Chapter Text
Ari Potter stared at the large smoking stone that had suddenly appeared before her in the forest clearing in stunned surprise.
"What the Hell?" she murmured, fingering the straps of her leather backpack which was filled with her magical tent and a veritable hoard of books on curse breaking and healing.
The young witch had been traveling the world for the past few months working as a kind of treasure hunter for rare magical artifacts and potions ingredients. It was not a job that she ever would have envisioned for herself back at Hogwarts, but the time spent hunting horcruxes last year had given her a taste for this lifestyle. Not that Ari in any way desired the search for Voldemort’s missing soul pieces to still be ongoing. The constant terror of the war and the imperative to remain hidden at all times were things she could do without. Not to mention the depressive effect of the locket horcrux itself.
But the hunt had been invigorating: the feeling of outsmarting a man Hell bent on protecting his treasures; the thrill of discovery when they found the ancient, powerful objects Voldemort had used as his soul containers; the satisfaction of solving the puzzles laid out before her. And, unlike Ron and Hermione, Ari had actually enjoyed the camping aspect of their quest. If living out of a magical tent with all the amenities of the modern world could be considered “camping.”
Her new job gave her all of that and more. For the first time in her life, Ari felt like she had finally found something that she was good at. In school, she had always worked hard and made good grades, and she had a mountain of magical power to perform even the toughest of spells her mentors threw at her, but the passion was lacking. Now, her life felt like an adventure every day—the good kind, not the kind she had had back in school with a psycho trying to kill her every year.
Ari scooted closer to the stone cautiously, curiosity peeked. The rock was egg shaped and nearly a foot long, and it exuded a kind of wild, untamed magic that Ari had never felt before. Pulling out her wand, Ari began casting a multitude of detection spells, growing increasingly intrigued as they picked up no enchantments.
Finally, after nearly half an hour of spell casting, the 18 year old decided it was safe to pick the stone up for a more hands on examination. It was a beautiful shining silver, dotted over with spots of green so dark they were almost black. The stone was also unnaturally smooth, and Ari could not understand how it could have gotten that way without the help of humans, but the only magic she could sense seemed to be inherent to the gem itself, and no muggle machine would have been able to alter a magical artifact as powerful as this.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Slowly, Ari extended her magic to probe at the stone in her hands, ready to retreat at any sign of threat. As she mentally poked at the gem, the magic in the stone seemed to perk up, and Ari paused, surprised at the sentient feeling she was getting from the power. Reaching out further, she cast her curiosity down the link, and a slight smile spread across her face as innocent interest was returned. It felt almost like a child poking at her to see if she was as soft as she looked.
Ari’s eyes widened as awareness abruptly overtook her. This was no stone—it was an egg! And whatever was in there, it was sophisticated enough to examine her magically. Excitement coursed through her. She may not be as fanatical about magical creatures as Hagrid, but she still found them fascinating, and to her knowledge, there was no known magical creature alive today capable of interacting with the outside world from within its egg.
Another prod came from the egg, the power reaching out and surrounding her, probing at her heart and mind, and Ari froze, panicking slightly as she suddenly realized that whatever creature resided in the egg had the potential to be incredibly dangerous, and in her excitement, she had opened herself up completely. The only thing stopping her from flinging the egg away in fear was the almost soothing emotions coming from the creature’s magic.
Almost as quickly as the examination had started, it stopped, the waves of wild magic retreating back into the egg, and Ari stared at it, puzzled. Then, just as Ari was about to reach out for a second time, the egg vibrated in her hands very slightly, and Ari could have sworn she heard a high pitched squeal reverberate from inside the shell.
It washed over her, almost indistinguishable from her own thoughts and feelings. Desire to escape, to find some way to break through the hard walls trapping her and be free. Free to feel the heat and fire and wind. She would be King of the Skies! If she could just make this stubborn shell crack!
The young witch stared at the silver egg dumbfounded as the baby’s emotions continued to prod at her consciousness. The damn thing wanted to hatch!
Glancing around, Ari spotted a soft patch of moss and carefully placed the egg down, figuring it was best not to be holding the baby animal right when it hatched. There was no telling what was coming out of that thing.
Well, no. That wasn’t strictly accurate. The egg had been growing steadily hotter in her hands before she set it down, so it was probably some kind of fire lizard. Either that or a phoenix, though Ari figured fire lizard was a lot more likely.
Feeling the little creature’s struggle through whatever connection she had managed to establish with the animal, Ari remembered what Hagrid had told her back in First Year shortly after Norberta hatched. Most fire-based magical creatures needed a whole lot of heat for a healthy birth (hence Hagrid cooking the dragon egg over his fire). Usually that heat would be provided by the parents, but seeing as the egg had randomly appeared before her, Ari figured it was probably up to her to help out. She felt oddly compelled to ensure that whatever was coming out of that egg stayed safe.
"Incendio," she cast, gradually increasing the amount of fire when she felt pleasure and renewed energy flow into her mind.
She took a few steps back and crouched down to watch with avid interest as cracks began to appear along the egg’s flaming surface. Another high pitched squeak came, this one not muffled by the egg’s shell, and a little silver snout poked out of a newly formed hole before quickly retreating again. Then a small paw appeared through the hole, sharp little black claws working to chip away at more of the shell.
Ari grinned as the little creature finally managed to tear a big enough opening in the egg and its diminutive silver body came tumbling out ungracefully.
"A dragon?" She stared, nonplussed. It was no breed of dragon she recognized, which made sense given its level of sentience, but a dragon was definitely not what she was expecting to emerge from that egg. "Bloody Hell."
The baby dragon looked over at the sound of her voice, locking its dark jade eyes with her lighter emerald eyes, and it squeaked excitedly, attempting to take several stumbling steps in her direction before tripping on its uncoordinated legs.
Ari suddenly wondered if the winged creature was imprinting on her. She remembered that had happened with Norberta back in first year. Charlie had later explained that it had taken a great deal of effort to get the young Rhodesian Ridgeback to accept any food from the handlers in Romania, the dragon not trusting anyone other than its mummy Hagrid.
The hatchling cheeped at her imploringly, and Ari found herself helpless to do anything other than walk towards it, hand carefully outstretched. She barely had time to admire the dragon’s shining silver scales, each metallic plate like a bright star tipped in dark, shimmering jade, before the creature’s small snout connected with her right palm, and searing pain shot through her body.
Across dimensions and in a world far away, powerful forces turned, pulling the hatchling back to the land from whence it came, and dragging its new rider back with it. They had worked frantically to locate the recalcitrant egg, which had disappeared unexpectedly, but satisfaction arose at this result. Yes, she would do nicely. The hatchling had chosen well. Just a bit longer, and they could rest from this unexpected recovery mission.
Ari awoke a short time later, feeling the soreness of her muscles as she shifted slightly.
"The Hell happened?" she croaked, putting a hand to her aching head and slowly squinting her eyes open. She jerked slightly, noticing the baby dragon perched on her chest, and the little thing tilted its head inquisitively. She flinched a second time as she felt something wild and ancient, yet incredibly young brush up against her mind, and she reached instinctively towards her occlumency barriers to block it out before the sensation of complete and utter rightness registered, stopping her defenses in their tracks. This was no invasion of her mind. It was a meeting of souls, and it ran far deeper than the emotional pings she had been able to feel when the dragon was still in its egg.
"What the Hell happened?" she questioned again, staring back at the hatchling who was watching her with bright jade eyes, and a feeling of adoration flowed over her from the link. She smiled softly at the innocent emotion and reached up to run her fingers over the baby dragon’s forehead and along one sharp, black horn. From the tip of the horn jutting off the back of the baby’s head, positioned more like a protective extra barrier over the hatchling’s neck rather than an instrument to stab, she trailed her fingers along the small black spikes running the length of the dragon’s spine.
"That’s you, isn’t it? Bloody Hell, you’re…incredible," she whispered, awed at the bond she could feel in her soul and amazed at the complexity of the emotions she could sense over their link. Proud contentment flowed back to her when the hatchling felt her wonder, and she chuckled as the pint-sized reptile settled in and began to purr.
Looking away from the hatchling, Ari brought her hand up to examine her palm, which was the only part of her body still actively throbbing with pain. She stared, resigned at yet another scar to add to her collection. "At least this one’s sorta pretty," she thought, unlike the now faded lightning bolt cutting through the outer edge of her right eyebrow or the jagged bite mark near her left shoulder, among others. This new scar on her palm was shaped in the form of an oval spiral, and it seemed to almost glow with a dim silver light.
While the new rider had been examining her unusual branding, the magic in the air around her had been growing steadily thicker, but it took wariness sliding over the bond from the young dragon for Ari to notice the potential danger. She stood up slowly, perching the little magical creature on her shoulder, and examined her surroundings with a new alertness.
This was not the forest she had been in before she had blacked out after touching the dragon.
Searching quickly for her wand, Ari was dismayed to notice it lying a few feet away, quite obviously snapped, and she began to frantically attempt to think of a way to escape the area without triggering the gathering power. Without a wand, apparition was out, but she doubted she and her draconian companion would have any luck running if this energy turned on them. Still though, they didn’t exactly have a ton of options.
Ari tensed her muscles and sprung into action, darting towards a deer path to her right, but the small dragon’s black claws had barely had time to dig into her shoulder before they were both frozen in place.
"Peace!" A multitude of alien voices rang through her mind, easily sweeping aside any occlumency barriers she had had in place.
Primal instinct shouted at her to struggle, but Ari fought the panic back with iron will. Panting harshly, she attempted to locate the source of the voices and power, but she could sense nobody in her immediate vicinity.
"Peace Young One, you are safe," the voices said, before continuing in a strange language, "Vae weohnata néiat haina ono." For some reason, Ari found herself relaxing completely after the incomprehensible words were spoken, knowing deep in her bones that this power meant her no harm.
"Who are you?" She called out, but instead of answering the voices continued as though she had not spoken.
"Listen closely. You have been chosen, Ariel of House Potter, and now our hope and the hope of all Alagaësia, must rest in you. When the time draws near for you to face the Oathbreaker and your strength seems insufficient, go to the Rock of Kuthian and speak your name to open the Vault of Souls."
"Rock of Kuthian? What the?" Ari mumbled, brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait!" She called out more clearly as she felt the magic begin to withdraw, but it was too late, the power was fading rapidly, and it did not pause for even a second at her shout. Within moments, she and the silver dragon hatchling were alone.
Ari looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings again before turning to lock eyes with her new bonded partner. "What the Hell have I gotten myself into now?"
Her only response was a tilted head and a feeling of curiosity and excitement over their link.