Author Notes: Well I'm back! Few days late *Whistles innocently* Now the chapter is a few hundred words, almost a thousand, off my usual, but I am cooking! So no lynch mobs. Besides that, hope y'all enjoy, especially DZ2. Without further ado, I bid you adieu.

Secondary Notes: Check out DZ2's "Danger Zone" forum!

Chapter Three

The Dragon Triad

X777 August 7th

"You want me to do WHAT!?"

The guild physically shook under the magic pressure unleashed by the thunderous fury of Laxus Dreyar. In a single moment of frustration and rage, he unleashed everything inside of him, and the guild rattled and shook as lightning coursed across the guildhall, ensnaring the rafters and forcing guild members to jump away from the electrifying tendrils that coursed through the air. Where their center point- Laxus' own body- was enveloped in a coat of raw, furious lightning.

It crackled and exploded, lighting up the corners of the guild previously blanketed in shadows, not a corner was spared, nor were their ears as several unlucky mages had to clutch their ears. Eardrums busted, blood poured out, seeping between their fingers. The most affected, and unaffected, were Natsu and Harry.

Their senses were sharper, greatly increasing the sensitivity of their ears' hearing capabilities, but instead of great agony, Laxus' thunderous outburst hardly affected them at all. In truth, they had grown up with Igneel, and the Fire Dragon King was quite dominating in his roars and had unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, trained their eardrums to withstand the worst of punishment.

"I was very careful and precise in my wording, Laxus. Due to special circumstances, you will be teaming up with Natsu and Harry. Give it time and you will realize why," His grandfather calmly replied, all while casually sipping a glass of sparkling red ginger ale. The sight of casual calmness infuriated his grandson, something he took great joy in, though seeing the brat's face contorted with rage and his muscles tense with the overwhelming desire to throttle him was more enjoyable indeed.

A single thought struck the infuriated grandson of Makarov, and his face visibly slackened and lost its wrathfulness. In its place was a calm sort of cunning. Something he recognized but could not place the meaning behind it immediately.

"What do I get in return, Gramps?"

Spluttering indignantly, Makarov glared at his now smirking grandson. "You insolent brat! I am your guild master, not some charalaton! You get the eternal joy of being my first pick to train such promising mages! There is nothing else to get besides that!" Laxus' smirk only grew and he folded his arms, an act that Makarov recognized as something he did time and time again. An act associated with holding the upperhand. And he gave the cocky brat an incensed glare.

"It seems to me, Gramps, that this 'joy' of yours is a sham. I feel no joy in showing them the ropes. So what shall it be, oh gracious Guild Master? Some compensation or, oh no, one of your simple ass punishments?" Laxus literally gained a gleam of malicious glee when his grandfather quite literally began to spit fire, but that smirk and malicious glee disappeared the moment the old man reverted to a rather humorless chuckled.

The roles were reversed and suddenly Makarov was the one smirking with malicious glee. "Such cheek from a brat like you," His grandson bristled at the wording, but he wasn't finished. "Thinking you had the upperhand, what a farce!" Makarov laughed maliciously and jumped to his feet, the bar raising his height so he could look his grandson directly in the eye. "You want to be S-Class someday, no?"

Lightning began to spark in the young man's eyes and his hands began to move, ready to throttle his grandfather then and there. A flick of the nose was what he received and a dark chuckle of dastardly amusement. "Do not test me, brat. This act of having the upperhand is over. For your sheer gall, enjoy my newest task for you. They must be S-Class material within the next year or else you can enjoy six years of not participating in the S-Class Promotion Trials," The glint of triumph was met with a glare of mutinous fury, but the logical side of his grandson prevailed. And like a defeated spark of lightning, Laxus' face dropped in defeat.

"Harry, Natsu. Let's go,"

The two boys, grinning with mischief and held-back laughter, sprang to their feet and contently followed Laxus out of the guild.

"You're evil, old man,"

"I'm aware. And that'll be ten mandatory jobs starting now, Macao. Oh and Wakaba? You can join him,"


Admittedly, Harry and Natsu didn't take to the same things as smoothly as the other. Despite their personalities being similar, the pyro was more the rush in and strategize within the chaos type, but the more dragonified teen was more inclined to analyze from afar. Though Laxus swore he saw a glint of dismissal in several of their missions, glints that led to a rather lackluster effort from the raven-haired mage.

Finally, however, Laxus found them a mission that Harry found interesting.

"Okay, we're going into Water Mirror Valley. It says here that a strange mystical creature has appeared and is causing untold chaos. Not much of a description. And this is a private request…." The ocularly-scarred blonde didn't like private requests. They were a roll of the dice and he felt they demanded peak S-Class performance, even when they only hired a team of relatively low-rank mages.

Of which he was not.

Still, he didn't like it. Though he noticed an expectant glint in Harry's eyes. One of remembrance. This left him curious, but he wanted to wait it out. Plus they were at the private residence of Samuel S. Steelward, the creator of the request and owner of Water Mirror Valley.

"Let's keep the damages to a minimum, this valley is a goldmine for-"

"Supercharged Ethernano and precious minerals and gemstones,"

Laxus and Natsu looked at Harry, curiosity in their eyes, but he didn't relent on his knowledge further. Instead he turned and walked a certain skip to his step, as if he was excited. This made Natsu shiver involuntarily, for whatever made Harry excited tended to be powerful.

Following along, they entered the lands of Water Mirror Valley. It was vast and filled with large mining deposits. At the back of it all was a large estate, surrounded by simple greenery with various breeds of dogs watching over herds of shining, ruby-red sheep and cattle that grazed lazily. It would've been considered a ranch, if not for the beautiful, hand-carved low stone walls, and the estate-like yard within it.

Neatly trimmed bushes, ivory statues of gods, and stone statues of dragons and other mythical creatures adorned the land, separated from the ruby-trimmed stone path that led to the estate manor.

"Talk about opulence," Laxus grumbled. This guy might as well be a noble, he was wasting away money on appearances enough.

The manor was a Victorian-style design with ruby tiled roofing, diamond gemstones mixed within blackstone brickwork, and wherever there could be opulence and riches, there was. The house had more gemstones in its structuring than anything else. If not for the magic in the air, and the magic within the structuring, Laxus expected it to come toppling down.

Walking up to meet them at the gilded front gate, the man himself arrived. Samuel S. Steelward was a tall, burly man with cropped golden-blonde hair and jaded azure blue eyes. His face was sharp and firm, with a business-like expression etched permanently into it, and neatly trimmed stubble beard finished off his facial appearance. He wore more ranch hand type clothes; a maroon plaid shirt with a white one beneath it, faded blue jeans, and thick boots.

He held out his hand, not speaking a word, and before Laxus could do it, Harry shocked him. The draconic appearance he had grown used to, disappeared before his eyes. And as it all receded into his skin, he was shown an untidy raven-haired teen with an unmarred, strong-jawline face, thin musculature, and undeniably powerful presence. If he thought that Harry felt powerful before, he was beyond that now. Less chaotic, more refined.

Harry took the man's hand and shook it. Both met gazes, and when neither flinched, or let loose their grip, Samuel smiled. "Good, I got me some tough mages. Weak ones get sent home," His voice was gruff, but kind. He waved them over, and Laxus caught Harry by the shoulder, letting Natsu walk along.

"You can control those draconic features?!" The blonde hissed, angry at not knowing of this sooner. You know how many people whispered! "I can. It still takes some control," Almost as if relieving a weight from his shoulders, Harry transformed back, regaining his draconic features, though they did appear a tad sharper.

Grunting, Laxus let him catch up. Lagging behind, he chose to think about his new recruits. Both were interesting. Dragon Slayers hailing from the first generation. What could be more interesting for someone like him? Natsu was a powerhouse, feeling much akin to Gildarts in sheer Magic Power. Despite his best efforts, he was a bit farther behind. Harry, however, was more chaotic in Magic Power, always fluctuating and staying either the same as or surpassing Gildarts. And the more he learned about the two, Harry in particular, the more special he realized these two Dragon Slayers were.

And the more he wanted to catch up to them.

They followed Samuel deep into the valley, and after a half-hour came to a point where the sky had turned into purple, rippling water, and their steps grew sluggish. Like they were wading through water. The deeper in they went, the darker everything got, and the sound of roaring came from overhead.

All three felt their hair stand on end.

"If you can fly, it'd be faster, but the creature is up there,"

Without hesitation, Natsu ignited his feet in flames and blasted off, leaving Laxus to shout "Hold up, you moron!" and coat himself in lightning before soaring through the air. Left alone, Harry stared upward and said a short and sweet sentence.

"Give George Steelwards my respect, youngling,"

Samuel stared intently as Harry coated himself in blue energy and surged through the air, burning it and leaving behind a scent of burning wood and ozone. For a split second, his family magic activated, and his left turned pure, misty green and his voice split with another.

"Thank' fer rememberin' me, Harry Potter,"


Back at the guild, Makarov was struggling to maintain two rambunctious rivals, a redhead he had known for over a year and a new white-haired girl who had come out of her shell, destructively tearing apart the guild in their latest brawl. So it was only appropriate the guild doors burst open, and he came face to face with possibly his worst nightmare.

A grinning God Serena surrounded by the other Four Gods of Ishgar.