Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin 74 Dwarves.

"We prefer to not to say ours." Draco said with a deep voice. "Tell me about Norberta."

"Okay, then-- we have been studying Norberta for a while now and she is really hard to handle." Charles said shrugging his shoulders, "She has already killed two elves and harmed more than 5 caretakers, so not many of us get too close to her. If she was a normal Dragon we would have already confined her in a strict environment but since you pay a lot of money to take care of her, our boss doesn't allow us to do that."

"You seem mad." Theodore said, "Let me guess, she harmed you."

"Not me, my friend." Charles said not looking back, "One of his arms was bitten off."

"Isn't that common in your profession?" Theodore asked interested, "You are handling a dragon, you know?"

"Yeah! But the crazy ones are handled in a controlling manner, so they stop causing further harm." Charlie said, "But with Norberta, all we can do is feed her and study her behavior from far away, she isn't trained at all because that's what you asked for."

Theodore went near Draco and whispered, "Do we really want that crazy thing?"

"Let me see her first." Draco said rolling his eyes under the hood, "If I can't handle her then I won't do any crazy thing."

"Your choice." Theodore said backing off.

"So Charles--"

"You can call me Charlie." Charlie said.

"Okay, Charlie-- you said that there are elves here?"

"Yeah, they are really useful in taking care of these creatures and are specifically trained for it."

"Can you buy one?" Draco asked curiously.

"There is a trader up-north from here, who deals with trained elves." Charlie said, "But it will cost you a huge amount of money, what other creatures do you own?"

"A murtlap and some creatures here and there."

Charlie thought for a while, "Are you new to this?" he asked. "You sound very young."

"Ever heard of dwarves?" Draco said with an emotionless voice.

"Oh! I apologize-- since you are new, I suggest you go buy some giant dung beetles-- it will help you deal with the feces." Charlie suggested awkwardly.

'That's a really good idea.' Draco thought to himself, with Fluffy around, the cleaning of their feces has always been a bother, especially since he was considering adding more animals to his suitcase buying some dung beetles seemed necessary.

"We are here." Charlie said opening a door, "The place is enchanted with different formations and spells so she can't escape from here-- look there she is."

Both of them looked at the fairly grown Dragon, which was way bigger than the last time they saw her. Draco slowly started walking close to Norberta.

"I wouldn't go near if I were you." Charlie called out but Draco didn't listen. Theodore sighed taking out his wand in case anything unexpected happens.

Norberta looked at Draco with a bit of vigilance, "Norberta, it's me." Draco said in a weird whisper. Hearing that Norberta came closer and closer.

"Hey. is your friend going to be okay?" Charlie asked taking his wand out as well.

"I don't know." Theodore said readying his stance as well. But to both their surprise the Dragon neither breathed out fire nor did she bite Draco, instead she came closer and suddenly started rubbing her face against his.

"What--" Charlie was shocked, in all his years of research he had never seen something like this before, A dragon acting close to a human? What has the world come to? Especially Norberta, that deranged Dragon has been acting crazy ever since she came here.

"Leave--" Draco said turning his head back.

"But this is amazing-- can't I just watc--"

"I said leave." Draco said again.

Charlie kept his head down and backed off, "I will be just outside if you need any help just call out to me." He went out and closed the door, but he looked incredibly sad, missing out on such precious research material.

"Well, at least he isn't as annoying as his brother." Theodore said after the door closed, "The world is really a small place."

Draco opened his hood, petting Norberta, "I knew he worked here but never thought he would work here with Norberta."

"He doesn't seem to hate you or even know you though." Theodore said, "Especially considering your families-- don't really get together."

"He doesn't know." Draco said caressing Norberta, who was fondly looking at him "Only a few people are allowed to know the information of the owner of these dragons, the researchers are here only to do their research, other things don't really matter to them."

Theodore nodded, "It's surprising-- does she still remember you?"

"I don't know." Draco said, "Do you remember me?" Draco asked Norberta who nodded in return.

"Those whispers again... can you really talk to them?"

"What do you think?"

"At first, I thought that it was something you learned to control a dragon but you can understand them, right?" Theodore said with his hands under his chin.

"I guess..." Draco answered vaguely, "I don't know, what it is myself."

Theodore was about to say something when suddenly the door opened again, "I told you to stay out didn't I?" Draco said looking back but it wasn't Charlie but a group of strangers.

"Who are you?" Draco asked looking away quickly pulling his hoods up.

"Brilliant Disguise, Mr. Malfoy or should I say, Black." The man in the center grinned. The man had long black hair and a beard streaked with silver, as well as a great overhanging forehead that shadowed his glinting eye.

"Who are you?" Draco asked with vigilance taking out his wand, he turned back looking at them. Since they already knew his identity, Draco quickly switched his eye's back to normal.

"Don't be so impatient, Mr. Black." The man said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Pius Thicknesse, the head of the anti-dark force that has been recently created."

'Pius Thicknesse...' Draco repeated the name a couple of time until he finally remembered that this person was none other than one of Voldemort's puppets and the future minister of magic. Thicknesse was under the Imperius curse at the time, so Draco didn't really know what his character was like, beforehand.

"What do you want?" Draco said.

"We just want you to come with us, that's all," Pius said smiling, "We don't mean you any harm."

"People who mean harm usually say that they don't." Theodore snickered.

"Oh, Mr. Nott, you are required to come with us as well," Pius said, "Afterall you are a hidden talent as well."

Norberta growled looking at the people slowly surrounding them, Draco patted Norberta to calm her down.

"Such a beautiful relation between a human and a Dragon is a very rare thing to see." Pius said smiling, "Does she belong to you?"

"You are really being an annoyance, don't you think?" Draco said pointing his wand at him, "I'll ask you again, What do you want from me?"

"We want nothing but to help you, Mr. Black." Pius said, "We have arranged training methods for you and a couple of other wizards to help them improve, so when you get out of your school, you will be a lot better than all your other classmates. You can even be a Head Auror right off the gate."

"Are you an idiot?" Draco said making Pius frown, "Or do you think I am one? Help me?-- I am the Head of the Black family, do you think I need to be a filthy Auror like you?-- you all are afraid of a 12-year-old kid becoming a dark lord-- do you think, I will believe that you have the guts to teach me more and make me even more powerful?"

The surrounding wizards faces were grim after hearing Draco insult Aurors and so was Pius for a while but he returned to his smiling face. "You are right-- you don't need to be an Auror and neither do we want to make you more powerful-- we just want to make sure that your intentions aren't to harm us so we wanted to make sure, and we want to teach you how to exist properly in this new age, without causing any harm to the future."

"I have heard, Enough!" Suddenly a couple of wizards dressed in black came in through the door. It was none other than Lucius.

"Mr.Malfoy it's a pleasure to meet you." Pius said bowing a little but Lucius didn't pay him any heed.

He looked at Draco, "Enough playing around, you are coming back with me."

"I can't allow you to do that." Before Draco could say anything, Pius replied walking towards Lucius.

Chapter end