Disclaimer: I own none of JK's original characters and only own two of the main ones myself.

Author's Note: Aw! Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry I haven't updated lately, school's started and I'm falling behind in my writing, but I promise to work more on my story! Here's chapter 15!

Chapter fifteen

Having to Worry

Thorn sighed and said, "I should get going, too, it'll take me three hours to get home, and when I do it will be dark."

Maken nodded, "Yeah, okay, but walk with me for a while, okay? At least until the stream."

Thorn agreed and they began to walk in the direction of the small creek, Maken looking toward the ground, seemingly thinking of what to say. Then after a long silence, he said, "Are you okay?"

Thorn looked up to him, slightly surprised by his question, "Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?"

Maken sighed, "Thorn, you may be able to hide your emotions, but they're not gone. Did what Melissa say hurt you? I mean, with what Cade said about you."

"Maken, she never told me what Cade said," Thorn looked up to him, "And even if she had, I wouldn't have cared. I know that people talk behind my back all the time."

Maken nodded, "Yes, but it must hurt you just a little bit."

"Not really, just annoying that he tells Melissa the little that he knows about me when he doesn't even know the half of it. But I'm to blame for that, perhaps if I'd tell you he wouldn't say anything. I know that he isn't very fond of me, so it doesn't hurt, in fact, I don't think I've ever felt emotional pain before, well, since I was five."

"Alright," Maken said with a sigh, then he said, "Cade doesn't hate you, you know."

Thorn nodded. "I know, but he doesn't really like me, either. Anyway, it doesn't matter, I can't change the way people feel about me." Then they reached the waters edge and Thorn turned to Maken. "Thanks for having me over, I'll be sure to visit again."

As she slung her leg over Shadow's back and placed Fang in front of her, Maken said, "You'd better, because I can't find where you live!"

Thorn smirked down to him as Sparkie cam to her shoulder. "No worries." Then Shadow ran along the bank, spread her mighty, feathered wings, and with a strong downward stroke and powerful push from the ground, she and her riders were air born, and Maken was shrinking away in the distance.

"Why is it," she asked Sparkie, "That I seem to constantly be telling people not to worry?"

Sparkie shrugged, well, either that or he was struck by another sudden tremor of laughter, then he said, "I dunno, maybe it's cause everyone is constantly worried about you."

Thorn slowly nodded, "Yes... They are."

The silence that followed loomed over the four of them. In the distance the sun was setting, casting a purple and pink glow over the tops of the clouds. The only sounds that could be heard were the wing beats that kept them in the sky, and Fang's calm, sleepy breathing. Then, after another long moment, Sparkie said, "And they have reason to be."

Thorn sighed. She had been hoping that he had dropped the subject, but there was no way to avoid the inevitable, "They don't have to worry."

"You want to believe that," Sparkie said, "But you know that they do. You know that for all we know you could suddenly drop dead, well, okay, first have some catastrophic event and then drop dead, but you get the point."

"I'm so happy that you're my optimistic side, Sparkie," Thorn said sarcastically.

About an hour later the sun had set entirely, and the sky was a deep blue, stars set in random order. The clouds under them ran out and they saw the beginning of their forest under them. Shadow began the slow decent and thirty minuets later they saw the well camouflaged stone house that Thorn lived within.

When Shadow landed, Thorn climbed down and took the sleeping dragon from her back. Sparkie had fallen to sleep on her shoulder during the long ride. As Thorn walked back to her house, and Shadow went to the forest, she couldn't help but think that she had to admit that Sparkie had been right. They did have to worry.

"Ah, there you are, Thorn," Severus said as she came in, he was sitting in his chair, reading a book, "I was getting-"

"Worried?" Thorn finished for him as she set Fang and Sparkie on her armchair. The two instantly curled together, Sparkie inside the small bundle of black scales.

Severus looked to her, and nodded slowly, "Yes..." He set his book down and turned to his niece fully, "What's bothering you?"

Thorn sighed as she leaned against the wall covering bookcase, "I'm tired of everyone worrying about me. You, Minerva, Albus, even Maken's worried, and he doesn't know why he should be."

Severus nodded slightly, then said, "What about Cade and Celestial, do they worry as well?"

She shook her head, "No, Cade doesn't care, and Celestial has more important things to worry about."

"Ah," Severus quietly murmured, then he said, "I can't help but worry, Thorn."

She sighed, "I know that. I guess I should get used to it, right? People are going to constantly worry about me, weather it's for my safety, sanity, or loyalty."

Her uncle nodded and sat back in his chair, "If only it weren't so, Thorn. Ever since Severa and Romulus died Cornelius Fudge," the name was said with distaste, "Is convinced that you're a blood thirsty murderer. Sadly, if you do one thing that might make him think that, you're looking at a sentence in Azkaban."

Thorn nodded. "I know, but even if I'm sentenced to a life there, I'm not going to be there a year. I'll find my way out, no doubt about it."

"There is no doubt in my mind that you would. I've always known that you can do anything."

Thorn forced a small laugh, "I can't do anything."

"You can do a lot more then others can," Severus persisted, "You can protect your mind better then anyone I know, you can pull your wand quicker then every student that I've ever seen. You can talk to your reptilian pets."

"I can kill others," Thorn added, "I can force them to feel more pain then they'd ever imagined, I can control their every move. Not everything that I can do is good."

Severus nodded, "Not everything that anyone can do is good."

Thorn chuckled sadly, "You're beginning to sound like Sparkie, always optimistic."

Severus smiled back, his expression unchanged, "Someone has to be, even if they find it hopeless themselves. Now, you should get to bed, tomorrow we have the first of the hardest tasks. Finding enough for Fang to eat and introducing him to the others."

Thorn nodded, "They'll accept him, true enough, but feeding him might prove to be difficult in the future." She took the dragon and daemon lizard into her arms again and carried them into her room. As she looked down on their sleeping forms, she felt a growing fondness in her heart, no doubt the same feeling that Severus had had when he looked down at her seemingly sleeping form eight years prior.

As she set Fang down next to her wall in her bed, and Sparkie next to him, the baby's words replayed in her head, "Are you going to protect me?"

The black dragon had been so afraid, probably still was, though he didn't act it, his words betrayed it. The poor child. A sudden protectiveness flowed through her mind. Like Severus, Sparkie, Maken, Cade, Celestial, and all her animals, she would die to protect Fang. But unlike all of them, she was going to raise Fang from a baby. Sure, Shadow had been a baby when they first met, but she had been raised by her mother and father. Somehow, Thorn felt like this youngster's foster mother.

Thorn shook her head and cleared herself of those emotions. "The last thing you need to do is wonder about your feelings, Rose," she told herself, "We don't want to give him a perfect window in."

In the morning Thorn awoke at her normal time and looked to her side to see Fang and Sparkie curled together. With a small smirk she stood and got dressed. Leaving the two reptiles in her room, Thorn walked into the kitchen and sat at the table across from Severus.

"Good morning," he said as she took her seat.

"Morning," she replied as she took the prophet into hand. She skimmed over the front page, but found nothing worth her time in reading.

Just as the sun's first rays hit the tops of the trees the baby Dragon walked groggily into the room, his violet eyes still half closed, the blue and red flop that was Sparkie was hunched over his back. He dragged himself under the table and curled up at Thorn's feet, laying his head, supported by his long black neck, on her knee.

"What are we going to feed him?" Severus asked as he stood to retrieve the post, for Hecate had landed at the window with two letters.

Thorn stroked Fang's cool, black scales and said, "Meat, any kind that we can get. I would recommend deer meat; the book said that that was the Hibridean Black's preferred food."

"How are we going to get deer meat?" Severus asked as he looked at the letters. He threw one to Thorn, who caught it with mild surprise, and opened the other one.

"Well," Thorn replied as she looked at the envelope, which had been sent by someone that she hadn't expected, Celestial, "There are a lot of deer in our forest, in fact, so many that Talon, Shadow, Shooter, Feather, and Fell are getting rather annoyed. I'm sure that Fell can catch one for him to eat today, and can help him with hunting in the future. We'll have to make sure that the population of the hunted doesn't drop too dramatically."

Severus's eyes left his message and he looked to Thorn and nodded, "That will do. I agree with them, the wonderful heard that we have is a bit of a nuisance."

Thorn smirked, "Alright then, when we're all more awake, I'll go see what we can do."

She stood, making Fang's head fall from her lap. He shook his head, with a low, annoyed hiss, and stood to follow her, Sparkie not budging an inch.

Look at the bug? Isn't it nice? Sparkie was thinking.

Thorn sighed and temporarily blocked him from her mind. When he woke, she would open his path again, but she didn't need to be bothered with his nonsense.

Fang followed Thorn around like a dog, except with much more intelligence then such. He was at her heels every time she turned. She didn't mind his persistence; after all, if she were his mother he would be doing the same thing.

When Sparkie woke a couple of hours later the sun had risen entirely, and was filtering through the tops of the forests trees. Thorn lead the two of them out into the forest and said, in a language that they could both understand, "Fang, this is where you'll be staying when you get too big for the house. Again, let me remind you of the importance of staying out of sight. Come on."

With that Thorn's body morphed into its tiger form and she knelt down to allow Fang to climb onto her striped back. Once the dragon was firmly planted, his claws digging gently into her fur, she began to walk through the forest, the tall trees hanging over them. Sparkie flew to Thorn's feline head and landed, his wings held high to make sure that they didn't block her sight or hearing.

The deeper they got into the forest, the more animal life they saw. Fang was introduced to small birds of many kinds, squirrels, and even his future food source. Eventually they reached their destination; a rather large river that was completely over hung with trees, so that from above none could see its existence.

Thorn changed back to her human state and looked around, but none of the others could be seen. With a loud whistle, and a mental call to Shadow they waited for the arrival of more magic beings.

The first to appear was Shooter, who came on the opposite side of the river. With a powerful leap he cleared the water in one bound, and came to meet the three of them.

Thorn smoothed her hand over the Unicorn's silky mane and whispered, "This is Fang." She lifted the young dragon and showed him to Shooter, hoping for the best.

Shooter's silvery eyes wandered over the baby dragon, a natural instinct to flee shone in his orbs, but as did a trust of his masters decisions. So, instead of doing what nature insisted, he lightly placed his forehead against Fang's and lowly neighed.

Thorn nodded and smiled lightly just as the sound of galloping surrounded them. Sparkie said, "Three creatures make their way by land, and another by air."

Thorn looked to the trees around them as three being made their way from them. The feathered head of Talon, and the other horse forms of Shadow and Feather. "Luckily for Fell, he's invisible to nearly everyone." Thorn muttered.

Then the bat like wings of the Thestral burst through the branches above with a shrill cry and landed right before them.

It took almost nothing to get the others used to Fang. Luckily for Thorn. When he was older, she needed them to watch out for him, and help him.

Shadow, Thorn said a while later, while Fang and Shooter played a game of hide and seek, Fang continually winning, Could you do me a favor?

The pegacorn looked to Thorn and nodded her black head, Anything.

Will you talk to Fell for me? I want him to hunt for Fang. Ask him if he could catch just a young deer for him. He needs to eat.

Shadow neighed, then thought, Consider it done. She left Thorn's side and was with the Thestral. Moments later the reptilian like horse had run off into the woods.

It didn't take long for Fell to return, carrying a small fawn in his jaws. He dropped the catch at Thorn's feet and bowed. Her lips slightly formed a small smile and she rubbed Fell's head. "Fang!" She called and the baby was instantly at her side. "Here, eat this."

Fang looked to the young deer's meat in front of him and his eyes shone an excited glimmer. He dove upon the fresh meal and began to rip it apart with his razor sharp teeth. He seemed almost irrational, wild. He was ravenous. Well, She thought to Sparkie, who was watching Fang and wondering where his calm, gentle dragon friend had gone, He is a dragon, you must remember.

Sparkie nodded as he watched Fang shred and eat the young deer. Shooter watched him warily, every once in a while throwing back his head, fighting the desire to run. Feather paced, spreading her great grey wings momentarily, hoping to not have to take flight. Talon and Shadow both cast cautious glances back and forth, wondering if he was going to be a danger to them in the future. Fell, however, merely watched him; the ferocity with what he was eating not bothering him at all. He seemed to have an over whelming confidence that the dragon meant them no harm.

When every last bit of flesh had been peeled from the white bones of the fawn and nothing but the skeleton remained, Fang stood back, his thin, forked tongue darting in and out of his mouth to rid the blood from his jaws. Thorn looked down upon his small, no longer hungry form, and smirked. "Was that satisfying?"

Fang nodded and began to clean the blood from himself. Thorn continued, "When you're older, we'll teach you to hunt, Fell and I, but there are things about hunting that you must remember." Fang looked up to her and nodded once again, "You can not hunt any of these creatures. Alright? And you must stay in the trees. They are tall enough to conceal your adult form, so I don't want to see you flying about. When you fly, it will be with me, high, above the clouds, out of sight of muggles and other magic people."

Fang nodded for a third time and said, "I understand."

Thorn gave a curt nod and said, "Now, back to the house. Come on."