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Parseltongue
High Valyrian
The moment her steel grey eyes met the light of day, Morgana wished she had never opened them at all. Her head was pounding and the blaring sunlight gave her a sense of the worst hangover ever. When the ground beneath her finally ceased spinning she tried once more to open her eyes.
Stumbling to her feet, she held the nearest stable object for support. She felt the harsh texture of bark under her fingertips, gripping the tree tightly to maintain her balance.
After a few minutes of standing dormant, she felt her senses return to her. When her usual posture and grace returned to her, she was finally able to examine her surroundings. She was somewhere in a darkened forest. There was snow on the ground surrounding her, fresh and untouched.
She didn't think she was in Scotland based on the pine trees surrounding her, not to mention the sheer amount of snow. She must have miscalculated the drop point, she must be somewhere in Norway or Sweden maybe. She muttered a simple warming charm under her breath to ensure she didn't freeze before beginning to walk in a random direction.
She had awoken early in the morning and by the position of the sun, it was just about midday when she stopped to rest. But something in her magic beckoned her to stand, begged her to keep going. So, she listened.
She kept going, much to the protest of her aching feet. Until-
"NO! AEGON!" A deep resounding roar echoed through the forest, shaking some of the snow off the trees. The ache of her legs became irrelevant as Morgana raced towards the horrified cries. When she broke the treeline, the young witch was met with an enormous dragon. The beast gently touched a collapsed form with its snout.
The young Lady Slytherin didn't hesitate to approach, hoping she could help the man on the ground. Hearing her approach the Dragon's head snapped to the intruder, eyes blazing the beast let out a warning growl. "Don't. Stranger." The dragon roared.
The familiar feeling of parseltongue echoed through her bones. She supposed dragons were a form of serpent, or close enough to where she could understand.
"I mean no harm. I just want to help." She hissed in snakes tongue, earning a confused look from the dragon before her.
"A Speaker? No speakers since the doom." The dragon crooned, tilting its enormous head in an inquisitive pout.
"May I approach him? I promise not to hurt your friend." Morgana asked though she was going to help whether the beast allowed it or not. With a huff of acceptance, the dragon allowed her to come closer to his rider.
The witch knelt next to the man's still form. He was handsome, with slight androgynous features that gave him a veela-like beauty. His hair was a silvery blonde that reminded her of her cousin Draco Malfoy's. He was dressed in some kind of armor with a sword strapped at his side. There were deep circles under his eyes proving that he hadn't slept in a while.
With a simple diagnostic spell, Morgana determined that he simply passed out from exhaustion. He hadn't eaten, drank, or slept in days according to the vexed dragon.
"What is your name? " Morgana asked the dragon as she brought out her wand to start transfiguring a camp.
"Balerion. The Black Dread. The human is Aegon Targaryen." Balerion grumbled like a long-suffering older brother, clearly annoyed by his human's lack of care for himself. Morgana assumed the man was a wizard, based on the fact his dragon friend called him human and the fact that he had a dragon friend.
After transfiguring a cot and tent out of some rocks, Morgana created a pot and filled it with water from an Augmenti spell. "Balerion. Do you mind making a fire so I can warm up your human?" The dragon begrudgingly looked at the stack of wood she had made before the beast huffed a small flame as requested.
She could have done it herself but with the dragon's continued wining of boredom, the witch thought it better to allow him to help. She also asked him to go hunt Aegon some dinner, which the dragon was more excited about.
Morgana cast a warming spell on the man, trying to keep him safe against the harsh elements as the night grew dark.
The dragon returned with a deer carcass between his claws, dropping it at her feet before continuing to whine about the stupidity of his human. According to Balerion, Aegon had a dream and took off on dragon back for days. They only landed when Aegon passed out off his back, falling through the air only to be caught in the dragon's mouth and safely lowered to the ground. It was clear the dragon was unhappy with Aegon for scaring him, but the rough and tough dragon refused to express his concern outright.
Morgana prepped the dear, cutting off a healthy portion of meat for herself and Aegon before feeding the leftovers to Balerion.
"Balerion... where are we exactly?"
"We are in the North, near Winterfell, in the realm of Westeros."
Morgana felt her heart drop to her stomach. It was instinctive for her to put the pieces together. As if she had been so shocked she skipped every stage of grief and fell right into acceptance. She had gotten the spell wrong. A tear fell down her face as she recognized almost immediately, she was not in her world. She looked up into the sky, the stars shone brightly above her.
She had always loved the stars. Her cousin Draco was named after a star, as were her Aunt Narsissa and Uncle Lucius. They had spent hours in her youth memorizing the constellations. But as she looked into the foreign night sky, she realized they weren't her stars at all. Not one familiar beacon in the darkness shone for her.
Morgana held up her hand as a silent thank you, resting it on the side of the Black Dread's snout. The dragon felt the magic stir within her, the very fire in him stirring at her command. Balerion grew rather attached to the witch rather quickly after that. He tucked her under his wing, much to her protest. A possessiveness took over the dragon as her magic continued to surround him and Aegon.
He forced her to sleep there, safely tucked under his wing. Warm and protected from the dangers of the outside world.
Aegon woke confused at his surroundings. He was in a tent, a dark green blanket wrapped around him protecting him from the cold. The last few days had been a blur for the Lord of Dragonstone. His dream, the song of ice and fire, haunted his every waking moment. He knew Visenya was going to beat the shit out of him for running off without warning, but he couldn't help it. Something in his blood roared at him to go and so he did.
He saw such a clear vision of the future. He saw the fall of man, the incoming of the long night. The seven kingdoms were divided and with the imminent threat approaching the only chance they'd have at survival was to work as one. He would have to unite the kingdoms under one banner to assist the other visions he saw; the prince who was promised, and... her.
The vision of her stirred something within him, something primal and animalistic. Her grey eyes carved through him as she stood at the side of the promised prince. Hair black as coal, opposite to his own silvery white hair. He felt her presence like a physical pull in the dream, beckoning him to find her.
He shook the dream once more from his head, the queasy feeling of having not eaten hit him the moment he sat up. As the blanket fell from his shoulders, he was hit with the ice-cold air of the north. Pulling the blanket around him like a cloak he stepped out of the tent into the early morning light.
Balerion lay docile just beside the small encampment, sleeping soundly. He looked around to find his savior, mystified that his enormous temperamental beast had allowed anyone near him at all. Someone had to have found him and carried him to camp. The embers of the fire were still warm so he hadn't just wandered into some abandoned camp amidst his delirium.
"How did we get here, Balerion?" Aegon asked, more to himself than the dragon who had just blinked awake. As if answering his question, the Dragon lifted his wing to show a sleeping woman, curled up into his side.
Aegon was flabbergasted that someone got so close to his dragon, not to mention Balerion allowed her to sleep under his wing like some dragon hatchling. He approached gingerly turning the woman so that he could see her face. One callused finger pushed the onyx curls from her face and Aegon felt his heart stop in his chest.
There she was, the woman from his dream. The woman at the side of the Prince who was promised. He knew the prince from his dream shared his blood, did her appearance in the dream mean the prince shared hers as well?
The magic within his old valyrian blood stirred to life in her presence. He felt more dragon than man as he pulled the sleeping girl into his arms. The moment they touched, just like Balerion, the fire within him knew that he was hers to command.
Perhaps there was a reason this woman was in his dream. Perhaps the promised prince was his descendent but not either of his sister wives. Perhaps the dream was telling him that the promised prince descended from this woman... A third wife, a third head of the dragon.
Her eyes fluttered open and it felt like the air had left his lungs. Eyes the color of cold steel looked up at him in dazed curiosity.
"Hello, my dream," Aegon whispered a soft hand brushing the black hair once more from her pretty face. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
"I'm sorry. I do not understand. I do not even recognize the language if I'm honest." Her voice was soft and calming, like the babble of water across smooth stones, less dreamy than Rhaenys but still maintaining that slow coo like a dove. Everything in him screamed to keep her. She was his from the moment he laid eyes on her.
"The common tongue then. So it was you who saved me. You have my thanks and my curiosity." Aegon stated.
Morgana, realizing the position she was in rolled out of Aegon's hold and onto her feet. He had to fight every instinct that told him to reach out and hold her once more. The magic that once flowed through Old Valyria existed now only in this one girl. She was power and Targaryens were always drawn to power.
"I am Aegon of House Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone... and may I have the name of my savior?" Aegon asked, following suit and standing to his feet. He towered above the small grey-eyed beauty, but her stance, strong and graceful, made it appear as if she were staring down her nose at him.
She was not well-versed in the Norse purebloods, he sure acted like a pureblood wizard. She assumed that House Targaryen was yet another ancient and noble house she would have to remember.
"I know who you are... Balerion told me... He is not pleased with you at the moment." She answered, her light posh tone giving her an air of superiority that no doubt came from her mother's Malfoy blood.
He paused for a moment, growing unnaturally still as he processed her words, "Balerion... told you?" He was looking at her like she was mad.
"He said you had a dream, then flew off on dragon back without eating or sleeping for days on end... He was worried, even though the grump won't admit it." At her light teasing, the dragon slightly huffed in annoyance.
She made a series of hissing noises that seemed to mean something to Balerion as he turned his attention toward her, making a series of clicking noises in return. Aegon gawked at the scene. She was speaking to a dragon and the dragon was talking back. He felt a sense of pride that the woman of his dream and his dragon got along so well as if an omen that it was meant to be.
He watched with great admiration as the large dragon practically purred under her touch. "You are a dragon speaker? I thought the last of those died with Old Valyria."
"I am a parseltongue." She corrected not even commenting on the history she could not even pretend to know.
"You know, I have still yet to learn your name." Aegon pushed once more, desperate to attach a name to the face that had haunted his dreams.
"I am Lady Morgana of the most ancient and noble House of Slytherin. Heir to Hogwarts and the title of Lady Gaunt..." She waited for it. That change in his eyes from friendly to abrasive. She waited for that flip of the switch that always seemed to occur when she said her name.
Only it didn't happen.
He did show surprise, but not in the way she expected, "You are a Noble? I have not heard of the House Slytherin, are they of Valyria? Must have if you are a dragon speaker. I don't know why I'm surprised, you behave like a noble lady." The mischief in his violet eyes showed that he was teasing her. About what, she didn't know, she saw nothing funny about her status at all.
What did surprise her was that wherever she ended up, the House Slytherin didn't exist. The shackles of her family name had finally been unlocked.
Where ever she was, whenever she was she could be good. She may not have succeeded with one part of her plan but she did get her deepest desire, she was free.
For the greater good, Morgana.
Haunting her still, the words doused her joy.
She was an outsider in this world. She had to prove herself of use. She had to be good. She could not let the darkness she was born with rule her anymore. Sure she was terrified and alone in a world she didn't know, but she was terrified and alone in her world as well.
She decided to trust Mother Magic on this one, hoping that wherever, whenever she was, was where she was meant to be.