AN: Before anyone asks, yes there is something going on with the dragon. I won't say what, but feel free to guess.

Chapter 18:

Dragons Are People Too.

Just entering the mind of another sapient being without permission is, at best, a gross abuse of power. It was an intimate experience, how could it be anything else? You were seeing and feeling the deepest thoughts a person had to offer.

Doing that without permission is bad enough, but actively trying to change things was a violation so wrong, I can't even put it in words. It was perhaps the most dangerous ability a witch could have, given that an inexperienced mind reader could go in with the best intentions and still do something horrible.

I was the very definition of inexperienced.

Perhaps it was best that instead of entering the dragons mind I managed to induce a Soul Gaze.

If just entering someone's mind was intimate, than a Soul Gaze was infinitely more so. It was the difference between shaking someone's hand and taking them to a mountain retreat for a month, clothes not necessary.

You wouldn't get every detail of their lives, or all their secrets, but you would get a crystal clear look at who they were underneath it all. You would see who they were at their deepest layer, what drove them and what was important to them, and for good or ill, it stayed with you. As fresh and as vivid as it was when you first saw it.

When I Soul Gazed the Dragon I found myself floating in an endless void, the sun itself could fit in here and be dwarfed. In the center of the void was a pulsing spark. I would hesitate to call it a spark at all it had no shape or form or color, it was potential in its purist form.

As I watched the spark started changing, parts of it started to resemble the traditional elements of earth, air, water and fire. But these were rapidly overshadowed by greater concepts. Life, Death, Protection, Domination, Order and things that I had no name for but, in this place, instinctively understood.

The concepts started vying for dominance. Tearing at each other, ripping each other apart and being ripped apart in turn, reforming and going at it over and over for what seemed like a small eon. Until finally two concepts stood triumphant, the others settling for positions of lessor importance.

Death and Protection.

The Soul Gaze ended and I found myself back in Hagrid's hut, my eyes still locked with the Dragon.

Little Death. Hunger.

I jumped a little, what the hell?

Feed. Hunger. Little Death.

Was she talking to me? The Dragon nodded. It was at this point that I realized that neither of us had spoken aloud. Oh dear.

The Dragon rumbled, comfortingly? Commune.

I pushed that to the side for the moment and tried to focus on making sure the Dragon didn't start feeding on me again. Alright so she's hungry, what to get her. My first thought was of the leather flask of dragon food.

Negation.

Ok than, what do you want?

Food.

Real clear, thanks.

Food!

Right, sorry. Ok so not the normal dragon food, but then what? I nearly smacked myself when I figured it out. Magic, it's the only thing she'd been eating so far.

Agreement. Little Death. Hunger. Feed.

Alright, now how do I get you magic without killing a dozen little kids?

Hunger.

If Hermione were here she would know, but she should be at the Room…That's it the Room. It could make giant animals made of magic, surly it could satisfy one small Dragon.

Agreement. Little Death.

I took off the mitts before I made to stand, only now noticing that much of my magic had been returned, and the Dragon settled herself on my shoulders. I started for the door and nearly tripped over Hagrid.

"Hagrid?" I shook him but got no response, except a loud snore. A twitch of my arm and I had my wand in hand. I cast the basic health charm I had used before, it was something I had been forced to learn during the hell month that Pansy put us through as we couldn't just go to the Hospital Wing every time we got hurt.

The spell reported that he was tired but otherwise fine. I slapped him to try and wake him but that got no response. "Wow, really tired."

Mountain Man. Resting.

Mountain Man, huh? That must be Hagrid, so what or who is little death?

You.

Death? Why am I death? And why am I a little death? I'll have you know I'm at a perfectly normal height for my age.

Hunger.

Right, first things first. I cast the hovering charm on Hagrid and put him back in his bed. I wrote a note explain that I was taking the Dragon to feed and I'd be back in a few hours. I didn't think he'd even get up before I got back but hopefully if he did wake up this would keep him from running into the school screaming about the Dragon.

I used one of his knives to pin the note to the door and, after using the cloak to turn invisible, left.

888

Making it to the Room was an exercise in keeping calm. Keeping my pace calm and steady so I didn't start running. Keeping the Dragon calm so she didn't start trying to eat the other students. Calmly waiting in alcoves for the student traffic to thin out enough for me to not bump into people. Calming myself anytime I felt the urge to start laughing at the absurdity of my situation.

That last bit was difficult, I was sneaking a starving Dragon into a school full of delicious morsels so she could eat to her hearts content on magical constructs. To say I was feeling stressed was something of an understatement.

About half way up the stairs I remembered I had a broom and got it out only to discover that the dragon had drained it already. I glared at her, "Really!?"

Hunger.

I sighed and started making my way up again. Carefully dodging this way and that to avoid students and Professors.

After what seemed like hours I made it to the painting of dancing trolls and across from it a small discoloration in the stone work that was all but invisible to the naked eye. I carefully looked around to make sure no one was around before pressing it casing a door to appear. I let myself in and made my way over to the small arena.

"Don't just hide, move from cover to cover or the golem will find you." Pansy said from her place at the podium. Hermione was fighting a level two wanded golem and having a hard time of it. Level two golems hit harder and faster than level ones and they moved around, staying well out of reach. Forcing you to either immobilize them or quickly drop their shields, before finishing them.

The golem was alternating between destroying Hermione's transfigured walls and searching around for Hermione, who had likely disillusioned herself at some point, because I couldn't see her anywhere. I was about to interrupt, the Dragon was staring at Pansy and licking her lips, when Hermione screamed out.

"Bombarda!" the shout came from just behind the golem, it spun around just in time to violently explode. Hermione faded into view, slumped on the ground. "Ha!" Pride and exhaustion fought for dominance on her face, pride won out.

I pulled the cloak off and spoke up. "Pansy please get Hermione out of there." Before I could even finished speaking she had turned around and was staring at the Dragon.

"What the…" Pansy started, her eyes wide.

"Just get Hermione out of there please, the Dragon's hungry." She stared at me blankly. "Please!" I didn't quite shout but it was a close thing.

She nodded and flat out sprinted to Hermione, threw her over her shoulder and ran out. Only stopping when she was near the track, a considerable distance from the arena.

I quickly set the podium to send out a level one sword golem and jumped inside before the shield could come up. The golem entered and assumed a ready stance, sword carefully positioned to block incoming spells.

I pointed to it and said one word. "Food."

The Dragon launched herself from my shoulders with such force I actually fell over. The Dragon landed and blurred over to the golem and lunged at the golem, dodging the downward strike of its sword and curled around its throat. A second later the golem dropped. Soon after it started fading, before disappearing entirely.

"Alex, what in Merlin's name is going on?" Hermione demanded from the podium, Pansy stood next to her.

"The egg hatched…"

"We figured that out!" Pansy said, her eyes wide as she stared at the Dragon.

"…and the Dragon tried to eat my magic and I convinced her to try eating golems instead." I said, keeping an eye on the Dragon as she made her way over to me.

Little Death. Hungry!

I nodded. "Pansy can you have another golem or three come in, she's still hungry." When they just stood there I made a hurry up motion with my hand. "Now please." Pansy mechanically reached down and fiddled with the controls. The dragon took off for the incoming golems and I turned to face my friends. "Thanks!" I tried for nonchalant, the sounds of the Dragon killing golems took away from my credibility.

Pansy's eyes never left the Dragon but Hermione kept opening her mouth to speak but nothing ever came out.

Hermione finally decided what to say. "You speak dragon?"

I shrugged. "Kind of, it's more like she projecting her thoughts at me."

"Oh." Hermione looked pained. "Of course, she just projects her thoughts at you. Makes perfect sense."

I gave her a concerned look. "Hermione are you alright?"

She started laughing, it had a hysterical edge to it. "Yes I'm fine." Sure you are Ms. Crazy, but rather than say that I just nodded in agreement. The Dragon finished with the golems and made her way over to me.

Little Death. Good hunt! Full.

"You're full?" I asked bending over to look her in the face. The Dragon nodded and jumped onto my shoulders. After she got settled I stood and faced Pansy and Hermione. "You know we need something to call you, I can only think of you as 'The Dragon' so many times before it gets tedious."

Vivavax.

"Vivavax, huh? Nice name, why'd you choose that?" I asked as I started walking towards my friends.

Progenitor.

"You didn't, your dad did? So who's your dad?"

Ferrovax.

My heart skipped a beat and color drained from my face. "Oh." It suddenly hit me that this wasn't just a dragon, she was a Dragon. A baby Dragon certainly, but still a Dragon. Of course her father would be a Dragon as well.

I made it out of the arena and slumped onto the spectator's bench, situated next to the podium.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Pansy asked as she joined me on the bench. Hermione slid in on my other side.

"Vivavax just told me who her dad is." I said. Death by Dragon would probably be quick wouldn't it? I mean as far as they're concerned were just uppity monkeys, no reason to torture a monkey is there?

Pansy and Hermione traded looks before Hermione asked. "Who's her dad?"

"Ferrovax." My voice was a whisper, and yet the room still seemed to shake with the weight of his Name.

Hermione froze and Pansy started chocking on nothing.

Hermione's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Oh, that's not good."

"We're all dead." Pansy finally said.

"Probably." I agreed. Ferrovax was the oldest and the strongest of the Dragons. He was at least a peer of Mab, the Winter Queen, and in no way impressed by mortals and our accomplishments. To fight him was as hopeless as outrunning light or drinking an ocean. "Is there ketchup at Hogwarts?"

"What's ketchup?" Pansy asked.

Hermione dropped her head into her hands. "No, there's no ketchup at Hogwarts, and you are not funny." Yes, yes I am.

I continued as if I hadn't heard her. "I mean, if he's going to eat us we may as well make sure we taste good." I heard Hermione start explaining the joke to Pansy. "If we don't have any ketchup maybe he'd like some mustard? If not, gravy is always good, but I draw the line at horse radish. I hate that stuff."

Little Death. Princess Night. Knowledge Keeper. Frightened. Explain.

I gave Vivavax an inquiring look, "We're scared because we think your dad's going to kill us."

"What's going on?" Pansy asked.

"Vivavax just asked why we're frightened." I explained giving her and Hermione considering looks. It seemed obvious who the Knowledge Keeper was, but Princess Night seemed an odd title for Pansy.

Vivavax responded quite empathetically. Negation. Little Death…Nest Mate.

I furred my brow, there was some hesitation when she said nest mate. As if she wanted to say something else. "Your dad won't kill me because I'm a dragon?"

I got a sense of exasperation from her. Negation…Nest Mate.

There was that hesitation again, "Ok, not a dragon then, but what's a nest mate?" I asked, but she seemed done answering my questions because she chose that moment to go to sleep. "Right then, very informative."

"Alex?" Hermione asked, I looked at her curiously. "Did she call you a nest mate?" I nodded.

"Why? Is that important?" I asked.

Hermione blinked. "Didn't I tell you earlier? I could have sworn I told you when we were still researching dragons."

"No?" I responded. I didn't remember anything like that.

"It's what the Dragons call people they invite to their lands, it's a huge honor. There's only been three in the last century." Pansy answered, Hermione shot her an annoyed look but nodded in agreement.

That actually gave me an idea. "Who was the last person who got invited?" if it was who I thought it was I might actually have a plan.

"Charlie Weasley." Hermione promptly answered.

"I think I have an idea." I said.

888

We left the Room and made our way to Hagrid's hut, arriving just as the sun set. From the woods we could hear a wolf howl, and abruptly cut off as something bigger and meaner made it dinner.

I shook my head. "You'd think the wolves would know better than to just announce their presence."

"Instinct is hard to ignore." Pansy said.

"Still, if it's still their instinct to howl, after how many generations in the Forbidden Forest, how are there still wolves in the forest?" I questioned as we neared the hut.

"The Ministry imports wolves to put in the forest, every fifty years or so." Hermione said, before knocking on Hagrid's door.

"Why?" I asked, that sounded like an exceedingly bad idea. Visions of giant mutated wolves danced in my mind.

"The book I read said it was to help cut down on some of the less dangerous monsters that keep coming out of the forest. Particularly the Du'nkel cat." When there wasn't an answer I opened the door to let us in. Hagrid was still asleep. "Should we wake him up?"

I shook my head. "No, we can let him sleep for an hour or so." He was at least as drained as I was after he tried to pull Vivavax off me, and I don't think she gave him much back.

"What's a Du'nkel cat?" Pansy asked as we sat at the table.

"It's a cat like animal that has a natural shadow veil, that is, they appear as cat shaped shadows." Hermione grimaced as she continued. "They build their numbers by killing and eating anything they can bring down, and I mean anything, dogs, bears, Acromantulas or wizards. Once the Du'nkel cats have built up their number they go after bigger game."

"Bigger game?" What bigger game than wizards? Bigger wizards?

"Once ya get enough of um together they start going after small towns." Hagrid answered, his voice scratchy. "Wolves love them, Du'nkel's their favorite prey." He sat up slowly, as if he wasn't sure he should be able to move. "What hit me?"

I pointed to my shoulders where Vivavax was sleeping. "Vivavax was really hungry." She just kept sleeping.

Hagrid's eyes went wide and he jumped to his feet and slowly made his way over his hand out stretched. "Oh my, you're a pretty dragon. Aren't you?"

Before he could touch her I interrupted. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, unless you want another nap."

He stopped short. "What do ya mean?"

"She means if you touch the dragon she will start draining your magic, like she did to us when we tried." Pansy said, a touch bitterly. She and Hermione had both tried to touch Vivavax, but as soon as they touched her they lost feeling in their arms and said they felt like they had just spent an hour dueling.

"But that'd mean…" He stared at Vivavax, something like horror on his face.

I nodded and finished his sentence. "She's a Dragon. Uppercases make all the differences don't they?" honestly I had expected him to still want to try and keep her, but if the look on his face was any indication I wouldn't have to work too hard to convince him.

He fell into the remaining chair, it groaned but held, causing the table to shake. "We got to get Dumbledore, he can fix this." Desperation and fear dripped from his words. He dropped his head in his hands. "He's going to be so disappointed. I just wanted a dragon, was that so bad?"

"Maybe we don't need to get Dumbledore involved." Pansy reassured him, when he gave her a hopeful look she continued, pointing at me. "Ice Queen here has a plan."

He turned to me. "You said you were friends with Charlie Weasley right?" Hagrid had only mentioned Charlie off hand, once, but I doubted he'd remember that.

"Aye, I am." He agreed.

"Ok, so here's my plan. You Owl him and say that someone gave you an egg and you thought it was a Cockatrice egg but when it hatched a dragon came out, and if he or someone he knows could come and take it so you don't get in trouble."

"I don't want to get Charlie in trouble," He scowled, "and he knows I can tell the difference between a Cockatrice egg and a dragon egg. He'll know I'm lying."

I nodded, "That's the plan, he knows you always wanted a dragon so he'll know to keep it quiet, and only involve people he can trust." At least I hoped he would, otherwise Hogwarts was about to become a crater when Ferrovax came for his kid. "Hopefully he can slip her in without anyone noticing."

"And if he can't?" Hagrid asked.

"He'll be returning a Dragon to them. That should make him like a hero, don't you think?" Hermione interjected. I certainly hoped so, Charlie's position would afford him some protection. Whether or not it would be enough, I wasn't sure but, the only over plans I could think of ended with Hagrid and I dead. So it wasn't like I was spoiled for choice.

Hagrid reluctantly nodded, "I suppose." He stood and gathered some writing supplies. "Now how should I put this?"

Pansy leaned forward, "Alright, here's what you should say…"

888

Hagrid had sent off the letter and had the house-elves deliver us some food for dinner. Thankfully Hermione hadn't yet connected house-elves with forced servitude just yet, I was not looking forward to the day she did.

After we ate, I decided it was best if I stayed in the hut tonight. If I tried to sleep in the Ravenclaw dorms, and Vivavax got hungry I was liable to wake up to a tower of corpses. I left that explanation out when I explained why it was better for me to stay here, but my friends were nobody's fools, they saw the danger even without me spelling it out for them. Which is why they decided to stay with me and no amount of arguing would convince them otherwise.

It was well past midnight now and Hagrid was fast asleep in his wooden arm chair, Pansy and Hermione were passed out on the bed. I was sitting at the foot of the bed unable to sleep and Vivavax was curled in my lap, either asleep or content to simply lay there.

You'd think a Dragon would feel uncomfortable, that her spikes would pinch and poke, but you'd be wrong. Even though I swear she had to have grown since she fed, she fit comfortably. I ran my hand down her spine before deciding that if I wasn't going to sleep I may as well get something useful done. I closed my eyes and focused inward.

Breath. Focus. Sense.

Finding my mindscape the first time had been the work of months, and while it still took me a few minutes to get there, I could now get there reliably. Before my first trip there it was if I was searching blindly in the dark, wandering the endless corridors of my subconscious for my target, now I knew the path and I walked it confidently.

Breath. Focus. Sense.

I opened my eyes and found myself in my favorite lazy-boy. I stood and made my way to the back yard, studiously avoiding looking at the blackout curtain and the horror it concealed.

It was well lit in this section of my mindscape, as opposed to the near permanent night that the forest had started to develop, so when I stepped outside I could clearly see the new addition.

An addition that should not be there. The house was mine, it was the house of my childhood it was where I had grown up. That my mindscape had manifested as it was not surprising and I knew the wolf and its forest came from being influenced by the hexan-wolf necklace, but everything else was something I had made to help defend my mind.

Like the ominous, and absolute, darkness that surrounded my mindscape. To get to the mindscape proper you would have to walk through it, while keeping to a very specific pace and avoid the monsters that called it home. If you couldn't find and stay on the path you would wonder the darkness blindly, until the monsters got you.

At least that was the plan for it, right now it was just very dark. I was still working on it, adding permanent additions to a mindscape was a difficult and involved process. It took time, most of which I had been committing to school and learning to defend myself in the real world.

Which begged the question…

"Why is there a volcano in my head?" I asked myself bewildered. In the distance, beyond and to the right of the forest, sat an absolutely huge volcano, an active volcano at that.

From where I stood, just outside my house, the volcano stood ten times higher than the tallest tree in the forest. Rivers of lava ran down its sides in curling serpentine flows, smoke and ash spewed from it, darkening the sky to an, almost alien, orange-ish color.

"Well that's not ominous at all." There was a shadow moving above the volcano, a dragon, as soon as I saw it a roar issued forth. Blasting apart the smoke, giving me a brief glimpse of the dragon, it was hidden again only seconds later but I did see a large form.

I saw the effects of the roar before I actually heard it, the volcano shook and the flow of lava increased. Going from a steady flow to a surge of molten rock. The roar hit the forest and trees fell, and fake woodland animals burst apart. When it finally reached me the windows exploded, peppering my back with glass shards and sending me to the ground. I lay there stunned for a long moment, getting my bearings, before I managed to push myself up.

I took in the damage the roar cased, the widows were completely destroyed and the outer brick work was cracked. More than that there were shards of glass embedded in my back and blood was running out of my ears.

The damage to the house was easy to fix, a wave of my hand and a bit of focus and it was done. My injuries took a lot more concentration.

After fixing the house I sat on the ground and tried to get comfortable, trying to focus on healing. Which is harder than it sounds, I was technically already meditating, and finding your center, while already being there, was surprisingly difficult. Still, after a while, I managed. Blood stopped oozing, my wounds mended and I could hear again.

I stood and saw the forest was burning, not all of it just the part where the woods met the rocky lands of the volcano. The dragon was trying to expand, to take over.

Soul Gazes did not cause this, not on their own, and according to what I've read, my reaction to the hexan-wolf talisman was extreme. So, what the hell is up with my mind?

The dragon roared again, pulling me from my thoughts. It was nowhere near as loud but more trees toppled and the fires started spreading.

I needed to stop this before I could get to the bottom of the extremely my messed up mindscape. ("Alex Potter and the Mysterious Case of the No Good, Very Bad Mindscape.")

I left my backyard and entered the forest.

"Wolf!" I could make my way through the forest by myself but it would take time. Wolf may have submitted but this was still her forest, she was much more comfortable here than I was.

There was a nearly silent rustle of noise, if I had not been waiting for it the roar of the fire would have drowned it out, and Wolf appeared. She seemed to know what I had in mind because she crouched and let me get on her back.

I barely had time to grab fistfuls of fur before she was off, at first on the ground but she quickly started going up. Jumping from branch to branch and, at one point, running straight up a tree that didn't have any branches.

As we ran the smoke grew thicker and, as when I looked down I saw lava crawling across the ground. The trees in front of were noticeably shorter, and getting shorter still as they kept sinking into the molten rock below.

If this was the real world the heat from the lava would have been more than enough to kill us, and the trees would have all been on fire. As it was the forest was resisting the intrusion. The trees were hesitant to catch fire and the lava was flowing much slower than it should.

We reached the edge of the forest and Wolf jumped, launching us through the air over a lake of lava. We landed nearly a fourth of the way up the volcano. Wolf threw her head back and howled a challenge, daring the dragon to come face us.

The dragon's response nearly killed the both of us.

A pillar of lava raised from the behind us and tore me off the Wolf and slammed me into the side of the volcano.

Pain isn't nearly as intense in my mindscape as it was in the real world and it takes more a lot more for me to even feel it in the first place. When I was fighting Wolf, and she broke my neck it hurt but more like I had badly stubbed my toe, nowhere near as bad as it should have. Keeping all that in mind, I am being entirely truthful when I say that this was the most painful experience in my life so far.

Tons of pressure and an indescribable heat ripped at me tearing a scream from my throat. Molten rock rushed down my throat, cooking me inside and out. I felt myself melting, bits and pieces of my slouched off as the lava claimed me. One horrifying moment at a time.

I was in far too much pain to even think, the dragon had planned well. This was how I died.

Or it would have been if Wolf hadn't found me.

I wasn't even aware I was moving at first, the feeling if Wolf's mouth clamped on my arm was completely drowned out by the fiery burn of the lava. I only noticed after the wolf finished dragging me out and dropped down next to me.

How I could still see I didn't know, but I could and Wolf looked like hell. Her fur was completely gone, lava dripped from empty eye sockets and most of her muscles were burned away leaving a charred skeleton with bits of burnt meat hanging off it.

I can't imagine I looked much better.

I tried to talk, but nothing came out. So I settled for reaching out to pet her, ignoring the fact that my arm was far too skinny and dark. I ran my, perfectly fine, arm down Wolf's side to convey my gratitude, only to pull my hand back when I noticed the charred flesh was getting pinker and expanding, Wolf was healing. I smiled, well I tried, it was hard to smile without lips.

I was about to try and heal myself when I noticed a shape in the clouds. The Dragon was coming to finish the job. Instead of trying to move, because I couldn't, I waited for it to come.

I got my first clear look at the Dragon as it broke through the clouds. She was huge, at least as long as a football field and a dark, almost purple, red, with twin horns and teeth as big as I was.

She was aimed straight for me, she clearly thought I was already beat, I readied myself.

Two hundred yards.

I clinched my fist.

A hundred.

Not yet.

Fifty.

Nearly there.

Thirty.

NOW!

I thrust my arm out and a jagged pillar of rock sprouted from the side of the volcano, hitting the Dragon in her chest and going through it, straight out the back.

She kept fighting, her powerful forelegs gripped the rock pillar and started crushing it. Before she could break out though I threw both of my hands out in a grasping motion and two large rock hands grew out of the volcano and gripped the Dragons wings, pulling them tight.

I did that again and again, for her all of her limbs and finally for her neck as well. I forced her to look at me, and formed a word in the rock above me.

Surrender!

She started struggling harder and clinched my fist, casing the rock hand to squeeze her neck harder. Once she stilled I pointed her at the volcano again.

Surrender!

This time she responded with lava, it came from all around. Enough to drown a small city.

I focused, the lava turned to rock and fell to the ground harmlessly.

I glared at the dragon and tore off her wings, she thrashed and tried to scream but my grip on her neck was too tight, only whimpers escaped.

I maneuvered her head to look me straight in the eyes and I focused on all the pain she had caused me and glared at her, letting her see that I was more than willing to kill her. Once I judged that I had conveyed my meaning sufficiently, I added something to the side of the volcano.

Last Chance. Surrender!

There was a long pause as she stared at me before she closed her eyes and nodded. I focused and a dragon sized collar appeared around her neck and I released her. The rock face changed again.

I'm the boss, as long as you accept that then we'll get along just fine.

She nodded.

Good.

That done, I closed my eyes and focused on healing.