Enchanted by stridermagic

Chapter 6

Screams shattered the air as the Death Eaters began their assault on the castle. Most of the sixth and seventh years had stayed behind, including some Slytherins. The remaining men and women of the Order of the Phoenix were spaced throughout the castle, at various chokepoints and entry ways. Fred and George had set up traps in some of the more unknown pathways but for the most part, Harry hadn't thought that the Death Eaters would know about those.

The shielding had fallen only a few minutes ago, letting the Death Eaters, the Snatchers, the giants, Greyback and his werewolves and whoever else was with Voldemort through. Someone had thought that the Order was outnumbered, that they would never make it through the night. And maybe they were right but Harry was bound and determined to end Voldemort tonight, to not let the guy escape and conquer the rest of the wizarding world.

It was either him or Voldemort and he prayed that it would be the dark lord. Harry really wanted to see Rhaegar again, see his dragon king one last time. He spared a thought as to wonder what King Rhaegar Targaryen was doing, how he was ruling. It had been a year since they had seen each other, a year since he had been 'called' to Westeros to cure Rhaegar of a deadly poison. He wondered if Rhaegar had wed in his absence. The king would need heirs but perhaps he had made his younger brother his heir and decided to rule without a queen. He wondered how Godric and Balerion were, how big they were now. Maybe Rhaegar had ridden Balerion. His dragon king had said that their dragons never stopped growing.

It wasn't like there was no magic in Westeros. The last time he had gone, he had sensed more magic of the land than he had in all of the times he had gone previously. Perhaps it was due to his presence or maybe it was due to the fact that both he and Rhaegar had been marked by a goddess of magic. He had thought on that connection when he had hatched Balerion and Godric. The way both their marks had warmed up at the time. The way that Godric, the red dragon, had bonded with him and Rhaegar had bonded with the black dragon, having the black mark.

Luna's yell drew his attention out of his thoughts and he turned back to the battle, turned back to looking for the diadem of Ravenclaw.

Rhaegar stepped through the door to the Dragon Pit, now called the Dragon Roost. He had asked the house elves that had stayed with him, Keesy and Rodrey, to rebuild it but style it in an entirely different way. Before the Dance of Dragons and Queen Rhaenrya Targaryen, Rhaegar's ancestors had chained up their dragons here. And that had been the start of the downfall for the dragons and his house. The dragons had become stunted, small creatures. His house had continued the infighting and had lost many of their number.

Now, the Dragon Roost was an open, airy place that invited dragons to come and roost. Balerion and Godric were now sleeping on a big rock, sunning themselves. They had grown so much between the last time Harry had visited and now, a year having gone by and magic had returned. Grand Maester Marywn had said that his dragons were growing at a previously unheard of speed. Both dragons were only 2 years old but they were now big enough to fly, to ride.

"Your Grace, I hope you know what you are doing," Ser Arthur remarked, as the rest of the kingsguard followed him. Ser Harlan had died last month so they were down one knight, which had made him think of holding a tourney. The competition would be held next week and his guards would look for the right person to join the kingsguard. "No one has flown a dragon in hundreds of years."

"Lord Connington knows where I am," Rhaegar spoke, watching as Balerion woke up, opening his big mouth and letting out a puff of smoke. There was a small pit door where fresh meat was thrown from a butcher that Rhaegar was sponsoring. But there were no chains, no bolts to hold a dragon to the ground. "Besides, Balerion is quite bonded to me. Godric also likes me, as his own rider likes me."