Chapter Four: Let Sleeping Dragons Lie

***Harry***

Clouds gathered to huddle above the towers of Hogwarts, hiding the moon and the stars from view. As though crying, rain drops fell from the clouds, splashing the soil and buildings below. Lounging on the sofas around the Gryffindor Common Room's fireplace, the Golden Trio were conversing about the latest event they had witnessed earlier that day.

"Blue, green, white…dragons…" Hermione murmured, deep in thought. Speaking up, she told them, "I can't remember where but I feel like I had read something about them before…"

"Dragons? What has dragons got to do with all that we just saw?" Ron asked, confused.

"You weren't paying attention, were you Ron? Not real dragons, they were titles or nicknames. Three of the men the Boggart transformed into, were called Blue Dragon, Green Dragon and White Dragon by Zeno. Didn't you hear him?"

"Oh…"

They fell silent, Hermione trying to remember where she heard or read something like it and Harry thinking about the yellow-haired stranger named Zeno. Harry shattered the silence first.

"I'm going to see if he's got the Mark, who's coming with me?"

"Harry, no! Didn't you see how upset he was? You can't go and do something so insensitive like that after someone has just confronted their worst fear!"

"Fine, if you won't go with me, Ron will. Ready?"

"Oh…uh…yeah, mate,"

The two boys left the Gryffindor common room under the cover of Harry's Invisibility Cloak. With careful footing, they silently sneaked to the staircase.

"So how are we going to find him?" Ron whispered. One of Harry's hands fished out a piece of parchment from his robes so that he could tap it with his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and with Harry's oath the Marauder's Map sprung to life as footprints, rooms and corridors filled the once plain parchment. Every time Harry had used the map this year, he had only searched for one person: Draco Malfoy. Now his eyes skimmed the names for someone new: Zeno. "Help me look for him, Ron," Under the wandlight, Ron's eyes focused on their target's name.

"There! Here he is, but his name…look," Ron pointed his finger at where the words hovered by a pair of footprints in one of the guest rooms.

Ouryuu Zeno

"You're right. What do you think Ouryuu is supposed to be? Is it his first name or something?" Harry said voicing his thoughts. Well the word was in front of Zeno, so perhaps it was.

"Dunno, but we should ask Hermione about it when we get back," Ron suggested, Harry nodded in agreement. Their journey there went smoothly and soon enough the two Gryffindor 6th years were standing before a portrait of an old village market place. "Just our luck, we don't know the password!"

"Well let's try and guess it. Hmmm…how about food?" Harry tried, as every other time he saw Zeno he was always eating.

"Who's there? That's the wrong password whoever it is," one of the painted shop keepers, the one closest, called out to what they thought was thin air.

"Apples?" Ron guessed.

"Kebabs?" Harry questioned.

"Toast?"

"Roast?"

"Lunch?"

"Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong! If you keep trying to guess it, I'll send a message to the Headmaster that someone is trying to break in!" The irritated shopkeeper warned. "I'll give you three more tries,"

"Well if it's not food-" Harry began, voice quiet.

"-it's probably something he chose himself, something personal…" Ron finished.

"Maybe it's the name of someone he knows? You know, the ones from the Boggart," Harry theorized. "How about Blue Dragon?"

"Wrong, guess again,"

"Green Dragon?"

"Guess what, that's wrong too. Last chance," The shopkeeper said, his last two words oozing with finality. Harry looked nervously at Ron before hazarding their final guess.

"White Dragon?"

"Wrong again, sorry but I'll have to ask you to leave," In the painting, the shopkeeper turned his back to them.

"W-wait! It's urgent! We need to talk to Zeno now! It can't wait until tomorrow!" Harry begged desperate for the shopkeeper to change his mind.

"Mr. Zeno told us he didn't want to see anybody tonight, even if they told us the correct password. You should leave now," The painted shopkeeper snapped.

"Even if that's true, if it's an emergency he can't say refuse us, right?"

"What is so urgent that you need to see him?" The painted man looked over his shoulder, eyebrow twitching.

"Dumbledore sent us to deliver a message to him! It's important!" As proof, Harry wiped the Marauder's Map with an almost silent "Mischief Managed," and flashed the rolled up parchment before the painting. "We're not allowed to read it, and he told us that we mustn't let anyone else touch it. It has to be delivered in person," Harry lied.

"V-very well, you may enter," Stuttered the shopkeeper, finally giving in as the painting swung aside to reveal a hidden opening.

Upon entering, Harry and Ron quickly surveyed the dark room as they hid beneath the Invisibility Cloak. It was a rather simple room, a desk with a chair sat next to a bookshelf in one corner, a door leading to what must be the bathroom on one side of the room and finally illuminated under the moonlight that poured from the nearby window was a four-poster bed. There slept their suspected Death Eater.

Mindful not to trip on the edge of the Cloak, Harry and Ron tip-toed closer to where their target was sleeping. Up close, they were able to see the dried traces of tears along the yellow-haired boy's cheeks and signs of fresh tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. A guilty feeling crept up inside them about their actions as Harry and Ron made sure that Zeno was asleep.

"Zeno! Psst! Are you awake?" If he turned out to be awake they could easily wait invisible in a corner somewhere until he went back to sleep. However, that never came to pass as Zeno just rolled over onto his right side rather than continue sleeping on his back or worse, waking up. This action caused the crest he wore to glint in the silvery light.

Harry's hand reached out to touch it.

"Is the food ready yet, Kid?" Zeno mumbled in his sleep. Harry and Ron froze, hearts thudding loudly in their ribcages. When Zeno didn't stir, they let out a relieved sigh. Harry's hand changed course to Zeno's sleeve and slowly shifted it to reveal the smooth skin below.

There was no brand to defile the skin of Zeno's inner left forearm.

He wasn't a Death Eater.

Guilt swallowed Harry whole, the moment it dawned on him. He had been accusing this innocent boy the entire time, he was just a target of Voldemort like Harry, someone who gained the Dark Wizard's interest.

Ron examined the bare forearm too and confirmed that it wasn't just Harry's imagination that there wasn't any sign of a Dark Mark, active or not, upon Zeno's skin.

Ashamed, Harry and Ron left Zeno to sleep in peace.

The next morning Harry showed Hermione what they had found on the Marauder's Map, after guiltily confessing that Zeno was certainly no Death Eater and no they didn't wake him.

"It looks like Japanese, let's see…" Hermione muttered thoughtfully as she copied the word 'Ouryuu' onto a piece of spare parchment and tapped it with her wand. Instantly, the letters rippled and morphed into English. Harry, Ron and Hermione all leaned in to see the result of the translation.

Yellow Dragon

The words stared innocently back at them.

"Yellow Dragon, Zeno..." Hermione read aloud, "First, Blue Dragon, Green Dragon and White Dragon now a Yellow Dragon…" she trailed off thinking hard. "Oh! I remember now! It was from a book that I borrowed a few weeks ago when Professor Binns had mentioned a Founding Legend but didn't go into any details about. He says he only teaches "Fact" and you know how he didn't think the Chamber of Secrets was actually real. I'll go to the Library and get it,"

"Wait! Hermione! We'll go with you," Ron called as he and Harry rushed to join Hermione as she exited the Gryffindor Common room.

***Zeno***

Zeno groggily rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes, he noted the dried trails of tears on his cheeks. Sighing, he entered the en-suite bathroom and splashed some water on his face, looking in the mirror he saw the same unchanging face look back at him. He remembered Professor McGonagall's words on the Boggart and how they transform into your worst fear. Despite discovering that it was fake, Zeno couldn't help but cry himself to sleep last night due to the harsh reminder that he had once again out-lived his precious friends.

Knowing that dwelling on the past wouldn't help him, Zeno decided to cheer up and enjoy his day. So after eating breakfast in the Great Hall, Zeno left to visit Hogwart's Library as it was one of the areas of the castle that he had yet to explore.

Upon entering the Hogwart's Library, the scent of dusty tomes and parchment wafted into his nose. "Wowwwwwwww! The Kid would have really loved this place!" Zeno commented, as he surveyed the book-filled shelves with awe. He headed down the aisle that was labelled "Magical Creatures" and skimmed through the many titles the books presented to him until one in particular caught his eye.

All You Need to Know About: Dragons

Curious, Zeno tugged the thick tome free from where it was being held captive between two other books and flipped it open to the contents page.

Hungarian Horntail

Norwegian Ridgeback

Antipodean Opaleye

Chinese Fireball

Common Welsh Green

Swedish Short-Snout

Peruvian Vipertooth

Romanian Longhorn

Hebridean Black

Ukrainian Ironbelly

Were there dragons who lived here on Earth rather than in the Heavens? Turning the page to the Hungarian Horntail, Zeno discovered that the author talked about the dragons as though there were a whole group of them. After all his time travelling, the only dragon Zeno had ever saw was the Yellow Dragon who gave him its blood.

Before Zeno was able to read any further, he heard voices from the aisle beside his.

"Aha! Here it is! This is the book I told you about," the female voice stated. "The History of Kouka Kingdom. It's very interesting, the Founding Legend is about how a red dragon god, Hiryuu, took on a human form and descended from the heavens to rule as Kouka Kingdom's first king, but here look at this part…" The title mentioned instantly grabbed Zeno's attention. He didn't know there were books on the land which he had once called home. Peeking through a gap between two books, Zeno saw three 6th Year Gryffindors poring over a tattered tome. The only female of the trio read the passage out loud:

"The dragons still loved Hiryuu as well and didn't want to lose him. So in order to protect Hiryuu, the Blue, Green, Yellow and White dragons gave their blood to human warriors and gave them their powers. One was given sharp claws that could tear anything apart. One was given eyes that could see far off into the distance. One was given a strong body that could never be injured. The last one was given legs that could jump high into the skies."

There was a pause as the three Gryffindors digested the information.

Ron broke the silence first, "You mean…that Zeno is one of those warriors who were given the dragon's blood? Isn't it just a legend? Do they really exist?"

"Well, Ron, this legend is thousands of years old. No-ones knows if it is real anymore, besides how can Zeno be one of the Dragon Warriors? He's only seventeen and no one has lived over a thousand years, it's impossible," Hermione explained.

"Then how do you explain the Marauder's Map then? It said that he's the Yellow Dragon and you know the Map never lies. You said it yourself that he called those people that the Boggart turned into, the Blue, Green and White Dragon. It can't be a coincidence," Harry justified.

They didn't know it but they had hit the nail right on the head. Zeno didn't mind them finding out since nothing would change whether they know or not. Gently, Zeno placed the book back on its spot on the shelf and quietly left the room. Perhaps he should go on a walk outside by the Forbidden Forest.

After all, the sun is still shining.

Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading Chapter 4! I hope you have enjoyed it! Also a special thank you to 1 One Piece Fan and BlueAutumn12 who have been reviewing every single chapter since day one. Thank you both for staying with this story! :)

~PurpleFlyingBird