Taming the Dragon

Chapter 1

The Meeting

Lynx pulled her t-shirt over her head. The music blasting from her stereo was sure to bother her uncle - the Sexpistols weren't his favourite band - but she didn't care.

Lynx never cared.

As she slipped on her shoes, Lynx faintly heard a woman's voice shouting from under the trap door that led to the rest of the house. She stretched lazily and snapped her fingers - the CD player shut off abruptly and the silence rang in her ears.

"TURN THAT D-...oh, never mind. You'll be late, Lynxie!" Aunt Debra called again. Lynx grimaced. She hated being sixteen and still called "Lynxie". Nevertheless, she couldn't help but respond to the name that was so graven into her memory.

"Coming," was her one-word reply. Lynx grabbed her bag off the floor and left the room, via the spiral staircase under the door. Aunt Debra no longer stood there.

Lynx walked from her room at the top of the house, which was really a mansion, to the first-floor sitting room, which was really quite the spacious parlour. Her aunt stood at the window overlooking the lake, and her uncle sat in a high-backed chair in front of the empty grate. He glanced at her and quickly returned his gaze to the newspaper he held.

"Heh-hem," Lynx coughed, staring pointedly at her uncle.

"Remember to meet the Malfoys at Kivrien's. Don't spend my money on anything you don't need, don't be rude, and--" Lynx's uncle looked her up and down, "--stop dressing like a whore." Lynx looked bemusedly down at her outfit. I suppose Uncle Dearest isn't too fond of fishnets, she thought, examining her legs.

"If you find it plausible to say I look like a whore, then may I make my own assumption?" He nodded stiffly. "You look as if you're going to a funeral."

Her uncle's eyes blazed. "Insolent little girl--"

"I am sixteen, Uncle Damien, hardly a little girl." Lynx dipped her hand into a vase on the mantel containing Floo Powder and cast it into the grate. "Hmm...sixteen. Which would make you...what? Sixty?"

Damien nearly knocked the chair over as he stormed towards Lynx. She backed into the fire slowly, keeping her uncle's gaze.

"I will not keep the Malfoy's waiting, Uncle Dear," Lynx said, ducking into the grate.

"WHEN YOU COME BACK YOU WILL WISH YOU WERE ROTTING IN AZKABAN WITH YOUR MOTHER, LYNX LE--"

"KNOCKTURN ALLEY!" Lynx screamed in her uncle's face, tucking her elbows in as she swirled away.

A quarter of an hour later, Lynx stood in front of Kivrien's Café, a small shop that was known for its notorious brawls and Death Eater meetings. Lovely choice for your beloved niece, Uncle. Just peachy, Lynx thought as she swung the door open.

"But do we even know what she looks like?" Draco asked his father.

"She has medium brown hair and tan skin, and is about as tall as you are. And you're coming unbearably close to whining, Draco," Lucius Malfoy said.

Ignoring the reprimand, Draco continued. "Do you realize how many girls in the whole of the U.K. fit those requirements?" Lucius rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to the bar, Draco. Just watch the door." Lucius pushed away from the table and swept away.

Draco exhaled loudly. He had planned to meet a bunch of other Slytherins to buy school supplies, but instead he had to go with his father's friend's daughter. She was transferring from Durmstrang, his father had told him, because the Headmaster there was outlawing all Dark Arts for the third year in a row.

The bell over the door clanged and Draco looked up. A girl about his age stood there, her face set in an amused smirk. She stood for a few seconds, letting her gaze drift carelessly over the crowd. Then she headed toward the bar.

The girl swept leisurely past the table at which Draco was seated, and he noticed how her hips swayed slightly as she walked, and the way her curves sat in several right places. As she passed, Draco caught a slight trace of an exotic scent--something like Egyptian musk. It frightened him that he knew the name of the perfume, and he decided then and there that the less time he spent with his mother, the better.

Draco's eyes followed the girl to the bar, where she quickly acquired the bartender's attention. She leaned in close and said something, to which the bartender replied and nodded toward Draco's father. She smiled and sauntered over to him. Draco could just hear her voice, which was liltingly smooth, as she spoke to him.

"Lucius Malfoy?" she asked. Draco's father nodded and looked nervously around the café. Draco could only guess that his father thought he was being lead into a trap, which was a very foolish assumption. "No need to worry," she said, a trace of laughter in her voice. "You'll have spoken to my Uncle Damien?"

"Ah, of course. Please, take a seat with my son, Draco - I'll be along shortly," Mr. Malfoy said, suddenly smooth as ice. He gestured toward where Draco sat. She smiled again and turned to Draco. It took her four short strides to reach the nearest chair, and she sat down.

The blonde boy looked at her with an odd expression on his face. He seemed to be confused but amused at the same time: he was smirking, but his eyebrows were furrowed.

She smirked.

He smiled, and flicked his hair out of his eyes with a sudden shake of his head.

"I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, his grin fading slowly.

"Lynx Lestrange," Lynx replied, extending her hand. Draco raised his eyebrows, but took her hand.

"Not the daughter of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange?" he asked, leaning close to her.

"Ah, no. Distant relation. Very distant really - Charles and Lucille? They're Death Eaters as well," Lynx smiled. Draco nodded.

"The names are familiar."

"Acquainted, are we?" Lucius Malfoy stepped up behind Lynx and put his hands on her chair. "Well, run along, Draco. He'll show you around, my dear. I've some business to attend to." Lynx nodded and got up. Draco followed suit and made his way toward the door.

Once outside, Draco waited for Lynx to catch up.

"I wasn't aware that Charles and Lucille had a daughter," he said, as they walked in the direction of Diagon Alley.

"Few are. My Uncle Damien and Aunt Debra raised me after my parents went to Azkaban."

"So you can't remember much of them, then?" Draco turned a corner and they came suddenly into the sunlight of Diagon Alley.

"I remember some, but not nearly enough to miss them, if that's what you mean."

"Not really," Draco replied, trying and failing to act disinterested. Lynx kept her gaze on the street before her, but smiled.

"Of course," Draco continued. "Everyone knows the Malfoys." Draco stopped in front of Madame Malkins and held the door open for Lynx.

"Hmm," Lynx mumbled as she looked around the shop.

"We go back for centuries, all of us in Slytherin, you know. I'm one of the few on the Quidditch team, however. And evidently the best one who has yet been included," Draco said pompously, mistaking Lynx's indifference as interest. She rounded on him suddenly.

"You know, Draco, you have quite a large ego," Lynx said.

"Yes, well, it comes with the territory," Draco said, smirking. Lynx shook her head, then grinned.

"Which territory? Being a Malfoy, or a big-headed prat?" she asked. Draco's mouth opened and closed aimlessly as he fumbled for words.

"Can I help you miss?" an assistant asked, touching Lynx on the shoulder. With a smile, Lynx turned away from the speechless Draco to speak with the woman.

An hour later, Lynx and Draco sat outside Florean Fortesque's ice cream parlor, their spell books and school supplies on the two vacant chairs next to them. Draco stared down at his vanilla ice cream, thinking about nothing particular. Their conversation had ended suddenly when Draco called someone a Mudblood.

"Why did we come for supplies so early? S'only July," Lynx had asked after Florean dropped off their ice cream.

"My father wanted to avoid the crowds. Too many of the other sort about the day before term."

"The other sort?" Lynx had replied in a shrill voice.

"You know, Mudbloods," Draco had said lazily, spooning ice cream into his mouth.

"You mean Muggleborns?" Lynx had asked, leaning over the table.

"Muggleborns. Mudbloods - samfe thinkf," Draco had said through his mouthful.

"Muggleborn, Draco, is what my mother was," Lynx had said, lowering her voice. Draco nearly choked. He looked up to meet Lynx's dark gaze for a moment, but instead found himself held to her eyes. She scowled at him and looked down to her bowl. Then she pushed it away, seemingly not hungry.

Finally Draco could stand Lynx's stony silence and angry stare no longer. "Talk, damn you! I'm sorry, all right? I AM SORRY!" he fairly shouted.

"Ok," Lynx said, smiling fiendishly. "I was wondering when it would bother you enough to make you apologise." Draco opened his mouth as if to say something, then thinking better of it, shut it.

"Where to next?" Lynx asked as Florean took away their nearly empty dishes.

"We've got two hours to kill, but we've got all our school stuff," Draco said, getting up and stretching his legs. "So we could leave Diagon Alley, go to Knockturn, or even regular old London."

Lynx raised an eyebrow. "Master Malfoy travel into the Muggle world? This is new." Draco shrugged.

"Where ever you feel like going," he said, pulling his packages off the chair. "Let's drop our books off somewhere first. We can leave them in my father's office."

"Your father's office is in Diagon Alley?" Lynx asked, pulling her own books onto her hip. Draco shook his head.

"Knockturn, of course. Shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, Draco turned on his heel and made off down the street. Lynx followed obediently.

In ten minutes' time, Lynx and Draco were in side Lucius Malfoy's dark office. It was on the second floor, over a Potions supply store. The office was a medium-sized rectangular room, occupied by a desk at the back wall, and bookshelves all around. The two windows looked out onto the street.

"What's in those books?" Lynx asked, seating herself in an armchair in front of the desk. "Or don't you know?"

"Please, I've gone through them tons of times. Old files, records of my father's business partners - very dry stuff. Nothing interesting, if that's what you mean," Draco said airily. She smirked.

"Well, where are we going, Miss?" Draco asked, moving from his place in the window to the armchair next to Lynx's.

"Don't know, monsieur, what's a good place to go to?" Lynx asked, leaning forward in her chair. The armchairs were close enough that when Lynx leaned over, she could place her hands easily on the arm of Draco's chair. He leaned in as well, and their faces were so close that Draco could feel Lynx's breath on his cheek.

"We could stay here," Draco said, his voice involuntarily registering at a whisper. Lynx smiled.

"Interesting idea, but won't your fath--" Lynx was interrupted by heavy clomping up the stairs. She and Draco sat up as one and looked toward the door. "Somehow, I don't think you're father's footsteps would be that heavy..."

"They're not - someone else must be coming - quick, hide in that closet!" Draco hissed, jumping out of the chair and pulling Lynx up with him. He walked quickly so as not to make noise, and opened a closet next to the far bookcases. He stepped in and whirled Lynx in after him as they heard the door click open.

From a crack through the door, Lynx watched as a tall, burly man walked into the office. Not Mr. Malfoy, that's for sure, she thought.

"MacNair, is he in there?" a voice called from the hallway. MacNair grunted and proceeded into the room, searching along the bookcases for something. He even overturned the rug.

"No Malfoy, no doors. He could've Disapparated," MacNair said, turning around. "Wait--" He had caught sight of the closet.

"Keep quiet. If he hears us, he'll kill us. He's an executioner," Draco whispered in Lynx's ear. A chill ran up and down her spine, but either from Draco's close contact or the death promise, she couldn't tell.

MacNair reached for the doorknob when more footsteps sounded in the hall.

"Crabbe - MacNair, what in bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Draco's father yelled. MacNair backed away from the closet, and Draco's body went suddenly limp behind Lynx, all tension gone.

"Thank God," he murmured. Lynx reached back and slapped his arm softly, to make him quiet.

"We're inducting our own little raid, Malfoy," MacNair said smoothly.

"I have no idea what you mean," Lucius said stiffly, moving into the room, pushing Crabbe before him.

"Please, we know you have it. It's not for you to hold, now is it, Crabbe?" MacNair mocked, sitting down in one of the armchairs. Crabbe spun on Malfoy, ripping out of his grasp, and sat in the other. Looks like the friggin Spanish inquisition is about to erupt. This could get uncomfortable, Lynx thought.

"Mind naming the object, you fool?" Malfoy sneered coolly.

"The Pentacle, Malfoy, the Pentacle!" MacNair hissed. Crabbe looked in horror from MacNair to Malfoy and back to MacNair.

"You said he had some potions! I do not want to be involved in this, MacNair!" he shouted.

"Shut it, you moron. I do believe you're more stupid than your son...What would I want potions for?" MacNair hissed. Crabbe was quiet, but he was breathing heavily.

"The Pentacle vanished over a decade ago. You know that story, MacNair," Malfoy said, his face now relaxed.

"Do I? No one knows the real way it happened, do they, Malfoy?" MacNair asked, on his feet once again.

"Fool. Of course they do. Now get out of here, before I summon the Ministry henchmen."

"Not so opposed to them, now that you're not the one in trouble, eh?" MacNair asked, holding his ground. Malfoy shook his head slowly.

"Out. Now." He pointed a finger towards the door, and MacNair still stood where he was. "GET OUT!" Malfoy shouted, now pulling his wand from his cane and pointing it directly at MacNair's broad chest. MacNair scowled.

"Crabbe," he barked, as he walked out the door. Crabbe scurried through it, and slammed it shut.

Malfoy walked silently over to the door and pressed his ear against it. When the footsteps receded, his walked back to his desk and sat down, grinning.

The grin turned to a chuckle, the chuckle to a laugh, and soon Malfoy was cackling madly at the ceiling.

In the closet, Draco cursed his father under his breath for being a mad fool and not realizing it. Lynx laughed into her hand to smother the sound.

Suddenly the laughing stopped and Lucius stood up. Lynx and Draco sucked in their breath as one as he walked toward the closet. Lucius bent down next to the door, and picked something off the floor. It was Lynx's copy of Transfiguration, Grade 6.

"Draco?" Malfoy called. Draco screwed his eyes shut. "Miss Lestrange?" Lynx bit her bottom lip. Malfoy stood up and looked around. He shrugged and dropped the textbook back onto the pile. His cape swirled about him and he left the room, still smiling.

Lynx pushed the closet door open and stepped out. She turned around to look at Draco. His face was whiter than it had been fifteen minutes before, and his lips were red from being bitten.

"The Pentacle...it sounds so familiar...Have you heard of it?" Draco asked as he came out, sitting again in the armchair. Lynx nodded.

"I've overheard my Uncle speaking about it...There are Death Eater meetings at home sometimes and I listen in when I can. Seems that it was some really powerful Dark Arts object that just disappeared...I read it somewhere after my Uncle mentioned it," Lynx said, sitting down herself.

Draco sat in silence, staring into space, racking his memory for some mention of the Pentacle. He couldn't remember a thing.

"I've got it!" Lynx said, standing up suddenly. "Draco, have you an old history book in here?"

"Why in bloody hell would my father keep old history books in his office?" Draco asked incredulously, looking up at Lynx. She frowned slightly and sat down again.

"Good point. But I know I read it in my Uncle's old one. But I can only remember the picture, not what was written."

"What was it?" Draco asked, interested again.

"Just a plain, iron circle with a star in it. Nothing special-looking, but I can't remember why it was so important," Lynx said, rubbing her temples.

"Ok...look, staying in here won't do us any good, especially if my father comes back. Let's go walk around at least," Draco said, getting up from his chair and grabbing his school supplies. Lynx stood again, took hold of her school things and went towards the door, Draco behind her.

An hour later, Draco and Lynx were back in Kivrien's. Lynx reached onto the mantelpiece and stuck her hand into a jar, pulling a handful of Floo Powder out.

"I'll see you at school, Draco," she said, stepping into the grate with her books still on her hip. Draco nodded and smiled.

"Maybe before then?" he asked, a hopeful ring to his voice. Lynx smiled, threw the Floo Powder into the grate, yelled "Willowmere!" and disappeared, leaving Draco hanging. Lynx was still smiling when she fell, sooty and bruised, through the grate at her Uncle's home.