Disclaimer:

I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does. I'm just borrowing the verses for a bit.

AN:

Okay, so its pretty obvious that the last chappie had some mixed reviews on the argument! That's fine, perfect in fact! Though I promise that whole issue won't become a huge deal in any of the stories in the series. If he ever has to preach again it won't be covered in detail. Doesn't mean Harry won't mention something occasionally, but nothing to that extent again where you have to read the whole event; once is enough I think. I would go insane trying to rehash over and over to different groups and still keep it fresh! And that's not even thinking about how much I hate reading and writing that kind of character anyways. It had to happen at least once in this series though because of the situations Harry would find himself in, so I chose to get it out of the way early on while Harry is still settling in, rather than explode at a time when Harry would have known better and have it be 'out of character' for the person he became.

Also, from now on instead of putting updates on how things are going with me/the story/when to expect a new chapter/whatever in an AN here, I'll be posting that info on my tumblr:

themaddalek. tumblr. com remove the spaces of course. This way the ANs are way shorter and I don't have to post a AN only non-chapter to update people or have them wait until I DO update. So if you want to know ANYTHING about the statuses of the stories I'm writing, you'll have to go to my tumblr, sorry but not really. Too many people have complained about the AN lengths so there you go.

Chapter 6: Reflections...And onward HO! pt1

'This is just not my day, not at all. All this pain, all this angst...why?' The quick thought shot through a miserable Harry like a raging thunderbolt, mimicking the sharp throbbing of his many wounds as he groans in an overly dramatic way for the millionth time since right around when the sun had come up this morning. Oh, the pain was unbelievable today, everything hurt like it had never hurt before, in this life or the last. From his puffy and leaking eyebrows all the way down to his poor battered tail, it feels like his whole being is nothing but one constant bruise of epic proportions and no pain in his memories could ever match it... Well, alright, that might be stretching it a bit, one other thing actually surpassed this pain and that was having the owner of a very well known yew wand holding him under a certain curse for an extended period of time...

The large, dark colored dragon snorted in irritation and remained statue still on his floating wooden jail cell, where he had been spending his time from dawn till now throwing a roaring pity party that consisted of himself, Gregory -when the man wasn't busy-, a couple of deckhands who were 'very sorry to see him in such a state', and sometimes Temeraire if the other could be bothered to be separated from Laurence for more than a moment. It was almost noon now or maybe a little after such and the pity party was winding down to a mild cat's fart. No one but Harry was involved currently and that was started to get old in a stale way.

Really, he wasn't even sure why he was doing it, such a thing would have been a choice of his teen self so long ago, not the old and well mannered (When people were looking he was well mannered)Headmaster of Hogwarts, who was an expert in dealing with pre-teens and teenagers with their many, ever shifting moods. This just didn't seem at all like him and Harry was left wondering, after much thought on it, if being stuck in a young dragon's body was affecting him more than he would like to admit. Maybe it was a dragon thing no matter how old? Something to look into for sure if only to ease his worries about sliding back into old habits he had finally managed to temper through age...and a gaggle of people giving him a good whack every time he stepped a couple of toes out of line.

Harry grimaced as a nasty bunch of thoughts flashed though his head, two of which had him cringing horribly at the idea of this particular group of traits making a comeback into his overall being permanently, especially in this new world; his knee jerk reaction of defending a point to death and charging into a situation without care for what might happen. Teen Harry had been too rash, foolish, trusting, and so very sure on how things had to be done, how life just was, and there could be no view that differed from his own that could possibly be right. Until it was thrown in his face and he had to do the whole brooding for days thing because he was wrong and it didn't fit with his idea of the world. Hermione was very much like that too, in fact, some of Harry's views had stemmed from her as well. Reflecting her in a way, just like he did with some of Ron's less than stellar traits at times.

'I'm going to have to figure out a better way of dealing with the dragon and Captain issue. A gentler way of introducing minor questions about the bonds, some kind of easing in period before I start bringing attention to how very twisted they are' Harry clicked his tongue at a puff of sea spray that came into view over the side of the pad when he shifted his weight in thought. ' I really should just let it go, but the bonds are forced from the shell and a dragon and human have no chance to get to know one another before becoming a pair for life. I can't just ignore that...nor can I rush in and shout them into to compliance, apparently.'

Harry rolled over with an amused huff so that he was facing away from the pad's edge and laying on his back instead of flat on his stomach as he had been for the past two hours. His thoughts traced back with no small amount of guilt to the 'shouted conversation' he had the evening of his return from rescuing Temeraire and his Captain. There were so many regrets on how that had played out, the shouting and the anger being only a small part of those regrets. Most of them were centered on the way he had said things rather than on what was said.

'It's obvious that Hermione's "beat em over the head until it sticks" approach won't work here, not least because most of the people in this world haven't really moved forwards enough out of slavery yet to have a true rally point, a time to look back on and say, "yes, this way is much better then before". But also because, as much as I love her, Hermione was a bit wrong on how to get a point across' Harry pursed his lips as his brain brought up the memories of the many times Hermione tried to prove a point but couldn't really do so without seeming like she was telling the target of her speech that everything about their way of life was wrong, and thus they were a backwards barbaric sort and had to conform immediately to the modern way or risk being her enemy.

Even years later once she had grown out of her young and stupid phase she still had moments of condescending and know-it-all behavior, but at least she had friends to try and keep the damage down to a minor skid down a hill rather than the major avalanche it could have been, and had been before a few times in the past.

Harry smiled a little in remembrance of times long gone and watched the white clouds drift overhead in soft lazy wisps, made even more wisp like due to the movement of the wooden pad beneath Harry that caused his view of the clouds to become a bit distorted through heavy eyelids. Oh how those days of old, some horrible and terrifying and others sweet and beautiful, could still fill him with a deep longing for the return of those more simple times. Times when he knew (or thought he knew; the illusion of knowing was bliss too) how things were to be, that the Light was good and the Dark was bad, Death Eaters against everyone else, no shades in between the Black and White world that had been sketched for him by friends and family.

Here his smile slipped and a small frown appeared, pulling his painful brows inward tightly as he pursed his lips in self irritation at the direction his thoughts were going again; the angsty brooding was getting easier to notice now that he was watching for it.

In remembering those better times he also had to acknowledge again that those same friends and family were biased (well meaning but biased), and had told him of his parents and their own pasts through rose tinted glasses in the hopes of shaping him on a path they figured he should be on. Perhaps to keep him sheltered and 'child like' until he was considered grown enough for a more mature truth? Though in some people's case (Sirius-I-never-matured-past-sixteen-Black)that truth would never change because that's what THEY believed was true. But it was nothing but lies. All of it was just the lost hopes and faded dreams of people who had too much taken from them too early, and they themselves wanted dearly to believe that the stories they told were the reality they had lived, rather than the broken road it really was. A road filled with foolish youths who made terrible decisions they were too ashamed to admit to later on in life, and they then kept telling these stories as adults, perhaps thinking if it was said enough, it would erase what had really happened.

The most painful for Harry to remember discovering -and now that small frown was a full blown scowl, no longer just directed at his brooding self- were the false truths of his parents perfection, how his mother was a truly lovely person who cared for everyone and was very forgiving and smart, and his father was a brave and kind soul who had never raised his wand to cause harm against anyone but the enemy. Sharp and bitter lies as both people were very flawed, and people should be, but it would have hurt less had he known from the start how they were, instead of hearing it only after having built them up in his mind's eye as saints; that his mother was just as stuck up as most Purebloods but in her own way and a very foolish teenager (though what teenager isn't foolish at some point?), and his father was very much the same but also appeared to be a magical Dudley-the-bully on top of it all.

To have the real truth thrown at him first by someone who loathed the name Potter like one would a foul disease was bad enough, though he could, and did, choose to deny it and believe it nothing more than hate spewed by a terrible person on two wonderful people that this venom filled individual could never hope to shine as brightly as.

But to then be told the same truth later, by people Harry trusted, indeed by people he respected and even loved. The same people who had told all these wonderful lies to a young boy, and then continued to tell them to a young man without any hint there might be more to the story for him to learn later...that was what hurt the most. They shattered the crystal dream Harry had concocted with a simple 'we were young and foolish, everyone makes mistakes, Harry' but only admitted to the half-truths AFTER Harry had found proof that most of their tales weren't matching up with what he had seen and heard from other people.

And it was worse in how they portrayed the world, how the false truths didn't hold up when truly challenged once Harry knew he had to do so if he wanted to survive; shades of gray was the real world, everyone and everything was in shades of gray. It wasn't all Slytherins couldn't be trusted or Hufflepuffs were duffers, or Ravenclaws were the smartest, and only a Lion could be brave. Light wizards could be just as evil as some of the Darkest of them, and Dark ones could be good or mostly good, as good as they would allow themselves to be at least, even if their personalities could do with a much needed major overhaul, and some of their views needed readjusting to be firmly placed on the 'good person' pedestal.

'That's life though. Shades of gray, never truly an extreme one way or another, there is always a middle to separate them.' Harry sighed and pulled himself out of his memories before he drowned in them as is the way of this young dragon body he had now, and up again to his feet, looking out onto the choppy seas in the hopes of spotting Temeraire, who had gone fishing a little while ago. A shadow passed overhead at that moment and Harry looked up suddenly, his face pulling into a soft smile at the sight of his little brother wheeling about for a quick landing on the transport. The other dragon's paws and mouth were holding a couple of large fishing nets and they were both full to bursting with the sea life he had managed to snatch up today.

'And I have to remember those lessons in this new world too' Harry thought as he watched Temeraire touch down on the deck with no more than a quiet thump and the slight rocking of the ship to announce his arrival. A group of people came out to help unload the fish and whatever else the dragon had grabbed in his enthusiastic hunt

Harry looked away from the scene and back out to where land should be coming into view in only a couple more weeks. 'No more "full speed ahead down a hill in a flaming chariot without brakes and damn the consequences" kind of hero. This place will require gentle navigation, not everything is as it seems'

Thunder rumbled ominously in the far distance behind them where some clouds could be seen just starting to billow now on the horizon.

'And perhaps some things are less so or more so than others. Don't trust blindly but don't become ridiculously paranoid either.' Another rumble of thunder and the happy cry of Temeraire at some find in his net mixed together in the otherwise quiet air as Harry sighed in contentment 'Baby steps, old boy, forward but in baby steps.'

*Time skip 1 month*

Harry watched with keen eyes from his perch on a nearby hill as a large part of the beautiful French countryside around Dijon was currently being marred by a truly impressive band of dragons. These many beasts of different sizes, colors and shapes were rebuilding the once tiny covert there into a larger, almost town scape like place with wide streets as per the Grand Emperor's request. It was still small but much less cramped than the old covert, and there were no constraining walls this time, the buildings being placed just so to make room for dragons and still allow their crews to live in relative comfort near them yet not outside in the elements. Emperor Napoleon had been doing a lot of this lately when it came to dragons and their living conditions and the 'requesting' was not actually something that could be ignored or treated as a true request.

Everyone knew it was an order, a polite one, but an order none the less. No one knew why it was being done really, only that the Emperor was suddenly 'dissatisfied' with the current situation of dragons and their crews and wanted it rectified immediately.

Not that Harry was going to complain! This just meant that whenever they had to stop off at one of these locations he and Temeraire could be assured of being close to their chosen people, yet also not blocking any important places because dragons were not suppose to be that close to the buildings. Now there were roofed pads near the crew quarters that looked very like large gazebos, where a dragon could sleep without fear of too much water or sun beating down on them...at least the medium to small breeds could. Something Temeraire's and Harry's size right now would find it a tight squeeze, and if they did anymore growing then they would not be able to fit at all. But there was nothing to be done about that until it was needed, they could make use of them now and maybe later they would have larger ones made if the Emperor was still feeling generous.

The large dragon with a wizard's mind shifted his view over to a group of chatty people he knew fairly well by now. They were Temeraire's crew, or at least the crew he had on him at the moment, whether they would stay for the long haul or not wasn't yet known. These people had been chosen quickly at the first covert they landed at shortly after making landfall in France near a month ago. Mostly to make sure Temeraire was in French hands in some way as he refused to take another Captain, and so far none of them had treated Laurence badly at all, save for a couple of typically jealous folk who were envious of his position as Captain of such a fine dragon.

The other reason for the quick crew selection was because a patrol of large English dragons had been spotted off the coast and Temeraire might have been needed to chase them off at the time. In the end he wasn't and they instead headed off to the many different coverts in France to find one that could hold two quickly growing heavyweight dragons of interesting breeds.

According to a French Official at the last covert, Temeraire did indeed appear to be the rare Chinese Celestial, which meant if it was true, out of the two eggs the French had acquired from China, his was the one that was suppose to go to the Emperor of France. However, now that he was long hatched from the shell and would obviously NOT part with HIS Laurence, he couldn't be Captained by the Emperor and France was in a bit of a pickle if they couldn't figure out how to deal with the non-royal Captain on a Celestial issue. Worse was that the non-royal Captain was English and has not yet been convinced to serve France in the war, so far merely agreeing to NOT assist the English and remain at whatever covert he was left in.

Something a lot of Frenchmen seemed very happy to try and change, and as everyone they've met so far loved Laurence for some reason or another, it was indeed a LOT of Frenchmen and women gathering around to beat at Laurence's loyalty to England until it cracked and shattered. Harry was sure the man would always keep England in his heart but there was only so much of the kindness of the French and, of course, the obvious suffering the average person was enduring, that poor Laurence could take before he changed his mind on the non-interference policy he had taken up.

Harry figured Laurence's hold out was also because the man was hoping Temeraire would turn out to be an Imperial instead of a Celestial, in which case they would not have to go out into war to fight, but would be put to work on helping around the country in other ways.

Hopefully a reply to the letter sent to china a week ago would soon arrive and perhaps an answering sketch to the colored sketches of Temeraire's form would be with the letter, which would possibly help Laurence make his decision. The sketches were not just to show him off, but rather to also confirm or deny what they had been told about his breed both now and when they had acquired his egg. If he wasn't a Celestial but an Imperial instead, then France had dodged the whole non-royal Captain problem and Laurence could breath easy in that he wouldn't have to fight his countrymen.

If not, however, and Temeraire was for sure a Celestial, then Laurence would have no choice but to put his heart away in a locked box and face the fact that he could either go to war or loose his freedom and Temeraire.

Harry on the other hand was still an unknown breed, and colored sketches of his form were also sent to China in the hopes of figuring out what happened, as both eggs were the same color and pattern and should have been the same breed. If Harry turned out to be just as important a breed as the Celestial, then France was screwed twice over if Temeraire wasn't an Imperial. The thought was certainly bothering Gregory since they made base here, with the man calling for Dragonologists to come and look at the brothers in the hopes that something good would be found that will keep France from going to war with China.

In other news, Harry's temporary crew were very weary of him (which is why they were temporary) due the many new additions to his frame. Where as once in his youth he had sported two larger teeth in the lower jaw that were obviously bigger than the others, he now possessed a pair of thicker teeth in the same location (having lost the last set naturally) that appeared almost like the tusks of a boar. These were used often by Harry to dig around in a carcass to find the bits he liked most and could be used very well in actually killing his prey or uprooting plants and semi-hard soil should Harry ever desire to.

The small horns on his head were also changing from their previous state of almost straight. Now they were curling a bit like a ram's and were thicker all over, which meant his head had to grow too in order to accommodate them. Gregory reckoned that if they continued as they were, then by the time Harry had matured fully he would have an impressive set of horns to go with his mighty hunter's tusks. Harry's colors had also shifted quite a bit, he was now more an inky black with only a bit of dark gray on his belly and his under wings, and although he still had his dark gray speckles, they were almost invisible against his much darker main colors. The bristly gray hairs were darker as well, and now much thinner and more hairlike then before, yet somehow they were not soft to the touch no matter how they looked; each one was rough and straw like and could poke soft bodied people something awful if they weren't careful around them. His body was still far longer than a flying breed of dragon had any right to be, and his wings were still disproportionately larger than his body, which made for an interesting sight, but otherwise he was maturing into a fearsome beast that many were too afraid to try and crew.

'Though I wonder about that.' Harry mused as he turned his head to look over his left shoulder to observe the people he had to call crew for at least another week. 'What if it isn't just how I look, but the feel of my magic as well? Can they sense it on some level and instinctively avoid getting near the thing that is causing the fear?' Harry smiled to himself at the memory of so many people from the coverts coming to beg Gregory a chance to be crew on his mighty beast, only to watch them shrink away like scared little mice once they got within a few yards of Harry as if they had walked into some invisible cloud of fear and misery.

End chapter six, pt 1.

AN: CLIFFHANGER OF THE BORING KIND. Until the next part is done. Sorry it's choppy in areas, I did try to smooth things out but if I hold on to it any longer it won't be posted for another month or two, which is why it's being cut into two parts.

Also, last time I'll ask anything not related to this story in ANs, I have some one-shots I've done to help with writers block but I don't know if anyone would be interested in reading them? Mostly crossovers of HP/DW though I do have a couple HP/GoT and HP/Marvel ones too. Even have an HP/L&O verse one, though this one is probably gonna turn into an actual story at some point. Some of the one-shots are short (3k maybe if that) and others longer (around 10k). Let me know if anyone is interested in reading them and I'll start proof reading them in my writer's block time instead of writing new one-shots and get them up.