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Iron Dragons and Firelegs COMPLETE	By : FemmeBono Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 2353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Ch. 5 Rescue Operations
Lacey made an attempt fairly early the next morning to roll over, only to
fall onto the floor and bang her elbow on the table on her way down. Table? She
blinked her bleary eyes, rubbing the now throbbing elbow and looked around as
memories of the previous evening leached into her foggy brain. Remembering that
these were Severus' quarters, she tried to listen out for signs of life and
found none. Thick stone walls and oaken doors made it nearly impossible. The
desire to find Severus and thus, her way back to her room, was overshadowed by a
powerful need for the bathroom and an abject desire to not look like she was
taking the walk of shame. Cringing at the thought, Lacey tried the first door on
her right next to the fireplace and cabinet, finding an empty bedroom and
beyond, at last, the lavatory. She refused to call it a latrine, and even in
basic training had avoided the military label.

Once inside she took a brief look at herself in the mirror as she headed to
the toilet and groaned. She looked like the morning after without having had the
luxury of a "night before," and the screaming crick in her neck told
her that she was not really as comfortable on the sofa as she had thought.
Determined as she was to avoid the team's leading questions about why she looked
so rough, Lacey turned the taps on full blast, hung her BDUs on a couple of wall
hooks so the steam could get the worst of the wrinkles out, and climbed into the
cavernous shower. Sighing deeply as the hot water eased her sore muscles, she
looked around for toiletries only to summon a sneer worthy of Severus himself
when she spied a single bar of soap on a small ledge. "Typical man,"
she groaned aloud. She pulled the elastic out of her hair, combing her fingers
through the unruly curls that could only be tamed by constant French braiding;
promising herself another shower later in the day, she rinsed it out as best she
could before lathering up her body with the soap, which smelled faintly like
Pine-Sol.

After doing all she could to revive and refresh herself, Lacey climbed out
and wrapped a huge gray towel around her body. No sooner had she done so, than
she was jolted nearly out of her skin by an earsplitting crack! as what looked
like a pint-sized brownie with enormous eyes suddenly appeared. Shrieking for all the world like a
banshee, Lacey nearly dropped the towel as she reached for the closest thing she
had to a weapon. Raising one of her combat boots over her head, she commanded,
"stay back or I'll clobber you!" barely registering the fact that the
being was pulling its ears and twisting them while its lower lip trembled. It
was also at that moment that the door thundered open, reverberating off the wall
and swinging back to be caught again by none other than Severus, who stood
framed in the door way with his wand out and an expression that was clearly all
business. It was all Lacey could do not to yelp again.
"What the blazes is going on," he clipped. No sooner had he
said this, than his eyes took in the cowering elf and the indignant, nearly
naked woman. A corner of his mouth twitched, but his expression remained bland
as he turned his eyes to the small creature and lowered his wand. "Perhaps
you or one of the other house elves could return a bit later? It seems Captain
Lacey has not yet finished her toilet." His gaze flicked briefly back to
Lacey, who slowly lowered her boot even as she felt the flush rising straight up
to her ears. House elf, she thought, who knew? Of course I
should have known. They cook. Why wouldn't they clean, too? Lacey dropped
the boot with a thud as full-on mortification set in. Clearing his throat as the
elf bowed deeply and disappeared again with a crack, Severus backed out of the
door without a word, closing it behind him.

Lacey abandoned all composure at that point. She let out the breath she had
been holding and shakily lowered herself onto the edge of the bath, still
clutching the towel to her chest. "Good Lord, what next," she said
aloud.

"Typically, my dear, you would get dressed," said a male voice
issuing from the mirror, which jolted her yet again.

Mentally chiding herself this time, Lacey resolved that by the time she had
been here a week she might be a nervous wreck, but her reflexes would again be
sharply honed if by nothing else than simply staying in the enchanted castle.

***

As soon as she was able to settle her system and make herself
fairly presentable, Lacey found herself face to face with Severus back in his
sitting room. She didn't get much more than a curt nod and a cursory set of
directions back to the main hall, and she was unsure whether to be thankful that
he remained mum about the earlier episode or if his silence on the subject meant
she had somehow slipped in his assessment of her. He did nothing more than sweep
his way into the bathroom she had just vacated and close the door with a snap.

Lacey could feel her ears turning pink again and without hesitation
hurried upstairs in the hopes of finding Headmaster Dumbledore with a request
that had occurred to her in the shower. Once there and her errand complete, she
slipped outside to get in her physical training for the day. As Lacey neared the
willow tree, she swung the sword and saber she had borrowed from the old wizard and swept a
leg back into a defensive stance, preparing herself for the onslaught she knew
would come.

"Alright now, I've got something for your bag of switches.
Bring it on," she said tersely as the branches sprang to life.

Down they came in an arc, twisting this way, snapping that, as
Lacey spun and parried. Strips of bark and pieces of leaves rained down, coating
her hair and uniform as she whirled, slashing the blades in a bizarre dance. She
tucked and rolled across her shoulder, using the momentum to come straight to
standing again and hack at a particularly large branch. A few minutes into the
exercise, her chest was heaving with exertion and a line of damp left her
undershirt sticking to her skin, yet the tree showed no sign of ending its
assault. Lacey was nearly ready to call it a good session when the battle was
ended abruptly. One branch, having wrapped itself around her ankle sent her
sprawling and then curled itself around the jewel-encrusted sword and slung it
winging deep into the forest. Cursing under her breath, Lacey lurched to her
feet, dodging the still slapping limbs and ran headlong into the direction of
the flying blade's arc

She gave no thought to the beings that made their homes under
the canopy of brush as she tried to gauge the sword's momentum and where it was
likely to land; nor did she pay heed to how quiet the forest had become by the
time she slowed to a stop. As she surveyed the area, Lacey cursed again knowing
how nearly impossible a task she had before her. Taking a glance as well as she
could at the upper branches of the broad English oaks, she saw no signs of
gouging or nicks. Not so much as a few shredded leaves. Lacey groaned inwardly,
even as she clutched the saber tighter. Somehow, she was going to find it,
rather than face the wrath of Dumbledore if she had to tell him she had lost one
of his possessions. It was with that grim thought that she started searching in
earnest, scouring the grounds as well as peering into the gently waving
branches, only to stop abruptly as she again felt a strong urge to look over her
shoulder. Following that urge, she tensed, battle ready in case she needed to
pivot, and again tightened her grip on the saber.

"What in blazes are you thinking, woman!" sneered
Severus as she spun toward him, already on edge from the sounds echoing around
her. The forest, it seemed, had come to life again, with the crunching of
leaves and clicking of some sort of animal rustling around them.

"What! I've got to get that sword back. Didn't you see it
go flying? I imagine Dumbledore would be not a little pissed that I lost it.
From the looks of it, it's bound to be priceless."

With that, she continued her sweep, checking around ferns and in
the low-lying branches of great, sturdy oaks. Severus only infuriated her
further by not so much as glancing around.

He simply flicked his wrist, aiming his wand in the general
direction from which they had come, and said, "accio sword." A
moment later he was answered by a rushing sound, followed by the sword itself
singing through from the leaves and branches far above to their right. She had
barely leveled her glare at him, when she saw him tense and look over her
shoulder. The crunching and rustling of leaves grew louder, as did the clicking
like several cicadas launching an attack. Whatever lived in this area of the
forest had clearly heard the commotion and was coming to investigate.
Instinctively, Lacey began backing away even as she turned to Severus with a
questioning glance. He simply tossed her the sword and raised his wand as the
branches to their left, front and right emitted several of the largest spiders
she had ever seen. Knowing their way clear was behind them, but not wanting to
turn her back on the creatures, Lacey raised both sword and saber as several
jets of light whizzed by her head. A few of the advancing spiders split open
with gaping gashes where the jets of light hit. As those spiders fell, those
behind fell upon them, devouring their own kind, even as the multitudes of
others continued past toward Lacey and Severus. Their pincers clicked
menacingly, their front legs reaching for the prey that had nearly run straight
into their home in the darkness of the forest. As one set upon her, Lacey sliced
through its legs and part of its abdomen, thrusting up with the other arm as she
stabbed with the short sword. Still backing up, she bit back a shriek as she
smacked into something solid. She allowed herself the briefest glance back,
relieved to find herself back-to-back with Severus who said simply, levelly,
"it seems they've closed ranks."

As the ring of spiders stepped slowly closer, clicking madly,
she and Severus continued the volley of slicing and slashing those that came in
range. There seemed to be hundreds of the things and Lacey knew, for certain,
that she would tire soon. Abruptly, Severus seemed to have changed tactics, as a
thunderous boom echoed behind her, this time loosing an unsolicited scream of
surprise. Another glance back showed her several spiders apparently blown to
bits amidst a smoldering crater on the forest floor. Trees, blasted backwards by
the impact had exploded as well into splinters and huge shards. Severus was
aiming his wand at another menacing bunch with their shiny obsidian eyes locked
onto his. Lacey sliced through a few more of her own before she saw they were no
longer advancing but looking and clicking wildy at something swooping in from
overhead. A peculiar screech rent the air as Severus sent another sonic blast
over her shoulder and, hauled her backwards away from them. Lacey spun, only to
find herself faced with a strange birdlike creature.

"Bow," snapped Severus, as he bent at the waist,
dropping his eyes as a gesture of respect to the beast. Lacey, whose jaw had
dropped in sheer awe, quickly did the same as the clicking resumed behind them.
Severus hurriedly climbed on the animal, which had sunk to its knees and
gestured for Lacey to the same. She wasted no time in doing so. No sooner had
she swung on behind Severus and clasped his waist than they were airborne in one
swift bound, slapping through tree branches and boughs, coursing straight up
through to the top of the forest. Lacey cast a glance back down as they broke
through the tree line; the only hint she could see of the terror below was a
large swath of webbing glistening in the light of the sun as it stretched over
and through the leaves.

Looking back in the direction they flew, Lacey tensed yet again as she realized they were on a direct course across the grounds back to the strangeness of the castle proper.

"No, please, God," she cried, giving his arm a squeeze as she held on to his waist with the other hand. "Let's stay up here a bit before I have to go back. I'd rather be airborne than trying to navigate that place again. At least for a few minutes. I need to get my system back to normal first."

Severus darted a glance over his shoulder and, saying nothing, led the creature into a wide arc away from the castle.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Iron Dragons and Firelegs *COMPLETE*

Iron Dragons and Firelegs COMPLETE