Chapter 1
Author’s Note: We do not own HP canon characters or other official content from other published fantasy. I want to thank my co-author Cam for joining me in the writing of this story. I hope the story is enjoyable.
Chapter 1
Harry has been through some shit, on multiple occasions in fact.
At this point Harry has dealt with Tom Riddle several times: when Harry was an infant and the monster killed his parents, again in his first year as a face on the back of Quirrell’s head, and a third time in the Chamber of Secrets, where he defeated a deranged memory of Tom’s teenage self come to life. Harry has also survived Gilderoy Lockhart’s incompetence, Severus Snape’s ire, a cerberus, an ancient basilisk, and a colony of acromantula led by Hagrid’s bestie—an elderly spider named Aragog who promised to eat him next time they met. A dragon shouldn’t be a big deal after what Harry has seen, right?
Well, that might be true if it weren’t for the fact he was facing a nesting Hungarian Horntail who seemed to want to cook him with her fiery breath, and Harry needed to steal an egg from her nest.
Harry dealt with the Hungarian Horntail, he’d likely broken a few ribs and maybe his shoulder, but the real cost was his Firebolt, his first and most tangible link to his godfather. The dragon’s tail had managed to graze him and smack him out of the air as he flew toward the nest his way out, the sickening crack that he was sure was not only his bones but the splintering of his broom. The Firebolt was the first gift Sirius, the man who had offered him a place to live, thus giving him hope that one day he would be free of the Dursleys, had ever given him.
Harry quietly cast a cushioning charm and landed fifteen or so feet from the nest. It seemed with all the smoke caused by her fire breathing the horntail had lost him, taking advantage of this, Harry crawled towards the nest.
He inspected the nest. There were six eggs the size of hefty watermelons, their color a dark gray only slightly lighter than their mother’s black scales. There were two other objects in the nest: a golden metallic egg that was slightly smaller than the other eggs and something else that caught his eye.
There was something else in the dragon’s nest, a large emerald a bit bigger than most of the eggs yet somehow smooth and egg shaped, likely shaped by some form of magic unknown to Harry. Perhaps this was the dragon’s horde, Harry was unsure if dragon’s kept hordes before now but if this adventure had cost him a treasure perhaps he would claim a new one.
When Harry touched the unnaturally large gem he felt something resonate deep within himself as though his magic was telling him to keep the odd gemstone. Harry picked up the gemstone, it was heavy and with his injuries he grunted as he wrapped his arm around it and the metallic egg before doing something extremely foolish. Realizing he probably couldn’t make it to the exit with his newfound treasure due to his injuries, Harry had remembered Flitwick teaching them the banishing charm and decided he would banish himself and his treasure now cargo towards the exit. Better to blast himself than let the dragon blast him right? Those were his last thoughts before he closed his eyes, picturing himself and his treasure sailing out of the arena to safety, “Depulso”.
As Harry soared through the smoke laden air of the arena he held the two round objects tight to his aching chest with his left arm and his right hand holding his wand.
“I believe our youngest champion just launched himself out of the arena, but did he get his golden egg?” Ludo’s booming announcement was heard. “Arresto Momentum” a man’s voice called. Harry’s flight slowed and he felt the ground gently meet him. An offered arm met Harry, he put his wand away and took it and the man helped him to his feet.
A redheaded man with a burn scar on his cheek greeted him. “The name’s Charlie Weasley, we met briefly during the cup.”
“Look we don’t have a lot of time, I am a dragon handler, and that egg you have is important, if you don’t want someone to confiscate it I can hold it for you while you go get checked out, you look pretty roughed up.” Charlie said, he definitely did look an awful lot like his brothers, maybe a bit more… crispy.
“I’ll wait for you outside the tent, but you need to choose quickly. If you don’t make your way to Pomfrey soon they’ll send someone to find you and they’ll definitely take that egg from you.” he said gesturing to the emerald “egg” that lay at Harry’s feet. The thought of being parted with it disturbed Harry but the thought of someone taking it from him lit a furious fire in his blood.
Harry nodded to Charlie who picked up the egg and placed it in a sack before tapping his wand against the sack which disappeared from view. Charlie disappeared from view and a moment later Snape appeared.
“Mr. Potter'' Snape's voice drawled. “Do you plan on standing there like a dunderhead waiting to succumb to your injuries?” Snape’s derisive tone silenced any retort Harry could have formed.
The fourth champion followed Snape to a nearby tent where the other champions were, though Harry did not really notice any of them as he was feeling weak (Harry did see that Cedric was nursing some really bad burns). Madame Pomfrey thanked Snape who promptly turned and left the tent. Harry was fussed over and made to drink Skele-Gro before being put in a bed, to let his bones heal.
When the tent flap opened Ron and Hermione entered, Harry pretended to be asleep not wanting to deal with his wayward friends. Eventually they were shooed out of the tent by Madam Pomfrey. About two hours later when most of the tingling stopped, Harry crept out of the tent to find Charlie.
“Charlie?” Harry called once he was outside.
“Shh not so loud Harry?” Harry looked over to see Ron’s older brother curiously leaning against the tent, his eyes darting around in a paranoid fashion. “I am sure you have questions Harry and I can answer a few questions but first some important rules, this bag is enchanted to reduce the weight of what’s in it and to be able to turn invisible. It was loaned to me so once you find a safe place to hide the egg please make sure it gets back to me. Second, no one outside of the Order can know about the egg, certain people might even try to kill you if they knew you had it.” Charlie explained.
“You keep calling the stone an egg.” Harry said.
“It’s a dragon egg.” Charlie replied. “If you didn’t know what it was, why did you take it?” Charlie asked puzzled.
“It was in the dragon’s nest, but it didn’t look like the Horntail’s eggs. I thought it was the dragon’s treasure and after the loss of my firebolt…” Harry’s voice trailed off.
A look of understanding crossed Charlie’s face and then he explained to Harry, “It’s not just any dragon egg, Harry. It is the egg of a True Dragon.”
“A True Dragon, is there something worse than the Hungarian Horntail?” Harry asked, clearly disturbed by the prospect of something more dangerous and vicious than what he had just faced.
“I mean there were the Great Dragons but they’ve been gone for a long time… True Dragons though Harry… So the dragons you've likely heard of are all species of Lesser Dragons. If a Lesser Dragon were a muggle, a Great Dragons would have been a wizard, and a True Dragon would be a great wizard in terms of both knowledge and power, think of the headmaster or Nicholas Flamel. Speaking of Flamel, that egg would be worth more to some than the Philosopher’s Stone.” Charlie finished his quick explanation. Harry nodded, his head swimming with questions, then took the large bag from Charlie holding it protectively in his arms.
“I’d love to stay here and answer more questions but I must be off, I will send you a letter on who can help answer more of your questions, who knows maybe the Order will start trusting me more.”
He looked down at the egg and wondered if Hagrid felt the same about Norbert. He was about to ask Charlie about Norbert, since Harry, Ron and Hermione had sent the Norwegian Ridgeback to Charlie in their first year, but the redheaded man was already gone.
Harry sighed and looked at the- his egg, what should he even do with it? Tapping his wand on the bag holding his precious dragon egg it shimmered out of view.
_
“Oi, Harry! Open the bloody door!”
Harry sighed into the water, the emerald egg in his hands as he cleaned the egg carefully. He called out to Ron, who was seemingly guilty about getting pissed with Harry before the First Task, “Give me a minute, I am washing crud off me from that time I faced a dragon, you can wait a minute you git.”
Ron grumbled but waited for Harry to come out of the bathroom. Harry returned his precious egg to the bag Charlie had given him. Then, he dressed himself and dried his hair with a spell before leaving the bathroom.
“What’d it take so long for, mate?” Ron hurried into the bathroom with his towel and immediately Harry heard a shriek, then Ron’s voice shouted at Harry, “Bloody Hell, Harry, did you not get burned enough by the dragon? I didn’t even know a shower could go this hot!”
The black-haired boy rolled his eyes and ignored Ron, putting his egg on his bed lovingly and then closing the curtains around his bed and then stuck them to each other with a sticking charm. He wondered how he could keep the egg safer.
Should he write a letter to Charlie? No, Charlie said he would write soon, Harry would have to learn some patience and come up with something to do in the meantime.
-
Harry spent most of the day looking through the history section and magical creatures section of the Hogwarts Library. He found few books on dragons: The London Fire of 1666: A Warning About Keeping Dragons, From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon-Keeper's Guide, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit, and a particularly old book called Chronicling The Dragon Hunts.
He snuck out of the library with the books under his cloak and made his way back to the dorm. Dinner time had just begun so Harry retrieved the dragon egg. He carried the egg safely inside the invisible sack with him as he headed to the kitchen. After tickling the pear and entering the kitchen Harry heard a squeaky voice cry “Mister Harry Potter Sir, yous be backs again!”
“Winky, have you seen Dobby?” Harry asked.
With a pop Dobby appeared. “Great Harry Potter sir be looking for Dobby?”
“Dobby, is there somewhere we could talk privately?” Harry asked.
Dobby grabbed Harry’s hand and with a pop they were on the seventh floor.
“I need your help Dobby but it needs to stay a secret from everyone, can you do that Dobby?” Harry asked gravely.
“If Harry Potter sir were to have Dobby be his family spirit, no one could make Dobby to be telling the Great Harry Potter sir’s secrets.” Dobby smiled conspiratorially.
Harry looked down at Dobby with confusion, “After all the work we went through to free you from the Malfoys, why would you want to serve me?” Harry asked.
“We be needing magic to survive and there be so many of us here at Hogwarts trying to feed off the same source, it be hard for us, so very hard sir. If Dobby fed off your magic sir, it would be much easier and betterer for Dobby, Dobby can be useful.” Dobby promised.
“What exactly would I need to do, Dobby?” Harry asked.
“Just be shaking Dobby’s hand and accepting hims into working for the great house Potter.” the house elf said enthusiastically.
“Are you sure about this Dobby? Being around me isn’t exactly the safest…” Harry asked but instead of responding verbally Dobby stuck his hand out. Harry took Dobby’s outstretched hand.
“Does Harry Potter accept Dobby into the service of House Potter?” Dobby asked.
“Yes” Harry said before magic flowed through him and into Dobby.
“Dobby, do you know somewhere I can hide something, somewhere something priceless can be kept safe?” Harry asked cautiously.
“Dobby be showing Master Harry Potter sir, the come and go room, it be this way sir.” Dobby said.
Excitedly bouncing down the segment of hallway toward the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. Passing the painting Dobby spun around. He led past it a second time before turning and repeating the process. As they passed the painting a third time Harry opened his mouth to ask where they were going but a huge black door appeared. Dobby led Harry into the room.
“This be the come and go room, it can be many things sir, just concentrate and the room shall be changing into what you be needing.” Dobby explained. Harry closed his eyes and thought about a safe place to keep the egg and when he opened his eyes the room had changed into a luxurious sitting room with a nest near a large hearth. Harry removed the egg from the pouch and placed it in the nest.
“Master Harry Potter sir be hiding an egg?” Dobby asked, confused. “Yes Dobby and it is very important that this is kept a secret, people might try to kill me… well more people might try to kill me if they knew I had this.” Harry said solemnly.
“Master Harry Potter sir can be trusting Dobby.” Dobby said, bobbing his head enthusiastically.
Harry spent the next couple of hours talking with Dobby and learning about the room.
_
It was the next morning, Harry was in the Great Hall for breakfast today, people were staring at him again. Ron was racing through his breakfast and Hermione was looking at the redhead in disgust when a brown owl landed on Harry’s shoulder. "Kind of glad Hedwig couldn’t see this" Harry thought to himself with a chuckle, his owl had a bit of a jealous streak. The owl hooted loudly in Harry’s ear and he cursed while holding his ear, “Bloody hell” and then noticed that the insistent owl was carrying a letter, maybe it is Charlie’s letter.
Ron stopped eating and asked just that, Harry just shrugged.
Harry thanked the owl and hooted loudly before leaving, earning a glare from Hermione. It was from Charlie.
The bushy-haired girl asked, “So, who is it from?”
“Charlie”, Harry responded and then read the letter.
Harry, don’t worry about anyone reading this, it will just look like a letter about me admiring your performance against the Hungarian Horntail to anyone else. As the Heir to Eustace Potter’s legacy, The Order of Draconic Reverence has decided this egg should be in your care. Should it not hatch, it is their wish that it be put in your family vault in Gringotts until such a time that it finds someone suitable. If the Potters die out it must be passed to the Lovegoods. Any questions you have should be directed towards the Lovegood heiress in extreme privacy, trust no one else, that includes the Headmaster nor any of my brothers with this knowledge or the existence of the egg, Lovegood will know more names as the Order will never trust me fully, I hope to live to see their return,
Charlie Weasley.
P.S. The passphrase is “May our luck be ever better than Godfrey’s” The Lovegood heiress will know what it means.
So many questions were passing through Harry’s head right now. Who was Eustace Potter and why was he so important that he would be given the egg of a True Dragon? Who are the Lovegoods, and this Godfrey fellow mentioned in the letter? Also, what is this Order of Draconic Reverence? And wow, did Harry have a family vault that he didn’t know about? Also, don’t trust anyone, not even Professor Dumbledore? What was Harry getting himself into?
Ron read the letter over Harry’s shoulder and then said to Hermione, his mouth full of food, “Seems like Charlie’s writing to Harry about his awesome performance in the First Task.”
Hermione responded, “Ron, chew before you speak” and then turned to Harry, “It makes sense for him to write, you did perform rather spectacularly Harry, you even received first place.”
Harry shrugged, not wanting to speak, thinking about who is this Lovegood Heiress that he has to speak to? Merlin, his life is getting weirder since he got put into the Triwizard Tournament.
Harry asked his friends, lying just a little bit in order to not reveal any of what he had just read, “Charlie said something about a Lovegood I should talk to dragons about, any idea who it is?”
“It’s Luna”, a voice said from behind him.
Ron made a face and muttered, “More like Loony, creepy girl that one”
Harry turned and saw Ron’s little sister Ginny, who sighed at her brother’s rudeness before turning to Harry, “Luna Lovegood, she is in my year, she’s in Ravenclaw, loves animals as much as Hagrid.”
Harry nodded and said with a grin, excited to talk to this Heiress, “Thanks, Ginny.”
Ginny stared at him a little, her cheeks turning pink and then she smiled and nodded, walking away to her friends. Huh, strange, is something on his face?
Harry turned to Ron and said, “Loony, really?”
Ron nodded and turned to Hermione and Harry, he said, “Lovegoods live nearby, she’s an odd girl from an odd family. Small girl, blonde hair, blue eyes that move in and out of focus, she’d be cute if she wasn’t so creepy, says weird things about the future and dreams, some people think she’s a seer but I’ve never heard of divination working quite like Luna. Feel a little sorry for her, reckon she is the way she is because of her mum dyin’, Lovegoods haven’t been the same since that, her dad is a bit of a nutter too.”
Hermione sadly whispered, “That’s so sad.”
Ron shook his head and said, “Dunno, I only know what Ginny tells me about her, the two were besties since I have known.”
Hermione muttered, “Which doesn’t say much.”
Ron shrugged and said, again not waiting until he was finished with his food, “Gin an’ her sometimes play in the woods, been friends fer years I think.”
_
Still not knowing how to find this Luna Lovegood girl, Harry walked to his dormitory to find the Marauder’s Map. I love this map, it’s so much easier than dealing with my classmates, Harry thought to himself.
Luna Lovegood was walking around in circles in an abandoned classroom on the sixth floor near the stairway. Harry under his family cloak took the map and headed for Luna Lovegood’s location. Before entering the classroom, Harry tapped the map and with the whispered words “mischief managed” he stowed the map in his robes. With a quick look around to make sure the area was deserted, Harry removed the invisibility cloak, folding it neatly before entering the classroom.
What he found inside was a girl a year younger than him, she had long wavy that hair that was somewhere between sandy blonde and ash blonde in color, she spun around happily as though in a trance before her eyes turned to him sky blue in color with streaks of misty silver that seemed to move, her gaze seemed to move in and out of focus as she spoke to him.
“Greetings Harry Potter, what can I do for you today?” She said before casting a muffling charm.
“Ummm… greetings Miss Lovegood, I got a letter that told me to seek you out…” Harry tried to keep eye contact with the odd girl who had continued to twirl her odd dance taking her in circles around him as he spoke. “I was told to wish us better luck than someone named Godfrey.” Harry said uncertainly. At this the girl’s dance stopped and a somber look crossed her face.
“A terrible tragedy befell my ancestor Harry, his name was Godfrey Lovegood, he was the Lord of House Lovegood many centuries ago, he was a rider who lost his bonded dragon and although he survived that dark day he was never the same. After he founded the order, he sought vengeance and took as much as he could before he too fell.” Luna said the last part with a sad smile on her face. “I, his descendant, speak to you Harry Potter, descendant of his mentor Lord Eustace Potter, The Last Great Rider of Britain.” Luna said.
“Where did the True Dragons go?” Harry asked.
“They were killed, Harry. The Normans refused to recognize the difference between the Great Dragons and the True Dragons, some say that is why the invasion had so many wizards…” Luna said, frowning. “In time I could tell you of our order, how we hide ourselves as some deluded cult, of what our real goals are, or why our ancestors were killed.
“If you know so much why don’t you take the egg? Surely you’d make a better rider than I would.” Harry reasoned, even though saying the words cut him like a crude misshapen knife.
“Emerald and blue will never do, Harry. My dreams tell me no bright future exists where the emerald egg hatches for me, I am hunted down and killed, our ancient allies fall either in that war or the one that follows, in the fallout of such a conflict one would try and seize power, he is less of a man, more of a lie, but certainly a riddle.” Luna began her eyes beginning to mist over with silver swirls, her gaze unfocused and voice dreamy.
Harry inhaled sharply at the word Riddle, unpleasant memories from his first two years at Hogwarts flashing through his mind.
“He would strike at the tatters of Europe. I see some futures where he wins, some futures where he is stopped, in the end we all lose as entire nations would be claimed by death. If I am to be a rider it should not be with her.” Luna continued as she spoke of dreams and of death, her eyes were less focused and the silver mist seemed to obscure the blue of her eyes. Harry didn’t think Luna could even see him.
“With her?” Harry asked, confused
“There is much to be learned from dreams, especially mine, Harry Potter. Perhaps in time you will understand.” Luna said blankly.
“Is that everything?” Harry asked.
“Of course not silly, there is always more to know.” Luna chirped, a mirthful grin crossing her face.
“Where is Loony?” A girl’s voice was heard in the distance.
“Do you think she heard us coming?” A second girl’s voice said.
“Be silent you fools! I think it is time Miss Lovegood misplaces her shoes again.” A third voice, that seemed to be the leader, cut through the discussion between the others.
“Luna what was that?” Harry asked.
“There are consequences to every choice we make. The choice to appear both innocuous and bizarre has helped us avoid scrutiny, has also made me a target of the less kind children. Their actions too have consequences, ones that they may soon find themself unprepared for.” Luna replied flatly, her smile was not cruel when she spoke but there was also neither kindness nor her earlier mirth.
“Luna I have a place we should meet next time, it is private so we can speak in secret much easier.” Harry said, and told Luna how to get to the Room of Requirements.