Albus Dumbledore sits in his office with an ever-present headache that only threatens to grow. The cause of his ailment? A returning dark lord, and what he thought to be a burgeoning one, one who was growing stronger and more daring in time in Draco Malfoy. The boy did his best to prove the headmaster wrong, doing something even said dark lord did not, arguably could not: he dueled a dragon head on and he won. No, that's stating it too lightly. The boy dominated what many consider to be the apex predator of magical beasts, a being that needs an entire team of specially trained wizards just to handle.
The ancient wizard gently places his head in his hands as he sighs, exasperated, massaging his own temples at the thought. He still doesn't know how the boy did it, but the debacle did help to highlight the sheer danger that the boy represents. In a way, the newly dubbed 'Dragon King' was right when they met earlier this year. He is in fact untouchable, and it would in fact be a disaster of epic proportions should he alienate the boy and drive him into the waiting arms of Lord Voldemort himself. It's a strange miracle that the boy appears to have a distaste for the once-deceased dark lord, given the alignment of not just his parents, but the rest of his family as well. Even his close friend, Theodore Nott, had ties to the dark lord, so the Hogwarts Headmaster had been pleasantly surprised to see such an attitude.
And the last thing he wants to do is to give the boy a reason to rescind it. And yet…
His mind wanders to the curious case of Ginny Weasley. The girl once touched by the dark lord in question, albeit a horcrux of his, a diary cursed to hold his younger, more charming self, who almost wooed the girl out of her very soul. The girl, who also held the attention and the admiration of the burgeoning dark lord, yet seemed to reject it with how she came to him, the headmaster of the school, to report him and his…inappropriate use of mind magic. The girl who was then chosen to be his most precious person, who danced with him at the Yule Ball, in front of the entire school, and even shared a moment of affection. And still, the girl who sent Valentine's gifts to Harry Potter, and claimed to have accepted her involvement in the Triwizard Tournament solely because of him.
That alone was…curious, worrying even, but as a teenage girl, he expected nothing less from her. More worrying are the actions taken by the young Draco Malfoy that led her to the point of reporting him, and worse the smugness, the confidence he had in facing the headmaster despite knowing exactly what he's done wrong, and that he could hide it no longer.
Worse is that the boy's bluff, about no one in Slytherin daring to speak, was not a bluff at all. Truly not a single child had anything to say about the Mafloy heir, at least not to him, and when he used other methods, other people to coax out the answers, every word uttered was nothing but positive. …And yet there was trepidation in their eyes, fear even, hidden deep within the depths of the mind, viewable via the windows to the soul, that told a different story; one of a tyrant, one of a boy building a loyal following, one…of a dark lord.
Sighing again, the old headmaster wonders where he went wrong. Perhaps it was listening to Severus wax poetic about the boy and how the tales of his cruelty and power were exaggerated. Setting a boy four years his senior aflame seemed far too much like hyperbole when such whisperings made their way to Albus' ear; so when he questioned the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and he had nothing to say on the matter, and then with Severus promising him it sounded worse than it was…perhaps his old friend was right; 'constant vigilance' is indeed a motto to live by, even if it is a rather paranoid one.
But…is it paranoia if it's real? After all, even Alastor himself was caught off-guard, imprisoned, used in a scheme to kill Harry Potter and to revive the dark lord Voldemort, despite his own preaching of the motto. Luckily, only half of the scheme came to fruition, with young Harry's life having been spared, if just barely, but it was far too close for comfort. More frightening is much like with Draco, it happened right under the headmaster's own nose.
Glancing at the prophecy he keeps in his office, Dumbledore's thoughts wander in a different direction. Could Draco perhaps be an ally in the events described within the orb? Could he be the power the dark lord knows not? Originally, the headmaster had assumed it'd be something like love, or perhaps a boon, an artifact Harry would find in his adventures along the way but...
On the flip side, could Draco not aid Voldemort in his pursuit of magical dominance? The prophecy states that either Harry or Voldemort must kill the other, but…it doesn't say anything about someone helping them, or even delivering them to their foe. And that is where the so-called Dragon King might come in.
Another sigh escapes his lips as he closes his eyes and thinks deeper. He'd like to think that he is no fool, despite the many mistakes he's made in his life, and he hasn't missed the looks that the Malfoy heir has been giving him. He realizes that drastic measures might need to be taken, and he knows that if the boy cannot be turned, then he must be exposed, he must face pushback for his crimes, for his activities, enough to get him thrown into Azkaban.
And even that might not be enough.
Draco Malfoy has all but flaunted his propensity for wandless magic, and when one is sent to Azkaban, all they do, all they can do is snap your wand and send you on your way. There is a slight chance in Dumbledore's mind that the young Malfoy may be able to escape, to counter the Dementors who would prey upon his mind state, for as symbolic as the gesture is, snapping the wand of a wizard like Draco Malfoy does nothing but turn him against you.
The boy would need The Kiss then, or perhaps an imprisonment similar to his dear friend Gellert…
Slowly turning his wand, or rather his wand in his hands, the Headmaster of Hogwarts murmurs to himself.
"Perhaps there is another way…"