The walking nightmare

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Everything was quiet, unnaturally so.

It was almost as if someone had cast a worldwide quietus charm…

Harry didn't dare move, lest the dragon notice him and attack him.

Speaking of the dragon, it was still as a statue, doing something that Harry couldn't grasp.

The light, as if afraid of him, didn't go near it.

It was a shadow, or perhaps it'd be more appropriate to call it the darkness itself.

Its scales were black as a clear night sky, each with a spiky edge sharp enough to pierce human skin.

Harry couldn't even discern how long it was.

'Definitely bigger than the other dragons though.'

It gave a whole new meaning to the word terrifying.

Suddenly, the black monster turned what Harry imagined to be its head towards his direction and opened its terrifying maw. Had Harry wanted, he could have counted all of its sword-like teeth.

Was it going to burn him alive?

Two sickly red glows took shape as the dragon opened its eyelids.

"I know you are somewhere close human," it said with its hoarse voice, before turning his gaze elsewhere.

It spoke.

It actually spoke a human language.

'English at that,' his brain observed.

That, in Harry's opinion, was scarier than the feared dragon fire.

'Who, where and how did they get this monster?' he wondered, idly.

"What I can't seem to understand though, is how you avoid my senses as every single one of them has surpassed their known limits, and that is without counting my ability to sense souls… So how can you hide from me mortal? How curious, I've briefly sensed your magic when you left your snake companion behind but not since then. Reveal yourself!" he commanded, letting out a magnificent roar that made the earth tremble and whatever lesser creatures heard it, flee in panic.

'As if.'

Had Harry been lacking in his occlumency training, the roar would have frozen him on the spot.

Thankfully, he had not. Not that he was planning on walking around anyway…

After a whole minute passed with neither moving, the dragon spoke again, this time, in an annoyed tone.

"Are you going to hide yourself indefinitely, mortal? Don't tell me that your stupid kings have forgone to inform you about my magical contract. You see, I'm bound by magic, since long before your birth, to be unable to attack any humans that do not hold the intent to harm myself. You can thank your bloody Merlin for that," the darkness growled.

Unluckily for the dragon, neither his appearance, or lack thereof, nor his aura gave a tickling of trustworthiness, so Harry decided to ignore his words.

"Sigh. It's so like a human to not believe someone else. I swear on my life and magic that everything I have said since I landed on this pit, has been nothing but the truth, so mote it be," he finished and then proceeded to breathe his dragon fire towards the sky, making Harry briefly believe that the sun was dawning.

'Damn, he's actually telling the truth? I suppose that does answer how the ministries managed to bring him here and why he's not chained like the other dragons… They either asked him nicely or offered him rewards," Harry mused.

Still, even if the dragon wasn't planning on eating him alive, he didn't want to leave anything to fate...

Taking a breath, he focused on his surroundings and disappeared.

'Thank god, Salazar taught me how to apparate,' he thought as he walked towards Ash.

[BREAK]

"An Abyssssal Reaver," Salazar whispered after Harry finished narrating his encounter with the fourth dragon.

His demeanour grew grave as he gazed upon his student.

"Abyssal Reavers, otherwise known as the nightmares of dragons, have gone extinct, or so I believed. The last one sighted according to my knowledge was here at Hogwarts, before it was slain by myself and the other founders. We thought that she was the last of their line… Obviously, we were wrong," he revealed, his eyes becoming glassy.

With a predictable show of cruelty, like most of its brethren, the dragon had killed any students that were outside the stone fortress.

By the time the founders had managed to respond to the attack, none was alive.

The Abyssal Reaver had given them quite the fight. Thankfully, by the time they had slain it, it didn't manage to kill anyone else.

It was one of the darkest days of Hogwarts as many students had lost siblings, lovers and friends that day…

"Hey, Sal?" Harry said, breaking the man out from his reminiscence of times long since forgotten.

"Hm? What is it, my heir?"

"I'll go against it," he said with a calculating gaze.

Salazar was about to open his mouth and heavily question Harry's growing intelligence, but he was cut off.

"You don't get it. The dragon said that he is under a magical vow and is unable not attack anyone who doesn't intend to harm him. That sounds like a better bet than fighting the Hungarian Horntail, even if it's way less dangerous," revealed the aforementioned teen, allowing sarcasm to invade his tone, stunning the Slytherin.

"Not bad for a Gryffindor. And I suppose you'll go around the task's requirement of attacking the dragon by using a spell at the last moment possible?" he asked with a growing smirk.

"Yep," he popped the p.

[BREAK]

In a common display, that not even time was able to stop yet, plates and cutlery clanked all around the great hall as students exchanged greetings and stuffed their bellies.

That was what Harry casually walked into, the following day, ignoring the stares and people pointing at him.

'I bet the old goat will call me to his office right after breakfast, giving me the perfect opportunity to see Fawkes,' he mused, walking towards his house's table.

If Dumbledore wanted to manipulate him, he would gladly return the favour.

Needless to say, he plopped down next to his bushy-haired friend.

She immediately became aware of his presence.

After she finally stopped gawking, she opened her mouth to no doubt reprimand him about skipping classes.

Unfortunately for the lovely bookworm though, someone beat her to it.

"Harry Potter. The brat whose arrogance doesn't seem to have an upper limit," Snape drawled from behind the teen, prompting Harry to smirk.

Oh, how he had missed the potions master's unending barbs.

'Hook.'

"Ah, Mr. Snape it's lovely to see you," Harry said with mock happiness.

"Tut, tut. That'll be twenty points from Gryffindor," he announced, causing many lions to groan in dismay and Harry to flash him a bright smile.

'Line.'

"It's Professor Snape to you and I'd watch both your tone and cheek Potter," he spewed.

'And sinker, dumbass.'

"And why pray tell should I call you a professor Severus? Don't tell me you are under the delusion that you teach the noble art of potion-making here at Hogwarts?" Harry asked innocently, bringing about some badly covered sniggers and causing the professor's face to slightly redden.

Having undergone Salazar's potion lessons and then concatenating some very bizarre potions at the chambers, Harry found his lost love of the art.

Who knew how many people did Severus Snape stop from ever liking potions? How many talents weren't let to bloom and instead were left to rot?

'Honestly, I'd expected a bigger reaction…' he thought disappointedly.

Sadly for Harry, he wasn't allowed to continue as that was the exact moment someone else decided to enter their pleasant conversation.

'And here comes the twinkling old bastard.'

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