Draco Malfoy loved going to the zoo. To his young mind, everything about it was fascinating. The animals, the sights, the smells, and most of all, the people, so much different from his family and their usual company. The people here were Muggles. They lived their lives without magic, but to Draco, something about them had always seemed magical.
"Let's go see the lions, dad!" the blond boy said, pulling his father's hand and walking in what he knew to be the shortest route towards his favourite animals. "Come on, dad, speed up!" Draco shouted and his father finally adjusted to his tempo, albeit not without an unnecessarily loud sigh. Draco giggled at his father's antics and sped up even more. He just really loved the lions.
Lucius Malfoy hated going to the zoo. Why his son would be so eager to visit a place so… Muggle, he didn't know. But as much as he disliked the place itself, his son's bright smile more than made up for it. What worried Lucius the most was his son's unnatural fascination with lions. Lions, of all things. If the boy became a Gryffindor… no, that wasn't possible… or maybe he should send him to Durmstrang, just in case…
As his father debated with himself silently, young Draco was now admiring the magnificent lions that were currently relaxing in the sun. Draco let out a sigh of disappointment. Whenever he visited, the lions were always relaxing. Why couldn't he ever catch them while they were hunting or even playing around?
His disappointment must've showed on his face, as his father eyed him curiously. "What's wrong, Draco? Did you finally get bored of these lions?" asked Lucius, a hint of hope in his voice.
Draco shook his head with a determined look on his face. "No, they're amazing. But I wish they would do… something more interesting," he said.
His father looked around them and to his satisfaction, a zoo worker was just walking past them, humming along to some Muggle melody that made Lucius wince. He cleared his throat loudly and said, "Excuse me."
The worker stopped and turned towards them, no longer humming. "Yes? Can I help you with anything?" he asked, not really used to people asking questions in a zoo. Well, this man didn't look exactly normal…
"Why aren't these lions doing anything? My son would like to see them hunt," Lucius said and eyed the worker with a cold look.
"I didn't say that…" whispered Draco, who was nevertheless excited by the prospect of seeing the lions hunt. The worker didn't look impressed.
"Sir, this is a zoo. The lions don't hunt, we feed them," he explained, making sure to speak slowly, thinking that he was dealing with a person who wasn't in their right mind.
"Well, I wish to see them hunt," said Lucius. He would never lose to a Muggle. Never.
The worker raised his eyebrows. "With all due respect, I don't care," he said.
Now this was when Lucius Malfoy truly started to get angry. A Muggle, dismissing him? "Now listen here, you little…"
Draco sighed and stopped paying attention to what they were saying. He knew trying to stop his father would ultimately prove pointless. His father would never lose an argument, especially not with a Muggle. Draco looked around himself and decided this was a great opportunity to walk around the zoo without his father's supervision. He quietly sneaked off, making his way deeper into the zoo. His father was too busy shouting at the Muggle to notice and Draco let out a satisfied sigh as he successfully got away.
Draco walked around the zoo for a while, not really paying attention to where he was going. After a few minutes, something caught his attention. The reptile house. This could be fun.
He entered cautiously, looking around the dark and cool interior. All sorts of lizards were crawling and slithering behind the glass and Draco struggled not to wince. Snakes were just scary. He noticed that he wasn't alone and some Muggles were also here, a big blond boy around his age was whining about something to his parents. Draco couldn't help it and stared at the fattest boy he had ever seen - the Muggle looked like a pig wearing a wig and Draco barely managed not to laugh.
As he continued his walk through the reptile house, Draco noticed another boy, this one far smaller than the other. The boy was wearing clothes that were far too big for his scrawny frame ("Was Muggle fashion really that weird?") and Draco was ready to dismiss him as just another Muggle boy, until he noticed the boy's face. His glasses… No, it wasn't possible. The scar! At that moment, Draco was too shocked to move. What in the world was Harry Potter doing here, in a Muggle zoo? And why was he dressed like that?
Draco took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally for his first interaction with his idol. He needed to make a good first impression if he wanted to befriend Harry. But as he finally took a step in the boy's direction, Draco froze once again. Harry Potter was talking to the biggest snake in the zoo! Harry Potter was a parselmouth!
And at that moment, the glass suddenly vanished and the giant snake slithered out of the building, winking to Harry on its way out. Draco felt sweat on his forehead and he was too shocked to move as the fat Muggle family closed in on Harry. Draco turned around and ran, not wanting to see what the boy who lived would do with a bunch of Muggles attacking him. Draco didn't want any nightmares.
After a few minutes of frantically running around the zoo, Draco finally managed to find his father. The boy stopped and tried to regain his composure, but his father had noticed him already.
"Ah, Draco, where have you been? In your absence I managed to convince the Muggle to go inside the lion reserve. I expect we'll get to see them… hunt," Lucius said smugly, clearly proud of his accomplishment.
However, Draco shook his head, still breathing heavily. "It doesn't matter, dad, I want to go home now, please."
Lucius Malfoy eyed his son and nodded. "Alright then, grab my hand and I'll apparate us home," he said and his son grabbed his hand immediately.
They apparated away with a loud crack, just as a certain Muggle whispered, "Good kitty..."
"Now, Draco, will you tell me what that was about? You looked panicked," said Lucius to his son, as they sat inside their cosy kitchen. Draco slurped on his cocoa and sighed.
"I saw Harry Potter," he whispered and Lucius's eyebrows shot upwards.
"And?" Lucius asked, not really understanding why that would be the cause of his son's behaviour. He knew Draco had something of a celebrity crush on the Potter boy, but clearly not to this extent? Sending him to Durmstrang was becoming a more and more appealing idea.
"I saw him… talking to snakes," the boy said and a shiver ran down his spine. Lucius's face paled drastically and he grabbed his glass with more force than was necessary.
"Are you certain of this?" he asked, hoping for his son to be imagining things.
"Yes," Draco said.
Lucius sighed, his face seeming to age by years in just a few seconds. "If it's true, Draco, then you absolutely have to befriend him."
For the first time in his life, Draco was ready to admit that he was scared. Rumors around the train all pointed to this compartment. Here, Harry Potter was supposed to sit. And here, Draco would befriend him.
The blond boy took a deep breath and knocked on the compartment doors. After a moment, Harry Potter slid the doors open and Draco took a peek inside. There were sweets scattered everywhere, including the floor, and another boy was shoving something forcefully down his throat. Draco's face paled even more. Did Harry steal all that candy from the other children? Torture them into giving their sweets away? And oh by Merlin, was the ginger boy being tortured into eating all of them?
Draco dropped to his knees and bowed. "Draco Malfoy, at your service my Lord, please don't hurt me," he said, his voice shaky from the fear. With his head still down, Draco heard the ginger boy choke. Did his torture result in death? Would Harry make him take the blame?
And with these frantic thoughts racing through his head, Draco fainted, and a very confused Harry Potter tried to look for help.
A/N: This was written for the fourth round of the Houses Competition, year 4.
House: Gryffindor
Year: 2
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Time Period] Pre-Hogwarts (Golden Era)
Word Count: 1445
