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“It’s a dragon.” Malfoy drawls.
“It is not.” Harry refutes incredulously.
“Oh I’m sorry,” Malfoy replies, sounding not at all like he is, “are you the expert on Magical Beasts now? I must have missed that.”
Harry rubs his hand over his forehead and breathes in deeply, in through his nose, before releasing the breath. When he goes to speak again, he tries to keep his breath calm.
“What I meant to say,” and his voice is not calm, it’s terse, he can hear that, but so help him Malfoy brought it out, “is that it doesn’t look like a dragon.”
“Oh fine then Potter. I guess if it doesn’t look like a dragon then it mustn’t be a dragon. Since you already knew it wasn’t a dragon I’m not sure why you wasted my time calling me down here to look at your not dragon.”
Merlin it’s been forever since he’s had to deal with Malfoy at work. How can one person be so infuriating? He’s ridiculous, he’s definitely antagonising Harry on purpose – and Harry knows he’s taking that bait. But so help him work Malfoy is impossible to keep calm around.
It – the creature – had come in during a bust for an illegal clothing smuggling rink. The clothes were being made from illegally sourced magical beasts. Dragon hide boots and jackets, Niffler stoles, hats set with Occamy feathers – just to name a few. In the bust they’d also found a number of other magical beasts. All of which had been easily identifiable.
But not this one.
At first Harry had assumed it was non-magical. But then it had appeared outside of the cage they’d placed it in – and they cage had been nowhere they could see – so it was safe to assume there was at least something magical about it. So he’d called in the big guns. Sent a request via paper plane to the Department for the protection of Magical Beasts (previously Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures) and they’d sent their officer who knew the most about foreign Magical Beasts.
Which had been Malfoy.
“It’s a Kingii Dragon.” Malfoy finally elaborates, bending over to look at it more closely. “They’re native to Australia. This one is an adolescent, but they don’t grow much more than this – it will probably only grow to about twice this size.”
“It doesn’t look like a Dragon.” Harry points out again. The now-identified Kingii is little, only about the size of a pet rat. It had scales which were iridescent in the light – and that probably should have been the first giveaway that it was magical in origin, something non-magical would never have such a rainbow shine to it, a colour which dragged your attention to it – but shifted even as you looked at it. It looked as if it could have been a trick of the light or the movement of the beast, but the more you looked at it the more obvious it became that the colouring could not be non-magical. It was probably a self-defence mechanism of the beast – a camouflage that worked unless you knew what you were dealing with it. Malfoy was stroking the Kingii at a place behind its head, just underneath a strange flap of skin – or something.
“What is that – that... flap you’re patting behind?”
“This?” Malfoy rubs the flap of skin and the Kingii gives a whole body shudder. Malfoy continues the motion and the beast leans into it – looking remarkably content for a possibly-dragon-beast. “These are actually the Kingii’s wings. It folds them up when not in use.”
Malfoy scratches underneath the fold and the Kingii pops the fold out. It looks like a two petaled flower – and certainly nothing like wings. Before Harry can say anything about the strangeness of that though, Malfoys’s hand scratches just behind the extended petals.
There’s another shudder and then the folds unfold and then Dean understands it.
“Fuck,” Harry mutters, barely more than a whisper. The Kingii is beautiful. The wings stretch out wide, taking up the breadth of the whole table it had been resting on.
“The Kingii hides its nature by hiding those wings. It’s one of the few Dragon breed native to Australia.” There’s something in Malfoy’s voice, something Harry hasn’t heard before, so he can’t place it. When he looks up at Malfoy’s face though he recognises the expression – it’s awe. Malfoy isn’t paying attention to Harry, instead watching the Kingii as he strokes his fingers along the thin membrane of its wing.
When the Kingii opens its mouth and releases something similar to a chirp, Malfoy smiles.
Harry can’t think of the last time he saw Malfoy smile. Certainly not like this. When he was a kid – when they were both kids – he remembers Malfoy’s self-satisfied smirk, remembers the know-it-all grins, but this is different. There’s nothing but happiness in Malfoy’s smile now.
It’s a far nicer smile than Harry’s ever seen, and he feels a flip in his stomach at the thought.
He pushes that thought aside with all the force of a beater clubbing a bludger.
“So it’s a dragon,” Harry says forcefully his words coming out sharp and harsh. Malfoy flinches at the sound of his voice, his fingers withdrawing from the Kingii’s wings. The Kingii – either in reaction from the sound of his voice or Malfoys own withdrawal – folds its wings up. With its wings once more tucked away, the Kingii once again looks almost like it could be any non-magical beast. “What do we do with it now?”
“Well, the Australian Department of Magical Beasts has a strict three-month quarantine for all beasts. Given that this is an adolescent Kingii, I don’t think that would be in its best interests. I can look into sanctuaries for the Kingii to be relocated to in Great Britain, there are a few that could take in a Kingii, less that would be capable of caring for an adolescent one. But I can make inquiries.”
Malfoy gave the Kingii another pat before turning to face Harry.
“Of course it will need to stay here in the meantime.”
“What? Here as in here, here? In my office in the Auror Department here?”
“Yes, Potter.”
“Why?” Harry’s voice is almost a yelp, a sound far louder than it should be. The Kingii flinches at the sound, and Harry forces himself to calm down, and the next words are quieter at least, if not necessarily calmer. “Can’t you take it back to your department? You know – the department which specialises in this stuff.”
“Yes Potter, I’ll take this dangerous and predatorial beast back to my department where it will be constantly assaulted by new smells, sounds and all the tasty little beasts it wants to get its hands on.”
“You could have just said so.” Harry forces out through gritted teeth.
“I just did.”
“Do you really try to make everything as difficult as possible?”
“Only for you Potter. You’re a special case. You’ll need a heat source for it. The Kingii can’t get cold – and it’s used to an Australian climate so make sure this room is kept warm. Do not bring owls, rats or toads into the department. It could eat them. Or an owl could attack the Kingii.“ Malfoy turns to look at the Kingii who had now laid down, entire body on the desk except its head which pointed straight up to the ceiling – strange. “It depends really. Best to keep them separated in any case. I need to make enquires. I’ll return with food and an enclosure for it.”
Before Harry could say another word Malfoy disapparated from the room.
“That’s against Ministry protocol.”
The Kingii looks up at the sound of his voice, but other than that his words go entirely unnoticed.
It turns out that there is a sanctuary willing to take the Kingii on – but they won’t have the availability for a week.
Which means a week of looking after the Kingii. As promised, Malfoy brings him food for the Kingii – crickets which are held under a stasis charm, an enclosure for the Kingii – although it still made its way out of the enclosure whenever it likes. Harry’s found the Kingii on his bookshelf, on top of his desk, underneath his desk, basking in front of the fake window in his office – just to name a few places.
Malfoy had set up a charm to stop the Kingii from leaving the room.
And Harry had named it Eggsy.
Malfoy stops by every morning to check on Eggsy – he’s unimpressed with the name of course – but otherwise Harry gets used to his very own miniature-dragon office-mate.
Which of course is when the spot becomes available at the sanctuary.
Malfoy and Harry take Eggsy to the sanctuary together, early on Tuesday morning – exactly 9 days after he first discovered him.
“It’s kind of like giving up your child,” Harry says as they walk up to the sanctuary, “are you going to miss Eggsy?”
From the corner of his eyes he can see the frown pulling at Malfoy’s features, if only for a moment.
“I actually will.” Malfoy looks over at the travelling cage Harry’s holding. “He’s quite a spectacular specimen.”
“Yeah Eggsy is great,” he says, repeating the name just to annoy Malfoy. He’s enjoyed his office mate, and somewhat more surprisingly, has come to enjoy Malfoy’s presence, come to enjoy the banter, the way he’s learning what buttons to press to antagonise Malfoy in retaliation. Sharing a cup of tea while the discuss Eggsy or their workloads.
He’s going to miss it.
Unless...
“I was thinking of coming out here again. You know. Visiting Eggsy. If you uh – wanted to come out too maybe. Maybe we could come out here together sometime. You know for uh... Eggsy’s sake.”
“Well, I guess if it’s for Eggsy’s sake,” Draco agrees, voice amused.
When Harry looks at Malfoy there’s a hint of a smile on his face, and Harry can’t help but echo it back.