Dragon and Rider
Of all the riders to get stuck with Severus just had to get the son of one of the humans he hated most because his mother happened to be the one Severus had chosen as a fledgling, and the mark had passed to her son after she died. If there’d been multiple he could’ve chosen or bonded equally to all or just a few of them. Instead, the tiny toddler stared up at him with his mother’s eyes with his fingers in his mouth. Drool was everywhere and disgusting.
Severus tried staring the toddler down. The child latched itself to his leg with its drool covered fingers. He picked the child up by the back of its shirt and put it on his back. The child latched onto him there, and Severus settled down. This was his rider, now; the human he needed to take care of. Perhaps he could raise him to be the ideal rider.
For a while it was just the two of them, a couple years actually. Harry was capable of flying on his back by the age of five, though Severus kept a good eye on him. The kid was getting as comfortable in the air as Severus was, getting up to balance walk over Severus’s back. Severus found himself caring for the kid. He had his mother laugh and kind soul with a deep child-like mischievous.
And then another dragon showed up, half-wild and crazed. Severus shoved Harry deep into the cave before roaring at the intruding dragon. The dragon took a half-step back and roared before charging, trying to get around Severus to Harry. He could sense Harry pressing himself up against the cave wall. He was only seven now.
It took an hour of grappling with the other dragon before Severus realized who the other dragon was, and he had even more compelling urge to kill the dragon, because it was James’s dragon, Sirius. Sirius was in the same situation he’d been in, but dragons sharing one rider was almost unheard of. Being without a rider for so long had made him half-wild.
“Who is it?” Harry asked shakily, nearing him. He’d hesitated in injuring the other dragon long enough for his ward/rider to pick up on it.
Severus let go of the other dragon’s neck and took a step back. Sirius was just watching him with dark unreadable eyes. Severus swallowed. “He was your father’s dragon. He’s half-wild already.”
Harry stood beside him, looking down at Sirius who was breathing heavily on the ground. “Then we should take care of him, shouldn’t we? I’m the only one he has to keep him sane.”
Severus stared down at him. He was getting wiser by the day. “I haven’t heard of a rider having more than one dragon.”
Harry put a hand on Severus’s shoulder with innocent trust in his eyes.