Lyle bit his lip at the question. “Er, has your father told you …”

“Told me what?”

“Who your mother was,” Lyle said carefully.

“Oh. Yeah, he has,” Harry said.

Lyle looked relieved. “Thank goodness for that. If I may start again?”

Harry wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but Lyle seemed keen, so he nodded.

“Thank you.” Lyle sank into a bow again—Harry raised his eyebrows, feeling rather uncomfortable—but the feeling tripled as Lyle spoke.

“Your highness; I, Lyle Mentuta, pledge myself to be at your service from this day until the end of my breath.”

-

“But Professor Snape—”

“No buts!” Severus hollered. The twins fell silent. “Now to your punishment—”

He stopped abruptly as his private door was pulled open and Harry appeared. His eyes widened in alarm, as opposed to the Weasley twins who were suddenly looking mighty curious. “Potter! What are you doing—”

“I think you forgot something from your story,” Harry said, breathing hard as if he had just run a marathon. “Like, the part where she was the bloody queen.”

There was a long silence. Snape looked from the twins to Harry and back again.

“You two,” he snapped at the Weasleys, “stay there.” He magically locked the door to the corridor to make sure they did. “Potter, inside, now.” He pointed into his quarters, and Harry turned and marched back in. Snape followed, triple-locking the door behind him—he didn’t trust the twins one inch.

“Severus, I didn’t mean—he said he knew!” exclaimed Lyle, looking horrified. “I didn’t realise he thought I was talking about something else …”

“A pretty big thing to leave out, don’t you think?” Harry snapped. “Look, Snape, I can’t take it in all these little doses. Please, tell me everything, stop spacing it out; it’s torturous.”

Severus swallowed hard. “You want to know everything?”

“Yes! And you can start by explaining the whole royal thing.”

“Perhaps I should do that,” Lyle said, shooting an apologetic look at Severus. “There is some related information I need to tell you both, anyway.”

“Such as?”

Lyle smiled. “Why don’t we start with your mother,” he said gently. There was a short pause. “To the wizarding world she was Lily Evans, a Muggleborn witch; but to dragonkind she was Lillian Corona—heir to the Northern throne.”

Harry visibly swallowed.

“There are some dragon families who choose to live in the wizarding world also—a foot on both sides of the fence, as it were. Those are rare, though. So is a dragonchild going to Hogwarts, although I believe there are one or two there now.”

Severus’ interest piqued. “Really? Could you identify them?”

“I’m afraid not, Severus. I only know by rumour. Anyway, Lily’s parents did not have a foot in the wizarding world; so Lily went to live with a Muggle family—the Evans’, who were picked at random and their memories modified.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, so … Aunt Petunia never told me she wasn’t my aunt, because she thought she was? I get it now.”

Lyle looked around at Severus, who shook his head: best not get into that one now.

“Unlike Muggle lines, the heir to a dragon throne is not the eldest, but the one who is most suited to the job,” Lyle explained. “There is a magical way of divining the rightful heir—I will come back to that later. Although Lily had an older brother, Luesson, she was deemed the rightful heir.”

“But she didn’t want to be,” Severus said, lost in memories.

Lyle looked back at him. “Severus, maybe you could tell this part better.”

Severus took a deep breath. “In all honesty, Harry, had things been different, I think your mother would have made a wonderful ruler,” he said softly. “She had all the necessary qualities, and a lot more besides. But I was her downfall in that respect.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am a wizard, not a dragon. Even if the Dark Lord hadn’t made life complicated enough—there was no way Lily’s parents were going to allow her to marry a wizard, and the government wasn’t too happy about it either. I don’t think it was ever an officially laid down ultimatum, but Lily’s parents made it clear that if she married me, they would ensure the throne went to Luesson. I don’t think they expected her to make the choice she did … Lily chose to be with me, and left dragonkind permanently.”

“What, even her family?”

Severus nodded. “She loved them, but none of them could understand her choice, so the relationship broke.”

“That was when we parted,” Lyle said, taking the story back. “My duty has always been to protect the rightful heir—and when Lily forfeited, Luesson was the only one left in line, so my official allegiance was to him—though I admit, I have never felt anything for the man personally,” Lyle added. “I loved Lily like my own sister; but Luesson was just … someone I had to guard.”

“Was?” Severus asked. “Is he dead?”

“No,” Lyle said slowly. “And we come to the reason I returned after all these years.” He paused. “A few years ago, the King and Queen passed away, and Luesson ascended to the throne. I have suspected for a long time that the man has been corrupted—whether that happened as a consequence of his power, or if he was headed down that road anyway, I do not know. However, I am sure that he has descended to the Dark Arts; which should, theoretically, forfeit his right to rule.

However, he is not one to accept a forfeit easily—or any challenge to power. I have been growing steadily more afraid of how far he will go to keep his position. Then, I overhead part of a discussion between him and one of the other guards—I regret I do not know which—who was telling him that the two of you had been identified.” Severus started. “Your teaching position and Harry’s name were mentioned, but I did not hear the whole conversation. I came here as fast as I could, intending to warn Lily that I feared for her life.”

“And now?” Harry asked, though his voice was trembling.

“And now I fear for your life, your highness.”

“Lyle,” Severus said quietly, “the palace guards are all Opaleyes, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because I believe one Unlocked, and then tried to kill, Harry just this week,” Severus said.

“In which case, I was right—Luesson does intent to eliminate his last challenge to the throne,” Lyle said quietly. “Do not fear, however, sir—I have sworn to protect you with my life, and that is just what I intend to do.”