A/n: Assault of the cuteness!
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Hedwig barely waited twenty minutes after they had returned to Voldemort's suite before practically shoving the three wizards into bed. Most of that time was spent staring down Nagini until the pair came to an unspoken consensus and turned to look over their wizards.
"~So, you are the soul bonded of our youngest speaker,~" Nagini hissed at Hedwig as she helped heard the trio of wizards into the bedroom.
"~Nagini!~" Voldemort complained only to get smacked by her tail.
"~Hush, hatchling! You will each wash in the water room and then return to the bed-nest. I can feel the strain of your magics and how tightly you hide the upset in your minds with the magic flowing there! You will rest and drink the sweet dark liquid chocolate at least twice before dealing with the minions or those outside the nest,~" Nagini ordered, brooking no argument. "~Out of all of you the Hatchling Speaker is the least upset and the least tightly bound with his mind magics. I refuse to have you risk breaking! Into the nest!~"
Nagini took advantage of the human shock at her words to physically shove the three into the bedroom and close the door. She settled in front of the door, hissing her displeasure and some how glowering at the three of them. Hedwig, seeing all of this, took the opportunity to shift from her currently shin high kitten form of the larger Nundu size into her baby dragon form. She then cautiously joined the magical serpent in guarding the door.
"~Even if you can't understand me I can make myself perfectly clear, Harry-hatchling. You will rest,~" Hedwig hissed giving pointed looks between Harry and the bed.
"~We can understand you just fine,~" Severus offered up reluctantly in the same language. "~It is your other forms we can not understand. This one is close enough to ground serpents that we who can speak and understand the serpent tongue can also understand you.~"
"~Good to know,~" Hedwig huffed before turning to Nagini. "~I thank you for protecting my hatchling until I could get back to him.~"
"~He is a part of our nest,~" Nagini said dismissively. "~It will be good to have another sensible one to help keep them intact.~"
Hedwig nodded sharply, accepting the implied sharing of duties, and they both turned back to watching their charges. A helpless look between the wizards settled it as the weight of what had happened at the ministry viewing finally settled on them in a bone deep weariness. They barely got through their hot showers and change into sleepwear before collapsing on the bed. Hedwig found herself, as the more mobile familiar and the one actually in possession of something like hands, carefully arranging the blankets and tucking them in as the trio finally crashed out from the stress and excitement of everything they had witnessed.
"~They pushed too hard,~" Nagini hissed sadly. "~I would guess they also fought with their own magic to keep it safely contained instead of burning it off when their emotions became too much.
"~My hatchling is also starting to wake some of the old power in his blood. If his link with the land re-awakens we must be ready. He will be in great pain,~" Hedwig hissed in warning. "~If we are lucky then the land will not wake the power in his blood nor demand his service should it wake.~"
"~If it does... then the best way to preserve the nest is to bind the other two speakers to him in some fashion. The binding my Tom has to him is soul deep but the other... I do not know if the adoption or binding oath is strong enough that they will survive such an awakening or if it will only be my Tom and your Harry that survive the out pouring of power,~" Nagini mused quietly. "~My Tom has not yet fully realized that he wishes to serve for to rule is to serve. He is learning, slowly but learning still. I suspect that Severus, our dark one, is starting to suspect the waking power even if he does not yet know what it is, only that it deeply concerns our Harry who he has taken as his own male offspring.~"
"~There are dormant bindings on him to my Harry-hatchling... we will wait before deciding that he is in need of more bindings that they may all survive. My Harry will survive better with these two but I did notice how he refused to speak of the old nest and the poor care he received there. Those in that nest will need to be dealt with or the old one will try to force my hatchling back there to be harmed again as he and his flock have done in the past,~" Hedwig admitted. "~If this nest can not keep him from the old one... I will have no choice but to take my hatchling elsewhere.~"
"~Understood. I will make our other speakers understand this,~" Nagini agreed unhappily.
"~There is another to be wary of... the black dog and his wolf. The dog does not see my hatchling as he is. It is... worrisome, especially as many of the humans from before spoke as if he has a claim on my hatchling. Yet my Harry is sometimes called James by this one and his wolf... I have watched them cause him no bleeding harm yet they harm him,~" Hedwig warned carefully. "~The dog and wolf do not like Severus and have caused him harm in the past which is part of why he was always grumpy with my hatchling. Yet as I have been gone you have turned him from a thorny bush full of poison into a protecting briar nest for my hatchling. For this I must thank you.~"
"~It was not I that did this,~" Nagini huffed, clearly pouting. "~Your hatchling did this, though I know not how. It made things much easier when Severus realized he had been pursuing something that Harry-imp had no knowledge of and no wish to continue. He apologized and they settled it as past. I only told them, very firmly, that they were a part of this nest and would learn that one way or another with my Tom as head of the nest.~"
Hedwig, still in dragon form, snorted in amusement - complete with a light puff of smoke that was more steam than smoke from her barely there internal fire. She was very certain that her Harry, at the very least, had needed that warning. The pair settled in for a watchful night as they made sure their wizards got enough rest.
Voldemort woke up breathing hard with a cry of warning on his lips as he sat up in bed. All that remained of the dream was the sense of another wizard at his side as they raced to protect the figure he just knew was their imp. Instead of giving voice to the warning his ruby eyes met glittering obsidian before they both sought out the smaller human form on the bed. Harry slept protectively between them, unaware of the nightmares his memories had spawned in his new small family. This was the first night Severus had trusted him enough to let their imp sleep in the middle of the bed instead of positioning himself as a living shield between the other two.
"~Yes, my hatchling's un-embelished adventures under the control of the old one do tend to have that effect,~" Hedwig hissed in wry amusement, guessing at what had woken them. She was still in baby dragon form as it made it possible to talk with the others in the room. Her richly purple form was settled by the fire on the warm stones next to Nagini as the two familiars regarded the pair of adult wizards.
"How often does the imp have nightmares?" Severus wondered softly aloud in English. He wasn't expecting an answer so it was a surprise when it came.
"~During the warm months, when I was largely locked up with my hatchling, he could only sleep for maybe 4 of your hours? Sometimes he would hurt enough to try to sleep longer but he wasn't often allowed the rest,~" Hedwig answered honestly, incidentally proving that she understood English. "~It was common for him to be returned to the nest-room injured or hurting and he would always share what meager food he had been granted with me. I could not figure out a way to hunt for him even though his food was often bad and very little, not enough. Sometimes... his blood would be on the portion he shared with me. It made me stronger but I also knew it was strength my hatchling could ill afford to lose. This sleeping in the same nest with both of you has warded off the night terrors. I can only approve of the comfort you give him.~"
The sharp intake of breath from both older wizards showed not only how much they immediately understood from this short description but also how much more it upset them. Severus struggled to keep control of his magic. Voldemort, on the other hand, simply released his in a protective blanket that engulfed the room and its occupants. Severus took a moment to recognize that the Dark Lord was giving his magic something to do in stead of wrestling it into tight control. The dark man relaxed, joining the other wizard in protectively flooding the room with his own magic but focusing more on Harry as a priority. Voldemort didn't bother to comment on the fact but he did make a note of the lack of instinctive trust with their imp.
"The muggles will die," Voldemort said flatly. Severus could only nod silently in agreement.
"No killing," Harry mumbled sleepily, not quite awake but also not fully asleep. The two Slytherins couldn't help it, their hands found their way to the imp as Harry hummed in sleepy contentment and slipped back into dreamland.
"~As long as they have no more claim or contact with my Hatchling, no more chance to hurt him... I am uncertain I care what happens to them,~" Hedwig offered slyly. "~Yet I am uncertain if either of you can risk making the kill with how my hatchling clings to you now. Why not ensure that one who my hatchling has no care for punish them? As long as there is no trace back to you there should be little issue. If he becomes stubborn about it... pin him in your bed-nest and tell him of why you had them hunted. He was taught he has no value, make him understand that his value is high to you.~"
"~They are already trying,~" Nagini snickered. Hedwig hummed thoughtfully before leaping up on to the bed and shifting to her kitten-Nundu form. The two adult wizards watched as she cuddled up to Harry and promptly went to sleep.
"~Plot the hunt after morning sun food,~" Nagini ordered before purposefully re-settling down into a doze on her warm stones next to the fire. The two Slytherins grudgingly complied to the unspoken order and tried to go back to sleep. Hedwig's purring echoed around the room and eventually lulled them very firmly back into the land of dreams.
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