"Great Scales of Fire," Harry Potter says, "Will you let me be your voice?"
"That would be a service of great value, split-tail. What would you ask for such a thing?"
"To walk by you, up towards the surface."
"Such a small thing?" The dragon laughed, little bits of flame shooting out of his mouth.
"The ones who cage you might very well let me starve." Harry's eyes looked over the dragon, "You look like you could use a snack."
"Can you get me something crunchy?" the dragon asked. "I'm quite fond of coelancanth."
Harry turned away from the dragon, and asked the gobilin, "Can you get him some shellfish? Or some really bony fish? He wants something crunchy."
"In the service of greater dialogue with our custodian, I shall." The goblin said, and then disappeared.
"My contact with the goblins will bring you the best likeness they can." Harry Potter said, "We are landbound here, so coelancanth may be hard to come by."
"Pity." The dragon sighed. "Would you believe that these little brutes think I want blood?"
"Vandals," Harry said, letting a sneer enter his voice, "Barbarians - how were they to know better?"
"They might have asked," The dragon responded.
The small goblin had reappeared, "Shellfish enroute. Lobster, whatnot. Coelancanth is a special order, could take days."
Harry appreciated the small and short speech. "He thinks you're brutish for feeding him bloody red meat."
"Will you apologize on our behalf?" The goblin asked.
"No, but i will tender your apologies to him." Harry paused, "This will probably go better with the shellfish."
Harry, it had often seemed, spent his entire life waiting. This was nothing new, so he did not worry for himself, overmuch. He did, however, worry for the two Slytherins upstairs. Neither of them seemed the patient sort. Hermione at least understood the concept, had a passing familiarity with it. Draco Malfoy was used to his father giving him everything he ever wanted.
And Snape? Snape was the demanding type.
Harry could only hope there was no way that Snape could burn or destroy his way down here.
He really wanted this dragon to be free - the same way he'd longed for his own freedom from the Dursleys.
[a/n: Harry envisions Snape dragging Harry away from the entire negotiation. Granted, he does actually have reason to think this.
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