Double-length chapter, for those of you wanting longer chapters. I can't promise it as a consistent thing, but… here you go!

O=-=-=-=-=-=O

Chapter 11

Impressions

Hermione paused, looking at Harry standing some way off talking to Hedwig, with Charlie nearby. She had held it together for him as he let go of the things that had molded him and released the horrid crucible of his life before Hogwarts. It had been hard, so very hard, but she had. Hermione put Harry's anguish first because she knew it had to be so. He needed someone to hold him up when he was weak and she was going to do just that.

Now, she was vibrating with her own anguish, having had what she suspected for years confirmed. The thought of Harry crying in the cupboard and muffling his sobs to keep from being beaten again for doing that made her want to transfigure a piece of wood into a psychotic doll or murderous clown or something and leave it in the Dursleys' house.

There was a small hand on her arm and she turned to look into the silvery eyes of Luna Lovegood. Hermione wiped her eyes as covertly as she could, but the understanding in the other girl's eyes told her that it hadn't been successful. She sniffled. Hermione didn't know when Luna had appeared, but maybe the Herbology lesson from 'Professor Longbottom' was done.

"It's not easy," Luna said. "The Gazing Wisps see all, but don't help. That's what you have friends for." Her grasp tightened momentarily.

Whatever a Gazing Wisp was, Hermione didn't know, but she would take what Luna said in the spirit it was intended. She felt oddly comforted if a bit confused. Luna looked at her knowingly.

"You should see some of the conversations I have with the Centaurs. They're very straightforward and clear."

"What?"

Hermione didn't mean to sound so disbelieving, since this was Luna and the phrase 'straightforward and clear' didn't seem to apply until Luna was ready for it to. The problem was that she wasn't quite sure when the other girl was ready for it to apply and often wondered if she did what she did for her own amusement.

"Centaurs are straightforward?" She had to ask.

Luna shrugged, unworried.

"Of course. They have plenty of knowledge that they guard, of course. This means that they have to be careful with it, but as long as you are conscientious about what you learn from them you'll have no problems." She smiled. "And a nice bag or two of peanut butter cookies never hurts either."

"Centaurs like peanut butter cookies?"

"And apple pie, marshmallows, lemon pound cake, and strawberry cheesecake. They'll argue over the cheesecake. It can get vicious at times and it's not unknown for the fight to be over only to find someone else has taken it in the meantime."

Hermione stared at the younger girl.

"Luna… are you provoking Centaur fights over sweets?"

"Of course not. I'm providing discourse and refreshment. They're providing the entertainment and feedback on my recipes. I'm thinking about having Daddy publish some of what I learn from them in the Quibbler. With their permission, of course. That would only take a couple of cheesecakes and maybe three or four bags of cookies. Do you think I should make up sampler bags of different kinds or have each kind to its own bag?"

There was an amused snort in the distance from the direction of the Forest. Hermione could have sworn she heard somebody mutter three peanut butter cookie bags, two lemon bar bags and a chocolate cheesecake and another mutter that said no, well yes that would be nice too but the chocolate cake that one time was good too and she had to wonder. It didn't help that there was third voice that mused you know, the lemon bars tasted divine but what about those pumpkin rolls with the cream cheese filling?

She looked that way but didn't see anything but trees. Luna was looking at her with all innocence that didn't match the look in her eyes.

"Was something wrong, Hermione?"

"I could swear I heard someone talking about sweets a moment ago."

"Of course you did. I was, remember?"

"Yes, but I meant…"

"It's just you and me over here at the moment. Who else could it be?"

"Yes, I know but surely I could swear I heard people talking about several cakes, cookies and other things."

"Swearing is damn bad for you, Hermione. And don't call me Shirley. Hearing voices in your head isn't good for you. I have a lemon bar here that might help with that."

And sure enough as Luna held it out, Hermione heard in the distance See? I told you she had more of those. And another saying, Can you blame her for hiding them? You would have eaten all of them too like last time and left none for the rest of us. You pig.

Hermione wanted to laugh at that and decided that she felt a bit better from Luna's intervention. She took the lemon bar and bit into it, nodding her thanks. It was wonderful and she really couldn't blame the Centaurs if they really were fighting over these. She turned to face Luna, after swallowing the lemony goodness. Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by Ron Weasley.

|:-:|

"Are you sure you don't want a Sober-up? Not that I have one with me, of course. I do have some mints, however. Will that help?" Harry's voice was artfully insincere. After getting all that emotion off his chest, he felt his Marauder heritage beginning to speak up. What he was going to do with it, he didn't know but Charlie was right there.

The dragon wrangler pinning him with a light glare that said Harry wasn't going to get anything over on him. Hedwig seemed to sigh in mild exasperation as she watched her wizard, which he'd never seen an owl do.

"Oh, no you don't, bucko. Who do you think helped to get Fred and George started on their road to anarchy and mischief by pranking Percy?"

Harry peered up at him.

"More for me, then." A couple of mints went in his mouth and Charlie looked for any changes. When nothing happened, he sighed.

"Okay, sorry. I'll take some."

Harry gave him a couple, and Charlie chucked them in his mouth. He looked across the way and wondered what Ron was doing with the girls but turned his attention back to Harry.

"I should have known he'd find a way to eat breakfast twice before we left. Anyway, look Harry. I've got to give you a little more detail about the dragons before they get here – and with dragons, it never hurts to be prompt even though they sometimes run later than we would."

"Later?"

"Dragons have some of the physiological traits of reptiles, meaning they're more sluggish in cold weather. Sometimes it takes them longer to get going. It's not always the same for every dragon. The Short-Snout… what was her name again? Annika?"

Harry agreed and waved for him to continue.

"Annika loves the cold, though. She's the most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed of all of them in this kind of weather, but well. It's not every dragon that plays in the snow. She has a unique personality, which probably helps."

They traded a glance with each other, thinking about her attributes. Charlie grimaced.

"Okay, I don't want to admit to what we called her before we got here."

"Why not?"

"Never mind that, Harry. You know what a blonde joke is, right?"

"Well, yeah." He'd used Malfoy in several of them, after all. His current favorite was, "why does Malfoy wear so much hair spray?" When anyone asked for the answer, he'd say, "so he can catch all the things that go over his head." Ron had made the mistake of saying it about Lavender while she was in the room. The ensuing chaos had handfuls of popcorn being eaten as they watched Lavender express her displeasure with a can of hairspray one of the muggleborn lent her.

"That's Annika a lot of the time." Charlie looked at the trio of Ron, Hermione and Luna, breaking Harry's further memory of the redhead being spread-eagled over the couch and doused with syrup for the joke by four other Gryffindor blondes. "And word to the wise, no blonde jokes with Luna. If she gets fed up enough, you'll regret it. She hates dumb blonde jokes, thanks to Ron thinking he was funny while they were growing up."

"Noted," Harry agreed. He wasn't going to do that anyway. He had a suspicion that sweet little Luna was a monster when she got upset and didn't want to have direct confirmation. Besides, Professor McGonagall had been surprisingly unsympathetic towards Ron when she saw him dripping with syrup and his hair fluffed out in all directions. She had told him that to Tergeo his hair with the amount of hairspray in his hair would rip out every hair on his head by the roots, and didn't offer him any more help. He'd been left to deal with the rock solid sphere that was his head for the next three days. Harry didn't want to think about what Luna with her Ravenclaw orientation would come up with to top that.

Well, he did sometimes, but far, far away from himself. It was a matter of train-wreck curiosity. He wanted to know, but he was afraid if he found out that he wouldn't be able to look away.

"Anyway, about this Treaty business, I have to tell you some things."

Harry motioned for him to go on.

"I have to go over more of the Treaty stuff with you. I don't want to bring up old wounds with you, but the stuff that you talked about in the Family Meeting is something that the dragons can See somehow with the senses they have that we don't. Remember what I said about mothers adopting from other species before?"

"Yeah, you compared me to 'scrawny, weak, and needy.'"

Charlie grimaced.

"Sorry, but to a dragon, you really are."

Harry waved him to go on again. He couldn't help it if it was true, as aggravating as it just so happened to be.

"Anyway, Tessaies happens to be a Mother Eminence, which is basically the big cheese among a group of dragons. It could be a group as little as two dragons or a many as ten thousand or more."

There was a moment of silence.

"The thought of dealing with ten thousand dragons with only Parseltongue is a bit scary."

"Yeah, I know, but that's the idea. Someone is always in charge and it's usually the female." He stopped and glanced at Hermione with a knowing look and back to Harry, who shook his fist at Charlie's amusement.

"Remind me to mention this to Annika, Charlie."

Charlie's eyes went wide in mock-horror.

"Not that! Anything but that!" The accompanying mock-gasp was interrupted by a chuckle. "You know, Annika as a Mother Eminence would be scary too. Can you imagine ten thousand dragons having to sing off-key?"

"You know that she sings off-key?"

"Well, if the reactions of the other dragons are any indication, she does. Besides, in a group of ten thousand dragons, it would be noisy. I've been getting the feeling over the last day or so that dragons like to gossip as much as we do. Anyway, back to business. The Treaty is in effect, although Mama Tessaies hasn't finished the part to 'adopt' you. You have some studying to do, since at that point you'll be representing not just Hogwarts but also Tessaies herself."

"What?"

"Yes – it's almost like becoming a dragon wrangler, but without the getting burnt part."

Harry's eyebrows rose.

"Well, unless you really screw up. I'll give you a list of books to look over. Keep in mind that she is a Horntail, after all, and they're supposed to be the meanest and most vicious dragons out there. I've seen her eviscerate challengers to her position easier than me taking a drink out of my mug."

"Um. As long as I don't have to grow spikes on my tail," was the only thing Harry could think of to say in response to that mental image.

"I wouldn't worry. Right now you don't have enough tail to grow a nub, much less a spike."

Harry glared at Charlie, who was completely straight-faced but for a teasing gleam in his eye.

"Gee, thanks a lot, Charlie."

"No problem at all. Now, there's something else that I'm thinking that you're going to have to deal with that isn't covered by the Treaty as it's written."

"What's that?"

"I don't think we're going back to Romania with just three dragons instead of four."

The confusion in Harry's face was matched by the same in his eyes.

"Think, Harry. The Mother Eminence is adopting you, and one of the other dragons – the ditsy one – likes you and feels protective too but isn't the next-in-line. The other two dragons, while they haven't had as much to do with you as Tessaies and Annika have still picked up some of their tricks – if not all."

"Tricks? What tricks?"

"Remember when all four met us in that glen? Malcolm and I thought they had been chained up or otherwise secured. Somehow, they all got together and taught each other to pick the locks. I hope Fred and George never meet them and give them more ideas. I don't think my heart could handle pranking dragons. Or my liver, for that matter."

Harry didn't tell him that he'd been thinking about doing that very thing. He had a passing thought of Annika crouching over the Marauder's Map saying "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"So what about taking two… wait." He looked at Charlie as he thought about what the dragon handler had said. Charlie was looking at him with a distinct sense of expectation. "Charlie. Are you saying that all four dragons are staying?"

"Sure looks that way."

Harry stared at him, speechless. After a moment, he swallowed noisily.

"Where are they staying? That spot in the Forest looks good for a temporary place, but it seems cramped."

"There are preparations that have been made," Charlie shrugged. "Hagrid will be over the moon."

Harry stared at him again, suspicious this time.

"Hagrid will be… Wait. Are they going to be here at Hogwarts?"

Charlie pointed at him.

"Right in one, Harry. There's a Dragons Quarters section that Hogwarts has had pretty much since it was first built and that's where the dragons are going to go. It's magically maintained so there's not going to have to be any mucking out to do."

That was a relief to Harry, who didn't want to think about that aspect of dragons or who'd be stuck doing it. It would have been a detention duty that Filch would love.

"What about feed, Charlie? Dragons have to eat, just like the rest of us."

"We're working on that."

"We?"

"For want of a better work, the dragon preserve is forming a detachment to work here at Hogwarts and provide you access any time you need."

"Well, I can see that if you're needing to communicate."

Charlie ruffled his hair. Harry shoved his hand off irritably.

"Oh, no worries about that, little brother. There's a Founder-level translation charm that Salazar tied into most of the Quarters and some of the Black Lake – possibly – that lets anyone talk to the dragons and vice versa."

"Really?"

"Sure enough. I'm looking forward to trying it out. It's supposed to activate anytime a dragon enters the Quarters."

"'Enters?' As in just walks in, no restraint or cages or anything?"

"Nope. Under the Treaty, dragons have free rein to come and go just like you do, but live under rules of conduct just like you will. Remember I did say you're going to be representing Big Mama Tess."

"Oh."

He looked at Charlie with a grin.

"I didn't think it was wise to mention a lady's weight, though. I don't think I'd be mentioning that nickname where she can hear, if I were you."

Charlie grimaced.

"No, probably not a good idea. She's been eating good at the preserve, too."

"Yeah… don't mention that, either."

"Don't worry, I won't. You've met my mother. I know better than to say something like that to her, either. Not unless I was a looooong way off or had Bill to blame it on."

Harry started to say something while wondering just what Charlie got up to while growing up, but decided that it was best not to. He thought about the translation charm and pointed out in the direction Charlie had indicated for the probable location of the Dragon Quarters.

"It's just over there, though? That way?"

Charlie grinned in the opposite direction of Hagrid's hut.

"Unfortunately for Hagrid and that Ridgeback he hatched, it's over there. If his hut had been built on the other side of the grounds, he'd be in luck."

Harry chuckled suddenly.

"What?"

"I wouldn't put it past Hagrid to move his hut when he finds out."

"Hope not although I could see that, actually. That hut's been there a long time. It would be too confusing for everyone if he did that."

"The dragons. Wouldn't they get bored? What are they going to do all day?"

"Well, Hermione might appreciate this – they're going to be unpaid professors."

"What?"

"Not exactly, but dragons live very long lives and are very knowledgeable about a lot of things. Not wand magic, as you'd expect, but a surprising amount of things. I'm finding out a lot of mind-blowing things, too. I suspect I'll be sitting in dragon class with you and everyone else, so to speak. You know, maybe the better term would be 'guest lecturers,' with the dragons able to talk about whatever they want to. Huh. 'Dragon Magical History' has a ring to it."

"And the Headmaster is going to allow this?" Harry asked with some skepticism.

Charlie was quiet for a moment.

"I'm not too sure that it's up to the Headmaster. I think it's a kind of old magic that has a sort of priority over whatever the school teaches now versus whatever it had available in the past. I'm pretty sure that the Castle is behind it. There's a lot of Hogwarts' history that's been hidden from us and I wouldn't be surprised if she's decided now is the time to reveal some of it."

"The ghosts might know."

"Yes, I agree but they're bound to the will of the Headmaster or Headmistress in some situations and may not be free to speak on something. The dragons would have no such limitations. It's sort of but not quite like diplomatic immunity, but with magical oversight. Once the students got used to the idea of friendly dragons that are willing to chat, what do you think will happen?"

Harry's eyes went wide.

"I may not see Hermione for the next three years!"

Charlie guffawed, loud enough for everyone in earshot to look at him. He ignored them.

"If not longer. As far as I know, dragons haven't written any textbooks. That would catch her attention too, wouldn't it?"

"True. I could see her reading from a dragon textbook in class, taking notes from a flaming blackboard and waving her hand in the air to get a dragon professor's attention."

There was a moment of silence as Charlie raised an eyebrow at Harry.

"Er… keep that to yourself, all right? I don't want to get into more trouble I can't get out of."

The dragon wrangler smirked at him and Harry's heart sank. He looked too much like Fred and George at that moment. The two continued on, speaking about things that Harry needed to know and Charlie answering questions the best he was aware of. They agreed that Tessaies would be the best source of information on what he needed to do.

"Speaking of Hermione, she's coming this way."

"Sure enough. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, little brother, I hear one of the most important decisions a man can make is to make sure the couch is extremely comfortable. I'm sure Hermione will let you do that. Just don't make her mad first before picking out the actual couch or you won't get the chance. That's why dad has to sleep in the shed sometimes."

Harry gaped at him and blushed as Charlie snickered at him. They were interrupted by a sudden aggrieved scream from behind Hermione that made Charlie jump and knock Harry over to land in the dirt.

"You utter pillock!"

|:-:|

The new dungeon rooms stood silent, waiting. Hogwarts was looking forward to her new visitors as it had been so long since she'd had dragons to talk to. She wasn't stupid at all, though. The essences of the Founders that lived within her walls were cautioning her about people who would try to take advantage of the situation with the dragons and this had been her response. There was already one presence within her that she did not like one bit and there was a partitioned section of this ready for that presence to be confined in – permanently, if needed.

That section sat silent, with a foreboding stillness that had anyone been there to look at it would have found themselves shivering. A large slate framed with alternating gold and silver rod segments hung on the wall. It took up most of the wall's area and there was a section with magic sparking in regular intervals, which wouldn't have eased any feelings – again, had anyone been there.

Professor Snape hadn't had the chance to witness the creation of this section of the dungeon before he rushed out, and after hearing of the dragon on the wall the Headmaster decided that he was going to wait to look at the new rooms for himself. Any mention of dragons right now had him feeling unlike himself.

The others would have just said he was being a grumpy old goat and called it even. Even Professor Snape, who knew something about the subject.

The slate came alive with markings that illuminated from behind the stone surface. There were a variety of runes that would have made anyone competent in the subject from the Ancient Runes Professor on down salivate with academic glee to see. Those runes flashed in some sort of slow sequence before ending in a blue-lit rune that paused before changing color to an angry red.

Around the room itself, there was repeated inscriptions on the walls of that same rune that flashed the same shade. The lighting in the room dimmed before switching itself into another shade of red slightly lighter than the color of the runes.

In the altered lighting, the now shadowed corners of the room loomed with sinister air. There was a new sound in the previously silent room that came from the slate positioned on the wall. A light moan trickled out, just barely on that lower edge of human hearing before dropping off into an unknown abyss but with no indication exactly where it was, came from the cold slate. A section of the impermeable rock rippled, and as this happened pained wails could be heard from everywhere and nowhere.

Or rather, could have been heard had anyone been in that waiting partition.

Underneath the red rune, two slightly smaller runes waited. They sat centered in the middle of a set of iron filigree cubes, the magic that drove them contained within the implacable ferrous cages. The two alternated flashes between one or the others and sometimes practically at the same time but never simultaneously. One was of a practically stolid garnet color with gold hues underpinning the main color, the other was a rather bold blue with a resolute orange tinge flowing around it.

The fanciful observation could have been made that whatever the two runes were there for, a distinct argument was going on with no clear winner, but for the obvious nature and purpose of the dungeon overshadowing such whimsy.

The less fanciful observation that remained to be made by whoever came in – which would soon be Albus Dumbledore in the company of a less-than-pleased Professor McGonagall muttering things under her breath – was in the section that had rippled a third iron cage waited silently. It was positioned beneath the two other eristic runes and complete with its own dimmed rune to contain a magic that hadn't yet been captured.

In the meantime, the Castle waited. In her depths, she plotted. On the grounds, in a section recently revealed again by the need of one of her children, another set of runes waited to be activated.

|:-:|

He knew he had to apologize and do it right. The realization that he'd come to thanks to the things Harry had said but outside the Medical Tent and in the Family Meeting had really made him think about how he treated Harry and Hermione. Harry had broken down in ways that Ron would have been ashamed to let others see and what had gotten him was that Harry was quite brave in other situations.

For him to break like that spoke some very uncomfortable truths to the youngest Weasley male. Ron didn't know if he would have been able to even function had he been subjected to the same things that Harry had. Harry had come up differently with the Dursleys than he had at the Burrow and the mention of the presence of his parents and the possibility of loss of them had rattled Ron more than he wanted to admit.

He didn't know what he would do without them and couldn't imagine having grown up without Arthur and Molly. In the meantime, he could start his apologies with Hermione at least.

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She looked at him with a glance flicking to his hands. He opened them to show that he didn't have his wand or anything in them, not knowing why he did so.

"Luna will be right here. Say what's on your mind."

She didn't seem too happy, and well, Ron supposed he could understand why.

"I… er… I wanted to… um…" An eyebrow raised to almost meeting the curls on her head and he actually started sweating. "I wanted to say I'm sorry!"

It was rushed out, but it was an actual apology. She stared him down and let him sweat some more before finally speaking.

"Sorry for?"

Ron had to think for a moment. He wasn't expecting to dissect his apology.

"I'm sorry for being an utter pillock, for acting like I did and upsetting you. I shouldn't have done that."

Hermione seemed to be considering that as she and Luna traded glances filled with information that it seemed the female brain was capable of parsing a lot better than his inferior male brain.

Well, that was what he overheard Ginny say every so often. He had no idea who she was talking about when she said that. The poor sod. Whoever he was needed a clue since she said it a lot where he could hear it, but why Ron didn't have a clue. Mum chuckled to herself a lot when Ginny did it, too. He shrugged as he thought about it again and concluded it must be some girl thing.

"You've apologized to me, but you need to apologize to Harry as well. I would wait for a bit since for one, he's got a lot on his mind with these dragons and the Tournament as a whole and two, both of us want to see if you're sincere. You really, really hurt him and that's going to take some time for him to really accept and work through – and I don't mean that quick 'it's okay, mate' thing he does. That's just there so he can have some time to really think about it."

Ron felt uncomfortably hot as she affixed a molten gaze on him.

"I mean it, Ron. I think I'll go find Harry and you and Luna can talk for a bit."

"Okay, Hermione," Ron said, and Hermione started to walk toward Harry and Charlie. They looked to be deep in discussion with each other.

Ron looked at Luna, who looked back at him with that little smile that she did. It was strange. He'd grow up with her just across the field and through the woods and always thought of her as the irritating little girl that hung around Ginny a lot. She was the same age as Ginny and Ginny was the only girl in the brood of young Weasleys, so he supposed that made sense. He certainly didn't want to talk about girl stuff with Ginny and he couldn't see any of his brothers wanting to either, so it made sense that Ginny would want to spend time with another girl.

Speaking of girl stuff…

He took another appraising look at Luna and realized that she was definitely a girl.

"So Luna…"

"Yes, Ronald?"

He was silent for a moment, thinking about what he wanted to say, as Luna stood waiting. Then Ron spoke was was on his mind.

|:-:|

Hermione was almost to where Harry and Charlie stood watching her approach. Charlie was chuckling about something as Harry blushed. She'd have to ask him about that later. The conversation between Ron and Luna already indistinguishable from the murmur that went around the Great Hall during mealtimes, when she heard it.

"You utter pillock!"

There was a cut-off exclamation behind them and a thump. It sounded familiar, which lead to Hermione deciding to turn back to look. Hermione reached out and Harry took the few steps closer to take her hand after he struggled up off the ground where Charlie had dumped him. He was trying to breathe since Charlie had been startled and nailed him in the stomach with his elbow. They turned together to see Ron Weasley sprawled on the ground with his rear up in the air, one leg bent underneath him and Luna shaking her hand out. Her eyes shot gleaming daggers at him.

"That's for all the very rude things you've ever said to me, Ronald!"

The others just stood there, their thoughts arrested in motion. Luna continued speaking a good bit softer to the insensate lump on the ground.

"And if you ever say anything like that to me again Ronald, I'll be very sure to make you remember this. For the rest of your life, if necessary. Beyond wouldn't be that much harder, either!" The loud whisper was still audible to the others as it carried very well, even some distance off and frankly sent shivers down Harry's spine.

"Luna? Er…" Harry wasn't sure what exactly to say here. His breath was back but that didn't give him any good words of wisdom to use them on.

"What?" She said, somewhat in her usual dreamily-spoken manner, but there was a hard edge in her silvery eyes, spreading in barely discernible dark webs. They gleamed maliciously as they locked Harry into their argentite-laced crosshairs, and he felt something spewing frenzied gibberish in the back of his mind at the same time. If he didn't know better he would swear that every hair on his body was frantically trying to burrow into his skin to get away.

"Um... Nothing, Luna. Not a thing. Nope," he babbled. "I think Hermione and I have a library book or homework or detention with Mister Filch or something very important calling our name. Bye, Luna!"

He scampered off, dragging Hermione with him. Everyone who watched them go could have been forgiven the thought of flames appearing in the footsteps left behind, considering how fast he went. The cheery reply of "Bye, Harry! Bye, Hermione!" was nearly lost amid the sudden thought that ever since he met that dragon, the women in his life was getting vicious. The second thought was that he had no idea Luna, of all people, could punch like that. They passed an arriving Neville, who was looking at Luna as if he'd never seen her before and ignored the slight breeze that ruffled his unruly hair. Harry couldn't see the smile she gave the Longbottom scion as he hurried off, but Hermione did when she looked back. When they found a more-or-less quiet spot, Harry was surprised to hear Hermione actually giggle. She leaned up against him and snorted in a rather distinctly unladylike manner.

"Er… Hermione… are you okay?"

She smiled at him. Her eyes were dancing in high amusement.

"I'm fine, but I'm not sure Neville is."

Harry was feeling stupid again. What did Neville have to do with anything? She saw the disarray on his face and giggled again before speaking.

"I think Neville's in love now. Luna got his attention."

"What?" Harry was getting really tired of being a step or two behind everyone else. "I thought Luna got Ron's attention."

This time, Hermione managed to contain her mirth, but just barely.

"Oh, she did that too, but I was talking about Neville. Watch him at the next meal and see if he spends it looking at the Ravenclaw table. If he misses his mouth a time or two because he's staring at a certain blonde witch, you'll know. As for that certain blonde witch, she might even share her pudding with him. That by itself should tell you something."

Harry finally understood. His eyes got wide.

"You mean Neville… and Luna? Together?"

She nodded, her face creasing as the corners of her mouth eased upward again. She buried her face in his chest and giggled again at the thought. Neville was in for an adventure with Luna, she was sure.

Harry thought about that and slowly began to laugh softly to himself.

|:-:|

The Headmaster was grumbling to himself. The other staff had noticed that it was becoming more and more common to see and it was odd. Professor Flitwick, who was Head of Ravenclaw after all, had put forth the theory that the old man had developed magical hemorrhoids and was being stubborn about the treatment. Everyone had looked at Poppy Pomfrey, who shrugged and said that she couldn't have said anything about it if he had.

Then she went on to say in a low voice that something like this would be good training for her interns. Everyone within earshot winced.

"I've got this parchment from the Ministry with that Treaty on the letterhead, this morning," Dumbledore grumbled as he put said parchment on the table for everyone to see. "What next? Gold-plated stalls for the dragons?"

Everyone also agreed that he did the 'grouchy old man bit' very well. It was such a change from his normal persona that everyone wondered if maybe it was something other than magical hemorrhoids. Those were bad enough.

"Dragons! Mindless beasts that'll kill you as soon as look at you! Around students?"

Professor McGonagall started to say something, but was stopped by a silent hand on hers. She looked up to see Pomona Sprout shaking her head and flicking her eyes at the dyspeptic Headmaster.

"Don't interrupt him. Maybe he'll give us an easy day if he wears himself out first," she whispered.

This time it was McGonagall rolling her eyes, discreetly.

"And these people on the parchment? Students, some of them! Mister Weasley and the other dragon handler I can understand and maybe Hagrid, but the students? Why should I release them to this dragon?"

Dumbledore stabbed the parchment with a forefinger as though he wanted to use a knife but didn't have one right then.

"The Treaty…" Flitwick started.

"Blast the Treaty! It's a dead letter!"

The parchment flashed a bright red and shocked the Headmaster, who collapsed into his chair shaking his injured hand and muttering something in what sounded like Attic Greek. From the fluency in his obvious swearing, Flitwick was starting to wonder if the Headmaster was around when it was first spoken.

"It doesn't look all that dead to me, Albus," he noted. In fact, the parchment seemed… amused?

"Thank you so very much for that observation!"

McGonagall had had enough.

"Albus! Quit acting like a firstie denied her pudding!"

Everyone shivered at the memory from the Ravenclaw table, even the Headmaster. The uppity prefect that tried that learned his lesson well that day. It had made for a lot of studying to figure out what the little blonde girl had cast on him. The Ravenclaws actually enjoyed the academic challenge, however that prefect didn't enjoy the week in Madam Pomfrey's current interns' collective carefully correctional clutches. It had been for the approved instruction of the Aesculapian arts, as she'd explained to him. His apology to the firstie after he got out was profuse. She had kissed him on the cheek for the apology, but didn't offer him any pudding. He never asked, either. In fact, he never ate any more pudding at Hogwarts.

Oddly, the only person that was amused by the Headmaster's snit was Professor Snape. From the look on his face, he was living for it. The others started wondering if the Potions Master had slipped a prank potion into the old man's tea. If so, maybe he should do it again every so often. They started to sneak a ripped piece of parchment around with suggestions to give him when Albus wasn't looking.

The Deputy Headmistress took the Treaty parchment and looked at it for the first time. Her boss glared at her for not getting shocked, which she returned with interest and just to be contrary, a sniff.

Some of the other professors twitched in involuntary reaction, the Headmaster included.

She addressed the now-blank parchment.

"Who are the people you require?"

Pictures appeared on the parchment with those people who had those odd names underneath.

Speaker, with an accompanying picture of Mister Potter. That made sense, with his Parseltongue ability. She had to stifle a giggle at the next one, which was a picture of Hermione Granger and the caption of Wildness of Mane. That probably had not endeared her to the dragons' obvious senses of humor, but what could she do about it, really? Mister Weasley had the name Lángoló haj, which she supposed was a foreign language name. She would ask him later if he recognized it. It might have been from the languages associated with the nominal nationalities of the dragons, although it didn't look like Welsh. That was the closest geographical one, really.

The next one was one of the other dragon handlers named Malcolm Tucker. The name Fiery Mouth could mean several things, none of which she was impressed with. She would keep an eye on him in case he taught the children any bad habits.

Hagrid's made perfect sense to her. Large Forest Guardian, was him, if a bit of a mouthful to say. If she knew him, he was happy with it.

The next two, a pair of girls from Slytherin surprised her as she didn't know the dragons knew about them. Miss Davis and the elder Miss Greengrass had been given the names Quietly Trapping and Frozen Ruler respectively. She would have to ask Severus about his thoughts on the names.

Filius Flitwick was seated next to her and grinned at the last name on the parchment.

"Well, that's a bit obvious, isn't it?"

"Quite. Moon Girl for Miss Lovegood… I wonder if the dragons are going to need headache potions?"

He snickered and a few others did the same but not as plainly. McGonagall read through the rest.

"Albus, it says that the dragons have a code of conduct they've all agreed to. Aside from dragons agreeing to something like this, which is strange enough, it reads like anything else that we'd require visiting delegations. It's not quite the same as Beauxbatons or Durmstrang has, but it's fairly similar."

She looked at it more closely.

"In fact, it reads a lot like a code of conduct for instructors, which we don't have."

Everyone looked at Professor Snape. He sneered lightly at them and huffed.

"Something to think about. So the dragons are going to teach? Really?" Flitwick seemed excited more so than his usual. Everyone remembered his Goblin heritage and the fact that Goblins and dragons had a closer relationship than the wizards and witches did.

"There's something about a translation charm that two of the Founders worked on and linked to the Castle itself." She read the notes carefully. "It only has an area of effect on some places of the grounds. We'll have to place markers to show where it extends."

"Which two Founders?" Professor Snape wondered, despite himself. He was still a bit put out by the implicit slight on how he handled dunderheads.

"Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, it says."

"Hmmpf." That was all he said in return, but it sounded like an intrigued grunt and not a dismissive grunt. McGonagall showed him the dragon-given names of his two students. If she hadn't been looking at him, she would have missed the amusement in his dark eyes. He didn't say anything, but did nod at her.

Albus chuckled, despite his bad mood. Everyone looked at him.

"Okay, I admit I was being irritable." He winced at the pointed looks everyone gave him and hurried on to get past that comment. "What does anyone want to bet that Miss Granger will soon be terrorizing the books in the library to dig out any information about the translation charm?"

The short Charms professor chortled. "I'll be surprised if she doesn't drag Mister Potter by that messy hair of his to the Chamber of Secrets to see if there's a Slytherin library there. If she does and finds something, I hope it's not written in Parseltongue. We might not see Mister Potter for a month or two, or more."

Everyone winced at the mental image of the girl standing over the boy with a huge stack of books and parchments, demanding that he translate faster. They had all seen the fervor of learning lighting up her eyes more than a few times during her time here.

"Are you making a bet, Filius?"

Everyone looked at Professor Snape, a bit shocked. He was twirling a Galleon between his fingers, unconcerned about the looks everyone was giving him.

"On the research or the Parseltongue?"

"Yes." That was all he said.

"No bets!" The Headmaster grumped.

Everyone rolled their eyes. It wouldn't be long before he placed his own bet, they knew. He looked at their reactions and sighed.

"Moving on. I still don't like it, but gather the students together and Hagrid, and we'll…" He sighed again. "… we'll go meet the dragons."

"That's good," said Professor McGonagall. "Because there's a timer that just appeared on this parchment that says they'll be here in thirty minutes."

"WHAT!"

|:-:|

The house elves had been only too happy to help find the people listed on the parchment. Apparently the news about dragons visiting had excited some of the oldest elves that knew their history. None of the current elves had been alive the last time dragons had been a part of Hogwarts, of course, but they had oral histories that told the stories quite well. The elves that had been posted at Hogwarts had a few roles in the comforts of the dragons, and the current ones was looking forward to something new in their duties.

There were no secrets in the castle where the elves were concerned, of course. They knew about it long before Albus Dumbledore or any of the other professors did and had been making contingency plans just in case. The Castle's magic and hidden sentience had given them forewarning. A few of the younger elves wondered what she was up to, but knew better than to ask that out loud in case she decided to 'voluntell' them to help her. It had been done before. A couple had to learn that lesson a few times. The older elves that had the same thing done to them laughed at their misfortunes.

It had taken a little while for a group to be taken from the Corps of House Elves, and true to the name of the main group, it had taken on an almost military bearing for that group. They displayed a discipline and a kind of close order drill in the way they moved to the Dragon Quarters to begin operations.

Apparently, it had been a tradition for Dragon Quarters Elves to work in this way and they didn't see any reason not to continue with that. A couple of Muggleborn students with family in the British Army had overheard them planning those roles during a visit to the kitchens and had taken a good deal of prankish pleasure in pointing the elves to what Her Majesty expected from her troops. Field manuals and uniform examples had been procured somehow. No one asked any questions and no lies were told.

The purebloods wondered what was so funny with the pair and put it down to something that they'd never understand and probably didn't want to.

|:-:|

"How long now?"

"A minute less than the last time you asked me that, Albus. Are you having problems with your bladder or something?"

Professor McGonagall seemed a bit irritated at him and the Headmaster decided it was best not to push his luck. In point of fact, he was in slight need of a chamberpot and was trying not to think about it. Her acerbic question hadn't helped.

The Ministry representative, Philo McClemont, had a very slight grin on his face but otherwise acted as though he hadn't heard anything. Dumbledore mentally thanked him and wondered if he could get away with assigning some of the lesser-desired duties in the castle to his Deputy for making things worse for him. From the gimlet eye she was casting on him, he didn't think so.

Several of the other Ministry personnel had come to watch as well. Amelia Bones was there with a short platoon of Aurors, who was a bit nervous. Minister Fudge and his Undersecretary was there, one fiddling with his hat and the other curling her lip.

Almost all of the Dragonborne Treaties and Treatises sub-department was there. The only one that wasn't was in St. Mungo's for a bad case of wizard's flu. They had promised to take lots of pictures for him.

There had been a rush to get all the students in the castle outside to view the arrival of what some jokesters were calling the 'Hogwarts Dragon Contingent.' It had been managed but barely. All of the Professors was out patrolling with the prefects to make sure everyone was behaving. The ghosts were out too, wanting to satisfy their curiosity as well.

The students were waiting without saying anything. Harry was scuffing his feet with boredom, while Hermione was studying a small (for her) book that she'd tucked away in a pocket of her robes. Daphne and Tracy was discussing something and peering at him a time or two. It made him more nervous than he already was.

Hermione reached out without looking from her book and slapped the back of his head.

"Calm down. You're distracting me and you won't like me when I'm distracted."

Harry started to say something and decided that maybe it would be best to keep it to himself until later. He didn't look at Charlie, either.

The most excited of the group was Hagrid, of course. How he kept from talking about Norberta Harry didn't know but didn't argue about. He didn't want his role in the secreting away of the baby dragon bandied about. Charlie caught his eye whenever Hagrid got close to talking about it, which thankfully wasn't often. The groundskeeper was too distracted by the thought of more dragons on the grounds. Harry hoped that his taste for dangerous pets would be sated by the presence of the mother dragons.

For his part, Malcolm Tucker thought that the Quarters Hogwarts had set aside for the dragons was wonderful. There was space for six other dragons and he wondered if they would be filled up. It would be an interesting experience, he was sure. The dragons had left the space in the Forbidden Forest and had been missing that morning. That had caused all kinds of dismay among the dragon handlers until Philo McClemont had shown up to say that they had exercised a clause in the Treaty to undergo a draconic purification ritual that nobody understood in the least. He assured them that they would be back but would go straight to the Dragon Quarters. When asked why there, the man said it had to do with the ancient magic that had to be aligned with them after purification and the Forbidden Forest had some elements to it that would simply not do.

Luna was seated next to Neville, who had decided in a moment of Gryffindorish courage to see what was going on a bit closer to the action than the others. She had mentioned offhand that with the presence of dragons, then he would have more dragon dung for his plants. He could see that being beneficial, but he had to admit that he was a bit concerned now that he was here.

"Look! Here they come!"

It sounded like Tracy, and Harry looked up. Hermione stowed her book and looked up, as did everyone else.

Off in the distance, they could see a diamond formation of something approaching. It took a few minutes but Charlie's sharper eyes with the greater experience of looking after dragons spoke first.

"It looks like the Chinese Fireball is in front. See the gleaming of her red scales? The Short-Snout is behind to her left and the Welsh Green is behind and to the right."

The sunlight glinted off the blue-white scales Annika had to punctuate that point.

"Then the Horntail is behind all of them. Think they're doing an honor escort?" Malcolm mused.

"Mostly likely. She's the Mother Eminence and flies slower than the others anyway since she's bigger."

"Yeah, don't mention her weight where she can hear it, Charlie."

"Don't worry. I learned that lesson with my mother. I still have these nightmares of the two of them trading baby pictures of me and whatever drakons she's had."

Malcolm snorted.

"Maybe you need to lay off the Firewhiskey for a few weeks."

"You first."

As they talked, the dragon formation got closer. The magicals on the ground watched as they overflew the Quarters and banked in a wide circle to follow the perimeter of Hogwarts. All the dragons dipped their heads toward the Castle and everyone could hear a trio of deep gongs sound from the depths.

Harry grinned to himself as he thought if anyone was still in the castle, then he's going to be wondering what's going on.

The dragons continued their slow, measured circuit. As they passed over the Centaurs' area, there was a shower of arrows welcoming them, which Quiangya obligingly set ablaze with a puff of dragonfire to acknowledge. A cheer came from the Centaurs on the ground.

Harry also couldn't help but wonder is Bane out there complaining about this? And did they see this in the stars?

There was no corresponding salute from the other inhabitants of the Forest, but no one was sure what could top flaming arrows, anyway.

"Look! They're about to land! Make way!"

There was no way to tell who had said that, but they could see that the dragons were lined up to land on the field next to the Quarters. Everyone got out of the way, without trampling each other.

Harry couldn't explain the thought he had, but he grabbed Hermione's hand and after kissing it, dragged her off to the landing area. The group with him followed as the dragons dropped down with Quiangya lower and some distance than the others.

The moment that Quiangya touched down, there was a slowly rising hum that faded away quickly. It wasn't unpleasant, but the hairs on the back of Harry's neck rose a bit as he sensed ancient power. He looked at the castle to see that there was nothing changed really, but a fanciful part of his mind imagined that there was a flicker of flame dancing from the top of the Astronomy Tower.

He took a chance.

"Quiangya! Good to see you! Welcome."

The red dragon looked at him.

"Good to see you as well, Speaker. Stand clear for a moment."

Everyone gaped at the speech, but Harry hustled them clear. She had sounded like everyone's no-nonsense nanny. He sneaked a look at McGonagall, who looked at the red dragon in approval.

Annika and Rhiain touched down, not quite at the same time and Harry could feel the rising hum of the charm linking with them as well the moment that their talons had dug into the ground. He watched as the three dragons formed a loose triangle to wait for Tessaies, who'd flown a tighter circle to allow time for the others to arrange themselves.

Annika chirped a "Hello, Harry!" at him. Her voice sounded like that singer… what was her name. Olivia-Newton James or something like that? Just how did that charm update itself?

Rhiain sighed at her, small puffs of smoke coming from her nose. "Hello, Harry. Tessaies wants to see you as soon as she lands. Stand ready."

Harry gaped at her. He didn't know that dragons knew Received Pronunciation, but apparently they did. She did still have a good bit of a Welsh accent but sounded like she should be presenting news on the BBC. He nodded and traded looks with Hermione, who looked like she wanted to check the Arithmancy of that charm so very badly.

"Relax. Tessaies is coming soon," he hissed at her, trying not to be overheard by what he was sure was very sensitive dragon hearing.

She squeezed his hand and waited.

Everyone watched as the form of the Hungarian Horntail made her approach. She was larger than the other dragons so she wasn't quite as agile. Her wings flared out as her talons flared out to reach for the ground, and Harry was struck by the similarities between the dragon and Hedwig coming in for a landing. It made sense – both flew.

Although it might get him in trouble with both to compare the two out loud.

Tessaies grounded with a thump from her talons, body and tail that everyone could see triggered a magical ripple that traveled just above ground level. It raced outward to meet the boundaries of Hogwarts' grounds and when it came into contact with someone, that person was engulfed with the feeling of a mother's love, care, and protection.

The other three dragons bowed.

Harry went with his instinct. He faced the Horntail and bowed as well, Hermione a split second after him.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, then followed his lead.

Tessaies seemed a bit taken aback at the honor paid to her, but spoke up.

"Rise, everyone. I don't need to be bowed and scraped at."

The Muggleborn in the group, halfbloods, and Harry stared at her.

Hermione looked at him. "Please tell me that's not the voice of Jessica Rabbit!"

"I don't know, but it sounds pretty close."

The dragons looked around, taking in the sights. Annika looked excited, Rhiain looked slightly less so. Quiangya merely observed.

Tessaies noticed Neville.

"Another friend, Harry?"

"Yes. This is Neville Longbottom, my godbrother."

There was a distinct smile on the Horntail's face. Maybe the dragons understood the concept of godbrothers.

"Come, Neville. Let me see you."

Harry looked at Neville. "Gryffindors charge ahead, Neville. She won't hurt you – she 's more curious about you than anything."

"That's what concerns me, Harry," Neville muttered, but he stepped up.

Tessaies dipped her head down to his eye level. She didn't lick him like she had Harry on their first meeting, but sniffed him deeply. He could feel the hot breath whipping around him and tried not to faint. He was surprised to feel a small hand slip into his and looked down to see Luna had come to his side.

"She likes you."

He turned to look at the mother dragon who was waiting for him. She waited for him to look in her eyes, then nuzzled him gently.

"I sense you are a master of earth magic even if you don't know it yet, young Neville. I'll be watching you as you grow. I like you. I also think you and Rhiain will get along well. She likes to sing to the trees."

Neville blinked. "But I can't sing."

"Maybe not with your voice, but with your hands and your magic. You form the earth and the things she bears as easily as Rhiain forms the notes of the music she sings. Plants do well with you, don't they?"

She left him thinking about that and he didn't notice when she left.

Harry had still to get used to the slightly husky voice that Tessaies possessed through the translation charm. It sounded like there was a bit of static underlying the voice, like she was speaking through a walkie-talkie that needed adjustment and he realized that was the sound of her natural speech which he could still hear.

He motioned the Headmaster closer and turned back to face Tessaies.

"Tessaies, this is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Professor, this is Tessaies, the Mother Eminence."

"So many names," the dragon mused. She looked into his blue eyes. "I think I'll call you Albie."

Dumbledore sputtered in as genteel a manner as he could.

"Madam, it's the rare person that can call me that."

"Then I'll just be another of a rare group, won't I? Thank you for welcoming me to your school. I look forward to learning more."

Beside Dumbledore, Harry was struggling not to laugh. The even breathing he was trying to do wasn't helping much nor was it even. Nor were the chuckles and a few outright guffaws from the professors and others in the group.

Hermione led Professor McGonagall to them, who looked a bit concerned. Harry felt for her, since he was sure she hadn't gotten out of bed this morning to come face to face with a dragon. He remembered that first time well, too.

"Tessaies, please meet Professor McGonagall, my Head of House for Gryffindor. She also holds the Deputy Headmistress position and is the Transfiguration Professor. Professor, this is Tessaies, the Mother Eminence."

Tessaies stared into the Professor's eyes and grinned at her.

"And how do you handle a rascally scamp like this one?"

Harry tried to keep back the squawk, he really did. He did manage not to squawk again at the small but distinctly there smile on his professor's face but it wasn't easy.

"I don't have to. I have a private word with Miss Granger when I need to. I say I usually don't have to, because she handles it first."

Harry looked at Hermione, who was blushing.

There was a rumbling from the dragon, echoed by two of the others. Quiangya was more controlled, but Harry could see the amusement in her green eyes.

"Gee, thanks a lot, Professor."

"You're very welcome, Mister Potter."

There was a polite throat-clearing noise from the Horntail and they looked at her. The dragon looked out over the crowd.

"I look forward to meeting all of you in the months and years to come. I encourage you to read the Treaty of Shelleche Notch, as there are certain rules of conduct involving we dragons. Certain things can get you flamed, so take heed!"

There was much quick nodding in the crowd.

"I felt the acceptance of the Castle, and I accept her providence on behalf of all of us. It's been a long time since I could be a teacher and I am greatly looking forward to being one again."

Several groans could be heard in the audience, but Hermione and a goodly number of Ravenclaws looked interested.

"I need to be serious about one point. This one..." a wing curled around Harry, who held a hand out for Hermione to tuck in with him. "...and his Mate are under my protection. Don't push me."

Her irises flamed, and looking at the other three, everyone could see that they had the same flames illuminating their eyes. Many, many rapid nods were seen in the crowd. Hermione forgot to be worried about the mention of being Harry's Mate and so did many others.

"Now, aside from that, I do want to have fun filling the young minds I see around me. This is a chance to correct misconceptions of dragonkind. I intend to do that very thing. Now, introductions of the others with me."

The Chinese Fireball stood up and spread her wings. There was a shadow cast that spread over the group.

"Quiangya is my second-in-battle, the next eldest, and does not suffer fools gladly. If you are a fool, don't bother her. If you don't know you're a fool, I suggest you learn. Quickly."

There was a hiss of flame from the Fireball's nostrils. Charlie was looking at the dragon as if he didn't know they could do that. The Swedish Short-Snout stood up next and waved a talon. Her scales gleamed like polished silver in the sunlight.

"Annika is the most motherly of we four, and is known for caring for many not of her own breed or species. If anyone has a problem and needs to talk, she will listen. Just don't ask her to sing."

Harry's eyes went wide. He'd known about her singing inability thanks to the Parseltongue, but with the translation charm everyone would know!

Then his eyes narrowed. Maybe he could trick Malfoy into coming down here to listen. Hermione elbowed him in the gut, knowing what he was thinking.

"Hi!" Annika said to everyone, ignoring what the other dragon said about her singing.

The Welsh Green stood up, but kept her wings wrapped around herself.

"This is Rhiain. She is a singer and truthfully better than Annika. Any of you with musical talent will be welcome to see her."

Rhiain nodded and smiled at the small group of obviously interested musicians, which included Professor Flitwick.

"One last thing. We are all nesting mothers. Our eggs are off-limits. Touch them and die."

Many faces went pale, including Hagrid's. Dumbledore looked outraged, until Professor McGonagall poked him in the side.

"Now that we have been welcomed and can speak more clearly, I have a question for all of you and I will have an answer." She eyed the Headmaster, who shifted like a little boy who'd been caught with his hand in the lemon drop jar.

Dumbledore, still surprised at much of his assumptions about dragons being shaken, spoke up.

"Of course, my Lady. What is your question?"

"Who is Sirius Black?"