Author's Notes: I don't think I've ever had as many reviews pleading for me to continue as I did for chapter nine - thank you, everyone, and don't worry, there is still more to come. Only (wince) one or two chapters at the most, however.

Disclaimer: As part one: none of it is mine if you recognise it.

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Thor experimentally tried wriggling the fingers of his left hand. It worked, so he tried the same with his right hand. Without opening his eyes, he frowned. There was something lying on his right arm, and he didn't know what.

So he opened his eyes, and blinked as he realised instantly where he was. He had been in here one too many times, in his opinion, and he always knew where he was by the lone, thin, jagged crack in the ceiling that seemed to mock the scar on his forehead.

"You're awake."

Thor lifted his head, wincing against the bright daylight that streamed in through the open windows of the ward, and nodded to Sirius.

"Yeah," he said, a little hoarsely. "I guess so." He looked down to see what was lying on his arm, and relaxed. It was Draco, fast asleep and looking much better than when Thor had last seen him. He rested his head against Draco's, and smiled. He heard Sirius coming closer, and felt the bed shift as his godfather sat down.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked gently.

Thor considered. "Alright," he said finally. "All things taken into account." He frowned again. "How long have I been in here?"

"Two days," Sirius replied quietly. "You missed a lot."

Thor didn't want to think about that. "Mm," he agreed neutrally. A thought struck him. "Is everyone alright? What were the casualties?"

"Not bad," Sirius assured him. "Don't worry about it now, Harry. Wait until you feel better." He smoothed Thor's hair back from his eyes. "Wait until tomorrow," he finished.

Thor nodded, and quickly fell asleep again.

He was woken several hours later, when the Moon had just risen, by the sounds of an argument raging around him, and by Draco burrowing his head in the pillow.

"Draco," Thor whispered. Draco lifted his head, and green eyes met silver. "What are they doing?"

"Arguing about you and me," Draco said simply. "Are you okay?" Thor nodded, and opened his mouth to ask something. "I'm fine," Draco anticipated him. "I wasn't that badly injured anyway." Thor snorted, and turned his attention to the argument that was raging around them. Zodiac, Sirius, Hermione, Coyote, Snape and Seraph were all apparently yelling at each other as loud as they could. Fred and George were both attempting to drag Ginny away from trying to throttle Snape, and Dumbledore was sitting in the middle of it all, happily ignoring everyone as he talked to a Half- Elf.

"Half of them want you to start being the King thingy straight away," Draco informed him in a muted voice. "The others say that you've had enough and need some decent time to rest."

"Personally, I say that it's not up to any of us," Thor murmured. Dragons whispered in his mind, and for once he actually listened to what they were telling him. A small smile lit up his eyes. "Come on, Draco. There's someone special I want you to meet."

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Draco did as Thor told him and slid out of the bed. All eyes instantly turned towards them, and Thor stood up and stretched languidly.

"Morning," he said cheerfully. "I don't suppose anyone knows where my uniform is?"

"Thor, you're awake!" Zodiac exclaimed with relief, turning away from Coyote. "Perhaps you can talk some sense into Coyote!"

"I would have thought that you'd come to grips with the fact that talking sense into Coyote would be an impossible task," Thor observed, a twinkle in his eyes. "What's the problem? And, clothes?" Seraph, with a small smile, passed his uniform and a uniform for Draco; Thor drew the curtains and they swiftly dressed.

"I was merely observing to Mage Zodiac that now you have your apprentice back you will have no objections to taking up your *complete* role as Dragon King," Coyote said cuttingly. "Or perhaps that is too much to ask?"

Thor tugged on his second boot and angrily pulled the curtain back. "Kindly refer to him as War Mage Zodiac," he snapped. "That is his title. And what on earth do you mean by 'complete role', Coyote? Please tell me what you know of such things anyway."

"I know that a King cannot put personal preferences in front of the good of the world," Coyote retorted. "Any simpleton knows that."

"Any simpleton," Thor hissed, "would know that Draco is not merely my apprentice, he is part of the Prophecy. And who are you to tell me what to do? I answer to one being in this world, and one being only." He glared at Coyote for long moments, then he glanced out of the hospital wing, and looked back at Draco, who was alternatively looking at Coyote and Thor. "Come on," Thor said quietly. "Let's go. She's here."

"Who is?" Seraph wanted to know.

Thor gave a grin suddenly, a reckless grin that Draco hadn't seen since they were both at school. "The Mother," he told his fellow Mage. "She's brought me back my dagger."

Not being able to use the curse that he normally would on hearing such astonishing news, Zodiac settled for "Bloody hell." Thor shrugged, grabbed Draco's hand, and tugged him out of the medical ward, ignoring Hermione's protests.

"Harry, slow down!" Draco admonished. 'What's the rush? Who is this...Mother?"

Thor paused. "Oh. I'd forgotten that you don't know about her yet." He chewed on his bottom lip. "Well, the short version is that she's the Mother of all Dragons and Mages. The long version is very, very long, and you'll learn it when I eventually get around to finishing teaching you." He met Draco's eyes, and again felt his cheeks heat up. Then he glanced away, and continued pulling Draco through the corridors.

The Mother of all Dragons was waiting for them by the lake. Next to her stood a unicorn, and Draco somehow knew that this unicorn was the ruler of all unicorns. He turned to Thor questioningly.

"It's all to do with who we are now," Thor murmured, not taking his eyes from the Mother. "The Change took place, so we'll have knowledge of things that we didn't have before."

"Great," Draco muttered. "Like my life isn't already confusing enough." Thor looked quizzically at him, and a smile tugged at Draco's mouth for a moment before he leaned in and kissed Thor.

A thousand thoughts whirled through Thor's head, but before he could do anything except stand there, Draco had pulled back, and moved to greet the unicorn. Thor gaped, his mouth hanging open, blinking rapidly.

'Dear child,' the Mother began affectionately, stretching out her neck so she was closer to him, 'close your mouth.' Thor obeyed, and propelled himself closer to her. He leaned into her, and frowned.

"You can't just do that to a person, Draco," he complained. Draco, who seemed to be talking to the unicorn, looked up and shrugged.

"I just did," he pointed out. "So are you going to introduce me?" He glanced pointedly at the Mother. "I think I can speak dragon-tongue now."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Thor said dryly. "Well, we can but try." He looked up at the huge dragon. 'My Mother, this is Draco, my apprentice and the Unicorn-born of the Prophecy.' He looked at Draco. "Did you understand?" Draco nodded silently. 'Draco, this is the Mother.'

Draco bowed, instinct obviously dictating his actions, and he approached Thor and the Mother.

'I am honoured,' the Mother said gravely to Draco. 'But do not bow to me, little unicorn.'

'Why not?" Draco inquired, making Thor choke back a laugh. The Mother gave Thor a lazy look.

'It is reasonable question,' she reprimanded him, 'since you have not yet taught him about such matters. No, I know you have not had nearly enough time,' she overruled his protests. 'Hush now, little one. Let the unicorn child and I talk.'

Suitably chastised, Thor pulled himself away from the Mother and went to talk to the unicorn. Draco watched them for a moment - the unicorn appeared to be telling Thor off - before looking back at the Mother.

'He can be very stubborn,' the Mother remarked as Draco scrutinised her. 'Much like yourself.'

'How do you know?" Draco asked wonderingly. 'You don't even know me.'

'How do you know my language?' she inquired in return. 'How do you know anything in your soul, Draco? You and I are not as alike as you and your unicorns are, but we are still connected intrinsically, by ancient powers that reach further back in time than you could imagine, powers that stretch before magic, before knowledge and wisdom, when there was only serenity and sharing.'

'It sounds like it was a wonderful time,' Draco whispered, a trace of bitterness in his voice. 'I wish I knew that serenity.'

"You will," Thor said firmly, coming up behind Draco and speaking in English so that the Mother couldn't understand and embarrass him. "Don't worry, you will." He looked up at the Mother, an oddly calculating look on his face. 'What is it? There's something you want to tell me, I know it.'

'Curious little dragon,' the Mother observed. 'But your troubles are not yet over.' A strange look entered Thor's eyes, and Draco shivered involuntarily. 'Here is your dagger,' the Mother added, nudging forward the dwarf-wrought dagger with her claws. Thor bent to pick it up, but he didn't put it in its sheath. 'Try to be more careful with it next time,' the Mother admonished a little, but both Thor and Draco could tell that she didn't mean it. 'And now I must leave. The Dragon-realms are still recovering from Voldemort, and I am needed.' She lowered her head so that Thor could touch her; he pressed his cheek against hers and closed his eyes, seeking strength from her. 'And you are needed here, my little dragon child,' she told him softly. 'Until we meet again.'

'So we will meet again?" Thor asked, a little desperately.

'Of course.' The Mother drew away from Thor and looked expectantly at the unicorn, who walked closer to Thor and Draco, nodded his head at both of them, and then left in a gallop for the Forbidden Forest.

'Goodbye, my children,' the Mother whispered, then she turned and launched herself into the air, her great wings bearing her high into the sky until she could no longer be seen. Whilst Thor was watching her, Draco took the opportunity to slip the dagger from his hands and examine the writing on it.

"Damn," he muttered in disgust. "Obviously whoever decided what I'd know after the Change didn't think that I might want to be able to *read* Dragon- tongue, not just speak it. Harry, what does it say?"

Thor tore his eyes away from the clouds to look at Draco and his dagger. "It says 'beloved child'," he replied. "And why should we be given everything - then there'd be nothing left to learn." He smiled suddenly. "Draco...I've been meaning to tell you -"

"Thor! Thor, you come here right now and explain to me how you know the Mother of Dragons!" Zodiac yelled from the castle steps. Draco developed a sudden cough to disguise his laughter; Thor glared at the pair of them, grabbed Draco's arm, and pulled him towards Zodiac.

"If I'm going to get told off," he told Draco bluntly, "so are you."

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"Harry - do you think things are going to be a lot different now?"

"I'm probably the wrong person to ask," Thor admitted openly, smoothing back Draco's hair from his forehead. "I don't really know what's going to happen now...I don't know that I want there to be anything except just us."

Draco twisted in his arms so he could look at Thor. "But there has to be," he pressed. "Doesn't there?"

Thor didn't reply.

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One week after Thor had woken up, and ten days after the great attack on Voldemort and the Death Eaters, all of Britain had been freed. Muggles returned to their homes and started rebuilding their lives; wizards did the same, if with a little less ease. At Hogwarts, preparations were underway for honouring the deceased, and for bringing Hogwarts back to life in the way it had always meant to be.

The Circle of Mages had mostly returned to their home, deep in the mountains of an unnamed country. The Council remained, officially to represent the Mages in the coronation that they had insisted upon for Thor. Thor complained to Draco when they were alone that they only stayed to annoy him, but as there was little he could do about the situation - he could not, of course, force them to leave - he kept his thoughts mostly to himself.

And he had little enough time to think about anything at all, let alone something as unimportant as the Circle of Mages and why Coyote detested him. Coyote and the Circle had insisted - and Dumbledore and many others had firmly agreed - that Thor needed a coronation if he intended to rule. Dumbledore's reasons were a little different - he said it would give the country a morale-booster that was sorely needed - but regardless of the reasons, a coronation had to happen.

When Thor had been told this very bluntly by Zodiac, he had turned the whole affair over to Draco to arrange.

"You had experience with big formal things when you were younger," he claimed. "I didn't - and I'll be damned if I let anyone drag me into negotiating where the pixies should sit in relation to the fairies."

So the coronation was set for four weeks time, and every sentient species under the heavens had an invitation, and several non-sentient ones as well. Draco had made sure that *everyone* was well-represented, and had even, according to Seraph, managed to sort out seating arrangements without doing anything that might cause a full-scale magical war, for which Thor was extremely grateful and proved it to Draco every night.

It was when they approached Thor about what he would need to do that problems arose. The 'committee' of people who were organising the coronation decided that it would be safer for the health of all concerned if they approached Thor together. That way, Seraph reasoned, it was more likely that no-one would die. Draco protested that Thor wouldn't kill any of them, and Zodiac pointed out that Thor really, really didn't like people making a fuss of him.

"When you put it like that," Draco winced.

So two and a half weeks before the coronation Draco, Seraph, Hermione, Ginny, Zodiac, Sirius and Mage Vanille went down to the lake and found Thor, who was busy talking animatedly to a grass snake.

Thor looked up at them all, winced, and sent the snake on its way. He stood up, brushed some grass from his uniform, and held out his hands in a helpless gesture. "I am at your mercy," he announced dramatically.

"Good," Ginny began, a wicked glint in her eye. "I've been meaning to do this since my third year at Hogwarts." Thor took a step backwards as she produced her wand. "Petrificus totalus!"

Fortunately, Thor grinned, he had had a permanent shield charm sewn into his uniform by the griffins several years ago, so the hex evaporated once it hit the shield. Ginny grimaced, and put away her wand.

"Harry, we need to talk to you about the coronation," Hermione began carefully. Thor flinched; so far he'd managed to stay well out of the whole business, and he had intended to do so until the actual coronation itself. "Don't look at me like that, Harry, you know we need to sort out what exactly you'll need to do - and you're the only one who knows anything about crowning a Dragon King."

Thor pulled his wand from his belt, muttered a spell, and pulled a book from the air. "Here," he said tersely, levitating the book into her hands. "Everything's in there; I researched it very thoroughly, and that book was written by the last Dragon King. Can I go now?"

Draco quickly moved to his side. "Harry, please," he said softly. 'I know you don't want to do this, but try, for me?" Thor met Draco's eyes, then turned away, gazing out across the lake with hooded eyes. Draco, stung, fell back a pace. "Harry..."

"Look, I don't want to talk about the damn coronation," Thor snapped, whirling around and fixing his angry gaze on the whole group. "I don't care, do you understand? I couldn't care less about whether the Mages recognise me, or whether not having a crown means I can't officially rule. Hell, I don't even want to rule. So you can all just take your coronation and the stupid traditions that go along with it and drown it in the lake."

"Harry, you-" Sirius started anxiously. Thor cut him off.

"I'm leaving," he said curtly. "Please don't look for me." He met Draco's eyes for an instant, and then levitated himself quickly. He flew across the lake and out of Hogwarts grounds...and Apparated away.

The coronation committee stared in shock at where they had last seen him, unable to believe that it had actually happened, that Thor had actually gone, that he had actually left them. Zodiac instantly cast a locating charm to try and find Thor, wherever he had gone, but -

"Damn," he grimaced. "Either Thor's left the country or he's concealing his location."

"Under the circumstances, I imagine it's the latter," Seraph murmured. "He really doesn't want us to find him."

"Of course he doesn't," Draco snapped. "Why else would he have left?" He wrapped his arms around himself as all eyes turned to him. "What is it now?" he demanded suspiciously. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's not like I made him leave."

"No," Zodiac said slowly. "We know you didn't make him leave...but you can get him back."

"What?" Draco's eyes widened. 'No I can't. Why would you think that?"

"Because you've got a bond with him," Hermione breathed. "Of course...you know exactly where he is, Draco. You can go and get him back."

"No," Draco said coolly. "I won't."

"But if you know where he is," Sirius tried, "surely you can -" Yet again he was interrupted.

"No, Sirius," Draco said, exasperated. "I could find him, certainly, but I doubt that I could persuade him to come back if he doesn't want to, and that's always assuming that I will intrude on Harry's privacy like that. I won't do that - he's had people doing that to him all his life. Can't you all just leave him alone for once?" He sighed, and shook his head. "I'll be back by sunset," he announced. "I'm going to see the unicorns." He strode off towards the Forbidden Forest, leaving everyone else feeling uncomfortable.

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked softly. "We can't have a coronation if there's no king."

"Do?" Mage Vanille repeated. She had been silent so far, more out of respect for Thor than because of any other reason. "What else is there to do but continue with the preparations?"

"Vanille," Seraph began, a little tired. "What on earth can you mean? Why prepare if there is nothing to prepare for?"

"I know Thor, at least a little," Vanille said quietly. "He will be back - and from what I have seen of Draco, he will go to find Thor and help him. Don't give up on your friends so easily, Mage Seraph." She nodded her head at the two Mages, then turned and walked back up to the school. Silently the others joined her.

In the Forbidden Forest, Draco cried among a herd of unicorns who did not know what they could do to help him.

Many miles away, in a small town in Surrey, Harry Potter curled up in the place that had once been his home, and tried in vain to forget.

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