A/N: Hey guys!! Sorry for getting back to this late, but I've been in a creative block for a while now. I don't ever want to abandon my stories, so I've been trying to push through, but I will still need time to get back into the swing of things. I will be posting more chapters of each of my stories as time goes on, but please bare with me. This chapter is a bit shorter, but it's here nonetheless so I hope you enjoy! :3

Chapter 34: Shifts

Christmas was a peaceful day, although his gem's family had taken to placing mistletoe near them and the only place they were safe from the teasing and giggling of Winona and Oli was outside. Severus took the time to placate his mate, he hadn't wanted to cause a misunderstanding with the teen.

"Rie, I simply cannot keep this up. If I kiss you one more time I am going to go mad." He explained, eyes trained on his mates plush lips.

"Well, maybe I want you to..." The siren smiled mischievously, stepping towards her mate as she revealed a piece of mistletoe from behind her back.

"I would suggest you keep that back there darling." The man said in warning, a low rumbling purr accompanying his words. He knew that if his little mate so much as got chest to chest with him, he'd waste no time in ravishing her.

Rie seemed to understand that as she then decided to banish the small plant, her face caught by a heavy blush. The mistletoe had caused her to want even more from her mate, so she knew that she had to reign it in lest they wind up stuck to one another for the next week or so in a daze of hormones and heat.

Soon enough they come to a conclusion on what to do with their time. Or really it was Severus that came up with the idea, and over the rest of the break, Severus helped Rie continue learning how to naturally shift fully.

He was much more patient now than when they were in the room of requirement for their horcrux research. It would have to be done, seeing as any advantages they could gather now would help them in the final battle. Rie was having trouble picturing what she looked like in her draconic form, and could only remember what little she'd seen from her trip into her core.

Severus was unsure of what to do to help her, until the teen admitted that she'd only really seen a few parts of herself. She could remember her scales, and how easily they covered everything, but when she tried all she managed was scales all over her human form. She hadn't known how to find her own height, or what she looked like from any other angle than from her own eyes.

It led to her mate sharing his memory of her form, but even with the new visual it still took the teen over a month to fully accomplish the transformation.

Harry was back at Hogwarts by then, and the only time he and Severus got to practice was late at night in the room of requirement. That meant that by the time Harry got back to his dorms to sleep, he only had around five hours of rest. It started to eat into his days, where he was unable to control himself, blowing out smoke at little inconveniences or baring his fangs at minor annoyances.

The teen redoubled his attempts to learn better control, pushing himself further on the weekends and less during the weekdays, which worked well. Balancing his schedule made it loads easier to calm down, and meditation gave the teen time to visualize his form outside of practice.

Though it wasn't until the second week of February on the eleventh, that Harry finally made a breakthrough. He had been wrong in how he saw himself. Instead of taking his mates memory and using that as his only reference, he instead asked the man if he could shift and stand a few feet back.

Inside the room of requirement looked a lot like the swirling masses of black and grey that tangled in his core, bringing forth the look of a forest as it had in his dream. Behind him was a light that he was happy to note looked a lot like his core without the actual shape of it or the bond threads manifesting.

There Severus stood a few feet back as he shifted into his own draconic form, and suddenly Harry felt like he knew. He needed more than just what he looked like, he needed to compare the memory to his mate first. It still took a few days to get there, but with the added visual of his mate standing behind him, that same feeling of calm rushing through his veins, and the sense of strength that he was now able to pull upon, he completed his shift.

It was hard, he felt his bones aching, cracking, stretching. Breaking and reforming, but he kept his mind on the memories. Making sure to remember how his scales glinted in the light of his core, how his legs moved with a much heavier weight, and how his head felt heavier from his horns.

Soon standing in the place of a teenage boy was the body of a young dragon. The success after so long caused the teen to chirp and almost prance in place. The way he moved was fairly graceful, up until he tried to walk.

It was easier in his dream, because now when he moved he had to make sure his limbs moved in the right way. It only took a minute, to settle into the instinct, but it wasn't until he turned that he saw a mirror reflecting exactly what he'd looked like.

His body was thinner and a bit smaller than his mate, his scales brighter than he remembered. The two pairs of horns on his head were long and winding, the ivory bones glinting in the light. His head came up to his mates shoulder, much like it was in their human forms. His eyes were eerie and calculative, but still held a soft warmth to them. His claws were sharp deadly points, but unlike Severus' claws-- which were pitch black-- his own were an ivory similar to his horns.

It drew his attention to their wings as well. His mate was all darkness in comparison, the blue of his wings easy to miss in dim or dark lighting, but Harry's wings almost had a radioactive looking glow, the light obsidian and green skin catching whatever light it could.

He felt a connection to this version of himself forming. It was small and grew larger the more he moved and got used to this new body. As he shuffled his wings, or turned his neck. From the small puffs of smoke indicating his satisfaction and his mates responding one in pride.

By the time they left the room that day, Harry was beyond satisfied with his progress. Not to mention excited for valentimes day. He wanted to see what his mate would get him, and he was more than ready to exchange gifts.

The teen knew his mate would use the day as an excuse to get him something. It was a matter of possessive instincts, and the man relenting to Harry, who wanted to know why others loved that particular holiday. It meant that as the next two days passed the smaller male was nearly vibrating out of his seat.

In classes everything was finished early and correctly. Rie had too much energy and it was easy to put it towards school, rather than shifting and flying over the castle just yet. Harry knew he could fly, it was almost second nature when he first used his wings, but at this moment, he just wanted the 13th to end.

Halfway through the walk to his last class, the teen was struck by a sudden strange sense of how much he had done, but how little it all seemed to matter in the long run.

He knew that he would need to go through more than his normal classes to prepare himself for the war. He was strengthening his mind and body, learning new strengths and weaknesses. He was learning the extents of his bonds, and even just his raw magic. He still had a ways to go, and he would need more time than he could get, but he wanted to make the most of the time he has.

So with those swarming thoughts the day ended, and Harry was left feeling a little adrift.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

The next day, St. Valentines day, was eventful for all the wrong reasons.

Severus awoke with a sense of dread in his chest. More than just that of watching adults and children alike play at love and destroy fickle bonds with half hearted words. More than the dread of walking into the great hall to see reds, purples, pinks, and whites strewn all about the ceiling in a false sunrise. Or the very same colors decorating the walls and house tables.

No, this dread was one that sinks in slowly, like mud that slides through your fingers while you grapple for purchase on a cliff. This was cloying, a deep seeded instinct that Severus knew more than well.

So all of that morning and throughout the rest of the day, the man made sure to keep a keen eye on his surroundings. His mate was one of his main recipients, though he kept his senses just as open to others.

His mate enjoyed the breakfast Severus had prepared, and whilst the man let his nerves over the first part of his nearly forgotten plan pass, he observed the rest of the hall.

There was to be no ball or festivities for this quote unquote holiday, seeing as the last one only succeeded because the one before was such a failure. All Hallows Eve had been a monumental moment in the sememster, for the amount of arrests coming from Hogwarts, and not much else. Yule was only successful because no one wanted a repeat, or for visitations to be revoked in light of another investigation.

Too many criminals had seen fit to come out of the cracks this year, and it was hardly over yet.

No, for even his classes carried the sense of dread. Several students left his class after misusing spells, either going of towards the hospital wing, or knowing that next year they would be lucky to see even a glimpse of DADA on their timetables.

The ill-begotten feeling persisted, and lunch passed, his mate finally being given his gift. It was a long box filled with a bouquet of yellow tulips that was held together by a snake shaped bangle, along with a bag of muggle snacks, and a few shining rocks and gems Severus knew his little siren would cherish. The flower's literal meaning was written along a small card inside the bag, and after the teen read it, he turned his smile, so full of sunshine, towards his plate.

After that however, the day seemed to finally reach its breaking point. The students were readying themselves for the last half of the school day, when Severus felt a burning sensation shoot up his arm and grip his heart.

The Dark Lord was displeased with something in particular it seemed, though what was still unknown.

Across the dining hall, where his mate was dragging his feet, unwilling to leave just yet with his peers, Harry's eyes went wide and he staggered towards the house table blindly. There was nothing to be disrupted as all of the plates and items usually used for the meals had already been taken away, but the teen still managed to smack his head against the wood on his way down.

Dumbledore was on his feet in only moments, the old man taking less time than one would expect to get to a student as far away as Harry had been.

Severus swallowed the pain and followed the headmaster, speaking in hushed tones about the flare in the dark mark corresponding to Potter's outburst.

He didn't bother to act unaffected, instead letting his pain put a deterrent on how he was outwardly seen. A dark sneer covered his face, eyebrows set in a dark eerie frown. HIs mate was in pain, and he needed to check on him before anything else.

Another jolt of fiery pain raced through him, and at this point he knew that it was deliberately being used to deter him. What had gotten to the dark Lord so heavily, that it was being let though the dark marks and Harry's connection to Voldemort?

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Severus took no time to look back at his mate in the hospital wing, only sweeping through to his quarters and grabbing his death eater garb. Taking a secret passage out through his office, the dragon made sure to stick to the shadows as he left the school grounds to see what was happening.

As soon as he was out of the wards' range, he apparated away to Malfoy manor.

He was not the only one to arrive then it seemed, as many had just popped into the opulent manor grounds just after him. Making it into the estate, and through to where the dark lord was hunched over sheets upon sheets of ink blotted parchment, Severus bowed to the half man.

He did not speak, he did not draw any attention to himself, but when Riddle noticed him, the snake smiled. It was a sharp, jagged thing, with no happiness or joy to it, only shards of smug triumph littered through mulish anger.

"Sseverusss, how happy I am to ssee you, however you are late." He knew what to expect but then, and blocked his mind from the effects of the Cruciatus curse.

After explaining his tardiness as having to do with the Potter brat fainting for attention after lunch, and having to be seen to, he was accepted closer to what the resurrected man had upon the table.

On the piece of lavish furniture was stacks of Daily Profit articles in which the public is happy to hang off of Potter's every word. The articles describing how he was a poor, heart crushed victim, who could not catch a break. As well as a ruined piece of metal that Severus recognized as the horcrux Albus had destroyed. How had Riddle gotten his hands back on the ring? It did not matter however, as by then others trickled into the room.

Voldemort had no use for them however, and after extensive punishments for their late reaction times, they were sent away. And as soon as it was just Severus and Tom in the room, the reptilian man turned a bright gleaming look upon the dragon.

"My dear Potions Master, have you any knowledge of a Horcrux?" He spoke softly-- deceptively.

"Only minimal knowledge my Lord, it was something I once looked into about a decade ago."

"And why were you looking?" This too was asked in a faux saccharine manner.

"I believed it may have been beneficial for you my lord, but nothing came of my research, and I had no reason to bring you false and incomplete information." Severus replied without missing a beat. He knew the man beside him was fishing for more information than Severus could give.

"Well, Severus, Horcruxes are indeed real, and I must find new vessels formy own. Their current ones are a bit too on the nose." The dragon didn't even blink at the unintentional pun, and instead listened to Voldemort go on and on about how his soul had been split too many times, and that he still had no idea where the last fragments had gone.

He was trapped in a one on one conversation with the Dark Lord, suggesting new vessels and subtly trying to find out anything he could. Riddle was tight lipped about any information he may have had, however it helped eliminate what it could have been.

In all when well over an hour had passed, Voldemort released him from his company.

"Severus." He was called before leaving the room. This was the moment that could go infinitely wrong, he could be killed, or apprehended, tortured, or something of the like.

Instead that unbearably sweet tone was back in Tom's voice, and he was thanked for his time, and as he accepted the words and returned the sentiment he was Obliviated.

Many details of the night had been blocked, but even then Severus knew what had been done to him. He prided himself on his mental control, and the blanks in his mind were too obvious, despite the subtle spell work used.

"Continue to befriend the Potter boy, and once you find out the identity of his mate, bring them to me."

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Back at Hogwarts, Harry was still unconscious, and his friends were unable to visit him as he was in a delicate state. Between having fits of uncontrolled thrashing, and ear splitting wails leaving him periodically, he had to be contained in a sterile sound proof room.

Madame Pomfrey was beyond herself trying to help her patient, and along with the Headmaster and Filius, the three brainstormed possible answers.

Harry's head or house was highly concerned. This was not his first time being called to the hospital wing for Mr. Potter, but it was apparently the most dire he had seen in a while. Anyone who tried to get close to him was left with painful migraines and ringing ears, even though the affects of the teens Siren call should have been numbed heavily by Albus' silencing spells.

The teens screams broke through the sound barrier around him, and the three Professors were baffled at his ability. These were still his fledgling years according to their research, and he should not have been as powerful as he was.

Simply for the fact that Harry Potter was known to be contrary to the norm, his abilities were either developing fast, or simply would be too powerful for another wizard to control. It was a thought that when shared made the three uncomfortable.

The golden boy had a very real possibility of driving himself and others mad, and two of the only people whom they knew could help were unavailable. They still had no clue who the Saviors mate was, and his mentor was out of the castle for an indefinite period of time.

Harry's mother was able to put aside time, but could only be within Castle grounds for a quarter hour.

While she was there, her child seemed to calm down. He looked her in the eyes and spoke to her, but even she was unable to decipher his babbling pleas.