As Severus gained consciousness he almost felt like sighing in relief.

He was warm, and comfortable, and- for what felt like the first time in his life- there was no pain.

There was no other explanation; he was dead. Finally…

::No little one, you are not dead. But you are safe for now. I will do my best to protect you my little dragon.::

Despite the soul-crushing disappointment when he realized that he was still stuck on this pointless, depressing world, now that his faculties weren't overwhelmed with burning, consuming agony, he was able to think rationally and draw the correct conclusions.

'I'm a werewolf now, aren't I? And you're my… what? Inner wolf, or some such nonsense?'

::Yes child, on both accounts, although the second question is a little vague.:: Severus could hear the amusement and affection coloring his tone. He huffed and the first, and firmly ignored the second. Frea- boys like him didn't deserve care, love, or affection.

'If that's so, Ryu, then why do you refer to me in clearly reptilian terminology? And have a name so obviously serpentine, as Ryu, or Japanese for 'dragon'?'

There was a pause, as though the wolf was figuring out how to best answer Severus' question in a way that he would understand.

::Excellent question. Let's see… okay. All creatures, in the beginning of time, were one under the Mother Goddess. All were different, yet all loved equally. She created intelligent beings, filled with resourcefulness and ingenuity. These were called humans, but they had no magic. Then there were the Goddess' children- what you would call magical creatures today; vampires, high elves, house elves, giants, goblins, trolls, hippogriffs, veela, centaurs, mermen and maids, werewolves… and many more. But all were equal, and there was peace and harmony. Many humans married and sired children with some of these magical beings, and these children were all born with a part of the Mother Goddess… what later came to be called magic. All children born of human/creature parentage developed this ability, while children born of either pureblood creature or human coupling inherited no other powers beyond what their blood dictated. Magical beings all have their creature inheritance, but it's usually exclusive magic- blood for vampires, earth for high elves, wards and curses for goblins, tracking and star-reading for werewolves, scrying and bow-mastery for centaurs, masonry for trolls, etcetera etcetera. But magic could encompass all of these things, and the more powerful the child, the greater the mastery.

As you can imagine, not only the humans, but the fullblooded creatures as well, became jealous of these children born with such far-reaching powers. They tried demanding for creatures to mate with humans, but there is always only one mate for a creature, even a half-blood, and such a thing wasn't possible. There were taunts and threats, but everything ended most horribly when a young troll boy, in a fit of jealousy, smothered and killed a half-blood in stone.

It was the first murder… the first death. Before then, all were immortal.

The Mother Goddess cursed the trolls with stupidity and dim-wittedness. Now, trolls are hardly more than mindless beasts. But the damage had been done.

But when the innocent blood was spilt, the gift of immortality shattered, for it could only be upheld by purity, and this first atrocious act destroyed that. And so, the Mother Goddess- as she is nothing but purity- could not remain with her children, and as such, abandoned them.

That is… except for the half-bloods. Or, as they are now known, wizards.

She gave them the means to protect themselves, using high elf teachings to show them how to harness their magical core through the earth- through a wand. Teaching them disapparation- derived from vampires- scrying and astronomy, invisibility; potions- from the house elves- and many many more.

The only ones who stood by the half-bloods were the house elves, for they, in their kindness and inherent goodness, were closest to the Goddess and saw that the children were not to blame, and were innocent.

Eventually, from the prolonged estrangement from their creature lineage and breeding with other wizards in place of their mates- if they could not be found- the gene began to be suppressed. Now, every wizard has some creature in them, but either they don't know it, or have kept it secret. If particularly strong, the wizard will come into their creature inheritance. In other cases, it takes an outside source to awaken the creature within. In your case, the werewolf bite.

Since there has been so much inbreeding, all wizards have a bit of almost every creature in them. From your outward appearance, I would hazard to guess that the vampire gene may have been more dominant in you, but not enough that you would have became one when you turned 16. Otherwise, if the gene was that strong, the werewolf bite would have killed you. But since it was a werewolf that bit you, and not a vampire, the werewolf gene was activated, and the others purged from your system. You are now half-werewolf and half-human. My little half-blood prince.::

Severus took a moment to absorb what he'd been told. It was fascinating, and in all his readings, he'd never heard of anything like this. He carefully contemplated, ordered, and catalogued everything in his mind, before realizing that his original question had yet to be answered.

'Interesting… but what about the whole 'dragon' theme. Not that I'm complaining, but if all other creatures had been purged, then why the very… almost Slytherin endearments.' Severus sneered at the last word, but he was nonetheless curious.

Ryu chuckled, ::Very good. Not easily distracted, I like you little one. But yes, I was getting to that. Like I said earlier, the creature gene was suppressed, but it was still there. I'm in tune- a perfect match- with your personality, your needs. I am you, and you are me. I am to protect you and teach you. I will always care for you, my dragon. I am glad that you accepted my so quickly. Otherwise, I couldn't have healed your pain, and the full moon would have been harder, as would have making the connection later. It's best if the connection and acceptance take place as soon as the venom awakens the creature, as the connections in the mind are so much more alive and powerful.

Like the other werewolf, the amber one, I can sense that he was young- too young- when the transformation happened. He, in fear, rejected the werewolf, and since still not made the connection. The longer he suppresses the werewolf, the more violent the transformations will become, and the more difficult the connection will be in the future. If he continues to wait much longer, he will become a danger to not only those around him, but also to himself. As demonstrated by what happened earlier this evening, the wolf is going quite mad, and as such attacked you. A normal wolf would never have acted in such a fashion. Children are sacred, and not to be touched. It is the first- and most important- rule of the Goddess. Do you understand everything that I have told you dragon? Have my explanations satisfied your curiosity for now?::

Severus nodded, not quite trusting himself right now to speak. This was all so much- too much. As hard as he tried, he was having trouble coming to terms with everything in his mind.

Seeming to sense this, Ryu quickly stepped in to both calm and distract his young prince, ::Don't worry, if you have any questions later, feel free to ask. I am here to help you learn, remember? Now, I do believe it's high time to announced your awake status to the three now currently beside themselves with worry.::

Severus huffed and scowled, but the tactic worked. 'Well let them, I don't care. The bastards, they're probably just worried that I'll tell their 'beloved headmaster' about their royal fuck-up. Well, as much as I want to see them get expelled, I won't tell the headmaster. I don't trust him, and besides, he'd find some way to blame me and expel me before he'd rid himself of his 'precious Gryffindorks'. I'd rather keep my wolf-status secret, for forever, if possible. I wouldn't be safe, if anyone found out.'

::Language, dragon.:: Ryu warned sternly, before nodding. ::Yes, I do not, nor have I ever, trusted that old fool. Since the vampire gene was so dominant in you, it was those instincts that told you not to trust the man, and as a wolf, I agree. He's not to be trusted… something's just off about him. It's those same instincts- though far, far weaker- that have convinced the amber wolf to keep it a secret as well.'

Severus was grateful, though he'd never admit it. 'Good. It's about time that idiot did something right.'

Ryu chuckled, and was about to answer, when the most delicious smell hit Severus with all the subtlety of a bus. 'Oooohh…' Severus moaned, at the same time Ryu growled, ::Mate…::

Severus could hardly concentrate. It was just so good. It was raspberry chocolate and vanilla and summertime sunshine and laughter and warmth. It made his whole body tingle and hyper-aware. He didn't care what it was or where it came from, just so long as it never stopped.

But he knew one thing. Whatever it was, it was mineminemine.

Severus opened his eyes. He had to find this delicious smell… he couldn't live without it, and he needed it rightfuckingnow.

But when he turned his head to the left, and found a mop of unruly black hair slouched in a chair beside his bed, asleep- and when the word that Ryu had growled in such obvious satisfaction and arousal earlier- ::Mate…::- filtered through his euphoric fog- he connected the pieces, he felt like, finally, screaming.

So he did.

And despite the wave of fondness and amusement that swept through him unwillingly when the boy jumped up, tripped over his own feet and the chair, and collapsed on his arse, glasses skewed precariously on his adorable face and gorgeous blue eyes wide in endearing bewilderment and shock- dammit Severus! Adorable? Gorgeous? ENDEARING? FuckfuckFUCK! ::Language dragon.:: SHUT THE FUCK UP!- he continued to glare with the most furious, evil, and I-hope-you-drop-dead-right-fucking-NOW glare that he could muster. Personally, he was surprise Potter hadn't wet himself by now.

Severus slammed his head back on his pillow in fury and frustration. 'Dammit! NOT POTTER!'

::Mate…:: Ryu sounded far too pleased. 'He's clearly got a one-track mind…'

'SHUT UP!'