About the series

The Lion and the Dragon

A Harry Potter Retelling · By Dakini

The Lion and the Dragon is a seven-book retelling of the Harry Potter series in which Draco Malfoy is a girl: Dracaena, the only child of Lucius and Narcissa. The cupboard, the letters, the train and the castle are where you left them, and the story keeps to canon as closely as it can. What changes is everything she touches.

The books move between Harry and Dracaena. He is a boy who taught himself magic tricks from books and judges people by how they treat others. She has been raised to be the right sort, wants her father’s approval more than anything, and has never been told no. They begin as enemies, and for a long time they deserve to be.

It is a slow road from enemies to lovers, and she does not change for him. What changes her mostly happens where he cannot see it, and she has to choose it herself.

Harry’s knack for Muggle magic was inspired by this tweet.

The seven books

About the author

I’m Dakini (not my real name): a full-time mom, a former UX designer, and a Harry Potter fan since 2001.

Follow me on X at @space_lion_x for new chapters and news.

Why I made this

I loved the thought experiment of Draco Malfoy as a tsundere girl, bullying Harry and falling for him. But in other fics I was sometimes frustrated to see the characters act… well… out of character. This series was made from that burning need to see them fight, and flirt (eventually).

The first scene I wrote was the Yule Ball. Harry still goes with Parvati, but he ends up dancing with Malfoy, and having a great time. I wrote it in my notes app and posted it on X, before I knew I was rewriting the whole series. You can read it now as a sneak peek.

Questions

Before you start

What is The Lion and the Dragon?

A seven-book retelling of the Harry Potter series in which Draco Malfoy is a girl: Dracaena, the only child of Lucius and Narcissa. It follows the story year by year from both Harry’s and Dracaena’s points of view, as a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance.

Does this have a happy ending? I don’t want to waste my time.

Fair enough. Yes, a happy ending is planned. :D

What is it rated?

Book One is rated General audiences. Every book lists its rating and content notes on its page, so you can check before you read.

The story

How do you say “Dracaena”?

Dra-SEE-nuh. Lucius and Narcissa both use the soft English “c”, and so does this version of Dracy.

How closely does it follow the books?

Closely, but not exactly. The cupboard, the letters, the train and the castle are where you left them, and each year’s big events still happen.

What changes: Dracaena, and everything she touches. Harry taught himself Muggle magic. Ron gets a bigger arc. A few chapters are told by other characters. And some events are tweaked to fix plot holes or to make room for Dracaena’s character arc.

Are there other changes planned?

A few. Chad Ron, for one: he starts out sure he’s the unlucky one stuck in Harry’s shadow, and grows into someone who won’t stay there. There’s no boy Draco to be Harry’s rival in this story, so why not let his best friend be the one who challenges him to be better?

Every so often a chapter is told from someone else’s point of view, too. In Book One, George Weasley and the Sorting Hat each get one.

Why does Harry know Muggle magic?

A deck of cards is easy to hide in a cupboard under the stairs. Harry grew up thinking card tricks were the “magic” Aunt Petunia hated so much, so he taught himself from books he smuggled in. It’s also why he’s so quick with a wand later on.

The idea came from this tweet.

Are the Muggle books Harry reads real?

Yes! The magic books he learns from are real, and so are the other Muggle books he reads. They were all out by 1991, so Harry really could have read them under the stairs before Hogwarts:

Easy-to-Do Card Tricks for Children by Karl Fulves
Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic
The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Hardy Boys mysteries

What is Malfoid?

It’s what fans online call a girl Draco Malfoy. This series was written for and during the Malfoid Movement of 2026.

Reading

When do new chapters come out?

Every week. I’m releasing Book One chapter by chapter, and the other books will follow as they’re finished.

Can I read it on my phone?

Yes: phone, tablet or computer, in any web browser. Tap Aa at the top to change the theme or the text size, and the site remembers where you stopped reading on that device.

Where else can I read it?

New chapters are announced on X at @space_lion_x. The series will also be posted on Royal Road.

How do the reactions work?

At the end of every chapter you can leave a heart, a lightning bolt or a fire, or a combination. Tap again to take it back. Nobody can see who reacted.

If you would like to propose a new reaction, please message or tweet me on X!

Behind the scenes

How do you keep everyone in character?

Every major character has their own astrological chart, drafted before they were written, so that a complex person never acts unrealistically out of character. The charts use each character’s canon birthday, and Harry and Dracaena even have a compatibility chart of their own.

I reference them often as I’m deciding how a character should react to a situation. There are conscious and unconscious drivers in every person, and an astrology chart is a cool shorthand to organize these ideas. Plus, this is a story about magic, right?

Will there be art?

Yes, in time: chapter illustrations first, then manga pages and animated scenes, all hosted here.

The series illustration (on the homepage) is made with AI. For chapter art I haven’t decided yet: it may be AI-made, or drafted by me and upscaled with AI. The animated scenes would be made with AI.

What fonts do you use?

Four free, open-source fonts:

The title: UnifrakturMaguntia
Chapter and book titles: Cinzel
The story: EB Garamond
Menus and labels: Alegreya Sans

Is this official, or for profit?

No. Harry Potter, its world and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. This is fan fiction, written for no profit.

Is this AI slop?

No. Everything here has had a human touch.

I do use AI. I visualize the scene and its key beats, draft with Claude (Opus 5.5), and edit every line. Dracaena, the plot, the jokes, and every decision are mine, and I have the final say on every word. AI gives me more capacity; it doesn’t replace my creativity or taste. Saying “do X and make no mistakes” really isn’t going to produce anything good. Try it and you’ll see :p

I also used AI to build this entire site, as I’m not an engineer. A page on how it was all made is coming soon.

How can I support the story?

Leave a reaction at the end of the chapters you love, share a chapter link with a friend who’d like it, and follow @space_lion_x on X for new chapters. That’s all it takes, and it means a lot. <3