Okay I'll admit that I'm more than a few days late with this. I'm terribly sorry about that. There was really no valid excuses for it other than the fact that I was sick for the last week or so.

Chapter 17: Keep Calm and - Never Mind

Meissa left the group shortly after they entered the Great Hall, joining Daphne at the Slytherin table and accepting the migraine potion she had so thoughtfully brought with her. "Oh, beautiful, you are just after my own heart," she declares before she gulps down about half of the potion and recap it - she didn't fancy meeting her godfather's ire for finishing off a month's supply before the month was even over with.

"I have no idea if you were saying that to me or the potion," the blonde retorts, though the slight tug of a smile on her face indicated she knew just who or what was being referenced.

"Greengrass," Meissa rolls her eyes at the other girl. Then she decides to switch tracks and conversation. "So what did you do while I accompanied the lions to the cave of the keeper."

Daphne arches an eyebrow at her friend. "Did you inhale something while you were there?" she asks suspiciously.

"No! I'm offended you even asked," Meissa crosses her arms with a huff.

"Well, I'm sorry but you are acting rather lighthearted."

It was the truth in a odd roundabout way - Daphne couldn't remember a time she saw the girl so carefree except for when she was flying. She thinks that potions can distract the other girl but Daphne thought that she was scheming too much while she brew the potions to truly be carefree. She actually couldn't remember a time when the girl smiled just because she was happy and not because someone else needed a smile. And she means a genuinely happy smile and not some twisted version of it that Meissa smiles when no one is looking.

"Well, sorry," Meissa grouses though the corner of her lips did turn up ever so slightly. "Anyway, answer my question."

Daphne looks at her confused before she recalls what her friend had asked - the same question that had prompted her to ask if she had inhaled something. "I was reading about the days of Camelot."

Meissa arches an eyebrow at the other girl. "You mean with Merlin, Morgan le Fay, and everyone else involved?"

"Yes - the book I have seems to cover King Arthur's lifetime."

"Wasn't he muggle though?" Meissa was a bit surprised that a book about a muggle king could be found in Hogwarts.

"But he was involved in the biggest Light vs. Dark battle."

"Well, that is true…" Meissa shrugs her shoulders, thinking that he was still a muggle. Though - she spears a few slices of meat and added it to her plate - she suspects Hermione would be angry at her for dismissing King Arthur just because he was muggle. "So what did you like so far in the book?"

"Well… if I was reading this right, King Arthur was the son of Morgan's-"

"Wait, what?" Horrified by what the blonde had just said she ended up cutting her off.

"Don't interrupt," Daphne smacks her friend's shoulder for it, getting a sheepish look from the raven haired girl. "As I was saying," she gives Meissa a mock glare, "King Arthur was the son of Morgan's mother."

Meissa blinks, the information registering slowly before it sunk in completely and she found herself staring at the blonde. "Really? So what, he was a squib?"

"Or a half-blood."

She shakes her head in disbelief. "What about Morgan?"

"I haven't really read much about her. Or who the father was. But everyone believes she's a pureblood so there's that."

"All of this happened centuries ago - I don't even know if pureblood was even around at that time period," Meissa remarks drily, getting odd looks not only from her friend but also from everyone who overheard her comment.

"It had to come from somewhere."

Meissa points her fork at her friend. "By the logic of every aristocrat it would be assumed that the gods created two separate races - the muggles and the wizards. Yet how do you explain the fact that there are those among the muggles that produce children capable of magic?"

Daphne brushes her friend's hand away from her, silently encouraging her to go back to eating while thinking about the question she had brought up. She wasn't sure what the answer would be but doubts that Meissa would leave the issue alone now that she brought it up.

"Do you happen to know if either of them had any children?" Meissa asks after she finished the last bit on her plate. The question first threw Daphne until she remembered their conversation before it went wayward.

"Um…" Daphne thinks about it, recalling the author's rough estimate of the king's family tree. "I think Arthur Pentdragon had a son with Morgause."

Meissa was in the process of reaching for her goblet when Daphne said this so this bit of information caused her to pause. "Who?"

"Morgause - Morgan Le Fay's older sister."

Meissa frowns to herself, thinking to herself that the name was actually familiar though she couldn't actually remember why. "Just how many siblings did the king have?"

"Just the two… oh and I think they had a sister."

"So Arthur Pentdragon and two half-sisters with a possible third - and one of them is renowned for being in a Light vs. Dark battle against the 'great and powerful' Merlin?" Daphne pokes at her friend for the mocking tone in her voice. "What~?"

"We need to work on your sarcasm," Daphne remarks drily. Meissa rolls her eyes at the other girl.

"So," Meissa starts as she turns partially in her seat, "Did Morgan Le Fay have any children?"

"I believe she only had one child, a son named…" Daphne trails off as she tries to recall the name.

"Yvain," Meissa mutters distantly.

"Yeah - how did you know? I mean, I thought you didn't know the story of Camelot."

"I don't - at least not the story regarding Arthur Pentdragon," the Black heiress turns her gaze to the wall, her mind distant and distracted by vague memories of her childhood.

"Meissa?"

"Mm?"

Daphne frowns worriedly at her friend. "Are you… okay?"

"As okay as one can be."

Daphne stayed quiet after that - what does one say to that anyway?

~MJB~

The dungeon was as drafty as usual, filled with the usual sounds and smells of the potion class. Meissa was quietly slicing and dicing the ingredients for the potion they have to make - focusing on her potion instead of what was happening around her.

She barely registered Professor Snape stalking around the room, menacing the Gryffindors as he had all year, though she did catch sight of him snapping something to Harry. She could only guess that the bespectacled boy had fumbled something.

But when she glances away from the wideye potion they were focusing on she notices that the texture and coloring of the potion was proper for the stage he appears to be at. A little behind in comparison to most people but still, the potion looked like it's progressing nicely - she suspects that nothing would give Harry the aptitude for potion brewing but she had to give him points for efforts.

Wondering why Harry was getting grief from Professor Snape, Meissa nearly forgot about her potion - a feat that would've surprised her Head of House had he been paying attention to her. As it was, Professor Snape was terrorizing the Gryffindors and just as Meissa was adding the one last ingredient to the potion there was an explosion.

Startled she instinctively jumps away from the sound, her eyes searching the room quickly to find the cauldron responsible.

"LONGBOTTOM!" the professor bellows - though why did it seem like he was talking through thick cottons?

Well, that answers the question as to who was responsible for the latest explosion.

"Daphne, are you okay?" Meissa calls out for her friend in the midst of the chatter, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. She couldn't see the blonde - well, the blonde she was looking for anyway. Draco was standing over by his friends with a proud smirk on his face - suspicion tugging vaguely at her as she eyes the vengeful boy.

She starts again when she feels a hand touch her back, calming when she sees that it was Daphne. Her hair was just a bit tussled - no doubt from trying to dodge the potion explosion - but she looked fine to Meissa's relief.

"What happened?" Daphne asks. But Meissa barely heard her, the ringing in her ears still intense. The brunette's eyes searching for Hermione and the boys. Harry looked like he had some of Longbottom's failed potion on him but - as Meissa looked him over with her eyes - showed no visible signs of a reaction of any kind.

Daphne frowns at the lack of response and nudges her friend again - startling the girl and getting a flinch from her. "Sorry, but didn't you hear me?"

"What?"

They look at each other in confusion before Daphne saw the blood dripping from Meissa's ears. "Meissa!" she shouts, grabbing the other girl by the shoulders, startling her once again before she gets a sharp look for the constant frights. But she ignored it all in favor of touching her fingers to the blood and brought them around to show Meissa.

"Oh… That isn't good."

"No shit," Daphne grouses before she waves the professor over. They needed to fix Meissa's hearing before she lose them permanently.

A short time later found Meissa sitting on one of the chairs, her eyes narrowed in irritation. She was glowering at the wall opposite from her, the heat of her glare probably enough to melt a stone if it was possible.

She had been poked and prodded at for a full five minutes before her godfather had rushed - no, that's not really accurate - stormed off to brew something that would fix any lingering symptoms from having her ears ruptured.

Though the ringing was gone from her ears she still couldn't quite hear all that well - something she knows her godfather was going to try and fix with that potion of his. She also knows, just as she knows her own left hand, that when she leaves her godfather's office she'll find either Draco or Daphne out in the hall.

Draco never been one for admitting his weaknesses - even if he knows that she knows all of his tells - would probably be leaning against the wall with a patented sneer on his face. Daphne on the other hand was still a bit of a mystery to Meissa. On one hand she thinks the blonde would be like her cousin, except she knows that the blonde girl is more reactive in comparison to her cousin. So it was a tossup between Daphne being like her cousin or her pacing like a mad griffin. In either case she would bet a sickle that they would be out there doing their own little thing.

Still, she couldn't believe that an exploding cauldron had taken out her hearing in one go - just her luck. "What caused Longbottom's cauldron to explode," she wonders out loud - not that she really heard the words leave her lips. She felt the vibrations in her chest sure, felt her lips move, but other than a low buzz in her ears she heard nothing.

Meissa started counting quietly in French, making it up to fifteen before she started to forget the words. With a frown to herself she repeats from zero, trying to remember the numbers past fifteen. Muttering repeatedly the numbers to herself before she gives up.

She got as far as eighteen before she gave up and just started naming off the ingredients she could see in the room. She was so bored that she would've considered casting random spells if it wasn't for two separate things - one, casting spells in a potion lab was dangerous and more likely to cause something to explode and two, her godfather took her wand before he started brewing.

"Uncle Sevy, are you done yet?" she whines over to him, her arms crossed, terribly bored at this point.

She watches his mouth, not quite making out what he was saying before she had to admit to herself that she has no idea what he was saying. "Just hurry up please," she pleads with her godfather.

It was another ten minutes before her godfather was able to finish a potion and bottle it for her to consume. The whiff she caught of it had her grimacing but the 'no nonsense' look she got from him prompted her to just pinch her nose and drink it as quickly as possible.

With a gag she forces herself to not hurl the potion up again, shuddering and wincing at the tingles when it settled into her stomach before the uncomfortable feeling in her ears came back thrice fold.

Wincing at the uncomfortable feeling she rubs at her ears, the pain climbing before releasing with a pop of her eardrums. With a relieved sigh she works her jaw, grateful that the building sensation is gone.

She hears a snapping noise near her ear and flinches away from it.

"Good, your hearing is back to normal," Professor Snape observes with a pleased look on his face.

"Jeez, thanks Uncle Sevy," Meissa grouses as she pushes her hair from her face. Still, he saw the grateful look on her face for the return of her hearing. "Well, I'll~" she stops when something comes to mind. "Uncle Sevy..."

"Yes?"

"Um… Why do you have it out for Potter?"

He arches an eyebrow at her question, the look on his face carefully blank. A sure sign that there was something he did not want her to be aware of. For Meissa that meant he was embarrassed by the reason or ashamed.

"It is none of your concern," he dismisses, prompting Meissa to frown at him. She didn't like that her godfather had some kind of hidden agenda - but she did know she ultimately trusted him.

So she turned around and left the room, a smirk appearing on her face when she sees Daphne and Draco. Doing exactly what she thought they would do.

~MJB~

The week passed by rather quickly after the exploding cauldron incident - Neville Longbottom apologized so often in the days since that it left Meissa rather irritated with the boy, not because he nearly destroyed her hearing but because he couldn't get the fact that she wasn't angry at him for it. She couldn't hate him - not when she knows that he has reasons to hate her for a far worse reason.

Still, he seemed like a fairly sweet boy - it just wasn't his fault that Meissa had no patience for someone who apologizes more than necessary.

It also wasn't his fault that she had gotten a letter from her Aunt Narcissa - Great-grandfather Pollux's sister, Cassiopeia Black, had recently passed away at the age of 77. So young and now she had to consider what to do. Her will needed to be found and read, the funeral planned, and the wake - Meissa really didn't want anything to do with the extravagant ball her aunt was likely to throw for her.

She already had to prepare a funeral for Arcturus Black when he passed away shortly after Halloween - she could only imagine he saw that day. She barely knew him too - just knew that he was Aunt Walburga's father in law and great-grandfather Polly's cousin. He really didn't bother to be around - not in the four years she lived with her Aunt Walburga before her passing.

She had such a headache from the thought of having to deal with another funeral and having to seek permission from the Headmaster.

Still - the death of two relatives, no matter how they were related to her, made her worry. She knew that her family tended to die young and that no one ever reached their hundredth birthday. But there was a vague sensation - to her anyway - that there was something haunting them. There was so many things wrong with the family - listing them would take them too long and it was a pretty lengthy list - and with each passing year she sees something else that makes her feel sick to the stomach.

With a frustrated sigh she folds the letter from her aunt and slides it back into the envelope - she needed to find her godfather and tell him that there was yet another funeral for them to attend. Her mind doing a quick check before she comes to the realization that most if not all of the older generation was gone or not recorded in the family tree.

Her mother and cousin were in Azkaban. Her Aunt Narcissa is married into the Malfoy family and, in the law of the Black family, ineligible to take on the responsibilities of the Black estates. Draco, as the son of Lucius Malfoy, couldn't take on the family responsibility either. Any of his children would belong to the Malfoy family.

It would be a different story if Draco was disowned by the Malfoy family but she didn't see that happening any time soon.

There was literally no one to take on the responsibilities of the Black estates… unless…

Meissa frowns to herself, idly rubbing her ears when a low ringing took residence in them again.

It was a thought worth thinking but she'd have to shelf it for now - she couldn't afford to spend much thought on it, not until her great-aunt was buried and her affairs were settled. The earliest she could probably focus on it is probably mid to late June.

She winces to herself - two months at the earliest.

"Meissa," she hears someone call, her name registering just past the ringing in her ears. She looks around and found Daphne hurrying after her. "Where were you at breakfast?"

"I was outside, in the courtyard," she answers, reaching back to braid her hair.

Daphne eyes her friend worriedly - it's been some time since the Black heiress had skipped a meal and she couldn't help but worrying. "Hermione asked me to pass along a message," the blonde finally says, handing over a scrap parchment.

She opens it to find a simple phrase - Morning break, Hagrid.

"What do you think it means?" Daphne asks quietly, perhaps sensing that this issue was something to be mum about.

"Hagrid's got something," Meissa mutters to her friend, "Do you want to come with me this time?"

"… Is Weasley going to be a prat again?"

"Most likely."

"Can I be a prat back?"

"If you like," Meissa smirks at her friend, getting a smirk in return.

"Then, yes, I would like to accompany you to Hagrid's."

With a soft snort of amusement Meissa shakes her head at her friend before they headed for Herbology. It was Meissa's least favorite class that was absolutely necessary to even consider becoming an auror or even a magizoologist. (1)

The class passed relatively quickly with a few of the students barely escaping the plant's strangling tendrils - Meissa had barked out a sun related version of the Lumos spell to force it to retreat from the other students. She wanted to use fire but remembered - barely - that Professor Sprouts did not want them using any fire spells to damage the plant.

After the bell had sounded from the castle to end their lessons they were gone from the greenhouse, Meissa just barely casting a cleaning spell over her work station, before she chased after the trio to Hagrid's place.

"What's the big hurry?" Daphne breathed, jogging to try and keep up with Meissa's long loping run.

"You'll see," is all Meissa said before they caught up with the trio. Hagrid glancing at the Slytherins, his face flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out," he tells them as they were ushered into the cottage.

"Wha-?" Daphne starts to say before her words cut off, her eyes widening in shock as she realized what she was seeing.

Meissa smiles at the sight of the egg lying on the table. The smooth surface marred by deep cracks as its' sole occupant rocked the shell of the egg.

"That- that's a dragon egg!" Daphne squawks as everyone drew up chairs and watched the egg with bated breath.

Meissa nodded absent mindedly, "A Norwegian Ridgeback."

"Aren't they extremely rare?" Daphne whispers as she crowded Meissa, afraid to be any closer to a hatching dragon egg.

"Very."

Meissa didn't pay them any attention, intent on the low clicking noise from within the egg. This time she didn't stop herself from reaching a hand out to brush against the surface of the egg - Hermione's voice sharp as she practically shrieks her protests.

She felt a warm sensation as she glides her fingers over the surface of the egg - a curious feeling emerging from the back of her mind. Amazed and curious by what's happening she starts to trace the cracks in the egg until a large hand clamps onto her wrist and pulled her away from the egg, breaking that tentative bond.

Anguished by the sudden break Meissa snarls various curses at the giant, her words bitter and angry. Her eyes stormy as she drew to her full height, as unimpressive it was in comparison to Hagrid's, as she reached for her wand - trying almost in vain to keep her hands from shaking.

But a long scraping noise startled the group from the impending fight and they turn to witness the egg splitting open. The dragonling flopping onto the table with a low squeal that captivated both Hagrid and Meissa's hearts.

Meissa was instantly beholden with the dragonling, the little one about the same of the egg it had just hatched out of. It's leathery hide as black as jet, its' wings twice the size of its skinny body with a long snout. With its wide nostrils, glowing orange eyes, and thin wiry tail Meissa thought it was perfect.

She reaches for the shell that was stuck to the dragonling's triangle shaped head but Hagrid got to it first. His fingertips barely touching the dragonling before it snapped at him, revealing pointed fangs despite its recent birth into the world.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hagrid seemed to gush as the dragonling sneezed, sparks flying out of its snout.

"How fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?" Hermione asks worriedly.

Meissa was busy watching the dragonling stretch out its' limbs, little squeals escaping the dragonling's chest. She felt the warm presence of Daphne behind her, the blonde's hands on her shoulders as she leaned against her for a better view of the dragonling. The sensation not altogether unpleasant but it still caused little tremors to shake through her.

The distress of being touched was overwhelmed by the fact that there was a beautiful hatchling in front of her - but in the light of Hermione's question she had to wonder, how long could Hagrid hide the presence of a growing dragon before it's discovered and he's imprisoned for illegal breeding?

The question and its inevitable pondering got disrupted when Hagrid leapt to his feet and ran to the window, jostling the Slytherins from their seats. The action brought Meissa within contact with the little hatchling. The dragonling hissed at her, prompting her to shift her hand off its' wing with an apologetic whisper. The dragonling continued to hiss at her before it settled, shuffling its wings until they were pressed against its' sides. The irritation in the dragonling faded away, leaving only an odd sense of…

Meissa couldn't identify the odd sensation and before she could she heard Hagrid say something. Tuning in at the end she hears him say, "It's a kid - he's runnin' back up ter the school."

She looks up in time to see Harry bolt to the door and look out.

"Who was it?"

"… Malfoy."

"Him again?" Daphne groans before she looks to her friend, "No offense to you but your cousin is a prat."

"No offense taken," Meissa reassures as she crosses her arms. "If he seen the dragonling then we need move it to some place safe. The reserves probably would be best for the dragonling."

"What - no!" Hagrid protests, "He belongs with me!"

Meissa sighs as she turns to look at the dragonling, the glowing orange eyes seemingly intent on her. She could hear the Gryffindors try to talk sense into Hagrid. Daphne was quiet, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Meissa?"

"Mm?"

"What do you think Draco is going to do?"

Meissa could only shrug her shoulders. She wasn't sure, really, but if she had to hazard a guess he would wait until he had something that would bust not only Hagrid but the Gryffindors too. It didn't escape her attention that Daphne and herself would be in trouble as well for being present for the hatching and for the knowledge of the egg.

On most days she wouldn't care what her cousin was up to but she knew that he had something against Ron Weasley - family feud be damned - and he wouldn't stop to get the redhead and Harry suspended or expelled. And whatever he's likely to have in mind it'd probably be in direct violation of her deal with Harry.

"Whatever he's planning on," Harry spoke up, "We need to be careful from now on."

"We always need to be careful," Meissa remarks distantly, her eyes intent on the dragonling. "Even in moments of peace."

Hermione frowns worriedly at her friend - when she says things like that there was a certain chill that raced down her spine. It was like a stark reminder that her friend had some kind of experience that embittered her to the world.

"I think we should head back to Hogwarts, see if we can keep an eye on Malfoy," Harry injects before Hermione could say something to her friend.

"I'll sock him if he does," Ron grumbles before he seemed to remember that he was in the presence of Draco's cousin. Prompting Meissa to straighten her back, meeting Ron's eyes with a dark twinkle in her eyes. "What - you can't tell me you don't ever want to sock your cousin!" he protests before she could say a thing.

"Maybe, maybe not," Meissa answers vaguely, though she kept her dark gaze on him. "But don't expect me to sit round idly when you go after my cousin." With that she shoots one last look at the dragonling before pushing past everyone to leave the cottage.

There was nothing they could do at the moment, not with Hagrid reluctant to part with the dragonling.

Best thing to do for now is to try and find a dragon handler in the event they could convince Hagrid to part with the dragonling before it's too late.

~MJB~

Translations

(1) Magizoologist - studies magical creatures