I don't own either Harry Potter or Dungeons and Dragons. They belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.

8 – AN UNEXPECTED REUNION

"Are you sure about this?" Daranni asked Bahamut.

"It has to be done" said Bahamut, "as much for my own peace of mind as for his sake. I owe it to him. And it needs to be done now before the general press announcement about us is released."

"All right" said Daranni, "but I'm going with you."

"It's not dangerous" said Bahamut.

"I have my own reasons" said Daranni.

"Very well" said Bahamut, "let's go before I change my mind.

Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts, was not a happy man. This was nothing new. Honestly he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt happy – if he ever had. Unfortunately, with the new school year only three weeks away he was extra unhappy because this upcoming year would see the arrival at Hogwarts of Harry Potter, the son of his hated rival James Potter. No doubt the child would be an arrogant spoiled brat who had been pampered his whole life and would strut around Hogwarts like he owned it.

Snape smiled grimly. Not on his watch. Oh no, he would put that Potter spawn in his place. What's more he would enjoy doing it. Revenge would be sweet, even if it was one degree removed from the actual target.

As Snape moved about his potions lab there was a knock on the door.

"Enter" Snape called out. The door opened and Dumbledore came in.

"Ah, Severus" said Dumbledore, "I'm so glad you're here. You have visitors."

"I do?" asked Snape, surprised as he was not expecting anyone, "well send them in."

"I'm afraid you'll have to go outside to see them my boy" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling more than usual, "they're not exactly able to come down here to see you."

"What do you mean they can't come down here?" said Severus in annoyance, "who are these people."

"Oh I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise" said Dumbledore, twinkling even more than before (if that was possible) "but I would strongly urge you to make haste to meet them. They're not the sort of guests you should keep waiting."

"Fine" said Snape as he went to the nearby sink to wash his hands, "I'll be up soon."

"I'll let them know" said Dumbledore and he left the room.

A few minutes later Snape headed up from the castle dungeons to the front door of Hogwarts, his robes billowing out behind him and a sneer on his face as he went to greet his guests. He went through the front door of Hogwarts –

– And stopped dead where he was as he saw his guests for the first time.

"Greetings Professor Severus Snape" said a deep voice. Snape looked up, up, up until he saw the heads of the two biggest dragons he had ever seen in his life. One had platinum scales and the other was silver. Instinctively he stepped back and reached for his wand.

"Relax" said the platinum dragon, "we mean you no harm. We simply wish to speak with you. I am King Bahamut of Mt. Celestia and this is my mate Queen Daranni."

"Greetings professor" said Daranni. Her own eyes twinkled as if laughing at some secret joke.

"Greetings your majesties" said Snape with a slight bow, "please forgive my manners but I was not expecting to meet anyone like the two of you."

"Do you know of us?" asked Bahamut.

"Yes, but only as legends" said Snape, "I did not realize you were real. To what do I owe your visit?"

"That is telling" said Bahamut, "come walk with us Professor so that we may talk more comfortably."

The three of them moved away from the front doors of Hogwarts. They walked until they reached the shore of the lake. Well Bahamut and Daranni walked quite slowly and Snape walked as quickly as he could to keep up with them, even breaking out into a jog now and then.

"This will do" said Bahamut as he looked around the area, "it's been a long time since we were last here my dear" he said to Daranni who just nodded. Bahamut turned back to look at Snape who was now standing looking up at him.

"Severus Snape" said Bahamut, "the reason I have come here today is to apologize to you for my actions against you in the past."

Snape's eyes widened in shock. Of all of the things Bahamut might have said to him an apology was not one he was expecting – and he didn't even know what the dragon was apologizing to him for.

"I, I don't understand" said Snape in a halting manner, "I'm not aware of any actions that you have taken against me."

"No you wouldn't be" said Bahamut calmly, "but you will. Allow me to tell you a little story. I think you'll find it to be enlightening." Snape nodded.

"The legends about us are true" said Bahamut, "I am the king of what people refer to as 'good' dragons and Daranni has been my mate and queen for many thousands of years. As you probably realize we are immortal.

"Now and then I like to incarnate myself into a mortal body and live a mortal life. This gives me a better understanding of mortals and the lives they lead. As an immortal, and a god as well, it is very easy to lose perspective on the lives of those whom I rule and those who worship me.

"I have done this numerous times on many different worlds. When I do this I seal away all of my memories up until that point behind an unbreakable mental barrier. What this means is that while I live that mortal life I have no knowledge of any other life or recollection that I am anything other than what I appear to be at that time. After my mortal life ends I return to Mt. Celestia, resume my true form, and regain all of my sealed memories.

"Are you following me so far?"

"Yes" said Snape and he was beginning to understand what was going on, "the only reason I can think for you to tell me this is that in your last mortal life you must have been someone I knew."

"You always were a clever one Severus" said Daranni, "normally when my mate lives a mortal life I stay behind on Mt. Celestia and rule as his regent. This time, however, I went with him. You knew both of us rather well."

Snape stared at them both in shock, his mind racing. Why were they telling him this? Unless – it would explain – Could they possibly have been – ?

"Were you my parents?" he finally said. Daranni gave him a sad smile.

"No Severus" she said a little sadly, "we were not your parents."

"It would almost be easier if we had been your parents" said Bahamut with a wry chuckle, "but no, I was not your father and Daranni was not your mother. Can you not think of anyone else that you knew whom is now dead that you might want – ?" Bahamut stopped and looked at Snape in an expectant manner. Snape looked back in bewilderment for a long moment before it suddenly snapped into place and his eyes got wide.

"Potter!" he snarled in sudden anger and surprise, "you're James Potter!"

"No" said Bahamut sternly, "I was James Potter, but I am not now. There is a big difference."

"Do tell" sneered Snape, "have you come back to torment me that even death can't stop you? Isn't it enough that you made my life hell for years? And that you stole away the girl I loved and got her killed? Can't you leave me in peace even now?"

Bahamut sighed.

"Have you forgotten what I said earlier?" asked Bahamut, "when I live a mortal life all of my memories from before then are sealed away so I have no knowledge that I am anything other than what I appear to be. Hence when you knew me I was only James Potter and nothing else.

"And that is why I am here Severus, and why I came apologize to you. I am Bahamut, king of the good dragons. I am lawful good and I stand for the good and the light. If I had known who and what I really was back when I was James Potter I never would have treated you the way I did. What's more I also would have stopped the other Marauders from treating you as we did. True, you did give as good as you got – and I commend you for defending yourself – but it doesn't change the fact that what we did to you was wrong!

"Furthermore, most of the time we were the aggressors. Four on one is not good odds or fair at all. I cannot speak for Sirius, Remus, or Peter but for myself I am deeply of ashamed of what we did to you. We were bullies to you and there is no excuse for that. For what it is worth I am very sorry."

At this Severus Snape had to stop in surprise. This was not James Potter behavior at all. The James Potter he remembered would never have apologized to him like this. He would never have admitted to being wrong at all. No, to James Potter he was just 'Snivellus,' his Slytherin enemy and potential Death Eater, even if he had saved his life from a werewolf once.

There was a long silence as Snape stood before the two dragons, his mind whirling as his hatred for James Potter warred with the fairer part of his mind that was glad to receive an apology from the likes of Bahamut.

"Severus" said Daranni quietly, "I must apologize too."

"Lily" said Severus suddenly as he looked at her, "you were Lily."

"I was" said Daranni lowering her head in acknowledgment. Snape's face heated up and he looked away from Daranni.

"I'm sorry" he muttered.

"I forgave you a long time ago" said Daranni.

"What do you have to apologize to me about?" asked Snape in a low voice.

"Even if we hadn't fallen out" said Daranni, "I could never have been yours. This has nothing to do with you. I am Bahamut's mate and he is mine. Throughout time and all planes of existence we are bound. We are one. That is why I must apologize. I know you loved me – but it could never have been and for that I am sorry."

There was a long silence at this point as the two dragons looked at Snape and waited for his response. As for the potions master he seemed to not know what to say for a while. He didn't know how to feel about any of this so eventually he fell back into his usual snarkiness to hide his confusion.

"So this makes it all better?" Snape finally sneered at the two dragons, although without his usual malice.

"That's up to you" said Bahamut, "I can't force you to forgive me. Only you can decide that for yourself. However I can say this." Bahamut placed his head down until it was right in front of Snape. His expression became truly frightening at that moment. The professor stepped back a few steps as he realized that the dragon king could have swallowed him whole if he wished.

"Don't even think" Bahamut hissed, "of trying to revenge yourself on Harry for what I and others did to you. If you want to continue to hate me that is your choice. But Harry never harmed you. Harry wasn't even born yet. You've never even met him. I will never countenance you taking out your anger on him. I am good – but good doesn't necessarily mean nice. Consider yourself warned."

"Severus" said Daranni now placing her head alongside Bahamut's, "I forgive you for calling me a mudblood. I also forgive you for any other things you might have done in the war that could have impacted me. I will not forgive you if you try to pick on my son."

"So what then?" sneered Snape, falling back into his usual way of emotional self-defense, "we should just let him strut around Hogwarts like he owns the place? Another arrogant spoiled pampered princeling Potter who thinks he's above the rules?"

"Certainly not!" roared Bahamut, "legitimate discipline is one thing and neither of us has a problem with that, but bullying will not be tolerated."

"And my son is in no way spoiled or pampered" said Daranni, "neither of us would allow that. Yes he is a prince. It's called circumstances of birth. Deal with it Severus. He does live a good life but we have not pampered him. He knows well the value of a good education and we both instilled a good work ethic in him. He knows that despite his position things will not simply be handed to him."

"Spoiled pampered princes usually grow up to be tyrants" said Bahamut, "I will not tolerate that in any of my children and Harry is no exception."

"My mate and I came here today to try to mend fences with you" said Daranni, "we wanted to tell you the truth now. In a few days the truth about Harry will become common knowledge. Despite what you may think, Severus, I do still care a bit about you and I didn't want you to be blind-sided by the news. I urge you to think about what we've discussed. And one more thing in case you're still thinking of ignoring our warning about leaving Harry alone. In addition to us Harry also has an aunt who is very fond of him and will not take kindly to any abuse he might suffer. She will respond much more harshly than either Bahamut or I will if Harry is attacked."

"Oh?" asked Snape, still sneering a little, "and who would this aunt be Lily? I know it's not your sister Petunia."

"No" said Bahamut, "she's actually my sister Tiamat – oh I see you've heard of her" Bahamut added as he saw Snape's eyes go wide and his jaw start to drop. "She doesn't like me any more than you did" the dragon continued, "but as my mate said she likes Harry a lot. Trust me, you really don't want to piss her off."

"I think we're done here" said Daranni, "there's nothing more to discuss. Think about what we said Severus. Really think about it, and try to let the past go, for your own sake at least."

"Goodbye Severus" said Bahamut, "I suggest you take several steps back away from us unless you want to be unceremoniously taken to my palace when we leave. I'd send you right back here but you might not enjoy it."

"Dear, don't tease him" said Daranni before turning back to Snape, "goodbye Severus. Believe it or not it was good to see you again. Take care of yourself."

A bright light was starting to appear around the two dragons and it got brighter very quickly. Automatically Snape took several steps away from Bahamut and Daranni and threw his hands up to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

A moment later and the light was gone. Snape uncovered his eyes to find that both dragons had completely vanished. The only sign that they had been there at all were the large footprints in the ground.

Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts, scowled as he thought over the conversation he had just had. What was he going to do now about Harry Potter?

"Do you think it helped?" asked Daranni as she and Bahamut reappeared in their palace.

"I don't know" said Bahamut, "I guess we'll find out in time."

"Thank you for not calling him 'Snivellus' today" said Daranni.

"James Potter would have done that" said Bahamut, "that really isn't a nice nickname. I won't use it again."

The two dragons went to the back terrace of the palace and watched the scenery pass by for a while.

"Do you think we should have told Severus that Harry really doesn't need to be protected from him?" asked Daranni, "he's already more powerful than Severus is."

"Yes but he's also still a child" said Bahamut, "and Snape is a teacher."

"Very true" replied Daranni, "very true."

(To Be Continued)

A/N - So an inevitable meeting with Professor Snape has just happened. But will he heed the warnings and leave Harry alone? We shall see in due time (actually I haven't decided about this. There are story possibilities either way. What do YOU think?)