Ch. 01: Enter the Dragonborns
Author's Notes
Well, here is my continuation of The Dragon Has Three Heads (DHTH), by TheLaughingMan1, now renamed as Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors (ETDC), starting with a rewrite of chapter one of DHTH. Before I go any further, I thank TheLaughingMan1 for his enjoyable work on the existing two chapters of DHTH.
Readers will find that this chapter remains mostly the same compared to that of DHTH; however, several key distinctions are introduced to take my story in different directions with respect to some aspects:
(1) The natural close bond between the triplets are teased out more, therefore no one should be surprised when they engage in sexual acts together in the future.
(2) There contain somewhat in-depth explanations of Houses Potter's and Eveschatten's (Evans) histories, which provide a logical reason for the Eveschattens' close alliance with House Longbottom. Well, that is going to change in this chapter. :)
(3) Hadrian's retarded dumpling savior impression during the First Task of the TWT in DHTH is unacceptably imbecilic, and the only reason the siblings survive is due to a deus ex machina plot device. In ETDC however, the siblings take an judged-to-be acceptable calculated risk, related to point (2), in order to use the opportunity to further their goals.
(4) Neville Longbottom receives a permanent demotion in relevance and screen time in this chapter as compared to DHTH, so rejoice those readers who only have interests in the conquest, machinations, and incest of the Eveschatten/Targaryen siblings.
(5) I write using formal grammar and no contractions for normal text; for everyday speech, except ones intended to be formal, however, contractions and some slang are readily used.
Now, onwards with the story.
Beta readers are also welcome to contribute to this story.
Publish date: 2019-04-13
Edit (2019-04-14): The designs of each of the triplet' newly awakened eyes have been altered. The reasons for said changes can be found in Footnote [1i].
Edits (2019-04-15 & 05-13): The timeline of the story within the HP Universe has been shifted forward by 20 years; therefore, the protagonists' Fourth Year now starts in 2014. Additionally, real life happenings in the domains of domestic politics, geopolitics, economy, technology, and culture may intersect and influence the plot of the story. Additionally, the predictions reflected in the story will hopefully also serve as a digital repository of information for posterity.
(See the opening AN for legalese, detailed story parametres, and text formatting legend.)
🙞🙟 Prologue 🙝🙜
Every child heard the stories at bedtime.
Of course, the stories varied wildly throughout the world, but at their core, they always remained the same. These were the tales of fierce dragons and gallant knights, humble heroes and cruel villains, epic battles, powerful magical spells, and the lessons of wisdom to be learned in their amazing adventures and harrowing quests.
They were the soft spoken songs sung by attentive parents at bedtime to lure imaginative children into fantastical dreams and occasionally horrific nightmares. These children would later reenact these dreams and stories with friends or siblings, running around with wooden swords that clacked loudly when striking another of its kind, all the while their playmates rode around them on sticks that were imagined to be horses or sometimes even dragons, unicorns or beasts as yet to be undiscovered.
All children played at this game when the song of fantasy echoed in their minds, singing the stories of power and ambition, courage and avarice, love and revenge. Parents would smile encouragingly at the sight, almost nourished by the happiness and laughter of the little ones as they played their games of pretend—all due to the wonders of imagination. It was a normal thing, common and seen in all corners of the globe.
It was a great tragedy to the imagination that the children would grow up, slowly realising that their dreams of becoming powerful kings and courageous knights or wise queens and determined warrior maidens would remain only sweet dreams to be occasionally revisited with a whimsical smile. In the end, the song would be appreciated, but only rarely recalled, forever tinged with longing and bittersweetness for those dreams to be possible.
(Un)fortunately for Great Britain, Hadrian Lilian Eveschatten [1a] never stopped dreaming of being a King.
⇝⇝⇝Dream Begins
There was a mighty castle made of solid black stone, embedded on the slope of a great volcanic mountain on an island surrounded by an unknown sea. The castle was decorated by the detailed sculptures of gigantic dragons, each so realistic that it seemed as if they were dragons made of stone as opposed to stone carved in the likeness of dragons. Even to an untrained eye, the castle was a fortress that was forbidding and unyielding.
Suddenly, a massive red and black dragon rose out of the castle, so large that the already blackened island and deep blue sea were darkened even further. He had never seen anything like this dragon in his books, it was so large and powerful looking that it felt wrong to even compare the majestic beast to the likes of a common Welsh Green.
Unusually and most puzzling still, was the fact that the great winged reptile had three heads, each as large as a train carriage. Perhaps, even larger; he had no accurate frame of reference for such an unprecedented and great being. The horns were long and wicked, pointing directly to the sky whenever one of the heads looked downward on that which was below it. When the three heads neared one another, the row of horns resembled a crown to a surprising degree.
A synchronised deafening roar was bellowed from the three heads and the dragon swooped off across the sea to a new land, but an army awaited with swords and shields, one of such size that they seemed to be a sea in and of themselves. The dragon did not care; it welcomed the challenge, a challenge that brought unity and forged great strength.
With a mighty breath, the dragon unleashed its fire from three mouths and turned the land into a burning inferno, collecting three fallen crowns before flying off. More armies tried to battle it and more crowns were collected from the ashes of its enemies. The dragon roared, revelling in the glory of battle and the spoils of war.
Eventually, six crowns were collected and the dragon drifted off to slumber in a nest of fire and blood. Although it birthed other dragons, the three-headed one did not rest still and eventually was consumed by its own heirs. The dragons dwindled one by one until only one dragon remained, a young and strong dragon who collected one more crown that made the six of the nest into seven.
It clutched a giant dark grey wolf in its talons, nuzzling it affectionately. Soon, however, came a mighty and muscular stag to challenge it. They did battle, but at the fatal moment, the dragon made a mistake and its chest was rammed inward by the stag, causing it to perish. Nearby, three unhatched dragon eggs glowed.
Now, Hadrian could see the three-headed dragon's remains become ash. The ash drifted up and soared across the sky, eventually coming to a new land. There, the dragon ash became fertile soil for a beautiful white flower and soon a new stag arrived; this one more agile, not as aggressive. It protected the flower, but was somehow struck down and the flower multiplied, growing over the stag's body until a new dragon burst from the organic heap.
Like before, this one was red and black with three heads. And although it seemed to be the very same dragon from the island, there were differences. For one, its shiny protective scales were midnight black, like obsidian, while the remaining softer body surface was a colour of dried crimson blood. More importantly though, this dragon appeared to be even stronger, growing steadily. Finally, all three heads turned to Hadrian and roared loudly to signify its challenge to all that could hear it. There came the hissing cry of snakes, the roars of bears, the buzzing of a white honey bee [1b], and even the stars twinkled in answer to its battlecry of dominance.
The three-headed red and black dragon turned to Hadrian, the center one facing him but the other two came at him from the sides. The center head leaned forward, a deep and regal voice declaring a single word that yet had any meaning to the young man the word was intoned to, ⠟Aegon.⣴
Dream Ends⇜⇜⇜
🙞🙟 November 23, 2014, Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ("Hogwarts" or HSWW), Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom (UK) 🙝🙜
On an otherwise normal evening of November 2014, Hadrian Eveschatten jerked awake with a gasp, standing up off of the most comfortable couch in the Gryffindor Common Room in a quick jerking motion. He stood there like a statue, his heart racing like a panicked animal, unaware of anyone around him or even of where he was currently at.
His skin felt hot, the plain black school robes were stifling, but he could not move, frightened and still half lost in the strange dream. It had been so clear to him, more realistic and detailed compared to the previous few and than the circular room that surrounded him now. He could feel the dragon even now in his breast, its uncompromising desire for dominance and the fire of its breath. His hands trembled at the memory.
What could possibly hope to stand against a creature—no, a majestic and terrible magical being—such as that?
Hands touched his shoulder and Hadrian bolted forward like a skittish colt, turning around in a defensive crouch to confront those who had touched him. As soon as he saw soft emerald eyes so much like his own staring at him with concern, he relaxed and the memory came rushing back to him. He was Hadrian Eveschatten and he was in the Gryffindor Common Room, having fallen asleep on the couch with his sisters to the merry crackling of the hearth's fire.
Rosaline Mabel Eveschatten [1a], his younger triplet sister by a few minutes, watched him with worry. Belladonna Alexandria Eveschatten [1a], his older triplet sister, also by a few minutes, was still asleep and had fallen over without him there to prop her up. Instead, Bella snuggled her face into Rose's lap while the auburn-haired sister stroked Bella's long wild raven hair lovingly. Unlike Bella, who wore her hair very long, Rose's auburn hair was kept at shoulder length with the bangs cut a bit shorter. It gave her soft, pretty face a coquettish look that was only enhanced by large emerald eyes.
"Arie, are you alright?" Rose questioned softly using the Eveschatten women's pet name for him, not wanting to wake Bella. Then again, no one wanted to wake Bella in such a state. She was short tempered at the best of times and just after sleep was far from the best of times.
"I'm fine. It was just a…" Hadrian paused, unsure whether he should call the strange vision a nightmare or a dream. It felt so much more different than a mere dream and he knew the vision would not fade like normal dreams would. "…just a dream, Rose."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Rose asked kindly, ever willing to help her Beloved Brother [1c]. She really should have been a Hufflepuff, instead of a Ravenclaw. She probably would have been a Badger if it was not for her dislike of hard work.
"Not at the moment. Thanks anyway, Rose." Hadrian gave her a half-smile, honestly not sure what to make of it. Dragonfire still circled in his mind like a whirlpool of destruction, of light and death.
Carefully, so as to not jostle the sleeping dragon that was Belladonna Eveschatten, the siblings maneuvered her up so that Hadrian could slide between them once more. As soon as he was in place, Bella instinctively cuddled into his side and wrapped her arms around him. Rose did similarly, but stretched her legs out more and Hadrian sat with her hugged up against his left side.
It had been a source of great amusement to their mother and puzzlement to the school that each of the triplets had been sorted into different Houses. Sweet Rosaline, clever as could be, was sorted into Ravenclaw—the House of intelligence and wisdom. She loved her books, loved learning from the mistakes of the past to gain her own wisdom and as she devoured book after book she had also picked up obscure spells—esoteric secrets hidden in otherwise dry texts.
She was the spitting image of her mother, but petite, not standing higher than five foot and two inches. To all appearances, she was dainty and delicate like a flower. Given her polite nature and kindness, very few ever expected the mind behind that beautiful face to be ever calculating and analytic. It is a surprise then for many people, both friendly and hostile, to discover that she was the coldest thinker of the siblings and could divorce emotion from thought easily. Only her siblings truly knew her because it was only with family that they dropped all pretenses.
The sleeping Bella was her opposite in every way, in personality and appearance. Bella had pale skin as well, yet hers was more like alabaster, giving her a statuesque look as if carved from marble. Cold faced, not like Rose's warm look, and her features were strong where Rose's were soft. Bella had inherited more of the Black looks from their paternal grandmother, Dorea Potter née Black, and according to Sirius she was nearly a dead ringer for a teenaged Bellatrix Black. It was a rude surprise for the family when they learned that the namesake cousin they used to adore was suspected of being in leagues of Voldemort, although it was never proven, for she vanished shortly before that particular Hallow's Eve. For the siblings however, they had never been too convinced of Bellatrix's supposed treachery.
Bella was gorgeous, tall and lithe like a runway model. Her emerald eyes, a distinctive trait shared with her siblings and mother, made her seem like a female version of Hadrian, both of whom had similar bone structure inherited from Dorea whereas Rose gained most of her looks from their mother. Bella had definitely been blessed with their mother's taller and more curvaceous form.
Bella was rather infamous at Hogwarts for her temper, more so than either of her siblings. They all had a temper, but she lost hers the most often and was undoubtedly the more temperamental of the triplets. Where Rose was soft and sweet, Bella was hard and unbending, never compromising. Once she was set on something, only Hadrian could dissuade her and even that was not always certain.
Truly, she had earned the right to be in Slytherin and had proven that to her housemates more than once. Sirius often laughed that Bella was a warrior, through and through. He had been particularly proud of that trait, often teaching her more about dueling than any of the others and cultivating her strength. Hadrian had a feeling that Sirius had known which House Bella would be in and had prepared her for it as much as possible.
While not bothering with the schoolyard jostling of sheltered superiority in the House, Bella had made the point that she was not to be trifled with by sending a good bit of Slytherin to the Hospital Wing over the past three years. She had faced the threat of expulsion several times for her cruel methods of humiliating those who either challenged her or dared to try and lay their filthy hands on her, but somehow always managed to worm her way out of them, partially due to their mother's influence as the once apprentice and now colleague of Filius Flitwick in her capacity as an adjunct Charms Professor.
Of course, the fact that both Hadrian and Rose had pledged to leave Hogwarts if their sister was expelled also had something to do with it. It was the fear of many on the staff that Hadrian would use his childhood friendship with Neville Longbottom to convince the Boy-Who-Lived to leave with the Eveschatten siblings and Neville had said nothing that would make them think otherwise.
Neville was one of the few males that Bella did not outright despise, leading most of the sheep to think that there might be a marriage contract between the two in the works, simply because of her tolerance of his presence. Rose, of course, welcomed Neville readily, but even Neville suspected it was purely to keep the peace between Hadrian and him; for as cruel as Bella could be, Rose could be just as cold and vicious.
The only male the two sisters truly trusted however was their Beloved Brother. It all went back to their childhood, an incident that none of the Eveschatten children ever brought up, but Neville had heard references to it and knew something bad had happened, that was all he needed to know to respect the siblings and know his place among them as a friend. The three Eveschattens had such a strong bond, one that not even being sorted into different Houses could hope to strain.
Hadrian was the subtle yet undisputed leader among them, a first among equals so to speak, and both of his sisters followed his lead in everything for good or ill. Not that they would not challenge his reasonings of course. Bella was the fierce one; Rose was the clever one; and Hadrian was powerful. All three siblings learned from each other, but chose to project somewhat one-dimensional facades as to keep outsiders, and even some associates, off-balance. Neville, while good friends with Hadrian, had his own group in the form of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. The siblings never tolerated the Weasley's lack of drive, narrow worldview, easily prone to jealousy nature, and uncouth manner to begin with. As for Hermione, she might have been a friend of Hadrian's too, but Bella's cruel nature and Rose's coldness to her gave her a feeling of them not wanting her to be around their brother and had quickly sent her scampering back to her own group.
It was not normal for the members of other Houses to stay in the Gryffindor Common Room and a few Lions had protested the presence of Bella due to her being a Slytherin. The resulting tranquil, yet furious, lecture Hadrian had delivered to a packed house had been legendary, shaming and threatening his housemates in equal measure, thus quelling any future dissenters. Like all lions, the Gryffindors responded only to aggression and dominant displays of power—two traits that Hadrian had a great deal of if someone stupidly provoked him. Otherwise, he was content to allow Neville to rule their year mates and be a leader in the House.
"Tomorrow's the day of the First Task." Rose whispered, burrowing her face into his neck and breathing in deeply his comforting scent. After spending their childhood sleeping in the same bed at Skye Cottage off of the Isle of Skye, the siblings simply could not stand to sleep apart from one another. "Do you think Neville's up for it?"
"I think that Neville is as prepared as he can be." Hadrian murmured back comfortingly, rubbing her shoulder. "Hermione has done well in coaching him. So don't worry, he'll be fine." He added confidently.
"In that case, let's get some more sleep, Brother Mine." Rose reflected with a smile.
Nodding with a sleepy smile of his own, Hadrian wrapped an arm around Rose and prepared to do just that.
"If you two don't shut up, I'll show the world what I can do!" Bella growled out grumpily, snuggling into Hadrian's side something fierce with a bit of a snarl on her face, which only came off as a petulant puppy. Hadrian and Rose traded identical looks of amusement, but obediently settled back into the couch and hopefully into a dreamless sleep.
🙥🙤 November 24, 2014, Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch 🙦🙧
Hadrian hugged his mother as they met in the Top Box that was one of four built to house the families and friends of the four Champions. Each one was built to seat twenty, but the Longbottom Box did not require that many, only seven people would sit there: Lady Augusta, the four Eveschattens, and Neville's two amigos.
Despite the siblings' father's sacrifice when facing off against Voldemort, the siblings simply felt more emotional connection with their mother, and thus chose to publicly use Eveschatten as their surnames. As for their Mother, Lillian Isabel Eveschatten [1a], although being the matriarch of House Potter, was a strong and independent woman, and thus always used her maiden name publicly, both because it was the name she used in her professional life and a falling-out she had with her now deceased husband shortly before his death.
"It's good to see you, Mum." Hadrian grinned, stepping back so she could inspect him as was her custom if they had not seen one another in a long time. Despite his independence and maturity, he was unabashedly a mother's boy. She had not have much time to spend with him and his sisters in the past year, mainly due to her occasional work for the Ministry that were officially classified as consultations. Lily was as vivacious and charming as ever, her full bosom and inherently timeless beauty had only been increased by the maturity of motherhood.
"Look at you, you've grown two inches since I've last seen you." Lily said fondly, proudly looking over her darling son's handsome face and the strong build he had painfully cultivated. He was not as naturally robust as Neville, having more of a lean runner's build, but he had worked hard to make up for it, painstakingly adding bulk to his sleek frame. "And so strong, they must be feeding you well at Hogwarts." She cooed.
"Thank you, Mum." Hadrian replied bashfully, feeling his ears burning. He turned to the ancient Lady Augusta while his mother rushed over to fawn over his sisters, who were wearing dresses specifically designed for public events. "Lady Augusta, it's a pleasure to see you again."
"Young Hadrian." Augusta greeted imperiously, a small fond smile tugging at the corner of her withered lips. She had watched him grow from a thin boy into a fine young lad and it pleased her to know that Neville had at least one good ally of proper birth for the future. "How fair you?"
"I am fairing well, my lady." Hadrian answered with a smile of his own, bending his head to peck her knuckles as was the custom. "I'm looking forward to watching Neville perform well in the Tournament. Today will be the day that he puts all doubters to rest."
"Or makes a bloody fool of himself." Augusta replied skeptically, a frown on her brow that made her entire face look even more wrinkled than usual. "Do you really believe my Neville is up to the task? He's not Frank, you know."
"I've no doubt that Neville will be victorious." Hadrian stated with an awkward smile, hiding his bemusement over her persistent doubt of her grandson. Although he was somewhat of a social Darwinist, he felt obliged to shape his friend up, if for no other reason than for the unacceptable nature of his family associating with an otherwise lackluster scion [1d].
"Hmph." Was all that Augusta said, sitting back down and staring at the rocky arena below. He felt relieved that she was done speaking to him. Lady Augusta was an acquired taste, to put it mildly.
The Potters were a modest ancient noble family, a Welsh one at that. Numerous family had found circumstantial evidence of their ancestors originating from the early Roman Empire. Throughout House Potter's history, it had consistently ignored the Pureblood tradition and dogma of only marrying and siring offsprings with other traditional Purebloods, the result of which had certainly paid dividends. House Potter only cared about bringing the best and brightest into its family, regardless of any status, which was partially why Lillian Isabel Eveschatten, one of the brightest and most powerful of her generation, was chosen to marry into Potter family and consented to James Potter's hand in marriage. Lillian Eveschatten was originally known as Lillian Evans; however, upon researching into her genealogy once entering into the Wizarding World, she was able to eventually trace her ancestry to a long line of magicals in the service of the Holy Roman Empire, who settled in an area now within Germany. Beginning in the sunset period of the empire, Lillian's ancestors decided to emigrate to Great Britain. One of the ancestors was a squib, an trait passed down until Lillian managed to awaken the family's full magical potential once more.
House Potter's sons and daughters had consistently been strong wizards and witches, with the number of squibs produced throughout the past several centuries countable with the digits on both hands, so very unlike the other so-called great Pureblood Houses, for whom the numbers of squibs born and the potencies of their scions' magick had noticeably increased and decreased respectively. The Potters also lived up to their unconventional heritage by closely associating with the Mundane World, especially the British Government and various fields of industry. In fact, numerous Potter ancestors were knighted by their respective monarchs for invaluable services and contributions to the Crown, and several started and passed on successful business in both the Magical and Mundane Worlds. Therefore, despite House Potter not traditionally dabbling in the politics of Magical Britain, its esoteric yet significant history afforded its members not so insignificant influence within Magical British society.
Yet, James Potter's manchildishness and mismanagement of many Potter assets and connections brought House Potter's fortunes into a severe downturn, with only Lily's shrewd thinking managing to stem the worst of the flows. What Lily ever saw in James remained a mystery to this day. With House Potter at a weakened position, enough influential Pureblood families who were jealous of its non-traditional successes or/and disdainful of its constant flaunting of tradition almost brought it to its knees politically. Had it not been for House Longbottom's defense of House Potter, the Eveschattens would have left Magical Britain behind long ago. Although grateful for House Longbottom's intervention, none of the Eveschattens were naïve enough to believe that the Dowager Longbottom, then and still was the controlling power of her adopted House, did it solely out of the goodness of her heart. Before James Potter's debacle, Houses Potter and Longbottom were loose allies of comparable standing. Now, her disguised favour forced the Eveschattens into a de facto subservient position, a vassal status bought at a bargain price. The Potters, now Eveschattens, because James had so disastrously tarnished his family name, were proud people who were deferential only to the Crown out of mutual benefits, had no interest in prolonging this indignity. As such, the Eveschatten family, with Hadrian being the most ambitious, were working to pay off its debt to House Longbottom, as their honour demanded, as quickly as possible, and from there rebuilding its power so that it would never have another master [1e].
Hadrian glanced over to check on his sisters and quickly hid a chuckle. Lily and Rose were complimenting one another on their near identical dresses of red and black respectively, cooing over fashion and chatting along at a mile a minute, but Bella was looking pleadingly at Hadrian, hoping he would save her from what she saw as inane chatter. Bella was wearing a fine green dress that was shoulderless and a bit more slinky than her sister's, looking distinctly uncomfortable in it, but he thought she looked amazing. Not that she ever was not of course.
He himself was wearing finely tailored black robes that looked more like a mundane suit and trimmed in red. The robes had cost him a sizeable bit of his personal savings, but it was a good investment for future public outings.
"Mum, Rose, Bella and I are going down to check on Neville. We'll be back in a moment." Hadrian informed, taking Bella's hand in his and replying to her grateful look with a quirk of his lips.
"Alright, darlings. Tell Neville that we wish him the best of luck." Lily smiled at the two warmly, turning back to her discussion with Rose over lengths and colors and other things that Bella was trying her best to escape from. "Rose and I will hold down the fort here, but be quick about it."
Hadrian gave a nod, then escorted his sister down the stairs properly. As soon as they were out of sight, both breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at each other as they made their way down to the Champions' tent. On the way, they noticed Lucius and Draco Malfoy striding toward the higher stands, but had quickly hurried on, not wanting to cause an incident as he knew they would try to provoke them into one.
He opened the tent, stepping aside to let Bella enter first then following her. It was rather large, as expected, and surprisingly luxurious for Ministry standards; then again, he reminded himself, this was the Ministry's way of showing off to other countries, so their usually sparse accommodations were altered for that purpose. It still felt like a cheap hotel room that had been given a fresh coat of paint.
The four Champions were all huddled together in a corner, keeping close but not a single one were talking. Each looked nervous, Fleur Delacour and Neville were visibly trembling while Krum and Diggory were like stone, but with a green tint to their faces.
As much as the Eveschattens and the Longbottoms were allies by necessity and preference, Hadrian and Bella had another reason to come by the tent: scout potential contacts and allies for their family's future plans.
"Haven't you won this thing yet, Neville?" Hadrian asked loudly and jovially, putting on as much cheer and confidence for his friend in his demeanor as he could. He walked over, giving Neville a brief hug and several claps on the back. "Come now, chin up and back straight! Why the long face? You're the pride of Gryffindor!"
"Not so loud, Hadrian!" Neville hissed at him, his round face turning red from embarrassment at Hadrian's comments. Krum and Delacour were giving them both the stink eye, but Diggory was smiling approvingly at the two of them, probably having guessed Hadrian's aim.
"Excusez-moi-" Fleur began with a sniff, her astonishing beauty and silvery blonde hair caught Hadrian's appreciative eye. As fine and ethereal as her face was, it was her hair that he admired the most—a long and silky curtain of gold tinted silver, a colour that he was sure he saw a few glimpses of during his dreams, but not managing to make a connection.
"You're excused." Bella snipped, glaring at the blonde witch with baleful emerald eyes. Fleur's sky blue eyes flared in indignation and she gave Bella an undisguised look of disdain that had Bella fingering her hawthorn wand.
"You were saying, madam?" Hadrian interjected smoothly, smiling faintly at Bella with an amused look on his face. She always did make things so very lively. Between Bella's impulsiveness and Rose's schemes, he was certainly never bored.
"This is the Champions' tent. It is for Champions only, not riffraff." Fleur sneered pointedly at Bella, who returned it with one of her own. "You are disturbing our focus, so I must insist that you leave immediately."
"You'll have to forgive us, Champion Delacour." Hadrian said politely, hiding the irritation that wanted to take over his face and keeping it stoic. In truth, he was much like Bella in personality, only he had learned how to hide it better and control the volatile beast that was his anger. "Neville is a dear friend of my family. We grew up together, so I wanted to wish him well before the task."
"Let them be, Ms. Delacour." Diggory spoke up, a friendly look on his face. He was eager to distract himself from the fact that he might be going to a fiery death soon and Hadrian's visit, boisterous and over-the-top though it might be, was doing just that.
Fleur looked over to Krum, but he stared back at her with an uncaring face, honestly not giving a shit one way or another. She would find no help for her indignity there, although why she felt indignant was hard to say. Instead, she sat back down with an expression somewhere scowl and a pout, pointedly ignoring Bella's smirk.
Because Neville was not particularly talented at any branches of magic, except for Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) and Herbology, Hadrian decided to give his ally some last minute pep talk. "Neville, you can do this." Hadrian assured him, clasping his shoulder confidently. "You will accomplish this task, you will make your family proud, and you will do it all splendidly. I have no doubt about this, so have no doubt about it yourself."
"You don't understand, the First Task is dragons!" Neville exclaimed, looking as if he was going to be violently ill. "I'm fourteen years old, I can't fight a dragon. I don't want to die, Hadrian!"
Hadrian can only raise an eyebrow at that absurd statement. Dragons! The Ministry thought it was a good idea to force teenagers to fight bloody dragons? It took a team of fully trained dragon handlers to even bring a dragon down, at least four or six strong witches and wizards! What the hell could Neville do to win against a XXXXX (5X)-ranked magical creature?!
The massive three-headed force of nature of his dream crept into his mind, sending a cold shiver running down his spine. A dozen plans came to his mind, but were just as quickly discarded as impractical, if not impossible. Try as he might, Hadrian could not conceive of a way for his ally to face a dragon and survive, let alone claim victory.
'What mad fool thought that this was a good test for students?!'
"Play to your strengths, Nev." With that particular piece of inane wisdom said, Hadrian clasped a firm hand onto Neville's shoulder and turned around to find his sister.
The sight that he came upon made Hadrian roll his eyes. Fleur Delacour and Bella Eveschatten stood facing one another, the tip of their wands pointed at each other's throats and glowering at one another. Neither Diggory or Krum looked as if they had the slightest interest in stopping a potential and dangerous catfight between the girls.
"Bella, it's time we rejoined our family." Hadrian stated flatly, stepping in between them to the disappointment of Diggory and Krum. "We've no time for games. You can play with your new friend later."
"Another time, Delacour." Bella hissed threateningly, turning to leave the Champion's tent with her brother. She sheathed her wand into the wand holster at her waist smoothly like it was a sword as she walked away, but Fleur could not help one last parting shot.
"Un autre fois, frere amant!" Fleur stated with a taunting smirk, giving a little wave. Hadrian had no idea what that meant, having never taken up the language for one reason or another, but Bella was proficient in speaking French and immediately turned around with murderous intent and slightly flushed cheeks.
Hadrian was forced to grab Bella and drag her away, ignoring her kicking and her growled words of vengeful promises while the French witch's mocking laughter echoed behind them. Whatever Fleur said must have hit a little too close to home for her because Hadrian had not seen her that mad in years, not even when she broke both of Marcus Flint's legs and all of his fingers in Second Year for calling their mother a 'Mudblood slut'.
It took 15 minutes for Bella to calm down enough for Hadrian to let her back into public, even then she was still growling about 'know it all French whores' all the way up to the Longbottom Box and quieted only when they entered it. She refused to tell him what Fleur had said, so he let the matter drop.
They took their seats, Bella to his right and Rose to his left with their mother sitting on Rose's other side and Lady Augusta on Bella's other side. Both sisters gripped each of his hands when they noticed a slight frown on his otherwise impeccable features.
"Welcome, one and all, to the two hundredth and thirty second Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman's voice boomed, nearly being drowned out by the cheers and yells of the crowd as they expressed their excitement.
"It should be renamed the Tetrawizard Tournament instead." Bella muttered snidely. Everyone around her agreed with her on that point.
"For the first time in the tournament's history, we have four champions instead of three. The First Task for our champions will be to retrieve a golden egg from the nest of four different breeds of… DRAGONS!"
As the crowd ooh'd and awe'd, in the Longbottom Box the reactions were quite different.
"What?!" Lady Augusta shouted, rising to her feet with expressions of outrage mixed with sheer terror. Lily acted similarly, as she still could not afford to behave callously. Rose looking dazed by the news and faintly disbelieving. Bella's face was tight with nerves.
"I'll be having words with the Minister once this… this… travesty has ended!" Augusta shrieked, looking much like the vulture on the hat she wore. Hadrian had the most amusing thought of Lady Augusta picking at the Minister's bones and smirked briefly, but the weight of the task soon wiped away even that small bit of humor.
"You knew." Rose whispered to him. "Somehow, you knew that it would be dragons."
"Neville told me a few minutes ago." He whispered back, only glancing at her briefly before his eyes began to search out the dragons. The cages were hidden by a powerful disillusionment charm, but the charm was ended now, revealing the mighty beasts to the crowd with a dramatic flair.
Their breeds were announced in turn by Bagman, but Hadrian was not listening, his attention was focused on one of the four. It was a ferocious beast with scales that shined like polished obsidian and a crown of horns that looked like pure death to his eyes. The dragon flailed and roared, sending great gouts of red hot flame thirty meters away. A wickedly spiked tail lashed out against the bars of the cage, rattling them so harshly that it seemed impossible for the cage to hold.
Hadrian ignored the gasps and screams of the crowd. They were all fools, come to participate as the bloodthirsty mob of a modern Colosseum with four children as their gladiators. His eyes were locked onto the magnificent creature being forcibly caged.
It struck him as impossibly tragic for such a majestic being to be denied its freedom. Dragons belonged in the sky, soaring over the lands that they had claimed as their own and laying waste to those who were foolish enough to challenge their power.
The dragon seemed to sense Hadrian's attention because it made contact with his stare, great slitted yellow eyes glaring hatefully into saddened emerald orbs. He could feel an empathetic connection to the creature, he could sense its fear and rage. The dragon was terrified, not only for itself however.
Emerald eyes lowered to the small clutch of eggs nearby and a snarl came to his lips that he could not hide. They were taking children from their mother, locking the mother up and placing her in the midst of a colony of strange creatures while taunting her with her own young. It enraged her. It enraged him. 'How dare they steal children for the purpose of some stupid game! Dragon eggs are to be valued, protected, and guarded!'
Hadrian shook his head, confusion gripping his heart. Where did those thoughts come from? They had just leaped forward, taking control of his train of thought. It was as if he had faded for a moment, washed downstream, but leaving something else behind, some different part of him in control that was still him at the same time. Strange, very strange and scary, yet also exciting. Liberating. Whatever part had come to the fore was powerful.
Rose and Bella felt his hands exerting more pressure on their own, and saw his intensified scrutiny of something. They turned their heads to look at the object of his gaze, but could not figure why he was so focused on the Hungarian Horntail. So they turned back to ask their brother, and he told them of his concerns.
To say the sisters were not happy with the Ministry was putting it mildly.
"Are all of the involved Ministry personnel brain-damaged?!" Bella hissed. Rose could only shake her head at the Ministry sinking even lower than her ceiling of low expectations for them.
One by one, the Champions were brought in to do battle with their respective dragons and steal the golden egg, but Hadrian did not care about them, his mind was still on the chained dragon and the dread of his friend's trial by fire. The only reason he even barely paid attention to Fleur's attempt was her hair and the niggling sensation in the back of his mind as if a memory was scratching at the inside of his skull.
He grew enraged once more on the roller coaster of emotions that the day was proving to be when Krum cast a Conjunctivitis Curse on the Chinese Fireball's eyes, blinding the beast and indirectly causing her to trample her own eggs. He did experience some schadenfreude though, when the dragon in her pain and rage, suddenly swiped one of her clawed hands across his face when he thought the dragon would not pose further problems, leading to his right and wand forearm being messily cleft off when he desperately tried to shield his face over the dragon's unexpected retaliation. Krum did gain a measure of respect in Hadrian's eyes though, when he proved tough and dignified enough to not scream out in pain as the judges quickly assigned their scores so that he could be moved to the tent for medical attention. Still, his empathy was limited and the beast in his heart stirred, hissing in contempt at Krum's senseless barbaric display.
When it came to Neville's display, the teen at least had the good sense to increase his aerial maneuverability by flying around the Hungarian Horntail after summoning his broom when hiding behind a crevice. After several failed attempts at swiping the golden egg from the angry mother dragon's nest, the female dragon, as any other protective mother would do when feeling frustrated, fearful, and angry over the fate of her offsprings, was able to reflexively tap into its usually unused muscle potential. Her next action would shock the audience into a thankful silence.
߹SNAP!߹
Sound resumed when the dragon roared triumphantly, rising up and snapping at Neville in a lightning quick blow that the boy barely dodged in his terror. Now, Neville really began to fly. He swerved, he ducked, he swirled past the limbs, teeth, and breath of the dragon as if he was Viktor Krum himself.
Unfortunately, he was not Viktor Krum and that truth became apparent when one of the tip spikes of the dragon's tail clipped Neville across his right upper leg when he swooped in low in another attempt for the golden egg. The centrifugal force generated by the swing of the tail easily tore off a good chunk of Neville's upper right leg, as well as snapping the upper leg bone like a toothpick. The pain must had been horrendous, Hadrian could see his ally scream, but could not hear him over the panic of the crowd as they were torn between stampeding away and watching the battle in horrified fascination.
Neville landed on the rocky ground roughly, one of his arms was angled the wrong direction indicating a broken arm, but he was only ten feet from the nest. That did not help him whatsoever however, for he was now a literal sitting duck, if the duck was a crippled and rapidly bleeding out bear.
Hadrian could not let Neville die here. Otherwise, who knew how that old vulture would react, lashing out at anyone and everyone, including his family. He quickly looked over to his sisters, and as only closely connected siblings could effortlessly do, they too seemed to have the same thought. Seeing the dragon handlers still frozen in shock, the triplets quickly turned around to their mother, mentally broadcasting their intent to her.
Lily, having come to the same necessity of action moments prior, was definitely not happy about her children's intended action. In fact, she very much wanted to chain them to their chairs. Unfortunately, she knew that this scenario would provide them a probable shot at saving the Longbottom heir, thereby finally fulfilling the blasted debt owed to that old croon. Knowing how capable each of her children are, she grimaced, but nonetheless judged the probability of them surviving this calculated risk high enough to make the endeavour worthwhile.
Seeing their mother's reluctant nod of acceptance, the triplets vaulted from the top box and onto the rocky terrain of the area some twenty feet below. Several silent cushioning charms cast in quick succession were enough to allow them to land unharmed.
Amidst the headless chickens and the frantic shouting of viewers, which only served to annoy the Hungarian Horntail even more, the triplets absently heard their mother cast a powerful summoning charm to land the whimpering boy away from the carnage. Deciding on a gamble as despite their powers for the age group, they could not hope to overpower a fully grown, truly enraged, and extremely magically resistant dragon, the triplets knew they had no choice but to use their inherited language of reptiles from their mother to hopefully get the justifiably enraged mother dragon to calm down, now that the would-be thief of one of her brood was no longer within chomping distance.
Parseltongue, although a celebrated in many societies due to its usage in some powerful healing magic, was unfortunately and unfairly stigmatised as "evil" sorcery by the unwashed masses in Magical Britain, which made the ability a double-edged sword. However, what better way to make a public statement than with some notoriety, infamy, and flair eh? The binary fools of the Light and Dark Factions would most likely froth at their mouths for entirely different reasons, but House Potter was never one to be pigeonholed into one inflexible and dogmatic ideology, until James Potter that is. Yet another embarrassment to be laid at that man's feet.
§Greeting, great one.§ Hadrian started off. It never hurt anyone to be polite and show respect when it was due after all.
The great dragon, who was about to lay waste to the three humans before her after that insolent whelp who dared to take one of its young escaped her wrath, suddenly stopped her intended action to make mincemeat out of three, stared at the one who inexplicably opened his mouth to speak her tongue. §Greetings, human.§ Never let it be said that dragons were mindless beasts, for they too observe decorum.
Feeling that she and her siblings would not quickly die ignoble deaths, Rose quickly picked up where her brother left off while her sister scanned around to make sure no idiots came by to make a further mess of the situation. §My siblings and I thank you for treating with us great one. We have no intention of causing further misunderstanding and conflict. If we may be so bold, we ask that you to ignore the tournament organisers' oversight.§
Rather than ignore it though, the dragon hissed, §Ignore?! IGNORE?! That insolent whelp dared to kidnap my young! Tell me, why shouldn't I fly up this pit and finish what I started!§
Bella, showing that she had more modes of operation than cursing and threatening, quickly interjected. §Great one, that boy was entirely ignorant of the true nature of your hatchlings. He thought they were mere decoys.§ Bella had no way of knowing the factualness of that statement, but hoped it would appease the dragon enough to let them come out of this unfortunate situation unharmed and more powerful politically.
At this point, the shock among the crowd began to wear off, and the shouts instead turned to unsure murmurs and whispers, for they were seeing, firsthand, the Eveschatten triplets engaging a dragon of all things in speech! As with most situations, the reactions were mixed and split among ideological lines: the Light fearful and outraged over the children of one of the most notable heroes of the previous war being able to use such an evil ability; the Dark impotently seething over three do-gooders somehow stealing their master's abilities; and the Neutral shrewdly observing the scene to figure out how they could use this development to their advantages [1f]. The media present of course, descended like a pack of vultures to record down this event in glorious detail, self-preservation instincts be damned. And Rita Skeeter, that delightful woman, was panting with excitement, thinking of ways to spin her upcoming bombshell of a story into the most salacious one possible.
Ignoring the rabble, the siblings eventually managed to persuade the Hungarian Horntail to disengage from her planned bout of mayhem and destruction. During this period, the dragon began detecting something different about the three siblings. Something extraordinary. Something ancient. Something only passed down as mere whispers between each generation of dragons and the subsequent one. Something long thought by all magical beings to have died out. Excited and duty-bound to help bring about the potential reemergence of this great magick, the dragon began to communicate her plan to the triplets with great potentials [1g].
Unfortunately, just as the siblings were about to be in the clear, the dragon handlers, led by Charlie Weasley, decided now would be a great time to restrain the mighty being. Incensed by the foolish humans interfering with her duty to magic itself, the dragon let out a terrible conical stream of dragonfire, immolating everything in its path. The dragon knew that the siblings' buried heritage would protect them from her fire, just like she knew they, or at least the sole male as of now, would not let her yet to be born hatchlings come to harm. Coming to her decision, the dragon flapped her mighty wings and flew into the air, letting out a terrible roar as it disappeared from view [1h].
Of course, the crowd were not privy to the dragon's designs, so they did what any good NPC worth its programmed script would do: scream like a certain doughy ginger banshee. Most of the dragon handlers instantly perished, their bodies unable to resist the extremely potent dragonfire for even a few seconds; a few managed to leap out of the way, sustaining various levels of burn injuries. The person who would have the most justification for doing so meanwhile, could only stare and gape in horror at the seeming horrendous deaths of her precious children, unable to comprehend the scene before her.
Instead of roasted corpses burned black by the hottest fires or even pillars of ash however, Lily saw the most amazing sight: her children were still in the same poses as when the flames had consumed them!
Their fine robes were burned to cinders, the hair of their bodies had been cooked off of them, but their soot covered flesh was immaculate. Indeed, beneath the black of the ash, their skin looked new as if reborn or purified by the fire. All around, people stared in slack jawed awe and confusion over the triplets' unharmed state.
"Impossible." Lily heard someone whisper, but could not tell whom. There was a hush to the crowd, as if witnessing some holy moment or miracle from the days of Merlin and Morgana, but not even the many legends of their people had anything similar to an event of this calibre. The closest was when Neville had survived the previously believed unstoppable Killing Curse, and even that now seemed terribly inadequate to this literal trial by fire.
"Not impossible, but improbable." Albus Dumbledore correctly absently, striding up to stand beside Lily with the largest and most genuinely happy smile anyone had ever seen from him. New tears ran down his face, not of sadness or of rage like before, but of gladness and relief.
The bodies shifted.
Hadrian moved first, his chin lifting as he raised his now bald head in confusion. Bella and Rose then stood, looking around in disbelief and inspecting their nude bodies in shock. Lily cried out, rushing toward her children to embrace them and that was what she did. Fiercely she clung to them, peppering them with kisses wherever she could find skin as tears ran tracks down her eyes.
"Mum." Hadrian whispered, hugging her tightly. Then he saw his Beloved Sisters and nearly wept with joy. Heedless of their nudity, he quickly pulled them to either side of him and Lily, forming a tight family hug of four. No further words were spoken, just stunned relief that the involved parties somehow all came out unscathed and that their plan worked. They would need to deal with the consequences, both good and ill, of demonstrating their Parseltongue abilities though. For now, more hugs were needed.
As Lily pulled back from her children to get detailed looks at them, she could not help but gasp as she realised her son's eyes had underwent a profound change. Instead of his two striking emerald orbs, his irides were now interwoven two-toned wonders. Each of his iris now contained an outer dispersed layer of the purest and clearest amethyst, while the inner layer thankfully still reflected her own distinct eye colour. Together each eye now looked like an affected plasma globe operating on an overabundance of arcane energy, pulsating with power. Rose and Bella both stared at their Brother's eyes with twin expressions of wonder, not knowing that they themselves now borne eyes of similar designs. Rose's left iris matched her Brother's, while her right one was an inverted twin of her left one. Bella's irides were now a mirrored copy of her Sister's [1i].
"What is it? What are you all looking at?" Hadrian asked in confusion, looking down and quickly realising that his chiseled form was on display for the entire crowd to see. He let out a strangled yelp of surprise, just as his sisters also realised that he was naked as the day he was born.
Rose turned the most interesting color of soot covered red and gasped while Bella stared appreciatively, smiling approvingly to herself. Lily herself had an unreadable expression. Hadrian quickly covered his manhood with both hands lengthwise and his sisters both shrieked suddenly when they realised that their own svelte bodies were uncovered. Fortunately, Dumbledore swiftly conjured long cloaks over each of the Eveschatten siblings with a quick flick of his wand.
"I think perhaps Madam Pomfrey should see to the three of you and Mr. Longbottom here." The Headmaster suggested, pointedly looking down at the unconscious Neville floating on a stretcher beside him. "I fear the pain of his injuries caused him to pass out not long after being summoned."
"That sounds wise, Professor." Lily smiled thankfully, still clutching onto her children with trembling hands. Hadrian doubted that his mother would be letting go of them any time in the near future.
"Headmaster, I do not mean to be rude, but there is still Mr. Longbottom's scoring to be judged." Professor Snape stated silkily, earning him a scowl from the dowager for his timing. He quickly continued, "I'm merely pointing out that despite the Potters' [1j]… ah… heroism, Mr. Longbottom failed to accomplish the objective of the first task."
The dowager gritted her teeth angrily at the perceived insult. The Eveschattens though, merely looked upon the developing scene impassively, for this was no longer part of their obligation, and Neville did fail.
"How dare you Snape, if it wasn't for the obviously substandard chains, my Neville would have easily passed the first task!"
Ludovic Bagman, a bumbling and washed-up ex-Quidditch star and the current head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports (DMGS), stated in a rare moment of competence, "Unfortunately Lady Augusta, although safety standards for the current iteration of the Triwizard Tournament (TWT) are far higher compared to previous ones due to the number of deaths of competitors that had occurred, us overseers can only guarantee an reasonable level of safety for the competitors."
Fuming, she turned to the official who had the best grasp of the tournament rules. "Mr. Crouch! What says you on this matter." She demanded curtly.
Unperturbed by the woman's rudeness, Bartemius Crouch Sr., ex-head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE) and current head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation (DIMC), respond in his typical clipped and cultured tone, "Mr. Bagman is right Lady Augusta. The rulebook of the TWT, which was provided to every competitor shortly after the choosing ceremony, clearly states that the tournament officials are only obliged to provide a reasonable standard of duty of care. And seeing how the other three dragons were safely constrained by their chains, your accusations of Ministerial incompetence is inflammatory and baseless."
Seeing that the rules of the tournament and tort laws were not on her side, she turned to her undisputed ally, Lily.
"I have yet to have a chance to read the rules myself, Augusta. However, I have no reason to doubt the validities of Mr. Bagman's and Mr. Crouch's statements. Furthermore, Neville performed admirably during the task, so there is no shame to be felt over the unfortunate incident. Besides, all that really matters is his safety." Left unsaid is that the magical residue left in the wound would almost certainly prevent the missing muscles from growing back.
"Yes, yes, you're correct Lily." The dowager said, quickly schooling her features, not wanting to cause further embarrassment due to her slip of emotions. Remembering the Eveschatten triplets' contribution, she added formally, "On behalf of House Longbottom, I also thank you and your children for saving Heir Longbottom from an otherwise likely death. Consider House Potter's obligations to House Longbottom to be discharged in full" [1k].
With a triumph smirk on the inside, Lily solemnly intoned, "As friends and allies, we are honour-bound to live up to both roles."
"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded grimly, then turned to Minerva. "Professor McGonagall, would you be so kind as to carry Mr. Longbottom and escort the Eveschattens to Madam Pomfrey's care? I fear that this incident will require our utmost attention."
"Of course, Headmaster." Minerva nodded stiffly, taking control of Neville's stretcher and walking toward the medical tent with the Eveschattens following close behind her.
🙞🙟 November 24, 2014, Medical Wing, Hogwarts 🙝🙜
Hours later in the medical wing, Madam Pomfrey was stumped. She had cast every single detection spell in her vast arsenal, but did not have a single conclusive answer as to why or how the three Eveschattens had survived the dragonfire.
Young Longbottom was slumbered in a bed not far from her watchful eye, having been moved from the tent and sent into an enchanted sleep while she cauterised the open flesh as an temporary measure. Unfortunately, the missing flesh would most likely never be filled in due to the extremely potent intrinsic magick of the dragon. Near him laid the beds of the Eveschatten children with their mother asleep in a chair, having worn herself out keeping watch over her little ones.
Currently, Madam Pomfrey was studying three vials of their blood for any irregularities and was discovering some very odd differences. She honestly did not know what to make of it. The experienced medi-witch even had a vial of Lillian Eveschatten's blood for comparison, but the mother's blood showed no such irregularities.
"Curiouser and curiouser." Pomfrey quoted of the mundane author, sitting back in her chair and rubbing her tired eyes as she puzzled over the samples. Of course, she would incinerate the blood come morning. Blood was very dangerous to leave unattended in the Magical World and her oath compelled her to practice professional behaviour relating to her patients at all times.
"Have you discovered anything, Poppy?" The soft voice of Albus Dumbledore questioned, low so to not wake the occupants. Having grown so used to the elderly man's sudden appearances, 'Poppy' Pomfrey was not even startled by the question.
"Their blood is abnormal. I've never seen anything like it, Albus." Poppy shook her head, unable to wrap her mind over how what she had studied was possible in a human being. "Neither Lily's or James' blood had ever showed similarities. If it is hereditary, then it goes way back, skipping over generations."
"May I?" Dumbledore requested politely, indicating the blood samples on her desk. Even as Headmaster, he had to receive permission to study the blood of his charges from Hogwarts' medi-wizard or medi-witch and any study must be observed by said medical expert. It was one of the school bylaws, surprisingly put forth by Salazar Slytherin centuries ago.
"Of course, Headmaster." Poppy nodded in the affirmative, looking and feeling helpless as to what she had been studying. "I welcome any insight you can offer because I am well and truly confused."
"My word!" Dumbledore exclaimed quietly a few moments later, sounding startled and excited. Poppy eyed him curiously, crossing her arms to indicate her desire to hear what had caused him to speak. "I've seen this before, many years ago during my work with Nicholas. If I didn't know better, I would swear that I was looking at dragon's blood. You are certain that these samples came from the Eveschattens?"
"Absolutely, Professor. I have not let these vials out of my sight." Poppy confirmed, sounding offended that he would think otherwise. "How is that possible, Headmaster? Humans cannot carry dragon's blood. It would kill them!"
"Ah, now that is the question, isn't it?" Albus smiled, blue eyes twinkling over his thin spectacles in fascination and scholarly delight. "Two humans can not birth a dragon, but neither can a human survive with dragon blood coursing through their veins; yet here we have three humans who carry such blood, and they have even proved immune to dragonfire!"
"What are they?" Pomfrey whispered, staring at the beds of the Eveschattens with undisguised wonder. "How is this even possible? Are-are they even human?"
"They are something new, I dare say. A mutation, perhaps born from magic itself for variety's sake, who can know for certain?" Albus chuckled, happy with the mystery. In his century plus of life, there was little that was new to him, so this was a pleasant surprise. "They are very human, yet they are also dragons. One thing is certain however: blood does not change. What they are now is what they have always been."
"Remarkable. An entirely new species of humanity." Poppy whispered, staring at the beds. In a flash, she destroyed the samples of blood, banishing them into molecules. "It would be best if this was kept only between the Eveschatten family and ourselves."
"I agree." Dumbledore nodded in accord, unwilling to place the family in any greater danger than they already were for surviving dragonfire. "They must be protected, lest a new civilisation be snuffed out before it has a chance to begin. Right now, secrecy is the best way to do that."
"Professor?" Hadrian murmured sleepily, sitting up in his bed. The teen was still half-asleep, the Headmaster noted. "'z that you?"
"I am here, my boy." Dumbledore assured, walking across the Hospital Wing to Hadrian's bed and smiling down kindly to him. "Your friend Neville is doing well. He should be fine by morning. We will have much to discuss then."
"'k." Hadrian nodded, eyes half-closed. He was about to doze back off when those remarkable emerald-amethyst eyes opened wide with urgency as a thought struck him. "Professor, what of the Horntail's eggs? Will they be okay?"
"It is difficult to say. Dragons are remarkably adaptive creatures." The Headmaster answered carefully, a small smile on his face at the boy's concern. "However, they are very young yet and still undeveloped. It is unlikely that they will survive without their mother. Professor Snape, in particularly, showed an interest in laying claim to them if they do die."
"No!" Hadrian half-shouted, startling the elder Professor with the outburst. "I won't let Snape turn them into potions ingredients. Let me have the eggs. I'll raise them. Our isle off of the Isle of Skye is remote enough that we wouldn't have to worry about any mundanes seeing them."
"Raise a dragon?" Dumbledore chuckled in amusement, pleased that the lad had so much compassion and respect for other magical beings. "I sincerely doubt you are a licensed Dragon Breeder or a Dragon Handler. Dragons are not like cats and owls, Hadrian. They are far too powerful and wild to be tamed."
"I don't want to tame them." Hadrian stated quietly, but firmly, one hand running along his newly bald head. "That dragon was only trying to defend her young. I can't let them just die, after all of that. It would be wrong, disrespectful. Please Headmaster, let me hatch them?"
"If it means that much to you, my boy, then I suppose I had best begin the paperwork. I expect you to fully commit yourself to learning all that you can in the meantime." The ancient Professor said finally, staring down at the teen sternly. "You may find that despite all of your efforts, the eggs may not survive to hatchlings. Considering their young age, I would surprised if one of the three did so."
"Thank you, sir. I'll take good care of them." Hadrian vowed, giving a large smile to the old Headmaster as he laid himself back onto the bed. "Good night, Professor."
"Sleep well, Mister Eveschatten." Dumbledore smiled, bidding his promising student a good rest as he left to begin the paperwork for a Dragon Breeding Licence (DBL) and a list of books on the subject for the young wizard to study. He had little doubt that Hagrid would be more than willing to help, the Groundskeeper did have experience in hatching dragons after all.
Few moments after Dumbledore had left, Rose and Bella began to stir. Rubbing their eyes, they saw their brother sitting upright on his hospital bed, looking at nothing particular with a pensive expression on his handsome face.
"What's wrong, Arie?" Bella decided to ask first.
"Even for a magical incident, you don't think us surviving dragonfire, unscathed mind you, was natural or normal, do you?" Hadrian pondered out loud to his sisters.
Bella and Rose shared a look, which prompted Rose to slowly say after a few seconds, "No. I definitely think not. There is no such thing recorded in any of the texts that I've consumed."
"Not to mention, I felt that the dragon was judging us, like she was about to tell us some grand mystery of the mechanics of the universe." Bella added.
"Yeah, I don't think us surviving was a fluke. I mean, look at our eyes! They used to be emerald, but now they look like the ocular designs of someone on an acid trip! I certainly have not heard about any sort of unmediated magical occurrence that can permanently change someone's features."
"Anyway, I have another thing to tell you two." Hadrian stated with that roguish smirk the sisters so adored, one which a devilish prank usually followed.
Equal parts excited and nervous, the sisters spoke as one, "Well, don't keep us waiting, Arie!"
Letting the suspense build for a few moments longer than necessary, Hadrian said, oh so nonchalantly, "Have you ever wanted to become parents of dragons?"
End Author's Notes
Well, what do you readers think of my first chapter rewrite? Please leave your comments, suggestions, and critiques below in the review and comments section. And because this story is till in its infancy, feel free to offer ideas for plot progression.
Footnotes
[1a] This naming convention is a personal preference for me. I simply do not like the name Harry for someone who is supposed to be powerful and meant for great things; the name is a weak diminutive. On the other hand Hadrian is a name that just conveys strength and nobility, one that was used by a famous Roman Emperor no less. For the middle name, I want something that is tied to Lily, yet at the same time gender-neutral, such as 'Spencer'. Therefore, I chose 'Lilian', the the male variant of the French female name 'Lillian'. As for the last name, I do not know what JKR was thinking when coming up with 'Potter' as the name for a supposed great house of Magical Britain. So instead, I will be initially using Eveschatten (inspired by Eveningshade, à la Passageways, by jerrway69) as a means to convey the triplets' bond to their mother Lily, and later on Targaryen or both Eveschatten and Targaryen. Perhaps I can do better with the triplets' full names, so feel free to give your suggestions in the comments and review section.
I also modified/changed the names of Rose and Bella to Rosaline Mabel and Belladonna Alexandria respectively, for multiple reasons: (1) I want to keep the naming convention of the Eveschatten women's first names as names of flowers consistent. The types of flowers I chose for the sisters are not random either. Rosaline seems sweet, but her thorns can stab you without warning. Belladonna is beautiful and just as vicious. (2) For their middle names I chose ones that are vaguely aristocratic in origin. Mabel is in keeping with Rose's seemingly sweet demeanor; and Alexandria was obviously derived from Alexander the Great.
[1b] The allegories are pretty obvious. The snakes refer to Voldemort and his groupies. The bears refer to House Longbottom if Rose's nickname for Neville is anything to go by. And the white honey bee refers to Dumbledore. It is easy to understand why the first group are and will be the Eveschattens' enemies. For the Longbottoms, now that the Eveschattens are no longer forced to act as their allies by obligation, perhaps the two families' differing views will become more transparent and irreconcilable. As for Dumbledore, so far there is no shred of evidence even suggesting that he has ulterior motives unfriendly to the Eveschattens; however, once the Eveschattens become more vocal and assertive about their agendas, who knows how they will interact, especially considering Dumbledore's own murky past with Grindelwald?
[1c] This may seem like an inconsequential detail, however some instances of the familial terms the Eveschattens refer to each other with are capitalised due to the deep emotional meaning they hold to the speaker or the person the scene's perspective is written from. Thus, when Rose and Ivy refer to their brother in instances of importance, they say "Brother" or other variations; whereas in non-important situations, they simply say "brother".
[1d] My Hadrian's mentality has some overlap with his counterpart from For Love of Magic, by Noodlehammer, where Hadrian "would sneer at a slave for not casting off their own chains or die trying."
[1e] Yeah, there is no way in hell I am making the Eveschattens subservient to another house. I provide a short background for House Potter (now made up of only the Eveschattens), one that was illustrious before its fall. As such, even though the Eveschattens are on good terms with Neville, they will not continue to do so, if at all, from a position of weakness. This background provides another reason for Hadrian and his family to again bring about greatness to their names.
[1f] My apologies about the cliqued political divides presented here, yet I do not know how to come up with a more nuanced political landscape at this moment (I am writing this part in the early morning, as such my brain is not functioning at optimal levels, lol.).
[1g] As you can tell by the story's opening A/N, I am not a fan of Hadrian's retarded dumpling routine to jump in front of dragonfire, and thereby leading his sisters along with him as a result of their misplaced trust, to die an ignoble death. So while I know using Parseltongue to intelligently engage with the dragon in the TWT is not new to HP fanfiction, I am not going to have my future conquerors risk their own lives with no probable plan just to save Longbottom of all people.
[1h] As you can see, I completely changed the strategy and tactic of how the siblings dealt with the situation. Furthermore, after all Hadrian had seen of the dragon's suffering and plight, I sure as hell am not going to have her killed due to the tournament overseers' ill thought out plans for the TWT.
[1i] Since I clearly need to reflect the awakening of the triplets' Valyrian genes and blood, yet at the same time wishing to preserve a visual link to their mother, the solution I came up with (after some back-and-forth discussion with dingo-822 through PM) is a two-toned iris. The outer dispersed amethyst layer in Hadrian's irides represents his future, while the unchanged emerald inner layer serves as his close bond with Lillian. I have no real reason to make both of Rose's and Bella's irides inverted twins, except for subtly differentiating each of the siblings' eyes. Also, while these changes may seem purely cosmetic now, I guarantee that they will serve as important element later in the story.
[1j] Snape is an ass. He is not one to respect and abide by other people's self-chosen names if he can get away with it.
[1k] The modern nature of House Potter's alliance with House Longbottom is public knowledge by now, therefore the Dowager Longbottom has no reason to be guarded about that piece of information.