Dragonkin

Two

*~*April 1, 1997*~*

Harry opened his eyes. And promptly shut them again.

He took a deep breath and opened his again. Slowly. No, he hadn't been mistaken. For the first time in memory, he opened his eyes and could see clearly. In fact, he couldn't remember ever seeing this clearly. Even from his bed in Grimmauld Place, he could see the finest grain in the woodwork on the other side of the room. And why did everything smell so strongly? He had woken early today, even before Hermione, because he wanted to eat before the twins showed up and tampered with everything. Obviously, he hadn't woken up early enough. This had to be a prank.

He looked in the mirror and noticed some...changes. Ever since he and Hermione had adopted each other he'd noticed he was getting taller (he was now about 6'1") and filling out more throughout the year; he was longer the skinny underfed kid that started at Hogwarts. Normal changes he thought, it was just growing up.

Today was different.

Today, he had scales. They covered half his body and were a bright ruby red with a slight metallic sheen to them. His canines were slightly longer and sharper more resembling fangs than human teeth. His pupils were slitted and his fingers had claws. His skin must be dry. His shoulder blades were itching. Forgetting the claws he reached back to scratch and a sudden burning sensation split the skin between his shoulder blades and ...Wings. He had wings. Why did he have wings? They resembled bat or dragon wings. They were also covered in the ruby scales and were probably 18 feet from tip to tip.

Then he suddenly thought of Hermoine and he needed to talk to his sister. If nothing else, he needed to warn her. Hermoine would freak if she woke up on April Fool's Day like this. She'd kill the twins before she realized it might not a prank. Something inside of him was different. As good as the twins are, he didn't think they could do that. Harry paced around his room for a moment before he headed to her room.

*~*~*~*

Hermoine really wanted to spend the day hiding under the covers. It was Easter hols and she and Harry had come home to Grimmauld Place for the week. Once the inheritance rituals had been completed and Harry took possession of 12 Grimmauld Place, they had insisted on Remus, as regent, moving in while they were at school. This would be their home so they convinced Remus to begin remodeling the house. He had agreed with alacrity. Privately Hermione thought it had more to do with having something to do that would help Harry than any real interest. Dobby had moved in as well. The discussion of him being bonded to Harry had been eye-opening and mortifying in turns for her. She had never thought of something as simple as asking the House Elves about themselves. She felt rather foolish about that. Kreature, poor old thing, had literally keeled over dead. He couldn't adjust to her being his new mistress. His heart just gave out on him. Thank Merlin for Dobby and his house-elf magic. Most of the main rooms had been gutted and redone in the previous 3 months. Magic was wonderful stuff. It even got that horrid portrait of Mrs. Black off the wall.

Something smelled wonderful this morning. The scents were comforting, something nearby smelled of cinnamon and made her think of home. There was the scent of clean sheets and from somewhere close by was the warm smell of hot cocoa and tea. She could hear Harry shuffling around in the next room. His door opened and closed.

She smiled and breathed, the scents of cinnamon and home becoming stronger. Ever since they'd discovered they were now twins Hermoine had become in tune with Harry's mood and emotions and he could feel hers in return. They weren't quite as empathically bound as Fred and George. Hermoine was fine with that. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what Harry was thinking. It was bad enough she knew what he was feeling sometimes. Luckily, they had been training in Occlumency which gave them some privacy. She felt a surge of worry along their bond and responded instinctively by sending reassurance along the bond. She sat up as Harry barged into her room.