Fates Collide

Thea looked out the window of the classroom, completely bored. Was he this dull when he was alive, she wondered as she cast a glance to her transparent professor. There he was droning on and on, oblivious to the fact that half his students were watching the back of their eyelids and not the lesson. She returned her gaze to the outside, watching the breeze flow over the snow covered grounds, letting her mind wander.

She turned her focus to her own imagine, then. Her rich blue eyes hidden behind contacts, her auburn hair flowed down to her shoulders, perfectly straight due to constant treatments to make it so. Her full mouth and determined chin always concealed, by the fact that she never looked up. She was five foot four with a slim figure and full chest, which was bound to reduce to make her look as if her chest was completely flat.

The reason behind her deception was known to only a few. She was a spy, disguised in the most unlikely fashion, as a fifth year student, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was just sixteen so she was one if the older members of her class. Ever since the first incident in Harry Potter's first year she had come to be his silent guardian. Her kind had known that he had a great purpose, it was her duty to make sure he survived to fulfill it. She was a year below Harry Potter and part of her job was to find out any information she could. By following the alliances of the students she found out the alliances of their parents. Her job had been pretty mundane for her first three years. Her failure to help Harry in those times had been a bitter disappointment for her. She was begun to feel useless, she hadn't even sensed the truth of Barty Crouch. Then it had happened, Voldemort had returned more potent then ever. Now was the time when her skills as a spy were truly to be tested and she loved every minute of it.

Her kind continued to filter information to her, and she to them, but her kind's very existence was a secret not even most wizards knew. Most wizards believed that dragons were dangerous, unintelligent beasts and they were right for some dragons. But wizards didn't know where evolution had stepped in. Millions of years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, dragons emerged and soon after split into two different species. One relied completely on instincts the other began to develop intelligence and over those millions of years since the last mass extinction have developed a society all their own, they even learned the secret of immortality, which now is a natural part of all draguals.

Then man appeared and the draguals, as they called themselves, disappeared allowing man his time to develop. When humanity developed civilization the draguals decided to start sending in spies. But the shift to human was the most difficult magic the draguals had ever tried and was a great drain on their magic. Spies would return in states of shock from the loss of so much magical energy. It soon became too high a price to pay in order to send spies in, since a recovering dragual was completely defenseless, a few had even been killed. Then a dragual fell in love with a human, and made a decision that echoed throughout the rest of time. He bound his soul to hers, in order to preserve her life. She became the first immortal human. And their child was the first of Thea's own kind, dragums, who had the ability to flow from dragual to human with little effort. They also bore the instincts of both and the immortal lifespan of the dragual.

The reason for the contacts and the straightened hair and downcast look was all to make her unrecognizable and her efforts had worked beautifully. Too well in fact, she sometimes thought. Nobody noticed her, and the only attention she had ever gotten was connected to her constant shadow.

A soft sigh emerged from underneath her desk. Thea looked down and smiled at her companion. Tobin lay peacefully, curled around her feet. He was a sleek Grey Wolf, perfectly at home wherever Thea was. Nobody realized that he was a wolf, of course; she had simply told them that he was a stray with any number of unknown ancestors. It was one of the few questions her classmates had ever bothered to ask her. The fact that he made her noticeable, had made her want to leave him behind. However, he could use mindspeech, which he made use of to declare that there was no way she was going off without him. She had relented and he never neglected his guard duties.

Tobin was her only distinguishing mark, but for most of the time her classmates paid her no heed. And that was perfectly acceptable to her, if a little depressing. While she had no human friends, here at Hogwarts, she had a least two other friends. One of them was Hagrid, the grounds keeper and the other was her stallion, Bristol.

Before she had come to Hogwarts she had ridden and owned him. Wishing to maintain her riding she had requested to bring Bristol. Her request had been approved, but under the condition that nobody else knew about it. Many would think it unfair. Hagrid had agreed to help her. During the day, Bristol wandered the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. At night Thea crept out to Hagrid's hut and brought Bristol into the paddock, groomed him, fed him, then put his blanket and led him to the shed which was actually his stall. Then every morning she went out and rode him before feeding him and letting him into the forest.

During the morning rides, she used her magic to make her and Bristol invisible, allowing them to go all over the grounds, a handy trick that Dumbledore had been willing to teach her. When students had first heard the invisible morning rider, Dumbledore had explained that a horseman ghost wished to exercise in the morning and there was nothing to worry about. The students had accepted this and forgot about it soon enough. Dumbledore, being one of the few humans that the draguals trusted, had managed to keep her secret safe and the other teachers had gone along.

Thea came out of her contemplation of the past in time to hear the professor dismiss the class for the day. As she packed her things in her bag, she realized with surprise that there was only one day left till she went home for winter holidays. She smiled, soon she would be home, with her friends and, hopefully, her family. Her family was simply her parents, but that was typical of a dragual or dragum family. It is very difficult for either to conceive and all count themselves lucky to have one. Many didn't even have that. An immortal race had to have some way to check its population and low birth rate was it. Her parents had promised to a least apparate from the states, where they were occupied with trying to prevent Voldemort from getting any kind of foothold, for Christmas. So when she arrived at King's Cross a muggle friend, would be waiting to drive her to their home on the outskirts of London. Her parents were fairly well off since they had had a few lifetimes to accumulate their wealth.

She walked briskly down the hall, with thoughts of Christmas causing a quiet smile to spread across her face.

The silent paw falls of Tobin accompanied Thea as she walked down to her final class before Christmas break, potions. Why does such misery always occur right before holidays, she wondered. On this particular trip to class, however, she was also collecting as much information as she could from the group in front of her. She was a good twenty feet behind them and they had no idea she was there but she could hear them perfectly.

"I'm so glad that holidays are here, I won't have to look at Potter's smug face for another two weeks." Draco Malfoy drawled.

"Yeah," added Crabbe "and just cause he beat you in quidditch." Malfoy glared at Crabbe, obviously still bitter about his loss. Thea could never bring herself to call him Draco, to give him the honor of the name of the dragual's most precious constellation.

She continued to listen to their conversation, gleaming details from it that could be important. As they passed the hallway leading to her class, she was wondered if she should follow them or not. She looked down at her watch and saw she had ten minutes before potions started. If she wanted her inconspicuous seat in the corner she would have to go now. Making her decision to go straight to potions she swore with frustration and looked up. The Slytherins had stopped right in front of the hallway and she had nearly run straight into them. She backed up a few steps, as all three turned towards her.

"Ah look, a Gryffindor has gotten lost." Malfoy quipped as Thea tried to go around. "What did you get separated from the rest of the Potter fan club?" He made a swipe at her books trying to knock them out of her hand, she easily dodged, her dragual heritage giving her agility he couldn't possibly match, and Malfoy nearly lost his balance. He turned to face her, his defenses up.

But he had also just cleared the way to class, she turned to go and not knowing what possessed her she remarked, "You know if you're going to insult people you could at least put some effort into it." She then headed towards the potions dungeons, a string of repetitive insults following her. When she arrived at class she mentally kicked herself for her stupidity. She had insulted Malfoy and she knew enough about him that that single insult might just have made her very recognizable. Great, she thought, all my work at being anonymous down the drain because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

Draco Malfoy watched as Goyle hoisted his trunks onto the train, cursing at him when he nearly drooped it. "Can't you even lift baggage without messing up." Goyle didn't even react to the comment. Probably too stupid to realize I insulted him, Malfoy thought to himself, as he stepped up onto the Hogwarts express.

Students were scurrying up and down the train, talking excitedly about the holidays. He wanted to laugh at their pathetic attempts to hide the fact that fear pervaded the air. It was always like this around holidays, everyone determinedly trying to enjoy themselves. He shoved his stuff into storage and headed towards the back of the train, trying to find an empty compartment.

Towards the end he located one that had only one passenger in it. Seeing as she was the only one in there, Malfoy decided that it would be easy enough to shove her out and take over the compartment. He opened the door and walked in, completely confident that he would soon have his own compartment.

Thea collapsed onto the soft cushion of her compartment, throwing her bag onto the seat opposite her and placing her other bag gently on the floor. She hadn't needed to pack much and so had left her trunk at Hogwarts. She had other clothes at home, ones much more suited to her sense of fashion. All she had packed were a few books from school, stuff to put her contacts away in and a few other neccessities. In her other bag she had her portable CD player, her laptop, and the hookups and connections for it. Draguals had long ago developed a potion that protected all electronics from magic, and since they had been the only magical beings who had bothered to look into it, they were the only ones who possessed it.

It meant that while she was at Hogwarts she could use e-mail, listen to CDs and continue to enjoy the highlights of a muggle life. Her laptop had one other important feature, a long-lasting power core that transferred magical energy into electrical, which was important because Hogwarts didn't have electricity.

She reached into the her bag and pulled out her CD player, since that was easier to hide, and placed a favorite CD in it. Tobin jumped up onto the seat, curling into a tight ball. "Wake me when we get home," came the sleepy mindvoice.

She leaned back, putting her feet up on the seat. "No problem," she replied, "just as long as I don't sleep through it as well." He just wuffled in reply, as she closed her eyes to get some sleep of her own.

She awoke to the sound of the door being shoved open. She opened one sleepy eye to see who it was, and discovered, to her unpleasant surprise, that it was Malfoy. He sneered down at her, "What are you doing in my seat?" he demanded. Thea looked up at him in confusion. His golden eyes shone with self assurance. He was five feet eight inches tall, and his bleach blonde hair was neatly combed out of his face. He appeared to be quite in shape and was sought after by many of the girls at Hogwarts, but he was the most ignorant jerk she had ever met.

His seat, how in the hell is this his seat? She put her hand onto her player, pressing stop, before removing her earphones so he would think they simply blocked out noise.

"Excuse me, but I don't believe this compartment was occupied when I got here," she replied evenly.

His two cronies snickered in the background as he replied, "Well, it is now so you'd better clear out." He moved towards her bag on the other bench, obviously intent on chucking it out into the hallway. Tobin was on it like a flash, placing himself between Malfoy and his goal. Thea considered simply leaving in order to prevent another incident with Malfoy but this blatant attempt to insult her and her own pride prevented her from so much as moving.

"Well," he ordered angrily, "get moving."

"I have no intention of moving," she said quietly, keeping her composure. "If you wish to sit in this compartment you may, but I have no intention of leaving."

"Who are you to tell a Malfoy what to do!" he demanded angrily. But instead of replying Thea simply resumed her previous position, placing her headphones back on and closed her eyes, determined to simply ignore the stupid gits.

Malfoy didn't know what to do. This girl had him completely baffled. Instead of giving up and scampering out of sight or at least fighting back she was just ignoring him. He watched as the dog that had protected her bag, picked it up, dropped down picked up the other bag, before finally jumping up, wrapping itself around the girls legs and resting its head on both bags.

He looked at the spaces left open to him, but before he could move Crabbe and Goyle took the other bench and his only choice was the seat next to the dog. He thought about trying to simply shove the girl out or just try for another compartment, but he took one look at the massive dog and decided against it. As for looking for another compartment, he couldn't do that for that would mean that this girl had won. He dropped angrily into his seat, glancing bitterly over at the girl. She appeared to have fallen asleep already, he could see chest rising steadily.

Crabbe and Goyle also soon dropped off, Goyle omitting his own symphony of snores before Malfoy kicked him to make him shut up. Malfoy studied the girl, trying to figure out who she was. He remembered the dog easily enough but its owner was lost in ambiguity. As he looked at her he wondered if that might have been the point. When she had spoken before, she had done so with an air of serene self-assurance, the very thing that he had lacked in that little confrontation, but also there had been a guarded look in her eyes. That air of hers made her seem very memorable, so maybe he should pay attention to her in the future.

Malfoy are you checking her out?

No I'm simply curious, besides look at her, she is so plain no wonder I never noticed her before.

Are you sure?

Malfoy ignored the question and turned towards the window to get some sleep.

When Malfoy awoke, the train had just arrived at King's Cross. He found Crabbe and Goyle just starting to get up, but the mystery girl was gone. He gathered up his stuff and headed out to the platform, leaving the other two to stumble after him.

Once outside the train he waited until Crabbe and Goyle hauled his trunk onto his trolley. As soon as that was done, Malfoy pushed his trunk towards the exit and waited in line to leave. He was soon through the entrance and began looking around for his parents. He spotted his mother, but couldn't see his father. There was another man with her, seemingly waiting to take hold of his trunk. The man was dressed all in black with a black cap on his head. He pushed his trolley over to them and shoved it towards the driver.

He scrambled to catch it and stop it from tipping it over, then proceed to push it out to the muggle car that would bring them to Knockturn Alley, where they would be able to use magic to get home. He fell into step beside his mother, who simply said hello before heading towards the awaiting car.

As he entered the parking lot he saw someone fly out of the station, one bag at their side and another at their back. At first he didn't recognize her, but then she turned as she hugged what looked to be a muggle that was waiting for her. It was the girl from the train! What was she doing! She acted as if that muggle was her friend.

The two broke apart and immediately began to talk, as they headed towards a car. Suddenly the other girl turned and presented mystery girl with a set of keys, then as the girl accepted them, the muggle indicated the car. The girl turned, a look of astonishment on her face before she did the most unexpected thing.

"Yes, woo hoo!" She yelled, before turning to the muggle and giving her another fierce hug. She then turned towards the car and held out her keys. Immediately the car beeped, a loud click was heard and then the back of it opened. Malfoy looked around himself. What was she doing performing magic in front of muggles? Add to that the fact that her exclamation had caused several of them to look at her.

But the muggles paid this no heed and most simply smiled a knowing smile and went about their business. As the girl approached her car a man stepped out of his, one which was parked facing the girl's car. He walked up to the two girls, he introduced himself then indicated his car. The girl looked over at it and nodded her head with a smile. He broke into a smile of his own and returned to his car.

Now what was going on? Malfoy had reached the muggle car, a long black one with plenty of room. The driver was struggling with his trunk and Malfoy didn't bother helping him. This allowed him time to see what the girl was up to.

And why are you so curious?

Because she doesn't act normally at all.

How would you know what's normal for her?

Malfoy ignored his mind and continued to watch the scene unfolding in the next aisle of cars. The man's car now had its front open and the girl approached it with what looked to be plastic rope. She then reached under the front of her car and with a click her car's front opened as well. She then indicted to the muggle not to touch the car and the muggle quickly obliged.

Hmm, I guess she has sense enough not to let muggles touch her things, Malfoy thought to himself. She then unraveled the plastic rope which seemed to have a set of two jaws. She took one end and attached the jaws to a part inside her car. She then leaned into the man's car and attached one set of jaws to the inside of the car and attached the other to the car itself, careful not to touch either car, as well. Maybe that's just a safety thing, then. I can't believe she helping this muggle out, whatever for? She then stepped back and took out her keys again. She pointed them at the car, which immediately came to life, she then nodded to the man in the car, who turned on his own car. It too roared to life and a look of relief spread over his face. He immediately jumped out of his car and shook the girl's hand, supposedly thanking her. She smiled back and began a conversation with the man.

Malfoy heard a thud behind him, he looked back and saw that the driver had finally managed to shove his trunk into the back of the car. He returned his gaze back to the girl who was once again leaning inside the man's car. She removed both jaws and then retrieved the other end form inside her car. She opened the back of her car and tossed it back in. She closed it and waved as the man said goodbye and got into his car.

"Draco it is time to go," he heard his mother say behind him. He turned to see his mother waiting for him to get in, the driver holding open the door. He climbed in and sat in a seat facing the back. The girl had gotten into the driver's side of the car and was backing out of her spot.

Why is she so at home in the muggle world, he wondered. Doesn't she just use magic all the time. As Malfoy continued to wonder the car pulled out of the lot and drove off.