Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

This was an answer to a challenge from the amazing Bellatrix Lestrange: The Dark Lord's Most Faithful forum!

Charlie knew that as a dragon tamer, he had scars and numerous wounds to show as signs of all of his adventures, but when he returned to the Burrow one June afternoon, in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, he would never have expected his siblings' reactions to his scars, something he now considered a part of him.

All day long, the twins kept asking about and commenting on them. Ginny and his mother were now worried for him, and Bill and Ron kept staring at him as if he were some exotic animal in a cage!

Luckily, everything calmed down around dinner, at least until Fred asked him: "Hey Charlie, how was Romania? What were some of your adventures with the dragons?

Charlie groaned as the whole big family that had gathered around them turned their heads to him, almost all of them in sync. Charlie was fairly modest about his work. Did he even have any heroic adventures?

"Well...there was the time when we had to save a little girl from a group of furious Hungarian Horntails, while the Romanian version of the Minister of Magic was coming, and we were renewing our license as a dragon preserve," Charlie offered before beginning his tale.


"So you see sir, we are an impressive and well-functioning preserve. Our dragon tamers are the best in the country," Derrick told Dimitri Alexei, a.k.a. the man in charge for both the entire population of wizards here and our reserve.

He was an older man, stout and plump. He looked like the turkey I was sure he ate a lot of. I am usually nicer to people, even in my thoughts, but this man was poking fun of some of the dragons. He even tried to mess with Norbert, the dragon that I got from Hagrid.

"What's this dragon here, Derrick?" the pompous man asked, pulling at his coat.

"This, sir, is the Hungarian Horntail. This species is the most dangerous of all dragons, and we are proud to have the greatest number of these perfect living visions of bronze, yellow, and black here." Derrick smiled as they watched the Horntails in their area.

Most people, dragon tamers or not, have respect for Hungarian Horntails; however, this vile little man did not. The Horntails had mated earlier, and there were a few eggs near the edge of the area. Now as we were talking to the annoying man and his many advisors, his daughter, a spoiled little girl, slipped into the Horntails' habitat to take one of the precious eggs.

Luckily, I was actually in the pen when this happened, otherwise it wouldn't have turned out so well for the girl. I had managed to talk myself out of staying with Derrick. I mean, I definitely preferred working in that area than having to listen or watch, unable to do anything as the man provoked the dragons.

Anyway, the girl got to the eggs while I was feeding them and accidentally broke an egg. As soon as she did this, I could see that the Horntails knew, in that exact moment, that an egg was gone. Two others and I tried to hold them back, but seven Horntails against three men of us were hardly the fair game.

I heard the girl scream before I saw her, or realized what the dragons were going to do to her. I yanked my head around and, in almost slow motion, I knew what they were doing - outstretching their claws and gathering their breath, they were about to kill her. After all, to them, it's a life for a life.

I think I realized that the girl was in danger faster than anyone else. The two men that were in the area with me, Alexei and Viktor, were some of the quickest men I have ever seen, and they were behind me as I sprinted across the area to her. When I got there, I knew from the position the dragons were in that there would be no way to stun them before the girl got hurt. I hurtled myself on to her and tossed her - she was around fifty pounds, since she was six - to one of the advisors who had opened the pen's door to go in and get her.

The dragons stopped in time, all except one, and that is why I have a scar from my shoulder to the small of my back. The dragon that got me had just matured, otherwise it would have been more serious. The fire that some of the dragons shot out just affected the magical barriers and the fence, so we had to fix that, but Dimitri Alexei renewed our preserve license and we got some media attention."


Having finished his tale, Charlie swallowed a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"Wow Charlie. Do you have that kind of adventures every day?" Ron asked.

"Oh no. I would be in pieces!" Charlie laughed.

"Charlie, this is too dangerous! I didn't want you to become a dragon tamer, and with such stories!" Mum cried out.

"Well that's his job, Mum; besides, telling Charlie to quit his job is a waste of time. Charlie, what I think you need to do is write a story about your adventures in Romania," Bill said, pointing his spoon at his brother.

"Maybe. Charlie's Adventures With The Dragons. I like the sound of that," Charlie agreed.

"I'd actually read that book!" Ron yelled.

The whole room started to laugh, and soon the Burrow was filled with the Weasleys' laughter ringing through the house.

R and R!