Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there are some borderline graphic descriptions of canon non-consensual body modifications & medical experimentation along with a canon near-death incident. Oh, and a fade to black sex scene. Feel free to back out if need be. Also, feel free to check the FAQs on my FFN profile before leaving reviews about anything you dislike (including characterization or length).

Author's Note: This is the "Harry is King Arthur" fairy tale that no one asked for. Share in my crack.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts 2.0 (T04); RAVEN (2024); MC4A (Fa-Yr7)
Individual Challenges: Old Shoes; Sandbox (Y); Crossing Over; Reader; Cinematic; Binger; Graphic; Animated; Gamer; Feathers & Such; Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Greatest Gift; Exchange; Outer Limit; Crack Addict; Salt Wrench; Red Era; Outer; Traveler; Dreamers [x2]; Elder Berries; Immortal MC; Nonhuman MC; Shifter MC; Rian-Russo Inversion [x2]; Military MC; Criminal MC; Bi Bi Bi; Setting Sail; Zippo Remembrance; Hold the Mayo; Changed; Rainbow Connection; Curtain Color; MoD It; SHIELD MC [x2]; Hydra MC; Metahuman MC [x2]; Magical MC; Hogwarts MC; Associates (Y); Condiment Shelf; Xs & Os (Y); Missing Link; Falling Apart; X Rated; Watts; Blood; Feather Head; Shield; Mutable
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Term 04 - Assignment 01
Subject [Task (Prompt): Anthropology [Task#3 (someone who speaks another language)]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Ravenclaw Month [01](Reputation); Library [One Good Knight](Fairy Tale AU); Frenzy [LotR#2](Mountain); Center [79 - Maurice](Loyal); Pokemon [Relicanth](Emerald); Sept Bingo [G-7](Royalty AU)
RAVEN Challenges: A [30](Flying); Traits [84](Stubborn); Colors [07](Blood); Items [25](Duffel Bag); Settings [61](Mountains)
Other MC4A Challenges: Ship (WinZ)[SpMic1 (Fusion/Crossover); SuMic1 (Fusion/Crossover); FaMic1 (Fusion/Crossover; Different Era); FaMed2 (Bathing/Washing)]; Chim [Oatmeal](Protection; "Labour" - Paris Paloma; Yelling/Shouting); Hunt [Fa WD (Jewish); Fa Set (Dangerous); Fa Items (Radio); Fa Review (Creature Fic)]; Fire [Outer Limit; Disphora; Rainbows]; Garden [Ushta (Bucky Barnes); Tahlapi (In a Collection); Hannali (MCU); Pests (Marshmallow Inside); Noter (Shoe); Birds (Knife/Dagger)]; Hang [Phrase#01](n/a)
Representation(s): Desi Harry Potter/Bucky Barnes; Polygot Harry; Jewish Bucky; Pendragon AU; Soul Mark AU; Secret Relationship; Background Poly Ship; Steve vs Harry; Celebrating Surviving; Chim Song Prompt
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Snow Lemon; Bad Beans; Dog Star; Messing w/ Morlocks; Turtle-Duck; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Brooms Only; Lock & Key; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Fizzy Lemonade; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Fire Song; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; No Touchy; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench); Demo 1 (Under the Bridge; Where Angels Fear; Easy Zephyr; Lettuce Hold Hands; Over the Hills; Suddenly Audrey); Demo 2 (Call Me Dantes; Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach; Getting On; Jack's Jollies; Mermaid; Misshapen Pods)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Negate); LiCK (Poppy; Amaranth; Narcissus; Tansy; Yarrow); FR (Satisfaction; Evolution); O3 (Orator; Ox); HoSE (Schooner; Keen); Once (Moses Supposes; Santa Fe; Inchworm); CM (Brier; Unilateral; Yogin); War (Monomania; Orator; Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Avasa; Kulonbozo); Mea (Ennui; Bisect; Rampant)
Space Address (Prompt): Ship 3B (Trapped Together); CM 1D (Anal); SuB 1E (Nectar); AU 5C (WW2); FaB 2A (On a Tain); Set 1B (Trapped);
Word Count: 2008 words

(^^)
Once & Future
(^^)

Once upon a time, there was a man, barely more than a boy, who had been called to fight in a great war. He hadn't wanted to fight. He had many responsibilities at home: a widowed mother, four younger sisters, and an ailing best friend who was as tenacious as he was stubborn. But as much as he wanted to protect them, he could not escape the war.

So off to war James Buchanan Barnes (Bucky to his nearest and dearest at the time) went.

Bucky was exceptionally good at the tasks he was given. Despite being drafted, he rose quickly through the ranks. This was mostly thanks to two conflicting things: his skill as a sniper and his leadership ability. His ability to keep his head in the middle of absolute chaos had been honed in no small part due to having four younger sisters and a best friend who constantly found a fight (and would start one if he couldn't find one).

Neither of those things prevented Bucky from being captured along with most of his unit.

The fort where Bucky was held had prisoners from many places. Some were other military personnel. Some were simply unfortunate civilians picked up from occupied territories. It didn't change how their captors treated any of them. They were all forced to work in the factory until the day that they died or that they were removed to the laboratory in the back of the main building. Those that were taken rarely made it back to the general population.

As prisoners tend to do, Bucky became friends and allies with the other people in his cell. They were a motley crew of misfits that were mainly military, even if they came from different branches as well as different countries. They took care of each other as much as they could under the circumstances. It helped that Gabe Jones spoke French, as Jacques Dernier didn't speak any English when he had been tossed into their cell.

Things took a sharp turn for the worse when Bucky was taken to the laboratory. Armin Zola had a rat-like face, beady eyes, and a paunch. His English was thick with an almost comically bad German accent. He was also every evil thing that had ever been rumored about the Axis Powers. He injected Bucky with some liquid that glowed. Then Zola hooked Bucky to some kind of machine that delivered electric shocks.

While that hurt enough to leave Bucky floating on a hazy cloud, what Bucky was forced to watch Zola do to the prisoner on the other slab was far worse. Bucky thought that the sienna-skinned man was actually dissected at one point, but that couldn't possibly be true. The man was still alive afterwards.

Just when Bucky was becoming convinced that he was going to die on that steel table, the entire compound descended into chaos. Zola ran through the lab, stuffing files into a leather satchel. He only paused long enough to draw a final vial of blood from both of them before running back out. He left both Bucky and the unknown man strapped down to their tables.

Then Stevie was looming over Bucky, but he was different. Drifting as he was and thrown by the carnival-mirror version of his best friend, Bucky nearly allowed Steve to pull him from the room without freeing the other man. But Bucky's soul mark was not a wolf for no reason. Loyalty was infused into the base fiber of his very being.

It was a struggle for Steve to support them both out of the compound. Fortunately, the other man was recovering remarkably fast. It wasn't long before he could take the bulk of Bucky's weight, leaving Steve to run interference with the guards. At one point, Steve left them to run after a few of the guards even. It gave them time to raid a nearby supply room for a few necessities like shirts and shoes. The man even stuffed a duffel bag full of things that Bucky wasn't able to keep track of (though he would be grateful for the backup radio later).

As they were limping through the now-burning building, they met up with some of the men that Bucky had been sharing a cell with before being taken to the lab. Bucky ignored the wet spots on his neck when Dugan did his best to hug him until his insides squeezed out of him like lotion from a tube. Jacques broke up the reunion before it could get any more emotional in a flurry of rapid French that had the man supporting him answering in kind.

Thank the Lord Above that someone else spoke French, and spoke it better than Gabe's stilted academic fluency.

Bucky took quick stock of their options once they reached the yard out front. Just as the men were dividing up to follow Bucky's orders, Steve showed back up. Luckily, he blended right in, causing chaos and mayhem by throwing random things at the enemy guards. It was a matter of moments for the escapees to congregate into three transport trucks and drive through the compound's gate, which had been flung open for the guards' own evacuation. It was a simple matter of turning south while the other trucks turned north.

In the two day drive towards where Steve vaguely remembered being stationed, Bucky grew close to the Indian man who had been tortured beside him. Harry, as he introduced himself, had healed completely by the time they had been forced to rest for the first time. He also seemed just as determined to stick close to Bucky as Bucky was to stay near him. It shouldn't have been a problem, and it wouldn't have been except for how Steve kept trying to pick fights.

Harry responded to Steve with an infuriating mixture of passive aggressive comments and outright ignoring Steve's attempts. There were times when Bucky wanted to knock both their heads together. Then Steve would get his sad puppy eyes that reminded Bucky of all the times Steve had been bedridden during their childhood, or Harry would give Bucky a shy half-grin that reminded Bucky of the boys he had once kissed down by the docks late enough at night that no one would see.

One day shortly after their convoy had arrived at the Allied camp, Bucky walked into the shower facility and caught sight of Harry taking advantage of everyone else being at dinner to shower. It was the first time since the Hydra factory that Bucky had seen Harry without a shirt. As his eyes took in the details of what he was seeing, several things he had previously observed about his new friend slid into place in a different configuration.

Not even the crisscrossing of scars would distort the large soul mark that took up the entirety of Harry's back. The pale gold dragon had its wings outstretched to cover the backs of Harry's arms, and its long tail wrapped around Harry's left leg with the tip resting on Harry's calf just below his knee. Clenched in the dragon's blood-red claws as a gleaming sword and a crown. Harry's emerald eyes glinted as he looked over his shoulder at Bucky. It was both a dare and a warning.

Bucky had never been good at turning away from either.

"You'd probably get Carter to share her tea with ya if you showed her that," Bucky said as he brazenly walked closer. He trailed his fingers over the arch of the right wing. His fingertips tingled from the power coursing through the mark. Harry shuddered but didn't move away. Bucky could feel how interested his own cock was at the idea of touching Harry's wet skin.

"Too bad it's Earl Grey," Harry quipped, sounding a bit choked. "I hate bergamot."

"Isn't that an orange?" Bucky asked as he let his other hand curl around Harry's ribs. His thumb barely missed the downward point of the dragon's sword. Harry shuddered again before slapping one hand at the switch for the knob for the water. Once the spray had been turned off, Harry stood still except for his panting breaths. His hands were braced against the brick wall of the shower stall. Despite the risk of being caught, Bucky dared to lick at one of the water droplets trailing down the side of Harry's neck.

Harry let out a string of Hebrew that Bucky had only ever heard his grandfather say, and only when his grandmother wasn't around to hear. It was a strange bit of home to find and in an even stranger way. Miraculously, it had no effect on how hard his cock had become. Harry's wet skin was just that alluring.

Somewhere in the midst of chasing droplets with his tongue and discovering other secrets of Harry's body, all thoughts of tea and oranges were forgotten.

(^^)

Bucky didn't tell anyone about Harry's soul mark, not even when they both decided to join the specialty team Steve and Carter put together to chase after Red Skull and his branch of Hydra. Not even Monty's muttered prayers for the return of the Once and Future King tempted Bucky. Harry clearly didn't want people to know that he bore the Pendragon soul mark. If nothing else, it was in Bucky's best interests to not betray his lover's secret.

He was fairly certain that Steve and Carter were making time together like Bucky and Harry were. Then again, both of them were exchanging meaningful looks with Howard Stark, of all people. Stark did have the reputation as a rake, but Stevie had never really given Bucky a solid reason to suspect he would be willing to go with a guy. Bucky couldn't get a good read on either Carter or Stark. Both of them agitated Harry, if in different ways, and so Bucky tended to avoid them in favor of spending their increasingly limited downtime with Harry.

All of the secrecy turned out to be for naught when Bucky got knocked off a moving train during a mission. Steve did his best to reach him, but the distance was just too far and the inertia of the train made Bucky lose his grip. He was certain that he was going to die. There was no way that someone could fall from this height and survive. He wasn't going to make the leave that Harry had been planning for his birthday next month, the one that Bucky wasn't supposed to know about.

A furious and animistic roar cut through the cold February morning like a flaming sword.

Diving towards him from the sky was a shimmering something that was barely a darker color than the gray-white sky.

Only when it flared open its wings to wrap its huge claws around Bucky's torso, did Bucky recognize the creature as a dragon.

Well, that certainly answered the question about why King Arthur had been called Pendragon, with accompanying stories about setting his enemies ablaze. It also explained why the soul mark that the Great King was said to have in all his lives was a dragon. And still, with all the weird and crazy things that they had seen on their missions, having his lover be able to transform into an actual dragon was not the weirdest. It wasn't even in the top ten.

"I know he's your best friend," Harry groused after they had landed and he had assured himself that Bucky wasn't injured, "but I'm going to eat him."

"You don't want to eat Stevie," Bucky corrected. "He's all gristle and bone."

Harry sputtered through incomplete phrases in several language. Bucky only recognized a few of them and knew the translations of even less. Deciding if one secret was already out, what did another matter, Bucky yanked Harry close and shut him up with a kiss.

Maybe they would get a happily ever after ending, after all.

Or at least that trip back stateside that Bucky wasn't supposed to know was for his birthday.