The Dragons of Raveana

Dining Among Dragons

Harry turned slowly from inspecting the portrait hanging upon the wall, one of his dark eyebrows arched as he glanced at the blond backing nervously away from the small dragon. He shook his head in disbelief before glancing at the Sandtongue, finding his eyes captured and held by the gleaming amber orbs that studied him knowingly. Without thought, he took a slow step backwards and bumped into the blond cowering behind him.

"Ask the dragon?" Harry queried, elbowing Draco aside so he could put a little more space between himself and the grinning Sandtongue. Frowning at the silence that met his question, he turned his head and looked at the wizard standing beside him. The blond had his head tipped to the side and was nibbling on his lower lip, his fingers slowly rolling the silver flute he held. "Are you listening to yourself? I mean, come on, Malfoy, it's a dragon. What are the chances it understands English?"

"But it does," Draco whispered, wide blue eyes rising to meet startled emeralds. A perfectly manicured finger was lifted and pointed at the Sandtongue, forcing Harry to return his attention to the seemingly impatient dragon.

Tail swinging back and forth slowly, Esdra stretched golden wings as far as the hall would allow and gave them a cursory flap before snapping them closed. In the quiet of the manor, the crack was loud, causing both wizards to jump reflexively. Appearing slightly miffed at being ignored, the dragon swung around and prowled gracefully down the corridor.

"I said 'it's nothing a little magic can't fix'." Draco reminded quietly, peering at the raven-haired wizard. When Harry frowned and shook his head, the blond sighed and grabbed the ragged red sleeve of his Quidditch jersey and began to tow him in the direction the Sandtongue had taken. "That dragon understood what I meant. She cleaned the mess before you or I could do it. That implies some understanding of the English language."

"Not necessarily," Harry mumbled, attempting to tug his sleeve free of the other wizard's fingers. He rolled his eyes when the blond shot him an angered look and yanked harder on the cloth. "We were both yelling and I was pointing at the damage you'd caused. It doesn't take a lot of thought to understand that I wanted you to clean the mess you made up."

Rolling his eyes, Draco paused at an intersecting hall and considered his options. Heaving a sigh, he yanked Potter down the brightly lit corridor that ended in a set of french doors. Both doors hung open and creaked eerily as a gentle wind pushed against them, causing them to shift on old hinges. "Earlier, in the bedroom, you told that white dragon-"

"Druid."

A pale eyebrow was raised as the blond looked over his shoulder. Snorting, he waved Harry's interruption away and stepped out onto a weed-infested terrace. "The white dragon," he continued, pretending he didn't see the Gryffindor roll his eyes, "to go home, which it promptly did. They understand what we're saying."

Harry frowned at the blond's reasoning. "Malfoy, dogs understand a few simple commands. Just because it listened doesn't mean it understands everything we say. And at any rate, we can't understand them."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong." Draco hissed excitedly, scanning the area in search of the golden dragon. A flash of bright scales drew his eye and had him towing Harry quickly after the retreating Sandtongue. "You speak parseltongue, correct? And because of that you can understand snakes."

"Uh, Malfoy? I'm pretty sure speaking parseltongue to a dragon would be like barking at a cat." Harry said slowly, giving up fighting the blond's hold and trailing after him. He raised his head and narrowed his eyes against the bright sunlight, focusing his gaze on the large creatures lazing about atop the long grass.

The Mage Dragons were stretched along the cliff's edge, their long wings arched and spread to catch more of the warming light. Under the brilliant rays their scales sparkled like precious jewels. Each lift of tail and tilt of wing drawing the eye. He recognized each of the dragons now, knew them perhaps a little more intimately then he had before.