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The mother Horntail hissed in displeasure - so many noisy humans around her nest, and that after she and her eggs had been uprooted from the sheltered location she had so carefully smoothed and shored up. She had even known the smell of some of the humans who had committed that heinous act - and she was not the only one. Three others had been abducted as well, kept in too-tight, too-close, too-damp, too-cold spaces, chained down and locked in with metal and magic.
Now here she was, surrounded by too many humans in a too-open space, her eggs unprotected around her and lingering smells of dragon-fire, blood and pain.
A single human walked into her field of view, gripping one of those damnable sticks the humans used to hurt and subdue. She sheltered her eggs with her wings, watching him for a threat. The watching humans roared and he flinched, a stray breeze bringing his scent to her.
A Speaker! Was this the reason she and others had been dragged from their nesting grounds? It had been long years since a Speaker had been rumored to walk among them. Had this - young! - Speaker gone rogue, to seek to use their power to increase his own? She growled lowly, preparing a gout of flame to unleash when he stepped within her range. It was a terrible thing to have to kill a Speaker, but it was a worse thing to allow one with a corrupted heart to gain strength.
The breeze shifted again, and she could smell him clearly, now. The fear and determination, yes, but also - more subtly - exhaustion and pain that carried hints of years and depths of betrayal.
Anger rumbled low and rough in her throat.
They were forcing him to do this, then. The other humans, who cheered as this very young, very unTrained Speaker shivered lightly before her, determined to not let them see. Perhaps not irredeemably lost. Perhaps not fully corrupted.
The boy raised his stick, pointing it away from her.
::Hatchling.::
The child flinched. "What?"
::Speaker-child. I smell your fear. They are forcing you. Hurting you. Do they seek to make you steal my strength for their use? I can better use it to protect you from them.::
"What do you mean," the boy finally looked at her, ::you would protect me?::
::You are a Speaker. A sacred tie between humans and Serpents. Humans break their ties and desecrate what should be revered. I smell your fear, your exhaustion. Come, Hatchling, shelter under my wings and I will protect you and teach you.::
::I... don't understand.::
::Come, rest, I will help you understand, Speaker.::
The entire arena held its breath as Harry Potter lowered his wand without casting a single spell and walked unsteadily toward the massive dragon that had been growling and hissing at him almost continuously since he'd entered the arena. Without a word, he climbed, unchallenged, unattacked into the makeshift nest among the eggs. He made no effort to grab the golden egg, nor to flee.
The last clear view the audience had, before the great bronze wings of one of the most fearsome dragons known to wizard-kind shifted to protect the nest and hide him from view, was of Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, settling comfortably just behind the shoulder joint of the deadly creature, and leaning into the gleaming scales, looking for all the world as though he intended to take a nap.
::Rest, Hatchling, as I tell you of your place in Magic's weave...::