The colossal creature landed in the clearing then, cracking and sagging the earth beneath him in one monstrous elongated groan. Ancalagon extended his wings in a show of pride and strength, making me smile even wider.

'You look different little prince. Or should I say princess?' the Dragon rumbled. Although its words had gone unheard by all, its chuckle was impossible to miss.

"Oh shush! I'm told I actually look quite pretty like this!" I laughed back, placing a hand on the creatures nose in greeting. "Isn't that right everyone?" I asked, looking into the crowd. They were too stunned by the exchange to comment.

"I'm told I look quite pretty! Isn't that right?" I repeated impatiently. The boys all nodded stupidly, at least the straight ones. Aurora merely rolled her eyes.

"Ancalagon the Great! I would like to introduce you to my very best friend. This is Scorpius Malfoy." I exclaimed, proffering my hand towards the blond idiot. "Scor, this is Ancalagon."

Scor came forward and bowed, breaking into faeric for the encounter.

"Anathom-hen Grath Wyrm, han ro u-lithi" (Well met Great wyrm. I have heard much of you.)

"He says 'Good things I hope? Your friend speaks much of you as well, Scorpius of the Avalon. You are known to me and likewise well met.'" I repeated for all to hear.

"Everyone, this is my friend Ancalagon the Great." I offered politely as though Ancalagon were a normal dinner guest arriving for supper. It took a moment for the dragon to react but he closed his eyes and burst out laughing, threatening to roll backwards onto the trees. The sight was strange indeed. A deep heaving rumble and bits of flame flew out of the dragons nostrils as he continued to... well cackle. Charlie marveled even more at the sight. Even he had never seen a dragon laugh.

"He says… 'I like the way you pretend I'm just one of you two legs.'" I repeated for those gathered. "Erm… He's not like most dragons so I suggest you show him every courtesy." I added. Lily bowed immediately, getting my hint and suddenly everyone else bowed in greeting as well.

"Erm... Lorcan and Lysander… would you both step forward for a minute." I asked, wading into the crowd to offer a gentle hand to Lysander. He blushed as our fingers slid together. The moment we made contact I could sense his nervousness.

I brought the twins before the gargantuan beast and beckoned to Charlie to approach as well. Ancalagon sniffed at the two blond boys and turned his head towards me.

'Do you seek to reprimand me? Youngling? I can smell that witches scent hanging about her progeny. I'm embarrassed enough as it is for my wyrm-wrath. I was mid meal when those animals attacked me. I was not myself.'

I repeated his words to the group although I could tell he had wished they'd remained private. I nudged Lysander, releasing his hand and urging him to approach my new found friend. His twin moved protectively to his side.

"Al saved our mum that day… That's all we care about." Lorcan explained, unable to meet the dragons gaze. "As you say… you were not yourself…"

I nodded, knowing that was as far as we'd get on the subject.

"This is my uncle Charlie. He was there the day we met as well. He studies your kind and I'm certain tonight will clock in as one of the best moments of his life." I offered, moving on to my ginger uncle as he stared stupidly up at the hulking mountain of scaled flesh and razor sharp talons.

"Charmed. We all know of the fire hairs efforts. He has done much to look after the motherless hatchlings or the older dragons who would never dare request aid from their brethren. We are a proud race, most less intelligent than I, but that does not mean we do not recognize a kindness done for us. You are well met wyrm-friend."

Charlie looked clearly like he was resisting the urge to start taking notes as i translated. The other dragons began snarling and snapping at each other in the air and I heard a strange garble of less complex emotions from though my link with Ancalagon. The other dragons were less... civil... less evolved almost...

"Ok. Now he wants us to get moving. Its a long flight and they aren't a very patient lot to begin with. 'Seven with me Al, seven on Orthys, and Glaurung may seat the remaining eight.'" I repeated aloud, bounding lithely up the dragons forearm and onto his back as though it were the most normal thing in the world. I dropped a hand down for Scor and Lily and after them followed Louis and Raven bravely. Markus didn't waste an opportunity to remain at my sisters side and so joined us beside her. "Lysander come on. We have room for one more." I shouted from atop the black dragon, signaling the boy out of the remaining members. Lysander looked at his twin for but a moment before climbing eagerly up the dragon's spikes to separate from him. "Come hold on to me." I ordered, wrapping his arm around my slender waist.

We took off in an eruption of dust and debris as I watched the scene below through the shield of my fingers. Ancalagon circled, waiting for the other's to position themselves. Orthys, an enormous female Antipodean opal eye, landed in the black dragons's place to take the next seven of my rabbits into the air.

Finally a massive Golden dragon, Glaurung, picked up the last seven members. I barked at everyone to hold on to the spikes as the dragons shifted from circling to gaining altitude.

It wasn't the most comfortable flight. Ancalagon to his credit apologized outright. He knew we had to fly quickly if we wanted to make it to Baciu Tarn tonight and return in time not to be missed for the final farewell at the end of the next day. The dragon was running through a mental outline of our flight path when his thoughts were drowned out by a voice.

"This is amazing Al. Your friend is incredible." Lysander shot into my ear, squeezing me around the middle. I giggled and relayed the sentiment to the dragon who swelled pridefully at the praise. I turned to watch everyone's excitement with obvious glee.

"WOOOOOOOOO" Scor yelled playfully, extending his arms into the air. I caught his expression and couldn't stop myself from smiling at him.

'Time to show me little princess. Show me what Niime has taught you. I want to see you fly.' The Dragon whispered into my head. I gulped, realizing how little of the magic I had practiced since learning it.

'Tell the others to hold on while you're over there. We need to break the sound barrier if we want to reach the witch in time. I will wait to do so until you fly back to me.'

I nodded and detached Lysander's arm from my waist with a delicate touch. I merely grinned at the passengers that shared my dragon, saluting them like a military officer as i stood up awkwardly against the wind.

"Thank you all very much for flying dragon air, if you would, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and leave the flying to the professionals." I cackled, letting myself fall backwards into the shadows.

"ALLLLL!" I heard them yell.

Wind rushed passed me as the night embraced my falling form against the starlit sky. I allowed the magic to deploy automatically and simply extended my arms wing like into the air.

'Another secret that I remember. More alike than I thought… what price did you pay to that witch for this gift?' Voldemort's voice whispered from his half sleep. The electricity of fear crackled through me and I plummeted momentarily through empty space. I struck the image of the bald man's head with the heel of my foot, knocking him back into unconsciousness in a desperate act of panic. The brief mental chaos had destabilized my flight and I had tumbled several feet, almost colliding with a tree, before I was able to regain my balance.

'Twice in one night he's tried to wake up! That's unacceptable.' I thought to myself, my heart racing at the close call.

The flight magic continued to work delicately through my mind and into my limbs.*. I leveled myself out fifty feet beneath the black dragon and marveled at the sight of the forest below me*. I peered over my shoulder to spy the Pearlescent female wyrm to my rear and had to figure out how best to arrive parallel to her. I chose in the end to extend myself like a tree squirrel, allowing the wind resistance to slow me like a parachute. The maneuver had halted me so significantly that by the time I shifted back to a normal flying position I was a little behind the passengers on the second dragons back. Had I been a little more reckless I might have merely impaled myself onto the back spikes of the silver scaled Orthys by mistake.

'Note to self for next time…' I thought, shaking my head. The feel of my long female hair felt alien and strange as the ponytail flapped in the currents and eddys.

"Still not used to flight magic! Sorry everyone. I'm meant to tell you to hold on tightly since we're going to be picking up a lot of speed soon." I shouted, angling myself to get as close to the riders as possible. The wind was blisteringly cold without the heat of the dragon beneath me or the warmth of Lysanders teenage form at my back.

I caught the blond's twin blinking stupidly while Aurora merely howled at the sight of me gliding alongside them.

"You can fly?" Markus howled excitedly.

"I guess so!"

To my horror I saw Aurora lunge off of the dragon as though trying to hug me, laughing like a lunatic as she plummeted from the sky. I dove instinctively towards her, angling like a bomber in a steep descent that strained the limits of my ability. It took me a harrowing fifteen seconds before I caught her with an 'oomph'. I couldn't help but groan at the stress her weight added to my female muscles. Still, I was somehow able to maintain flight.

She dangled giddily and I couldn't help but shout.

"Are you stupid!"

"I knew you'd catch me!"

We had slowed enough for Glaurung to catch up with us and I merely flew alongside him as Aurora giggled and hooted in excitement to the oldest group of passengers, which included her brother. I smiled at her, bewildered by the trust she had in me to have leapt as she did. She didn't have the slightest doubt i would catch her. 'Are these all my crazy rabbits?' I thought to myself.

The remaining eight inductees at the rear of the prrocession, marveled and cheered at the sight of the two of us laughing and flying through the air. What doubts any of them had about tonight, I believe I had dispelled with the lighthearted show of amusement.

"That and well I can fucking fly!" I shouted out loud to myself.

Aurora laughed again not understanding what I had meant.

I relayed my instructions to the last batch of flyers about our speed jump and jetted back to Orthys to deposit my stowaway where she belonged.

Like a rocket then I exploded forward and upwards to find myself level with my original group. I did a spiraling barrel spin and a corkscrew maneuver just to test my ability and even the dragon praised me for the show of agility.

"Shall we race great one?" I inquired cheekily, the adrenaline of my flight overwhelming my sense.

'Careful not to exhaust yourself. It takes a lot of energy to sustain that speed. You'll faint and fall like a stone before long. Best to train yourself up a bit before you take one of us on. Besides! Its hardly fair with six humans weighing me down.'

I nodded disappointedly to the dragon and merely maneuvered myself above the back spikes along Ancalagon's spine in an attempt to land on the moving giant. Just as I had matched my speed with the black dread, Scor's arms reached upwards to pluck me ever so softly from the sky.

I felt so nervous as he gracefully pulled me into his lap to wrap me protectively in his warm arms.

'I wish my body would hurry and turn back to normal already.' I thought to myself, feeling so vulnerable as the chilly gusts sapped at my bones.

"You're brilliant you realize that?" Scor whispered into my ear. He tried to slip his hand into mine but I pulled away with a jerk, tears forming in my eyes.

"Are you ok Al?" he asked into my ear, not for the first time tonight.

I shook my head quietly and I felt his heart stop through our soul bond. He was panicking. I couldn't fault him there.

"Al… I…"

I leaned back into his chest and pulled his head down so I could be the one to whisper into his ear instead.

"Scorpius… I can still feel you leaking out of me alright… i'm just very confused right now… I'm sure I'll be fine in a bit ok… just… give me some time. I promised you didn't I? Forgive you for anything…" I finished… releasing his head and closing my eyes. To the others it looked like I was just taking a nap, warning my friend to keep careful hold of me.

Internally though I was panicking just as furiously as he was. The feel of the sticky substance that continued to drip into the panties I'd borrowed from Victoire, unnerved me to my core. How stupid was it to sleep with him? 'Stupid stupid stupid! Look at what you're trying to build Albus.' This could ruin everything. Just because you've taken aging potions and a transmog potion.

"I'm sorry, If that's worth anything…" Scor finished weakly, both dejected and confused. I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together as he'd tried to a moment before. Even when he was the reason for my vulnerability… I sought comfort from his touch.

"You were brilliant Scor… unbelievable really... it's just… i have no idea how I'm going to feel about this when I change back."

"But you think we can get past it? I'd take it back if i could. I promise I wasn't thinking straight. You were so beautiful I just couldn't help it. You didn't stop me… so I…"

"No… I did't stop you…" I replied carefully. Thankfully the speed of the wind was obscuring the nature of our conversation from the others around us. My heart started to race again at the feel of Scor's groin hardening against me. My eyes darted open so that I could stare up at him. They caught him blushing, his gaze fixed off into the distance absently as though he were equally embarrassed at his body's response. I pulled his head down to whisper again, a sudden urge to tease him stuck in my mind. "Was it because of my comment about you leaking out of—" He covered my mouth and eyes with his free hand, interrupting me out of mortification for the reminder.

"Can anyone else hear anything?" Scor inquired suddenly turning to both sides to try and get Lysander or Lily's attention. They were more in front of us that to our sides, the strange arrangement of dragon spikes separating each person from each other.

"WHAAAT?" Lysander shouted, his reply muted by the wind.

I burst out laughing, realizing how awkward Scor too felt about our encounter.

"No. It was the memory of something else that caused it. I was just thinking… we now know that your lips are good for more than just kissing." He corrected into my hair when he was certain nobody was paying attention to us. This time I was the one to blush, remembering how sore my knees were with nothing but my dress to kneel on. How hot the view of his abs and chest had been from below. In truth my lips were full and plump whether I was a boy or a girl...

"I wasn't expecting you to be so big…" I whispered back. Of course I remembered exactly the size of him from our first encounter in the Hero's beacon. It was just my idea of teasing him. Instead of blushing he merely smirked.

Taking his smirk as a challenge, I slipped my hand very discretely beneath my dress to press against the outline of his throbbing member below me.

"Don't Al." Scor whispered back fearfully, grabbing my arms and wrapping them around me in a hug like embrace.

"Shame. I guess we'll have to wait until we get back to my room at the palace."

"You want… to go again?" My statement had caught him completely off guard. He was staring down at me as I settled my head more comfortably against his chest. I nodded shyly and finally had to break eye contact.

Suddenly, with a strain and effort intense enough to feel through our bond, he sent a singular line of thought into my head.

"You know… if you were like this all the time… I think i'd marry you."

The sentence broke my heart into a million pieces. It was like a mischievous child had walked into a store full of delicate glassware and decided to start kicking and smashing everything in sight.

I closed my eyes and feigned a smile for his benefit. I couldn't bring myself to look at him any longer. If i did I might have burst into tears.