Chapter 13: Summer Arrangements

Summary: Harry visits many Weasleys, and learns about Dragons.

"Harry, dear! It's wonderful to see you!" Molly Weasley enveloped Harry in a giant hug. "And you too, Sirius." She said slightly less enthusiastically. "Come in, come
in. I'll make you some breakfast. Where have you been? Albus said you two would return at the end of summer."

Sirius shrugged. "Change of plans."

Harry patted down his wind-blown hair, and noted the atmosphere begin to change. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't be fine with just a 'change of plans.' At someone, at some point very soon Mrs. Weasley was going to blow, and Harry didn't want it directed at him. In a purely self-serving means of escape, Harry quickly asked, "Is Ron here?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled kindly. "Of course dear, he's in his room. You go on up."

Harry grinned, "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley." He then waved to Sirius, who was glaring daggers at him, obviously unimpressed by his getaway.

As he climbed the stairs, Harry heard a screamed, "Why did you bring him back here? It's not safe, not with You-Know-Who and all!"

Harry shook his head, and took the stairs two at a time to reach his friends room.

"Hey Ron!" Harry said cheerfully. "How's your month been?"

Ron, who was reading the Prophet, looked up in surprise. "Oh, it's you."

Harry tilted his head at the unenthusiastic greeting. "Everything alright, Ron?"

Ron sat up in one fluid, angry motion, slamming the crunched newspaper on the bed. "No, no its not!"

Harry took a step back towards the door, but Ron wasn't stopping. "You get to go travel through time, meet bloody Merlin for Merlin's sake, and I've been stuck here alone for over a month! Did you even consider your lowly friends who might want to join you? No!" He snarled.

Harry's face fell. "Ron, I-"

Ron cut him off. "Don't even tell me you're going to bring me next time. You said you'd bring me to the last one but you didn't even try to! And we here from Mum, of all people, that maybe things happened differently than you told us after the third task, and from the bloody Prophet that you think Voldemort's back! What kind of best -"

"What kind of best mate am I? The only way I was even allowed to go was because Dumbledore thought it was the secret to destroying Voldemort! And I don't know how that leaked to the press, but Dumbledore says I'm the one that has to kill him! That I'm destined to fight to the death with him! Excuse me if I wanted to spare you the knowledge!"

Ron's angry face slowly turned to one of horror. "So you did, actually face You-know-who? You've got to kill him?"

"I'm the only one who can." Harry said gravely.

"Blimey, Harry. I didn't know."

"It's not your fault. What's the paper been saying?" Now that Ron wasn't angry at him, Harry felt his anger fade. But after being gone for a month, Harry was unsure of what had happened in present day, much less what he and Sirius had changed in the past.

"The Prophet is spewing some story of Dumbledore going round the bend, seeing Dark Lords where there are none. They tried to stick it to you too, but since you've never said anything they kind of stopped. Still, You-Know-Who back? Bloody hell..."

Harry grinned. He couldn't keep going with a serious topic, or he might lose it. "You better be glad your Mum's down in the kitchen yelling at Sirius, or she'd have somehow heard you curse."

Ron shuddered. "Thank Merlin for Sirius."

Harry winced at the mention of his friend. He had to tell Ron he was banished. "Speaking of Merlin, I won't be going back."

"Why not?" Ron asked incredulously.

Harry turned quickly, crossing his arms and scowling at the wall. "I was rescuing Morgana. Morgouse had her, and I saved her. But Arthur came too. He..." Harry choked on the next word, and took a second to master his voice. "I was banished." His last words came out cold and hard - it was that or break down.

Harry didn't know how he let it affect him - he'd been in Camelot a total of 5 months, he'd spent way more time in Hogwarts, but sometimes Camelot felt more home to him than Hogwarts did.

He shook his head and turned around. Ron had a strange expression on his face, and stood awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. Harry spared him the discomfort, asking with a grin, "Now that I know my time in Camelot is over, can I read history books again?"

Ron, oddly, gulped. "Maybe you shouldn't, mate."

"Why ever not?" Harry asked incredulously. "I've been banished, and that's not something that will likely be repealed."

Ron fished for words. "What if..." As Harry turned to face the wall, he didn't see Ron's eyes light up with an idea, "What if you don't like what you see?"

Harry grimaced. "About what happened after I left?" He turned around, and saw Ron nod solemnly.

He sighed. What more did he need to know things didn't go well? "You're right. I'll just let 'Mione screen my history books for the rest of time." Harry thought for a moment. Would Hermione really let him run away from the past (or was it future?) like that? "You won't tell Hermione, right? It's easier if she doesn't know."

"Of course." Harry nodded in thanks. Ron continued, "What do you think's going to happen for the rest of break? I dunno if they'll let you stay here."

They, of course, was Professor Dumbledore, who Harry was willing to believe would automatically send him back to the Dursleys. "Maybe I'll lay low for a while. I'm not sure what they'll decide, but I'm not going back to the Dursley's."

That was all Harry was willing to say. He thought going to the Dursley's was probably their idea, and he had no intention of doing that. He had a vague plan, but first he needed time.

"I'm really tired, mate. Can I -" he gestured to the place in the room where he usually slept when he visited the Burrow.

Ron nodded. "Course, mate. I'll tell mum not to bother you."

"Thanks." Harry said, already setting up his sleeping mat, bringing out a miniature blanket and resizing it.

By the time Ron walked out of the room, Harry appeared to be already falling asleep. Ron's eyebrows rose, but he said nothing.

Harry heard Ron's steps fade as he walked down the many flights of stairs, and took out his book.

He had felt it heat up, the telltale sign of a message being sent. He opened it, and after the message from Morgana was a note from Sirius. Harry, Dumbledore just got off the Floo. You need to leave before he gets you tomorrow. I don't want you having to stay at the Dursley's.

Sirius,

Harry nodded. If Sirius couldn't convince Dumbledore to let him stay, then Harry wouldn't be able to. It wasn't that he wanted to cross Dumbledore, he respected him greatly, but he wasn't returning to his relatives.

S,

Thank you for the warning. I want to inform you that I would definitely never ever leave Britain, I'd be lost outside it. Maybe they can use that information if I ever disappear.

H

After he replied, it was a waiting game until he could act. Harry lay there for hours, unwilling to go to sleep in case he overslept his chance. Finally, when Ron had been steadily snoring for at least an hour, Harry stood.

He packed quickly. In a minute, everything he needed was in his bag, which had been reshaped to sit on his back.

Harry looked at the door, started to walk to it, than turned around. There was no way he could get out of the house walking through it... Unless he used his invisibility cloak. Harry pulled his cloak out and put it on, looking down to check that it covered his feet.

He walked down, wincing slightly when a few stairs creaked. No one seemed to notice, though, so he kept going.

When he got to the Floo, he stopped. Could he just walk through the Floo and hope for the best?

He winced. If his destination didn't have a connection (or a fireplace) he didn't want to think about the results. Instead he made a split second, reckless decision, tossed a bit of powder into the fireplace, flattened his hair, and stuck his head in, "Romanian Dragon Preserve!"

Immediately the feeling of the gentle green flames was taken over by dizzying movement. By the time he reached his destination, he was fairly certain his head had just moved in several impossible ways.

"Hello?" Harry said, relieved that he had landed somewhere, at least.

A man came up to the Floo, and asked, "Who're you looking for?"

Harry was surprised the speaker was English, but he supposed of Charlie worked there, some amount of the people were. "I'm a friend of Charlie Weasley's. I was hoping I could speak to him."

The man nodded. "I'll go get him. Might take a minute, we've got a mother dragon he's just finished dealing with."

"That's fine. Would it be easier if I came through? There's a lot to say."

The man nodded. "Just stay in this room until Charlie comes to get you."

"That's fine. See you in a moment."

Harry removed his head from the Floo, and glanced around. The house was silent, no one seemed to have noticed his late-night activities. He looked at the Floo powder cup, and placed a few galleons on the kitchen table. He didn't know how much the powder was, but he didn't want the Weasley's to not be able to buy some more.

Harry tossed the Floo powder in and whispered, "Romanian Dragon Preserve."

He disappeared in a blast of green flame, with no one the wiser.

"Harry?" Charlie said incredulously as he walked in. "What are you doing here?"

Harry put on a slightly fearful expression, one he had perfected to use when anything magical was publicly mentioned in Camelot. "Dumbledore wanted to make sure I wouldn't be attacked by any Death Eaters. He said they'd be trying even harder since I escaped the graveyard. I said going out of Britain would be best, because Voldemort's" (Charlie blinked rapidly) "Got no power here. To cap the deal, they all know I can handle dragons. I was hoping I'd be able to stay here."

Charlie laughed. "There's a bit more to Dragon Handling than stealing an egg, but don't worry, i understand. When mum heard about You-Know-Who she sent Hermes with a ton of paper clippings and a letter telling me what actually happened, so I'm all up to speed." He stopped for a moment, appearing to remember something. "She also told me Dumbledore said you were staying with a friend in France. Why aren't you still there?"

Harry winced. "I'm not quite welcome there anymore." While this was not quite the truth, but not a lie either. Harry smirked internally.

Charlie nodded apologetically. "The Prophet got some digs in on you, didn't they? Not nearly as bad as Dumbledore, but I'm sorry. Needless to say you won't be kicked out of here."

Harry's first impression of Charlie was reinstated tenfold. Charlie was extremely cool.

"Thank you." He said simply. "Somebody was telling me not to leave this area...?" Harry trailed off.

Charlie nodded. "We don't get many visitors around here... I think the last three were trying to steal eggs, and the latest succeeded. He just wanted to make sure I knew you, is all."

Harry nodded in understanding. He then lit up, and asked excitedly, "Is Norberta here?"

Charlie grinned. "She's nesting. Four eggs - two are coloured just like the father, a Swedish Short Snout - we've been collaborating with other preserves to create hybrids. It's all very exciting, you've come at the perfect time. They'll hatch in under a week. Then we'll have dragonlings to play with - well, when I say play..." He laughed, and Harry joined him, remembering Hagrid 'play' with his baby dragon. "You want a butterbeer?" Charlie asked.

"Sure. So, as long as I'm here what should I do? I have some summer assignments, but those won't take very long. Thanks." Harry added as he took a bottle Charlie procured from a shelf.

Charlie nodded in reply, and leaned in conspiratorially. "You know," He whispered, "Since Dragons are highly magical creatures, and since there are dozens of wards around this place to hide it from muggles... your magic couldn't possibly be tracked. We could always use an extra pair of hands around here, and you've definitely proved yourself capable."

Harry smiled widely. "That would be brilliant!"

Charlie grinned. "Maybe tomorrow we can train you up. You're probably getting pretty tired - we're two hours earlier than Britain - so I'll let you get to bed. You can use my bed, if you don't mind sharing."

Harry waved it off. "It's okay, I've got a sleeping mat. It's surprisingly comfortable, I'll just kip by your bed."

Charlie shrugged, "If you're sure."

"Yeah, thanks though." Harry followed Charlie through the hallways, winding around until they found a small room.

Charlie tried to motion to the small amount of space beside his bed, moving awkwardly to try and help.

Harry grinned and waved him off. "I'm sure you've got something more important than seeing me to bed. Thanks, Charlie."

"Of course." He smiled. "And I get a free assistant for a month. It's a pretty good deal." Charlie turned to walk out the door, only pausing to bid him goodnight.

Harry grinned in return, still smiling as the door closed, and not even bothering to change clothes before he fell asleep, thoroughly exhausted.

Harry stood in a clearing. He was in a distantly familiar forest, he couldn't tell exactly where it was. He walked around, feeling like he weighed less than air. It took him a moment to realize that wherever he was, he wasn't here. He was similar to a ghost in this setting. He started to explore the new setting, but turned around quickly as he heard two very familiar voices.

There stood Merlin and Killagarah, and between them was a perfectly smooth, pointed, blue dragon egg. He rushed over to them - had he somehow travelled back again?

But no, neither dragon or warlock noticed his presence. Harry walked forward and almost stepped through Merlin. Then he suddenly stopped as he heard something that caught his attention.

"Only a Dragonlord can bring a new dragon into the world. As the last Dragonlord, this solemn duty falls to you, Merlin."

Harry watched as Merlin looked up to the dragon, who was oddly small. Of course, this was over a thousand years ago, so Killagarah must have grown.

"You must give the dragon a name."

Harry watched Merlin close his eyes, searching. He held out his hand and spoke, his voice coming out low and raspy. "Aithusa."

Suddenly the setting changed, and Harry was in a field reminiscent of the one he met Killagarah in. A voice reverberated from the surrounding area, in the old dragons voice. "Now it is you, Harry, that is the last Dragonlord. To revive my race from its... primitive state, you must take the duty of reawakening the intelligence of the Dragons. You are their lord, and therefore their protector. When you hatch a dragon, look deep inside yourself to find it's name, for only then can it hatch."

Word Count: 2,605

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Thanks for Reading!

SH