Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world and all Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling and strictly to J. K. Rowling.

Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, round 5, for the Chudley Cannons.

CHASER 1:Write about your team's chosen character in their 2nd Year

Chosen Character: Charlie Weasley

Prompts Used:

(2) Detention (word)

(5) 'Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.' - Douglas Adams (quote)

(8) Boggart (creature)

Fear of the Dragon

"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." – Douglas Adams

Charlie Weasley had a secret, a secret that he was afraid people would find out about, especially his family. Charlie Weasley was afraid of dragons. He wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe it was the tales he heard about dragons that gave him nightmares and thus inspired his fear of them. He was also afraid of flying. The two sort of go hand in hand and Charlie was afraid of both.

So when Charlie and a few of his friends were chosen by Madam Hooch his second years to help her teach flying to the first years, he wasn't exactly ecstatic about it. Charlie tried his best to help the first years with their first flying lesson, telling them tips and tricks to holding the broom but he wasn't into it. He often got anxious when a first year would take off, afraid that they might fall.

Charlie's anxiety had reached an all time high when a first year boy, incredibly small for his age, had nearly fallen off his broom mid-flight. And so Charlie leapt forward and held onto the boy's broom, trying what he thought would keep the boy on the ground, only to have himself hanging by the end of the boy's broom while he flew. Madam Hooch had thought that Charlie was fooling around and gave him detention for nearly sabotaging the little boy's first flight and nearly making him fall.

Charlie wasn't proud of what had happened and so he went to the detention somberly. He didn't know what it was about flying that made him so anxious and scared. He remembered his first flying lessons and how much he had enjoyed it, which is until Bill told him about dragons and the various 'accidents' that had happened in flying class. Come to think of it, he never thought much of dragons and flying until Bill mentioned it. Now he would over think about them and it constantly backfired on him.

Charlie made his way to Madam Hooch's office with a frown. But when he opened her door, she wasn't there. So he took a seat at the desk sitting in the corner and decided to wait for her. Charlie realized that it was slightly dark in the office and wondered why. Then he heard a bang coming from a cupboard behind her desk. Charlie didn't know what to do so he remained seated. It was probably nothing, Hogwarts was full of unexpected things and he wasn't about to go snooping where he shouldn't. But then the cupboard opened and Charlie was frozen in fear. Emerging from the cupboard was a small dragon. Tall enough to touch the ceiling but not big enough to fill the room. Charlie knew dragons were bigger and wondered why this one was so small. He clutched at the desk in front of him and leaned back as far as he could go in his seat. Frozen in fear, he didn't know what to do. The dragon blew a soft pout of fire but nothing caught fire and Charlie was curious.

Charlie stood and walked around Madam Hooch's desk in awe of the creature in front of him. He was terrified, yes, but there was something about seeing the dragon up close that fascinated him. Charlie walked forward. The dragon coiled and stared at Charlie as he walked closer to the dragon. Why wasn't the dragon attacking? What was going on? Charlie was inches from the dragon now when he heard the door open but he wasn't about to turn around and miss this chance. Charlie placed one hand on the dragon and felt along its scales.

"Riddikulus!" Charlie heard someone say and the dragon was gone, the cupboard was closed. Charlie stared at the cupboard and then turned to face Madam Hooch. She looked at Charlie as if seeing him for the first time.

"What was that?" Charlie asked. Madam Hooch smiled sadly.

"That was a boggart," she explained and everything seemed to dawn on Charlie.

"Oh," he only replied. Madam Hooch took a seat at her desk and motioned for Charlie to sit back down at the desk.

"Mr. Weasley, are you afraid of dragons?" she asked to which Charlie embarrassingly nodded. "Why?"

"My brother Bill told me stories about them and I don't know. The stories were scary," Charlie explained. Madam Hooch couldn't help the smile that came upon her face.

"Charlie, dragons may be fearsome and incredible creatures to behold but they are animals. They're instincts aren't that much different from our own. They can be scary, yes, but magnificent as well. And the way you handled that boggart has led me to believe that maybe you're not so scared of them but rather what they could be. And to predict how someone or something can be without actually knowing anything about them isn't wise at all," Madam Hooch said. Charlie thought about it for a minute.

"Do wizards work with dragons?" he asked. Madam Hooch smiled and nodded.

"Yes, yes they do," she replied. Charlie couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"How?" he asked, curiosity taking over.

"You'll learn about magical creatures you're third year, in Care of Magical Creatures. But for now I would look into it," Madam Hooch offered. Charlie smiled and thought about it. "Now, Charlie, you can go. And try not to think too much into things. Dragons can be scary and so can flying but they can also be wonderful things if you let it."

Charlie walked back to his dormitory with determination and wonder. Forget Bill if he tried to scare him because he wasn't afraid anymore. He could do anything and if he wanted to work with dragons well then so be it. He would be the best there was.

. . .

A/N: I could not write this story but I got it done. - MsHologramRibs