I'm going to die.' Was Rain's thoughts as he entered the arena for the first time.

Ever since he was forced into this tournament against his will, he had been the target for constant torment from nearly the entire school, the Sly's were all too glad to be tormenting him yet again, well, to be honest, it only took one single thing for him to do, and he was on thier lists yet again. The Hule's, despite being claimed as the most loyal and kindest of houses in Carts, most of them turned on Rain after his name came out of the Cups of Starlight , all for the reason that he was stealing the houses 'Chance of Fame'.

That honestly made him scoff. Why would he enter his name into a tournament that is known to be dangerous and possibly even dangerous, and for what? A small Gold prize pool? No thank you, he would rather be healthy and alive rather than having money that could run out within a year or two.

...Claw was something that Rain sort of expected to happen. That house was already rather neutral with the other houses and they mainly focussed on themselves, books and furthering thier education. It wasn't really with them to 'pick a side' and they mostly stayed away from such things, however, a select few older years in Claw didn't abide by that, and instead, they opted to follow the trend with Sly and Hule....

He would even have a educated guess that nearly half of Findor were on the bandwagon with the entire torment, whilst the other half of Findor were there to support him and even trying to create another badge, one that wasn't full of slander or even derogatory terms when it comes to him.

That knowledge also hurt him. He could vividly remember Professor Maggi in his very first year saying that the houses were like a family. A home away from home for most. Yet, knowing that anything that you do wrong or make a mistake in could turn them against you, it was rather contradicting.

The entire ordeal had hurt him greatly, but also in a way, he could also understand everyone was doing what they were doing.

However, the select few who didn't participate, and didn't do anything about it was nearly as bad as if they were participating. Even the other Professor's didn't even take a stand against it, instead, allowing teenagers to be teenagers.

Although, the part that hurt most throughout this amount of time with the torment he was facing daily, and the ridicule that was being sent his way either subtly or unsubtly was the fact that his best friends, and possibly only friends that he had in Carts were outright ignoring him, or were keeping thier distance from him, not wanting to be on the receiving end on what was happening to him.

Han, he could understand somewhat. He had wanted to be in the tournament the most, considering that it was the entire 'Fame and Fortune' part that got to him. Being the youngest brother in the family meant that he was always going to be judged against his brothers, and for the fact that his family was poorer than most, and he just wanted things that he couldn't get.

However, he had proved that his insecurity and jealousy once again proved to be his fatal fault. Somehow completely forgetting that in every year so far during thier Cart's schooling career, that Rain's nearly been killed multiple times. Once in the first year by the shade of Tort that had possessed Professor Quill, the second year in the Cube of Secrets, where he risked his life to fight of a memory of Tort, but also a massive Basil, while saving his youngest sister who nearly had her soul sucked out by said memory of Tort.

He just seriously didn't understand how one could be so forgetful or too plagued by his own insecurities and jealousy to forget the fact that he didn't want anymore fame. He didn't want the prize for winning the tournament. All he wanted to do was live a simple life, and not have a madman chasing after you every single year.

Although, when it came to Harmony, Rain couldn't exactly blame her, but it still didn't sit right with him. With her outlook towards authority figures, and taking the more logical approach with everything, no matter the evidence to prevent her doing so, and this was a case. At first, she believed him entirely when he said that he didn't place his name or ask anyone over the appropriate age to do so, however, as the days went by and the slander and torment began to grow worse, she had completely left him.

She didn't want to be in that situation again, like in her first year. So, she stopped hanging around himself, and instead, opted to hang around with Han or the other witches that she had close bonds with. She never did anything about the slander or torment when she saw it, but at least she tried to do something for him when they were alone. Which was either trying to help himself with the upcoming tasks, or just trying her best to comfort him after a long and tiring day of constant slander and torment.

In all honesty, these were some of the reasons why he was having such constant pessimistic thoughts. Everything was just piling ontop of him, and it just felt like he was drowning in the animosity, drowning in the isolation, and the jeers were finally becoming just a little too much for him to continue ignoring.

A person can only take so much of it before something finally snaps or breaks away, and he believed that his limit was at its breaking point.

GROWL

Snapping himself out of those thoughts, Rain idly realised that he made it a few feet away from the Champion's tent, and was now nearing the middle of the large arena, where he could see the large stands holding hundreds of students, either booing or politely clapping out of some form of respect towards him. He could also see some fear on their faces as they gazed towards his opponent.

He could also see that the largest stand held a handful of judges, with the most prominent one being that of Albury Dorthy, who was sending him a look of encouragement and perhaps even trying to send him some form of reassurance for this task.

The Beauty's Headmistress and Durms's Headmaster were not really sending him any looks, looking a little bored and perhaps they just wanted to be done for the day if he was to be perfectly honest with himself.

Mabye it was because he was the 'mistake' for this tournament, an extra participant who was most likely going to perish in the first few seconds of the dangerous tournament.

Taking a glance at the Lung Horntail that was standing protectively over her nest with a handful of large eggs, he was able to witness the full glory of the beast for the first time without dozens of trees blocking some of his view, nor was there any spellfire from the many dragon tamers that were doing everything to keep the dragons under some form of control.

Yet, even with all of this, there was something within him that was making it so that he wasn't as afraid looking at the dragon as he should be. Almost like something was almost instinctively saying that he would be safe with her.

Her scales were deep, glossy black, and the horns and spikes that covered her were a beautiful gleaming bronze. Even when she was curled up around her nest protectively, she was clearly massive. Possibly even larger than the Basil that was down in the Cube of Secrets. Giving a quick rough estimate, he would say that the Lung Horntail was somewhere around fifty feet long, including that tail of hers, which as her species name suggested, was covered in more wicked bronze spikes that looked like they could easily rip through flesh.

Yet, something odd was happening.

Instead of feeling the large instinctual fear of facing a predator that can kill you in a matter of moments, he was feeling oddly secure and even 'welcomed' as he was getting closer to the Lung Horntail. Don't get him wrong, the fear was still there, but it was being washed away by more pleasant feelings.

Inching closer towards the ferocious dragon, he managed to hide behind one of the larger rocks that were littered around the arena. He took a calming breath, before climbing the large rock with the help of the many indents that it had. Positioning himself so that his head was the only thing that was not behind the rock, he got a better view of what his challenge was.

He spotted the nest that the shackled Lung Horntail was protecting, and it contained a handful of eggs. What really intrigued him was for the fact that it seemed the eggs shared a few similarities with the Lung Horntail itself, mainly that they had small ridges along the shell, and were cement-colored. He couldn't quiet tell if they were glossy or if it was just the lingering smoke in the area that was giving them that quality.

Yet, nestled in there, possibly without the nesting dragon knowing, was a rather large and gleaming golden egg, that was located near the outer edge of the nest, its gleaming quality seemingly able to light up the immediate area around it.

'OK Rain. You can do this.' He thought to himself as he ducked his head back down, once again covering his whole body with the rock.

Taking another calming breath, he tried his best to drown out all of the noise and ruckus being caused by the Lung Horntail, spectators and dragontamers alike.

However, as he continued to try and block everything out, he noticed something strange. Well, more like heard something strange.

It was a little disjointed at first, however, as he focussed more on it, the more it sounded like a very one-sided conversation happening in his ears. As he took a few moments to register what was happening, he soon got an answer as to what he was hearing.

He was hearing the voice of the Lung Horntail, and it didn't sound impressed. Not one little bit.

'I didn't know being a Snaketongue allowed me to understand dragons!' He mentally yelled in his head. He thought that being a Snaketongue only allowed him to speak to snakes and other closely related animals. However, it seems that once again, he was left out of that loop by whoever deemed it necessary.

Listening in to the subtle discrepancies between the two 'languages' he came to a very small conclusion that whatever the dragon was speaking, must've been a more ancient or possibly even another branch of Snaketongue.

"Filthy humans! Taking me away from my den and chaining me up for your sick amusement! I will BURN you all if you come near my clutch! HOW DARE YOU!"

The sheer venom that was laced in her voice, despite the barrier between species, Rain couldn't help but feel sorry for the dragon.

He knew what it was like. He knew what it was like to be on the end of someone else's sick amusement, whether it be with Professor London a few years ago, or perhaps even now, being belitted, tormented and even forced into participating in this deadly tournament.

Even only seeing and hearing a simple statement from the Lung Horntail, he could already feel a small connection with the nesting mother. It was more connection than what he could say that he had with another very large chunk of the Cart's populace.

As he thought about it more, it occurred to Rain that she wasn't the only one being entirely screwed over by this Tournament, and it gave him an idea. If he could understand the dragon, that meant he himself could probably talk to her.

It sounded different, harsher and more guttural than when he talked to snakes - or so he believes - and he was reminded a lot of the Basil from his second year, despite not talking to it, as he was too busy trying to save his life, and Jin's, he could definitely hear the bloody thing.

Not caring if this put more of a target on his back, or even caused everyone to treat him even worse than before, he decided on his next move. Peeking over the boulder he was hiding behind to get a good look at the dragon, he focused as hard as he could on the Lung Horntail, then called out a tentative, "Hello?"

He could see that the Lung Horntail did indeed hear his little call out, as her head whipped around, her furious and gleaming yellow eyes travelled around, looking for what spoke out in her language.

However, this also caused the crowd to quieten down, as the small whispers broke out as they too became confused. They didn't hear Rain speaking, and they only saw the Lung Horntail look around, almost with a confused, yet annoyed look in its eyes.

"Who is speaking?" The Lung Horntail demanded, to Rain, the voice sounded regal, yet pissed the hell off at the same time, "Cease your cowardly hiding!"

Slowly standing and coming around the boulder, he held his hands up so they were clearly visible and tried again, "It was me!" He yelled out, gaining the Lung's Horntail's attention, "Please forgive my hiding great one, you are much larger than I and I didn't want to approach thoughtlessly."

The dragon's head tilted to one side, almost like it was sizing him up and down, "A tiny human Speaker? I have not met one before, though I have heard tales from the Elders." Her voice held a smidge of confusion, before her eyes narrowed and she growled out, "Have you come to war against me too?"

"Of course not great one!" He quickly assured her, not wanting to get further on the dragons bad side, before he continued on, his voice just a little more quieter as he spoke, "I would never dream to think myself capable of something like that."

The dragon seemed to give some kind of humming noise, before she nodded her head ever so slightly, "Then you are wiser than the other humans. Where is your mother, hatchling? You are far too small to be away from her." She added on after a few more moments of looking at him, a hint of something within her voice that he couldn't quiet place his finger on.

Rain blinked, confused at the sudden shift of direction the conversation took, "She died protecting me from an evil wizard not long after I was born." He answered her truthfully, not seeing a reason to lie to the dragon in front of him. He had an inkling that she could somehow tell if her was lying.

"What an exceptional way to die." The dragon said, seeming to nod in approval with the tiniest hint of respect in her voice. It was true, despite the parent being snuffed out of a life for thier young, dying whilst protecting them was one of the best ways to go in the dragon community, "I am sorry for the loss of your honoured bloodmother hatchling. But where is your nestmother?" She added her condolences, before asking him something that he didn't understand fully.

This conversation just kept getting stranger for Rain.

Swallowing a lump of saliva that had formed in his mouth, Rain couldn't help but ask, "What's a nestmother?" Genuine confusion laced in his voice, as he had never heard of that term before.

She reared up proudly, neck curving and wings arched in what seemed to be a display of some kind, ~"I am a nestmother. As I am the largest and fiercest in my colony, I guard the eggs of my sisters as well as my own." She patted an egg near the centre of the clutch with the gentlest of touches, something that only a mother could posses, "Here is the very first egg of my youngest bloodsister. She loves it and is overjoyed to have young of her own, but knows she is far too small to be able to protect it herself, so instead she entrusts it to me."She said, taking a small break in order for the speaker to digest those little details, "I will guard the eggs, keep them warm, and care for the hatchlings until they're big enough to return to their bloodkin. If their bloodkin are killed or taken away, I will raise them along with my own." She said, giving a rather brief outlook on what a nestmother was, however, quickly focussing back on her previous question, she asked once again, now that the speaker in front of her knew what she meant, "Who has been raising you hatchling?"~

"Well, I guess that would be Rosey. Um, my mother's bloodsister." He spoke out, although a frown did fall upon his face as the memories of his childhood came up with all the times that Rosey mentally abused him and the days of neglect that he faced before he knew of the Wiz World, "She doesn't like me though, and she really hates magic. I think she'd prefer it if I was dead or at least far away from her own son though." He added on. He knew that was most likely the case when it came to Rosey.

From what he could gather, Rosey was very jealous of his mother, just because that she could do magic and from the way that Rosey ever so lovingly put it on that little lighthouse on his 11th birthday was the fact that with thier parents becoming more proud of his mother, and placing less attention or praise on her, she became something else.

She became someone who hated anything that was different, and she hated things that weren't normal.

The dragon reared back to her full, utterly terrifying height and screamed, "WHAT?!" Other than the absolute ear-piercing shriek that came from the nestmother that made Rain wince and clap his hands over his ears, he also spotted the dragon bellow a large torrent of flames up into the dark and gloomy sky, causing the people watching from the stands to cry out in fear, and the ones that were closest to the torrent of flames to fall back and to scatter to someplace else.

Rain flinched, taking a step back towards the safety of his boulder. "I'm sorry!" He reflexivly apologised, that simple thing being ingrained into his very being from a young age. A simple reflex to hopefully avoid punishment from Venice, or on the rare occassion, Rosey.

"OUTRAGEOUS!" The nestmother roared out, completely disregarding Rain's apology as it started to rant, "The pride of a colony is it's young, and the honour of being a nestmother is the highest one that can be bestowed." She exclaimed, puffs of smoke escaping her nostrils as she gave a growl of annoyance, "Your nestmother is a disgrace!"

Even thinking about that disgrace of a woman that somehow classified as a nestmother made her own stomach clench. If she ever got the scent of that woman or perhaps, on the off chance, ever took sight of her - which shouldn't be difficult, there might be at least some of the scent on the speaker in front of her, or perhaps there might be somewhat of a resemblance - and she would be happy to rid the world of a foul woman.

If that woman was a dragon, or any other territorial species that had a nestmother, and she did something like that, purposeful neglect or outright hatred towards the young of the group, then she would be killed so fast that she would blink and mess it, and no one else would care, in fact, they would be rejoicing.

Perhaps she herself needed to correct the wrongs that this monster had done to this poor human in front of her.

She wasn't stupid, nor was she ignorant. He looked far too thin and too lanky for it to be healthy. Compared to the other humans that were scattered about, she could tell that they were eating well and had good mothers and or nestmothers, this human though, that was clearly not the case. Something did need to be done.

Yes, that is what she would do. She would become this speakers new nestmother, nurture him, keep him warm, well fed, and safe. It was clear that at least two of these things were not happening to him here.

Even if he wasn't a hatchling in human age, in dragon age, he wouldn't be let out of the nestmothers sight, nor his mother sight. He wouldn't even be allowed to fly on his own without supervision.

With that now embedded into her mind, the nestmother began to formulate a plan of attack for this new situation that has arisen. Would she be able to take this hatchling away from this place? Would he even like that or possibly even want that?

Unaware of the thoughts that were now running through the Lung Horntail, Rain couldn't find it in himself to disagree, Rosey really was awful.

However, on another note, he felt oddly touched by the dragon's fury, and idly wondered at the fact that this dragon appeared to care more for his home life than nearly everyone he'd met so far in both the magical and muggle worlds.

Lost in his musing, he didn't notice the dragon moving until the crowd was screaming, and before he realised what was happening, he was being scooped forward by a large wing so that he was in reach for the dragon to grab with one heavily scaled forepaw and pull him close.

For a second he thought he was about to be eaten, which he would accept with open arms, so he can finally be with his parents and away from the torment, that was until he was gently sat down next to the eggs. The Lung Horntail curled the non-spiky section of her tail tightly around his waist, gently in order to not hurt him - she might've crushed him, and she didn't want that, not one bit - and started to hum reassuringly, gently nuzzling him whilst doing so, conveying a sense of warmth that Rain hadn't felt in quiet some time.

Rain blinked at the rapidly changing events, and he was almost certain that this was just some crazy, whacky dream.

He would wake up any moment now, back in the bed in his dorm with everything being a figment of his imagination.

However, once he pinched himself on the arm, hoping that sensation would awaken him. It finally cemented into his mind that it wasn't a dream, and that this was all real.

Well, this was entirely unexpected, he should really stop becoming so surprised by this situations that he finds himself in all the time. It was like he had the luck of the devil, or just really shitty luck in general.

"You cannot go back to your dishonourable nestmother tiny Speaker." She declared, nuzzling into him just a bit closer, where Rain could literally feel the heat transfer to his body from her scales, "I will care for you instead." She stated, her voice firm with no chance to rebuttle anywhere.

Not like she would allow him to. This tiny little speaker now fell under her jurisdiction, and fell into the protection of the colony.

"Well. That's ah, that's very kind of you, thank you." He tried to think of something to say to that. A light dusting of pink on his cheeks as the dragon continued to gently nuzzle him.

It made an odd feeling burst within his chest, and for once, it actually felt... good. It felt warm, and loving. Like he was safe from danger when he was in the close proximity towards the Lung Horntail.

"Do you have a name? My name is Rain." He introduced himself softly, hoping that the nestmother had a name to be called, instead of him calling her nestmother or by her species name.

Although, he was a little surprised with how much he was able to continue to use Snaketongue without it iritating his throat or mouth in anyway.

While it may not matter or not, he knew that in certain languages that names had a hidden meaning behind them. If he remembered correctly, Japanese names had some great meanings behind thier words, yet he wasn't too sure if that translated into the Wiz World as a whole, or if it even carried over into the creatures culture.

He knew that his mother and Aunt were named after certain types of flowers, and he was almost certain that if he was born a girl, then perhaps his name will follow the trend. However, he would never know for sure.

The dragon rumbled in approval, which actually tickled him slightly. He was unused to the sensation that was rushing through his body as that occured, "What a good, strong name, your mother chose well." The Lung Horntail complemented him, before she seemed to frown lightly, "I'm afriad I do not have a name... well, one that could be translated anyway." She said, a little disappointed that she couldn't give her name to her new hatchling.

Names were not that important when it came to dragons. However, if one were to be given a name by their colony, or by thier nestmothers, then it would be something that holds a special meaning, yet makes no sense in translation.

"Oh." Rain muttered out, a little disappointed that he couldn't know the name of the gentle dragon, which continued to nuzzle him.

"However, if you wish, you may call me nestmother, or perhaps, mother. If that is what you wish."

"Thank you, Nestmother." Rain replied, giving a tentative stroke to the side of the dragons head, getting a rather deep, rumbling purr. It was so deep that he could feel it tremble the very ground beneath them.

Shaking off how strangely touched he was by the aggressively maternal dragon, he shook his head and refocused on why he was here in the first place, "Nestmother, the reason I am here is because there is a competition going on, a trial of strength and cunning among the humans." He said, although, the dragon did blink at how much venom that the hatchling had when it spoke, however, taking a calming breath, he continued, "There is a false egg in your clutch, and I was sent to retrieve it for the other humans so that it doesn't bother your eggs."

"What!" She raged out, spewing another douse of hot flames about - although she was careful to not aim in her hatchling's direction - and as Rain took a quick peak at the expression of the dragon, he noticed red-hot rage flowing through her eyes as they narrowed even further, "A false egg? Remove it this instant!" She demanded, although she quickly blinked as she saw Rain's fearful expression at her outburst, "Sorry, hatchling. My temper got the better of me." She murmured out an apology, giving a small lick - which basically covered half of Rain himself in her saliva.

Nodding his head at that, Rain managed to free himself from the gentle grasp of the tail and made his way towards the golden egg. He also noticed that he couldn't hear what was going on outside this little coil. It seemed that the wings were thick enough to block the majority of the soundwaves from the people watching the task.

Which was good, as he couldn't imagine just how loud it was from outside this protective coil of the nestmother.

Shaking his head from that simple thought, he turned his attention back towards his target for this task.

The golden egg was near the outside of her clutch and to the side, so it wasn't too surprising that the dragon hadn't noticed it during the short period of time before she'd entered the arena. Picking it up from amidst the concrete coloured eggs surrounding it, he couldn't help but give a slight chuckle. This was definitely not how he thought he'd be retrieving the golden egg from the dragon, that's for sure.

Although, he really didn't want to know of the backlash that he would recieve from communicating with the dragon, or for using 'Dark Magic'.

"I'm going to go now Nestmother, it was lovely to meet you." Rain called out, prepared to exit the protective coil of the nestmother. However, before he could, the tail of the Lung Horntail suddenly wrapped carefully around him again, with enough force and pressure so he couldn't move at all.

"Before you leave you must first take my Kin-mark hatchling." She told him, in a voice that left no room for arguement. Not that he would, having a disagrement with a dragon could be fatal.

"What's a Kin-mark?" Rain asked, wanting to know what that meant. It was another thing that he had no idea about, yet he was learning so much about the dragon culture. It was certainly better than books, that was for sure.

"It will show others of the Kin that you are under my protection, so the others will dare not attack you, lest they want to be injured and possibly find a new nestmother." She said, showing a willingness to protect him, even from her own kind.

He was definitely feeling that warmth blossom within his chest to a fiery inferno. It was basically the most love and feeling the most protected than he had in his mere fourteen years of life, and it was from a creature that was just as deadly as a Basil, and from a creature that he had met less than twenty minutes ago, compared to the whole fourteen years of life that he had spent around other humans.

Shaking his head away from those thoughts, Rain had determined that 'Kin' must've either meant the other dragons of her colony, or from dragons in general. Well that sounded handy, in case he was for some reason ever in the insane position to be facing a dragon again, "Will it hurt?" He questioned softly.

"What worthy thing doesn't?" She responded with a small snort of amusement - which he had to clear the area around him from a thin layer of smoke - somehow a simple question that he asked had managed to amuse the great beast, "But it will not last, and then you will be protected from the others in our colony, letting them know that you are one of us know, despite the clear species difference."

It seemed reasonable, and he appreciated her honesty, "Then yes, Nestmother, I will gladly accept your Kin-mark." Rain said, a small lopsided smile on his face as he accepted her offer for the Kin-mark.

She sat back, using one paw to gently hold him in place while the other used the sharp point of one claw to cut open the neck of his robes. Rain could idly hear the crowds muttered murmuring rippling through the area, but other than that it was mostly silent as the large nestmother had coiled around him once again, using her wings to shield what was about to happen from the hundreds of eyes within the stands.

All he did was stare into her huge, yellow eyes and was marvelling at the fact that she was being so delicate for something so large and ferocious, yet as he held into her gaze, he saw nothing but warmth and absolute care within them. As he saw the claw gaining ever so closer to his body, he braced himself for any sort of pain or discomfort that should come to his body within the next few moments.

Finally, she leaned in, resting the tip of her claw against the side of his neck - which he noted was away from the veins and arteries - and as gently as she could, she pressed down into her skin, just breaking past it and drawing a small sliver of blood from him.

It tingled for sure, it also felt a bit uncomfortable, but other than that, it only felt like a small pinch compared to the other injuries that he had.

Seeing that the nestmother was giving her absolute attention towards what she was doing, he also saw that her yellow eyes seemed to take on the tiniest of glows which made the coil just that much brighter from the inside. He wouldn't be surprised if the glow had managed to make its way through the thinner parts of her wings that were folded around them.

As she leaned back ever so slightly, she seemed to nod in approval with what she saw.

"Be still my hatchling." She ordered gently, before she opened her maw, displaying her many, many sharp and dangerous teeth and rather long tongue to Rain. Before he could even question what was happening, he watched in a near fascination as she bit down on her tongue, causing some blood to pool on her tongue - despite it being a few drops, to Rain, they were much larger.

With precision and accuracy, she then angled the tip of her tongue to rest on the centre of the small slice that she made on the side of his neck, before she angled her head so that the blood will flow down onto the wound, and eventually mix with his blood.

Flinching a bit at feeling the slimy - yet warm - appendage come into contact with his skin, he suddenly gasped as a small dose of pain wracked through his body. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that his blood and the blood from the Lung's Horntail's tongue mingle and mix together, before the blood and the wound started to glow a rather bright red that caused Rain to close his eyes - lest he be blinded.

As the glow continued for a few more seconds, as soon as the glow lost its ferocity, he took a quick glance to what happened.

He saw that the small slice that the nestmother did was now fully sealed, and his skin was just a tad bit darker than the rest of his skin tone, and it actually looked like a birth mark more than anything else.

However, a deep warmth settled within his being, and as he focussed on that feeling, he could feel it traveling through his system, yet the warm feeling didn't feel like a fire had been set inside of him, instead, it almost felt like another layer had been added to his body.

An extra layer of protection perhaps. He really couldn't tell, it was just so comforting and relaxing to bask in.

Even if he knew what it was, he had many doubts that anyone could possibly help him with it. He didn't know of anyone that had this done to them, nor did he expect to see it written down within a tome.

As the pink, slimy appendage finally broke contact with his wound, he couldn't help but bring his hand up to feel the wound that had been left.

He made a small noise of surprise when he gently dragged his hand over to where the wound was. Instead of feeling blood, and possibly a small scar, it felt smooth, and dry. Almost as if this entire thing didn't happen just a few moments ago.

He knew that if his magic would have done anything to heal him, he would have felt it, as previous small injuries and cuts led him to believe, his magic when it healed him caused a tingling sensation to irritate the area. Yet, with this, he couldn't feel anything. No tingling, no irritation. All he felt was the warmth and protection within him. So he had to conclude that it was possibly due to this... ritual that had just happened.

The bond between a mother and son. That was the only real thing that he could possibly think of, that or perhaps it was dragon magic - something that also hadn't been written down anywhere... once again, possibly due to no one really having many encounters with dragons and living to tell the tale.

As the Lung Horntail leaned back to have a look at her handiwork, she seemed to nod and hum in approval with what she saw. Leaning back in towards her new hatchling, she rested the tip of her long snout against his cheek, with her large, yellow eyes looking directly into his bottle green eyes.

As their eyes met, literally only inches away from each other, he could feel the burning determination and protectiveness in them, and it filled him with another bout warmth, and protection.

It honestly felt like he would never be hurt again, and he relished within that feeling.

Once again touching the area where the dragons blood mingled with his own, he couldn't help but to direct his gaze down onto the golden egg that was currently clutched under his arm.

As he stared at his reflection - despite being tinged in gold - he could see his neck for the first time.

He couldn't help but look astounded as he saw that there was no wound, nor any sign that he had been apart of that ritual - which he briefly thought of was some sort of adoption ritual - and the only real sign that anything had happened to him, was the slight darkening of the skin around that area.

It was only a very light shade of difference, and could almost be simply put off as a birth mark, with no real significance.

"It is complete. You may take the false egg and depart my hatchling."

Standing up with the golden egg under one arm, Rain leaned forward and hugged the dragon, "Thank you, mother, I appreciate your kindness." He murmured, unable to ignore the slight twinge of discomfort he felt when he thought about leaving her.

He was a little surprised himself with how easily he called the dragon in front of him mother. He knew that she would never be his real mother, nor take that from her, yet it just came to him, and it felt right.

'Sorry, mum.' He thought to himself, hoping that his birth mother wasn't offended by this.

He blinked in confusion as he heard some humming within his head - almost like a melody - and he shivered lightly, almost like he was touched by something that wasn't there, yet, it didn't feel malicious, it felt the opposite of that.

Despite being very iffy about the paranormal - apart from the Ghosts and Poltergeist at Carts - he had just believed that his mother had somehow made contact with him, reassuring him that everything was fine.

The Lung Horntail nuzzled contentedly back into him, giving a small, rumbling purr as she was called mother by her new hatchling, before giving him a gentle nudge out of the nest with her snout, "It is only the kindness that all hatchlings should receive." She said, and Harry could almost hear the sadness within her voice, "Now, go and be victorious, my Rain." She said, making Rain feel another bout of warmth wrap him up like a blanket.

It felt good to have someone like that, believing in you and cheering you on.

Resisting the entirely bizarre urge to cry, he gave her a big smile then jumped down off the ledge the nest was on and lifted the egg high over his head. The crowd, judges included, seemed to be utterly confused but were still cheering wildly as he made his way to the exit.

Now that he wasn't using all his concentration to understand the dragon's odd version of Snaketongue, he realised that Luther Bank commentary had apparently been going on the entire time.

"-can't believe that he has managed to escape the dragon with the golden egg! Who would have thought he'd find a way to talk to the dragon! With the amount of time he was within the clutches of dragon had us all worried! However, it doesn't seems like he is badly injured, so maybe he won't lose points for that!"

Points. He snorted at that. It's not like he cared for this competition in the first place, being forced to enter against his will, as someone most certainly wants him dead.

Perhaps, he should take the risk and not participate in the next tasks.

Maybe he wasn't binded into the tournament himself, and possibly, the person who entered him will instead be punished, since that was the person to enter his name into the Cup.

With the way they were acting, it was like they actually thought he cared about the tournament, when he was clearly entered against his will into this competition to possibly have another attempt at his life, and they thought he cared about points?

So far today, the one who'd cared most about his wellbeing was the bloody dragon he was supposed to fight, and wasn't that a depressing thought. Still, it had been an amazing experience to meet the Lung Horntail nestmother and have a conversation with her, and possibly being used in an adoption ritual.

He was surprised at how fond of her he had become over the course of their encounter. He hoped she'd be taken back to her colony soon and left in peace now that the First Task was over, so she can care for the eggs within the next and provide the next generation of Lung Horntails, and possibly many more to come.

As he left the arena and entered the Champions tent, he was immediately was descended on by a frantic Madam Pomeroy who began checking him over with sweeping waves of her wand, yet despite all of that, he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

He also didn't care with how the other Champions were looking at him with a gobsmacked expression, nor the way that Rick seemed to be looking at him like he was something to be avoided at all costs.

Finon and Vicky seemed to be neutral, which was a slight change in attitude considering that Finon so openly put him down when this entire thing unfolded.

Rain collapsed face down onto his four-poster bed. He could feel a headache rapidly approaching from the clusterfuck that was currently the Findor common room.

The sounds of people hooting, cheering and even singing rather off-key notes was easily heard through the walls of the room. It had all happened so quickly, after appearing back inside the common room with the golden egg securely in his grasp, he had been surrounded by nearly everyone in Findor, with items strewn about and the Wensley twins bringing some items from their recent run to Hollows.

Yet, after a few moments, nearly everyone was asking him to open the egg to see what was inside. So, after a few teasing glances and even a few teasing remarks, he had finally decided to indulge in their curiosity.

Almost instantly after he opened the golden egg, the entire room was cowering and covering their ears from the absolute ear piercing screeches that were emitting from the golden egg.

It was a noise that was worse than nails on a chalkboard, and perhaps even worse than being next to a Bombarda spell.

Of course, after a few moments, Rain had placed the egg within his trunk in his room, and came back down to indulge in the party that was happening in the common room. Which of course, made Rain just a little upset at the fact that these very people were keeping thier distances, calling him a liar and even whispering jeers behind her back for the past week or two, were now celebrating his result in the tournament.

It was very sanctimonious, but Rain being Rain , had decided to maintain somewhat of an appearance and continue to be in the spotlight for the party, which had gotten out of hand pretty quickly when it came to the activities happening.

He was pretty sure he had seen at least three other couples snogging it out within the middle of the room on the couches. He didn't know who they were, but they seemed to be a few years older than him and were getting into it very quickly.

In fact, he could still hear some catcalls, despite them being muffled through the walls, and from the sounds of it, the party was still happening, just becoming just a bit softer as people must've been leaving to try and get some sleep from the day.

Thinking back to when he was back in the Champions tent, after Madam Pomeroy had reluctantly cleared him of any injuries and gave him a rather stern talking to, he'd reunited with Harmony and an apologetic Han, though he was still feeling pretty pissed at him, especially after it took something like this to get him to apologise, after facing yet another life risking venture.

His inferiority complex was really turning him into an ugly person, and he hoped it was just hormones making him more irrational than usual and he'd outgrow it, however, something was lingering in his mind that this was not going to be the last of it.

Getting the scores had been something of a shock too, despite Karoff only giving him a five - he honestly expected something way lower - and Dorthy only giving him an eight, he had managed to land enough points from the other judges to get forty, and tie for first place with King.

He knew exactly why Dorthy had given him a lower score too, he knew he didn't approve of him using Snaketongue to win the challenge, despite the fact he was the only Champion to not get hurt or damage the eggs.

From what he heard, he did it relatively quickly as well. Yet that didn't change anything.

He sighed, his hand once again coming up to touch where the Lung Horntail's blood and saliva mixed with his own blood.

He also somewhat wished that it left some sort of scar on his being, at least he would've enjoyed this one much more than his other scar, and that's for damn sure.

Another yawn made him realise the exhaustion of the day was starting to catch up to him. Deciding he didn't care about falling asleep in his rather sweaty and uncomfortable clothes, he dumped his wand and his glasses on his bedside table before kicking off his trainers and burrowing into his blankets, almost like he was trying to disappear into them, and let sleep claim him.