While Lucy explained the nature of her son's transformation to an astonished Lily, and Harry and Theo talked about how great it was going to be to go flying together, Severus Floo-called St. Mungos to tell the emergency staff not to expect Theo in their ward, since the crisis had resolved itself and Theo was out of danger. That way they wouldn't waste precious time wondering where their new patient was and could move on to others who needed them. He then headed back into the bedroom, wanting to question and observe Theo himself, as this was the first time he had ever encountered an inherited shifter ability which was not the result of a curse.

As he entered, he heard Harry ask, "Uh, Theo? When you . . . transformed, did it . . . hurt you?"

*Well . . . at first it hurt like blazes but then . . . it sort of didn't . . .it's hard to explain, Harry. First I was scared out of my wits, I thought for sure I was dying and it felt like my whole body was tearing itself apart and then . . . I was floating and swirling and . . .nothing hurt and suddenly I was back . . . as a cold drake . . . Am I making any sense?*

Harry thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of like when I call a storm. Before I call it sometimes my head and neck hurt so bad I want to rip them off and then once I tap into the storm, there's no more pain, just . . .the feel of the storm itself and the power flowing through me. It's sort of scary and yet not really."

Lily was gazing at Theo and frowning. "Theo, can you transform back yourself, or does the transformation have to wear off itself, after a night and a day?"

The cold drake shrugged. *I don't know. Mum, do you?*

Lucy looked at her son with pride. "I'm not entirely certain. The ones who inherited the shifter gift in my family . . . they never really discussed how they shifted or went into detail. They just . . . shifted." She bit her lip, trying to remember. "Although, I do remember my grandfather sayin' once that if he had to, he could will himself to shift back. Only I don't know how he did it. It wasna the sort of thing he discussed with just anybody."

"Would there perhaps be a record somewhere in your family library?" suggested Severus. "A small handbook, perhaps, or even a journal?"

"I doubt it. The Notts never were ones ta keep good records, and usually the elder shifter taught the younger in the family, so there was no need t'write down anything."

"Pity. It would help tutor Theodore ifwe knew exactly how this magic was performed." Severus sighed. "I suppose we shall have to learn by trial and error then. Although perhaps there may be some texts in St. Mungos that might explain a bit more, since there are so many Transfiguration accidents among children and adults." He yawned suddenly, as exhaustion swept through him. He had not realized just how tired he was until now, he had been up battling Theo's strange malady for almost forty-eight hours.

Lily noticed the sudden fatigue that came over the Mind Healer's face and said softly, "Sev, you look about done in. Why don't you go and have a lie down?"

Severus suddenly turned rather mulish, he hated admitting to any sort of weakness. "I'm fine, Lily."

Lucy snorted. "Aye, now tell me another one. Tha art out on thy feet, no two ways about it. Thee can barely keep thy eyes open, Healer Sev. Best tha listen to Lily and forget thy pride, eh? Pride willna keep thee from falling on thy face when thou art too tired to see straight."

"Humph!" replied Severus, scowling. "I'm not the only one out on her feet, Lucinda Nott. Perhaps you ought to take your own advice, hmm?"

"Aye, perhaps I should," conceded the housekeeper.

"I think we all should," Lily said pointedly. "Including you two boys."

"But Mum, I'm not the least tired," Harry objected, though the truth of the matter was he did feel sleepy after his outburst of emotions and the excitement of discovering Theo had a magical ability. He widened his eyes behind his glasses to make himself seem more awake. "See?"

*Me neither,* added Theo. He thwapped his tail pointedly, almost putting a hole in the wall.

"Theodore! Watch what thy's doing!" scolded his mother.

The young drake lowered his violet eyes, looking ashamed, or as ashamed as a scaly winged kin to dragons could look. *Oops! Sorry, Ma.*

"I don't need a nap, Mum!" continued Harry, sounding rather whiny and indignant at the same time. "I'm eleven, not five."

Lily's eyes narrowed. "This has been a trying few days for everyone, Harry James Potter, now don't argue with me, young man. You may not think you're tired, but I'm sure if you lie down on your bed, you'll find yourself asleep in no time."

"I want to stay here and talk to Theo," stated Harry stubbornly.

Severus pointed his wand and Transfigured a chair into another bed. "There! You can have a conversation with Theodore while you're lying in bed. Now do as your mother says and no more backtalk," he ordered sternly, having no patience for the boy's whiny attitude.

"Okay!" muttered Harry rebelliously, wondering where Snape got off ordering him about that way, like Severus was Harry's father or something.

"Harry, mind your tone," Lily put in, also growing exasperated with her son. "Severus is your elder, now behave and go to sleep. It's for your own good."

Outflanked by the two adults, Harry huffed and obeyed, flinging himself upon the bed. He stared at the ceiling and rolled his eyes.

"Thou ought to get some rest too, Theo," said Lucy, gently caressing the drake's scales. "I'm sure all that shifting tired tha out."

*Only a little bit,* admitted the drake, curling into a ball so as not to damage anything else with his tail.

Severus turned and Apparated back to his room in the main house, and after one last stern look at Harry, Lily followed, Apparating into her bedroom. Lucy had only to go down the hall to her room. Soon the adult witches and wizard were all asleep.

Harry felt himself start to drift off, and tried to fight it, but his eyes shut in spite of himself. His last thought before falling asleep was how unfair it was for his mother to be right. Why did she have to be right all the time?

Theo cocked his head when he heard snores coming from the other side of the room. *Ah, Harry! So much for not being tired!" The cold drake heaved a sigh and folded his wings carefully. Then he rested his snout on his forefeet and slept as well.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

An hour later, Harry woke up and looked around. All was quiet. He peered at Theo, who was snoring slightly, then slipped from the bed and padded silently down the hall, where he heard Lucy breathing heavily. He cracked open her door and saw her curled up in a big feather tester, sleeping soundly. He assumed that if Lucy was still napping, then so were Severus and Lily. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that he did feel better for taking a nap. He swiftly returned to Theo's room and found the drake sitting up.

*Guess you were more tired than you thought, huh?* the drake sent, his mouth curving up in a sly grin.

"Shut it, Theo!" Harry scowled. "You should have woken me up."

*What for? Your mum was right, you did need sleep and so did I.*

"Mama's boy," Harry taunted, irritated.

*I learned a long time ago not to argue with my mum over some things,* Theo smirked. *Like sleep. It never gets you anything except in trouble.*

"Whatever, oh wise one."

*Watch it, Harry. I can pin your arse to the floor in this form.* threatened the cold drake lightly. He flexed his front claws pointedly.

"But I'll bet you can't outfly me," Harry challenged.

*I was born with wings, Potter! Of course I can outfly you.* Theo chuckled, making a sound like a bubbling growl.

"Why don't we go and find out?" Harry suggested slyly.

Theo looked a bit worried. He wasn't entirely comfortable in his new form, and wasn't sure if he could fly well yet. He wished he'd kept his mouth shut and not boasted of his superior flying ability. *All right, Mr. Smartypants. What's the worst that could happen?*

"Uh . . . you could crash and break your wings? Or your neck?" Harry said, now looking a bit worried himself. Until then, he'd never considered that Theo could get hurt.

"Now you sound like my ma."

"I do not! If she were here, she'd probably chain you to the wall."

"Yours would probably Stick you to the bed," Theo smirked. Then he hopped off the bed and landed lightly on the floor.

He found that his drake form was a bit awkward walking, he tended to waddle more than walk, and his back claws scraped along the floor. Merlin, I hope Mum doesn't notice! She'll make me rub out the scratches by hand.

"Theo, you waddle like a duck," Harry giggled.

Theo bared his teeth and shot a tiny jet of frost at his friend's bottom, making Harry yelp and clap a hand over his backside.

"Ow! Theo!"

*What?*

"My bum's frozen."

The drake snickered. "Serves you right, comparing me to a duck. I eat ducks!"

Harry glared at him. "You're evil!" he rubbed his bottom, trying to coax feeling back into it.

*Now you won't feel it if you fall off your broom trying to catch me.* The drake's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Ha! You wish." He followed Theo out of the caretaker's cottage and across the lawn. "Wait here while I get my broom."

Once inside Heatherton Cottage, Harry checked to make sure Lily and Severus were sleeping. Then he grabbed his broom from the closet and headed back outside.

He found Theo flapping his wings and he quickly threw a leg over his broom and kicked off. As he rose into the air, he saw a white and blue blur shoot past him and heard Theo's mind voice laughing.

*Come on, Numb Bum, catch me if you can!*

Theo's long sail-like wings caught the air currents effortlessly, and his light frame was perfectly suited for flying. He had discovered all he needed to do to get airborn was to use his strong hind legs to thrust himself into the air and then cup the wind in his wings. In moments he was soaring high, faster than he ever had gone before, straight past Harry into the blue vault of the sky.

Theo gave out a small roar, not the full fledged scream of an adult drake, but a delighted cry that he was now on equal footing with his friend, now he could fly just as fast, if not faster, than a wizard on a broomstick.

*Waa-hoo! I am Tempest the Magnificent, the fastest cold drake in the North!*

The drake suddenly whipped about, discovering that his tail acted like a rudder, enabling him to change direction and spin about in mid-air, as well as keeping him steady when the wind picked up. He swooped and dove across the sky, his keen eyesight allowing him to see everything upon the ground as if he were right next to it. He craned his head around and spotted Harry coming after him, looking both shocked and a little jealous. *Move it, slowpoke! I can see the whole world from up here, Chilly Boy!*

Harry urged his broom to a greater speed, he was quite surprised that Theo had been able to just take off like that. He had expected the drake to be slow getting into the air, but boy had he been mistaken! He soon discovered that Theo was far more maneuverable in the air than his broom, and even with Harry manipulating the wind to give him greater speed, the drake could twist and turn like forked lightning. It made him a little jealous, as his competitive streak surfaced. He had always felt sorry for Theo because he was a squib and needed to be accompanied on a broom, but now Theo was proving that he could fly with the best of them and Harry wasn't at all sure that he liked being shown up.

Drake and wizard played tag all across the moor, challenging each other to duck, weave, corkscrew, and dive. They flew spirals and Harry flew upside down for about two minutes, until he grew dizzy and had to stop. That was one thing Theo couldn't do, he simply wasn't built for it. But he could turn on a Galleon, and had fun blowing icy jets of frost and turning the tips of Harry's ears blue and making icicles form in his messy hair.

"Knock it off, Theo!" Harry snapped, trying to brush the icicles from his hair.

*Don't be such a baby, Harry! I'm just having a bit of fun.* Theo teased, flipping his tail insolently at his friend. *And you can call me Tempest in this form.*

"I'll call you a pain-in-the-ass is what I'll do," Harry mock-growled as icy trickles of water slid down his back. Then he concentrated, and tweaked the wind, making warm air come up from the south and blow upon the sniggering cold drake.

Theo growled, not liking the change in temperature. *Hey! You're making me sick, Potter! I HATE warm air!* He climbed higher in the sky, flying above the clouds and then blew a large cone of frost in front of himself and flew into it. Much better!

"Theo? Where'd you go?" Harry called. "What's the matter? Can't you take a little warm front? Theo!"

Tempest remained silent, hovering in place. He could see through the cloud bank easily with his magical eyes, and soon spotted Harry circling and calling. He waited until Harry was looking off into the horizon before letting out a roar and diving down towards the young stormcaller.

RRAWRR!

"Ahhh!" Harry screeched, nearly falling off his broom. "Tempest, you prat! I almost died!"

Tempest pulled up, grinning a roguish draconic grin. *Gotcha, Harry!* The drake started chuckling hard, nearly rolling over in the air. *You shoulda seen your face . . .!*

Harry at first was inclined to be embarrassed, but Tempest's mirth was infectious, and he too started laughing. "You're something else, Nott!"

*Got that right, Potter! Race you back to the crooked willow near the cottage. Last one there has to weed the whole garden!*

"Get ready to eat my dust, Theo!" Harry yelled, then he vamped up his broom to the fastest speed it could handle.

There was a woosh of displaced air as Harry surged across the sky, his hair blown back by the force of the wind. He clung to his broom, grinning like a Cheshire cat and whooping. He glanced behind him and saw Tempest pumping his wings like mad trying to catch up.

He coaxed a lazy spiral of wind down and twirled it idly on the tip of his finger as he flew. He was having such a good time that he almost didn't see the black garbed figure on the black broomstick hovering in front of the cottage as he shot down towards the willow.

Severus Snape had an expression like a thundercloud upon his lean features and Harry gulped hard and attempted to brake suddenly to avoid hitting the angry Healer. "Hi, Healer Sev!" he squeaked lamely. Uh oh. I think we're in big trouble.

"Harry James Potter! You get your little arse down here right this instant!" he heard his mother shout. "This instant, do you hear me?"

Harry winced. Yeah, Mum, the whole moor can hear you, he thought but wisely did not say aloud. He circled around the willow, cringing at the furious look on Severus' face, and as he did so, the tiny spinning wind gust suddenly enlarged and became a small twister, sending him crashing into Severus and suddenly the two were spiraling out of control towards the ground.

Damn! Now I'm in REAL trouble! Harry thought frantically as he attempted to right himself, but his broom was not responding and he was falling . . .he could hear Severus chanting, Lily screaming, and then something snatched him off his broom and the back of his head collided with something hard and he blacked out.