“We've been here an hour, Professor; where do you think their mother is?”
The only reply Charlie received was a deep, angry hiss right behind him.
The two humans turned around very, very slowly and found themselves face-to-face with a female Welsh Green – the mother dragon Charlie had been wondering after.
“Professor… ” Charlie whispered.
“Shh,” Professor Kettleburn whispered. “Empty your mind. Now. Think 'Nothing'.”
And as Charlie tried to do just that he felt something touch his mind and his eyes popped open wider than they had ever popped before.
And just as quickly as that, several more things happened: The mother dragon opened her mouth and spat fire while the professor grabbed Charlie's arm, flourished his wand, and the two of them Apperated into thin air…
… and reappeared some twenty miles away at their campsite next to the ancient Muggle automobile and the small tent they'd been sharing for the past week. Charlie's clothes were burned off except for his boot soles, and his skin was only slightly pink - but he was otherwise unhurt.
Charlie raised his hands to his head, a look of shock on his face.
“Weasley?” the professor asked as he led the boy towards the seemingly-small tent, but through the magic of Magic it was actually a two-bedroom flat complete with electricity, plumbing, and television.
“I heard her thoughts!” Charlie whispered.
“You heard her thoughts?!”
Charlie turned to look at the professor, his face aglow. “I heard her thoughts!”
“And what did she say?”
Charlie turned to face the Professor. “She said, 'I will eat you!'”
Kettleburn, greatly relieved the boy was as unhurt as he was, led the astonished boy into their tent to find him some fresh clothes.
Needless to say, when Charlie Weasley returned to Hogwarts a month later he knew what his life's work was going to be.
—————
Upon graduation, Charlie sought the first post he could that involved dragons. He spent a year in the mountains of Wales studying Welsh Greens (and becoming almost too friendly with a gaggle of tree nymphs for his supervisor's tastes), and then a year further studying Hebridean Blacks in northern Scotland. Finally he received the offer he'd hoped for all along and he was off to the Romanian Dragon Preserve just about as fast as his broom could fly and immediately immersed himself into the various chores involved in maintaining a healthy population of Norwegian Ridgebacks, Hungarian Horntails, and of course Romanian Longhorns.
Although he didn't think being touched by another dragon's mind was anything big or permanent, he somehow had a knack for knowing when it was time to stop measuring a clutch of eggs and Apparate a safe distance away. He also 'just seemed to know' when a dragon was coming and from which direction it would approach. One of the Greek wizards working with him exclaimed that he had a 'dragon sense', and Charlie thought he had to be right, for his team was the only one who remained unhurt through all their hazardous assignments - unhurt being a relative term; Charlie received his fair share of burns and bruises, but at least he still had all ten fingers and toes.
“Hey!”, shouted Oliver, an American wizard and Charlie's roommate - and a fellow redhead; “Mail's here! And a beauty… !”
A huge snowy owl swooped down towards their shared tent and entered through the kitchen bay window.
“Potter's owl, Hedwig,” Charlie looked up from the monthly report his Qwick-Quote-Qwill pen was writing.
“Potter; the 'Boy Who Lived'?”
“The very same.”
“And your brother Ron's his – how do you Brits say? - his mate?”
“Bosom buddy from their first day at school, from what I hear. But you heard me Mum at Christmas - 'Make no fuss about it; Potter needs time to 'just be a boy'”
“Heard he's a fair Seeker,” the American added.
“In the six years since I graduated my house hasn't won the house cup – I hear Potter's giving them a chance.” Charlie shrugged. “Ron must really need something to send Potter's owl.”
“Protection from the twins, I'd bet.” Oliver grinned and Charlie smiled back. “Hey, I've got older brothers.”
“Protection from Percy, more like. The snit.” Charlie had taken the letter from the owl and offered it the bowl of water and a small plate of meat Oliver had quickly put together as a reward for delivering the letter. Meanwhile, Charlie scanned the letter. “Listen to this! Hagrid finally got hold of a dragon egg! A Ridgeback!”
“Hagrid?” asked Oliver.
“Hogwarts gamekeeper. Collects anything dangerous and thinks they're nice household pets.”
“A Ridgeback a household pet?” Oliver shook his head. “Don't think so. Rocky Mountain Red, maybe, but a Ridgeback?” Oliver shrugged. “So why's he writing?”
“He, Potter, and some girl have convinced Hagrid into letting the babe go if we can take it.”
“What do you think?”
“I'm sure we can find a female to take it. There's a Ridgeback that lost her only babe from this year's clutch.”
The two young men were off to the nearby tent of their supervisor Sasha (a Russian), whom they found in the jacuzzi room of his own tent, relaxing after a long, cold day on bare mountain tops. The man agreed, confirming there was a Ridgeback dame who'd just lost her baby. “We can see if she'll take it in,” he explained. “The trick is in getting it here.”
“Hey!” exclaimed Oliver, turning to Charlie, “You remember my friends that visited in Wales… ”
“The ones who thought they were going to teach me how to play quittich?” Charlie had been, as all those who've read the latest edition of “Hogwarts: A History” are aware, a star quittich player while at school.
“Yeah; that bunch.” They both smiled. “They're arriving for a two-week vacation in two days; four of us could rig up some sort of carrier, fly in and fly out; deal done.”
So Charlie sent word back via Hedwig to have the infant dragon up the Astronomy tower for them to smuggle her out. He also sent a letter to Professor Kettleburn, begging him not to get anyone in trouble but to please make sure Ron and his friends succeeded for the sake of the baby dragon. So, the following Saturday at midnight, Ron and his two friends mysteriously managed to smuggle the baby dragon through a seemingly empty castle, up the tower, and into the hands of Charlie's friends without running into a single teacher or staff member – all of whom breathed much easier as they watched from a neighboring tower as the four young wizards flew away and Apperated into the night sky with their precious load. Only the unexpected presence of Draco Malfoy forced the teachers to administer a night of detention to the younger Weasley boy and his friends for their trouble.
Charlie didn't sleep a wink through the night, anxious for the baby dragon's arrival. He paced back and forth through the cold mountain air, straining at every sound, until he finally heard the distinct 'pop' Apperating makes, followed by four hearty cheers from four wizards giving each other high-fives as they slowly settled on the ground in front of Charlie, their cargo settling down between them before they touched down themselves.
'Hungry,' a voice whispered in Charlie's mind. 'Very Hungry.'
Charlie did his best to feed and water the baby dragon for three days, his roommate and his mates aiding in catching fresh food and fetching bucket after bucket of water from a nearby lake. On the morning of the third day, however, when Charlie and the babe, whose name he had been told was Norbert, emerged from the tent, there was trouble in the form of the Hungarian Horntail dame who'd also lost her only baby of the season blocking their way to the lake. Charlie jumped ahead of the babe, raising his wand in defense. He was terrified as these were known maneaters, but he did his best to stand firm.
'Do not raise your puny stick at me,' came into Charlie's mind very, very clearly.
“You will not hurt the babe,” Charlie spoke out loud.
'You cannot care for her; she should die.'
“No!”
'She has no one to care for her or train her.'
“She has ME!”
“And me;” “And me;” “And me.” Five voices sounded behind Charlie that he knew was Oliver and his American mates, and to his surprise he could picture every one of them - through the dame's eyes! - standing defiantly behind him in nothing but pajamas or underwear, their wands all joining Charlie's in defending the babe they'd brought from Hogwarts.
The Horntail dame's eyes whorled as she thought quickly. 'Very well; I will let you try. But if you fail she will have to be destroyed.' With that she lifted her wings and flew off.
Charlie and the other humans collapsed as nerves released them to their fears. Norbert continued to make her way to the lake for a drink.
“Dude,” a blond from California said as he watched the dame disappear over the mountain ridge, “You were talking to a dragon; you were answering her, but we weren't, like, hearing her.”
“And you were broadcasting with your mind so loud you woke us up!” said one of the other Americans.
“I can hear dragons,” Charlie confessed. “Hear their minds.”
“Whoa!” exclaimed the blond. “So that's why you always know… ”
“Yeah; I think that's why.”
True to her word, the Horntail dame began to help Charlie. The morning after their first conversation there was a large deer carcass waiting outside Charlie's tent, and it took Norbert – and Charlie assumed it was actually 'Norterta' from how the dame referred to the babe with female pronouns – three days to eat it. The day after the carcass was cleaned their was another waiting for them.
Norberta was worse than a puppy in following Charlie everywhere. He had to give up any inhibitions he had for a dragon seeing him bathe or do any other things a human does. He convinced himself that she was a dragon and he was a human and it was no worse than bathing or whatever in front of the family dog. When she was large enough, she even joined him for his evening swim in the lake, he wearing only the hide he'd been born with.
After several months the Horntail dame began to take over teaching Norberta what a dragon needed to teach a dragon and a human would have no clue about. Like flying and breathing fire – you know; little things. After several more months the two dragons were like mother and daughter, despite the fact that they were different breeds. Charlie found himself relegated to the role of big brother instead of mother hen, and he was fine with that. But through this association Charlie was able to delve deeper into the lives of dragons than any witch or wizard had yet recorded, and Charlie spent several hours each evening dictating his reports as he tried his best to record everything. Occasionally a mirthful laugh entered his head in the voice of the dame, exclaiming 'Is that what you think?' His reply was usually something to the effect of “That's what I saw!” Sometimes she would correct him and sometimes she wouldn't. Most of the time Norberta's voice joined in, giving her idea of what had happened throughout the day. Whether his observations were entirely correct or not, Charlie's reports made incredible reading as they were delivered by owl to the Ministry of Magic and then shared with the scientific ministries of magical communities in other countries.
Autumn came just as Charlie was learning how to mount Norberta's back to fly with her, which was very tricky to do with a dragon that has such a huge, long ridge down her back… but he found that just behind her shoulders there was one spot just right for sitting that would not do any harm to him.
He also learned that when the urge to migrate south for the winter hits a dragon they do so without further thought – and so, when in midair Norbert and the dame turned south with thoughts of central Africa in their minds, Charlie went with, unable to do anything about it.
“Well, we won't see him until Spring,” Sasha said matter-of-fact.
Charlie did in fact return the following Spring, nicely tanned and ready to write a lengthy report on the wintering habits of dragons and exactly just what burnt elephant tastes like when eaten for weeks on end.
—————
Norberta was four years old when two owls swooped down on Charlie while taking his evening swim in the lake. Not embarrassed to be seen skinny-dipping by a dragon, an owl or two didn't even phase him.
The Weasley brothers came in two basic sizes and shapes: Percy and Ron were of the long, lanky variety, while the twins and Charlie were shorter and stockier. His good-natured face wasn't tanned so much as it was freckled to the point that even he wasn't sure where one stopped and the next started.
The first, more-important-looking owl was obviously a Minstry owl; the letter it carried was sealed with all the usual seals and charms, and he knew he'd have to take it back to his tent to open it. The second, carried by his little brother's new owl Pig, was just as obviously a letter from his mother. The only charm needed to open Molly Weasley's letters to her children was to kiss the wax seal and the letter would open. He quickly kissed and read and then suddenly burst out in a whooping cheer and ran for the tents up the shore. Fortunately it was still just wizards and no witches at this camp; there was no one to be horrified at the sight of Charlie racing back from his evening swim too excited to remember minor things like clothing.
“World Cup's to be held in England!” Charlie shouted as the other men came out to see what all the noise was about. “Ireland verses Bulgaria!”
“Krum will destroy the Irish,” began Sasha.
“Takes more than one player to make a team!” Charlie retorted as his grin got even wider. “And my father has tickets!”
Quittich was talked about the rest of the evening until they all retired to their tents to do their evening reports and get some sleep. Only after Charlie got comfortable in the sitting room recliner did he remember the ministry letter. Muttering all the right words while slicing open the wax seals, the letter unfolded in his hands and he quickly read it. Then he read it again a little more slowly. He even read it a third time before he leaned forward, shock and surprise on his face. “They want what?”
The following day he discussed the letter with Dame (for that's simply what he called her anymore). Once she understood his dilemma, she raised her head regally. “I will do this for you. I will have a clutch of eggs by then. But if any harm comes to my eggs; to my children… ” Charlie did not need to see her thoughts to know what she'd do to any human that harmed her eggs.
Having been charged by the ministry to coordinate the first of the three Tri-Wizard challenges, Charlie rode dragonback on Norberta and was accompanied by Dame as they visited three other dragon preserves and found volunteers to assist with this very important task. To his surprise, dragons were just as good (if not better) at Apperating than humans, thus cutting down their travel time by many, many hours.
—————
'They're coming!' Dame thought to Charlie's mind as she sensed the two half-giants Hagrid and Madame Maxime approaching their official hiding place in the Forbidden Forest, supposedly located so that no one from the school would know they were there. On queue, all four dragons went into the most ferocious anger acts they could muster in an effort to impress the two half-giants spying on them. Dame sensed the man from the boat also hiding in the trees, and then she sensed one other.
'Who is the child under the cloth no one seems to notice?' she thought to Charlie.
Charlie turned to looked, Dame slacking up on the rope he was holding to give him a chance.
'I told you - no one can see him,' Dame thought.
'I'll bet it's Potter,' Charlie thought back; 'He's got an invisibility cloak.' Charlie grinned devilishly. 'Breathe some fire his direction… '
Dame did so, lighting a dozen bushes and two trees on fire. Potter turned and ran for his life.
—————
Norberta trumpeted as Dame, holding her clutch of eggs in a crate specially made for the journey, Apperated above the lake, Charlie on her back and waving to Norberta as well as to any of the humans who might be watching. Supper t
hat night involved a very humorous retelling of the four tri-wizard contestants and how they tried to overcome this first challenge. Every one of them, including any dragons listening in through Charlie's mind, were impressed with the Potter boy's quick thinking and flying skills. Even Dame complemented the boy as being 'most clever.'
“But I had to warn her,” Charlie explained. “When word got back to me that Potter had drawn the Horntail, I told her – I said 'Dame, if you hurt Potter too badly my mother will hurt me.' 'Why?' Dame asked. 'Because she's his mother, too – not his birth mother, but a mother like you are to Norberta.' Her eyes whorled over that, I can tell you! She put on a show to be sure and she didn't hand him anything; Potter earned every inch he gained! I'll tell you this, though: I can see why he's the youngest seeker Hogwarts has ever had! He's good!”
—————
A year later Noberta matured to the point that she flew her first mating flight, the honors being won by another Ridgeback twice her age. Charlie's reports to the ministry were full of what dragon PMS was like and how he'd had to take cover behind Dame several times to protect himself from Norberta's preflight temper. Months later, however, Charlie shot the first-ever in-the-nest video of Norberta actually laying eggs and then, a few more months later, dragons actually hatching. The footage made him a hero in the Ministry's zoology department. Others, like his mother Molly Weasley, thought he was as crazy as the Muggle scientists who, without a scrap of magic, deliberately climb down into the craters of active volcanoes.
Harry Potter - Three Short Stories Page 3