A/N: Hello everybody!! I only have a couple things to say this time before we get stuck into it. First is that Harry is Bi-gender, which is relevant because he has no idea what to call himself, but he will soon. Secondly, I have plans that go way beyond Harry's seventh year, it's just taking me a while to get there and I wanna apologize.

Finqlly, please stay tuned while things begin to ramp up and we get closer to the end of the second wizarding world war. I own nothing from the HP series except my own plot and characters, but I hope you guys like it enough to read, follow, and leave me a review.

Much Love,

-Xenia

Chapter 33: Whirlwind

Somewhere near the end of December, Harry found himself stumbling into the next big part of his life. After his near death experience on Halloween he had become infinitely more alert and even a bit paranoid. He was much more introverted than normal, and had only really spoken to a few people outside of his immediate friend group.

The time he was able to spend with his mate since that weekend after he woke up was less than he'd hoped to get too, and Voldemort was steadily regaining his strength. The hybrid had had one vision since then, and in it he only found that Tom needed more raw strength before he could even hope to return each piece of his soul to his new body. It would grant him more power, at the cost of becoming less than completely immortal.

It was a double edged sword, and even after hearing that Dumbledore had found and destroyed one, leaving two out of commission, Harry still felt the pressure.

Tonight was another night that he was unable to spend with his mate, and even falling asleep had been a battle. Their bond was so dependent on being able to at the very least see each other, that on days like these neither dragon would get any rest. Problems would continue to arise, as they hadn't even been able to relax around one another in private. Severus would always have something new added to his workload, and Harry was having trouble picking up where he left off.

Nothing was going as smoothly as the teen would like and it was finally starting to show. He was snapping at anyone who got too close, and sometimes even his friends were in the line of fire. He'd only blown smoke at the worst of it so far, but the strength of their bond called for physical contact. Contact that even speaking to one another through their bond couldn't replicate. They were so busy trying to get ahead of their work and research that the two had even begun to snap at one another.

Like always, thoughts about their tiffs always bring the hybrid back to the last time they had gotten together. Harry had been trying to find a way to access his raw magic. The main goal was to find his core so that the group could attempt to destroy the horcruxes remotely, while keeping him alive. Severus was the only one there at the time. Hermione and Neville had been unable to show up, but it should have been ok. The teen suspected his friends had backed out of the meeting to give the two mates some time alone finally, but it blew up spectacularly.

More than anything Rie had been distracted, earning small comments like 'Foolish girl!' or 'Concentrate!'. The process of finding her magical core had been so wrought with anger that she couldn't even fathom what it looked like. The situation devolved from there, leaving Harry angry and emotionally wounded, and her mate wasn't much better off.

And of course it was a night like this, when the teen was alone, ruminating over his relationships, and extremely exhausted that he'd stumble apon his own magical core. It wasn't something he knew immediately. It wasn't a telling moment or a bright neon sign that pointed it out to him. No, it started when he had finally managed to exhaust himself. Harry fell diagonally onto his comforter, not bothering to get beneath the blankets or even lay down properly.

He would have to be up for classes in less than four hours anyway. It had almost sort of become the norm, being in a state of near constant exhaustion and a horrid temper. But what wasn't normal was waking up deep in what looked to be the forbidden forest. He was struck by the sudden turn of events. The moon was bright above him, but the forest itself was cloaked in an abyss of inky blackness. It felt off. And as he tried to back away from the ominous rustling movements coming from deep in the bushes, he felt a force behind him.

The hybrid turned, seeing nothing but darkly shadowed trees. No animals or insects chirped or skittered. No sounds reached him, even as he saw the bushes sway in the wind, he couldn't really feel anything either, besides the thick invisible boarder that kept him from taking even one step backwards. It was then when he realized what was going on.

From what he had read, weren't magical cores meant to be some sort of blank place where you could hear, see, or feel nothing save for your own raw magic?

It didn't matter really, as he couldn't hear anything as he moved, could hardly see past his own hands in the dim moonlight. The only thing he felt, despite being barefoot in the grassy area, was the pull of his magic leading him deeper into the night and the push of it against his back.

Eerily silent, and easily unnerving, he could do nothing except follow this urge, this invisible thread until it began to take on the same hue as his and Severus' combined magic.

The twilight blue thread served as another beacon of light, leading the teen past what he could now see wasn't a forest at all. What he had assumed was the forbidden forest, was just a mass of grey magic battling with a dark black magic. Harry didn't want to know why the two were battling, but it was happening all around him. Stopping him in his tracks.

Completely distracted from the push of his magic, and the pull of the thread, Harry watched as the grey and black fought. One would seem to consume the other, before the consumed bit would burst back out. It was never ending, but it gave him chills, seeped into his bones, and he saw a literal patch of darkness wandering towards his feet. Skittering along the ground like a living shadow, it made its languid way towards the teen, causing him to lock up even further.

But now the raw magic pushed him harder, trying desperately to make him move, and finally he listened, sprinting forward and out of the shadows range. It didn't seem to matter as he followed the path lit up by the thread of magic. The blackness raced after him, hot on his trail and nipping at him every few seconds. The grey magic was just behind it, pulling the darker more evil magic back just long enough to restart their war on one another.

Harry didn't care to look back anymore, keeping his eyes forward despite his muscles tensing and his franyic mind practically pleading with him to turn his head and make sure he was truly at a safe distance. Instead he kept running, kept sprinting until he followed the glowing thread of magic into a clearing.

The dim moonlight he had seen, was suddenly right before him, floating just above the ground, and casting a shining bright white light on everything in the clearing. Here he could see that the majority of the large mass of dark baleful magic could no longer come closer, but the grey passed through easily, ushered along with several other colored threads of magic.

Beneath him the floor was sleek and reflective, almost as if it were made of black marble, but everything had a moment of pure peace. He couldn't quite call it a feeling of peace, it was closer to being just the knowledge that right here, nothing horrendous could touch him. Turning back to his core, he took stock of all the threads, wondering if it was safe to touch any of them, or if he were meant to leave after having a little look.

He gave in to his curiosity, touching a sunflower yellow strand that put a memory of Hermione when they first met in his head. It was warm and had a sense of an inescapable bond. It added to his soothed nerves. He went along to the next thread, an electric purple color that shocked him when it brought forth the memory of Ryan. Beside hers was a silver one, and Harry almost wanted to laugh. That one was Draco's, or at least he'd thought so until he touched it, seeing Aubrey's face as she called him over to her and their friends.

After that one was a clear strand of thread, it had a misty look about it, and touching that one revealed Luna. From there he felt a connection to Neville through a bright Gryffindor red thread, Draco from a minty blue thread, and Blaise through an optimistically colored blue thread. Cho was the last from his friends, with a yellow orange thread, and from it he saw her and Cedric at the Yule ball in fourth year.

There were threads that seemed to have been cut, but they were grey and ran into one another forming the defense around his core. There were two that were entwined, for his parents, one that gave him a hazy memory of Sirius when he'd spoken to him over the summer, and beside that was one of a bright amber for Remus. There were the colors for the Dunhills and Khagra, each vibrant and shining with happy memories, a colorful thread for Dobby and a pure amber brown for Hedwig, and the teen felt his eyes water. The glow of the thread that led him here, the one that he now knew for fact belonged to his mate, pulsed and he smiled.

But behind all of them, was a thread that was more like a needle, stabbing it's way into his core. It was deep red, and as it went out into the distance it became blackened and held a sense of dread and pain. Harry touched it nonetheless and was smacked almost literally by the vision of Voldemort standing over his mothers body as an infant.

Backing away from it lessened the dread, but he saw a small patch of black soot where his finger tips had grazed the bond. For that was what all of these threads were. All of his bonds, and he knew that the ones that were blackened were those of forced bonds or burned bridges. It was what made up the expanse of darkness surrounding his core. He had no doubt that the youngest Weasley's were at least two of those bonds.

Molly, Arthur and most of their brood was trying to rebuild his trust in them despite what the youngest two had done. They had tried to apologize, but it wasn't him who he wanted to hear it from. And in all honesty he wanted Ron and Ginny to suffer through the consequences, and for their Parents to realize just how shitty their children were.

Though he hadn't touched anymore blacked threads, he wanted to stay and study it more. Really it fascinated him, but he wasn't sure if it would cause him to stay forever, trapped looking at unpleasant memories. He didn't know how time worked from within himself, so he knew he would have to leave soon just to be safe. The problem was, if he would be able to leave at all with the pressure that was still somewhat persistent at his back.

In the end, his magic decided for him, pushing him not only towards, but into his own core, where the pressure of the raw magic merged with the white ball and seemed to add to the peaceful overtones in the clearing.

Inside he truly felt peace, like he could sink in and forget the pain around him existed. Forget that his problems existed, to just go back to a state of unknowing where no one knew about him and he knew nothing about the world. It was tempting, Merlin it was, but he opened his eyes at the persistent shaking around him and saw beauty.

Outside, his core was a blinding white that promised peace. Inside, his core was full of colors that stretched around the inner walls like neural connections between synapses. It was nice, to just float while surrounded by the magic of his mate, family and friends. To just give in to sleep without heartache or pain at the forefront of his mind.

He stayed this way until he felt more than heard the rustling of the illusion bushes from beyond his core.

[We must go, young one. Wake up.]

A small crack opened in his haven, but he refused to move.

[There is much left to do.] It continued to speak, and another crack formed, breaking through his peace and sending him instantly into a panic.

[I am not your enemy, but we have not long until he arrives... Trust in me and come out young one.]

The cracks slowed to a halt, leaving Harry with a view of what was calling to him.

There, from beyond the darkness, came a dragon. One that he'd never seen, but deep inside he swore he knew.

[Who--?] He opened his mouth to speak, but it was unneeded, his voice echoing around them. Rippling in the spaces between himself and his draconic visitor.

He wondered how the dragon had gotten here, but the calming love in his eyes was unmistakable. The fact that his core had allowed the dragon in rather than it bursting through with brute force was another clue, his groggy brain supplied. But what snapped him into action was the thread coming out of his chest, the same Twilight blue that had come into existence from his and Severus' bond. The same thread that had led him to his core and the safety it represented.

[Come to me, my Rie.] The voice spoke softly this time, a deep and gravelly sound bordering on a roar, and scaring the darkness just that little bit further away.

Harry scrambled to leave the core, chirpping at his mate in his haste to come out. It was like swimming in a never ending lake, and as he went, he had to look into the eyes of his shifted mate, who he instinctively knew could not help him this time. Pushing faster, he banged at the inner walls, forcing out some of whatever kept him floating here. It had felt safe before, but now it clogged up his lungs, and blurred his vision.

It still screamed safety, but now that oxygen was being offered to him-- now that his mate was calling to him-- it felt cloying. So he pulled himself up to the cracks, pieces of which were now falling in past him like ship debris in an ocean, and took the air that he was offered.

He was released from his core, falling onto his bum while watching as the cracks reformed into the pristine shape of his core. It was somehow brighter, fuller even, and when he managed to get up on all fours he noticed that while in shock, he felt stronger as well. The core was thrumming with life, and the teen took the time to see it for what it really was.

Harry Potter Dunhill had just come out of a shiny floating magic egg... It was a shock to be sure, but when he took stock of himself, expecting to be wet or in pain, he only saw an expanse of scale covered muscles, and talons. It took only a second to understand that he wasn't in a humanoid form like normal, or half shifted, rather at the moment he was a full on dragon.

[Rie] Severus called, coming forward now to run a talon along Harry's flank, [You are a thing of beauty.] He sighed, truthful words slipping past his forked tongue like silk, and the teens anger from their argument dissipated a little bit.

Harry still had to look up at his mate in this form. The dragons bright blue tinted black scales had been why the smaller dragon hadn't seen the bigger one coming before now, but the white of his eyes were engulfed in a golden yellow hue, the blue of his irises adding to the bright contrast in the new light, and through that he once again confirmed that this was really his mate.

The teen wondered how exactly he looked, if he was as broad or intimidating as his mate. Were his wings and scales the same softness and deceptively strong as he remembered, were the whites of his eyes still black with acidic green irises? Did he have horns like Severus or would he still never have them.

It really hadn't mattered, because the next moment, his mate is leading him out past his core, drifting further away from it. They kept going for only a minute, the two standing beside one another, and Severus nudging Harry towards a cliff, where the man jumped down, wings unfurling as he disappeared into a mist. Their bond thread was starting to dissipate, but it held firm until Harry himself had the courage to jump, praying that his wings would do the same.

They had, and he too dissapeared into the misty fog only to jolt awake in his bed the next morning.

The teen felt cleansed, and the moments of peace and strength he'd had within of his core held true out here as well. Taking it all in a stilted stride, Harry made his way to the bathroom. He'd be late for breakfast, the last of his group to get there today no doubt, and he'd have to ask his mate if what happened was real.

Which, in all honesty he could do through the bond, but he didn't trust himself not to become hysterical just yet. They would speak on it, later, but for now he examined himself in the mirror.

The teen had been willing it into existence for a couple of years now, but that didn't stop the happy chirp that left him when he saw that he did finally have horns, only they were small and blunt. Little rounded peaks on four places that he could see and feel. Two were just above his forehead, right under his hairline, and the other two he could feel were nestled in his hair a little further back.

Ok, so maybe he manifested a little too much horn or this was meant to be from the start and thus why he had obsessed over it. Either way, he felt somewhat complete, and stepped back to get ready for the day. Today was a new day for Rie, so the teen steeled herself to wear the girls uniform for the first time.

To anyone listening, please wish her luck.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

December ended with a blast, the teen group having a good time at the Yule ball, no incidents or Auror investigations. They all packed to go home for the rest of the holidays, and promised to write each other regularly.

The week leading to Christmas had been memorable as well. Severus came over this year, as they'd finally settled into a new routine. They'd both apologized for their roles in their arguments the same day Harry had discovered his dragon, and took the time to break the news of their bond to his family on Christmas eve.

That night had still been laid back, as his family congratulated them time and again. Their rings had been made visible to the family upon gaining knowledge of the bond, which started a discussion about it and why his mate had chosen those two in particular. Severus had held his mates hand and explained that it was a pair he had eyed for several weeks prior to retrieving them from his vault. He had bought them the day after Harry accepted his claim and put the in his vault to keep safe. He chose the alexandrite and moss agate for the hybrids ring because the two gems reminded him of his mates eyes and luminescent personality. He hadn't said much else about his choice but Harry, in his family's dining room on Christmas eve, could hear the countless unspoken confessions, and swooned a bit more. The next evening the teen was still riding that high, while presents were opened and supper was served.

Harry had gotten to share his room with his mate, where he showed the man his last impromptu present. It wasn't anything too crazy, just the siren wearing an outfit his mate had gifted him earlier that day. The dress was elegant. White, with long sleeves, it had a folded neckline that showed her shoulders and a bit of cleavage, but all in all the long glimmering fabric made her look taller, though that could have been the three inch heels he'd gifted to go along with it. The dress really reminded her of sleeping beauty's gown, sleek and flowy, though there was a knee high slit on the left side that showed off the long lace up straps of her chunky heels.

In all honesty it felt like a wedding dress, and Rie nearly fainted when she looked up at Severus to see if he had thought the same.

The mans eyes glittered, his pupils dilated, and the smaller dragon could physically taste the lust and contentment in the air. It was an intense moment, but then the dragon excused himself to the hall outside of her room. Closing the door behind himself, and she took the time to calm down, undress, and get under her blankets. After around ten minutes, her mate came back and joined her, and they slept with the door left open as her father had insisted they do throughout Severus' stay, much to her amusement. She was a teen with an older mate, so it was understood, but she knew that they were in no rush, and Severus had warned that once they consummated the bond, he would be infinitely more protective and she'd be unable to leave his side for long until it settled.

Neither needed that yet with all the stress they were under, so they settled for chaste kisses stolen under the mistletoe.