Hey there guys,

I´m back :) I´m sorry this took so long, but I had a really sh***y semester and seriously no time at all. Actually I´ve got a half written chapter for And suddenly... but I had massive writer´s blog and then this idea of Lily being a dragon tamer popped into my head and I just had to write it out :)

I hope, I´ll have some more time to keep updating, but seeing as I´ve got exams at the moment and should absolutely be studying at the moment instead of writing fanfiction... yeah, I won´t promise anything ;)
I hope, you enjoy the story, do me a favor and let me know, what you think?

Love,

Nim

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the universe of Harry Potter. All credits belong to J.K. Rowling.

[Prologue]

I was feeding a newborn Hungarian Horntail whose mother had eaten the other three cubs, when my colleague Nick Hornbee adressed me with his nervous voice.

"Li-li-lily? The-there was a-a-an owl fr-from th-the mini-ministery. La-Larson to-told me to-to te-tell you to-to come a-and se-see him whe-when you´re do-done."

Nodding my head with a roll of my eyes, I petted the dragon baby with the flambeu, making its dark scales shimmer in their heated glow.

Fascinated I was once again tempted to touch the little reptile, but was wise enough not to. Afterall I had nearly lost a hand once petting a Chinese Ridgeback too trustingly and burned my fingers another time when forgetting, how hot these scales could be after a fire bath.

Instead flaming the little guy some more with my torch until it was done drinking the disgustingly smelling porridge out of rabbit feet, horse blood and racoon liver, I watched its beautiful skin reflect the light.

I was sure, the owl was yet another note from my dad. I had stopped responding to my family´s letters a long while ago. Unfortunately my father had found out, that I had to read and respond to his mail, when he sent it to my work. Especially when it was sent with the seal of the "Departement of magical Law Enforcement, Auror Headquarters".

Sighing deeply, I knew I had to leave little „Persephone" and go to see my boss.

Carefully putting the baby down next to the fire, I got to my feet, dusting off my leather clothes I used for work in the process.

When I entered Carl Larson´s office, I double checked I was still smelling like dragon dung to ensure, the meeting would be as short as possible.

Acting as if I was deep in thoughts, I twirled my long red ponytail between my fingers when looking up to my boss.

Regrettably it was not only my boss sitting across from me.

On his opposite chair sat a well-built guy with way too familiar white-blonde hair.

His storm-grey eyes were directed at me and made me want to turn around and run away immediately.

Masking my feelings behind a well-trained pokerface I questioningly raised one eyebrow, looking right at my boss and ignoring the third person in the room.

„Potter. The ministry need our help. Auror Malfoy stopped by with a direct order from Headauror Potter."

I did still avoid to look anywhere but at my boss, but felt two pair of eyes burning holes into me. Well, the burning came from only one pair to be precisely.

I had to swallow before I could mask my emotional thunderstorm behind a callous tone.

„So what exactly is it, that you need, boss? You know that my job here includes taking care of dragons, not babysitting the ministry."

Because I did in no way look at Scorpius Malfoy, I nearly missed the shadow of a smirk on his face. Of course it was only because of my dragon-trained reflexes that I noticed his reaction to my daring tune.

Larson hid a smile as well and I was distracted by thinking about the farce the three of us were playing. When my brain tuned in again, my boss had almost finished his last sentence.

„…the perfect girl for it. You dealt with something like this in China as I recall."

Vexed I looked at him, still playing with my ponytail in thoughts.

„She did not listen to you, Larson. As I told you, we need somebody in full control of their mental capacity. Proven by herself within two minutes of this conversation, Lily Potter is not the girl for this job. You distracted her without even trying."

I shot him a venomous look, but he continued without acknowledging it.

„This mission is real and dangerous. We do not need one of your best dragon tamers, we need your best one. There is a whole clan out there, dealing with dragon eggs, young dragons, carrying out dragonfights and giving us a whole load of shit with their stupid monsters."

He cut off my interruption with an aggressive gesture.

„I lost four of my best man during the last two months because of some Chinese mafia guys using their pets on us during a task. The last thing I need is an irresponsible girl, who cannot concentrate her thoughts on one thing for more than three minutes."

His last words were spoken towards me directly, his eyes locked with mine for the entire time. Staring each other down, we glared at each other for half a minute before both of us were startled by Larson´s voice.

„You want my best dragon tamer? This is her.

You want somebody capable of a job like this? This is her.

For god´s sake - she even lived in China for two years, you won´t find anybody as perfect for this job.

Take her or leave her. Your choice. But stop pissing me off - both of you."

I was still pissed off like hell when I was storming through my kitchen two hours later. My little cottage looked like a bomb had exploded, dishes everywhere, a bunch of dirty laundry scattered around the floor as I had kicked the clothes basket earlier.

Some fresh clothes were laying on my bed, scattered around a suitcase that contained most of my clean laundry. Which was not a lot.

Swearing the whole time, I was viciously packing my bag, trying to bring some sort of order into my home.

Leaving tomorrow. Brilliant.

The moron of boss I had, had made me sign the stupid contract. Of course he had. Bringing up the dragons involved.

There had not been any reason for me to help the aurors with anything except dragons. On the other hand, there had not been any reason for Scorpius Malfoy to ask for my help either.

I could read in his eyes how repulsed he was by the idea of Lily Luna Potter saving his aristocratic auror ass - which had gotten even hotter during the time he had already worked for my dad - WHICH WAS IN NO WAY IMPORTANT OF COURSE.

Another plate crashed to the floor as I aggressively picked up a pullover from my armchair. A flick of my wand repaired it and sent it to the sink, where it bumped over a cup that burst into pieces.

Snorting like a fully grown Tasmanian Thundertail I continued my abrasive packing tour, finding a lot of things I had missed for quite a while: Two old sweaters I had not seen in months, three single different colored socks and my cat Hephaistos who shot me a repulsed look when I dug him out under a pile of stinking work clothes.

„Oh common - you hid yourself under that. It´s not my fault there is no nice and clean place to lay down in this house."

He looked at me with his green eyes accusingly and jumped on top of my bed.

„You try and work eight hours a day and keep your home decent. Idiot."

It took me another four hours to get some sort of order into my cottage. I had washed most of my clothes - at least enough to get me through three weeks with the aurors - tidied up the rest into the laundry basket and made most of my chaos disappear behind drawers and closet doors.

With an exhausted flick of my wand at four a.m. I made the last couple of plates clean themselves in the sink and hop over to the cup board.

Throwing myself onto the bed (which made my shirty tomcat hiss at me), I sent a lazy patronus to my best friend´s house before falling asleep still fully dressed.

I woke up to the smell of fresh eggs, bacon and coffee and a horribly false version of „I would do anything for love".

Groaning loudly, I got up and got dressed into some fresh dark leather trousers, a green T-shirt and my leather jacket before tying up my hair in a trademark ponytail.

When I came down into my kitchen, my best friend was grinning at me and hugged me in a bone crashing way.

„Goooooood morning, sweety pot-pie! Ready for the day? You have to tell me ev-er-y-thing!"

Nodding briefly and stiffling a yawn with a huge gulp of coffee, I sat down on the kitchen counter.

Amy Gallagher was the craziest witch, I knew. She was loud, eccentric in showing affection and unbelievably almost sickly tidy. Well compared to myself that was not a big deal, but really - she was the tidiest person I knew.

Her brown locks were falling to her shoulders, bouncing around with every step she made.

I was still chewing down my breakfast, while she had already told me about her last twenty four months.

„…and THEN he said with this deep sexy voice of his: Look, Miss Gallagher. There are only two things you can do. Take it or leave it. I mean CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!"

Still not completely awake, I shook my head in disbelieve - although more over the fact, that we were talking about Madame O´Malley´s newest employee who had sold Amy the newest version of a cheesy love novel everybody seemed to read at the moment.

When I was done with my third cup of coffee, I started to feel the caffeine kick in.

„Hun, I´m sorry to interrupt you, but as I told you last night: I have to go and see Headauror Potter in…" looking at my watch briefly „…four and a half minutes."

Amy sighed theatrically and hugged me closely before whispering:

„You only mumbled something about Malfoy, dragons and job, but never mind - just tell me how long you want me to babysit Hephaistos."

Following her glance, I looked at my cat who had been sitting in Amy´s handbag for the past thirty minutes - obviously desperately waiting for her to take him with her.

Mouthing „Traitor" into his direction, I ran upstairs and got my bags, before stumbling over towards my fireplace.

With a last thank you and a blown kiss towards my best friend, I stepped into the green flames, saying „Ministry of Magic, London" and disappearing into a swirl of chimneys.