Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

There Be Dragons, Harry	By : Scioneeris Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Slash - Male/Male Views: 58383 -:- Recommendations : 8 -:- Currently Reading : 27
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its characters. I make no money by writing this story..

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
PREVIOUSLY:

The lovely warm room, Charlie's quiet, even breathing and the reassuring magical pulses from the egg had him yawning and relaxing all over again. He curled up around the egg nest, unsure of why, but figuring there was nothing to lose from it.

He was sure he'd wake up if the egg started hatching.

With a yawn, emerald eyes dimmed and winked out as Harry fell asleep.

NOTE : Imagine this little baby creature as a miniature version of Toothless from How to train your dragon. (The movie version, not the book version) ^_^

Harry awoke the feeling of little pointed paws padding all over his face.

It was immediately followed by Charlie's quiet hissing. "Hey! Stop that, if you wake him up just because you're trying to make me-!"

The desperation in his voice was something Harry had never heard before and he took a moment to process that before the rest of him caught up to the fact that there were paws padding around on his face. He woke with a garbled yell.

His eyes popped open in time to see Charlie grabbing something small, black and squirming out of mid-air. "Shh! Easy little guy." Charlie crooned, holding the little thing up to his chest and cradling it close. A series of babbling and gurgling noises came from the creature and Harry sat up as his jaw dropped. That was one sight he'd never thought he'd see.

"Uh, Charlie?" Harry sputtered and then dragged the sleeve of his pyjama jacket across his tongue as he realized one of those little scaly feet had just happened to step into his mouth. A rather cute little black scaled thing that was currently blowing him a raspberry with a wicked gleam in those round black eyes. Harry couldn't believe it. His emerald eyes narrowed. "You little-!" He started, furiously.

Charlie immediately danced out of reach. "Whoa, easy Harry!" He quickly held the little squirming creature out of reach. "Harry!" He protested, backing into the solid wall of boxes.

Harry stopped when he was plastered chest-to-chest with the redhead and blinked up at him. Well, mostly chest, his pyjama jacket prevented the actual skin on skin contact. Harry scowled, darkly. "What?"

"It's…it's harmless." Charlie said, lamely. He didn't dare lower his arm.

Harry perked a brow at him.

Charlie swallowed.

"Why didn't you wake me up for the hatching?" The brunet demanded.

"Er, it already hatched when I woke up?" Charlie suggested.

Harry scented the lie for what it was and his green eyes shimmered for a moment, before one hand shot out and tickled Charlie's exposed underarm.

The results were priceless.

Charlie definitely hadn't expected that. He reacted with a yelp and the most delightful set of shrieks and dancing moves that Harry had ever seen come out of a Weasley. The young dragon tamer barely managed to keep his hold on the newborn creature that was still babbling and cooing as he hurried to put some distance between him and Harry.

He was distinctly at a disadvantage in the crowded room—especially on account of being shirtless.

Charlie stashed the little creature atop one box just as Harry pounced on him.

The tickle fight that followed ended when Charlie rolled on top and slipped one rough hand expertly up the bottom of Harry's pyjama jacket and teased the sensitive skin below. A delightful red flush covered Harry from head to toe and finally, between breathless gasps of laughter, he reached up and yanked Charlie down to a hug.

"Uncle!" He cried. "I give!"

The tickling hand stayed and Charlie half-collapsed on him, the hand between them trapped, his head half-pillowed on Harry's shoulder. He breath ghosted softly across the newly flushed skin and for a moment, neither young man had anything to stay.

The quiet babbling turned into a series of soft, musical chirps and then the little creature tumbled off the boxes and onto the tangled couple. It trotted over Charlie's heaving form and wriggled into a little space between redhead and brunet, settling down like a cat as if for a nap.

Blue and emerald eyes stared at it together and then at each other incredulously.

"Er, Charlie?" Harry ventured after a moment, breaking the stare, he looked away focusing on the mountain of boxes instead.

"What?"

"Your hand's up my shirt."

Charlie blushed as red as his hair.

He'd slept longer than he'd thought, but thankfully, he hadn't missed breakfast. Opting for a shower first, Harry left Charlie and their newborn…thing, to their own devices as he slipped out into the surprisingly quiet hallway. Yes, a shower sounded just fine, thank you very much.

Nearly a half hour later, Harry stepped into the room, toweling his hair half-heartedly. He'd just come from the bathroom and realized that he hadn't brought any clothes with him on the sudden spur of the moment venture. He'd then pulled on his trousers and after a quick peek through the hallway between the bathroom and Charlie's bedroom, he'd darted across, shirtless. "Hey Charlie?" There was a murmur from the other side of the boxes and Harry turned sideways and inched through to the other side. "Can I borrow a shirt?"

"Huh?" Charlie reached a hand up to his shoulder where he stroked the little head of the thing on his shoulder. "Ron might be more your size." He managed, eyes flickering over the object in his hand, brow furrowed.

Harry snorted. "I doubt it. He's practically a head taller than me already." He huffed. "Besides, I'd need someone to resize it for me." He waited.

Charlie didn't answer.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Charlie!"

The redhead was staring at the scrap of parchment in his hand and then at the box and back at the object in his other hand.

"Charlie?" Harry crossed the small space to stand beside him. "What is it?"

"A bloodstone." Charlie breathed, awe coloring his voice and face. He stared up at Harry for a moment. "For vampires." He explained. "This could…this could grant the Order an alliance with the vampires, if we were able to-" He dived back to the crate and rummaged through the straw packaging. "There's three of them." He gasped. "And Bill sent them all…"

Harry felt his respect for the eldest Weasley son rise by several notches in leaps and bounds. That was very admirable. Good Bill. Bad Charlie. Harry blinked. Bad Charlie. Right. "Charlie, I am going to borrow one of your shirts and a pair of pants and you are going to shrink them for me." Harry weighted his voice with the musical tinge, hoping it would work.

Charlie never budged.

Harry stepped around him and rummaged through his available options in the barely accessible closet. He chose a pair of comfortably worn dragonhide pants and a matching, wide-necked shirt. He slipped into them, tossing his school trousers to the pile with the rest of his school clothes on the floor. Charlie still hadn't looked up. Harry wished for a mirror and then frowned, remembering, belatedly—his tattooed mark on the side of his neck.

Drat!

He exchanged the wide-necked shirt for a sleeveless and collared option. The clothes hung off his skinny frame and he was careful as he made his way over to Charlie and handed over his wand. "Charlie?"

The redheaded wizard turned, faintly, his mind still on the crate.

"Clothes. Spell. Resize?" Harry held up one baggy pant leg.

Charlie's face reflected a lovely shade of light pink as his blue eyes immediately darted away and then strayed back before he sighed and waved his wand, quickly. The clothes shrunk before the rest of Charlie caught up to him. "Is that my favorite pair of pants?" He looked from the pants to Harry's unrepentant face. "Harry!"

"You weren't paying attention." Harry shrugged, bending over to scoop up the armful of clothes he'd deposited on the floor. He completely missed the look on Charlie's face and the way the redhead swallowed hard when presented with that lovely, moulded version of Harry bending over. "Laundry?" Harry requested, standing up.

"Behind the boxes, over there." Charlie pointed.

Harry followed the line of sight from Charlie's finger, squinted, took aim and tossed the armful.

Charlie smirked. "Impressive."

Harry rolled his eyes. "So what exactly is that?" He pointed to Charlie's shoulder. "And don't you dare tell me that it's a dragon!"

At that, Charlie shook his head, slowly. "It isn't." He said, at last. "But I don't rightly know what it is." He held one hand out and the snoozing little thing opened one eye to look at him before tumbling off his shoulder and into the flat palm of his hand. "He's smaller than I thought he'd be." Charlie licked his lips and frowned. "I've checked through all the books I have and there's only a few mentions that years ago, there might have been creatures like this, but they're supposed to be extinct."

Supposed to be extinct. The words echoed in Harry's head and his emerald eyes grew wide. "Really? Where?" He hurried to the bed and pushed the crate to the side, taking the bloodstones from Charlie and wrapping it in the parchment before putting it back in the crate. "Which book?"

Charlie stared at him, amused and then shrugged. "Let's see." He turned and waved his wand, murmuring Accio, beneath his breath. A stack of books flew to him and with another series of waves, Charlie soon handed him the books with the passages he'd found.

Harry read them quickly, murmuring the words beneath his breath before he frowned. Perhaps it would answer to parseltongue. It was certainly worth a try. "Give him to me."

"What?" Charlie blinked.

"I need to see something." Harry reached for the creature. It snapped at his fingers. Harry growled at it. It bared its teeth in return and snapped at his finger again—succeeding in drawing blood before Charlie's expert hands caught it around the jaws and pressed lightly to pop the little mouth open and free Harry's finger.

Charlie tapped it gently on the nose. "We do not bite wizards." He scolded. "Sorry, Harry." He reached for his wand and tapped it lightly on his knee, still holding down the little creature with his other hand. "Let me see it."

'Stupid idiotic wizard…I wasn't going to eat him, I just had to taste his blood. How else am I supposed to speak to him when we're unbounded and—ow!' The exclamation came as Charlie had tapped its nose.

Harry made a squeaking sound in the back of his throat. He'd heard that. He'd seen it. Merlin help him! "You can speak!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Charlie looked from the little creature to Harry. "What-can, Harry?" The little thing began to fight beneath the strong hand holding it down. It nipped at Charlie's fingers, freed when Charlie released it with a frown. "You have the manners of a pregnant Horntail." He muttered.

"You spoke just now, didn't you?" Harry demanded, completely missing the byplay between Charlie and it. "Come here!" Harry held out a hand.

The soft blue eyes swirled to a deep, dark purple as they grew wide and then the little black-scaled head swung between Charlie and Harry, before it cautiously inched over to Harry. It peered over its shoulder back at Charlie, a somewhat forlorn and guilty expression on its face.

"You can go back to him just now." Harry sighed. "I just want to see something." He licked his lips and then hissed softly.

'Can you understand me?'

A squeak of surprise came from the little creature.

'Well, can you?' Harry hissed.

The creature seemed to give a little huff. 'I just did, didn't I?'

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Great. It had a smartmouth. 'You can understand what I was saying before then. Before now.' He gestured to himself.

'Yes.'

Harry's jaw dropped, he stared at Charlie who stared back at him in equal surprise.

"Well?" The redhead prompted, after a long moment.

"It speaks."

Charlie settled back on the bed and stared with a mixture of amazement and interest as he watched the hissed conversation taking place between Harry and the little black un-dragon. To see Harry speaking parseltongue first-hand was a twist of fate he'd never anticipated. It stirred something inside that made him faintly hot and bothered.

Just faintly.

Charlie swallowed and shoved those confusing thoughts aside to focus on their current situation. The mystery creature now cavorting between them. He continued to watch, curious. He felt a slight kinship towards the little creature, even though everything he knew, told him that it most certainly was not a dragon.

There were feline characteristics to it in the way it curled up into a little ball as it sat on Harry's lap and the way a forked, pink tongue occasionally flickered out to clean its face, paws and tail. He was puzzled by the soft, feathery wings that were too small for anything remotely useful, seemingly there as decoration, yet sensitive enough to feel the soft scratches from Harry's hands as he stroked it.

The face was intelligent, somewhat broad-shaped and the tail held three armored spikes. All the teeth were canine and pointed and there were double pupils in the wide, slanted eyes. Charlie swallowed hard as one of those eyes flickered towards him, piercing in its dark intensity. He recalled the earlier, lighter shade of sky blue and mentally made a note of the transformation.

If he'd discovered a new creature, this was certainly something worth cataloguing.

He'd awakened some time during the night to find Harry wrapped around the egg, the towel discarded and cradled in the pale arms instead. He'd watched them for a while, brushing against the egg a few times to test the magical pulse and reassure himself that the creature within was fine. He could feel strong waves of magic rolling off of Harry and disappearing into the egg, filling the room with an almost manic, crazy haze of humming energy.

It swirled around the room and eventually dissipated when Harry began to squirm and groan, before his breathing sped up and panicked whimpers escaped his lips.

Nightmares.

Charlie had rescued the egg from Harry's thrashing form and quickly stashed it on his pillow, turning only to see the green eye open, wide, lifeless and dulled as the lithe body writhed and twitched as if tortured. He'd tried to wake him. He'd shaken him. Called to him. Thrown water on him. Tried an Ennervate. Almost gone to wake his parents.

Almost.

The egg had hummed to life and cracked open to reveal the small, coal-colored scaled creature that tumbled off his pillow and right into his waiting hands. He fed it a pulse of magical energy, sensing the creature was more magic than creature and then had watched in amazement as the little thing had grown from the size of a rat to the size of a small kitten.

It had instantly gone over to Harry and begun to wash his face.

Harry had stopped thrashing about at once.

His body had grown still and his eyelids had slid shut once more.

The little thing continued in its ministrations until Harry was breathing normally again. Then it came prancing back to Charlie and grinning with a gumless, toothless smile. A smile that had quickly become toothed when the little thing had sneezed. A moment later, it had bit his finger, hard enough to draw blood and suckled long enough for a few mouthfuls before he'd been able to pry it off.

Charlie had immediately scrambled to find some food for it.

He tried waking Harry again, but—as before—nothing worked. He couldn't panic, mostly because the little thing had taken up residence on his bare shoulder and begun purring up a storm that simply made it hard to hold onto any single emotion. He had then settled down on the bed and napped on an off for the rest of the night.

The little thing had woken him some time later—and then done the same Harry before he could grab it.

He'd never been so relieved to see the green-eyed boy up and responsive.

A dull ache in his chest made itself known when he realized that the young man made no mention of his nighttime terrors and while he didn't outright flinch at any of the quick movements around him, it was a reflex barely contained.

Charlie didn't like it.

There was simply something about Harry that made him want to hold him and love him in any way possible. Something to take away the stress lines etched into a face too young. Something to erase the shadows within bright green eyes that hinted at the darkness and deepness beneath. Something to heal the hurt that seemed to linger behind that smile that never quite shone bright enough.

Yes, Charlie resigned himself, he might be forming a bit of an attachment to a certain brunet wizard.

A certain famous wizard.

He mentally slapped himself and went over invite himself into the private moment of mystery creature and parseltongue. "Find out anything…Harry?" The words trailed off as Charlie caught sight of a flicker of magic and then a simple, silvery band on Harry's left hand. A ring. A ring on the finger on the hand that usually meant that one was bonded.

A sharp pain stabbed through his chest and when he shook his head and looked again, there was nothing there. Just Harry's hands, slightly small and pale as they usual were.

Charlie watched as the green eyes flickered gold and Harry held out one hand, his brow furrowed in concentration before a thick, fat book materialized out of thin air.

"Sit back." Harry's head snapped up. "Ah, just give me a minute." He rifled through the thick, ancient pages with a gentle hand, searching systematically for something before finally tapping his hand on the index and murmuring a few words. The pages rippled on their own, flipping to the correct entry before resting flat in his lap.

"Is that an heirloom tome?" Charlie couldn't keep the excitement from his voice. "One of the ancient encyclopedias?"

"Er, maybe?" Harry colored slightly. "Uh, it's a-"

Charlie held up his hands. "I don't need to see it." He said, regretfully. "I'm sure it's got plenty of protections on it, doesn't it?" He sighed. "That's fine. Just let me know what you find out?"

"Of course!"

They had a bit of a roundabout conversation, something that it explained after Harry's repeated pestering to the fact that the little thing could understand him in plain English just as well as parseltongue.

'What are you?' He tried.

'That should be obvious, Master.'

'I'm not your master'

'Then why did my master give me to you?'

'What?'

Harry followed the gaze from himself to Charlie. Ah. 'I just wanted to talk to you.' He faltered, finding the little face beginning to grow on him. 'You can still belong to…Charlie.'

'You do not want me?'

'er, more like you weren't mine first?'

'But you are better suited for me.'

'What?'

'His blood sings like yours, but he cannot hear me. You are better suited.'

'Sings for…wait, what do you mean?'

The little creature snorted. 'I mean what I say.'

It was little help then. So Harry did the only other thing he could do at that point, the wheels and gears of his mind shifted into a more interesting track and without even thinking, he held out his hand and silently summoned the Nott family heirloom encyclopedia to him. It landed in his hand with a solid, hefty thunk and he scooped the little thing out of the way and sat it on his shoulder so it could see the pages as well.

He hoped the protections didn't include zapping defenseless baby dragon-creatures.

Thankfully, nothing happened as he began to carefully turn the pages, running purely on the instinct shuffling through his whirling brain. His fingers ticked down the index and then suddenly, he felt the magic bubble under his hand and he quickly yanked his hand back and waited while the book turned for him. It found the appropriate entry and Harry felt his jaw drop.

He skimmed the page rapidly, drawing on his Dragel gifts to make sense of the entry.

Nytura. The entry read.

Nytura is the result of a deliberate concoction of dragon essence and Grim using Shadow magic forced through a blood seal, resulting as an individual creature. It was first crafted by Oredo Menitis, a Dragel who endavoured to create a creature that would protect and accompany his children and mates during his absences. The result was a strictly loyal and extremely intelligent creature.

Nyturas hatch when they have gathered enough magical energy and feed on shadows, elemental magic and blood. They are pack creatures and prefer to run free out of doors under the cover of night. It is common for an entire pack to live amongst a mated circle and they are protective of their own. Nyturas possess a pair of ribbed, armored wings that appear when their chosen Master is in mortal danger and their claws can secrete several types of venom. They can sense emotions and danger through their heightened senses. They are part shadow creature and having been borne of Dragel blood magic, they are extremely companionable to young children and will form attachments with the first person carrying even the faintest hint of Dragel nature.

They were used as courtship gifts during the first centuries and often given from the dominant to the submissive as a gesture of loyalty and love, meaning that they will devote their entire self to the submissive mate with the same loyalty ingrained in the Nytura.

Nyturas are born according to a centennial lunar cycle and if the pack has grown too large, the mother will hide her egg in a Dragon's nest. The hatchling will remain in a suspended state until an individual with Dragel instincts and suitable magic discovers them. The incubation period lasts as long as it takes for the egg to draw sufficient magical energy and it will hatch when it senses it caretaker is in need of it.

Nyturas are born as live young and once the mother is assured of her offspring's health, it is marked by the pack's alpha. If the offspring is unwelcome in the pack, then the residual magic of the birth will form a cocoon—an egg—and suspend the Nytura until it has found a suitable home, after which, the hatchling will feed on the provided magic to attune itself to its new caretaker's magical signature.

All eyes are blue at birth and will take on a violet hue as they mature, turning dark in moments of extreme emotion, such as anger or fear. Nyturas mature in an irregular cycle, depending on their surroundings and the intelligence of their caretaker. A caretaker may be a foodsource and parent figure, before becoming their Master.

A blood bonding allows Nytura to converse with their respective caretakers and Dragels. These little creatures develop according to the blood they ingest. An intelligent caretaker of significant magical power can easily converse and simultaneously cast magic with a newborn Nytura after a first feeding or bite. All knowledge is gained through experience or reading through blood. A Nytura will bite with the intent and interest of learning what an individual has to offer and not necessarily to feed.

Harry dumbly closed the book and banished it with a slight thought form his head. He then plucked the little Nytura off his shoulder and held it in his hands. They stared at each other and finally the little thing squirmed and wriggled in his hands, before poking its tongue out to swipe at his left thumb. The soft, wet motion was ticklish and it made Harry smile.

He grinned at Charlie, impishly. "Can I keep him?"

Charlie seemed to forget how to speak, so Harry continued on.

"I will call you, Shadow, alright?" He stroked the little scaled head.

The newly dubbed Shadow gave a delighted purr.

In the cool, shadowy confines of Malfoy Manor, Death Eaters stood in silent, double file in their usual positions as their dark lord paced back and forth on the black marbled floor.

"Hogwarts evacuated?" Voldemort's trademark whisper filtered through the air of his shadowed throne room. "Good, good." He waved a hand at the Elder Goyle and watched him scuttle back in place to the half-line-circle before him. "And what of Potter?"

"There was no mention of him at Hogwarts." Rowle bowed low. "He is staying with the blood-traitors—the Weasleys."

"The Weasleys?" Voldemort drew himself up. "Hypocrite." He hissed. "Go and…stir things up. You have earned this Rowle." He paused and then added as an afterthought. "No restrictions."

Rowle smirked, wickedly.

FRIDAY NIGHT : HOGWARTS

Hermione stumbled out of Hogwarts castle following the pull that drug her right past Hagrid's hut and straight to the alluring shadows of the Forbidden forest. This was it. This was her last chance.

She smeared the tears on her face down her cheeks and quickened her step to a near dead run. She stumbled through the pathway and a few choice pieces of underbrush. Despair clung to every inch of her nearly lifeless eyes as she ran until her lungs burned and her feet gave out beneath her in the midst of the darkened forest.

She tripped.

And fell.

She lay there on the soft, earthy carpet of the forest and let the hot tears spill out until she couldn't find any more left to come. She cried out to the earth and at one point, thought she might scream.

But a scrap of dignity remained and that alone stayed her voice.

When it started to rain, Hermione didn't know that the rain would actually reach the ground with such dense greenery overhead. She felt the drops as light stabs of icy wetness that quickly soaked her to the skin. How she managed to be there for so long, untouched, she didn't know.

Her mind replayed everything.

Lots of things.

Overhearing Dumbledore speaking about something called a Horocrux.

Overhearing Dumbledore saying that Harry would die for the greater good.

Overhearing the Minister of Magic demanding that Dumbledore take care of the 'Voldemort Business' within the year.

Overhearing Cho Chang speaking to Katie Bell on how pathetic muggle-born witches were, especially when they couldn't tell they were being two-timed.

Overhearing Pansy Parkinson joking about the Weasley's and how their family bloodlines were so twisted and tangled, it was a wonder they weren't a danger to society.

Overhearing Ron confess his love to Lavender Brown—when he'd spent the night in Hermione's bed.

Overhearing Snape complaining about Voldemort's unspecified plans and mentions of dementors.

Overhearing Ginny Weasley wish that she would just die so Harry would pay more attention to her.

Overhearing the voices in her backyard, all summer long.

And so, Hermione cried.

A/N: Just to clarify, it's Saturday morning for Charlie and Harry, the flashback is to Hermione the night before.
- 24
- 25
- 26
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

There Be Dragons, Harry