Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Chapter 14 – A Lesson In Politics

8:45am

Wednesday, 10 August 1995

Australasian Dragon Preserve, Australia

.

The walk from the Lodge to the main section of the Preserve where the dragons lived wasn't as far as Harry'd expected. Perhaps the fact that it was a fairly flat walk along a cobblestone path instead of navigating a steep hill under a forest of trees that made it seem that way. Either way, all that it meant was that Harry was able to get to the dragons much faster than anticipated.

"This is as far as I go," Andy stated, pulling up short.

Harry glanced at him before raising an eyebrow at the path that continued for at least another hundred metres.

"Any closer and the dragons will put up a fuss," Andy elaborated. "Our role as Keepers here is to ensure that the dragons live lives as stress free and as full as we can give them while ensuring that the muggles don't see them."

Harry nodded, impressed. He'd not heard it put like that and he thought that the idea had much merit to it. Mentally, he added it to the list of questions about the Preserve and its history that he was building. Really, he knew that he was going to need to write that list down before he forgot something, but that could wait for later.

"Then I'll go on on my own," Harry stated.

"You've got your wand?" Andy asked. "If you get into trouble, send up some red sparks and we'll do our best to get you out."

Sirius' snort was cut off by Charlie's laugh.

"Did I say something amusing?" Andy laughed looking between the two.

"Harry doesn't need a wand; he's quite proficient at wandless magic," Remus explained.

Andy's confused expression was the last thing that Harry saw. He had no interest in being forced to wait and give a demonstration or explanation. Not when there were dragons so close. Instead, he quickstepped away from the men down the path.

Some innate presence or magic or pressure in his mind had Harry slowing. His eyes darted about, searching. He was sure that he wasn't alone, that he was being watched. And if he was right, then it was a dragon, probably more than one, doing the watching.

His fingers flexed at his sides and Harry was forced to control both his breathing and his magic – he didn't want to inadvertently cause his wand to jump from his wrist holster to his hand, nor did he want any magic crackling from his fingers and scaring the dragons.

The sense that he was being watched increased and Harry glanced back.

Charlie, Sirius, Remus and Andy were less than fifty metres away, all precisely where he'd left them and all wearing identical concerned expressions on their faces. What did they need to worry about? There was nothing dangerous here. Well, except for the dragons that could as easily eat him as swipe a talon that would cut him in half or simply roast him with their flames or sit on him.

Harry gulped. Yes, all of those things were equally true of happening. To an ordinary person. And if there was one thing that Harry knew beyond all shadow of doubt, it was that he was not ordinary. Uncle Vernon had assured him of that so comprehensively that it was ingrained into his very being. The lightning bolt on his forehead emphasised that when he entered the magical world.

But that wasn't all there was to his extraordinariness. No, he was Harry Potter, Speaker of Dragons, bearer of the Mark of Dragons. A Mark that all dragons everywhere would instantly recognise.

He had no need to be scared of these dragons. All he needed to do was talk to them.

Deciding that he'd ventured far enough in already, Harry stopped and straightened his back.

§I greet you§, he called loudly. §My name is Harry Potter and I come to you from the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary where Memzath, Leader of the Romanian Weyr of Dragons, called me Speaker for all dragons and gave me the Mark that I bear§.

It felt pompous and long-winded to Harry, speaking like that but until he'd met the dragons here, he figured that the more formal an introduction that he gave, the more likely it was that the dragons would be inclined to listen to him.

Movement, a shifting of sands off to his left had Harry looking in that direction. A boulder, one that he hadn't noticed on his walk, was rising, sand pouring off of it in a cascade like rain. But it wasn't just a boulder. No, the more he watched, the more he saw. The boulder stretched back and away, following the line of the dune. It was pearly grey and a subtle light pink except in the places where it blended almost perfectly with the sand itself.

An audible gasp that he was sure that the men behind him would be able to hear escaped him when he saw the deep blue and green and indigo circle, larger than his head rise from out of the sand. It blinked, momentarily covered by a soft film of milky white before the colour returned, even more vibrant than before.

And eye! And it was staring at him!

That was no boulder! It was a dragon! An Opaleye, rising from where it'd buried itself in the sand!

As tempted as Harry was, he refrained from taking a step backwards, instead remaining perfectly still, waiting, watching.

As more and more of the dragon emerged, sand poured from it, revealing sparkling scales just like the ones in the painting in his room. Finally, it was free, standing tall on its legs. Not once had its gaze left Harry, not even when it fluttered its wings and shook its massive body, sending a shower of sand in all directions.

Slowly, it approached, its long neck stretched out before it, its wings tucked tightly to its back.

§Greetings§, Harry said again, this time adding in a bow.

Still, the Opaleye refrained from replying, sending Harry's nerves ratcheting up.

He watched curiously as the dragon continued to pace closer, so very different from the way any of the dragons back in Romania bounded and raced and flew to greet him.

Finally, the dragon paused, its snout just out of reach of Harry, if Harry had decided for some unknown reason to reach out to try to pat it. Its nostrils flared and Harry felt a slight tug that rocked him forward. And then that great head turned and the dragon's eye was there, closer than ever. What made it even more unnerving was the fact that Opaleyes, didn't in fact, have pupils in their eyes. They definitely more than lived up to their names – it was as though their eye was a giant, multifaceted opal.

§I greet you, Harry Potter, Speaker of Dragons§, the dragon said.

Its voice was softer, gentler than any that Harry had heard before, akin to the sound of water lapping the shore but with a depth that lurked there, just below the surface. Harry was also pleased to note that this dragon, and presumedly all dragons, spoke exactly the same way as their brethren half a world away.

§It's a pleasure to meet you§, Harry said. §May I know your name§?

The dragon's chin dipped so that it was almost touching the ground. §My name is Cantrum§.

Harry blinked even as he filed the name away. Every dragon in Romania had a name that ended in 'th' and thus, he'd expected that all dragons were named in the same way. It seemed that he was wrong.

It was a good thing to realise, he decided; it'd help him not accidentally insult a dragon at some point.

§I cannot recall a time a bearer of the Mark has visited these shores§, Cantrum stated. §In fact, I have not heard of a Bearer ever visiting here§.

Harry nodded solemnly. §I'm sorry, I don't know the names of any others that have born a mark like this§.

Absently, he reached up and touched the bluish-purple line that bisected his forehead.

§But I'm here now. I hope that you don't mind me visiting§? Harry said.

Cantrum's eye stayed fixed on him and Harry found it much harder to read this dragon's emotions and thoughts than any other that he'd met. Not having a pupil really affected things more than he would have guessed.

§I welcome you to our Weyr§, Cantrum finally said.

§If it's okay, I'd like to meet more of your kind, to learn about you so that I can Speak for you just as I do for all the dragons of the world§.

Unexpectedly, Cantrum's eye swirled. Gone now were the indigo patches and the deep blues had lightened considerably, leaving a blue much like the colour of the ocean mixed with the green.

Instead of pupils, do they use colour to show how they're feeling? Harry wondered.

§You are welcome, Speaker§, Cantrum said. §I will lead the way§.

Harry waited until the Opaleye had backed up a few paces and lumbered around before rushing up to walk at his side.

It was only after they'd already walked around a sand hill that Harry realised that he hadn't told Charlie or the others where he was going. The thought of sending a patronus message to his godfather briefly crossed his mind but Harry dismissed the idea, after all, he was there to help the dragons, they knew that and they would have seen him walk off with Cantrum.

Setting Sirius, Charlie and Remus from his mind, Harry walked on, eager to meet more dragons and to find out if something was wrong, and, if there was, if there was a way for him to help them.

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9:05am

Wednesday, 10 August 1995

Australasian Dragon Preserve, Australia

.

"Did you know that dragon was there?" Charlie asked Andy, waving vaguely in the direction that the Opaleye had been buried in.

"There specifically? No," Andy replied with a shake of his head. "That there was likely a dragon buried in the sand somewhere nearby? Oh, most definitely. And just because that dragon showed itself and walked away with our young Speaker, don't think for one second that there aren't more out there, buried somewhere and watching us right now."

"Is that something that Opaleyes do a lot?" Charlie asked, pulling out his book.

If Alexander was going to send him all over the world to visit every dragon reserve with Harry, then Charlie was determined to do it right. He was going to learn everything that he could and he was going to write it all down and take back with him. If he had anything to do with it, he was going to get that Beast Mastery of his months ahead of time.

"Yeah, they do," Andy nodded. "We suspect that, it's a combination of the warmth of the sand and the fact that they can surprise prey that come to waterholes to drink."

"That makes sense, especially the hunting part," Charlie replied.

"Well, I don't suppose that there's much point waiting here," Andy remarked. "Harry'll return when he does and I, for one, have work to do."

"Mind if I tag along?" Charlie asked.

"Not at all," Andy grinned. "Help's always a good thing to have."

"Right. Now what?" Sirius asked, as they watched Charlie and Andy walk away.

"Well, you do have a letter to answer," Remus said casually.

Sirius pulled a face at his old friend. He'd been deliberately trying not to think about the letter that Augusta Longbottom had sent him. Still. It did concern Harry and as his godfather, it was his duty to look out for his interests.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right," he sighed. "I could do with someone to bounce ideas off of."

"Do mine ears deceive me?" Remus asked, his eyes wide, a hand on his chest. "Did the great Padfoot just ask for help? And about something that doesn't involve pranking?"

Sirius' eyes widened comically.

"I never!" he spluttered.

"You never what?" Remus asked calmly, one eyebrow raised.

"I never said that it didn't involve pranking!" Sirius replied.

"And does it?"

"Well, not as such," Sirius allowed before rushing on, "but that's never stopped us before. Remember our Transfiguration OWL exam? That definitely didn't involve pranking! But did it stop us?"

The corner of Remus' mouth lifting told Sirius that Moony did, in fact, remember the incident well. Old Grimblethumb was closer to two hundred than one when he assessed both James and Sirius' Transfiguration OWL. A more no-nonsense fellow you never did meet. Still didn't stop the pair of them transfiguring his robes and hair various shades during the exam, nor did it stop them getting Outstandings.

"I'll grant you that," Remus allowed. "But this time we're talking about the Dowager Lady Longbottom. Are you really prepared to tempt her wrath?"

Sirius frowned at him. "The Dowager Lady Longbottom? I think, old chap, that you and I were reading the letter quite differently."

Remus' quirked eyebrow dared Sirius to prove him wrong.

"Yes, the letter was penned by Augusta Longbottom, with, I might add, a powerful taste of the fair Amelia Bones thrown in …"

"Another Lady who'd tan your hide if she got her hands on you," Remus interjected, causing Sirius to grin one of his more mischievous grins.

"Amelia can tan my hide any day of the week. And every night to boot. Or anything else she'd like to do," he replied, causing Remus to slowly shake his head, after all, there was History between the two and it was still even galleons whether the two would kill each other or become lovers after all these years the next time they met.

"You were saying?" Remus prompted, trying to get Sirius to return to the topic at hand.

"Yes, the letter," Sirius said, giving his head a shake to banish the glassy-eyed look that had taken hold of him at the thought of Amelia Bones. "The letter itself was penned by Augusta Longbottom but what it contained … was information that should allow us to prank Dumbledore himself!"

Remus started. Dumbledore? The venerable Headmaster was one that they'd never pranked, after all, he wasn't considered the most powerful and knowledgeable wizard in the world for nothing. The few times that they'd tried something, the prank had always always been turned back on the four of them and they'd never worked out how he did it.

"Elaborate!" Remus snapped. "I didn't see anything in that letter which pointed towards such a thing."

"And that, my dear Moony, just proves how you are better than the rest of us. You never had to endure countless hours at the knees of your father and grandfather learning politics!" Sirius stated, spitting the last word in disgust.

"Ah," Remus nodded. "Then perhaps, Mister Padfoot would deign to instruct the lowly Mister Moony on this most mysterious piece of knowledge?"

"It would be my pleasure, but certainly not yours," Sirius replied solemnly.

Remus watched as his best friend strode backwards and forwards, kicking up sand as he paced and disturbing a resting dragonfly that flew off in fear of its life from heavy, clumsy feet.

"Tell me what you remember of Augusta's letter," Sirius stated.

"It was aimed at your 'dereliction of duty', yes, that's the phrase that she used," Remus nodded. "As the godfather of Harry Potter, the Lord Potter, it falls to you to instruct him in Potter history, including the roles and responsibilities that go along with it. I believe that she also …"

"Stop! That's enough," Sirius replied, waving a hand even as he came to an abrupt halt and spun towards him. "History, Roles and Responsibilities. That's the main points here."

"I don't understand," Remus replied. "You're a Black, the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black with its own History and Roles and Responsibilities, something, I might add, that Augusta seemed delighted to point out that you were failing in as well."

Sirius made a face at him.

"We don't need to talk about that part," he stated. "The important part was the Potter stuff, Harry's stuff."

"I still don't understand," Remus replied. "How are you supposed to know all of that when you're a Black, not a Potter?"

"Simple," Sirius replied. "Because I'm the Head of House Black and a Lord of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, I have some knowledge of what the other Lords are responsible for, what roles they have, even those that aren't a part of that Blasted Twenty-Eight. My dear old father made sure of that; may he rot in Hell!"

Remus frowned. "I don't remember James mentioning anything and I would have thought he would have, after all, his father died a few years before he did."

"There was a war on," Sirius reminded his friend. "He did what he needed to and really, you know that of all of us, you were always the responsible one. After all, why else would you have been made a Prefect?"

"James was Head Boy," Remus pointed out, a fact that Sirius simply rolled his eyes at.

"Irrelevant. It's what Augusta's alluding to now that matters," Sirius pointed out before huffing. "It'd be so much easier if there weren't all the 'games' that had to be played and people just spoke their minds! Anyway, the roles and responsibilities that the Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter hold in perpetuity are a Seat within the Wizengamot and a seat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors."

Remus frowned. "But Harry's only just turned fifteen. He's not old enough … Except he was emancipated!"

"Exactly," Sirius nodded at the dawning comprehension on his friend's face.

"So, Augusta wants Harry to return to England to take up the seats that have been dormant since James died?" Remus asked before shaking his head. "I honestly thought better of Augusta Longbottom. Her son is one of Harry's best friends and I thought she'd understand how important the Dragon Keeper job is to Harry."

"Oh, she understands," Sirius replied. "What you're not understanding is that your facts are in error. Those two seats aren't dormant. They can't be, that's not how the Charters work. While there is a surviving member of the House, and assuming that the Lord can't sit it – let's say due to being underage – and doesn't appoint a proxy themselves, then a proxy is assigned to the seats."

"A proxy? Assigned? Assigned by who?" Remus asked, clearly confused.

"Well, that's the kneazle among the kittens, isn't it?" Sirius replied. "If things had been different, then, as Harry's Godfather, I would have been the one to assign the proxies to both of those seats."

"But you couldn't, being wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban," Remus pointed out, a fact that Sirius knew all too well.

"Precisely," he nodded. "And thus, someone else assigned those proxies, both to the Wizengamot and the Hogwarts Board of Governors."

"Dumbledore," Remus breathed.

"Got it in one, old chap," Sirius nodded. "Augusta may not have said it in her letters, but after I was released from my prisons – Azkaban and Saint Mungos – I spent some time with the Goblins. Now, ordinarily, they're not in the habit of handing out information on their clients willy nilly. However, I am Harry's Godfather and up until very recently, his guardian on record. The goblins knew that I was innocent, after all, they knew that Peter – the stinking little rat – was still alive. Add in the fact that the Potter vaults had been lying dormant ever since James and Lily died and they were more than willing to give me a little information on the state of Potter affairs."

"They did that?" Remus asked, clearly gobsmacked.

"Oh, I couldn't do anything with the information, it was simply enough to 'get the snitch flying' as they say," Sirius replied. "But after meeting Harry and seeing how things stood … Look, you know how strained things were between us at first, I wasn't going to do anything to jeopardise that! So, while I read the information that the goblins gave me, I didn't do anything with it and certainly never discussed it with Harry."

"But I thought that you'd begun lessons with him on what it means to be a wizard?" Remus said. "Doesn't that include his roles and responsibilities as the Potter Lord?"

"Oh, it will, but not yet! In six months, maybe," Sirius replied. "Harry's had a tough life, you know that. He doesn't trust many people at all. I have no intention of rushing in like a minotaur in a jeweller's and telling him what to do. It's best to give him the information as it comes up and let him decide the next move."

Remus was genuinely surprised. It was extremely rare that Sirius gave any thought at all towards other people. It certainly proved just how much he loved Harry.

"But Augusta's forcing your hand," Remus frowned. "I don't understand why, though."

"And that, my dear Moony, brings us back to pranking Dumbledore," Sirius grinned. "You see, as you've just worked out, Dumbledore – as Chief Warlock and Hogwarts Headmaster – appointed the proxy to fill the Potter seats in the Wizengamot and on the Board of Governors. And as it turned out, he appointed the same man to both positions."

"Who?"

"Elphias Doge."

Sirius watched as Remus looked up, tapping his chin with his finger.

"I know the name but I can't picture the man," he finally conceded.

"Doge, from what I remember, went to school with Dumbledore and has followed him and done whatever the Headmaster has asked ever since," Sirius replied.

"Okay, I understand that, but how would replacing Doge – I'm assuming that that's what the Lady Longbottom is angling for here – help us prank the Headmaster? He's just one man," Remus asked.

"One man? Oh, he might just be one man but the seats he's sitting in? They're both worth a lot more than that!" Sirius stated. "Take away the Potter seat from Dumbledore's block and it'll seriously undermine his power base. The same with the seat within the Board of Governors. At the moment, Dumbledore can pretty much get anything he wants simply because he has the votes."

"But I thought that Augusta supported Dumbledore?" Remus said, confused. "They're both Light-sided.

"And that is where our other supposition comes in," Sirius grinned. "Who do we think had a big influence on that letter?"

"Amelia Bones," Remus replied.

"The Head of the DMLE," Sirius nodded. "You've heard Harry. You know what the Headmaster admitted to doing. Forging Harry's name; interfering with an ancient magical artifact; cheating in an International tournament – I'm sure that there's more."

"None of which Amelia could touch Dumbledore with with the power base that he has," Remus said, comprehension dawning.

"Now you see why I hate politics so much?" Sirius asked rhetorically.

Remus shook his head. "Somehow I don't think Harry's going to like politics any more than you do."

"That's because he's smart!" Sirius crowed. "But if we do this right, then he doesn't have to get involved. Well, too much. All we need to do is to get Harry to choose his own proxy for those two seats."

"And that's how you intend on pranking Dumbledore!" Remus grinned.

"Got it in one," Sirius grinned. "And as an added bonus, it'll give me a few extra points with the lovely Lady Bones."

"You hope," Remus replied, eliciting a shrug from Sirius.

"Can't hurt. Now, the only question is: who's the lucky soul that should be appointed that would also annoy Dumbledore the most?"

"And who would Harry approve of appointing?" Remus added. "You said it yourself, Harry doesn't trust many."

Sirius stared at him. "You're right. It's got to be someone that he knows and respects. And you know, as his godfather, I think that it's my sworn duty to ensure that I'm protecting his future, all areas of his future!"

"Sirius! Exactly what are you thinking?" Remus demanded.