The Serpent and the Lion [L.S]

Chapter 11

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Harry's first real day in the Tomlinson household is a complete success by anyone's standard.

Phoebe and Daisy are delighted to have someone to parade around and show everything to, in fact, Harry received an in-depth tour of the entire house; complete with a showcase of all their favorite toys and dresses.

After refusing breakfast, Harry agreed to eat lunch, (after being reminded by Louis that he had to eat at some point on his own, or his mother would strap him to the dining table and force feed him like a baby,) which quickly turned into Harry's Interrogation Hour.

At first Harry is shy, obviously nervous to be the center of everybody's rapt attention.

He answers their questions staring down at his plate, giving the bare minimum answer, and looking like he'd rather talk about anything other than himself.

Louis tells himself that he'll interject the moment Harry starts to look overwhelmed, but that moment never comes; eventually Harry becomes more comfortable, his demeanor shifting.

Fifteen minutes after that, and Harry is full-blown rambling, the conversation somehow segueing to different animal breeds Harry hopes to work with one day. By this point, his hands are waving around, gesticulating and smiling widely. Louis wants to kiss him.

"—but nothing compares to my favorite, though. There's a really neat species called Swedish Short-Snouts, and they're just the most fascinating—the fire they breathe is literally blue—I've never actually seen one in person, but the last time we had a dragon at school, Hagrid accidentally got his beard singed off, and now he's sore about it."

"You had a dragon at your school?" Phoebe is slack-jawed with this information. "What was it like?"

"Well, he was big and mean," Harry tells her, "But not all big creatures are mean. In fact, some of the bigger ones give better cuddles than the little creatures."

"What on Earth constitutes having a dragon at a school full of children?" Jay huffs, sounding as worried as ever. "Honestly love, that just sounds dangerous."

"It isn't really," Harry isn't even eating anymore, he's talking so much. "Dragons have to be transported quite a bit so that Mugg—"

Harry stops himself in his tracks, and Louis glances up at his sudden silence.

"—So that non-wizards don't see them. They're kept in a reserve most of the time, like, reserves that are super far away from the rest of civilization. If they're just passing through, they'll set up a break in the travel so the dragons can stretch and eat, and that break usually happens at Hogwarts."

"Do you have to keep them a secret?" Daisy asks.

"We have to keep lots of things secret," Harry replies sweetly. "But it's usually for protection."

"Who is gonna hurt a dragon?" Lottie's brows knit together.

"What can even hurt a dragon?" Felicity chimes in. "They're not exactly small. Or helpless."

Louis smiles. The entire table has their eyes glued on Harry, hanging on his next words, and he looks thrilled. He's quite literally shining, lit up from the inside out.

Louis doesn't really know what Harry's talking about, but fuck, he'd listen to him all day if it meant getting to see this side of Harry.

"Poachers. They're awful in the wizarding world." Harry takes a bite of his food, like he'd forgotten that's what they're all doing around the table in the first place. "They don't want the dragons for anything good. That's why keeping their location a secret is so important."