Chapter 8: Chapter with no name

Harry was picking the last of Wormtail's remains from between his teeth with his talons. Now that he wasn't busy enjoying killing the miserable rat, he was starting to second-guess himself. Maybe it was a bad idea to actually eat him. His parents and Sirius were avenged, but was this really the right path? Last hours had been very stressful and maybe his brains had been muddled. If he'd thought this more carefully, doubtlessly he would have acted differently. After all, Wormtail was a repulsive filthy little rodent. The aftertaste of sewage and dirt still lingered and Harry was now afraid of food poisoning.

Why didn't he just dice the bastards into little bits without consuming them? He could have played a cat and... well rat for hours. Instead, he had this terrible taste in his mouth and knowledge that Wormtail's remains were somewhere inside him. Maybe he should try to throw up...

Harry stuck his tongue out and started to rub it with his arm, trying in vain to get rid of the taste. The Death eaters that had stayed around to see the torture and death of Wormtail (who they all hated) burst out laughing. Harry stopped to glare and hiss at them, not appreciating their mirth at his suffering.

"I take it that he was as delicious as he was attractive? Ah, well it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone. Do you wish to have something else to eat? To wash away the flavor of cowardice?" Rabastan inquired, still smiling gleefully at the remaining puddles of blood. Harry nodded eagerly in answer and Rabastan summoned a barrel of fish from somewhere. The instant they were in his reach, Harry practically inhaled them blissfully.

"Now, as you seem to be reasonably intelligent being, we can start to talk about real business. You are here for the Dark Lord's pleasure. He is looking for extra firepower and flare to the raids and battles. In simpler words, he wants a dragon in his side in the fights. That's you. We'll show you where to go and you are free to sow as much chaos and destruction as you can. In other times you will act as a symbol of master's power and frighten the new recruits and other idiots. Do nod if you understand what I'm telling you," Rabastan explained in serious tone, staring into Harry's eyes and undoubtedly analyzing his every emotion during the speech.

First Harry was quite astounded and frightened at the same time. Voldemort wanted to take a dragon into the war? Wasn't he scary enough as he was? The additional threat a he would bring to Statute of Secrecy would be substantial. Plenty of muggles had seen him and Ron flying to the school in second year. And that had been in a car that had mostly remained invisible. Trying to get a dragon into battlefield had to be far more noticeable.

At the end of the speech, fear turned into anger. They wanted him to act as some kind of pet or trophy of Voldemort's! He had fought against the maniac almost all of his life. He was a dragon, not some pureblooded poodle you could command to do tricks in dinner parties. Simmering in irritation, he nodded tersely his understanding.

Rabastan narrowed his eyes "You will be well cared for: there will be plenty of good food and sizable enclosure. You don't have to share your territory with dozen dragons. We can even give you some additional protection against spells and maybe a hoard of treasure. If you do as we wish and put aside your unnecessary pride. This can be a very fortunate partnership to both," Rabastan trailed off, waiting for some kind of response. At Harry's growl he continued, "Of course, disagreeing is pointless. It may delay things for a while, but be assured I have ways to make you obey. I can break you and build you again according to my wishes. There will be no escape or respite; you are far too valuable to our cause now that your intelligence is known."

Harry roared, shouting his defiance to all who were in hearing range. Rabastan's answer was immediate. With a spell Harry's cage started to change shape and shrink. The roof descended slowly and forced him to down to ground. He had to open his wings and spread them across the floor as there wasn't enough space to keep them punched up.

However, Rabastan wasn't finished and despite the angry hisses of the dragon he waved his wand again and the sides of the cage started to move towards each other. Soon Harry was immobile, his body forced into an uncomfortable heap, the tail, and long neck twisted into knots.

"It would be awfully easy to cast the Conjunctivitis Curse right now. Are you familiar with it? It targets the eyes and is quite excruciating to dragons. After all, the eyes are one of the few vulnerabilities of your kind," Harry wanted to scoff, from his experience dragons had more weaknesses than most wizard thought, "Are you sure you don't want to take the first deal?"

Harry ceased his hissing in favor of staring Rabastan. He had no doubt that the wizard would fulfill his threat. The poacher had taught him that dragons were far from being impervious to pain. He really didn't want a repeat of that experience. Only their stupidity had given him a chance to fight back and even then without the dragon handlers and aurors he would have died. The Death Eaters seemed to be far more prepared and smarter. He could force Rabastan to break him, but why should he suffer pointlessly.

It was time to remember what he'd learned while living in number 4 Privet Drive. He would swallow his anger and pride and do as he was told. There had been enough of pain already, and maybe a chance to freedom would come along in the midst of battle. He would be truly lost if they broke him down to that of mindless beast. By accepting this deal, he could survive. And Harry was good in adapting to new situations and surviving. After all he'd been doing it since the Halloween Voldemort had shown up in Godric's Hollow.

Harry lowered his gaze and let the resignation and agreement swallow up inside.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

After Rabastan had congratulated Harry upon making the right decision, he was moved again to new enclosure, if you really could call it that. The building they were turned out to be Slytherin Manor. It was surrounded by huge yard and small forest and Harry was given reign over all of it. There were high stone wall and wards surrounding the mansion and its grounds that prevented him from leaving. He was told that the manor itself was also projected against dragon's attacks or more specifically Harry's attacks. They had taken a drop of his blood to enforce the wards against him. Harry had still of course given it a go, but the protection had held.

He had been taken into an inner courtyard next to the hall, where Death Eater meetings were held. The wall had been torn down so that Harry could scare and eat those unfortunate souls that annoyed Voldemort. There Harry was fitted with a steel collar that had yet unknown features to make him 'controllable'.

After that he was dumped out with orders to maim and kill anyone he saw outside. Apparently all permitted traffic would use special Floo Network or Apparation and thus anyone outside was categorized as a spy or enemy. Harry though that finding only find lost Death Eaters was a higher probability. Because of this he quickly decided that it would be best to kill them off, saving innocent lives in future and lessening the work burden for Aurors and Order. He'd already killed a bunch of wizards, what were a few more.

Harry had been grounded for far too long and he was for a first time in a while somewhat free to do as he wished, so he decided to enjoy the opportunity to fly around while it lasted. Remembering his last flight with Charlie was inevitable, awakening a longing to see the redhead again. He wondered what he dragon handlers had done when they found an empty camp when they returned. Would they contact Aurors to tell them that the dragon they had just saved had gone missing?

Was it too much to hope, that they would find him again? On the other hand it would be very dangerous to the handlers; they probably didn't have enough manpower to storm the home of Voldemort. The price of rescue mission would be too high for Harry's tastes. After all at the moment he wasn't in absolute danger, they needed him to be agreeable and in a good health.

It was amazing how much had already happened during the summer. Usually the summers were devoted to boredom and keeping Dursleys content. Just a while ago he wanted to find a way to communicate with other wizards, and now that it was possible he wished otherwise. It was too dangerous; sooner or later they would start to ponder why he was different from the other dragons. He really didn't want the Death Eaters to figure out he was a wizard or Harry Potter. It seemed somewhat unlikely, he hadn't hear anything about anyone transforming into a dragon ever, but then his luck had been awful lately.

He'd heard some whisper that the Voldemort was returning to his manor soon from listening below and above the open windows. Apparently he'd been somewhere abroad, likely doing something nefarious. He was dreading meeting the dark wizard, you never knew what could happen when they met.

It seemed like he would be left in peace until Volemort returned. No one had bothered him for few days, so he hadn't seen any of his enemies closely. Sometimes he would hear them from inside or see the heavy curtains moving in the windows, as one of the wizards would gaze upon his magnificent scales and wings.

Regrettably he knew solitary days were bound to run out. Predictably just then when he was gliding high above the manor he heard yelling down below. A dark haired witch was fidgeting impatiently in the inner courtyard. "But darling it's the fastest path to the dungeons! Those poor muggles must be yearning to see me again. They are probably dying from boredom," Bellatrix cackled, skipping deeper into the courtyard.

"We told you, going outside is forbidden. There's a dragon for Merlin's sake! Get back inside," the male voice shouted from inside.

"What? Dragon? You found one at last?" Bellatrix stopped and peered around, trying to locate Harry.

"Weren't you listening earlier? Come back now, no matter how hard you stare it's not going to appear behind those bushes." Harry grinned, undoubtedly showing an impressive set of razor sharp teeth. He'd been ordered to take care of anyone wandering in the grounds.

He drew his wings together and dived towards Bellatrix.

The witch saw his shadow or heard him, as she turned to look up and yelled a shield charm. A red dome burst over her just as Harry breathed fire. The bushes she had been looking turned to ash as the flames hit them. Someone shouted a summoning charm and Bellatrix was yanked backwards. Her concentration wavered for a second and the shield flickered. It was enough to set her clothes on fire, but she was in the safety of the manor before anything else could happen.

She was soon doused with water. She was left to sit in a puddle of water, looking like drowned rat and swearing up a storm. As Harry landed down, he was glad to see a nasty looking burn in her leg and scent of burned meat in the air. A crowd was gathering around her, most onlookers seemed to be in conflict if they should help the witch or flee from the scene. He sent a little buff of smoke and flames towards the wizards and witches present and let out a hissing laugh as they jumped away in fright.

That was the moment Voldemort stalked into the hall, black cloak billowing behind him. Harry's insides froze as he looked upon his greatest enemy that had suddenly appeared, he hadn't really realized that this was really Voldemort's base, before seeing the man himself. The snake-faced man looked around with sharp eyes, taking it all in; the burnt garden outside, Bellatrix in the puddle and dozen Death Eaters backing away from the laughing dragon. He looked far from pleased and Harry could almost swear he saw a vein pulsing in the man's forehead.

As it seemed like Riddle would start to throw Cruciatus around like confetti, Harry decided to relocate himself into safer area. He tried to convince himself that he wasn't running away at all, it was just a great time for a tactical retreat. He rose up, blowing around the ashes of the garden with his wing beats and hastily rising into the air. Just as he took a direction towards the small forest he could hear the screams starting to rise from the hall.

Voldemort was at home.


Thanks so much for all the reviews (no more additional fillers, thank god)! They really do make wonders for my motivation :)

I don't have beta, so sorry about all the mistakes I couldn't find. I wrote this chapter quite fast so... (Sorry about the shortness too)

Some of you have asked how Harry transformed into a dragon. I have an explanation to this and there have been some hints in the story already, but I'm not going to tell how it happened just yet. If you can guess it I will worship you eternally.