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An Offering of Dragons	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 8786 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this story.

Chapter List
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Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Ten—Chinese Fireball
            “Keep still. You will see dragons.”
            Draco cast an exasperated glance at Harry. But Harry seemed perfectly content to sit still and look vaguely around the green glade covered with mosses and rocks and, on the other side, a small waterfall.
            Draco fidgeted. He would have expected Harry to resent Li Jun’s advice more. He was the restless one, who always wanted to dash off somewhere without considering what kind of beast’s mouth he was entering. Instead, it was Draco who had to struggle to contain his boredom and desire to stand up.
            “Keep still.”
            Draco gave Li a sulky glance and focused on the waterfall again. Li—who had told them that he might let them call him by his first name if they impressed him that day—was already sitting calmly on a conjured carpet, his eyes fixed on the tumbling water. That was the thing that was supposed to help them meditate.
            That doesn’t even make any sense. The water is moving itself! How can it make us want to stay silent?
            Although Draco supposed if Harry could do it, so could he. He wouldn’t let anyone say he was less patient and serene than Harry. He stretched his legs out in a comfortable position, without trying to mimic the kneeling one that Li had, and stared at the waterfall.
            There were green rocks behind it, like some of the veins in the marble of Malfoy Manor, like the emeralds Draco used for eyes in some of his mechanical beasts, like the moss. Draco sighed a little. Was that what they had come to see? He hadn’t been enthusiastic about Harry’s idea of hiring the Dragon-Keeper who could get them the closest to Chinese Fireballs, but he would almost prefer a dragon to ease his boredom.
            “There.”
            Li’s voice made Draco jump. Then he saw the long, snaky neck extending through the stream.
            Draco hadn’t thought there was a deep cave behind the cascade. Why would he? The water looked absolutely transparent and shimmering, and he had thought he was seeing nothing but a shallow cove of stone behind it.
            Apparently looks could be deceiving, or else he would have to get used to looking for dragons in unexpected places, because not only one Chinese Fireball scrambled through the water and shook droplets of it off, but two. Draco remembered that he had read Fireballs were more tolerant of their own kind than some other dragons—although given what other dragons were like, that wasn’t saying much.
            Still, to be this close…
            The larger Fireball was shining as if dipped in fresh blood, and the smaller one had a golden crown of spikes that stood up around its scales and dimmed them in comparison. Harry leaned slowly towards Draco, and Draco leaned back towards him without taking his eyes from the dragons.
            “Gryffindor,” Harry whispered.
            It took Draco a second to see what he meant. Then he wanted to laugh. Yes, the red and gold were Gryffindor colors.
            But these were still dragons, not filled with chivalry and reckless daring. Draco tried to calm his breathing as the larger one’s head pivoted slowly to face him.
            “I did tell you to keep still,” said Li, in what sounded like a soft, mournful voice. Then he stood up and walked out from between the moss-covered rocks to confront the dragons.
            Draco had no trouble in keeping still now. He wondered for a wild second whether someone could charge them with murdering a Dragon-Keeper if they didn’t do what he said when they were in front of dragons.
            But the Fireballs didn’t immediately charge at Li. They just stared at him as if they couldn’t believe that a puny little human would dare approach them. The smaller one even sat down and fanned a wing in front of its eyes, like it was whipping smoke out of them. Draco would have chuckled if his tongue wasn’t frozen.
            Li came to a stop in front of the dragons and inclined his head, in a bow much smaller than the one Draco remembered the half-giant teaching them to use to hippogriffs. That seemed wrong, again. Did Dragon-Keepers forget what they were dealing with? If they were going to show respect to any magical animal, dragons should be it, surely?
            But a second later, Li reached down and seemed to root among the stones. He pulled out something scrubby and grey, something small that might be alive, although Draco didn’t think it was. Li held it out.
            The larger Fireball strode up to him. Draco watched its head swaying above Li and this time, had to swallow. He would shout if he didn’t, and he was wondering how much flame a Fireball could really breathe. Would it be big enough to engulf him and Harry if they tried to run?
            Of all the things that Draco would curse himself for not remembering, he had never thought one of them would be the dragon Krum had fought at the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He was trying to recall whether it had breathed a far-reaching fire and what distance it could singe the grass and spectators from itself.
            Of course, there were spells up to protect the spectators at the Tri-Wizard Tournament…
            Then the larger Fireball opened up its jaws and closed them on the grey thing that dangled from Li’s hand, and his arm itself.
            “Poor bastard,” Harry whispered, and stood up beside Draco, drawing his wand. Draco also rose to his feet, swaying, although he wondered if it was the best thing. It would be terrible if Li was eaten, but there was no reason for them to join him in a dragon’s belly if it could be avoided.
            Li just stood there, staring the Fireball in the eye. Draco wondered if he was in shock form blood loss.
            Then the Fireball abruptly parted its jaws and pulled its head back. Draco saw the dent of teeth in Li’s skin and a little blood, but he still had the limb and his hand. He even had all his fingers!
            But the grey thing he had clutched was gone.
            Then the dragons turned and splashed back into the waterfall. Once again, Draco had to squint to see where they had gone, and he didn’t understand how they could possibly fit into the tiny space behind the water. But Li stood there gazing after them, and didn’t act like he was waving his wand to help them.
            When he turned around again, he looked at both Harry and Draco and sighed, shaking his head.
            “You should come with me so I can explain to you.”
*
            Harry glanced around curiously. He had thought, when they Apparated, that Li was taking them outside the Fireball reserve. But if Li’s home was outside the boundaries, it seemed he had taken care to make it look as much as possible like one inside them instead.
            It was modeled after a cave, constructed of stones in a round shape like half a tunnel, and backing up on a large hill. Woven straw mats covered some of the floor, but most of it, Harry thought, was simply carefully-shaped dirt. The tunnel shape widened in the middle, accommodating a small pool, a complicated construct that Harry supposed Li probably used as a toilet, a wooden table, a cabinet of red wood carved with coiling dragons, and a few chairs.
            Li, though, didn’t invite them to use the chairs. He showed them to the mats instead and opened the cabinet to get out a small tray. Harry thought, from the ginger way Li handled it, that it was either extremely heavy or extremely valuable. Maybe both, if it was really made of the jade that it looked like.
            “What was the grey thing you fed them?” Draco demanded.
            Harry gave him a chiding glance, even before Li held up one hand and gave Draco a little glare. Draco was being ruder and more impetuous than he had in any of the other dragon reserves. Harry had wondered at first if it was some problem with the Translation Charm. They’d needed to cast it several times as they worked their way through the wizarding communities across Europe and then China. Even within China itself, there were several different languages in different places.
            But no, Draco just seemed to expect a certain thing out of Dragon-Keepers, and was upset when he didn’t get it.
            “Peace. In time.”
            Li took a few shallow bowls off the tray and spent some time adding various herbs and spices to the bowls and setting them on fire. Harry had never seen some of them, and thought they must be versions of incense. At least breathing them in was calming, and seemed to clear his head instead of making it spin. He saw Draco sit back as if he was also accepting that Li didn’t really owe them answers.
            Harry would like answers, especially what the thing was that Li had fed to the bigger dragon. But he could go without them.
            Li conjured water with a murmured spell and added it to the final bowl of herbs, staring down critically into them as he steeped them. Harry found the smells soothing—or maybe that was the combined effect of that particular smell and the other things that Li had already set burning. At least Li nodded and pulled a few cups out of the cabinet, then poured the brew into them and handed them smooth wooden spoons.
            “More like a stew,” he added, when Draco tried to sip the mixture as if it was tea.
            Draco nodded and started eating the floating leaves and small clumps of herbs. Harry tried them more cautiously. They looked like some of the things Aunt Petunia had tried to feed Dudley when he was on his diet.
            But they tasted nothing like that, Harry realized in relief a second later. He sipped the water when he had to, scooped up more bits of leaf with his spoon when he could, and chased the smallest pieces to the corners of the cup. It was delicious, thick like some meaty stews Harry had tasted, but sweeter and with a sharp vegetable taste that he licked his lips over.
            Li ate his own cup and finished before them, watching them with the same critical eye he’d used on his herbs when they were steeping. Then he nodded as Harry and Draco both set their cups aside.
            “You want to know how I managed to calm the dragon.”
            Draco glanced at the place on Li’s upper arm where the dragon’s teeth had broken the skin, and Harry could guess what he was thinking. But he saw no reason in antagonizing Li, so he nodded. “Yes. Or at least why it only ate that thing you had with you instead of taking your whole arm.”
            “You must remember it is impossible to tame dragons.”
            Harry nodded again. Even Firewing, who seemed to play with Allison, could turn on the people around him in anger at a moment’s notice.
            “But one can show respect for them.” Li turned and leaned off his mat, rummaging through what Harry had thought was simply a pile of stones in the corner. At last he found what he wanted and pulled it out, turning around to face them. “Here. This is what I had placed in the clearing to attract dragons, and calm them if necessary.”
            Harry leaned over to look at it. It was a little less grey than the thing Li had offered the dragon, but only barely. And it still resembled a twisted rope with some hanks hanging off to the side as though someone had partially untwisted it.
            “What is it?”
            Li didn’t seem upset about the loud way Draco asked the question. He only smiled. “The Fireballs are the kindest of the dragons. They tolerate adults in their territory, not only hatchlings. Nor do they drive their children away the moment they attain adult size, the way that so many other species do. This—” he waved the rope a little “—is a woven piece of magic that calls upon that kindly nature and amplifies it.”
            “I’ve never heard of waving magic,” Harry said.
            Li gave him another smile. “And that means it cannot exist, of course.”
            “No,” said Harry. “I only…How do you weave it?”
            Li reached out and pulled an empty bowl in front of him. “Watch this,” he said, and conjured water from his wand with a flick of his wrist. It poured down in front of him in a steady stream, and then Li reached out and slid the fingers of his other hand into the water.
            He twisted them back and forth. Harry leaned forwards, mesmerized. He could see Li spinning the water around his fingers. He just didn’t know how it was done.
            But the closer he got, the more he could feel. There was a subtle vibration around Li’s fingers, as though he was extending magic to touch the water even as he poured it. His face was set in a small frown of concentration that relaxed into a smile as Harry watched, and he whipped his wand up and around. Harry had to duck as the water passed overhead.
            Except, when Li shook his hand out, it wasn’t water anymore. It was a shimmering blue ribbon that had twisted pieces hanging off to the side exactly as if someone had started to unwind it.
            “Not my most graceful effort.” Li turned his head to the side as if he wanted to consider the exact placement of the hanging strands of the ribbon; his long black hair, braided securely behind him, swayed with the motion. Harry wondered if he braided it with the same kind of magic that he’d just showed them. “But you see how it begins.”
            “What kind of spell were you weaving the rope into?”
            “That is also conjured material,” said Li, turning to face Draco a little. “Moss and small stones. But it works better for calming dragons than a rope made of water. Water is patient but also ever-changing. The moss and the earth are steadier.”
            “I see how woven magic can exist now,” Harry said. “But how can it calm dragons down?”
            He was mostly thinking that this was the sort of innovation all Dragon-Keepers would want, if they knew about it. Then again, there was no saying that plenty of them didn’t. It just wasn’t knowledge that people like Charlie had chosen to share with Harry.
            “Because dragons are creatures of the elements,” said Li, as if it was obvious. “They rejoice in the water, they walk on the earth, they soar in the air, and they breathe fire. Elemental magic has a minor place in British wizarding studies, I know. Yet how can you possibly have forgotten this?”
            “I don’t think we ever knew it,” said Draco. Harry let him speak, since he was the one more conversant with magical theory. Draco leaned forwards to study both ropes that Li held, shaking his head. “No, I know I haven’t encountered references to this. The elemental magic I’m familiar with is for minor charms, or to help with potions. How to have an extra bowl of water that will bestow the blessing of water on the potion you’re brewing, for instance,” he added, either because Harry was staring at him or Li was.
            “Now that is a blessing I have never heard of,” said Li. “How can water bless your potion?”
            “I don’t really know,” Draco admitted. “I think what’s died out has mostly been the theory that used to justify the elemental practice. That would be one reason it’s not used much anymore.” He reached out a hand, then hesitated and looked at Li for permission.
            Li nodded, and Draco smoothed his fingers over the rope of water, murmuring in pleasure. Harry reached out right behind him, and sighed. Yes, it felt nice, as though he was touching silk that someone had wet down just a little. He could imagine draping that rope over his eyes when he had a headache.
            “Why did you want to calm the dragons down?” Draco asked then. “Simply to get close to them?”
            “Yes. That is its own pleasure.”
            Harry nodded. He could believe that. Even the way the bigger dragon had bitten Li’s arm could be a kind of pleasure, at least if you played your cards right and emerged from the dragon’s mouth still having an arm.
            “And you paid me for the privilege of leading you close to them,” Li added then, a faint smile on his face as he looked from Draco to Harry. “I did not want to disappoint you.”
            “I thought thirty meters would be a good distance,” Harry admitted. “And then we could use Omnioculars to see any details that we might miss.”
            Li chuckled. “You have had enough experiences with dragons close up that you do not wish to repeat, perhaps?”
            Harry nodded fervently, and heard Draco laugh as he leaned on his shoulder. Then Draco said, “Well. I thought we would get to see some beautiful dragons when we came here, but nothing else. I suppose I underestimated the possibilities of Dragon-Keeping wizardry.” He turned to Li again. “Would you mind if I asked you more questions about elemental theory? I’m happy to pay you, although I don’t know what kind of price you would consider fair.”
            Li studied them. Then he said, “We will exchange knowledge. You will explain how elemental theory works within your own magic and the way other British wizards think of it. I will tell you what you want to know.”
            Draco nodded. “That sounds more than fair.”
            Harry settled back, contented. It was good to know that Draco would get something of this, something perhaps equal to the glimpses of wildness and the adrenaline rushes that Harry had received so far.
*
            Draco gratefully sipped from the cup of water Li had handed him. He’d been talking for long enough that he felt as if he was on the verge of getting a cold.
            “You do understand why someone might want to do this,” Li said, and then he turned abruptly and stared off to the side. Draco looked with him. He was surprised to see Harry had his head leaning on the wall of the cave, asleep. Draco had been sure he would be awake and listening intently, fascinated by the ways Li had told Draco about getting closer to dragons.
            Then Draco snorted. If Harry was that fascinated, he would have asked questions before now. A quiet Harry Potter was an unnatural Harry Potter.
            “I do,” Draco said, rather than reply to the thoughts racing through his head. He lowered the cup of water. “I think that Harry has some of the same fascination.”
            Li looked at Harry again.
            “Not the theory, though,” Draco said. “The living dragons. He rushed up to a few dragons during our journey already, but he promised me not to do that anymore, unless it was necessary to save a life. He hid at the bottom of a pond while a Swedish Short-Snout tried to stab him with one talon.”
            Li blinked. “I take it that he doesn’t need to be given encouragement to get closer to any more dragons.”
            “Exactly,” Draco said, grateful that Li understood.
            “And your fascination is so theoretical?”
            Draco shrugged. “I agreed to come on this holiday for Harry, and to see some beautiful animals. I’m grateful I came, and that I learned so many things. Thanks for teaching me,” he added. Li waved a hand, and Draco guessed he wanted Draco to get on with the explanation. “But knowledge is more of the lure for me. The—the wildness, the life, is for Harry.”
            Li considered that for a second, looking up at the ceiling. Draco didn’t look with him. He was sure he wouldn’t see there what Li did, anyway.
            Li abruptly looked back at him. “We have some more talking to do. There are still aspects of the elemental magic practiced in Britain that I don’t understand.”
            Draco nodded, unsurprised. Li seemed like someone who wanted to hear all the possible aspects of a theory so that he didn’t misunderstand anything.
            “And call me Jun.”
            Draco blinked, then smiled. He didn’t miss that the permission had only been extended to him, and not to Harry.
            But then again, Harry had been the one who earned the respect of the Swedish Dragon-Keepers. Draco had done nothing to help him there.
            It’s okay if we both get different things out of this holiday.
*
SP777: Well, they sort of got a break this time? At least they weren’t the ones in immediate danger!
But I think you’re right about the vacation stories.
I am thinking of another Veela story, but right now the plot is so ridiculous that it doesn’t get written until it behaves itself.
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An Offering of Dragons