Dragon : a mythical monster generally represented as a huge, winged reptile with a crested head and enormous claws and teeth, and often spouting fire; a fierce, violent person
Luna loved magical creatures.
It was something in her blood, she thought. Her father was completely fascinated with them (the matter of their existence was irrelevant, because imagination is comparable to faith) and she grew up learning about them and looking for them and waiting for them and wishing for them. Care of magical creatures was one of Luna's best subjects, with good reason. It was something she never thought twice about - if there was a creature that she could study, Luna would drop everything.
So when she heard the faint growl of a dragon while in the forbidden forest, she had to explore it immediately.
The thestrals looked at her longingly as she began to walk away. The youngest cantered up behind her and nudged her arm with his head, and she turned to pet him for a moment. "I'll be back in a few days with more scraps," she assured them. Darting swiftly through the familiar foliage of the forbidden forest, she eventually found herself near the back edge of the area.
When she heard voices coming from behind her, she quickly hid behind a tree. Professor Hagrid and Madame Maxime walked by, talking in hushed tones. Curiosity got the better of her (as it usually did), and she followed them until she heard a loud roar and her vision exploded with flame.
Instincts caused her to scamper up a nearby tree. But she found something odd at the top.
"Lovegood?"
"Oh, hello Draco. What are you doing up in this tree?"
He glared at her with full venom (didn't he know that she had anti-venom running through her veins?) and spat, "I'm watching the dragons, of course."
"Oh, me too!" Using the trunk to steady herself, Luna turned her eyes to the ground, only to find four glorious dragons. They were sitting on their haunches and they seemed to be irritated, spouting smoke and fire into the air as dragon keepers expertly maneuvered around the raging creatures. "Wow, they're beautiful…"
"Bloody beasts," Draco muttered (and it seemed to Luna as though they had a slight truce, considering they were the only ones in the tree at the moment) as he kept a firm grip on the sturdy branch under their feet. "Could kill you in one swipe."
She looked over at him, a small smile tugging on her lips. The frequent bursts of flame coming from the dragons lit his face into an odd shade of pale orange. "You look like a pumpkin."
Draco continued to stare at the raging creatures. "You look like an owl that had one too many butterbeers."
"Why, thank you! Owls are quite lovely!"
"Whatever, Lovegood! Why are you in this tree?" he fumed, turning his pointed face toward her (and she had to admit that he had a beautiful bone structure - what cheekbones!) with a frown.
"I also wanted to see the dragons."
"You like them? I thought you only dealt in imaginary creatures," he snickered.
"Oh, I love all creatures, Draco," she replied, watching as the Chinese Fireball nearly scorched the hair off of one of the keepers. "Rare creatures are just incredibly fascinating. Like dragons, for example."
"They're bloody monstrous," he said, and she heard hints of awe and fear in his voice (and she wasn't shocked, because he was just a little boy with a huge ego).
Tilting her head slightly, she knelt on the branch next to him, her side pushed against the trunk of the tree. "I think they're misunderstood."
"You can relate to that, can't you Looney?"
"Oh yes, most definitely," she nodded in agreement, and he just rolled his eyes. "Except that I don't think people are afraid of me."
With a sneer, he replied, "As long as your crazy doesn't become contagious."
"Dragons have been poached into near extinction," she continued. "Nearly every part of their body has a price. It's incredibly sad. I wonder where they got these dragons for the tournament?"
"They're for the tournament?"
"I don't know whatever else they would be for."
And he pursed his lips together in response (because she didn't expect him to acknowledge that she had made a good point). After a moment, he cleared his throat quietly. "They're probably from reserves."
"Those are such sad places."
He scoffed. "I don't get you, Lovegood. You said it's sad that the dragons are poached. And then you say it's sad that they have a place where they can't be poached."
"It's sad that such a place needs to exist."
They fell into a silence (Luna found it quite comfortable, but from the way Draco was fidgeting she assumed that he felt differently) and watched the keepers slowly clam the dragons into a heavily induced sleep. Finally, the keepers retreated into their tents, with two standing guard in the middle of the padlocks.
"I'm leaving, Lovegood," Draco muttered, easily swinging himself on to a lower branch and hopping to the ground. She followed suit and landed next to him as he dusted off his robes.
"It was a pleasure sharing a tree with you, Draco!"
"Oh, trust me, the pleasure was all yours."
She nodded and smiled. "Indeed! Next time you decide to climb trees, do tell me!"
Luna watched him march off in the wrong direction. Deciding that it was better to leave him be, she set off toward the castle, humming a soft tune under her breath.
The next day she discovered that he had received detention for wandering around in the forbidden forest after dark. And he didn't try to snitch on her.
He was a dragon, she thought. Fierce, proud, and very misunderstood. A mental image of a fire breathing Draco entered her mind. Luna imagined herself as the tamer.
She wore a secret smile for the rest of the day.