The Unspoken Burden of the Serpent Heir
The very stones of Hogwarts groaned under the strain.
E.g. ：I saw my fiancé kissing her at the Grand Ball, and my entire world shattered right before my eyes.
- 1、The Unspoken Burden of the Serpent Heir
- 2、The Dragon's Anguish
- 3、A Secret Inheritance
- 4、The Corrupting Influence
- 5、A Desperate Battle of Wills
- 6、The Lingering Aftermath
Dust, splintered wood, and terrified screams filled the Great Hall.
A monstrous black dragon, not of any known breed, was tearing through the ancient wizarding school.
Its scales shimmered like polished obsidian under the dim light, reflecting the chaos it wrought.
Every swing of its massive head sent stone fragments flying; every stomp of its clawed foot shook the castle to its core.
Terror was a tangible thing, a suffocating blanket over hundreds of young witches and wizards.
Teachers, usually paragons of control, shouted desperate evacuation orders, their wands blazing with defensive spells that barely grazed the beast.
Then, through the swirling debris and fleeing bodies, a lone figure moved against the tide.
Draco Malfoy.
His usually composed face was stark white, streaked with dust and sweat.
His breathing was ragged, shallow, a visible struggle against some unseen pressure.
His eyes, usually cold and calculating, were wide with a frantic, desperate urgency that sent a chill down the spine of anyone who caught his gaze.
He was not fleeing; he was advancing, a stark contrast to the utter panic surrounding him.
The sight of him, the infamous Slytherin prince, moving towards the rampaging beast instead of away from it, was as shocking as the dragon itself.
He pushed past a group of crying first-years, his hand instinctively reaching out, not to help them, but to steady himself against a crumbling pillar.
His silver-blond hair was disheveled, his robes torn, giving him an uncharacteristically vulnerable appearance.
It was the first time many had seen him look anything but impeccably arrogant.
He was a mirror image of a man carrying an unbearable weight.
The Dragon's Anguish
The black dragon let out another deafening roar, a sound that seemed to rip at the fabric of reality.
It smashed a massive claw through the Head Table, sending ancient artifacts and enchanted platters flying.
But beneath the raw power and destructive fury, there was something else in its serpentine eyes.
Not pure malice, but a wild, desperate anguish, a tormented plea that went unheard amidst the pandemonium.
Its movements, though devastating, seemed uncoordinated, almost as if it were thrashing against an invisible tormentor.
Its breath, usually a searing inferno, was sporadic, flickering with an unnatural, sickly green hue.
This was not a creature of pure, destructive evil; this was a creature in profound pain.
Draco finally reached a small clearing, mere yards from the lashing tail of the beast.
He stumbled, falling to one knee, a groan escaping his lips.
A sudden hush fell over the few remaining students and professors who witnessed his suicidal advance.
"What is he doing?" someone whispered, the question hanging heavy in the air.
They watched, frozen, as Draco slowly, shakily, pushed himself back to his feet.
His right hand, pale and trembling, began to glow with a faint, emerald light.
It was not the harsh, destructive green of the Killing Curse, nor the defensive hue of a Shield Charm.
It was a soft, vibrant emerald, pulsing with an ancient, restorative power.
He held it out, palm open, towards the thrashing head of the dragon.
A Secret Inheritance
"Ignis!" Draco's voice was hoarse, raw, barely a whisper against the dragon's roars.
The name was not a command, but a desperate invocation, a plea.
The dragon, momentarily distracted by the voice, paused its rampage, its massive head tilting slightly.
Its eyes, fiery slits seconds before, narrowed, a spark of recognition flickering within their depths.
This was not just any dragon; this was Ignis, the Shadowdrake of the Malfoy line.
A secret, a burden, passed down through generations, hidden beneath layers of aristocratic pride and dark magic.
Centuries ago, an ambitious Malfoy ancestor, seeking unparalleled power and protection, had bound a primal Shadowdrake to their family.
Not in servitude, but in a symbiotic, magical pact.
The Shadowdrake, a creature of immense power drawn from the shadow realms, would guard the Malfoy fortunes and secrets.
In return, the Malfoy heir would tend to its magical well-being, ensuring its essence remained pure and potent.
It was a double-edged sword: unimaginable power, but also an inescapable, life-long tether to a volatile, ancient creature.
If the Shadowdrake faltered, if its essence became corrupted, its pain would manifest as uncontrolled destruction.
And the Malfoy heir, the current link, would feel every tremor, every pang of its anguish, as if it were their own.
Draco had known of Ignis since he was a boy, not as a pet, but as a chilling, ancestral legacy.
He had spent countless secret hours in a hidden chamber beneath Malfoy Manor, learning the ancient incantations, the subtle gestures, the delicate healing magic required to maintain the creature's equilibrium.
His aloofness, his constant vigilance, his "anxious urgency" in all things, was not merely inherited snobbery; it was the ever-present weight of this perilous secret.
A secret that, if revealed, would brand his family not just as dark wizards, but as unstable, dangerous pact-makers, threatening their already precarious standing in the wizarding world.
The Corrupting Influence
Ignis's current rampage was not a sudden act of malice.
It was a symptom.
For weeks, Draco had felt an unusual tremor in his own magical core, a growing unease that mirrored Ignis's own.
He had visited the hidden chamber daily, finding the Shadowdrake increasingly agitated, its dark scales flecked with strange, iridescent growths.
Something was corrupting its essence, infecting its ancient magic.
He suspected dark magic, a potent and insidious curse, but he couldn't pinpoint its source.
He had been attempting to purge the corruption, an arduous and secretive task.
But today, a wave of profound magical distress had erupted from Ignis, overwhelming his containment efforts.
