This is for Fanfiction Idol Round 3. Enjoy!
It was the crack of dawn and Arthur Weasley crept into the bedroom that his sons Bill and Charlie shared. He was careful not to wake Bill and gently shook Charlie out of a deep sleep. He raised a finger to his lips to signal for him to remain quiet.
"Get dressed. But be very quiet. We have to leave before your mother wakes up."
Charlie didn't argue but nodded sleepily and tumbled out of bed. He pulled on some clothes and when he went down to the kitchen Arthur shoved some toast into his hand and led him outside behind the broom shed to avoid being seen.
"Dad, what are we doing?"
"Giving you your birthday present. But we have to go now or your mum will catch us and then I can't give it to you. Now hold on tight." He held Charlie firmly by the arm and Disapparated.
Charlie's feet hit the ground and he waited for a few moments for the world to stop spinning, glad that he hadn't eaten any of the toast beforehand. When he was able to take in his surroundings he saw that he was in a clearing in the woods.
"Where are we?" He looked up at his father who merely grinned.
"You'll see."
Arthur clapped a hand on his son's shoulder and led him out of the clearing and along a path in the patch of woods. In a few minutes time the trees thinned and the boy and his father found themselves in a field that was surrounded by a huge barbed wire fence as far as they could see. They approached a gate which was guarded by two official looking wizards. Arthur greeted one of them and flashed his Ministry badge. At first the guard looked at him suspiciously, especially after seeing that there was a young boy with him. But Arthur explained that "Scamander owed him a favor."
This seemed to be a sufficient argument and the wizards opened the large gate and allowed Arthur and Charlie to go through.
Charlie looked around him trying to figure out where he was being taken. There was nothing around them but a few small brick buildings and off in the distance he could see towers of smoke rising from the other side of a hill. Arthur led him to what appeared to be the main building. They were greeted by a tall man dressed in a leather jacket and boots just outside the door.
"Arthur! Glad you could make it! And this must be Charlie. I've heard quite a bit about you."
Charlie nodded and shook the man's hand wondering what he could have heard about him.
"This is Mr. Scamander, Charlie," Arthur said. "He's agreed to show us around. Have you figured out where we are yet?"
"No."
"You're in for quite a treat m'boy!" Mr. Scamander exclaimed as he started walking toward the hill and the smoke. "This is the old dragon reserve. Hasn't been used in almost twenty years but we caught these beauties a few weeks ago running around the outskirts of London and we're keeping them here for a bit before sending them on to Scotland. Quite a ruckus it caused I can tell you. Modified memories left and right we did."
Charlie hadn't heard anything beyond the words 'dragon reserve.' His ten year old mind was beginning to piece things together. The towering smoke that they were approaching could only be coming from a real live dragon. And he was actually going to see it!
"There's dragons? Over there? I'm going to see a dragon?" He began chattering almost incoherently and Mr. Scamander just laughed and nodded and led the way.
They began to climb the hill which was much taller than it had appeared from a distance. Charlie's heart pounded at the thought of what he would see once he reached the top.
"How many are there?" he said quietly.
"Three," Mr. Scamander replied. "Hebridean Blacks. Strange that we found them together. They don't usually stay in packs. They're very territorial. There's only one in this part of the reserve. We have to keep them as close to a hundred miles apart as a rule, but we simply don't have the space. Now we can't go farther than the top of this hill but you'll get a great view from up there. There are stunners set up just in case she gets too close but she seems to have settled down now. She shouldn't bother us."
They were almost at the top of the hill and Charlie was breathless with the exertion and with excitement. When they finally made it his jaw dropped. Arthur put an arm around his shoulder. "Happy birthday, son."
There she was; thirty feet tall with a long spiked tail and bright red eyes that glinted like rubies from within a black, bony face. The scales on her body were dark, almost black but shone blue in the gleam of the rising sun. She pawed the ground with her sharp front claws. It was the most beautiful thing Charlie had ever seen.
The magnificent creature stretched out its long neck toward the sky and sniffed the air before turning to look to the right of the hill they were standing on. Charlie looked down and saw a small herd of deer that apparently thought they were well hidden in the shadow of the hill. But they were mistaken. The dragon crouched down low on all fours and opened her mouth spouting out brilliant orange flames which consumed the herd of deer. Charlie watched in awe as the dragon stumbled clumsily forward and began to feast upon her prey.
"Awesome," he breathed.
"Isn't it?" Mr. Scamander nodded appreciatively. "Hebridean Blacks are the only dragon to cook their food before they eat it. Other dragons prefer to just attack and eat their meat raw."
He continued like that for another twenty minutes, telling Charlie everything he could possibly want to know about the dragon. They watched fascinated, as the animal ate her breakfast. Once she was finished she curled up like a cat and fell asleep.
"With one eye open," Mr. Scamander pointed out. "They always sleep with one eye open."
Finally, Arthur had to tell Charlie that it was time to go. He hated to tear his son away from the sight but he knew that Molly was probably already awake and wondering where they were. They thanked Mr. Scamander and headed back toward the clearing where they could Disapparate back to the Burrow.
Arthur knew that Molly was going to give him hell when they got home, but it was worth it to see the look on his son's face the first time he saw a dragon. Besides he'd learned a long time ago that sometimes it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Later, when Charlie declared that he wanted to be a dragon tamer when he grew up the family joked that Arthur had created a monster. None of them really believed that it would happen but Charlie always did have a way of defying people's expectations and whenever he came back from Romania he always threw an arm around his dad's shoulder and reminded them that it all started on a trip to the dragon reserve on the best birthday ever.