Chapter Eighteen

Percipient

A scream rang out across the grounds, stopping the various activities. There was the distinctive sound of dragonfire, which made more than a few people shudder. It stuttered in bursts, accompanied by a wail of fear.

Neville looked around from his airborne position atop Rhiain. The feeling of Luna's arms around his body had been distracting him a bit, but the abject fear in that sound focused his attention.

"What was that?"

Luna's head moved from where she had been resting it against the back of his neck.

"Someone facing their choices. Oh, look! There's a Tinglegrabber!"

"What?" The air was rushing in his ears, even at the relatively slow speed the Welsh Green was traveling, and he couldn't really hear. "A what?"

Luna didn't answer, at least verbally. Neville leaned back, thinking that the wind was interfering. It didn't take long for him to realize that she didn't need to speak to make her desires known. It also didn't take long for him to react.

The flaming face he sported was almost as hot as Rhiain's fire as Luna's hand squeezed, and he managed to take a hand off the ridged scale that he was using to stay on to grab that small hand gripping him.

"I like holding hands," she chirped, as his hand closed over hers in some haste. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the dragon's amused voice.

"I didn't think that was his hand, Moon Girl, unless something's changed. If that's the case, Sturdy Grower must be talented and you'll want to study this anomaly, correct?"

"Of course. Proper study, documentation, and experimentation is vital," Luna agreed.

Neville wasn't quite sure what to think about that. As he was still a good distance up in the air, he couldn't go anywhere. He retained his careful grip on the small hand in his, and the feverish grip on the scales in the other, and tried very hard not to think about the other small hand that he was out of hands to deal with. Neville also tried not to think about what sounded like Rhiain laughing at him.

As it happened, he couldn't decide if he was happy or sad that she hadn't wrapped her legs around him from behind to hold on. Neville was sure she was supposed to hold on to either him or Rhiain – it was the how he couldn't decide was better. So distracted by circumstances, it wasn't until that Rhiain had landed and Luna was giggling at him, that he realized that maybe it was time to get off.

He did so, trying to walk around normally after his dragon ride. Luna hopped off and grabbed his hand. She whispered in his ear, "It'll be okay. I'll help," and sounded very committed to doing it.

That promise did not help.

What did help was the sudden sight of a highly irritated Hungarian Horntail of a certain huge size whispering savagely into the ear of a bound man, lying on a bier that spoke to his Viking ancestry. Neville wondered where the torches were to set the wood aflame had been placed, and realized that those were extremely unnecessary in this case.

Whatever Tessaies was saying to the man couldn't be heard via the translation charm, but there was a distinct carrying sibilant hiss coming from her that froze the marrow in his bones. Neville wondered who he was and looked at Luna to ask her if she knew.

The look of feral satisfaction on her face startled him and he forgot to ask.

It also made him think of other things related to his recent flight and he desperately cast about in his mind to distract him. Neville did not want to let others know what he thought about that look. Had he been able to see Rhiain at that moment, he would have realized that such was for naught.

"Um, who is that, Luna?"

She looked up at him.

"Someone that hurt the Longbottom family and has been hidden for a long time, but now revealed."

This answer slashed through his mind and a years-old tally stood to attention in his mind. The names on that tally blazed to life in a flaming glow with space allocated to the side, waiting for a blood-red tick mark to be added when that time was dealt with.

Neville didn't know that he was running to the side of the bier. He didn't know that he had jerked his wand from its holster faster than the release normally shot it out. He didn't even know that Luna was just barely managing to keep up with the raging steps that he now took.

The Longbottom Heir didn't even know that the runes in his hands had suddenly came alight with the same hard-edged gleam that now shone from his eyes.

Tessaies did, and she extended a sharp talon over the bound body of Barty Crouch, Junior. It was no coincidence that the point scraped up the ribs on one side, parting the fabric of the clothes he wore and the first layer of skin with ease. She neatly skipped over the ropes that bound him, and let the talon caress the heaving chest with the same uncaring results before using the back of the same talon to gently restrain the oncoming storm called Neville Longbottom.

Fire blazed in his eyes, not unlike the dragonfire that had erupted from time to time, and Tessaies privately reflected that he would have reduced the area to ash as any good dragon could have easily done – had he been a dragon. Glances were traded with an approaching Rhiain, and while there were little mental communication traded aside from a few bits of imagery there was enough information in the nods that the junior dragon gave to the senior to let her know what was going on.

How Rhiain got the information of Frank and Alice Longbottom trying to fight off the attackers, she didn't know. Even though Rhiain was a wonderful musician, her mental communicative abilities trailed Annika's by a large margin.

In any event, there was just enough there to give her warning of the Gryffindor's fell intent.

"Easy, Sturdy Grower, easy! This man will get his due."

The blazing brown eyes welded a glare into the yellow draconic eyes, and Neville was too angry to contemplate the fact that a few months ago he never would have been standing up to stare into a dragon's eyes. He huffed out a breath, not noticing that the smoke that had been ejected from Tessaies' earlier whispers now had a few sparks that flared to the ground before sizzling out on the grass.

The dragons and Luna did, and there were eyebrows raised at this. Tessaies looked at the angry young man with some speculation but decided that she would have to think about it another time. After all, she had some questions to answer.

"Tell me, Sturdy Grower, do you recognize this man? He's not your Professor Moody."

Neville blinked for a moment, distracted from his anger. He looked down to see someone unfamiliar to him.

"What? Who is this? Where are the Lestranges?"

"Lestranges?" Tessaies asked, a bit confused herself.

"The ones that put my parents into long-term care and almost killed me as a baby. They were joined by another man named Barty Crouch, Junior but he died in Azkaban. All four were Death Eaters."

"Barty Crouch, Junior, you say? Dead, or thought to be dead, is it?"

She puffed a tiny flame at the head of the man, which seared off the rather bushy eyebrows.

"Tell young Neville what your name is, will you?" Tessaies cooed. Everyone could see the talon, with couple of drops of blood on the tip, hover over the man's trunk. The message was clear: Lie, and suffer pain.

"Barty Crouch, Junior!"

The scream was quickly followed by a thump as Neville fell on his rump in surprise. If it hadn't been for Luna glomping him from behind, he would have immediately jumped up and done something. What that would have been, he wasn't sure.

Harry would have known a thing or two. Maybe he'll ask Harry to put together a study group for things like this. Yeah… as soon as he took care of some newly revealed business.

"Nevvie, don't do anything yet," Luna whispered in his ear and kissed his earlobe.

This also distracted him as it was totally unexpected. He hadn't been called 'Nevvie' in a long time. He hadn't been expecting to have his ear whispered into and kissed, either. The distraction was just enough to realize that Luna was plastered onto his back… and he liked it.

Tessaies was highly amused at the gamut of emotions running over his face and grinned in entertainment, thanks to Luna's antics and Neville's reactions. Unfortunately for the man on the bier who couldn't see or hear Neville, the sight of a grinning Hungarian Horntail poised over his body or the hovering talon with his blood on it wasn't as funny. It was quite obvious that certain bodily functions had decided to pack up for the day.

Neville wrinkled his nose at the acrid smell and wondered what the man had been eating. It smelled awful. Luna seemed to have a good idea, judging from the inquisitive look on her face but he didn't want to know. She had that appearance of discarding possibilities and reaching conclusions, and he was unsure if he wanted to know.

Tessaies stretched out her body and wings on the other side of the bier. Neville raised an eyebrow at the languid manner she took, Luna grinned in appreciation and gripped Neville harder in her glomping, and Crouch whimpered. Down the pitch a short distance Rhiain rolled her eyes, but the humans didn't notice. She didn't interrupt the Mother Eminence as she asked the next question, however.

"So, what questions would you like to ask this man, Sturdy Grower? He will be quite willing to help you with any inquiries…" The large dragon leaned down to the man's ear and let a small flame shrivel away the hair on that side of his head and turn the ear in question quite red as she whispered with a dragon-sized helping of malice, "… or I will know why and having known why, will deal out punishment. Or, I will advise young Neville on a few interesting things I've learned over the centuries, as I see that he has plenty of motivation to… attend… to business. Do you understand, or do I need to find a way to remind you more permanently?"

Neville stood up. He hadn't quite heard what Tessaies said at the end, but whatever it was must have been inspiring.

There were plenty of questions asked in the next hour or so, and many more questions answered than asked. Rhiain curled up silently nearby, getting every word, gasp, and nuance into her finely honed music-trained memory. It was odd, since the man sang a terrified song that was too creepy for her but she was quite willing to do something about it for Neville. It was something that needed doing, and she was just the dragon for it.

She liked Sturdy Grower. He had hidden depths. He was of the Green, even if he didn't quite know or understand that, and it showed. If he needed help, Rhiain would give it. After all she was a green dragon, wasn't she?

|:-:|

Professor Flitwick had listened to the Grangers and thought for a few minutes while Hermione had taken the change to go back to Gryffindor Tower to get a bestiary she had checked out. They could see him mentally consider and discard several things, but stayed silent to wait for him to come to a decision.

Dan squinted at the house-elf that popped in to deliver some very tasty tea and biscuits. The jolly little fellow (which fit both the elf and Flitwick, he realized) had delivered a mug of something steaming to the little professor. It looked a bit like molten lava, and Flitwick noticed.

"It's something that I quite enjoy, but I wouldn't recommend you try it."

"Oh?"

"It's a mix of chocolate, cream, cinnamon and arsenic."

"Oh." Dan decided that he would stick to tea, like any good Englishman. He didn't see Emma regard the mixture with interest.

"I have an idea. I'll send Doctor Russell a message using a method that I've been looking for a reason to try out. I can't say much about it yet as some of my Ravenclaws have only completed carving out thousands of runes. Do you mind if I take a couple of them into confidence? I could cover it as a special project for grades and … hmmm."

Emma looked up at the thoughtful tone. "Professor?"

"I think I'll see if I can have a chat with that Chinese Fireball. Not Quiangya, the one that comes by every week. He's due in a few minutes or so for a pair of lectures. I remember him demonstrating new techniques for rune carving that I would bet have been used for those thousands of runes. Maybe he could explain the .uk thing to me."

"Dragons carving runes? That's got to be odd. I mean, for me, everything is just… odd considering I'm not a wizard, but what about you?" Dan very carefully didn't mention what sounded a lot like an email address. He knew about those, but wasn't completely up to speed with them.

Flitwick leaned back and took a sip of his beverage. Now that Dan knew what was in it, he tried to repress the shudder.

"As I'm half-goblin, I have more experience with dragons than the average wizard. Gringotts has dragons, you see, and we learn from an early age about them. Or rather, we learn things we thought we knew about them. Of course like many things, Mister Potter turns things on their heads, and I'm beginning to think he does it for his amusement," he chuckled. "So we're having to do some re-evaluation. As far as the educational aspect of things, it's a major goldmine."

"I bet. Wonder if Hogwarts will soon have a dragon on staff, instead of the visitors? Imagine the contract negotiations for work?"

"Oh, my. I think I'll mention that to Albus and see if he chokes on his lemon drops at the thought," Flitwick laughed. "Anyway, would the two of you like to accompany me to speak to Master Xiang-Zhai? That's the name of the dragon."

"Sounds, well, Chinese. Like one of those martial-arts movie characters."

"Oh, I know. I've seen a few. Gringotts has contacts all over the world and there happens to be a library of such. Some of those are pretty silly and tend to be popular for entertainment. However, Master Xiang-Zhai was awarded that academic rank in the schooling that the dragons use."

"Dragons do that, too?"

"Apparently. It was a surprise to us as well. We're not quite sure yet how high a 'Master' is or what the equivalents are to our Masters of magical learning or even muggle , but sooner or later we'll get it."

"You said, 'pair of lectures.' Two different lectures?"

"Oh, no. He delivers the same lecture twice, but for those who can't attend at the same times. Ninety or so minutes apiece. Like I said, he likes that heated pad."

"Huh. How about that. Em? What do you think?"

Emma smiled. "I'd like to. Let's go to the second one. Hermione and I have a meeting with Annika first."

She headed to the door, and Professor Flitwick chuckled. Dan looked at him.

"I see where Miss Granger gets it. I hope Mister Potter keeps her satisfied. He'll regret it if he doesn't."

The little professor jumped off his stack of books and hustled to the door with an innocent whistle as Dan tried to get his mind around that last statement. When he caught up, he was hearing Emma discuss the body of the message with the professor. Thankfully, satisfactions of any kind weren't on the table.

|:-:|

"Albus?"

McGonagall found Dumbledore looking out one of the windows to the courtyard. The magical fountain was splashing merrily away, and a couple of students could be seen conjuring ships-of-the-line and blasting miniature broadsides at each other's line of battle. It looked like fun, but he was too troubled to join them.

"Do you ever get the feeling that things are spiraling out of control, no matter how you try to keep a grip on things?" His voice was low.

His Deputy grinned.

"If there's a Potter on the rolls at Hogwarts, I count on it. It's going to happen anyway. Surely you knew that."

"Well, I did, but I wasn't expecting this. Dragon teachers?"

"Thinking about the guest lecturers, are you? At least they are keeping the students learning."

"True, but at what cost?"

Minerva McGonagall regarded her boss.

"What's really bothering you? Are you feeling left behind? Unsure how to deal with these changes, or perhaps like you're in the plot of a badly written fanciful story?"

"A bit, to be honest."

"Balderdash," McGonagall snorted.

Dumbledore blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"You're too used to being the one people ask opinions about this thing or that thing than when something else comes along that doesn't need your opinion, you don't know how to handle it."

"Er…"

"Old dogs and new tricks. Ever hear that?"

Dumbledore gave her a slight glare over his half-moon glasses.

"You're not that young anymore either, remember."

"And I'm not a dog… you old goat. Although I would like to see if you can jump around like one. That might be entertaining to watch."

"You would," he grumped.

"Instead of being a hide-bound droopy stick in the mud, go spend some time talking with the dragons and find out what they know that you don't. Incorporate it into our curriculum. Be the Headmaster, not some bleating old goat."

He looked at her, trying to decide if she was taking the mickey out of him again. Her face was even, with no sign of frivolity.

"And have you sat in on some of these 'lectures?' Do they really seem educational?" he asked.

"I have, although just two since someone I won't name that's an old goat keeps pushing the work he doesn't want to do onto me. It was a Divination lecture, the first one I mean."

"Oh, well, that must have really seemed useful to you."

"The dragon was an older Short-Snout named Myr, and she made it clear that humans couldn't make use of this magic."

"But what use is it to us, then?"

He was confused, but if Minerva McGonagall sat through the whole thing even with her aversion to Divination it had to be something.

"We don't have the same perceptions of what Myr called 'the Great Sands.' We actually can't see it because of something she named as magnetic resonance. I was lost at that, but most of the muggleborne students nodded their heads at it. We can, however, track the flow with instruments or so I think I understand."

"Instruments?"

"Devices that the magical world pooh-poohs. Muggle things."

"Oh." He couldn't think of what to think about that at all.

"But what about magic?"

"Oh, it's there, but it takes over where the muggle science stops. She used the example of a baton being passed from one to another in a race. It leads to avenues to explore that we can access."

"Race?"

She sighed.

"I'll give you the memory later. For now, I'm going to visit Master Xiang-Zhai."

"Who?"

"Dragon lecturer. He did the other lecture I attended, and it wasn't Divination. I think you need to come along. No excuses."

Protesting, he found himself dragged on to listen to a dragon lecture. Dumbledore wasn't sure what to expect, but maybe he'd actually learn something. Maybe it would do good to forget about the parchmentwork in his office… again.

|:-:|

"Look! Up there!"

"Where? And get off my foot!"

"Oh, sorry. Over there. See?"

It took a moment, but the sight of the elderly Chinese Fireball could be seen approaching at a speed much reduced from what Quiangya could have demonstrated with ease. A shadow flickered over the ground from the other direction, and they saw that she had launched herself to meet with her fellow Fireball and escort him in.

The students were looking forward to this as the old dragon was one of the most popular ones and the younger students had found out that he enjoyed the heated pad they made for him during his last visit. It eased his aches, from what he had mentioned and for that alone he would be happy to spend the rest of his remaining days delivering lectures. After all, he had centuries of knowledge so why wouldn't he share it with young inquisitive minds?

It sure sounded like something a professor would say, the students all thought.

They saw her escort the old dragon to the ground and lead him to his pad. Quiangya gave him a very respectful bow, or as close as a dragon could perform one but it was a distinct bow. Eyes met with each other at this sight, and they all decided to follow suit when they got to their seats.

|:-:|

Annika was waiting a bit impatiently when Hermione led Emma to the Dragon Quarters.

"What took so long, Wildness of Mane?"

Hermione blushed.

"I got distracted by something I read." It was more or less true.

"Oh, well, that makes sense."

"Annika, this is my mother, Emma Granger."

"Pleased! This is great! I get to stand in for Tessaies and meet more humans. This is wonderful!"

Emma raised an eyebrow at the exuberant dragon's greeting and traded glances with her daughter, who shrugged helplessly.

"Er, Annika, about that. I thought Tessaies was coming," Hermione asked. It was clear that she was confused.

"Well, something hot came up with Sturdy Grower and she had to be there, so she sent me It was a good thing you came looking for me anyway."

"What?" Neville? What was he up to?

"I can't go into it right now, and it has to have the Mother Eminence's full attention."

This was something. Hermione noticed that Annika had referred to Tessaies as 'Mother Eminence,' and not by name. Whatever it was, it was something important if Annika was being this serious. She started to ask a question before her mother could and both were cut off by the Short-Snout's next questions. It all came out in a torrent.

"Did you know dragons hear much better than humans and we hear a lot of interesting things here? Rhiain heard about this first and we all want to know. What's a Yule Ball, why does Harry need a date, and what does a date do? Is it a mating ritual before fertilizing eggs? Can I help? Can I watch? The Speaker needs to rebuild his House, right? Do you remember that I want to see more drakons with those beautiful green eyes and your hair? Is fourteen too many or would just twelve do? I'm so excited! This is great!" Annika babbled, her exhilaration brightening the blues of her eyes.

Hermione was struck dumb and her mouth hung open in shock. She didn't notice her mother snickering at her reaction, if more than a little uncomfortably.

|:-:|

Neville stood, silently watching the blazing bier. The glowing runes in his hands dimly illuminated the slim hands that were wrapped in his fingers as Luna stood cradled in his arms. Neither knew that the gleam in their eyes wasn't completely a reflection of the dancing flames. The dragons knew, however. They could see the silvery edge in her eyes and the brown edge in his, and unlike the humans, they could also see the magics of the pair attenuating the fury of the bier's destruction in both heat and light as it reached out for them.

The two stood mere feet away, watching the form of Barty Crouch, Junior find its new form as so many scattered ashes with the help of dragonfire. Neville's family magic had reached out to surround the man as the first flame found him to keep him aware as he was destroyed. There was no sound other than the wood burning, but it was clear that the Death Eater was finding his death to be less than pleasant. As his parents suffered, so too would the Death Eater and then some.

Luna stood silently, her magic supporting his. There was a flicker in her mind which surprised her, a glimpse of a list of names with one marked off with a blood-red tick mark. She recognized that name and knew that he who answered to it would answer no more. Her silvery eyes narrowed in satisfaction even as her hands moved to caress Neville's. She knew that there would be payback for the other names on that list and if she had anything to say about it, Neville would never have to worry about her help with them.

In that moment, their magics crystallized together. Neither noticed, but the Longbottom and Lovegood family magics took stock of each other and found themselves finally ready for battle. They reached out, searching for the two allies that they knew they needed.

In Devon, Xenophilius Lovegood dropped his red pencil and sobbed in relieved joy as he felt the family magic move. He got up and danced a jig that had anyone watched, would have had firecalls being made to St. Mungos for fear of something terribly wrong with the eccentric man. The Floo activity would have been doubled had anyone heard the celebratory singing he started doing. Unfortunately for him, the musical ability in his small family rested entirely with Luna. As it were, there were no onlookers save for a few chickens that decided to dance along with him. It made for a noisy celebration, not that the chickens knew what they were celebrating or even cared.

In London, Augusta Longbottom stopped her speech on the floor of the Wizengamot, put her hand to her heart, and sighed. This immediately started fears that the elderly woman was suffering a heart attack, but the confusion was really going wild when she screamed something in Old Norse and gave the largest smile anyone had ever seen her with. At that point there were more than a few in attendance that were scared out of their minds. It was a reasonable assumption of many there, since they thought she was simply incapable of smiling and this surely meant that the world was coming to an end. Many thoughts were given to wills, whether they had been sufficiently updated, and whether there was time to get that done before whatever was going to happen happened.

In front of the young ones on the Quidditch Pitch standing completely unaware of the flow of their magic, the flames deferred to that and burned everything within them to the finest ash either had ever seen.

|:-:|

It had been a long time since Albus Dumbledore had sat in class on the Hogwarts grounds. Sure, there had been the monitoring and evaluation that he'd done for countless professors – usually the DADA professors – but that didn't count. It was as a student that he dimly remembered.

There were quite a few of the Hogwarts students there. Maybe a quarter, of all four houses combined. He noticed that there wasn't as much division as he'd expect – he saw several clumps of students with mixes of houses. It was odd to see a few Slytherins seated with the occasional Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs looked to be spread out around the audience, it seemed, although the Ravenclaws had commandeered a prime patch of ground in easy view of the old dragon's pad. There weren't many blue-trimmed students apart from their own kind, but they were there and ready to learn, it appeared.

In fact, everyone was in readiness to take copious notes.

He traded looks with Minerva's grinning face.

"See something you didn't expect to see?"

"I… I have to say, no, I didn't. Expect to see, I mean to say."

He looked at the old dragon, examining him in interest. It was clear that Master Xiang-Zhai was due respect, if Quiangya's posture nearby meant anything. He thought about what he could remember about the Asian culture's thoughts on instruction or at least the human versions. There was one saying that came to mind that said 'the instructor has no pockets.' From the way that the younger Fireball was acting to take care of whatever the elderly dragon needed, this must apply to dragons as well.

Master Xiang-Zhai was a bit thin, as dragons went. He had the streaks of age on his scales and wasn't as vivid as Quiangya was. There was a group of tendrils that looked almost like a beard, shockingly white, and brighter than his own beard. He didn't know why that thought came to him, but from the slow way that the dragon moved up to the lounge area of the Dragon's Lecturn and draped his forearms onto it with a sigh, it was easier to commiserate with him. Old wizard and old dragon – both had age-related aches and pains.

"Is everyone here?" Master Xiang-Zhai's translated voice was deep and even, with just a few quavers. He had green eyes like Quiangya, but there was a distinct fading of the color they shared and every so often the old dragon squinted. For a moment, Dumbledore wondered if he would appreciate a dragon-sized pair of half-moon spectacles.

Most of the audience shouted that they were and anxious to get started. They seemed happy to see him.

"Good, good. I see that Professor McGonagall has returned and brought a guest with her. If I am not badly mistaken, he happens to be the Headmaster of this fine school. Welcome, sir."

Heads turned, looking for him. Dumbledore stood up and waved, then gave the old dragon a respectful bow. Master Xiang-Zhai nodded in return and waited for the Headmaster to find his seat again.

"Today, children," Dumbledore reflected for a moment that to this dragon and his apparent age compared to the Hogwarts dragons he himself was a child. "Building upon my last lecture here, we will be discussing the effects gravitational constants have upon mass and volume in order to compute density and how to apply the results to the process we call 'motion.' This will be implied motion, actual motion, and applied motion. This will also be motion related to physical states and temporal states. Notes will be required, as I will be referring to today's lecture upon my return. I have seven other lectures in this series as well, so write well."

The faded green eyes cast around the open area and nodded in approval as the rustling noise indicated more parchments being slid under the ones already in place. Dumbledore was a bit surprised to see McGonagall taking her own notes. She seemed almost as excited as the students.

"The concept of 'mass' is not a new one and has bearing on many things you find familiar such as what you know as charms and transfiguration…"

The old dragon went into his lecture. He discussed various concepts and linked them to both muggle sciences and magical theory, invited questions, and suggested avenues of research. He also demonstrated simple experiments using Quiangya as his research assistant. One such experiment tied into two others to demonstrate the link between mass, gravity and time, according to draconic scientific theory.

Throughout the whole lecture, there was the never-ending scratch of quills on parchment.

Albus Dumbledore was surprised when he next looked at his odd watch and saw that an hour and a half had passed and everyone was packing up to leave, with a few lining up to greet the old dragon and ask further questions. He turned to his Deputy, who was smirking at him with a knowing look on her face.

"That… that was…"

"One of the most interesting lectures you've ever had?"

"Yes…"

He wandered off, still shocked. Albus Dumbledore would be up late tonight thinking about this.