"Everyone, I have an announcement to make" Dumbledore said the next day. Once everyone's attention was on him, he put the pressure on Rose. "Last week, Hagrid found a young dragon injured in the forest"
The crowd gasped. Minerva and Snape in particular were glaring at Hagrid with that information, even though he seemed oblivious to their anger. "Despite common sense, he attempted to care for the creature himself, despite not having the qualifications needed to do so for as long as the dragon would need a parental figure" Dumbledore said, turning a frown to Hagrid. This time, Hagrid did feel ashamed of his actions.
"Now, this could easily have been a huge catastrophe" Dumbledore said, allowing time for murmurs of agreement to spread, "but we have caught a string of luck. Rose, please stand up" he said, continuing. Now Rose knew what he was doing exactly. If he was taking such a risk in a public place, Dumbledore had obviously turned on the prison wards so that he could obliviate everyone if things did go wrong before word could spread outside of his control. By bringing this much public attention on Rose, Dumbledore could not only get the news out before it could turn into a scandal, but he also could test Rose's ability to keep her end of the bargain for the dragon. Any mistake that Rose made now would be monitored by the whole school, and wizards in general were a bit trigger happy.
Standing up, Rose maintained the entire image of what she wanted to project. She was confident, she was strong, and she was one of them, as much of a witch as any of the greats, regardless of her being a half blood and the tendency of people to think that she was dangerous. She wasn't making herself approachable, she was polishing her pedestal so people didn't worry about her inherit danger.
"Rose here managed to find the dragon before it could burn down Hagrid's hut" Dumbledore started. "She did her duty as a student and informed me of the potential hazard" now, Hagrid was flinching. Rose was going to have to work hard if she wanted to redeem her image to him from now, and her efforts would inevitably improve Dumbledore's reputation. "Rose, moved by the compassion in her heart, begged me for the right to keep the dragon. I have decided, after much thought, to allow her the privilege on a trial basis"
This might be to much for Rose to keep a hold of. Dumbledore was elevating and protecting himself with every piece of evidence. He was now strong and trustworthy even in the eyes of the Girl-Who-Lived. Rose was entirely reliant on his continued support to maintain what she wanted, the dragon. Dumbledore could at any time revoke his support, and all blame would lie on Rose. With 'the compassion in her heart', she was now not considered someone who would take the most rational action when confronted with a problem. If she failed with this, she would forever be airheaded and silly. Even if she succeeded, people now expected her to be moved by her plights. Rose was completely at the headmaster's mercy with this, and she would remain there for the foreseeable future.
"Now, I would like everyone to know that in the name of keeping her dragon and the students safe, the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut are more of limits than ever. In addition, no one else is allowed near the dragon without Rose's full knowledge and consent. To prevent any misconceptions or false alarms, I am giving everyone notice that Rose is now exempt from the ban on the forbidden forest and is hereby granted full permission to read anything within the restricted and normal part of the library. Should anyone think that she is overstepping her bounds, students are encouraged to ask Rose herself instead of bothering the teachers. Are there any questions?" Dumbledore asked.
A few people did raise their hands and did have questions. Dumbledore called on some of them after making eye contact for a few seconds. "Percy Weasley" he called first.
"Aren't there restrictions on owning dragons?" Percy asked. His brother was training to be a dragon tamer, so he would know.
"Excellent question Mr. Weasley. Those laws do not come into effect until the second week of owning the dragon for the wand requirement and the tenth week of owning the dragon for habitat and care needs. It will not be until the dragon is a year before being old enough to breed that licenses for their handlers come into play. Rose has committed to stay up to date on all that she needs with it and to give the dragon to an appropriate organization should she fail to meet any of the standards" Dumbledore said, listing the laws.
"Charlie Weasley" Albus called next, addressing the Weasley who wanted to work with dragons.
"Don't most of the dragon ranges put down new dragons that they didn't raise almost as soon as they get them?" Charlie asked.
"Yes. The sad truth of the matter is that dragons without training appropriate for their environment and handlers often serve no other purpose and can upset the training of the others in the range" Dumbledore said. Now Rose had to deal with that emotional blackmail against negligence in addition to physical struggles. "Hermione Granger" he called.
"Is Rose getting passes on her schoolwork in order to care for the dragon?" the bookworm asked.
"No, the dragon is remaining extra-curricular. Sadly, as will many other courses, Magical Creatures has been cut under Hogwarts's current board of directors." That couldn't be anything but Dumbledore urging students to write to their parents and further his political agenda. "Cedric Diggory" he called.
"Will the dragon be a threat to the normal students or miss Potter herself?" he asked.
"Everyone knows the stories of what a rampaging dragon can do, and this one is no exception" Dumbledore said. There wasn't any obvious power play in those words, so it could be just to throw people of Dumbledore's scent. "Draco Malfoy" The headmaster called.
"Isn't it considered cruel and unusual to kill a witch or wizard's familiar?" Draco asked, voice cutting through everyone's instinctive fear of having a dragon on the school grounds.
"Why do you ask that?" Dumbledore asked, startled. Draco had most likely gone outside of the headmaster's expectations.
"I saw the dragon and miss Potter a few days ago, and I could have sworn that I felt a beginning Familiar Bond between them" Draco said loud and clear.
"Well, such a bond doesn't truly form for a few years, and the strain of bonding to a creature stronger that her might end up killing Rose before the bond reached a point that could be registered" Dumbledore said. He looked around, scanning the crowd for anyone else with a question to get rid of the emphasis on the question of Rose's power levels. No one did however, and Dumbledore was forced to sit down with the question still on everyone's minds.
After dinner, Rose asked Neville for more information about familiar bonds and why it was such a big question. Neville didn't even try to argue, leading her somewhere quiet to talk it over.
"Alright, this is important stuff that you absolutely need to know" Neville started, careful to emphasize how sensitive and basic this information was. "Now, I'm know that you haven't lived with a family who could teach you about this, but you don't want to be seen asking questions about this sort of thing. Do you understand? I will tell you now, and you can take me away to ask any more questions that you have about this, but you do not want the public to catch wind of your ignorance. Am I understood?" He asked, looking Rose in the eye.
"Yes, I understand" Rose said. "I'll try and do better with this secret then… you know something about what happened in the village"
"Yeah, you need to have better self-control than that. Do you think that you can do it?" He asked.
"I've already thrown my fate in with how well I can care for the dragon. I am going to give this everything that I have" she said.
"Good. Now, there's a general rule of thumb that pretty much every pure and half-blood knows. The more magical your familiar is, the more powerful you are. Do you understand the implications of that?"
"Not really" Rose admitted, looking down.
"Well, just pay attention and I'll try and catch you up to speed" Neville started. "Kneesales and Crups needed a bit more power to subdue than a normal cat or dog because they are the magical equivalent. Kneesles have some ability to read a person's mood, as do crups. Those are a bit magical, understood?"
"Yeah, I get that. Those would be on the level of the Arame's Bugs, or am I getting the name wrong?" She asked, worried.
"I'm not sure, but I'll go with that. They aren't mundane, and they need some power to actually bond with. The animals can be owned without having the bond, but as a general rule of thumb the magical needed around twice as much innate magic as the creature that they were forming a familiar bond with. Once it starts, it will be a constant drain on the individual's magic that grows with the creature. If you don't have that bond, then you can raise whatever you want, but you need to have a bond only with a creature less magical than you. Do you get that?" Neville asked.
"So, it's the difference between summoning a summon or letting someone else summon it around you?" Rose asked.
"No, it's the difference between summoning a summon or walking into training ground 66 and trying to feed one of the giant chakera enhanced creatures" Neville tried to separate.
"Because you're only contributing your chakera in one case?" Rose asked.
"That's right" Neville said, relieved that Rose could understand that much. "Now, one of the reasons that Dumbledore is so respected is his Phoenix familiar. I'm not saying that he didn't do a lot of great things against the last few dark lords that have plagued Brittan, but more people care that Phoenixes are known to be a strongly magical creature and picky in magical orientation. Fawkes is proof that Dumbledore was a strong, strictly light wizard. Are you still with me?" he asked.
"OK. Dumbledore's phoenix makes him look strong more than Dumbledore's actions" Rose said, nodding. She could understand that. "Does that mean that people who have a boss summon are stronger than others?" She asked.
"No, in the ninja world that just means that they managed to get their hold on one. People there can train power or not use it. In the wizarding world, those with power have no real choice but to use it. That's just the way things are. Our magic will act out if we don't keep it busy. Still, as far as familiars go, do you understand the implications of you having a dragon familiar?" Neville asked.
Thinking it over, Rose had some idea. "So, having a dragon for a familiar would point heavily to me being strong?" She asked. "That's the only conclusion that I can come to"
"Exactly. Even people who don't know a lot about how that works will assume that your strong. I know that you are strong enough to back up such claims and can easily believe that you're strong enough to keep up with the dragon what with… you know what, but either way, a lot of people really have died trying to push their magic into looking stronger than it is. Do you understand how much of a big deal this would be?" Neville asked her.
"Yeah. I'm definitely going to at least write Draco a thank you for putting that information out there. It's definingly going to make a world of difference"
"Don't get your hopes ahead of you, Rose. Even with what Draco said, you are firmly in debt to Dumbledore for at least a few years. You're in a tricky position, and if you even think of going against Dumbledore before you have everything that you need to take care of that Dragon with or without his permission, you are firmly under his control." Neville told her.