CHAPTER 6:

A MEETING OF TARGARYENS

Magister Illyrio Mopatis was an unhappy man, in the same way that the ocean was wet. His men had failed to find Daenerys Targaryen or the dragon. Somehow, they had escaped his estate, and a search of the city and the surrounding area had proved fruitless. He was already sending messages to the other Free Cities, as well as making enquiries to the Dothraki, but he knew that they would be fruitless. It meant a number of plans had gone down the privy. Varys would be displeased, and Illyrio certainly was.

But if he was angry, it was nothing compared to the sheer incandescent rage that Viserys Targaryen had shown. Illyrio knew that Viserys called this 'waking the dragon', and while it had more in common with the conniption of a spoilt child than any true dragon, Viserys' rage was indeed impressive, though also costly. Even now, the little shit was drinking himself blind on expensive wines, and Illyrio didn't know whether he would drink himself into a stupor or a rage.

Unfortunately, he needed Viserys alive, now that Daenerys had flown the coop, possibly literally, though none of the guards he had on watch saw anyone emerge (though they did mention a loud noise, like a whipcrack magnified). Varys had contingencies if things went awry, and while Viserys couldn't be a good heir to the Iron Throne, Varys could use Viserys as leverage or as an agent provocateur.

To tell the truth, Illyrio actually pitied the girl, and felt that, wherever she went, it was probably a better place than here. There was a very real possibility that she would have been married off to Khal Drogo, who was in the market for a wife, and Drogo's tastes were admittedly exotic. And if she died, it was a mercy, given her brother's attitude, as well as the ruthless nature of the game of thrones.

What was worse was that he was supposed to have a message from the exiled Ser Jorah Mormont by now, who was going to act as his middleman to negotiate with Khal Drogo regarding said marriage. But Ser Jorah was late, and Illyrio couldn't dismiss the possibility that the two events were connected, paranoid though that was.

All of which meant that Illyrio, to use the vulgar phrase, was up Shit Creek without a paddle. He needed to find the girl as soon as possible, or there'd be hell to pay…

After dinner, Dany, accompanied by Harry and Jorah, went to make her acquaintance of her relative. She had noted, however, that Luna seemed to attract the ire of her fellows in Ravenclaw. She observed how more than a few looked on her with contempt, and that awoke an anger within her. She may be eccentric, according to Ginny, whom she asked about Luna, but it was a harmless eccentricity, speaking of animals of dubious existence. Regardless of the truth of her father's madness, Luna's foibles were better than, say, that of Baelor I, whose singleminded piety her brother had sneered at. In addition, she was a Ravenclaw, a House that, according to Harry, treasured knowledge and a desire for learning, as opposed to the valour of Gryffindor.

Shortly before dinner, Harry had also introduced her to Cedric Diggory, the proper Hogwarts Champion, a handsome boy belonging to Hufflepuff, the House noted for loyalty and tenacity. The two were apparently Quidditch rivals, but Cedric was a rather amiable boy.

In any case, Dany wasn't sure what to expect when she met Luna. Which was just as well. It was certainly an experience.

When they approached Luna, she looked at them with her pale, wide eyes, and smiled. "Hello, cousin. I'm not sure exactly which degree it is. Family trees are so tangled when it comes to families like ours."

As Dany gaped, one of the girls from Ravenclaw passing by sneered, and said, incredulously, "You're related to Looney Lovegood? Poor girl."

Dany shot the girl a glare. "And who are you to judge her?"

"Marietta Edgecombe. And let me give you some advice. You don't want to hang around with her, family or not, or you'll catch her crazy."

"It is my choice to make. Don't presume to make it for me," Dany retorted.

"Merlin, you sound like a Malfoy. I would've thought you had standards, Potter," Edgecombe sneered back, before leaving.

A girl who looked like she was from Yi Ti came over apologetically. "Sorry about Marietta, Harry. She doesn't like Luna. Not many people in Ravenclaw do."

"They have bad cases of Wrackspurts," the girl in question remarked.

"Are you friends with her, Cho?" Harry asked, clearly knowing the girl.

She nodded. "I try to stop her, but…" She shook her head, before turning to Dany. "I'm sorry for Marietta's rudeness."

"Your loyalty is admirable, but it was your friend who was at fault, not you. Warn her that I do not take kindly to those who treat my family and friends with disdain. If it gets out of hand, I will not be happy. What is your name?"

"Cho Chang."

"Very well, Cho Chang. Regardless of your friend's rudeness, it is a pleasure to meet a friend of Harry's."

She smiled, and left with a goodbye. "Actually," Harry confessed quietly, "she's not so much a friend as a girl I had a crush on." As Dany shot a glare at Harry, he quickly added, "I didn't know you were real, Dany!"

Jorah laughed quietly at Harry's plight. "Don't dig yourself deeper, lad."

"Don't worry," Luna said to Dany. "He is committed to you, cousin. I think there is a classroom nearby we can use…"

Dany managed to get over her annoyance towards Harry by the time they got there. Harry was relieved. After all, hell had no fury like a woman scorned, and he didn't want to awaken the dragon he knew was within Dany, even if it was figurative.

Once they entered the classroom, Luna reached to her eyes, and removed something, revealing the violet eyes of a Targaryen. "What did you do to your eyes?" Dany asked, thinking back to the tales she had heard of the Faceless Men with a thrill of fear. "Was that magic?"

"No," Luna said, holding out her hand, showing plastic shapes on them. "Contact lenses."

"Contact…what?" Dany asked.

"A Muggle invention, albeit refined by magic," Luna said. "Like Harry's glasses, but they put them on the eyes. I wouldn't need them, but my mother was paranoid about someone from Westeros coming here, someone who was an enemy of our family, and I had been tormented as a child for my eyes anyway. My hair could be explained away, but few people on this world, even amongst wizards, have violet eyes. Instead, my mother and I chose the eyes of our adoptive grandfather, Ollivander. You'll have to meet him soon, to get your wand." She smiled warmly at her relative. "Professor Dumbledore told me you came. Daenerys Targaryen. The Stormborn. I am Luna Visenya Targaryen." She then approached Dany, and hugged her.

After a moment, Jorah cleared his throat pointedly. "As touching as it is to see this reunion, Your Graces, is there anything a little more pertinent to speak of?"

"What is more pertinent than a family reunion that won't end in blood and tears?" Luna asked, cocking her head. "It's better to end them with pudding."

Dany couldn't help but snicker at the girl's proclamation. "Pudding?"

"Yes, many good things end with pudding. I hope that when the world ends, it is because it has been turned into pudding," Luna declared. "And I will be ready with my big spoon!"

This caused Dany to erupt into full-blown laughter. After so long without it, she found the times she did laugh to be something to treasure. As her laughter died down, Dany looked at her cousin. "But how would you eat the whole world if it turns to pudding?"

"Oh, I'd probably have to spin it out over a little while," Luna said. Then, her face became solemn. "I saw you and your brother in my dreams, you know. Of what happened in Westeros. There are others of our family back in Westeros."

It took Dany a moment for the implications of that sentence to hit her. Others in Westeros. Not just 'other', as the only one she knew of was Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch. "Do you mean bastard children? Maybe some remnant of the Blackfyres?"

"No," Luna said. She closed her eyes. "They said that when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin to determine whether they are possessed of genius or madness. For me, the coin landed on its edge. I am what could be called a seer, but instead of seeing the future, I see other nows, all overlapping with each other. To see what normally can't be seen…that is my gift and curse. But I also know of the others of our family. I can't see everything everywhere, but I am drawn to our family more often than not." As she opened them, her gaze grew distant, as if seeing into the distance. "I see your brother, drinking and raging against you in a manse in Pentos. I see Maester Aemon, treating the frostbite of one of the Rangers of the Night's Watch. And I see your nephew, trueborn of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, hidden by Ned Stark, claiming him as his bastard."

"I know of whom you speak," Jorah said as Dany tried to process what she was being told. "Jon Snow. Stark came back from Robert's Rebellion with a bastard son in tow. Caused more than a little trouble with Lady Catelyn. But he is truly of Rhaegar and Lyanna's blood?"

"Yes, though he looks more Stark than Targaryen," Luna said. "He looks so sad. He is treated with love by his father, and most of his siblings, but Catelyn, not knowing the truth, treats him coldly." After a moment, she added, "I want to hug him. He's very huggable."

This broke Dany out of her shock more than anything, and she looked up at Luna. "Huggable?" she asked incredulously.

"Huggable." But once more, she became solemn. "But…I see signs of war coming. And worse. winter is coming. A long one, a bad one, maybe even a perpetual one. And with it, the Others, the Night's King and his White Walkers." She shuddered and shivered.

"Others?" Harry asked. "White Walkers?"

"She speaks of myths and fairytales," Jorah said. "Though I can't discount the possibility that they existed long ago. The Others, the White Walkers, they were enemies of the First Men of Westeros and the Children of the Forest. They came with a winter that was long, bitter, and lethal, thousands of years before, long before the rise of Valyria and the invasion of the Andals. It was known as the Long Night, where an entire generation was born, and many never lived to see spring. Only the combined efforts of the First Men and the Children managed to stop them, and it is said that the Wall in the North was created to keep the White Walkers out. They were beings of unnatural cold, capable of raising the dead as Wights to act as their armies, so the stories tell. Few in Westeros, even the North, believe that they existed at all anymore. The Wall is now said to keep the Wildlings, barbarians who live in the cold, dark and lawless lands there, from entering the Seven Kingdoms."

"So…the Others are abominable snowmen," Harry said. "Got it."

"Don't be a fool," Jorah snapped. "If even a fraction of the myths are true, abominable is an understatement."

"Are they true?" Dany asked Luna.

"As true as you and I," Luna said quietly and solemnly. "I can see them but dimly, but they exist. And they stir. But of more concern is another stirring in the dark of this world. Voldemort."

"Voldemort?" Harry asked. "What do you know of him?"

"Like the Others, not as much as I'd like to, but enough to scare me," Luna said. "What he is doing, anyway. You heard about the riot at the Quidditch World Cup, of how a group of Death Eaters ran amok, and then someone cast the Dark Mark. The one who cast the Dark Mark is the real enemy."

"Why is that?" Dany asked.

"The Death Eaters who still remain free did so by disavowing Voldemort. If he came back, they would be punished as traitors," Luna explained. "Oh, he would let them live as long as they swore loyalty to him again, but not without him punishing them." She turned to face Harry, and smiled. "But you have something they don't, Harry. We Targaryens have the blood of the dragon within us. A long time ago, that was very true. That was not an Animagus form you used, Harry. You awoke the dragon within."

Harry was staring at Luna with confusion, a confusion that Dany shared, especially as they hadn't told Luna this particular piece of information. "What," he said flatly.

"Not all dragons were beasts. Some of them were able to take on human form, or perhaps they were sorcerers able to take on dragon form, and many Valyrians mated with them. But it is said that, when the Doom came to Valyria, those dragons perished with it. In truth, some had the ability to slip through the interstices of space…and this they did, coming to Earth. Their bloodline became diluted over time, until those dragons forgot anything but being human, but they had an affinity with dragons, and the ability to change merely slept. Some came over to Earth earlier, at different times. The Deathly Hallows, for example, was stolen during the founding of Braavos, during a dispute with the Faceless Men. Death, in the Tale of the Three Brothers, was actually the leader of the Faceless Men."

"The Deathly Hallows?" Harry asked.

"Your Invisibility Cloak is one of them," Luna said. "My point is, Harry, you had a dragon within. All it needed to be was awoken. 'The power he knows not' indeed…"

CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Luna's a Targaryen, and one of the nutty ones…albeit not actually an evil one. And we have some insight into Harry's true nature.

The whole concept of Harry's abilities as a dragon came about when writing how to get this story to work properly. The teleportation thing was needed, as I was having trouble using the mangled Portkey from the end of Year 4, or the Veil from Year 5, and those are admittedly overused MacGuffins anyway. So I decided to take a leaf out of Anne McCaffrey's works, and give Harry at least one trait of the Pern dragons. Am I making him too OP? Well, he hasn't learned how to use it properly yet, and he is far from invincible as a dragon. And, as Season 7 of Game of Thrones showed, even the Planetos dragons are far from invincible either. Then again, we know this, given the Dance of the Dragons, or even before that, with what happened to Ageon's sister-wife Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes.

Also, Seer Luna is fun to write. Though I actually prefer it when she sees into the now rather than the future. It's fun and doesn't make her too OP. And she's not omniscient. Though she knows things she normally shouldn't, as the last line showed…

Review-answering time! DZ2: I dunno whether it's weird, I'm just not sure what exactly you were laughing at.

Nitroexpress: In a later chapter, when Harry starts practising his dragon form, it's larger, the body being a little larger than a horse. It'll grow along with him.

Sean Malloy-1: Jorah offers to teach Harry in Chapter 9. And nobody would take that bet…though Harry will be pissed. And so will Dany and Jorah.

ExaltedNekoKun: As shown above, she knows about the threat of the Faceless Men (now that I come to think of it, was George RR Martin inspired by the Facedancers of the Bene Tleilax from the Dune novels?), and Jorah might have enough presence of mind to warn them about the possible power of the Red Priests, now that he knows for sure that magic works.

Sheploo: In which book? I haven't found it in the wiki.

LoamyCoffee: Oh shit, I hadn't thought of that…

Morbious20: The canon Dany may not have had as open a mind, but she did accept fairly quickly that her brother was unsuited to be king. What's more, this Dany has been shaped and influenced by Harry, so there's a degree of scepticism to what people usually hold as 'true' due to his influence. She's willing to hear another perspective, having recognised that her brother was biased, and Mopatis was a kissarse. Jorah, on the other hand, will tell her the truth, albeit telling her that he cannot know the whole truth, having heard about it secondhand.

myafroatemydog: Dumbledore won't train Harry directly (to avoid accusations of breaking the rules of the TWT), but he has enough nous in this version of events to get a teacher to get Harry up to snuff to survive, like Remus. I think it's partly because, when Harry disappeared after burning the Dementors, he felt responsible, and it finally gave him a bit of a wakeup call. He knows Harry is heading for a fight against darkness, and instead of guiding him from afar, he is taking the reins a little more, to better effect.

ficreader2011: You may think that, but it might actually be a hindrance, a modern morality.

No numbered annotations for this chapter.