dragons are romantic, right?

[Axel Colton Pearson]

It had been a very long time since Axel had even considered going on a date – and yet there was something about this woman that enticed him to do exactly that. Perhaps it was the fact that she was in a very similar line of profession – one where he did not meet many women. She was different than the office types that he had dated in the past. She was adventurous. She was passionate. And best yet, she seemed to be extremely interested in dragons, which was practically his life.

That first office visit, he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of hers. She was intelligent, beautiful and clearly had a love for creatures of all types. There had been other women he worked with, but none of them were the serious type. He had gone on a few dates, but he always found that the women in this profession were not looking for anything stable – they often sought adventure outside work in things like parties, which just isn’t his thing.

Something was different about this Lyra – her personality just didn’t click with what he saw back home. It was a refreshing change. So almost a week after meeting her he found himself walking back into her office, just after lunch time. Even though it had been a long time since he had asked a women out, he sure hadn’t lost his touch. He cleaned up beforehand considering the way he had come in the first afternoon. He wandered right in the department and to her desk.

“You took a real interest in the dragon I brought over… How would you feel about having breakfast with me and then getting a chance to see her up close?” Not to his surprise, she had agreed; and rather enthusiastically at that.

A few days had passed and finally it was Saturday morning. Axel had temporarily set up in a small-from-the-outside and elaborate on the inside tent and brought his dogs for company. That morning he took his dogs out for a run, checked in on the dragon and returned to the tent. He showered up (because the tent was more or less a one bedroom apartment) and got dressed before the sun even came up.

They had planned to meet at a diner that was not too far from the Ministry entrance in London – he didn’t want to intrude and ask to meet at her place and his tent wasn’t exactly easy to find. He went in and took a seat at a table, dressed in a grey t-shirt and a pair of black jeans and thick hiking boots – his injuries from the other day better but still on the mend with his left arm still covered in bandages, though not as thickly wrapped as it had been.

He sat there, twenty minutes earlier than he had told her to meet him, sipping a cup of coffee and people watching; something he found both annoying and entertaining simultaneously.

[Lyra Trix Malfoy]

Lyra bit her lip and fiddled with the edge of her long gray sleeve, eyeing herself in the mirror. Outside her small London flat—her grandfather often informed her, at length, that it was improper for a Malfoy girl to not live in the family mansion until she was married; she always ignored him—the streetlamps still glowed and the sun had yet to rise. There was no real reason Lyra was awake before the sun except, well, there kind of was.

Lyra worried her bottom lip between her teeth and eyed her outfit. She had a date this morning. And she was getting to see a dragon! Dragon! Any normal, sane person would have thought that it was the dragon part that was causing the crease lines between her eyebrows. They would have been wrong. Lyra was a Beast Tamer, a Beast Tamer who had spent her entire seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry having long, enthusiastic discussion about magical creatures with one Rubeus Hagrid over afternoon tea (she had never touched his rock cakes though; that would have made it impossible for her to talk). Dragons had been a popular subject and Hagrid had never failed to recount how, when her father had been at school, he had won a dragon egg off a stranger he met in a pub. He had also told her all about how Norberta was doing and with each story Lyra’s determination to be a Beast Tamer had grown. Now, though, that courage her brother Scorpius teased was more Gryffindor than Slytherin felt flimsy and withered.

Lyra hadn’t been on a date in years. At first she had been too busy studying to qualify as a Beast Tamer and then once she had actually become a Beast Tamer she had been too busy getting the stuffing beaten, chewed and burned out of her to have any time for a social life outside the office that did not involve family, let alone a romantic one. But then Axel had happened.

Axel Pearson was young, handsome, and had an accent that hit all of her buttons. And he worked with magical creatures just like she did. When he had approached her asking for paperwork concerning a dragon Lyra had just about swooned. They had talked and Lyra had tried to subtly flirt though she was absolute rubbish at it. When he had returned a week later and asked her on a date, a date in which she would get to see the dragon he had been transporting, no less—well, Lyra was thanking every star in the sky.

Her excitement, however, lasted right up until she realized she had no idea what to wear on a date that involved breakfast and a dragon. How to act on a date was east. Be herself, have fun, don’t worry about trying to be perfect. If they were going to date he would have to appreciate her for who she was, not some false front she put up to make a good impression. Clothes, however, were a completely different kettle of fish.

Lyra had consulted the two other girls in the office but they weren’t exactly the go-on-low-key-dates types. They preferred the adrenaline rush of party and booze which, while fun, was not something Lyra always enjoyed. So, Lyra had gone to her older brother Scorpius and his wife Rose. Rose had at least been more helpful, arriving in Lyra’s flat like a miniature whirlwind and going through her closet with expertise.

In the end Rose had instructed her to wear what she would be most comfortable in but still cute. Lyra had chosen jeans, black leather boots and a teal, long sleeved scoop necked shirt under a light jacket. Make-up and jewelry were minimal, brown hair curling down to the middle of her back. Now all she had to do was wait.

Lyra plopped back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling, mentally going over the plan for what was the umpteenth time. She was supposed to meet Axel at a diner right around the corner from the lavatory entrance to the Ministry in London which was walking distance from Lyra’s flat. Lyra checked her watch again. Not even close to time for her to leave. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind which quickly turned into a mental shoving match as she forcefully tried to keep stray thoughts from intruding. Thoughts like, What if he doesn’t show? and What if I offend him somehow? and, the nightmare, What if he finds about my family and hates me? It wouldn’t be the first time. Lyra hadn’t known for a very long time that her family were once Death Eaters. Her mother and father had made sure that they shielded her and her brother from the hate and blame the rest of the wizarding world liked to throw their way. Lyra had grown up hating the Death Eaters, too, but when she saw the faintest outline of the Dark Mark on her father’s left arm when the sleeves of his robe slipped her world had been…rocked was too weak a word for it. Finally she understood why adults and her peers would grow quiet and distant upon hearing her last name and if Axel were to react that way…

The loud buzzing of her alarm jerked Lyra from the half-sleep she had managed. She sat up, stretching her arms skyward—her recently broken arm, now healed (thank you Merlin for Healer magic) only barely twinged—and checked her watch again. It would take roughly twenty minutes to walk to the diner from her flat. She could leave now and be a few minutes early but that was better than sitting around her flat some more.

Lyra stood, slipping her wand into the holster strapped to her calf and hidden inside her boot. One last glance around her apartment and she left, closing the door behind her with a click.

The walk to the diner was pleasant, not much foot traffic and no Muggle chavs loitering and catcalling at this early hour. Lyra rounded the final corner and saw the diner’s red sign halfway down block. The early morning sun painted the building’s front granite white and illuminated the inside which was bustling with regular morning customers and one young man sitting at a booth by a window, unmistakably people watching. Lyra grinned. Axel. Well, that was one fear dispelled; he wasn’t going to stand her up.

Lyra swung to the door to the diner open, the little bell above the door chiming merrily. The scent of cooking bacon, hash and coffee wafted to her and she nodded to the waitress in a yellow uniform, a stained white apron tied around her waist. Taking one more deep breath, Lyra turned and made her way to the red vinyl booth where her date sat. “Hi,” she said, sliding into the seat across from him. Her senses itched slightly at facing away from the door but she ignored them; she had something much more important to focus on. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

[Axel Colton Pearson]

As Axel sat in the booth waiting for his date to show up he managed to find a few interesting characters – an old couple, arguing over something as they ate their breakfast, a mom with three little ones who were chattering away far too awake for how early it was – and that showed in the moms tired expression, the cooks in the open-kitchen seemed to be joking with one another and the wait staff hovered around the corner, waiting for orders to come up. Overall the diner was relatively empty, though considering how early it was, he wasn’t too surprised.

The front door chimed to alert the staff of someone entering – and mid sip of coffee Axel glanced over to see Lyra walking in the door and his eyes brightened, a smile growing on his face as he pulled the cup away and set it on the table. He took in hear appearance as she walked closer, gorgeous dark brown, curly and long hair, and as she got closer, he couldn’t take his attention off her eyes. By the time she got to the table, he was starting to get that nervous stomach feeling that he had not experienced in years – at least not around something other than a dragon.

She slid into the booth across from him and asked if he had been waiting long. Axel shook his head, ”Not long, no. I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee.’’ A waitress comes over to ask Lyra if she would like a cup of coffee as well, and brings them both menus and says she will be right back. Shifting in his seat to sit a little more facing her, rather than the rest of the room, he picked up his mug and took another sip of coffee.

”I won’t lie, I’ve been looking forward to this.. honestly, I didn’t think my trip to England would be this eventful.”

[Lyra Trix Malfoy]

Lyra smiled shyly, brushing a strand of her hair back behind her ear. Axel really was handsome. “I’m really glad you invited me.”

When the waitress brought her a cup of coffee Lyra took it with a grateful smile, doctoring the rich hot liquid with the sugar and cream provided on the table. Glancing up as she stirred her coffee she blushed to find Axel’s green eyes watching her. She bit her lip, smiling shyly. Monkeys did somersaults in her stomach. Really, it had been much too long since she’d done even a little anything with her love life; this was very exciting.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she set the off-white mug on the table and asked, “Are you enjoying your trip to England so far? Seen or done anything exciting?”

[Axel Colton Pearson]

When she told him that she was glad he invited her, he smiled, his piercing blue eye lighting up some – now that he was actually here, he was starting to realize just how long it had been since he had even tried to go out on a date. Through his somewhat crooked smile he said, “It’s my pleasure,” and he certainly wasn’t lying – it certainly was a pleasure to him to be graced with such a beautiful woman with which to spend the morning; and one who seemed to live on the thrill of an adrenaline rush just as he did if his instincts were right.

“Are you enjoying your trip to England so far? Seen or done anything exciting?” she asked him and he smiled, taking a sip of his coffee and setting the mug down, his hand still wrapped around it. “I’m definitely enjoying it – though I haven’t really seen or done much. I’ve mostly been tending to the dragon and her eggs, working on enchanting the area to keep her hidden…” he told her honesty – he hadn’t hardly left his mountain campsite over the last week since he had settled in.

This was different for him – most of the time if he was traveling for work he kept to himself, he stayed in the mountains or desserts or wherever he found himself, just him, whatever dragon he was working with and on most occasion his two dogs. Yet when he had met Lyra there was just something about her that he couldn’t seem to ignore and right now he was glad he hadn’t. “Perhaps if you’ve got the time you could take me to see the sights, I usually don’t get a chance to while I travel.” he said with a smile, picking up his cup of coffee and finishing it off.

[Lyra Trix Malfoy]

Listening to Axel as he described his trip thus far, Lyra tilted her head. A lock of hair slipped over her face and she hastily tucked it back behind her ear. When Axel suggested she show him the sights a smile spread across her face, her teeth flashing. “Of course!” she said. The idea of spending more time with this handsome man was certainly appealing—and it wasn’t just because the man worked with dragons though that was certainly appealing in and of itself.

Taking another sip of her coffee she asked, “Where you thinking purely wizarding London or would you be up for muggle London? I know that’s not typical, you couldn’t pay most wizards to step foot in muggle London but it’s fun, I promise. There’s lots to see that’s pretty unique.”

Lyra paused, biting her lip. All her life her parents and brother had eyed her appreciation of muggle things with amused incredulity. The extended Malfoy clan and been less than indulgent, as had her fellow Slytherins. Hopefully Axel wouldn’t be among those who raised their eyebrows and thought her queer.

[Axel Colton Pearson]

The charming smile continued to play on Axel’s face as she happily agreed to take him around to see the sights while he was here to visit – he was going to be here for at least a couple of months so there was plenty of time to get in some sight seeing for a change, and having Lyra to enjoy it with made it all the more worth it. It was definitely a change from his normal secluded existence – but he had a feeling it was going to be worth it and that was a feeling he just couldn’t ignore.

“Where you thinking purely wizarding London or would you be up for muggle London? I know that’s not typical, you couldn’t pay most wizards to step foot in muggle London but it’s fun, I promise. There’s lots to see that’s pretty unique.”

Axel watched the way she bit her lip after she spoke – clearly from both her body language and the way she spoke she was most often around people who either looked down on muggles or simply didn’t understand them and couldn’t manage to fit in if they tried. He knew all about that after transitioning from living with his muggle parents to going to school at Durmstrang where he met mostly pureblood and halfblood students who grew up in wizarding households and wanted nothing to do with the “muggle way of doing things” or the muggle world in general.

Smile still firmly in place he said, ”Actually I would love to explore muggle London – my parents say it’s wonderful but I’ve never spent much time in England so I haven’t had the chance to experience it for myself.” Bringing his mug to his lips he took a long sip of the warm liquid, the cup coming close to empty now. Setting the mug down again and with a somewhat shyer smile he added, ”You see my parents are muggles, until I was eleven I didn’t even know the wizarding world existed, so I’m up for whatever you have in mind, regardless of where in London you find it.”