A Prince Discovered

December

Severus walked through the wooded path to the large area where the sixth years dragons were kept. He remembered when he first got his dragon.

--------------------------------------------------------

Flashback

Severus and his friends walked down a wooded path towards what Tony said was an opening where they kept some of the dragons that hadn't bonded with a wizard.

"Excited?" Tony questioned

Severus nodded his head as they came to the clearing. It was large and open and had about 20 full grown dragons as well as babies.

"Just take a look around and see which ones you notice, Russ." Brandon said calmly as they started walking. They took multiple turns around the clearing before Severus stopped when he felt a firm nudging on his shoulder. When he turned a huge black was looking at him.

Tony laughed,"looks like this one is interested in you!"

Severus smiled,"What type is he?"

Tony looked at the dragon appraisingly,"I think he's a Brazilian Onyx dragon. Loyal, those ones are." he said.

Severus cleared his throat,"What do I do next?"

"Well, put your hand on his head and see if he speaks to you," Brandon said.

Severus did as he was told and put his hand on the dragons dark head.

"Hello," he heard a deep voice say in his head.

"Hi," he whispered back to the dragon,"What's your name?"

"My name is Nox," the dragon answered,"Are you gonna be my rider? Or are you just here for the conversation?" the dragon raised his eyebrow, as much as a dragon could.

Severus laughed,"I'll be your rider, if you want me to, that is,"

The dragon snorted,"If I didn't I wouldn't be talking to you." he said.

"What happens next?" Severus wondered.

"Look at your hand," Nox instructed.

Severus looked down to find an tattoo on his hand that had a gem and flames around it."What is this?" he asked.

"It shows you're bonded to me, see," his tail came out and gestured to his head,"I have one on my head that matches. Every dragon and their rider has a different symbol. This one is ours."

--------------------------------------------------------

That had been almost a month ago, he went to visit Nox almost every day to practice flying and get to know the dragon. Their schedule was that Severus would bring him a small bag of food and that they would talk for about an hour at lunchtime.

Today Severus' conversation consisted almost entirely of the upcoming ball.

"What do you think I should do?" Severus asked.

"Ask her." Nox replied,"It's not that hard."

"Sure it is, why would she say yes, she probably already has a date..."

"Alright, shut up. Ask her or I'll burn you. Got it?"

Severus nodded,"Ok, fine, you don't know anything about this though."

"Shut up, human."

---------------------------------------------------------

Severus walked through the castle to the dining hall, there was about another hour left in the lunch period for sixth years. He was having serious doubts,"What if she says no, or laughs at me? That would be too much to bare. Ok, refocus, you can do this."

He looked into the dining hall and saw her sitting at the front of the sixth year table.
He gathered up his courage and walked over to where she was sitting.

---------------------------------------------------------

Marianna was sitting at the front of the great hall picking at her food. She had been waiting for him to ask her to the ball since it had been announced, the stupid boy! She was talking about Severus of course, she'd already been asked to the ball by a good amount of the boys in sixth and seventh year.

They had been close friends since they found out each other's names, they were pretty similar, excluding the fact she had a pretty huge crush on him.

"Honestly, he's so dense," she thought to herself. She continued picking at her food when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned around and saw Severus standing behind her, looking slightly green.

"I w-was wondering if I could talk to you?" Severus said in a nervous voice

"S-sure," she said in an equally nervous voice. "Nice job genius, sound like a nervous ten year old in front of your crush why don't you?" she thought to herself.

"Um, I was wondering," Severus began,"If you had a date for the ball next week?"

Marianna grinned, "Finally!" she smiled up at the British teenager and smiled. "No," she answered,"I don't."

Severus' face split into a huge grin,"In that case, would you like to like to go with me?"

"I'd love to!" Marianna exclaimed as she leapt up and hugged Severus

"Great!" Severus said as he hugged her tighter. It felt right being like this with her. "I'll talk to you at dinner." he said as he left the Great Hall.

--------------------------------------------------------

Severus immediately ran to find Tony and Brandon, who were sitting in their dorm room.
"Guys! Guess what!"

Tony looked up from his card game,"The sun is exploding?"

Severus glared at him before he continued,"No, picky, I asked Marianna to the dance, which is more than I can say for either of you."

Brandon looked up from his textbook,"From your attitude, may we assume she said yes?"

Severus rolled his eyes and flopped down onto his bed, looking forward to the end of the month.