Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Elune's Pebble
Chapter 3: Free! Well, more free. Free-er
0 reviewsFreedoom! Sort of. Almost. Their situation is improving, really!
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I don't own Harry Potter or Warcraft. Call me arrogant if you want, but I think I could have done a better job with the story for Battle for Azeroth. Reviews put a smile on my face!
Chapter 3: Free! Well, more free. Free-er?
Back at Hogwarts Castle four dragons and two humans were preparing to have a discussion of what exactly was going on. Harry wanted as much information on the pursing force as they could give him, along with anything that could help him help the dragons with adjusting to life not under the thrall of evil gods. Ralion wanted to know more about the new world he was living in. Hermione just wanted to know everything.
It began as an awkward and stilted conversation. At Hermione’s request, Harry was taking notes and had several sheets of paper filled with questions his friend wanted to know. Bit by bit, they got parts of the current condition of the world on the other side of the portal that painted a rather grim picture. Essentially, the forces of evil were trying to destroy the world (The thought of a cult of humans and other races dedicated to killing off all life on a planet did horrify both of them.) and had a pretty good chance of succeeding.
The Cult was led by the fallen Dragon Aspect (Once Neltharion was one of five dragons charged to protect the world, personally responsible for the prisons of the very creatures that had usurped his mind. Seems he wasn’t given protection from his prisoners when he was given he job.) Deathwing. He was huge, powerful, and plated head to toe in elementium armor that both held him together and made almost any attack on him impossible. Deathwing wasn’t unbeatable, but neither would he fall easily.
Between Deathwing, the Black Dragonflight (Neltharion’s Flight, sadly they went down with him when he fell.) and the mortal servants of the Old Gods, a process had been developed that could take the eggs of other dragonflights and warp them into what was in the room now. Twilight Dragons were essentially a weapon forged to destroy all the others, and in the war that had been raging for a few years now their Dragonflight had sowed vast amounts of destruction.
Tendrion and the others learned that on this world, magic users had segregated themselves and gone into hiding. If they were seen flying around in most places there would be trouble. They also learned something about the dragons of this world, which appeared to simply be dumb beasts, but all present decided to verify that for themselves at some point.
Harry mentioned flying against one last year, and that brought up a discussion of the Tournament, which led to a discussion of the various tasks and how it ended. Talk of the summer’s events violently killed any hope of peaceful coexistence with the Ministry of Magic. If they would do that to their own citizens, it was highly doubtful a band of dragons from another world would do any better. The dragons were also amused that the human’s own name for their world was simply another way to say ‘dirt;’ ‘Azeroth’ was a much better name for a planet as far as they were concerned.
Time seemed to fly quickly as they swung back and forth between subjects light and heavy, Harry taking notes until his wrist was killing him. For her part, Hermione couldn’t wait until either she or the drakes learned each other’s language. They had a late lunch, Dobby having convinced the Hogwarts elves to make a variety of prepared meats for lunch and snagging a fair bit for his favorite human and his friends.
Đ: “This is pretty good, but please tell your small friend there’s no need to cook our food. When we can hunt we generally just eat the deer or elk raw wherever we kill it.”
Ƥ: “Will do. I assume you eat more of your kills than just the muscle my people tend to Ralion?”
Đ: “Yes, muscles tend to taste the best, but creatures have lots of nutrition in their hearts, livers, and bones. We can digest bones fairly well in most cases, so long as we chew properly. We need to consume some blood too or we tend to get to get an iron deficiency.”
Looking to Dobby who was still serving them with a smile on his face, Harry gestured to get his attention. “Dobby, the meat we eat in the castle, what happens to the various organs like hearts and the bones? Ralion just told me his people eat all parts of the animals they kill, so if the elves don’t use the organs, bones, or blood we can give those items to my friends to eat instead and keep them fed without causing problems.”
“Other parts be waste Great Wizard Harry Potter. Dobby can get dragon friends parts we not use, keep many more dragons than this fed.” After Harry translated back to the dragons, Ralion looked over to their pile of bags and the pink sphere.
Đ: “That’s good, because we actually have a lot more of us. Save one, they’re all whelps though, but at some points of development they can eat as much as I can. You see that pink thing? It’s a Dalaran Prison Sphere. The human mages stole and tweaked the design a bit, and we stole this one from a rouge mage that was experimenting with a wide variety of whelps; he wanted to take our long lives for himself and find a way to enslave all dragons.
“We discovered his hidden facility on a little island east of The Swamp of Sorrows, snuck in and added everything there from tomes to armor and weapons to metals to our supplies for when we found a new world. Tendrion was emphatic that we not hurt any of the other Flight’s whelps, so we took them all with us in that sphere. Valistraza got stuck with watching over them all, so she’s in stasis with them right now.”
Ƥ: “Valistraza?” Harry asked with a curious hiss.
Đ: “She’s a Red Dragon that abandoned her flight. We found her by chance making her way south over the Badlands. Tendrion knew enough to see she was carrying a clutch and figure out something was very wrong in her world for her to be fleeing in her condition. After we got her on the ground very carefully we found out that she was after the same objective we were. Inter-flight romances are forbidden, but she had fallen for a Blue Dragon and was carrying his young. They were going to flee the world together but he fell in combat and she was forced to flee on her own, she was adamant that her young would survive no matter the cost.
“Tendrion convinced her to serve as our broodmother in exchange for a place with us when we left Azeroth behind. I think she saw that he was free of the darkness that tore at the rest of us and came to trust him. She’s only in stasis with the whelps because we barely had time to hunt enough food for ourselves, never mind a clutching broodmother. When the key on my neck touches the prison they should all wake up hungry.”
Ƥ: “Okay, as soon as soon as we deal with this other group and get the portal hidden on the other end, I need to get the Chamber set up for you guys. It’s a big place, but it’s damp and cold right now. We can take care of that with the right bit of magic though. I bet with some work we could find or create a tunnel to the surface too. It might not be high living, but it would be safe. As far as I know, only myself and the dark wizard that wants to kill me can get in, and he’s afraid to come here himself.”
Đ: “Caves are no problem for us. Sunlight isn’t as important as warmth really. That thing you do with the warm water will probably earn you loyalty from Valistraza. It’ll take you a bit longer to get all of her though, she’s a dragon but not yet a wyrm.”
Ƥ: “Wyrm?”
Đ: “A wyrm is a dragon that’s over thousand years old. I see you’re writing this down, so I’ll explain the different stages. First, we’re born as eggs and spend the first six months of our life soaking up magic and mostly sleeping in our shells, but we are awake and thinking at times too, usually more towards when we hatch.
“We come out of shells as whelps, infants you might call them. Most flights spend a decade as whelps, but the Twilight and Nether dragons progress much faster. I’m not sure about the Netherwing, but the Twilight dragons are ready to mature after a year. At the whelp and drake stages, we absorb a lot of nutrients and kind of shift them into storage with our innate magic.
“When we’re ready, we make use of those nutrients all at once and change rapidly into forms like you see in us. Usually we’re helped by a broodmother through the first transition and manage the second with only a few instructions. Black, Blue, Bronze, Green and Red drakes spend a century saving more nutrients before they become dragons. I’m not actually sure how long Twilight dragons take because we’ve been forced to mature faster, that’s part of why we wanted a broodmother to come with us. A dragon will grow very slowly over time in both size and power as they gain some physical traits that mark them as wyrms.”
Giving his thanks to Tendrion, Harry left them behind for a moment and went back to his comfortable chair where Hermione was already looking over some of his notes. She looked over to him as he sat down tiredly. At her inquisitive look he shrugged and started to speak.
“We have a lot more than four dragons here. You know those trunks that are bigger on the inside? That’s what the sphere over there is, it’s also keeping them in some kind of stasis. There’s one adult with a lot of ‘whelps,’ their child form. I don’t think they even counted exactly how many are there. The adult is also a pregnant ‘Broodmother’ which seems to be a profession that deals with the raising of their young, and she’s apparently a traitor to her ‘Flight’ because they would have done something to her illegal inter-racial children if she stayed. Is this crazy enough for you yet?”
Letting off an amused snort, Hermione Granger gave him a long look for a moment. “It was crazy enough for me last night when you got me out of bed to open a portal to another world and started hissing at dragons Harry. Honestly, I don’t think you ever had a chance at a normal life with things like this popping up at you. But you’re doing pretty well so far; this is going to be a long project for sure.
“I’ve been looking at the map once in a while, things are still going crazy out there, like someone kicked a beehive. As long as they can’t find this room we should be good, and even if they do I’m not sure anyone could get in. The Room seems to become everything you need, as soon as you need it. So long as you need us to not be found we should be totally safe in here. Well, as long as Dobby keeps the food coming. If you can make that shower a little more private I think I’ll try to get a shower in soon.”
.........
Back in a dilapidated house in London, Sirius Black was back at the same table he was that morning, now facing Remus. “So Remus, I think I have a way to be sure that Harry makes it through the war, but I need your help. You see, I once swore an oath not to mention something, but it occurs to me that Harry could collect on a debt owed from a member of the Potter family.
“What I need you to do is either find or create a method by which a magical creature can grant a human their own form, replacing or adding to their own animagus form. While Harry might have fun as a stag or some kind of bird, something more powerful would help him live longer. I remember hearing about old magical champions of the Native American tribes being granted the ability to wear the form of a Thunderbird.
“All I can say is that we might have something even better available, but I can’t leave this house to find the potion or whatever method they use. I need you to help Harry now, by doing what I can’t. I just need you to sign this contract that will protect the secret. Are you willing to help win the war?” Thankfully, at least one Marauder will forgive me for deceiving another. I’ll try to make this worth it James.
After hearing about the lack of contact between his old friend and his godson, Sirius felt much less guilt over doing this than he had with Minnie. To be completely honest, he was also still a little ticked over the whole innocent man in prison without a trial thing as well. It seemed like Remus couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing on his own, so a binding contract would help.
True, this might be how Albus got started, but at least I’m only making Remus keep promises we all gave James and Lily. I failed them when I went after Pettigrew because I trusted that others would do the right things. That got Harry raised by monsters and myself in the company of demons. No more. Harry is the heir of my house and all that’s left of the Potter’s legacy and he’ll be a good man if he makes it through this alive. I don’t know who else in the Magical World I’d trust with any kind of power really.
.........
Back in Hogwarts, in a hidden room both groups were taking some time to marshal their thoughts. While Draconic came easily to its native speakers, parseltongue in large amounts was proving tiring for various parts of Harry’s mouth, face and throat. There was more to be discussed, but all involved were considering what was most important information they wanted.
Đ: “A secure cavern, next to a forest and a small town in the middle of nowhere? Much worse places to stay. Course, if Talion can manage it we might try for our own island someday once he’s grown up. I’ll never forget Tendrion for getting us here, his toil and ingenuity. It’s just so nice to be free of Azeroth, free of the Old Gods at last!” Vespiona’s words were cut short by a hollow, broken sound coming from Talion as he started to chuckle, then laugh brokenly.
Đ: “I’m sorry, hahaha, I thought you knew at first, haha,” The black and orange drake let out in words punctuated by increasingly hysterical laughter. “then I just couldn’t bear to take it away from you.” At this point, he broke down into sobs briefly.
“That darkness, that taint that bound us isn’t gone. I don’t think even Elune could remove it without killing us. It’s still there, in the back of my head, it’s just for the first time it isn’t influencing my every thought. Feel it out, see if it’s still there or not. I hope you’re free and you can just bind me or put me out of my misery in a few hours when it takes me again.” Finished speaking, the dragon sank to the ground and shed tears from his eyes. “Actually, if there’s no escape for this, I’d rather die as myself, for the first time in the dozen years I’ve lived then live as a slave any longer.”
Across the room, Harry and Hermione caught the sudden downturn of emotion, first with Talion and then with the others. Reading their faces wasn’t easy with the reptilian features but the drooping wings and tails were; not to mention the hurry and panic in Draconic that even Miss Granger could pick out of the language.
Ralion took charge of the growing panic by slamming the dull bone plates that made up the club at the end of his tail on the obsidian hard enough to crack the stone and catch everyone’s attention.
Đ: “We are not giving up! Not yet! I will not let me brother’s blood toil and tears be for nothing! Stay calm and focus for a few more hours before you let despair take you! There must be something we can do, so think hard!” Coming up to Harry as quickly as he could without charging at him he started to speak. “Harry, we’ve just figured out that our ‘Imperious’ isn’t gone but dormant and we might only have a few hours before we need to be restrained or killed. I need to know everything about how you knew to open the door on this side, that might give us a clue on how to proceed.”
Ƥ: “I often have nightmares, and I was having one last night. I was seeing a fellow student killed again when suddenly everything changed. I knew I was dreaming, and I was in a forest with huge tree and gleaming shafts of moonlight coming down through the trees. I could see a tall figure in the distance standing before five smaller ones, but it was indistinct and I couldn’t see anything beyond that. I looked at them, and something swept into me.
“I knew you were in trouble, fleeing death and darkness, I knew I could help if you if I acted quickly. I had an image burned into my brain of that circle on the floor and then I woke up. Usually I don’t sleep as well as most people, but after only a couple hours of sleep I was more rested than I’ve ever been. I got someone I could trust to help me and came to this room. This is the Room of Requirement and it becomes whatever you need it to, last night it became what you see, minus what I’ve wanted to add to it since.
“I know that something very powerful touched my mind, but it didn’t seem to be malevolent. I know malevolent things touching my mind.” Harry stopped talking for a moment and thought hard on what that touch of his mind felt like, trying to get a thought on it’s possible motivations. After a moment he had the best he could phrase it.
“I think the best way I can put it is that whatever force connected us wanted you to be free, but it couldn’t or wouldn’t just give it to you. I’m not sure why. It feels like, and I don’t know why, it wanted you to prove yourself somehow.” Harry gestured his companion towards the mirror and she indeed grasped the idea. Harry leaned over as the dragons thought and whispered in her ear:
“Whatever influence was warping them isn’t gone, but it was silenced for a time. I think they’re in a place where they’d rather die as themselves than go back. Try to brainstorm with Sirius if you can get him alone.”
A few paces away Ralion and the others were thinking hard. None of them were familiar with Elune or Cenarius save as powerful enemies. And that was probably the point, Ralion thought to himself. Tendrion was worthy but I’m not sure we are. There must be something… I can’t believe an eternity of Tendrion’s service would be worth sending us here for a few hours of false hope. So there must be something here that can help us. From the description of this room, I can already see the young mage is already trying to make it conjure something to help. I don’t know if that would work, but it can’t hurt and trying the easy solutions is a good first step.
.........
Back at Number Twelve, Sirius was grabbing a late lunch after having gotten Remus started on his research expedition when the mirror in his pocket started to vibrate and warm. Making off with his sandwich to his private room he sat down and pulled his mirror out of his pocket. Once alone he tapped it with his wand to receive the call. He had been hoping that most of the excitement had been dealt with for the day, but those hopes ended when a concerned Hermione showed up on the mirror and started relaying the last few moments of events from the Scottish Castle.
“So now the leader of the four is saying that their old leader gave himself in service to a god basically forever in exchange for them getting here, and he doesn’t think an offer in good faith like that would have them only escape the darkness for a few hours. Sirius, if we can’t get them taken care of in a few hours we’re going to start chaining them, but they’re apparently saying that if we can’t help them they’d rather die then be monsters again. We only have a little time left where they’ll want to help us, apparently whatever effect is in play, it will warp their thoughts where the Imperious only blankets the mind. Do you have any ideas?”
Scratching his stubble, Sirius thought hard. “Try to find out more about how it was applied, when it first started to get into their thoughts. Ask about when it first got its hooks into them.”
.........
Back in the Castle, no one really like the answer that the stolen eggs from other dragons were subsumed in some kind of black, evil magic and miasma. It stoked anger when the Twilight Dragons spoke of the torture in their eggs that never let up until their wills broke and they actually begged to serve the Old Gods if only the pain would cease.
It was generally agreed that being led through a series of questions, since all three dragons had heard the same words in their minds (Will you serve me? Will you serve no other? Will you obey your gods?) and the pain continued until all answers were yes, that it was what essentially a form of magical contract or oath. And, as any well-educated magical would tell you, getting out of those was tricky.
The good news from Sirius was that to the best of his knowledge not all oaths and such were equal. One given under duress (For example: Sign this contract in blood or I kill you.) would not be as binding as one done in good faith on both sides. Sadly, in some ways the power of the people involved also played a part. A near-squib signing a contract wouldn’t be held as tightly as a strong wizard.
This was bad because response oaths tended to take from both individuals involved, and the dragons were not sparing the word ‘god’ apparently when discussing the creatures that had enslaved them. Several hours passed quickly in a stream of discussion and frantic reading of every tome the room could conjure, leading even Hermione to recklessly hurl useless books off into the distance. Time was short already.
There was no more time left when Talion, member of the first Flight to fall to the Old Gods and having lived with the whispers much longer by virtue of having lived about eight years longer than the others asked Harry to restrain him. That sort of sent a chill through the other six souls that heard it. Talion found himself in a padded stockade, more comfortable than he expected to be honest. At that point, Sirius asked Harry to place the mirror in front of the dragons and to translate what he said word for word.
“Okay, time is short now. Here’s what we know: You’ve sworn an oath under duress, under torture as the most helpless kind of child imaginable. That’s made it weaker than one made on the level. With most magic, intentions matter. Good emotions and motivations produce stronger bonds than selfish ones do. Love truly is stronger than hate.
“Also, an oath, verbal or mental isn’t as strong as something with a physical binder, like a contract signed with blood. Your leader made a deal with a goddess that’s generally on the up and up with honest intentions and the most valuable thing he could offer, and she sent you to my godson here out of all possible places and people.
“I don’t know if you know, but Harry is standing almost alone against an evil that’s rising right now in this land. I think that if you were to make some kind of blood oath in good faith and really meant it on both sides, that would be strong enough to protect against this filth that’s forced its way into your minds. Harry, is that dragon laughing in a good way or a bad way?”
Indeed, Caliona had begun laughing in a way that wasn’t great for her throat wound, with the others joining in soon after. But, this time it wasn’t a broken loss of hope, but a seeming joke that was just now being funny. Tendrion had seemingly saved them again.
.........
Đ: “Harry, Tendrion will save us again it seems. He made all of us learn an old ritual that was used by an old elven mage-king that ruled a small and wildly diverse kingdom that shattered amicably after his death. Quickly, write down your parts of the oath, then have the room summon a sharp silver knife and four silver goblets. I feel a little unsure about doing this, but we’ve come this far and we don’t have other options at all. I hope you will save us from madness and darkness by accepting our service,” Here he raised his head and looked into Harry’s eyes. “My Lord.”
Thus it was, with Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, and the house elves Dobby and Kreacher watching unnoticed in the shadows, Harry began an old ritual to bind four servants to him, and thus threw the fate of two worlds from their previous paths. For good or ill, events to come would be different.
.........
Feeling it the right thing to do, Ralion went first. Đ: “I, Ralion of the Twilight Dragonflight, former slave-servant of the Old Gods of Azeroth do hereby swear myself to Harry James Potter so long as I draw breath.” Saying this, he paused, took his very clean right forelimb and cut himself with the knife, bleeding into the silver goblet. “I offer you my life’s blood to bind myself to you, the Lord I have chosen. Please accept my service.”
Taking the offered goblet, Harry ingested a sip of the blood, ignoring the taste (Coppery and slightly evil, with a hint of some wood ash.) he responded looking into the eyes of Ralion, hoping he could do this right, that he could do right by him, whatever came after this.
Ƥ: “I accept your service, given in good faith Ralion of the Twilight Flight.” Accepting the knife offered to him handle first, he cut a finger and added three drops to the goblet before passing it back to him. “Take my blood that you may know the bulwark of a Loyal Lord.” Hearing this, he drank the contents of the goblet, mostly his blood with the addition from Harry. “Will you, Ralion of House Potter give me your service, in whatever manner I ask of you to your very last breath?”
“I give you my service to my last breath, of my own free will my Lord.” With that, a bright white flashed through the room and the silver goblet, taken from the room of lost things, (and then cleaned vigorously) slipped from Ralion’s right claw and formed a narrow band around his forelimb marked with the rarely seen symbol of House Potter, a rapier crossed with a wand over the words “Timor non est in facie mali.” a phrase in Latin that translates to “No fear in the face of evil.”
Both participants would later admit to feeling rather strange as they stood there, the after effects slowly fading. Hermione, filling in for a loyal retainer, cleaned the knife with a cloth in a very specific pattern as Ralion stepped back and first his sister Vespiona, then Caliona and Talion repeated the ritual with Harry.
Talion, the darkness clawing at his mind, had much difficulty getting through the ritual, at one point pausing to bellow out “I will never serve you again!” in defiance. Talion would later describe the sensation of the bond settling as something pushing the old hatred and cruelty aside a building something within him that would stand between his mind and the writhing shadows. Something that cared about him, that wanted him to know a better life and to live a better life.
Soon all four stepped up to Harry in a line, Ralion a half stride further forward than the others, and bowed before Harry. Đ: “What is your first command, my Lord?” they asked in a nearly eerie unison.
Harry had been thinking about this since Sirius first made the suggestion. He knew that any command he gave to them would be law, they would be unable to disobey. As they were getting ready for this, he’d asked Hermione and Sirius over the mirror in a corner for advice on how to phrase the needed commands.
Ƥ: “First, you will never again be influenced by, obey, heed or register hearing the thoughts, words, or whispers of the Old Gods. Second, from this day forward I want you to live a life you can be proud of. Third, you will not obey my words that are not directly intended as commands. If you are unsure, ask me before you act. Fourth, I want you to come to me if you need something, I would rather be a friend than a master. For now, look after your health and we’ll make what preparations we need. I, I’m not sure I’m worthy of your trust but I will do everything I can to make myself worthy. For now, I think we could all use something to eat and drink; I don’t know about you but I seem to be buzzing inside and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
A bit of a rest was certainly in order after a rather exciting afternoon. Sirius signed off when he saw eyelids starting to droop, seeing that the room had shifted to provide a rather large pile of pillows for the dragons to arrange however they wanted and a four-poster bed with his still shirtless godson slipping under the covers, too tired to notice his female friend slipping in on the other side. He wondered if they’d find themselves spooning sometime soon or not.
In any case, Harry might not have known what all that ritual did, but he’d bet his tail that there would be some side effects that were unexpected. While he wasn’t familiar with that ritual, let alone the language it was performed in, between the light show, the intent, the blood and the cups made he suspected that there was more to it. Exactly what effects this could have, he wasn’t sure of yet. It looked like it was time to review some of his lessons from the previous Head the Blacks (His grandfather, not his father. Now that was a terrifying man. His father never met the minimum sanity requirements to be the Family Head.) back when he was just a kid before he fled from his parents.
.........
A four hour rest did everyone in the Room of Requirement a great deal of good. Hermione, not directly dealing with any fallout from the ritual was the first to wake up. She found herself held in a pair of arms and held against a bare chest. She blushed, but decided to remain still and not wake him. She had heard him say that he often had nightmares so decided to let him rest for the time being.
It turned out she felt more relaxed than she expected as she soon returned to her slumber. A little after eight that evening Harry woke up, surprised to have his best friend held close so he carefully disentangled himself and slipped out of the bed and made use of the bathroom. Despite being as quiet as possible, he did return to the others stirring awake. Now that much of the stress and immediate problems had been resolved he noticed that his best friend had seemingly not had the time to don a bra last night. He found himself blushing at some thoughts that ran rampant through his mind at that discovery.
Dobby, seeing them waking up provided a light meal and some warm drinks. If he wanted Harry Potter to take him as his elf someday, he would have to prove that he was the best elf. He was experimenting with different seasonings for the dragons too. For the meal he had cow hearts from the little known farm a group of Hogwarts elves kept up in a greatly expanded, and previously unused, wing of the castle only reachable by the elves. (Centuries ago, a headmaster had commanded the elves to find a way to reduce the food budget without lowering quality. After some false starts, he was amazed when the quality went up while the costs plummeted to almost nothing. After learning what the elves had done he had gathered them all together and given them most honest praise he could for not only accomplishing a hard command but surpassing expectations. Some elves had passed out from joy at the honest, earnest praise.)
Dobby had found a seasoning they all seemed to enjoy in a slowly cooked heart with very spicy barbecue sauce. For the dragon that was still looking rather weak he had made for her a meaty stew of heart and liver with a little blood. Not sure how to prepare bones for consumption, he’d merely soaked a few in bit of unused gravy from the main student’s dinner. It was certainly different cooking for carnivores instead of omnivores, but so far the little elf had nailed it.
After they had all finished eating with light conversation floating around during the meal, Harry willed the room to create a pool just deep enough for the drakes to submerge their heads if they ducked. Thinking back to his guest’s preferred temperature for water, he added a heating element to one side of the pool and had it make that part scalding hot. With a little magic the other side of the water would be warm enough to relax human muscles but not scald human skin. He requested and got a pair of swimming trunks in dark blue but poor Harry had a problem when he tried to get some swimwear for Hermione. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t get the room to provide something that was as modest as he guessed his friend would want.
Hermione was honestly impressed at the combination hot tub and pool Harry designed, but found herself immediately insulted when the first attempt produced a very tiny string bikini. She almost let out an angry remark when she saw him frown and try again. His second attempt produced a larger amount of cloth, but it had sections cut out that revealed almost as much. By the sixth attempt, she could see him becoming frustrated before he turned to her, red faced and very embarrassed.
“I’m sorry Hermione, I think you’ll have to transfigure something. I think the problem is that while I want to give you something you’d be comfortable in, part of me also wants to see you something like this.” Deciding to cut her best friend some slack, she picked up two pieces from different sets that seemed more modest than the others and applied a color charm to both so they’d be matching dark green. Honestly she’d seen plenty worse on vacation in France. Stepping into the bathroom for a moment, she remarked to him as she closed the door.
“That’s alright Harry, I guess you’re still a teenage boy, Lord of dragons or not. You wouldn’t believe what my dad has to say about teenage boys.”
Within five minutes everyone had sunk into the rather warm water, Harry had made an admirable attempt to keep his eyes on his friend’s face and not on the rest of her as she slipped into the water looking much more graceful than he remembered her previously. For her part, Hermione noted both the attempt and the warm feeling she got that Harry seemed to enjoy the view when his eyes roved a bit.
Thankfully the pool was self-cleaning, as bits of previously missed mud and dried blood flaked off the dragons as they relaxed in the water. Talion felt a little let down that the water wasn’t as warm as he’d like, but then again if he wanted to swim in something to his tastes he’d need a vat of aluminum or molten stone instead of water. After a time of just relaxing, Ralion asked for and received some large brushes of varying thickness. It turned out due to their anatomy dragons had pretty much given up on washing themselves, too many hard to reach places, and instead they would groom each other. Harry learned that it had become a tradition, and Hermione guessed it was a kind of bonding ritual.
Usually a male drake would only bathe a non-related female if they were either courting or already mates, but Vespiona and Ralion paired up while Talion and Caliona cleaned each other out of necessity. The two teens just relaxed in the warm water, asking the odd question about draconic culture. Sadly, those here hadn’t been exposed to as much of it given their situation as slaves, but from what they knew it seemed very practical.
After an hour of soaking in the pleasantly warm water, the group made a few plans for tomorrow involving getting up early the next morning, and using Sunday to make plans for going forward. Both teens took a few moments to slip into the rooms shower for a quick scrub with soap before bed. Vespiona had mentioned they couldn’t use soap on themselves until they had either acquired or mixed up a substitute for a special oil they used on their scales, as most soaps would strip the existing oil off and let their scales dry and crack.
Harry let Hermione take the existing bed and asked the room for a sleeping bag instead. Hermione watched him lay down to sleep next to the dragons, he’d whispered something about wanting them to feel like he was one of them instead of thinking him as their superior. It turns out the dragons were still rather exhausted from their escape and the bonding, as they fell asleep quickly. Her last view of Harry for the night was when a sleeping Caliona used her wing to pull him to her side like a large teddy bear. Hermione fell asleep with a smile on her face.
.........
On another world no longer very far away at all an eclectic group of creatures flew through the night sky, led by five shapes Harry would have now found familiar. Đ: “I can’t believe that priestess made us wait at our last camp for a full day. Even you Reds should have felt that surge of power! I bet we have another mess to deal with now.”
Another dark shape, wings beating hard without the thermals they would normally ride to ease the strain responded in the same tongue. “Elune is a real entity, and as far as I know she’s at least somewhat fond of my Flight because Cenarius learned so much from Grandmother. Unless we’ve done something to seriously offend her I doubt she’d intervene to the group’s detriment while I’m here. Sadly we don’t get to demand answers from the higher beings, only work around them. Think you can find the center of whatever that was?”
A third of the creatures beating their wings through the night injected himself. “Even I know that won’t be hard. Let’s just hope we can finally finish this and get that Red they took back in one piece. I hate to think of what’s been done to her to make her so compliant, and we haven’t seen her since before they got to that island. You still think she’s alright Dali?”
“I do brother. They must have had a reason for dragging a clutching dragon around with them, and it would be out of character for this group to be, well, so wasteful to just slit her throat and drop her in the ocean. I agree with Aurogos, it’s likely that island was some kind of facility experimenting on dragons by a Kirin Tor traitor and the Twilights have stolen the whelps we could smell there and placed them all into a prison sphere. There’s a chance we could get some of our whelps back alive too. You all know how many losses our Flights have taken in the last few years. Any thoughts, Stine?”
The dark shape that had been lagging behind the others speaking replied, pitching his voice to be heard.“You know we don’t give out hints Dali. I will tell you that after seeing my own possible futures I choose to join your group for this hunt. We’ll just have to see how this shake of the hourglass pans out.”
Speaking again, the first voice asked: “Does that imply you don’t know how this turns out Stine?”
Even in the front of their column, Aurogos could hear the amused snort. “There’s a reason people lost in the Caverns of Time go mad my friend. Past flows into Future with endless eddies thrown into the mix. Fate is ever-changing and rarely kind. Predicting tomorrow perfectly is only possible if one can account for every variable and I don’t think even Aman'Thul can manage that. If you’ll keep this to yourselves?” He paused for a moment until he got a committed yes from all the others taking wing with him. “I did see a future self, or should I say a potential future self going about his business on my way out of the Caverns of Time. I, or rather he looked very chipper and excited in a way I haven’t been in some time so I have a rather good feeling about this.”
.........
AN: I’m trying to decide on weapon(s) for Harry. Right now the plan is to have him learn to fight with magic and a blade, but I find myself torn as to what to give him. A one handed sword and a wand, and/or a spear that doubles as a focus are my main thoughts. I welcome other’s opinions.
Chapter 3: Free! Well, more free. Free-er?
Back at Hogwarts Castle four dragons and two humans were preparing to have a discussion of what exactly was going on. Harry wanted as much information on the pursing force as they could give him, along with anything that could help him help the dragons with adjusting to life not under the thrall of evil gods. Ralion wanted to know more about the new world he was living in. Hermione just wanted to know everything.
It began as an awkward and stilted conversation. At Hermione’s request, Harry was taking notes and had several sheets of paper filled with questions his friend wanted to know. Bit by bit, they got parts of the current condition of the world on the other side of the portal that painted a rather grim picture. Essentially, the forces of evil were trying to destroy the world (The thought of a cult of humans and other races dedicated to killing off all life on a planet did horrify both of them.) and had a pretty good chance of succeeding.
The Cult was led by the fallen Dragon Aspect (Once Neltharion was one of five dragons charged to protect the world, personally responsible for the prisons of the very creatures that had usurped his mind. Seems he wasn’t given protection from his prisoners when he was given he job.) Deathwing. He was huge, powerful, and plated head to toe in elementium armor that both held him together and made almost any attack on him impossible. Deathwing wasn’t unbeatable, but neither would he fall easily.
Between Deathwing, the Black Dragonflight (Neltharion’s Flight, sadly they went down with him when he fell.) and the mortal servants of the Old Gods, a process had been developed that could take the eggs of other dragonflights and warp them into what was in the room now. Twilight Dragons were essentially a weapon forged to destroy all the others, and in the war that had been raging for a few years now their Dragonflight had sowed vast amounts of destruction.
Tendrion and the others learned that on this world, magic users had segregated themselves and gone into hiding. If they were seen flying around in most places there would be trouble. They also learned something about the dragons of this world, which appeared to simply be dumb beasts, but all present decided to verify that for themselves at some point.
Harry mentioned flying against one last year, and that brought up a discussion of the Tournament, which led to a discussion of the various tasks and how it ended. Talk of the summer’s events violently killed any hope of peaceful coexistence with the Ministry of Magic. If they would do that to their own citizens, it was highly doubtful a band of dragons from another world would do any better. The dragons were also amused that the human’s own name for their world was simply another way to say ‘dirt;’ ‘Azeroth’ was a much better name for a planet as far as they were concerned.
Time seemed to fly quickly as they swung back and forth between subjects light and heavy, Harry taking notes until his wrist was killing him. For her part, Hermione couldn’t wait until either she or the drakes learned each other’s language. They had a late lunch, Dobby having convinced the Hogwarts elves to make a variety of prepared meats for lunch and snagging a fair bit for his favorite human and his friends.
Đ: “This is pretty good, but please tell your small friend there’s no need to cook our food. When we can hunt we generally just eat the deer or elk raw wherever we kill it.”
Ƥ: “Will do. I assume you eat more of your kills than just the muscle my people tend to Ralion?”
Đ: “Yes, muscles tend to taste the best, but creatures have lots of nutrition in their hearts, livers, and bones. We can digest bones fairly well in most cases, so long as we chew properly. We need to consume some blood too or we tend to get to get an iron deficiency.”
Looking to Dobby who was still serving them with a smile on his face, Harry gestured to get his attention. “Dobby, the meat we eat in the castle, what happens to the various organs like hearts and the bones? Ralion just told me his people eat all parts of the animals they kill, so if the elves don’t use the organs, bones, or blood we can give those items to my friends to eat instead and keep them fed without causing problems.”
“Other parts be waste Great Wizard Harry Potter. Dobby can get dragon friends parts we not use, keep many more dragons than this fed.” After Harry translated back to the dragons, Ralion looked over to their pile of bags and the pink sphere.
Đ: “That’s good, because we actually have a lot more of us. Save one, they’re all whelps though, but at some points of development they can eat as much as I can. You see that pink thing? It’s a Dalaran Prison Sphere. The human mages stole and tweaked the design a bit, and we stole this one from a rouge mage that was experimenting with a wide variety of whelps; he wanted to take our long lives for himself and find a way to enslave all dragons.
“We discovered his hidden facility on a little island east of The Swamp of Sorrows, snuck in and added everything there from tomes to armor and weapons to metals to our supplies for when we found a new world. Tendrion was emphatic that we not hurt any of the other Flight’s whelps, so we took them all with us in that sphere. Valistraza got stuck with watching over them all, so she’s in stasis with them right now.”
Ƥ: “Valistraza?” Harry asked with a curious hiss.
Đ: “She’s a Red Dragon that abandoned her flight. We found her by chance making her way south over the Badlands. Tendrion knew enough to see she was carrying a clutch and figure out something was very wrong in her world for her to be fleeing in her condition. After we got her on the ground very carefully we found out that she was after the same objective we were. Inter-flight romances are forbidden, but she had fallen for a Blue Dragon and was carrying his young. They were going to flee the world together but he fell in combat and she was forced to flee on her own, she was adamant that her young would survive no matter the cost.
“Tendrion convinced her to serve as our broodmother in exchange for a place with us when we left Azeroth behind. I think she saw that he was free of the darkness that tore at the rest of us and came to trust him. She’s only in stasis with the whelps because we barely had time to hunt enough food for ourselves, never mind a clutching broodmother. When the key on my neck touches the prison they should all wake up hungry.”
Ƥ: “Okay, as soon as soon as we deal with this other group and get the portal hidden on the other end, I need to get the Chamber set up for you guys. It’s a big place, but it’s damp and cold right now. We can take care of that with the right bit of magic though. I bet with some work we could find or create a tunnel to the surface too. It might not be high living, but it would be safe. As far as I know, only myself and the dark wizard that wants to kill me can get in, and he’s afraid to come here himself.”
Đ: “Caves are no problem for us. Sunlight isn’t as important as warmth really. That thing you do with the warm water will probably earn you loyalty from Valistraza. It’ll take you a bit longer to get all of her though, she’s a dragon but not yet a wyrm.”
Ƥ: “Wyrm?”
Đ: “A wyrm is a dragon that’s over thousand years old. I see you’re writing this down, so I’ll explain the different stages. First, we’re born as eggs and spend the first six months of our life soaking up magic and mostly sleeping in our shells, but we are awake and thinking at times too, usually more towards when we hatch.
“We come out of shells as whelps, infants you might call them. Most flights spend a decade as whelps, but the Twilight and Nether dragons progress much faster. I’m not sure about the Netherwing, but the Twilight dragons are ready to mature after a year. At the whelp and drake stages, we absorb a lot of nutrients and kind of shift them into storage with our innate magic.
“When we’re ready, we make use of those nutrients all at once and change rapidly into forms like you see in us. Usually we’re helped by a broodmother through the first transition and manage the second with only a few instructions. Black, Blue, Bronze, Green and Red drakes spend a century saving more nutrients before they become dragons. I’m not actually sure how long Twilight dragons take because we’ve been forced to mature faster, that’s part of why we wanted a broodmother to come with us. A dragon will grow very slowly over time in both size and power as they gain some physical traits that mark them as wyrms.”
Giving his thanks to Tendrion, Harry left them behind for a moment and went back to his comfortable chair where Hermione was already looking over some of his notes. She looked over to him as he sat down tiredly. At her inquisitive look he shrugged and started to speak.
“We have a lot more than four dragons here. You know those trunks that are bigger on the inside? That’s what the sphere over there is, it’s also keeping them in some kind of stasis. There’s one adult with a lot of ‘whelps,’ their child form. I don’t think they even counted exactly how many are there. The adult is also a pregnant ‘Broodmother’ which seems to be a profession that deals with the raising of their young, and she’s apparently a traitor to her ‘Flight’ because they would have done something to her illegal inter-racial children if she stayed. Is this crazy enough for you yet?”
Letting off an amused snort, Hermione Granger gave him a long look for a moment. “It was crazy enough for me last night when you got me out of bed to open a portal to another world and started hissing at dragons Harry. Honestly, I don’t think you ever had a chance at a normal life with things like this popping up at you. But you’re doing pretty well so far; this is going to be a long project for sure.
“I’ve been looking at the map once in a while, things are still going crazy out there, like someone kicked a beehive. As long as they can’t find this room we should be good, and even if they do I’m not sure anyone could get in. The Room seems to become everything you need, as soon as you need it. So long as you need us to not be found we should be totally safe in here. Well, as long as Dobby keeps the food coming. If you can make that shower a little more private I think I’ll try to get a shower in soon.”
.........
Back in a dilapidated house in London, Sirius Black was back at the same table he was that morning, now facing Remus. “So Remus, I think I have a way to be sure that Harry makes it through the war, but I need your help. You see, I once swore an oath not to mention something, but it occurs to me that Harry could collect on a debt owed from a member of the Potter family.
“What I need you to do is either find or create a method by which a magical creature can grant a human their own form, replacing or adding to their own animagus form. While Harry might have fun as a stag or some kind of bird, something more powerful would help him live longer. I remember hearing about old magical champions of the Native American tribes being granted the ability to wear the form of a Thunderbird.
“All I can say is that we might have something even better available, but I can’t leave this house to find the potion or whatever method they use. I need you to help Harry now, by doing what I can’t. I just need you to sign this contract that will protect the secret. Are you willing to help win the war?” Thankfully, at least one Marauder will forgive me for deceiving another. I’ll try to make this worth it James.
After hearing about the lack of contact between his old friend and his godson, Sirius felt much less guilt over doing this than he had with Minnie. To be completely honest, he was also still a little ticked over the whole innocent man in prison without a trial thing as well. It seemed like Remus couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing on his own, so a binding contract would help.
True, this might be how Albus got started, but at least I’m only making Remus keep promises we all gave James and Lily. I failed them when I went after Pettigrew because I trusted that others would do the right things. That got Harry raised by monsters and myself in the company of demons. No more. Harry is the heir of my house and all that’s left of the Potter’s legacy and he’ll be a good man if he makes it through this alive. I don’t know who else in the Magical World I’d trust with any kind of power really.
.........
Back in Hogwarts, in a hidden room both groups were taking some time to marshal their thoughts. While Draconic came easily to its native speakers, parseltongue in large amounts was proving tiring for various parts of Harry’s mouth, face and throat. There was more to be discussed, but all involved were considering what was most important information they wanted.
Đ: “A secure cavern, next to a forest and a small town in the middle of nowhere? Much worse places to stay. Course, if Talion can manage it we might try for our own island someday once he’s grown up. I’ll never forget Tendrion for getting us here, his toil and ingenuity. It’s just so nice to be free of Azeroth, free of the Old Gods at last!” Vespiona’s words were cut short by a hollow, broken sound coming from Talion as he started to chuckle, then laugh brokenly.
Đ: “I’m sorry, hahaha, I thought you knew at first, haha,” The black and orange drake let out in words punctuated by increasingly hysterical laughter. “then I just couldn’t bear to take it away from you.” At this point, he broke down into sobs briefly.
“That darkness, that taint that bound us isn’t gone. I don’t think even Elune could remove it without killing us. It’s still there, in the back of my head, it’s just for the first time it isn’t influencing my every thought. Feel it out, see if it’s still there or not. I hope you’re free and you can just bind me or put me out of my misery in a few hours when it takes me again.” Finished speaking, the dragon sank to the ground and shed tears from his eyes. “Actually, if there’s no escape for this, I’d rather die as myself, for the first time in the dozen years I’ve lived then live as a slave any longer.”
Across the room, Harry and Hermione caught the sudden downturn of emotion, first with Talion and then with the others. Reading their faces wasn’t easy with the reptilian features but the drooping wings and tails were; not to mention the hurry and panic in Draconic that even Miss Granger could pick out of the language.
Ralion took charge of the growing panic by slamming the dull bone plates that made up the club at the end of his tail on the obsidian hard enough to crack the stone and catch everyone’s attention.
Đ: “We are not giving up! Not yet! I will not let me brother’s blood toil and tears be for nothing! Stay calm and focus for a few more hours before you let despair take you! There must be something we can do, so think hard!” Coming up to Harry as quickly as he could without charging at him he started to speak. “Harry, we’ve just figured out that our ‘Imperious’ isn’t gone but dormant and we might only have a few hours before we need to be restrained or killed. I need to know everything about how you knew to open the door on this side, that might give us a clue on how to proceed.”
Ƥ: “I often have nightmares, and I was having one last night. I was seeing a fellow student killed again when suddenly everything changed. I knew I was dreaming, and I was in a forest with huge tree and gleaming shafts of moonlight coming down through the trees. I could see a tall figure in the distance standing before five smaller ones, but it was indistinct and I couldn’t see anything beyond that. I looked at them, and something swept into me.
“I knew you were in trouble, fleeing death and darkness, I knew I could help if you if I acted quickly. I had an image burned into my brain of that circle on the floor and then I woke up. Usually I don’t sleep as well as most people, but after only a couple hours of sleep I was more rested than I’ve ever been. I got someone I could trust to help me and came to this room. This is the Room of Requirement and it becomes whatever you need it to, last night it became what you see, minus what I’ve wanted to add to it since.
“I know that something very powerful touched my mind, but it didn’t seem to be malevolent. I know malevolent things touching my mind.” Harry stopped talking for a moment and thought hard on what that touch of his mind felt like, trying to get a thought on it’s possible motivations. After a moment he had the best he could phrase it.
“I think the best way I can put it is that whatever force connected us wanted you to be free, but it couldn’t or wouldn’t just give it to you. I’m not sure why. It feels like, and I don’t know why, it wanted you to prove yourself somehow.” Harry gestured his companion towards the mirror and she indeed grasped the idea. Harry leaned over as the dragons thought and whispered in her ear:
“Whatever influence was warping them isn’t gone, but it was silenced for a time. I think they’re in a place where they’d rather die as themselves than go back. Try to brainstorm with Sirius if you can get him alone.”
A few paces away Ralion and the others were thinking hard. None of them were familiar with Elune or Cenarius save as powerful enemies. And that was probably the point, Ralion thought to himself. Tendrion was worthy but I’m not sure we are. There must be something… I can’t believe an eternity of Tendrion’s service would be worth sending us here for a few hours of false hope. So there must be something here that can help us. From the description of this room, I can already see the young mage is already trying to make it conjure something to help. I don’t know if that would work, but it can’t hurt and trying the easy solutions is a good first step.
.........
Back at Number Twelve, Sirius was grabbing a late lunch after having gotten Remus started on his research expedition when the mirror in his pocket started to vibrate and warm. Making off with his sandwich to his private room he sat down and pulled his mirror out of his pocket. Once alone he tapped it with his wand to receive the call. He had been hoping that most of the excitement had been dealt with for the day, but those hopes ended when a concerned Hermione showed up on the mirror and started relaying the last few moments of events from the Scottish Castle.
“So now the leader of the four is saying that their old leader gave himself in service to a god basically forever in exchange for them getting here, and he doesn’t think an offer in good faith like that would have them only escape the darkness for a few hours. Sirius, if we can’t get them taken care of in a few hours we’re going to start chaining them, but they’re apparently saying that if we can’t help them they’d rather die then be monsters again. We only have a little time left where they’ll want to help us, apparently whatever effect is in play, it will warp their thoughts where the Imperious only blankets the mind. Do you have any ideas?”
Scratching his stubble, Sirius thought hard. “Try to find out more about how it was applied, when it first started to get into their thoughts. Ask about when it first got its hooks into them.”
.........
Back in the Castle, no one really like the answer that the stolen eggs from other dragons were subsumed in some kind of black, evil magic and miasma. It stoked anger when the Twilight Dragons spoke of the torture in their eggs that never let up until their wills broke and they actually begged to serve the Old Gods if only the pain would cease.
It was generally agreed that being led through a series of questions, since all three dragons had heard the same words in their minds (Will you serve me? Will you serve no other? Will you obey your gods?) and the pain continued until all answers were yes, that it was what essentially a form of magical contract or oath. And, as any well-educated magical would tell you, getting out of those was tricky.
The good news from Sirius was that to the best of his knowledge not all oaths and such were equal. One given under duress (For example: Sign this contract in blood or I kill you.) would not be as binding as one done in good faith on both sides. Sadly, in some ways the power of the people involved also played a part. A near-squib signing a contract wouldn’t be held as tightly as a strong wizard.
This was bad because response oaths tended to take from both individuals involved, and the dragons were not sparing the word ‘god’ apparently when discussing the creatures that had enslaved them. Several hours passed quickly in a stream of discussion and frantic reading of every tome the room could conjure, leading even Hermione to recklessly hurl useless books off into the distance. Time was short already.
There was no more time left when Talion, member of the first Flight to fall to the Old Gods and having lived with the whispers much longer by virtue of having lived about eight years longer than the others asked Harry to restrain him. That sort of sent a chill through the other six souls that heard it. Talion found himself in a padded stockade, more comfortable than he expected to be honest. At that point, Sirius asked Harry to place the mirror in front of the dragons and to translate what he said word for word.
“Okay, time is short now. Here’s what we know: You’ve sworn an oath under duress, under torture as the most helpless kind of child imaginable. That’s made it weaker than one made on the level. With most magic, intentions matter. Good emotions and motivations produce stronger bonds than selfish ones do. Love truly is stronger than hate.
“Also, an oath, verbal or mental isn’t as strong as something with a physical binder, like a contract signed with blood. Your leader made a deal with a goddess that’s generally on the up and up with honest intentions and the most valuable thing he could offer, and she sent you to my godson here out of all possible places and people.
“I don’t know if you know, but Harry is standing almost alone against an evil that’s rising right now in this land. I think that if you were to make some kind of blood oath in good faith and really meant it on both sides, that would be strong enough to protect against this filth that’s forced its way into your minds. Harry, is that dragon laughing in a good way or a bad way?”
Indeed, Caliona had begun laughing in a way that wasn’t great for her throat wound, with the others joining in soon after. But, this time it wasn’t a broken loss of hope, but a seeming joke that was just now being funny. Tendrion had seemingly saved them again.
.........
Đ: “Harry, Tendrion will save us again it seems. He made all of us learn an old ritual that was used by an old elven mage-king that ruled a small and wildly diverse kingdom that shattered amicably after his death. Quickly, write down your parts of the oath, then have the room summon a sharp silver knife and four silver goblets. I feel a little unsure about doing this, but we’ve come this far and we don’t have other options at all. I hope you will save us from madness and darkness by accepting our service,” Here he raised his head and looked into Harry’s eyes. “My Lord.”
Thus it was, with Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, and the house elves Dobby and Kreacher watching unnoticed in the shadows, Harry began an old ritual to bind four servants to him, and thus threw the fate of two worlds from their previous paths. For good or ill, events to come would be different.
.........
Feeling it the right thing to do, Ralion went first. Đ: “I, Ralion of the Twilight Dragonflight, former slave-servant of the Old Gods of Azeroth do hereby swear myself to Harry James Potter so long as I draw breath.” Saying this, he paused, took his very clean right forelimb and cut himself with the knife, bleeding into the silver goblet. “I offer you my life’s blood to bind myself to you, the Lord I have chosen. Please accept my service.”
Taking the offered goblet, Harry ingested a sip of the blood, ignoring the taste (Coppery and slightly evil, with a hint of some wood ash.) he responded looking into the eyes of Ralion, hoping he could do this right, that he could do right by him, whatever came after this.
Ƥ: “I accept your service, given in good faith Ralion of the Twilight Flight.” Accepting the knife offered to him handle first, he cut a finger and added three drops to the goblet before passing it back to him. “Take my blood that you may know the bulwark of a Loyal Lord.” Hearing this, he drank the contents of the goblet, mostly his blood with the addition from Harry. “Will you, Ralion of House Potter give me your service, in whatever manner I ask of you to your very last breath?”
“I give you my service to my last breath, of my own free will my Lord.” With that, a bright white flashed through the room and the silver goblet, taken from the room of lost things, (and then cleaned vigorously) slipped from Ralion’s right claw and formed a narrow band around his forelimb marked with the rarely seen symbol of House Potter, a rapier crossed with a wand over the words “Timor non est in facie mali.” a phrase in Latin that translates to “No fear in the face of evil.”
Both participants would later admit to feeling rather strange as they stood there, the after effects slowly fading. Hermione, filling in for a loyal retainer, cleaned the knife with a cloth in a very specific pattern as Ralion stepped back and first his sister Vespiona, then Caliona and Talion repeated the ritual with Harry.
Talion, the darkness clawing at his mind, had much difficulty getting through the ritual, at one point pausing to bellow out “I will never serve you again!” in defiance. Talion would later describe the sensation of the bond settling as something pushing the old hatred and cruelty aside a building something within him that would stand between his mind and the writhing shadows. Something that cared about him, that wanted him to know a better life and to live a better life.
Soon all four stepped up to Harry in a line, Ralion a half stride further forward than the others, and bowed before Harry. Đ: “What is your first command, my Lord?” they asked in a nearly eerie unison.
Harry had been thinking about this since Sirius first made the suggestion. He knew that any command he gave to them would be law, they would be unable to disobey. As they were getting ready for this, he’d asked Hermione and Sirius over the mirror in a corner for advice on how to phrase the needed commands.
Ƥ: “First, you will never again be influenced by, obey, heed or register hearing the thoughts, words, or whispers of the Old Gods. Second, from this day forward I want you to live a life you can be proud of. Third, you will not obey my words that are not directly intended as commands. If you are unsure, ask me before you act. Fourth, I want you to come to me if you need something, I would rather be a friend than a master. For now, look after your health and we’ll make what preparations we need. I, I’m not sure I’m worthy of your trust but I will do everything I can to make myself worthy. For now, I think we could all use something to eat and drink; I don’t know about you but I seem to be buzzing inside and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
A bit of a rest was certainly in order after a rather exciting afternoon. Sirius signed off when he saw eyelids starting to droop, seeing that the room had shifted to provide a rather large pile of pillows for the dragons to arrange however they wanted and a four-poster bed with his still shirtless godson slipping under the covers, too tired to notice his female friend slipping in on the other side. He wondered if they’d find themselves spooning sometime soon or not.
In any case, Harry might not have known what all that ritual did, but he’d bet his tail that there would be some side effects that were unexpected. While he wasn’t familiar with that ritual, let alone the language it was performed in, between the light show, the intent, the blood and the cups made he suspected that there was more to it. Exactly what effects this could have, he wasn’t sure of yet. It looked like it was time to review some of his lessons from the previous Head the Blacks (His grandfather, not his father. Now that was a terrifying man. His father never met the minimum sanity requirements to be the Family Head.) back when he was just a kid before he fled from his parents.
.........
A four hour rest did everyone in the Room of Requirement a great deal of good. Hermione, not directly dealing with any fallout from the ritual was the first to wake up. She found herself held in a pair of arms and held against a bare chest. She blushed, but decided to remain still and not wake him. She had heard him say that he often had nightmares so decided to let him rest for the time being.
It turned out she felt more relaxed than she expected as she soon returned to her slumber. A little after eight that evening Harry woke up, surprised to have his best friend held close so he carefully disentangled himself and slipped out of the bed and made use of the bathroom. Despite being as quiet as possible, he did return to the others stirring awake. Now that much of the stress and immediate problems had been resolved he noticed that his best friend had seemingly not had the time to don a bra last night. He found himself blushing at some thoughts that ran rampant through his mind at that discovery.
Dobby, seeing them waking up provided a light meal and some warm drinks. If he wanted Harry Potter to take him as his elf someday, he would have to prove that he was the best elf. He was experimenting with different seasonings for the dragons too. For the meal he had cow hearts from the little known farm a group of Hogwarts elves kept up in a greatly expanded, and previously unused, wing of the castle only reachable by the elves. (Centuries ago, a headmaster had commanded the elves to find a way to reduce the food budget without lowering quality. After some false starts, he was amazed when the quality went up while the costs plummeted to almost nothing. After learning what the elves had done he had gathered them all together and given them most honest praise he could for not only accomplishing a hard command but surpassing expectations. Some elves had passed out from joy at the honest, earnest praise.)
Dobby had found a seasoning they all seemed to enjoy in a slowly cooked heart with very spicy barbecue sauce. For the dragon that was still looking rather weak he had made for her a meaty stew of heart and liver with a little blood. Not sure how to prepare bones for consumption, he’d merely soaked a few in bit of unused gravy from the main student’s dinner. It was certainly different cooking for carnivores instead of omnivores, but so far the little elf had nailed it.
After they had all finished eating with light conversation floating around during the meal, Harry willed the room to create a pool just deep enough for the drakes to submerge their heads if they ducked. Thinking back to his guest’s preferred temperature for water, he added a heating element to one side of the pool and had it make that part scalding hot. With a little magic the other side of the water would be warm enough to relax human muscles but not scald human skin. He requested and got a pair of swimming trunks in dark blue but poor Harry had a problem when he tried to get some swimwear for Hermione. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t get the room to provide something that was as modest as he guessed his friend would want.
Hermione was honestly impressed at the combination hot tub and pool Harry designed, but found herself immediately insulted when the first attempt produced a very tiny string bikini. She almost let out an angry remark when she saw him frown and try again. His second attempt produced a larger amount of cloth, but it had sections cut out that revealed almost as much. By the sixth attempt, she could see him becoming frustrated before he turned to her, red faced and very embarrassed.
“I’m sorry Hermione, I think you’ll have to transfigure something. I think the problem is that while I want to give you something you’d be comfortable in, part of me also wants to see you something like this.” Deciding to cut her best friend some slack, she picked up two pieces from different sets that seemed more modest than the others and applied a color charm to both so they’d be matching dark green. Honestly she’d seen plenty worse on vacation in France. Stepping into the bathroom for a moment, she remarked to him as she closed the door.
“That’s alright Harry, I guess you’re still a teenage boy, Lord of dragons or not. You wouldn’t believe what my dad has to say about teenage boys.”
Within five minutes everyone had sunk into the rather warm water, Harry had made an admirable attempt to keep his eyes on his friend’s face and not on the rest of her as she slipped into the water looking much more graceful than he remembered her previously. For her part, Hermione noted both the attempt and the warm feeling she got that Harry seemed to enjoy the view when his eyes roved a bit.
Thankfully the pool was self-cleaning, as bits of previously missed mud and dried blood flaked off the dragons as they relaxed in the water. Talion felt a little let down that the water wasn’t as warm as he’d like, but then again if he wanted to swim in something to his tastes he’d need a vat of aluminum or molten stone instead of water. After a time of just relaxing, Ralion asked for and received some large brushes of varying thickness. It turned out due to their anatomy dragons had pretty much given up on washing themselves, too many hard to reach places, and instead they would groom each other. Harry learned that it had become a tradition, and Hermione guessed it was a kind of bonding ritual.
Usually a male drake would only bathe a non-related female if they were either courting or already mates, but Vespiona and Ralion paired up while Talion and Caliona cleaned each other out of necessity. The two teens just relaxed in the warm water, asking the odd question about draconic culture. Sadly, those here hadn’t been exposed to as much of it given their situation as slaves, but from what they knew it seemed very practical.
After an hour of soaking in the pleasantly warm water, the group made a few plans for tomorrow involving getting up early the next morning, and using Sunday to make plans for going forward. Both teens took a few moments to slip into the rooms shower for a quick scrub with soap before bed. Vespiona had mentioned they couldn’t use soap on themselves until they had either acquired or mixed up a substitute for a special oil they used on their scales, as most soaps would strip the existing oil off and let their scales dry and crack.
Harry let Hermione take the existing bed and asked the room for a sleeping bag instead. Hermione watched him lay down to sleep next to the dragons, he’d whispered something about wanting them to feel like he was one of them instead of thinking him as their superior. It turns out the dragons were still rather exhausted from their escape and the bonding, as they fell asleep quickly. Her last view of Harry for the night was when a sleeping Caliona used her wing to pull him to her side like a large teddy bear. Hermione fell asleep with a smile on her face.
.........
On another world no longer very far away at all an eclectic group of creatures flew through the night sky, led by five shapes Harry would have now found familiar. Đ: “I can’t believe that priestess made us wait at our last camp for a full day. Even you Reds should have felt that surge of power! I bet we have another mess to deal with now.”
Another dark shape, wings beating hard without the thermals they would normally ride to ease the strain responded in the same tongue. “Elune is a real entity, and as far as I know she’s at least somewhat fond of my Flight because Cenarius learned so much from Grandmother. Unless we’ve done something to seriously offend her I doubt she’d intervene to the group’s detriment while I’m here. Sadly we don’t get to demand answers from the higher beings, only work around them. Think you can find the center of whatever that was?”
A third of the creatures beating their wings through the night injected himself. “Even I know that won’t be hard. Let’s just hope we can finally finish this and get that Red they took back in one piece. I hate to think of what’s been done to her to make her so compliant, and we haven’t seen her since before they got to that island. You still think she’s alright Dali?”
“I do brother. They must have had a reason for dragging a clutching dragon around with them, and it would be out of character for this group to be, well, so wasteful to just slit her throat and drop her in the ocean. I agree with Aurogos, it’s likely that island was some kind of facility experimenting on dragons by a Kirin Tor traitor and the Twilights have stolen the whelps we could smell there and placed them all into a prison sphere. There’s a chance we could get some of our whelps back alive too. You all know how many losses our Flights have taken in the last few years. Any thoughts, Stine?”
The dark shape that had been lagging behind the others speaking replied, pitching his voice to be heard.“You know we don’t give out hints Dali. I will tell you that after seeing my own possible futures I choose to join your group for this hunt. We’ll just have to see how this shake of the hourglass pans out.”
Speaking again, the first voice asked: “Does that imply you don’t know how this turns out Stine?”
Even in the front of their column, Aurogos could hear the amused snort. “There’s a reason people lost in the Caverns of Time go mad my friend. Past flows into Future with endless eddies thrown into the mix. Fate is ever-changing and rarely kind. Predicting tomorrow perfectly is only possible if one can account for every variable and I don’t think even Aman'Thul can manage that. If you’ll keep this to yourselves?” He paused for a moment until he got a committed yes from all the others taking wing with him. “I did see a future self, or should I say a potential future self going about his business on my way out of the Caverns of Time. I, or rather he looked very chipper and excited in a way I haven’t been in some time so I have a rather good feeling about this.”
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AN: I’m trying to decide on weapon(s) for Harry. Right now the plan is to have him learn to fight with magic and a blade, but I find myself torn as to what to give him. A one handed sword and a wand, and/or a spear that doubles as a focus are my main thoughts. I welcome other’s opinions.
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