Knowledge is Power

Chapter 34

//It's been too long! We should really go flying more, Mags,// Nightshade thought as he hovered just outside the window.
Mag navigated her broom out of the window, then slipped out herself before commenting.
//If you weren't with Severus most of the time, maybe we could. I don't like going without you these days what with everything happening in the world currently.//

It made Nightshade feel awesome that Mag considered him back up if shit went down. Of course he was, but it was nice that others were aware.
//Hey! You're the one that told me to hang with Prof,// he protested as they glided off into the night side by side.
"And besides! He needs me. I protect him from the world. I basically protect him from himself,// Nightshade boasted.

Mag snickered.
"Sure. Right."
//It's true,// Nightshade insisted.
//Hey what's that? Wait!//
He dove down and snatched something up from the forest floor that appeared to be glowing.

//Here, Magi! See what this is," he said, thrusting his claw that held the softly glowing object at Mag's face.
"How am I going to hold that and stay on my broom at the same time," she grumbled, but even as she spoke, she let go of the broom's handle with her left hand, still clinging tightly with her right.
Nightshade dropped a heavy cold stone into her open palm. Holding it close to her face she peered at it. It had the weight and silvery gray color of hematite. She could make out the color due to the warm glow of light that surrounded the stone. As a rule, hematites didn't glow. They were fantastic stones for healing, grounding, mental clarity and focus. They even helped with persuasion, but one thing they did not do was glow. Ever.

"This stone has obviously been enchanted, but to do what," she wondered.
When the unexpected answer came she nearly dropped the stone back onto the forest floor.
//Not exactly enchanted.//
The thought came into her mind much in the way thoughts did from Nightshade, but Mag could tell the thought hadn't come from her owl. It was difficult to explain just how, but it seemed to come from a different...direction and the energy behind the mental voice felt different. Bigger somehow and more foreign?

//Who are you,// she asked, peering hard at the stone.
//What are you?//
There was a long hesitation before the answer came.
//I won't give my name at this point, but I am a dragon.//
Mag scowled. This was obviously some sort of bloody joke. Dragons were her obsession. As such she knew that they couldn't talk. Though many fantasy books, such as Lord of the Rings, written by a Muggle friendly wizard in the nineteen fifties or something, indicated otherwise, it just wasn't so.

//I'm talking to you now, aren't I?//
//Yes but who's to say you're a dragon?//
//I am,// the voice insisted.
To Mag's mind it seemed to be taking on a peevish note.
//All of the dragons who are, as dragons once were, have hidden themselves away from wizards. They hunt us for our scales and our blood and so we have removed ourselves. Those who are left to you are dragons who, due to weakened blood, no longer remember. They have gone wild and lost their magic...Except it is still in the blood.//

Mag recalled the work Dumbledore had done with dragon's blood. At that thought, a soft warning growl seemed to reverberate in her mind. That hadn't pleased whatever she was talking to in the least. If it was indeed a dragon, she couldn't blame it.

//I'm sorry. I have always been fascinated by dragons...not dragon's blood.//
The dragon, if that's what it was, seemed to understand for after several seconds of feeling as if her mind was being examined, Mag felt a wave of what she could only describe as satisfaction mixed with reluctant approval.
//Hm. A human I don't particularly wish to eat. Interesting.//

//Um...Thank you? Is this your stone? Should I get it back to you,// she asked, definitely eager to meet a dragon, especially one who probably did not wish to eat her.