bottom_draco

Title: The Curious Case of Draco Malfoy: the (Fake) Dragon
Author:

razra_eizel
Prompt: PROMPT #67 by

rubysilkensun
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 4,200
Rating: PG
Contains (Highlight to view): *nothing, really, but this is an AU. OOCness abounds, definitely on Draco’s part, and since it’s an AU, nobody dies, lol *
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: So there were a couple of prompts that interested me, but I picked this one. My sister was watching Teen Wolf recently, and one of the characters supposedly spent half of their life as a beast, and the rest had to teach her to be human again… that was the main idea. I didn’t watch it so I didn’t know how exactly they taught her to be human again, but this prompt reminded me of that, so this story was born…
I made some changes to the prompt as well. Hopefully the original prompter doesn’t mind. And just like any other time, I always leave things to the last minute because my muse in uncooperative before those “last minute panics” ._. This might possibly be my shortest fest fic, so apologies beforehand, but hope you guys enjoy it anyway.
Credit for the title goes to my beta

purple_lights, again, because I apparently suck at coming up with titles…

Summary: When he came to the Wizarding World for the first time, others had to teach him how to be a Wizard. Now, it was his turn to teach someone how to be a human.

Read on AO3

“Did you hear?” Hermione asked as she sat down beside Harry, although she kept her distance. Their friendship was still tentative, especially after everyone turned their back on Harry at the start of the Triwizard Tournament. It was almost time for the Third Task, and she was now back to helping him prepare for it. “They said the Horntail you faced in the First Task wasn’t the one you were supposed to face.”

“What difference does it make?” Harry asked curiously. As far as he was concerned, a dragon was still a dragon.

“This one was apparently the Dark Lord’s pet,” Hermione said with a grimace. “He was sent by the Dark Lord to kill you. They realised it wasn’t the same dragon later on, and kept this one for study.”

“I know,” Ron added. “Charlie’s keeping an eye on him now, said he’s a docile dragon, but very obedient. He was never properly trained by a dragon keeper, so he obeys everything he is told to do, even the bad commands, which is why he was ferocious when he fought you. He listened to Charlie from day one. That’s how he knew.”

“I see,” Harry commented. The topic was soon changed and he forgot all about it. He still had the Third Task to worry about, so he didn’t pay much attention to a wrong dragon. In fact, he forgot all about it until they all graduated Hogwarts as Eighth Years, since their Seventh Year was almost non-existent due to the war.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

One of his missions as an Auror was to track down the very same dragon that tried to kill him. He only found out after the War that the Death Eaters had managed to break into the dragon reserve and steal the dragon back from them. However, because of the training given by Charlie, he wouldn’t listen to Voldemort anymore and broke free from his captivity.

It had been a long time and they were still unable to track the dragon down. Seamus, who had become an Auror as well, questioned why they would be tracking down the dragon. It was nothing bad to leave a dragon in the wild, as long as it didn’t wreak havoc wherever it went, after all.

“Because this dragon is special, Mr Finnigan,” Head Auror Robards said with a sigh. “He used to be a boy. The Dark Lord used dark magic to transform him into a dragon, so he could force him to do his bidding. There was no hatchling at the time, and most dragons wouldn’t listen to him, so he used an extreme measure to gain himself a dragon.”

“A boy?” Ron balked. “Poor sod. How long had it been?”

“We believe he was transformed when he was ten, so before he was even noticed by Hogwarts,” Robards explained. “It took them nearly three years to fully transform him into a dragon, without having him transform back to human randomly. And what good timing it was, because that was when the Triwizard Tournament happened.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “And… it’s been what, ten years since he became a dragon?”

“Yes,” Robards confirmed. “We’re tracking him down so we could try to transform him back to human, and maybe give him the life he deserves.”

“Well, he is a victim of the war,” Ron commented. “No clue at all as to where he is?”

“We don’t think he’s travelled far out of Britain,” Robards said. “That might not be the case, but we’re quite confident that he’s still around here. It seems he has developed an attachment to your brother’s dragon reserve. He was actually sighted around there once, but was gone before anyone could catch him.”

“I see,” Seamus said. “So we’re to join the team looking for him?”

“That’s the short of it, yes.”

“Alrighty then.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

He should have known, really. He had been really lucky throughout his years at Hogwarts, there was nothing else to describe it. So of course, the luck had extended to his post-Hogwarts years, and for the first time since the Horntail broke free, he was found in a large cave in a mountain not too far from the dragon reserve where Charlie worked at, just like Robards predicted.

Harry found the entrance to the cave by accident. It was really well-hidden, and he didn’t wonder why no one found the dragon before.

The dragon was beautiful, although he couldn’t appreciate the beauty when he first met him. After all, it was hard to appreciate something while flying for your life. This time, however, he looked at the dragon, and knew that what Robards said was true. He was docile, maybe because he recognised the similarity of his smell with Charlie’s. He did spend quite a lot of time at The Burrow, after all.

Harry sent Charlie a Patronus, asking him to come check the dragon. He didn’t want to notify the Aurors yet, because he didn’t want the dragon to feel cornered. The dragon was relaxing on his pile of shiny rocks after deciding that Harry wasn’t a threat, and Harry stood by the side of the entrance of the cave, waiting for Charlie.

“There you are,” Charlie greeted the dragon when he saw it.

The dragon perked up and nuzzled against Charlie’s glove-covered hand.

“Been giving us trouble, huh? Don’t want to come back to the reserve?”

Harry swore the dragon actually whined, if dragons could whine. He laid his head down on the ground so that he was eye level with Charlie and gave him an apologetic look.

“Oh, none of that, now. You know I’m not mad at you,” Charlie said before he laughed. “Let’s head back to the reserve, shall we? You know, they’re trying to change you back into human. We’ll contact your parents again once we’ve done so, and you can live with them again. Sounds good?”

The dragon looked at him in confusion.

“Did he forget he used to be human?” Harry asked curiously.

“Maybe,” Charlie replied. “He did spend nearly half his life as a dragon, after all.”

“But surely not all dragons understand human speech?” Harry asked.

“Yes, but he doesn’t know that,” Charlie answered. “Well, there’s nothing to do now but to bring him back to the reserve. I’ll look after him until they manage to find the cure.”

“I’ll check up on him too,” Harry said.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to. I know how it feels to be alone because of the war,” Harry said. “When he’s turned back, if his parents aren’t here yet, I’ll take him in.”

Charlie smiled at him. “If you say so. Well, let’s go then.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

True to what he said, Harry came to check on the dragon quite often. Whenever he had free time, he would be seen in the dragon’s company, talking to him about Hogwarts, not to rub it in the dragon’s face that he had missed out on it, but to show the dragon that the Wizarding World had its share of good things, too.

Plus Headmistress McGonagall had agreed to let the boy come to Hogwarts for private tutoring for materials from the First to Seventh Year, so there was that.

“Hey, Harry,” Charlie greeted him when he saw Harry walking towards the reserve. “Here to see Draco again?”

“That’s his name, then?” Harry asked. “Is that his real name, or did you guys try to be funny and give him that name?”

“We don’t need to try, we’re already funny,” Charlie replied with a chuckle. “Yes, that’s his name, after the constellation. We’ve managed to get into contact with his parents. Apparently, he’s from the Malfoy family. They were supporters of the Dark Lord, you know, but left Wizarding Britain after their only son was taken away from them by force. They’re living in France now, but are making preparations to move back here.”

“Oh,” Harry said, feeling slightly disappointed. He should have been glad that the boy would have his parents back soon, but he couldn’t help feeling like he wanted to spend just a little more time with the curious dragon. While incapable of speech, Draco understood human language, so he always listened to whatever Harry had to say.

Charlie patted Harry’s shoulder. “Don’t be so sad,” he said. “I think it will take a while for them to come back here. Until then, hey, he’s all yours.”

Harry rolled his eyes but said nothing, walking to where Draco usually was. He found the dragon easily, and sat down next to him.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Did you know that your parents are coming back here? Soon you will be reunited with them.”

The dragon stared at Harry, then nuzzled his side.

Harry smiled and patted the dragon’s head. “I’m okay,” he said. “Or at least, I will try to be. Now, have I told you about that time we used a Time Turner to save Buckbeak?”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The next time Harry went to the dragon reserve, he stopped to make sure he was at Draco’s den. The dragon was nowhere in sight, and in his place, was a young blond boy, lying down on a pile of shiny rocks that the dragon had collected for himself.

“That cannot be comfortable,” Harry said as he cast a cushioning charm so that the jagged edges of the rocks wouldn’t hurt the boy. “Draco?”

The boy opened one eye and regarded Harry for a second before he sat up and looked at him excitedly. He leaned forward, then frowned.

“Yeah, your neck isn’t as long as it used to be,” Harry said in amusement. He walked over to the boy and sat down beside him, allowing Draco to nuzzle him as he would while in dragon form. “I guess they’ve managed to find the reverse spell, then?”

“He can’t speak yet,” Charlie said suddenly as he walked around the corner and into the den. “We’ve got speech therapists who will teach him how to speak again, and then we’ll teach him to read and write again too. Afterwards we’ll get to spellwork, and that’s when he will go to Hogwarts.”

“I see,” Harry said, looking down at the contented boy who was resting his head against Harry’s side. The dragon Draco liked to do that, because although he was a ferocious breed, he secretly liked to be petted.

“It’s a permanent reverse spell, yes,” Charlie said. “Finally, I mean. We’ve been trying out the reverse spells, but none of them had transformed him permanently. You’ve never seen him in human form before because you were never here when he was human.”

“I see,” Harry said. “When will you move him from the den?”

Draco looked alarmed at that, and lay over his shiny rocks protectively.

Charlie laughed at the reaction. “We’ll let you keep them, Draco,” he said.

That appeased the boy somewhat because his face lost its alarmed expression.

“Well, I guess we’ll move him once he’s comfortable enough with speech. We’ll still need to get him used to human stuffs, though.”

“I can do that,” Harry offered. “He seems to trust me enough. Um, well, unless you have a trained team for that too.”

“No, actually, it’s great that you’re offering,” Charlie said. “It’ll be better for a familiar face to do it. I can’t take care of him because I have to be here at the reserve, and the other dragon keepers don’t spend as much time with him as you do.”

Harry ducked his head to hide his blush.

Charlie’s grin grew wider. “And I’ll even overlook the ulterior motive you have for volunteering,” he added. “Well, I’ll take care of the paperwork, so once he can speak, read, and write, we’ll let him go with you. Can I trust you with teaching him basic spellwork?”

“I’ll do my best,” Harry said solemnly.

Charlie smiled at him. “That’s all we ask.”

Draco remained oblivious, content to just lie on his treasures and close to the people he trusted.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The first time Draco said his name, Harry nearly shed a tear. He wondered if that was how new parents felt when their child first called them ‘daddy’ or ‘mommy’.

“Harry,” Draco repeated again, then looked at him in confusion.

“Yes, that’s my name,” Harry said, smiling proudly at him. “Good job, Draco.”

“Harry,” Draco said again, his grin widening. “I’m good?”

“Yes, you’re really good,” Harry said. “Soon, you’ll be able to come with me, do you want that? I’ll teach you everything you want to know. You’ll get used to living in a house again. And—and when your parents come, they’ll have their good boy back, yes?”

Draco gave him a gummy grin. “Yes.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Draco first came to Grimmauld’s Place, he looked around in wonder, inspecting all the furniture, portraits, and any other objects that were present there and asking Harry what they were. The tour around the house took a lot longer than Harry expected, but then again, it was nice to see Draco curious about human stuffs.

Of course, Harry never expected the transition to be easy. For as long as Draco remembered, he was a dragon. He didn’t remember much about being a human, as the spell had also messed up his memory, so everything seemed new to him.

The first night, he slept curled like a dragon in front of the fireplace, on top of his shiny rocks, and enjoying the warmth from the fire. Harry picked him up and put him in his bed, but the next day he would sleep in front of the fireplace again. After the fifth night, Draco got sulky and demanded either there be a fireplace in his room, or his bed be moved in front of the fireplace. Harry relented and got him one of the portable gas fireplaces, and scattered his shiny rocks on his bed, as per Draco’s request.

The first night they had dinner together, Harry had asked Draco what he wanted for dinner, and he simply answered steak.

“Alright, I can do that,” Harry said thoughtfully. “How do you want it done?”

Draco looked at him in confusion.

“Oh, well, since you’ve never had it before, I guess I’ll get you started on medium rare. I think that’s what most people like anyway,” Harry commented, then went off to get the ingredients from a local grocer.

He had to fight off Draco, who had tried to eat the marinating steak raw, and he ended up sulking on his bed beside the portable fireplace and throwing the shiny rocks at Harry whenever he saw him around. Lucky for him, Harry had good reflexes and managed to avoid every projectile so far. Draco did end up liking the medium rare steak, though.

The first time Harry taught him how to brush his teeth, Draco spent a good thirty minutes in front of the mirror inspecting his reflection, touching his face and looking in wonder at the human reflection in front of him.

He then decided to show him pictures of the elder Malfoys, so that he didn’t get surprised when they came to pick him up. He seemed to form somewhat of an emotional bond with the people he saw in the pictures, especially the woman, and Harry could only smile at his childlike actions. He would bring the picture album to his bed, tracing his finger over the pictures, and mainly stopping to admire the still youthful woman with blond and black hair.

“That’s your mother,” Harry said as he watched Draco admire the pictures again. He never got tired of them even though he stared at them every day.

“Mother?” he asked.

“Yes, and that’s your father,” Harry added. “They must have missed you a lot. They thought you were dead.”

“Why?”

“The Dark Lord wanted a dragon to fight for him, and he took you from them for that,” Harry explained. “Your mother didn’t want to follow the Dark Lord any longer, and him taking you was the last straw. They told the Aurors and the Order of Phoenix everything they knew before leaving the country and living under the Aurors' protection.”

“Mother and father…” Draco trailed off. “Harry? Your mother and father?”

Harry gave him a tight smile. “They died when I was a baby,” he said. “I never knew them, but… um, I have a picture album of them too, just like this one.”

“I’m sorry,” Draco said, squeezing Harry’s arm.

“That’s okay. It’s been a long time.”

“Doesn’t make it hurt less.”

Harry fell silent. “Yeah… it doesn’t make it hurt less.”

“Here,” Draco said as he handed Harry a shiny rock. It was smooth, shined with a gleam and was possibly the brightest among Draco’s collection. “My favourite. For my favourite human.”

Harry chuckled. “You are too sweet.”

Draco smiled at him proudly before returning to the album, and Harry, selfish as it may be, hoped that the elder Malfoys wouldn’t come so soon, so that he might have more time with Draco.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Draco hated the crowd, as he never stayed in a place with so many people at one time, so Harry made sure to only take him out during off peak hours, when there weren’t many people walking about. They made a trip to Diagon Alley so he could pick up a wand to learn spellwork, and Harry thought he shouldn’t be surprised that the first spells he mastered were the ones related to fire or heat.

He had a strange affinity for fireworks, however, and was taken with it the moment he first saw it during a local fair. Harry took him there at night, once the crowd had dwindled a bit as most families had gone home for the day and the rest had gathered to watch the fireworks at a field nearby. They watched from a place farther away, but Draco had still been excited nonetheless.

Harry should have known that introducing the Weasley twins to Draco hadn’t been a good idea. They somehow managed to supply him with firecrackers, and Harry had to confiscate them after Draco nearly burned down the entire upper floor of Grimmauld’s Place. The blonde had been unrepentant and would still sneak some of the smaller firecrackers into his room to play with them, and Harry had started becoming better friends with aspirin, and wondering if that was how it felt to take care of a rebellious teenager.

Ron, who by that time was in a relationship with Hermione, asked why he wasn’t looking for a date. Harry said he had his hands full with Draco already, as taking care of him felt like taking care of his own child.

“You’re his age, Harry,” Hermione reminded.

“I know,” Harry said. “It just feels that way because I’m the one teaching him about things, you know? Things that parents teach their kids. He’s a good kid, although your brothers have been a terrible influence on him,” here he paused to mock glare at Ron.

He grinned at Harry sheepishly and shrugged one shoulder.

Harry rolled his eyes. “But I’m proud of him. He’s progressing very nicely.”

“Well, that’s good for you then,” Hermione commented. “But you have to remember, just like every child, he will go off on his own one day, and you’ll need someone to be there for you when that happens.”

“I know,” Harry said, “but it’s still a while yet, and I refuse to think about it now. It’ll only make me unnecessarily maudlin.”

“Oh, you’re not already unnecessarily maudlin?”

Harry threw her a dirty look.

Hermione grinned unrepentantly and went back to her cup of tea.

That night, Draco was unusually affectionate, choosing to sleep in Harry’s bed and nuzzling him, and Harry decided that he must have overheard him talking to his best friends, the nosy brat.

He settled down, wrapping his arms around Draco, and decided that he could eavesdrop on him anytime if this was what he got in return.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The reunion between the Malfoys came sooner than he would have liked, but it was a sight to behold. Draco had looked at them in wonder, and Narcissa had gone teary-eyed before pulling the boy into a tight hug, while Lucius stood to the side, awkwardly patting Draco’s shoulder as he hugged his mother back.

“Auror Potter,” Narcissa greeted, her arms still wrapped around Draco’s shoulders.

Harry narrowed his eyes and felt slight jealousy at the sight, although he wasn’t sure if he was jealous of Draco or Narcissa.

“Thank you for taking care of my baby.”

“Oh, it was no problem at all,” Harry said quickly. “It was… a good experience for myself too.”

Narcissa studied him.

Harry nearly squirmed under the gaze.

She gave him a knowing look and understanding smile, then nodded. “You are welcome to come visit us anytime you want, of course,” she said, “I’m sure Draco will miss you too.”

Draco’s head perked up when he heard his name. “Yes,” he agreed. “Will miss Harry.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed. He reached out to pat Draco’s head softly. “Be good for them, okay?”

Draco looked indignant. “I’m always good.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

Draco pouted, but didn’t say anything.

They said goodbye, and Narcissa told Harry that they would be staying at Spinner’s End, Snape’s old home, because they didn’t want to return to Malfoy Manor. However, Draco would be starting his private study at Hogwarts soon, so he would be spending most of his time at Hogwarts.

“Hopefully he’ll fit in with the rest of the students,” Harry said, “and that none of the students give him much trouble. Some kids can be nasty.”

“Indeed,” Narcissa agreed. “But you’ll keep an eye on him, won’t you? I heard you’ve been doing that from the dragon trainer.”

Harry flushed and made a mental note to send some pranks from the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes to Charlie in the mail as payback. “Well, I suppose.”

Narcissi chuckled. “You’re a good man, Auror Potter,” she said. “I’m sure we can trust Draco to you. Right, Lucius?”

Lucius kept quiet, opting to instead glare at Harry.

“Don’t mind him. He’s just being a protective father who’s not ready to let go of his child yet.”

“I am not.”

“Of course, dear.”

“I resent your condescension.”

“Of course, dear.”

Lucius huffed but didn’t say anything else.

Harry chuckled, wondering if his father had been just as whipped by his mother as Draco’s was.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Draco sat by himself beside the lake, throwing small pebbles into it in boredom. Half the students were off to Hogsmeade, while the other half were playing among themselves. Since he was privately tutored, he didn’t have classmates; or roommates, for that matter. He stayed in a private room close to the Headmistress’s Office, and no student wanted to come close to his place because they were scared of the stern Headmistress.

He was bored out of his mind, and wished Harry would come sooner. Harry was his only friend, the one who kept visiting him and keeping him company, but lately he had been busy with big case after big case, and while Hermione would sometimes visit since she was just as lonely (Ron was Harry’s partner, so they were both swamped with work), she couldn’t stay long, and truthfully, it didn’t feel the same.

He had just thrown another pebble when he heard the sound of crunching grass. His ears perked up in interest and he turned around, wanting to see who would approach him instead of playing with their friends.

Harry was standing there, an amused smile on his face.

Draco’s mouth fell open in shock.

“Harry?” he asked. “I thought you had a case.”

“We just caught the culprit, and it’s not my turn to interrogate, so I was allowed to leave early,” he explained, walking over to Draco. His robe rustled as he produced something from behind his back. It was a bouquet of red jade vine, the red-orange petals looking like flickering flame. “This is for you.”

Roses would be more romantic, but Draco retained an obsession with heat and flame from his time as a dragon, so Harry thought these flowers would suit him more.

“Flowers?” Draco asked. “Fire flowers?”

“Yes,” Harry confirmed, and Draco took the bouquet from him. “Someone told me you’ve been lonely.”

“Hermione?” he asked again, scrunching his nose. “She’s lonely too.”

“I know,” Harry said. “But she doesn’t have to be. And if you will let me, you don’t have to be too.”

Draco looked at him from behind the flowers, and smiled. “I have let you, a long time ago. You are the one who should let me.”

Harry shuffled closer, leaning forward to place a barely there kiss on Draco’s lips. “I let you,” he whispered against Draco’s lips, and pressed closer to kiss him deeper. The flowers shifted between them, and it reminded him of fire. Harry thought that now, finally, he could look back to the memory of nearly being roasted alive by this dragon in fondness, because it led him to this.

End of Story

End Note: That’s the end of it =) hopefully it didn’t feel too rushed at the end and that it progressed nicely from one scene to another. Also, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it, and I hope the original prompter likes it.