Deep inside the ministry a particular red-haired Unspeakable cursed at his assigned elf and threatened to kill it. The poor creature was cowering in the corner of his office, having only followed orders. It wasn't entirely unusual for the elf to have been used for an attempted assassination, he was assigned to the Department of Mysteries after all. It was, however, less common for it to be attacked for failing to accomplish the mission, even with multiple failed attempts. As a cruico just barely missed the elf, slamming into the stone next to his head the elf decided he'd had enough.
"Youse a bad wizard!" the elf cried before purposefully breaking the bond. Using the last of his rapidly draining power to arrive at Hogwarts, the elven safe haven and unemployment office, where he collapsed.
Dobby found him within moments but the other elf had already lost too much magic from ripping its self free of the bond. The elf was dead before he could say a word but left behind its official uniform and the recognition of the other elves from when he had tainted the food back in October. Dobby quickly reported the occurrence to Professor Snape as the school recognized pending Headmaster, completely ignoring the thought of going to Dumbledore.
Despite the upset of the dying elf's arrival Hogwarts was magnificently decked out for the holidays. Dumbledore had wrangled some sort of political ball to be held at the school over the holidays and required the entire upper year student population to attend. Severus had tried to get it canceled or at least to make it optional but failed. Instead he was forced to contact Lucius about his worry over the purity of the food stuffs and to see if Alan could be allowed to spend Christmas with them at Hogwarts.
Hogwarts herself, on the other hand, wasn't as displeased by the mandatory political ball as her current potions master and next Headmaster. No, instead the beautiful, intelligent, powerful building that she was saw it as a perfect opportunity to remind certain people. Remind them why it wasn't a good idea to mess with her magics or the children in her charge. To top it off she thought it would be a wonderful way of letting Harry's pack/family visit his school. Maybe she could even get the "Rexy" that her potions master's mate was occasionally muttering about feeding the old fool to for a visit. Of course most everyone had forgotten that her magic and the grounds originally included Hogsmeade and the forbidden forest. She never did figure out why they had reduced the wards so that it didn't cover everything properly.
The castle musingly shifted around certain rooms and things to accommodate her planned additional guests during the winter break. As she did so a shiver went down the spines of the staff. Both Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick exchanged a resigned yet wary glance before eyeing the walls of the old building with something bordering on fear. The silent mischievous cackle of the school's magic was no longer a happy, reassuring, protective hum, instead it was echoing the prank to come.
A pulse of magic echoed from the school just as winter break began. A pulse heard by every dragon and dinosaur on the planet that was instinctively understood and responded to. Norberta screamed a challenge and broke free from her handlers, followed quickly by the four dragons from the tournament with their barely year old offspring riding on their backs. Rexy and the Raptors quickly made their way to the old communication stone on the island to peacefully contact the goblins for a portkey. The magical pulse even caressed the train as it pulled away with those lower year students going home, sending magical ice patterns dancing along the window panes as it passed. There were going to be unexpected visitors for Christmas and the castle couldn't wait to introduce everyone.
The first day of Winter Break Dumbledore had required everyone that remained at the school to attend a late breakfast and eat in the great hall together. Just as everyone was finishing up and Dumbledore stood to make an announcement, twinkling eyes and all, there was a commotion. Before anyone could move the room was washed in magic from the very stones of the school. The wave of cleansing magic had a double purpose. First it cleared all potions(ie. pranks mostly slipped in after being served) and such from the foods and second it removed any and all perception affecting magics. Perception affecting magics like glamours, invisibility spells, and notice-me-not spells. Just like the overpowered notice-me-not spell that Dumbledore had been keeping over his missing arm. The first shrieks of horror and surprise came from the Hufflepuff table then Ravenclaw with Gryffindor and Slytherin noticing at about the same time.
Severus glanced up from the remains of his meal in surprise and realized what everyone was panicking over. He had wondered what the old fool had done about his arm but hadn't been able to focus on it because of the spell. If he'd cared enough about it, felt somehow threatened by it, his Occlumency skills would have let him break the notice-me-not. The only drawback from the attempt would be that the very nature of the spell would have fought him all the way and given him a massive migraine. A mischievous giggle in the back of his mind suddenly had him wondering if the castle wasn't responsible for the failing of the spell and the wave of magic that had washed it away.
With a deep sigh of resignation he stood and silently cast a Sonorus before giving an increasingly loud growl that drew everyone's attention before speaking. He easily allowed the spell to amplify his near whisper into a virtual shout. "IF YOU DON'T BE QUIET THEN I WILL HAVE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU FOR DETENTION HELPING WITH MY POTIONS INGREDIENTS, PROVIDED I DON'T USE YOU AS AN INGREDIENT!" An equally silent finite ended the amplification spell and allowed him to sit back down, finishing his meal with a silent glare at the whole of the great hall.
"Yes, thank you Severus," Dumbledore said easily, his words belied by the uneasy glances he was occasionally throwing at the dour potions master. Harry and Draco were the only ones to successfully recognize the hidden amusement of the onyx-eyed man behind his glower. A glance across the table had them silently agreeing to ambush him and try to find out how he had done that or at least get him to help them with the pranks they planned for the old goat.
"As most of the older students know the upcoming ball is mandatory for fifth years and up. A fourth year may attend only if their parent or guardian is present or they are the date of an older year. Third years and younger are to remain in the dorms all night starting an hour before the ball at seven. To compensate for your earlier curfew snacks and such will be served in the common room until two in the morning. 50 points will be awarded to the house that has used the time most wisely. Another 50 points may be earned if you can prove to your head of house by the end of the first week of term that every last member of your house has their homework done. An additional 25 points is possible if at least half the house has also worked ahead and completed an additional weeks worth of assignments. Again, this must be complete by the end of the first week of the new term. All told you may earn an extra 125 points for your house. As to dress robes and the like for the ball the proprietors of Madam Malkin's, Twilfitt and Tatting's, as well as Gladrags have all agreed to come to the castle. Please speak to your head of house if any problems arise in regards to your dress robes or to have your already purchased robes checked for suitability. That will be all for the moment," Dumbledore told them all with a grandfatherly smile.
The other staff members exchanged a look, having not been consulted about this matter at all. Severus was wondering if the old man was trying to get into the school's good graces so that the wards would transfer back to him. The derisive snot in the back of his mind said it was never going to happen no matter what ploy he tried. Severus had gotten used to the odd form of communication with the school over the period of the fall term. He had happily used it to keep Harry or any of the rest of his Slytherins from getting ambushed. The ability also netted some of his snakes a weeks worth of detention for trying to ambush other students in revenge. He wasn't pleased and made sure they knew it.
After the breakfast announcement and the end of breakfast things went in some very strange directions for the staff. The arrival of the three named tailors accompanied by their entire staff had everyone either scrambling for their wardrobes or needing help from a teacher. Knowing that both Harry and Draco along with most of Draco's friends already had proper dress robes Severus sent them off to hide from the chaos and get some homework done. One look at how Pansy was eyeing them and the various fabrics had them scrambling out of the great hall to snag their school work and hide in the library.
The chaos was just starting to wind down around supper time when Hogwarts sent a mental cackle through the minds of the staff. She gleefully allowed the special portkey transporting her dinosaur guests, complete with special translation amulets through the wards to land just outside the castle. The school sent another magic pulse out just as they landed, this time aimed at her guests. Hogwarts sent the rules of the visit into their very bones hard enough to ache. She did not want the students hurt. She had only invited them because she knew perfectly well that her carnivorous guests were capable of controlling themselves.
Reminding them about the rules in such a fashion had the added bonus of several indignant roars shaking the stones of the castle and spooking the owls into flight. The sound echoed over Hogsmeade and spooked Alan into running for the castle. A castle he had never admitted to being able to see after being told not to worry if all he could see was a bunch of ruins. Alan had easily recognized the sound and the direction it had come from. He was terrified of what might happen to his small family. Remus and his wolf recognized the danger from the sound alone and followed on Alan's heels as they headed for the gates.
They nearly slammed into the gates of the school head on, panting hard with the fear for their family the only thing keeping them moving. The school opened the main gates as they approached. Remus fleetingly thought that the school felt smug over something but dismissed it in favor of scrambling over the grounds towards the castle. They had been at the train station for something neither of them now remembered about and had simply bolted up the road towards the school when the sound of Rexy's indignant roar had echoed across the area. As they got closer the charm that the goblins had provided started to work, allowing them to understand the reptiles despite the speech being an obvious form of Parseltongue.
"~What do you take me for?! We know the rules. The hatchlings will be safe while we are here,~" Rexy roared indignantly.
"~You house one of our pack hatchlings! Of course we'll help protect them you stubborn stone nest!~" the alpha female raptor snarled at the building, equally indignant over the insinuation.
When the two men caught sight of the group they stopped dead. Not only was the sight of dinosaurs on the grounds awe inspiring but there were many large lethal teeth present for them to be wary of. That's when the group of carnivores noticed them.
"~Good! The old prey that has taken care of the young speaker is here! He can bring our hatchling speaker to us,~" one of the lesser female raptors chittered excitedly. Alan wondered if he was going insane since he could actually understand the dinosaurs standing peacefully in front of the school. Absently he noticed the many faces peering out of the windows that had any sort of ground floor view of the area just in front of the castle's main entry.
"Remus, do you see what I see? For that matter did you just hear what I heard?" Alan asked calmly, trying to process what was going on.
"If you see a bunch of raptors and a T-Rex while listening to them protest they weren't going to hurt the students then I would have to say yes," Remus said equally calmly, less shocked due to some of the pranks James and Sirius used to pull but still having trouble keeping his cool.
"That's what I thought," Alan said in resignation as he once more quickly reorganized his mind around the new, potentially deadly, facts.
"~What is wrong with the creature? Wait, this is the prey that was fun to play with and protected the pink, squishy hatchlings when the storm stopped giving power to the strange silver vines that had trapped me. You entrusted a speaker to him?~" Rexy rumbled in obvious interest.
"~We did! We did!~" a young hyper male raptor told her excitedly, darting back and forth in front of the much larger dinosaur.
"~I will snack on you if you don't cease annoying me midget,~" Rexy warned in obvious irritation. The adolescent raptor simply snapped his jaw back in obvious laughter.
"You swear you won't hurt anyone?" Alan called out cautiously, deciding to figure out how he could understand them later.
"~The stone nest invited us to visit the young speaker,~" the beta female informed him smugly. "~We agreed not to harm the hatchlings. The adults are fair game if they irritate us. The stone nest agreed to provide us food and a hunting ground while we visit the speaker's territory.~"
"What hunting ground?" Remus asked, dread curling in his belly.
"~Among the trees. We are not to try eating the pure ones or their caretakers the ones like you on top but with a pure one's lower body. The properly sized eight legged things are going to be interesting to snack on,~" Rexy told them smugly.
"Pure Ones? Caretakers? Properly sized eight legged things?" Remus asked in obvious confusion just as Severus and Harry arrived via broom, having gone out an upper window to talk to their visitors. Harry had been adamant and Severus had only agreed because it was the same raptor pack that his son had already dealt with and they would be on brooms. With Harry's skill at flying he should be able to get away even if they killed Severus when he got between the raptors and his son.
"You guys are loud," Harry complained to the dinosaurs.
"Harry!" Severus scolded sharply, his tone sharpened even further by worry.
"What? You heard what they said. They're here to visit and the castle invited them," Harry pointed out. Raja poked his head from under the messy mop of hair and chittered at everyone before hiding again.
"~Was that...? Speaker you have found a Fireflyer!~" one of the raptors from the original encounter on the island chittered excitedly. The entire pack immediately focused on Harry where he was hovering and his little familiar.
"Fireflyer? Everyone's been calling him a Proto-dragon," Harry said with a wrinkled nose and a cute look of confusion. "I named him Raja and he's my familiar. See you can even tell since his eyes have turned green like mine and he stays with me all the time."
"~Come down here! You're making my head hurt flitting about back and forth without going any where,~" the alpha female ordered with an irritated grumble.
"Harry," Severus said in warning.
"It's not like they can't talk to me without whatever is helping you understand them Dad and both Tad and Remus are right over there," Harry pointed out.
"That does not reassure me," Severus said with a glower. He eyed the dinosaurs warily for another moment before slowly giving a reluctant nod. Father and son returned to the ground to stand together not far from the group of saurians. Harry tried to dart forwards to properly great the raptor pack only for Severus to snag the back of his cloths and yank him up short.
"Try that again and you will be grounded until you graduate!" Severus hissed at his son before tucking him protectively under his arm, wand in his other hand.
The raptors found their antics amusing and had long since been able to detect the change in Harry's scent with the wind blowing towards them and past the two wizards. They had a similar if different adoption magic so were perfectly aware of what had happened between Harry, Severus, and Alan to change the younger man's scent. The werewolf was another matter entirely and was being watched carefully out of the corner of their vision. At any one time at least two of the pack were openly watching him and ready to move if he proved a threat.
"~I like this little speaker,~" Rexy declared out of the blue with an obvious coo over how cute Harry was.
"Touch my son and you'll find out why I'm considered to be so dangerous," Severus snarled at the full sized female T-Rex. She snorted in amusement and continued to coo over Harry as if he was her hatchling.
"How do you get so many people and dangerous things to like you?" Alan asked in bewilderment as he jogged over to stand by his son and his partner. Before Remus could get within ten feet of Harry though he was knocked to the ground and pinned in place by a young Velociraptor.
"What are you doing?!" Harry cried out, held back by his parents when he tried to go to Remus.
"~He is not pack and smells of blood, teeth, and the hunt. You are a speaker and more fragile then the rest of the pack. He will not approach you or we will treat him as a threat,~" the female alpha said calmly as the rest of the pack protectively circled the three humans.
"He recognized Harry as his alpha," Severus pointed out reluctantly. He still didn't trust the man after the fiasco during Harry's third year and the nearly leathal prank pulled on him during school.
"~We can scent your mistrust of him no matter the hatchling speaker's obvious adoration for him. He will not approach close or we will kill him,~" the alpha shot back in a calm tone laced with amusement that was reinforced by an equally amused snap of her jaw.
"I.. I understand," Remus choked out before finally relaxing submissively and hoping that they wouldn't simply kill him.
"Remus, you've got enough control of your wolf that I think you should be fine. Maybe you could go check on that house that Sirius gave you? We'll look after Harry just fine," Alan assured the wolf. Remus nodded dejectedly as he was finally let up before turning and slinking off towards Hogsmeade, figurative tail between his legs.
"Poor Remus," Harry murmured sadly, watching the man go and knowing that this last blow to his confidence would keep the man from trying to see him. If a pack of dangerous vicious predators didn't want him near his cub then what right did he have to keep putting his cub in danger just by being there?
"~He also smelled of both death and the sickness of lost heart and body. You did well to heal him so much but he can not be allowed near the speaker hatchling. He might have tried to take Harry with him when he chooses to rejoin his lost pack. It is a sickness even we occasionally experience and one that must be watched for,~" the alpha explained sadly as they watched Remus leave. "We can protect him while we are here but when we return to our own hunting grounds that duty will fall to the two of you. He will never heal enough to become a hunter for your human pack. His scent tells us he spent to long separated from his pack without forming or joining another."
"He's dying of a broken heart," Alan agreed with a sad nod.
"~Enough about the fallen hunter. What has been happening since we last heard from you? Has the other speaker given his forfeit? Has anyone else tried attacking you?~" the female alpha asked in obvious interest as they went from combat status back down to simply visiting. One of the raptors knocked into another starting a playful tussle which evolved into a wrestling match between four of them. Everyone watched as they got caught up on news with the entire school watching from the windows.