Draco glanced up from his contemplation of his potions homework when he heard the unmistakable crack of apperation. The wards would have kept out all but Malfoy blood, which meant it had to be his father returning from the dark lord's side. His mother was currently with him in the family library. Immediately they rose and went to greet their lord, anything else was considered an affront to Lucius's dignity and station. They found his father leaning heavily upon the wall his body shaking violently with reaction. Draco knew those symptoms, had seen the aftermath of his father using that spell upon his mother and having upon rare occasion merited the use of the cruciartus curse upon his own person.
Idly he wondered what had their esteemed lord in such a mood. As this was the fifth time this summer that his lord father had returned in such a condition. Although today the man's Death Eater garb was covered in a fine crusting of dried blood.
Draco had grown up accustomed to several truths, most of which he was certain would not survive the passing of the summer months. He had already learned by looking at his father that his family name did not make him untouchable. He had to admit he was confused his father had always told him that Malfoy blood made them above everyone else, yet his father willingly served the dark lord. His mother had always said 'Blacks bow to no one yet she deferred to his father as was old pureblood custom, and he bowed to the dark lord.
and came home bloody and shaking with the aftereffects of torture
To make matters worse, his father had told him that he'd reaffirmed his promise to the dark lord. Draco knew it was too much to hope for, but he still wished his father had left him out of it.
Wished his father had never sworn his service to the dark lord.

He had no choice his father planned to present him to the dark lord for initiation on his 16th birthday.

"Father?" he enquired silkily, "what does the initiation entail? I wish to prepare myself for it."

His father glanced over at him, as he drank the dark blue potion his mother had handed him. " it is nothing difficult Draco, even you can perform so menial a task. You need simply torture a few mudbloods and rid the world of their filth."

Draco hid a wince, his father spoke of torture and killing like one would speak of taking out the trash. "What if I cannot perform the initiation task?" he enquired. He'd admit he didn't particularly like muggles – or at least what he'd heard of them – but …

He didn't want to kill anyone.

Actually he enjoyed healing

Like the time he'd found the owlet with the broken wing

His father had wanted to kill it, but he'd secreted the animal away in a box under his bed and with the help of their house elf, had nursed the little thing back to health.

He'd been ten at the time, but he'd loved the feeling that had come with it.

When his mother had discovered his secret he'd begged her not to tell his father.

Ambrosius * had grown large and strong, and when his father had seen him his mother had intervened claiming to have bought him the majestic eagle-owl as a early birthday gift.

He'd had the owl since.

His father's firm tone left no doubt of his sincerity. "If you cannot perform the initiation task, then I will torture and kill the filthy mudbloods for you and then I will torture and kill you for disgracing me so."

Draco swallowed, and inclined his head. "I understand father, and I will not fail you." He replied hotly.

He wished he could say that his father would never do it, but he knew he would. To make matters worse he could no longer even hide behind his status as the only heir to the Malfoy family, not when his mother was currently pregnant.

There had to be a way out of this

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Sirius watched Daegberht wearily. Other then the first dream he'd never appeared before the other dragons in this strange dreamscape as a man. He'd always appeared as an immature male dragon, and positively dwarfed by those around him.

he'd confessed as much to Evan.

The boy had made a quip about him finally physically being his mental age.

He'd retaliated by knocking the boy onto his rump with an affectionate nudge of his nose.

He was maybe half Daegberht's size if he was being generous.

The larger dragon launched himself gracefully into the air and perched himself upon a stone spire way above Sirius' head. "alright little tercel, I have judged your conformation and judged you to be without any deformities, limiting or otherwise. Now it is time to see to your training. Fly four circuits at speed if you please."

Sirius launched himself into the air and set about circling the quidditch pitch. He had finished the first pass and started on the second when he let his mind wander. The male watching him was very large, 115 ft from nose to tail tip, although he'd been informed he was the largest male of their race, and that it was rare for a male to exceed 100 feet in length. Females tended to reach 110 feet in length although apparently they upon occasion had been known to reach a length of 125. Sirius had asked about how heavy he would be only to have the other dragons flex their wings at him in an odd version of a shrug.

Somehow he didn't think they were very heavy, they had a deep chest, but were also very streamline, and nowhere near as physically bulky as many of the other dragon species he'd seen. They seemed atypical of western dragons in that regard.

Abruptly a dragon dove at him from above and cupping his wings he rolled away instinctively before doubling back on himself to face his attacker.

The other dragon was a large fully grown female, and more than twice his size. The early morning sunlight flashed off of the large sapphire stone that had been set in the tooled leather of her breast band. He mantled at her, the horns of his mane standing on edge and rattling in his disquiet. A signal that he was willing to fight if he had to, he'd learned.

"Easy young one," she said mildly. "You have shown yourself to advantage, your instinctive reaction was a strong one, now it is time to teach you to turn a weakness into a weapon." That said she flew down and landed beside Daegberht on the rocky spire.

Sirius fluttered about uncertainly for a moment before; the female instructed him to land on a rocky ledge nearby. He landed gratefully having felt uncomfortable with their combined scrutiny. Abruptly he realized something she was wearing one of those odd breastcollar like the ones he'd seen on horses, only wider, it was intercity tooled leather that looked like it was both a decoration and possibly part of a harness. He'd seen one on the first dragon he'd spoken to though she had worn a garnet. He wondered at their meaning, and why Daegberht wasn't wearing one.

Without stopping to think he asked his question. Daegberht, who'd been in the middle of telling him ho to turn his instinctive reaction into a weapon, snorted almost derisively. "I lived long before she first cracked the shell, little Tercel. Long before we ever made our oath with man, back when we hunted land animals that were almost our length and large enough to feed the entire clan.

Sirius couldn't help wondering what animal could possibly be almost as long as the biggest dragon that had ever flown the skies of his world. "Guennéan wears the collar as a symbol of her bond with man, the sapphire resonated the best with her magic and her mage's after they were bound. Now will you please pay attention?" he demanded.

Sirius bobbed his head.

"What do you remember of what Daegberht explained?"Guennéan enquired.

Sirius twitched slightly in embarrassment and was forced to admit that he hadn't been listening.

Guennéan sighed, "we are the most dangerous thing to fly the sky but sometimes the little ones will try to mob us like sparrows mobbing a hawk, or other clans will try to take our territory. Because of this we teach our hatchlings the art of using that weapon on your tail but we will also teach you how to turn your instinctive reaction to being startled from above into an advantage. In a mating flight, a female will chose not the male who is fast enough to catch her, but the one whose skill in flight impresses her, the most and only if he is cunning enough to catch her. We mate on the wing, spiraling out of the sky. We will demonstrate the move for you. When we gain altitude Daegberht will come at me from above."

Sirius watched as the two elder dragons demonstrated the move, more then a little awed by the way Guennéan turned the instinctive reaction to being startled from above into a powerful defensive move by using Daegberht's weight and momentum against him. He watched the two dragons plummet towards the rocky ground, Guennéan twisting so that Daegberht was beneath her his back to the ground, abruptly she released him. Sirius was sure he was about to see the other male crash into the ground, but at the last possible second the male twisted around and opened his wings, there was an audible snap as he caught the air and was flung back into the air his tail crashing into the ground as he winged back into the air sending up a spray of sharp rocky shrapnel.

Sirius felt his wings twitch with nervous energy,

He wanted to learn that.

Both the attack Guennean had preformed to counter the initial attack from above and the move Daegberht had used to escape what would certainly have been serious injury.

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Sir Edward Howe, gazed at the dragon napping in the afternoon sun. Admiral Roland had informed him of the dragonet's odd tendency to be awake at dawn, dusk, and after dark, yet sleep through the Afternoon Hours. The French Fleurs-de-Nuit, was nocturnal and thus slept primeraly during the day, what made this new dragon stand out however was that when he was awake during the afternoons he had no need to shield his eyes. It was like he was bred to be either nocturnal or diurnal.

He'd never heard of anything like it in a dragon species.

A boy sat not to far from the slumbering dragon going over English dragon breeds and their abilities and the generalized differences in their handling with a young woman. Idly he wondered why the boy wasn't in a classroom. However he assumed that the woman teaching him was likely the boy's captain as he knew captains in the core where responsible for the education of their younger crewmen, the runners and ensigns.

Judging by his age the boy was likely an ensign, he turned his attention to the Young woman, wondering idly if this Dragon like longwings had chosen a female handler. "Captain Black?" he enquired.

The young woman turned to look at him; her blond hair was pulled back into a tight tail. She regarded him for a moment with piercing blue eyes. "You are mistaken sir," she replied. "I am Lieutenant Rankin."

The scrawny boy she'd been teaching closed his book, keeping his page with a finger and rose to his feet to extend his free hand. "I am E – Captain Black." He said softly. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance sir."

He blinked in surprise, but quickly mastered his shock. The boy looked to be about 13, and quite skinny. He extended his hand to the boy, "Sir Edward Howe," He replied.

The boy's grip was firm, when he shook his hand. "What can I do for you sir?" he enquired mildly.

"Admiral Roland, here has asked me to come and try to see what I can make of Sirius's breed, and to see if I agree with the assessment of her and the dragon surgeons of the dragon's possible weight class." Sir Howe informed the boy. He honestly wasn't quite sure how to treat the child. For that was what he was – a child – despite the rank his dragon gave him.

Captain Black glanced over at his slumbering dragon, affection clear on his face. "Sirius is sleeping right now; do I need to wake him for this?"

He sighed, "I need to get a better understanding of his general conformation," he replied candidly. "In order to do that he needs to be awake."

Captain Black sighed and inclined his head before walking over to the slumbering ball of dragon. He slipped under one wing and Sir Edward heard him ask, "Sirius please wake up," in a soft voice.

The dragon jerked awake, his crown of horns standing on end and rattling together his slitted eyes glowing brightly from the shade of his mantled wings. The dragon rose fluidly to his feet his tail coiling around his captain possessively. He hissed something sharply, forked tongue flicking out of his mouth to taste the air, in a manner reminiscent of a snake. A soft hissed reply from the vicinity of his tail, startled him, but it seemed to calm the dragon.

It's wings lowered and folded gracefully along his back, the mane of horns clacked softly as he lowered them to lay flat against his neck.

Captain Black climbed out of the grip of his tail with the ease of youth, and went to stand closer to him. Howe looked up at the dragon for a moment before addressing Captain Black "I understand he understands English even if he cannot speak." He said simply.
"I speak." Sirius replied shortly.
"My apologies," Howe replied immediately. "Would you be kind enough to move over and stand by that large pile of rocks, please, and do spread your wings so that we may take a better measure of you."

Sirius hissed something at his captain, the boy replied in an eerily sibilant hiss, and the dragon bobbed snorted before turning to do as he had asked. Sir Edward watched him go, noting that like Temeraire the dragon carried his tail off the ground, his tailfins flicking open giving more lift to the end of his tail with it's the heavy scythe like blade. The dragon stopped his tail lashed the air briefly before he spread his wings.

He'd never seen anything like him, the bladed tail was unique. Although certain breeds did have tails that could be used as weapons, the Checkered Nettle with its spiked tail, and the French Defendeur-Brave's hooked tail for example. The dragon had a deep chest, and was well muscled even if it was clear he had not been well fed before he'd arrived in the convert. To Sir Edward's skilled and practiced eye, the dragon was lithely built, and appeared to be overlong for his weight, the wings were long and tapered flaring into a scallop shaped edge that was divided by six spines to provide lift. Sir Edward marveled at the adaptation, speed and maneuverability he would guess. The dragon's front talons were shaped like enormous five fingered hands – with what looked like an opposable thumb. His back talons were more like a cross between a human foot and a bird of prays, having four forward facing toes and one rear grasping talon.

"He is not any known breed," he informed the Admiral mildly. "Defiantly a crossing of some sort, Possibly a crossing between an Anglewing and a French Defendeur-Brave."

"I am a Fireopal." The dragon said over his shoulder.

"I beg your pardon." Sir Edward said aghast.

The dragon snorted at him. "My breed." He said simply.

He and the Admiral gaped at the large dragon, for a moment while Captain Black hissed sharply.

Sir Edward flushed, "may I attempt to guess your weight class?" he enquired, intrigued.

Sirius inclined his head. "I would guess that he will make heavyweight class," he said tentatively, looking up at the dragon for confirmation.

Sirius lifted his wings slightly, and said something in garbled English before hissing in displeasure and looking imploringly at his Captain. They hissed back and forth for a moment before the boy sighed and turned his attention back to them and said calmly. "Males range from 95 ft to 115 ft, females are larger, he doesn't know their weight… and he says to tell you he will not be grown until he's been out of the shell for 3years."

AN.

Ambrosius latin for immortal according to google.

In the process of moving and school is starting this chapter is unedited but I wanted to get it out to you guys asap read and review please