[@AtomicNut] Maybe make him something else with a similar past?  Like...Iunno, something else that can fly, so...a hippogriff might work, or a gryphon, or...

Oh, or you could make him either a human-looking creature able to sprout dragon wings or whatever, or always in a half-dragon form.  Handle the going out on his own when not very strong/not a good fighter by saying they mature physically much faster than humans -- maybe over the course of just a couple years?