Tugging on Dragon Heartstrings

[Merlin Schopenhauer]

Merlin was waiting to feel less overwhelmed by the new world he'd stepped into, but the students were up to week two of classes and the feeling had yet to dissipate. Every which way he turned, magic was exploding out of the walls. The portraits made conversation with him, the ghosts 'bumped' into him and gave him those infamous chills like in horror movies, students were jinxing and hexing one another left right and center as owls ducked in through the eaves to deliver letters like it was the 1870's. He didn't know where to look, and he was sure he looked as stupid as he felt, but that didn't stop it all from being too exciting to express. Even now, with a situation as mundane as eating lunch at the Gryffindor house table, Merlin couldn't stop peering about at all the tiny but magnificent displays of magic all around him.

Over at the Hufflepuff table, however, something of greater significance was happening that, to the boy who was participating, would be merely commonplace. Merlin spotted him after ten minutes of slow, distracted eating, and the Gryffindor first year felt as if his heart had stopped in that moment. His fellow first year seemed to be playing with what appeared to be a real life dragon, just about the size of two fists together and gamboling about the table in an apparently frisky mood. Merlin's eyes nearly popped out as a second dragon joined the first in his eyeline, wrestling and breathing puffs of steam at each other as the Hufflepuff tickled them with his fingers.

He realised that he was staring and whipped his head around, accidentally making eye contact with a Gryffindor girl and blushing over his lasagne, but as soon as she broke it his head crept around to stare at the little dragons on the table. Now Merlin was no Ravenclaw, but he certainly had the curiosity of one, and a touch of Gryffindor bravery spurred him to his feet before he even knew what he was going to say to the boy. He was standing next to the brunette Hufflepuff in a heartbeat, with a few other Hufflepuffs glancing at him curiously.
"Um ... " Not the best way to introduce yourself. "Hi! I'm Merlin." That was better. They were still looking, though. "Are those real dragons?" Merlin blurted out. Crud. Not the most sensitive way to ask what was probably a stupid question- he'd seen many realistic things that weren't what they seemed, including a transforming Professor who had introduced himself as a husky. There was no way of knowing what was real and what wasn't without asking, for a wizard raised in the muggle world, and though Professors liked to say 'No question is a dumb question!', everyone knew that wasn't true. There were thousands of dumb questions one could ask, and Merlin had the foreboding feeling that this might have been one of them.​

 

[Amelia Cosgrove]

Amelia felt like she adjusting well to being in Gryffindor, it had come as quite a surprise and part of her had hoped she would be in her brothers old house but so far Gryffindor was treating her well. So far the school was everything Matthew had promised and more. On her first morning in the caste she had got into a long debate with a portrait, she had practically skipped around for the rest of the day following the interaction. Amelia had heard of students sneaking off to the kitchens late at night for snacks and she was determined to make the venture at one point, but the girl felt she needed to find her feet first and it wasn't something she wanted to do alone.

Shortly before leaving for Hogwarts, her brother had presented her with a miniature dragon. He had brought her back a mini Chinese fireball from his most recent trip to China where he had been taming baby dragons. She hoped one year, hopefully soon, he would take her with him when he went away for work. His job sounded like so much fun, even though he talked at length about his many burns.

As she sat at the Gryffindor table, poking her bacon with her fork, she could feel the dragon moving around in her pocket. She had entertained the idea of taking him out and putting him on the table but she didn't want any excess attention because of her little fire breathing friend. Finally, Amelia took a cut of her bacon and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes scanned the room as she chewed and caught sight of a boy who seemed to be looking around frantically, they made eye contact briefly and the boy blushed. That was cute, Amelia just smiled at him and turned her attention back to her breakfast. Though in the corner of her eye she saw him stand and make his way over to the Hufflepuff table. Curious she watched him walk over to a boy who appeared to have miniature dragons on the table in front of him. "wow" She muttered to herself and decided that she too would go over to the boy.

"Hi," Amelia said once she approached the table where the two boys were gathered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her so far nameless miniature dragon and placed it on the table. "It seems I'm not the only one who likes dragons,"

 

[Phelix Dragonslayer]

Being at Hogwarts was both confusing and exciting for the young Dragonslayer. The youngest of his siblings, Phelix was the only one attending the school. He had cousins here, sure, but it was different to having siblings. Hailing from a once specifically niched family, the Dragonslayers carried a lot of weight. Phelix didn't know what his family used to be like but he knew that their once noble profession wasn't really something they did anymore. He didn't mind though, he definitely much preferred dragon research. His first day in New Zealand he'd gone to the magical menagerie and found that they sold miniature dragons. Not real ones obviously, but they were realistic enough to be very lifelike. That was all Phelix cared about given he loved dragons so much. All his books detailed everything there was to know about dragons. He was going to be a dragon researcher when he was older he was determined. It wouldn't be anything new in his family after all, quite a few members of his family had turned to that as a profession. It just made sense after their very long history with dragons. Who better to research them than a family that used to hunt them.

Being in hufflepuff didn't mean a lot to Phelix. He had almost no concept of the houses. He didn't care what house he was in as long as he got to learn. Easier said than done. His norweigan ridgeback was flying around his head and was soon joined by a the welsh green he'd also bought. He hadn't intended to buy two, but he'd decided that he needed to buy a second one so that Pudge could have a friend. Not a traditional name for a dragon but then this wasn't a traditional dragon either. The two dragons play fought with each other making Phelix duck out of the way when they started breathing fire. It probably wasn't actually going to hurt but he'd been around dragons long enough not to chance it. Pudge jumped up onto the welsh greens back and started nipping at his neck. Recognising the move for what it was, Phelix, blushing, knocked them away from each other earning himself a nip to the hand.

Phelix was used to the looks he would get from his fellow housemates due to his choice in companion, but suddenly being surrounded by two other students surprised him. Phelix looked up, Pudge and the welsh green now perched on his arm. He blinked once, twice and then grinned. "Hi! Merlin I'm Phelix!" he held his hand out to shake before looking at the girl with him. "Oh, yes! I'm a Dragonslayer, we've worked with dragons for centuries!" he wondered if the girl would know his name. Most of the people that did knew it for the more unsavoury reasons, but in his defence, dragons weren't always protected. "To answer your question, no, they're not real, but they're very life like! You could never bring a real dragon into a school, for any reasons!" It wasn't the first time he'd been asked this. He was surprised he hadn't been stopped at the gates.

 

[Merlin Schopenhauer]

Merlin did a slight double take as Phelix offered his hand, but the first year was unfailingly polite and gave him his best smile, taking the Hufflepuff's hand and giving it a firm shake."Sorry." He seemed to be saying that a lot these days. "I knew it was a stupid question before I asked, but I just wanted to- oh!" exclaimed Merlin, surprised as the Gryffindor girl he'd made eye contact with came up behind him with a dragon of her own. It was then that he felt a surprising brush of envy, something he wasn't used to feeling at all, and he went a little quiet, admiring the dragons with a slightly smaller smile.
The animated figurines (for that was what he knew them to be, now) were so perfect and so realistic that he assumed they must be very expensive, and Phelix had two. He could either get consumed with jealousy or he could enjoy them by proxy; there was a choice, here, and he had yet to greet his fellow Gryffindor. It was one thing to covet other people's toys, but it was another to ignore someone altogether.
"Amelia, isn't it?" Merlin turned and gave her a proper smile. "My name's Merlin, in case you haven't heard it yet. I don't think we've ever spoken before, really, although you did pass me a spare quill in Potions once. Thanks for that." His smile grew some dimples. "Everyone's got dragons, huh? How much do you know about them? I didn't even know they were a real thing until ... well, just now," he laughed. "And all I know is that these aren't real dragons, and you can't bring real ones into the school. I take it real ones are bigger?"​

 

[Amelia Cosgrove]

Amelia listened as the Hufflepuff boy introduced himself as a Dragonslayer, she was horrified but quickly realised he was referring to his name. After all it was a name she had heard before, Matthew had come across some people by the name Dragonslayer though he hadn't always spoken highly of them. "I've heard your name before, my brother works with Dragons so he's had some run ins," She smiled at the boy, he seemed nice enough so she didn't want to mention they hadn't all been positive experiences for Matthew. Amelia then turned her attention to her fellow Gryffindor and smiled at him as he mentioned their little interaction during potions. "Yes Amelia, you're Merlin right? I love the name and don't mention it I always carry a few spare quills so just let me know if you forget again," She laughed and nudged him. When the topic turned back to dragons Amelia felt in her element. "I know a bit about them, like I said my brother studies them so he talks about them all the time when he's homed, and yes real ones are much bigger"