are right for him. "Choose!" the voice booms in his head again, this time louder and he can feel the pressure to make a choice surround him, seeming to choke him. He shakes his head again, and as he feels the pressure tighten again, he roars. His wings surge from his body again, his tail going straight behind him and then slamming down into the ground. Fire bursts from his mouth in a torrent, scorching the ground in front of him.
He hears gasps from the humans around him, and the Dragon in front of him lowers its head to look him in the eye. "So be it then. Go! Find the one you seek, or die while searching. Your choice is made." He no longer feels the hearts of those around him, instead there is an unbearable loneliness, and a strong desire to find the One - his Speaker. The Dragon then turns and its tail slashes toward him, tossing him out of the hatchery, over the water, and into the forest.
He wanders for hours, or maybe days - he can't seem to track the time - before he feels the call. It is overwhelming, this feeling of rightness. He feels complete when he sees the boy standing by the forest's edge, feet bare. This boy is the one; he is his Speaker.
Severus seems to wake up from the vision in a flash, the emotions that had just been overwhelming seem to fade quickly. He again looks in awe at Mia. "That...that was what it felt like at your hatching?" he asks, a single tear rolling down her cheek. He can feel her confirmation in his heart, and hugs her tightly. "I am sorry I wasn't there. That you had to find me. You did find me though, and now I'm yours." He releases her, and joy fills his heart. He's never felt like this before, it's as if nothing else in the world matters - only Mia.
He looks up toward the castle, knowing that he's expected there for dinner soon. "I need to go back there, to finish my schooling. I have two years more, after this one. Then we will be free, to go anywhere you want." He looks at Mia and asked, "Will you wait for me? I can't bring you there; the teachers wouldn't accept you - they would try to send you away. The students...they might try to hurt you."
He hears laughter from her, the humor spreading to him until he snorts. "You're silly, Severus," she says. "You can make it so nobody but you sees me. I'm not sure how I know this, but I feel it in my bones. Dragons are all over the place, humans just can't always see us, because our Speakers can turn us invisible." She tenses, and sniffs the air for a moment. "Ohh, what am I smelling? It smells so good, let's go find it! I'm...really hungry, all of a sudden." Severus snorts again, before he hears his stomach growl and a wave of hunger hits him so that suddenly he feels like he's going to starve to death. He allows his instincts to take over, wiggling his fingers and waving his hand. The air around Mia shimmers, and he knows that nobody else will be able to see her.
Severus leads her back toward the castle, whispering the whole way. He tells her about the houses in Hogwarts, and the way they are sorted. "So we are sorted in our first year, when we are 11 years old. They bring us into the Great Hall and call us up individually. Then the Sorting Hat is placed on our heads, and it picks through our brains to find our personalities and place us in the house that it believes will serve us best during our years in Hogwarts."
"It picks through your head?" She jumps on him then, nosing around his head with her snout, sniffing thoroughly. "Does it not damage you while doing this? I cannot sense or smell any damage. How does that work?"
Severus had fallen to the ground when she jumped on him, and he now gently pushes her off himself and stands again. "No, it doesn't literally pick through our heads. I'm sorry, I should have been more clear in my wording. It uses magic to look inside our brains, and sometimes it even speaks to us to hear our opinions on some things." He grins, remembering how the hat had only asked him one question. "It asked me if I wanted to go to Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Then as I thought about my answer, it chose Slytherin for me. I guess my thought process made the choice easier for the hat."
"What's the difference between a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw?" Mia then asks curiously.
Severus thinks for a minute. "Slytherins are ambitious. We like to use cunning and thought to achieve our goals. We are often considered Dark witches and wizards, but that isn't always true." He pauses to take a breath, almost surprised at the way he wasn't putting a better spin on his house. He slowly continues, "We like to think about all the possibilities, and then decide which route is the most likely to get us where we want to be. To most Slytherins, having power and connections are the most important things in the world." He grew silent for a moment, thinking of the best way to describe Ravenclaw house in an honest manner; Mia deserved his complete honesty.
"A Ravenclaw…" he again pauses, not wanting to describe things in the wrong way. "A Ravenclaw is very smart, but they don't necessarily use their intelligence for personal gain. It's not that they aren't ambitious - some of them are. It's more that they don't always see more than one way to go about things. To them, knowledge is more important than most everything else." He nods to himself, thinking it a good, honest description of the house.
"What of those in the other houses? Hufflepuffs and…" here she pauses, as if unsure of what she was saying. "Gryffindorks?" she asks.
Severus snorts, then lets out a long, loud laugh. "It's actually Gryffindor. But yes, I probably did say Gryffindork earlier. I have… issues with most of the members of that house." Severus lets out a softer laugh and shakes his head. "You know, not even an hour ago I would have sworn that everyone in Gryffindor was just attention-seeking charlatans. Even my best friend, Lily, loves being the center of attention. Of course, she deserves it though. She's the kindest, most beautiful, most gentle woman in the world." Severus sighs loudly.
"But you asked about a general description of those in the house. Yes. Well, Gryffindors are… well the Sorting Hat calls them noble and brave." He shakes his head again, "I'm really not the best to answer this question. I still have to much animosity towards some of the members of the house."
She hums in acceptance of this, moving her face closer to him so she can rub against his neck gently. He feels some of the pent-up tension in him release, and the muscles in his shoulders relax. He sighs and smiles at her thankfully.
"Hufflepuffs," he begins, a small grin on his face, "well, those sorted into Hufflepuff are generally very kind and easy going. They are really loyal to their friends and family, and actually put those they care about before themselves." Severus smiles, thinking about the House that's never acknowledged, but always there to help when it's needed. "They are probably the only ones I would really trust blindly in this school. They are always helpful and friendly, which is sadly taken advantage of most of the time by the other houses."
Mia tilts her head to the side as she speaks, "You seem to respect these Hufflepuffs. Yet you don't talk about the other houses, even your own, with such respect."
Severus shakes his head, waving his arms in front of his chest in his haste to deny that statement. "No, no! I have respect for almost all the houses. In fact I can honestly say that I might even respect more than just Lily from Gryffindor now that we have this bond and I'm able to look at the house more objectively. It's just, well…" he trails off, unsure how to express himself for a moment.
"In the past, I have had a whole lot of issues with the Marauders. They seem to always know where I am when I'm alone, and they appear out of nowhere. But once, I guess they didn't pay enough attention." Severus sighs, he hates talking about what happened between the Marauders and himself. He felt weak every time they managed to ambush him.
"I was in the hallways heading to the dungeons, close to the Hufflepuff common room, when Potter and Black seemed to jump out of nowhere. They started cursing me, nothing that would really harm me, but things that would humiliate me - like giving me bat wings on the sides of my head, right on top of my ears. Well, I guess there was enough commotion that the door to Hufflepuff opened, and out came these seventh years. They all marched between us, and held their wands up to the Marauders. It was the first time anyone had ever stood up for me like that. I'll never forget it."
Mia purrs at this, and he feels a sense of happiness from her. "Then I will respect them as well. Those were the actions of the truly brave and loyal."
They were walking through the front doors of the castle now, Severus made sure that the doors closed softly behind them. He lowered his voice even more, and pointed to the hourglasses on the wall ahead of them. "Those hourglasses track our house points, and at the end of the year the house with the most points win the House Cup. It is rather coveted."
Mia has stopped paying him any attention through, her nose in the air sniffing. She leads him to the portrait guarding the kitchens. "In there! I want in there!" She is very excited, and he almost feels giddy as he tickles the pear to open the door.
As the door begins to open, Mia squeezes her way inside, reminding him of the overeager puppy that Lily's parents had bought just before she left for school - it was always trying to get everywhere first, usually so it could jump on the furniture and get the attention of everyone in the room. Severus shakes his head and lowers his head to hide his grin as he follows her through the now completely open door. He looks up as the door closes, the smile on his face dying as he sees every elf in the kitchen has completely stopped, their eyes even larger than normal as they stare at Mia. He thought he had done the elemental magic right, how could they see her? He began to panic.
Suddenly an old elf walks forward carrying a huge silver platter filled with raw meats. The elf places the platter down in front of Mia, bowing deeply as its ears wiggle to and fro. "You honor us, Dragon." The voice is harsh, as if the speaker hadn't spoken in a long while. Mia dips her head in acceptance of the foods, and then turns to look at Severus.
"Tell them what you'd like to eat, silly," she giggles in his head as she picks up a small cut of meat and breathes fire onto it before slurping it into her mouth nonchalantly. She doesn't seem to be worried that the elves can see her, maybe he shouldn't be panicking just yet?
"Uh. Is there anything ready for dinner yet?" He manages to croak out, his throat still tight with the worry about Mia being discovered. The old elf looks at him, and takes a step toward him. It sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, nodding its head.
"The bond is there. He is the Speaker." The elf's voice has a softer quality to it now, and it bows deeply to Severus. Suddenly all the elves seem to be jumping over each other trying to get him food. Severus snickers to himself, the elves were always helpful but this was insane. He'd never seen elves fight each other to present food to anyone. "Yous have questions. Ask." The old elf is still in front of him, looking at him serenely.
Startled, Severus says the first thing that comes to mind. "You can see her, even though I hid her from all others' eyes. How?"
The elf makes a raspy, choking sound. Severus looks down in concern, worried, as the sounds continued. Its shoulders are shaking, and it has a hand over its mouth. As he looks at the elf's eyes, he realizes that it's laughing, not choking or dying. Severus lets out a huff of breath, and grabs a piece of whatever food is closest to him. Turns out to be a roll stuffed with dates, nuts, and some other kinds of dried fruits; he chews it absently as the flavors explode in his mouth, food has never tasted this good before! The elf finally stops laughing as he is finishing the roll and looking around on the table for more of them.
"Oh yous young ones, yous don't hear the tales of old like yous used to," the elf says, its voice seeming to be healing the more it speaks. "I is the Fran or just Fran if yous wants, yous can stop thinking of me as 'the elf' or 'it' now, young one." Severus starts. Could elves read minds? "No, I is not in yous head. I is just knowing how young ones think now, is all."
Severus looks at Fran guiltily. "I am sorry; I meant no disrespect," he begins.
"I is knowing, boy." Fran states, continuing with, "I is just letting you know, so yous can put a name to me. Things be easier like that." She laughs again, before a serious look overcomes her face. "Elves is old magics. From before Humans. When only Dragons and Elves and Beasts walked the world. Elves can see element magicks. Elves can feel bonds. Is how I knew yous being her Speaker." She nods toward Mia, who was happily munching away at the meats on her platter. Every time she would get to the bottom of the stack of meats it would replenish, and she would give a loud purr of gratitude.
Severus continues to eat as Fran tells him of a time when the world was young, and magic was wild and untamed. "When yous humans took up wands, we elves bound us-selves to the magic in the ground where yous lived. Us elves take care that yous don't go killing the Dragons again. Dragons is the magics, and when the first dark ones killed the Speakers, Dragons suffered - magics suffered. Is now very rares to see Dragons. Magics will fade from this world if yous lets them all die. Yous is Bonded to Her...so now yous is both protector and protected."
Severus nods in understanding. Nobody can know he is Mia's Speaker, or they both will be in grave danger. Mia is still a young Dragon, and vulnerable in many ways. "I understand." he says gravely, the true weight of the bond beginning to settle in his heart.
Fran looks at him for several minutes before nodding. "Yes, yous do hears my truths. The bond has begun to settle in your heart. Soons you will feels the wild magics come to you. Carefuls yous must be then, is easy to harm others with not meanings to." With that said, Fran turned and started to walk away. "Elves is here to helps yous, and Hers. Comes if yous need help, or ifs the hungers come again. Us elves know how to feeds the hungers," she says as she walks out of the room and he hears that strange laughter again for a moment before the wall seems to close and seal itself.
He eats for what seems like hours. Every time he finishes one plate of food, three more take its place, and he finds himself hungry enough to eat them. Finally, Mia lifts her head and lets out a loud, long belch. Flames lick the wall and ceiling, and the elves all cheer. Severus feels full for the first time since he entered the kitchen, and the elves start to take the food away before he even thinks of telling them this.
Mia turns to the stoves, sniffing around the fires. The elves start to whisper to themselves, backing away from the wall where the stoves are lined. An odd whistling comes from Mia, before very small flames travel from her nostrils to the various stoves. The flames almost look like little lizards, crawling around in the heated coals. The fires in the stoves begin to burn higher, the flames turning white, then blue. Severus takes a few steps to look closer, and the fire stops radiating heat; there really are small lizards crawling around inside the ovens now. He turns to give Mia a questioning look.
The elves all gasp, before bowing low to the ground in front of Mia. Cries of "Thanks yous!" and "So generous!" are heard as the elf voices raise to fill the room. Mia purrs loudly again, and moves toward the door. Severus can feel her contentment radiating through the bond. The door swings open as she gets close, and the elves all start to settle down when they realize Mia is leaving. As Severus follows her out of the kitchens, he swears that it is actually cooler in them than it is outside in the hallway.
Sensing his confusion, Mia tells him, "It was a thank you gift, both for the food and the information. The fires will always burn at whatever temperature is needed, but will never heat the room beyond what the elves feel is comfortable. The Salamanders will see to it."
Severus nods, yawning. "It's been a very eventful day. Let's go take a nap." Mia follows him down the stairway to the dungeon, and through the portrait to the common room. As he walks toward the stairs she stops and hisses. Severus looks around quickly to make sure nobody is around to hear her; luckily the common room is completely deserted. He glances at the clock; it's time for dinner, no wonder.
"I cannot follow you there," Mia says, looking at the stairs. Severus turns to look at her, confusion on his face. "There is a strange magic. The rest of the castle has magic welcoming Dragons. This is new, it is...hostile." She walks to a corner and sits on the floor, wrapping her wings around herself. "I will sleep here. Goodnight."
Severus looks at the corner objectively. There is no seating in that area; it's usually used for the odd gobstones match. He knows Mia should be safe, but he uses his wand to cast a simple alarming spell to wake her and himself if anyone gets too close, then heads upstairs to his dorm room, and his bed.
Severus is surprised the next day when Lily corners him in the Library. She never goes out of her way to find him these days; she usually spends most of her time grouped up with the other Gryffindor girls of her year.
"Severus Snape! Tell me it isn't true!" she gushes, sitting down on the window bench he is currently occupying.
His eyebrows rise as she sits next to him, squeezing in so she fit on the small bench with him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Lily," he admits sheepishly, blushing as she wiggles around to get comfortable. He feels very warm, and his eyes zoom onto her cleavage - with OWLs officially over, the fifth years are allowed to dress casually until they leave the next day; Lily has taken advantage of that and the top 3 buttons of her shirt are opened, giving him a very nice view of the tops of her breasts as she wiggles. She so rarely sits this close to him anymore, and he is terrified that she can see his body's reaction; he quickly crosses his legs, and pulls his robes around himself.
"Did you really try to murder James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin?" At his blank look, she moves closer and whispers into his ear, "Did you really entrap some creature that shoots fire, and set it on them?"
As she asks that, Mia starts to growl in his head. "She is not acting as a friend!"
Severus' head seems to clear immediately, her body being so close no longer having the same appeal. It's as if someone has tossed a bucket of ice water over his head. He replays her words in his head. "Lily, I didn't entrap anyone or anything. As much as I despise Potter and his little band of Marauders, I don't hate them enough that I want to see them dead. I just want them to leave me alone."
He begins to get angry, is she really trying to do what it looks like she's trying to do? "You realize that they are the ones that are constantly attacking me, right? Yes, I have retaliated, but that's only because I do have a survival instinct. So now, what exactly are you accusing me of? Or trying to entice me into admitting, I should say."
Lily sits up straighter, causing her chest to stand out further. She flutters her eyelashes at him and wiggles her body just enough that her breasts rub against the side of his arm. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sev. I just want to hear from you what happened yesterday after the OWLs…" she lets her voice trail off, and presses herself still closer to him.
"Oh," he says, "it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, actually. I had taken my shoes off and was just enjoying the day, walking along the edge of the forest. The squid was having fun, splashing around and that caught my attention. Then all of a sudden, my wand flew out of its holster as Potter disarmed me from behind. Black was laughing and jeering about something, and Pettigrew and Lupin were standing there laughing and pointing at me. I honestly don't even remember what was being said, I was getting so angry. I'm not sure exactly what happened after that. I think I blacked out in my anger, because next thing I remember is everyone running away. Oh no, did I punch them and make them look like the simpletons they are?" He ends the speech with what he hopes is an innocent look.
Lily huffs again and stands from the bench, buttoning her shirt up. "I can't believe you, Sev. Why won't you tell me what really happened? I know what really happened! You ambushed them! They told me, and everyone else in the common room was agreeing!" She stomps her foot to the ground and turns away. "Fine, I'm going to my Head of House with this, then!" she huffs as she walks away.
He turns his head to look at Mia. "She's not normally like that. I wonder if they gave her something last night in the common room?"
Mia just snorts, and puts her head down on his shoulder. She whuffs warm air into his face, and he can feel her amusement towards him. "You really are such a silly boy, Severus."
He smirks and goes back to the book he was reading. It's fascinating, the sheer number of bonds that can be made. He wants to read about them all eventually, but for now, he is mainly looking for information on how to strengthen the bond he shares with Mia - it is precious to him and he doesn't want there to be any possibility of losing it.
The shadows in the library lengthen as Severus continues reading. Mia notices a rat darting around the library. The first time it stops nearby and starts watching Severus, she blows a small jet of superheated air towards it, partially melting the fur on its back slightly; the smell of it nauseates her, so she chokes back the urge to use actual fire and have a little snack. In theory she knows she can eat rodents, but the stench of singed fur just turned her off the thought.
She giggles to herself as the rat seems to jump before it scampers off behind the shelves. A little while later, she sees another rat watching Severus. She turns to look at him, wondering if he is doing something to attract rats. Nope, he's just sitting there reading his book. She looks back at the rat and notices that it's the same one as before - she can smell its fur. She tilts her head, and watches the rat watch Severus for several more moments before turning and running back the way it came.
She waits several more minutes, then sniffs at the air again, looking for the scent of burnt fur. Oddly enough, the stench of it is now coming off a boy sitting at a table near the library doors. She settles back next to Severus when she realizes that another, alarming scent seems to be coming closer to them.
Two of the boys from yesterday are walking toward Severus slowly. They have a weird covering over them, distorting her vision of them; she can't make out anything other than their outlines. This is very odd. She lowers her stomach to the ground and moves forward to intercept these boys. When they are only a couple yards in front of her, she opens her mouth and blows a small stream of fire at the bottom of whatever it is that's covering them.
They don't notice their covering is on fire for a few steps, then one of them screams in a very high pitched tone and rips it off of them. He throws whatever it is to the ground and starts jumping on it frantically, yelling, "Sirius, help me, damnit!"
The other boy doesn't help though. He backs away from the boy jumping up and down and starts to cast random spells at the air around him. Mia watches this curiously for a moment before backing away and sitting next to Severus again. Severus had raised his head from his book - probably when the first boy started to scream - and when she sat next to him again he just raised an eyebrow and grinned.
The next day Severus walks from the carriages toward the Hogwarts Express alone. Mia had wanted to stretch her wings, and they figured that the journey to the train wasn't very long so she would meet him there. He sees her sitting on top of one of the train cars, her wings clamped in next to her body. "I won't fit inside," he hears her say. "I think I can hold on up here though." Severus looks at her doubtfully.
"It's a long trip, are you sure?" Several people around him give him odd looks, a few start to snigger and whisper to their friends. Severus huffs in annoyance and boards the train car Mia is sitting on, making his way to the end where her head should be. He opens the window and sticks his head out, calling softly, "Mia?"
She leans down to where he's got his head out the window, and he can feel her excitement. "Oh, I hope this train goes as fast as you think it does! I can't wait to feel the air whooshing around me!" As the train begins to move, she straightens up and leans down on the car.
"Are you sure you can hold on though? It's a very long trip!" Severus is very worried, she would be hurt if she let go and fell off the moving train. He feels her confidence though, and slowly begins to relax as the train starts to move and her happiness flows through the bond.
King's Cross station is bustling with activity as the train pulls in. Severus waits to exit the train so Mia will be able to walk with him without any worry of bumping into someone. They make it to the station manager's office without incident, and luckily they're able to slip through the Floo with little fuss.
Arriving in his living room after Mia, Severus is unsurprised to find his father passed out in an armchair with a beer can in his hand. What does surprise him is his mother, sitting on the little settee with a sturdy-looking mug of tea in her hands. Also surprising, is the man sitting across from her, also holding a mug of tea - and staring directly at Mia.
"Welcome home, Severus," his mother says softly, glancing at her husband quickly before looking back to him. He nods at her in acknowledgement, but his attention is firmly on the other man in the room - who has yet to spare him a glance.
The man looks to be tall, with wavy red hair that brushes his shoulders and a goatee trimmed close to his face. His eyes are a bright blue, and they remind Severus of the sky on a clear day. He is older than Severus - he has the faint lines around his mouth and eyes like the professors at school, but Severus can't even begin to guess at his age because the smile on his face makes the man look young.
"Who are you?" he blurts, moving to stand in front of Mia.
The man simply smiles and nods his head as if he were expecting a greeting like such. He stands and hold out his hand as he says, "Ah, you must be her Speaker. I am Gideon."
Severus takes a step back and reaches for his wand. "What do you mean by that? Stay back!" He brings his wand up, and tries to keep himself between this man and Mia. She isn't having any of it, though; she carefully steps around him and starts sniffing the area to the man's right side.
The man - Gideon - begins to softly chuckle as Mia moves closer. He wiggles his fingers and flips his hand a few times, and a Dragon shimmers into view next to him. It is beautiful with vibrant green scales and two spiked horns that seem to flow along the top of it's head. It is also obviously a full grown dragon - he can tell by its characteristics and mannerisms - but it is smaller than Mia is currently. Severus can feel Mia's curiosity about this other Dragon.
Gideon raises his eyebrow at Severus, and Severus looks at him curiously. "That's a beautiful Dragon you have there," Severus says, unsure what the man wants from him.
Gideon sighs heavily and shakes his head. He looks at Severus, and it feels like something is slicing through his brain and looking at his most recent memories. When the pain stops, Gideon speaks, "I can understand your hesitancy. In the future, if a Speaker exposes his Dragon to you in a… mostly private setting," here he glances at Severus' parents warily, "it is common courtesy to expose yours in return. I mean no harm to either you or those you hold dear, I will vow to this if you'd like."
"I trust him, Severus," Mia tells him as she continues to sniff the other Dragon.
Severus nods his head at Mia, and while watching Gideon he reverses the spell hiding Mia from other's eyes. He hears a gasp from his mother, and the sound of her mug as it thuds against the threadbare carpet beneath her feet. "Oh, Severus… what have you done?" she asks, her hand going to her heart as she stands.
"Nothing!" Severus cries, turning to face his mother. "I did nothing, mum, except accept her when she found me and saved me from the bullies at school!" He doesn't know why, but he is angry. Angry at her, for continuing to send him to Hogwarts when he was continually bullied, for not homeschooling him when he begged her to, for not protecting him like a parent should. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and Mia moves to stand next to him and purrs. He turns his head to see Gideon, standing firm next to him, with a look of concern on his face.
"This, too, I understand. The bond between you is very strong, and getting stronger every moment. The wild magics have to come early, and you aren't prepared." A calmness starts to settle into Severus' heart, and he immediately regrets the way he spoke to his mother. Ashamed, he turns to her.
"I'm… I'm sorry, mum," he says softly, reaching a hand to her.
She grasps his hand and he can see the tears in her eyes. "Severus? Oh, Severus, I'm sorry." She releases his hand and crumbles into the settee behind her. Her hands cover her face and he hears her sobbing.
Mia moves to her purring loudly; she puts her snout on Severus' mom's shoulder and whoofs out warm air into her neck. The sobs turn to giggles, and Severus can feel Mia's delight at this reaction. Mia then digs her head softly into his mum's stomach, and turns it so that she's looking up at his mum's face. A look of wonder has overcome his mum's face, and she slowly reaches her hands down toward Mia's snout gently rubbing the scales between her eyes. "Oh, aren't you the sweetest? I guess you can tell I'm Severus' mum - you may refer to me as Eileen though, when you Speak with him regarding me." She gasps then, and quickly continues, "Not that I expect you to talk about me to him! Just... if the subject ever comes up…"
Severus can't help himself, Mia's amusement has spilled over into him and he starts to laugh so hard he falls to a knee. "Oh, mum. Oh…" he continues laughing for a few minutes before continuing, "Oh, I'm sorry mum. Of course she will talk to me about you. She loves you already, I can feel it. She is also… immensely amused by you."
Eileen stops scratching Mia's head the second she hears Severus begin to laugh. When he finishes speaking, Mia gently nudges her hands to continue. Eileen smiles down at Mia through the tears falling from her eyes again. "Thank you. Oh, thank you for bringing joy to his life," she gasps out, hugging Mia to her tightly. She continues repeating, "Thank you," into Mia's neck as she cries in happiness.
Severus looks to where his father is snoring in the chair. "He never sleeps through things like this," he muses to himself, confused.
"He's under an elemental sleeping spell. I figured it would be for the best if he didn't hear our conversation… or see our Dragons." Gideon answered his silent question. "I can't explain the feelings I get off him. He loves her," here he nods toward Eileen, "but at the same time, he hates her. It's like he blames her for every bad decision he has ever made."
Severus nods his head, looking back at his father. "Yes, he does blame her for everything. When he's not blaming me, that is." He looks back at Gideon. "I don't mean to be impolite, but how did you know where to find us? I was so sure that I hid her properly," here he nodded toward Mia, who was still being hugged and cried on by his mother.
"You hid her well, lad. I didn't find you - Xui here," he nods toward the green Dragon, "found Her," he gestures toward Mia, "and once we found Her, we discovered that you are her Speaker. Finding your address wasn't difficult; your Head of House at school gave it to me."
He sits in the chair he had previously occupied. "Have a seat. We have much to talk about."
They spend the rest of the night talking about Dragons and magic and the wild magics that would cause him to exhibit some pretty radical mood swings until Severus is confident enough to control them. Gideon shows Severus how to do some basic meditations and explains that if he managed to reach a clear mind in his meditations before he went to sleep, his body would enter a deeper sleep and when he woke, he would feel more rested and have more confidence in which emotions were really his opposed to the wild magics. Before he leaves, Gideon tells him to keep practicing those meditations and when he returns next week they would start some other training. Severus is excited for this, and vows to practice until he could reach a clear mind without the meditations before the summer was over.
Hey Sev!
I'm sorry about that incident in the Library before we left school. I went to see Professor McGonagall and she took me to see Professor Slughorn. Can you believe that one of those toerags in my house dosed me with confundus concoction? It took Professor Slughorn three days to brew the antidote and by that time I was ready to go to the Aurors about what had happened! I am so, so sorry. Please forgive me?
My parents have decided to take us to visit Egypt for the summer, so it might take a little while for an owl to reach me. Please forgive me, and write back soon! I miss you!
Love,
Lily
"Concentrate!" Gideon yells as he throws another rock toward Severus, who is blindfolded and sitting in the center of his mum's small herb garden behind their house. Gideon had explained that he was to focus on his meditations, and feel what the elements around him felt. He dodges to the right as the rock sails past his ear, just barely missing him. "Better!" Gideon sounds pleased, and Severus smiles then ducks quickly as he "feels" something coming at him again.
"Good. That's enough for today, I think." Gideon removes the blindfold from Severus' eyes and hands him a glass of water and a small towel. "You are making quick progress. Many young Speakers don't understand what we tell them when we explain these exercises, and spend years trying to make it this far." He pats Severus on the back a few times, continuing in an entirely too happy voice, "Don't let it get to your head, though. You still have a ways to go before we start on something new! I'll see you next week. Keep up the good work."
Dear Lily,
Of course I believe you about the confundus concoction, and I forgive you for the things you said to me while you were under it. You're still my best friend.
What is Egypt like? Have you been able to visit any of the magical archeology sites there? If you haven't yet, you should try to get your parents to let you go. I've heard there are tons of things that you can't see anywhere else in the world. I'm sure if you send an owl to Professor Slughorn, he'd be able to set something up for you - you're one of his favorites, and we all know how he loves to help his favorites if he can!
Be sure to get loads of pictures, I can't wait to see them!
Love always,
Sev
"What are you up to out here alone, you freak?" The words come out of nowhere while Severus is meditating, and they break his focus for a moment; resulting in him not able to dodge the blow to the side of his head. Pain blossoms behind his eyes and the world starts to get blurry around him. He hears a loud growl, and as the world fades to black, he hears a scream in the distance.
"I think he's waking up," he hears his mum say from far away. Severus feels a wonderful coolness pressed to his forehead, and slowly opens his eyes. He is inside the house, laying on the settee with his head in his mum's lap. She is gently combing her fingers through his hair, and fidgeting with the cool cloth on his forehead. He feels Mia's presence at his side, concern radiating through the bond.
Gideon looks down at him, a grim smile on his face. He hands Severus a small bottle, "Headache potion, you look like you might need it." Then when Severus fumbles with it he takes it back and opens it. He feels a strong arm behind him, propping him up enough that he can swallow down the potion as it's held to his lips. The pain lessens immediately, and within moments it's gone. He sits up and turns so his feet are on the ground.
"I think I now understand why you said to not let anything distract me." Severus grins sheepishly as he looks at Gideon. "What happened? I remember hearing an angry voice… then… nothing."
"Your father," Eileen sighs heavily. "Your father decided to take his drunken rage out on you for some reason." She looks away, toward the fireplace and continues in an absent tone, "Mia rightfully took issue with this, and…" she trailed off. A tear rolled down her cheek and she raised a hand to her mouth to try and stifle the sob. "I'm sorry Severus. I don't know why I never saw things clearly. I never wanted this life for you."
"Mia here," Gideon continues, "tore her way into his mind and removed all triggers for violence." He coughed, trying to cover his laughter, "It turns out that your father had… a lot of triggers. We got him to the muggle hospital, but it's doubtful that he will ever wake up again. If he does, it's very likely he won't remember either your mother or you."
Severus looked at Mia, unblinking. He wanted to try to share his feelings with her, but was unsure how. He felt for their bond, and felt her fear. She thinks I'm going to abandon her? He pushes his love and devotion forward, saying a prayer to any God willing to listen that she can feel him. He pleads with his eyes for her to understand.
She perks up, and he feels her happiness. She understands! He opens his arms, and she practically flies toward him, rubbing her face along his shoulder and neck. All is right in the world as far as Severus is concerned.
Hey Sev!
Thank you for the advice on contacting Professor Slughorn! He managed to get me an internship for the rest of the summer. Isn't that exciting? My parents weren't so happy about it, but they agreed to let me stay once they met the Curse Breakers working at the site and took a tour with me. I will be helping to catalog the items they are excavating from one of the great pyramids!
Oh I'm so excited, I can't stop talking and smiling and babbling. Tunie is so angry with me right now, but I just can't care. Oh Sev, I can't wait to tell you about everything I see and learn once school starts!
I toured the site I will be working with today after my parents met with the Curse Breakers. Oh Sev, there's a real Dragon here overseeing everything! It's so beautiful and majestic. Maybe if I prove myself during this internship, I will be chosen to witness a hatching! How cool would that be, right? I could even be chosen as a Speaker! I'm so excited!
I have loads of pictures to show you when school starts. I'm so excited!
Love,
Your Lils
While Gideon teaches Severus about elemental magic, Xui teaches Mia. She still hasn't mastered the technique, however she can shrink herself to the size of a housecat and hold it for an hour or two at a time. She can hold the larger, more human shaped size for almost the full eighteen hours of most dragons.
"It's good that two of you are working hard to learn what we're teaching," Gideon says, leaning back into Xui who's standing behind him. "Today, you're going to work together." He narrows his eyes as he looks to Severus. "Don't think for a moment I missed that little display last week, lad. You managed to do something silently through the bond," he snorts as Severus' eyes widen in shock. "Yes, well now we need to work on that. You need to strengthen that method of communication when it first begins, or it can close off." Gideon closed his eyes, and Severus notices a look of regret cross his face briefly.
"So, you need to find that connection and focus on it. Don't close yourself to what's around you, though! Keep enough of your mind on the world around you, and it will become second nature to sense danger even when you're focused on something else." An odd curtain came between Mia and Severus, and he could feel her anxiety rise. "Keep her calm, lad. Focus on your bond and let her know you are safe."
Severus tried to find that connection he had felt last week, but Mia's anxiety was beginning to overcome him. A pebble hit his cheek, and he shot into the air. Mia roared and set the curtain ablaze in her desperation to find Severus and ensure his safety. Gideon roared with laughter as he watched the shaking Dragon cling to her Speaker, losing control of her size and steadily growing as she wrapped herself around Severus.
"You could have warned her what you were going to do!" Severus said angrily, hugging Mia to him as she began to calm enough to shrink her size again.
"Och, I could have yes, but then you wouldn't have seen what a Dragon will do in a blind panic. Her response was sedate, compared to some I've seen." He looked at Mia intently. "Her faith in you is stronger than most; she actually stayed under the curtain longer than I expected. It was only when you lost your focus on the world around you that she allowed her panic to overwhelm her trust in the bond." He grinned. "Again."
Dear Lily,
Wow, an internship? That's amazing! You're going to be seeing magical objects from millenia ago, I bet. I'm excited for you!
A Dragon at the site? That's so cool. What does it look like? Yes, I know you said majestic, but what color is it? Have you learned its name? Where is its speaker? Work hard, Lils. It would be amazing if you could witness a hatching. I've heard that they are simply awe-inspiring to see. One day I hope to see one myself.
Take care of yourself, and be safe. I know the Curse Breakers are bringing the artifacts out themselves, but you never know what latent curses can stay with an object. The ancient Egyptian wizards were said to be the most cunning of their age. I know you know this, but don't touch anything with your bare hands! Ok, I'm done being an overprotective friend now.
Get pictures of the artifacts you catalog if possible, it's so interesting!
Love always,
Sev
"Are you ready, lad?" Gideon asks him merrily. They are at the river by the old willow tree Severus loves. At his nod affirmative, Mia launches herself into the air. "Ok, when she sees something of interest she will share her sight with you. It can be… disconcerting."
"Severus! Oh, this is amazing! Look!" Severus gets very little warning as Mia enthusiastically shares her sight with him. The vertigo overwhelms him immediately and he loses his balance, stumbling. Gideon grabs him and holds him upright.
Once he gets used to the vertigo, Severus is amazed. Everything seems so small - but at the same time, he can see everything nearby. Old Mr. Williams' cat got loose again and it's prowling near the bridge by the old mill. Something catches his eye and he feels Mia banking to the right sharply. She is flying toward the small park, where he sees a deer running free. "No, Mia! Don't!" Severus yells through the bond. She stops abruptly, and he feels like he's falling from the sky. "Come back, please!" The sensation of falling fades, and Severus finds himself looking through his own eyes again. He searches the skies, worried about Mia.
She lands before him, exuberant. He goes to rub her neck and notices he has a pebble in each hand. He looks to Gideon and sees a smile stretched from one side of his face to another. "You did well, lad."
Sev,
Well, this is not the exciting job I thought it would be! There are two other boys here working on internships; both are from another country and speak with such heavy accents that I can barely understand them. One seems nice, his name is Carlos and he smiles a lot and tries to speak pleasantly with me about the artifacts we are cataloging - neither of us can really understand the other though, so that puts a real damper on things. The other boy, I'm pretty sure his name is Richard though he constantly pronounces it Rictord... well, he is a lazy toerag.
Just yesterday the Curse Breakers made their way into a previously sealed chamber. They were bringing crates of artifacts up at a time. Each of us has our own table, and usually the artifacts are split evenly amongst us, but yesterday Richard decided he didn't have to work as hard as I did, and he offloaded two of his crates onto my table while I wasn't looking! As if I didn't have enough with the four crates the Curse Breakers had left for me.
Needless to say I wasn't able to catalog everything, and at the end of the day I had three crates left. Richard looked over to me and made some comment in his native language, and the Dragon Speaker overheard him and frowned at me, looking as if I wasn't taking my work seriously! Can you believe it?
I am so upset about this, but I'm also worried. Sev, you know me, I'm a hard worker and I love to be challenged. If Richard makes me look bad here, it could become a permanent black mark on my work record! What if future employers see my time here as pointless, and hold my lack of progress yesterday as a sign of my future work ethic?
Oh, and what if any chance I had of being invited to a hatching is now forever gone? Oh Sev, how do I fix this?
Worried and Anxious,
Your Lils
"Now you've got some of the basics, it's time to learn a few of the more difficult aspects of elemental magic." Gideon says one day.
Severus groans and falls dramatically to the ground at Gideon's feet. "Ok, what do I need to do now?" he asks as he makes himself comfortable on his back and looks up to the sky.
"Oh, this should be easy. Just keep me out of your mind." As he speaks, Gideon kneels down beside Severus and looks him in the eyes.
Severus feels a pressure in his head behind his eyes. It feels like someone is trying to make room between his eyes and his brain, this pulling sensation. He tries to clear his mind, to focus on the blankness of the night sky like he does every night before bed, in the hope that it will help dull the pain. He had noticed these past weeks that he could overcome pain easily when he let his mind go blank like the sky; it had come in handy when he was getting pelted by rocks and pebbles for hours on end at the beginning.
Severus let himself drift in the blankness of his mind, keeping that small connection to the world around him open as always, and allowing Mia to feel the calmness and serenity of his meditation through their bond. The pressure behind his eyes fades, and he comes back to himself when Mia speaks through the connection, "Gideon is trying to talk to you again. I think you might want to listen to him."
He closes his eyes for a moment, letting go of the blankness and focusing on Gideon in front of him. He smiles when he sees the admaration on Gideon's face.
"Well then," he said, sounding shocked. "I think you just might be a natural Occlumens, lad." He nods his head, continuing, "I've never seen anyone block me like that, especially not on their first attempt. I've heard stories, of course, but never thought I'd see it for myself. This makes things easier." He stands, brushing his pants off briskly, then holds out his hand to help Severus regain his feet. "I think we can move on to Legilimency, then."
Dear Lily,
I am very sorry to hear about that other boy putting his work onto you. It sounds to me like he's trying to set you up to be released from your internship. I could tell you many ways to get back at him using his own tricks, but you don't have it in you do things like that stealthily. You are just too kind and pure for that type of behaviour, Lily. Don't even think about arguing about me regarding that - it's true, and it's one of the reasons I love you so much.
No, I think the only thing you can do is show that you are doing your job. The Curse Breakers have to be keeping a log of items given to each of you - I don't imagine them just loading crates randomly and putting them to you guys to figure out what they are. There has to be a master log, detailing at least the types of artifacts each of you are given, not to mention any curses attached to said items. Do your work, and do the work that boy offloads to you. Make sure that you note exactly when he does things like that, and what is inside whatever work he puts on you.
He doesn't sound smart enough to get away with his actions in the long run - not if he's already bragging to his superiors about how fast he works when compared to you. That is most likely what he said to the Dragon Speaker on site when he spoke in his native language: something about himself working twice as fast as you.
I know you, Lils - you are going to worry about his behaviour, and it's going to drive you up the wall. Please calm down, take deep breaths, and just go about what you were hired to do for your internship. Trust me, nobody will ever be able to accuse you of slacking off or not putting 100% of yourself into whatever you commit yourself to do - not after they watch you working for a time. Have faith in yourself if you don't want to believe what I'm saying. You are brave. You are smart. You are strong and kind and pure hearted. Whatever grief this boy causes you, he will bring the wrath of his superiors down on himself eventually.
Stay strong.
Love always,
Sev
Severus is very surprised with how easily he takes to Legilimency and Occlumency. As the bond grows stronger between Mia and himself, he is able to speak with her over longer distances, and he finds out by accident that he only had to look someone in the eyes to see their surface thoughts. It's rather shocking to hear Gideon thinking about his mother… in that way.
"How do I shut it off? Gah, stop thinking about her!" Severus covers his eyes, never wanting to look at Gideon again. Gideon is laughing at his reaction - again.
"Och, sorry lad," he says insincerely as he continues laughing. "I've never encountered someone like you. I'm not sure how to turn off my random thoughts." He continues to laugh, bending at the waist and seeming to lose the will to keep standing when Mia walks over to Severus and bonks her head under his chin.
Eileen walks into the room from the kitchen, giggling. Severus refuses to look at her, he really doesn't want to know what she's thinking, especially if she has the same type of thoughts toward Gideon. Luckily she walks straight to Gideon and hands him a pair of muggle sunglasses with very dark lenses, a blush on her cheeks. Gideon puts on the glasses, and then thinks about how becoming she is while she blushes. "Try looking again, lad. Yer mum had a brilliant idea," Gideon is still laughing a bit, but seems to be calming down.
Severus looks at him, and nods his head. "I still get some emotions, but at least I can't see the thoughts." He gags a bit, remembering. "Seriously, man! She's me mum!"
As Severus slips into his childhood speech patterns, Gideon starts laughing again. "Lad, lets just focus on something else," he says, his shoulders start shaking again when Severus refuses to look at him for more than a few seconds at a time.
Sev!
Oh you're brilliant!
Truly, I wish you were here so I could kiss you!
Richard seriously messed things up today. The Curse Breakers asked him to go with them into the pyramid, saying they were very impressed with the way he's been doing his work. Carlos & I were both upset by this, until one of them turned to us and winked!
So there Richard is, acting all arrogant and like he's better than everyone else when he goes down into the pyramid. I'm not sure what happened down there, but not even 20 minutes later Richard came running up the stairs, screaming at the top of his lungs so everyone on the site can hear, explaining everything he's done since starting his internship. Including how he offloaded most of his work to Carlos or I, and how he was going to make us do all the work for the remainder of the summer and he was going to reap all the rewards.
Well, the Dragon walked over to him as he started bragging about how everyone at the site was gullible, and he was just that much smarter than everyone else, etc. The Dragon Speaker put him into a body bind and told security that he was to be removed from the site, not to even allow him to collect his personal items. Then the Dragon itself looked at Carlos and I, and seemed to nod its head toward us. Oh Sev, I'm so excited! I was acknowledged by a Dragon! Isn't that amazing?
I've heard some rumors that another Dragon is going to be coming to the site next week. I can't wait to see it! The one here now is a pearly white, and its scales seem to shimmer. Oh, and its eyes aren't like ours, they are just all sorts of colors swirling together. Oh, it's so beautiful, I wish I could take a picture of it! Sadly, I signed a contract saying that I would not photograph any Dragons or Dragon Speakers I might encounter on the site. I am allowed to tell you that there is a Dragon here though, and even describe it - I asked my supervisor before I wrote you that first time!
I will write to you and tell you about the new one if I get a chance to see it. Oh, I almost don't want this summer to ever end, I'm so excited!
Love,
Your Lils
"Ouch, dammit all to Hades!" Severus grabs his knee and continues, "Why in the name of Merlin's hairy testicle sac can't I just light my wand?"
"Because you might find yourself in a situation where you don't have your wand and it's dark and you need to see," Gideon says from directly behind him, his voice sounding impatient. "Now focus on your bond. Allow Mia to see through your eyes for a change."
Severus closes his eyes and finds the bond between Mia and himself. He opens his eyes again, not that he can see any better with them opened, and he tries to push his eyesight toward Mia. He hears her laugh through the connection, then say, "Just relax, silly. I'm not sure how to explain how I share my sight with you, but I know I'm not so tense."
Severus growls. "This isn't working! How do I share my eyesight with her?"
Gideon sighs and the room is filled with light again. "I suppose it's too much to ask for you to be a prodigy at everything, isn't it?" He moves to one of the chairs in the room, and Severus sits in the one opposite. "So, let me explain how I do this, and then you can try a few times with the lights on. Then, if you seem to grasp the concept well enough, I'll recast the darkness spell and we'll see how you do."
Severus nodded nervously, looking at the floor right in front of Gideon's feet.
"Alright then, here's what I do. First, find the bond you share. I know you know where it is, but I want you to just find it for now. Do not touch it or fiddle with it or anything. Got it?" As Severus nods, he continues. "Good. Now, you know where it is. Close your eyes and look at it. What do you see?"
Severus sighs and, keeping his eyes closed, studies the bond. "It's beautiful, glowing all sorts of colors. I can see it flowing toward me, bringing me Mia's amusement and love." He smiles, happy that he can actually see this now.
"Good, lad. Very good. Now, what do you see moving along the bond from you to her?"
Severus' brow furrows; he doesn't see much going from him back to her. Has the bond really been so one sided? He focuses on his love for her and sees where it travels along the bond. He concentrates on opening that wider, allowing more of his feelings through to her. It opens slightly, and suddenly Severus realizes that the problem with what he's trying to do is him. He has always blocked his emotions as best he could so nobody could ever hurt him. He slowly starts to concentrate on what he's feeling, identifying the emotions and then sending them to Mia.
"I've blocked my emotions my whole life. Gods, Mia, I'm so sorry," he whispers along the bond. She hears him and purrs. The bond strengthens further as he allows his feelings to travel through it unfiltered. Finally, he opens his eyes.
"Okay. I think I'm ready to try this again." He's speaking softly, trying to maintain his focus on the bond. The more he thinks about what he's seeing in front of him, the stranger it seems. Colors shift and blend together. Edges blur and then reform sharper and more in focus than before. It's like he's looking at the world with a strange filter over his eyes. This is going to take some time to get used to.
Dear Lily,
I'm so glad to hear that the toerag is gone. He deserved everything he got… I just wonder what it was that he got. I never want to come in contact with it, that's for sure.
I really wish you could take pictures of the Dragons, but I understand why you can't. Magical contracts are no joke! I hope you read the entire thing before you signed it, or you may be in for some surprises. Then again, I know you - you probably got to excited and just skimmed it before trusting whoever it was that placed it in front of you and signing your name.
I can't wait to see you again. Are you going to come home early to buy your supplies, or are you just going to order them by owl and go straight to the school on the first?
Love always,
Sev
"Severus?" Eileen says, holding out her hand. "Come sit with me. I have something I need to talk with you about."
Severus sits next to her on the settee anxiously. She looks worried.
"I heard back from the hospital today, regarding your father." She looks down to her lap, where she's twisting her fingers together. "I don't know how to say this…" she looks up to him again, then turns to look at Mia. She looks at her for a minute, before continuing with, "This is not your fault. I don't blame you, I wouldn't blame you…" she stops talking and looks back to Severus.
"Severus." She stops to take a deep breath. "Your father was pronounced brain dead at 2:21am this morning. We need to start thinking about what we want to do… how we want to deal with his remains." She speaks in a rush, then she lets out the breath she'd been holding.
A wave of grief and sorrow come from Mia, followed very quickly by an overwhelming feeling of guilt. "No! Mia, this is not something to feel guilt over!" He rushes to her side and hugs her to him. "Mia, he would have killed me eventually. It probably would have happened after he killed my mother first. You did nothing but protect me." He cries into her neck. "You have nothing to feel guilty over." He sobs into her neck.
"Oh no, Mia!" Eileen exclaims, rushing to her side. "You only did what I should have done the first time he raised his hand to one of us." She hugs the two of them to her as best she can, one hand around Mia's head, clutching it to her chest while the other hand cradles Severus' back and draws him toward her stomach. "His death was a good thing, and the doctors told me he passed painlessly."
Severus thinks about the teachings he's had with Gideon these past weeks. He opens the bond and sends calmness, love, and relief to her. "I'm relieved that he gone, Mia. I don't think I'll worry this year while I'm at Hogwarts. Mum will be safe finally," he whispers to her through the bond, and eventually her guilt calms a bit. He keeps repeating himself about how he's happy with this, how it is a good thing, and there's nothing to feel guilty about as he sends his love and relief through the bond.
Hey Sev!
Guess what? I spoke with the Dragon Speaker today!
She told me that they are very impressed with me, and they asked if I'd thought of pursuing a career as a Curse Breaker or Researcher before. Can you imagine me as a Curse Breaker? Oh, it would be such a glorious job! Or a Researcher? I honestly can't picture that one myself. I'm too much of a front-and-center kind of girl to be content to stay in the background.
Oh Sev, they actually noticed me though! I'm so happy and excited, and I just can't seem to stop smiling! They've asked me to come back next year also! This is all so exciting!
So I will be home next Monday - just in time to go to Diagon Alley and get my supplies for school before we get on the train Tuesday. Have you gotten your things yet? I would like for you to come to Diagon Alley with me, please? I have a surprise for you once we get there!
I'll see you soon!
Love,
Lils
Severus paces before the window before rushing up the stairs to look in the mirror again. Lily should be here any minute, and he wants to look his best. Gideon and his mum will be escorting them this time, allowing the Evans to do something else with Petunia, who of course was still jealous that Lily was allowed to stay in Egypt for the entire summer.
"Sev!"
He hears her before he sees her as he rushes down the stairs. She runs toward him and gives him a huge hug. "It's so good to see you again! I missed you!" She steps back and looks at him intently. "Something's different about you…" she trails off as her eyes rake up his body feet first. A huge smile lights up her face as she looks up into his face. "You're taller. Again." She giggles. "How tall are you now?"
A throat clears from behind him and Severus takes her hand and pulls her to his side as he turns. "Lily, this is my mum," he says proudly, finally not having to introduce his father with her. He then waves his hand toward Gideon. "And this is Mr… " he trails off and looks at Gideon curiously. "I'm so sorry, sir. I don't think you ever told me your last name."
Gideon smiles and waves his hand. "Just call me Gideon, everyone does. No need for formalities whilst among friends." He walks over and takes Lily's hand in his, bowing over it and kissing the air just above. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Lily." He releases her hand and smiles again, turning back to wrap his arm around Eileen's waist. "Shall we make our way to the shopping?" he asks Eileen, leading her toward the fireplace. His mother giggles as he calls out, "Diagon Alley," after tossing a pinch of Floo powder into the fire and guides her inside, stepping close so they can whirl away together.
"Sev!" Lily smacks the back of her hand into his stomach. "You didn't tell me your mother is dating!" She turns to him with a smile. He watches as it dips into a frown. "Wait, what happened to your father?"
He guides her toward the fireplace, holding out the bowl of floo powder so she can take a pinch. "There was an… accident. He was in the hospital for a few weeks and finally declared brain dead about two weeks ago." He looks away from her. "It's a good thing, though. He was starting to get violent even when he wasn't drunk."
She nods. "I guess that is for the best. I'm sorry for your loss though. I know you didn't like him, but he was your father." She puts a small smile on her face, and he makes the mistake of looking into her eyes. 'I wonder what happened. I hope Sev didn't do anything to his father. He's going down that path, though. If what James and Sirius have been saying is true, Severus is casting dark magic at them all the time. Like that day by the forest. This worries me. I need to…' he looks away from her before she can finish the thought. She really believes that he could hurt someone in cold blood. That hurt.
"Diagon Alley," he calls out firmly as she steps into the green flames and whirls away, leaving him to his thoughts.
"She does care for you, silly. She wouldn't worry if she didn't care," Mia says softly. She sends her love through the bond and, feeling it, Severus sighs.
"I know she does. It just hurts. I'm in love with her; if I thought for one second that she would return my feelings I'd shout them from the rooftops. Instead, all I seem to be getting from her lately is that she believes the worst of me." He grabss a pinch of Floo powder from the bowl and then placess back the bowl back on the mantle. He pulls sMia closer. "Now, remember to hold on tight. When we get there, I can't be seen to be holding anything or people might get suspicious."
She reduces herself to her smallest size and clings to his shoulder. "I won't let go. Ever."
"Diagon Alley." Severus tosses the powder into the fire and it turns green. He steps into it and feels himself whirl away toward their destination.
He lands at the public floo in Diagon Alley with Mia still clinging to his shoulder and upper arm. As she notices they are back on solid ground she opens her eyes and looks around in wonder. People are walking along the streets, and some merchants have brought goods from their stores to set up stalls outside. A patron is haggling with one of these shopkeepers to the right, trying to talk the merchant into giving him two items for the price of one. Another shopkeep calls out randomly, "Prophet! Get yer Prophet here!" There is magic in the air - everywhere Mia looks she sees it.
"Oh, this place is wonderful…" she sighs.
"Come on, Sev! I need a new cauldron; come help me pick a good one!" Lily grabs his hand and pulls him toward a stall with several cauldrons on display. They shop for what seems like hours - new robes, class books, potions ingredients, parchment and a few new quills, a dozen bottles of ever bright ink for Lily, the standard black ink for himself. Finally they find themselves at Fortescue's, waiting on line to order ice cream. Lily is looking around anxiously as she places her order, causing Severus to look around also. He spots Potter walking toward them, Black and Lupin following closely.
"Lily?" he whispers, his gaze focused on the approaching Marauders. She looks up at him, then follows his gaze silently. A huge smile lights up her face as she grabs Severus and starts dragging him toward his enemies.
"James!" Lily calls out joyfully, releasing Severus' hand to launch herself at the other boy. Then she kisses him, wrapping her arms around his neck and moaning. Severus is stunned as he watches the woman he loves kissing his enemy - the boy who has tormented him for the past 5 years. Finally she pulls back, and nods to Black and Lupin before grabbing Potter's hand, pulling him toward Severus.
She gives Severus a stern look and says, "Now, it's a new school year starting soon and I'm finished with this animosity between you and James and his friends. You are my best friend, Severus, and it's time for you to stop antagonising them every chance you get. Get over whatever your issues are with James and accept that he's my boyfriend now."
She then turns to James and, seeing the cocky smirk on his face, uses the same tone of voice when she speaks to him: "And you! If you really want this relationship to work, then you need to let go of whatever hard feelings you have for Severus." Looking to Black and Lupin, she continues, "That goes for you two also." With that said, she looks expectantly toward Severus. "Now shake hands and forgive each other for whatever you think the other has done. Go on!"
James Potter grins, giving Severus a malicious look before holding out his hand to shake. Severus, seeing the grin, looks into his eyes. 'Lily is too easy to fool. We'll just have our fun when she's not around, and make sure that if she hears about it Snivellus is the one to get the blame. Heh, this is gonna be great, I'll finally get him out of her life, while at the same time driving her further into my arms.' Potter nods his head minutely, and says aloud, "Sure, Lils, we'll leave him alone. No hard feels, Sni… I mean, Snape."
Severus looks the the hand offered incredulously then turns to look at Lily. "Lily, you were there that day on the train - before we even started Hogwarts - when Potter and Black took one look at me and started calling me names. They are the ones constantly jumping out of places and attacking me. And you want me to stop antagonising them?" She opens her mouth to speak again and he slashes his hand through the air in front of her. "No. Don't even try to defend them. That day by the forest? The one you still don't believe I didn't start? My wand was in my holster when they disarmed me! Did they tell you about that?"
Lily raises her eyebrows as Severus mentions that day. "You are my best friend, Lily. But I have never gone out of my way to antagonize them. I love you, but I will not bow down and just let bygones be bygones or whatever it is you seem to believe should happen." He pauses and looks away. "The only concession I will make is that I won't start anything with them." He looks to her again as he asks, "Is that good enough for you?"
She frowns, and when he looks into her eyes he sees how confused she is. 'I guess it has to be - at least for now.' There is disappointment swirling around with the confusion, and a bit of anger that he won't do what she wants. She opens her mouth to speak, then shuts it again with a click and gives him an angry jerk of her head.
Severus sighs and looks back to the hand Potter is still holding out. "I'll just leave you to your… boyfriend then. See you around, Lily." He turns and walks away slowly, hoping that she will call him back, that she'll pick his company over Potter's.
She doesn't.
~~ TBC ~~
Word Count: 14,695 by Google Docs