A/N: For gmat15, who requested a longer chapter for this than the previous three. I can do that. Thank you so much for asking! I was thinking about doing this one again when I saw your review and it just sorta clicked.
DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I wave my wand, I will never own Sev and our favorite green-eyed Wizard. *sobs*
WARNING: Yaoi is an important part of these. Please desist in flaming.
-Ryder
P.S. There may be more than one title that gets a continuation; Dragon's Might, Dragon's Might II... etc.
-Previously On...-
"Lying again, Severus. You graded those the day before." Damn him for knowing his schedule! "We have all weekend to do some-" A pounding on his door had Harry shifting back and wrapping around his shoulders. Severus took one look at his hallway mirror and fixed his appearance to that of the snarky Potions Professor. He opened the door to a heavily breathing Draco.
"Hey, Sev? Ginny's pregnant again. We just learned about it an hour ago at the Healers... Why is Harry glaring at me like that?" A laugh escaped him before he could help it. "Are you alright? I'll come back later if you like."
DMDMDMDMDMDMDM
Closing the door, he strode after Draco, Harry's body-warmth a touching gesture as they walked in the cool weather. Draco Side-Along Apparated them to Malfoy Manor, Severus sighing as he dropped his hand away from his godson's shoulder.
"Oh, Drake! You pulled Professor Snape away from his essays again..." Ginny Malfoy sighed, her slim hands scrapping through fiery locks that reminded him of his beloved Lily. "I am so sorry. Would you like to stay for dinner at least?"
"I would like nothing more than to embarrass Draco with childhood stories." he murmured as Harry crooned softly.
-This one is a new situation. I haven't seen Ginny in a long time, beloved. Ask her about me; I want to see if she lies.-
"Harry..."
"Oh, what a gorgeous familiar-Did you say Harry?" The brilliant honey gaze saddened almost instantly, tears springing up.
"He reminds me too much of Potter and I felt it appropriate." She swallowed before swiping her tears away. "Even calls the former Dark Lord, of all things...Moldy shorts. He spends far too much time with the Gryffindors."
-Hello, Mrs. Malfoy.- Harry projected, his rough purr permanently engrained now.
"Hello... Harry."
-I hear you are with young. Congratulations.- At least Harry was behaving. -Perhaps Severus will join you soon.- Scratch that; he was going to murder Harry when they got back to Hogwarts.
"Harry!"
"Oh, I think he was teasing..."
-Mmm, Severus, what do you think of twins?- Severus scowled at Harry and then pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Perhaps." he sighed, answering both of them.
After being amused they retreated to the study to spend some time with his godson.
"Sev... Can you not be that embarrassing?"
"Draco, I am the closest thing you have to a parent now that both of yours have fled Great Britain for France. Get used to it." he snarked back, swirling his cognac thoughtfully as the closest thing to his own child gave him a grateful smile.
"Thank you."
"For what? I fail to see how entertaining your pregnant spouse is an issue."
"No, Sev, for being here when Papa retreated on Mother's orders."
"Your Papa will eventually return. International Wizarding law is rather forgiving when it comes to divorces." Severus huffed, crossing his legs as he relaxed before the fire.
"Did Harry mean what he said?"
"If he lives beyond tomorrow, as I said, perhaps. I... will admit to projecting that I would not survive the War intact." Severus murmured finally, sipping his drink. "Slytherin self-preservation can only take you so far without provisions for certain scenarios. Fortunately I was prepared for the one the Dark Lord employed. Thus I find myself at a crossroads and in want of something very much my own."
"You're young still. I'm sure you'll get proposals, especially as the Ministry is pushing for rewards of fertile Wizards and Witches that marry and produce children. Ginny and I have decided to abscond with the one-child-only Malfoy rule. Papa will not be happy with Ginny, but she understands me more than anyone ever will. I know she stayed faithful to Potter for eight years after he disappeared. She finally broke when I asked if she wished to engage in a Courtship. I think she would have faded away had I not taken the risk."
Harry nuzzled him before crooning just to him, -Sev'rus, I am content to let it lie. You do realize when I reveal I can transform and so happen to be the Vanquisher you'll be inundated with scandalous stories.-
"Of that I am aware, foolish dragon."
-Good. So, do we start with Draco?-
"Harry, I think not. At least a few more weeks in the least."
"Sev? Whatever are the two of you going on about?" Draco solved the problem by asking them directly.
-I transformed right before you knocked on Sev's door. We were debating on the reveal now or in a few weeks. Care to help out?- Harry projected before Severus could counteract any foolish Gryffindor-like plans his dragon planned.
"A few weeks. Shouldn't the pair of you get to know each other physically? You already know everything about each other through the familiar Bond."
-Excellent. Problem solved, Sev'rus.- Severus had to agree this time around.
-PoV-
Harry groaned as his arms tightened about empty air.
"Sev'rus?"
"Oh. Umm, Harry, he's gone to collect ingredients and asked that I stay here with you until you woke up." Hermione's voice floated in from the kitchen.
"'M gonna kill Sev..."
"Why? What has he-Harry?" her breathless question was full of hurt and open astonishment. He sat up abruptly, staring as Hermione slowly levitated the breakfast tray onto his part of the nightstand. "Harry James Potter!"
"Hi?" he winced as she lit into him, tears slipping unchecked down the oh-so-beloved and familiar face.
"You had us all scared stiff that you were dead, dammit! DEAD! You've been with my colleague for an entire year!" She huffed and plopped down on the edge of Sev's bed. "Spill or I go get Ginny."
"Eep! Didn't remember anything until about two years ago, honestly. It came in spits and spurts until I Bound myself to Severus. The first time I could remember being Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, the Vanquisher was a gossip column by Rita Skeeter. She triggered all of it. I wasn't dead; I just couldn't remember. Do you know about mine and Sev's spat about eight months back?"
"Yes..."
"He found out it was me."
"Oh. He was taking points left and right from students that day and you two were in separate parts of the castle... He looked so stony-faced that a few Hufflepuff firsties came crying to my office. Eat your breakfast. Ron will not be happy and you need to have strength for that confrontation."
"You're not mad?"
"Mad? At you?" Harry blushed but nodded as he bit into his bacon. "No."
"Why?"
"As you've put it so many times before, you're Harry-bloody-Potter and everything impossible happens to you." she giggled softly as he purred when Severus strode into the room and sat on the bed, the mattress dipping as his Bonded's weight sank onto the softness, carding slender fingers through his hair as he ate. "We should make a handbook for you."
"Yeah, but it's only got three rules." he pulled out a rather small book with only three pages from his nightstand. "Sev and I tried to come up with more but I couldn't think of any after." Each of the pages had a rule as well as an example.
Rule # 1: If it has been deemed impossible, being in the same general area as Harry Potter makes it possible. (Using the Patronus at thirteen comes to mind. The DA counts.)
Rule # 2: If it breaks a rule, law or universal truth, Harry has either done it or come very close. (Dying plus coming back in front of the Dark Lord and playing 'dead' happens to be a small sample.)
Rule # 3: If a Magical Creature comes close, use the Golden Rule. (Thestrals and Gringotts dragon, anyone?)
Hermione tapped the next page and handed it back with a smile. It read:
Rule # 4: School years tend to have an 'adventure' at the end of them sans 'eight' year. (Basilisk and Gryffindor's Sword ring a bell?) At least Voldemort cared about education?
Harry burst out laughing after he handed the book to Severus, who chuckled softly before ruefully shaking his head and adding another rule, handing it back.
Rule # 5: If it remotely smells of trouble, please keep it far, far away from Harry. He attracts danger like honey attracts flies and that is not a good thing. (Dementors fifth year hold a particularly close place, I should think.)
They passed the morning writing more rules and enjoying Hermione's company. She left unwillingly to report to Ron that Harry was alive and well.
"That went well." he hummed as he straddled Severus's lap after Hermione had left.
"Are you... always this persistent?" his Bonded asked a bit breathlessly.
"I said you might be joining Ginny. What makes you think I wouldn't hold to my promise, regardless of where it was made?"
-PoV-
"Promise? I was under the impression that it was a joke." he shot back, incredibly aware that Harry was pressing him into the bed.
"Oh, no, my graceful one. That was a promise." Hips rolled against his own, pulling an unwilling gasp from his lips.
"Nngh... Again with the admiring?" Brilliant green eyes locked with his own black as if to search for something. Severus blushed as he turned his face away from the intense gaze of the beautiful dragon-turned-man hovering over him. A gentle hand turned his face and tilted his chin up with a firm touch.
"Yes, again with the admiring. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Ska'liur, and you surpass all I have seen."
"What did you just call me?" He was pretty sure it was one of the Dragon Lord's endearments.
"Ska'liur. I am sure you are familiar with what it means." Beautiful one, you hold my heart; it was the closest thing a dragon could come to the human phrase 'I love you.' It also stood for... No. Harry couldn't be. The Dragon King's Consort. He shoved his-What was Harry to him?-off with ease as he scraped his hair back with both hands, staring at an unrepentant Harry.
"You're the bloody Dragon King?" he hissed, pinning Harry with a vicious stare.
"It was the after-effect of the Millennium Potion I brewed accidentally a decade ago. I survived because I gave in to the fire." Harry was unapologetic, shrugging as if it were an insignificant title.
"I am your chosen Consort?" Severus managed, his hands fisting in the black silk sheets on his bed.
"I have not made it official."
"But you only want me." he wanted to scream from frustration. Harry had backed him into a corner no self-preserving Slytherin would ever be caught dead in; he wanted everything Harry had to offer and it came with a price Severus had not anticipated. Submitting to anyone had his nerves on edge, but to Harry? "If I refuse your suit?"
"Other Dragon Lords will want you. To refuse me is considered beyond foolish in the Realm." He grimaced at the bored answer.
"You expected me to figure it out."
"You're too clever by half, Severus. Do you accept? I will love you for eternity."
"I... You meant it when you said you wanted children, my children and yours."
"I have been as honest as I always have." Green eyes wandered his frame, lingering on his abdomen. "I wouldn't mind a few dragonlings underfoot."
"... A bloody King. My Father said many things but Consort to one of the most powerful beings was not one of them." Harry huffed at that, wrapping strong arms around his waist.
"Then your Father was seven kinds of a fool."
"You tell him that."
"He's still alive?"
"Indeed."
Visiting Snape Manor was not on his to-do list. He'd have rather died first as opposed to return to the hellhole known as his former home. Yet here he was; albeit backed by his lover the Dragon King.
"Daft elf answer the door!" The roar of his Father's voice was silenced immediately upon seeing him again. "So, the only son of the Snape line deigns to darken my doorstep again. What is that thing-" Harry roared back and transformed in a flash of green-gold flames that any Wizard would recognize. "What have you done now, boy? That is the Dragon King."
"Of that I am well aware, Father." he spat harshly, a sneer learnt from a young age back upon his face faster than anyone could blink.
"Sev'rus." the nickname was one he only allowed Harry to use in private. "Come here." He reluctantly sank into Harry's warm embrace, squeaking as he was pushed against a wall of the Manor and ravished, lips kissed with a passion Harry didn't always hold in. "You are mine, yes?"
"Yes." he breathed back, a blush coming back faster than anything else. "Harry!"
"Ska'liur... You do not know your own appeal." Harry pressed him flat, wrenching a low moan from him as he focused on his King. "Beautiful, even in defiance. I will not tolerate his mannerisms towards you any longer. He has dimmed your fire and for that alone I shall abhor him."
"Harry..." he warned softly.
"Hmm?" the absent-mindedness of his beloved's reply was endearing but not at the moment.
"We're still in hearing range of my Father."
"I care why, my Ska'liur? Insolence is not tolerated towards my Consort. You are temptation in and of itself."
"Temptation?" he found himself blushing for the third time that morning.
"Mmm-hmm." Hooded green eyes followed his every movement, including his hitching breaths. "Onyx eyes that burn with a fire a dragon cannot possibly capture, a touch that Merlin himself would be jealous of and a heart... A heart that has been locked away like a prince in a tower. Can you blame me for wanting such?" Severus heard his Father choke rather suddenly. The man had hated his very existence for so long that Severus found he did not mind if the old Lord lived or died. "Or... Has my praise finally touched that tower?"
"A bit, Dragon King." he admitted softly, a smile tugging at his lips. "A great deal more than you would expect."
"Truly?" The hooded gaze lightened considerably as Harry spun him in circles, finally laughing as Harry's obscene happiness caught up with him. "A laughter so joyous means I have rescued the prince."
"Perhaps."
"There you go again, Ska'liur. That word will drive me mad."
"More like teach you patience." he shot back playfully, a rare smile fully on his face.
"Bah. I have no need for it when I have you."
"Dragon King?" Reality hit like a ton of bricks. His Father had seen his mask drop repeatedly in the presence of Harry. "Would you like a tour of the Manor?"
"Nope. I've already been to one, thanks, and I find them frightfully dull, Lord Snape. Sev'rus can show me the best parts, can't you?"
"You are... not as I would have expected, Milord." Harry cocked his head to the side and motioned that his Father continue. "Legend has it that you are ruthless with all whom are not close, bringing storm clouds with your every step, raining wrath upon those that justly deserve it."
"Oh. You want him? I can be him if you want, but I don't like scaring people." Harry crooned, still wrapped around Severus as the sky darkened immensely. "I also, good sir, don't particularly like you. You see, I cannot stand what you represent to my Ska'liur. I have resigned you to this fate." He gave a faint smile in Harry's arms. "Now, Sev'rus, your room?" Severus chuckled softly as he led Harry up the steps and past his stunned Father.
-PoV-
Harry followed Severus's lead as the surprisingly warm Manor was revealed to him. At a light oaken door, his Ska'liur stopped and took a deep breath.
"Sev'rus?"
"My... Mum is in this room. She hid herself away from my Father once she heard of his cruelty against me."
"Is that all?" he asked gently, his hand on his beloved's waist.
"She's much different than Father." The door opened soundlessly, revealing a study done in blue and silver with subtle green accents. "Mum?"
"Severus. Who is this you have brought with you to my study? They must be very important for you to brave your Father's wrath."
"Mum, this is Harry."
"Does he have a last name, my little one?"
"He's Harry Potter and... he's also the Dragon King." Sev's Mum laughed, a delightful sound that had Harry grinning. So that was where his beloved got that beautiful voice from...
"An honor to meet the woman that raised my fierce Ska'liur."
"As it is so with you, Lord Potter. Severus, darling, call Tiffy. She'll know what to bring." Harry watched as the regal, beautiful woman took a seat in her ornate chair. Severus settled into his lap rather easily, obsidian eyes flashing with insecurity. "Comfortable?" He couldn't help the contented rumble that slipped from his lips.
"Extremely."
"Good. Severus, how is the portrait coming along?"
Lounging with Severus in his lap, Harry was happy to merely sit and listen to his Ska'liur and Eileen talk for hours.
"Harry, isn't it disconcerting to listen to the pair of us and not be included?" He chuckled as he pulled Severus closer to inhale the unique scent of his beloved.
"The Dragon Lords are much worse and only involve me if the matter is beyond hope."
"Really? What about?"
"The usual argument is the color of robes. They are very vain and do not appreciate my more practical approach; though in battle they are the best companions you could possibly have. Most of the arguments are quite petty, as they sharpen a Dragon's wit."
Ending A/N: I hope you like it, gmat15! Whew. I have plenty of requests to finish. However, this does NOT mean that I wouldn't appreciate REVIEWS and suggestions via PM or another review! Love all of you and your immense support to my awful hobby.