4.
Draco was enamoured with Professor Snape, especially in his first year at Hogwarts.
He loved the fact that Snape was calculating and calm, cool bordering on cold. He was fascinated by the fact that he couldn't truly gauge Snape, despite having a keen ability to 'read' people that bordered on the uncanny. Of course, the one time he could read Snape like an open book was whenever Harry Potter was in the same room. And, anyone who hated Potter couldn't be all bad, right?
Before his sixth year, Draco entertained the notion of being a Hogwart's professor – or maybe somewhere cooler like Durmstrang. He even threatened a first year by holding him out of the fourth floor Charms' corridor window by his feet if he didn't copy down the Potion Master's first-day speech verbatim, complete with hand movements and marks to show where eyes narrowed and lips curled or twitched. He memorized every word and nuance of the speech until he could say it in his sleep.
That was before The Dark Mark came along and shattered those dreams.
It's no wonder one of the first buildings that Draco entered – that wasn't due to a necessity such as eating or going to the lav – would be school.
The one-story building in the devestated residential area of Saint Bernard Parish was beyond derelict. Windows had been destroyed from the outside, and not by winds or trees. Doors were kicked out, and not by screaming frantic children. When Draco walked through classroom after classroom, he noticed – quite horribly – that televisions and computers and other electronics had been removed from the premise, but textbooks had not. There was more than a hint of asbestos in the rooms, as insulation hung from holes in the ceiling. It made Draco cough – cough like the first time he lit a fag or took a drag from a joint. Dragon waited for him outside, the olfactory assault undoubtedly worse for him.
Draco began casting cleaning spells, first. He followed up with air purification incantations and then started working on transfiguring loose rubble into drywall, concrete, and wood, patching up holes in the ceiling and the walls.
By the time Dragon felt comfortable entering the building, it was almost as if wind, rain, and looters never touched the place – as if it were just built yesterday. He found a comfortable spot on the floor of what was at one time the teacher's lounge, lying next to his master, who lay supine on the only couch left untouched by raiders and pillagers.
Draco turned on his side, looking down at the sleeping beast beside him. He reached down, scratching at the spot between the dog's shoulders that, despite their newfound friendship, he already knew was his favourite place to be scratched.
Dragon's tail raised and lowered, lazily before he succumbed to sleep. Draco smiled, approvingly, before he followed suit.