Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

The morning was beautiful. The sun was rising and a gentle breeze blew over the hills while the birds were starting to sing their first song of the day.

Charlie Weasley, though, did not have time to enjoy the day. He was waiting anxiously for his friends to arrive. Ever since he had gotten the letter from Ron about the Norwegian Ridgeback, that lived in Hagrid's hut, he had been thinking about the dragon. Well, also about his brother and his friends - and other students of the Hogwarts school of Witchcroft and Wizardry - being near a young and unpredictable dragon. But mostly he had thought about the dragon. Now, it was finally due to arrive. No, Charlie corrected himself, HE was due to arrive. Ron had mentioned the dragons name being Norbert. The Dragon Tamer shook his head, fondly. Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. That just sounded like something Hagrid would call one of his 'pets'.

Charlie had spent a lot of time with Hagrid while he was still at Hogwarts. Helping the game-keeper had been an easy way to get around the ban on entering the Forbidden Forrest and had enabled him to meet a lot of creatures. Centaurs, a unicorn, acromantulas... He would have gladly shown Cassiopeia all of the wonderful things he had seen in the forest but the witch would have probably found a way to silently get rid of him and make it look like an accident, if he showed her the giant spiders. Still, he absolutely loved Cassiopeia for suggesting he should help Hagrid. The Slytherin's ability to find loopholes had always astounded him.

Hagrid's ability of judgment, when it came to his pets, had been astounding as well but not in a positive sense. The dragon, of course, had topped it all. What had Hagrid been thinking? There was not enough space for a dragon in his hut and it was not a creature, that should be kept near students. A dragon was a dangerous creature, especially if it was restricted in any way. Charlie was happy Ron and his friends had been able to convince Hagrid to send Norbert to Romania. Here, the dragon could grow up free and amongst other dragons. Regardless of what people said about them, dragons were very intelligent creatures. Many were even able to understand human speech and you did well not to insult them.

Charlie checked his watch before gazing at the horizon, worriedly. The sky was getting brighter by the minute and still, there was no sign of his friends. Had they been caught? Transporting a dragon through half of Europe was not exactly legal. Perhaps he should have written Cassiopeia, she could have discreetly tried to get a transport permission, without mentioning Hagrid's name. The Dragon Tamer knew the witch would have tried to help him, regardless of what she thought about the matter but he had not wanted to get her into trouble. He knew the Slytherin was good at being surreptitious but there was still a chance someone started to ask the wrong questions.

Finally, his friends came into sight, the Norwegian Ridgeback hanging between their brooms. Charlie gave a relieved sigh. Everything was alright and nobody got hurt. Thank Merlin!

"Hey, Charlie, nice to see you, again," a blond man called down. The Dragon Tamer noted he was still wearing Gryffindor red somewhere in his clothing.

"Good to see you, too, Felix. How was the flight? Any trouble?"

"No. We picked the dragon up, right were you told us to and flew straight here. We did have to take a little detour over Germany, though, since there was a thunderstorm," Lennox, a former Hufflepuff added.

Charlie eyed the dragon carefully but he seemed relaxed or, as relaxed as a bound dragon could be. "Alright then. Land and slowly walk away from the dragon."

His friends followed his instructions, carefully lowering the dragon to the ground.

"Very good, now back off, slowly, we don't want to startle the dragon."

When they were far enough away, Charlie nodded at two of his colleagues. He would try to get close to the dragon and release him out of his bounds. This was the most dangerous part. Using his wand was out of question, since he had no idea how the young dragon reacted to magic in close proximity. His colleagues, though, kept their wands raised, in case the dragon panicked. They did try to avoid stunning younglings like him, since the spell could do permanent harm to them, so Charlie had to be very careful.

The Norwegian Ridgeback let him come close without any sounds of distress and the Dragon Tamer counted it as a small victory. Perhaps the short time the dragon had spent with Hagrid had mellowed him. The Game Keeper had a good influence on most of the creatures he picked up some place or another.

Charlie cut the leather, that bound the dragons wings with a small knife, always waiting for a sign of fear or aggression but nothing came. "You behave perfectly, don't you?" he cooed at the dragon. "Come, raise that wing for me, so I can cut the last bond around your feet."

The last leather stripe fell away and the dragon flipped his wings, like a human, that was trying to get the blood to flow back into a limb. Charlie could sympathize. Being unable to move a part of your body for some time was uncomfortable and the pins and needles that accompanied movement afterwards were horrible.

Clumsily taking a few steps, the Norwegian Ridgeback got tangled up in the leather bond on the floor. Squawking indignantly, he fruitlessly tried to free himself. Charlie reached down to help him but this time, the dragon would not keep still. "Come on, Norbert, be a good boy and keep still."

The dragon's struggling did indeed stop. He peered at the Dragon Tamer with big eyes, before opening his mouth, spitting fire.

Charlie was so surprised, he had no time to react. The fire caught his left arm, burning through the cloth of his jacket and hitting his flesh. The everything turned black.

A few hours later, Charlie woke in the Healers Ward of the Dragon Sanctuary. Trying to get up from the bed, he winced, when pain shot through his arm. He peered down at his left side and noticed a huge silver burn mark. "What happened?" he mumbled.

"You were burned quite badly, Mr. Weasley," a healer told him. "We did the best we could but the scar will remain."

"Why - ?"

There was a low chuckle beside his bed. "Are you not the one that always preaches that we need to respect the dragons' feelings?" Pavel, a fellow Dragon Tamer, asked with a chuckle.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Charlie asked, confused.

"Well, tell me this Charles, how would you feel, being called a good boy, if you were a lovely young lady?"