Christmas arrived in all her glory. The land outside was covered with snow and every morning, there was a huge stampede as the horses came out of the stables and went over the drawbridge and every evening they returned to escape from the hard season.
The elves supplied oats for the horses, as there wasn't much to eat outside, and at times, also meat for the dogs, as their prey were fewer and harder to find.
On Christmas morning, it was storming outside, and when Harry looked out his window, he couldn't even see the ground below, so hard as it was snowing.
"Come on, Har! Presents!" Zach came bursting in the room.
"Presents? Why?"
"Because it's Christmas, you dolt!"
"For me too? Where?" Hary asked exitedly.
"In the small livingroom, under the tree. But we've got to wake Mum and Dad first."
Zach nearly dragged Harry from the room, untill Harry's brain caught up with him and he sprinted through the hall around the corner and skipped to a halt in front of the door with a currently sleeping jaguar and lioness on it. Behind them was a background of a lush rainforest.
"Sshh..." Zach said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Let's surprise them. Dog-Breath."
A sleepy eye opened and Kefira grumbled an 'okay' befor the door opened slightly.
In the blink of an eye, instead of two boys, their animal counterparts stood in the hallway, before they slunk into the room, prowling closer, they could distinctly hear the steady breathing of their parents.
The times that Sirius was home, the two boys would often try to prank their Father, mostly because of Zach, though Harry caught on more easily as time progressed. Sirius himself would come up with the most wild pranks, so they quickly learned to be alert whenever Sirius was at Don Rhona.
Zach nudged Harry with his head, then nodded his head in the direction of the glass pitcher filled with water on the bedside table next to Sirius' end of the bed, an animal grin coming onto his face.
He placed his front paws on the bedside table, before changing half, fully intend on pouring the contents of the pitcher over the unsuspecting heads of his parents. Something he didn't anticipate, though, was the fact that in his half-form he was quite a bit larger than as a full dog. So his pawlike hands roughly pushed the bedside table, making the pitcher sway dangerously, a large wave of water spilling over Sirius' and Elisabeth's heads, before the pitcher crashed in a million pieces on the floor.
With a catlike screach, as part of the pitcher had fallen onto his tail, Harry bounded off out the door, Zach only inches behind him.
They were just at a corner, when they heard heavy paws bounding after them. They didn't wait to look which one of their parents had decided to chase them. Though the logical guess would be Sirius, as Elisabeth wasn't too movable with the large belly of her.
They reached the stairs and Harry was down it in a few large bounds, and a yelp was heard behind him, as Zach, who'd miscalculated one of his jumps came rolling down. Harry was about to go see if Zach'd hurt himself, when Zach-the-puppy jumped up and ran on, his tongue lolling out in a dog-smile.
The chase continued, though they could tell Sirius was gaining on them. Harry was about to give it up and surrender to the chase, as they reached another staircase, this one leading to dungeons. Zach bounded down without a thought, and Harry only a split second later.
This time Harry miscalculated the depth to the end of the stairs and he lay sprawled onto the floor before scrambling up and following Zach through the maze of halls. This was unknown territory to them.
Finally, they hid behind the statue of a dragon that stood in a fighting stance.
With satisfied grins, they heard Sirius bounding past them.
As the sound of his paws touching the floor died down, they took the time to take in their surroundings, as it was a lot more spacious then they'd originally thought it'd be. Even though there was no lightsource anywhere, their animal eyes adjusted just fine to the dark and they saw they were in a very wide, hidden corridor.
Curiously, Harry was this time the one to be the first to venture further into the corridor.
At the end, a huge door blocked their path, on it were many carvings, mainly of dragons fighting humans. Harry changed into his half-form and looked back at Zach, who shrugged.
Reaching out, Harry pushed against the two metal dragons that were pictured as if fighting eachother and held eachother with their sharp claws. The door didn't budge.
"Here, let me help you." Zach whispered, and he pushed too.
Suddenly, the two metal dragons glowed brightly, the one Harry touched green and the one Zach was pushing against gold. Hurriedly, Zach and Harry pulled back their hands only to see the two dragons uncurling and the doors opening away from them.
Awed, the two boys walked forward into the huge circular room that looked big enough to hold the entirety of Hogwarts in it and then some more.
They jumped slightly as behind them the doors clicked shut, then the many torches along the walls lit up, lighting up the hall blue.
Below the many rows of torches, ten dragons stood along the walls of the room, all different, dangerous, yet intriguing. They were red, grey, green, blue, purple, black, yellow and different shades in between.
Harry and Zach felt really small between them. They walked on, untill they reached the middle of the hall.
In the middle of the room stood a stone chest that looked rediculously small in the room, but when the two boys approached it, was big enough for both of the boys to fit in, along with Sirius and Elisabeth, when they'd manage to open it up, that is.
On the chest, strange symbols were carved and on the side were more carvings of dragons, though strangely enough, there were also a few phoenixes.
The symbols looked vaguely familiar to Harry, though he was sure he'd never seen it before.
"Zach, these symbols..." He whispered.
"I've never seen them before, of that I'm positive, but I feel like I recognize them anyway."
"Yes. I feel the same..." Harry concentrated on the writing again and tried reading it out loud.
Apparantly, Zach felt the same, as they said together: To the gifted humans that have been able to enter... Their talking sounded strangely like a mix between growling and hissing though.
Slightly alarmed, they looked at eachother.
"What was that?!" Harry asked.
"I – I don't know..." Zach said. "Should we read on?"
"It does seem like it's meant for us..." Harry said hesitantly.
"Yeah..."
The eyed the chest uncertainly for a moment, before Zach said: "Ah, what the heck, let's read."
They focused on the writing again.
To the gifted humans that have been able to enter,
My final days are drawing to an end, and I'll return to my grave in the next room soon, but first I'll explain...
For thousands of years, we dragons have lived without fear, the only survivors of the famous dinosaur era. But now, we're either hunted, feared, or worshipped. We aren't able to live the way we used to. Not even here, at the castle of the once highly respected Dragon Lord. Dragons, all of my friends, foes, family members, have fled to the high mountains, where humans have yet to come. Only I, their former leader, remains, along with my only heir.
My dearest Alisha Ambika. I've placed her in a magic sleep, and she'll only awake when the chest is opened after you've read this. I hope you'll help her find her place in the world she, and I, know nothing about. If you do that, my rest will be peacefull.
Farewell... and good luck,
Acantho.
As soon as they'd read the name of, what they understood was, the now deceased dragon, the boys felt a rush of power surge through them, before the top of the chest lifted and floated away, untill it was resting on the floor next to the chest. They felt the same tingling on their chest as when they'd connected, so on impuls, Harry and Zach looked down at their phoenix-tatoo's, changing into their full human forms, to see the phoenix was joined by a white dragon just below it. The dragon and phoenix looked at eachother seemingly challenging eachother.
Peeking into the chest, they saw the slim, lizard-like form of a young dragon, with batlike wings and leathery skin. The thin but dangerous claws stretching as the dragon was starting to awake. She was no larger than the boys, but as she flexed her wings, they were twice as large as the boys. The most stunning thing, though, was the fact that the dragon was completely white, though looked a bit bluish in the light of the room.
After waking fully, Alisha Ambika stretched then looked at the two boys who were staring at her in awe.
Hello. She said. So you're humans?
Uh... yeah. Zach said.
My Father's told me all about them, though I've never seen any.
We've never seen a dragon before either. Harry said.
Well, I'm Alisha Ambika, but you can call me Ambika. Ambika said.
I'm Zach, and that's Harry. Zach said.
Nice to meet you. Ambika said, it was quiet for a bit. Are there any dragons left in this time?
Yeah. Zach said. Though the Ministry of Magic makes sure they don't get close to humans.
Why?
Because dragons usually kill the humans they encounter. Zach said.
Harry bit his lip, wondering what Ambika would say.
Oh... well, you two seem nice enough.
They chatted on for a bit, untill Zach looked at his watch and said some choice words Elisabeth wouldn't have approved of.
They're gonna kill us!
I won't let them! Ambika said heatedly. I'm going to –
No! Harry said. He means Sirius and Elisabeth.
They're our parents. Zach clarified. And we're in major trouble for staying away for so long!
And they can't see you. Harry said. They'd have to take you away from here...
But we have to go now. We'll bring back something to eat.
That's not nescessary... I'll show you later.
Okay, we'll try coming back tonight. Zach said.
They ran to the door (which was a ten-minute run), and it opened up as they arrived there. And they closed again as they were through it. They came out behind the dragon and followed their scent back to the entrance of the dungeon, untill they froze as a voice boomed through the dungeon.
/\//\
Sirius had followed the two boys into the dungeons with a grin on his dog-face. He wasn't really angry at the boys, but merely followed them as a game they'd often played in the castle. When Zach'd fallen down the stairs, and Harry'd smacked into the ground, he'd halted, scared they'd hurt themselves, and sighed in relief as they continued on.
But now it was over an hour ago that the two had entered the dungeons, and their scent was zigzagging through the dungeons, making it impossible to determine where they really were. He'd met Elisabeth ten minutes after their entrance into the dungeons, but even together, they were inept at finding the boys. Especially since Elisabeth needed to keep calm with her growing abdomen.
That was, untill Sirius saw two figures about to disappear behind a corner, not too far away from the stairs that led out of the dungeons.
Changing back into his human-form, he boomed: "Harry James Potter and Zacharias Llewellyn Black!"
Instantly, the goldenbrown and black figure froze.
Sirius strode towards them as they turned around, looking guilty. Now he wasn't in his dog-form anymore, his feline instincts were even harder to suppress. They were screaming at him to shake the two boys senseless.
"What in Merlin's name were you thinking? Staying away for so long?! Do you know how worried we were?! A chase is one thing! But disappearing for over an hour is completely unacceptable! Where have you been all this time?!" Sirius scolded.
Both boys looked at the ground, and Harry looked near tears, shaking a bit. Sirius felt bad for being the cause of that, but he'd promised himself to treat both boys equally, and they'd really been in for it now. He vaguely wondered when it was that he'd become... well... an adult! It was then that he realized that everything happening with Harry and all the worries over the past years were probably the culprits.
"Sorry..." Zach said. "We lost track of the time..."
"And what exactly were you doing?" Sirius asked sternly.
"Wel..." Zach said.
"We were playing that we were being chased by the evil Lord, who was seeking to feed us to the dragons." Harry said. "Like in one of the books I read."
Sirius found it hard to hold his composure at the large green and gold pair of eyes looking up at him from their respective furred faces. His instincts too, settled down as the jaguar looked at his errant cubs. Puppy-eyes should be made illegal...
"Just don't let it happen again, and I suggest you put on some warmer clothes instead of those pyjamas."
/\//\
Happy to be let off so easily, the two returned to their seperate rooms, and after changing, Harry went into Zach's messy room. That was one of the boy's bigger differences. While Harry was mostly tidy and kept his room orderly, Zach just dumped anything anywhere and weren't it for Elisabeth demanding he'd tidy it up before he could leave his room, it would have been a warzone by now. Besides, Elisabeth had told the elves not to clean the room as long as it was a mess.
"Phew... Dad's scary when he's angry." Zach said plopping down onto his bed.
"Yeah... tell me about it..."
"How'd you come up with that story, though?"
"Dunno, it just came to me. I did read a book like that once..." Harry said. "But I don't like lying to Dad... Should we've told the truth?" That was one thing Harry'd gotten used to over the past half year, calling Sirius and Elisabeth Dad and Mum.
"Nah... telling them you've found a friendly dragon isn't something you should do when they're angry. It'd be bad enough when they're in a good mood. Trust me."
"I still don't like it." Harry said.
"I know... hey! The presents! We still haven't opened them!"
With that thought in mind, the two boys thundered up to the third floor where the small livingroom, and in it the Christmas tree, was.
Inside, Sirius and Elisabeth were already waiting.
"Finally decided to grace us with your prescence?" Sirius asked with a grin.
Harry was glad he wasn't angry anymore.
"Yes..." Zach said in his royal tone, sticking his nose in the air. "We decided we have kept you away from our royal precence long enough."
"Then let your royal self grace us to hand out the first present." Elisabeth said.
"Why of course, dearest Mother of mine."
Zach picked up one of the packages, looked at the name, and with a bow, handed it to Harry. Harry decided to play along and took the package royally.
"Thank you, my most respected brother." He said, and Zach bowed again slightly to accept the thanks. That was more than Harry could take and snorted, before laughing loudly, soon joined by the others.
When they finally calmed down again, they continued opening packages. (AN: I have no idea what the usual age is for kids to hear Santa doesn't really exist, so Zach and Harry already know.)
Besides lots of sweets, the boys each got a broomstick and a promise that Sirius would show them how to play Quidditch. They also got some books, and for the two of them, there was a Quidditch-ball-set. Sirius and Elisabeth also got a couple of packages from friends of theirs. And Harry and Zach had also bought them presents. (Zach had ordered them by owl and they'd put together their pocket-money) They gave them shirts that said: Best Dad (Mum in Elisabeth's case) In The World. Then there were only two packages left.
One, surprisingly, was from Dumbledore.
Harry opened it and out fell a watery cloth.
"What...?"
"It's James' Invisibility Cloak!" Sirius exclaimed. "I wondered where that'd gone to."
"There's a note." Zach said, picking it up and handing it to Harry.
"Dear Mr. Potter," Harry read. "This was left to me by your Father, James Potter, before he died, and it's rightfully yours. Use it well. Sincerely, Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore."
"Wicked!" Zach said.
"I suggest before you go and try out that Cloak, you open your last package, before it gets impatient." Elisabeth said.
Curiousity peeked, Harry and Zach turned to the last package, that was rather large. Both their names was on it.
Zach picked it up, and sat it down between them. "It moves..."
Harry pulled loose the green ribbon, then Zach tore off the red paper. The lid of the box then lifted a bit, as a small black nose peeked out.
Zach lifted the lid, to see a fairly large kitten looking up out of the box. It was crème-coloured with black-brown stripes, much like a tiger.
"She's a magically bred cat, though it isn't sure who exactly her parents were." Elisabeth said. "I figured that since we have horses and dogs already, a cat would be nice too."
"Thanks!" The boys chorused, hugging their Mother, mindfull of her growing stomach.
"So, what are you going to name her?" Sirius asked.
The two boys thought for a moment, before looking at eachother and nodding.
"Rogue." Harry said.
"Rogue." Zach affirmed, nodding.
Harry picked up Rogue and put her down out of the box.
They played with the kitten for a while, then watched as she jawned and curled up under the tree to sleep some.
Minutes later, Elisabeth called the boys for breakfast.
After their belated breakfast, or rather, brunch, the boys were told to put their presents up in their rooms.
"And Zach, please do it orderly!" Elisabeth said, knowing even if he managed to put them orderly in his room, it would remain like that only minutes.
The day went by very fast, as the two boys played with Rogue, and their other new things. Elisabeth had decided they would skip lunch, because they'd had brunch already, and the sweets were downed pretty fast too.
The dinner was excellent, compliments to the elves, and Elisabeth's famous applepie as desert.
After dinner, the two boys went back to Harry's room, full and tired, but not yet ready to go to sleep, even though they'd said goodnight to their parents already.
Rogue was sleeping in on one of the beanbags that was in Harry's room, like she'd been when they'd left for dinner.
Harry put down a dish of some food for her when she'd awake, before he grabbed his new Invisibility Cloak.
"Let's try it out, right?" He said with a grin.
Zach grinned back. "Yes. Ambika will be waiting I imagine."
Harry put the Cloak around the two of them, before they left the room, heading for the dungeons once again.
It took them a while to find the statue of the dragon again, but they managed in the end, and entered the Giant Hall again. As they entered, the lights went on again, and the doors closed. A sleepy Ambika could be seen peering over the edge of the stone chest.
Zach! Harry! You're back again! She hissed enthusiastically, before jumping out of the chest and flying towards them.
Of course we're back! We couldn't just leave you here to die of boredom! Zach joked.
I wish I could fly like that! Harry said wistfully.
Hey! I know, we could bring our brooms one day!
Brooms? Ambika asked.
Yeah, we wizards, that are humans that can do magic, can fly on broomsticks. I've done it once in Italy and it was really great, but I couldn't keep a broom of my own as we moved a lot and we were in the Muggle world more often than not. Muggles are non-wizard-folk by the way. Zach said.
But how did you get food? Harry wondered.
I hunted! Ambika said proudly.
In here? Zach asked, looking around at the practically empty room.
No, there nothing more in here than a rat or two. My Dad showed me the way out of here before he died. Another way than those doors. Ambika said. Come on, I'll show you.
Harry and Zach ran after the quick dragon as she flew to the other end of the room.
Panting, they reached where she was waiting for them.
Noble Lord Aerias, let us through. Ambika then growled at one of the ten statues. It was the dark green one, with wicked claws and a spiked tail.
Harry and Zach jumped in shock as suddenly the mouth of the dragon opened to reveal sharp rows of teeth.
"Enter, my greatgranddaughter and her friends." He said in a deep voice, before moving aside, to reveal an enormous opening behind him in the wall. Big enough to let the dark green dragon, Aerias, through without a problem.
Ambika led the way through the very long and very large tunnel, untill finally, they reached the end.
Harry and Zach were surprised to find themselves not too far from the edge of the forest in a clearing. The only thing hiding the entrance were a great number of boulders that were now arranged around the hole.
"Wicked!" Zach said.
"Would you like me to catch you something too?" Ambika asked.
"No, thank you, Ambika," Harry said. "but we've already eaten a lot, and it's also a bit too cold out here at the moment. Sorry." Harry and Zach were only wearing jeans and a jumper, which wasn't that much in the snowy night.
"It's alright. Maybe another time. We go back now?"
"Yeah..." Zach said, his teeth chattering.
They went back through the tunnel, the rocks rearranging themselves again to hide the entrance. When they reached the other end of the tunnel again, Ambika said the password again, and they could enter the Giant Hall again.
The two boys left rather soon again, as they were starting to get really tired, and they'd be having company the next day.
Back in their rooms, they were out like a light.
AN: So, what do you think of Ambika? For anyone who'd like to know, her name means Goddess of Destruction, while Alisha means Noble. So she's the Noble Goddess of Destruction...
AN2: About Sirius; like he thought to himself, he's had a lot to worry about since Lily and James' death, so he grew up, even if he didn't go to Azkaban. I'm trying to make him like a fun-loving Father, but with a more serious side too. Especially if he's worried.