Two dragons swooped along the rising Romanian skyline creating a graceful dance amongst the pink clouds. Charlie, the second eldest of the Weasley clan, held his strong calloused hand up to his eyes to watch the dance without being blinded by the sunrise. His lips tugged up into a smile making his many freckles scatter around his face. Beside him stood his fellow tamer, Alexandru.
"Only you could have a smile on your face this early in the morning mate," Alexandru grumbled light-heartedly pulling out his wand to call the dragons back down for feeding. Charlie put his hand out to lower his Romanian friend's wand hand.
"Not yet Alex, let's just give them a couple more minutes to enjoy the skies before breakfast." Charlie's eyes shined with love for these creatures he dedicated his life to taking care of and studying. Being so far away from his family he developed a kinship with a lot of the dragons.
"Charlie and Alexandru! Shucking your responsibilities to admire the beauty of the Romanian sky together I see," The men turned around at the sound of the familiar voice, the head of the reserve Marian Rusu. "Alexandru get the Ridgebacks down for breakfast, Charlie come over here there's someone I'd like you to meet."
Standing next to Marian was a woman with wild curly white blonde hair. It was so eye grabbing it was most likely the first thing anybody noticed about her upon meeting her. She was dressed just like most people on the reserve dressed. Comfortable jeans and a casual tee shirt, with hiking boots and a satchel slung over her shoulder.
"Charlie this is your new magizoologist Kaleigh Livingston. Kaleigh comes to us from the wilds of Arizona studying thunderbirds there. She was top of her class at Ilvermorny and quite gifted with magical creatures. We are very lucky to have her here assisting us with Dragon research," Marian introduced the two, "Kaleigh this is your dragon tamer partner here on the reserve, Charlie Weasley. He's one of our best I expect a lot of really profound findings from you two."
"No pressure," Kaleigh laughed easily as she shook Charlie's hand.
"Nice to meet you Kaleigh, I'm happy to show you the ropes and help get you situated here on the reserve. Don't hesitate to ask any questions about the dragons, procedure, anything." Charlie's first impression of Kaleigh was that she exuded an easy going nature and her natural smile.
"I wouldn't trust Charlie for anything procedure related. Be warned, he's a wild man." Alexandru called over from feeding the dragons.
Again Kaleigh's laugh came easily. Her voice was a little more rough than most females but not necessarily masculine.
"I'll leave you all to your work. See you at tomorrow's afternoon staff meeting. Good luck Kaleigh!" Marian excused himself and strode off.
Kaleigh extended her hand out to meet Alexandru properly and then turned her attention on the two adolescent Ridegbacks. She pulled her fireproof gloves out of her back pocket. Charlie just observed quietly, but ready to step in if needed. He trusted that Marian wouldn't just hire anyone to work on the reserve. Age and experience weren't the most important qualifications to Marian. Natural talent and dedicated individuals were what Marian prided himself in being able to identify and employ. Charlie trusted him and was happy with how he ran the reserve. Especially since these same ideals is what presented this opportunity to a young and inexperienced Charlie himself.
Kaleigh drew her wand in one hand and grabbed a bucket of large dead fish in her other. She strode towards the dragons with confidence despite the fact that she was petite and the dragons absolutely towered over her. The dragons glared at her sizing her up. But without hesitation she dumped the bucket onto the ground a little bit in front of them and backed off to a safe distance. They descended upon their second helped of food and ate their fill. When their hunger was sated they indulged in their curiosity of the new person.
"Hi I'm Kaleigh," She spoke with a quiet intensity as if they could understand her, "you guys want to play a fun game and let the led out." She conjured an apparition of a giant squid and had it dance around the dragons. Of course they knew it wasn't real but they chased after it anyway. Kaleigh let the spell go to work on it's own and sat on the grass field, withdrawing her field notebook. She began to observe the dragons and scribble away in her messy writing probably only she could read.
"Well done Kaleigh, it's like you don't even need us," Alexandru joked.
"That was quite impressive," Charlie added.
"Alright mates, I hate to ditch you like this but I have to go tame the new baby Horntail today," Alexandru explained, "But please come have dinner with us tonight and meet some of the rest of the team."
"I would love that thank you, it was nice meeting you," Kaleigh waved him off as he strode away.
Charlie took a seat next to Kaleigh on the grass, absolutely intrigued by her. He was especially intrigued by her notebook. He wanted to know what notes she already had on dragons and what species she had prior experience with. "So what experience do you have with dragons prior to landing this job," Charlie asked, making sure it sounded conversational and not inquisitive.
"I'm muggle born so magical creatures always held a special fascination for me in school. There aren't many opportunities to study dragons in America as they aren't native to the west. So I got placement working with thunderbirds in Arizona post graduation which I absolutely loved. But I got restless, I wanted a new adventure. I applied to this post and spent months studying all I could before coming out here. I had a bit of practice with dragons in school and in training for this placement, but I suspect I have a lot to learn from you about physically handling them. Books are wonderful but method is best learned in practice." Kaleigh explained.
Charlie observed her passion for magical creatures and her intelligence without being reserved as most bookworms are. He would be lying in saying her didn't find her quite alluring. But he wasn't going to dwell on that thought. He barely knew her and she was his new partner. It was more fleeting natural reaction than anything else.
"What's your story Weasley?" Kaleigh startled Charlie by being so direct, but he quickly recovered with a smile. He found her bold nature quite infectious.
"I come from a really large family in England, I have six siblings. I attended Hogwarts and fell in love with adventure and magical creatures, dragons especially. I even tried to go into the forbidden forest to find one when I was at school, totally reckless of me. But that passion drove me to get this placement in Romanian and I've been here every since." Charlie explains.
Kaleigh loved hearing people's responses to this question. She felt what people chose to define as their story to a stranger often said a lot about what type or person they were and what they valued. "Wow six siblings, that sounds-"
"-like chaos." Charlie finished for her chuckling.
"Actually I was going to say incredible. I don't have any siblings. I guess the grass is always greener."
"Don't get me wrong I love my siblings, they're the best. But it was definitely chaotic to have so many people in the house, so much attention to be split. It was different. Bill and I are the oldest and we ended up stepping in to help out with the younger siblings. Probably why we both wanted a big change of scenery when we graduated."
"I can understand that. You probably wanted some space to be able to grow yourself."
Charlie noted her perceptiveness, "Actually yes."