Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Potter Discussions

3:35pm

Friday, 4 August 1995

Romanian Dragon Reserve, Romania

.

The table was spread with books, all of them about dragons. Some were more general, giving an overview of the species. Others focussed solely on a specific breed. A couple narrowed in on one specific aspect of dealing with dragons, for example hatching an egg or how to render a deceased dragon down to get the most profit out of it. That last one had been pushed far away, the abhorrence that it was deemed worthy of only the trash heap.

The most prominent of all the books, the two that were being used and referred to the most, were Harry's copy of Dragons, the Complete Compendium and Newt's own Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Of course, even these two were superseded by copious amounts of parchment, notebooks, pens and quills.

"So, you're saying that dragons have their own government?" Newt clarified.

"Definitely," Harry nodded. "They call it a 'Council' and have their own Weyr Leader and Elders. The Council chamber is tiered and the dragons only speak when the Leader, who remains on the floor in the centre where everyone can see him, says that they can. I'm not sure whether the ledges that the dragons sit on are hierarchical or if it's a 'first come, best seated', type of thing."

"Not unlike some human governments, then," Newt mused. "I'd always wondered. I'd definitely noted that they seem to defer to some dragons if they roared louder but I had just taken it to be an alpha dominance type structure."

"Hmm, maybe there is some of that, too?" Harry replied slowly. "I don't know how the Weyr Leader is chosen? Elected? Appointed? Some kind of battle or challenge? But it's definitely not the oldest, at least, not here."

"Perhaps something to ask, young Harry," Newt suggested.

"Right," Harry agreed and promptly jotted some notes on his pad.

"Now, tell me about the time you got to go into the Weyr Council Cave," Newt asked eagerly, leaning forwards.

"Well, I didn't know what was going on," Harry began. "One of the other dragons came and got me. It's actually hidden deep inside the mountain and you can only get to it by going into the Weyr Leader's cave and then through a really long tunnel. The dragons were already in place. I almost felt as though I was there for a job interview, which, when I think about it, wasn't too far from what was happening."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Newt asked and Harry noted that he picked up a quill and inked it at the same time.

"There were all these roundabout questions about me being the Speaker but them needing to see if I was worthy enough to Speak for them," Harry explained. "There's a difference, you see. I can speak to them in parseltongue but because I could, it also meant that I could translate for them to other two-legs ... er, humans. The dragons needed to test that I could be counted on to say exactly what they said and to speak up on their behalf when needed."

"I'm guessing that they decided that you could be," Newt smiled, nodding pointedly at his Mark.

"Yep," Harry grinned and lifted his fringe up and away so that Newt could see it properly. "I asked Memzath what it meant, bearing this Mark of the Dragons. It basically means that I'm an ambassador."

"Which you told me before," Newt nodded. "And makes so much sense. Dragons are such sophisticated creatures, it's easy to see that they have their own social structure to go along with their intelligence. At least for anyone who's willing to take the time to look."