The Queen who fell to Earth

by Bobmin356

Forced to compete and abandoned by his friends, he steps from the tent with only one goal in mind, suicide. Instead Harry awakens a power that spans time and space and starts a war between the worlds.

6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimer:

"You did it again didn't you?" spat Alyx angrily.

Bob looked up at her in consternation. "Did what?" he prevaricated.

"You forgot to write the disclaimer! You know how much trouble we're going to have over this?" Alyx exclaimed.

Bob ducked and hid behind his desk. For some reason she was gesticulating wildly while holding a pair of chain saws in her hands. One of the chain saws hit his computer, sawing it in half.

Bob grimaced. "I hope you're happy now. What I did have of the disclaimer, including the nude skydiving scene with Alan Rickman, just got sawn in half!" He wasn't about to tell her about the parachute malfunction nor the mid air collision with a jumbo jet.

Alyx looked longingly at the destroyed computer and whimpered.

"I'll have to resort to plan B I guess," Bob declared.

"What's plan B?"

Bob grinned evilly. "You're going to say the disclaimer while tap dancing across the stage."

"But I don't know how to tap dance!" protested Alyx.

"I have that covered. Instant Tap dancing lessons through the use of a high powered TASER!" Bob declared.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a four foot long Taser rifle that was plugged into a 440 volt industrial circuit.

"220,000 volts from this baby," he whispered lovingly.

"You can't shoot me with that!"

Alyx jolted as the TASER darts sunk into her thigh and her feet beat a staccato against the floor. "You bastard!" she said, panting. A wisp of smoke came from her thigh. "You got me in my 'I love Sean Connery Tatto!'"

"Now tell the nice people we don't own Harry Potter or the Dragon Riders of Pern or your NASCAR tat goes next," Bob said. His hand moved to the "ZAP" button.

Bob glanced towards the audience, and while he was looking away Alyx worked frantically to remove the barbed darts.

"On with the chapter folks, Alyx and I need to discuss this more. Happy Reading!"

---

The most unusual reserve is found in Tibet. There the wizards in control refuse to cull their herds, preferring instead to allow the beasts to live their lives naturally. It amazes this author's mind that they can have access to such valuable resources so close at hand and yet the dragon handlers of Tibet eek out a living scratching in the dirt.

Excerpt from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them by Newt Scamander. Published 1927.

Campbeltown Weyr, Scottish West Coast, January 18th...

Harry sat at his desk, having spent the morning studying and working with Chekiath on their flight exercises. He now found himself up to his eyeballs in plans for the training of potential riders.

"You look tired."

He looked up and spotted Dan Granger standing in his doorway.

"Oh, hi, Mister Granger," he said a bit uneasily. He had done his best to avoid the man since his first night at the Weyr.

"May I come in? I'd like to talk to you."

Harry nodded and motioned to a seat in front of his desk.

Dan sat and looked a bit uncomfortable. "Harry, my father once said the bravest thing a man could do was admit he was wrong. I didn't understand what he meant at the time, but now I think I do. When we arrived I said some harsh words that were untrue and undeserved. Your reaction to my comments was better than mine would have been at your age. You chose to ignore my comments and decided to concentrate on more important matters."

Dan leaned back on his chair and shook his head. "I have had my wife and my daughter yell at me before for things I've done. But this was different. I hurt you and Hermione at the same time. I'm sorry for my comments. They were uncalled for."

Harry shrugged. "You were upset and worried about Hermione."

"I was," Dan agreed, "But there was no excuse for blaming you for troubles you didn't cause."

Harry thought about it for a moment. He didn't want to drag this out. "Very well. I don't think you need to apologize, but since you did, I'll accept it."

Dan smiled in relief. "So what are you working on?"

He pointed at the pile of paper on his desk. "Hermione took all my notes on dragon care, so I figured I'd work a bit more on a plan for the potential riders. I figured they could learn more about dragons while they wait for the hatching. Once Hermione is finished with my notes, I'll go back to them."

"Harry, I know I'm not your father, but if you need someone to talk to," Dan said hesitantly.

Harry looked up and peered at him for a moment, then he sighed heavily. "I take it Hermione told you about my home life?"

"Only small pieces," Dan admitted. "It wasn't until this year and going back and rereading some of her letters that we realized that things weren't very good for you. Hermione didn't realize it, but then she wouldn't. She hasn't been trained like Emma and I to spot problems with teens and children."

Harry tensed and looked unhappy. "I guess it doesn't matter much anymore, sir. I don't talk about it, especially in front of Sirius or Remus because they'd pop down to Surrey and kill my Aunt and Uncle. I just want to put it behind me and forget it ever happened."

"You can do that if you like," Dan replied softly. "But no one can make you forget the past. Well, not without magic. My point is that it will always be there, sitting on your shoulder. You can lessen the impact it has on you by talking to someone, but you can never make it go completely away.

"I know, to you, I'm a stranger, though I hope that will change. But if you'll accept one piece of advice Harry, find someone you're comfortable with and just talk to them. You don't need advice on how to deal with them, as they're out of your life now. But their impact on who you are now and what you'll be in the future remains. Find an adult you can trust and talk with them."

He nodded uneasily. Mister Granger was probably right, even if the topic wasn't easy for him.

Dan stood. "Well, I've said my piece. Thank you for your time."

Harry looked up at the man. "Thank you, sir," he replied, still considering the older man's words.

Dan smiled and walked from the room.

Headmaster's office, Hogwarts, January 20th...

The door to the Headmaster's office opened and Minerva escorted Garrick Ollivander into his office.

"Garrick, it is good to see you again," Albus said, then he motioned for his long time friend to have a seat.

"It's good to see you as well, Albus, but I can't help but wonder what mischief you've been getting up to here."

Albus arched an eyebrow. "Mischief? Me?"

Garrick smiled thinly and accepted the cup of tea that Minerva offered him. "I hear rumors, Albus. The alley is rife with whispers that you are advocating the use of Wizard Heartstrings in wands."

Albus sighed. "I am appalled to hear that, old friend. I was merely using the idea as an example, not as a bona fide promotion of the idea. And strangely enough, this ties into the reason why I asked you to visit today."

Garrick sipped his tea. "Oh?" he said carefully.

"No doubt you've heard what happened to Harry Potter during the first task. But did you also hear the tale that dragons are intelligent?" asked Albus.

Ollivander stared at the man for a moment. "Albus, surely you can't be serious."

"It's true, Garrick, and it also explains part of the reason why the dragon reserves are in such a state. They can communicate between themselves and between others. I've seen it myself," declared Minerva.

"So that's why you used the Wizard's heartstring idea, comparing wizards to dragons. No wonder Madam Bones was incensed. She's normally a level headed person, but your suggestion would imply we've been murdering a race for centuries."

"And we have," Minerva said firmly.

Ollivander started and turned to stare at Minerva.

"Garrick, I called you here because I have learned something that might help with your particular aspect of the dragon crisis," Albus interjected before Minerva and Ollivander could start arguing.

Ollivander turned back to Albus, who held his attention by producing a crudely made wand. "I'll grant you my workmanship is quite poor, but if you would try casting something with this?"

Ollivander reluctantly accepted the wand and held it out. "Avis," he murmured. A number of small birds shot from the tip of the wand and he raised an eyebrow. "This feels like a heartstring, but it's not the same."

"No, it isn't," Albus replied. "What would you say if we could show you a source of wand cores that replaced heartstrings, but didn't kill the dragon?"

Ollivander frowned and banished the birds using the same wand. "I'd want to know more."

Dumbledore opened a drawer and withdrew two scales, one of which had a small piece sliced from the center. "Dragons drop scales as they grow. It's a natural process and they continue to drop scales until they hit full growth at around a year and a half. During that first year, a dragon is constantly shedding scales and replacing them."

Albus lifted up the intact scale that Hagrid had gotten for him. "Lumos," he murmured. The six inch wide flat disk began to glow brightly and Ollivander leaned forward with wide eyes.

"Remarkable," he murmured, then he leaned back in his chair and scowled. "I see where you're heading with this, Albus, but it still won't work. There are over 200 potion ingredients derived from dragon products. You wrote the definitive work on the 12 uses of dragon blood that's still in use today! Even if I replace heartstrings with scales it won't solve the problem."

Albus smiled. "No, it won't, old friend, but solving the problem means tackling it. That's what I'm hoping to do here, one problem at a time. To my undying shame, I know what damage I created in working on dragon blood. I'll return to the analogy I gave Amelia, though she misinterpreted it badly. I might as well had done that research on French Blood. That's how I now feel about it."

Ollivander nodded unhappily. He could see his friend's point. He looked at the scales in his hand and the poorly crafted wand that was clearly functional. He sighed and realized that, like Albus, it was time to take a stand.

"If you don't mind, I'll play with these items and see if I can improve on them," he eyed the wand distastefully and Minerva chuckled loudly. "I suppose at some point I'll need to talk to Mr Potter."

He glanced up and smiled at their surprised looks. "Oh, come now. We all know who's representing the dragons. I'll admit that I was unsure, but the reports I'd heard about the reserves didn't sound like normal dragon behavior. If they are like you claim, then they obviously have a champion. Who better than your missing champion?"

Albus shook his head mirthfully. "You always were an observant one, Garrick."

Ollivander's expression sobered. "Yes, well, about that. Since we're all sharing secrets, there is a rumor going around the alley and I've managed to confirm at least one part of it."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What whispers have you heard?"

Ollivander pulled his own wand and cast a privacy charm around them, then he holstered his wand. "I have been informed by several Aurors that they are training to take down a very powerful and very dangerous wizard. At first I didn't pay it much attention, but then I saw Dimitri Yanakov in the alley. He actually had the temerity to stop by my shop for a social visit!"

Dumbledore frowned. In Ollivander's youth he had nearly killed Yanakov. The man was undoubtedly one of the finest and most powerful enchanters in Europe, he was also a certified pedophile who avoided jail by living in a country where his particular fetish wasn't illegal. Dumbledore and Ollivander had been sent to see him by the ICW before their assault on Grindelwald. The ICW had commissioned Yanakov to make high powered magic suppressing manacles that would be used if they could capture Grindelwald.

Ollivander had located the man in a run down hotel and was outraged to see the thirteen year old muggle girl pleading for someone to help her. It was the only time Albus could recall Garrick pulling a wand in anger.

"Yanakov had been drinking and no doubt when he left my shop he headed to Knockturn Alley for some entertainment," Ollivander spat. "But while he was in my shop, he bragged that our vaunted Ministry had commissioned him to make a new set of manacles."

Ollivander shook his head in dismay. "Albus, I've thought long and hard about who the Ministry could possibly need those disgusting manacles for and I came up with only a few names. The first was Sirius Black. He's strong, but not strong enough to warrant specially made manacles. Harry Potter is certainly at or beyond our level of power, but he is missing and the Ministry doesn't know where to look for him.

"There is also our missing Dark Lord and, all modesty aside, there is myself. But I can't see them wanting to arrest me. There is Alejandro Croaker, who is powerful and too canny to be caught unawares by anyone the Ministry trains."

"And that leaves me," murmured Albus unhappily.

Minerva sucked in a deep breath. "Albus," she said in alarm.

He smiled reassuringly at her. "They can plan and plot, my dear, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Albus leaned back in his chair and was silent for a moment, then he turned to one of the shelves. "Clarence?"

"Yes, Headmaster?" replied the hat.

"Should anything happen to me, I want you to assume full control of the school wards, but please talk to and listen to Minerva. Ideally, I would prefer to give her the headship, but I know the Ministry would not allow that and she would be in danger if I did. If you would maintain control, but work with Minerva, I think that would be best for the school."

The hat tilted towards Minerva for a moment and the room filled with a humming noise. When it died down, the hat straightened. "It's not exactly according to the charter, Headmaster, but Hogwarts realizes this is a special situation. Hogwarts will agree to follow the Deputy Headmistress' advice with two exceptions. She will not allow the relaxation of the Code of Conduct, nor will she allow a Board of Governors or the Ministry to have any say in how our school is run."

Albus glanced over at Minerva, who nodded tearfully. She didn't want his job. She wanted to teach and to know her students were safe. Albus was a close personal friend and colleague and now she had to worry about him, as well.

"Thank you, Clarence, and please thank Hogwarts for us," Albus said softly.

"Headmaster?"

"Yes, Clarence?"

"Hogwarts wants you to know that she is proud to have you in charge. She had been growing increasingly alarmed by the situation, but you've spent a lot of time and effort to correct the problems here at the school. She also wants you to know that Harry Potter was one of her favorite children and she wants him to know he will always be welcome here."

Albus pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped at his eyes, then he looked up at the hat. "Thank you both," he replied sincerely. "I will tell him what you said."

The hat bent its tip, as if bowing, then fell silent again.

Ollivander stood up and smiled at his friends. "I should return home. Take care of yourself, Albus. Remember what you once told me; there's no dishonor in retreating to fight another day."

Albus nodded. He'd told Garrick that on a cold night in Bavaria, when they's stumbled upon a cadre of Knights of Walpurgis. They were outnumbered and both lightly injured.

Ollivander left via the floo and Minerva and Albus settled into an uneasy silence. The Ministry was getting desperate if they had hired Yanakov. His manacles caused intense pain and insanity if worn long enough.

"Where would you go?" asked Minerva.

Albus looked down at his desk and thought for a moment longer. "I am not sure. Fawkes would take me anywhere I wanted to go."

Fawkes trilled a loud note and both of them shook with the image of dragons.

Albus smiled at his familiar. "Thank you, Fawkes. That is a capital idea, actually. I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind us visiting with him and I'm sure we could find a way to make ourselves useful."

Minerva shook her head sadly. "Just when I think we're making progress, things slide backwards again," she muttered.

"It's not all that bad, Minerva. Fawkes can still carry messages between you and I, or he can even bring you to visit with us. Just remember that if you're pressed, deny having anything but the most basic ward influence on the school. They can't arrest the school, but if they suspect you are in charge, they can and will arrest you."

Campbeltown Weyr, Scottish West Coast, January 25th...

Chekiath appeared high above the Weyr and lazily circled as he descended. Harry tightened his legs slightly as Chekiath swooped back and forth, delighting both of them with the flying.

"The Fuzzy One is flying Narth again," Chekiath commented.

Harry's looked around and he could see a dot above the Weyr but still far below them. Narth was a yearling who'd befriended Hermione after she helped Hagrid deal with a bad infection. Both the dragons and the humans were coming to find that it was possible to form an intense bond of friendship and respect between an adult human and an adult dragon.

Narth was a Common Welsh Green who was uniquely suited to Hermione. The dragon came from a long line of dragons who'd lived free in Britain for centuries and she was capable of offering Hermione glimpses into British History that few humans ever saw.

"She is working hard to conquer her fear, Harry. I don't think she's afraid to fly anymore, but it will never be her favorite mode of travel."

"I can't fault that, Cheki," Harry replied. "She's come a long way in a very short amount of time. When the eggs are ready, I think she'll be on the hatching grounds."

"I agree. She will make a good rider, but she's a bit stuffy."

"Don't tell her that, Cheki! Just because she didn't like you threatening to eat her cat doesn't make her stuffy," Harry protested.

"Harry, she doesn't laugh very much. Watch," Chekiath replied, then he folded his wings close to his body and dived toward the speck flying a thousand feet below them.

Harry whooped joyously at the thrill of the dive.

Chekiath passed Narth close enough to nearly clip her and pulled out of his dive to the outraged shout of Hermione.

Harry and Chekiath both laughed and Chekiath dove once more before flaring out and coming to an easy landing. He was nearly forty feet long now and easily able to handle Harry in the air.

Chuckling, Harry slid down from his spot and affectionately pat Chekiath on his long neck.

"See? She's not laughing."

Harry looked up and winced. Hermione was coming in for a landing and she looked pissed at his flyby. He couldn't help note she looked rather pretty on dragonback, but downright silly when climbing off of the dragon. She might have learned to master her fear of flying, but she still clung to the dragon and slowly inched down it when dismounting.

"Harry James Potter, are you trying to kill yourself and your dragon?" Hermione yelled.

Harry unzipped his flying jacket and pushed the goggles up on his head, then he grinned at her. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but Chekiath was just trying to prove a point."

She glared at him. "And what point would that be?" she said with a hint of a snarl. By now all the signs of a full blown Hermione explosion were present; hands on the hips, a patented glare of death, eyebrows bunched tightly together.

Harry knew the signs, but this time he had an out. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione, Cheki says you don't laugh enough!" He replied, waving a hand towards his dragon.

Chekiath turned to look at Harry. "But you agreed with me."

Harry winced and Hermione turned to glare at him again. "Well, you don't," he mumbled. "Look, no ones saying you need to be a practical joker and compete with Sirius for the title of Weyr Fool, but you could stand to relax and laugh now and then."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at him in annoyance.

He sighed. "Just relax for a few hours. Fly for the fun of it. Practice your magic because it's fun, instead of trying to learn a new spell."

She continued to glare at him and he shook his head sadly.

"You're one to talk, Harry. You're up before dawn every morning."

Harry scowled. "I am, but I'm also responsible for five hundred and three dragons and a handful of people. And I have to worry about all the other dragons, as well. I know my schedule stinks, but I still try to take some time everyday to just fly Chekiath. Not because I have to or because I need the practice. I fly because it's fun. You do remember fun, don't you?"

Harry's clothes suddenly shimmered and Hermione's jaw fell open. Harry looked down at himself and sighed. He was dressed from head to toe in a bunny costume.

"Weyr Fool, Harry?" asked Sirius in a dangerous voice.

Harry turned, exposing to Hermione a twitching little puff ball tail and she slid to the ground, laughing uproariously.

"I can explain, Sirius.. Honest!" Harry said.

When Sirius raised his wand, he turned and bolted around the corner of a building.

Sirius chuckled and walked over to Hermione and held out a hand. She gave him a grateful smile and stood with his help.

"Maybe you don't laugh much like Harry claims, but he's working too hard. He'll spend the next hour hiding and trying to undo that spell. It'll be good for him," Sirius said with a smug grin.

Later that evening, everyone gathered in the Kitchen Hall. The nightly bonfire had been replaced by the warm hall and hot drinks. They reserved the fire for Saturday nights now, making a special occasion out of it.

Harry stood and looked over the assembled faces. There were a lot more of them now. The Grangers were present, seated next to Sirius and Remus. Captain Atkins sat next to Sirius, as had become her habit. Sir Robert sat with Lord Mills and May. Hagrid joined them nearby, sitting on a special chair made for him.

He glanced down at his list and picked up a pen. "I'll start off. I've been told that the eggs are all laid now at Disko Island. Thanks to Dobby and the dragons, the newly enlarged hatching chamber is well coated with heated sands and we have room for visitors to watch the impressions.

Dobby who sat in the corner blushed at the praise.

"There are more eggs than anticipated, but far fewer than there could have been. Spath informs me that the other Weyrs have severely curtailed their egg laying this season. We took in broody females from eighty five percent of the world wide Weyrs. Those Weyrs that did not get the chance to send a egg heavy female this time will get their chance next time. Hopefully, by next hatching, we'll be able to spare some riders to search for potentials."

"Harry?"

He looked up from his list. "Yes, Remus?"

"How many total eggs are there?"

"We were anticipating roughly twenty eggs this time around, but we ended up with a total of thirty two. We have a list of potential riders that the dragons say 'could' impress. Unfortunately, we built a list to be double the number of expected eggs. So we're short potentials. At this late date, I'm not sure we can find enough potentials to suit our needs. I'm afraid we're going to have to go with the forty people we have listed and hope the dragons find them all acceptable," Harry replied.

That the dragons could control their egg laying came as a complete surprise to everyone. But Spath explained that they never wanted to allow too many dragons to be born under the control of the wizards. Remus then pointed out that it wasn't really that unusual. It was known that dragon populations declined during the intervals between falls and increased just before falls began.

"Damn," swore Remus. "There isn't really enough time to find solid potential riders."

Everyone nodded in agreement. The problem was simple. The dragons could tell who had the sensitivity to impress in an instant, but then they needed to figure out if they were worthy enough to impress. Some candidates were observed by the dragons and found unworthy. In one case, a boy was capable of impressing, but they found he was stalking and spying on several girls in his class. Having the ability and being worthy of impressing were two different things.

In that particular case, Lord Mills was informed and he tipped off the local police, who caught the boy in the act. It solved that particular problem and clearly illustrated the need to picking potential riders with care.

And that meant each potential had to be watched for several days. The Hogwarts students were slightly different because both Harry and Remus had spent time with all of the students in question.

Harry's take on it was simple; each of the people involved had minor character flaws, but nothing major enough to dismiss any of them as potential candidates. Even Malfoy would settle down if he impressed. Harry was certain of it, having experienced it for himself.

He glanced down at his list again and picked up where he left off. "Dobby will deliver notes to the Hogwarts students tomorrow. I am hoping to have them here by the end of the month to begin training them," he paused and looked up. "Hermione, you said you had something to add to that?"

She nodded and opened her ever present book bag. The bag had been charmed to be lightweight and deeper than normal by Remus. She pulled out a large stack of bound papers. "It was only because I've been reading and correcting your essays for the last four years that I could understand what you wrote," she said with a bit of a huff, then she turned back to the stack in front of her and started passing around what turned out to be small books. "I took your notes, made them legible and reorganized them into a handbook of dragon care that we can give to the potential riders."

Harry accepted the small book Sirius handed him and looked at it. It was titled, "The Official Handbook of Dragon Care", written by Harry James Potter, Edited by Hermione Jane Granger.

"Hermione?" Sirius called.

She stopped her lecture into the organization and layout of the book and looked at him. "Yes?"

"Since this is the official handbook, does that mean there's an unofficial one running around somewhere?" he asked with a straight face.

Dan Granger laughed. He loved his daughter dearly, but he'd had put up with this sort of thing for years. When she was six, she'd had him install a nameplate on her bedroom door that declared the room to be her official bedroom.

"Sirius Black!" she said in a bit of a snit. It took all her willpower not to stamp one foot down. It didn't help that even Harry was smiling broadly and shaking his head at her antics.

"Knowing Sirius, he's looking for the book with the naked photos," Remus quipped, then he ducked as a spell flew into the space where he had been.

Harry coughed and caught everyone's attention. "Settle down you two or we'll have another dragon dung war with you being targets."

Sirius immediately shut up and settled back down. He didn't want to end up covered in dragon dung again.

Harry eyed him for a moment, a little disappointed, then turned his attention back to Hermione. "Thank you, Hermione. I know these will be a great help. I understand that Hagrid is working on his own notes for dragon healing. You might want to see if we can do something similar. Someday we'll have enough people for us to be able to train Weyrhealers."

Hermione nodded happily and sat back down. The thought of something written by Hagrid made her cringe, but she was glad to see that Harry recognized the need for books, even one she she hadn't considered.

Harry smiled at her for a moment longer, then he turned to his next item. "Hagrid? How are things on your end?"

Hagrid smiled. "Well, we're doin' better than I thought. Tha' muggle medicine works well enough fer clearin' up the infections, but we're goin' to need to start growin' what we need fer a pain relief potion. I can' keep havin' Dobby stealin' 'em."

Harry frowned. "We have the space to put up some greenhouses, but we don't have the people or the money for..."

He paused and looked at Lord Mills, who was chuckling quietly.

"James?"

"This ties into what I was going to report, but I currently have access to a Barclays account with nearly a million pounds in it. It's a misleading number because that can be easily spent, but I think we can afford to put up a greenhouse or two," Lord Mills said from his seat.

"Mind you, Harry," Sir Robert added, "this is all coming from what the dragons produce in a testing situation. I fully expect that at some point we'll be paying almost as much into the dragon fund as we currently send to the OPEC nations."

"At the same time?" Dan exclaimed in dismay.

"Oh, no, of course not. OPEC is going to find itself with a problem. Britain will be the first country to wean themselves from their cartel, but we won't be the last," Sir Robert declared. "We're keeping the dragons classified as a secret, but I can easily foresee a time in the future when the other governments will have to know about them. In fact, that will probably start to happen next year."

"Oh? Why is that?" Harry asked.

"At a minimum, we need to talk to the government of Greenland and let them know we're using part of their territory. Originally they were part of Denmark, but they were granted home rule in 1979." Sir Robert said.

Harry nodded, then he turned to Hagrid. "Since May has been training under you, let's see if we can get her started on putting together a list of what we need. Start with the ingredients for the pain relief potions you've been using."

May looked up and nodded eagerly. That was something she could easily do.

"I take it then that things are going well with you, Sir Robert?" asked Harry.

The little man grinned and bobbed his head. "Better than well, my boy! We have created a few tons of heated rocks and are busy experimenting with them. I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty details, but we've had a few companies express interest in getting involved. Additionally, we've had a number of companies who have gone to the government and expressed concern that we may put them out of business."

"What was the government's response to that, Sir Robert?" asked Dan Granger.

Lord Mills chuckled. "Mr Major told those particular businesses that they'd better get competitive then, as the government is not about to hold back on this. We had published a request for a research proposal that cited an unusual power source, you see. Unfortunately, it was enough to make some companies nervous and others interested."

Dan shook his head. "Never thought he'd have the balls to do that. Not up against the oil conglomerates."

"Daddy!" exclaimed Hermione.

Emma glared. "Dan!"

Dan winced. "What? It's true. He's as conservative as they come. Standing up against big business is against his religion!"

Lord Mills coughed lightly and the expanding Granger fight settled down. "Be that as it may, the PM recognizes that he has limited choices. He can't hide dragons forever. If he tried, they'd rebel. I'm sure that Harry could take his dragons to any other country he likes, knowing that country would welcome the economic potential they represent. More to the point, he can't hide what they can do. So it's either get on-board first or be left behind.

"As a conservative party member myself, I can say big business isn't necessarily bad, Dan. But that's an argument for another time. The oil companies will lose a lot of business but there will always be a need for oil. It just won't be used for creating heat to power our cities."

"Well said! Well said!" Sir Robert exclaimed. "The Oil companies will merely find new markets or find their business shrinking to match the new, smaller demands."

Harry shook his head. This sort of thing went mostly over his head. He'd talked with Mister Granger about some of it and had come to respect the man and some of his views.

"Moving along. Do we have anything else? My list is done," he called.

"I do," James said. "I have fielded a request to host a private meeting between the PM and a dragon representative. We don't know where and when just yet, but the Queen would like to meet with you, Harry, and a few dragons. Mister Major is most uncomfortable with the idea of a teen leading the dragons, but he also knows he can't change it. I think he's come to the realization that the best thing to do is to help however possible in the hopes that you'll be willing to at least listen to any advice he might have."

Harry looked thoughtful, "I guess I don't have a problem with that. I am willing to listen to advice, but that doesn't mean I'll always take it. As for meeting the Queen?" He sighed. "It's necessary. But I am going to strongly suggest that Sir Robert brief her on dragon behavior before the meeting. She simply cannot expect responses that are diplomatically acceptable from them."

Sir Robert looked up in alarm. "What do you mean?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair nervously. "You look at the world with a kind of orderly wonder and you find delight in things that boggle my mind. But dragons are something even you have trouble with. They are very literal in some things and we've all experienced their tendency to be embarrassingly blunt. When I explained to Spath about the Queen, he was in awe of a single female capable of producing millions of offspring. It took me nearly an hour to explain the difference and I'm still not sure he believed me."

Sir Robert blinked a moment, then he pulled out a small notebook and made a note. "Right, talk to the Queen," he muttered.

Harry smiled at the old man. He greatly admired him and wished he knew as much as the old man did, but he was a wonderful teacher when he actually took the time to explain things.

"James, would you let me know when we're supposed to meet? The only dates I see as bad would be the middle of next month, during the expected hatching time."

James nodded and made a note.

"Anything else?"

Sir Robert glanced around then he stood. "I do have something interesting to report."

Harry nodded and sat down. "In the last month we've been taking some small samples for analysis. Blood samples from dragons were most astonishing. The cobalt levels in the blood accounts for the distinct blue tinge it has. It was our first clear indication of the non-terrestrial origin of the dragons. They also have a higher amount of boron in their blood chemistry than normal.

Sir Robert looked up from his notes and smiled. "The first results of DNA sequencing have been astounding, to say the least. It's preliminary, and very very early in our studies, but I think we can assume that the story of the dragons jumping from another world to our own have been validated. The genetic make up of our dragons are clearly alien in origin, and yet there are segments of DNA that look like they have been spliced in from terrestrial sources. In other words, dragon DNA looks exactly like what we'd expect if humans took an alien species and changed it to suit their own needs."

Harry looked at Sir Robert with a bemused look. "This is big then?"

"This is very big, Harry," Emma replied for the little man. "It also suggests that many of the stories the dragons have been telling us aren't tales, but a true history."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I never doubted them. I never had a reason to. But perhaps that's because Chekiath and I are bonded."

The others nodded. Only Hagrid and Harry had any real clue what the bonding was like.

"The exciting part about this, my boy, is that the DNA we're seeing suggests several possible areas of research," Sir Robert said. "It's really exciting stuff. Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to discover some genetic researcher getting a Nobel from the research this is going to spawn."

Harry noted Hermione frowning so he turned to her. "Hermione? Something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she replied hesitantly. "I was just thinking about causality. We know the dragons are a result of very advanced genetic techniques, but did Sidraneth's jump into the past bring the clues needed to make those techniques possible?"

Sir Robert's eyes lit up with glee. "Delightful! The age old time travel debate. If you go back into the past and accidentally kill your grandfather, then you'd never be born and would have never gone back into the past to kill your grandfather."

Sirius leaned forward on his seat and clutched at his head. "Please, just trying to follow this is giving me a headache."

Harry stood and smiled, "And with that, let's call it a night."

Hogwarts Infirmary, January 28th...

The doors banged open and Minerva hurried into the room. Sitting on a bed, Albus looked up and smiled at her, while Madam Pomfrey worked on his arm. Minerva paled seeing the large blood stains on his robes.

"Calm yourself, Minerva. I'm fine," Albus said. "But I fear the Ministry might be getting desperate. I had just exited the sweet shop in Diagon Alley when I was attacked by several men from an alley opening. I saw two of them. If they're aurors, they must be new, as I didn't recognize either of them."

She took another step closer and eyed him carefully. He was paler than usual, but seemingly undaunted by the injury.

Poppy straightened up and put her wand away. "He'll be fine, Minerva. It's just a couple of nasty cuts. Messy, yes, but not really too bad. Now, do I want to know why you were attacked and why you think the Ministry was behind it?"

Fawkes trilled a warning note and Albus nodded. "Not here. Perhaps if we could meet in my office in ten minutes, Poppy? That would give me time to change into clean robes."

Poppy eyed the old man for a moment, then she reluctantly nodded.

Albus stood and smiled at the pair of ladies. "In ten minutes then," he said, then he turned and headed out of the infirmary.

"Is he really fine?" asked Minerva.

Poppy sighed. "He's as fine as I can make him. In that way, both he and Mister Potter are cut from the same cloth. Neither of them have any patience for extended stays in the infirmary."

Ten minutes later, both Poppy and Minerva were taking tea from an elf, while Albus settled himself into his chair with a barely hidden grimace. Poppy glanced at Minerva, who nodded slightly at her. She understood what Poppy was talking about now.

"Despite losing my role as chief warlock on the Wizengamot, there are those in power who see me as a threat to their power, Poppy. I daresay that, in the coming weeks, things here will change radically. Minerva will need your help and support more than ever," Albus said softly.

Fawkes trilled a comforting note and he smiled up at his friend.

"We had a warning that the Ministry may attempt to remove the Headmaster, Poppy," Minerva added quietly. "This isn't a case of leveling some sort of charge against him. It's little more than an assassination," she spat.

"Now, Minerva," Albus chided.

She turned on him. "What? How can you be so calm? Someone tried to kill you and you're sitting there pretending nothing is wrong!"

He shrugged. "What would you have me do? Rush down to the Ministry and accuse the Minister? You know he'll have no clue what I'm talking about. One of his underlings will be leading this effort and he's given his approval to it without having any direct knowledge of what actions are being taken."

Minerva sat back on her chair and looked very unhappy.

"My mistake," Albus said, "was that I figured they would do nothing until Yanakov was ready with his manacles. It took him nearly a year to make them for Grindelwald. Even if he's improved his techniques, I thought I had at least six months. I thought I would be safe until the end of the year, but now I see that isn't the case."

"What will you do?" exclaimed Poppy in alarm.

Albus smiled benignly at her. "Don't worry, Poppy, I have plans in place to remove myself to a safe location. Ordinarily, Minerva would assume my role as Headmaster, but that would only endanger her. The role of Headmaster carries considerable prestige in our world and it's coveted by the same people who think I'm a danger to their power. When I leave I will not pass on the role of Headmaster. No, I fear the Ministry would try to force Minerva out or just arrest her. I have made arrangements that both Minerva and I agree will be best for her and the school. That is why I said she'll need your support."

Poppy snorted. "She'll always have that," she declared firmly.

Albus leaned back and smiled softly. "There, you see, Minerva? One less thing to worry about," he declared.

She eyed him carefully and knew he wouldn't fully divulge his plans to her. "I don't like it, Albus. I didn't like it when you brought it up and I still don't like it."

"Can you suggest a better idea?" he countered.

She slumped in her seat. "No," she admitted unhappily.

"I'm not overly fond of it myself but at least the school will be safe. I'll rest easier knowing you are keeping an eye on things for me here," Albus said. He now knew he'd have to leave the school much earlier than he had expected.

Poppy looked between the two and understood that she wouldn't know exactly what was planned until it happened. She had revised her opinion of the Headmaster several times since the task that cost them Harry Potter. Now she held a grudging respect for the old man, having lost the awe she once held. She could see he was trying to make things better.

Albus watched the two ladies file from his office a few minutes later, then he turned to Fawkes. "I fear our time here is coming to an end, dear friend. I think we'll have to leave when the students go to Harry. Yes, leaving when the children do, or shortly after, will cause the Ministry to focus their efforts on me and turn their attention away from the school, at least for a while."

Fawkes nodded and trilled a happy note. He didn't mind the idea of going to live with the dragons. They were something new and he would enjoy speaking with them.

Hogsmeade, February 1st...

Susan Bones had an elf shrink her trunk and it now sat comfortably in her pocket. That was the easy part. Explaining to her dorm mates that she had to send it home for repairs wasn't too hard either, although she didn't like lying to her friends.

No, the hard part was standing there in the shadow of the Shrieking Shack shivering in the cold and waiting for her portkey to kick in. She had mistakenly arrived early, but wasn't surprised to see she wasn't alone. Luna Lovegood nodded happily to her. Wayne Hopkins from her own house was there, too, and so was Draco Malfoy and Lee Jordan. All in all, it was quite a group, representing pure blood, half blood and muggle born, with no apparent reasoning to the mix.

Draco stood off to one side looking very unsure of himself. Nearby, Millicent Bulstrode stood, as if she derived some comfort from being near another Slytherin.

Katie Bell glanced at her watch. "Three minutes," she called, then she fished a coin out of her pocket. She and Lee Jordan were the oldest students present, so everyone followed her example and took out their portkeys, making sure they had a good grip on them.

The remaining time seemed to drag, and when the portkey finally did activate, it caught Susan by surprise. In a split second the space where the students had clustered was empty.

Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts, Feb 1st...

Albus was busying working on some parchments when a voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Headmaster, a number of students have vanished from my ability to detect them," Clarence said from his shelf.

"Susan Bones, Draco Malfoy, Lee Jordan, Luna Lovegood?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, and others, Headmaster. You know these students. You spoke to them personally in the past weeks."

Albus sighed. "It's time then," he said sadly.

Clarence twisted to face him. "I'm afraid so, Headmaster," replied the hat. "But Minerva is a worthy replacement. She will be a good Headmistress, when the time comes."

Albus nodded, then pulled out his wand, and with a flick, caused a great number of objects in the room to fly into a waiting box. The door to his private chambers opened and a large multi-compartment trunk flew into the office. As soon as the storm of objects died down, he shrunk down the box and his trunk, then pocketed both.

"Clarence, after I leave, send an Elf to Minerva with the note from my top drawer. I will ask Fawkes to visit her daily, so that we can maintain some communications."

The hat tipped in his direction and he turned to Fawkes.

"Headmaster?"

"Yes, Clarence?"

"Hogwarts wants you to know that you were a wonderful Headmaster. She is unhappy to lose you, but your duty is to your students, no matter where you find them."

A single tear rolled down the old man's cheek and he bowed his head. "Thank you, Clarence. And please thank her for me."

Fawkes sprang aloft and he reached for a tail feather. A moment later, there was a flash of fire and the office was empty.

The sorting hat chuckled softly. This was something entirely new to it and it was planning on taking some liberties with its new found freedom. The wards subtly shifted controls. Minerva maintained her light control, but Hogwarts pulled all the rest of the wards under her control, then ramped up the protections a notch.

Now any dangerous spell cast out of bounds would result in the caster being rendered incapacitated. The only place dangerous spells were now allowed was in the classrooms and only when a Professor was present.

Campbeltown Weyr, Hangar #2, February 1st...

Hermione stood nervously next to May. She was a bit out of her element here, but she had volunteered to help.

"Relax, Hermione. They're just kids, like you and I," May said with a smile. The pair had formed a friendship of sorts that both found unusual. May was nearly as studious as Hermione, although she studied muggle subjects. Both girls also had an interest in Harry, even though he wasn't aware of it.

She looked around the large empty building. The overhead halogen lamps lit the room with a harsh yellow light. There was a small stage and five rows of ten folding chairs each facing the stage. To one side, a huge space heater blew massive amounts of hot air towards the seats. Not far from the heater a table had been set up with large urns for coffee and tea. It wasn't the most hospitable of places, but it was the best they could come up with.

Near the first table was another, smaller table that held a large stack of books. Emma sat behind that table. Behind her was another table stacked with dozens of boxes she was prepared to hand out. Each box contained a dragon flight suit, jacket, goggles, gloves and hat. It was an outfit Harry had put together over May's objections. They were warm and comfortable and that was Harry's primary concern. May thought the outfit was not well coordinated, but she had to admit that it kept the rider comfortable, even when going Between.

Hermione glanced at her notes one final time and looked around. The building had most of the Weyr personnel already present. Only Harry was missing. The sound of an engine caused her to look up and she could see through the windows the luxury bus pulling up to the side of the building.

Lord Mills walked out of the hangar and waved to the first people stepping out of the bus.

She swallowed nervously when a noisy bunch of teens her own age started to enter the room and look around curiously.

"This way, everyone!" called James Mills, "Go to the table and get your kit, then help yourself to something hot to drink and grab a seat."

Hermione smiled slightly. The kit boxes, each the size of a shoe box, were charmed to be bigger on the inside to hold more. The first exposure of magic for these muggles would be those boxes. The second piece of magic they would experience would be the auto-sizing charm placed on the clothing inside those boxes.

Each teen had been first vetted by the dragons, then Lord Mills and Sir Robert had visited with their parents. After obtaining signatures on secrecy agreements, the parents were briefed about the project. Some details were omitted deliberately, but the parents all believed their children would be presented with an opportunity unique in human history. It greatly helped matters that most of the students had been chosen from families where one or both parents were members of the military.

Most of the parents had been reluctant, but Lord Mills assured them that they would be well taken care of. He knew that the offer of scholarships from the government wouldn't be necessary, but he made it as a way of enticing the parents to agree. He already knew the kids would jump at the chance.

The pair of girls watched the group of muggles as they settled into seats, then May stepped forward. It had been decided that they would let the girls open with a welcome to the Weyr, easing them into things before they turned it over to the adults.

"If you'll all settle down, please? We still have a few more people we're waiting on," May told them as Captain Atkins, Dan Granger, Lord Mills, Remus and Sir Robert joined the girls on the stage. "You guys arrived a bit early, but we'll get started as soon as the others arrive."

At precisely 10 a.m., a group of people appeared off to one side. Sirius and Hagrid were waiting for them.

Hagrid beamed at the students, some of which he knew fairly well.

"Hagrid!" Luna squealed, then she ran to hug the large man.

He patted her on the back and looked down at her fondly. She was one of the few students who shared his love of magical animals.

"If you'll just go over to that table," Sirius said, pointing towards Emma, who was beckoning them.

The group shuffled forward nervously. The alien surrounding had them worried. There was a loud muggle machine blowing hot air and the overhead lights were unlike anything they had experienced before.

Hermione stepped forward with a big smile. "Hogwarts students, just relax. Nothing bad is going to happen. In fact, if all goes well, things are going to change for the better for all of us."

Several of the Hogwarts students looked up at her and smiled, recognizing a familiar face. Then more relaxed when they spotted Remus up on stage. The Hogwarts students took up the remaining empty seats, trying to stay close to each other.

May stepped next to Hermione and said, "There's a lot of material to cover here and some of it is going to come as quite a shock to people. Please, everyone relax and understand that no one is any trouble or any danger here. Your parents have had the situation explained to them before we even considered asking you if you'd be willing to help the government on a special project. There's no danger to be found here and I'm pretty sure you're going to be enjoying yourselves immensely."

Several of the muggle students had been alarmed by the arrival of the Hogwarts students, but most weren't looking in the right direction to see them appear. Everyone slowly settled in and focused on the people on the stage.

"Welcome to the Campbeltown Weyr. You people have been selected to help in an endeavor that has never before been seen, let alone attempted, in the whole of our shared history on this planet. There are two different groups sitting here today. But soon, very soon, you will be part of just one group," Hermione said.

She pulled out her wand and sent several chairs floating over their heads. "My name is Hermione Granger, and I am a witch. I can do magic."

"You think you can impress us with a simple stage magician's trick?" called one boy.

Hermione smiled sweetly and with a silent flick of her wand, the boy was upside down and rotating. "Explain that then," she replied calmly. "Magic exists. Like it or not, there are two types of humans on this planet; those that can do magic and those that can't. You non magical humans outnumber us by a thousand to one. Because of pure superstition, the magical society withdrew from mainstream human life and hid itself to escape the witch hunts and inquisitions."

She flicked her wand the boy was back in his seat, staring at her with wild eyes. A number of the muggle students were nodding in understanding at her statements.

"That magic exists and has remained hidden from your society for hundreds of years isn't why we brought you here. I only tell you that magic exists because ten of you can do magic. Ten of you are from a magical school and were chosen to be part of our endeavor," May added. "I am May McNulty, and like most of you, I am not a witch. Before I learned what you're about to learn, I was going to be a veterinarian and work for the family my family has served for generations. Now, I still intend to study biology, but my goals have radically changed after I learned what you're about to learn."

James Mills looked up and smiled at May. He wasn't surprised by her dream of being a veterinarian, or her dream to work on the island and be his veterinarian.

A girl in the back row raised a hand and May nodded to her.

"If magic is real, then are the other things real? Unicorns, Mermaids? Santa Claus?" the girl asked.

Remus laughed and with a flick of his wand, produced an image of a unicorn. He stood and walked over to stand next to May. "Unicorns and Mermaids are real. So are hundreds of other mythical beasts, some terrible and dangerous and some that just scream at you to cuddle with them. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. And no, I'm sorry to say, Santa isn't real."

The girl nodded and looked very pleased by the unicorn image, while several others seemed awe-struck. It seemed like a good deal of their dreams were true, after all.

He paused and waved a hand towards the people seated behind him. "First, let me introduce Sir Robert March, chief government advisor on scientific affairs. If the PM or the Queen need to know about a scientific problem, he is the person they turn to. He is also leading the research here at the Weyr, as well as helping us set up our facilities. We will try to arrange to have a round table meeting with Sir Robert at least once a week, so that you can talk about what you've learned."

"Next to him is Lord James Mills, MP. He is also the chief financial officer for the Weyr, so when it comes to complaining about your salaries, you'll complain to him," Remus joked with a smile.

James laughed. At the moment, no one was drawing any kind of salary, but he easily saw that changing very soon. And given the kind of money the Weyr might be making, salaries could be substantial.

"Mister Daniel Granger has been helping where he can, but I suspect at some point he's hoping to return to his original field by becoming the Weyr dentist. His wife was the lady who gave you your kits, and I think she's having too much fun doing a lot of different things to return to being a dentist."

Emma shot Remus a grin from her seat and nodded.

"For now, however, the Doctors Granger have volunteered to be monitors for the male and female dorms. They will be performing bed checks, so behave yourselves. We'll provide you with plenty of opportunities for social mixing.

"Captain Katherine Atkins is on loan from the British Army and she's in charge of Weyr security. She is also the person who will probably be overseeing any physical training you might receive. I might add that the guard force is mostly British Army and totally under Captain Atkins control. She's in charge of making sure that no unauthorized persons get onto the Weyr. If she gives you an order, do it, and ask her why later. I am sure she'll have a valid reason for it and she'll be willing to share it with you at the appropriate time.

"And finally, I am Remus Lupin and, as you probably guessed, I am a wizard."

Remus moved back and sat down after nodding to Sir Robert, who smiled his thanks and stood up next.

"You are all here because you have been selected. The government became aware of a grave crime being committed and we're taking steps to put a halt to it. Many of you are here because you come from military families, and therefore understand the concept of secrecy," Sir Robert told them seriously.

"All of you have signed confidentiality contracts to keep what you learn here secret. And despite the seriousness of the situation, I envy everyone of you, for you are going to help us in dealing with a truly alien intelligence."

Sir Robert nodded to Remus, who created another image, this time of a dragon.

Almost as one, the students sucked in a deep breath. Each of the muggle students had been vetted by the dragons themselves and they knew they wouldn't have the typical reaction to the idea of dragons that most people might. Most of these students were top grade earners who dreamed and wrote fantasy stories with heroes and mighty dragons and magic. In a way, they were, as a group, some of the most open minded people they could have picked.

"You'll note," Sir Robert said, pointing to the image, "that the mouth isn't formed for speech. Dragons are capable of a wide variety of vocalizations, but they cannot speak. Instead, they rely on telepathy to speak to their riders and others."

"It's beautiful," murmured one blonde.

"Not much is going to happen today," Sir Robert said. "We're going to introduce you to dragons and help get you settled in. Tomorrow, we'll hold a morning session in this hangar before holding a class in the afternoon on caring for a dragon. As part of your kit, you received a book on dragon care. Read it, study it. But don't be afraid to question it. It's still in development and it's very possible that you'll discover something inaccurate in it."

Sir Robert paused and frowned as Albus Dumbledore appeared in a flash of flame. Fawkes circled above the Headmaster in the large open space, singing a welcome that affected everyone.

Sirius immediately hustled over to Albus and the two spoke quietly for a moment before Sirius motioned to Sir Robert to continue. While Sir Robert spoke of dragons and how they communicated Sirius led Dumbledore out of the building.

Sir Robert looked at the anxious faces and smiled widely. "I don't need to have magic to know that many of you are saying, 'Will this old man just get to showing us the dragons already?'"

A ripple of embarrassed laughter filled the hangar and many admitted he was on the mark. Sir Robert nodded to Lord Mills, who walked over to a large switch. With a flick of his finger, the massive hanger doors slowly opened. All heads turned to the large opening space with curious looks.

"Go look," Sir Robert told them gently and with just a touch of envy. "See what the future holds for you."

The students sat for a moment, then Hermione laughed, hopped down from the stage and walked over to the opening. That caused the rest of the students to follow her.

Overhead, Harry wheeled his dragon in perfect formation with his Weyr. It was the first time anyone other than Harry had seen all five hundred and three dragons airborne at the same time.

It was a majestic sight to see so many dragons flying in rows of V formations overhead.

Their formation was precise and tight, with almost no room between each dragon. Harry signaled and the entire Weyr banked hard and headed for the space in front of the hangar. As they flew over, wings of twenty dragons at a time peeled off and landed until just Harry, Spath and Selanth remained in the air, then they landed in front of the massed Weyr.

Momnarth had wanted to be there, but she was minding the single egg she had laid at Disko.

Harry smoothly dismounted from Chekiath and gave him an affectionate thump, then he turned to face a group of totally awed humans. Even members of the guard force stopped their rounds to watch the Weyr flying in formation.

"Harry, did we break them? Even the Fuzzy One is frozen." Chekiath said worriedly.

"I don't think so," He said peering at the silent people.

Suddenly, one blond broke ranks with the others and she ran up to the nearest dragon she could get to and tried to wrap her arms around his leg.

"This is brilliant!" exclaimed Luna Lovegood. She then released the dragon and turned to Harry. "Can they help us find Snorkacks?"

Harry blinked. "Ummm, maybe. I don't know. Cheki?"

"Snorkacks? Are they tasty?" replied his dragon.

"Cheki," Harry said with a bit of a whine, "You can't go through life wondering if everything is tasty. You'll frighten people."

"But I don't eat people. Remember, we don't eat our friends."

Harry sighed and hoped he got really sick the day the dragons were to meet with the Queen. That way, he wouldn't be there to take any of the blame.

He turned to the still stunned students and moved forward until he was about ten feet from them. Chekiath, Spath and Selanth followed only a few feet behind him. "Welcome to our Weyr. I'm Harry Potter. I'm a wizard and a dragon rider."

"He is also Weyrleader," announced Spath and dozens of dragons bellowed in agreement.

Harry glanced at the ancient dragon and sketched a simple bow.

"I will try very hard to be worthy of such an honor," he replied softly, then he turned his attention back to the potentials.

"I can hear them in my head," said one student.

"Me, too," whispered Draco. He eyed the dragons with wide eyes and suddenly realized that he had taken a very big step toward finding something that would put his life into perspective.

Harry smirked at the group, seeing their reaction to so many dragons. He had to admit that they were an imposing sight, but this stasis surprised him.

When May and Hermione finally stepped out of the hanger and walked up to different dragons, it was enough for the group to move forward.

"She's beautiful," Lisa Turpin murmured, caressing behind Chekiath's eye ridges.

"She?" exclaimed Chekiath slightly affronted, "I am a male. Tell her, Harry!"

Harry chuckled. "He's also a pig when he eats," he added affectionately. "But he's all male, Lisa." That broke the ice further and the group slowly broke apart, as the students turned to different dragons.

"He's still beautiful," Lisa Turpin murmured. She never imagined being so close to a dragon before and to think they were intelligent. It boggled her mind.

"Harry says we're just funny looking people," Chekiath said. "We don't look like humans, but we think and know who we are. Harry thinks all thinking creatures are people, even his little elf, Dobby, who is a nice friend of mine. He knows how to use his magic to scratch my wing joints just right!"

Several of the potentials turned to eye Harry, who stood off to one side looking fondly at Chekiath. His comments had been heard by all and Chekiath was proud that his rider saw things the way he did.

Harry watched the students turn back to the dragons with obvious relief, then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Sir Robert beaming at him.

"Bloody marvelous flying, Harry. It quite took my breath away. I think we never realized the power behind the dragons til now. It's one thing to deal with them one on one. But to see them up in the air flying in formation? Amazing!"

"It really was, Harry," added James as he joined them. "I can't think of a more beautiful way of introducing dragons to our potentials. Look at them now."

Harry turned back to see people pairing off and having conversations with dragons. Despite the cold weather and the brisk wind that swept across the tarmac, no one seemed interested in returning to the warm hangar.

"I wish I had video taped it," Sir Robert said sadly. "I can't think of a better way of introducing dragons to people. And to see them in the air is a majestic sight."

Harry looked at the old man and nodded. "We can do it again for the Queen, if you want."

The old man blinked and smiled broadly. A demonstration like that for the Queen and the PM would be a wonderful thing!

"Let's get them back inside. We still have a lot of ground to cover," Harry said, then he turned to Spath.

Spath looked at Harry, then he trumpeted loudly. "It is time to return to the big building," he called to everyone.

The potentials reluctantly moved back towards the hangar, but they weren't alone. Several dragons followed them inside.

Lord Mills paused and waited until everyone was inside before he flicked the switch to make the doors close. The hangar had pressure sensitive pads so that dragons could open and close the doors, but for now they'd close the doors and let the room warm up again.

Harry climbed up on the stage and unzipped his flight jacket before turning to the others. He pulled off his gloves and goggles and stuffed them into a pocket. May and Hermione, as well as several of the Hogwarts girls, were now seeing Harry in an entirely different light.

"Each of you have the potential to become a dragon rider. Being a rider means more than being able to fly around. In the coming days I'll be teaching you dragon care with help from the others and you'll learn what it means to be a rider.

"In ten days time, we'll move everyone from here to our Hatching Weyr in Greenland. For now, we'll spend the time learning about dragons, their true history and about being riders. That's the good news. The bad news is that sometime in the next month or so we'll also start organized classes.

"For those of you who are not magical, you'll simply pick up where you left off. But for the magical students, you will have some muggle subjects to study. In the meantime, if the magical folk would come up here, Professor Lupin will remove the tracking charms from your wands," Harry said.

He spotted Sirius motioning to him from a nearby door and he nodded with a slight frown and wondered what the problem was. Sirius looked worried. He shot a glance at James, who understood. He stepped up to help direct the potentials, while Harry went to join Sirius.

Curious, Hermione followed him.

"What's the problem, Sirius?" Harry asked uneasily. He didn't want to leave the potentials when they might have questions that only he could answer.

"Harry, Albus Dumbledore is in your office. He's here asking for sanctuary," Sirius said tensely.

Harry blinked and looked at Sirius, who took a step backwards. "I'm not kidding this time, Harry."

"It's true. Dumbledore did show up with Fawkes, Harry," Hermione added from behind him.

"Bugger it all, just what we need," Harry swore. "Sirius, get James, Katherine and Mister Granger, and meet me in my office. Tell Remus to get the potentials settled. Hermione, I take it you're coming along?"

She nodded and nibbled on her lip. She wanted to chastise him for his language, but he was in what she had taken to calling Weyrleader mode.

"Fine, let's go," he said, then took off at a fast stride with Hermione practically running to keep up.

Harry opened the door and surprised Hermione by holding it open for her, before entering his quarters. Albus Dumbledore sat at a chair in front of Harry's desk. Like his bedroom, one wall of the office opened into the Weyr space for Chekiath and he wasn't surprised to find the large door opening to allow Chekiath passage inside.

Harry sat tiredly and looked over his desk at Dumbledore. "What's happened? No, wait til the others get here. Would you like some tea? Or something to eat, perhaps?"

"Tea would be wonderful," Albus said in reply. This was a different Harry from the one he knew. He seemed more sure of himself.

"Dobby?"

The little elf appeared with a pop and looked at Harry expectantly. "Would you fetch us some tea, and maybe some sandwiches?"

Dobby nodded and vanished only to reappear a moment later with a tray loaded with sandwiches and a large tea urn.

The door opened and Sirius filed in with the others close behind. Once they were all settled, Harry motioned to Dumbledore. "You were about to explain what happened," he prompted.

Dumbledore nodded and placed his tea down on Harry's desk. "Thanks in part to the crisis surrounding dragons, as well as Minister Fudge's growing paranoia, my positions within government and within Hogwarts were slowly being eroded. Barely a week ago I was attacked by several men I didn't recognize. They claimed there were going to arrest me, but I knew they weren't aurors, nor were the spells they were throwing of the type you would use to subdue a wizard.

"I had heard rumors that the Ministry was trying to assemble a force of wizards who weren't part of the DMLE or DoM. To what purpose, I don't know, but I suspect they are seriously thinking they can raise an army.

"As for myself, I was lightly injured in the attack and managed to get away, but then realized the best thing to do was leave Hogwarts when the students did. That would focus the Ministry's attention on me, thinking I had something to do with their disappearance. In one capacity or another, I have worked at the school for nearly sixty years, so trust me when I say it was not a decision I made lightly."

Albus sighed heavily. "To be honest, I wasn't sure where to go when I left Hogwarts, but Fawkes suggested I come to you. I don't know why he suggested it, but if nothing else, you have ten of my students who will still require instruction."

He looked at Harry and smiled for a moment. "No, not ten. Twelve actually, counting you and Miss Granger."

"So you were once in one of the highest political positions of that Ministry and now you're on the run?" exclaimed James.

Dumbledore looked over at the man with a puzzled expression.

"Ah, Albus Dumbledore, please meet Lord James Mills, member of Parliament, and one of the key people helping us deal with the Muggle Government," Sirius said, "You already know Mister Granger, Hermione's father, and Captain Katherine Atkins of the British Army. She's in charge of our Weyr security."

Albus arched an eyebrow, then he turned back to Harry. "I fear that if the Ministry finds this place, they will attack here."

"We know," Katherine said quietly. "Plans are in the works to start bringing in people who can help with that."

Harry turned a hard gaze on her. "And you didn't think it was important enough to inform me?" he asked.

Katherine blanched. "No, it's not that, Harry. I was going to tell you before they arrived, but it's taking a lot of time to find the right people and get them trained. I don't know the specifics, but I know we started looking for wizards who had left your world and came back into mine. We found them, a lot of them, in all walks of life, but finding people that suited our needs was a different story. By the end of next month, we'll have a new platoon in the company, made up of muggle born wizards and witches. We'll then start training the rest of the company to work with them and to fight against magic."

Harry's frown deepened, "That's well and dandy, but aurors could apparate to any spot in the Weyr. They could also come in via broom. What they won't do is assault the front gates by pulling up in a bus and unloading in front of you."

"I would be happy to help put up an anti-apparation ward, Harry," Albus offered. "Unfortunately, this place is too big to put under a Fidelius charm, but we could make it unplottable. That would make it more difficult to find."

"Thank you, sir. Please talk to Remus about getting that set up. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't think of it myself," Harry said gratefully, then he turned to Sirius. "I want you to talk to Norendrath. Let's get an air patrol above the Weyr around the clock. Five airborne dragons ought to see anyone flying in and give us enough warning. When we have the riders, we'll mount a rider driven patrol, but for now, unmounted dragons will do."

Sirius nodded. "I'll get it going. But Harry, you can't be expected to do or think of everything. Remember that."

"I think you've done enough for today, Harry. The Weyr is protected and we still have all those potential riders to deal with," offered Dan.

Harry nodded reluctantly. "Probably," he muttered, then he turned his attention back to Albus. "Sir, I'm sorry about what happened to you, but welcome to our Weyr. Don't be surprised if some of our muggle folk come to you to ask about the Ministry, now that you're here. You're the best we have in understand how they think."

Dan stood and stretched. "I'll see the Headmaster to comfortable quarters," he offered.

Harry nodded and the others filed from his office. He sighed and took off his glasses so he could wipe at his face.

"Why would they raise an army?" he asked aloud.

"I would think it was obvious," Hermione replied. "You have an army because you intend to attack someone."

He blinked and fumbled for his glasses, then he turned to her in surprise. He hadn't noticed she had remained behind.

She looked at him archly. "Well? Isn't that what you would use an army for?"

Harry nodded slowly, then he glanced up at a large map of the United Kingdom on his wall. "Yes, but attack who? They aren't stupid enough to attack the mug..."

He sucked in a deep breath and scowled thunderously, then he whirled on Hermione.

She bit back a squeak at his look and the magic he seemed to be unconsciously generating.

"Who has dragons still? Who have we studied about that have been at war with the wizards dozens of times?"

"Goblins?" she exclaimed.

"Goblins," he repeated, then his eyes glazed over.

"Polenth?"

Hermione repressed a shiver as she watched him. It seemed almost as if he were no longer in the room. His body was there, but she knew he was holding a private conversation with a distant dragon.

"Weyrleader?" Polenth was surprised by his call.

"Is all well?"

"The Goblins are proving to be very cooperative, now that they understand we're not mindless beasts."

"I am worried, Polenth. Not about Goblin treachery, but about the wizards attacking the Goblins in an attempt to get at your clan."

"What do you suggest, Weyrleader? You know we cannot leave the caverns."

"No, you can't come into the open, but you can go to other caverns and to other closed in dark places. I will prepare a place at Disko you could retreat to, if necessary. For now, be watchful."

"We will, Weyrleader, and thank you." replied Polenth.

Harry's eyes returned to normal and he blinked a few times. "Another thing to worry about," he said softly, then he went over to his desk and made a note in a small book.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked softly.

He sighed and sat back down on his chair. "I'm fine, just tired," he replied and looked up at her. "May's going to need your help in the dorm tonight."

She nodded and started to reach to him, then pulled back. "Try to get some sleep."

"I will," he said, then he turned back to one of the books on his desk.

She chewed on her lip for a moment longer, then reluctantly left the room.

Minerva McGonagall's Quarters, Hogwarts, February 2nd...

It was two o'clock in the morning when Clarence appeared in Minerva's bedroom. The hat swiveled around for a moment, then spotted Minerva sound asleep on her bed. It hovered closer and came to rest on her head, where it glowed for a moment.

The hat was erasing certain memories to protect her. It had already dealt with Poppy, who Albus had foolishly explained some of his plans to. Now it was Minerva's turn.

There was no maliciousness involved. Hogwarts decided that no one should know where Albus had gone to or why. Minerva now just knew that he had spoken about having to go away for a while and would be back soon. Even a legilimency probe or Veritaserum wouldn't produce a different answer to where Albus had gone.

She was aware that the Hat was helping control the wards while he was gone and knew that only the hat could pick another Headmaster if he never returned.

The hat lifted off her head and she mumbled in her sleep, then turned over. Silently, the hat hovered for a moment longer, then vanished from the room.

Minister's office, Ministry of Magic, February 5th...

"Sir, Madam Umbridge is here to speak with you," said Percy Weasley.

"Excellent! Send her in!" he replied, then he straightened his robes slightly.

Percy held the door opened and smiled at Delores as she moved past him. Seeing the Minister give him a nod, he closed the door and carefully cast a privacy charm on it.

A crystal lit up on Fudge's desk, indicating the room was now secure. "Delores, what the hell is going on down at the DMLE? I mean, Amelia is claiming that the missing students left on their own with no help and now Dumbledore is missing?"

Delores sighed. "I'm not sure, to be honest, Cornelius. Amelia is still investigating, but so far, it looks like Dumbledore went off on his own, and the students left of their own free will. In fact, the old man was seen in the castle after the students had left to go to Hogsmeade. As a precaution, I've asked Amelia to put a warrant out for Dumbledore, but the only thing she's willing to do right now is a 'detain for questioning' warrant."

Fudge nodded unhappily. "Yes, Madam Bones is becoming a liability, I'm afraid."

He shook his head slightly and turned back to Delores. "Right then, what about assembling a force to take over the Goblins?"

Delores smiled broadly. "I've managed to assemble quite a group, all from impeccable families. Some of them were the unfortunate victims of You-Know-Who's Imperius spell, but that's turning out to be in our favor. They remember the spells we're going to need and are very willing to teach the others in their use."

Fudge nodded sagely. "How many do you have so far?"

"Not counting Amelia's people, we have nearly one hundred. I'm hoping that you'll allow me to recruit a little more formally, like at Hogwarts."

Fudge frowned. "I don't know, Delores. Let me think on that. It's a secret for now, but you recruiting from the school is bound to become widespread news. It wouldn't do to tip off the Goblins, now would it?" he asked.

Umbridge looked at him in surprise. She hadn't expected a problem with her request, but more to the point, she hadn't expected that he could see a possible problem that she hadn't. It surprised her, and it raised her estimate of Fudge's acumen in her mind. He was smarter than he acted.

"How many do you think you're going to need, Delores?" Fudge asked.

"I'm hoping for five hundred to a thousand, Minister. While those animals may outnumber, us a thousand wizards casting killing curses will beat them into submission," she replied.

Fudge nodded. "Yes, I can see that. Let me consider the issue of recruiting. That's something we need to deal with most carefully. Some of the people you want to recruit are sole heirs of important families and the Wizengamot is not going to like us putting them in danger."

She nodded a bit unhappily, but she could see his point.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Sir, I'm still worried about the missing children. While some of them are just muggle born and they probably ran back to their own world, I can't see an upstanding child like Draco Malfoy, or even Millicent Bulstrode, running away. Both had everything they ever wanted. Lucius is outraged at the mere suggestion. And when Amelia suggested that perhaps Draco and Millicent ran away together, Lucius nearly challenged her to a duel.

"He can't deny that such things have happened to pureblood children in the past. And as much as I wanted to smack her down, she isn't actively involved in the case, since her own ward is also missing. All she was doing was offering possibilities based on her experiences."

Fudge nodded unhappily. He didn't like it when Lucius was unhappy. An unhappy Lucius meant a Lucius with closed pockets.

"I'll speak with her. Perhaps it's time for her to take some time off," Fudge murmured.

Delores nodded happily and stood. "Thank you, Cornelius."

He smiled and waved, then he touched the crystal with his wand, signaling to Weasley to release the privacy charm on the room.

Campbeltown Weyr, Hangar #2, February 5th...

Harry stepped into the large building, followed by Chekiath. The potentials looked up from their seats and a hush fell among them. They were still somewhat in awe of the dragons.

A line of dragons followed Chekiath into the room and Harry waited until they were all inside before closing the hangar doors.

"At the table you will find buckets and a wire brush," He called loudly. "Each of you is to take one of each, then walk over to where Mister Granger is standing. If you know how to use the tap, fill your bucket until it's roughly half full with heated oil. If you do not know how to use the tap, ask Mister Granger and he'll show you how it works."

Harry then walked over to the table and picked up a bucket and brush. He grinned at Dan before filling his own bucket and walked back over to Chekiath.

"Once you have a bucket of oil, find yourself a dragon and go introduce yourself to him or her," he called.

Ten minutes later, the students were all watching Harry. "None of these dragons have reached maturity, so they are still growing. Part of our job is to ensure that the dragons remain healthy, and one way we do that is by inspecting and oiling their scales and hide."

He walked over to Chekiath and the dragon obediently turned sideways so he could demonstrate. "First, look for obvious problems, such as a misaligned scale or a scale bulging up to expose the sensitive hide underneath. If you find such a spot, then your dragon is down checked for flight Between.

"We're not sure why, but we do know from the dragons, and from experience, that going Between while injured or sick can make the problem worse. So any injury needs to be dealt with as soon as it's spotted."

He ran his hand over Chekiath's flank, letting the students see, and copy his movements.

Thirty minutes later, he finished his lecture and each dragon turned slightly and gave a very small burst of dragon flame to reheat the oil, then the students began rubbing down their dragons with the stiff brushes. The room filled with the sound of dragons crooning with pleasure and small chatter broke out among the students.

Chekiath looked at the students with a bit of longing and Harry laughed. "You had your turn this morning after our run."

"I know, but I enjoy a good brushing," replied Chekiath.

"Maybe later. Right now I need to see how the others are doing," Harry replied, shaking his head.

Chekiath rumbled with draconic laughter and curled up in his spot, while he watched Harry make his rounds of the students.

Harry had visited with nearly a dozen students when he head a voice call his name.

"Excuse me? Mister Potter?"

He turned and saw Karen Khan, one of the muggle students, waving to him. Curious, he walked over.

"It's just Harry, Karen. Mister Potter makes me feel downright old and I know for a fact you're a couple months older than I am."

The oriental girl flushed slightly and nodded. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little concerned. Tikreth here has a badly aligned scale and I think she's developing an infection."

Harry frowned and nodded. "Show me."

She led him around to one side. "Tikreth, would you lift your wings please?"

Harry examined the scale and the darkening hide underneath. "You're right, Karen. That was a good catch. Hopefully we caught it early enough."

He patted Tikreth's flank and she lowered her wings. She turned her large head toward him, her eyes, slightly yellow tinged, whirled slowly.

"I'm sorry, Tikreth, but I want you to see Hagrid as soon as possible. In the meantime, no Between until he clears you. If you want, Karen will help you with this."

"Thank you, Weyrleader. I would like her help. She has a very gentle touch."

The girl blushed brightly, but Harry ignored that. He was more concerned about the impending infection.

"Hagrid is in the infirmary now. Why don't you take Tikreth over there and get him to look at her?" he asked, turning back to the girl.

She nodded again and he smiled. "That was a really tough spot, Karen. Finding it when you did probably saved Tikreth a great deal of pain," he said kindly, then he patted her on the shoulder.

She turned away, then motioned to Tikreth, who followed her to the doors.

Harry watched the pair for a moment longer. Hearing his name, he turned to Gordon Chapman, another of the muggles, who had a question about the oil being used.

May turned away from watching over the back of her dragon and looked at Hermione, who was now looking at her. Both had watched Harry dealing with Karen, who was very pretty. He hadn't seemed to notice.

"He just doesn't understand, does he?" May said softly.

"No," Hermione replied with a bit of a sigh. "He's downright dense at times."

May suddenly looked appalled and she leaned a little closer to Hermione. "Do you think he may be gay?"

Hermione blinked, then couldn't help herself. She started to snigger. Slowly May started to laugh as well.

"Something funny ladies?" asked Harry from behind them.

Both girls stopped laughing abruptly and blushed terribly. "No, Harry, every thing is fine," replied Hermione

Harry nodded. "Make sure you check under the wing joints. Karen found a bad scale on Tikreth and I had to send them to Hagrid. She's going to need antibiotics to fight off the infection that's starting to set in."

Both girls nodded, and Harry turned and walked away.

"He's not gay," hissed Hermione to May, causing her to break into another fit of giggles.

Harry paused in the center of the large room when he spotted Dumbledore walking towards him, a smile on his face.

"Good morning, Headmaster," he said.

"Harry," Dumbledore chided, "I'm no longer your Headmaster. In fact, given the informal nature of the Weyr, I wouldn't mind if you called me Albus."

"That's going to take getting used to, sir," Harry said softly.

"Try it, Harry. You might find it gets easier with repetition."

"I'll try... Albus."

Albus grinned widely and clapped him on his shoulder. "I have to admit that I was watching you this morning. My boy, you had all the makings of a fine teacher. You have just the right amount of patience with the potentials and you're not afraid to give praise where it's due. That young girl practically glowed under your praise."

Harry ducked his head in embarrassment and Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "I also noted that you are making your magical students do the same work as the muggles, in the same manner," he added in a lower voice. "Not that you need it, but I approve! Magic might make their lives easier, but they need to learn how to do this the normal way so that they can appreciate any shortcuts they develop later in life."

"That was my idea as well, sir... er... Albus."

Both men looked up when Sirius entered the hangar. He approached them with a very somber expression on his face.

"I need you to come with me to the security office," he said.

"Both of us?"

Sirius nodded. "Yes, this concerns all of us."

Harry nodded, then he turned to the students. "Hermione, May!" he called. Both girls looked up, then put down their brushes and jogged over to him.

"You both know how important this is. I need to go for a bit. Circulate and help the others," he said. When they nodded, he turned and caught up with Sirius and Albus, who were walking toward the door.

"I wonder what that's all about?" asked May.

"I'm sure we'll find out later," Hermione replied, then she nudged the other girl. "Come on, let's go see if anyone needs help."

Sirius stopped the pair at the door to the security office. "Remember, no magic in here," he warned, then he opened the door. Sir Robert, Lord Mills and Captain Atkins sat grimly waiting for the two to enter.

"Good, you're here," Lord Mills said without preamble. "Now, Captain, if you would roll that tape?"

She nodded. "We got this from the PM's office this morning. It's a hidden video of the PM's office. They use cameras like this to monitor the PM's well being. Normally, the night crew does a quick review of these tapes, then they wipe them so they can be reused the next day. But they spotted something unusual last night. This copy was hand delivered to Sir Robert very early this morning.

"Yesterday, the PM was supposed to meet with the Minister for Magic. This is what they recorded," Atkins said, then she hit play.

It was an extremely short clip in which a man who was not Minister Fudge obliviated the Prime Minister, then when the security folks rushed into the room from their station, weapons drawn, two other men appeared and obliviated them, as well.

"The Prime Minister was shown the video this morning, and needless to say, he was outraged by what he saw. As far as he recalls, he had a very pleasant meeting with Fudge yesterday, in which quite a lot was accomplished and he was convinced that the Wizarding Government was working hard to ensure it followed muggle laws, as well as their own," Lord Mills added.

"I didn't recognize any of those men," Harry said. "All I can say for sure was Fudge wasn't among them."

Albus heaved a heavy sigh. "I recognized them and it is far worse than I thought. All three of those men belong to Minister Fudge's personal body guard. I knew Fudge only paid lip service to the Prime Minister. It was a common thing for the Minister of Magic to ignore the muggles for the most part, but I never thought he'd resort to bespelling the man."

Lord Mills turned to Albus with an outraged expression. "Just what is it with you people that makes you think you're above the laws of this nation?" he demanded.

Albus flinched back from Lord Mills slightly. "My lord, you must understand that having magic tends to make a person look down on those who do not. I am not advocating the belief, but it's a commonly held idea.

"We are all people, but like any people we want to think we are better than others. That we're special. We have magic and our life spans are longer than yours by as much as double or longer. The wizarding world believes that makes them special and they fail to see the accomplishments of the rest of the world. If you would tell a wizard that the muggles had walked on the moon, or split the atom, he'd laugh at the idea of walking on the moon, ask what an atom was."

Harry looked startled by something and was staring at the floor.

"Harry?" Sirius said, touching his shoulder.

He blinked and looked at him. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I'm just surprised, I guess. I didn't know about that live longer business at all."

Dumbledore shook his head ruefully. "We forget that your Aunt and Uncle wouldn't tell you these things. Your parents would have explained it all to you. And I know Minerva took it upon herself to explain to the muggle born girls. I just assumed that Professor Flitwick would have done the same for the muggle born boys. Being wizard born, you may have been overlooked by them, Harry."

"I'll have Remus stop by and tell you about some of the other differences," Sirius said, then he smirked. "It's not as bad as the boy wizard, girl wizard talk."

Harry winced at the thought of that kind of conversation. "Good, I don't need that one. I had health class in school. Now, I'll let you discuss the issues about the Prime Minister. I have a class waiting on me."

Harry walked from the room, while the others watched him depart.

"I would have thought he'd want to know what is going on," commented James.

"He does," Sirius replied, "But he knows he's not a fully trained wizard and really can't add much to the conversation. If it involves his dragons, he'll be there, giving orders like we've all seen him do. But he knows where his limits lie and this is one of them."

"I'm curious," Captain Atkins said. "Just what are the differences between wizards and normal humans?"

Sirius smirked. "Are you sure you really want to know?"

"Sirius," Dumbledore chided, then turned to Atkins. "My dear, how old would you say I am?"

She frowned and looked at Dumbledore appraisingly. "Perhaps seventy? Maybe seventy five?"

He smiled at her. "Why thank you, child. I haven't been in my seventies since the 1920s. I was born in 1843 and probably have at least another thirty or forty years still in me. A wizard's life span is tied directly to his or her power. Sirius, who is a powerful wizard, could easily live to be a hundred and forty or more. Harry, who is stronger at his age than I was, could surpass even I, since he's still growing in his powers.

"Another difference is that wizards are less prone to injury. Throw a wizard out of a window five or six stories high and they will bounce and perhaps break an arm or two. That same wizard will heal faster than a muggle, even if just muggle medical techniques are used.

"Because magic seems to keep us fit, most wizards tend to shy away from physical activity, but those that do are fitter than the best muggle athletes. There have been a few instances where wizards slipped into your Olympics and swept their events because they were fitter than they looked. Usually, we'd find out and arrest those people for violating our secrecy laws.

"I noted that you run every morning with Harry. It took him, what? A few days to get used to running that distance?"

Katherine Atkins blinked and nodded suddenly. "It did! I thought it was just because he was already in decent shape for that level of exercise."

"My godson hasn't been in decent shape since he was one year old," Sirius growled with an angry look at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "Yes, and I do regret that very much, Sirius. But he'll never return to those people again."

Lord Mills and Captain Atkins exchanged a look. They knew the story of Harry's impression and knew some of his history. They also knew there was a lot being left unsaid.

Hoping to change the subject, Katherine jumped in before Sirius could vent his anger. "So, are those the only differences?"

Dumbledore blushed lightly. "Well, there are other differences. The magic is a dominant trait, so a wizard or witch mating with a normal person is still likely to have magical children. And unless that couple use magical birth controls, no muggle birth control will prevent a pregnancy. It's also said that a wizard or witch has greater stamina for the act of love making, but I don't know if anyone has actually done the research on that aspect. It could be a myth."

Sirius nodded and smiled knowingly.

Captain Atkins glanced at him with an arched eyebrow, then looked away.

"There is a lot to be said for the differences that seem to make wizards better than muggles. On the other hand, when we do get sick, we tend to get very, very ill. Some illnesses can cause us to lose control over our magic, damaging ourselves and our surroundings. Most wizards go into seclusion during their final years, as the effects of old age are greater on wizards than on muggles. Dementia and other age related ailments proceed at a rapid pace until we die. The only consolation is that, until those symptoms appear, we can continue living a normal life."

He paused and thought for a moment. "No, I think the worst difference is the heart break a witch or wizard feels when they marry a muggle and that person finally passes away. A wizard's magic will extend the life of their spouse, but it can never fully match their own. So when a spouse who is not magical dies, the surviving spouse is left knowing that he or she is alone and will be alone for another thirty or more years. We rarely remarry."

"Some of us don't see that as a burden, Albus," Sirius said softly. If there was one lesson he had learned from James and Lily it was that love was the most important thing, and that the time together wasn't as important as the love shared.

"No, some don't, Sirius, but it is both a blessing and a curse. Which is why we try to tell our students to look among their own kind for a spouse," replied the old man.

James looked uncomfortable, "All right, I realize that Harry should be told these things, but what about the Prime Minister?"

"Have him cancel his future appointments with Fudge for now. Send a message saying there's a scheduling conflict or something and that he'll sent a new date when it's been straightened out. He doesn't meet every week, does he?"

"No, only six times a year," replied James.

Albus and Sirius exchanged relieved looks. "That gives us plenty of time if they won't meet for another two months. If necessary, I'll borrow Harry's invisibility cloak and be in that office to protect the Prime Minister myself, but I think we'll have some magical protections in place by then, right, Katherine?" asked Albus.

She nodded. "Yes. We have a number of people being trained for such positions right now. We were lucky. We found several members of the metro police who are also wizards. It's just a matter of training them to be part of the diplomatic protection group."

"How did those other two men appear?" asked Lord Mills.

"They could have been there. Since I didn't hear the pop of an apparation, I am going to assume they were disillusioned and in the room when the meeting began," Albus replied.

"Apparation makes a popping sound," Sirius explained. "People like Albus here can do it and are nearly silent, but most wizards make a distinct noise when they apparate."

"Can we add some magical protections to the Ministers office?" asked James.

"Indeed we can, just like we're adding here," Albus said. "I would be happy to put some wards up."

Lord Mills stood and turned to Albus, "Let's go over to my office and see if we can arrange a visit to the PM's office. Then maybe you can teach some of the people we're training to do the same thing."

Sirius watched them depart and smiled. "He's feeling a bit lost, I'm afraid, which is why he jumps at every chance to make himself useful," he said.

"I'm sorry?" asked Katherine.

He turned back to her. "Dumbledore. He's used to being at the center of things. Now he's been pushed off to one side and has little to do, so he's jumping at any chance to make himself useful."

She nodded, then turned back to a topic that was bothering her. "Sirius, about this life span thing. You seemed to disagree with Dumbledore about it."

Sirius shrugged. "Albus Dumbledore is a great many things and he is often right. But he's never been married, and as far as I know, never been in love. I have to admit that I'm not much better in that regard, but I learned a very important fact from Harry's parents. The time you have to together doesn't matter when the couple are in love. James and Lily loved each other very much, and while it's a shame they couldn't have more time, the time they did have was filled with love and laughter. I think that's more important.

"As far as a wizard or witch marrying a muggle, the magic will enhance the life span of the non-magical partner. You can expect a good thirty or forty years with your partner, Katherine, but if he were magical, that number rises sixty or seventy years, barring illness or accident. That's a very long time, even by wizard standards."

"Remus will tell Harry about the life span issue and muggles, but he'll also tell him to go with his heart. I've noticed him checking out the girls from both groups, but I think he's refraining from any entanglements until the Weyr is better situated."

"Yes, I've noticed that about him. He seems very focused on the dragons and somewhat oblivious to the girls around him," she replied.

Sirius made a sour face. "Part of that is his upbringing, I'm sure. He refuses to really talk about what life was like with his Aunt and Uncle, but I know Petunia. It couldn't have been very good."

Sirius stood and stretched a little, "All this talking is getting on my nerves. I think I'll go check on the air patrol and maybe join Norendrath for a couple hours of keeping watch."

Katherine Atkins watched him walk from her office, then she shook her head. He's a strange man, she thought. One moment he's enjoying the silliest of pranks, then suddenly intense and serious, to the point of being frightening.

The second most important Weyr to be established was originally called the Campbeltown Weyr. That name was ultimately replaced, as it became apparent that it was the key location for any government to go to in order to open talks with the dragons within their territories. Now it's named Spath's Weyr, after the dragon elder who helped bring humans and riders together. The Weyrleader insisted on honoring his friend by renaming the Weyr after Spath passed Between.

Excerpt from The Weyrs of Earth by Remus John Lupin, published in 2040.

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Author's Notes, Christmas Wish List and Mockeries:

- And now the stage is set for the first group of Dragon Riders on Earth. May and Hermione are friends despite being somewhat in competition. Unfortunately for them, the field now has many more fillies eying the prize. Heh.. something for the shippers to gnaw on.

- To the reviewer that wrote about Flaming Fart Ron. Ummm are you sure you were reviewing the right story. I mean yeah we kicked Ron from the story early, but he doesn't have a flatulence problem here. Although there was the night I had too many Baked Beans. Poor Alyx thought Yosemite had erupted.

- Meer-Heika, it will please you to know that of the 605 reviews at the time of your review, NO ONE had the balls to say HERE BE DRAGONS until you. Now four hundred and seventeen people have pm'd me with that damn phrase. Someone parked a Semi truck on my front lawn with that phrase painted on the sides. And there's a group of World War II era airplanes skywriting it over my house! Damn you! Alyx thinks its funny, but she thinks strapping explosives to small children before sending them home is funny too. I'm sending my Psychiatrist bill to you.

- Even at this state in the story, there are inklings of things to come. We've had a few people wondering where the epic battles were. Some others claim that the dragons are uber powered. They may appear to be uber powered compared to a modern military, but they are not invincible or invulnerable. Things are happening, but they are happening at a slow pace. The weyrs cannot be set up over night even with support from the muggle Government. Harry is still searching for ways to make dragons useful to society without endangering his dragons. Its not going to happen overnight. All I can say is have patience grasshoppers.

- The Ministry is neither stupid nor filled with silly people. What they are is simple. They are people that are convinced of their superiority. It is the same reason why we had WWII and nearly every war since then and an uncommonly common human flaw in all of us. How many times have you had someone effectively say either in words or actions, "I'm right and nothing you say or do will convince me otherwise." That my friends is what I've always envisioned as the Ministry of Magic.

- Only a very small percentage of people had any problem with the concept of the Goblins winning their rebellions. I get the impression that the goblins are not especially war like unlike pressed against the wall and then they can win by fielding overwhelming force. Once they get what they want, its back to business as usual for them. Finally I can't help but point out that they hold control over the economy. We didn't ask Germany and Japan to take over our treasury after we beat them in WWII, we didn't ask Russia to do that during the cold war... So honestly, how else would an enemy nation get control of something so important if they didn't wrest control by force? Think about it, but don't hurt yourselves.

- BJH if you think Harry and Hermione are fully reconciled at this point think again. Hermione has yet to discover that she's no longer dealing with Harry Potter. And it will be worse for her after she gets her dragon. There will be no easy road for Hermione, or Harry. Besides the generic pitfalls of being teenagers and all those years involved, you also have to deal with dragons and their bondings AND the fact that Harry's bond isn't the same as the other riders. Bumpy road ahead, reduce speed and keep your hands inside the car at all times!

- Breven if you get fired reading our story at work, please don't blame us. We did warn you. Oh. One other thing. It'll cost you a box of donuts to keep us from emailing your boss about your reading fan fiction. Chocolate donuts, and none of that coconut sprinkle stuff... ugh.

- Ohm7515. Sorry, but if you're expecting Harry to pull out an uzi and hose down the crowd, you're reading the wrong story. People are people and even the strongest people have times of weakness.