Albus jumped as far as he could, swinging his arms. He sank in the snow up to his knees and the red tassels of his scarf, that were matching his cap, fluttered happily.

- "Your turn, Toothless!" he called, waving his mitten.

In his snow hole, the dragon squirmed, tongue out between his small sharp teeth. He jumped suddenly and landed deep in the prints left by the little boy.

Only his fluffy black ears and the angled bone of its wings were still popping out.

Albus chuckled.

- "I can see you, silly!"

Around them, the plain looked like a sea of white cream under the pure blue sky, on which the two houses were sailing by an island of trees.

oOoOoOo

Neville leaned back in the armchair and joined his hands thoughtfully.

- "What do you think, then?" Harry asked, sitting down in front of him after a last glance out the window.

Outside, James, Hugo and Ron were playing tag, howling like Yankees. Upstairs, Rosie and Lily had installed a dinette on the carpet and were chatting of ogres and harpies as if they were discussing the weather, while sipping hot milk.

Hermione was on the stairs with her fourth cup of tea and Arthur Weasley was sitting next to Harry on the sofa.

Ginny, standing near the sink, was wiping her hands with the dishcloth.

There were open books everywhere, on the floor, the buffet, the cushions, and the table disappeared under a ton of scrolls.

Neville finally decided to speak.

- "There's one last thing we haven't considered yet", he said slowly.

- "Magical Creature, manifestation of Albus' powers, enchanted cat, unknown dragon... what's left?" Ginny asked, frowning.

Harry took off his glasses and began to wipe them, frustrated.

Hermione took a sip of tea, staring at Neville.

- "I think I know what you're thinking of", she said.

- "What is it, now?"

Harry had turned to her so suddenly his glasses fell on the floor and broke with a crystalline sound.

- "Oh, Harry", Ginny whispered.

Her husband took a deep breath.

They were exhausted. Simply exhausted, that's all. They had sought Albus everywhere, been worried to death, had barely slept, and this riddle was getting on their nerves.

Hermione stood up calmly. She picked up the glasses and pointed her wand at them.

- "Reparo."

The glass pieces danced in the air and assembled again. The young brunette smiled as she gave back the object to Harry.

- "It's been a while", she said.

He relaxed and smiled back.

- "It's been a while, indeed."

He put back the glasses on his nose and turned to Neville.

- "Go ahead", he said in a gentler voice.

Neville cleared his throat.

- "What if it was an animagus?"

Mr. Weasley leaned forward, his eyes fixed on the young teacher.

- "But Harry hasn't managed to disenchant it, though."

Ginny moved closer and perched on the arm of the chair. Harry took her hand, listening intently.

- "Doesn't mean it couldn't be!" Neville said. His slender hands were gesturing excitedly as he explained his theory. "Magic is in continuous evolution, as we know. Dumbledore noticed it when he found the love of your mother was a shield to you, Harry. Who says this is not a form of magic just bigger than the usual spell you need to disenchant something? An animagus with such a strange shape could come from anywhere. "

- "But why did he come to Albus, then?" Ginny cried, wringing her hands. "Who is he? Why now? What does he want?"

- "Wait a minute, I never said it was an animagus. I only said we shouldn't toss away this possibility", protested Neville, a little panicked.

Hermione crossed her arms and put her chin forward, like in those early days when she still had to prove to the two boys her ideas were very intelligent but viable.

- "If it's an animagus, we'll soon know about it", she said firmly.

- "How?" asked plaintively Ginny.

- "It simply won't grow up", said Arthur Weasley, flashing a reassuring smile at his daughter.

Hermione nodded.

- "If it's not the case, then we know it's definitely not a metamorphosed cat, so we'll eventually find what kind of magical creature it is, dragon or other", she added.

Neville nodded vigorously.

- "And if it's Albus' plush toy, it will disappear by itself when it's no longer needed", said Harry, standing up and taking his wife in his arms. "All will be fine, Ginny."

She closed her eyes, then opened them and turned to the window.

- "Meanwhile, I don't want to lose sight of him even once", she whispered.

In the plain, Albus had stopped jumping, out of breath.

The little dragon fought his way through the snow and came to him, snuggling his head under the boy's armpit, cooing softly as if he was worried about him. The child picked it up, sliding gently his mittens under the long black wings, and kissed the little black truffle.

- "Hey, Toothless", he whispered. "When are you going to fly?"

oOoOoOo

Ron shrugged, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his brown leather jacket. His breath condensed in small transparent scrolls.

- "I don't understand why Ginny was making such a big deal out of it, but... at least, she should feel better now we know it's not the case."

His eyes watching his son playing farther in the white plain, Harry sighed.

- "She still bears the scar of her experience with Tom Riddle's diary", he said. "Imagine giving all your secrets to whom you believe is an inanimate best friend only to discover one day he was an actual living being who was trying to manipulate you. I can understand a bit. I got bummed when I discovered the potions book full of good advice belonged to Snape... "

Ron smirked.

- "Hermione had warned you", he chuckled.

Harry smiled.

- "And Severus Snape wasn't our enemy, in the end ..."

They got lost in memories for a while, not saying anything. Even years after, the tragic end of the professor who had dedicated his life to protect Harry remained painful as a cut.

- "Anyway, it's good for Al that his mother is a little reassured", Ron resumed, breaking the silence. "Ginny was quite the daredevil when she was a kid, but she's turned into a scaredy cat, now."

He furrowed his nostril, looking a bit vexed, and scratched his red beard.

- "Hermione too."

It was Harry's turn to laugh.

- "We grew older, they became mothers. It changes people, Ron!"

- "Yes, but still."

Ron stretched his arms above his head and yawned widely.

- "In any case, me, at the age of Al, I would have loved to have a pet dragon instead of that old ghoul without interest."

- "Not what you were saying when we were in Caring for Magical Creatures course..." Harry corrected between high and low. Then he added: "In any case, I hope Toothless isn't going to keep up like this, otherwise we will have another problem very quickly."

Ron nodded gravely.

- "Sure, man."

In the plain covered with snow, a delighted Albus was racing with the dragon – who was winning effortlessly.

In the morning, they had found he was now almost as big as the child.

During the night, his thighs had grown muscular, his neck long, and something like a punk tiara made of fur was cresting straight in the middle of his forehead. His jaws were wider, but his cute ears and round eyes still gave him the look of a surprised kitten.

Albus had not find it weird, when he had awaken, to see the dragon now twice as big as the day before curled up at the end of his bed, his ace of spades shaped tail dragging on the floor, a powerful purr in his throat.

The wings had also developed, but they seemed now more appropriate to the size of the creature. They were deploying slightly as she jumped in the snow like a huge ebony panther.

- "Come on, Toothless!" Albus cried, panting. "Fly!"

The dragon turned his head to the boy in between two bounces, his tongue hanging out as if he was laughing, and crashed in a mound of snow a second later. The child laughed and ran to him in the deep snow.

- "Coming to the rescue!" he sing sang, pulling on Toothless' tail to help him out of the white powdery mound.

The dragon sat up and shook his body, splattering snow everywhere. Its fur swelled.

He gave a lick to the gasping child, who was leaning against him to catch his breath.

Albus stretched out his arms.

- "Put your wings that way, see. Vroooom and you fly away!"

Its punk crest disheveled and his eyes fluttering, Toothless sneezed, not interested a little.

Albus ran in circles around him, jumping and waving his arms.

- "Hop in the sky! Don't you want to fly?" he asked, stopping when the pinch in his lungs became too painful.

The dragon chewed on air with a supremely bored look.

Albus pouted.

- "Toothless", he scolded.

A loving lick swept his face in response.

The boy wiped his face with a crystalline laugh. He jumped to the animal's neck and both rolled into the snow soft like a mattress. Albus was the first to get up again. Sprawled against the chubby belly of the dragon, he stroke the fluffy throat until it started to purr.

Two small bluish clouds of smoke sallied out of the nostrils of the creature who had its head blissfully thrown back in the snow.

- "Toothless ... I love you", whispered the child.

Then he coughed and covered his mouth with his other hand as he had been taught.

Something was scraping again inside his chest, like a pincushion stuck under his diaphragm.

The dragon cooed, looking up worriedly as the crisis did not subside.

The sun was high in the blue sky above their heads. It The weather was beautiful, today, again. The snow sparkled around them, in a dazzling white.

The black dragon curled around the child to keep him warm.

- "Oh", Albus whispered, looking in the palm of his hand when the coughing fit finally stopped.

TBC