Os de domn Vlad Dracula
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Author's Note: I began this story two years ago and only wrote an introduction. I was recently reintroduced into the Harry Potter realm and decided to continue it. It places Charlie Weasley (a favourite of mine) as the central character and is set during The Order of the Phoenix, so Harry's 5th year when the Ministry is still a mess. Sorry it's fairly short, from here on out chapters will be longer and more elaborate.
Disclaimer: The entire series belongs to J.K. Rowling. I've taken some creative liberties with the original characters and the Romanian magical community.
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Chapter One: Prizaka and Tzuica
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"Bun diamineata 1 Charlie," a chipper brunette greeted as his housemate stumbled into the small kitchen.
"Bun diamineata Nicu," the disgruntled red head replied flopping down onto a stool. The other man handed him a mug of hot coffee.
"Ce mai faco 2?" he grinned adjusting the brim of his wide red hat.
"Bun 3... Nice colour."
"Is it not? It is from the last St. Anne's celebration."
"I see," Charlie chucked. "Where's Taifur?"
"He's out training the new Hungarian Horntail male. I gave him bread for his pockets, that new one reeks of bibaxt 4."
"Nicu, why do you believe in all that Muggle gypsy lore?" he asked as he took a sip from the mug.
"Have I not explained it too you? Us Romanian wizards are all of Roma decent. My bunica 5 was a great drabardi."
"Her last name Trewlany by any chance?" he snickered remembering the Hogwarts Divination professor.
"No? Why do you ask?"
"Ah never mind Nicu, never mind," Charlie chuckled to himself.
"You're an odd one Charles. Anyway, this morning, some mail came for you," the dark skinned wizard told him shuffling through a pile of papers and handing Charlie a folded newspaper and roll of parchment. "A crazy owl brought it, went in circles and circles. It had prizaka 6 I say."
"Everything has prizaka to you mate," he smiled light heartedly taking the mail from his friend's hand. He'd been living in the small cabin for five years now. As soon as he had graduated from Hogwarts he had traveled to the Black Forest, just outside the German town of Stuttgart to train to be a dragon tamer. The Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had a number of cabins set up across the world in areas with a notoriously high dragon population. Each cabin had a specific mission, and housed anywhere from 4 to 15 dragon tamers from magical communities worldwide. The intense course lasted a year, and then Charlie had been placed outside Vicovu de Jos in one of the most difficult regions. It was a small town in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, on the Hungarian border.
Vicovu de Jos was, second to Bucharest, the most magically active city in Romania. It lacked the modern wizarding community like the capitol but was rich in ancient Roma (Gypsy) magic, home of drabegnis (female healers), drabardis (fortune tellers), and the sastarimaskodrabaro (healing herb) trade. It was also bustling with Vampires and werewolves from the neighbouring Transylvania region.
It was quite the position really, for such a novice. Only four tamers were chosen for the slot and it was renown as one of the most difficult. The Horntail population in the Suceava region had been out of control. As Muggles became more mobile in the county, sighting became more frequent, as the aggressive Horntails habitats became increasingly invaded. And as always, dwindling numbers of the dangerous species made them an endangered dangerous species.
Nicu was the head trainer in the cabin, an eccentric Romanian warlock only a few years older than Charlie. He was from a rural village on the Serbian border and with his father, uncle and brothers, spent most of his youth with dragons. In addition to being amazing with the beasts, he was, in traditional Romanian fashion, incredibly superstitious.
Also in the house were Taifur, an older warlock from Pakistan. He was deeply involved in Sufism, a mystic Middle Eastern tradition that pre-dated the Muggle religion that had attempted to infiltrate it. His immersion in prophesies and meditation made him mysterious and soft spoken, but a focused, thorough dragon tamer.
In addition to the three men there was also Brigette, a good-natured French-Canadian witch who Charlie was quite found of. She'd completed her studies at Beauxbatons slightly after he had, and chose to enter into the Ministry training program rather that returning to her family who lived in the magical region of Quebec City. Brigette never went into many details of what her family did, but from what Charlie managed to gather, it had something to do with the infamous magical circus that came from the area.
The four got along quite well despite the differences in their backgrounds. In the five years Charlie had lived there he had picked up basic Romanian and even some Arabic and French.
He first opened the
newspaper, which he immediately recognized as the Daily Prophet.
Without even glancing at the headline he threw it into the fireplace
where it exploded with purple sparks. He was sick of reading the
hogwash in the British paper, Fudge had gone absolutely mad and
carried most of the Ministry with him. None of the frequent
letters
from home outright mentioned this position, but his father had filled
him in when he was last home in England. It was far too risky for
them to express their opinions in writing, owls were easily
intercepted. Instead his parents and the rest of the Order felt the
need to keep him in touch with the British magical community with the
Daily Prophet, assuming he'd be able to see through the lies.
He then opened the parchment and began reading his mother's familiar script.
"Happy Birthday Charlie dear!"
"Oh Merlin," he groaned aloud.
"What? Bad news from home?" Nicu looked up from the 'Vrajitor Cuvertura Matlasata' (The Wizard's Quill, the daily paper of the Romanian magical community) he was engrossed in.
"Not really. Today's just my birthday, I completely forgot."
"Why yes it is, 24!" the other man perked up at the news. "How perfect, Brigette, Taifur and I will take you into town tonight, to celebrate!"
"There's no need to Nicu, don't want to waste time celebrati-" he began to say but was cut off by his friend.
"Nonsense. We will go to the Tiganca Femie. I believe there's some tzuica 7 in order."
"Tzuica you say?" Charlie perked up. "I guess we can go for a bit... not long though."
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Romanian to English translations1 'Good morning'
2 'How are you?'
3 Good
4 bad luck
5 grandmother
6 mental illness
7 plum brandy, a traditional Romanian drink
Notes:
Sufism- a mystic tradition of Islam encompassing a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to divine love and sometimes to help a fellow man. It has been suggested that Sufi thought emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century, but adherents are now found around the world. Some Sufis have also claimed that Sufism pre-dates Islam and some groups operate with only very tenuous links to Islam.
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