This chapter is dedicated to Atropa Haven; HAPPY BIRTHDAY! X3
It was starting to get a little bit embarrassing, this whole passing out twice in the span of a few hours, Harry though sluggishly, as he drifted towards awareness. He didn't even have the excuse of fighting in a war to make him feel like less of a weakling. Although the knowledge that the relocating of his wing was going to hurt hadn't quite prepared him for the sheer extent of it…
In fact, it wasn't exactly numb now.
With a groan, Harry suddenly found himself completely awake, thrust into consciousness by the deep ache pulsing along the spines of his wing. He stretched absently, wincing as the pain intensified, but enjoying the slow roll of muscle over his shoulder blades.
His shoulder blades. Where his wings were.
Wings. Harry blinked, and sat back abruptly, startling a disgruntled snore out of the huge black dragon sleeping curled around him. He cringed for a moment, worried he'd woken the shifting beast, then relaxed as Temeraire snuffled once and began to snore lightly again.
Harry was glad he could have this moment without the older dragon constantly watching over him. However nice Temeraire's concern was, Harry was fairly sure squalling with glee about the fact he had wings would come across as a little bit strange. Perhaps he could have explained it as relief over the fact that his injured wing felt solid, even carefully wrapped and bandaged tightly to hold it stiff. The pain was agonising and horrible, but also very strangely wonderful.
He could feel it. Could feel the muscles tense and attempt to flex under the bindings, reluctant under the pangs of discomfort but answering to him all the same.
The wave of utter relief brought tears to his eyes. There'd been a part of him that had been completely sure the wing would remain useless, he realised, as he choked back a sob.
A black wing suddenly swept over him, curling round to cradle him gently against the warm expanse of Temeraire's body. Harry blinked through the haze in his eyes, and looked up to find Temeraire's eyes watching him tenderly. The wing nudged him softly, and Harry allowed himself to fall against the warm black scales, the steady rise and fall against him strangely comforting. Temeraire laid his head to the ground, still watching the younger dragon, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"A short time ago," Temeraire murmured, grinning slightly as Harry's head snapped towards him, startled out of his own quiet reverie. "My captain and I were on a voyage, travelling to China. On the way I fell ill, and Keynes ordered Laurence to keep me grounded for the duration," he sighed, a pensive look on his face as he thought through the memory. "It was only for a short time and I still had the use of wings throughout, but I remember feeling like nothing would ever be right with the world again. The fear of never flying again was almost suffocating, a constant pressure in my heart. Only Laurence could calm the terror," he looked at Harry. "I suppose that is some of what a captain is, someone who holds you together when everything else feels like it is falling apart."
The expression in Temeraire's eyes was almost painful for Harry to look at. That feeling of love and devotion, absolute loyalty that spoke of hard battles fought and won in each other's presence; it felt like looking at his friends from his own world, like watching them on tired nights where the prospect of war was hanging over them all, and they still found time to hold each other and feel joy. Harry remembered smiling, remembered hoping for a long time that they would all come out the other side where he could watch them without the tell-tale scent of blood and smoke in the air. It should have felt strange, seeing his best friend's love reflected in the eyes of a dragon, but instead there was a deep sense of longing unfurling inside him, an almost instinctive desire to seek it out for himself. He snuffled softly at the older dragon and Temeraire withdrew from his musings to smile back at him, curling his wing more tightly around Harry.
A low cough startled them both and Harry peeked curiously under the gentle folds of the wing to see Laurence standing nearby, a tender expression on his face as looked at Temeraire. The black dragon huffed back embarrassedly, then pulled his wing away to let Harry uncurl and stretch as Laurence turned to him.
"How are you feeling today, young one?" Laurence called, striding over with an anxious look at the bound wing.
Harry grumbled, then flexed himself carefully, feeling the dull ache spread from his injured joint. "Sore," he summarised briefly, sighing as he settled back against the warm flesh beside him. "Though it doesn't hurt as much as I expected."
Laurence nodded, a pleased expression on his face, "I am glad to hear it, if you feel up to it there are a few people who would like to meet you."
Harry blinked, only just noticing the group of people standing nearby, but at a distance that allowed them some privacy. At their forefront was a woman with a long scar across her face, bearing herself proudly and with the subtle confidence authority lent to a person. She smiled at him when she caught him looking, then strode over, brusque efficiency in every line of her body.
"Hallo there!" She called, a cheerful lilt to her voice, "Pleasure to meet you young one!"
Harry found himself swept along by her exuberance, a grin curling his lips around his teeth before he even realised. "Hello," he answered, pulling himself up to stand before her.
"Oh don't bother yourself with moving little one," she waved one hand, pulling up the legs of her trousers as she sat down on the ground in front of him.
Laurence chuckled fondly and winked at harry conspiratorially. "Let me introduce you, youngling, to Admiral Roland."
Harry blinked at the grinning woman, finding himself a little flummoxed by the revelation of her rank. He hadn't exactly known all that much about the military back in his world, but even he recognised the position as important. She bore her authority well, he could tell, even sitting cross-legged on the dirt.
"Yes, well," she said, flashing an exasperated look at Laurence, "Now that the civilities are past us, I think it best we move on to far more important topics. Such as that of your wing, for instance, I trust it is not too painful?"
"No, ma'am," Harry answered respectfully, ducking his head to his chest shyly.
Roland snorted, "Let's have none of that 'ma'am' nonsense shall we?" her grin widened at the startled expression on Harry's face. "Roland will be quite adequate between us. Now," she clapped her hands together, an expression of delight on her face. "I have to ask young one, how does the idea of having a captain of your own strike you?"
Her straight-forwardness threw him off balance, even as a hot brand of desire lanced through him. The same strange mix of jealousy and want that he'd felt about Temeraire and Laurence's relationship earlier curdled inside him and he found himself answering before he'd even considered it. "It sounds wonderful! Could I have that?"
The rumble in Temeraire's chest beside him matched the laughter from both Roland and Laurence, and Harry felt himself flush with embarrassment. A small part of him wondered if dragon's skin showed a blush in the same obvious way his pale human skin had, before Roland started talking again.
"I imagine you should be able to, though perhaps I should explain the process and difficulties to you before we rush into anything," she placed her palms on her knees, thoughtfully biting her lip. "This is not exactly a common occurrence after all, most dragons your age would already be bonded with their captain already, and would have spent some time in harness and training alongside. Any who had not taken a harness would likely have been transferred to the hatching grounds long ago, but I do not think we have to worry about you growing feral and we need all the dragons we can get. Let us move on with the show then, is there anything you would like to know?"
Harry considered for a moment, not quite sure where to start. He hadn't really had much of a chance to think about the whole situation up until now and faced with events suddenly moving forwards he found himself a little blindsided.
"Perhaps we should tell him about harnessing?" Temeraire offered, smiling at Harry when he shot him a grateful glance.
"Ah yes!" Roland clapped her hands together, nodding her head, "Start with the meat of the matter; good idea! Harnessing is where the prospective captain puts his dragon's very first harness on, usually followed by the captain feeding his dragon until the dragonet is satisfied. The captain will also give his dragon his or her name at this time, creating an unbreakable bond between the two. Normally this would all happen straight out of the shell, but I am sure we can figure out some way to work it for your situation. May I ask, you do not remember being harnessed before?" She glanced at him closely, a penetrating look in her eyes.
If it wasn't for the sudden flash of terror, Harry might have let his instincts reply in the negative straight away. The part of him that was entirely made up of draconic elements roared for him to just accept it, to become a complete being, dragon and companion entwined for the rest of their lives.
But the part of him that was still Harry was horrified by the idea of the harnessing. A little voice in the back of his mind whispered that being bound to someone would remove his own freedom, leaving him stuck following someone else's orders. The harness almost sounded like being collared to him, becoming a slave to the person who would be his captain.
And Harry had already fought in a war for so long. Could he bear to be a part of another one?
But really, maybe he was overthinking this. He was stuck here for the time being, until he figured out what was going on. Everything was moving so quickly. He needed to get some space to breathe and think things through. It wasn't like he actually had to hold to the whole concept of the harnessing, even if the dragon in him was outraged by the idea of lying to his future captain.
Perhaps he could fake the whole thing until he could work out what was going on.
Roland's eyes were beginning to narrow at the time he was taking to answer. Harry was good at adapting to new situations, but the constant need to make a split-second decision in this world was starting to wear him out.
"I don't remember being harnessed," Harry told them, nodding quietly to himself. "I can't remember much of anything before falling."
A snort startled them all. "I am not surprised to hear that," Keynes strode over, inserting himself into the group without any preamble. "I took the chance to examine you last night after you passed out. You look like you've tussled with Napoleon's armies and somehow come out the better."
Roland frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Keynes continued, brows furrowed in thought, "That our young dragonlet has more scrapes and bumps than many of our own dragons after a full skirmish. In particular I am worried about a large gash over the crown of his head. It seems to have healed somewhat but it shows signs of having been re-opened more than once." A flash of anger darkened the doctor's eyes. "The youngling has only seen a few weeks of life at most, but I would say that he has spent almost the entirety of that time being attacked viciously."
A low keening sound reached Harry, and he turned upwards to see Temeraire's ruff standing on end, an unhappy expression on his long face. Harry could feel the muscles behind him bunching and flexing, and he realised Temeraire was just barely holding himself back from wrapping Harry in the cocoon of his wings and shielding him away from the world. A warmth built in Harry's chest as he nudged his head against the dragon's chest, suddenly deciding he had made the right decision to pretend to be completely one of them.
"Does it look like he was abused?" Roland asked quietly, watchful eyes on Harry as he forced himself not to freeze at her question. The majority of his injuries were most likely from the war with Voldemort, he knew, but he had no idea how his body had translated the years spent at the Dursleys. Obviously his dragon form had structured itself as far younger than Harry actually was, but what that actually meant in terms of what he'd experienced through those years hadn't really occurred to him. The wound that Keynes had talked about, the one on his head, sounded like it might be this form's version of the curse scar, though he couldn't be sure until he'd seen it.
Keynes hummed thoughtfully. "The sheer amount would be indicative of potential abuse. But the majority of his injuries are of the sort we would see after two dragons fought each other, so I am inclined to believe that he belonged to a family of dragons and was ousted from the pack for some reason. Oh!" He straightened up, a grin brightening up his face. "I do have some news that will please you though." His grin curled into an almost smug smirk as he turned to Roland. "He's got all the makings of a firebreather in him."
Roland whooped delightedly, at the same time as both Laurence and Temeraire whipped round to look at Harry with something like respect and excitement in their eyes. Instantly he knew this was something important, even though as far as he was aware the majority of dragon breeds could breathe fire. Whenever they'd studied them for care of magical creatures the number of dragons that could breathe fire had greatly outweighed the number of dragons that couldn't, or that had some other kind of magical ability. Dragons were made of magic, needing the connections with the power nodes of the earth that they built up from the moment of their birth.
It was the first time that he really considered that he might be somewhere completely different from his own world. He'd thought he must have been in the past. It wasn't like he'd paid all that much attention in History of Magic, so he'd just assumed that it must have been something he'd missed at some point.
The low curl of fear in his stomach told him that he'd been hoping he was just in the past. Hermione had studied timetravel for a while, during the war, in case it could help them defeat Voldemort, and although he hadn't listened to a lot of it he at least remembered that she'd said it was usually reversible.
But inconsistencies were starting to show up. Things that just didn't make sense when compared with how the future had turned out. At first he'd just assumed he'd missed where they'd talked about dragons being used in some form of army, but he was beginning to suspect he'd never heard of it because it had never happened.
Which meant he was in a whole different world.
He was pretty sure that was meant to be impossible.
There'd been some discussion between the others while he'd been coming to that rather horrifying revelation, but for the life of him Harry couldn't think what they'd been talking about. A part of him wanted to start panicking, but the warrior in him held it together. One thing the war had taught him was that falling apart was a quick way to get yourself killed.
It was a struggle, but he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Just look at it like going into battle, he told himself, allowing the empty calm to sweep over his mind as he felt his limbs relax. Worrying about it didn't help anything; he needed to allow himself to be free to adapt to whatever happened. He could freak out over it all when he was on his own.
Blinking his eyes open he looked up to find Roland and Keynes still talking, reassuring him that they hadn't noticed his preoccupation. A glance to the side found Laurence watching him thoughtfully though, and Harry knew his moment hadn't gone completely unnoticed.
"Well," Roland's voice distracted Laurence, and Harry just managed to hold in his sigh of relief as the man turned away. "We've gotten a little way off topic, but I am even more determined to find you a suitable captain and start you on training after this. Youngling," here she focused directly on Harry, staring at him with conviction in her eyes. "I will not force you to take a captain against your will, but I need you to know how grateful and pleased we would be to have you join us. We are desperate for firebreathers; Britain being so devoid of local species with the ability. It would mean so much for us to have you with us. You would be of such benefit to the war effort! But you must make the decision of your own volition. I don't think Temeraire would allow it to happen any other way even if I wanted to," she glanced up at the furiously nodding dragon, amusement dimpling her unscarred cheek.
"No, I should dare say not," Temeraire replied, eyeing the woman with consternation, "though I would be more than slightly startled to find you pushing a decision upon him." He looked down at Harry, "I would encourage you to at least consider taking a captain though. I have never known anything that quite compares to it," Temeraire looked to Laurence, a soft smile in his eyes that was reflected in the curve of Laurence's lips.
Harry had already made the decision to fit in as best as possible, and he was fully aware that this captain concept was a rather large part of fitting in. But the warm joy that spread through him at the idea still surprised him.
He wondered if the dragons in his world felt this need to bond in the same way.
"Would I get to choose who my captain is?" He asked, looking up at Roland's calm watchfulness.
"Of course!" Temeraire was the one who answered, blinking in apparent surprise that Harry would even ask the question. "I chose Laurence," his shoulders rolled in a shrugging motion, wingtips fluttering with the motion.
"It will have to be from the people on this base," Roland added, shooting a bemused glance at Temeraire. "We will need to keep the knowledge of you as secret as possible while we train you. I doubt we will manage it for long, but if we can keep this quiet until we've got you situated then perhaps we can keep Napoleon from reaching out and taking you from us."
"It would be rather hard to conceal a dragon breathing fire for very long," Keynes nodded, folding his arms. "It would bolster the people to know we have a second firebreather in the ranks, so news of him will spread like wildfire once it leaves the Covert walls."
Harry frowned. "A second firebreather? There's another one then?"
Temeraire shifted and grumbled, "I much prefer you to Iskierka though." He turned to Laurence with an almost plaintive expression on his face. "Do we have to introduce them? What if she scares him off?"
Harry heard Roland stifle a laugh as Laurence frowned up at Temeraire. "He will be fine, Iskierka might take him as a friend, seeing as they are the only two firebreathers in Britain."
Roland snorted, "Bollocks to that Laurence, she will probably be pouting for weeks!" The shocked expression on Laurence's face made Harry laugh as Roland rolled her eyes at him. "He might as well know the truth of it, they will have to train together after all."
Harry giggled as Laurence's face, and Temeraire's frantic nodding motion above him. "I'm sure I can handle this 'Iskierka'" he told them, lips stretched over his teeth in a draconic grin.
"I'm glad to hear it," Roland grinned back at him, slapping her hands on her knees as she began to stand up. "Well young one, I leave it up to you. We will give you some time to think about it, just tell Temeraire when you are ready to tell us what you want."
"I've already decided," Harry interrupted her before she could continue. A startled expression crossed her face, then she nodded solemnly at him, waiting silently for his answer. "I would like to take a captain," he couldn't quite bring himself to say that he would be harnessed, but he decided he would cross that hurdle when it came to it.
A slow smile crept over Roland's face, and Harry suspected that she had been trying to hold it back. Temeraire wasn't quite so polite, and roared with joy as he bounced to his feet, flapping his wings delightedly. "You get to stay with us!" He bellowed, as he nuzzled against the younger dragon and curled himself around Harry, even as one wing spread over to shade Laurence delicately.
Harry felt warmth spread through his chest as the humans laughed at Temeraire's childish glee. Perhaps, if nothing else, if he ended up stuck here, if he had to fight in another war and risk himself all over again, perhaps he might just have found himself a family to help him through it all.
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AN: Okay, this chapter is mostly talky and feely and setting up kinda stuff, so I apologise for those who were hoping for any more action! The good thing is, I'm planning on either the next chapter or the one after including Harry's choice of captain, who IS going to be a character we know from the Temeraire books. Actually, I'm a little worried people might be less than pleased with my choice of captain, but we'll see!
It's been pointed out that some people have had trouble with not realising the human characters are human and not dragons, so I'm gonna go check that out and see if there's a place I can make it a little more obvious. Since I've read the books I hadn't really considered it… I forgot that not everyone will have read them!
AN IMPORTANT POINT.
I've had people ask me not to make this story slash. THERE IS VERY DEFINITELY A POSSIBILITY SLASH WILL HAPPEN. Sorry to those people who don't like it, but I DO. I've actually got a fairly controversial partnership in mind. If you want your own pairing in a story, my best advice is to write it yourself. IF I DO DECIDE TO MAKE IT SLASH/DRAGON PAIRING/HET/TENTACLE MONSTER FROM THE DEEP I WILL POST UP WARNINGS. And I don't write sex of any kind, sorry! I get all embarrassed and flustered and start blushing… For such a sexually open person normally I have the most bizarre aversion to actually writing it… XD
On a pairings note, just to make sure no one is disappointed; TEMERAIRE/HARRY WILL NOT HAPPEN. Sorry, I just love writing Temeraire as an extremely protective brother too much… XD Laurence/Roland is definitely in this story, I adore them together! /
Feel free to follow me on tumblr (gapingwide) for updates on where I'm at, random drabbles from elsewhere/original fiction and ALL THE FANGIRLING!
Thank you to all you wonderful people! Hope you'll stick around for some more!