Fire in the Forest
A/N: I know Charlie Weasley has some history but I wanted to create his own story, with a family and more of a magical history. Also, Norbert arrives a little later in my story. All ownership goes to J. and her Harry Potter world.
The Brotherhood of Dragon Keepers was secretive to the muggle world, with a dark and cold Romanian forest baring the secret. The start of November brought the winter chill across the east of Europe, but the base for the Brotherhood was well prepared.
Charlie Weasley donned his thick coat; fur trimmed of course, and made his way out of the log cabin, the roar of the dragons waking him up as he walked. It was only this time two years ago when he had started here, meeting all of the team members who dedicated their lives to Dragonology.
Today was a special day at the base, they were gaining a new baby dragon and two new team members, and one would be sharing his cabin with him. His brother, Ron, and two of his friends had requested that the dragon 'Norbert' be snuck out of Hogwarts soon due to the fact that Hagrid, the gamekeeper at the school, could not look after it. Norbert was three months old, with his first hide that would eventually shed to bear the indestructible one which he would keep for the rest of his life.
He walked past the statue of Harvey Ridgebit, the founder of the Romanian sanctuary with his scorched hat which had endured years of burning, and past the baby dragon enclosure before ending up half-way across the camp into the meeting room. It was like a small village, with thirty dragon keepers living here permanently and usually ten or so visitors.
"Weasley!" chirped Regan Picklefoot, a lanky man with a beard that curled near the bottom but was always on fire. He moved past several other men and shook his hand, his mood unusually over-happy. "Our new keepers will be here with the babe very soon! How exciting this is…"
Before Charlie could even reply, he had wandered off in a daze.
Outside, the clouds cleared and a pack of Swedish Short-Snouts curled up in the sun, occasionally blowing smoke out of their nostrils as they breathed. Charlie waved his wand and set up a large fire in the centre of the village, the size of a muggle double-decker bus which would burn all day. Two figures were appearing on the horizon over the trees, and one of them was balancing a cardboard box on their knee carefully.
"They're here!" shouted Charlie, knotting his somewhat long hair into a messy ponytail, just so it wouldn't get gnawed on by the babe. All of the dragon keepers in the village hustled out of the cabins and paddocks quickly, Regan and a younger boy bouncing happily as they awaited the guests. The dragons all roared at once, sensing someone new to the area, this required a few of the men to run off and sort them out.
Within ten minutes of spotting them, they were landing on the muddy ground and walking towards them, the baby dragon screeching a few times as they did. One thing struck many of the men; they were not going to be a brotherhood for much longer. Underneath the hoods of the two new keepers was indeed a woman, Charlie's age easily with a pale face and clear definition in her bones.
Some of the men gasped as they realised, no women wanted to be dragon keepers as it was too dangerous, but one this young? They masked this by pretending it was the baby dragon's noises, but it didn't fool her. The man from the group stepped forward and held out his hand with a smile on his weathered face, although he wasn't much older than Charlie judging by the colour of his hair and how well he acted. Charlie stepped up to him and smiled too, shaking his hand, followed by all of the other men doing the same.
"I am Pedro Fletwock, and this is my companion" he said, ushering her forward "Lysandra Toke, we both come from northern England. I believe this is your dragon," he handed Norbert to Charlie and stepped back. Regan and the boy, along with some of the older men quickly took Charlie's place and began to give them a tour of the village and paddocks.
Charlie looked inside the cardboard box and found a small Norwegian Ridgeback, very fierce and with a razor sharp tail. It kept spitting smoke every few moments but stopped as Charlie took him out of the box, staring straight at it. The dragon made a shrill sound then spat sparks at him before relaxing slightly. Charlie chuckled and picked him up round his stomach before carrying him to the baby paddock, placing him on a small table.
"Hello Norbert." He stared at the dragon for a while longer, occasionally stroking the top of his head before he performed a spell to check it was in good health, developed by dragon keepers. The dragon attempted to jump to his level but failed miserably. "We need to find you a mother, but luckily there is another family who just lost a babe. Will that be okay?" He asked Norbert who made another noise which he took as a good signal.
He headed outside, doing up his coat and talking to the dragon on the way before arriving at the Ridgeback enclosure. The mother Ridgeback, Vera as she had been named on arrival, was out feeding with a keeper so Charlie could sneak Norbert in easily. The other babes were busy feeding on chicken blood and brandy, something which Norbert flew too.
Charlie laughed as he sat on a stump, watching the family slowly accept him, with the time passing quicker than he thought. By the time he left the enclosure, Vera was flying over the hills and it was nearly nightfall.
Charlie walked into the 'feeding hut' which contained three large tables and several smaller ones. He went to the kitchen and prepared some food before heading back to a table near the window, his preferred seat as he could look at all of the dragons. The young boy which trailed Regan, called William, brought Pedro and Lysandra over to his table. He was being introduced as 'a top trainer with amazing talent'. Charlie stood up and shook both their hands again, smiling and automatically getting into conversation with the man.
"Lysandra here was considered the freak in our class, everyone thinking why is a girl involved in dragons-"
"Yes, but I proved them wrong," she said, with a sort of smug smile on her face which made Charlie laugh.
"You did cause some controversy I must say, we've never had a girl here…some of the men got a bit excited I think." They all laughed and for the rest of the night discussed what their specialities were in the field, although they had no idea what tomorrow would bring.