Thanks to Lizzy for the checkover. Challenges at the bottom.
1282 words.
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Charlie is nearly at the end of a twelve hour shift when Paulie, one of the new recruits, runs up to him.
"Charlie! She's cracking!"
Charlie knows immediately what she means. The Ridgeback egg he's had his eye on for the last week has started getting cracks.
Dragon eggs take a long time from cracks to hatchling appearance, but Charlie is who he is, and that means that he's not going to leave the egg alone while it hatches.
He shoots a Patronus off to Draco, letting him know not to expect him home for a while, and takes off for Norberta's nest and her new baby.
Paulie follows him across the compound. "Can I watch?" Paulie asks.
"Only if you stay back."
"Obviously," Paulie says. Charlie mock glares at the kid, and Paulie just gives him a cheeky smile and keeps pace with Charlie as he jogs.
Norberta has been nesting for about a month and a half. When she started, in April, they encouraged her to build her nest in the hatchery, in one of the spots they have set aside for nesting mothers. They have to keep the mothers far enough apart from each other, so that no one gets territorial, but also far enough from the rest of the flight of Norwegian Ridgebacks that they don't wind up with any aggressive males. They like to encourage the nesting mothers to nest in the hatchery, so that the eggs without mothers present have at least some nearby maternal influence, and in the vague hopes that one of the mothers will pick up an egg that isn't hers and care for it.
It's happened a few times, if not often. Once, a Swedish Short Snout named Yelena had decided to adopt a similarly sized egg to her own — only instead of being a shimmering, scaled white, the egg had been a ribboned blue and indigo Peruvian Vipertooth egg.
Yelena hadn't seemed to care. She took the egg with her to her own nest, kept it warm beside the egg she had laid, and didn't seem concerned at all when one of the nestlings that hatched was a brilliant copper instead of the pale silver of a young Swedish Short Snout.
It's why Yelena is one of his favorites, even though she isn't a Norwegian Ridgeback, and therefore technically not one of his to look after.
He reaches the edge of the Ridgeback area and feels the shimmer of the wards ending. Closing his eyes, he turns on his heel and Apparates across the Reserve to the edge of the hatchery warding. Because of the sheer size of the Reserve, they use Apparation or brooms to travel in between areas when in a hurry — the wards are carefully designed with gaps only accessible by Apparation, if a wizard knows precisely where to appear. Charlie loathes Apparating; it makes him nauseated every time, but sometimes it's still worth it.
Paulie pops up behind him seconds later, wobbling slightly, but looking pretty stable for a kid who only passed his Apparation test a month ago.
Norberta has settled in a patch near the back of the hatchery, so Charlie grabs them each a broom from the main building and they fly to the outskirts of her area without crossing into Norberta's territory.
Her nest is massive, as Ridgeback nests tend to be. She's gathered rocks and laid them in intricate spirals, and then softened it all with moss and leaves. In the center of all of this is her egg, dark and gleaming. She heats the rocks with her breath, and they hold the heat, gently warming the egg.
She looks up at them and blinks, assessing the threat level. She inhales deeply, scenting them. After a moment, she lies her head down, curling her neck around her egg.
She knows Charlie's scent — she has known it since she was a baby in a crate landing on the ground in Romania.
Charlie lets his broom drift higher, getting a better look at the egg. There's a crack down one side from the force of internal pressure, and there's a small hole near the middle where a claw has pierced through the shell. The very tip of a snout is poking through.
From this point, it can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 36 hours for the dragon to fully emerge. The first crack in the shell just means that the interior of the shell has run out of oxygen for the dragon to breathe. It doesn't always mean that the baby dragon is ready to emerge.
He flicks his wand and conjures up his Patronus – a dragon itself, to absolutely no one's surprise, but a Swedish Short Snout. "To Draco Malfoy. Marathon day gets even longer. We've got snout visibility on Norberta's egg. Don't wait up."
He watches as the dragon flaps its broad wings and soars off. Then, Charlie casts an alertness spell on himself to make sure he doesn't fall asleep on his broom and settles in to wait. It's almost ten o'clock at night — nearly four hours later than he was supposed to stay — when the egg cracks again. Norberta lifts her head and huffs through her nostrils. Charlie grins.
The shell of the egg cracks again. And again.
Suddenly, a clawed leg pierces through the shell, taking with it a large chunk. The next thing to push out is the head, and with it the top of the egg lifts off, giving Charlie a clear view of the hatchling, sticky with internal membranes. It's skin is dark, a shimmering gray-green that Charlie knows will eventually fade into the dark brown of an adult Ridgeback. The baby chirps faintly, and Norberta makes a soft chuffing noise and then exhales a burst of warm air over the hatchling. Afterward, she promptly begins cleaning up the hatchling with her tongue as the small creature chirps. Charlie knows his entire face is smiling. He can't help it. He loves having the privilege of watching this. It never gets old, ever.
Satisfied that the baby dragon is healthy, and that Norberta will take good care of it, Charlie flies back toward the main building of the hatchery, Paulie right behind him.
After depositing their brooms, Charlie makes his way to the Apparation point, exhaustion starting to set in. As he does so, he realizes that he is absolutely ravenous — he hasn't eaten since lunch near noon.
He bids Paulie goodbye, and turns on his heel, appearing in the alley nearest the apartment he shares with his partner of over four years.
He opens the door as quietly as he can, and he's hit with the savory scent of beef and tomato sauce. A bowl of pasta with an Everwarm Charm on it is sitting at the table, and Charlie thanks the gods for Draco's foresight as he inhales the food. He downs a glass of water, brushes his teeth, and slips out of his work clothes.
He creeps quietly into the bedroom and slips under the covers as carefully as possible, but Draco still makes a sleepy murmur and rolls over to face him.
"Everything okay?" Draco mumbles, words slurring together with sleep. Charlie chuckles, glancing over Draco's shoulder to see the clock shining midnight. He's not surprised Draco was sleeping, just as he's not surprised the man has now awoken.
He kisses Draco softly. "Everything's perfect. Go to sleep."
Draco hums softly, and then turns back around and slides backward so that his back is to Charlie's chest.
Charlie curls an arm around his sleepy partner, and it doesn't take long before he too is drifting off to sleep.
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Assignment 1: Sex Ed, task 1: write about a creature that hatches from an egg.
365 prompts (70. Creature: Dragon), WC Days of the Month (write about a dragon), WC Showtime (6. Color: indigo), WC Character Appreciation (dialogue: "Obviously."), WC Buttons (Word: marathon) Insane House (601. Creature: Dragon), Resolutions (fifty fics, write a fic centered around a character we don't see in the movies, write a story set outside of the UK, write about a creature from the books (Norberta), Stickers (Broom - write a known quidditch player), Fanfiction Writing Month (WC), Dragon Challenge (WC), Bath Bomb (Love Nest: write about a new mother nesting in anticipation), Happy Newt Year (Midnight - write about a kiss), Oracle (a kiss at midnight)