Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. Harry Potter belongs to JKR.

Cold… so cold.

Little Harry Potter was cold and alone on a doorstep in the winter. He had been left there by one Albus Dumbledore along with a letter, in the hope that he would be taken care of by the Dursleys. Unfortunately, the man had made the foolish mistake of leaving the child there around midnight in November, without even a Warming Charm. The simple fact of the matter was that it was very cold. But, one thing that this child, had that other children didn't was magic. Specifically, wild magic that was unleashed by the recent attempt on his life.

Harry's desire at the moment was to be warm. Warm with a caring mother. His magic responded. One of the warmest things that it could change him into would be a phoenix. However, the sheer raw magical power required to change this little boy into a phoenix was too much to ask, far to much for the human body, even fully developed, could ever hope to channel. Even magic had its limits. However, changing into a dragon… That was possible, albeit highly implausible.

(Petunia of course, in the morning when she opened the door to get the milk bottles, curiously found naught but a crumpled blanket and no letter. Believing it to be a prank from one of the neighbors, put it out of her mind and went on with her day. Not knowing what had truly transpired.)

xxXxx

Over the next few months the denizens of Little Whinging noticed a massive decrease in rodent population. This was soon followed by a few missing pets and eventually it lead to an investigation by the police once they started to find said pet's mutilated remains. However this case was also noted by the magical authorities who worked for the Ministry of Magic by monitoring Muggle cases. They recognized the signs of a young dragon in the area, all drew a blank when trying to figure out how a recently hatched dragon could get there with no dragon reserves nearby. Not even a registered broom flight plan went over the area for the handful of dragon reserves that existed in the United Kingdom, or the international ones.

It was judged to be approximately 5 months to a year old, based on the size of its current prey. At this moment it was mainly cats and dogs, however, soon it would require larger prey items. Cows, horses, perhaps the odd human if they stumbled upon the dragon and became a threat to it, instead of doing the smart thing and running away.

They would need to act soon.

xxXxx

The residents of Privet Drive and the surrounding boroughs that had suffered this recent problem noticed a van driving around their town. They were relieved to see the van sported a logo stating that it was for VermaKill, a local wild animal removal company. They were happy to see something being done about the predator that was eating their pets. The mothers in particular were happy their little bundles of joy were going to be safer now. After all, there was not too much of a size difference between a dog and a child.

The reality of the situation was that there were several Wizards within the enlarged interior of the van being driven by a muggleborn. All with some kind of magical detector attempting to find the young dragon. They were in luck, the sensors started to react when they drove by the forest at the edge of the town known as Little Whinging. This forest was promptly cordoned off by police as 'experts' went in to attempt to subdue this monster. The official report was that nothing was found. The incidents halted and they presumed that whatever had done this had left the town due to the increased activity at night. The experts stated that the area had become an unfavorable hunting ground, so the predator had moved on.

The truth was far from the story given to the muggles. A young dragon was found, smaller than expected, captured, and extracted. Nobody noticed the missing professionals among the several that left the forest that night apparently scratching their heads. However, the young dragon and his portkey companions traveled to a dragon reserve in Romania. Here they deposited the small and still unidentified dragon species. There was apparently no such breed in existence that matched the baby dragon they found.

Here the unusually small dragon was raised by none other than the head dragon keeper. Some say that his limbs were all magical replacements after each one was painfully removed by dragons in some incident or another.

Others say that he particularly enjoys the taste of pumpkin pasties.

… All Harry knew was that it was a source of food and it didn't hurt him.

xxXxx

Harry's consciousness returned with a start.

He remembered seeing flashing red lights; the feeling of drowsiness when one struck him, and eventually blackness.

Now he was in a warm den crouched in a small box made from metal bars. There were ten lifeforms in the room. Him, five rats in a similar box, two earwigs in the rafters, an owl and a human. Harry remembered humans. They came with sticks of wood that shot red lights. The red lights caused him to lose consciousness in the fight. They could have killed him.

He snarled at the human in front of him, bearing his teeth. The man smiled down at the little dragon in return. The dragon took this as a challenge. The human was bearing its teeth back at him; it was an aggressive display and would be answered in kind.

The old man known as Petre smiled down upon the small creature. It was pitifully small if it's age was correct, hardly larger than a two month old horntail, and this was supposedly a couple of years old already. Petre extended his arm into the enclosure to pet the beast. Said beast promptly bit down hard on his arm… or at least it tried to. The dragons teeth clanged against a metal surface and the old man chuckled as the dragon yowled.

This chuckling swiftly halted once he looked closer at the dragon.

It had four eyes.

Two beside each other on either side of its head. It had 360° vision with depth perception. And it's fangs; as with all dragons they were sharp and pointed backwards for grasping and holding onto prey. This dragon however, he possessed two sets. The second set fitting behind the first as if there was a second jaw, and it was moving independently of the first.

And it's wingspan! Already for such a small beast it was twice as wide as he was long. It wouldn't need magic to keep itself aloft, but how would this energy be used if it wasn't being drained keeping a creature weighing many tonnes off the ground?

xxXxx

After many months the dragon had become comfortable around the old man. Granted he left him every day but he returned towards the evenings to look after him.

The dragon had long ago learned that the man did not behave like normal animals. It was intelligent, and its arms were hard and impossible to bite. Recently he was feeling something from within himself; some kind rising heat. He occasionally hiccuped sparks and smoke. The keeper started to become weary of him now. The breathing of fire for one so young was unheard of, if downright impossible, but it was also dangerous to the youngling itself. The dragon keeper decided that it was safe for the young one in the 'Nursery' reserve. In this reserve the younger and smaller dragons resided. Safe from the terrible rages of the elders.

It was here that the young dragon learned the first of many lessons about life and magic.

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