Calm, only calm

In the month leading up to Grum's arrival, Harry was once again immersed in dragon problems. Every dragon family was having babies, and the fighting between the parents had begun. The males gathered on the banks of the lagoon, basking in the sunlight and bathing in the fine sand, while the females watched over their offspring, sometimes not even having time to eat. In the atmosphere of the Vale, it was no wonder that the dragons had such a large brood. They usually incubated five to eight eggs, and it wasn't certain that they would all hatch. So Harry immediately performed a ritual to keep the little ones healthy, and now they hovered behind him in a flock. The females, of course, did not approve of this behaviour, as it was difficult for them to keep an eye on them, and the little dragons flew around the valley demanding constant attention. Potter had to control everything at once. It was good that there was Charlie. He loved his dragons and would spend the night in the caves if his charges were well. Of course, he hadn't fully learned to understand dragons, but he knew their needs well.

Apart from the caves, each species of dragon had a permanent home where it spent most of the day. The Welsh dragons spent most of their time in the garden, hunting mice and large grasshoppers, each time deftly snatching the insects from the thorny roses that whipped painfully at the nimble hunters with their spiky branches.

The Peruvian snakes took up most of the lagoon, occasionally peering out of the water into the scorching sun, which played brightly on their green mother-of-pearl scales. They lived in harmony, although the male was alone. There were plenty of fish in the lagoon, and Harry didn't worry about them, checking on their health once a week.

The Ukrainian iron-bellied and the Swedish blunt-furred became firm friends and occupied the furthest caves. After exploring them up and down, they built a cave and hunted the large herbivores that lived in the forest behind the rocks, sometimes bringing fresh deer and wild goats to the entrance of the manor.

And so time passed. Over the years, Harry had got into the habit of circling the estate on Ingvarra or Junshen several times a day. Louise often watched him fly, often helping with the dragon babies. Seeing the girl fiddle with her tails once more, Harry realised that he had become very attached to Louise and could often be seen in her company. She acted completely naturally, not hiding, but communicating with his dragons with total dedication. It was interesting to watch the stern black dragons lift their heads to be petted by Louise.

After his morning rounds, Harry saw an interesting sight as he and Louise walked along the shore. The little dragon, Marius, was running away from his mother, making great circles and raising a cloud of splashing water before opening his wings and hitting the water. Mud was clearly visible on the leathery folds. Adrynn, the dragoness, was almost panting fire at her son, expressing her displeasure at the stubborn child. Harry laughed softly. Louise had been giggling into the palm of her hand for a long time.

- Hello, Adrynn! I see you're doing well! Do you need any help? - Potter threw up her hand, Marius came over and rubbed himself against her. - Where's Moric? He is the father.

Adrynn hissed, spitting sparks. Harry had a mental image of Moric flying over the border with Ingvar. The dragoness was clearly displeased with her husband.

- Oh, come on! Let me help and then Louise and I will take the babies back to our place for the evening. You can have a dip in the water on the beach and then I'll bring you a tender lamb. All right?

Adrynne had calmed down at these words and began to wave to her cubs. Harry went knee-deep in the water and lured the dragons in as well. They swirled merrily and plunged into the water beside him, making small waves. The man laughed and began to move his hands in the water, creating bubbles of different sizes. The pintails used their wings to burst the bubbles, washing all the dirt off their bodies. Marius, who had been standing on the beach next to Louise, woke up and stomped straight into the water. He did it so reluctantly, with his head down and his wings folded, that Louise could not bear it and laughed. Then it took off and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. In a matter of seconds she was in the middle of the soap circle, wriggling among the other dragons. Harry was left completely dry at first, but Louise struggled to her feet, grabbed him and threw him into the water. They laughed merrily, the lizards splashed around and everyone was happy. Suddenly Harry grabbed her and tried to kiss her. Louise immediately blushed and pulled away, very embarrassed. She quickly got ashore, wrung out the hem of her dressing gown and went into the house. The moment was lost and Harry was left with the dragons. Sighing, he continued his bath. Then, having dried the dragons and himself, he set off towards the forest. The little ones followed.

Yunsheng lay at the edge of the sparse forest, hissing and whistling as he watched the events unfold on the shore.

- Hello, Yunsheng! Did you see everything? - Harry sat on the dragon's knee as usual. It showed him a picture of two dragons mating in a dance and then whistled again, as if it disapproved of its master.

- No. But I thought I cared about them. After all, I saw a lot of things in her mind at the time. I don't understand!

The dragon hissed and showed a picture of a black dog turning into a man. Potter sighed:

- Do you think we should ask Sirius?

The Chinese ball nodded, making Harry wonder. He hadn't seen Sirius for days. Black regularly disappeared for weeks at a time and then reappeared in the living room as if nothing had happened, carrying various gifts and rarities that needed deciphering.

The scrolls and artefacts that Sirius also brought back from his expeditions required special treatment. Once again Harry was convinced that Louise was the Master. Every evening they went down to the laboratory to carry out research, which was carefully recorded in observation logs. Information about dragons and artefacts was added.

One day Sirius brought back a green stone covered in runes. At first glance it appeared to be a simple semi-precious, a serpentine stone of little power. The men poked around in it for a few days, Harry hissing in Parseltongue as they tried to unravel the mystery of the stone. The only thing they had managed to do was to break it into pieces which, like a jigsaw puzzle, fell into place. Finally, the piece fell into Louise's hands.

- Harry, look. I've got it! If you combine the stone with the Saulu rune on a certain day of the lunar calendar, you will have an artefact that can be used to understand the language of beasts. And not like your Dragon Bowl. Communication will be possible at all times, as long as you keep the stone with you. - Louise was delighted to be the first to understand the purpose of the Serpentine.

- Hmmm... Well, good for you, what do you think? - Harry waved his hand. The stone split into four pieces, each changing colour. New runes appeared. Each one described a different element - water, air, earth, fire.

- Ahem... I'll have to check, but I think the parts of the stone will allow me to understand certain animals and even plants. Look, the green part is earth, or flora. The red part is probably fire and dragons, the blue part is probably fish and other water creatures. The yellow part is air, so birds and insects. Let's have a look, shall we?

Together they left the lab and walked along the shore. Louise picked up a red quarterstone. Meanwhile, Harry was being chased by the tailgaters again. They flew up and tried to bump into him, mentally showing him pictures. One of the tailgaters climbed onto a wing and spun around its axis.

- Good girl, Sally," Harry tried not to laugh so as not to offend the baby, "and where is Marius?

An image of the edge of the sea and several dragons appeared before his eyes. Sally hissed something and waved a wing towards the lagoon. Harry turned to Louise. She was staring at them in shock:

- I understand everything! I've seen the pictures too, you know!

- Here we are, looking at it. We'll go to the mountains later - there are birds and insects there too. The blue part will probably work as it is. - Harry shrugged, then continued mentally: - "I don't have enough to do with the fishes..."

****

On one of the more eventful days, something else happened. Harry was patrolling the perimeter as usual when Junshen's nose suddenly turned warily in the air. The dragons, who had been following their master in a flock, began to shriek in fright.

- Unsheng, do you hear something? - Harry tensed and looked around carefully, hoping to see what the dragon was feeling and what had frightened the dragons so much. Yunshen was squinting, staring unsteadily at the north side of the grounds. Potter quickly jumped to his feet and climbed onto the Chinese Orb's back:

- Fly!

The next second, they were racing towards the edge of the dome. The lone figure was hard to miss amidst the sparse and liquid vegetation. Numerous scars crossed the Auror's face, making facial expressions difficult to read, an artificial eye swivelled a full three hundred and sixty degrees, a wooden leg tapping impatiently on the dry, cracked ground. It was the retired Auror himself.

At the sight of the intruder, Harry gritted his teeth and fought to control his own magical power.

- Alastor Grum," he grumbled coldly, with a certain amount of disdain, "do I have to do this again? I told you to leave me alone. And I warn you - yes, I don't care what else is wrong with you!

- Potter, look, what you did is not having the desired effect. - The Auror was clearly on edge. - The teachers had gone down, Dumbledore had gone completely bad, and it was all happening very quickly.

- What? What do I care about teachers? I've done everything I can for Hogwarts. The professors are educated enough to find out for themselves. This conversation is over. - Harry turned and walked towards the dragon.

- Wait! The thing is, this year we've invited Neville Longbottom and his wife to take Professor Sprout's place. They're in the hospital wing now! You can't just let them die, can you?

- Trying to manipulate me again, Auror Groom? - Harry's face went from brown to deathly pale. - Invite Neville so you can control my life? You just haven't learned the depth of my hatred for all of you...

Clouds gathered around Potter - a thunderstorm was gathering, rare flashes of bright green lightning struck the ground around the Auror, and for the first time in his life it made Grum feel creepy. He went pale, hunched over somehow, stepped back awkwardly, and quickly apparated.

****

One hour in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.

- Albus! I'm going to see that puppy again! As an Auror, I had to run to avoid being struck by lightning! - Groom paced the room, clattering his prosthesis and hurling mountains of curses at Potter, carefully hiding his fear at the mention of Potter's Avada Kedavra-coloured lightning.

- Come on, Alastor, don't get so upset," the Headmaster was weak, but his blue eyes were still bright, "you'll see, it'll all work out. He's a good boy...

And then it began. The doors to the hospital wing simply fell to rubble. Then the whirlwinds burst in, shattering the curtains, circling the room and returning to the doorway. There was Potter, looking around arrogantly. Noticing the Headmaster and Grum, he walked over to them, almost hissing:

- Headmaster! I told you to leave me alone. You, the brightest and greatest wizard, can't deal with the plague in the castle? And you, Grum, have found a way to blackmail me? So you've found a way to influence Survivor Boy. Hello, Madam Pomfrey. Where are Neville and Luna?

Pomfrey pointed to the bed separated by a white cloth. Neville was kicking about on the bunk, unconscious, while Luna sat staring blankly, not even reacting to Potter's appearance.

- Luna, what's going on? - Harry's voice softened, though a cold rage still bubbled up inside. - Can you tell me what happened?

The girl's eyes widened and she finally looked up at Harry:

- Oh, Harry, hello, we were in the Forbidden Forest. Neville needed some new herbs for his experiments and I was looking for some writhing sagebrush. - Luna's voice was shaking and it was obvious she was about to have a tantrum. - They came back and ate in their own quarters: they wouldn't go out to the Great Hall. And Neve got a fever and then she fainted. Madam Pomfrey says it's magical exhaustion. We haven't done any magic, but you know some herbs can't be harvested by magic...

- I hear you. - Harry wasted no time in going over to Neville, taking out his wand and casting a few diagnostic spells. - How long has he been unconscious?

- Since last night. More than a day. - Luna carefully replaced the wet bandage on her husband's forehead.

- May I see your rooms in the castle? - Potter waited for a slight nod and went to the Longbottom's third floor room.

It was bright and clean. There were no dark or foreign spells to be seen, but Harry was not complacent. He used different combinations of spells over and over again and finally found a faint trace of some kind of spell. He drew a circle of runes on the floor of the small living room, the only thing he had with him, and then chanted the ritual verses to see what was there.

After a few minutes, a golden thread marked one of the walls. Potter finished the ritual, wiped away any traces and began to examine the thread. Then he picked it up with his fingernail and tugged gently.