Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling

Chapter One—The Second Season

Charlie Weasley had been on the eastern rim for an hour and a half, flying around looking for signs of the Verdemalos that Jack said were wandering too close to the North American Dragon Preserve's border that was intersected with a major muggle highway. It was the ideal place for muggle-dragon encounters. Muggles often wandered off the highway, either because they were too stupid or drunk to realize they were entering a desert; never mind that the desert was the home of three species of American dragons; the American Red Dragon, named for its red hue, which was excellent camouflage against the rich iron filled earth. There were only 10 to 12 feet long and lived in the cantos de la montañas, or mountain ridges. There were about 35 American Reds living in the preserve. The Verdemalo also lived on the preserve. The Verdemalo, a large, green and brown scaled dragon with a wing span of 25 to 30 feet was a fire breather. There were 117 Verdemalos remaining in captivity. The other dragon, a hybrid of the Verdemalo and the Mexican moreno diablo , was the gigante volando demoniac, or the Flying Demon. There were only 60 Flying Demons remaining. Although the odds were small for actually running into a dragon, one of the duties of the preserve was to rescue wayward muggles.

The preserve was located in the Chihuahuan Desert, near the communities of El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico. The preserve was a cooperation between the American Department of Dangerous Magical Creatures and the Mexican Departamento y Regulación de Mágicamente Seres. There were approximately 75 witches and wizards employed at the preserve, 50 of which were keepers (also called wranglers).

The good news was that most of the females were nesting, so the population was steadily rising. Since the dragons were protected from their natural enemies (mostly each other), the dragons were able to reproduce without threat. The eggs were separated when they were laid, but collecting the eggs was the hardest and most dangerous job at the preserve. There is nothing worse than a nesting female protecting her eggs. They came up with an ingenious method of replacing the real eggs with fire proof decoys and incubated the eggs in the preserve's nursery. Eggs were especially vulnerable. Eggs were often destroyed by the clumsy actions of the nesting female, or eaten by other dragons.

Charlie spotted the muggle car pulled over to the side of the road. He flew down and landed behind a large rock, left his broom, and walked over to the car. There were four young teen-aged girls in the car. They apparently had gotten lost. One of the girls was starting to get out of the car when he approached them from behind. When the girl saw Charlie, she quickly got back into the car. Seeing anyone out in the desert must have been a surprise, especially a handsome muscular man with red hair. He wore his hair tied with a leather strap. He carried his cowboy hat in his hands. He wore the cowboy hat to protect his skin from the burning sun.

"You ladies lost?" he asked lazily as he leaned into the driver's side of the car. "It's dangerous out here. You never know what you might run into."

The girl in the passenger side said quickly, "We were just turning around, officer."

Charlie grinned. Let them think he was the muggle police. They had no way of knowing that they were less than fifty feet from a nest of verdemalos, and if they decided to wander too close, their bodies would never be found; that is if there was enough of their bodies left to be found.

"That's a good idea," he said. "You need to move on."

The girl in the back seat decided she didn't have to take orders from anyone. "We want to take pictures of the desert. It's public land. We have a right."

The other girls were trying to quiet her. "Shh," they said. "Be quiet."

Charlie looked at her pointedly. "No, this is private property and you don't have any right to be here. I suggest that you –"

Suddenly, there was an ear piercing cry behind him and the sound of beating wings.

"Oh, fuck me," Charlie said. "You girls, get down and don't get out of this car. You understand?"

The noise had frightened the girls into silence. They nodded and got down. Charlie turned around, pulling his wand out of this waist band. It was a Verdemalo, and it was pissed.

The girls were panicking. The driver started the engine, but Charlie shot a spell that turned it off.

"Do not try to leave," he commanded. "You need to stay quiet. Get down on the floor and don't look up until I tell you it's okay. Understand?"

The girls nodded and hid in the car's floorboards. Charlie turned his full attention back to the dragon. Thank God it was a male, he sighed. They were easier to distract and he could stun it and move it further away from the road.

The first stunning spell missed the dragon because he was beginning to take flight. That wasn't good. The second spell knocked it back a few yards, but it charged. Charlie could tell he was getting ready to exhale and ignite. He hit the dragon with another stunning spell that sent it back fifty feet. The dragon landed on his back. They were virtually powerless on their backs. He was able to bind it with strong rope that shot out from his wand. He needed to get it away from the car. He repeated a hover charm so he could transport the dragon without difficulty, but as the dragon started to rise in the air, the driver tried to start her car again. This time the car started. Trembling and in shock the girl put the car in gear, turned it around, flinging rocks in the air, she sped away never looking back.

Normally, Charlie would have used a memory charm on the muggles, but they had driven away so fast and he needed to get the dragon out of there while it was still stunned. The girls would be long gone by now.

Oh, well, thought Charlie, they would have an incredible story to tell. On the down side, it might even bring more people out this way. He'd have to file a report with the head office before he left for the evening.

Charlie moved the dragon gingerly to its new location and released it. The dragon groggily wandered away.