Harry Potter/ Lord of the Rings

Chapter 3: Mother

Disclaimer: Harry and Luna would have made a much better couple, traveling the globe, finding interesting things and creatures, having the babies. But I could not have conveyed a world of wonder such as the tale J.K. Rowling had spun upon her pages. I also do not own Dragon's Keep.

The lady serpent swooped down from above the snow-bearing clouds and made a smooth landing into the mouth of her cave. She was easily twice the size of a full grown Hungarian Horntail and still she had a youth about her.

Upon setting down her burden of food she smelled a foreign scent about. It was a fresh scent not four days old and smelt of many young two-leggers just cut off from their mother's teat. It was only young she smelt with no trace of their minders about them or the cave. Curious she followed the scent back towards her egg chamber.

Going quicker least her eggs be in danger she came upon the sight of only two of the eggs she had layed upon the nest with six two-legged beasts laid out around them. Looking around she spied a fire pit with a cauldron holding the little thieves' leftover meal and in the corner abandoned she saw her other three eggs.

She grew angry and came to the conclusion that the vermin spawn was abandoned and had stolen the warmth of her nest from her first clutch. Moving towards the offending sight she sought to crush them slowly beneath her claws for robbing her pips of their life.

Upon resting her claw on the one closest to the exit she stopped surprised. The small form below her foot emanated an inner heat that felt warmer than the sands below it. Lifting her foot she pushed aside the sands and instead of finding stones glowing with heat she found cold rocks. She checked each interloper and found they all exuded heat. Going over to the discarded eggs she sniffed them and gave a keening hurt sound. The eggs smelt strongly of death, to strongly for the few days the others had stumbled into her caves.

Turning back towards the nest she was saddened, if not for the heat emanating from the wee ones all of her first clutch would have been dead because of her stupidity and if she had not been surprised she would have killed the ones that saved the ones that could be saved.

Really looking at them she saw they were covered in the tapestries and clothes she deemed not to burn otherwise they were without the outer skins she knew the two-leggers needed to survive in this biting cold. They were truly abandoned in this world and with the loss of three of her own these little ones had found a place where they were welcomed.

She set about rolling the three eggs out of the cave but before she left she breathed fire over the small fire pit to bring forth the flames once more.

It was the next day that the children rose and found a large dragon looming over them. So scared they were that none of them spoke and all were surprised when the dragon did.

"A haba hini il gorga ten' amin have lle ar' amin aa' hoth lle varna. Tolo anin naur.*" The dragon said all of that in Sindarin. Of course coming from a place where English is many peoples first language, the children didn't understand.

The dragon took their silence for shock and continued to croon softly at them. The six looked among themselves and starting talking softly.

"I don't think it's going to kill us, and it's trying to speak to us." Said Neville.

"The language is a human one, it sounds as if it is comprised of Welsh and Celtic and Norse elements but I only know a few words by sound. I never studied Welsh or Celtic languages I was going to wait until after Hogwarts to delve deeper into other cultures, but Norse was glossed over in ancient runes," Said a slightly panicking Hermione.

Harry was the only one watching the dragon and was listening as it started speaking in a hissing growling language that began to make since to him.

"I can understand it." Harry said quietly but they didn't hear him until he repeated himself.

They all turned to look at Harry to explain. "I can't understand all of it but some of it is parseltounge. She is singing." They looked at Harry incredulously but no one tried to stop him as he slowly approached the edge of the nest towards the dragon. Only taking up defensive positions getting ready to pull him back.

"Great dragon," Harry began and the dragon whipped his head towards him. "What isss it you want of usss?"

"Sssnake child, I require nothing of you. You and your nessstlingsss will ssstay here in this nessst with me. I will take you and keep you sssafe. You need not fear the two-leggersss here."

Harry turned back to the others and told them what the dragon said. "It wants us to stay here and take care of us as its children, and I don't see the other eggs anywhere."

"There have been instances where animals including dragons have adopted other species after the loss of one of their own hatchlings," explained Luna in a serious voice.

"And since we have the appearance of children she has taken us as her own," exclaimed Hermione.

"But that does not explain where we are," drawled Draco in a nervous voice from the back of the group.

Harry turned back towards the dragon and began to speak once again. "Great dragon, we thank you for the ssshelter and the assssssurance of sssafety. But where are we? The land outssside your home isss unfamiliar to usss, we are lossst.

"Ssso far from your nessst they lead you that I do not recognize the scent of your people on these mountains. You are in Ered Luin, the cold Blue Mountainsss that trail off into the Belegaer. Now that you are mine you will call me Atara*. Sssleep for Laurelin's Anar will not rise for some time yet." The Dragon turned away and blew fire into the pit until the room heated to 43 degrees Celsius and they could not stay awake the heat smothering their consciousness.

They woke the next day, hours after sunrise, to find the dragon or Atara gone, but the pot that before was filled with fish and goat stew was filled with cooling water and bitter smelling herbs that had boiled down into a thick syrup. It was still warm in the room but not stifling like the night before.

Wondering what would happen now that they had been taken in by a dragon and still didn't know where they were except somewhere high in the "Blue Mountains" as the dragon had called it. They also weren't that far inland as they were close to the Belegaer or Sundering Seas.

It was as they were discussing making a plan Neville brushed up against something smooth and leathery by Luna's leg. Looking down he sees that it is a book.

"Luna where did this come from?" he asked her.

Everyone looked over as Neville held the book aloft and Hermione exclaimed. "That's the history book."

When no one made the connection Hermione became exasperated. "It's the book that I was showing you before all this happened. The book on the true history of the world." She explained.

"But I wonder how it arrived with us when our clothes and wands did not make the journey. Actually it might have something to do with us being here in the first place." Hermione then got carried off into the world inside the book while the others exchanged glances and continued their discussion.

"First things first, we need a loo, preferably somewhere private." Ron said looking to be barely holding his bladder. Now that they thought about it they felt as if it had been days since they last went and they were full to bursting, even Hermione looked uncomfortable though still buried in words.

With the room so warm they gave a lasting glance at the eggs before they all ran towards the cave opening. By-passing the dead ended caves they raced for the true exit out of the mountains.

Draco was the first to lose his bladder in the middle of the treasure room.

Hermione made it past the hill of gold coins before she too lost the bodily war.

Ron's undoing came when he tried to turn back and help Hermione.

Neville lost when he tripped over an ornate throne.

It was neck in neck with Luna and Harry still racing for the exit, not stopping to mourn the loss of their comrades. When the exit was within sight they briefly nodded to each other before throwing one last burst of speed and flinging themselves into the snowdrifts outside where they promptly made yellow snow.

After sighing in relief Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust. He hadn't had an accident since he was three years old, but until Dudley was ten Harry was in put on cleaning duty. It was times like those when he wished he could just wave his hand and it would al just vanish, yeah just like it did now.

Wait a minute. Harry looked down at himself and saw that he and the surrounding snow was clean of his and Luna's accident, in fact about a few feet of snow was missing from directly around them. Looking down at his outstretched hand in confusion he spied a black mark under his makeshift sleeve. Before he could examine it there was a scream from inside the cave.

*Hello my children do not fear for I have you and I shall keep you safe. Come near the fire.

*Mother