Percy and the twins sat at the Weasley's dinner table, all three energized by the day they'd had. The twins were regaling their brothers and sister with in-depth descriptions of all the dragons they had seen. Charlie looked increasingly morose with each new species of dragon mentioned. Ginny looked eager when they said pictures would be sent by Draco Malfoy within a week. She very much wanted to see what Yao looked like.

Ron was too tired to care about dragons, although the pool sounded wonderful. He simply shoveled in the food and grunted at appropriate intervals. Percy told his father, in quieter tones, about helping Tom research the ancient dagger with more enthusiasm than Arthur had seen on Percy's face in a long time. Arthur cheerfully encouraged Percy, hoping Percy would continue to open up to his new friend.

Charlie listened to the twins, stomping hard on his feelings of jealousy. He'd managed to write two letters of apology. The one to Harry had been simple. As he looked back, he did realize that Ron had thrown the first insult, and Harry had simply reacted - just as any ten year old would. The letter to Tom had been easier after he learned Tom had grown up in an orphanage. Tom's haughty and cold front was easier to understand, and at least partially excuse, knowing that.

Listening to Percy run on about Tom's research was easier to hear than the twins descriptions of the dragons. Charlie wasn't much for research; he liked to ‘learn by doing'. He'd gone to the Dragon Reserve in the Hebrides with a friend last summer for a week, which had cemented his desire to work with dragons - the outdoor work would suit him, he felt. It would have been great to visit the Welsh Reserve, which apparently had a larger and more diverse group of dragons. He picked at his food a bit and hoped that Fred and George would shut up soon.

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The next day Severus was up early for breakfast, and Tinker immediately popped in with coffee. Severus looked at the calendar morosely. Next Monday would start the Hogwarts school year. It was only Thursday, but he knew the weekend would fly by. He wandered to the library only to find Tom there ahead of him. Tom had several stacks of books in front of him, and piles of parchment, but he was staring at the letter he had received the day before.

Harry had received an apology from Bill, as well, and had asked Severus what to do, just before bedtime had been called. Severus smiled a bit smugly at Harry's rather Slytherin move to put off going to bed. Severus wasn't sure what house Harry would end up in, but he was encouraged by any subtle maneuvers like this one. Harry hadn't ever received an apology before Dudley had had his ‘epiphany' - and certainly never in written form. Harry was totally puzzled by it. They had talked a while, and Harry had produced the letter.

Severus had perused the missive a bit suspiciously. He was under no illusions that Bill thought any better of his old potions instructor. He likely still wanted an alliance, however tentative, with the ‘Boy Who Lived'. He imagined with the return of Petunia Dursley that the Weasley's would have given up hope of any guardianship. However, some of the children likely were ambitious enough to know a friendship with Harry would be useful.

Severus grimaced, he knew he was being hopelessly cynical, but after all, he was the Head of Slytherin. Not to mention he'd witnessed enough power-networking among even teenagers there in Hogwarts. That was, after all, where Tom Riddle had first put together the beginnings of his Death Eaters.

After they talked about Harry's feelings about the apology, Severus had told Harry to ‘sleep on it, and write an answer in the morning'. Severus looked at Tom's mystified face and knew he was struggling with the same thing Harry had been. Harry and Tom's childhoods had both been barren of people who cared enough to express regret for anything they might have inflicted on the boys. Severus could empathize with that, himself. He snorted to himself; he'd never even received an apology for an attempt on his life, in school. He was as unfamiliar with sincere apologies as Tom and Harry.

"Difficulties with writing a response?" Severus asked lightly, shaking off old memories, and sitting down across from Tom. Severus had his own letter to write to the Gringotts Supervisor to arrange to spring the dragon from the caverns.

"I'm just not sure what to say. Everything I think of sounds hopelessly stuffy or insincere." Tom answered uncomfortably. If he had been asked to write a scathing letter full of insults and veiled threats it would have been no problem. Polite reassurances of forgiveness eluded him, however.

Harry walked in at that point, munching a final slice of bacon and sipping at a large glass of pumpkin juice. "I'm having the same problem. How do you just say ‘forget it, all's forgiven and forgotten'?"

"Well, I suggest simply putting those very words down on parchment - sometimes simplest is best." Severus answered in relief. It was nice when the boys gave the answers, themselves.

"Really? Won't it sound...flippant?" Ton asked hesitantly.

"Well, I would elaborate a bit. Perhaps say that the little scene with Charlie was partly your fault?" Severus lifted an eyebrow at Tom, causing him to grimace and sigh. But at least Tom lifted his Neverout quill made from a raven's feather, and started writing.

Harry sat and pulled some parchment in front of him and started writing as well. Severus smirked; he had fielded a parental problem without a hitch - he hoped all guardianship issues would be as easy. Severus grabbed a parchment and started a smug-sounding missive to Gringotts. Yvane, at least would have a happy weekend.

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Rosemerta arrived soon after Harry, Dudley and Tom had left for the pool, meeting Cho there. Rosemerta sat in the living room with Petunia and talked for a time about the differences between living in the wizarding world and the muggle one. Petunia could remember more of what Lily had told her about magical substitutes for muggle implements.

Rosemerta knew little about the muggle world; except for the somewhat inadequate muggle studies class and the little that Severus had introduced her to on the weekends and vacations that they had spent together. Petunia asked some questions she had after reading some of the books Harry and Rosemerta had gotten her. Severus had also unearthed a few books from his ever-expanding library.

Petunia finally asked the question she hadn't worked up the nerve to ask Severus. "How did you and Severus meet?"

Rosemerta laughed a bit. Anyone who suspected they were seeing each other over the last eight years always had the same mystified expression.

"I'm four years older that Severus - I took over the pub from my uncle, after learning the trade from him after Hogwarts. I was engaged to be married to a young man who was climbing the ranks in the ministry. There was a Death Eater attack late one night in Hogsmeade - it was dark and I never really saw my attacker, but they cast a couple curses on me. One of the curses...well it effectively sterilized me."

Rosemerta swallowed hard. She was resigned to her childless state, but it was still difficult to talk about. "My fiancé stuck with me for almost a year, but finally his family wore him down." Rosemerta sighed and smiled ruefully. "No, that's not quite true. I keep excusing him, but I know that once the shock wore off and he started thinking about a future with no children he started pulling away - long before his mother started in on him. I just wish he'd dumped me a lot sooner than just weeks before our wedding."

Rosemerta gave a snorting laugh and Petunia nodded with a sympathetic chuckle. They had a moment of perfect understanding regarding bitter memories. They had both been let down by the men who had sworn to take care of them.

"Severus found me at the back entrance of my pub that evening, having hysterics. He gave me a calming draught and listened to me. We got to be friends, and then it slowly...became more." Rosemerta smiled fondly, "Severus isn't easy to figure out, and I had to do some serious digging to get past his walls, but he was well worth it."

Petunia smiled sadly. "I remember him mostly as an angry boy and a rather aloof teenager. But he was a fiercely loyal friend to Lily. I was sure he had grown into a fine man, or I would never have sent a letter to him asking for help."

"I know he loved Lily a great deal, and he will always have a place - a rather large place - in his heart for her, and now her son." Rosemerta grinned at Petunia's astonished expression. "I told Severus all about Aaron, and he told me about Lily. I'm not going to say neither of us have our secrets, but we have shared quite a bit about ourselves."

"I was wondering if you would have a problem with Harry being Severus' ward, since he is Lily's son." Petunia said slowly. She had no wish to stir up trouble where there was none, but Harry was here to stay, if Petunia read Severus' determined air correctly.

"Severus always said he had no need for children, but from the way he's taken to Harry I would guess that's not totally accurate. Perhaps Harry is his chance at something like parenthood. I would be foolish to try and rob him of this, and it is quite stupid to be jealous of a dead woman. I would certainly never resent Lily's memory, as she died saving Harry's life." Rosemerta smiled. "We Hufflepuffs are much too practical for that."

Petunia nodded, and the conversation returned to whether preservation spells affected taste when the food was left on the shelf for years.

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Severus emerged from the lab in time to join Rosemerta and Petunia for lunch. The boys had lunch at the pool, as usual. Petunia was assisted upstairs for a nap. She was feeling stronger, but afternoon naps were still welcome.

This left Rosemerta at Severus' mercy, to her delight. They spent some gleefully stolen moments until late afternoon sun drove the boys back into Dragonsrest. Rosemerta greeted them, looking only slightly disheveled. She left to get the pub ready for the evening, after getting Severus' promise to contact her to arrange a date ‘very soon'.

Dudley went upstairs to have dinner with Petunia. Harry grinned; it was nice that the two of them got time alone together, and that left Severus with he and Tom. Harry took frequent breaks during the hours at the pool, quizzing Tom about his research into the Horcruxes and the weapons he hoped to use to destroy them. Tom was quite patient in his explanations. Harry helped him look things up, at times.

Harry found some of the tales about the weapons were fascinating. He read a few of them aloud to Draco and Dudley some days, who were as enthralled with the tales of ancient warrior wizards and their enchanted weapons as Harry. Tom would occasionally pass on some stories that Yvane would tell him. Yvane knew some details about the stories that weren't in the books. Often they would provide a slant that would change the outlook of the tale. Occasionally it would be humorous; often the reasons the wizards were in the situation they ‘heroically' had to get out of was less than laudable.

Once, right after they had destroyed the cup Tom had inspected his scar with Severus standing nearby looking grave. It had caused sudden, searing pain which Tom had apologized for - Tom looking sad and far more guilty than the brief pain had called for. He and Severus had consulted in low tones for a few minutes, and Severus had given him a pain potion.

Tom and Severus talked pleasantly about study subjects at the table tonight and Harry listened with a faint glow of happiness. He had a guardian that cared enough about him to go over the same ground about his studies for three evenings in a row. Tom winked at Harry, knowing he had noticed it as well, and Harry grinned back. It was almost like having an older brother, at times he liked to pretend that.

The conversation stopped, listening to several owls angry hooting and a house-elves high pitched squeaks. Tom went to calm the three owls, took the envelopes and gave treats to them. The Gringotts owl left immediately with an irritated squawk. Errol hooted happily, and ate. A third owl was not a breed he recognized and had an imperious air. He had obviously traveled a long way, and Tinker gave him a large bowl of food. The last owl was a ministry one and left after his letter was taken.

Tom took the letters to Severus, keeping the one addressed to him. He read the apology from Charlie with resignation, hoping that if he wrote an identical acceptance to him that he and Bill would not compare letters. Harry was also reading an apology with dismay; he'd hoped he was off letter duty.

Severus read the Gringotts letter with a small smile. The Goblin's letter oozed glee at raking in such a huge pile of Goblin made items, although they were admittedly less than happy to give up their only dragon. There had been sly references to ‘how did the wizards expect to get the dragon out without risking their lives?' Severus chuckled, in spite of the wizards saying they could talk the dragon out, the Goblins obviously didn't believe them. None the less, Supervisor Clawscar wished to do the trade Friday afternoon.

The Ministry letter was short, from Auror Hugo Savage who wished to see Severus at his earliest convenience about ‘the house in Spinner's End'. He would invite him on Saturday, for an afternoon tea. That should satisfy everyone.

Severus looked the last, very fancy envelope over while Harry and Tom ate their strawberry shortcake dessert. Harry had expressed a liking for berries, and they had been deluged with every berry in existence in their desserts. The other occupants of Dragonsrest would have begged for a change, but they all liked seeing Harry's delight every time a new concoction of berries appeared. It was a small price to pay, and the desserts were wonderful.

Severus looked at the seal - the Krum family. Ah, the deal had been concluded for the old Krum family ‘castle', then. They likely wished to express gratitude for Harry selling the old family dwelling to them without extorting a huge sum out of them. The Krums were a well-respected family, and Severus had told the accounting firm to ask a rather low amount for the place - not so low as to be insulting, but not very high, either. Severus waved his wand, checking for spells - there were none, of course, and he handed it to a surprised Harry.

"It is addressed to you, Harry - I simply made sure it was safe." Severus smiled at Harry's impressed look at the Krum seal.

Harry opened the letter carefully, so the seal wasn't badly damaged. He wondered if the Potter family had a seal. The letter wasn't long, but it definitely used rather long words. The gist of it seemed to be that the Krum family wished to express their gratefulness for Harry selling to them the ‘ancient family dwelling so close to their hearts'. The letter asked to see Harry to express their thanks personally the next time they were in Britain, possibly around Christmas.

Harry handed the letter to Severus to read. He read it aloud, knowing Tom was curious. "I will be here for at least part of the Winter Holiday's. However, you may need to escort him, Tom. We'll see what happens at the time."

Tom smiled, rather proud of the continued trust Severus displayed. After his poor display in Diagon Alley he had been afraid there would be a set-back in Severus' trust.

"There might have been, but as I stopped you it did reaffirm that I can prevent any untimely deaths from occurring when you're in a snit. Plus, you did admirably in an encounter just an hour later, so he knows you can learn." Yvane smugly reminded him.

"It wasn't a snit." Tom wished he could snarl at Yvane, but that was hard to do mentally. Tom noticed that Yvane however had no difficulty snickering at him mentally.

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Friday arrived and Dudley, Draco & Harry gathered around a late breakfast trying to think of an argument that would convince Severus and Lucius to allow them to accompany them to Gringotts. They knew that the dragon might be dangerous, but surely Yvane could control him? They made Tom promise to pensieve a memory for them to see, and trudged to the pool to meet Cho. One of the dragonriders had offered to play lifeguard while they swam that day, since Tom was unavailable.

The compound was a hive of activity. The news of the wizards ransoming the dragon from the goblins at Gringotts had run through the Reserve in record time. The dragonriders and dragonkeepers had already approved of Severus, as he had rescued Harry and his cousin; Lucius had been ‘Okayed' as well, since he had been helping Severus. Tom, for some reason, had the approval of every dragon on the Reserve, although the dragons wouldn't tell their human friends why. They had been cautiously friendly with Tom, and any dragonriders or keepers that happened to use the pool at the same time as the boys had always answered his questions willingly.

Now that it was known that Tom had brokered this deal with Severus and Lucius' help, the close-knit community of the dragon reserves embraced Tom as one of them.

Lucius, Severus and Tom entered Gringotts and were eagerly escorted into a large room with a very large crowd of goblins who stopped speaking abruptly when they entered. Tom clutched the bagful of items tightly. Supervisor Clawscar stepped forward formally and bowed.

The three wizards bowed in return and they went to the table to slowly pull out the objects and let the goblins inspect them and mark them off the list of items to ransom the dragon. The list was finally completed and the wizards left with Clawscar while the goblins went to claim the items made by their families.

The ride to the depths of the cavern was a bit hair-raising. Lucius always endured the rides with clenched teeth. Severus was indifferent and somewhat bored. Tom grinned and enjoyed it very much. They all arrived to the cavern depths in one piece, and walked past the very largest of the old family vaults, including the Black vault Narcissa had raided for them recently. The Potter vault was down the vast hallway they just passed. Severus knew there was a Prince vault here, somewhere.

The came to the shallow cave where Scarsnout was chained and held at bay by several goblins with fiery lances. Yvane came to the forefront of Tom's mind and asked for some extra control. "I may need to act quickly, if things don't go well." Tom acquiesced and Yvane took control of Tom's body.

Tom strode forward and his eyes took an extra fierce look. "Step aside." The goblins obeyed after a nod from Clawscar. Tom came forward and Yvane reached out to the dragon's mind.

"Peace, brother dragon, I am here to free you." Yvane said soothingly. Seeing the dragon more closely, he could see it was a Ukrainian Ironbelly - the largest of the dragon breeds.

Scarsnout's head turned and his mostly blind eyes tried to find them. "Are you really a brother dragon? I began to think I was the last of my kind. I have been here for many...many years and never saw another dragon."

"What do you last remember when you were above ground?" Yvane asked.

"Elerick the Hebredian black still lived near the standing stones of the Salisbury Plains. I was six decades in age, and learning of the world from him." Scarsnout answered hesitantly.

Yvane sighed, he recalled the old dragon of that name - he'd died a century ago, and had removed to the Hebrides Reserve two centuries before that. "You've been down here at least three hundred years. We have paid the goblins to let us take you out of here. Can you fly, following my directions?"

"To leave this place - I would follow one of those snooty kneazles. I can still see shadows and light." The old dragon answered with a snort.

Tom turned and nodded to the astonished goblins. Clawscar looked at Tom hesitantly; it had been obvious Tom was somehow communicating with the dragon. Goblins had always insisted that dragons were just powerful magical animals, but not intelligent in any way, just tough brutes. Clawscar pointed a short staff at the shackles and freed the dragon. He and the other supervisors needed to review this finding.

Clawscar, followed by Severus and Lucius led the way down toward the back of the cavern with Tom walking by the dragon. One cavern led to another, and another - they could finally see light and hear the sound of water. They came out on the shore of the Thames, an area disillusioned and warded against muggles. Clawscar muttered a goodbye and scuttled back down the cavern. Lucius cast a spell to make the dragon look like a large bird to the muggles.

Severus and Lucius slowly approached to stand beside Tom. Yvane reassured Tom that he would keep him safe. Tom wasn't sure he wanted his first ride on a dragon to be this way. Severus and Lucius helped Tom onto the dragons back and then took out brooms and resized them. They would fly next to the dragon, disillusioned, and prevent any disasters - they hoped.

Yvane gave the order to fly and Scarsnout swept his wings back and forward, testing their strength. He lifted off with a thunderclap of a wingbeat. He gained altitude rapidly, knowing that the higher he got the better. He could glide forever, even as weak as he was if he just got high enough.

Yvane got the dragon headed in the right direction, Severus and Lucius flanking him. It was almost noon, and the noisy London traffic floated up to the dragon, startling him. Airplanes flew by at a distance, frightening the dragon. Yvane explained the noise and flying objects.

"Those puny humans are invading our skies, and causing all this noise?" Scarsnout asked in incredulity. "Weren't the wizards on their blasted brooms bad enough?"

"Yes, I'm afraid the skies belong to more than us, now." Yvane said indulgently. He could remember his own outrage, the first time he saw a human trying to own the skies and air currents the way the dragons did. They were a poor excuse of an imitation, in his opinion. There was little art to it, as far as he could tell.

The flight took hours, but they made the Welsh Reserve before evening. Yao and Yuan were waiting along with several older, experiences riders and their dragons. Cho and the three boys were standing nearby, watching breathlessly. The dragon's descent was more uncertain than his flight. He circled several times, slowly honing in on the area that Yvane was indicating. He backwinged uncertainly, and managed a clumsy but safe landing.

The riders and dragons soon had the dragon swept up in welcome and urged him toward the Healers pens. Scarsnout turned toward the wizards first. "Thank you, Yvane, and your wizard friends. I owe you much, and I won't forget it." He then turned and followed the dragons and riders to the compound Healers.

Cho scurried along with Yuan, waving at her friends, hoping to see more. Severus and Lucius scooped up the boys and went to Dragonsrest.

Tom settled for a bowl of stew and small loaf of bread in his room before collapsing on his bed. Severus had to provide the memory for the boys to view; at least it kept them happy for an hour. Severus and Lucius discussed Auror Savages expected visit the next day. Lucius agreed to be there, Severus felt that the canny Auror was best kept ‘in the loop', where possible to keep him on their side.

Dudley headed for bed happily, and Harry waved Severus into his room with a proud smile and pointed to a formerly empty place on his wall. It now had a very large wizarding picture of Severus and Harry standing in from of Yao, who would occasionally puff a small flame in the air. Severus had an arm thrown across Harry's shoulder and they were smiling companionably. The picture was in an ornate frame with dragons wandering around the frame.

Severus looked at the pair of figures in surprise. He knew that Harry was happy, here on the Reserve, and that he had settled into being his ward. He was a bit astonished at how content he, himself seemed.

Severus turned to the hesitantly smiling Harry. "It's perfect. I expect a copy, of course." Harry beamed and held up a fistful of snapshots.