Dragon Mama CHAPTER 4

"Mr. Lightning ."

Murmuring incoherently at the noise, he brought his pillow and rested over his head, hoping that whatever was causing that noise to simply go away and he could go back to sleeping once again.

"Mr. Lightning !"

The voice didn't leave, in fact, it got a whole lot louder.

"Urmf?" Groaning audibly as he sat up, taking the blanket off of his head and placing it back onto the bed and using that as some sort of backrest to keep himself up, he blearily blinked and clumsily placed his glasses back on.

Turning his attention to who was calling him, he couldn't help but blink in mild surprise as he saw a tired and exasperated looking Professor Maggi .

"I need you to come with me." She simply said, before taking a few steps back to allow him some space on the bed.

"Huh?" He spoke out ever so clearly, "Why?" He muttered out, once again giving another yawn.

Now that he was somewhat awake and she was standing in the moonlight, he saw that Maggi was in a simple dressing gown, and had her hair in a braid instead of the usual bun, and looking harried, "Get dressed and meet me in the common room in two minutes, your presence is required."

Rain sat up as the professor left, rubbing his eyes and cursing ever so lightly. Contemplating on just going back to slumber once again, and risk the idea of Maggi punishing him for ignoring orders. However, he sighed to himself, as he dragged himself out of bed to get dressed.

Maybe it was something to do with the next Task they forgot to tell them after the First Task ended earlier? If that was the case, then why bother telling them at some ungodly hour of the morning?

The confusion didn't disappear as he threw on a simple emerald colored jumper and an extra pair of socks on over his feet, before rugging up in his school robes, a scarf and a pair of trainers.

Carts was magical, but it was also a thousand year old castle in the Scottish highlands, and it got very cold at nights, such as the case on this very night. He could literally feel the chills on his body that was protected by his clothing.

He really regretted not having anything thicker to wear.

"So what's this all about Professor?" He yawned out once again - not fully awake yet - as he followed Maggi out of the post-party wreckage of the common room and towards the stairs, "Not that I'm not curious, but it's nearly three in the morning."

"It seems that the dragon you faced today is… pining." She sighed, almost annoyed at something, "I don't quite understand why, but Lie Wensley has been begging someone to fetch you for the last hour. Apparently something happened during the task and it's possible that your dragon… imprinted on you."

Rain nearly tripped over the hem of his robe, hand flying up to the side of his neck, "Oh shit. I didn't think she was serious."

"Language, Mr. Lightning !" Maggi scolded fiercly, before asking with a stern voice that left no room for arguement or any possibility of leaving out certain details, "And what do you mean, you didn't think she was serious?"

"Um, you know how I was talking to the dragon during the task?" He said with a wince, he was still wondering what backlash he would face from the student body, from his school and the visiting ones, "She kind of, um, adopted me... I think?" He said, but it was stated more like a question.

Maggi stopped walking, turning back to stare at him, "The dragon adopted you?" She said in disbelief, "And you didn't think to inform anyone of this fact?"

"I thought she was just being nice!" Rain protested, "She asked where my mother was and I said she was dead. She seemed upset about it and my staying with my aunt, and said she'd take care of me. I thought she meant that the mark she put on my neck would protect me from other dragons, not that she'd actually expected to be my new guardian!" He explained further, trying to prove his point to his Head of House.

"Well regardless of what she did or did not mean, the dragontamers are beside themselves worrying over her, and you're their last resort to try and calm her down before resorting to Stunning." She revealed to him, much to his concern, "According to Mr. Wensley , she's been Stunned too many times in the last twenty-four hours for it to be completely safe, so if you can't get through to her then they're risking the wellbeing of the only established breeding mother of her incredibly endangered species currently in captivity." She revealed to him, hoping that this put the light of the situation within his mind.

Rain's jaw dropped. "Then why was she dragged into this stupid Tournament if she's so important?" He couldn't help but ask fiercly. Having grown attached to the nestmother, yet he didn't know that her species was placed on the endangered list.

"You would have to take that up with the Tournament organisers." Maggi sniffed, "It baffles me what is apparently acceptable levels of risk in the name of 'international magical co-operation'."

Rain couldn't help but agree with his grumpy Professor, "Please wait until I get something." He quickly said, without waiting for her answer, he quickly and quietly rushed back up to his room and fumbled around under the bed, before pulling out his invisibility cloak and placing that within the hood of his robes. Quickly making his way back down to Professor Maggi , he mumbled out a small, 'Sorry' and they were on thier way.

As they exited the castle and headed for the Dark Forest, it was ridiculous that such an endangered magical creature was dragged here all the way from her home in Romania just to be a spectacle for this farce of a Tournament.

Walking silently through the forest behind his teacher and Head of House, he could soon hear roars echoing through the trees. As flashes of fire illuminated the camp they were approaching, he saw Lie Wensley jogging over to them.

He looked absolutely exhausted, covered in soot, and seemed to be missing a chunk of hair on the right side of his head, like it was singed off rather recently. He could still smell the smoke lingering around him.

"You're finally here!" He exclaimed, stopping and panting, clearly out of breath from his jog, "Big Black has been on a rampage all night. She refuses to settle down and she's pining something awful." He explained to the two quickly, although it was directed at Rain more than anything.

"That would be my fault, I'm afraid she kind of, um, adopted me today during the task." Rain replied with an embarrassed smile, a small flush of pink on his exposed skin, and that wasn't from the cold either, it was pretty embarrassing to tell someone else.

"Really?" Lie's face lit up like a kid at Christmas, "So you really were communicating with her during the Task then? It looked like it but I didn't have time to try and confirm since we had to rangle all the grumpy mamas back here once you were done." He explained exuberantly. He was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet from this knowledge.

He couldn't help but smile at the older Wensley's boundless enthusiasm, "Yeah, I speak Snaketongue which is usually just for snakes, but apparently the dragon version is just similar enough that we can talk to each other. It's kinda like she has a really heavy and regal accent, and it's a lot more formal sounding than regular Snaketongue, but if I really concentrate she sounds a lot like the basil I faced in my second year so I guess that helped my brain make sense of it?" He explained, although he was still a little confused with how he was explaining it.

Lie Wensley was speechless, and looked like he was experiencing so many different emotions he was about to start singing or crying.

"So, if that is true, than what did she say to call her?" He asked, very interested in what she allowed Rain to call her.

"She simply said to call her nestmother." He explained to the older Wensley.

"Nestmother?" He questioned lightly, although it was definitely noticed how he seemed to burn that little part into his mind.

"Yeah, that's what she said I should call her after she decided I was her hatchling. That or simply mother itself." He explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Maggi simply gave a noise of some sort when she heard that information.

While she may be weary of the dragons, and a little protective of Rain - not that she could show that much to not start rumors of favoritism - she was a little glad that someone else was caring for or cared for Rain, despite it being a dangerous creature doing so.

Nodding his head at that, it was then Lie realised that Rain could be a massive boon to the dragontamers all around the world, if he could communicate with them and relay information back, everything would be so much easier and less risky!

"So tell me more about this, I know that dragons have a strong predisposition to group-based surrogacy, did she say anything about that?"

"The way Nestmother explained it, since she's the biggest and strongest in her colony she guards all the eggs of the colony, not just her own." He revealed to Lie, who looked like he really wanted a quill and parchment right about now, "Apparently it's quite the honour. And she looks after them once they hatch until they're big enough to go back to their bloodmother. And if the blood parents are killed or taken, I'm guessing that means poached or hunted, then she raises them herself."

Lie looked like he was desperatly regretting the lack of a quill, "So how come she decided to adopt you?" He asked, wanting to know how this extreme case came about.

"She asked where my mother was, since I was so small. I said she was dead, so she asked where my nestmother was instead. I told her it was my Aunt Rosey, and well…" Rain trailed off, not really wanting to share the depressing state of his home life with his head of House and Han's big brother, "She apparently felt my aunt and uncle were unfit to be guardians, and told me she'd be my nestmother instead."

Maggi made a small sniffing noise and muttered something which sounded like; 'Even a dragon could tell they were unfit.'

Lie looked like he was about to keep asking questions when Maggi, who had been oddly quiet during the conversation as they walked - apart from that small mutter - interrupted with a pointed cough, "If we could please get back on track? What do you need Mr. Lightning for Mr. Wensley, he should be back in Findor Tower at this hour of the night, he has classes tomorrow!"

"Right, of course!" He said, and began to lead them deeper into the camp, "Well come on through to Big-, well I suppose it's nestmother's enclosure isn't it? She's been getting progressively more and more upset over the last six hours or so." He explained to the duo, and making Rain feel a little worse about the situation, "The only time I've seen one of our mamas this upset is when they've been separated from one of their little ones."

Rain nodded, "That makes sense. It seemed like nestmother's take their responsibilities very seriously. If she was serious about actually adopting me, then it's no wonder." He felt another stab of guilt run through him, "I'm really sorry, I honestly didn't think she was serious or I would have mentioned it to someone sooner."

"No matter, let's see how she is when she sees you're okay."

Walking up to the clearing occupied by a very agitated, keening Lung Horntail and a large group of dragontamers in a similar state of dishevelment to Lie, Rain felt a pang of guilt that he'd upset the dragon that had been so kind to him.

Passing a group that was trying to hold onto a pair of ropes that wound around her forepaws, he snapped at them, feeling a massive bout of fury at the way they were treating her, "Get those things off of her this instant!"

They looked at him in confusion, before Lie came up behind him, "Do as he said!" He called out over the din, "Everyone remove the bindings and step back right away!"

The dragontamers did as told but didn't look happy about it, a few holding their wands in front of them ready to defend or attack as needed.

Ignoring them and stepping forward towards the dragon who was hunched over her clutch defensively now she had a free range of movement, "I'm here Nestmother!" He called out to the pining dragon, "You don't need to worry. I'm here!" He added on, to make sure that the Lung Horntail wasn't imagining his voice.

As expected, the Lung Horntail's head snapped up towards him immediately, and he could see relief and happiness rushing through her eyes, "My hatchling!" She roared out in absolute joy at seeing her new hatchling, "Where did you go for so long? I thought they had taken you from me!"

"I was with the other humans in my own nest, I was perfectly safe." He reassured the dragon as she once more reached out with a wing and swept the small human closer so she could nuzzle Rain with her great, horned head that was pretty much the same size as Rain's entire body. Rain could hear the other dragon tamer's start yelling in alarm, only to be frantically shushed by Lie Wensley, reassuring them that everything was alright when it came to Rain and 'Big Black'.

Closing his eyes and relishing in the warmth that he was once again experiencing, he carefully hugged his new 'mother' around the base of her long, graceful neck - weary and mindful of the spikes as he did so - and he felt the dragon curling around her protectively, crooning softly much like a content cat would with her kitten.

"My hatchling." She sighed, the rigid tension and feelings of anxiety and worry now drained out of her now that she had Rain back under her wing. Back where her little hatchling was safe and sound, "I couldn't bear it if I lost you, my tiny hatchling."

Rain tried to remember the last time someone had been so overjoyed by just having him with them, and the closest he could think of was when Orion had hugged her tightly before he'd had to escape Carts on Buck. Stroking the surprisingly smooth scales under his hands, he smiled happily.

"It's ok, mother, I'm here now." He reassured her once again. With the early wake up call, combined with the rather hectic, yet hypocritical party, and now within the warmth of his new 'mother' he couldn't help but doze off, leaning against her scales that provided warmth as he did so.

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