A Changed World

Tyene: You know, you could always just write Jurassic World fanfiction...

Wanda: (curled up) I want a pet raptor...

Tyene: ...You have issues. We do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 7: Battle

Harry's head spun, did Voldemort know about the previous timeline too!? But wait, that doesn't make sense...he knows that the horcruxes were destroyed once, but he doesn't know how...or he would have said so. Better play it carefully. "Whore crutches?" He said dumbly.

Hannah kicked him in the shin, causing him to swear in pain. "Never use that word around me," She snapped warningly.

"Huh. So you're the great pureblood dark lord." Megan pronounced, staring at Voldemort for a minute. "...You're uglier then I expected. How many twins do you have to marry to have your face on the wrong side of your head?"

"Silence mudblood!"

"You look like a botched clay totem." Megan went on, her brows knitting together as she faux seriously tried to figure out what she was looking at. "Or some sort of Frankenstin abomination. Are you sure you weren't stitched together from scraps?"

"Megan..." Maya whispered, glancing between their adversary and their lineup of friends. Susan had turned white with momentary panic, but some of that had drained away at Megan's comments. Hannah had a coldness seep into her eyes while Megan and Tracey were just tensed and ready to move.

"You look like Jamie Lannister trick or treating as Dracula." Megan went on.

"Erm, Megan? He's not going to get that reference. It's 1992 again, remember?" Tracey deadpanned.

Megan blinked and scowled immediately. "What? Now? Fucking hell, I forgot again...goddamn it, you mean the frickin Peter Jackson movies haven't been made yet!?"

"Unfortunately not. Hell, Titanic hasn't been made yet. Or Iron Man." Maya said the last one with a bit of distress in her voice.

"...Then what the fuck am I supposed to see in theatres this summer!?" Megan demanded. The three girls had either forgotten that Voldemort was in the room or were choosing to ignore him in order to piss him off.

"Hey, remember the 90s had a lot of great action movies." Maya said soothingly; Harry had shown her a few during his trips over to America in search of support during the first timeline. It hadn't really worked out, but he had shown his girl the beauty of muggle entertainment. "I'm sure they'll be fun."

"I guess...hey Maya, remind me to cast Protegro Maxima over the Twin Towers the next time we go to America."

"Got it."

Judging by how Voldie's chalk white extra face had somehow managed to go even whiter at that, it was working.

Harry decided to take advantage of this and throw Sectumsempra directly at the man's throat.

The girls immediately drew their wands and attacked on their own when a furious Voldemort threw a protection charm over himself and tried to return fire. Megan was nearly grazed when she instinctively went for her gun, forgetting she didn't have it at this point in time.

"Bombarda!"

"Incendio!"

"Reducto!"

"Levicorpos!"

"Protegro!"

Hannah obviously had prior experience with duelling not unlike Cassandra, because she worked fluidly alongside Maya and Megan, the best that Harry had ever seen other than Ginny or Flitwick. However, he found that despite jumping on Voldemort from behind physical contact didn't burn him the way it did last time.

It must be because the magic is shared, Harry realized. It was bound to have some consequences...!

Susan yelped as she was caught off guard while healing Hannah. Voldemort raised his wand to send an AK her way when Megan got in the way and fired off a disarming spell, striking him in the chest and knocking him backwards.

Snarling in rage, Voldemort surged to Quirrel's feet and aimed another fatal curse at the dark haired girl...

Then a fearsome roar shook the entire building to its foundations.

Megan gasped as a huge, scaled form flew over her and landed between her and her opponent. The green light struck the scales but sputtered out.

A young Hungarian Horntail stared down at Voldemort. Even though it was in the dragon equivalent of its preteen years, she was already twice the man's size with a jaw that was nearly as big as Susan, the smallest of the group.

"Do you think your beast can stop me?" Voldemort demanded.

To everyone's surprise, the dragon's eyes narrowed. It was as if...she recognized that she had just been insulted.

Tom Riddle, while cruel and violent, had never been particularly intelligent when it came to judging how dangerous people other then him could be. Any person without an overinflated opinion of their own power would have immediately disapparated in terror if they were face to face with a dragon, fully grown or not.

So when the Horntail opened her mouth revealing orange and purple flame building up in her throat, Voldemort stood right where he was.

The burst of fire burned a hole through the Mirror itself, and then though the side of the school.

When Harry could finally lower his hands away from his eyes, there was nothing left of Riddle but a pile of ashes.

The girls and boy all stayed frozen where they were, blinking owlishly at the usually feral and violent creature that had come to their rescue. The Horntail turned around and gazed down at Megan, lowering her snout until it was an inch away from the girl's stomach.

Megan admirably managed to control her body in spite of this.

After a painful moment of silence, the Horntail nudged Megan slightly and stepped back a bit.

"What do I do?" Megan hissed, confused as well as alarmed.

"Megan...I think it imprinted on you." Susan whispered.

"what?"

"She's clearly very young...most dragons these days that still exist have been forced to be born in captivity and isolation." Susan whispered. "It's hurtful...you're probably the first one to ever play with her since the Headmaster had her moved here. So she imprinted on you. You're...her mommy, basically."

"...that's a joke, right!?"

"Megan, can you...go pet it before it eats us all?" Tracey whimpered.

"It's a her, Tracey." Megan snapped, before blinking in surprise at herself. Carefully she got to her feet, watching the Horntail warily. The dragon flicked her tail and growled, causing the girl to freeze, but she made no move to attack. Cautiously, Megan raised a hand and stood still. The dragon nudged it with her nose, snorted some smoke, and then clawed at the iron harness and chains that hwere still tangled around her neck and legs.

"That looks...painful." Megan murmured. "Harry, could you come over here...unlocking charms aren't my forte and these look complex."

Harry swallowed, "Are you sure she won't eat me?"

"Stay further away than I am." Megan responded. "If she moves towards you I'll try to get her attention."

"...and how far would I get before I end up like Riddle?"

"Harry, shut up, she can probably smell fear. That isn't helpful." Megan snapped, keeping her eyes on the Horntail.

"I can't help it! Bad memories," Harry said, shivering when he thought of the Horntail that had nearly killed him in the previous timeline. Could they even be the same dragon? I'm no animal expert, but I'm pretty sure they were both girls...

However, at Megan's request he carefully got up and cast a number of unlocking charms, allowing the dragon to spread her wings and shake off the chains. She shivered, as if she had never really experienced such freedom. Megan smiled hesitantly, at which point the Horntail lifted her up on its head and hurtled out of the chamber.

The rest of the group exchanged stunned looks before hurrying after them.

**Later**

"So Voldemort has incomplete memories of the previous timeline," Dumbledore stated gravely. Outside his window, the dragon was flying around with Megan on her back in a mildly insane manner. Harry fervently hoped his fourth wife didn't get airsick. "I see."

"Erm, sir? What should we do about Megan's...?"

"Ah, you mean the imprint?" At this, Dumbledore smiled. "I confess I rather hoped something like that might happen...magical creatures can be treated truly abominably by the Ministry and the pure blood upper class...I managed to rescue that little one from Gringotts a few weeks ago, but she can't say here as much as Hagrid would like it due to Ministry decrees."

Harry, Maya and Tracey all glowered at that. Hannah and Susan had been sent off to the hospital after being congratulated for their courage; they weren't privy to the whole, changed timeline just yet. Harry planned on filling them in once he reunited with Ginny; since they were part of the soul bond it physically hurt to keep things from them.

"What should we do about her?" Harry asked skeptically.

Dumbledore let out a gentle chuckle. "Harry, did you not explore your family's mansion to its fullest? Have you not seen your back yard? There's more than enough room for a dragon to fly around without detection, as long as you ward her in at the property lines. Just remember – she prefers sheep, and it would be good to make sure she isn't seen by outsiders."

Maya and Tracey both nodded at this, clearly sympathizing with the battered young dragon, so Harry decided to give in at the end.

"What should we do about the horcruxes?" Harry asked, trying to bring the conversation back to the important thing.

Dumbledore sighed. "If he knows they were destroyed, even if he doesn't know how, he will move them. Harry, I want you to research high profile curse breakers while I try to discover where he might have moved the horcruxes too."

"Do you want me to..."

"Harry, Maya, Tracey...all of you, take a rest this summer. You've done magnificently this year and you deserve to take a break."

"Thank you sir," Maya said quietly, clearly envisioning spending some time with Graham.

"Have you found the chamber?" Harry asked.

"It's been moved to a different place."

"Well, that's just-!"

"Language, miss Davis." Dumbledore said chidingly. Tracey scowled and crossed her arms. "You are eleven again."

**Last Day of School**

"Why do you suppose Fudge and Umbitch were back?"

"Megan..."

"What, we're all thinking it, I'm just saying it." The girl said with a scowl as they stepped outside of the school.

"Something related to 'Quirrel' no doubt." Harry said sourly. "You remember fifth year; given how bad the Ministry seems to be in this year, I wouldn't put it past them to be trying that now."

"So, what'd you call her?" Maya asked curiously as Megan's Horntail roared in greeting from her napping spot next to Hagrid's hut.

"Delta." Megan responded with a grin as they approached. She stepped forward and raised her hand, murmuring something Harry couldn't quite hear. Delta made a noise that almost sounded like Crookshanks's purring and opened her wings. Megan carefully climbed onto her neck and smirked at the rest of her friends.

"Hang on tight," She said causally.

Oh, boy. Harry thought, gulping as he was reminded once again of the dragon that was part of their escape from Gringotts.

End Chapter

So yeah...Megan has a dragon now. Fun times. Dragons were always my favorite mythical creature besides unicorns, which were always gentler and kinder. They're just so badass...and close kin to dinosaurs as far as I'm concerned.

Read and Review please!