So, I rather feel that this kinda makes up for the extreme length between updates last time. :) I think I doubled the length of the entire story with this chapter, lol. Proof that reviews make me especially eager to write :) Thanks can be directed towards: MaeSilverpaws1; Sheankelor; . *2*; Tianna M.V.A; and Babydoll8901. Y'all are extremely awesome people, and I thank you very sincerely for your appreciation of my meager story. To all who alerted and favorited, I thank you as well! You may be silent in regards to words, but I appreciate your attention as well :) I hope that this chapter also manages to entertain you, and, in regards to what happens to Harry towards the beginning of this (you should know when you see it...) well, direct your ire/appreciation towards Sheankelor for the violent attack bunny they sent me :P
Anyways, hope y'all enjoy! Oh, and I made up a spell. So sue me.
Actually, DISCLAIMER: Don't sue me. I don't own shit. Happy now? :)
The week that passed was nearly insignificant. While Harry and Severus had noticed strange meetings occurring between the Marauder's and the girls, Harry wrote it off as unimportant. Severus was not so sure, and thus resolved to do a little bit of recon work. He was fairly pleased to note that although James Potter tended to stare at Harry with a deeply brooding stare more often than he had earlier been wont, if his friends' expressions were anything to go by then they were all still confused by the Patronus Incident. Snape mentally cursed Harry for calling it that. Now whenever Severus thought about it, he couldn't resist the urge to capitalize it.
With a sour expression on his face over the foolish notions of former Gryffindors, Snape glided invisibly behind Lily as she made her way unnoticed to a secret room hidden behind a tapestry of a meadow empty of all but a single unicorn. Stroking the unicorn gently, she was allowed entry into the room, followed closely by Snape.
Snape's attention was immediately captured by the potion boiling in the middle of the room. Taking care to stand unobtrusively out of the way, he watched avidly as Lily stirred the potion counter clockwise carefully before adding an ingredient. Snape watched as she gently lowered the heat of the cauldron before stirring it once more with a different rod, this one silver, and saw her look of satisfaction when it turned a deep lavender color. Lily smile brilliantly at the apparent success and, taking out an envelope, she dropped a hair into it. Snape's eyebrow rose alarmingly as he recognized Potter's hair, in this case he was sure, Harry's to be exact.
Grinning, Lily dipped an extremely tiny quill into the mixture, careful to place it in a small box with intricate runes. Satisfied with her doings, Lily left the room, unaware that she had left a small audience behind.
Snape approached the table cautiously. Sniffing the air above the potion cautiously, and eyeing the bits of ingredients that had been left in a neat pile in one corner, Snape groaned.
"Bloody family tree potion," he muttered to himself, thinking darkly that he really should have considered this as soon as the Marauders began spending so much time with Lily.
Suddenly, an idea hit him. It was so devious that the smile it caused to spread across his face was one that would have sent every first to seventh year in the future running in fear.
With a small cackle, Snape went to work, glad that he had come directly from Potions class as it meant that he had his rather extensive kit with him and glad that the potion was a symbiotic one, meaning that the magic of the potion connected the potion in the cauldron with the potion on the hummingbird quill. He quickly went about assuring that everyone involved would get a surprise.
It was fifteen minutes later that he left the room, still invisible, smugly pleased with himself and wondering at the fact that a potion that took days to assemble took mere minutes to derail.
He slipped in beside Harry at the dinner table, a complacent expression on his face. Harry was vaguely disconcerted by the smirk Snape directed his way but shrugged it off, concentrating instead on how he wanted to approach Dumbledore. They needed help. Even if it was just help keeping the ministry off their backs, Dumbledore was the answer.
Harry was turning to Snape, about to ask his opinion, when he felt the most unsettling sensation. With a somewhat sucking sensation, directed inward, Harry's perception of his surroundings blew up rather suddenly.
Snape, who had obviously been waiting for this event, struggled with his laughter. His shoulders shook as he held it in, several snorts of amusement escaping him.
Harry's face showed a look of utter shock as he surveyed his appearance in a startlingly clear bowl which held selections of fruit. Part of his shock was due to the fact that he was inexplicably at eye level with the bowl, and the rest due to what it showed him. He'd shrunk. Rather drastically. His eyes narrowed to slits of emerald ire.
"You!" He growled, his voice dismayingly squeaky. "What did you do?"
Snape smirked again.
"Why, dear little Potter, I sabotaged the potion which would have given the Minions your entire family history, dates included. I simply couldn't resist a little artistic expression, though."
Harry's eyes widened.
"What?" He screamed, scrambling to get down from the now higher bench. "Where are they? Miserable cretins. I won't stand for this." He glared up at Snape, "And you! Prepare for the worst. I will make you pay." He huffed off, flipping off any and all sniggers he heard from the other students, all the while struggling to hold up his robes, which had not made the change with him. Snape hurried after him, unwilling to completely miss this confrontation.
Fifteen minutes earlier.
Lily made her way back up to the tower, buzzing with the excitement that filled her. Finally! They would get some answers, figure out who this stranger was and how he was related to Potter. The other Potter. Eurgh. James. She was even more irked that this stranger was forcing her to reevaluate her nemesis.
Entering the common room, she made her way to the boys' dorm where the others waited for her, having not wanted to intrude on the delicate atmosphere of the potion.
She brought out the small runic box after locking the door behind her.
"That's it?" Sirius said intently.
Lily resisted rolling her eyes impatiently.
"Yes," she said, "and it's time to do the spell." She raised her eyebrow towards the boys. While she had been in charge of creating the potion, they had been charged with finding and memorizing the complex spell that had to activate the runes on the box.
"Right," James said, a bit nervous. "So this is gonna take just a little bit, it's a pretty long spell. More of a chant really."
"Whatever," Alice broke in eagerly, "just do it. The sooner you start, the sooner it's done."
The spell that followed involved Sirius and James placing the box in the middle of the floor where they had drawn a strange design that proved to be the same runic message placed on the box. The design led outward to an encompassing circle which the made sure not to smudge or step over, merely placing the box carefully in its place.
That done, they began the chanting spell that was strangely indecipherable to their audience and which took several minutes to complete. Following the end of the spell, Remus drew out a piece of parchment that had runes running along its side. Seemingly assured by the glow uniting the runes on the floor, box, and parchment, he opened the box carefully and spoke a single word.
What they had been expecting was for the hummingbird quill to rise and write the family history of the new Potter boy. That's not what happened though. Instead, there was a burst of light and the runes blackened and the quill turned to ash.
They all stared at the mess in the center of the floor.
"That," Peter said timidly, "wasn't supposed to happen was it?"
Sirius growled. "Of course not," he snarled. He turned on Lily. "What the hell?"
Her brow was furrowed in thought, but as the accusation registered, she turned towards him, indignant.
"It's not automatically her fault if it didn't work, Padfoot," James said quietly. Both turned towards him in astonishment. He lifted his eyes to look at them both. "She's the only one out of us with a hope of making the potion work, and neither of us have ever done this level of spellwork before. It's just as likely that we messed up." He studied the mess before them.
Lily was strangely disturbed by his new maturity and the fact that he stood up for her against his best mate. Lily was displeased to find herself once again making changes to her perception of her fellow Gryffindor. Anymore conversation or thoughts on the matter were halted, though, by the sudden entrance of what appeared to be an angry, midgetized Harry Potter, and an overly amused Severus Snape. Both of who really shouldn't have been there, considering it was in Gryffindor tower and they were both Slytherins.
Midget Harry took in the mess on the floor. He crossed his short arms over his chest, green eyes sparkling dangerously.
"Somebody like to explain what's going on here?" He asked icily.
Nobody was laughing- except for Snape-; seemingly, the Marauders couldn't get over having two Slytherins in their room, and Alice was simply horrified that they'd been caught.
"Oh," Lily said weakly, looking down at her classmate. He hadn't been particularly tall before, but, damn, those couple of feet really did mean something. She found him glowering at her even more now, and she registered the others barely containing their laughter- Severus had no such compunction. She realized that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. Her eyes widened in horror, even as she finally put all the pieces together and whirled on Severus.
"You!" She felt strangely betrayed. "How did you- I mean, the potion-" She nearly stamped her foot in frustration, unwilling to speak aloud the words that would further implicate them all in something illegal.
Severus raised his left eyebrow smoothly, an expression he had utilized often in the future (past?) and had in the recent two years taught his teenage face, too.
"Why Lily," he said silkily, every bit the snarky professor terrorizing small children that he once had been, "I happened across a secret room, just minutes ago, and I noticed the potion set brewing was a highly illegal one." He continued, pasting an angelic look on his face that fooled exactly no one. "I had no idea whose it was, or who it was intended for, but I thought I would do them a favor and negate it before they got themselves into trouble." He smirked. "Of course, I couldn't resist a little artistic expression, and I was simply amazed to find my friend miniaturized."
"But- you-" Lily wasn't quite sure what to say. Her racing mind was conjuring up horrible images of expulsion. She suddenly felt quite sick.
"What made you think to come here?" Remus asked calmly, hoping that they could get out of this intact.
"Well," Snape drawled, "the only person besides myself with the initial skill to brew the potion, aside from a teacher, is Lily. Since teachers would surely brew illegally elsewhere, and coupled with the fact that you lot have been spending a lot of time together staring at my little friend here," Harry glared at him at the emphasis, "I naturally put two and two together and told the midget here."
"So all you have is conjecture?" Remus returned smoothly.
"Well, no," Snape said, smiling slightly, "the mess we walked in on is fairly incriminating as well."
Remus blanched at the reminder.
"So what are you going to do, Snape?" James asked carefully.
Severus raised one eyebrow.
"I rather think that that is something you should be asking Harry, Potter." He replied smoothly.
As one, they all looked at Harry.
He narrowed his eyes at them, taking cruel satisfaction from the flinches he received.
"I won't tell Dumbledore," they sighed in relief before he continued, "Unless you try it again. In the meantime, I expect to find two full cases of unopened, untampered with butterbeer in the room Severus mentioned. Obviously you know where it is." He glowered at them before continuing. "You will also leave a basket of Honeydukes' finest. I'm fond of chocolate." He added as an afterthought. "Oh, and no more pranks, malicious or otherwise, on either Severus or I, unless I ever tell you otherwise."
Sirius unknowingly mimicked Snape as he raised his own eyebrow.
"Is that all?" He asked sardonically, quite forgetting the severity of the moment.
Harry looked at him.
"Or I could always go to the authorities," he said coolly. "Whichever you prefer, of course."
Remus glared pointedly at Sirius, who flushed.
"No," he said hurriedly, casually punching Sirius in the side, "we find your offer to be more than generous and we will let you know when we have managed to acquire the items you require."
Harry smiled brilliantly.
"Thank you!" He chirped, before pulling a quietly amused Severus Snape away. "We'll leave you to your other dastardly deeds then, shall we?"
"Butterbeer, Potter?" They heard Snape questioning him as they left, their voice drifting up the stairwell for quite a ways.
"I'm not fond of firewhiskey," came the reply. "And you sure as hell better have the antidote for this, you bastard. You seem to have forgotten- for once- just who my father and godfather were. I'm sure I can remind you."
"I thought you declared me 'persona-non-grata' as far as pranks are concerned?"
"Not from this Potter, I didn't. I feel like channeling my father."
"At any other point in time, I would ask you where you were holding that particular séance, but, well…"
"You're a jackass. I hope you know."
"Oh, believe me. I know."
"Dungeon bat."
"Marauder brat."
"Why should I take that as an insult?"
"Fine. Pedobait."
"You just made that up."
"You understood it didn't you?"
"Y'know what? Fuck you."
"I really don't think that's the way that particular scenario would go if it went at all…"
"…"
"You're right. Please forget that. Obviously, being a teenager has affected me far more than it should."
"I am so unnerved right now."
"So am I. Still, I have a point."
"Like hell."
"You kinda look like a twink."
"You-"
"And you're really small."
"That's YOUR fault!"
"I meant before that."
"I think I know what my revenge will be now."
"… I apologize?"
Harry's voice was dark as he answered, "No apology can help you now."
Alice slowly shut the door as the voices finally drifted out of reach. She blinked a bit and rubbed her forehead with one hand.
"That-" Words failed her.
"Was almost hilarious, and definitely disturbing?" Sirius finished for her. "Yeah." His and James' faces were a complex mixture of hilarity and horror. Pettigrew only looked confused, and Lily seemed to be struggling with laughter.
Remus was the only that seemed to have noticed a few things about the overheard conversation that led him to think something so bewildering, that he could barely comprehend even the idea of it.
In an attempt to pacify the scheming Potter, Snape brewed the antidote to his rather specialized shrinking solution, and restored the pissed off Potter to his somewhat negotiable height. He was disappointed to see a smirk appear on Harry's face when he asked if this let him off the hook. Apparently not.
The packages Harry had requested made their way into the Unicorn room a mere week later. In a show of good will, Harry offered to share his bounty with Severus, but Severus, convinced that this was a trap of some kind, refused, eyeing the chocolate and pilfered alcohol with narrowed eyes.
"You're too damn paranoid, Sev," Harry was saying, just a week later. "I offered you the same stuff I was eating and drinking, why the hell would you think I'd messed with it?"
Severus thought about this for a moment. "Don't call me Sev," he said absently, turning the problem around to view it from all possible angles. Perhaps Harry had a point. It's not like Harry was that skilled magically, anyways, except in matters of defense. Still, there was the principle of the thing. He nodded, satisfied with his decision. He ignored the ever so tempting sight of luxurious chocolate and smooth butterbeer, and sneered at the green-eyed Potter.
"In any case, what makes you think that I would deign to consume such childish items as those?"
Harry raised an eyebrow calmly, reaching under his bed for another butterbeer, feeling around until he managed to grasp one by the neck.
"Right," he said derisively, popping the top of his bottle and taking a swig. "I'll remind you of that the next time we have Hogsmeade weekend."
Severus scowled. Damn brat.
"Oh, whatever," he snarled, "are we going to dinner or not?"
Harry sighed. Placing a stasis charm on his opened bottle, he set it aside and got up.
"Alright," he said, "let's eat!" With that he rushed past Severus, challenging him to a race.
Grimacing, Severus attempted to maintain his dignity, but soon his teenage self caught up with him and he was racing Harry in an attempt to make it to the Great Hall first. This garnered quite a few strange looks, many not used to such unbridled playful energy coming from two Slytherins of all people, but Severus was very smug by the time they reached their stopping point.
"I win," he stated.
Harry glared at him before smirking. Marching up to the doors and pulling them open, he stepped inside and turned to look at Severus.
"Actually," he drawled, enjoying the suspicion dawning on Snape's face, "I believe that it's the first one through the door that wins." He grinned broadly. "Therefore, I win."
Severus growled and shoved past him, leading the way to Slytherin's table. Sitting down, a thought occurred to him, and it was his turn to smirk.
"Or," he said smugly, "you could say that the first to make it to the table is the victor."
"No," Harry denied vehemently, "We were racing to the doors, therefore, first one through, wins. Simple as that."
"Oh, I don't know," Severus mused, "after all, isn't our ultimate goal to get to the table?"
Harry glowered. "Enough," he said finally, "we're never going to get anywhere like this. How about we call this one a draw and set up the rules for next time?"
Severus shrugged. "Alright," he agreed, "then I suggest the most sensible idea would be to have the end be at the doors, not through them. Too many things could go wrong otherwise, and this way, we look less foolish to others."
Harry couldn't find any fault in that argument, so he agreed.
"So that means that I won after all, doesn't it?" Snape said, smiling down at his plate, "Technically speaking anyways."
Harry groaned and slumped forward on the table, berating himself for falling for such a Slytherin trick.
Across the hall, several eyes watched them warily.
"Do you think he has any idea?" James asked worriedly.
"Relax, mate," Sirius said distantly, contemplating their dinner choices for the evening. "If he hasn't said anything by now, then I sincerely doubt he knows."
Lily hesitated slightly. "I don't know," she said softly, glancing at the near clone of her nemesis. "He doesn't seem like a bad guy, and I really don't want to get expelled."
They turned to Remus, expecting the most reasoned judgment to come from him. They were somewhat surprised to find him staring at Potter and Snape with hard determination.
"We have to do it," he said firmly, "there's something weird going on, and I think that this potion will give us the answer. Also, our precautions are much greater this time. We shan't be found out."
Still a bit uneasy, the group returned to safer topics, and ate their dinner.
In another time, another group of students huddled similarly in almost the same exact place. Members of the DA were trying to brainstorm where Harry could be, coming up with literally nothing, and frustrating them all. It was in this frustration that Ron and Hermione stood, disregarding the comments of their peers, and left the Great Hall, making for the familiar path to Hagrid's Hut.
"Do you think we'll ever find him?" Hermione asked Ron, her voice wavering only slightly.
Ron reached out and grasped her hand in his as they walked.
"Don't think like that, 'Mione," he said fiercely, staring hard at nothing in particular. "This is Harry we're talking about. Shit happens to him, and he always makes it through to the other side, y'know that."
She laughed weakly, pulling closer to him and wrapping herself around his arm.
"Yeah, he always makes it out," Ron could hear the thickness of unshed tears in her voice. "It's just-" she paused and swallowed hard before continuing, "it's just that he deserves to have a bit of happiness now. I mean, he's always deserved it, but we thought that he could finally have it, and now-" she trailed off helplessly, spreading her arms wide in a gesture of hopelessness.
Ron stopped walking and pulled her to him, tucking her mass of tamed brown hair just under his chin.
"Shhh, shhh," he soothed her softly, "it's just like old times, ok? We're gonna find him, and help him, and he's going to be alright. How can we not," he said quietly, "you're too brilliant not to figure this out-" He broke off at the sound of a strangely familiar noise.
Hermione stiffened slightly in his arms before pulling away, shielding her eyes against the sun as she searched for the direction of the sound. She gasped, feeling Ron's arms slacken in shock as he, too, discovered the source of the sound.
Unnervingly close now, a dragon that looked far too familiar was making its way directly toward them. Flickering desperately through Hermione's head were all the ways they could take on a dragon and survive, but she was coming up blank due to the fact that she could not make out its eyes due to the sunlight, and there were no spells that two wizards alone could attempt that would subdue a dragon. Taking Ron's hand in hers again, she pulled him along, halting his desperate attempt to shoot a spell, and they ran, faster than they ever had before, towards the Great Lake. She was working on casting bubble-head charms on them, thinking that they could sink into the lake and wait the dragon out. She could only hope that no one got hurt and that they noticed the dragon raging on the grounds of Hogwarts.
Aside from this all, she was also wondering how the dragon had gotten there in the first place. She knew that dangerous creatures lived in the forest, but generally, the strength of Hogwarts' wards were such that they stayed in their natural habitat instead of venturing out of the forest. It took something major disrupting the wards, or an actual invitation from someone dwelling in Hogwarts. Of course, during the final battle, both had happened. Students siding with Voldemort had afforded him just enough allegiance that, paired with the combined hostile magic of the attacking force, he was able to enter and bring along his hordes of violent allies. Not that the acromantulas had been so much allies as eager opportunists. Ron had been especially pleased with the complete eradication of the giant spider colony, and a rather chagrined Hagrid had vowed never to breed them again. Apparently, all it took to shake Hagrid from a particular creature fascination was to have said creature side with a Dark Lord and attack Hogwarts grounds. As Ron had said when Harry first mentioned this, it wasn't a plan that he cared to initiate more than once.
From the look of things, dragons might very well soon be on the newly made list of disfavor for Hagrid. Ron only regretted that it would take his and Hermione's deaths to instigate this.
With a sudden burst of inspiration, spurred by the fact that he could feel the dragon quickly gaining on them, Ron used a spell that he had read just that past week, as they were all desperately scouring the library for help to find Harry. This particular spell was one he had encountered in a Restricted book, and it came to his mind clear as day as he slashed his wand in the movement he remembered seeing on the page and shouted the incantation, hoping against hope that he was remembering the instructions on its pronunciation.
"Diamas contego!" He cast the spell in the direction of Hermione, feeling the breath of death wash hot and moist down his back. Hermione's form locked up and crystallized, falling to the ground. Her frozen eyes were wide in alarm as she looked up at him in despair. He smiled slightly, pain in his eyes but calm acceptance in his heart at his impending death. She looked just as the description had said she should, and he thought that she was beautiful. It was a spell that had to be cast by another, and it locked the recipient safely in an impenetrable shield of diamond, keeping them alive until they could be freed by someone else. Ron didn't know it, but it was actually the spell that had been used in the muggle fairy tale "Snow White", which wasn't a fairy tale at all, but based on an actual historical event.
No, Ron didn't know any of this at that moment, but he did know that he would do anything in his power to keep Hermione safe. So it was, that as he felt the powerful wind of the dragon's beating wings, he leaned down and softly closed Hermione's eyes, unwilling that she should witness his death, and whispered in her ear that he loved her and always would.
In the moment that the dragon reached them, Ron thought back on his life and hoped that his family would not allow his death to completely destroy them, especially so soon after the loss of Fred.
But instead of sharp teeth and rending claws, without even a hint of fiery breath, Ron and Hermione were gathered carefully close by the enormous beast and carried into the air. Faster than they could comprehend, time and space twisted around them in a horrifyingly intensified version of a portkey. Unbeknownst to Ron, the nauseating spinning of their surroundings was reminiscent of a time turner, and so, when the spinning (of their surroundings and, in the opposite direction, of them) ended, they landed paradoxically calmly in what appeared to be the Great Hall of Hogwarts. The dragon released them, setting them down between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. How the dragon hadn't squashed anyone, especially considering that the space between the tables was hardly fit to house a dragon, Ron failed to understand. (Magic, 'tis a grand thing, no?) What he did know was that nobody was looking familiar, except for some students and a certain Headmaster that really shouldn't.
Realizing that the screams weren't entirely those of fear, Ron reacted on instinct, erecting a large barrier between them and the oncoming spells. The dragon snorted slightly in disdain, as it raised its mighty wings, the ensuing wind flattening and disarming many. It lowered its wings calmly, and settled down like a cat, folding the wings along its back and cradling its snout in its front paws, surveying its surroundings with an oddly knowing gleam.
He suddenly recognized his best mate, Harry Potter, standing where the Slytherin table had been just moments ago, looking shocked. Ron realized that all of the tables had disappeared, and, apparently, more than half the student body, having fled as soon as the wind abated. The rest stood closer than he really thought wise, all things considered, and had managed to find their wands.
"Harry bleeding Potter!" He shouted hoarsely, stumbling slightly as he waved his wand in Hermione's direction, ending the spell. She immediately groaned, curling in on herself as she attempted to reorient herself. She wasn't in quite as bad shape as Ron, his spell having protected her somewhat and thanks to him closing her eyes. She had yet to understand what was going on, but Ron surprisingly had a good grip on their circumstances.
Stumbling again, and managing to casually grasp a squeaking Pettigrew by the shoulders, Ron allowed himself a heartening retch across the poor bloke's front and shoes. Having seen all of the strangely familiar faces, and connecting it to the fact that Harry had disappeared suddenly and within Hogwarts' wards, prompted Ron to go with the first answer that presented itself to his shaken mind. Being a pureblood wizard, too, helped him accept the seemingly impossible.
It was quite obvious to Ron that Harry, and now, subsequently, them, had been transported far into the past, to a time when the Marauder's still reigned in Hogwarts' halls.
Ron supposed he should just be thankful to be alive at this point.
At Ron's shout, Hermione had straightened quickly, gasping as she took in everything that Ron already had. Her intrinsic doubts were dispelled at the sight of their previously missing friend.
"Harry!" She screamed, half laughing, half crying. She struggled to her feet and threw herself at their raven haired friend. She hugged him close, sobbing into his shirt, completely disregarding recent happenings, simply glad to have her friend back, safe and sound. They were fast joined by Ron, all three of them hugging each other desperately.
"As truly touching as this is," they heard a sudden drawling voice interrupt, "perhaps you'd like to explain your sudden appearances." The dismayingly familiar voice paused before continuing. "The dragon, too, if you wouldn't mind."
Hermione and Ron pulled back slowly, completely missing Harry's sudden grin, and stared at their former Potion's professor.
"Severus Snape," he said smoothly, "and you would be Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, I presume?"
They stared at him in slight horror as he raised an eyebrow in question.
"How'd you-" Ron began.
"Harry's talked quite a lot about the two of you," Snape replied. "Why, it's almost as though I know you."
Neither of the new time-travelers missed the not so subtle emphasis, and Ron gulped slightly.
Hermione laughed weakly, one hand traveling to her temple as she massaged it gently.
"Of course," she said, her tone dangerously close to hysterical. "Who else has he spoken to of us?" She asked, hoping that the question wasn't too subtle for her to get the answers she wanted.
Snape looked at her in grudging approval before answering her.
"I believe Harry has made some mention of the two of you to the Headmaster, and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick." As he spoke, he gestured to the three in question.
The Headmaster was carefully unpeeling a lemon drop when McGonagall unceremoniously elbowed him.
"What? Oh," he gazed down at the scene, his serious expression at severe odds with the twinkle in his eyes. "Yes," he said calmly, "Harry has indeed informed us on the circumstances of your friendship." He turned his gaze to the patiently waiting dragon. "He failed to mention the dragon though." He popped the sour sweet into his mouth as he thought this over.
"Actually," Harry said cryptically, critically eyeing the aforementioned dragon, "I believe I did mention the dragon once in passing." He shared a look with his two friends. "The three of us had a bit of an unexpected ride on its back once, I think."
A look of understanding crossed Ron and Hermione's faces, even as they glanced once more at the strangely quiet beast.
Said beast sniffed suddenly, causing all of the confused Hogwarts students and professors to rear back and raise their wands.
They do realize that their magic isn't going to affect me, right? The trio jerked in shock as they heard the sibilant growling as words delivered in a wryly amused tone.
Shaking his head slightly, Harry muttered to himself.
"Dragons don't speak, dragons do not speak."
I'm speaking aren't I? The dragon lowered her head, (for there was no denying the possibly imagined voice was female) and looked him in the eye. Or, rather, she put her eye on level with Harry's entire head. Same difference.
"Seems I'm having the same delusion, mate," Ron said, looking ill. At his green look, Pettigrew slipped farther behind the others, not wanting to be decorated even more than he already was. The others barely noticed, their attention focused solely on the interaction in the center of the Hall.
Pandemonium suddenly erupted as their audience took this in.
"What the hell?"
"Dragons don't speak!"
"They also don't appear out of bloody nowhere!"
"Headmaster! Headmaster! What's going on?"
Shouts were coming from all sides, their questions directed mainly towards the Headmaster.
"Enough!" He ordered, raising his arms in a gesture for their obedience.
Grumbling slightly, and still regarding the group in the middle warily, they listened.
"It appears that our guests can understand the dragon. As astonishing as this is, I believe the best way to gain a correct understanding is to ask." He addressed the trio directly. "You hear the dragon speak?"
Hermione nodded, her mind already racing to find a reason.
At her nod, Dumbledore nodded as well, turning his gaze instead to the dragon.
"If you please, prove that you understand my words and wink your right eye for me."
Immediately, the dragon lowered her right eyelid, eliciting gasps from the still unbelieving watchers.
Before chaos could ensue once more, Dumbledore spoke.
"If you please, would you tell these three why, and what your intentions are? I'm just guessing of course, but I rather suspect that you mean us no harm. Otherwise you would have wreaked havoc upon us already."
Nodding sagely, the dragon began to speak in its vaguely terrifying manner. Of course, for the three suddenly gifted with the ability to understand, it wasn't terrifying so much as confusing. The dragon's words soon reassured them.
If you recall, you escaped on my back from the Goblin prison, Gringotts. The trio didn't dare correct the dragon's wording. From its perspective, Gringotts surely was a prison. Instead they nodded, deeming this a safe action. The dragon appeared satisfied with their reaction and continued.
It is a peculiar trait of my particular breed of dragon, to be what you would call "sentient". The dragons that you would normally come in contact with are barely more than beasts, as related to me as the common reptile you would find in your backyard. Now, some centuries ago, as a young and rather foolish creature, I entered into a binding contract with the goblins, guarding their treasure in return for refuge in their lands. As wise as my kind are, I failed to maintain a strict wording in the binding, and was henceforth trapped to do the goblins bidding. So long as I lived, the contract was satisfied. I have lost contact with my kind, and I am not aware if they even survive to this day. It is entirely possible that I am the last of my kind. As you freed me, releasing me from my bonds, I have granted you the boon of Dracasian speech. Freeing me has transferred my bond to the three of you instead, if you accept.
Hermione was immediately indignant.
"Of course we can't bind you to us! That would be slavery," she whirled on the boys, about to warn them not to even think about it, but the dragon was speaking again.
Should you deny our bond, then I will be forced to seek the goblins out again, and submit myself once more to their cruelties. She gazed sadly at them. Should that happen, I do not know if I could survive, having tasted of freedom again. Hermione's eyes darkened and she apologized softly.
"What makes you so sure that we wouldn't mistreat you, too," Ron asked curiously. "Not that we would," he hastened to add, "but if I were you, I'd sure as hell be worried."
The dragon laughed softly, a bitter humor evident in the sound.
I have observed you three since you first dived from my back into the water. My kind is good at judging others, and it was only my own youthful arrogance that led to my captivity. I have seen the good in you, and I would happily take my chances with you three.
Speaking slowly, aware that Dumbledore and the others waited for a translation, Harry provided one.
"Sir, she's not a dragon as we know them. She's been trapped in a bad contract for ages, but we managed to free her somehow," Harry was editing as he spoke, aware that certain details would raise more questions than they were comfortable answering. Besides, the professors and Snape would understand the reference, and they were the ones that mattered. "She says that since we freed her, she has gifted us with the speech of her kind, and, if we agree, we can replace her bond and save her from having to return to her captors." Harry looked at the dragon with compassion. He placed his left hand on her snout.
"I accept," he said gently. "To protect and be protected, I name you my friend and ally. Let magic acknowledge this bond." He didn't really know where the words were coming from, only aware that it seemed the right thing to say. He missed the widening of the dragon's eyes as he looked instead to where Ron and Hermione both raised their own left hands and placed them similarly on the dragon, repeating the words he had spoken. The moment their voices ended, a burst of burning magic pulsed through them, filling them with a sense of power and safety. With a mighty roar, the dragon was also consumed.
When the moment ended, the dragon was bright gold, with red and purple designs lacing down her back and throughout her wings, and her eyes were an emerald green matching two others present in the Hall.
Wincing slightly from a brief tinge of pain in his left arm, Harry glanced down at it absently, only to look at it in shock once more. There on his previously unadorned wrist, were emerald green flames, a moving tattoo licking its way past his elbow, and, he discovered with just a bit of investigation, to his shoulder.
Slight gasps to his right indicated that his friends had found complementary designs of their own. Looking over, he found that he was right, and Ron was sporting red flames to match his, and Hermione purple ones.
The dragon purred contentedly.
I thank you, my dear ones she said musically the speech of my kind will grant you the ability to control lesser reptilian creatures, converse with them, as much as they are capable, and, with our bonding, you have the ability to channel your power through that hand. Because this was a meeting of allies, instead of the trickery employed by the goblins, we have exchanged some abilities. I will be able to boost your natural powers, and I shall be capable of some things not previously in my capabilities as well.
So, that's it. Fun, huh? I hope you enjoyed. As ever, I was going to speak on certain things here, but, like always, I've forgotten. So, if there's anything that confuses you, feel free to ask :) I don't mind answering :) Well, I'm finally off to bed, it's 4 in the morning where I am, and that's late even for me. Don't y'all love my dedication ;) Ciao!