Next up a Harry Potter story.
Set around the fifth year, so Order Of The Phoenix timeline.
Not much Harry - sorry!
The great hall was full of chatter as the school gathered for their evening meal. The students sat on their house benches with their friends, the banter flowing back and forth.
Draco sat with Crabbe and Goyle, feeling superior to his rather dim companions. Really if their families hadn't been loyal to the Dark Lord he wondered if they would even be sitting together, that seemed to be the only reason except they had been placed in the same house.
He wondered who he might sit with if the choice had been his own, because he enjoyed telling the two half-wits what to do, but they weren't great for conversation. Sometimes he looked over at Potter and the Weasley boy sitting with the mudblood girl and he felt something shift inside him. He hated the relaxed way they talked together, laughing naturally. Crabbe and Goyle laughed at his jokes but it was forced, they were loyal to him because their fathers' had told them to be.
They were too stupid to question it and often too stupid to understand his jokes and his sharp wit. Occasionally he had to admit that the Grainger girl would be better company, with her intelligence she would understand his musings and humour.
As he was watching the three Gryffindor's with a feeling he would swear wasn't envy a commotion began to rumble through the great hall.
Draco snapped his head up as the doors swung open and a tall woman marched through. The moment she entered all eyes fell on her and they were captivated, her posture was perfect, her skin glowed with life, her eyes danced and her dark clothing wrapped her frame showing a slim and attractive figure. From her head protruded two horns, black and sharp and although she must have felt the scrutiny she continued to walk straight to the main table with her head held high. She didn't glance to either side, each step was made with purpose and she ignored the whispering that immediately sprang up in her wake.
"Maleficent!" some of them were saying, as others just gapped at her. Draco watched the woman with amusement, she looked good he had to admit, for a fairy tale character. It was obvious she was confident and there was an air of danger that surrounded her. He tried not to stare too much.
Crabbe was muttering to himself, "She's real?" While Goyle seemed to be transfixed by the tight ass that was swaying past them. When he did find his voice he was able to whispered nothing but awed compliments and Draco just shook his head at their ineloquence.
"I suppose she has style." The blonde youth told the other two boys. He ignored the stunning strut and high cheek bones and the fact he too found her quite mesmerising. He blamed it on the fact that since hitting puberty his hormones had been running wild. He kept finding himself transfixed by pretty girls, even the half-bloods, ones with questionable family finances or the wrong allegiance. Occasionally even the Grainger girl. To cover his unease he added, "But I doubt the tales are true, she is a woman after all."
They then all snickered and returned to eating as the witch took her seat at the main table. The chatter soon moved on to different topics, quidditch, the next field trip, potions homework. Draco soon put Maleficent's arrival to one side, he might tell his father in his next owl but after dessert was served he gave her very little thought and once in the Slytherin common room he forgot about her arrival completely.
He next saw her in his transfiguration lesson, standing next to Professor McGonagall. She still looked stunning and commanded his attention, but he pushed any complimentary thoughts away. He covered his surprise at seeing her in the lesson by making a smart remark
"I thought McGonagall was bad enough, now there are two women to lecture us!"
He grumbled, but his remark felt hollow, he didn't seem to get the buzz and enjoyment he used to from putting other people down. And he couldn't work out why or when it had changed, but he thought it might have been since the Grainger girl had put him on his ass with the sure strike of her fist. Ever since then he found himself plagued by thoughts about his words and actions. He was thinking more deeply particularly about his friends or lack of.
She bothered him because she might be a mudblood but she wasn't letting that stop her. She excelled at school, was popular and had danced the night away with Viktor Krum a world class quidditch player. His life in comparison seemed rather limited, manipulated by and dictated to by his father. He was struggling more and more with that, his own views and opinions differing. He wanted to be his own man and he was maturing but he was scared, so he lashed out and hid, parroting things he knew would make his father happy. He felt like a coward and he hated himself.
He took his seat and listened as McGonagall introduced the visiting witch. One who could change into a dragon and had great power over the magically art of shape shifting.
Maleficent looked out at the class of children who were slowly turning into adults.
One stood out, he was named after her kindred spirit after all. And he was in Slytherin, the house symbol a snake. Dragons were often referred to as winged snakes, and they shared many similarities with their cold blooded reptile cousins.
She looked at the boy. His blonde hair and smug expression begged her to take him on and bring him down a peg or two. Especially with her exceptional hearing and having overheard his sexist remarks, not just once but twice. She would make him learn some respect, both for her and for women in general.
She looked at him and he tried to puff up his chest and meet her eye, a false sense of bravado, but she saw his fear floating underneath the surface. He was a conundrum, and she was certain it wasn't just because he was a hormonal teenage boy. There was something about him, something soft and tender that he was trying to squash and deny. Trying to hide with his hurtful and shallow comments.
Then she placed it, he thought he wanted attention, but then wilted under any intense scrutiny. It was as if his nature was warring with his perceived ideas of behaviour and she was certain it stemmed from his upbringing. She knew a little of Lucius his father and was certain that was it. Children didn't generally, in her experience, come out of the womb sexist idiots.
She had heard whispers of the Malfoy's being loyal to The Dark Lord and knew Lucius probably liked to play the domineering father, to hide his own issues of inadequacy. Becoming a Death Eater meant he could surround himself with the company of men who were perceived as strong, but all they really did was the bidding of Voldemort, never making a decision for themselves. They were shadows, puppets in a grander plan, having very little control.
They became men who would grasp at whatever power they could, and Maleficent knew that would mean having a meek woman at home who conformed to his idea of a typical marriage. And that would please The Dark Lord with his traditional and seriously skewed ideas. Yes she knew men like Lucius Malfoy, they often looked at her with scorn, detesting that so much power sat with a woman, the weaker sex.
But she refused to bow to them, or entertain them and their ridiculous notions. It was a shame that in this day and age that the magical world could still be so divided, but it would continue all the while men like Lucius Malfoy were respected, and his money and his self-proclaimed pure blood status ensured that. She saw clearly in the case of the Malfoy's that the father was the man of the house, the stereotypical strength, power and provider and he had passed those stilted and outdated ideas on to his son.
She studied the son, who had dropped his head to the desk after failing to meet her eye. He was clearly a son who was struggling to fill the mold set for him, who was unsure where he fitted after seeing the world in a different light away when he was at school and from his father's rule.
She moved her eyes across the rest of the class, seeing the famous Harry Potter catch her eye and hold her gaze. She smiled at him and his ginger friend clapped him on the back and muttered something about him having, "pulled". She shook her head at the naïve youths but was glad they were relaxing and having fun. From what Minerva had told her fun was in short supply since the arrival of Dolores Umbridge.
Knowing the Dark Lord had returned she was certainly going to make sure today was enjoyable for the class, who knew how many more days they would have that weren't full of violence and death.
She was introduced and quickly jumped straight in to telling the class about her dragon half. The horned woman was enthusiastic, and all eyes gravitated to her as she proceeded to tell the class how she maintained control of the creature but that when in that form her animal instincts were much stronger.
She grinned showing the white of her teeth as she asked the class which instincts they thought she meant. She was starting to play her game with the blonde haired boy and she was looking forward to it.
Draco watched the Grainger girl immediately raise her hand and give the answer "hunting". Another girl supplied the answer "protecting any offspring". One of the Hufflepuff boys asked whether dragons fought for domination and if she was more prone to violence and defence of her territory when in her animal form. Maleficent nodded to all of their answers but fixed Draco with a feral smile as she dropped her voice and asked in a slightly husky tone if he could think of one more activity that she might enjoy more in her animal form.
The implication was clear, there was sex dripping from the woman's voice and her demeanour as she leaned forward so her breasts pushed up and strained against her corset and she slowly licked over her lips. As the youth struggled not to blush, stare at her cleavage or allow the silence to drag on too long so he didn't seem like an inept idiot McGonagall cleared her throat and openly told the class, "that will be enough on that topic" and "they would now be moving outside on to the practical demonstration."
McGonagall then shot the visiting witch a pointed look that verged on a reproachful glare but Maleficent just smirked as she turned around and walked out of the classroom without looking back. The two woman had previously discussed that the classroom was too small for her to transform, she needed space to expand and be able to show off the magnificence of her other half. Out in the fresh air she could spread her wings, swish her tail, breath fire and fly if required. After all she wanted to leave her mark and be remembered. What was the point of a demonstration if you held back?
She was pretty certain the blonde boy's eyes were watching her ass as she left the room so she added a little extra sway to her hips and her smile grew. She didn't walk too quickly, her heels clicked with a resounding echo on the flagstone floor to prolong the show but soon enough she was outside with lush green grass under her feet.
She breathed deeply the fresh air and was in a gleeful mood, soon she would be soaring high above the landscape. She loved the freedom and the way her blood pounded in her veins, pumped by her massive dragon heart. Her sight became sharper, her hearing more keen, her senses magnified and she couldn't wait to feel the wind against her scales or the cool water as she drank generously from the refreshing lake.
The rest of the students were following professor McGonagall in single file as they marched out to the edge of the lake. Draco was at the back with Crabbe and Goyle, he didn't particularly want to see this, he didn't like large creatures, the hippogriff had been more than enough to put him off them. And the hippogriff had been stupid, this was most certainly not a stupid creature. The dragon would have the memories of the witch, would be able to understand and respond to much more than just some dumb animal. He shivered as he thought of the way her eyes had drilled into him earlier, he sincerely hoped she would leave him alone when she was the dragon, but he had a really bad feeling about it.
Now Maleficent was out in the open she pulled her magic close. She wrapped it round her and let it flow through her veins, the fire transforming her. Fuelling her body as it grew and changed and soon she was the dragon, stood on the shore of the lake, towering over the water and the class of youngsters. She smiled a toothy grin and her eyes danced with liquid fire as she heard the excited and surprised gasps and murmurs pass through the group of teenagers.
She had explained to Professor McGonagall that she would take a few lucky members of the class for a ride, and that they would pick randomly, drawing straws for the privilege. As the class gathered round the older woman and each pulled a straw from her hand the dragon looked on. She gently reached out her magic and made sure that Draco pulled upon a straw to ensure he would get a dragon ride. The other successful teenagers were whooping and excited, Draco looked a little sick as she bent her neck and breathed hot air on him, forcing him to look up at her and into her eyes which were dancing with mirth. She remembered his words, his whispered mutterings and derogatory remarks and in that moment he knew he was being punished and taught a greater lesson than transmogrification. He blinked and swallowed hard and if it was possible the dragon's smile grew. Her mouth drew further back showing her gums as well as her perfectly pointed teeth and her forked tongue ran over the white and shiny expanse, emphasising each sharp tip and she could smell the fear rolling off the boy.
She had a wicked sense of humour and although she felt slighted by Disney at their portrayal of her, they weren't completely wrong. She may not be completely evil and immoral but she had to admit she did enjoy playing games and pushing boundaries and often was blunt and inappropriate. She just hated conforming and being judged on nothing but her reputation. She detested being labelled or compared to her film version, but she knew she had a short temper and often obsessed about revenge and that part of her was close to the cartoon. However she felt Disney had painted a picture where goodness was linked to beauty and because she wasn't what was considered conventionally beautiful she had to be a villain and valued less as a woman.
And the Malfoy boy had readily accepted that version too. So she would leave him until last, to make him wait in his panic filled state. It would be fun for her and serve as a good reminder to the boy that he was just that. He wasn't a man, he needed to grow up and learn to see what was around him before he would earn that right.
As she moved away from him, she dropped her neck to allow a different student to climb on her back and with a flap of her wings that nearly forced the gathered class to their knees she took off, up into the cooler air, a part excited and part terrified child clinging to her neck.
Crabbe and Goyle were hanging round him and he wiped his sweaty palms on his robe and hoped they didn't notice. They were jabbering away about something dull and stupid and he couldn't concentrate on it at all, all he could think of was being up in the air with a huge animal that seemed intent in its desire to toy with him. His heart was racing and he knew he was petrified. Pacing hadn't helped, snipping at Weasley had been half-hearted and completely unfulfilling and the deep breathes he was taking were making him feel sick.
He just wanted it all to be over, to be back in the common room and relaxing. He recognised that it was cowardly and tried to cast a discrete glance toward Harry. The Potter boy never backed away from a challenge, never showed fear or worried about the outcome. He wished he could be more like that, have blind faith that everything would work out in the end. Harry was seen as courageous and he didn't hesitate. Draco hated him for it, the ease that he could make a decision and the fearless way he threw himself at situations. But this wasn't about Potter, this was about settling his own nerves and facing the dragon.
He looked up and over the lake and watched the huge beast come back into view. She soared, cutting a path through the air and then landed heavily by the water's edge.
Almost immediately McGonagall was waving him over and he put a hand out to steady himself, feeling cool and toughened scales under his palm. Standing beside her, shrouded in her shadow he understood she was even bigger than he had imagined. He could see her body expand as she breathed and the muscles flexing under the scales as she settled into a more comfortable position. He could feel the power radiating from her body, coiled and quiet in that moment, but only needing the slightest reason and she would spring into action. He looked at her legs and wings with awed fear, knowing he would soon be putting his life on the line and having to trust the animal would return him safely.
He wasn't sure he trusted her, but he refused to look gutless before the rest of his class mates. With no more time to waste he found his standard smug grin and turned to the rest of the gathered students and catching a few eyes he bowed, earning a smattering of applause from the Slytherins. He would not let them know how anxious he was, he was a Malfoy and a pure blood, it was imperative they knew he was not afraid.
He hoped up onto the dragon's back and without hesitation she took off, he grasped her body tightly with his thighs and was forced to lock his arms round her neck. He found his face pressed by her ear and was struggling to bite back the scream he felt crawling up from his lurching stomach. He knew his breathing was ragged and she would hear it, but that was better than screaming like a girl. He had to hang on to a modicum of control, this would soon be over he kept repeating to himself. He shut his eyes and tried to unclench his arm and leg muscles that had locked solid in fear.
"Open your eyes Draco." He heard after a few beats of silence where the wind swept past his face and blew his hair all over the place.
He obeyed and saw they had travelled the whole length of the lake and were circling to land on the strip of shingled shore. His panic jumped exponentially and he felt a drop of sweat roll down his back and he was certain the animal below him could smell the fear pouring from him and he felt humiliated by it all. As they landed smoothly and his rubbery legs found the ground he pulled himself up straight and turned to see the woman shimmer back into view as she morphed again.
"Draco." Her voice was level and calm, and he didn't know what was happening. His heart was hammering in his chest and he suddenly wished they were still in the air. Being isolated and in a one to one situation with this woman was far worse.
Maleficent took in the pale features, the boy was sweating and she could see his eyes darting frantically. She felt just a touch of sympathy for him, he was still young and she had a feeling in her gut he wasn't beyond saving.
Draco's feet were melded to the floor, and as the witch advanced on him he felt cold fear grip him and a scream try and escape his throat. He pushed it down, he wouldn't show weakness like that.
He had his wand, certainly, but he knew this woman far out classed him in ability, he felt trapped and wondered if these were his last breathes.
She walked round him and breathed into his ear, and he jumped before taking a shaky step forward, needing to create space between them. He found it difficult to focus on the words over the pounding of his heart.
"Relax young man" she told him, but he was wound so tight.
"I don't want to hurt you" she continued.
He finally managed to pull air into his lungs and was embarrassed at the rough panting sound he heard coming from him.
"Draco, you have so much skill and the possibility of a bright, vibrant future ahead of you. I can taste the magic in your veins and the taste isn't bitter, it can still be sweet and beneficial. You don't have to use it for destruction or let others taint your views."
He stood stock still, his breathes were now shallow, he could hardly believe she was complimenting him. She was twisting him in knots, at first flirting, then being cruel, teasing him and then dropping sweet words in his ear and he was too overwhelmed to fathom what was happening. He just listened and prayed for it to be over soon.
The older woman spoke again, "I felt drawn to you, and I wouldn't feel that if you were the hard, aggressive and nasty persona you try to project."
She continued to speak slowly and gently, knowing the boy was scared but that she could get through to him while he was alone and struggling with his feelings. He hadn't managed to push her out or away because of his panic and he hadn't put up walls, blocking her or her message.
"I can sense your fear," and she felt his whole body go rigid so she quickly told him, "but being fearful isn't a bad quality, it doesn't make you soft. It is what you do with the fear, recognize it, respect it and then battle it. Rising above it and beating that fear, that is to be celebrated."
The dragon walked round him so she could face him, could watch his expression.
"I see you sneer at compassion and understanding but they aren't a weakness, it is the very fabric of what makes us human."
Draco still hadn't moved, he had his hands balled tightly into fists but at least he appeared to be breathing normally.
She shook her head at him, he was an attractive boy and she imagined he thought his confident swagger made him more so, but she saw his vulnerability in those moments they were alone and to her that was beautiful.
"You are about to become a man, but you still have the choice of what type of man that is. Be like your name sake, the dragon, be strong. Be true to yourself. That is all I ask."
Draco nodded mutely, he was surprised by the tone of her voice, reassuring and gentle. She hadn't tried to cast a spell on him or set him on fire. The whole encounter was not what he had expected and while far from relaxed, he gradually felt strength return to his legs as his fear reduced.
"The snide, derogatory comments you make only demean you, if everyone was the same the world would be so very boring. See the differences but don't judge someone for them. Being unique should be celebrated. Look at me, I don't fit any stereotype, but I am happy. Happier than you I'd wager."
He tried to drop his head and she stepped forward and raised his chin.
Maleficent looked at him closely and smiled softly. "You could be great Draco, but it will be hard. There are some difficult choices coming for all of us. Just remember to have faith in yourself, like I do. I wouldn't fly just anyone out here for a private chat."
"You have faith in me?" The boy queried with a slightly shaking voice but the ability to meet her eye.
"Yes." She answered immediately, her voice strong and confident.
"But why, you don't know me." He was confused, so very confused by it all.
"I feel a special bond with you, I was once a confused and torn teenager, all around me the world was changing and I didn't know who to trust. You remind me of that version of myself so long ago. I know it is easy to lash out and be angry but I have learnt the hard way life punishes us for not doing the right thing. The best advice I can give is to be true to yourself. I know life can be lonely and that is when it is easy to make bad choices, but you are stronger than that. Take my hand now and trust me."
"What do you want my hand for?" He stuttered.
"I am offering you my friendship. I want to shake your hand as an agreement." And she offered her hand. Draco found just enough confidence and clarity as he gently took it and shook it like a gentleman.
Within minutes the dragon was back and standing on the shoreline and Draco was on her back and heading to rejoin his classmates. He walked away and managed not to stumble when he was nudged in the back by the dragon and as he turned round it winked at him.
"Goodbye" he muttered to it, his head was spinning and he was in a daze, not even sure how he managed to put one foot in front of the other and get back to the common room.
He collapsed into a chair and waved away Crabbe and Goyle, he couldn't stomach their inane babbling right now. He felt drained, the cascade of emotions he had felt today had been intense. But somewhere deep inside him he felt his heart beat and a warmth spread, someone had faith in him and he wasn't worthless. He wasn't just the son of Lucius Malfoy, he was Draco, the dragon, his own man and independent. Now he had to make it count.